The kobolds had settled into the first and second floors far more smoothly after their evolutions. They had started to create their tribal grounds on the second floor, even. They had selected the end of the dark tunnel, the branch not leading deeper into the dungeon. Their Creator had even graced them with two new tribe members, both created without the limitations in the water that their predecessors had to work so hard to correct. However, they were also created without the specializations the original three had obtained. One of the new ones, a male, had taken to interacting with the eels that had begun residing in the dark, even forming a close bond with one of them, one they’d heard their mistress call a “Snowflake Moray” before dashing off to relay the “natural variant” to their creator.

As the Chief-Mother went about her daily rounds through the first and second floors, she pondered why the mistress was so excited, looking out of the first floor entrance, she saw a blurry collection of figures swim past, making out something they seemed to drop. Watching as it sank quietly, landing near the entrance of the cave, she departed to find the mistress, as she was the only one who could leave the caves, after all. She rarely did, but the fact remained. Maybe that thing was a new weapon, her knife served her well lately, truly cementing her place as chief.

Quickly hurrying down to the fourth floor where she knows the mistress to reside, she thanks the creator all over again for her ability to swim and hold her breath. The entrance to the third floor is a swim she’d be unable to make were she still an unchanged kobold. Finding her way through the lazily winding stretch of cave on the third floor was her next task. Devoid of all but the barest light, the walls are different than the previous and following rough limestone, instead being an experiment into densely packed clay, giving the entire system a uniform dull grey matte color, devoid of shadows or shine.

The chief mother still has her share of problems in navigating this floor, not due to a mazelike structure, but how uncomfortably dull it seemed. Rocks and holes littered the ground in a repeating manner, giving no opportunity to recognize any of the scenery, and to hide any waiting creatures that operate on this floor. Finally reaching the end of that floor, she once again takes a deep breath and descends, her newly webbed hands and feet making the five meter direct descent a breeze, not that she’d ever encountered wind before.

This time, she began swimming over to the mistresses abode, the dense collection of colors in textures coming together to make a greater whole and make her wish her own residence could be as resplendent as the mistress. Sensing the approach of the Chief-Mother, and a message from Aby, Sela emerged from her home, giving a smile to the kobold.

Upon asking what it is that brings the Chief-Mother to find her, all she is told “thing, out, get?” Having dealt with Aby in its early days, Sela is able to glean a surprising amount of insight from this, that the Chief-Mother found something, but it is beyond the entrance of the caves, and requires the help of Sela. And so, following behind the kobold, Sela makes her way to the top floor, and after making sure that there are no predators out there, she swims out, scanning around the outside of the meter-large hole. Still in a rather clear area, only a moderately sized patch of seaweed with the sunken remains of the Divers’ boat, and the dead hard coral topped with the partially harvested sponge are the only two things in close proximity to the entrance.

That is until she spots a tendril, almost a meter long and a sickly white color laying at the edge of the seaweed. Making the short swim over, she wraps her arms around the center of it, before needing to let go for two reasons. Firstly, whatever it is, is far sharper than it appears, just grasping it in her arms then trying to move it loose managed to open a cut on either arm. Secondly, it is packed with a mana that she has never felt before. Feeling like a mix of the primary element Darkness, and the tertiary element of Hunger, but far more violent, she is shocked. She was about to turn around and abandon it, when Aby sent her a short message, full to the brim of desire.

“I want That”

And so, Sela made a quick wrap of the seaweed surrounding it, and a short few moments dragging it to the entrance let gravity carry it down for Aby to play with.

Aby watched as the tendril slowly made its way into the cave, settling down on the floors of the dungeon proper. Holding its metaphorical breath, Aby watched as the pale white object slowly became the resplendent white motes of white that it is so used to.

You can now spawn “Brittle Trench-Star”

Unable to contain its excitement, Aby immediately did so, watching as the requisite mana was drained from its core, only to be immediately replaced by the gems obscene mana generation. If Aby paid attention to its mana expenditure, it would have realized the amount required to create this creature was far more than everything else in the rest of its caves combined.

That excitement immediately became surprise as the light converged into something similar to the starfish it had dealt with before, solidifying into a pasty white mockery of those very creatures. Once it had come into being, however, it immediately started thrashing, the waters of Abys fifth floor splashing and swishing, somehow agitating kilometers of water with a body barely five meters in diameter. Sela, too had noticed this, hurrying to the fifth floor and Abys core room, only to find this creature wildly flailing around, engorging itself on the surrounding mana, only to have that replenished as soon as it became depleted.

