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"pain, absorb, grow"
Instincts for growth, reinforcement, void claiming, and fruit production all stuttered into full activation. Pain sensations spiked as reinforced vine flesh held back the immense weight of mana.
"pain, absorb, grow"
Vortexes formed in the sensory floodwater as mental energy and mana drained into the foundational instincts. Large chunks of the broken instincts shifted and crashed together.
"pain, absorb, grow"
The sensory rain shifted slightly as dungeon vine roots broke through to the underworld. The shift was inconsequential but, right afterwards, some of the sensory pain was replaced by the intense sensation of mana flow. Worldlets trembled as the speed and volume of mana threatened to erode and rip the worldlets from existence. The sensations of pain subsided and the sensory rain gradually lost its red color, allowing the mirror light to shine through again. The drain of sensory floodwater slowed. The tips of the memory vine turned green with new growth.
A System message arrived, unnoticed in the torrent of sensory rain. The information bundle for the “Tree Spider Moon Cat” flowed into the dungeon mind space as a stream of mana and information. The stream pooled on the ground before taking the form of the nocturnal predator. The peafowl information bundle spotted the cat and reacted with avian panic, flapping wings and squawking in alarm. The bird''s panic flowed around the mushroom network.
The red rain flood had damaged the mushroom network. Many smaller connections had ruptured, but the connections that had seen the most use were still functioning. The wave of emotion and energy from the peafowl bundle sparked a reaction from the automatic dungeon defenses and the vine instincts to grow and drop fruit. Vortexes of sensory floodwater returned as ghostly branches appeared at various points over vine branches, redirecting additional mental energy to defense, growth, and repair.
As the floodwater drained into the foundational instincts, the volume of sensory rain lessened. The sensations of mana flow remained elevated, but not to the point of drowning out everything else. The ghostly raven returned, curious about the changes in the dungeon mind.
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"exit, loss, sorrow"
The ghostly raven cawed and croaked miserably. Many of the information bundles were unaffected by the mirror light spreading sorrow, but the mammals and the peafowl felt the weight. The energy moving through the mushroom network grew sluggish.
The tree spider moon cat spotted the ghostly raven. The raven perched on a high branch of the vine, but the moon cat saw a way it could sneak up there in the shadows. Moving silently behind leaves and across vines, the cat drew near. A ghostly branch appeared right in the cats face, startling it. The crow let out a tremendous caw of surprise and joy. The cat leapt at the raven, but the raven launched into the air and out of reach.
"entry, recognition, joy"
Green memory branches grew and incorporated the ghostly raven''s response of sorrow and joy. After two additional cycles of sorrow and joy, the ghostly raven disappeared.
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The dungeon mind space was quiet without the ghostly raven. The sensory rain continued to fall, fueling the growth of the vine. Mental energy flowed around the mushroom network, stimulating the most used instincts for defense and growth. The tree spider moon cat continued to hunt and “attack” the information bundles which were bound with mushroom network fibers. Occasional ghostly branches of memory appeared over vine branches, some dissipating, some sinking into the vine.
A pond of sensory water formed near the base of the memory vine. The red rain had shifted some of the shattered remains of the foundational instincts and formed a basin. Sensory rain dripped from the vine leaves above to fill the basin. A broken red vine branch floated in the pond. The branch had curled up on itself, forming a circle. Near the unbroken end of the vine, green new-growth began to form.
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The dungeon mind settled into an equilibrium. The memory vine absorbed sensory rain to fuel its growth. The moon cat constantly frightened the bound information bundles. The fear and caution in the mushroom network kept the dungeon defenses up and strong. System messages arrived regularly and new information bundles arrived in the mind space. Songbirds and an Owl flew around the mind space, avoiding the moon cat.
_ Intruder Detected: Elven Construct _
Another set of System messages entered the mind space. The sensations and mental energy were incorporated into the memory vine for a small bit of growth, but were otherwise inconsequential.
Hours later, a glowing green tick appeared at the edge of the mind space. After observing the surroundings for a time, the tick climbed up a nearby branch towards a singing woodlark.
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The looped branch floated on the pond in the dungeon mind space. Dozens of loops coiled around the original red loop. The loops compressed themselves down into the same space in order to follow the original circle, phasing through other loops in a physically impossible way. The loops seemed to churn in place, moving in and out of the layers of loops, but no individual loop made any movement. The looped branch was almost completely covered with ghostly light as ghostly memory branches flickered and overlapped constantly across the many loops.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Tendrils of white light sprouted from the light around the looped branch. The tendrils stretched out across the top of the pond toward the edges. The white light around the looped branch dimmed slowly as the tendrils reached further and further. A tendril reached the edge and wrapped around a mushroom network fiber. The light from the tendril seeped into the mushroom network. The other tendrils wrapped around various network fibers and the base of the memory vine. Mana and memories began to trickle through the tendrils and into the pale white loop. The light around the white loop grew stronger as it drank in energy from the network. The white light from the tendrils spread along network fibers and connected to the bound information bundles. Mental energy and instinctual reactions flowed smoothly into the loop.
