Terse Elements

*bloop*

Before Oz returned the next day, the dungeon core vine pushed through to a new worldlet. A branch of the blue vine in the sauna worldlet had been pushing against the edge of the worldlet for days, but water and mana had been pulled away due to the death of the Dominated spider. The tip of the vine pushed through into the worldlet and sunk its roots into… nothing. Cold water surrounded the vine and a medium blue light illuminated silt drifting through the water. Small bubbles of air rose through the water and carved lines in the silt clouds.

The dungeon vine did not inherit its instincts from an underwater plant like kelp or even something halfway like a lotus, the instincts did not have a clear response to having one end of a vine, with roots and a bundle of leaves, stuck under water. The roots were able to draw in water and the leaves absorbed some light energy from the blue light, but the vine was also suffocating and cold. Spraying water out into water had no benefit and only stirred the silt clouds. The dungeon core vine struggled for a while, instincts fighting over pulling in water, pushing out water and mana, trying to cut off resources to the struggling area to let it die, and trying to grow leaves up and (presumably) out of the water.

The plant instincts of the dungeon vine were in conflict, so for the first time since the creation of the dungeon, the dungeon core instincts operated independently. Mana flowed separately from water and reinforced the struggling vine. Some of the mana got pulled back out as the plant instincts fought, but eventually there was enough mana for the System to notice.

_ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ‘Poison Berry Vine (Water Alignment (Spray))’:

Water Elemental

Air Bubble

Water Slime

Do Nothing

_

_ Random Selection: “Air Bubble” selected _

Mana pulsed and swirled in the drowning vine, then pushed outward in a sphere around the root bundle. Mana pushed the water back and left air behind. The vine changed color back from blue to green and the vine was suddenly in a situation more compatible with the dungeon core vine’s plant instincts. The roots and leaves hung in the middle of a bubble of air. As bubbles in the water merged with the bottom of the vine’s bubble, a new bubble of about the same size leaked out the top.

_ New Spawn Mutation Option Available: Air Bubble _

In the acid raid worldlet, a dropped fruit spawned a jellyfish with an air bubble. The jellyfish floated up off the ground and drifted around. When the sideways rain hit the air bubble, it flowed around the bubble and dripped off the other side. The jellyfish undulated softly and drifted around the acid rain worldlet without being washed out into the stony worldlet. Later, a water-aligned bat would spawn in the sauna worldlet. The air bubble made it impossible for the bat to swim in the mud or cool off under the spraying water. The air bubble water bat died soon after it spawned.

When Oz came back the next day, the only change to his equipment was a splint around his broken hand. He once again stood ready with his spear.

_ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:

Attack

Claim (Unlikely)

Dominate (Unlikely)

Ignore

_

_ Random Selection: “Dominate” selected. Domination Failed _

_ Random Selection: “Ignore” selected _

Oz stood ready for half a minute before deciding that the dungeon creatures were not going to attack. “Roast me, maybe you learned your lesson about messing with the great and powerful Oz!” Oz shifted his spear grip and stalked over to a beetle. He set his feet and pinned the beetle to the ground. With eyes and ears wide, Oz watched for any response from the other creatures. Nothing. Oz kicked the beetle of his spear and stalked over to his next victim. As it had only been one day, and the dungeon had spent significant mana on the mutation of the vine in the underwater worldlet, there were very few creatures in the main worldlet. Oz finished them off and marked tallies on a new tablet for the creatures present. With his task apparently done, Oz sat near the entrance and pulled out a fruit to eat while he watched for any change in the dungeon. The System noticed the fruit and took a moment to cross-reference it against the dungeon core vine’s capabilities.

_ Spawn Unlocked: Apricot tree _

In the delta worldlet, a vine fruit dropped to the ground and sprouted an apricot sapling.

Oz brought more humans with him when he returned five days later. They came armed and also with traps of a sort. The dungeon creatures attacked, and the human group killed them quickly, but the humans used the traps to catch all the blue water-aligned creatures. There were only five blue creatures, but that was one higher than they had estimated.

“It is strange,” Oz said as he marked tallies on a tablet, “the dungeon has attacked me thrice, but I’ve been in here five times. Six maybe.”

“What happened the other times?” said a woman wielding a mace.

“The bugs mostly ignored us. They would still sting and bite but no different than a natural bug. By the elven queen, if you found a louse the size of your fist out in the forest, you wouldn’t be shocked if it tried to bite you. Nothing strange about that, you understand me?” Oz finished his tally and put the tablet away.

The woman looked skeptical. “Were they trying to ambush you?”

Oz shook his head. “No, they just crawled about in the leaves like regular bugs. Look you can see there are regular bugs in here.” Oz used his spear to flip a pile of fallen leaves. Multiple small millipedes were revealed, and they began moving their tiny legs as fast as they could to get back under darkness. “They acted just like that the first time I was here.” No one had much to say about that. “Well, time to look in on the other floors, then!” Oz grinned and readied his spear.

The woman took the lead towards the left side portal. Oz’s shoulders slumped at not being the leader, but he made a mighty effort to not slouch after the woman. The woman checked that Oz was ready to follow, then stepped through the portal. Oz jumped in after her.