Expansion

Almost as soon as I had the thought that I had to get to work, I was drawn up by the fact that my mana was actually rather low. I gave a quick pulse of meaning to Leira, Huntress, and Kyr, letting them know they could roam as they like, but not to kill each other. While I was fairly sure that if any of them managed to kill another the evolution would be incredible, I couldn’t afford to put everything into one place or creature.

The Delvers that had attacked just before had shown that a spread out, longer lasting defense is better. Having multiple powerful creatures had shown itself to be a good strategy.

Absentmindedly I watched Leira and Huntress establishing their dominance over both the underwater network and the aboveground network. I hesitated when I saw Kyr simply remaining in my core room. Quickly I realized that the same drive for food that drove Leira and Huntress, simply wasn’t there for Kyr.

Given his nature and his ability to sustain himself off of mana alone, he didn’t feel the same drive to hunt as my other two named creatures. I decided then and there that any creatures that came into the dungeon would be fought by Kyr, instead of any others. I didn’t want my oldest creature to fall behind the rest.

But more immediately, I could use his still newfound size. I quickly started messaging one of the lampreys I’d created in the tunnels, directing it to Huntress’ nest. As it got closer, I could feel the faint tinge of fear at what it was approaching. It exploded into a full-blown terror when Huntress slowly emerged from her nest, staring down the lamprey with disdain.

The terror only slightly subsided when I sent it pulses of calm and instructed Huntress to ignore the lamprey for the moment. I needed it for something, and I wanted to give Huntress a little bit of time instead of making her do it. Almost as soon as she got the message, she flicked a dismissive tentacle at the lamprey before launching herself through the waters. No doubt off to terrorize the tunnels once more.

The lamprey slowly and hesitantly made its way into her nest, moving slowly at my direction. It slowly calmed over time as it continued to not be suddenly struck down and eaten by Huntress. Eventually, it grabbed one of the elemental gems, the ruby. I kept letting incredibly small pulses of mana heal the slow singing heat that the gem exuded, slowly burning the lamprey’s tendrils.

Quickly, it began making its way back to the surface, where Kyr was waiting. It was a quick exchange, the ruby passing from tendrils to Kyr’s mouth. He then began making his way back towards the core room as the lamprey began swimming back down to pick up the next gem.

I’d noticed before that the citrine with Lightning-Attuned mana had been set aside slightly from the others. When I sent a small question about it to Huntress, the answer I got back was ever so slightly possessive. I felt a jolt of curiosity run through me at that.

Given that the only reasons I wanted the gems in my core room was because it was slightly easier to study up close, and because they’d be safer from Delvers, I didn’t see much harm in letting Huntress keep the citrine gem. I could still study it from a distance, just not as effectively. And if the nest of one of my most powerful creatures isn’t one of the safest places in my dungeon, then I don’t know where to put it instead.

Slowly, over the next fifteen minutes, Kyr and the nameless lamprey ferried all but the citrine gem to my core room. Seeing Huntress’s reaction to the citrine, I decided to test something.

I interrupted Leira’s hunting of a Stonecloak and had her make her way back to the core room. I watched with slight amusement as she easily leaped across the pitfall that had given the delvers so much trouble.

When she arrived back in sight of my core, I indicated one of the dark green emeralds to her. I wanted to see what she would think of the gem whose mana matched the natural magic she held. She cautiously padded over before sniffing it experimentally. A few moments later, she picked it up gently with her mouth, before cocking her head at me, as though asking permission. With a little amusement, and a lot of interest, I gave her the permission.

A moment later, I regretted it.

I watched, shocked as she simply swallowed it. I instantly readied what mana I had, in case I would need to heal her of anything. Instead, everything that happened, happened entirely on the magical spectrum. The sheer force of the mana suddenly being released making even my mana-vision cringe back for a moment, and making Kyr hiss and quickly slither onto the opposite side of the room from Leira.

