Waiting sucked.
It sucked because, being a fantasy rock, I did not have a biological need to sleep, and because, not wanting to mess up any measurements (again), I didn’t do anything.
So I did a lot of thinking and planning: I started building a Wikipedia-like set of notes for all the information I had gleaned so far (mostly skills). I also thought a lot about what dungeon I wanted to make–soon! I really wanted to make my dungeon play off the original underground layout of the facility. However, it clearly had been built with a purpose other than defense in mind, considering how easy it would be to breach to the bottom via the central shaft.
Fortunately, the day passed by without any incident, as did the night. As soon as I was reasonably certain I had the relevant information, I sealed the top of the well again.
From a combination of the sundial and my moss clock, I learned two things: first, this planet’s day was twenty-five Earth hours; second, I received one mana about when the sun rose and I received a second mana about when the sun set. This meant that in one Uro day, I generated two mana.
Necromancer’s Gorge Dungeon
Level 1
Mana 52/100
Demesne Traits: Outworlder
Demesne Skills: Demesne 5; Absorption 3; Landscape 3; Demesne Interface 3; Tenebrous Portal 1; Trap Creation 2; Vestigial Propulsion 2
Creature Data: Cave Flora 1; Cave Fauna 1; Undead 1
Demesne Points: 2
My considerable time doing nothing had also led me to consider the dichotomy of my system. On the one hand, when I leveled up a skill or when I first woke up, I received a notification box. However, when I checked my information, it came to me differently, as if I was seeing it envisioned only in my mind. Also, my status was woefully inadequate.
Demesne Interface first leveled up when I had brute forced it to do so by using one of my free DP. It had leveled again when I created my dungeon notes. Now that I thought about it, there was probably a lot more to the skill than I had discovered. The skill’s name and description did suggest that it helped me to perceive the world, and perhaps my status and notifications were a part of that.
I brought up my status information and then focused on the mana section. Using my knowledge of my mana generation, I tried to etch the information into my status, replicating the sensation when I created my first note. After only a second or two, the information appeared on my status.
Necromancer’s Gorge Dungeon
Level 1
Mana 52/100 (2/day)
Demesne Traits: Outworlder
Demesne Skills: Demesne 5; Absorption 3; Landscape 3; Demesne Interface 3; Tenebrous Portal 1; Trap Creation 2; Vestigial Propulsion 2
Creature Data: Cave Flora 1; Cave Fauna 1; Undead 1
Demesne Points: 2
As a further experiment, I removed the mana generation stat and tried to recreate it, this time specifically stating my mana generation was “3/day.” Nothing happened, suggesting that I could only have “true” information in my status. So the next option was to add true information that I did not know. In this instance, I tried adding another sub-section to my level indicating how much experience I had and how much I needed for level two (a common thing in these systems). Unfortunately, this time nothing happened either.
To confirm my understanding, I went and added my secondary well for the Vestigial Propulsion skill and it appeared. Then I tried moving it to appear next to my mana stat, and that also worked.
Then, I reorganized my skills in alphabetical order. Then I organized them in reverse alphabetical order. More and more, I tried different things to push what was possible.
I thought about what I could do to push the interface even further, and the obvious answer came quickly–could I merge my status screen into a notification box? As an added bonus, having everything appear as a nice table would please my old corporate worker sensibilities. So I did what anyone who knew how to make a spreadsheet did: I opened an empty note, built in some lines to give it a nice format, and then individually pulled each piece of information in my status into an appropriate cell in the sheet. But even that wasn’t enough, so I took the memory of seeing a notification screen and willed that feature into the new status. There was some resistance, but with enough pressure, it took and the note disappeared as everything clicked into place.
I brought up my new status screen.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 28.664%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.7675%; text-align: center" colspan="2">Necromancer''s Gorge Dungeon</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Level</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Demesne Points</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Mana</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">52/100</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Supp. Mana</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">0/10 (Vestigial Propulsion)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Mana Regen</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">2/day</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.7675%; text-align: center" colspan="2">Traits</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Outworlder</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.7675%; text-align: center" colspan="2">Skills</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Absorption</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Demesne</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Demesne Interface</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Landscape</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Tenebrous Portal</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Trap Creation</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">Vestigial Propulsion</td>
<td style="width: 49.8838%; text-align: center">2</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
That looked much better!--and I immediately after got another skill-up for it too. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Changing tack, one of the other things I had thought a lot about was the fact that I had not leveled up yet. I was not idle and had already gained a lot of skill levels, expanded my demesne, and engaged in a bunch of experiments. Despite this, I was still only level one and the system refused to let me know how far I had to go.
I suspected that the means to gain levels was to either have delvers present within my demesne or kill delvers outright. So, I needed to build an actual dungeon and make it accessible (with only half of my mana left). However, before I did any of that, I had one more thing I needed to do: spend my demesne points.
As a gamer, my first instinct was to hoard them as the most precious resource I had. My second instinct was to use them only on the most effective system mechanics to maximize their impact. The answer already seemed obvious to me–I would be best served by increasing my mana generation. More mana meant a bigger dungeon, more monsters, more traps, more everything.
Thus, I was fully committed to spending my DP to increase my mana generation and yet I remained hesitant to pull the trigger. The reason was the same as many of my other problems–a lack of information. I was convinced that the system, parsimonious as it was, would give me the absolute minimum in bonus mana generation.
