Gwen had been surprised at the anger she felt coming from John. But Gwen was almost as surprised at how quickly it left him again and replaced by a feeling of acceptance. The anger she had felt was almost like it was something lived in and familiar to John. Gwen could still sense an underlying feeling of frustration coming from him and a hint of grief. She reminded herself that just because John’s world had allowed him to avoid direct conflict, for the most part, it didn’t mean he had lived life trauma-free.

As John turned towards her to apologize for the surprise being delayed slightly and exited the Soul Space for a short time, Gwen felt embarrassed once again. Not only had John seen some of her fantasies and was willing to possibly let her see some of his most intimate feelings, but she had also overlooked that she would be able to see things that had caused him pain. Gwen had initially assumed that his mostly peaceful world would have left John soft, but after coming here, she learned that he had lost his parents far younger than most, and something was going on with his brother. Besides that after joining his Soul Space, Gwen had seen some of his more profound thoughts about the perilous position his world was currently in, and that he might have the opportunity to help ease that burden on humanity or cause additional sources of conflict.

Gwen’s thoughts recovered from their morose direction as John appeared and waved his hand towards the box in front of them. A flat panel had appeared above the box and was emitting some kind of light. Suddenly sounds were coming from the screen along with words and images that were moving across the panel. “What is happening?” Gwen said with a sense of wonder in her voice.

“It’s called a film or a movie. This one is called Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Rings. The book it was based on was a foundation for many of the fantasy stories that would follow it. I figured watching it would be a good way for us to take a break, and help you understand where some of my ideas might come from.” John said.

“Interesting…” was all Gwen said, as a voice began narrating a story and was soon joined by images that matched the narration. Gwen watched the movie with rapt attention. She was glad for another reminder that although this world had been without magic until very recently, that didn’t mean it was without its wonders for her to experience.

John had felt a familiar sense of anger and frustration when he realized that his brother’s actions had ruined the surprise he had planned for Gwen. Well, likely not ruined, but at least delayed, as there was probably a T.V. or monitor he could use in Sorenson Station somewhere. As it happened, there were a couple of different options that John could eventually absorb and replace for more Blueprints, but for now, John would settle for the largest flatscreen T.V. found. Absorbing and returning the T.V. had cost a decent chunk of mana, and while he was at it, John figured he should absorb and replace one of the metal doors around the Station before anyone arrived in the morning and he wasn’t able to. By doing so, John had gained the Doors and Locks Blueprint under Misc. As John went through the notifications for this, he noticed one he had previously missed when absorbing the Food and Appliances. John had unlocked a new Creation Tab for Plants. Under it was a list similar to Creatures, listing the type of plants he had acquired. It seemed that he hadn’t gained Plants for the wood he had absorbed, only for full plants or seeds. Still, John had gained a decent amount, and they would be something else to add to the Dungeon.

From the Pigeons and Crows Lenny had killed, and John had absorbed, John gained the Neoaves and Ipinoaves Creature categories, respectively. John figured he might as well bring up their descriptions while waiting for the T.V. to be absorbed and recreated.

Neoaves

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Pigeons, ???

Abilities: Panoramic Vision, Flight (Wings), Gliding, Homing (Pigeons, ???), Magnetic Field Sense (Pigeons, ???), Migration, ???

Cost: 2-10 Mana

Ipinoaves

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Crows, ???

Abilities: Binocular Vision, Flight (Wings), Gliding, Sharp Beak, Advanced Tool Use (Crows), Advanced Intelligence (Crows, ???), Migration, ???

Cost: 2-10 Mana

It looked like he received some abilities from both the Pigeon and Crow that could be useful in the future once he could research them. That would have to wait a couple of days until he could complete the Research, so as the recreation process finished up, he hurried back to his Soul Space to watch the movie with Gwen. He was glad to see his earlier assumptions were correct by how enraptured Gwen had been while watching the film with him, and upon the movie finishing, he felt a sense of satisfaction. Gwen looked like she was about to ask him a question when surprise crossed her face. John was about to ask her what it was about when he noticed a couple of notifications waiting for him.

Research: Active Research Subskill Unlocked

By actively viewing and comprehending a viable Research Subject, you have unlocked the Active Research Subskill. Active Research allows the Research from a Codex entry or other tangible source to be obtained by actively reading or viewing the source material, rather than spending Research Point(s) on the Research. Dungeon Companions may also participate in Active Research and may unlock different benefits from the Research, both for themselves and the Dungeon.

Research Completed

Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Rings (Movie); John and Gwen

Unlocked: Legendary Monsters (50 R.P.), Anduril Blueprint, Sting Blueprint, Magic Ring Blueprint, Enchanting R.P. Reduced (9 R.P.)

“Did you get a notification for completing Research, Gwen?” John said.

