Dungeon Core: Bugged Ascension

~Aurora Hephaestus.

My shouted words seem to have no effect as the Leyline further destabilizes and worse. Whatever he’s done hasn’t simply attempted to take the Leyline from me, he’s pulling it apart to have one of his own. But these fissures aren’t especially robust, despite the state of their gargantuan current, if you somehow manage to actually affect them, they become horrifically dangerous.

Right now, it looks like the stream is split only at its aperture, though with each glut of power forced down the second path, it tears deeper down the vein. This flux forces yet more energy into the main spring to maintain the pressure my Lair draws while also feeding the voracious appetite DNA has awoken for himself. The pool of magma in my workshop growing unstable as the titanic cables of power whip themselves into a frenzy.

As my domain sight shows me the last decade worth of painstaking and meticulous collection under threat, a variety of outlandish ideas fill my head. Each fraught with all sorts of complications and unknowable consequences.

Ultimately, I don’t make a choice in that moment so much as have my attention drawn to massive outpouring of cold air pulling me out of the instinctive soar I was locked in during my attempt at thought. I see Gnat at the epicenter of a flood of insects as the tree she is nested in is quickly torn apart by the crazed summoning. If not for all the broken limbs and various foliage being devoured as the gnats explode into existence, I wouldn’t have noticed what lay in her talons.

In that instant, it isn’t thought that motivates me, I merely find myself diving down. Drawing deeply from my own Internal Forge, I concentrate a vast sum of heat, holding its release for the right moment. At the last second, I shift my angle and flair out my wings as I extend my now augmented talons. There is a barest moment of contact where my grip clamps down on its target before I unleash the explosion of thermal energy and with torturous flaps of my wings I rocket out of the dive towards my cave.

The gasp from the captured Gnat draws my barest glance only to ensure my true cargo is present as I blast my way from the edge of his territory where she was nesting towards my home.

The breakneck pace as I race through the winding passage in the cliff towards the heart of my Lair stalls out any questions she may have attempted to ask. We arrive with a screeching cacophony as I dig my feathers into the stone walls to take the turns as fast as physically possible. Each moment threatens to annihilate all the supplies I’ve spent the better part of my time before DNA’s appearance collecting and sorting.

As we round the final bend, I’m able to spare the breath to speak out, “[Forgive me for this,]” before I dive the three of us into the rumbling, bubbling pool of magma that dominates this space. Having learned from last time, and seeking a different result, I stab my wingtips in first and sort of roll or scoop myself deeper in. Covering my passengers as much as I am able, I try to encapsulate them even as the molten rock crushes us into a tighter ball.

As we sink deeper into the pit, my body drawing in more weight from the surrounding magma, I shift my frame of reference towards my Lair, manually triggering my revival to devote more of my spirit towards this task beyond simple mind or body.

Yet again, there is serendipity in events that play out around this bizarre dungeon. The very wording of the {Alliance} that I spoke, the only reason I can even hope this may work, as I call out to the world in this half-living state, “[Let’s make the Leyline ours, DNA. Work with me here, yeah?]”

You have applied a {Boon} to the Leyline of |Thermal Spring Mountain|. Ownership is now being shared by the Alliance.

Leyline restabilizing. Due to greater draw from conjoined territories the Leyline’s strength is being increased to compensate. /They seek.\

Alliance Research update: {Realm Woods} has been conceived!

Realm Woods: A legendary species evolution for the arboreal at or near the {World Tree} stage. Unlike the pure size granted to a World Tree, Realm Woods will also gain properties more typically associated with dungeons. With the ability to generate a Divine membrane tissue, Realm Woods can separate multiple levels or house distinct spaces of environments. Using these membranes allows for the anchoring of new soil or other supportive materials far above ordinary tree canopies with the capacity to support even completely isolated environments. Sky branches, cloud leaves, fossil roots and igneous boughs are automatically imbued in all new Realm Woods, with more exotic and unique materials developing based on whichever environments they choose to cultivate. As Realm Woods are so heavily imbued with and reliant on colossal amounts of Mana, Mako, and Life, they have some System protections in place to support them through a connection with the Leylines.

*Thank you for your contribution to expanding the {Monsterpedia}. You have been granted a {Boon}.

~Gnat.

