《The Gambit》 Prologue: Second Genesis A single mote of white light, in the infinite void. Soon it is joined by others, the beams intermingling and becoming coherent planes of white. Red, Purple, Green, and Yellow motes join the shape which is forming, followed by Blue, Grey, and a thousand other colours that have no names and which would be irresponsible to approximate in text. A sphere forms, swirling with light and potential. Let''s see how this one fares... With a flick, I cause the sphere to distort, crashing through the bounds between the cold void and the warmth of reality, the blazes of creation streaming behind as it rushed towards the world of my focus. Even I did not know when this project would bear fruit, a week? A month? A year? A cycle? I could only hope it would be worth the wait.
.
...
.....
.......
Mana Equilibrium Confirmed
FG-01 Conditions Met!
...Huh? Who''s saying that? Thinking that?The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Awareness confirmed, starting up...
Excuse me, I''m not entirely sure what''s going on here, I could use a little light?
Please State Your Name:
_
OK
Defer
...Y''know, I''m beginning to think I''d rather be blind.
Chapter 1: Deference
Please State Your Name:
-
OK
Defer
"Okay, this is bright, but I don''t think it counts as a light if it''s not actually lighting things up. Either way, I don''t think there''s much point in picking a name when so far I''ve worked out that I don''t have legs and not much else." I thought to myself, not entirely appreciating the mental company the message brought. "Defer", I pointedly thought at the message, which seemed to satisfy it for the moment, leaving me in the quiet darkness. "So, what am I? I can definitely feel physical pressure from something, so I don''t think I''m entirely thought-based, despite the mental monologuing." Focusing on that sensation of pressure, I tried to get more information about what I was feeling - heat, texture, moisture, anything - and found whatever senses I had to be lacking. This is probably not a good thing. If I couldn''t feel heat - or its absence - then if whatever body I have has a sensitivity to temperature extremes, or even just a specific comfort zone, I might not know I''m out of that safe zone until I start feeling pain. Assuming I can feel pain. I really hoped that I wasn''t in a dangerous place right now. The feeling of pressure wasn''t uncomfortable, but- hm. Something had changed about it. A shift in the pressure in one place. I focused intently on the change, my first real clue as to what I might be aside from verbose. I could tell that I had caused this change, though I had no idea how. It felt cold, distant, and rather unpleasant to interact with, but as the only thing I could "feel", there was no way I could indulge that aversion. After a while of feeling it shift over my pressure-sense without becoming weaker or noticeably moving away, I decided to try something. "Stop." I tried to think at it in the same way I had previously dismissed the question of a name, and it did work, somewhat. The shifting slowed a little, and I found that if I focused on the idea for longer, with some strain I could actually slow it quite substantially. It never did stop though, maybe I wasn''t strong enough to will it so? Maybe motion is fundamental to whatever it is? I wasn''t feeling too focused after doing that for a while, so I guessed I have the capacity for exhaustion, lucky me. Stopping it was a lot of work for a result without a meaning, so next I tried willing it to move in specific directions. I had a pretty good idea of how it preferred to move from watching it shift earlier, and it was a lot easier to mentally nudge it one way or the other than stop it. Moving it deliberately at all seemed to give it a little more speed each time, even once it started shifting around on its own again, as if willing it to move actually imparted some energy rather than just a command. I tried to nudge it towards ''me'', rather than the radial track it so far had stuck to. And then my world exploded.
New Mana Quiddity Absorbed! Processing...
First Mana Quiddity Absorbed, FG-01 Black Mana: 0.1
When I came to, I was pleased to note the world was actually still here, if feeling a bit put out by my temporary absence from it. Still, I moved on from that feeling pretty quickly as I took in my surroundings. Because I could take in my surroundings. "I''m... luminescent?" I was luminescent, but that wasn''t what I was seeing. Something about taking in that mana had jump-started my senses, and now I could tell that I was underground, buried, but the area around me was awash with something similar to the black mana I had just taken in. Some other ''flavour'' of mana, I presu-
Please State Your Name:
-
OK
Defer
"Defer!" I snapped back, my train of thought interrupted by the annoying question again. Carefully, I tried to pull some of the mana into myself, hoping to get some answers without blacking out again. It took a while - it wasn''t hard to manipulate in the same way slowing the black mana was, but rather it was so ephemeral that moving just a small amount without losing track of the part I was manipulating took a great deal of focus and many attempts. At first I tried to simply nudge the mana again, but it seemed to get washed away with the natural flow the moment it showed signs of resisting it. Attempting to slow the motion did work, at first, but the strain threatened to knock me out again, and I really didn''t want to find out if I could lose this level of perception as sharply as I gained it. I spent what felt like hours - thankfully uninterrupted by questions - trying to understand the way the mana flowed naturally, and once I felt like I understood it well enough to act, I focused on a larger area of it, willing the mana on the edges of my focus to flow around the mana in the centre away from me, and the mana in the centre to move towards me. It was slow at first but eventually I just needed to give it that last little push, and I felt it flow into the sphere which I now understood to be my body.