From inside her, a sudden storm of Earth-Attuned mana exploded outwards, simultaneously mingling and merging, along with clashing and fighting with Leira’s internal Earth magic. I wanted to interfere badly, to try and reach in and help Leira in some way, but I hadn’t been studying the Earth-Attuned mana long enough to really understand how to.

Kyr simply hid behind my pillar while Leira mewled pitifully, the two forces of Earth magic clashing violently within her. Slowly, I could tell that her internal magic was starting to fail under the onslaught of sheer masses of mana. Finally, I couldn’t stay out of it anymore.

I threw almost all my remaining mana behind Leira’s magic, bolstering it even further beyond what she had normally. And just bare moments after that, the onslaught suddenly and abruptly ceased. I looked all over and through her body, trying to find a trace of the gem that had so suddenly seemed to attacked her.

Almost instantly, I saw it. Right in the center of her forehead, located between and above her eyes, was a dark green emerald. My mana-vision focused into my equivalent of a glare, examining every inch of the gem. I could still feel the masses and masses of Earth-Attuned mana that were contained within every last bit of the gem. Except.. Now they slowly flowed like and felt exactly the same as Leira’s own internal Earth magic.

I watched as she slowly stood herself up, glaring at the other emerald on the ground that she could see, quickly padding away from it and around the curve of the room.

Despite the seeming pain and danger from what had just happened, I could easily feel the incredible difference between the amount of magic she’d held before and now. Before where her internal flows of magic had seemed like thin lines that were intricately mapped throughout her body and concentrated in her claws. Now it felt like powerful rivers flowing through, being fed by the mountain spring of the gem. Oddly enough, that odd sense of mine that told me what my creatures were still told me she was an Adolescent Rock-Claw Lynx.

But just.. With a little something added. It seemed like she was slowly realizing the difference as well. She was slowly testing her claws on the ground, seeing how they were scoring across the stone ground. She pressed down heavier for a moment, the magically enhanced claws pushing into and cutting through the stone for a moment.

A few minutes passed of watching her closely, both her testing and just to make sure she wasn’t going to suddenly die. Finally, I decided it didn’t seem like she was in danger anymore. I was suddenly grateful that nothing had gone wrong while Kyr was transporting them, considering he’d carried them in his mouth.

A few minutes after that and a few more reassurances later, and Leira began making her way back up the tunnel, testing her claws against the stone the whole way there.

Once she was halfway through the tunnel, I had Kyr bring the other emerald closer to me. Even he was eyeing the gems with a new respect, his nature as a Mana Serpent no doubt helped him realize just how much mana was stored in each one.

I had very little mana left, and quite a bit of desire to carve the rest of the tunnels that would form the second floor. And so, it was time to test a theory of mine. I formed a slot into my pillar, havig Kyr press the emerald into it before growing the stone to hold it in place.

It was impossible to tell in the moment, but my theory was that when I shaped stone, I was actually turning my usually unattuned mana into Earth magic, and then using that to shape it. If that was true, then I might be able to use the second emerald as a sort of power boost, letting me carve and shape stone on a much larger scale, and potentially efficiently.

Nonetheless, I still had Kyr leave the room before I started trying. Almost reluctantly, after seeing what had happened with Leira, I reached out for the mass of Earth-Attuned mana. I could feel the strength of it, the rigidity and age of stone was an overpowering feeling.

Ever so slowly, I tried to access it, trying to take even a sliver for myself. And my small trickle of mana simply deflected away. Trying again, this time I tried to drill into the mana, trying to extract it that way. My mana simply was stopped cold.

Stopping for a moment, I instead examined it closely again. I grew frustrated as I realized it didn’t look or feel like I’d made even the smallest change to either the gem or to the mana within it. Examining it more closely, I just looked at the fractal patterns of Earth mana within it.

They flowed slowly, barely moving and with deliberation. Pattern after pattern, weaves of mana flows surging through and between each other. Watching it, I let my mana-vision focus in, coalescing more and more around the gem, showing it in more and more detail.

