Chapter 2

Arcius opened his eyes, surprised. Had he not felt his consciousness fade earlier, he would have assumed no time had passed at all. He hadn’t even dreamed during the sleep. Without wasting any time, he got up and moved to the desk again. As he sat down, he realised that he was neither hungry nor thirsty. Interesting, he thought, it appears that, as a God, I no longer need food or drink. How then do I continue existing? Do I merely feed off the local Mana?

He pondered this for a while, before deciding that it was a research project for another time. So instead, he returned to his Dungeon. Upon arrival, he immediately opened the status screen again, to check his stats and make certain nothing had changed.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

1100/1100

Mana Regen:

165/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

13

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

1

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

Everything seemed to be in order, and so Arcius turned his sight to the magma beneath the ground. He quickly noted that it was pushing upwards sooner than he anticipated. Within a few centuries, it would likely build up enough pressure to burst through the crust again, creating another new island above, and burying his Dungeon in the process. If he wanted to last this, he needed to set up his Magmatic Seal Enchantment soon, so that it could gather the power needed to control the magma.

He needed to start building his Dungeon around and above the area the magma would break through. Fortunately, he had estimated that correctly, and was already in the correct position to start doing so. First, however, he would need to set up a high Mana room from which the enchantment would draw its power.

He selected the second room he’d built, and then used the Increase Mana Concentration ability on it three times. It would reduce his Mana Regen to 15/year for the next three years after this one, but it would be well worth it. Next, he used the available Mana he possessed to create 36 additional curved rooms, carefully laid out to begin the encirclement of the breach point.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

20/2900

Mana Regen:

435(-150)/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

49

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

1

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

This particular project was his most important, so he couldn’t afford to waste a single drop of Mana or second of time available for work. He’d thought he’d have more time before this, but he was wrong. Ah well, he thought, at least this gives me an excuse to avoid the others a while longer.

So he left, slept, and returned in three years, when the Mana Gems had finished forming. His status now looked something like this.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

1325/3050

Mana Regen:

435/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

49

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

1

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

Looking into the room, Arcius noted with satisfaction that the new Mana Gems, which looked like pale blue quartz and were growing from the walls, were glowing blue, and indication of their effect on the Mana in the room. Now that this was set up, he could begin creating the Mana Gathering Enchantment he would need in order to activate the Magmatic Seal.

Concentrating, Arcius got to work carving the runes of the enchantment into the floor. It took quite some time, as each line had to be perfect, or else the entire rune would malfunction, and could even explode upon activation. By the end of it, he had used 65 Mana to carve out the enchantment. This took much more power than he would have spent had he been there physically, after all, he would have been able to manually carve the runes without using Mana.

He then spent 15 Mana activating the enchantment and beginning the process of Mana Gathering, which dropped his Capacity by 100.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

1245/2950

Mana Regen:

435/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

49

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

1

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

Using his remaining Mana, he created 41 additional rooms, meaning he now needed only four rooms to finish creating the 81 he would need to finish the encirclement, although he would need a further 27 after that to place on top of the breach.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

15/5000

Mana Regen:

742.5/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

90

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

1

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

It would take him two years to gather the Mana necessary to create those rooms, so he left, slept, and then returned in two years. He then finished the remaining rooms, and determined another problem. The runes for the Magmatic Seal were more intricate than those of the Mana Gathering enchantment, and would require more Mana to create. He assumed 100 Mana per room, to be on the safe side. This meant that he needed 10800 Mana to make all the enchantments, and his Capacity was currently 6400. Thinking over the problem, he decided to fill his Mana Capacity and begin the process, adjusting the time he would sleep after that once he knew how much Mana he had to spend per room.

He left and returned again in seven years, and spent his Mana creating the runes. It turned out he only needed 80 Mana per room, meaning he was able to finish an additional 16 rooms to the 64 he’d initially anticipated. It only took three years to accrue enough Mana to finish the job, leaving him with little left to do but wait.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

685/6550

Mana Regen:

975/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

121

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

2

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

It would take around 150 years for the Mana Gathering Enchantment to gather enough power to feed the Magmatic Seal. Until then, he had nothing but time. Looking over his status, Arcius couldn’t help but notice that he had a new species. Quickly investigating, he found this new species inside the Mana Gathering room.

They were called Infirmanabacteria. Single celled, they had evolved to use infirmanaphyll, a substance similar to chlorophyll, which transferred Mana into energy it could use to survive. It wasn’t enough on its own to do so, but, when combined with its pre-existing properties, it meant it was much more capable than an ordinary Prokaryotic Cell to survive. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if it became the dominant species before too much longer.

He decided to start the process of creating two sets of Life Gems and another set of Mana Gems, all in the Mana Gathering room. It would not affect the Mana Gathering process, and would increase his Capacity and Regen such that they were more even. He then left, and returned to his room, intending now to explore a little.