Dungeon Core Chat Room.

A list of common spells. Most have been synthesized by human [skills] proving that humans are the superior species.*

Potion Making - the concoction of Potions using various reagents and essences. [Alchemy] helps, as does [Brewing]. One of the only spells that doesn't need a skill for humans to perform - although having one helps!

Runesmithing - the inscribing of 2 and 3 dimensional mana constructs that perform specific tasks. Glyphs dependant upon geometric placement, relation to each other and material used. Well used by Dwarves, this spell is unlocked at several incredibly high levelled crafting classes.

Chanting - the act of feeding mana into your voice and letting it take effect based on tone, rhyme and the mana used as fuel. Favorite of the elves and mermaids/sirens. Simplified version unlocked at higher level casting classes for humans.

Enchanting - similar to chanting is the act of writing scripts on items and using words to create effects with mana and ink. Unlike runes, placement doesn't matter and words are less dependant upon shape and more upon the meaning of the written words. Used frequently by several races including gnomes and gremlins.

Movement spells - require specific body movements and rhythms, spells under this category are done through complex hand movements or dances. Used by filthy Goblin shamans and elves alike. Probably used by goblins due to their inhibility to articulate a single sentence.

Infusing - Typically used for weapon infusing or overloading specific body parts with bursts of mana. Much rougher of a spell method than most of the other options on this list. Preferred method of using mana of the orcs. Some don’t consider it a spell and simply mana manipulation.

Rituals - typically combinations of multiple spell types and multiple people. Used for great undertakings.

*Lines redacted from the general “all species” version of the Compoundum to use more inclusive language.

An excerpt from the Arcadium Compoundum. A somewhat useless document that simply lists magic that exists - without telling you how to actually do the blasted stuff!

Innearth had a lot of things to do. But without a deadline, every task he had given himself was a reason not to ever get bored instead of a panicked source of stress.

He worked steadily on expanding while flipping between conversations and listing his enhanced schematics for roughly double the price of their originals. Trying to improve them was an interesting problem as – for the most part – the popular ones didn't use more esoteric mana flavours.

Trying to stick to the 4 Rank 1 manas and 4 Rank 2 manas gave him fewer options, while the monsters themselves were already iterated over generations. The only way to improve them was to look at the problem each monster was trying to solve and try and approach it from a different direction.

This lifestyle took up most of his time and weeks upon weeks passed similarly, with constant small changes to his routine to increase efficiency. He only used mana from schematic sales for experimentation. Although it was small at the start, he had started to get more business as he sold more and the number of positive trades was marked on his profile. Ticking upwards and giving him a more "trustworthy" reputation. Bose had been right about pricing his edits high. He could make a new schematic and sell 5-6 copies before it was undercut and no one seemed to be mad at what he was doing.

Innearth...was happy with this lifestyle. He was happy in general.

Finally, over a month after this routine set in Amy came to him with news.

Amy: Hey! Innearth guess what! I just broke through the surface.

Innearth: Really? Congratulations! Please tell me what it's like.

Amy: It's...It's really hard to describe. I expanded out of a hole and it's just... nothing. I can see a few meters away but it just...vanishes. It's absolutely unnerving. Especially upwards. There's nothing there! And even worse I can tell if I expand upwards there will continue to be nothing there it's awful. I mean the dictionary tells me that's the sky but...sky's above that's frightening.

Innearth: That...I was about to say that didn't sound that bad but now that I think about it a bit more It does sound unnerving.

Innearth: What are you planning on doing now?

Amy: I'm going send Chip out and scout the area! He's my precious Ascended monster. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a better sense of where I am from that.

Innearth: You have an Ascended monster? Lucky...I lost my only one and it's been ages - why hasn't a new one appeared yet?

Amy: Anything special about the first one that evolved? Chip did more than anyone else. Fought more. Played more. He's been consistently great and I focused on him a lot before he reached this point.

Innearth: I mean back when I used Silver, she did do most of my requests…that makes sense.

Innearth: Well tell me when you get an adventurer! I want to hear all about it!

Innearth renewed his efforts in expanding upwards. I wonder how far I still have to go? I’m – he checked his status for the first time in a while – I’m level 25! Nearly 26!

Indecisive Earth

Level 25 875/910 exp to next level.

