Wandering Dungeon

Chapter 5



"It should have been an apple right?" Garrett asked. Garrett and Blixie stared at the small seed both of them confused at why it was not an apple.

"You pictured an apple right?" Blixie asked.

"Yea. When I did I saw a green ghost like apple in front of me." Garrett replied timidly.

"Then you pushed your mana into that image?" Blixie was perplexed. This should have been a very easy for any dungeon to do.

"Yes. When I did the image of the apple slowly filled in until it looked like a real apple." Garrett said with a bit more confidence.

"Then why the hell did you create an apple seed instead of an apple!?" Blixie yelled."It should be a simple thing to create a copy of anything you have absorbed, unless it is enchanted. You would learn the enchantment of the item you absorbed but you would still only be able to make a copy of the base item. You would have to apply the enchantment yourself."

"I don't know but you don't have to yell at me for it. I'm still learning the basic things that every other dungeon is born knowing, remember?" Garrett said with a bit of bitterness and sadness in his voice.

Blixie looked at Garrett with a deep sigh. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm just frustrated that you are having these problems. I was just so excited to finally get assigned a dungeon to guide and hoped to just jump into the exciting parts." Blixie apologized."But you don't have to be so sarcastic with me." She finished with a huff.

Garrett stared at Blixie confused. "Thanks for the apology, but what do you mean by sarcastic?"

Blixie hung in the air slack jawed. "Are you asking me what sarcasm is?"

"If that is another word for sarcastic then yes." Garrett responded.

"That must be one of the memories that was lost." Blixie mumbled to herself. Blixie looked up and saw Garrett starting at her, which was a weird feeling since he didn't have eyes or a face in general. Blixie quickly waved it away. "Don't worry about it. It's not important."

"You said I lost memories right?" Garrett asked sadly. "How do I get them back?"

"Oh, right." Blixie said mournful. "You wouldn't remember losing your memories. Makes sense." Blixie perked up trying to change the dreary mood that had settled over them. "Well, when you die and your soul is placed into the dungeon core you lose some of your memories. Mostly those tied to human connections and ethics. Imagine how hard it would be to be a dungeon that doesn't want to kill to get stronger."

Garrett chuckled. "I think I can imagine that."

"Oops, I forgot that you don't want to kill people. We'll figure that out. Anyway, sometimes other memories are forgotten as well. Names of items, animals, sometimes even your own name. As far as I know there is no way to recover those memories either. Sorry Garrett."

They sat in silence for a while. Blixie gave Garrett time to come to terms with the new information and Garrett processed the loss of his memories. Suddenly Garrett spoke up quite cheerfully. "Well, since I can't remember what I have forgotten, I can't really be sad about the loss of what was lost. So let's just look forward to the new memories we will make and the new things we will learn."

Blixie was stunned with how fast Garrett came to terms with the loss of his memories. "That is a great attitude Garrett." Blixie said cheerfully. "Let's try making that apple again."

Garrett went through the steps of making another apple. He saw the green translucent apple, saw it fill with mana and become more solid, then tried placing the apple on the floor. Another apple seed appeared. Garrett grumbled with irritation and tried again. Another seed. He tried again. Another seed. He kept trying to make an apple altering his process a little bit each time, Blixie provided any knowledge she could. Everytime he finished only an apple seed would appear.

After about the twentieth seed Blixie spoke up. "Maybe it's part of being a dungeon that has access to all the elements."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I mentioned with your inability to create monsters, because you have access to all the elements you also have some restrictions. I want you to try something. Try making one of the crates that you absorbed."

"Alright. Give me a minute." Garrett focused on the image of a crate. He saw the ghost like image followed by slowly filling it with his mana. It took a bit longer than the apple did to finish and a bit more mana. When the image had fully filed up with mana he tried placing it on the ground. A small flash of light appeared then vanished same as before. What appeared on the ground was a tiny acorn.

"Just what I thought would happen." Blixie exclaimed.

"Could you please explain to me what is going on?" Garrett asked thoroughly confused.

"Well, normally dungeons can make a copy of anything they have absorbed but depending on the dungeons element some items are easier to create than others." Blixie paused to make sure Garrett was paying attention. "For example, fire element dungeons are great at creating weapons and armors but are horrible at getting any kind of normal plant to grow. A water element dungeon can make great potions but usually can only get water based plants like lotus flowers and kelp to grow, so forth and so on. Do you follow so far?"

"I believe so, but since I have access to all the elements I should be great at making anything right?"

"Eventually yes, but for now you can only make things from a very early or young phase it seems. Not great right now I agree but as you gain levels and grow stronger so too will your creations. If I'm right about this, even the monsters you summon in the future will start off in a infant like stage but will grow rapidly. I can't wait to see what you will get for your first monsters."

Garrett suddenly felt something new. A feeling of something not quite right, like something was out of place. He looked around and realized that his influence managed to reach the wall with the glowing blue mushrooms. He quickly flew off toward them with excitement and the possible gains he would get off of them.

Blixie stared after him. "Where are you going?" She flew after him curious at what would distract him so much from their conversation. As soon as she got near him she gasped in excitement. "So you can reach the mushrooms now. That is amazing. Garrett, this is so lucky for us."

"What are they Blixie? They are rather nice looking."

"They are called mana mushrooms Garrett. They are the main ingredient in mana potions and are highly sought after. They grow in very specific conditions so dungeons that can grow them are kind of rare but since you have access to all the elements you should have no problem growing them."

Garrett quickly absorbed them and learned about the various properties of the mushrooms. He quickly tried making some and placing them on the wall where the other ones were. He felt the mana being used and he could sense the mushroom spores settle on the wall but couldn't see them. "Hey Blixie, I know you said that what I make is going to be in a young state but is there anyway to make them grow faster?"

"Not that I know of." Blixie replied. "In my lessons they talked about how dungeons could mutate their monsters by infusing them with different types of mana but since dungeons normally create everything they need they never said anything about making things grow faster."

"You said that some dungeons can grow them though."

"There aren't really any useful mutations that can be made from them so the dungeons don't waste mana on them and just let them grow wild."

"Oh alright then." Garrett said sadly and slowly drifted around his small dungeon space periodically creating mana mushroom spores on the walls hoping they would grow quickly.

Blixie felt bad for Garrett. She knew his access to all elements would allow him to be a great dungeon someday but it must be hard for him since learning he can't make monsters or even items like a normal dungeon. Blixie suddenly got a great idea to cheer him up. "Hey Garrett I think you are forgetting there is one more thing dungeons can create."

"And what is that?" Garrett replied sadly still placing down mushroom spores.

"Traps." Blixie squealed with excitement. "I think you might like this part."

"Hopefully I can create those right."


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