MENU
STATUS ABILITIES HELP LOCKED REPUTATION OVERVIEW
STATUS:
LV 1 DUNGEON
Name: Empress
EXP 15/145021
Size: Small
Gender: Female
Gaze type: Light-based
Affinity: Ento
Class: none
Race: Dungeon
NODES: Lummi moss LV 2
Spawners: Basic Ant LV 1
Retainers: None
Alignment: _____
System message type: Glass based
Communication type: auditory
Spawner orientation: Visual
Traits: Introspective
Notoriety: 0
Fame: 0
Infamy: 0
Kills: 0
Re-reading her status for the third time, Empress tried to figure out what the new stats she had gained meant. ((FAME)) ((INFAMY)) ((TRAITS)). Her ((UNDERSTANDING)) was silent, despite its apparent buff.
“((FAME))”
“((INFAMY))”
Empress sighed,
“((TRAITS))”
TRAITS:
A faucet of one’s personality or being that affects your actions and thoughts.
Current Traits:
Introspective, you spend more time within your thoughts than without.
Colonist traits:
Dungeon-touched, Due to the influence of a Dungeon, the colonists grow both in mind and body.
((INTROSPECTIVE)) … Did she spend more time within her mind than without? Yes, she did, but was that a good thing or a bad thing? It would make her expand slower, she wasn’t constantly editing and improving her ((DOMAIN)), but she was learning so much, did it even out? She didn’t know, and strangely, she realized that she didn’t care, it was an interesting feeling, apathy. What was next? She still needed to look over ((REPUTATION)), but there were also still two other tabs she hadn’t checked out yet.
Empress hummed “((MENU))” A larger box appeared to the right of the first one. She thought for a moment, looking over the tabs, then she picked on at random, “((OVERVIEW))”
MENU
STATUS ABILITIES HELP LOCKED REPUTATION OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW:
A list of the CONCEPTS, PERCEPTIONS, …ECT that you have learned.
PERCEPTIONS:
CONCEPTS VICES LOCKED EMOTIONS FEELINGS OBJECTS
OTHER INFORMATION:
Gazes
Affinities
Classes
Races
Nodes
Retainers
Alignment
System
Spawners
Traits
Evolution
Ascending
Speaker
EXPAND?
She whistled as she looked at the list, she had heard of almost all the things on the short list, all but one. “((SPEAKER))”
SPEAKER:
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. A living being, usually not of dungeon origin, that is bound and, if necessary, uplifted, by a dungeon for the purpose of communicating the dungeon’s wishes to the bipedal populace. There can usually only be one Speaker at a time, although in some rare cases, there have been up to four Speakers at once. Unlike Retainers, or Contracted Monsters, Speakers do not respawn. Like Wards, Vassals and Protégé’s however, they do stop aging and can easily gain affinities held by their Dungeon.
Huh, she wondered if she would ever get something like that. She assumed that she would eventually, but right now it would be useless, as she had no bipeds to communicate with. She pressed ((EXPAND)), the box expanded to almost her entire field of vison, the words written on the box where small and hard to read at her current magnification, she zoomed in and skimmed the page looking for something that mentioned “aging”, only to realize it was scrollable. She blinked audibly in frustration, going back to the start of the box picking out the ones that had caught her interest.
ORC:
An occasionally extinct species of sentient bipeds, they are similar in appearance to Ogres, and even are compatible breeding partners, some say that the System sequenced their CODE from the same Child of Light. Their defining characteristics are long horns, akin to a dragon, and their aptitude for chronal magic.
CONTRACTED MONSTERS:
A monster not born of a dungeon that gains dungeon-monster status, these are usually smarter and stronger than average dungeon-monsters, only beings that are spawned, (not born), have a soul level that is at least a minor rank 2 (semi sentient), and must not have been created by a being that is still living, (other than the System) can be contracted.
Skimming a few more descriptions, Empress soon grew bored, ((OVERVIEW)) was just putting things she already knew into words, some of it was interesting, but others like the entry for ‘ant’ were useless. Perhaps in the future when she had existed for… however long she had existed, she would need a review. How was Empress going to tell time? She didn’t need to be able to gauge things yet, but a ‘short’ or ‘long’ amount of time could only get her so far.
She paused her exploration of the ((MENU)), her mind easily switching to the new and exciting task. What was something she could use as a basis for time?