System Access Level 3 0/2 requirements met to advance.

-Reach the surface

-Level 33+

Stats

Mana Regeneration 34 unit/min

Mana Storage 910.0/910.0 units

Physical Storage 71% Percent Capacity

Titles.

Earth Mana Specialization, Crystal Mana Specialization

Should be close to the surface then, if Amy’s already there. I’m expanding so much faster now that I’ve started using veins to increase my influence.

…several days of straight expansion later, Innearth grew bored and had to admit he wasn’t close to breaking the surface.

Innearth returned to his split routine. This time it was less enjoyable. Less exciting. Nothing had changed but… The fact that he was “falling” behind was stuck constantly at the back of his mind.

Well at least Amy is not level 33 yet~ I’m not that far behind… it's not like she’s a full rank ahead after all.

…and I guess she will be able to scout ahead and tell us what it's like. I have 7 more levels to go until it becomes an issue.

I think…I think I’m deeper in the ground…that’s the only thing that makes sense.

Slowly making himself feel better, Innearth stopped expanding to focus on himself for a bit. It was slightly counterintuitive – he was sad he wasn’t at the surface yet, so he stopped expanding…

But Innearth had been expanding nearly constantly for months now. His dungeon was roughly 100m vertically dug at this point; while he didn’t know exactly how deep he was underground.

It had been a while since Innearth last checked his mana oven. That was something to look at.

Focusing over on it, he could see...something actually interesting actually had happened. There was currently a multifaceted crystal ball that was growing, shattering into a thousand pieces… And then regrowing again from those shards.

Oh! It's done. This seems like a monster material. There isn’t a lot of it and I can’t imagine using it for a trap right now.

Popping off the lid and pulling it out then sealing a new rock in again – Innearth stared at his newfound…

This is interesting but what can I actually do with it? And how was it made using crystal mana? I guess that’s the “mutate” part of the mana. I definitely don’t see how I could have made this from scratch.

Watching the crystal perform a “phoenix rise from the ashes” loop again and again. Innearth was reminded somewhat of the unstable crystal pool.

I don’t think I stick this on the side of a monster and get a good result just like that…

However...maybe I can try to enhance the material itself and build off of that?

Innearth considered the process and then tried to imagine adding onto it instead of adding it onto something.

I think I might be able to stabilize it more if it has some Life mana inside of it...too much and it might interfere with this process but somehow, I’m able to tell a bit might enhance it. Just a bit.

...and similar to the crystal snakes needing a crystal core to control their muscles effectively, a crystal core can probably help this unique monster control the growth of its crystals.

Trying to integrate these two items was more difficult than Innearth had hoped. A core would increase the monster's status, but it would also be a single glaring weak spot. Finally, after hours of staring at the problem – time and thus mana which he had used by queuing up monsters to print in the background – Innearth had an idea.

A core is just a high concentration of mana right? And while I can’t add different mana affinities to a material after the fact...I think I might be able to increase the concentration of the mana that’s already there.

Half expecting it not to work – the best mindset with which to approach anything for the first time – Innearth took one of the regrowing shards and pumped pure attributeless mana into and around it.

The concentration of the crystal was already at the edge of what was normal as it had spent ages in a much higher concentration of mana. Thus, the crystal was pretty receptive to this infusion of mana – the rebirth crystal wasn’t “smoking” yet, but that was because its surroundings were a higher concentration than it. Innearth could instinctually tell it was enough to be considered a core.

Now all he needed was a shell to keep the higher concentration in when he let go. This time Innearth made a shell out of carbon and Life mana. This material didn’t have an obvious result normally – it didn’t heal stuff other than itself – but it was the most receptive material for life mana...for some reason Innearth couldn’t see.

That had to mean something. That plant really liked the life mana cube even if the cube itself didn’t seem to do much.

Either way, hopefully the shell will be able to integrate into the monster – despite being a completely different material.

Giving the whole collective of crystals life, Innearth watched as the whole mess organized itself. It was a chaotic sort of order – the mess constantly and consistently shattering and being remade – but now there was an intelligence to it.

Bits would grow in one direction and shatter in the other as the bed of crystals...grew in the direction it wanted to move.

