The broken dungeon core

[Warning critical damage to core! Support pillar has collapsed and core has fractured! Mana required for repair error, passive mana absorption damage efficiency level at 10% alternative solutions calculating…..internal mana storage is inefficient for mana crystallization process, mana liquidation temporary solution available to prevent fracture spreading… partially successful…additional solution required…..calculating…. Error! No monster sources located… attempting monster spawning… Error! Failure to spawn dungeon monster due to mana deficiency, external source required for mana absorption through transfer…..core damage can occur during absorption process, caution recommended.]

The little core wakes up to painful everything and an alarming amount of system error messages, finding that its little core is on the ground and barely still connected to its pedestal that had fallen over from what appears to have been some form of seismic activity and sensory probing its surroundings revealed that even parts of the cave had collapsed with chunks of rock and piles of dirt scattered around the tiny dungeon that aside from what is supposed to be the core room there is only a little crawl space connected to a single “dungeon room” that at best could be described as being a spacious bear cave.

The little dungeon is wrecked before it even woke up for the first time and its walls and floor occasionally leak a suspicious blackish-brown fluid that has the viscosity of thick maple syrup that is gumming up on the exposed surfaces as if it’s trying to repair the cracks and other broken sections of the dungeon.

The only light is from outside the dungeon entrance and the light glow of the little core.

The little core absorbs some of the fallen debris scattered through the little dungeon floor, its absorbing slowly but visibly since dust and dirt are easily absorbed but the tougher rocks take much longer and to tidy up the little dungeon has some simply sink into its floor so it can take its time absorbing it while also clearing the rubble.

Using the recently absorbed dirt it uses it to patch the damaged areas finding that it can move absorbed materials through its “dungeon flesh” which happens to be the source of the blackish-brown fluid stuff and also the source of “feeling” pain all over as it is part of its body, following its source all the way back to the pedestal and of course the little turquoise colored core that has a big crack through its side that hit the ground and fractures spreading out from it.

The little core noticed that some mana had been condensed into a viscous liquid and has filled in some of the cracks, somewhat taking the edge off of the cracks and smoothing them out as well as preventing them from spreading further.

The little core wanted to right itself back up on it’s pedestal and repair everything only to receive another system warning before it could start its attempt.

[Warning! Critical damage present, moving is not advised as further damage will occur!]

The little core feels wronged, it doesn’t want to stay on the floor, it is unhappy and files its complaints to the system!

[Advised solution, use dungeon sculpting to change terrain, soften the rock floor into a dirt floor and grow dungeon plants to create a cushioned layer for the core to use until enough recovery occurs to move safely]

The little core is hurt but understands reality and proceeded to the task. It’s dungeon instincts guide it through the process making the rock beneath its core softer as it turns from rock to a clay like dirt then slowly turning it into freshly tilled soil.

The little core feels tired, it’s energy reserves are low, as it has used up most of its meager amount of energy to modify the core rooms floor and to do the patch work repairs in it one dungeon room.

Having to wait for is energy to replenish before it can do any more tasks it observes itself and its surroundings taking note of the situation.

It can’t “see” outside very well as it can only look out through its entrance and there isn’t much to it as it is in the side of a mountain that has a fairly dense forest, although there are a considerable number of trees down and the terrain shows signs of suffering upheaval, it can only guess that it might have been a bad earthquake that hurt it and the surrounding area.

The little core’s vision isn’t that great as the further away from the dungeon entrance the hazier things are made out to be and the sense of color becomes washed out as if the world just disappears into the distance.

Although the tree right next to the entrance comes out visually clear and colorful by the time it counts the tenth closest tree it can barely make it out and it’s colors have gotten blurred with its surroundings and background making it more difficult to identify.

The light outside went away and came back before the little core saved up enough energy to continue its task.

The little core had time to look at the available dungeon plants and other dungeon features only to find most things have been made inaccessible due to its damage.

Mainly there is no access to spawning creatures or plants in the usual way, instead of spawning the plants automatically fully grown like most dungeons would it was going to have to let them grow almost like seeding the place it wants the plants and making it grow as it thinks of it as a form of reverse absorption like how it patched the dungeon floor with the dirt and rocks it had absorbed previously, but the difference is that it will require different resources such as biomass to convert into plant matter or monster flesh for the respective plants or monsters.

Granted spawning monsters is currently unavailable as it required not only more biomass but it also requires mana and energy to create a monster and then only ones that the core has data on as well as clearance for creation which the little core somehow both does and doesn’t quite understand.

Some of the monsters data schematics are damaged and the system notified that some will be repaired as the core repairs but some are too damaged to use while others are off limits until conditions are cleared and a few are completely off limits like those that have been claimed by some great creator such as humans, beast-kin, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and other special species.

Apparently although something that is off limits for spawning can still be obtained from outside but what are the chances that something so rare as a not monster race that only this great creator is allowed to spawn, would just walk right into the little cores dungeon.

Better just focus on the reasonable and easy stuff like slimes or horned rabbits, then it can work out something bigger and harder to do like goblins that have lots of evolution paths and are capable of making stuff like tools, weapons, armor, camps and poisons!

But for now only a couple of plants are available and the best available are both low level dungeon plants, common mana grass which can help improve mana recovery, and common salveaid that improves one’s natural recovery from injury or illness.

As a broken core both are needed one for the mana and the other to recover from the damage from the cracks!

Salveaid and mana grass was easy enough to seed all around the core room and it sprouted after the light went away and came back, all it cost was 1 biomass, 1 mana and 1 energy for each plant whereas spawning would have been faster but it would have cost 5 biomass, 15 mana and 20 energy!

Spawning doesn’t seem to be nearly as efficient as previous thoughts claimed due to systems fussing over errors in not being able to spawn monsters, it must have just wanted to fix things faster instead of having to wait for stuff to grow like now.

Being hurt isn’t fun, it is normal to want to get better quickly, system must have been impatient because it knows that, and system checks in whenever certain thoughts need system input to avoid further damage or to assist repair and improvement of dungeon and core room.

System sometimes answers questions but usually doesn’t respond to questions unless they are relevant to the system of status like core status is broken, mana absorption efficiency is at 10%, mana storage 10/150(500), energy level is at 30%, biomass reserves are 50, basic stone is 80 units and dirt is 300 units.

As for answering questions about the light outside going away and returning ended up with it saying that it is called daylight and that it has been 5 days since awakening, and that days is a measurement of time.

It has taken a lot of time but the mana grass and salveaid have matured and although the cracks haven’t repaired and mana absorption efficiency is still at 10%, the accumulation of mana in stock has increased by 3 additional points per day, due to the increased mana density created by the mana grass.

System advised adopting any creature that enters the dungeon as my own dungeon inhabitants so that I could have them assist in repairing the damage to my core through mana absorption and I can also use them in order to make my own dungeon monsters through breeding which will provide new options for recovering, defense and constructing more of my dungeon on top of providing data that can be used to repair damaged data schematics for monsters that are too damaged to use.

Things are looking up for my recovery I just have to wait until some animal or stray monster to come and coax them into staying and helping me.

I’m looking forward to it.