Terse Elements

_ Failure to Repel Intruder Group. No Experience Awarded _

_ Significant Battle Debris Detected. Absorb? Yes/No _

_ Random Selection. “No” Selected _

After the hill lord and his cousin left the dungeon, the dungeon core vine slowly returned to normal. The loss of the dominated spider caused pain in a way that plant instincts could not readily handle, but the loss of a “branch” of the vine was an ordinary source of stress and the plant reallocated mana to support the remainder of its body across the worldlets. All over the dungeon, leaves regrew, and fruit dropped to spawn new creatures. It was a slow process. Many of the spawn from the acid vine gained the acid spray mutation, though it remained rare from the other vines.

The dungeon vine had a strong suite of plant senses that were augmented with dungeon core senses. Data from these senses flowed continually into the dungeon core mind where it was read by only two things: the plant instincts inherited by the dungeon core, and the System. The System was able to infer the presence of intruders more accurately than any mortal mind could, but neither the System nor the core could detect the human that entered the dungeon two days after Andebert and Oz left. The human made no sound, gave off no smell, had a diminished mana presence, and had somehow muted their electromagnetic self. The dungeon creatures had no chance to detect the human aside from bumping into them blindly, but the human effortlessly wove around the few creatures that had respawned in the main worldlet.

The human walked a circle around the main vine body that hid the dungeon core (and the dungeon fairy), then followed one of the main vines into the delta worldlet. The human observed the worldlet for a time, then drew a stiletto dagger and stabbed a louse. The human put the dead louse in a sack and gently stepped around on the sand, looking for more. There were only two lice in the delta worldlet, so the human returned to the main worldlet and followed a different main vine to the sauna worldlet. The human staggered briefly in the heat and mud, before continuing their hunt for lice. There were a handful of lice in the sauna worldlet, and the human harvested them quickly.

Back in the main worldlet, the human placed two small devices on either side of the main vine body before returning to stand in front of the exit. They extended their arms out to the two devices and took a deep breath. A pulse of mana went out from the devices and echoed around the dungeon. The pulses returned to the two devices after a minute, and the human seemed satisfied. The System detected the spell but wasn’t able to determine the exact source of the spell. Without a better explanation, the System attributed it to the dungeon core.

_ Spell Unlocked: “Greater Detect” _

As the human stepped back out through the exit, the two devices crumbled to dust. Outside, the human stomped a pair of tiles into the ground just in front of the dungeon doorway. Runes on the tiles flashed white for a moment, and the System detected a change.

_ Entrance Feature Unlocked: “Pest Ward”. Description: A ward against common pests such as mice, lice, fleas, mosquitos, and ants _

The next day, Oz entered the dungeon alone. In addition to his spear, he wore tan leather greaves and bracers and carried a shoulder bag embroidered with an image of a fort on a hill. Oz stood in a ready stance with spear in both hands as he waited for a response from the dungeon creatures.

_ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:

Attack

Claim (Unlikely)

Dominate (Unlikely)

Ignore

_

_ Random Selection: “Attack” selected _

A dozen dungeon creatures turned and advanced on Oz. Two of the creatures had the blue water alignment mutation and they send loose streams of water at Oz. Oz sidestepped the sprays and swung at a jellyfish with his spear. The jellyfish burst under his strike and some jelly landed on Oz’s cheek. Fortunately, another spray of water from the blue creatures struck Oz in the face and cleaned the jelly off. Oz yelped and swiped at his eyes, taking a step back and resetting his spear and stance. He jabbed his spear at a frog, then swept the spear in a semi-circle along the ground. This movement pushed aside several millipedes and opened a gap in the advancing creatures. Oz quickly stepped through the gap and into more open space. Oz was no longer surrounded by creatures, but he also no longer had a quick means of escape.

“Come and try again you rotten bugs!” Oz yelled. He reversed his spear grip and began stabbing at millipedes and beetles on the ground. Some of the beetles were large enough that the spear passed through them and picked them up like meat on a skewer. Oz heard a click and then buzzing that told him that at least one beetle had taken to the air. Keeping an eye on the creatures on the ground, Oz located the flying beetle and swung his spear at it. The beetle was a bit further than the spearman estimated, but a couple beetle carcasses slipped off the spear and clipped the flying beetle. The beetle tumbled in midair for a moment before righting itself, just in time for Oz’s second swing to connect. A frog’s tongue lashed out and crushed Oz’s hand against the spear haft. Oz screamed as he felt a bone snap but managed to reset his stance and push a spear thrust through the eye of the frog. The biggest creatures were all dead at this point and Oz took only a few more moments to kill the rest of the attacking wave one-handed.

Oz took a few minutes to catch his breath as he cradled his broken hand against his chest. “Burn my bones, burn my bones, peaking blight! Ow!” The bone had not pierced the skin, so Oz took a deep breath and levered the opposite thumb into his palm to set the bone. He released his breath in a stream of obscenities. Looking around for a splint, Oz remembered that was still in the dungeon and had not completed his task. He took a small clay tablet and a scribe from the bag and balanced the tablet with the arm above his broken hand. Oz walked around the dead creatures and carefully tallied up the different kinds. Putting the tablet back in the bag, Oz tried to replicate the careful search for hidden creatures that he had watched Andebert perform. Oz’s perception was high, but not sufficient to prevent another water spray to the face and a bite that was easily stopped by his greaves. After adding another couple of tallies to the tablet, Oz walked the perimeter again and marked a simple map with the three locations where a major vine went through a wobbly patch of air. He felt a bit smug that he had located one in a dark area behind the main vine body, one that his cousin Andy hadn’t mentioned and so presumably hadn’t noticed.

“Thank you, dungeon! Don’t blow yourself up trying to catch me, I’ll be back tomorrow for more bread and beer!” With that farewell, Oz left the dungeon.

_ Failure to Repel Intruder. No Experience Awarded _