“what was that?” The Ranger was the first to voice the question on all three of their minds. “Ava have you ever heard of one of those?”
The mage, who seems to be named Ava, odd name I will have to note it down, shook her head. “no, even in research a monster forming out of the blue and then crumbling just as fast is unheard of.” she rubs her chin for a second pondering the whole debacle. “And the energy it seemed to draw on was…..odd to say the least.”
The other two looked concerned at that, the lizard man speaking up as they began walking away, much more cautious. “we need to report this, a death affinity would be bad enough but any unknown is too risky for us.” The other two nod as they finally pass out of the bounds of my graveyard and the feeling of impending doom fades away from my mind. I take a few faux breaths as I calm myself down and look at the three, my senses coalescing and looking at them as they walk away. “that was odd” I whisper to myself, the energy I used to create that creature slowly returning to me. I think on everything that happened as my attention is drawn back to the spot the battle took place, though battle is a strong term.
The remains of the creation is just a pile of dust with not much else of note, though one of the specks of dust catches my eye. It seems to glow slightly, and pulse with a beat not unlike a heart, it is rapid though, trying to pulse power into the rest of the dust. After three or four more bursts of energy the light fades away and all the dust is simply mundane once more. It was odd to say the least, and I frankly don’t quite understand it at all so I should probably leave it be for the time being. I had other things I needed to focus on anyway, I still had [Skills] to choose after all.
I recenter myself and focus on the choices I have before me…….until.
Unbound Creation: (Creation Affinity)
[Exotic]
You Have the unparalleled ability of a dungeon to create monsters
without the assistance of the system.
This Ability stands unprecedented and wholly your own
And things are breaking again aren’t they. What even is this, I didn’t choose it…..but it must be from when I made that thing. Focusing on it I can feel the raw energy coming from it and how it physically alters the world around it, it’s like something from out of the very fabric of reality itself. It’s definitely going to be useful but chaotic without practice that is for sure. I shove it to the side for now as I look at the rest of the choices I have before me. So a quick focus and I find the [Skills] floating around myself and the information begins flowing.
Buried Alive: (earth affinity, enhanced)
[Uncommon]
This ability allows you to force an enemy underground should space be available.
It cannot force them into an inherently dangerous situation.
This skill is enhanced by the location [Graveyard]
The enhancement means it will automatically
force foes into the deepest crypt available, no matter the location.
Returnal: (Spirit Affinity)
[Rare]
This skill allowed you to call the souls of those who fall
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
within your boarders back into the world of the living.
The recalled spirits will maintain their memories and mannerisms
but be wholly beholden to you.
Whispers From the Veil: (Spirit affinity)
[Common]
the voices of the dead whisper throughout your dungeon.
Should you listen, they may tell you of their regrets.
That’s a hell of a set of choices, and I could feel that I can only really grab two of them at this point. But there was another confirmation I got from all this, me choosing a skill and gaining one through actions don’t seem mutually exclusive. Also there are rarities so that is good to know. It was far more information then the affinities told me and it didn’t give me a headache, hurray. Breaking down the choices, buried alive seems the most active of the three but also the one that could cause me the most problems, since I don’t even know where a crypt is within my graveyard. Considering I only have two choices and the other two seem more useful despite having no clear activation, I think I will be taking them. A small focus and I feel the two [Skills] lock in as I regard them.
[Skills]
Identification: (intrinsic)
[UNKNOWN]
This simple ability allows you to use mana to understand what something is
Unbound Creation: (Creation Affinity)
[Exotic]
You Have the unparalleled ability of a dungeon to create monsters
without the assistance of the system.
This Ability stands unprecedented and wholly your own
Returnal: (Spirit Affinity)
[Rare]
This skill allowed you to call the souls of those who fall
within your boarders back into the world of the living.
The recalled spirits will maintain their memories and mannerisms
but be wholly beholden to you.
Whispers From the Veil: (Spirit affinity, Enhanced)
[Uncommon]
the voices of the dead whisper throughout your dungeon.
Should you listen, they may tell you of their regrets.
Enhanced by Returnal, you may now call to the long dead
and return them as your monsters.
Interesting, that is certainly a good thing to note as I look at them. Seems like everything can maybe influence each other and change their properties. This also means I don’t really have any common [Skills] and it is probably, maybe, gonna help out. But that aside this doesn’t really changer much in the grand scheme of things so it’s best If I start with maybe the monsters or the rooms so I have better protections. Maybe. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to test out some of these powers, but something was egging me on to keep going forwards.
The decision next was on [Monsters] which is a bit nebulous, and [Rooms] which seems even less clear then the other options. I am currently out in the open, how does one room without walls. A small breath puffs out from me as I think it over and over and over again until I just go for the [Monsters.]
Monsters:
Earth Elemental: (lesser [Extrapolated from earth affinity])
[Common]
A creature made of raw earth mana, they have very standard
forms for elementals due to the earth mana’s rigid nature.
These are lesser elementals thus they hold very little strength.
Ghosts: (lesser [Extrapolated from Spirit affinity])
[Common]
Ghosts are the least powerful forms of spirits that can
be summoned by spirit affinity dungeons.
Ghosts also act as the revival source for physical
undead to use them in you dungeon should
the corpse remain.
Shades: (lesser [Extrapolated from Spirit affinity])
[Common]
Shades are the most common form of combative spirits
that a dungeon can summon and use.
They are surprisingly hardy and take a lot to kill
but are distinctly weak to holy magic and have a minor
weakness to any amount of light.
Incomplete Creation: (least [created])
[incomplete]
a creation of a dungeon in the midst of panic.
Well, it is there, my thing that panic brought out. It really says a lot of what it was considering it doesn’t even have a rarity rank, and is the least of all the monsters listed. Well that aside I can’t feel any choices lingering at the edges of my mind, so it was likely pestering me just to show the full list and give me the information it had. I shake my nonexistent head and just think about it all for a second, pondering what to do with what I have. My first thought is to try and make something out of this incomplete creation but that feels like it would take a lot of time and energy. Time which I might not have considering those three who where just here. So I think first things first I should make some actually useful monsters.