New Mana Quiddity Absorbed! Processing...
FG-01 Null Mana: 1
I felt my understanding of the mana around me sharpen, as if absorbing a small mote of it had given me an instinctual comprehension of it. I could even feel the small amount I had taken in, a tiny weight in the lightness of my being. I couldn''t actually feel the black mana from earlier, presumably it was in there too though, possibly in too small a quantity to be able to sense yet.
Please State Your Name:
-
OK
Generate Name
"Defer!" I replied reflexively, realising too late that ''Defer'' was no longer an option, and that apparently this was my last chance to pick a name on purpose.
Name ''Defer'' accepted! Processing...
If I could make noise I would have made several very unpleasant ones, but instead I hoped that I could find a way to change that once I had a better name in mind, but for now it would have to do.Stolen novel; please report.
Calculating status retroactively...
Mana Sense set to 2 Mana Conversion: Black set to 1 Will Exertion: Mana set to 1 Black Mana Manipulation set to 1 Null Mana Manipulation set to 3 Mana Conversion: Red set to 1 Processing...
That last one surprised me, and I immediately began casting my awareness around the area for another sliver of something different. It didn''t take me long to find it very close to my surface, much like the black mana from before, and it wasn''t hard to pull it into myself in the same way. It felt warm and heavy, and I felt a little more alert, though unlike before I didn''t black out, or feel much change in my feeling of the room. I still had no idea how I had apparently converted mana to either kind, and the messages I was receiving were not forthcoming with details. Hopefully whoever or whatever was sending them would be a little more helpful once it had finished ''processing'' me.
Mana Conversion: Red set to 1
Processing Complete! Status of Defer:
Core Status
Name: Defer Rank: 1
Colour: Prismatic Cut: N/A
Condition: Perfect
Feats:
Seeded Existence Chromophiliac
Cutless
Skills:
Mana Sense 2 Mana Conversion: Black 1
Mana Conversion: Red 1 Null Mana Manipulation 3
Black Mana Manipulation 1 Red Mana Manipulation 1
Will Exertion: Mana 1
Stored
Null Mana 51 Black Mana 0.1
Red Mana 0.1
Well, that was verbose. I almost expected more numbers. I was pleased to note that I was ''perfect'', though I wasn''t really seeing the ''Prismatic'' in my appearance. Maybe it''s something I''ll grow into? Rank into? In any case, this status hadn''t presented me with any goals, though I was curious what the ''Seeded Existence'' feat meant. Hoping the name-taking entity was listening, I tried to get more information. "Seeded Existence? Information, please?"
Seeded Existence
You were not born by a random convergence of mana like so many other dungeon cores. You were created deliberately, for better or for worse. Make the most of it. Effect: Unknown
...Huh. ''Dungeon Core''? The name implied some things, but... "What is a Dungeon Core?"
Dungeon Core
A dungeon core is an entity born of the natural flow of mana and will. When mana flows of sufficient density and Quiddity converge underground, a dungeon core may be created. Dungeon cores instinctively create a dungeon by tunneling, deconstructing, or otherwise moving the rock and earth around them and pour mana into their surroundings. A dungeon core can be destroyed by physical assault or by the starvation of mana flows around it.
