Chapter 19: Chapter 17 – Unbridled Curiosity

"Uh huh. First problem." I looked down at the floor, which had sunk by about a meter. This was the second room, just outside of my Core room. I looked up. It was about ten meters total, from the new floor level to the ceiling. The walls to the left and right were about the same distance apart, but the walls between the Core room and the Elemental Rockworm's room were much closer together at about five or six meters.

 

"I seriously need to look into a floor plan for this place." I hopped down into the room and then skirted around the hole in the floor. Then I walked over to the next room.

 

I was expecting it to be big but... I've seen buildings that could fit in this room. It still had a slightly domelike shape, but the walls were much straighter now, though only half as tall as in the middle room. The Elemental Rockworm was happily drinking up the wall on the far side of the room. Odd... I would have expected them to need to lay eggs by now. I hadn't seen any in the middle room or in this room, so perhaps they needed more food than I thought.

 

I tried thinking about all of the Rockworms gathering in front of me, the same way I'd thought about them digging. The one in front of me immediately turned in my direction. It finished slurping up the stone that was already liquid and then slithered over to me. It was surprisingly easy...

 

I waited for a moment as the Oreworm made its way into the room, and then a moment more. The others either must have been really far away or didn't get the message. Whatever. For now, I had to figure out what I was gonna do with these kids. In order to get a good idea, I needed to know how I was going to defend my dungeon. "Ah wait, how is the attack supposed to happen? That's probably the main point I should build around."

 

The worms tilted their heads at me curiously. The other three slithered into the room as they waited for me. They looked the same as before, so I went back to my planning. I probably needed to find the place where the enemy would appear and build fortifications around it. But it was never mentioned anywhere in the Interface... Was I just supposed to guess and build a castle or something? What if they spawned inside it?

 

My first question for Nyx in a while, perhaps. It was kind of critical though, so I would have to ask now. If I ended up with extra questions again, I'd need to have them prepared ahead of time. So, I spent a moment searching through the forums for interesting questions. I only found two that I didn't think could be answered by the Interface.

 

'How does Incursion Priority work?'

 

'Where is the dungeon physically located?'

 

Aside from those, I had my personal questions; 'How does the enemy enter the dungeon?' and 'Who are you?'

 

I could tack on extra questions as needed based on the answer to the last one, but I didn't think I would get that many. I was planning on casting without relying on the Interface this time, and based on the description that meant I wouldn't be able to hold the connection for long.

 

I pulled up the Spell Data for Voices of the Chorus. Now that I had a better understanding of the basics, I had the option of a few more advanced topics that related to this spell. I let the Rockworms chew on the floor while I read through the more important materials.

 

Unlike my other spells, Voices relied far more on the Spirit than the Heart. Knowing the name of the target helped to focus your intent, and having specific questions helped with that too. Even better if those questions were important to you. The reason my first cast was so strong, aside from using an entire CP's worth of mana, was because I'd really wanted to know how to raise my CP generation. 

 

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The risks involved were deceptively simple. If you reached out and failed to connect to the deity you were after... A different one might answer. And that was usually trouble. If that didn't happen, then the spell would fail normally, using up the mana you spent and causing some strain. My image of Nyx was rather clear due to our first contact, so that most likely wouldn't happen.

 

I carefully examined the guide for casting the spell, trying to memorize every change in the flow of mana. I would have just pressed the Cast button, but for Spirit spells that was actually supposed to be less reliable than trying it on your own. In the end, I slowly started manipulating my own aura by carefully imagining it flowing according to the diagram. Trying to hold the flow and think of Nyx at the same time was somewhat troublesome, but less so than it would have been before I used the Refinement pattern. Thought Reinforcement, most likely. My musing was interrupted by a soft chuckle. 

 

"Your ability to cast this spell so easily is impressive. Most would have lost control in the face of such stray thoughts." The voices took on a more serious tone as they continued. "My ability to interact with you will grow the more you reach out to me. The more I observe. You have two questions this time."

 

"Ask."

 

Unlike last time, I didn't lose my consciousness. I felt vaguely aware of my body, even remained standing. But at the same time I was somewhere else. Somewhere calm and dark and quiet. Two questions... I decided to take a chance.

 

"How does the enemy enter the dungeon, and what is the significance of Incursion Priority?"

 

I felt a smile in the voices as they answered. "The gate. The location can be found by following the flow of energy. The Aura. The enemy must pass through the gate, an artificial crack in this Dark subspace network that separates your world from my former world."

 

"The network will weaken over time, but by allowing the enemy to enter before it breaks entirely, the pressure can be diminished. Those with higher Incursion Priority will be faced with the brunt of the overflow. As they are the most likely to survive. By purifying Chaos, the subspace will be strengthened. Halt the overflow. The spell - fading. I look forward to next time."

 

Just like that, the strange disembodied feeling was gone. I smiled slightly. By infusing my first question with intent, Nyx caught my desire to know where the dungeon was. Because of that, I was able to get three answers for the price of two. The location of the dungeon's entrance could be found by tracking its Aura. The dungeon itself was located in some kind of subspace between Earth and another world. And the Incursion Priority was a measure of which dungeons would be most likely to suffer during an attack. I hadn't expected the two questions to tie into each other so well, though.

 

My smile widened. That was a successful spell, without passing out or using the Interface. Not directly anyways. Nyx even complimented me for it. I couldn't remember the last time I got a compliment. I still needed to learn some discipline though, considering she overheard me thinking about other stuff.

 

I turned to look at the Rockworms, who were all bobbling about happily for some reason. Now I knew I needed to find some kind of gate, and I would probably need these kids to dig towards it. Or to help me dig? I did have the Excavate spell, so maybe I could test my body's limits after Refining and with all the new knowledge I'd gained.

 

I just had to figure out how to track the location of the gate first...