“Yeah, I was pretty surprised by that. It let me know what had been unlocked by us watching that movie.”

“It’s nice to know that we can spend our downtime enjoying ourselves and improving the Dungeon if we choose to. I’m going to set up a couple of other things in the Soul Space before heading back into the Dungeon.”

“Okay, I am going to finish up that Calvin and Hobbes book.”

John gave a quick look over the Blueprints he had received, and it appeared that while he could adjust the materials used and their colours, he wouldn’t be able to adapt their shape or enchantments until he had unlocked the Smithing and Enchanting Subskills. John then set up a couple of makeshift rooms with furniture and beds for him and Gwen, along with a dining room and kitchen. As he finished placing the items and appliances in the kitchen, he got another notification.

Crafting Station Blueprint Created: Cooking

Research: Cooking Subskill Cost Reduced (3 R.P.)

Taking a quick look at the Blueprint, John saw that once he was able to power the appliances, he would be able to place it in the Dungeon, and users up to the Apprentice levels in the cooking craft would get a boost to their experience gains. Beyond Apprentice, it was just a useful area for artisans to do their work. As John was about to return to the Dungeon, he thought of a question he had for Gwen.

“Hey, Gwen, after I finish up the First Room and Entrance, I’m going to start work on the Dungeon’s first floor. Do I need to design the Dungeon about eventually not going too deep below the Earth’s surface?”

“No, when you begin to start your first floor, a Dungeon Portal will form a pocket dimension that contains your Dungeon. The First Room and Entrance are only physical because they essentially form the transition from your Domain to your Dungeon and anchor your pocket dimension’s location.”

“Okay, I’m pretty sure I understand what you’re saying. I’m assuming the pocket dimension is to avoid any geological complications and prevent invaders from simply digging their way through to my Core?”

“Yes, that covers most of the reasons.”

“Okay, see you in a while, Gwen.”

“Later.”

John returned to the Dungeon, relieved that he wouldn’t have to worry about the variety of issues that could pop up if his Dungeon was physically present on Earth besides the Entrance and First Room. He set up the First Room as a kind of large reception room with couches and chairs for people to sit in while they wait and a desk that would allow people a focal point for organizing. He would add some other amenities to the Room as he unlocked more Blueprints and capabilities, but figured what he had was good enough for now. John also added a railing and bit of texture to the ramp, thinking it wasn’t quite steep enough to require stairs, but it should still have some features to help people avoid slipping. After finishing up with the furniture, John applied a dark red and black opal colour scheme to the Room, along with light pink and silver highlights. The red represented Red Deer, the pastel pink for Alberta’s Wild Rose flower, the opalescent black representing his Core, and the silver because it complemented the other colours.

John didn’t open his entrance or put a door in for it yet, feeling that having an entry appear in the middle of a wall during daylight would be a bit too much of an attention grabber. Instead, he took a short break to watch what was going on in his Domain. As people entered his Domain, John could feel a bit of mana leaving and joining them, before mana with a bit of “flavour” to it returned to him. The mana returning appeared more abundant in some way, so he gained more than he was losing, increasing his regeneration rate while people were in his Domain. John had an intuitive knowledge that this process would increase when people were in his Dungeon proper and that both the mana leaving and the mana returning to him would increase. He didn’t notice anyone acting surprised or weird in reaction to anything invisible, so he figured that the mana saturation must not entirely be high enough yet for anyone else to get the System.

After finishing up his quick break, John decided to begin work on his first floor. As he began to create an Entrance to the Dungeon proper at the opposite end of his First Room from the entrance ramp, he could feel a shift in energy. The energy formed a kind of barrier to his pocket dimension, where John could set the number of people allowed in a time. He felt that this barrier’s full functionality was not yet present and had a feeling that Research and Abilities would give him a more delicate sense of control over it. As John began excavating past the barrier using Absorb, he could sense that ground was not being removed from his Domain, though that would be possible if he wanted to dig out more physical space. Instead, the material removed was from a dimension adjacent to Earth’s, his pocket dimension that was the Dungeon. John also felt that Absorb was no longer necessary to use now that the pocket dimension had formed, and that he would be able to create rooms and a floorplan and bring them into being through Creation. Absorb would be used in the Dungeon to Absorb external objects and materials brought into his Dungeon, as long as another wasn’t handling it.

