Every dungeon looked very similar on the outside: a large protrusion of rocks from the ground with an entrance passage contained within. The older, larger, and more difficult dungeons had a bigger pile of rocks, but she hadn’t seen or heard of any that looked fundamentally different. To the southeast of the Kingdom, the rocks and stone native to that area were reddish-colored, which affected the coloring of the dungeon entrance – but it looked the same.
On the inside, on the other hand, every dungeon was different. Even between Plant-based dungeons – like the one she was currently inside – the layout of the entire place, the plants used to both “decorate” and entrap delvers, the monster composition, and even the general “feel” of the dungeons were at least marginally different from each other. There were always similarities, like potential traps or frequently seen monsters, but each one was a new experience.
She didn’t see anything threatening right away, so she turned back to Fred to coordinate their plan – but he wasn’t there. A few seconds later, he walked through the entrance, looking around in open-mouthed wonder at the room. “There you are – what took you so long?”
Fred snapped out of his perusal of the room and seemed to remember she was there. “Oh, sorry – I had to leave Deecy outside of the entrance. Let’s do this!” he replied, unsheathing his knives in one smooth motion. He was holding them like he knew how to use them, at least.
Huh, I wonder why that wolf is staying outside? I was kind of hoping she would come with us to make this even easier than it’s most likely going to be. “Ok, I’m sending my bear in first, and I need you to pick up anything that it misses. If you find yourself overwhelmed, fall back and I’ll help out. And be careful, there may be traps anywhere in here.”
Fred looked around the room, taking everything in; Eisa was just glad that he was taking her advice and watching out for himself. She moved her bear further into the middle of the room, hoping to draw out whatever monsters were in there lying in wait.
“I don’t see any traps, but there looks to be some…beetles, I think…waiting around the edges of the room.”
She stopped her animated bear, turning toward Fred with confusion running rampant through her mind. “How could you possibly know that? Or is that just a guess?”
He hesitated a moment before he answered. “It’s…a talent of mine, I guess you could say. I can…see the location of most of the dangers inside the dungeon, though what those dangers are or how to bypass or defeat them isn’t something that I can see.”
He’s just full of surprises…or full of something. We’ll just have to see. “That would’ve been nice to know beforehand. If you think of anything else impossible that you can do, don’t tell me – I don’t think I can handle any more shocks today.”
Fred just smiled back at her. “Sure thing.”
He’s infuriating, but if he can really do what he says…
She left that thought and continued her original intent to send her bear forward. Her Enhance Animation ability toughened up the physical defense and strengthened the brute-force attacks of her reanimated corpses, so she didn’t worry too much about it getting hurt – or about it destroying everything in sight. It was pretty much overkill for the dungeon, but she wasn’t complaining.
Just as Fred had guessed, as soon as her bear neared the center of the room, a dozen thick-shelled black beetles slightly larger than her head scuttled out from the plants around the perimeter of the room, where they had been successfully camouflaged. They had long, vicious-looking mandibles that looked capable of inflicting severe harm – on novice Adventurers at least. She wasn’t worried about her bear – or herself for that matter; her Body stat was high enough that she might get deeply scratched if she were unlucky enough to be attacked by one, but nothing life-threatening. Fred, being a new Adventurer without a single point of Essence to his name, might lose a limb or worse if he was caught flat-footed.
Since it was out front and was what attracted their attention, the bear was soon surrounded by the beetles, who ineffectively tried to slice into her animation’s legs, barely even scratching its dead skin underneath all of the fur. In opposition, each stomp of her bear’s feet was flattening the large insects, as green fluid and other unpleasant bodily parts were squished out. Neither the beetles or her bear was quick, but her undead animation was fast enough to catch over half of them unprepared within the first few seconds.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Fred move in from the side, creeping up on one of the beetles attacking her bear from the rear. She almost called out for him to leave the work to her animation, but she wanted to see if he was any good in a fight. It was the perfect opportunity, as well, because this fight was probably the easiest that he’d ever be a part of.
Hopping the last few feet toward his target, Fred brought both of his knives down on the back of the beetle…which skidded off the hard shell, leaving deep grooves but inflicting no actual damage to it. In fact, the only thing it did do was cause the beetle to turn its attention to Fred, who recovered remarkably fast from the ineffectual attack and retreated a couple of steps.
Eisa still didn’t do anything to help, but she was ready just in case.
While her bear stomped on another beetle and swiped away an eighth one, where it impacted so hard against the wall it was nearly obliterated, Fred was engaged with his own monster. Rightly guessing that he had to attack it in a more vulnerable spot, Eisa watched as he attempted to kick it on its back, getting his foot underneath it before taking a painful-looking slash from the beetle’s razor-sharp mandibles on his shin. She could tell that it was just a glancing cut, but it cut deep enough that blood spilled from the wound immediately, soaking his worn-looking (and now sliced-up) pants.
“Back up and I’ll heal you!”
Rather than step back and wait until he was healed, like any sane individual would do, Fred instead shrugged off the injury and tried again with his other foot, this time managing to flip it over just as he was sliced up again. Unlike the smaller cut on his shin from last time, however, this one went from his ankle up to his knee, gouging deep enough that Eisa could see bone beneath the tattered fabric of his pants.