This ebb and flow was similar to a sine wave – its size rhythmically changing while appearing to pause before reversing direction. This lead to a sort of slinking feeling as the bed of crystals moved forwards a bit – paused – and then continued.

All in all, Innearth liked it. Creating this unique monster satisfied his urge to make something new and while he had...kind of let it form on its own. The end result was something he could be proud of. Needs a name…needs a name. Rebirth crystal? It’s a cycle uh. Mass of cycling crystals? How about Eternal crystals? They kind of look like they could continue that cycle forever. “Mass of Eternal Crystals” that’s your new name.

The only real problem is that while this monster could grow spikes to stab stuff...they grew relatively slowly. Unless it trapped something the Mass of Eternal Crystal wouldn’t be able to catch a single thing.

At least if anything steps on this it will be in for a world of hurt?

Have fun wandering my crystal caves I guess. Your job is to add ambience. Plants are cool and all, but they don’t move. You though. You’re something special.

The mass of crystals spiked in a fluttering manner and Innearth could tell it was pleased.

Tangent somewhat complete Innearth returned to his routine once more. He hadn’t noticed due to how slowly it had progressed, but after months of expanding his speed had dropped considerably. Now that he was refreshed there was a noticeable increase.

Time passed once more. Days turned to weeks and the top of his dungeon hit 150m in elevation. All of Innearth’s values ticked up steadily...including disconcertedly his storage space. He was levelling slower than he was expanding...Each time his level increased his %storage dropped...before increasing past his previous percentage once more. It was disconcerting but Innearth tried to ignore it.

The second major change that happened was he finally started warming to the idea of talking to Doc...

They really did have a lot in common and even though it took Innearth a while to warm to the idea of him working with demons...even that became a valid source of conversation after a certain point.

Innearth: So how do you handle the madness of demons? How do you contain them?

ZeMadDoctor: The easiest way? The most straightforward way.

ZeMadDoctor: I corral them with physical and magical barriers. Kinetically keep them in line as it were.

Innearth: They don't just smash through them? How do you keep them from breaking out? Also, the one I faced broke through solid rock and sucked mana out of things. Oh and if you are blocking them physically how are you able to see them?

ZeMadDoctor: Okay so by Physical barriers. Bars, not walls. Hole size is set to half the size of the smallest demon I've seen that's still dangerous. Bars are metal poles with metal affinity to strengthen them - easily regained after removed through mana leech and simple is good.

ZeMadDoctor: The most useful Kinetic material is one of transference. Both Kinetic and Gravity make a lot of "constant force" type materials. They can push against something but are easily overcome. Transference versions divert kinetic energy or gravity instead. That way I can make a barrier that meets a demon's strength no matter how much force they use.

Innearth: Okay, so how are those barriers set up?

Innearth really wanted to implement more demon defences. He had traps...but more couldn't hurt. Heck if he had realized doc had solutions to handle demons he'd have asked sooner.

ZeMadDoctor: Okay. It's slightly more in-depth than simply pushing the mana at something. I'll send you instructions.

...

Absorbing the instructions Innearth saw the path you had to pass kinetic mana through to create a "diverting energy" type of material - or as doc called it "Transference".

He had to stretch the mana out and thread it through a material while keeping most of the mana on the other side. Continuing to feed kinetic mana through a material in that single point until there was a "dumbell" of sorts with two balls of mana passing through the material and held on either side.

....

Then you let go. - both balls would dissipate while leaving the channel between them intact...and somehow that was different than pushing mana into it from one direction and letting all the mana be used.

Innearth: Sometimes...sometimes this doesn't really make sense. Why does mana work like this?

ZeMadDoctor: Mana doesn't have rules. Unique materials are proof of that. You should know that by now.

Innearth: It does have rules though? You just told me one. Move kinetic mana in this way and you get a diverting material.

ZeMadDoctor: Ahh...it appears you have a misconception. Spells have rules. Making a dungeon material is a "dungeon material making spell". The action is important yes. But it's also the "you" doing the action that's important. The fact that you are moving your mana in this way. Not that the mana is moving that way. Comprende?

ZeMadDoctor: Like if mana passed through a material like that naturally. It wouldn't have the same effect. It's only because you as a dungeon are doing so that it's successful. Also, there's a good chance a different race couldn't copy us. I don't have confirmation on that. The records are incomplete.

