“Trust instinct to the end, even though you can give no reason.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Given the existence of a hard deadline, about three days, my top priority has to be figuring out how to activate my matter conversion skill and making progress towards the surface. Clues all indicate it isn’t far, but the issue is figuring out how to make a pathway in the first place.

  Let’s start by trying to get more details on the relevant skill.

  [Details]

  Matter Conversion – Lvl 0 – The first skill any dungeon must learn. Use mana to convert matter at the edge of one’s zone of control into newly claimed territory. Convert claimed matter from one form to another or convert it into energy (at a relatively poor transaction rate). Energy may be stored to a limit, matter stores like any physical substance. Leveling the skill will reduce the mana cost and improve the efficiency of conversions.

  Obviously, there’s a lot of potential there, depending on the costs and efficiency of the skill. The critical aspect, though, is how to activate the matter conversion skill. It must be fairly instinctive, right?; non-sapient dungeons presumably manage it fine, so I’m probably overthinking it...

  Let me go back to simply observing my sphere of control for a moment, while I consider where to begin my expansion efforts. I’ll try to focus on the edges and maybe see if I can push my perceptions outwards along the rodent burrow.

  Hmmm. Not much is going on right now, but the edge of my zone does feel a bit different – like it’s slowly eating away at the outer edges to take control of the surrounding soil. Can I focus that effort in a particular direction, or am I necessarily adopting a spherical form?

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  With a bit of focus and some experimentation, it seemed that I could redirect that gradual expansion, but it wasn’t triggering the matter conversion I apparently needed. Maybe I could start by trying to convert some of the matter currently under my control? Say a 20 cm X 20 cm X 20 cm cube connecting to the burrow?

  [Matter Selected – Convert Soil to Energy – Y/N?]

  Apparently, proper visualization and a valid target is all that’s really needed. I’d guess it’s not offering me the option to convert it to some other substance since I have no stored energy to enable that? Anyways, let’s select yes and see what happens.

  A cube of soil immediately disintegrates, leaving a void – literally a vacuum. The fragile earthen wall marking the end of the burrow collapses and air rushes in to fill that space. At the same time, I could feel a flow of energy into my core, but most of it was pulled towards the center of the planet.

  [Matter Conversion Level 0 -> Level 1]

  That’s potentially a concern – vacuums can be a hazard or a boon, but they need to be handled carefully. Still progress is being made! How much energy did that give me?

  Checking, it looks like I’d converted that cube of earth into 2 units of energy, however much that was. I suppose I should just be grateful that there appear to be controls for how the remaining energy was dispersed. I sort of assumed the rest wouldn’t be released as a ball of nuclear flame, but probably I should have been a bit more careful.

  Well, at least now I know I can save my worrying for other issues! What next? Kinda want to track that rodent down and slaughter it.

  Wait? Where did that come from? I’ve never really wanted to kill something before. I mean, I’m not a vegan or even a pacifist, really, but my first instinct hasn’t ever been to kill stuff before. Guess maybe that’s a dungeon thing? I’m going to want to watch that; there’s no way I’m going full on murderhobo here.

  What other dungeon instincts are working on me? I want to open a path to the surface, but that could just be the result of the threatening quest deadline. I also want to dig down; that could be the archaeologist in me, but frankly after the trauma of my death, that seems a bit out of character. I want visitors too. I’ve never been super social before, so maybe that’s an instinct as well? Again, though, I’ve got lots of reasons to want to connect with the wider world. Alright, so, I guess just try to keep an eye on my instincts; I assume they have a function, so I won’t resist them too hard. I’m going to try to keep the killing of obviously sapient beings to a self-defense level, though.

  Not going to say no to offing one of those rodents, though, if I get the chance. I wonder if I can assimilate one directly, or if I’d need to use matter conversion or energy conversion to kill one first?

  The mildly bloodthirsty thoughts still seemed a bit out of character, and I reconfirmed my need to keep a metaphorical eye on my urge towards violence.