There’s nothing much up there in the Rhew, yet for some inexplicable reason, so many find themselves drawn to it. The wide expanse of nothing miles upon miles; the forever long nights and the days that last seemingly but a moment; the colors of the sky as the ribbons dance; all of it sets a man freer than any other place. It’s a good place to die.

– Marivan to Dunal

I woke up. It was annoying how simple it was waking up, like switching on a light bulb–not that I know what a light bulb is. I feel like there should be something more to it, a slow rising to awareness that’s just not simply there anymore. Why do I feel like I changed so much? And where do all these weird terms like light bulb or blizzard or igloo come from? It’s not something I can solve at the moment, though. I’m awake, and that’s that.

Moving on…

Now what? I’m out of that dangerous situation, thank goodness, but I’m a little lost. What should I be doing? I look around for inspiration. Oh, there’s a blue screen floating in front of me. I wonder why I didn’t notice it before. I’m not that introspective… am I?

The mightiest kings of old ruled not by force, but by simply being. – A Ruler’s Almanac

Congratulations! Your influence grows. One day your domain will be as vast as your eyes can see. Everything will bow beneath your light.

[Influence II]: You’ve dominated your spawning room. Creatures will now fall under your influence faster. (1% to creature conversion rate)

Spawning room? I’m supposed to spawn in a room? I didn’t freaking get a spawning room! I had to make it myself! That’s not fair! I almost died out there! Why is everything so messed up? And what creatures? In case you haven’t noticed, you freaking jerk! There’s Nothing out there for miles!!!!! Obviously the universe hates me. What is this, set on hard mode??? Okay, now I’m feeling spiteful. Just you watch, I’ll make this the biggest fricking domain thing you’ve ever seen. Just you watch. Muwahahahahaha!!!!!!

…

That was rather… refreshing actually. I just really can’t let anyone see me do that if I ever do it again. I think I’d die from embarrassment. Alright then. Rage against the unjustness of the universe. Check. Semi-sort of goal. Check. Now, to just set about working on it. I’m just going to assume that making more rooms is the way to go about that. This room is not that big actually, now that I think about it. There’s not a whole lot of space, which is fine since there’s enough room for me, but I just have the feeling that it should be way bigger. Not to mention the walls aren’t that thick. I should work on that. Alright. First job of the day! Make this room better.

The best way of going about that? I decided on a two-pronged approach. Expanding upward would do me no good; the walls don’t have enough ice to be able to support that kind of venture, and I have the distinct feeling that it would be an inefficient use of mana. I don’t have a lot to begin with. So, instead, I’ll just reinforce it with the ice I pile up while digging down. I’ll have my very own secret underground house!

And down we go. I reach out and pull the ice underneath me towards myself. It was so much easier than last time. So much so that it surprised me. I pulled too hard, lost hold of it, and it went shooting off to crash into the side of the igloo, bushing my side as it passed. A sudden burst of cold air rushed into my room.

Ouch! That hurt. Did I loose health from that? That’s dangerous!

He was being an idiot, so I picked up a rock and threw it at his head. What’s wrong with that? – Iolian to an Officer of the Peace

Congratulations! You realize that tools for destruction are all around you. A simple stone becomes a weapon in your hands.

[Natural Projectile I]: You can now use the materials around you to create and launch projectiles (1cm projectile/ 10 mana)

The mightiest kings of old ruled not by force, but by simply being. – A Ruler’s Almanac

Congratulations! You have touched the world. Certain beings are now aware of your existence.

Level [3]!: You’ve created an entrance to your domain. Beings in the vicinity now know of your presence. (Radius of 1 mi; once created, entrance cannot be closed; +2 health; +2 mana; +2 path points; full restore)

Foreboding floods me. Crap! Crap crap crap crap crap! That doesn’t sound good. I’m not going to fall under the delusion that whatever out there that may or may not know where I am now is going to come and rescue me. I’m fragile. I’ll die if anything comes. I’ve got to hurry and do something about this! But what do I do? Is there anything in my skills that can help me? I desperately look through my skills.

Skills: [Influence II]* [Incorporation I] [Ambient Aura IV] [Earth Manipulation I] [Plant Growth I] [Green Thumb I] [Tamer I] [Karma I] [Ice Manipulation III] [Natural Projectile I]*

I already know what [Influence], [Ice Manipulation], and [Natural Projectile] do. At least mostly. So, please please please have something useful, other skills.