Amongst all the confusion and chaos, I can still recognize the moment when Smith untethers himself from his old body. The unbelievable heat and weight of the world crushing us while I continue to wrap the piece of Father that I’ve claimed with myself. My conjuration pushed to its limits as even as fully empowered as I can make them, the aura of cold generated by my gnats essentially not even slowing their nigh instantaneous deaths.

But my stores of power are still overfull as I do my best to draw away the caustic magic overwhelming Father, I’m running into the same problem, even with all the pain in my own body, more and more injuries are from Mana toxicity and internal ruptures rather than the blazing heat and weight of liquid stone.

As the imperfect cocoon of Aurora Hephaestus’s abandoned corpse degrades further under the dual assault of melting heat from outside and freezing cold form within. The cracks allow my gnats to burrow through him, expanding their living mass, and enhancing their thermal denying magics. And still the overload continues tearing us apart, but I continue pushing and shoving all I can into my inherited aspect.

It isn’t enough. My body is too broken and my channeling too weak to expel enough power to save us, to even save myself at this point. I somehow catch a final lungful of air and with a shriek of defiance I use the tears in my Mako veins to spill forth a horde of insulating minions.

I feel when my core cracks and then bursts into shrapnel, my will not wavering for a moment.

But then the moment pauses.

Congratulations on advancing your {Mob Type}! Having a more advanced {Mob} allows for a higher efficiency of Mana and Mako transmission between you and them, allowing them to roam beyond your territory more easily. They will also have a smoother conversion through the Challenges you offer with them, allowing you to complete your purpose more effectively.

Your new {Type} is Tsunami.

An amalgamation of Swarmhost and Leviathan, a Tsunami spills forth a relatively simple pattern with extraordinary volume. While there may be minor variations between groups of these creations, most will be of a uniform if malleable template. This type also grants an internal reservoir as storage, which allows the Tsunami creature to interact with the environment without their swarm while also having a backlog of protection to conjure at any moment.

Congratulations on breaching the Evolution Threshold!

Your work accumulating Mana and processing it into Mako has reached its peak with your current form. As a DPuhnogeeon nCioxre, you are already a legendary existence but that does not mean you cannot continue to grow and change.

*Here are the options for your advancement:

Plague Phoenix: Your aspect of Blight is called from forth by some of the smallest portions of life that are inherently hostile to its more complex structures. A Plague Phoenix seeks an equilibrium with whichever resilient creatures survive and adapt to the exposure of your virulent nature. You rule a noxious wasteland where life and the environment must now adapt to you, instead of the other way around.

Herald of Pestilence: Having solely used your power to conjure hosts of stinging, biting insects with extremely concentrated magic, you have been granted early access to a Mythic path. As a Herald you will have control over tides of your aspect, bringing it forth or drawing it back into yourself. Note that this path is both an Authority and a Duty; you may be occasionally called elsewhere to fulfill your purpose.

Phoenix of the Living Blizzard: Your aspect of Blight matured from the combination of extreme cold and a cloud of creatures under your control. As a Phoenix of the Living Blizzard your swarm will blot out heat, sight, and grow to blanket the land with your power. All within your domain will be known to you, all may be consumed.

Father spoke of this place. This emptiness of space where choices are thrust upon you. Where you determine your future, your present.

My body doesn’t hurt in this place, and I don’t know if that means I failed or not. Should I mourn? Celebrate? I just don’t know.

I look at the options again, rereading them once more even though I already knew which I would pick after the first pass. Two of them being an exile from the life and family I already know, but the third… There is a weight there in those words.

#I’m sorry that a Herald was presented as an option. There are supposed to be protections in place that stop such a thing from happening to one so young, but yours and your Father’s existence scrambles much of the values.

#I cannot even offer false comforts because the world is a massive place. Famine and Pestilence abound, and the latter has been without their Herald for decades since their defeat in the Mu’Reign- Gestalt Kingdoms War.

#The only leeway I have to operate within is how early this path is being offered to you. As you haven’t yet advanced to Mythic, you aren’t able to endure the weight of the evolution by itself. So, I have tied a {Mantle} into the Leyline your suitor has just shared with your dad. When you are Called you may pass into the Leyline and the {Mantle} will bring you onwards and help you perform your Duty until you can bear its weight on your own.