Again ignoring the wound, Fred practically fell on the exposed underbelly of the beetle before it could right itself, his knives stabbing deep and true enough that his victim stopped moving within a couple of seconds. He tried to stand up, but his critically wounded leg couldn’t support his weight and he collapsed back on his butt.
She used her Vitality Transfer ability to heal him, knowing he was in trouble if one of the other beetles decided he was easier prey. Fortunately, while her bear was fully engaged with the last two, she didn’t have to worry too much about that happening.
She felt a little snippet of pain cycle through her body as the spell took effect, taking some of her vitality, sending it to Fred, and amplifying it into a healing wave that covered his entire body. It was now powerful enough that it could mend broken bones and reattach limbs, though with something as severe as that she would need to use the ability more than a few times. For his “simple” cuts, one spell should be enough – especially since he didn’t have a lot of defense. More defense meant a lot more had to be repaired, which meant more healing needed to be done.
She commanded her bear to throw itself to the side, instantly squishing the last beetle – which had been annoyingly avoiding all of the powerful attacks thrown its way. Once that was done, she had it stand back up and join her and Fred, who was just getting up from the ground, looking down at his legs in astonishment.
“Wow – that is so much faster than if I were to heal on my own. Did it hurt much when you did that?” He seemed fairly nonchalant about the fact that he had just been sliced open, but that was probably a point in his favor; if you couldn’t handle a little pain, then the life of an Adventurer delving through dungeons probably wasn’t for you.
“A little bit, but I’m used to it by now. Don’t worry about me, are you okay
?” she replied, only slightly worried about him. Fred had killed his beetle, sure – but he almost lost a leg in the process. Maybe next time he’ll learn to be more careful.
“Absolutely! I’m ready for some more.”
The sounds of some muffled coins hitting the ground came from the bodies (or splattered remains) of the beetles, which started to rapidly melt into the ground, disappearing within moments. As well, from where they disappeared, wisps of “juice” drifted out and toward her; she lifted her hand and watched the spiritual essence funnel into the top of her hand where the SDIA was located, until the Artifact had “sucked up” all the remaining wisps in the room. She knew that Fred was experiencing the same thing when he looked at his hand as well, along with the feeling of the essence pooling inside of his essentially empty vessel.
As soon as it stopped however, the strange man went all crazy again, with his eyes rolling back into his head again, and collapsing back onto the greenery where he had just gotten up from.
“Fred! What’s wrong? Are you going to collapse like this anytime you absorb some ‘juice’?” He didn’t look like he was necessarily in pain this time, fortunately, but he was unresponsive when she bent down and tried to get his attention. She tried her Vitality Transfer spell again – to no effect – followed by her Painful Purge ability, hoping that that would do the trick. The Purge did what it sounded like: purged the body of toxins or poisons; however, as a result of it being her part of her Dark Healer class, it also caused incredible pain at the same time. Fortunately, it didn’t last long, and most would rather take a little pain than have to suffer from a debilitating poison for an undetermined amount of time.
Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to have any effect, either; in fact, he didn’t even seem to feel the pain from it. Out of options, she waited for him to recover, which she hoped was sooner rather than later.
Chapter 22
Fred was getting really tired of the stupid Artifact in his hand incapacitating him. The only upside to the current one that knocked him flat on his back was the fact that it didn’t hurt. Truth be told, he couldn’t feel anything – let alone pain. Instead, it was as if his body had shut down, adjusting to the strange-looking misty smoke that had entered both his and Eisa’s hands.
Unfortunately, Deecy wasn’t there to help with the adjustment; even if she was, he was so disconnected from his body that he didn’t think he’d be able to hear her anyway. For the second time in less than a day, he felt helpless as the foreign thing in his body and system took over and did things to him that he hadn’t planned on.
Time meant nothing in the dark void he found himself, but this time he tried to adopt what he had learned from the last time he had lost control of his body; instead of fighting to feel something – anything – he instead surrendered to the void, willing it to become a part of him, inviting it in and embracing it.
After an indeterminate amount of time of complete submission…nothing happened.
But then he felt something; something distant but recognizable – pain. It didn’t last long nor was it overly severe, but it was enough to jumpstart a cascade of torture around his entire body. This time, however, the torture was on the opposite side of the spectrum; instead of pain suffusing his existence, he was subjected to unbearably sweet pleasure as his cells adapted to the presence of the…essence…he had absorbed.
Fred opened his eyes with a smile on his face, staring up at Eisa, who was looking down on him worriedly. He was free of the void; not only that, he felt better than he ever had before. It was as if only now had the full potential of his Artifact and the Interface it provided been activated. What he (with Deecy’s help, of course) had done before at the DAS building was just the start; the foreign system was adapted successfully, but it had been largely dormant.
However, when he absorbed the spiritual essence, or what he had heard Eisa call “juice”, from the dungeon defenders – he ended up turning it on.
With a quick mental check, he was confident that everything was working just fine, and in addition, he wouldn’t have to worry about the Artifact “malfunctioning” anymore. It was a part of him now.