But what if I really tried to game the system. In other words, I put my DP into something that seemed balanced, but over the long term would be extremely good or even “OP.” Now, anything in my status that I could use them on probably would not give me such a benefit, except for one thing. During my ruminations, I had wondered about traits. When I woke up in this world, I already had one, “Outworlder.” The natural implication of having a trait was that there must be other traits. And if there are other traits, it may be possible to outright buy a new trait.
I already had the model for what I wanted the trait to do. Instead of boosting my mana generation now, I wanted a trait that would boost my mana generation every time I leveled. Pay now, rewards later–it would be totally fair, right?
Yes, I had completely convinced myself of its fairness.
I focused on the trait section of my status and willed my spending my DP on a new trait. Weirdly, my status seemed almost incorporeal to my intent, as if I was pushing through it, rather than interacting with it like before. This was a good sign! I wasn’t being outright denied; I just had to figure out the proper method.
Perhaps a trait couldn’t be bought through the status because it wasn’t related to the interface itself or anything there, like skills. After all, my Outworlder trait likely preceded the system and interface. Perhaps it was something that arose out of the essence of my being, even my soul.
So instead of focusing on my status, I focused on myself. This should seem to be impossible–what person can look inside their own body–but my core was inside my demesne, which meant it was subject to my senses. I also knew from my experience with Propulsion that I had some internal features.
I zeroed my senses onto my core and started trying to push into it, to feel my core and develop a deeper understanding of its physicality. I poked and prodded and pushed at my core and began to feel out its nature. And it worked, I began to gain some simple insights into my core.
My core was not a completely solid crystal or mass of magical stone. It seemed as if it was slightly permeable (perhaps to let mana in?). I tried to push my demesne through this outer membrane of my core, but it felt like I was pushing against a steel door. Pushing harder only made the strain stronger, with not a single iota of progress.
But I did notice something. I had felt something coming out of my core, as if escaping like a small puff of gas. I closely monitored the edge of my core and waited until I felt it happen again. I kept monitoring and the leaks kept happening at a consistent pace. I think I was leaking mana! I checked my status screen, but it was not showing any loss of mana.
Perhaps my problem wasn’t losing mana, but with storing mana. The next time mana was about to be expelled, I tried to focus on wrapping my core in a barrier in order to keep the mana inside. However, the mana expelled just like it had before. Since I was fairly certain the mana was not coming from my internal reservoir and since creating a barrier didn’t push into my mana well either, I decided to try redirecting the flow mana towards my internal mana well. This time, I imagine the mana circulating inside me and rushing towards my mana well.
Oh! I forgot about using my points. So I imagined a sort of “v” shaped drain that would attach to my mana well, both catching any excess mana and redirecting it to the proper storage place. At the same time, I willed one of my demesne points to be spent to manifest the changes to my core.
I felt an intense pain within myself building up but I maintained my focus. Then one of my DP disappeared, but I knew I had to keep going to finish. Then the pain got worse and my last DP went away too!
Suddenly, everything stopped. The pain went away. My focus broke. And then two notifications popped to the fore at the same time:
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 25.8953%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">?Missing Parameter Fault. Resolving . . .</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 25.8953%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">Resolution Denied.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Like someone who just realized he accidentally deleted his thesis, I felt like my stomach had dropped from my body. I willed away the ominous notifications to look at my–
The notifications didn’t go away.
I tried to swipe them away, close them, anything, but they refused to budge.
Worried, I quickly went to bring up my status screen, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring up any screen, status, or even my notes.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
In a pique of paranoia, I went to expand my demesne and realized I couldn’t even do that. Create a skeleton? Nope. A stone door? Bupkis. More moss? Nada.
Nothing worked!
Oh, the moss clock still worked.
I think I broke the system. And there was no one to fix it!
But–but with computers often the easiest solution was a simple reboot! REBOOT! REBOOT!!
I tried to get a reboot for almost five minutes, but nothing changed.
I had no dungeon; I had no monsters or traps or anything to protect me but a plugged well and a collapsed staircase. I was royally screwed!
I kept trying everything I could think of, then repeated them over again in different ways or as forcefully as I could. But “Resolution Denied” continued to mock me.
. . . .
Forty-two minutes, twenty-four seconds elapsed when the stuck system messages disappeared, only to be replaced with a series of strange messages.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 19.1365%; background-color: rgba(45, 194, 107, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">Intervention Accepted.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 25.5696%; background-color: rgba(2, 2, 2, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">Intervention D?????????????????????????e????????????????n???????????????i????????????????e??????????????????????d???????????????????????.?????????????????????? A??????????????c????????????c????????????e???????????????????p???????????????t???????????e???????????????????d??????????.?????????? Accepted.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 19.7065%; background-color: rgba(224, 62, 45, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">Intervention Accepted.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
As unusual as those messages were, it was the next one that came shortly after that that knocked me off my proverbial feet:
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 36.6443%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">Multiple Interventions Accepted. Choose Applied Resolution:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(45, 194, 107, 1); text-align: center">The Hunter</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(2, 2, 2, 1); text-align: center">The Warlock</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(224, 62, 45, 1); text-align: center">The Builder</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>