Feeling the information flow into me, I wondered why I didn''t have those instincts. I was to all intents and purposes, making things up as I went along. At least I now knew some things I could do, even if I wasn''t too sure on the ''how'' yet. I could move the earth. If I made my way to the surface, maybe I could find the one who made me, or at least find someone who knew why. I just had to work out how to interact with physical matter. No big deal. Right? Chapter 2: Limitations The first thing I tried was getting some hints from the entity. "How do dungeons move rock?" Silence. "Why don''t I have dungeon instincts? Are other dungeon cores self-aware?" Silence. "...Which way is up?" Silence, which was a real shame because I had no indicators about that one and it seemed pretty fundamental. The pressure from null mana was more or less equal around me, so until I could make something fall and point in the other direction, I had no idea where the surface even was. Asking for information on my feats was allowed, but the entity seemed unwilling or unable to respond to questions about the world in general, or how to do things I hadn''t already worked out. Even if I already had the skill for it. For example... "Mana Conversion: Red? Information please?" I asked, sticking to a question format that it was able to respond to.
Mana Conversion: Red
Represents your ability to convert Null Mana to Red Mana. At higher levels more mana may be converted at once. Current Skill: 1
Not exactly a useful factoid, but I went through everything else on my status anyway, just in case there was something I could use.
Mana Sense
You can sense the flows of mana around you, as well as the Quiddity, to an extent. Current Skill: 2
Mana Conversion: Black
Represents your ability to convert Null Mana to Black Mana. At higher levels more mana may be converted at once. Current Skill: 1
Null Mana Manipulation
You can move Null Mana around, take it into yourself, and expel it. At higher skill levels you may move more mana at once, and it becomes easier to move lower amounts. Current Skill: 1
Black Mana Manipulation
You can move Black Mana around, take it into yourself, and expel it. At higher skill levels you may move more mana at once, and it becomes easier to move lower amounts. Current Skill: 1
Red Mana Manipulation
You can move Red Mana around, take it into yourself, and expel it. At higher skill levels you may move more mana at once, and it becomes easier to move lower amounts. Current Skill: 1
Will Exertion: Mana
Through sheer will alone, you can alter the flows of mana. At higher skill levels improve range, power, and finesse of your alterations.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Current Skill: 1
I had acquired an interesting set of tools so far, but nothing stood out to me as a get-out-of-rock-free skill. It was time to experiment. I spent a while pulling in Null Mana. It was a slow process, isolating small areas and bending the flows around it to guide it towards me, but after an hour my status had confirmed that I had about 100 Null Mana in reserve, as well as having drawn in a small amount of White Mana that got caught up in the flows. I didn''t get the White Mana Manipulation skill for that though so I guessed it had to be deliberate to ''count''. My Null Mana Manipulation skill went up to 5, too. Next, I needed to work out how to release the mana I had absorbed. I turned my thoughts towards how my spherical body felt compared with when I had just woken up. I could still feel the heavy mote of Black Mana quite clearly, and after a little while I could feel the Red Mana darting around my core. I felt a few pinpricks on the edge of my attention as I continued trying to feel the Null Mana, absorbing more to see where it went. It wasn''t until I started bringing in slightly larger amounts that I realised the answer: Most of my core was a nexus of Null Mana. If I had been presented with my status at ''birth'' I probably would''ve noticed sooner, but Null Mana was swirling around the rest of the mana I had absorbed. It was hard to pick out because I had mistook it for, well, nothing. Now that I knew how to find it, I mentally held what I judged to be about 10 mana directly, Since it was technically a part of me I didn''t need to use as much finesse moving the surrounding flow to extract it, and once it was outside of me again, I released it. This was... anticlimactic. The rock seemed to glow a little bit, but did not budge or show signs of weakening, and the mana I released disappeared into the natural flows around me. Speaking of which, now that I was being less introspective, I noticed a fair few motes of a new kind of mana on my surface. They felt almost metallic as I pulled them in.
