Until now.
Fred needed to get closer, though – to integrate himself into their society without calling undue attention to himself. Therefore, after watching the inhabitants of the large dwelling-place for more than a day, he climbed down from his perch in the tree, grateful that he hadn’t fallen again and broken his ankle like he did a month ago. Although his mana had healed the bad break within half a day – it still hurt.
He had experimented a little with the system he now had access to over the long, lonely months of his travels south. The forest which he journeyed through seemed endless, which only punctuated the fact that his parents had hidden so far away that it was almost incomprehensible how they had been found.
Seventeen months of cautiously making his way south, fighting bears, wolves, giant snow rabbits, and even strange monkey-like creatures; recovering from those fights for sometimes a day or more until his wounds had healed – and the occasional period of sleep meant that he didn’t move very fast, but he made progress. The presence of this human dwelling-place was proof of that.
He didn’t necessarily get tired like he used to after exerting himself for long periods of time, but he did see a dramatic increase in his mana consumption if he didn’t take short rests every couple of hours. In addition, he needed to sleep for at least a couple of hours every couple of days, otherwise the expenditure of mana from his system would get so bad that it was counterproductive to push on. All of that meant that he had plenty of time to investigate his new status as an actual, bona-fide dungeon core.
He had learned quite a bit, actually, though most of that knowledge he couldn’t do anything with – it required being inside the presence of a dungeon. It either had to be one that had given permission for him to manipulate it (like his parents would’ve done for him) or his own dungeon. Unfortunately, with his parents’ dungeon destroyed, he only had the last option – but even that was closed to him.
The initial creation of a dungeon is faction-specific and, therefore, is restricted information. Please consult with your trainers/mentors/parents for specific instruction on how to establish your first dungeon. Once that is complete, you can continue to use the course-driven learning plan to successfully manipulate…
Fat lot of good that does for me, he remembered thinking sarcastically. There were a couple of things he could do, however. One, use his long-known-but-never-used Mana Communication skill, which allowed him to listen to dungeon cores. Two, he could now pull up his Dungeon Core Status that showed him his current stats, most of which didn’t mean a lot to him – at least not yet.
Dungeon Core Status
Fredwynklemossering
Core Faction: ********
Core Age: 1
Core Structure Level: 1
Fire Mana: 97/112
Water Mana: 84/111
Unconverted (Unusable) Mana: 1342
Skills
Master Mana Sight: 100%
Novice Mana Communication: 1%
Novice Mana Absorption: 32%
Novice Mana Conversion: 12%
Novice Mana-formed Object Creation: 3%
Novice Core Crystallization: 4%
Dungeon Information
(none)
He wasn’t sure why he didn’t have a Core Faction, though he suspected that it was because his parents were part of two different elemental factions. His Core Age used to count up by the day, then weeks, and then months; after a year, however, it had stayed at right at 1. He assumed that it would tick over to 2 when he hit that benchmark. He had no idea what Core Structure Level meant, nor was there anything in the system he could pursue for the information.
As for his Fire and Water Mana, it had originally been stuck at a total of 100 for each one, even after absorbing the mana from a few beasts that he had finally found after a week of exploring. Only after nearly a month later did he see an increase – by 1 Fire Mana. After that, every couple of weeks or so another point would be added to one or the other, but the progress was slow. He did notice that his Core Crystallization skill was slowly increasing, so he suspected that the two were connected somehow.
He thought his Unconverted (Unusable) Mana total was quite high, though it made sense when he considered it. Whenever he absorbed the mana from a creature he had slain, the elements they usually released (at least in the forest, he wasn’t sure about anywhere else) weren’t Fire or Water; instead, they were made up primarily of Nature and Earth, with a particularly nasty large spider infused with a little Dark as well.
He was able to absorb it just fine, but since he couldn’t “use” that type of mana, it had to be converted first – with, presumably, his Mana Conversion skill. It was done automatically, as far as he could tell, but it was very, very slow. Normally, he would see five or six of the Unconverted mana tick away every day, switching over to whatever element had the least amount of mana available. He had seen it speed up a little over the last couple of months, though he thought it might be because of the increase in the skill itself.
The third, and last, thing that he was actually able to do anything with was the Mana-formed Object Creation skill, which was what he was planning on using to blend in to the human collective he had been spying on. He had only used it a couple of times, since it was very mana-intensive – much more than just sustaining his health. He didn’t dare use it too much while he was out in the forest, because anything he made was permanent.
While he had seen his parents create and absorb objects within their dungeon with ease, the only thing he could seem to gather was the mana released from the beasts he had slain. Even the straight Water mana from the pond he had seen on his first foray out from his home was just…there – he couldn’t extract it (or any other type of mana from anything else). From his perusal of the system guides provided to him, he knew that dungeon cores should be able to do it, but he thought it might be part of the dungeon creation aspect of his training – which he had no access to.
