《Samical the Dungeon Lord》


 A new start, A new Home, A new existence

    Samical found himself in a small cavern that was roughly 10 cubic meaters. It was dark, damp, and there was a slight breeze blowing from his right. The Dark was no consern he had long lived in the dark and the breeze while it felt diffrent to him then it used to was no consern. What bothered him was the damp.


    "I hate being wet - going to have to do something about that." Samical called upon his magic to pull the moister out of the air but found he could not.


    "What is this ? It is a simple spell I have knowen and used for a thousand years and on a thousand occasions"


    A voice spoke to Samical''s left which made him start becasue he had not before noticed the small being there.


    "I am sorry master but you have lost all powers from your past existence. I am your guide for this new one please let me help you aclimate to your new life"


    "GONE... GONE how can my powers be gone? I have spent eons learning and studying to get where I am and now you tell me its all GONE !!! "


    "I am sorry master but that is correct. In your current state you are not the being you once where though that may change one day. Right now you are what you would call a Dungeon Lord. You have been chosen to become what you are now and should you succeed in your un-named task you will be rewarded."


    "A dungeon lord... you mean ... wait no .... how? why ? "


    "My master it was by the power of the god of the undead that you were transformed, and his purposes can not be revealed at this time as you are restricted from that knowlege."


    Samical gathered his thoughts. "So if I am a dungeon lord I take it this is my dungeon ? Do you know how this works exactly ? "


    " I do my lord I am your adviser. I have been placed in your care by the god of the undead to assist you as you grow untill such time as you are deamed ready to head out on your own. I have within me all the knowlege about your new powers and needs. Think of me as your Tome of Understanding for all things dungeon related."


    "Well thats convenent. At least they didn''t leave me completely high and dry. OK ... hey what do I call you ?"


    "Call me as you wish my Lord I am yours."


    Samical sat in silence for a moment. You shale be my Lib since you are my walking Library. OK Lib - lets get started. What powers and abilities are at my disposal?"


    "Sir first we must make some choices these will dictate some of your abilities. Choice one what kind of dungeon will you be? You have been given more selections then most to start with please choose from the following options or ask about others if you have a strong argument for them they may be given. Your options are: Undead, Demons, Animals, Slimes, plants, elementals, kobolds, orcs, goblins, or constructs. Please feal free to ask questions if you need clairifcation"


    "So these are what I will be bound to forever? Can I not grow beyond a single type ?"


    "It is possible to grow and learn to be a dungeon with more then one type this is just your starting powers. How you use them what you learn and how you grow will determin everything else"


    Samical thought about these choices. He hated demons , animals slimes and plants were too basic on their own. Kobolds, ords, and goblins were too messy for his likeing. Undead was the logical choice for him but he knew that undead alone would not allow for the development he needed. "Is it possible to choose more then one ?"


    "Due to the nature of your conversion, your vast past life experience and your questioning of choices you have been grated the ability to choose 2, but one of these must be the undead. There is no way around this."Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Samical thought to himself . So undead and .... undead and ... what would be the best pairing ? Most people would say demons because both are evil but Samical knew better having been undead himself for so long. Elementals? Hmm... versitile , with inate magical abilities, paired with the mashal might of undead... yes that would do nicely I think. "I will choose Elementals and Undead"


    "Choice confermed transfering knowlege"


    Samical thought his head would explode, if he had a head, the amount of information puring into him would have knocked a moral unconsious if it didn''t kill them outright.


    "Choice two - pick twp starting trates. The are Monster alteration boon, luck adjustment, illusions, incressed monster wisdom, incressed Trap abilitys, Decrees, expanded evolution, and advanced growth. You must choose with no other knowlege in this case I can not provide anything due to restrictions"


    Samical mulled the choice over. Two choices but what to pick .... the expanded evolution and advnaced growth both sounded good but so did alteration boon and just about everything else. Well thought Samical always go with your first instinct given no information it is usualy right.