Mana Conversion: Purple
Current Skill: 2
Purple Mana Manipulation
Current Skill: 2
Experimenting with deliberately converting mana would have to be on my list, but for now I needed to work out how to use the mana I had to deal with this rock. Just releasing it didn''t help, so either my method was wrong or I didn''t go big enough. I didn''t have enough of any non-Null mana to try anything interesting yet, and I didn''t want to get side-tracked on fixing that until I''d exhausted the possibilities of using Null Mana for the task. With that in mind, I moved 20 mana to just below my surface, focusing on the area I planned to release it into, and watched the natural flows as I poured mana into the space. Again, the rock glowed, but this time I could see what was happening much more clearly. As my mana pushed in, it met the resistance of the natural flow... I began to form an idea. And a mental grimace. I prepared another 10 mana for this test, partially because if I was right it wasn''t to do with how much mana I used and partially because if this didn''t work I was probably going to end up with whatever a dungeon core calls a migraine. Carefully, I pushed the natural flow out of the space I was simultaneously pushing my own mana into. I could feel the pressure of the natural mana trying to move around my area of influence, but as it pushed against me I pushed back, in two ways. "Slow." It worked, interfering with the natural flow enough to make a gap I pushed my own mana into and kept holding onto. The rock began to glow again, but this time I wasn''t overwhelmed. After what seemed like an hour but couldn''t have been more than ten minutes judging by the wooziness I felt, the natural flows stopped pushing against me. I released my will slowing their movement, and my hold on the mana I was pushing. The rock dimmed a little. Taking a few minutes to regain focus and confirm it wasn''t changing further, I then tried to pull my mana back in, and was rewarded with a satisfying sensation as the rock came apart with the mana, and flowed into my core.
Mana Tunneling set to 1 Material Discovered: Granite
Mana Tunneling
By infusing matter with mana, you have learned how to manipulate it. By deconstructing matter, you have expanded your influence.
I felt pretty pleased with myself. I''d solved this little riddle of expanding and learned I could somehow store the raw materials I ''claimed'' with my mana. I could even feel the pressure against the incredibly tiny tunnel I''d formed in the same way I could feel it against my core. Looking closer, a thin layer of mana-infused rock covered the walls of the tunnel, my mana linking it directly to me. I tried to move it. Ouch. I did not succeed in moving it. At least I didn''t break it. Break me? I certainly felt the feedback as if it was an extension of myself. I spent the next few hours carving out a ten-meter-cubed room, both so I could practice the skill and so I could finally get an answer to one of my more pressing questions: Seriously, which way is up? Once I finished and was happy the thing wasn''t going to collapse, I picked a side and excavated around a small piece of stone. Assuming the veneer of mana I''d leave on it wasn''t able to hold it up, I should get a pretty good answer as to which way stuff falls. Physics - at least in this case - did not disappoint, though if I wanted this room to be traversable I''d have to adjust the angle of the floor by... about 30 degrees? That could wait for now though. The surface beckons! Chapter 3: Guests? It was a good thing I accidentally made a wonky first room, since it hadn''t been much longer than an hour before I hit an underground water deposit, which promptly flooded it. Thankfully not enough to get to my core, but enough to need a swim to reach it. While I waited for it to drain fully, I did some experiments to answer some questions I''d been thinking of while going up that I didn''t want to slow my progress with. I found I could put the rock I had tunnelled through back down anywhere I had already claimed. This included being able to seal my core from the rest of the tunnel, though if I did that I lost a lot of awareness of the other side of it, and I could see the mana flow stagnate over there. I also tunnelled a space around my core and found it floated in mid-air. I could also move it slowly by pushing it around with freshly-constructed rock, though that felt very weird, something covered in my own mana directly touching my core. I pointedly did NOT check if I floated in water. That didn''t sound like it would tell me anything apart from exactly how unpleasant water pressure combined with mana pressure would feel. I did take in some of the water as it fell down though, partially out of curiosity about if I could and how tricky it would be, partially because I wasn''t sure exactly how much was coming down and if I had the room for it all. It wasn''t too hard, especially with the amount of Null Mana I''d been passively taking in as I burrowed up. I did have to push the mana a bit more forcefully though, as slowly adding it would allow the water I was trying to take to move away. I could''ve tried pushing enough mana in to take the whole reservoir, but that seemed excessive for the time being. Once the water had fully drained and I felt assured that I wasn''t about to learn what being a wet dungeon core feels like, the next question was how best to claim the cavern I''d dug into. I could wrap the entire thing in a small veneer of the rock I''d already dug out, but something told me there had to be a better way. As I didn''t yet have so much spare mana I could just throw it all at a test, I first walled off part of the cavern. Then, I pushed a large amount of my own mana into the unclaimed space, about twice the amount that was already flowing through. As I''d hoped, my mana displaced the natural flows, permeating the space and the exposed cavern wall, with my constructed walls acting as a channel for the flow. It wasn''t long before the cavern wall began to feel like any other area I''d dug out or placed personally. Encouraged by this, I removed some of my temporary walls and began to pour Null Mana into the cavern. It took a while - mostly due to consuming most of the ambient mana near my core - but eventually I managed to take the entire thing. I got to bask in my successful expansion for an entire minute before my more annoying half piped up, albeit with some good news.
