Mental energy flowed into the dungeon mind space and condensed into a small sphere. The sphere buzzed as it drifted in the space above the vines. The sphere slowly moved to hover directly over a specific gap in the foundational instincts. In a flash of white, the sphere shot down into the gap.

  A shockwave of energy flooded the mushroom fiber network. The animal information bundles made noises of complaint and struggled against the fibers which held them in place. The energy swept up the white wine and extended along every branch and loop. The loops were silent for a few moments before erupting in discussion.

  Multiple loops scanned the gap where the sphere of energy had disappeared. The gap was no longer completely empty. A thin lattice of yellow light connected to a few of the surrounding mushroom fibers. The loops accepted the connection between the System messages, the sphere, and the yellow lattice after minimal discussion. The larger topic of discussion was the change the energy wave had caused in the loops themselves.

  Some of the loops felt that they could detect something in the signals from the mushroom network, something that provided information about somewhere else. Other loops felt as though they could apply energy to something and cause that thing to move in some way. The remaining loops felt as though they had an intuitive understanding of a certain aspect of the sensory rain. Groups formed and split as the discussions continued for hours. The loops reviewed the book-memories about mana theory and paired that with their new abilities to review all the memories in the memory vine. While a few memories gained clarity from the new information, the loops stopped their review when it drew close to the red memories.

  Eventually, a few loops reminded the others that they had sought to gain a mana skill for a purpose–to play hide-and-seek. The “other” tracking loops began to sift through the sensory rain, searching for the components that matched the Violet voice. Violet was not currently speaking with the loops, so their search didn’t find Violet. A few snippets of Violet’s vibrational component were shared around the larger group of loops, so that more loops could compare those against the current sensory rain.

  Without the clear connection between speaking and vibration or continuous tracking after identification, the loops were unable to differentiate between multiple different signals. The loops selected the most likely matches and attempted to “wiggle” the mana around those signals. After a fair amount of trial and error, the loops found a method for three loops to cooperate and manifest oscillating motion. One loop would watch the sensory rain for mana-related information, one would feel for feedback through the mushroom network, and the third would apply energy to manifest motion in the mana.

  _ Skill “Unseen Energy Manifestation” Level increased to 1 _

  “Oh, hey, you did it!” The Violet voice said. “I felt you wiggle the mana. Congratulations!” It said.

  When the voice spoke, the tracking loops immediately identified the Violet’s signal from the likely matches. The loops converged on the signal and oscillated the mana all together.

  “Ah! Stop that! Too much!” The Voice said.

  The loops immediately stopped. “Curiosity, too much?” They asked.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “I’m ok. That was uncomfortable though. The amount you wiggled before I spoke is the right amount to get my attention and let me know you found me.” Violet said.

  The loops recorded this important information before responding. “Understood. Request: play hide-and-eek” They said.

  “Yes, that will be good. You remember the process?” Violet asked.

  The loops reviewed the memory of the process steps. “Affirmative.” They said.

  “Ok, stop listening to me and I’ll hide. Good luck!” Violet said.

  Following the process, the loops stopped tracking vibrations so that Violet could “hide”. During the one minute wait, the loops discussed possible reasons that there were multiple signals that incorrectly matched Violet’s vibrational component. After one minute, the loops began again to search for components that matched that of Violet. The loops found fewer matches, but still had to wiggle the mana around all the most likely matches. The loops continued to wiggle while they waited for Violet to report discovery.

  A few loops began a discussion about Violet’s failure to report back, but the Voice returned soon after. “You found me, but I felt mana wiggle around one of the dungeon creatures. Are you just wiggling mana around everyone? That’s not the right way to play hide-and-seek.” It said.

  “Negative.” The loops protested. “Multiple simultaneous matches detected.” The explained.

  “Are you saying that I…. sound like some of the dungeon creatures? What do you use to recognize me, anyway?” Violet said.

  The loops discussed this pair of questions. They didn’t know for certain that the other matches were from dungeon creatures, though it seemed likely. “Unknown. Detection sources: Vibration, electromagnetism, heat.” They said. They had not been relying on the em and heat signals yet, but that was deemed an oversight due to the relation between speech and vibration.

  “Huh. You should be able to detect my mana. In fact, that is probably the most unique thing about any creature if you are sensitive enough to mana.” Violet said. “Can you detect my mana right now?” It asked.

  The loops that received and processed the mana sensations from the mushroom network began a discussion. They had not assumed that the data would contain elements from “others”. The loops compared their own processing of the mana sensations against the processing of the vibration components for tracking “others”. After a hour, they agreed that, yes, they could partially detect the difference between “Violet” and “not-violet”.

  “Partial mana detection possible.” The loops reported.

  The Violet voice did not respond. The loops repeated their message several times with to response. The loops discussed possible reasons Violet was unresponsive and what they might do about it. Several groups of loops suggested that Violet might have taken the opportunity to hide, and that this was just an extension of the hide-and-seek game. Most loops agreed that, even if this wasn’t part of the game, it was a chance to train their ability to detect Violet.

  The loops shared snippets of Violets various informational signatures. Vibration, em, heat, and mana were all compared against the information in the sensory rain and the mushroom network. After only a few minutes, the loops felt very confident that one signal group was Violet, and not some other entity. The loops wiggled the mana near the prime-match for Violet. Violet’s voice returned a few minutes later.

  “Sorry, I was eating some lunch because you became unresponsive. Did you actually find me this time or did you try wiggling mana around multiple creatures?” Violet asked.

  “Violet detection successful.” The loops declared.

  on patreon!