NOVEL NEXT 39 – Wow! Look how far we’ve come. And yet there’s still so much to go
In almost no time, a new Link in my mind made itself known to me. The Dungeon Seed must’ve landed.
With a bit of effort I managed to shift my perception and soon I was looking out from a fist sized crystal in the middle of a forest. A small crater of burned plant-life surrounded me, but nothing that could threaten the forest.
Alright, new Dungeon. This time with a normal start.
…
How do I do this again?
Ah, right. Go to the Create submenu and select establish Dungeon. Easy enough.
Aaand, it’s not there.
Why? Is it because that’s not technically me, so I can’t use that there? What about my other Abilities? Sensing works fine, but how about Control and Destroy?
I try to Control a small pebble that’s just off to the side, but nothing happens. Alright, don’t panic. This could entirely be because that Core is not technically in its Dungeon, so it can’t exert its influence.
Maybe Destroy? No? Maybe Destroy what’s directly in contact with the Core?
Ah, finally that seems to work. Okay, lesson learned. Without a Dungeon I can only affect things directly in contact with me.
I use more Destroy to make a small tunnel directly below me. I mean, below the Dungeon Seed. You know what I mean.
Once I’m deep enough, I feel something change. A small test confirms I can use my other Abilities. Except that another slight issue arises. None of my Create database is available to me. I can only use the default Dungeon Stone, as well as the earth I Destroyed to make this hole.
I suppose that’s fair, it wouldn’t do to have a baby Dungeon Create advance monsters like mine. And if it had access to some of my rarer materials it would be immediately raided by everyone, so I suppose that’s fair too.
Sigh, so I really am starting over. At least the mastery I’d gained over the Abilities carries over.
With the initial Dungeon establishes, I can follow the more traditional Dungeon making process. I Control the earth where I want to make a tunnel and push it to the side. This has the benefit of also reinforcing any walls I have and preventing collapse.
And we’re back to mindless and boring Dungeon work. I groan. Might as well see how the others are doing.
Ah, right now they’re in the trap room. That one was a pain in the ass to make, even with Faellen basically telling me everything I had to do.
Dittillapp is the main one that’s being challenged by that one, as they are the rogue. The others don’t really have anything to do. Other than learning to follow their instructions on how to avoid any traps, that is. Okay, maybe all three of them are quite busy.
Except for Faellen. Might as well interrupt it, since it saddled me with so much work.
“Heeeey, what’s upppp?” I send through our Bond.
The fairy startles and gives my Core a dirty look, despite the tons of rock between us.
“Is it something important?” it asks, “I’m sort of in the middle of something here.”
The irritation is practically dripping from its mouth, but I push on regardless.
“Oh, no. Nothing much. Just that your ‘little’ favour,” I place heavy emphasis on little, to show how not at all little it is, “led to me making a new Ability. Thought you might be interested, but I see you’re really busy with, uh, looking at our adventurers and doing nothing, so I’ll leave you be.”
“First of all, I’m making sure they do everything right so that I can save them if they mess up. Second of all, a new Ability? Are you serious?”
“I sure am,” I say proudly.
“Wylds fucking damn it! You’re just impossible! Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? No, of course you don’t. You just think that’s how you get Abilities outside of Levels, completely ignoring that usually people need to, at the very least, have hundreds of years of experience working with Essence, usually more than that!”
Oh wow, really? In that case I may have just gained a huge bargaining chip.
“Oh, no. Don’t worry. I didn’t actually have to work with the Essence,” I grind and I’m fairly sure Faellen can sense the grin over out Bond.
“Y- you,” it throws it’s hand in the air, “Fine! What the hell do you want?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just a small favour in exchange.”
For almost five minutes, nothing is heard across our Bond. But I know it’ll come around eventually, so I patiently wait.
Eventually, “Fine! I’ll owe you a favour.”
“Great!” I exclaim and proceed to explain how I made my new Ability. Which basically boils down to flood it with a bunch of mana.
After I’m done I feel much more relaxed. Could be from taking a break, could be from taking revenge on my lovely assistant. Who knows?
Even the mini-Dungeon down on Lapis is nearing construction! This really was a very productive use of my time. I should have these talks with Faellen more often.
And speaking of Faellen, it seems it has something to say.
“I hate you.” Oh? That’s not what I expected. “Maybe in a few millennia that’ll be useful to me, but I can’t manipulate such quantities of mana. Seriously, normally not even Dungeon’s should be able to do that, you’re just super weird and the size of a moon! Plus, with your own Mana-Cycle all the mana within you responds to you much more easily.”
Huh… does that mean I just created my own cheat?
I suppose it’s about time. There’s always some kind of cheat when someone gets reincarnated, and I refuse to count my Aspects since they have been more trouble than they’re worth until now.
Speaking of, now that I’m not constantly under threat of the Universe’s End, I should probably experiment with them more. I wonder what the Endless End does now? Surely it won’t take me back to when I established my Dungeon.