[[Now that we have decided upon your gift we have a few final things to speak about before you begin your journey.]]
"I am all ears, I cannot wait to start my life as a Dwarf but I can restrain myself in order to gain some more information or clues before starting my new life!"
[[An admirable attitude, many we have interacted with did not ask or discuss much, that is its own form of adventure we suppose. The first thing we should share, to maintain balance in this world we shall select another soul to send across to this world. We cannot create just one new race as it will interrupt the balance and flow of power in this world, potentially threatening the other races with a race they do not know how to fight.]]
"Ah, that would be a problem. I assume the other race will be the stereotypical opposite to the Dwarves, as in the Elves?"
[[Indeed. Fortunately, we already had a soul we were watching that strongly enjoys Elven stories, as much as you do with Dwarven ones. And we had not selected a world for this soul to travel to as it was not yet its time to move on. So we shall keep your soul suspended while we wait in order to send you both into the world at the same time. Fear not, you will not be able to notice the amount of time this process will take.]]
Not originally a concern, but at least they addressed it.
"Not a problem, is there any way I can view my status from here while I wait?"
[[That is the other subject we must discuss, your evolution from Elemental to Dwarf will cause many changes to your status and the world around you. You cannot view your status while here given that you are not yet a resident of that world so it has not built your profile within its system. You also will likely be unable to view your status just after arriving given how quickly your evolution will begin, we can only guess as to what it shall become and there is no use in providing you with the predicted original status since it will be very different after becoming a Dwarf.]]
Understandable, I doubt even a God could predict what will happen when one race becomes another that has not existed before.
[[Finally, as we stated, the evolution will impact the world around you. A physical body will be unable to contain the amount of Ether that a superior Elemental is made of, this will likely cause the formation of Ether growths in nature around you. Through mineral formation by evolving nearby minerals into new forms and causing an increase in local fauna evolution rates. It is unpredictable what this will cause, but we suspect it will likely introduce enough raw Ether to permanently change the Volcano that you will call home. Please be careful of any volcanic activity or animal attacks once you awaken, we would not want to witness your death so soon into this grand tale.]]
"Quite the interesting outlook you have on my possible death, but I shall remember your warning and expect having to react to something."
[[We are merely here to watch, your death would be a disappointingly quick end to a possibly interesting story. We shall now have your soul enter suspension while we prepare for your counterpart.]]
"Thank you for the opportunity, and I hope you enjoy watching the story of my life going forward!"
I felt myself growing very drowsy, so much so that I had never experienced this level of tiredness in my life before now.
—————
When I next became aware of anything I could only feel rumbling coming from the rock that surrounded me. I found myself inside what appeared to be a cave during an earthquake. I stood as quickly as I could on my new thick and stunted legs and wobbled towards the path that hopefully would lead out of this death trap.
I had only taken a few unstable steps before the rumbling stopped, followed by an almost deafening silence... For some reason, I started feeling like an entire mountain of pressure was pushing down upon me from the rear of the cave I was attempting to leave. I could also see a slight hint of rainbow-colored lights, originating from the same place, dancing across the walls around me in my peripheral vision. Which I now noticed was seemingly allowing me to see in this dark cave without issue, as if it was daytime and I was in a wide-open field. To be expected of mountain dwellers like Dwarves I suppose, but time to put aside such thoughts and find out what was releasing this pressure and those lights.
I turned, slowly and unsteadily in place, to find a rather large rainbow-colored crystal suspended in the wall at the rear of the cave, it seemed to glow with a dull radiance as if lit by a flickering light-bulb from behind its seat in the wall. It was a truly beautiful gem, I imagine it would have decorated many pieces of excessively expensive jewelry if it had been a gem on earth. For some reason, I felt drawn to this gem as if it was a part of myself. Which I suspect is true, given that it most likely formed from the Ether that was released when I evolved like the Gods had predicted would happen.
First I should determine what my status looks like for my new race, being a Dwarf I would expect great physical stats with decent mental stats. Here goes everything...
"Status!"
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Name: Anwirn Gemmolder Brimstone
Race: High Dwarf (New)
Age: 0/∞
Job: Dungeon Creator (New)
Ether: 50/5000
Spirit: 1/10
Vigor: 98% Brawn: 29 Perseverance: 21 Finesse: 33
Instinct: 93% Logic: 26 Perception: 27 Charm: 23
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"I don't have anything to compare this against, but I assume my Ether is very high given my other stats but my Spirit is dismally low... Wait, why does my age have a maximum value and why is it the infinity symbol?!"
I panic, closing and reopening my status panel multiple times to be sure that I am not seeing things. It took a few deep breaths to stabilize myself because I could notice my Instinct value going down slightly between a few of the opening and closing sessions.
"Okay, it does not appear to be a bug. Most likely Elementals have no maximum age and I inherited that, given my Ether value I would bet on it as well. I am a little sad to see that I am already named, but I suspect I can change it. Not really necessary since that is a pretty good name, better than what I could come up with at least. And Gemmolder Brimstone sounds pretty Dwarven, given our craftsmen nature."
I proceed to flex my body, trying to get used to moving my arms and legs because of the wildly different stature to my previous body. If I had to guess without a way to measure or compare, my vision feels about 2 feet closer to the ground, so I am about 4 feet tall? Very much a standard Dwarven height. I feel like my torso and limbs are much bulkier than my last life as well, also standard. I am probably a large in shirt width now, I might trip on the hem if it is a large in length though.
Now, it's finally time to see what this gem is all about. Though I can guess given my middle name and the job in my status window. I reach out and touch the glowing crystal, it has the hardness you would expect from a crystal but it feels warm to the touch almost like it has been under a heat lamp. However, the moment my palm makes contact with the surface...
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⌊Dungeon Master registered...
Registered Master is of a higher rank...
Converting Master privilege to Creator privilege...
Successful...
Installing Dungeon Interface into Creator's Status panel...
Successful...⌋
_____________________________________________________________________
"Uhh... w-what?!"
I stammer before incredible pain assaults my mind and I fall unconscious.