Rank UP
Rank UP Criteria met! Rank is now 2! Select Rank Bonus:
Mana Extraction I Mana becomes a little easier to absorb
Mana Conversion I Giving Null mana a Quiddity becomes a little easier
Dungeon Expansion I Absorbing physical material becomes a little easier
I was pretty sure the reason I increased my rank was from claiming space, which would be made easier by absorbing ambient mana more effectively, but considering that even at my current rate the ambient mana around my core was beginning to get thin, I decided to go with [Dungeon Expansion I] to extend my overall reach, and hopefully tunnel more quickly. I also noted that the description was "physical material", and tested the broadness of that definitionStolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Mana Botany set to 1 Material Discovered: Dimworl Moss
I should''ve probably guessed that would work, but it definitely didn''t feel as difficult as I''d expected absorbing something that was technically alive. Absorbing water was more work. Or at least it WAS... I took a little more from my new pond and found that it required way less conscious effort than before. If this was what "a little easier" felt like, I couldn''t imagine what "a lot" would be. Thinking about my pond, and the possibility of hitting another, I put some time into digging out a separate reservoir room next to the current one. It had a lower ceiling but was much deeper. I added several passageways connecting the two rooms, just above the water level. This way, if I hit any more water it would flow into the next room before it had a chance to flood my core chamber, and I still got to hide my core through an underwater passage. I put some of the moss from the cave around the entrance to the passage to try make it look a little more organic, literally. As I put the finishing touches on this arrangement (a dead-end tunnel at the bottom of the lake I could easily open to the reservoir as an emergency drain) I felt a sudden jolt of pain.
Dungeon boundaries under attack!
Something was trying to get in. Fighting through the pain I focused on the source, the upper regions of the cave, and used some of the stone reserves I''d gained from excavating so far to build a tunnel where they''d be breaking in that would lead them to another wall back out of my domain. I made the tunnel wall a little thicker than my usual boundaries, but ran narrow holes through the base to allow my mana to circulate back to me - I wanted to see what was so determined to get in. I didn''t have to wait long. As the wall broke it revealed several short creatures which stood upright with large claws. Their nostrils flared as they poked their heads into the passageway I had made for them. "Ey, you feel that?" the one in front asked. Asked? I wasn''t sure if I should be more surprised that they spoke or that I could understand their language. "Aye, ground''s wrong" one of the three in the rear replied, to the enthused nodding of the other two. "Ground''s wrong? Ground weren''t even here ''til we got to it!" the front one called back, scratching against the floor and sending more sharp pain through my being. "Doesn'' look like spellrock. Smells like it though" they continued, sniffing at the place they''d just carved up. I might''ve been excited at the idea that they knew of something that resembled me if not for their apparent intent to gouge a hole through my domain, and possibly through my core. I needed to find a way to communicate. Pouring mana into the passage I etched an image of them based on what I could see so far. My mana wasn''t terribly dense in the area between my efforts to keep from moving freely reducing the flow and the amount of ambient mana trickling out through the tunnel they''d dug, so I didn''t have a full idea of them. I probably would''ve missed the nose if not for the way it seemed to take in mana, and I had no idea how good their sight was. Once I had put in as much detail as I had, I waited. "...''sides, iffin I''m right then there''s enough spellrock somewhere around ''ere to really put our burg on t''map!" finished the leader. Apparently while I was distracted there was some debate over whether or not to keep going. It might''ve been easier for me if they had decided not to. I kept an eye on them as they continued down my passageway to the engraving. "T''sh! S''thing knows us!" Well, at least I knew I''d not messed up the detail too badly. Now for the long shot... I etched "HELLO" above the picture. I could hear the lead muttering, sounding out my addition to the engraving. I had no idea if they could understand it but if I understood them, then they might just understand me too. "S''guff!" Or not. I was all out of ideas for polite resolution.