While Azotreh was starting to undergo training under the tutelage of the ancient dragon Mukurric, a duo of champion monsters stood at the entrance to a tunnel created by Anthei.
The tunnel had a light at its other end, but was dark otherwise. Their only saving grace was the Eye of the Black Dragon ability possessed by Azotreh. Due to fundamentally sharing a soul, they shared that ability, allowing both to stare into the impenetrable darkness as if they were within the dungeon.
Neither had realized just how beneficial the capacity to make the walls of any room within the dungeon glow was until they encountered a tunnel without it. They had gotten the dungeon to invest more mana into the champions to keep the ability active constantly.
While Nicholas had been carving out space with Azotreh, Fuzem had spent some time making the small room they had encased the dungeon nexus inside more spacious. They hadn't quite created the spawner room they wanted, but the space did allow for something more.
A third champion eventually joined them. A puma covered in black fur that seemed glossier than before. After Azotreh's aura had broken under Mukurric's power, Errazorrus had taken up the third champion to join them in this new quest.
Nicholas had also emptied their inventory into the same room that contained the nexus, now swiftly being covered with a wall of nightshade schist. They still had the slots filled with nightshade mushrooms and the slimes.
Nicholas had also kept the strange orange gemstone in their inventory. Analysis called it a class crystal, and their new Greater Analysis said it carried the class of Mage.
None of them knew what it was, how to use it, or anything of the sort. But it was a reward they'd gotten from Viket, so it was clearly valuable. There was always a risk of one of the rabbit-kin finding the nexus room and stealing the stuff left there, which is why they took it with them.
But the stuff they'd taken from the necromancer goblin, everything they'd taken from Viket's inventory, and the various gear they took from that human group had been left behind.
The trio looked into the long tunnel, and Errazorrus decided to move first. While the giant orc was doubtlessly powerful, they still had poor control over it. Nicholas wasn't a fighter and barely knew how to throw a punch. Fuzem had greater control over the little salamander, but it was also by far the most fragile of the three. Errazorrus knew how to maneuver the quadrepedal body and had plenty of experience from the fragmented memories he'd been piecing together.
The two followed behind, with Fuzem atop Nicholas' head. All three had Eye of the Black Dragon active, though Errazorrus had also activated Eye of the Red Dragon. As such, he noticed the strange presence first.
It was bound to a wall, pressed flat as a pancake. It nearly completely blended in with the dark stone, but a small amount of heat was emanating from it. Less than even a plant generated, but barely enough that Eye of the Red Dragon found it.
Errazorrus didn't bother to attack it himself, instead indicating for Nicholas to hit it with his giant fist.
The massive orc's body moved far faster than its size would suggest, and the fist slammed into the point mentally indicated by Errazorrus. What it contacted was soft and rubbery, with a ripple spreading from the point of contact.
The thing let out a horrific screech and released tens of thin, biting tentacles to scratch into the giant orc fist, pulling back for another hit. Before it could, black scales covered the hand and blocked the damage, barely getting scratched.
[You have been afflicted with Dark Jelly's Venom!]
Even though the tentacles couldn't truly rip into flesh, they still inflicted their poison whenever they found the small gaps in the scales. The damage was minimal, but the poison stung.
Nicholas swung again, this time focusing on the punch. He curled his hand to keep the thumb on the outside and changed the trajectory slightly. He had a theory.
The punch landed, and the thing screeched again, continuing its assault with biting tentacles.
He swung again and again until the monster died. It fell off the wall and began to dissolve into mostly black mist, with mixing blues and dark purples. Fuzem dropped to the ground and touched it to loot the monster.
[You have looted Dark Jelly!]
[+10 Tin-Rank Alchemic Coins!]
[+1 Tin-Rank Monster Core!]
[You have killed a monster unrecorded by your ability: Records of Existence! New record forming.]
[Record: Dark Jelly (0.03%)]
[You have gained a new resistance: Venom Resistance (0.01%)]
[You have gained a new resistance: Dark Jelly Venom Resistance (0.03%)]
Nicholas still felt the venom coursing through his body, the arcane makeup of the body slowly melting under its constant damage. Small bursts of black smoke emerged from his arm where the jellyfish had stung.
The salamander on the floor stopped moving suddenly, and Nicholas felt Fuzem's awareness suddenly appear within the orcish body before she used Dungeon Devouring to drain the venom.
She put it towards the dungeon in case they could replicate it, but there wasn't enough venom in the body for that.
Nicholas pulled out the small monster core. It was a spherical blue crystal stained with spots of red. They had found a beast core before, and looted some monster cores from the human party, but those ones hadn't shone as vibrantly as this one.
[Monster Core - Common Core, Tin-Rank, Material]
[The core of a tin-rank monster. A potent source of energy, capable of assisting in poten-based rank advancement. This item is a key material in many rituals and in the creation of most magic items. As the core of a regular monster, it is denser than those of its lesser kin.