Therefore, he had to make sure he got it right the first time.
Chapter 8
He started slow, being cautious of his mana expenditure; if he used too much to create something, he could risk dying from hunger or the cold (or even an injury) if his mana ran out. Although his available mana was constantly being filled by the conversion of his Unconverted Mana, it was barely enough to maintain his life. Only during the few times when he was injured – and stopped to make a relatively warmer temporary shelter – was he able to let his mana build back up significantly.
Even now he had some options of what he could do: go farther south, wait until the season turned to warmer weather, even taking the risk of going into the place where the humans dwelt looking like he was. However, none of those options seemed likely to produce the result he was looking for; more than likely, he would face the same kind of issues down south, and walking into the middle of the strange humans appearing as he was might cause them to mistrust him – or more likely, want to kill him.
So, he had to do this, no matter what it cost him to do it. He hadn’t ever made anything as big as clothing before, and certainly not in the quantity and bulk he needed it. The most practice he had was a successful attempt to create another knife, exactly like one of the knives he had brought forth from his home. He had ended up snapping the blade off during the encounter with the Level 6 Dire Wolf that had almost taken his arm off, and he knew he would fare better with two knives instead of just the remaining unbroken one.
According to the system lesson plan on Mana-formed Object Creation, he needed to intimately know what he was trying to create…
…and keep the thought of what you want to create at the forefront of your focus, concentrating on every single detail of it until you can almost reach out and touch it. Once you have that focus, locate a spot in your dungeon in which you would like to place the Mana-formed Object, and push your mana into the form, infusing it with your power and intention. With a sufficient application of mana, your object should appear where you design
ated as its location.
If this process doesn’t work, please consult the troubleshooting guide or ask your teachers/mentors/parents to demonstrate…
The troubleshooting guide didn’t help, as it only gave different exercises for him to try to achieve Creation – and it assumed that he had near-limitless mana by reabsorbing any failed objects he tried to make. Fortunately, his first attempt had gone splendidly; the new knife, exactly like the one he had carried around for years and knew down to the tiniest detail, materialized on the ground where he had envisioned it lying. When he had picked it up, it was an exact match to the one that had been broken, even down to the chips and scratches in it – but it was at least whole.
Fred ended up having to make a couple other knives over time, as wear-and-tear broke one or the other, and he eventually learned how to make one with subtle changes. The most dramatic change he was able to enact was the elimination of the previous damage that it had sustained over the years; with his latest Mana-formed knife, it appeared brand-new, looking as if it hadn’t ever been used. He was eager to see if he could do anything else to it, like make it sharper or longer, but he didn’t have the mana to waste on experimentation.
His one botched attempt at creating something (and which put him off from trying to create anything other than knives) was when he was trying to make a trap he had seen at home, one which he had bypassed or seen in action countless times over the years. It looked like a simple wire attached to opposite walls, and when it was triggered by something touching it, a large gout of flame shot out of each wall – burning whatever was unlucky enough to be standing there.
However, he didn’t know how it worked, despite seeing it triggered before. Since it was more complicated than the relatively simple knife he had made, and not knowing all of the moving parts inside the trap, all that emerged was an amorphous blob of wire and stone blocks. His Fire Mana level dropped precipitously toward empty as well, using more than 80 of the precious resource, and almost half of that in Water Mana. As opposed to the 12 mana he spent on each of his knives he had created, the unsuccessful attempt at creating a trap cost ten times as much.
And all he wanted was a way to protect himself from the wild beasts in the forest while he slept.
It was only after making his fourth knife that he realized that if concentrated enough during the initial creation process, he was able to get an estimate on how much mana it was going to require to create each object. However, it only worked on things he had made before:
Simple Steel Knife: 10
Simple Flame Trap w/ Tripwire: 100
He assumed that because he was still inexperienced with using the Creation system, his actual cost was more than the estimate. Also, it didn’t specifically say what kind of mana it would use, though he had noticed that each knife used an equal amount of each, while the trap used twice as much Fire as opposed to Water. With more experimentation, he might learn more about it, but he didn’t have that luxury; besides, he had more important things on his mind.
Like making some clothes as a disguise.
Fred envisioned what he saw the humans wearing and thought about his own clothes that his parents had made for him over the years; in addition, he remembered the Dire Wolf that he had repeatedly stabbed in the eye, thinking that its pelt would make a great addition to his ensemble. He had seen many of the people in the dwelling-place wearing the furs of bears and even a smaller wolf over their already-bulky clothes, insulating them from the biting cold – so why not a Dire Wolf?
