“A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness.” ― Alfred Korzybski

  Establishing a core room took me only another day, even with a more relaxed pace and some time devoted to examining the area surrounding my passage to the surface. I lined the walls with a thin layer of granite, with the ceiling running only about 50 cm below the surface, and a 10 cm layer of soil on the floor.

  [Quest completed – Create a Room]; Reward: Material Blueprint – Choose one of the following – Hematite, Asbestos, or Chert

  Oooh, tough choices there. Iron Ore, Fireproofing, or stone tools... Any of those could have uses. Well, I need to make a trap, and I’m guessing a pitfall with some chert spikes might be my best bet at this point.

  [Chert Blueprint Awarded]

  [Level Up!: Lvl 0 -> Lvl 1; Mana 125-> Mana 1000; Mana Regen 200/hr -> 1000/hr

  Stored Energy 200 -> 1000.

  [New Quest: Create additional rooms on first level] - Add 3 rooms totaling 100 m3, each at least 2 m X 2m X 2m. Must be within 10 meters elevation of core room and physically connected; Reward: Material Blueprint.

  With some time available, I went ahead and got started with the envisioned trap. At the point where the tunnel met my core room (about a meter above the floor on the north wall), I began by excavating a pit where a visitor would naturally step upon entering. I made it 1.5 X 1.5 m square and three meters deep, lined with 10 cm thick sheets of polished granite. Feeling evil and a bit paranoid with no real defense from invaders, I formed a dozen chert blades, each about 15 cm long embedded in the bottom, with several hundred chert microblades embedded in a meter thick band just below the top and positioned to cut anyone trying to climb out or any ropes lowered in. The pit was then capped with a half cm thick sheet of granite covered with soil. I added a second layer of thicker granite below it as a safety feature, figuring I could resorb it if needed. Alternatively, I could simply remove the spikes for something less immediately fatal. The mana and energy costs of converting the soil into the trap were significant, costing me over 1000 mana and 300 energy; nothing I couldn’t handle, but a significant expense.

  My core itself, I had left on a thin pedestal of granite at the south end of the room, and now I enclosed it in an open box of granite melded to the pedestal, with chert blades placed to trap the hand of anyone reaching in and grabbing me. Simple and easy to defeat, but likely to buy me at least a few seconds. Somehow, I knew that I couldn’t simply bury my core in the wall or under the floor, that it needed to be accessible to visitors (at least technically) and exposed to moving air, or, more realistically, the flow of mana.

  [Quest Completed: Create a Trap; Reward: Trap blueprint Chert-blade Tiger Pit]

  [Quest Completed: Protect the Core; Reward: Trap Arm/Disarm Dungeon Skill – Lvl 1]

  As it turned out, I got energy not just from matter conversion, but from the absorption of radiant energy. Mana, I got from the circulation of mana flows and the presence of living creatures in my zone. The microbiota and invertebrates didn’t give much, but there was some effect.

  [New Quest: Diversify your trap selection – create three new trap blueprints of different types - Reward: Ambush Predator blueprint]

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  [New Quest: Improve Core Protection – Add three additional traps between core and entrance or add a dedicated “final boss” (minimum tier 3) to core room; Reward: variable]

  Hmm. Yeah, not right now. I think it makes more sense to build up a bit more, maybe try to assimilate something on the surface, rather than fill my core room with traps.

  Instead of coming up with more traps, I started working to expand, pushing my territory down along the side passage I’d noted. Not more than a meter in, I found what looked to be the main brood chamber for the burrowers, with some organic nesting materials there and a lone sickly infant. I guess most of them had fled or been removed, but this one was doing poorly enough that they abandoned it.

  Turning my attention to it, I found my ecological assessment skill suggesting it was likely a local ground squirrel equivalent, omnivorous and probably part of a larger colony with a tendency towards open areas with rocky outcrops. Attempting to assimilate the critter directly led to failure.

  [Assimilate] Unsuccessful. Living creatures may not be assimilated without their consent. Only sapient creatures may be assimilated while alive. Individual sapients may not be assimilated when dead, but aspects of the species may be assimilated in part.

  Ah. Well, probably for the best from an ethical standpoint. Suggests that I can assimilate it if it dies, though. More reason to kill things, I suppose.

  I was starting to get used to these murderous thoughts, and it was, frankly, a bit concerning.

  Using assimilate on its nesting material did get me a new blueprint, though.

  Cottongrass Blueprint acquired.

  Hungry though I was, I felt a bit bad about stealing the bedding from a shivering infant, even a rodent, so I generated replacements to provide it a bit more cover and left it alone. Figuring I might as well work on the Expand on the Surface quest, I spent a good part of the next two days expanding my reach in a more or less circular pattern centered above my core with a diameter of 10 meters. Expanding my reach into the air for five meters was trickier, requiring some mental adjustments to become accustomed to the difference between possessing the territory and possessing the materials in that territory.

  [Quest Completed] Expand on Surface; Reward: Choose one of the following – Jewel Viper, Cloud Wildcat, or Granite Badger

  Again, some interesting choices and any of them could be an interesting first dungeon creature. If there really is a colony of ground squirrels here, this might be some of their natural predators. Am I getting to pick from local species? I’d guess the badger might be the best suited for my early tunneling efforts and might be good for scouting with. Wonder how much control I have over spawned creatures?

  Granite Badger Blueprint Acquired.

  [New Quest: Expand on Surface II]- Expand surface territory to 25 m diameter with 8 m height; Reward: One each: Plant Blueprint, Fungus Blueprint, Tier 1 Creature Blueprint

  I feel like I should probably focus on the dungeon interior for the moment, and I want to see if I can figure out how to spawn a badger too. My dungeon instincts are screaming that I need some defenders. For that matter, I should probably see if I’ve picked up any skill levels through this process.

  Shifting my focus back to my menu, I found that I’d gotten a first level in mana manipulation and energy conversion to go with the one for matter conversion at some point. Nothing had gone from first to second level, but that’s not shocking given that I’d only been at this for a few days.

  I wonder if that tracks with experience points in a game-like fashion, or whether it just represents my level of ability as I learn things naturally? Not sure which I’d prefer, really. Either way, I’ll assume practice and experimentation will lead to improvement.

  *********************************************

  The abandoned pup passed away in its sleep towards the beginning of the second day, and I assimilated it before it could do more than cool slightly.

  Cliffrun Ground Squirrel Blueprint acquired.

  [Quest Advanced: Assimilate a New Lifeform 1/3]

  I also managed to spot my first bird species, once I had lifted my territory above ground level. I couldn’t identify them to species, but I was able to spot at least two species of apparent seed eating birds and one likely insectivore, judging from the bills. They were small and mostly brown, but there were enough differences in size and plumage to suggest multiple species. It seemed that seeing them wasn’t enough to trigger the quest completion; I’m guessing I needed to identify the species. They came through briefly but left directly after entering my zone of control. I was excited enough to watch them that I forgot that I even had a Classify skill to try on them. I’ll have another chance eventually, I’m sure.

  Do better, Vay. Do better.