She hummed happily and began to think, her ((BASIC ANT SPAWNER LV1)) had a cooldown but that was listed simply as ‘300’ but ‘300’ what, the length of time between ants was erratic, to say the least. She had almost twenty ants now, but the first couple more ‘aware’ ants, had been spawned fast than the newer ones. Empress blinked; it seemed like it ‘300’ wasn’t even a measurement of time. She bobbed over to the spawner, the ((MENU)) opened, and she stared hard at the box, it somehow gave too much and too little information. Empress let her humming stop, she knew that the spawner had what she needed somewhere, she just needed to figure out how to access it.
Closing the box, Empress mentally prodded the spawner, reaching out like she would to an ant, her ((UNDERSTANDING)) buzzed softly in the background. Strangely, the wall between her mind and the spawner was squishy and mailable, it was her first time experiencing the sensation and she recoiled from it. After a moment, her curiosity enflamed and she floated her ((GAZE)) closer while she steadied her mind and pushed on the barrier tentatively, she filched, expecting the enraged whirlwind like with the white forcefield, or to be quickly expelled like with the ant. Nothing happened, her mind gently pushed through the membrane. Suddenly, her ((GAZE)) seemed irrelevant, it was like she was seeing- really seeing- for the first time. The world went gold, the sea of ((MANA)) pulsed and flashed in trillions of numbers, ones, zeros, sevens, the ((CODE)) surrounded her, flowing past and through her mental projection. It was wound tightly in double helixes of pure magic.
Empress froze, the world, which before had seemed complicated and mysterious seemed to have been laid at the foot of her ((CORE)), each number whispered of the enormity of existence, and her own insignificance. What was her purpose? Why did she exist over another being in her place? Why was she Empress? Questions, pulsed through her ((CORE)) to the same rhythm of the spawner’s palpitations, the ((MANA)) grew thicker, coalescing into the center of the spawner. Empress followed, starstruck. The ((CODE)) began to swarm around the compressed ((MANA)).
The ((MANA)) flashed through the ((CODE)), the numbers began to glow with neon light, not gold, but green, an iridescent green that was entirely familiar, yet wholly alien. The ((CODE)) rearranged into the numerical words that she knew so well, but had never seen before.
SPAWNING LV 1 BASIC ANT
ROLLING FOR TRAITS
36/1192
LEADER TRAIT NOT FOUND.
SKILLED TRAIT NOT FOUND.
LOYAL TRAIT NOT FOUND.
GIANT TRAIT (SECRET) ASSIGNED
ROLLING FOR MUTATIONS…
5/20, NO MUTATIONS FOUND.
ASSIGNING GENDER FEMALE
ASSIGNING LV 1 DUNGEON-BRUTE PERSONALITY
LV 1 BASIC ANT SPAWNED
((MANA)) twisted until it took form, Empress watched the ant, she watched as the first zygote began to divide, she watched as the growth exploded, cells for chitin, organs, antennae, each unique and complicated, each working a specific task that accomplished the same goal, keep the ant alive. It wasn’t too different from how the ants worked for Empress. Childlike wonder and awe coursed through the ((DOMAIN)) for the first, and last, time, Empress was nothing more than a little girl, she wasn’t a dungeon, but a child. She watched the ((SYSTEM)) clone the ant with the same apt attention that a child gives their father when he is fixing their favorite toy, though his work completely incomprehensible to them. Suddenly something clicked, Empress blinked. The spell that had fallen over the dungeon broke. She knew how the spawner worked.
It seemed so obvious now, the spawner absorbed ((MANA)) from the air, and it turned it into an ant, that was why the ants spawned at different rates, it all depended on how much ((MANA)) was currently floating around. Her original goal of telling time came to the fore front of her mind. If Empress was able to stabilize the amount of ((MANA)), they would spawn every 300 not just when 300 had been collected. How could Empress do that? She pulled away from the spawner, her mind almost throbbing with thought.
The spawner used ambient ((MANA)), which kept her from overextending her ((MANA POOL)), but it wasn’t regular, and it severely lowered the amount of ants that would spawn, if the spawner could directly syphon ((MANA)) from her ((CORE)) … Her ((UNDERSTANDING)) pinged softly. Empress giggled.
She reached into the spawner again, this time forcing herself to identify the twisting ((CODE)) around her. She rooted around the golden ocean of ((MANA)) until she found what she had been looking for. The block of ((CODE)) was larger than most of the other ones, the ebony numbers glinted as she floated past them. She reached toward one, and for a moment it flashed a shimmering yellow against the golden background. The ((MANA)) drain was burning hot and she flinched back, letting the connection sever.