    "I will take expanded evolution and advanced growth"


    "Granted - transfering abilites. Master you have chosen wisely as He suspected. Now let us get started with the basics of your new existence. You will find in your current state that you have power over this room, the halway to your right and basicly everything in a single square kilometer centered on this room. You can with a thought modify the area using the ether that you gather. This same ether can be used to create beings. As you progress you will find that ether can be converted to other forms of power. "


    Samical expanded his vision to the point that it was like looking down on a map of his surroundings. The tunnel was half a kilometer long and at a slight downword angle from the outside. He could not see more then 10 feet past its enterance but what he saw lead him to beleave he was in a bog or swamp of some kind. Flexing his mental mussles Samical dug out a side tunnel to the main one. It curved out twenty feet and followed parallel to the original. Both tunnels arived at his room at the same place forcing anyone coming along to have to give way if someone was in the other tunnel as well. Both of the tunnels he shrunk in size so that they were bearly 5 feet accross and 5 feet high. After a seconds thought he also pushed back the wall on either side of the tunnel causing alcoves that couldn''t be seen from the tunnel enterance into his room.


    Samical inspected them. Good he thought, that will keep anyone with a massive build in discomfort as they tried to enter. Turning his attention to his room. Samical saw himself in that room. A Jet black floating crystal that came to a point on both ends. The length was square and about a foot long.


    Pulling his attention away from his new body he raised up the cealing to a hight of 20 feet and then raised a dias under himself so that he was 10 feet above the floor. Sinking the floor down around his Dias by five feet and pulling on the moister in the air he created a moat that was 3 feet accross and the 5 feet deep.


    Again good he thought. That will provide a simple obstical for now to keep people at bay... now for some inhabetents. Consentrating on the knowlege that was imparted to him about creatures he found it wanting. For undead he had the ability to create simple skeletons or zombies and these were lacking any kind of skills or powers that he was used to his creations having. The elementals were not much better being no more then sprites with similar abilities. This would not do - how could he defend himself with such limited minions.


    Samical though about it for a bit and desided to chose to start with Skeletons and water elementals. They would not harm each other and would work well with each other to defend him. With his limited powers he was able to create two basic skeletons and two water elementals. The elementals he placed in the moat hopeing that given thier nature they would be able to drown or at least hinder anyone stepping into the pool. The skeletons were placed in the two alcoves on either side of the entrance tunnel so as to attack anyone entering the room once they had moved past the point where they were standing.


    Just as he finished the minons and could feel his power being completely drained he felt something tickling the back of his mind. If he had arms he would have brushed his head to swat away whatever it was. But something was bothering him. Expanding his view again he spotted an intruder. It was only a small mouse but it was in his domain. Samical watched as the mouse moved down the tunnel. He saw it stop and look into the room and see him. Mice he knew liked shinny objects and he bet it was looking at his new form. As the mouse entered the room both of the skeletons reached out with bony hands grabbing it and tore it apart. Suddenly Samical got a new flux of information. This time about mice and rodents in general. It wasn''t much but it was something he also felt a slight gain to his depleated powers.


    So .. I can gain knowlege of things destoyed in here and they also feed me. Interesting I will have to test the limits of this. Later for now ... I must rest.

 Start of the Dungeon.

    Samical extended his thoughts again. He could feel power had seeped into him. It was aganizingly slow but would given time alow him to create even without any outside influx of mana. His skeletons where still standing in their alcoves and Lib was still at his side but the body of the mouse was gone.


    "Lib where is the mouses corpes ?"


    "You have absorbed it master.. when anything dies in your Dungeon you will absorb it completely. The knowlege to create it  as well as any mana it contained will pass to you immedietly but you will also recive the raw building blocks of it as well.  You will find if you search your thoughts you have a list of things ... for lack of a better understand say that they are in your invintory or stores."


    Samical searched his mind and found quickly what Lib was talking about. It was a sort of mental list but Samical knew that it was more then that now. It listed a resource and its quantitiy that he had at his disposal.


    Interesting Samical thought , so I can stock pile materials and mana to create with.


    "Lib what benifit does having these materials gain me since I can create things out of  pure mana like my current minions?"


    "Master the more physical material you have to incorperate into a being or space the less mana you will need. It will also allow you to create new things using mana to give them life or structure. In this way you can create unique things in this dungeon and don''t have to completely rely on things from the outside entering into your domain."


    Samical thought about this for a second. Going back to the list he looked it over again.


    Fur - 2 grams, Skin 3 grams, flesh(including mussle and organs) 3 grams, bones 3 grams.


    Not a lot to work with there but its a start.


