Empress watched with impatience as the water drained away, the Saferoom was drained now, except for the pit in the center, which was still full of liquid. The hallways leading to the spawner room were half empty and were taking much longer than Empress thought it should. She knew why, of course, the storeroom was flooded and was running off into the spawner room, and the storeroom hallway was still full, without any signs of being drained naturally, because of its downwardness.
She was, overall, very excited, once her ants were freed from the ((SANCTUM)) she could finally mess around with her full ((MANA POOL)). There was nothing worse to a Dungeon than having the ability to expand but being unable to. It would only be a short while now…
Empress watched as the ants all crowded the exit to the ((SANCTUM)), crawling on the ceiling and walls making a squirming ring of bodies around the door, and letting out any number of unexplainable pheromones. Empress paid special attention to Saferoom and the injured ant, she was thinking of assigning her to the storeroom and naming her something like “Storer” or maybe “Stocker”- She didn’t know if the injured ant would be any good at it, but Saferoom had grown so attached to her that Empress didn’t feel like she could just stay as a normal colonist, plus, she was mostly crippled. The ((MANA INFUSION)) that she had given the ant had kept her alive and caused her wounds to heal over, but she was still scarred, missing two legs, and had very little feeling in one of her antennae, so Empress doubted that she would be useful doing anything strenuous.
The water much lower, but it was still high enough to be dangerous, it seemed silly to call it a Tempest at this point. Empress watched as the last remnants of the water slowly poured into the ((SANCTUM)), she forced her ants to wait until the only water in her ((DOMAIN)) was the flooded hallway, the pit in the Saferoom and some puddles. She looked one last time at the writhing excited mass that was her colony, and then she spoke.
“She says you may go.”
Instantly the large group of ants rushed forward, the guards trying their best to stop any tramplings, Empress laughed as she watched the gardeners frantically trying to fight against the sea of ants so they could stay in the moss hallway. The ants all clacked at the sound of her laughter. Empress found Builder in the crowd and followed her to the flooded hallway. She felt Builder’s dismay at the flood, she also noticed that there seemed to be… less, builders than before, several where gone and her ((CORE)) sunk for a moment before she forced herself back to the surface.
“Can you just ignore it, she wonders, and continue as planned? Leave the flooded hallway below the proper hallway? She says” Empress asked.
Builder clacked her mandibles and crawled onto one of the walls of the Storeroom, then she walked toward the flooded hallway, she tested the dirt in some places, she stopped where her crew had left off with a hint of melancholy, then she looked down at where the Tempest had burrowed into the earth.
Empress felt… affirmative, then confusion from Builder “It would be easier that way, she thinks, might cause a bit of a choke point she knows- what with only three sides for foot traffic, no more than the moss hallway does, but she thinks that the flooded hallway if she can keep it flooded like that, would be a good obstacle for the Adventurers, maybe she could even put a chest down there.
Affirmative, excitement. Empress bobbed her ((GAZE)) happily and watched for a moment as Builder rallied her crew, then Empress went to go find… Stocker, yes, she likes that one more. Stocker was lying on the ((SAFE_ROOM)) floor around her, and the ((SAFE_ROOM)) ants scurried around, smoothing out the divots in the walls, floors, and ceilings.
Empress looked closer at Stocker, her wounds looked mostly healed, and the ‘stitches’ that Saferoom had made had already begun to crumble, Empress wasn’t sure though, so she dipped into her ((MANAPOOL)) and quickly infused it into Stocker, the ant shivered, but her eyes seemed much clearer and Empress didn’t feel as bad about pinging her to go to the Storeroom.
Stocker stood up, slightly unsteadily, then she began to hobble over to the Storeroom. Empress followed her with her ((GAZE)) until she reached it, then Stocker made a squeak of dismay at the sight of the room, Empress winced. Builder glanced over from her perch on the roof of the hallway she clacked at a runner who had just entered the room, the runner let out confused pheromones, and Builder redoubled with her orders. The runner lowered her antenna and went to help Stocker.