Empress looked at the wall of numbers, then she blinked, she squinted at them until they begrudgingly decoded themselves. Spreading out into neat lines of text, as they too, recognized her as the master of this ((DOMAIN)). Empress looked over the systematic, (which would be intelligible, so is not recorded here) she reached out and plucked a string of numbers from their perch, the words wriggled in fright, she examined them closer, careful to not activate the ((CODE)). She was dissatisfied and the ((CODE)) crumbled in her grasp.
The remaining lines shrunk slightly, almost by instinct she manipulated the ((CODE)), twisting and ripping, and using the fragments to create new dialogue. The spawner began to spin faster. Something clicked together and Empress hovered back from her work, the tug on her ((MANAPOOL)) increased, a soft but constant drizzle as the energy flowed from her and into the spawner. A flash of green burned it’s way through the sea of gold, it rushed toward her with inescapable speed. Empress screamed as she was enveloped in the mind of the ((SYSTEM))
Fire pulled her mind apart, each fraction of what was EMPRESS screamed, sensations that she should never have been able to feel, emotions that her kind could not replicate filled her being. She stood in the eyes of a man that floated in an endless ocean, he was not a man, however, but a tree, and the tree was filled with eyes. The tree covered all of Mazre, it was not Mazre, but everything on Mazre was the tree. She didn’t have time to dwell on the image, pain rocketed through her mind, it twisted like a hot knife, tears pricked the eyes of the tree and it began to rain. Then a voice spoke, and the words where like a calming balm that drew Empress back together again.
“-Oh Bartholomew, you really are quite silly.” The voice said,
“Maybe, maybe not.” Bartholomew replied. “I’m not any less silly than you.”
“Ah, but you are, my horns are larger than yours, mama said that means my brain is bigger too.” Lumina said,
“The size of the brain does not matter Lummi dearest, simply the quality of it.” Bartholomew said,
Lumina replied laughingly, but her voice grew faint, and Empress could not hear her words, instead it was replaced by the sterile coldness of the ((SYSTEM))
Your mind is unable to interface directly with the system at this stage in your development, please try again later.
Her very being was surgically retracted, it was torn piece by piece from the fractal realm she had momentarily inhabited. Thick twisting invisible cords of golden ((MANA)) braided together into a single writhing mass, returning to their original form. Slowly, Empress regained control of her thoughts. She tried to remember what had happened, but her mind could not process what she had seen, instead leaving the memory as a vague lingering sensation. The last piece of her being clicked into place. Her ((GAZE)) tingled and shuddered violently. She blinked rapidly as her vision returned.
Something was missing. A hollow feeling permeated the inner ring of her ((CORE)), she moved away from the spawner with a mixture of fear and disgust. What was wrong? What was missing? The world seemed dim, the rich and loamy browns and the deliberately carved caves couldn’t compare to the blinding oversaturated blur that had seared itself into her mind. She ached, it was a dull ache that didn’t come from her ((GAZE)) as the previous pains had, her ((CORE)) ached. Empress left the spawner room, slipping down the moss hallway and into the ((SANCTUM)). Empress looked at her ((CORE)), searching for the pain. her ((GAZE)) sunk, a crack had formed inside of the crystal, a small patch of darkness surrounded by golden light. The absence that she felt could be easily traced to the wound, she had lost part of herself. Physically, something was… just gone.
The strange ant sat perfectly still at the foot of the pedestal; she tilted her head in Empress’ direction. The ant was posed protectively, although there was little one ant could do if an enemy attacked. Empress still found her presence relaxing. She let out a sharp and bitter laugh. Nothing had come to attack her, and yet she had already been injured, she didn’t know what she had done wrong, the spawner had hurt her in a way she wasn’t sure was going to heal. She took a breath to calm herself, trying to ignore the ever-present ache.
She needed to do something with her life, she wondered what her purpose was, but she couldn’t think of any. To grow her mind, to expand her ((DOMAIN)), but why? She decided that it didn’t matter, Empress began to organize her thoughts, pushing the hazy memory away. She was not satisfied with her current existence, so she would improve it. Glancing toward the ant, she thought for a moment before speaking.
“Guard.”
The ant trembled, it wasn’t a ((COMMAND)), but it was something that held more power, a name.