Slowly, almost without realizing it, I began to use a small amount of mana to push along one of the paths, following the flow of the Earth mana. I watched, almost trance-like, as my small thread of mana entangled itself with the flow, seeping into it. With anticipation, I slowly began to pull at my thread of mana, pulling it out and away from the gem.

I could see as the Earth mana split, and seemed to almost drip off of my thread. But slowly, small threads, small spirals of the Earth mana stayed attached, and I slowly began to gather more and more from the gem.

Pushing down a small burst of excitement, I focused on gathering the mana into a usable quantity. After almost thirty minutes of slow, careful manipulation, I felt ready to test.

The threads of mana made their way back up the long tunnel that the second floor consisted of. Eventually, when my focus reached the beginning of the tunnel, I began to start using the threads to carve into the stone. With little effort, the rock sloughed away, being ground into dust.

Applying more and more of the threads, the stone fell away, another tunnel forming, the beginnings of the labyrinth the second floor would become. Once I realized how little mana of my own I was actually using, I began using more and more, the tunnel expanding faster and faster. My own actual mana acting as a guiding force for the Earth mana I’d taken from the gem.

Eventually, after dozens of twists and turns, I let the second tunnel expand out into a larger cavern, what I planned to be a hub for almost a dozen tunnels entrances and exits. With growing excitement, I lost myself in the carving, pressing deeper and further and faster. Another tunnel expanded from the cavern hub, pressing out, twisting and turning.

Then another tunnel, and then another. The dark rock corridors spiraled left and right, up and down. Two of them intersected, providing another place to get lost within the maze. Slowly though, I began running out of my own mana to serve as a guiding force, along with the Earth mana I’d taken.

With reluctance, I began to slow my efforts, eventually stopping when one of the tunnels connected with another. I’d made sure to let five of the thirteen new tunnels intersect and collide with the first tunnel, the one that was the true path to my core. While thirteen tunnels, long, twisting, and near identical were confusing enough on their own, it was nowhere near what I would want in the end.

My goal for the second floor was almost a hundred individual tunnels, all interconnected and almost impossible to distinguish. But that would have to wait, as I slowly let the mana go, letting the miniscule remaining amount sink into the loose stone where I’d finished carving.

I pulled my attention back to myself, forcing myself to acknowledge how low on mana I was. For a moment, I almost regretted not choosing the Mana Regenerator evolution, but quickly reminded myself of the power Names brought. All I had to do was focus on the way Leira could now simply play with the Stonecloaks, where before she’d needed to actually hunt even just Rock Skorpions.

Huntress was of course, the unquestioned mistress of her domain, every creature in the waters respected her rule. I watched amusedly as she slunk back into her nest after a successful lamprey hunt, the creatures being the best source of food for her.

The Young Kraken-ling settled slowly into her nest, a tentacle flicking out occasionally to brush against the citrine gem she’d kept. For a long moment, I couldn’t decide why she had such a fascination with the Lightning mana filled gem. After a closer inspection, I figured it out.

Huntress hadn’t had any type of magic before, just sheer physical power. But as I looked at her now, after her naming and her elevation to a Young Kraken-ling instead of Infantile, I could tell that there was the beginnings of Water mana flowing within her.

She seemed to use it subconsciously, using it to help her move a little faster and easier in the water, letting her strike harder and faster. And everytime she brushed a tentacle across the gem, a small jolt of Lightning mana shot through the forming mana flows.

I watched, fascinated as the Lightning mana was almost imperceptibly, even to me, affecting the Water mana. I was the first to admit to myself that I had no clue what was happening in the interaction. The benefit Leira had gained from her own gem had been entirely accidental, and it seemed like there might be another accidental gain here.

I was so fascinated by the slow, so incredibly slow, changes happening over time with Huntress, that I was a little surprised when not one, but two messages announced themselves in my mind.

Your creature, a White-Scaled Glowmouth, has reached the threshold for evolution!

Please Select your desired evolution!