Empress went to leave the Storeroom, but suddenly she felt strange like there was something far away that was just on the edge of her hearing. She spun around, looking for the source, it didn’t seem to be coming from anywhere, the noise grew louder, a high-pitched whine filled her ((DOMAIN)), and she began to flash through her rooms, nothing was out of order. The noise grew in volume and in pitch. The ants all stopped their tasks, their ears finally picking up the sound. It grew louder, and Empress wished she had a way to turn off her hearing, it reached a loud crescendo and for a moment Empress wondered if something was going to explode.
Then all was very, very quiet, and very, very still…
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE LEVELED UP!
+1X SPAWNER
+150 MANA
STATUS:
LV 2 DUNGEON
Name: Empress
EXP 0/290,042
Size: Small
Gender: Female
Gaze type: Light-based
Affinities: Ento, Water
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
YOU HAVE GAINED THE AFFINITY “WATER”!
INCREASED CHANCE FOR WATER-BASED EVOLUTIONS AND MUTATIONS IN YOUR COLONISTS.
+50% PROGRESSION TOWARD THE WATER AFFINITY IN ALL YOUR SPAWNERS
ALL OF YOUR COLONISTS CAN NOW SWIM.
INCREASED CHANCE FOR WATER-BASED EVOLUTIONS AND MUTATIONS IN YOUR NODES
INCREASED CHANCE TO GAIN WATER-BASED NODES AND SPAWNERS
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE ABILITY TO USE WATER-BASED ROOMS, TRAPS, AND DECORATIONS
THE COST OF SUMMONING WATER AND WATER-BASED ITEMS IS HIGHLY REDUCED.
ONE OF YOUR COLONISTS HAS LEVELED UP!
BASIC LV 2 ANT
STR: 3
CON: 4
INT: 9
WIZ: 4
DEX: 0
CHAR: 4
HP: 5/5
SELL
FORCE LEVEL UP
EVOLVE
GO TO SPAWNER?
GO TO ANT?
YOU HAVE GAINED THE SKILL MANA MANIPULATION LV 1 RANK 1
You can, to some extent, control mana around and inside you, has many uses.
YOU HAVE GAINED THE SKILL MANA INFUSION LV 1 RANK 1
You can, to some extent, infuse mana into objects and beings, has many uses.
Empress flinched and shot back, then squealed, then laughed awkwardly and read the text box silently, and with embarrassment.
“Infernal Blade.” She said aloud, her ants did not respond, each of them seemed to be looking at the empty air in front of them looking at their own ((MENU)) or something. She closed the box hesitantly, and then another quickly shot up in its place.
SELECT SPAWNER
<u>MOSQUITO</u> <u>DRAGONFLY</u>
A SMALL, FLYING, BLOODSUCKING A FAST AND COLORFUL INSECT THAT
INSECTS THAT CAN SPREAD DISEASE. HAS NO RELATION TO DRAGONS,
DUE TO CERTAIN SKILLS, WOULD DUE TO DUNGEON TOUCHED
HAVE THE MANA SYPHON SUBCLASS TRAIT, WOULD HAVE THE
GIGANTIC SIZE CLASS
Empress carefully read the two options, her second spawner… Dragonflies seemed interesting, the fact that they were fast was specifically pointed out, maybe they could work in tandem with the runners? They would also be gigantic- how big was gigantic? Would they fit in the tunnels? Could they be ridden? She shook her ((GAZE)) and tried to focus on mosquitoes… how would they spread disease- did she want disease in her ((DOMAIN)) If she got mosquitos, could she… turn it off somehow? What did ((MANA SYPHON)) mean? Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Empress bobbed her ((GAZE)), it was a choice between a safe option and an uncertain one. She tilted her ((GAZE)), her curiosity peaking, well, you never know. She selected Mosquito. The box closed and her ((GAZE)) vanished, suddenly she could see every inch of her ((DOMAIN)), except it was clothed in red, near her ((PRIME GAZE)) was a red pillar and a line of text above it reading,
PLACE CONDITION, SUBMERGED IN LIQUID (ANY)
Empress rolled her many eyes and pulled the spawner over to the Saferoom pond, it was still red.
SPAWNER CANNOT BE PLACED IN ROOM WITH SPECIAL CONDITION.