[Incorporation I]: You can incorporate the things within your domain to allow for easier environment design. (Only applicable to things without souls; 5% mana absorption; +10% mana absorption if materials are fully incorporated (5 hrs) and not just stored.) [Ambient Aura IV]: You release an aura that acts as a low level light source. Later levels allow for additional effects. [Earth Manipulation I]: You have slight control over any earth around you for a slight cost of mana. (1 cmR/ 5 mana) [Plant Growth I]: Plants grow faster in your domain. (5% to plant growth speed) [Green Thumb I]: You have a chance of resurrecting a dead plant. You have a chance of evolving a plant into a better quality in the direction that you desire. (15% to resurrection; 5% to evolution) [Tamer I]: Creatures are naturally inclined to like you. You have the chance that they will initiate a contract with you. You have a chance of evolving a creature into a superior species in the direction that you desire (15% to contract initiation; 5% to evolution) [Karma I]: Your luck is unnatural. For every action that results in an extreme amount of good luck, the following action will have an increased chance in resulting in an extreme amount of bad luck. Vice Versa (20% in luck reversal)

What the heck? What the heck is that skill? Why is it so messed up? Is that why everything seems to be going wrong? My luck is a freaking seesaw! I want to cry! It’s so unfair. Why am I stuck with this stupid skill??? And none of the other ones are even helpful at this point. There’s no earth to manipulate! There’s no plants! There’s no animals! There’s not even anything here that I can absorb… er… incorporate! Unless you count all this freaking ice around me that I just so happen to need to move!

Oh, wait. Can I do that? Can I incorporate ice? I could dig way faster that way. Do I just… like… eat it? I once again begin pulling ice to myself, this time picturing myself taking a bite. A cool feeling enters my center and I felt a slight increase to my mana. Huh. I try it again This is so much easier!!!! Why couldn’t I have figured out this earlier. I can dig faster and gain mana while I’m at it. It’s not perfect, I’m still spending mana, but not even close to the rate I was before.

I start to dig. I dig and dig and dig, and pretty soon I have a 5 ft tall dome with only about a third of it sticking out above the ground. At that point, I realize I can’t dig anymore. I still have some mana left, but I feel too full. I don’t think I have any room left inside of me.

I take a look at [Incorporation] again. I could just digest all the ice inside me, but it looks like it’d take a full five hours to do. I’m too impatient to sit around for five hours without doing anything. I look up at the entrance of my room. It could use some stairs…

Why did I think that? Wouldn’t it be better to think of a way to block it off. But stairs would look really nice. No! Dangerous things could be coming for me right now. I need to focus on something else besides providing an easy way for them to get in. Like making the exposed walls of my igloo thicker.

I draw from my reservoir of ice and slowly begin to build up the walls. I start at the base of them where they touch the ground, building up a 3 ft thick ring around my igloo and slowly start to build up from there. I get about halfway up my dome before I have to replenish my ice reserves. At this point, it begins to be an automatic process. I loose myself in shaping the ice. I don’t realize that I can’t actually see what I’m working with.

I build the ice to the top of the dome, then add a little extra. I pull a little here and a little there, and soon I have a blooming ice flower on top of my igloo. Continuing with the theme, I widen my entrance by digging so a good half of it is now underground with set of steps leading down to it. Ice vines with small sparkling berries curl around the entrance way. I add a bit more of my aura to the berries to make them glow a green color that shone with life and growth. I create more of them to line the walls of my room all the way to the ceiling. Then, I start building the staircase. Wide steps at the bottom leading up to the entrance, with curling ice vines as the handle rails.

I was against it at first. I didn’t see the benefit of allowing them within the walls of our city. Vanarian culture is… interesting, to say the least. – Mayor of Vera

Congratulations! You incorporate everything you see as a process of growing, and by doing so, your domain becomes more beautiful.

[Incorporation II]: You can incorporate the things within your domain to allow for easier environment design. (Only applicable to things without souls; 6% mana absorption; +12% mana absorption if materials are fully incorporated (5 hrs) and not just stored.)

I take a mental step back to admire my work. I had an 8 ft tall room now with a flowing staircase and a 3.5 ft tall entrance. I nearly scream. What had I done? I had done exactly what I had least wanted to do! Why did I make a staircase? Why did I widen my entrance? I’m doomed!

Okay. Calm down, me. Look at the bright side. I now have a pretty staircase. Enough about the freaking staircase!!!!

I wanted to punch something. I couldn’t, so I settled for the expensive pastime of launching as many projectiles as I could against the wall. Even then, my mind wouldn’t let me take my rage out on the stupid staircase itself.

Warning: You have depleted your mana. Continuing will reduce your health.

I passed out.

Status Menu Name: [Locked] Race: Dungeon Level: 3* Attribute: Green Health: 23/23 (5/hr)* Mana: 0/23* (0/hr)* State: Mana Depletion* (Mana will not regenerate for 24 hours) Rooms: 1 Floors: 1* Named Monsters: 0 Monsters: 0 Animals: 0 Plants: 0 [Ξ] Path Points: 3* Paths: {Beginner I (0/5)} Skills: [Influence II]* [Incorporation II]* [Ambient Aura IV] [Earth Manipulation I] [Plant Growth I] [Green Thumb I] [Tamer I] [Karma I] [Ice Manipulation III] [Natural Projectile I]*