Giant White-Scaled Glowmouth (Common) : The White-Scaled Glowmouth is a common creature to be found underground, but also within the depths of the ocean. There, in those heavy depths, the small creatures can often grow to massive variants of themselves, the added mass and muscle helping them fend off more predators, but also consume more foods.

Flash Knifer (Uncommon) : The Flash Knifer is one of the most common and weak hostile waterborne species. The white-scaled fish measures a foot and a half from head to tail on average, and sports a thin, sharp horn. Unlike their more passive cousins, the White-Scaled Glowmouths, the Flash Knifer builds a stockpile of bioluminescent material and mixes it all at once, creating a bright, blinding flash. It then takes advantage of this blindness to stab their victim.

Awakener

None

The Glowmouth in question was.. disappointingly ordinary. It was simply floating within its pod, waiting for a Humming Flyant to fly just a little bit too close. At first, I thought to just automatically accept the more hostile version of the Glowmouth, and just be done with it. But then my thoughts strayed back to Huntress.

She was growing, and not slowly. Not soon, but eventually she wouldn’t be able to sustain herself solely off of the smaller fish I had now. I needed larger specimens… And I hoped to be able to fulfill a suspicion of mine. I had felt before that there was a way to learn the schema of a evolved creature, and I suspected that the answer might lie in the creatures breeding. If I chose the Giant option and then made it off-limits until another Glowmouth evolved, I should be able to test the theory.

So, I quickly selected the Giant White-Scaled Glowmouth. At the same time as it began emanating a powerful white light, so familiar now, I made sure my creatures knew that I had an eye on that fish in particular, and to let it live. For just a little bit, it would have few worries. With that done, I turned to the second message rolling through my mind.

Your creature, a Rock Skorpion, has reached the threshold for evolution!

Please Select your desired evolution!

Giant Rock Skorpion (Uncommon??) : The Rock Skorpion is an ambush predator, and little has changed with their larger brothers and sisters. Aside of course, from the size of their prey. Where the regular Rock Skorpion might consider some who fall for its disguise to be too large, the Giant Rock Skorpion will have no such thoughts.

Gladiator Skorpion (Rare) : Very few of the skorpion or scorpion families actively seek fights. However, the Gladiator Skorpion is a champion of them, having fought many times and somehow emerged the victor. Their carapaces are often scarred and damaged, yet they remain dangerous ever the same.

Awakener

None

I was starting to think that I’d been spoiled for choice in many of my previous options, given that these two only had two options each. Unfortunately, it seemed my title Awakener was doing awfully little as well. Unlike my choice with the Glowmouth however, I didn’t see much reason to debate this choice with myself. I would accept any and all rare options I could. Without hesitation, I selected the Gladiator Skorpion.

I waited until their glows subsided, gazing critically at their new forms. The Glowmouth was quite aptly described by its name. It appeared almost exactly as the smaller ones around it, simply larger. Unlike the average of six inches for the regular Glowmouth, the Giant variety had grown to almost two feet long.

The Gladiator on the other hand, it had undergone a surprising change. Before, it had been a beaten up, scarred, and vicious example of a Rock Skorpion. Thinking back, I could remember seeing it fight both other Rock Skorpions and Stone-Tailed Rats.

Once the glow subsided, I inspected it. The first thing I’d noticed, was that it was no longer the foot across specimen it had been before. Apparently it needed to be larger in order to fight more effectively, and so its main body was now three feet from mandibles to tail base, and a foot and a half across. It’s eight heavy legs were even more powerful and armored now, capable of striking on their own. The pincer claws were viciously sharp and heavy, I had no doubt they could slam through quite a lot.

More dangerous however, was its tail. It was nine feet from base to the start of its barbed stinger. The stinger alone was almost a foot long. Razor sharp, and with enough muscle behind it to slam through stone. Even I was impressed with its transformation.

Satisfied with their changes, I slowly let my mind relax, drifting slightly as I simply observed my dungeon and let my mana slowly regenerate.