Empress hissed in frustration and focused on the Storeroom, the flooded hallway was lit up a bright green, Empress pulled the spawner into the deepest part of the hallway until it was fully underwater, then the spawner turned dark green.
PLACE SPAWNER
YES? NO?
Empress pressed ''YES?'' And her ((GAZE)) reverted to normal. She felt the spawner solidify and Empress floated over to it. She dove into the water, adjusting her ((GAZE))’s brightness as she sank. The spawner looked just like the ant spawner, maybe a little smaller, above it was a timer ticking down from 150. She waited for the timer to hit zero and out of the spawner popped five little wriggly worm things. Empress blinked in confusion, the worms began to swim toward the surface, once they reached the surface, they suddenly stayed very still and split open, then, five very small insects with translucent wings, light brown bodies, six lanky legs, and a strangely long nose, quickly matured and began to fly about the flooded hallway, barely above the water.
“Huh.” Empress said she thought that when the text box said ‘small’ it meant, maybe, half the size of an ant, she supposed that they did spawn five at a time and that their cooldown was only half the time as the ant spawner, but still.
Empress dove back down into the water and opened the ((STATUS)) of the mosquito spawner.
STATUS
LV 1 MANA SYPHON MOSQUITO SPAWNER
A spawner found in Dungeons; it spawns weak, but annoying mosquitos that can steal MP.
UNUSED STAT POINTS: 2
SIZE: 0.01
STR: 1
PWR: 1
INT: 1
DEF: 1
SPD: 6
AFFINITIES: NONE, EXPAND?
ALIGNMENT: PLEASE SELECT
TRAITS: DUNGEON-TOUCHED, MANA SYPHON
ASCEND CHANCE: .001
COOLDOWN: 150
Empress looked at the stats with dismay, she put both stat points in INT without much thought, why were they so fast but weak? She shrugged and opened the ((ALIGNMENT)) page
ALIGNMENT:
BENIGN CHALLENGING AGGRESSIVE FATAL
She shrugged and selected Aggressive- she could always change it later. Another round of mosquitos spawned and Empress was glad that they seemed to not wait for her orders as the ants did, there were just too many already.
Empress floated to the top of the flooded hallway, she felt the weight of her still mostly full ((MANA POOL)), even more now because she had leveled up and gained more mana… She stared at the hallway and ignoring the construction going on next to her, she activated the ((SYSTEM)).
It read her intention and instantly, little pop-up boxes appeared.
Where the water and the land met it said,
CONSTRUCT FLOODED ROTTEN WOOD STAIRCASE?
At the bottom of the hallway, behind the spawner, CONSTRUCT CHEST?
Directly above the lake, MAKE WATER SWAMPY?
On the surface of the lake. SUMMON BASIC UNDERGROUND LAKE NODE?
Empress looked at each of her choices, she saw the Node option, the price was absurd, even with the Tempest she only had half the amount, she selected the cheapest option instead ‘make water swampy’ and instantly the water swirled, it grew greenish, and blackish, it thickened and the water bubbled occasionally. Empress tilted her ((GAZE)) and bought the significantly pricier staircase option, it simply appeared, it was blackened and knotted wood, with crooked broken planks caked with mud, the wood had half rotted away and a plank floated up to the surface, the staircase went all the way down to the spawner. It was wonderful.
Empress wanted the chest, but what would she put in it? Dirt? She turned around and purchased a Rough mixed wood doorway in the entrance to the conjoining hallways. She floated around her ((DOMAIN)) and bought doorways for each of the entrances and exits. She bobbed happily as she built the doorway to the ((SANCTUM)) and saw the moss node had been replaced and moss had begun to appear in the wet ground.
Empress floated toward the Saferoom, and she was instantly assailed with upgrade notifications.