Deep markings were scored into the walls it came into contact with, the pedestal that Aby floated upon being marked, only to be reduced to rubble a moment later. A hapless grouper happened to swim by, investigating from a distance, and it drew the ire of the many limbed monster. Having a thicker tendril slam into its side, then two thinner ones spear into its head from two angles, Sela was horrified to watch the thing prop itself upright, revealing a gaping maw of angry needle-and-knife-like teeth. Pushing the fish into that hole, the poor creature disappeared into a mist of blood, and that’s when it set its sight upon Sela.

Fortunately for the Fae frozen in fear, Aby had had quite enough of the unruly creature and its hissy fit, mustering up the largest barrage of emotion it had ever unleashed upon another being

As the star was erratically approaching Sela, it was thrown into disarray as a single word, a single concept “ENOUGH” was sent directly into the hunger starved-mana crazed mind, backed by feelings the being had never experienced, anger mainly, enough to knock it out of its gluttonous stupor. It collapsed to the floor of the cave, its many arms being pushed and pulled in all directions by the waves it had stirred up.

Aby turned its attention to the Brittle-Star, twitching and spasming limply now, it turned its focus further into the state of mind, if one could call it that, of its new creature. It seemed two have two conflicting instructions, the first, its own instinctual drive to consume anything with mana, to amass more mana, to grow larger and consume ever more mana. The second was the emotion-fueled input given to it by Aby, further reinforced by its status as a dungeon born, this instruction was somehow not taking over immediately. It seemed to Aby that the instincts of this being were more than just that, being something the entire species not just does, but can’t not do.

This, of course, would not do. It would do Aby no good to have a creature that cannot follow any of its orders. Just as the gem was about to remove the star from its caves, however, a new screen popped up.

Error! Brittle Trench-Star has had an unknown variation! Cause has been determined to stem from interference of entity D-A/R2.

Searching for a solution…

Solution Found!

Brittle Trench-Star will undergo evolution into never before seen “Brittle Dungeon-Star”

Brittle Dungeon-Star:

In the world of Vol, the land and sea have the Dungeons and the Trenches. What belongs to the first will not be in the second; what belongs to the second, cannot be found in the first.

Entity D-A/R2 has obtained a New Title!

The Trench Dungeon

The first of its kind, a dungeon in the abyss, a trench at the surface…

Allows the dungeon to forcefully adapt Trench-Dwellers into Dungeon-Dwellers, and to forcefully evolve Dungeon-Dwellers into Trench-Dwellers.

This was the first time Aby had been given such a torrent of information all at once for some time, and even if it was dismayed by having no clue what a large portion was talking about, what it did gather was it got a new title, and new bonuses too. It excitedly told Sela about this, only to be met with a disbelieving shake of the head. Aby felt into Selas mood, coming to find that she was still shaken by the encounter, far more than her brush with death by the Bobbit Worm. It seemed to be an inborn fear, what she felt when she looked at the trench star was similar to what Aby felt when Sela had managed to touch its core.

Aby turned its focus back to the star, watching as it lit up once more, signifying its evolution. Even Sela had started watching, despite still appearing shaken.

The star had started thrashing about once more, though far more subdued this time. There was an almost rhythmic jerking to its movements now, and while it was still absorbing an astonishing amount of mana, it was nothing that Aby couldn’t handle. Its pale white body began to darken, becoming an inky black, its multitudinous arms evening themselves out, arranging themselves in a more orderly fashion, changing from something that appeared to be a ball of hair flattened down to a true brittle star, with five long, thin arms evenly spaced, long and flexible and coated in many hair-like growths, that one would find to be fiendishly sharp upon closer inspection.

The former menace finally settled down shortly after, the waters of the fifth floor returning from being churned and rocked to lapping into the walls, then finally to stillness, only the occasional ripple from a passing creature breaking that calm. As the dark returned once more, Sela turned and left, both unable to see, and unwilling to stay.

Aby watched the star, fully intent on removing the creature from both its caves and this world should it display the slightest hint of insubordination. Thankfully, the creature was still, before very, very slowly creeping away, looking to find its own place to settle down, hopefully one with space for the five meter wide creature to fully spread out. Sending a short burst of intention to the creature, Aby had the thing display its new capabilities to the gem. Finding that it was still just as capable of scoring deep gashes into compacted limestone and hardened clay, as well as moving just as deceptively fast as before, an idea flashed through the mind of Aby. Every dungeon needs bosses, and while they aren’t specifically needed on every, or even most, floors, Aby now had the perfect candidate for its first.