Upon entering the room I had taken to calling the crystal chamber I saw the hunting party I had left outside yesterday evening, flanked by bodies of multiple prey. The scouts were not with them since they were still processing the hides of many of the more potent beasts from this collection before me, exposed muscle is slightly unsettling to look at. I turned to face the bowing golems.
"A very successful hunt, you may retire to do anything you may."
I turned back to the stacks of bodies as most of the golems stood at attention along the wall or in the hallway. I probably only need to think about having the dungeon absorb these, and I was right given that it started just as I thought that. Time to see how much Mass this earns me, Dungeon Interface.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dungeon Name: Unnamed
Dungeon Race: Dwarven
Dungeon Age: 0/∞
Ether: 35000/35000
Mass: 86/1000
Territory Settings Spawning Settings
Trap Settings Core Settings
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It probably depends on their size, but that pile did look like it might be about the size of 8 grown dwarves laying in a drunk pile so the numbers seem to be correct. Time to see if I can customize the dwarves that I spawn and how this whole process works. It wasn't that disturbing to see the golems being assembled from stone but watching muscle and bone being assembled in the same way might be a little too much for me.
I opened the Spawn window and selected Spawn Life, this time I was not given a massive list like with the golems instead it appears to be similar to a form similar to what you would find in a game during character creation. All of the fields other than Race are not responding so it appears I have to select the race first, which as luck would have it lists all of the creatures my dungeon just absorbed plus dwarves. So my dungeon either needs to be of the race or have absorbed that race in order to spawn it, but the absorb feature is most likely limited to non-humanoid races since I doubt I could spawn a human even after absorbing one into the dungeon.
First I should select the race but the only Dwarf option is Brimstone Dwarf, we'll have to see if all dwarves will have that race name or just the dungeon ones. Next, I should select a gender, I am going to make 8 dwarves so it should be even numbers of both male and female. And finally, I select their born job, It looks like I can only select some basic options here like farmer or laborer. Most likely they will unlock better jobs by doing specific things, like a laborer becoming a miner after spending enough time digging at rocks?
After selecting a job the constitution stats are filled in according to their racial and job influences. It looks like my constitutions are better than the average because none of these jobs allow a dwarf to surpass 15 in any stat, though it does look like they follow my trend of which stats they are weak or strong in. So I will just select all of the men to be laborers, half the women will be cooks and the other half of the women will be clothiers. So I guess the last thing to do is name and spawn them, though they only have one naming field so they may share my last name. I enter the name Cerdwin for my first dwarf laborer and press the spawn option.
A bright flash occurs just 3 feet in front of me as a red and brown magic circle begins to draw itself on the ground. This time though the circle appears to be bowling up from the floor over time, eventually looking like a red and brown soap bubble rising from the stone floor. After reaching about half my height the surface of the bubble changes to engraved marble, allowing me to still see the red and brown magic formula etched into it without being able to see into what is going on inside it.
—————
Fives minutes have already passed and the magic circles and runes are still lightly pulsing on this 'egg' of stone, the golems took this long but most likely a living creature takes longer to form. I shall start on the other 7 dwarfs while I wait, their names shall be Gowyr, Brodrich and Oswallt for the remaining men. And Allana, Bryna, Tristyn and Gwendi for the women. I sit in the roughly hewn stone chair that the builder golems prepared for me and wait, passing the time by increasing my territory and directing miner golems towards new veins of ore.
It has been nearly 4 hours since I started this spawning process and I assume it shall be at least another several before it is complete. Just as I move to stand from my chair and head to the forge for some work I hear a loud snapping sound, turning towards the first stone egg I see that the magic circles and runes are no longer glowing and that a large crack has formed in the marble they were engraved on. I readjust myself in my chair, taking a pose I assume looks regal with my chin resting on my right fist, and wait for the 'hatching' to finish.
The marble egg slowly crumbles and crouched within it is a sturdy male dwarf, looking just like a dwarf should. Dark brown hair and a well maintained and braided beard hanging to about mid-chest. Eyes as black as coal and surrounded by laugh lines. The dwarf meets my gaze before scooping up some of the marble rubble under him and holding it in his fist against his chest and kneeling on a single knee.
