Tiny Dungeon

Valterra stared at the System notifications sprawled across his Core. He knew he had been rather intent on the outcome of the battle with his Guardians but he hadn’t thought he was this distracted. Apparently, when it came to lesser evolutions, they could be delayed by a significant margin until the System was forced to choose for him. Now, that hadn’t happened yet and in fact, the most recent surge had happened after his Wyvre Guardian had begun evolving so perhaps there was a correlation there.

It would also explain why he had missed it as he had been intent on watching The Risen celebrate and then was committed to watching Wenigo fight. Still, the fact that he had missed the exact moment when one of his creatures had hit the threshold bothered him. None of his creatures should have to wait before climbing to the next level of existence. He let his gaze drift back to the golden words spread out across his Core and forced himself to concentrate. He would figure out a way to stay on top of evolutions later. For now, his creatures needed him to focus.

Your “Mouse Wylder” is ready to evolve!

Please choose from among the following evolutions:

Mouse Savage (Unique - Uncommon)

A mouse that has gone anthropomorphic in the most violent of ways, using tools to cause greater mayhem to go along with its greater intelligence. This schema is unique and has been designed to work within the bounds of a tribal system with many such mice working together to protect the natural order.

Wyld Wise-Mouse (Unique - Uncommon)

A mouse that has deepened its connection to the Wyld, that mystical natural order that pervades the world and the domain of Qual’Dorn. With enhanced intelligence and greater Aether affinity for the Wyld, this unique schema is designed to be the spiritual head of a tribal system to guide and protect those under its care.

Swarming Nestkin (Uncommon)

Nestkin are voracious and repugnant little vermin, gaining increased intelligence with every successive evolution but never truly achieving Sapience, only survivalistic cunning. The Swarming Nestkin is at the very bottom of the evolutionary totem pole running in hordes in order to gain the sustenance they need to evolve further and climb ranks within the nest.

Your “Dire Wolf Spider” is ready to evolve!

Please choose from among the following evolutions:

Goliath Wolf Spider (Uncommon)

Fully trading in its former life as an ambusher, this wolf spider has evolved to an even greater size. Aether has infused its entire anatomy in an all-around heightening of function. An apex predator, this creature moves much faster than its size would indicate and its potential for growth is high.

Wyld-Attuned Spider (Uncommon)

By living around a being or location attuned to the natural order of the world, this wolf spider has become something entirely different. While not unique to the world at large, this schema is an uncommon occurrence. With a barely understood affinity, these spiders are confusing foes, though small enough that most humanoids consider them fascinating rather than dangerous.

Lesser Webling (Uncommon)

Considered a pest by the world at large, Weblings are part of a greater evolutionary chain referred to by the Magisterium Collegium as The Great Web. Weblings are considered an extremely tiny part of that web and Lesser Weblings are the smallest of them. Barely sentient, Lesser Weblings are tiny but effective predators quickly carving out territory within which they hunt.

The first two creatures ready for evolution were familiar faces if they could be considered to have faces by human standards. Regardless, the mouse and spider combo had evidently decided to stay on the Second Floor where they worked together to hunt prey. The mouse was a right savage-looking thing, with a rope of grass coiled around her chest and a stick of wood she had sharpened to a wicked point. How she had done that, Valterra didn’t know but he suspected it was with her teeth.

The spider had numerous battle scars all along his flanks, with a missing eye and half of a middle leg. Whatever fighting they had been doing was evidently focused on the spider with the mouse being some form of support. They had also reached the next evolutionary stage together which was a clear indication of their partnership. Valterra turned his gaze back to their options and contemplated his choices.

The third option for the mouse was a no-go. He already had Swarming Nestkin and could summon as many as he wanted. There was also the matter of turning a Unique-Common creature into a plain Uncommon and that didn’t sit right with the Core. The first two options, though, were interesting even if he already knew which one he would pick. The Wyld Wise-Mouse while interesting for its brand new affinity, was something that didn’t fit with that way his mouse thought. She was a hunter and actually enjoyed preying on his other Dungeon creatures with her spider companion.