This core carries the power of shadow and darkness due to the monster it was taken from.
Current Integrity: 100%]
He shrugged and put it back in the inventory. It was better to keep it, even if they didn't know how to use it. He knew that might be hoarder logic, but who knew when something might be valuable in a world of magic and wonder?
They continued their way down the path, not finding any more monsters on their way deeper.
After a short trek, they found themselves in a large cavern beneath the ground. It had a few natural tunnels leading away from it, but that wasn't strange. There was a giant version of the nightshade mushroom growing in the center of the room, along with some glowing blue grasses.
Some water dripped from somewhere above their heads.
The room was calm, with the faint auras of a couple of beasts along with the fungi. The giant nightshade mushroom was the same blue as the grass.
By far the strangest feature of the room, however, was the fact that it was a giant cube. Perfectly cut out as if by the hand of some grand entity. Or, that was strange to Nicholas. Apparently, both Fuzem and Errazorrus found it normal, as the giant puma stepped into the cavern without a care. Fuzem instead began to make her way back, only turning around when Nicholas reached out over their soul bond.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"We haven't utilized the ants well. I'll bring some here, hopefully establish a trail for them to follow."
"They can't survive outside the dungeon, though."
"I'm aware. We have enough DP to elevate a bunch to champions."
"Weren't you going to consult with us first?"
"No."
Her answer was decisive, and she quickly vanished back into the tunnel, leaving Nicholas a little offended and confused. Nicholas watched her leave for a moment before deciding to enter the large cave. He wanted to test his idea and needed subjects to test it on.
Despite the short legs of a salamander, Fuzem moved rather quickly down the tunnel carved by Anthei. Her progress was not stopped by any natural monsters, allowing her to reach the room they'd left from within minutes.
She shaped some of the stone out of her way to reopen the tunnel back to the nexus. The giant beating heart's eye followed her as she approached one of the ants.
The ants were substantially smaller than even her current form. She had to be careful as she laid one claw on the small ant and willed for it to become a champion.
[Error: Monsters not spawned by nexus incapable of becoming champions.]
That wasn't a good message. Did that mean they had to spawn any monster they wanted to become a champion? It made some sense, but was still frustrating.
There were nearly a thousand of the small ants produced each day, and not a single one could become a champion.
So, she turned to the dungeon nexus and willed it to conjure a monster. She took a moment to look over their options before choosing one.
She wanted a monster that was like the ants, stealthy, and able to be productive while waiting in the tunnel. The choice became obvious pretty quickly.
[Conjuring Nightshade Reculse…]
She envisioned the spider to be larger than the default blueprint and received feedback.
[Monster altered through Inferior Mutation Specialization IV]
[Mutation: Gigantism]
[Due to the limitations of Inferior Mutation Specialization, this monster can only grow in size by 4%.]
[Error in blueprint creation. Please try again.]
She frowned, her already wide mouth becoming slightly wider. She tried again. This time, she wanted it to be about the size of the orc's hand. More than double its original size.
[Error in blueprint creation. Please try again.]
The image broke in her mind, but she wasn't going to give up. She wanted a big monster, and she would get a big monster. Even if it took hours of work.
Nicholas tuned out the ongoing error messages. The problem with sharing a system was that they all received the same notifications. At least, that's what he assumed.
Puma Errazorrus had run into a different tunnel that led deeper, looking for something. He wouldn't tell Nicholas what he was looking for, but it was probably important.
Nicholas was on the hunt himself, looking for monsters. The problem he encountered was the sensitivity of Eye of the Red Dragon.
He knew that plants and fungi both breathed and produced some heat as a result. It wasn't a lot of heat, and infrared wasn't sensitive enough to pick up on the heat of plants or fungi, but the ability was more than capable of it. When he activated the ability, the entire cavern lit up in shades of blue, with some bright spots of red. The red spots were mostly bugs of one kind or another. There was another ant colony near the giant mushroom, some grasshopper-like creatures in the grass, and at least two species of beetle.
He knew it was probably better to devour them for the dungeon, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. There were other ways to gain power, and he didn't want to be needlessly cruel. Instead, he found a large rock and sat on it. He had an idea based on some media from Earth.
Azotreh had begun to manipulate the mana in their body, and the skill system transferred some of the basic skills to Nicholas. The principles weren't all the same, but with the inserted information of the skill system, Nicholas could barely bridge the gap and manipulate some of the mana composing this body willingly.
He willed for the dungeon nexus to push more of their vast mana reserves into this body. He'd been using more mana than normal to use the eyes of the black and red dragon, but he had another purpose.
When Azotreh had finally activated the marks on their ears, it hadn't exploded, but simply vanished the ears and some of their hair. The basic information from their Internal Mana Manipulation skill told Nicholas that it was basically compensating for the cost of the use by taking the pure mana that partially composed the body to do such a thing.
Since a monster's body was almost purely mana, he was worried about the same phenomenon happening once he tried this, thus the increased mana expenditure.