DRAIN POND
MAKE POND PERMANENT
MAKE MOSSY ROCK SLATE
MAKE MOSSY ROCK SEATS
CONSTRUCT ROUGH MIXED WOOD SIGN
MAKE WATER SWAMPY
MAKE WATER PURE
MAKE EMPTY FIRE PIT
MAKE DRIED BRAMBLE BED
CONSTRUCT ROUGH MIXED WOOD WALL SUPPORTS
CONSTRUCT ROUGH MIXED WOOD PANELING
CONSTRUCT FINE SAND FLOOR
CONSTRUCT STONE SUPPORTS
CONSTRUCT STONE WALLS
MAKE CHEST
CONSTRUCT ROUGH MIXED WOOD DOOR
CONSTRUCT UNLIT TORCHES
Empress blinked through her options quickly, first she bought the door, which quickly appeared connecting to the door frame, it was panels of wood tied together and separated into two sections, it didn’t quite reach the top of the doorway, or the bottom, there was no handle and the door was opened by pushing, on both sides of the door was a roughly carved symbol of an ant, she bought another one to cover the path to the spawner room. Next Empress purchased the fine sand floor. The wet muddy floor shimmered and turned a dark grey, until it became a soft and fine powder, almost black, it was loose, except around the pond, where it was hard-packed and solid. Saferoom and the nurses gaped in shock
Empress bobbed up and down… did she want the pond or not? It was certainly better than a hole in the ground. Empress purchased the ‘make pond permanent’ and the ‘make water purer’, she looked around the room, and it looked completely different. The door blocked light but it also gave the room a much more protected look, her ants had no trouble with the light or opening the door thankfully. The sand floor made the room much drier than most of her ((DOMAIN)) right now, next she bought the unlit torches, and empty campfire, sticks with blackened heads appeared, bound to the walls with vines and stone nails, a circle of stones with fine ashes inside appeared next to the pond, a few scattered pieces of wood also appeared around the Saferoom.
The pond was filled to the brim with sparkling clear water, it was still, but not stagnated Empress squinted at it and couldn’t see any of those weird tiny wriggly things, kind of like the mosquito larvae, but much, much smaller, strange.
Empress left the Saferoom, she still had about 2/3 of her ((MANA POOL)) left, she couldn’t decorate the entire room, and she knew that she needed to do something about the ((SANCTUM)), but would she use the rest of her ((MANA)) in the ant spawner room or in the Storeroom? She couldn’t decide, so she decided to start in the ((SANCTUM)).
The ((SANCTUM)) was terribly plain, except for the ((CORE)) at its center on its dirt pillar, there was nothing. Empress did not like that, this was her room, and she wanted it to be nice. She pulled up the upgrade list.
UPGRADE CORE PILLAR TO STONE
CONSTRUCT STONE WALL SUPPORTS
CONSTRUCT ROUGH MIXED WOOD WALL SUPPORTS
CHANGE FLOOR TO STONE
CHANGE WALLS TO STONE
CHANGE FLOOR TO ROUGH MIXED WOOD
CHANGE WALLS TO ROUGH MIXED WOOD
CREATE GRAND ROUGH MIXED WOOD DOOR
CREATE ROUGHLY CARVED PILLAR MURAL
CREATE SAND PATHWAY
CREATE LUMMI MOSS LIGHTS
CREATE UNLIT TORCHES
CREATE OFFERING TABLE
CREATE OFFERING BOWL
CREATE HANGING SIGN
CREATE SIGN
CREATE SMALL WALL FOUNTAINS ON EACH WALL
CREATE STONE STEP
Empress whistled, and she first bought the upgrade to her pillar, the pillar shifted from dirt to stone and expanded slightly, without the ((CORE)) atop it ever moving, Guard stood up quickly and looked around frantically, Empress calmed her with a whisper and continued. Next, she bought the pillar mural and watched as simple drawings of ants and mosquitos were carved into the rock. She bought the offering table and bowl and placed them next to the door but out of the way, the slightly uneven table materialized with a stone bowl atop it. Empress hung a sign that said “Alms” from the table.
She bought the stone pillar supports and eight huge stone towers formed, one in each corner of the room, but also four around the ((CORE)), they also were covered in carvings. She bought the sand pathway next, and it formed a slightly curved path to the ((CORE)), with a branch to the donation table. Empress floated back a bit to look at her work, then she glanced at her ((MANA POOL)) and bought the grand door. It appeared and it was much more even than the previous door, and it did not have any gaps, it also had much more ornate carvings of ants and mosquitos, in a ring around a teardrop. Guard nodded in approval.