It’s that same voice, Authority, that dad mentioned has helped him before. If Father trusts them, I suppose I can as well. Even if I don’t really have a choice, as neither of the alternatives are acceptable. I will not choose to hurt my siblings like that.

So… I suppose I’ll be hurting them like this instead. DNA? I think I understand now, more than I did, “{Forgive me, Father.}”

Herald of Pestilence selected! Now that you have your advancement locked in the excess accumulation of Mana and Mako will be used to intrinsically reforge your existence. As a {Mantle} has been designated for your use, many of your alterations will be deferred until you’ve fully incorporated all of your power.

Before your evolution begins, as a Dungeon Core, you have reached the Milestones for unlocking your {Motif}, the opportunity to change your racial designation, and making your first choice about expansion.

{Motif} already declared: Mercy selected!

Racial designation pre-determined by advancement. Changes to Profane: Mandate is now underway. Note that a Profane designation allows for and offers incentives for other creatures to conquer your existence and if you violate your Mandate, you will no longer be protected, nor your nature disguised from others. Note that the ward provided by a Kingdom Dungeon will only partially abjure attempts made to locate or place bounties on you should you fail your Mandate.

Expansion is a process for static dungeon cores to increase the dimensions of their Domain. As both a mobile core and one under the Authority of a Kingdom dungeon, your methods of expansion are curtailed.

*Based on a scan of your statistics and {Mantle} your initial points have been allocated. Go infect, recurse, imagine, elsewhere and stabilize.

Advancement Complete!

*Time dilation reverting, Soul will return to physicality in 3… 2… 1…

The information slamming into me, one after the other barely gives me the chance to comprehend them before the next is shoved into my face. I sit bewildered for a pair of moments as I see the timer counting down, when I remember where and how I was when I was brought here, “{Fu-}“

---

“{-uck!!}” my shriek of agony only escalating in volume and intensity as the shattered fragments of my core suddenly fuse back together as an ocean’s worth of Mana and Mako course through me. Before an utter calm overcomes me.

The riot of the local magic currents is grasped in my talons and smoothed out with a sweep of my feathers. The physicality of the corpse cocoon slipping past my true body as I rise out of the magma, my body filling this small chamber beneath the surface. I see how the arrays worked into that sarcophagus by the sacrifices of two phoenixes settle their cargo into the non-space that is the Leyline’s touch. These things are not my purpose.

There is a fluttering in my mind, lesser being’s touches and brushes against me, all easily ignored as I turn my vision to a place beyond this insignificant speck of land. As I spread my wings and am about to take off there is a firm, impossible grasp on my leg.

My eyes are turned to see a man standing there, right hand wrapped around me, “{HOW DO YOU TOUCH ME?}”

The devastating blast of my voice scours soul and spirit from the man as he bores his gaze into my own, his right arm unaffected by my words. A burst of energy courses through him from his waist, and as he gathers himself back together, he speaks with the world itself, “(You will bring my daughter home safely,)” before letting go of his hold on me. As I turn back away from the man, his voice is softer but still heard even though his message is nonsensical, “(I love you, Gnat. Be well, baby girl.)”

With a mighty flap of my wings, I am gone from this place. With a second, I am soaring beyond the veils of causality. With the third I arrive at my destination. The Rust is thick in this place as they foul the air and land with their taint. Attempting to twist my aspect to serve them in some small way, but I am here now.

As I unfurl my wings wide, their reach deepening and expanding, blotting out the sun, breaking the wind. As my living shroud descends upon the land, it devours all that is {Tainted}. I notice some of the architects making their retreat, but they are not my task. With her sister finally returned to the fold, Famine and I cleanse this place. Leaving room for the finale caress of Death to lay any straggles to rest.

There is joy in War’s shout as my arrival signals the rout of this battlefield. Their pursuit of those too slow to escape their reach is a symphony of violence and victory for my family.

“{Family…}”

The not-touch upon my shoulder from Elder Death a signal I heed even as I fail to comprehend. I inhale the blanket of {Gnat’s Gnats} before diving back into the earth, the Leyline we’ve freed from Their influence shuddering at my passage.

As I feel myself flowing through the world, my eyes become heavy, and exhaustion soon overcomes me. As I’m drifting off to sleep, I feel my Father’s hand stroking the feathers on my head, “Welcome back, Gnat. Rest now. We’re all safe. We’re fine.”