The first thing he created was a new pair of pants, which looked like the ones he was wearing – before all the damage done to it. He followed that up with another pair of socks, a shirt, and a coat, all of which he had possessed before and were relatively easy to recreate. He quickly dressed in them after stripping off his old clothes (which tore them even further), noticing that they were a little oversized compared to his frame. Oh well, maybe I’m not too good at getting the size right; either that, or I’ve lost a lot of weight.
Fred was also pleased to see that he had only ended up using a total of 10 mana for all of that, well below his conservative estimate of 30. I wonder if it has to do with the materials the final object contains? Regardless of the reason, it meant that even if he screwed something up, he might have enough to fix and create another one if he had to.
Next up were some taller shoes, ones that would fit along his leg, ending right below the knee. He had seen the humans wearing them to keep out the cold while trudging through the deep snow, so he knew that he could go in wearing a pair of his old shoes. He had no idea what they really looked like up close, so all he ended up doing was envisioning his previous shoes and extending the top so that it covered his leg up to his knees. When the new tall shoes materialized on the ground, they looked…passable. Hopefully.
But at least they fit well.
With most of that out of the way, he steeled himself and summoned up what he remembered from the fur and general shape of the Dire Wolf he had slain, pairing it with what he saw the people nearby wearing. Thoughts of his parents drifted into his mind, his desire to find a way to utilize his new status as a dungeon core to either bring them back somehow or find a way to get revenge. It all relied on whether it he was successful here, though, so he tried to push those thoughts out of his head. Once the Dire Wolf was firmly in his mind, he pushed mana into it. And then some more. He began to worry when instead of pushing the mana towards the vision, it instead started to grasp at the power and pull it from him.
The mana was draining from him at an alarming rate and he tried to stop it, panicking so much that he cut all connection with his Mana-formed Object Creation skill, doing his best to think of nothing. The flow eased and eventually stopped, which prompted Fred to heave a great sigh of relief. Phew, that was close. I thought it was going to pull out everything—
All of a sudden, he felt more mana spilling out of him, though it didn’t feel the same. In fact, he was starting to feel really…cold? And weak, as if he hadn’t eaten in days – or years. He quickly pulled up his Mana supply as the rush of power flowing away from him increased.
Fire Mana: 0/112
Water Mana: 0/111
Unconverted (Unusable) Mana: 824
What? How is this possible? He watched the accumulated Unconverted Mana total plummet rapidly, in correlation with what he felt like was his life-power being sucked out of him. What do I do? How do I stop this? Nothing he tried had any effect on the loss of mana; it was reaching 300 by the time he felt his knees give out, his strength completely drained, barely feeling it as he fell forward.
The last thing he saw before his vision gave out was the cold snow on the ground rushing up, inviting him in to give him a hug.
Chapter 9
Fred gradually woke up, feeling the stifling heat from a fire nearby. Firbey must be turned up a bit more than usual. That’s ok, though – I don’t mind sleeping in a little bit today. He started to drift back to sleep, when a loud pop curtailed any hope of rest.
Everything hit him at once: the fight between his bodyguards, the death of his parents and their dungeon’s collapse, his fight through the woods to the south, his exploration of his new status, and finding the human dwellings in the middle of the forest. Finally, he remembered creating his new clothes, along with the big Dire Wolf pelt—
He sat straight up quickly while opening his eyes at the same time, confused at where he was. It took a moment for him to focus on his surroundings, before he saw he was inside a large wooden box with a roof atop it, arched on top and sloping towards the sides. Smoke from a fire located on the side wall drifted mostly out from the box through some hidden tunnel, while a bit drifted up towards the top of the roof, trapped with nowhere to go.
Looking down, he could see that he was dressed in his clothes he had thrown on before he passed out, though his boots were across the room near the fire and not next to…the bed he was halfway lying on. It was much better built than the one he had made
for himself back home, with large, expertly cut wooden logs making up the majority of the frame. The pad underneath him was softer as well, filled with something unknown but making it feel as if he was sitting on fluffy air.
Some other wooden pieces of furniture were scattered around the room, things that he had no name for but looked like they were practical. Along the walls, sharp metal implements longer than his knives were tacked up alongside long pieces of slightly curved wood that had a string wrapped around to top of it. He also saw a few gruesome beast heads displayed in what he assumed had some sort of significance, though he couldn’t guess as to the reason. Everything else in the room was a complete unknown to him.
Fred crawled off the side of the bed, expecting the ground to be right next to him; he wasn’t prepared for the flooring to be a few feet below and he fell off, smacking his head painfully against the hard, wooden floor. His head made a loud hollow sound as it hit the wood, and his vision went blurry for a few moments before it cleared up.
What happened to me? He lay on the colder floor, trying to get his bearings again while he pulled up his Status.
Dungeon Core Status
Fredwynklemossering
Core Faction: ********
Core Age: 1
Core Structure Level: 1
Dungeon World: A Dungeon Core Experience Page 6