To that end, his choice for his spider was clear as well even though it went against his own wishes on the matter. While getting a Wyld-Attuned Spider would be his preference for access to the new affinity, his spider clearly had a role in their little partnership and that was to act as the body shield for his partner. Valterra gave his approximation of a shrug and chose the Mouse Savage and the Goliath Wolf Spider as their evolutions and watched the light overtake their forms.

His gaze lingered on the Lesser Webling option even as it faded from his view. While the Wyld-Attuned Spider would have been his first choice due to its more unique circumstances, the Lesser Webling Schema hadn’t gone unnoticed. The allusions to greater evolutions, and a long line of them at that, had caught his interest. While he wasn’t planning on making a full-on spider dungeon he had to admit that any sign of increased intelligence was a mark in favor of an option.

Valterra didn’t doubt that he would be seeing the option again. Back when the Dire Wolf Spider had first finished evolving he had seeded more of his kind elsewhere in his First and Second Floors. The same thing had happened with the Mouse Wylder and so he was sure at some point others of their kind would evolve and offer further options. Turning his gaze from his evolving creatures, Valterra turned back to his Core to find it crawling with more golden runes. Lots of golden runes.

Just how many creatures have been waiting? Valterra thought with alarm as he tried to sort through the growing blaze. He turned his gaze to his Dungeon and found that they were spread out all over his Dungeon and though most were from his First and Second Floor there were a few from the deeper Floors and a couple were even from his new garden Floor. The creatures were either mundane or common, with a few of the older Uncommons thrown in. The problem was that there were far too many to deal with and Valterra didn’t want to keep any of them waiting.

The Core settled himself and let his mind run through possible solutions to his dilemma. He sighed to himself as he realized that his tiny Dungeon was working against him now. While it was doing what he had wanted to promote conflict to generate evolutions, he realized that it was perhaps too effective. He imagined other, bigger, Dungeons would most likely rely on bigger, and therefore stronger, monsters in order to defend themselves. They would be found sooner because of their size and then have to engage in a different kind of struggle with humans, or similar humanoids, in order to survive.

That struggle would produce the evolutions they needed but also reduce the number of creatures that lived to evolve as the humans would no doubt harvest what they could from the creatures themselves. By generating a massive host of tiny creatures instead, and without the predation caused by a large influx of humans, Valterra was now experiencing the cost of such a plan. Namely, he couldn’t keep up with the demand for conscious choices and he began wracking his mind for anything that might help him. His mind drifted to the evolutions that had occurred while he himself was evolving and he wondered if that might be a possibility here. If he could do it subconsciously then he didn’t see why he couldn’t do so now.

Even so, Valterra didn’t just want to pick any old evolution, especially if it was one he already had. He needed a way to differentiate between the options and still keep his creatures’ desires in mind. There was no doubt in his mind that he could do it but perhaps a little help was needed. Spreading his senses out, Valterra attempted to ascertain whether or not his uncles and aunts were watching at all.

Once he felt confident they weren’t he began manipulating the System with his Administrator Title. Krat’Imos had mentioned that anything he did should probably be run by him first but Valterra was short on time. The System itself was quite helpful and in short order, he had something he was quite proud of.

Essentially the System would act as a filter for his subconscious while also choosing evolutions for him based on certain criteria. He was even able to disguise it somewhat as the System worked through his own subconscious anyway and so it would seem to all outward appearances as though he had learned to multitask subconsciously. The System would work to filter out any unique or radically different evolutions and flag them for his conscious mind to look through and choose while his subconscious took care of evolutions with repeated options based on the creature’s desire and what he was still missing.

With his Core flashing with the color of excitement, Valterra activated the System and watched as the number of evolutions scrolling across his Core dwindled as the choices were sifted through and options chosen for the available creatures that he had already seen the options for. It was a weird sensation, as it felt like he was making the choice. He could sense, in an off way, that the options chosen pleased the creatures involved and he didn’t feel any disgust welling up within him from the options presented so he assumed everything was working perfectly. While he wished he could consciously choose every single option he knew it was a hopeless endeavor.

That being said, there were still plenty of evolutions for him to sift through and he perked up as he sifted through them. He checked on the progress of the Delvers to find them having moved on from his attic to climbing down the inside of the wall. It would take them down to the basement and they would need to brave the waters before facing his fortress of mice. That was a fight he was burning to see. Turning to the evolutionary options arrayed before him, he let the first start scrolling.