The following days were quiet and peaceful.
After acknowledging my mistake with the Lightning, I took my time to find other light sources which not only could be summoned but also were cheaper, inoffensive and above all didn't consume Mana.
Instead of giving up the thunder passage, I dug a detour on the side to allow me to pass it safely and keep on advancing further. I kept digging and digging looking for a way to outside, and finally a few days later I reached it...
Outside? No, the dungeon limit. T_T
How do I know? Easy! Every minute or so while in Building mode the Dungeon Core let's out it's sonar like wave of energy to paint the walls, and I could see the last bits of this sonar dispersing just as they were about to touch the walls. A funny fact is that it seems I dug over the limit of the scan and now I cant refill these wall by pulling my hand back. Anyway, since here was not the exit, I took a few steps back and started digging to the side.
...
Time passed slowly but surely and the tunnels multiplied to all directions as I looked for an exit of the cave. Sometimes I just dug room-like caves just to collect the Metals buried in the soil, other times I connected one passage to another to make it easier to go back to the core. As the sonar was always there I could never get lost, but even if I got lost, its not like I needed to eat or drink as the only thing I needed to keep alive was Mana.
It seems a whole month has gone since I summoned the Lightning, there is no calendar over here and I can only calculate the days by looking at the stored mana going down on the status window. I have a feeling that I'm counting it wrong, because the mana is vanishing a lot faster than expected, but without the presence of the Sun, there was no other way to keep the track of time.
As I dug through the tunnels I accumulated a lot of Metals and Gems. I never imagined there was so many different metal could be found in a single place. It smelled completely fake and artificial, as if someone prepared all kinds metals I would need and buried them around me to teach me how to dig passages and rooms. The place all around me looked quite like a labyrinth so it seems this master mind was doing a great job, the only problem is that until now I didn't find a single source of Mana and what I had left was going to be used in less than one week...
Back to the Dungeon Core, I took a look at the Dungeon Status and got really worried.
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Name: Unnamed Dungeon.
Rank: F
Avatar level: 20/20
Floors: 1/1.
Task Force: --
Defense Force: --
Invaders: --
Allegiance: Neutral
Available Mana: 125u
Available Miasma: 0u
Productivity: -30u/d
Event Log:
-Static Lightning Trap was summoned.
-Creation of Avatar complete.
-Detected unknown force-field obstructing Dungeon Core authority.
-Miasma draining tunnel sealed by unknown physical element.
-Expansion of influence and creation of Miasma draining tunnel complete.
...
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Only 125u Mana left, that was only enough to theoretically last me 4 days, but I still need Mana for other things like Summoning...
"Damn! I need to solve this problem right now!!! But what do I do? Should I gamble with the Expansion? I see no other way... I already dug out most of the dungeon territory and no Mana Crystal was found, my last bet are the next Rank's Feature and the expanded radius can somehow help me out..."
A few days ago I my curiosity got the best of me and I took a look at the last Dungeon Core Feature, the Expansion. Long story short, everything can be summarized in three points:
1) After every expansion the Dungeon Rank will go up, more floors will be available as well as new Features and upgrades to the current available Features. The Dungeon Radius will be expanded, allowing the tunnels to reach further. And finally my max level will also go up, allowing me to get stronger and unlock new skills, and my Mana Consumption would go up as well.
2) The requirement for Rank up does not cost Mana, but it requires me to finish a bunch of tasks, such as Digging through 50% of the available floors, install a number of traps, summon a number of creatures and obtaining a number of items.
3) Ancient fairies got big boobs. No joke! Or at least the one from the Tutorial has. But considering her the only one I know, I can say with pride that 100% of the Ancient fairies I know got big boobs! No wonder it's said they couldn't fly. Hmm, maybe I should get one for this dungeon? ;p Is this a flag? XD
Ok, ok, let's stop with the pervert talk and concentrate on what matters.
I used the last few days to complete most of the Expansion requirements. I created a Huge room, 12 small rooms and 7 dead ends. I collected 3 Diamonds, 5 Topaz, 7 Rubies, 10kg of Iron and 20kg of Copper. The "install 1 Trap" requirement had already being fulfilled, thanks to the Static Lightning, and all that was left was Summoning a Creature which I was holding back until now because it's Mana Consumption would give me less time to finish everything else.
Now there are only 4 days left... no, even less as I will have to summon a creature... not only the Summoning costs Mana, the Mana Consumption will also go up, leaving me with almost no time...
But there is no way left! Not summoning is not an option anymore, I can't just stay put and wait miss Death in surrender!
"Let's do it!!! Summon!"
[Understood!]
[Accessing Summon Feature.]
[Access Granted!]
[Please state your command.]
"Show me what I can summon with my current resources!"
[Understood!]
[Searching for monster summons...]
[Applying filter...]
[5 results found!]
[Listing.]
[Listing..]
[Listing...]
[Listing....Done!]