    "Lib I know I can gain materials, mana, and knowlege of thigns killed in my dungeon... can my creations leave my dungeon to find and retreve things for me ?"


    "You can my lord but ... your creations can only be away from your domain for half of the time they have been in your service. SO your skeletons there have been created a day ago , they can exit the dungeon for 12 hours but after that time they will become enert and unless you can retreve them or expand your control to where they fall. All of the resorces used to create them will be lost. "


    "Well then I will just have to expand my control won''t I, what restrictions do I have for building my dungeon?"


    "Master in your current state you control only this this room the tunnel and a few feet of rock around those."


    "How can I exert my control over a larger area ?"


    "You must consintrate your thoughts on those areas and work at seeping your mana into them , you can also have your creations travel to those locations and disperse the mana they are created from, be warned if you have used materials to create them they will be lost."Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    So expanding was going to take time and a lot of mana. Samical thought about his situation for a while why his passive mana generation continued to gather him power. A thought occured to him and he acted on it to see the results.


    Reaching out with his mind he found his two skeletons, and gave them instructions. Right away both skeletons left their alcoves and moved to the wall oposite the tunnel and started to dig. It was slow going as they had no tools and bones alone didn''t assist much when digging but at least they didn''t have to dispose of the waste material. Samical just absorbed it greedaly as it came into his domain.


    Slowly the Skeletons were carving out a tunnel through the dirt and rocks.


    "The Rocks!!'' Samical cursed himself for not thinking of this earlier. "Lib can I craft tools as well ?"


    "Yes master anything you can think of can be created if you have sufficent mana and/or materials. "


    Samical checked his inventory. "Just enough for one" with a flex of his will Samical formed a stone pickax in the hand of one of his skeletons. That skeleton was able to carve out the tunnel much faster and was making great progress even in the areas of larger stones it could break off pieces of them and keep digging.


    Samical noticed a small tickle in his mind. Something had entered his dungeon and it was close. "How did it sneak up on me like that " Mentaly searching he discovered the intruder and it also answered his quesion of how. It was a night crawler earth worm that was in the pile of material the skeleton with the pick was creating. That skeleton had moved outside of his control area but as he had expanded into it he had noticed the worm before absorbing the dirt and stone.


    "Not much to learn there but still waste not want not, besides maybe I can find a use for a lowly worm. Sending a thought to the unarmed skeleton Samical had it pick up the night crawler and bring it into his room properly before squishing it. The life and materials gathered from the worm where almost nothing but Samical did learn how to create worms.


    A thought occured to Samical


    "Lib , how do I modify my creations and how much can I modify them ?"


    "Master all you must do is picture the modifications you want and as long as you have enough power and resources you can create it. Be warned there are limitations. 50% is the max modifcation that can be applyed to any being or object. This includes any and all modifications even if they are intangable such as intelegence."


    "Intelegence ... so I can make things smarter. Only 50%... is modificaiton beyond that possible ever?"


    "No master all modifications must be made to any particualr thing at 50% or less per modification"


    "O ... so if I modifyed something then say destroyed it and made a new one I could modify that new one 50% ?


    "Yes, master that is correct"


    Samical thought for a second one idea after another passing through his head. "THE WORMS!!!" Creating a simple night crawler Samical expanded its size. It wasn''t much to start with as the worm was a mear 3 inches long and about the thickness of his pinkie... well if he had a pinkie. Pushing mana, and flesh, and skin into the worm he as creating he expanded its width to about a thumb.  He let the worm riggle around for a few seconds letting its form solidify and then destroyed it , reabsorbing the materials, mana and the knowlege of how to make this larger worm and then repeated the proces expanding it again another 50%. He contiuned this cylce of creating, modifying , destroying and creating again for what seemed like an eternity. In actuality it took all of a week but by the time he was satisfied he had what he was calling a tunner borrer. It was a worm four feet long and a foot wide that could bore though soil and soft rocks.


    Having only enough reserves to make a second one Samical sent the pair off to dig him a tunnel leading out from his room and down at an angle. Samical watched them work and was proud of himself. This would make his dungeon much easier to carve out while still allowing him the mana and resorces from the worms leftovers.


    Again he was drained and needed to rest. But before he did he sent the skeletons back to their alcoves. Then he turned inword and fell into a deep medetation while his worms tunneled and bored though the ground.