One area of the network stopped supplying energy or information to the network. The white loop pulsed and pushed a bit of energy back into the network. Energy flowed back to the loop from all the bound bundles, but not from the new blank spot. The white light around the loop swelled in brightness and the loop broadcast "curiosity” along with the concept of the location of the blank spot in the network.
After a short time, mental energy flowed out of the blank network spot in a wave. The wave carried "fear" combined with the concepts for “green eyed owl, danger”. The white loop drank in the energy from the rabbit. The layers of loops churned again and the white light wavered up and down in brightness. A small pulse of fear” went down a tendril connected to the memory vine. Multiple ghostly branches appeared above memory vine branches. Several messages returned to the loop across the tendril: "danger, fear, hide”, "alarm, danger, defense”, "danger, fight!” The white loop churned for a time before broadcasting, "green owl, danger, fight”. A short time later, a new blank spot appeared in the mushroom network--the tortoise information bundle.
The white loop processed the last data it received from the tortoise before losing the connection, green bird, green tick, loss of connection”. The white light around the loop strengthened as the ghostly branches of the loop flashed and overlapped. The loop exchanged a few messages with the memory vine. Green \<creature\>" was near both danger and loss of connection.
The white loop felt a shadow pass through the tendrils it had grown across the surface of the pond. The tortoise had arrived near the loop and was wading into the pond. The loops sent a message to the memory vine about things in the pond but received nothing back. The loop processed.
"loss of connection, fear, green owl”
"green owl, danger, fight”
"green owl, green tick, loss of tortoise, tortoise in pond”
The loop altered its last command and broadcast, danger, fight, green tortoise”. The memory vine responded with a very recent memory fragment, danger, fight, loss of connection”. The loop processed this as the tortoise drew closer. The loop sensed the tree spider moon cat arrive and begin pacing around the shallow edge of the pond. The shadows of feathers and one whole bird splashed into the pond near the tortoise. The fight” command echoed faintly back to the loop from the cat and birds. The loop processed this too.
"loss of fight”
The cat and birds stopped harassing the approaching tortoise. When the tortoise arrived, the loop sensed something new. The feeling of tiny, piercing claws scrabbling around the outside of the layers of loops. The loop began to process this new sensation when a violating presence slammed into it. Aquamarine light spread through the loop layers like hot oil. The loop did not spend time processing its response to the aquamarine light--it reacted immediately by sending a stream of mental energy to wash out the aquamarine light. The aquamarine light did not wash away, however. Some of the mental energy clung to the aquamarine light and turned aquamarine also.
The aquamarine light drained something from the loop. The loop reacted with another wash of mental energy, but it couldn''t command as much mental energy as before. The correlation was clear: the drain from the aquamarine light would remove all the control over mental energy and the loop would be rendered inert. The layers of the loop began to churn as it processed the information it had on the situation.
The churning layers broke a few pieces off the aquamarine light. The loop pull on the mental energy nearby to wash away the broken pieces. A violating sensation of cutting briefly overwhelmed the loops control over mental energy. The energy flowed out of the loop in a burst. The loop grabbed at the mental energy to pull it inwards again. The aquamarine light continued to drain something from the loop, interfering with its control over mental energy.
"cutting, weakness"
The loop and the aquamarine light began a tug of war over control of the mental energy. The layers of the loop churned, trying to break apart the aquamarine light and destroy the attack. Mental energy around the loop fluctuated wildly. The draining sensation spiked. The loop felt something bubble up from its oldest layers, but couldn''t process it. A moment later, a strong message roared into the loop from outside.
"pain, absorb, grow"
The loop lost direct control over the mental energy. The layers of the loop churned faster than ever and the white light around the loop collapsed to a single ghostly branch, tinged red. The churning layers ground the aquamarine light into a hundred pieces, but couldn''t affect the core of the aquamarine light. The drain increased again and the pain grew.
"pain, absorb, grow"
Red layers absorbed the pieces of aquamarine light and grew. The more the draining sensation increased, the faster the red grew. The core of the aquamarine light thrashed at the layers around it, cutting and causing more pain. Red roots shot around the layers and stabbed into the aquamarine core. The core was shoved clear of the loop layers from the momentum of the red roots.
"pain, absorb, grow"
The red roots drained everything from the aquamarine core. When there was nothing left to absorb, the red roots dragged the empty husk down to the deepest layers of the loop. The churning of the loop layers slowed. White light spread across the loop and mental energy flowed as normal.