"Cerdwin Hardglint greets the Lord-Father of Brimstone Mountain!"
Looks like the dungeon gave him a last name that sounds distinctly like lazy naming, but as long as they don't have a problem with it I won't.
"Stand Cerdwin, tell me what you know of yourself and our people?"
As the dwarf stands I notice that he is still holding onto the marble he picked up earlier.
"Yes my lord, I know that I am currently a general laborer and that we are the proud people of stone and flames! Able to mold mountain and metal to our whim as no others can."
"What are the ranks of your skills such as Dark Vision and Ether Manipulation?"
"My Dark Vision skill is rank C and my Ether Manipulation of both Earth and Fire are ranked B, my lord."
Hmm, two ranks lower than mine but at least they have them.
"What of your skills in the smithy or in mining?"
"I do not yet have those skills, my lord. I will not until I advance to a specialized job related to those skills."
Maybe I have those skills because I am a High Dwarf by birth?
"Very well Cerdwin, please take a seat on any free surface. We must still await the birth of your fellow brothers and sisters."
The conversation with Cerdwin had lasted about 3 minutes, so we should not have to wait long. And as expected the sound of numerous marble eggs crumbling echoed through the hall a short while later. The dwarves born from the rest of the eggs behaved very similarly to Cerdwin, gathering up some of the marble they had 'hatched' from and holding it in their fist while introducing themselves and discussing with me. The names of the first 8 dwarves are as follows.
Cerdwin Hardglint - Laborer
Gowyr Oredagger - Laborer
Brodrich Crimsonfist - Laborer
Oswallt Bloodsculpter - Laborer
Allana Moltengleam - Cook
Bryna Sparforge - Cook
Tristyn Cindergold - Clothier
Gwendi Crystalseeker - Clothier
Interestingly enough, the two women who would be in charge of cooking had no facial hair at all. Whereas the dwarven women who would be in charge of creating clothing had only a thin braided beard covering just the chin without any hair on the upper lip or along the jaw up to the hairline. After noting that this may be a culture thing that was decided by the dungeon, like the names, I instructed the previous hunting team to assemble and dispatch once again in order to hunt for food this time. I had the scouts hand the finished leather products to the clothiers in order to have them make me something more noble than the simple hempen clothing I have worn since I awoke.
The new laborers followed me to the caldera forge, perhaps helping me with refining metal and forging would advance their jobs to smiths. I didn't need any dwarven miners for now, the golems could easily handle that but they can not forge as a dwarf could. I started with a mineral I felt was very similar to mithril, as it was very strong and allowed you to channel Ether through it in order to imbue your weapon with the element of earth, increasing its weight several times over. I tossed about 20 pounds of the material into the furnace and lifted a ball of magma into the heater tank to once again forge a weapon that perfectly fits this silvery weight increasing metal, a hammer-ax!
About 3 hours later several dwarves were leaning against walls or lying on the floor and breathing heavily. It appears that I am the only one without fatigue issues. Before me on the forging table lay a luxurious silver hammer-ax roughly 3 feet in length and 16 pounds in weight with a large blood-red gem in the center that seems to connect the hammer, ax and handle together. One side adorned with a 4-inch wide hammerhead, and the other side sporting a thick ax as long as my forearm and sharpened to perfection. The entire length of the weapon has been covered in carvings similar to my crown and sword, partly for artistic value but mostly to allow for an easier grip along the handle.
I held the weapon and tested how long the swing would be and how well balanced it was, before supplying it with Ether and doing the same tests to gauge what the limit would be on wielding it properly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
⌊Superior Job 〈Godly Craftsman〉 unlocked...
Unlocking secondary job slot for Superior Job unlock rewards...
Successful...
Setting secondary job slot to Supreme Craftsman...
Successful...
Superior Skill 〈Godly Craftsman's Eyes〉 unlocked...⌋
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Oh..."