The third night had come and gone. I spent the evening designing my new sign for the entrance, and hoping the system would allow me to use it.
As dawn broke, something unexpected occurred. I fell out of the wall.
As it turns out, when I level up, I get a bit bigger. I landed directly next to the sign at the entrance.
Gareth immediately turned at the sound. His eyes lit up with greed at the sight of me.
"Read the sign, Gareth."
...
...
"What?!?!?!"
"Hehehehe pretty good rule if I do say so myself, don't you think? Best of all, the effect is immediate. No stealing my core, no relocating me without my consent. Wanna test it out?"
To think all he gave me was a dirty look. I spent the next few minutes widening the opening and wedging resources under myself to place myself back into my little nook, before resealing it with rock. What a pain. I need arms and legs for this.
Oh right! My class and blueprints!
"Hey, Orion?" My thoughts were interrupted by Gareth calling my name.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Thanks. For uh, you know, the hospitality. If I'm in the area, I'll stop by for a chat. Maybe tell a few of my friends about the place."
Oh hell. More people coming to bug me. Wait. That meant resources or trades. Information. Maybe I should see what I can create with my blueprints, and either drive them away or entertain them. Hmmm.
"Hang on a sec, Gareth, I wanna check something."
Four options for Class Specialty are available
- Combat Core
- Lifestyle Core
- Utility Core
- Growth Core
So, my choices were to specialize as one kind of Dungeon, or become a Jack of All Trades, Master of None. But better than a Master of One, as the saying goes.
"Scan Gareth!" A strange blue tinted light enveloped him, his pack and his gear for a moment.
"Craft chest!"
With a thud, a worn down chest appeared in the center of the entrance room. Silently to myself, I created a few trinkets for him with my available materials. I wanted to give him new boots as well, but my system was limited. Unless I saw the process in which it was made, or was handed the ingredients to make it, I was shit outta luck. Ah well. The materials would respawn in a few days anyways. No need to hoard them so desperately.
"Here. For answering my questions."
Gareth slowly approached the chest, and looked above him for any rockfall traps I may have planted. I swear, drop a rock on a guy once and suddenly you're the bad guy!
Opening the chest, he saw two replacement strings for his bow and a bushel of arrows tied with twine.
'Status'
Biomass - 20/27
Materials - 10/16
Energy - 0/30
Defense - 1/1
Life forms - 0/0
Adventurers - 0/1
Location - Karia Woods
-
While Gareth was otherwise occupied admiring his new bits of string and wood, I set about claiming the outside plants for their biomass resource. Turns out, the reason it costs 5 energy to claim outdoors? I'm claiming the open air above the ground to a significant height. About 20 meters, roughly.
It was useless for building a dungeon, but it allowed me to claim the few nearby trees and bushes without them suddenly missing their base, or lacking the ability to fully grow. Who knew?
Gareth exited the cave in silence, his tent and pack taken with him. The Dungeon seemed emptier after he left. Hollow, and a bit more faded.
"Maybe he'll come back to visit," I said to myself. Then shook my head, metaphorically, and set about using my biomass and resources to make a truly comfortable cave-home.