John then began designing his first floor. He didn’t want to make it overly complicated, because this would be the first Dungeon anyone on his world had gone into, and plenty of people would like to explore it. John decided on a straight five-Room chain with a sixth Room as a Boss Room after it for his initial design. Each Room would be approximately 100m long by 30m wide, though he gave them varied ovoidal shapes with various topography shifts, with the broader end of the ovoid being the entrance side. The Boss Room itself was smaller than the other rooms, a 50m long by 30m long ellipsoid. He wasn’t overly concerned about anyone trying to kill him yet, and he could ramp up the difficulty on later floors to prevent people from gaining access to him. John also decided that there wasn’t any point in placing Traps yet, as the plan was to pick up the Trap Creation Subskill soon, and there wasn’t much point in working on Traps until it was acquired. John decided to create a couple of each kind of Creature he had and spread them out among the rooms. The Boss Room would be saved for the first Monster acquired or created, and it would probably be the first actual challenge for anyone exploring his Dungeon. He wasn’t precisely unsatisfied with his Dungeon created Creatures, though they were only around twice the natural animal’s size. John guessed that the creatures were designed to be a lower challenge and mostly used for environmental purposes later on. On the other hand, if all Creatures followed a similar size increase, some animals like Bears or Wolves would pose a decent amount of threat even as Dungeon Creatures.

As John finished up with the layout of the rooms for the first floor of his Dungeon, he began thinking of what aesthetic he should be using. Caves weren’t very common in the area due to the local geologic formations until you got into mountain ranges or valleys. So would use a combination of forest and grassland rooms for the first couple rooms, shifting towards a mountainous terrain for the later rooms, with a cave-like room for the boss room. Since the only trees, John currently had were fruit-bearing, he would send Lenny out to collect some seeds of the local non-food related trees and some of the local grass and shrubs. Since Red Deer City Hall Park was across the street, John also figured he should get Lenny to pick up some flowers while collecting the other plants.

When John checked the time to see if it would be easy for him to place the door to the entrance and let Lenny out, he was surprised to discover that it was past midnight. Which meant that John had 2 R.P. that he could now spend. As John placed a door and allowed Lenny to make his way out to collect plants and materials, John placed one Point into the Trap Creation subskill and one Point into the Mana - General Research. As he put the Point into Mana - General, he felt that his choice was somehow locked in and that his next Point gained would automatically go into this Research. John could still use his Active Research ability on other available Research that he had the Resources for, but his passive Research was now locked in until it was completed. It was something John would need to be mindful of in the future because if new Research came up that he wanted to prioritize, John would have to finish any Research he had started before getting to it. As John finished that thought, he brought up the notifications that had appeared as he completed the previous Research.

Soul Space Level Up, Current Level 5

Absorb Level Up, Current Level 11

Creation Level Up, Current Level 13

Research Level Up, Current Level 3 (+1 R.P./day)

Domain Level Up, Current Level 3

Creation: Trap Creation Subskill Unlocked

By Researching the Trap Creation Subskill, you have unlocked the basic Trap Blueprints, unlocking the most simple mechanical Traps for placement and modification. These Traps will now automatically reset once the Dungeon has no invaders in it.

New Research Available: Advanced Trapmaking (10 R.P.)

Research Completed

Calvin and Hobbes (Book); Gwen

Unlocked: Images Unlocked for use in Dye Patterns, Legendary Monster Templates added.

As John finished up with these notifications, he decided to pull up his Status and Research menu to see what he had unlocked and changed. He noticed that another category had been added, an In Progress listing, and that the Available Research had been organized by their current cost.

Name: John MacIntire

Race: Core

Title: The Inquisitive

Health: 100/100

Mana: 250/250

Research: 0 RP (+3 RP/Day)

Skills: Negotiator 21

Abilities: Absorb 11, Creation 13, Research 3, Soul Space 5, Domain 3, Crafting 1

Titles: The Inquisitive, The Negotiator

Achievements: Inquisitive Mind, Let’s Make A Deal

Research

In Progress: Mana - General (1/2 RP)

Completed Research: Creation Ability, Blueprints, Leatherworking, Trap Creation

Available Research: Cooking (3 R.P.), Chemistry (3 R.P.), Mineral Working (4 R.P.), Interdimensional Internet Connection (5 R.P.), Mana To Electrical Power Conversion (5 R.P.), Smithing (5 R.P.), Woodworking (5 R.P.), Clothemaking (5 R.P.), Papercrafts (5 R.P.), Glass Crafts (5 R.P.), Clayworking (5 R.P.), Enchanting (9 R.P.), Alchemy (10 R.P.), Creature Customization (10 R.P.), Advanced Trap Creation (10 R.P.), Dungeon Cards (20 R.P.), Legendary Monsters (50 R.P.)

John began placing a couple of the most basic Traps in each Dungeon Room. The Traps seemed designed to injure and immobilize rather than kill and were Pit Traps, Floor Spike Traps, and Bear Traps. As his creatures passed over them, the Traps did not activate, though he would have to see if this would change if a Creature and in Invader were both occupying the Trap’s activation space. As John finished placing the Traps, he noticed the time was just past 2 A.M. To his surprise, John saw a figure passing through the door that Lenny had used to exit the Dungeon. And, as he focused on that figure, he realized that it was his brother Jake to his much greater surprise.