He pushed more mana into the eyes of the orc. He made sure both of their draconic eye abilities were disabled, just pushing the magic into his eyes. He felt parts of the body he was inhabiting slowly break apart as more mana was pushed through into his eyes. The rushing energy from the dungeon nexus slowed, but didn't halt the decay caused by using his own biomass as an energy source.
The decay started at his feet before creeping upward. Slowly, painfully, the body dissolved into mostly blue smoke that dispersed into the air.
[Dissolution Pain (0.07%)]
He couldn't break concentration.
[Title: Abomination of Dragon Kind activated.]
The pain didn't ease, but the force of will he needed to achieve his goal decreased very slightly. He didn't know why that title helped, but wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Pressure built in the eyes of the orc as he forced more and more magic into them. It took almost an hour of ongoing pain and damage as his body dissolved. By the end, the process had eaten the orc's body up to the hips, but he finally felt a breakthrough.
His eyes burst like balloons in a spout of black ichor. Just as they had when the eyes of the two dragons had been implanted, the two eyes attacked the new ability forming, but the reason Abomination of Dragon Kind activated became clear. A large amount of mana was pulled directly from the nexus to make a shield and stop the implanted eyes from attacking the forming ability.
[Bloodline: Rainbow Dragon altered.]
System windows appeared visibly to Nicholas, but his eyes had burst. He wondered how he could see it until he realized his vantage was slightly higher. His vision was about half an inch higher and a quarter of an inch to the right of where his right eye was.
As more energy flowed in from the dungeon nexus, the orcish body rapidly regenerated.
[New Ability: Mana Vision (1)]
[Bloodlines: Rainbow Dragon, Cerulean Slime have automatically pushed to the evolution of ability: Mana Vision.]
[New Ability: Eye of the Cerulean Dragon (1)]
[Ability: Mana Vision (1) lost.]
[Your bloodline has altered, granting you a new organ: Eye of the Cerulean Dragon.]
[Title: Abomination of Dragon Kind has grown stronger.]
The world was utterly changed before him. The cavern was illuminated in streams of cerulean light, dancing and swirling around themselves.
The insects in the grass were dimmer than the giant mushroom and the already blue grass, but still visible. They had mana to see, after all.
Nicholas looked down at his own hands, seeing the raw amalgamated magic making up the body he was in. It looked strange and wrong. Odd gaps around the joints, and holes throughout. Almost as if the body was missing something.
That, and he had three eyes. He reached up to the third one, slightly above and to the right of his own right eye. It didn't alter his depth perception too poorly, but he wanted to balance it somehow. But that wasn't important now. He'd done what he wanted, and now looked at the cavern more closely, finding no monsters. He'd have to venture into the tunnels to test his original theory.
Fuzem felt her eyes explode from the sockets of the salamander before being replaced by a trio of eyes, the third set behind her right eye. She momentarily left the avatar she was inhabiting to re-enter the giant dungeon nexus on the wall. She wanted a look at the difference, only to find none.
She saw the magic shift in the suddenly still body of the champion, closing over a gap. A gap exactly where she felt the new eye was.
Whatever one of them had done, probably Azotreh or Nicholas, it had altered the champion whenever she entered it. She didn't like the alteration as it unbalanced her vision, but she'd have to find a way to cope.
She returned to the champion's body and once again began to envision the giant spider she wanted to create. She had lost count of her attempts, but she knew something was slowly happening. She didn't know what, but she returned to focusing on the mental image.
She kept at it, pushing herself harder and harder. Just as her mind finally gave out under the pressure she was putting it under, she got something for her troubles.
[Due to your act of will to create a new monster, your perk: Inferior Mutation Specialization IV has advanced to Inferior Mutation Specialization V]
[You can now apply gigantism to a monster, to a maximum of 5% larger than its original blueprint.]
She passed out in the body, returning to her pond in Azotreh's soul. She knew she had to try again.
Azotreh had a headache, though they didn't know why. They had been recovering well, their willpower recovering slowly, allowing their aura to spread out again. Bolstered by Ruby, their aura carried an aspect of spiritual flame. It made slight fires seemingly appear in the air around them to their new eye.
Azotreh hadn't gone through the agony of having their original eyes ripped apart. Their slimy body simply accommodated the new hole in their skull. But being able to observe mana directly was a good bonus to their eyes. Maybe they'd figure out one for auras and figure out how to beat Mukurric's overwhelming power, or at least resist it.
But that was a thought for after their head stopped pounding. They felt as if they were low on intuition, proved when they tried to analyze the rock wall with their new skill.
[Analysis Failed. Insufficient intuition.]
Their mind was sluggish, and their train of thought kept veering in odd directions, but they remained conscious. They felt the cold awareness release a feeling of comfort, something new from it. It had never expressed a feeling as vivid as this one. The comforting feeling and the knowledge that the cold consciousness would protect them if they slept finally got them to pass out.