While waiting for the last 3 mana to trickle into my reserves I did some more tests with my Apparition. She was indeed capable of mimicking human speech but there was no intelligence behind her words. She probably only knew some phrases that attracted people, not fully understanding what they mean or imply. But after a while the robotic voice finally arrived.

*DUNGEON HAS REACHED REQUIREMENTS FOR LEVEL 3

*ACCESS TO SKILL “EXPANSION” GRANTED

*ACCESS TO SKILL “TERRAFORMING” GRANTED

Letting out a silent cheer I immediately pulled up the [Dungeon Status] to try out the new skills and view my new requirements for level 4. Depending on how much the mana costs increased waiting for level 5 to choose a tree could be a viable option.

Unnamed Dungeon Level 3

Mana Capacity 0/750

Passive Regen Rate 24/day

Floors: 1

Named Creatures: 0/1

Skills: Remote Absorption, Create Creature, Create Flora, Dungeon Status, Naming, Expansion, Terraforming

Traits: Fast Paced

From the name alone [Expansion] seemed exactly what I needed. Increasing the sphere of influence that forms the dungeon boundary could only be helpful after all.

*INSUFFICIENT MANA FOR EXPANSION

Never mind... Seems I’ll have to wait just a bit longer. Although it shouldn’t as bad with my new passive mana generation jumping from 10 to 24 a day.

After waiting for 10 mana to fill into my capacity I activated [Expansion] again. Soon as I did so I felt connected to the borders of my movement sphere. Instead of the firm rigid boundary of the last few days it had become malleable. With my limited mana I felt I could push this version of the boundary outwards.

Pushing past the open door I willed the border to move and as I did so the mana quickly drained from my core. Slowly but surely I was able to create a small bubble of space outside my doorway. I tried to go farther than the foot or so I made it outside but by then I’d run out of mana. This skill also allowed me to view what lay outside my borders. Previously it had just been a black void beyond the door, but now I could verify I was living in the back of a cave.

The shack was against the very back wall and I could spy the faintest hint of light in the distance. Looking down the cave it was mostly a straight shot, except for a small curve to the left from my perspective. Except for midway down the corridor where the ceiling dipped from about 3 meters to around 1 and half.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the cave however is the small pond on my left. Water was flowing out of a small hole in the ceiling in a waterfall against the back wall. The pond was only around 2 feet deep, 3 yards wide, splashing the surrounding stone with water. If I had to wager a guess this cave was originally formed by this small waterfall.

Lighting in the cave is pretty low, but the pond’s edge was being illuminated by some glowing green mushrooms around the pond. Hard to tell with the waterfall disturbing the pond’s surface but I think I’ve spotted some ripples hinting at possible fish! Likely nothing large given anything in that pond fell down the waterfall but even minnows could evolve into something interesting once I expand far enough to reach the water.

---

I chose to wait about 3 days before making any moves, and between the passive regen and rat swarms I was sitting at 112 mana. Obviously most of this was went to [Expansion]. With that much energy the border grew just past the pond and stopped against the left wall. I could move around the entire shack and approximately 10 feet of the cave around it focused towards the pond.

To make use of the new space I ordered my slime to go and digest one of the glowing green mushrooms for the [Create Flora] list. Hopping out from underneath the mattress the Cave Slime headed to the pond and systematically ate a few of the shimmering shrooms. Seeming to like the damper environment my slime decided to make a new home on the water’s edge. I for one wasn’t going to force it back into the shack so I let it be. A happier slime just meant a stronger defense.

*ABSORPTION COMPLETE 3 MANA COLLECTED

*NEW CREATURE HAS BEEN ABSORBED, LUMINOUS SHROOM ADDED TO CREATE FLORA LIST

All that expansion and the mushroom left me with 42 mana in the tank. I optimistically hoped that would be enough mana to attempt another item on my to do list. ‘[Create Creature], Sun Salamander’.

The orange light gathered around the pond’s edge as I willed it and soon a small orange and blue salamander appeared. Coming out of the light the salamander shook itself from head to toe like a dog before walking over to the water’s edge. Encouraging the little guy I gave a hunting order for any fish in the pond. Salamanders may not live in the water but most species are pretty capable of hunting in the shallows.

Leaving it to hunt for some potential fish I checked my mana. Sun Salamanders cost 30 each leaving me with 12 mana for my last task. Deciding to try it anyway I was met with a disappointing but expected announcement.

*INSUFFICIENT MANA TO NAME “APPARITION”

While I’m still unsure of what exactly the voice is, I do have a small critique. Maybe instead of simply telling me more mana is needed... Tell me how much more I need! Having some hard numbers would really help me plan ahead. Complaints aside I am enormously grateful for the voices existence. Without the hints I can form out of the choice phrases and [Dungeon Status] I really wouldn’t have a method to understanding my abilities. So, while I have some quality tester comments the base system is very much appreciated.

During the next break while the Sun Salamander hunted I worked on some mana math. At my current passive rate of 24 free mana a day not much work can be done. I could create about 5 unevolved Red Mushrooms, or a single Small Cave Slime. If I saved up for 3 whole days I could earn another Living Shadow but that seems a tad too expensive for now. Part of me wonders if the other starter monsters are at similar prices. Perhaps the Living Shadow is so expensive given my current rate because it’s so above average at this stage?

Assuming I never get more mana from kills it will take 32 days to get my mana capacity to full. Less than the 50 days for level 3 but a month of sitting in this shack is still a month. Now that I have some new abilities and a base understanding of my surroundings I need to figure out a method of farming mana efficiently and reliab-

*ABSORPTION COMLPLETE 2 MANA COLLECTED

*NEW CREATURE HAS BEEN ABSORBED, COMMON SHINER FISH ADDED TO CREATE CREATURES LIST

*ABSORPTION COMPLETE 5 MANA COLLECTED

*NEW CREATURE HAS BEEN ABSORBED, COMMON DACE ADDED TO CREATE CREATURES LIST

So fish are in the pond! Congratulations Sun Salamander you’ve done me proud!

Curious how aquatic creatures would function I created one of the small Common Shiners. In comparison to almost everything else so far the bait fish were a measly 3 mana. If I wanted I could churn out 8 of them a day compared to a single slime. Although they don’t seem usef-

*ABSORPTION COMPLETE 2 MANA ABSORBED

Woah! What the heck are you doing?! The Sun Salamander just ate my new fish! I take back my praise you devious little amphibian! You don’t even need to eat so why would you bother...

While unexpected this incident does reveal that if my creatures fight each other I can get some mana back from the kill. But if I just fed my Sun Salamander the Common Shiners over the ambient dungeon mana I would always be operating at a loss...

‘...’

Unless I didn’t need to spend mana making them!

A lightning bolt of inspiration striking I ordered my salamander to not eat fish for the time being and quickly spent 12 mana on 4 more shiners. While creating them I pushed into that secret instinct from creating the Living Shadow before and attempted to change them. Thankfully my efforts were rewarded and a new announcement blared.

*DUNGEON HAS REACHED HIDDEN REQUIREMENT: Directly influence a creature during the creation process

*ACCESS TO TRAIT “PURPOSEFUL” GRANTED

Perfect! Exactly what I wanted. Making use of the [Purposeful] trait I can, for lack of a better word, customize my creations when I first make them. For these shiners I created 3 females and 1 male. I also tried to increase the females egg counts and did the same for the males sperm. In collaboration with my [Fast-Paced] trait, which accelerated the biological processes of all dungeon creatures, I should be able to complete my experiment by tomorrow.