Terse Elements

Two more creatures of significance entered the dungeon shortly after the creation of the dark worldlet. The first creature was an unfortunate snake that got the eye mutation applied to every one of its scales before it was banished back to the forest. It is unlikely the snake survived long before it’s death, but the snake definitely saw it coming. The second creature of significance was a wounded goblin.

_ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:

Attack

Claim (Unlikely)

Dominate (Unlikely)

Ignore

_

After the regular delay, the System turned to the dungeon fairy.

_ ‘Randomize All’ Not Recommended _

The fairy shifted a little as though an invisible foot had kicked it in the side but otherwise didn’t react.

_ Random Selection: “Ignore” selected _

The goblin looked around at the large vines and the odd blue critters crawling over the leaves. The goblin was short, green, dressed in torn hide clothing, and bleeding from a bite on its calf. It shuffled carefully behind a dense bundle of vine and blended in quite well, practically disappearing. The goblin held its bleeding leg with one hand and scratched at a flea with the other.

_ Additional Intruders Detected. Select Automated Response:

Absorb

Banish

Mutate

Claim

Dominate

Ignore

_

_ Random Selection ‘Banish’ selected _

The goblin relaxed a bit as the irritation from the fleas disappeared. It wrapped its leg with some torn hide and vine, then lay down to rest, falling asleep quickly. While it slept, it scratched at its head.

_ Additional Intruders Detected. Select Automated Response:

Absorb

Banish

Mutate

Claim

Dominate

Ignore

_

_ Random Selection ‘Claim’ selected _

The lice on the goblin received their own complicated pulse of mana from the dungeon core and began to absorb mana from the air. Since the goblin’s blood held no absorbable mana, the lice paused feeding and held still as they slowly grew to the size of large mice. Once their changes stabilized, the lice, all in unison, spread out and jabbed their mouthparts into the goblin.

The goblin woke up screaming and thrashing at its own body. The lice dug their claws in to avoid being dislodged, causing more pain to the goblin. The goblin tried to rise to its feet and run to the exit and away from this painful strange cave, but it was disoriented and could barely see due to a louse on its face. The lice were sucking goblin blood as fast as they could when the goblin tripped on a millipede and hit the ground. The goblin yanked the louse off its face and tried to stand again, but it was weak. The lice had nearly turned red from the blood they had consumed, and the goblin’s injury was freshly bleeding. The goblin began to crawn toward the exit but each body length it crawled, it also slowed. The goblin passed out and, just as the lice drank in the maximum they could hold, died of blood loss.

_ Successfully Defeated Intruder. Experience Awarded _

_ Core Level Increased to 2. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _

_ Select Dungeon Reward:

New Material

Unlock Spawn

Unlock Treasure

Entrance Feature

_

_ Random Selection: “Unlock Spawn” Selected. Select From Available Spawn: … _

_ Random Selection: “Lesser Floating Jellyfish” _

Shortly after the death of the goblin, a large amount of mana flowed into the dungeon core vine. Every vine stretched and pushed out more leaves and roots. In the main worldlet, a fruit fell from the dungeon vine and bounced off a frog’s head. The skin of the fruit unwrapped and revealed a small jellyfish, floating off the ground. The frog shot it’s tongue out at the jellyfish. Moments later, with a soft undulation, the jellyfish drifted away from the frog as it thrashed on the ground, pawing at its own tongue.

Few mammals entered the dungeon, and fewer still established a foothold for their kind. A few bats found the dungeon every night, but they mostly flew out again without interference from the dungeon. Bats claimed by the dungeon would no longer choose to leave it and survived on mana and catching beetles. A few bats got the water spray mutation and became water-aligned; this resulted in a very odd creature with wings that could not fly. Water bats struggled in the dungeon but were able to survive in the mud of the sauna worldlet where they would snap beetles off the surface like little mammalian sharks.

A wolf briefly visited the dungeon. Perhaps the wolf had tracked the blood trail of the goblin to the entrance. As a higher life form, the wolf could not be absorbed and resisted being claimed. The randomly selected response was for the dungeon to attack the wolf. Several millipedes close to the entrance shot streams of water at the wolf and several beetles crawl over the wolf’s paws and try to bite through the fur. The wolf whined in a confused manner and shook its paws to knock off the large beetles. The wolf bent down to bite at some of the millipedes but left off after crunching a couple in half. The wolf then raised its head right into the path of the floating jellyfish. With a yelp of pain, the wolf turned and ran out of the dungeon.

_ Successfully Repelled Intruder. Experience Awarded _

*bloop*

In the delta worldlet, a vine had pushed far enough and firmly enough to create a new worldlet. The vine nearly missed sinking its roots down into the soil due to rain falling sideways; left to right. The cold rain nearly stopped the roots from reaching the ground, but the ground nearly killed the roots. The ground was composed of acidic peat with pools of rainwater that pulled acid from the peat to became acid water. The dungeon core vine sent huge amounts of water and mana in response to the acid burning the roots of the vine. On top of the stress from the rain and the acid, the light in the new worldlet would have been nearly blinding to a human, and the vine struggled to manage the influx of light energy through even a few leaves. The System detected the mana concentration in the vine and offered options.

_ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ‘Poison Berry Vine’:

Acid Resistance

Acid Slime

Acid Alignment

Do Nothing

_

_ Random Selection: “Acid Alignment” selected _

Once again, the mana pulsed and swirled. The vine turned slightly yellower, and the roots stopped withering.

_ Spawn Mutation Available: Lesser Floating Jellyfish (acid alignment) _

With the immense light energy flowing in from the acid rain worldlet, the frequency of spawn fruit increased. Acid floating jellyfish began to appear in each worldlet, though they were most commonly spawned from the acid-aligned vine. The sideways rain in the worldlet led to the new vine growth and all the jellyfish clumping up on one edge of the world. In very little time, compared to other new worldlets, the acid rain vine pushed through.

*bloop*

Roots of the acid aligned vine pushed into the ground. Slowly. The ground was solid, grey, weathered limestone, and it took time for the acid nature of the roots to dissolve stone to gain a purchase. The light in the stony worldlet was light grey, pairing with the grey stone. After the vine took root and started to expand, a shallow wave of water rushed over the ground. After a handful of seconds, the wave of water retreated, like a wave rushing back to the ocean.

The floating jellyfish had been pushed into the stony worldlet by the sideways rain immediately after the worldlet’s creation. The vine in the stony worldlet began spawning jellyfish as well, and the space quickly filled with a cloud of softly undulating stinging and acid jellyfish.