Empress left the ((SANCTUM)), went through the moss hallway, and floated down toward the spawner room, she glanced at her ((MANA POOL)) and mentally shrugged, she would just use the rest of it here. She pulled up the options.
CREATE SAND PATH
CREATE STONE WALLS
CREATE ROUGH MIXED WOOD WALLS
CREATE STONE FLOOR
CREATE ROUGH MIXED WOOD FLOOR
CREATE ROUGH MIXED WOOD SUPPORT PILLARS
CREATE STONE SUPPORT PILLARS
CREATE ROUGH MIXED WOOD DOOR
CREATE ROUGHLY CARVED MURAL DEPICTING ANT PHYLA
CREATE UNLIT TORCHES
CREATE LUMMI MOSS LIGHTS
CREATE BASIC PRESSURE PLATE TRAP (MUST BE LINKED FOR ACTIVATION)
CREATE BASIC HIDDEN PITFALL
CREATE BASIC WOODEN SPIKES
CREATE BASIC UNLIT CAMPFIRE
Empress tilted her ((GAZE)), traps? She supposed it made sense to not be allowed any traps in the Saferoom and ((SANCTUM)), but why not in the flooded hallway? Did she not have any water traps unlocked? Did Empress want traps in the spawner room? She thought for a moment before deciding that she didn’t want to put her new spawns in danger.
So, what about the other things? She bought the door, which looked like the one in the safe room, but this time she bought three doors, one for each entrance, they each had different carvings, denoting what room they went to. She bought the mural, and her understanding pinged for the word ‘phyla’. The wall behind the spawner was instantly filled with carvings of, what Empress thought looked like her leader ants and their colonists. She bought the wooden support pillars and four barkless logs shored up the edges of the room.
She bought the sand pathway and it carved its way through the dirt, up to the spawner, and splitting to see the other rooms, the nameless leader ant was looking around wildly. Empress reached out to her mentally and she relaxed. Lastly, she bought the moss lights, four bundles of moss hung from dead branches of some tree hung from the ceiling like dim lanterns. Empress looked at her ((MANA POOL)) and bobbed up and down, she would need more ((MANA)) if she wanted to finish the rooms, but she was proud of the work she had done, she fed the rest of her ((MANA POOL)) into the spawner and it glowed brightly.
CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR LV 1 BASIC ANT SPAWNER HAS LEVELED UP!
LV 2 BASIC ANT SPAWNER
A spawner found in Dungeons; it spawns weak Ants without any specific classification that embodies the PERCEPTION of the species.
UNUSED STAT POINTS: 2
SIZE: 0.2
STR: 5
PWR: 2
INT: 2
DEF: 1
SPD: 3
AFFINITIES: NONE, EXPAND?
ALIGNMENT: CHALLENGING
TRAITS: DUNGEON-TOUCHED
ASCEND CHANCE: .002
COOLDOWN: 300
Nodding, Empress put the stat points into DEF and INT. Then she looked back at the box.
LV 2 BASIC ANT SPAWNER
A spawner found in Dungeons; it spawns weak Ants without any specific classification that embodies the PERCEPTION of the species.
UNUSED STAT POINTS: 0
SIZE: 0.2
STR: 5
PWR: 2
INT: 3
DEF: 2
SPD: 3
AFFINITIES: NONE, EXPAND?
ALIGNMENT: CHALLENGING
TRAITS: DUNGEON-TOUCHED
ASCEND CHANCE: .002
COOLDOWN: 300
“((EXPAND?))” she said.
AFFINITIES:
A classification for what type of MAGIC, SPAWNERS, NODES, EVOLUTIONS ((EXPAND?)) A being will receive. Fire affinity will gain fire resistance etc. To gain affinities, a being could have a deep understanding of the affinity, or gain the affinity due to species, location, or magical items and plants.
((LV 1 BASIC ANT SPAWNER)) can gain the affinities
ENTO: 67% (+50% due to Dungeon-Touched trait)
WATER: 50% (+50 due to Dungeon-Touched trait)
HEAL: 16%
PSY: 5%
FIRE: 0%
NATURE: 0%
ELEC: 0%
LIFE: 0%
DEATH: 0%
((EXPAND?))
Empress hummed in thought, then she closed the box, she turned to look toward the moss hallway…