Dungeon Life

Chapter One-Hundred Fifty-One

In hindsight, in my eagerness to get an enclave and so a project to keep me busy, I may have forgotten that an expansion gets me more than just a bigger sandbox. I blame how long its been since I expanded. Totally a good excuse, right?

Well, this is why I drill into Violet the need to have plenty of extra mana before expanding. Before I get into the new stuff, I focus a bit on my fire ants, first. The basic ones arent all that impressive, but I have easily enough mana to upgrade them to cinder ants. Interestingly, the resource focus Ive taken the main hill into seems to work even with these. I might not actually need to get into the volcanic section if I want volcanic ash for Coda to play with for the concrete. Even better, the ants seem to build little nests out of coal and what Im pretty sure is coke. If my ratlings can get that, steel production should get way easier.

Ill probably want to encourage the bats to help the plants in here along, too, as the ants are working on processing them. Plants become coal, coal becomes coke, coke becomes steel once my ratlings start gathering it, at least.

Interesting as the cinder ants are, theyre far from my only denizens down here. Yes, a new expansion means a new spawner! Its even dragons! Technically. They dont look very draconic to me, but they have the little tag, or whatever it technically is. What they actually look like are tiny graboids from tremors, but made out of magma. Theyre wyrms, and are magma affinity.

As is tradition, I spend the mana to make a new scion, and watch with interest as she crawls out of the little wyrm den. Little being relative. The wyrms are around a foot thick and around six feet long, but I get the feeling they could easily get big enough to take up a full lava tube with enough upgrades. But back to my new scion what should I name her?

Cinder or Ember are pretty classic, but they dont quite feel right. Sure, shes fairly small right now, but if she ends up being a big actual dragon, the name just wont fit anymore. I could call her Grendel, but that doesnt feel right, either. I should lean more into the fire and heat, rather than the dragon. Not a lot of lady dragons to name her after, feels like.

Corona? Thats certainly leaning hard into the heat aspect. People often like to talk about the surface or the sun as being hot, but its tame compared to the corona. I think the surface is around 10,000 degrees, while the corona can top 100k? I honestly dont remember, just that the corona is the hottest part. The name feels closer, but still not quite right for her. Whats hotter than a stars corona? Hmm well, theres one other thing stars can do thats probably hotter. I dont know if its technically hotter, but a Nova has some ridiculous energy output.

Yeah Nova sounds perfect. She seems to slump a bit under the weight of the grandiose name, and I do my best to encourage her. I dont need her to live up to the raw power of her namesake, but I figure we might as well aim high. Even if we miss, well land among the stars, right? For now, Nova, just try to get used to life and living. Im sure the other scions will come visit you, soon.

In fact, I poke Teemo to visit her and help her get settled before he heads out. Weve kinda both been procrastinating on that, but we really should get on it. I think Ill send him out in the morning with a tundra wolf. I dont think theres much else that Ill need him here for, even if Id like to have him around anyway. While talking with delvers is good and helps build trust, I kinda need to start building it with Southwood, especially if Im going to be helping him with defense.

I watch my wyrms and ants as they start to populate the lava tubes, and wonder what kind of invader Ill be attracting, as I wait for Teemo to make his entrance. If its anything like in the caverns, I might be getting the attention of something from the next biome, or whatever it technically is. If the caverns got those dire mosquitoes from the underswamps, what kind of critter will the volcanic area send at me?

Maybe just some lava variant of what Ive already seen? Lava slimes, fire bats, obsidian snakes? Hmm. Those sound pretty cool, but I dont think its going to be something that simple. Maybe an elemental? Or even something draconic? I dont have much information to base my imagination on, so I just let it wander until Teemo arrives in the tubes. Nova is a bit deeper, so I nudge her to make her way to him, instead of making him start making shortcuts just to get to her.

You know I dont mind looking around and making them, right Boss? What kind of scout doesnt enjoy blazing trails?

Heh, thats fair. I just feel like Im putting more work on you lately, so I want to try to lessen it when I can.

My Voice smiles. Yeah, I get that. But its good to have something to do. Helps keep me from worrying he trails off as he glances in the direction of the underswamps.

Yeah I know that feel. Having something to do is why I decided to expand. Id probably go nuts if I didnt have something to work on while waiting for word from the Southwood or from the depths. You can make some shortcuts after chatting with Nova, if you want. Id like to get you on the trail to the Southwood in the morning.

Sounds good to me, Boss. Try not to be too lonely without me, yeah? he says with a smirk, and we share a laugh as Nova pokes her head through the wall of the tube Teemos in.

Ah, heya Nova! The Boss wanted me to check in on you. Things can be a bit hectic, especially right at the start. Howre you doing?

She rumbles and does a little bow, earning her a resigned look from Teemo. People and scions both are only going to get more and more nervous talking to him for the first time as I grow, after all.

Just Teemo is fine, Nova. Yeah, I know what your name means. Dont think of it as an expectation, but as a goal. The Boss will take care of you even if you never get a single level. Im still just a rat, after all, he says with a smirk, though it doesnt seem to have eased her concerns.

Dont worry, Nova, Im sure youll grow into it. And dont worry about the Boss not immediately having a specific job for you to do. For now, just try to get settled, and maybe visit some of the others when you get a chance. Did you have anything else you wanted to ask the Boss, besides your name?

She wriggles uncertainly and gives a quiet rumble, somehow managing to look and sound rather shy. Teemo just gives her a smile. Yes, you can wander wherever you like, though you might need to be careful in the manor to not burn it down. And you can go talk to the others, too. Youd probably like Jello, in fact. Shes very friendly and mostly patrols the various caves and tunnels for invaders. Most of us did basically that at the start, and a lot of us still do.

Nova looks like shes trying to chew on that idea for a few seconds, before she turns and looks at the wall.

You spot something? If its an invader, go kill it, encourages Teemo. Nova looks like she doesnt want to just take off on a hunt where he can see, but a little shoving motion from him gets her into gear.

Wow, really into gear. Teemos going to need to be on his A-game to make his shortcuts work faster than the wyrms can tunnel, or at least Nova. She dives into the wall like its made of water, leaving behind a plug of molten rock as she goes. As I watch her, I can see its more than just a plug. She really is basically just swimming through the rock, melting it and zipping through like an eel in water.

I quickly look ahead to see what shes after, and I get to see the new invader. Its I dont know what it is. Its labeled a fire elemental, but aside from being really hot, its not like what I would expect a fire elemental to be. Its not a vaguely-humanoid flame, nor even a floating fireball. Its more like an amoeba made of napalm.

It doesnt move like my slimes, either. They move more like slugs or snails, mostly gliding forward as a single mass. This thing launches a tendril of itself forward and then flows into it. Its kinda disturbing, actually. Its also surprisingly quick, though thats only compared to my slimes. Jello can manage about a brisk walk when shes at top speed, but this thing is moving at a jerky gallop. It probably averages a decent jogging pace, but trying to fight something like that in melee would probably be a very bad idea.

Or a bad idea if youre flammable. Nova does a remarkable missile impression as she exits the wall, and her triple mandibles snatch the thing up before it can react. I think. The elemental is so alien I have no idea. She simply swallows it, and chews a bit of the tunnel that has bits of it left, and I make sure to send her some feelings of praise through the bond.

Shes certainly not what I expected of a dragon, but shes strong and fierce like one. I can trust her to keep the tubes safe, and depending on how quickly she advances, and how long it takes to find the other dungeon, she might even get to go on a proper rampage.

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