Trash Mountain Dungeon

I stared at the critter, and I think it started at me, which is odd considering it doesn’t have eyes, but I doubt it would need them given what it was.

Black Ouraborian Worm

An infamous worm-type creature that borders the line between monster and critter. They are infamous for consuming minerals, mundane and exotic, to produce an energy-dense substance highly valued in alchemy, engineering, and agriculture. Ouraborian worms are docile creatures, however unlucky individuals have been accidentally consumed by them.

The black variety is one of the smaller species but makes up for it with a more durable exoskeleton.

Very large.

Room Unlocked!

Its body was large and indeed covered in a thick-looking shell, it wasn’t very long but it still took up most of the side room I spawned it in. You could almost call it cool if it wasn’t for the singular part that nearly gave me a ghost heart attack: when I saw its face all I saw was a massive open maw lined with needlepoint teeth going inwards. And unlike past creatures, I could actually feel this one thinking, but its appearance and the lighting made Wormy the very hungry caterpillar into Wormy eater of souls. Also, as a side note why did summoning a critter unlock a room, the others didn’t when I made them.

But after a moment to calm my non-existent heart, I went back to the multiple matters at hand. Wormy’s purpose, and that of the other worms, was to help me create a stable ecosystem which is possible now I suppose. The worms and their eggs were edible, and rats are omnivores as well as have a nose for metals and such, so it should be possible to arrange them and the other two critter groups to set up a cycle.

Ok cool, I have a plan now, but the other question is about the two rooms, the side one was currently inhabited by my now strangely happy worm while the one connecting to the core room was still empty. Hm, I unlocked another room when I summoned Wormy, and I could still unlock either the robot dog room or the regular wolf rooms so I could argue with myself over one of them. I’ll just look over the worm room before deciding.

Worm Hole

A room that allows worm-type creatures to safely leave and return to the dungeon, producing mana based on the assigned creature.

Available Worm-types:

[Black Ouraborian Worm] +5 mana production, +10 mana storage, produces an energy-dense material.

Creation Cost: 60 mana.

Not bad, not that bad at all, and the statement that the output changes means that if I get any other worm monsters or critters then I could have different outputs, maybe even more mana. I’m at full tank at the moment so it should be fine, it provides no extensive defensive bonus but it’s just a side room, so I don’t have much hope of it doing much anyway, plus Wormy is looking rather uncomfortable and that’s starting to make me sad.

As soon as the room started building, I could see the room become more like a factory space, with tiled floors, handrails, and even placed with different markings, some for pickup and others for drop off. While Wormy didn’t seem all that happy about being right in the middle of it all, it did seem happy with the results, happily plunging into a giant borehole that opened in the middle of the room and starting to dig/eat its way down, some rats hopping on its back as it went down. I couldn’t go down the hole nor could I see much inside once the worm got far enough down but after a while, it came back up, pushing out a giant ball of stuff. According to the system and what I read just before, it should be the resource-dense material it produces, but it just kinda looks like a giant ball of worm poop. So, do I do anything with it, I don’t have any plants or anything that could use it as far as I’m aware?

It does mention that it can be used in machines, maybe the assembly line could use it. Having the clockworkers move into their room I had them shovel a small amount into the burner, the machine that spat out the raw materials they formed into parts. It took a moment, but the assembler began to bulge out from some pressure that was forming, steaming and glowing with heat until it all stopped for a moment, what happened next nearly gave me another heart attack. The material dispenser shotgunned out way more metal the usual, striking one of the workers and pinning them on the wall. That wasn’t even the worst part though, so far, I could somewhat tell that I was being fed mana by the rooms, but what was usually a relatively pleasant stream of power momentarily turned into a goddamn waterfall of mana, turning the full belly feeling of full mana storage into the desire for death I was experiencing.

WARNING!

Core has dangerously exceeded the mana limit, purging excess mana.

Thankfully the pain stopped, and the system did something with all the excess power. Christ that hurt, lightheaded, and still feeling the phantom pain from just the memory, I could barely think before going back to my knees with how weak I felt after that. After a few hours, I was able to get up, still feeling the effects of my little experiment, what the hell caused that, obviously it was the worm poop but just how does that end up in this situation?

The high amount of energy packed within the material by the [black ouraborian worm] combined with the assembly line's ability to convert some matter into mana created a situation where more mana than could be handled was produced.

Well, that was neat and interesting for the future, but I’ll have to save it for when I can handle it all. As for the remainder of the worm poop, I just had my guys shove it out of the dungeon, saving a tiny bit to mess around with, you never know when it could be useful.

But, in a somewhat roundabout way, this all brings me back to the situation of making my last room, I could use the mech dogs and unlock their room, or I could use the wolves and unlock their rooms. The mech dogs would probably create another machine-type room, having a lower ability to produce mana but able to store more in exchange. Or I could try the wolves and likely get some kind of wolf den which might produce more mana but store less since the monster would be more organically focused, I think, the vision of a wolf den is mostly stone, so we’ll see if I choose it.

Actually, I had learned that without making a node I don’t unlock a room so I could just make one of each and compare them. In the final room before the core, I spawned one of each, a wolf and a mecha hound. The wolf was honestly normal all things considered, and aside from the pure white fur the most notable thing about it was the large size, with the one I made being about four or five feet tall, it did look very cute though but that might just be the fact that it wouldn’t bit my head off, if I had a head that is. Despite the smaller size, the mecha dog was still more visually interesting, a bronze metallic body with rough metal plating protecting the internal mechanisms, it was similar to a great Dane but smaller.

The benefits of the mecha hounds were already there, not only could they leave the dungeon for extended periods, but they could also perform pack tactics, add the fact that their bodies don’t need food and can be easily fixed makes them a good choice, and to boot they also fit with my dungeon theme. The wolves on the other hand do have some merit, their size for one would be enough for some situations, and much like the mecha hounds they could also use pack tactics, the biggest draws I could think of honestly is that organic monster rooms produce more mana and that I might be able to incorporate them into my theming at some point.

Offer:

In exchange for all current DP, the core may merge the blueprints of the [Wolf] and [Mecha-Hound] blueprints to create an improved creature.

The outcome is semi-random and thus the result is unknown.

I can combine monsters, could I always do this?

Negative, this is a one-time allowance until the core reaches the proper level.

Back to my level then, suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that the important stuff is behind the level requirement. This latest option brought more considerations though, not only would I lose all my DP and two of my available monsters, but I could end up stuck with a creature that was not worth the sacrifice. If I chose either the wolves or hounds, I would still be able to use the other in the future but if I went forward with the offer, then I would lose both in exchange for something unknown.

Another thing to consider is the fact that I have to guess if either of the three would provide any defensive benefits, my current selection of buildings was useful but lacked any real defense to them. The hatchery was mostly just there, the assembly line was just a workstation for the clockworkers, the formation room would probably only show its worth once people found me, and the worm hole produced stuff I couldn’t use. All of them were useful don’t get me wrong, but mainly for their mana production and storage. The theoretical wolf or hound den might give that protection instead, the only problem is that wolves aren’t exactly ‘defender’ animals, yeah, they can fight and defend their hunting grounds, but I’ve seen enough nature documentaries to know that this defense isn’t the kind I need.

Just what should I do?