Dungeon Core Status
Fredwynklemossering
Core Faction: ********
Core Age: 1
Core Structure Level: 1
Fire Mana: 78/120
Water Mana: 77/119
Unconverted (Unusable) Mana: 3735
Unconverted Essence: 1
Skills
Master Mana Sight: 100%
Novice Mana Communication: 9%
Novice Mana Absorption: 70%
Novice Mana Conversion: 23%
Novice Essence Conversion: 1%
Novice Mana-formed Object Creation: 24%
Novice Core Crystallization: 16%
Novice **** Mana-formed Object Creation: 20%
Dungeon Information
(none)
Dungeon Adventurer Syndicate Interface
Name: Fredwynklemossering
Class: Unselected
Rating: G-1st
Essence Needed to Rate-up: 88
Total Essence: 12
Available Essence to Distribute: 12
Unconverted Essence: 37350
Body: 2 (0/20)
Brawn: 2 (0/20)
Mind: 4 (0/80)
Vitality: 10/10
Stamina: 9/10
Power: 20/20
Base Physical Attack: 2
Base Physical Defense: 2
Power Regen Rate: 0.1/min
(Additional stats and abilities available once class is chosen)
Adapted Abilities
Animate Dead 0 – 0/100
Repair Animation 0 – 0/100
Vitality Transfer 0 – 0/100
The biggest changes he saw from his two different status screens – his Dungeon Core and Adventurer ones – were his Adapted Abilities and his Unconverted Essence on his new Interface. The first was easily explained; he had seen Eisa perform those spells and abilities, and since he could see the way she manipulated her power, he could do it as well. They still seemed to be locked, though, and he thought that by slotting some of his available essence in them, he would then be able to actually perform the spells. Whether or not he had the required power to actually complete them was a whole different matter.
As for the Unconverted Essence, he mentally reached inside of him and could “flip a switch”, allowing the normal mana conversion process to do whichever one he wanted to do next. And, for some reason, each point in his Unconverted Mana was worth 10 Essence – which would be highly beneficial for his development. He decided to wait on doing that for the moment, wanting to refill his Water and Fire mana – just in case.
On the other end of that, it also appeared as if he could convert Essence into Mana if he chose to do it, which he could think of a couple of situations where that might come in handy.
Eisa smacked him on his upper arm, hard enough for it to actually cause some discomfort. “You have got to stop doing that! You scared me there.”
“I’m sorry – but I think everything is fixed now! I don’t think anything will happen like that from now on; you can stop worrying about me.” Fred thought it was nice that someone was worried about him – something he enjoyed about his friendship with Regnark.
“I wasn’t worried…I…I just didn’t want to have to carry you back to Gatecross. You look heavy, and they probably wouldn’t appreciate me bringing a walking corpse into the town,” she promptly responded, finishing up in a rush. Well, never mind then.
“What did I miss?”
Now that the crisis was over, Eisa was all back to business – which Fred greatly appreciated. Since he was still technically new at all this, he preferred to defer to her experience and judgment. He found that he learned better when he had the opportunity to see things in action, instead of just being told; as a result, he thought he was learning much faster than he had when he was back home. It was nothing against his pare
nts, but it was hard to learn by just verbal instruction – since that was all they could realistically do, there wasn’t really an alternative.
“The beetles left behind some copper pieces, just one each, but every little bit helps. That’s about it— oh, I had my bear walk around to see if there were any traps inside the room, and you were right – there weren’t any.”
He was starting to understand the levels he had seen on the beetle a little better, and what he should theoretically expect as a reward from them – both in terms of “loot” and the essence they gave off. On the dungeon defenders inside his own home, the information was a lot more detailed; on the wild beasts out in the forest, there hadn’t been anything but an approximate level. Apparently, while he was inside a foreign dungeon core’s dungeon, he got something in between. I wonder, if I were to visit a Water or Fire dungeon, would I be able to see everything again?
He looked at the mana signature left by one of the deceased beetles, where it had been absorbed at the end of the fight:
Rock Beetle (Level 1)
Vitality: 0
Attack: 5
Defense: 2 (5 on shell and mandibles)
Respawn: 2 Nature Mana
Loot: 1 copper
Essence: 1 unit
The last three hadn’t been there before the fight, only appearing after the battle was over. Still, it was nice to know how it worked – and how much he could earn in essence when he came back or saw one of the beetles somewhere else.
With the room as complete as could be, and with the bear essentially uninjured and Fred back in fighting shape, Eisa had her animated servant lead the way into the next room.
Fred followed behind them as the Necro-healer had instructed, staying out of the way as they passed through a rocky passage that led onward. He took a quick look ahead of them to see if he saw anything out of the ordinary in the tunnel, but it was as clear and lifeless as the rest of the rock walls. He wasn’t sure why the overall rock structure of this dungeon (as well as his parents’) didn’t contain even a speck of mana inside of it, but he assumed it had to do with the dungeon creation process or was just a normal feature. Either way, it allowed him to easily see where traps might be present.
Dungeon World: A Dungeon Core Experience Page 15