Innearth: Roundabout from my original question. Why does the "material making spell" work like this then? What about this action made this material?

ZeMadDoctor: That I do not know.

Innearth had finally made his 4th friend. Although…Bose was reaching out less and less these days, so it was more like he was replaced with doc.

Finally, a month after she had broken the surface, Innearth got an excited stream of messages from Amy.

Amy: Hey! Hey! I have a pair of adventurers! They came, they really came!!!

Amy: Oh wow that’s an absolute mess of system messages. Most say “X System locked till Tier 4”…I think I’m supposed to advance before getting adventurers…oops.

Innearth: Hey that’s great! What do they look like?

Amy: Ones tall and lanky with umm… clothing that’s what that is. With a bunch of flowing brown clothing that hits the floor. The other's shorter and wearing something completely black. They are both holding sticks and making mouth noises to each other.

Innearth: Mouth noises?

Amy: Yeah didn’t you read the adventurer primer? They communicate through sound. You know that stuff that happens when things smash into each other? Crashes and booms?

Innearth: huh? They communicate by crashing their mouthparts together? So like one smash for yes two smashes for no? that seems terribly inefficient. Are they intelligent? However do they communicate complex ideas like that????

Amy: There's quite a bit more than just smashing and yes that’s how it works. Check your dictionary for “Speech”. Anyways that’s unimportant they started into my dungeon! Oh, Gaia the earth mother I am not prepared for this. I have so much to do. Everything should look perfect ahh. I want to make a good first impression.

Innearth tried to search through the information that had been imprinted on him at the very start. Everything he had used had formed connections pretty quick but there was a growing section of information on words that he hadn’t used that was slowly getting stuck in “dead branches” of his memory. Speech is the action of shaping sound waves and communicating with them…I’m sure it's much easier to shape mana than sound? Why are they not simply using mind magic to communicate? Is that what mouths are for? I thought those were simply for eating.

My monsters don’t need to eat but maybe I should give them mouths so they can do this “speech”? but the ones that need to communicate already have mind bridges it seems like so much work.

Amy: They came across a Reeler! Two tuggers came around the corner and engaged them as well but they don’t seem to be paying much attention. Ahh, I’m worried for them. Watch out!

Innearth: ...You're too nice Amy. You're not supposed to care what happens to the adventurers. Shouldn't you be rooting for your monsters?

Amy: Oh one waved its stick and made some sounds and the reeler got eviscerated! The big one is bending down and picking up some of the monster's scraps. He seems pretty happy with them? Oh, he just pointed his stick at the tuggers and stabbed them from where he was standing. That ones a sword. I can see sword mana now it's pretty obvious. Oh. They are ripping into the tuggers and pulling out the cores?

Amy: How are they dead without the cores being broken? I’m pretty sure my monsters normally keep going all the way up until they are shattered.

Innearth: I mean cores are pretty useful. They probably want to go back and use them to make their own monsters.

Amy: Hah, that’s great. You should start sending something like -joke at the end of your jokes It's hard to tell sometimes.

Innearth: Where’s the fun in that :3.

Amy: Okay they are cutting the tuggers up into little pieces…poor tuggy and toggo. I’ll make your replacements soon. You performed valiantly!

Amy: They are progressing further. The smaller adventurer seems to really like me! They keep pointing at stuff and casting lots of spells with their stick…wand? I think that’s a wand.

Amy: They just reached the edges of my first boss. The larger one is pushing the smaller one back and now he’s engaging the boss.

Amy: Oh…nvm now he’s gathering the remains of the boss. He really does like to collect parts of my monsters. That was way too fast. I think they are high-levelled adventures. Or at least the big one is. They both seem pretty strong though.

Innearth: I wish I could actually see this. Your descriptions are lovely but…not quite enough. I can’t wait to get my own adventurers!

Amy: Now they are leaving. They didn’t seem to care about going through my whole dungeon? The taller one is pointing onwards and looking excited now but the smaller one is pulling them back and leading them away. I think the small one is the boss. First, I thought they were a child and weaker being brought around but now I think they are just smaller.

Amy: They left. I think once I’ve gotten 2 I’m bound to start getting more.

Innearth: I’m so jealous.