Chapter 2: 1.02

While Logan worked away at digging into the north wall (north being an arbitrary designator) with his bare hands, he puzzled over the other important discoveries that had fallen onto him.

First, that he was an incubus. He would have figured that was his race type, but demon, Logan felt fairly certain, was his race. Was incubus a subrace, or a class? He assumed the second. But what did a class of incubus entail? 

If the obvious, then Logan was about to have a very unsuccessful career. He wasn’t terrible with women, but he was no Casanova. And not just that, but because he wouldn’t be abusing his class. An incubus was a demon that seduced women and forced them into bed, often through the use of mind-control and other unearthly methods, depending on the mythology a person referenced. 

Maybe it means something else, here. It wasn’t that Logan would be horrified if his class involved less than chaste abilities, just, that he wouldn’t abuse any of the skills he gained. Which would, he assumed, make him quite the poor incubus. 

He would cross that bridge when he came to it. Honestly, worrying over what could be seemed pointless; everything was possible, thrust into a new world. 

[

Core of Eros
Mana: 188/400
Tier: 0

[

Halfway there. He was making short work of this task. Then again, of course he was. The stone yielded like clay. 

Core of Eros was the next topic his mind fell on. Logan figured it deserved addressing. ‘Eros’, as a word, and when combined with Logan’s class of incubus, was highly suspicious. Plus, the core is pink. None of these things by themselves would be a giveaway, but when put together, Logan could only make the reasonable assumption:

Not modeled on just a video game. But an erotic one.

Which, uh. Oh boy. Logan didn’t know what to think of that.

Maybe it was just his situation, though, and not the entire world. Perhaps outside this tiny cavern, life operated like normal. Or, not normal, but not on perverted principles. Perhaps it was Logan himself who had gotten unlucky—lucky?—enough to be spawned into these circumstances. 

Would that be better or worse? Logan couldn’t decide. Better, I guess? It meant there would be a life of normalcy waiting for him once he escaped this underground prison. If he could.

And if everything’s perverted, that makes nothing perverted. Which isn’t half as fun.

Logan ignored the thought that had flicked through his head. 

He worked away.

[

Core of Eros
Mana: 312/400
Tier: 0

[

He hoped reaching 400/400 would have the result he expected. Which was to say, something, and not nothing; that this wasn’t pointless. Though he guessed if it turned out filling the orb’s mana up did nothing, his next option would be to simply keep digging, regardless. What else would he do?

[

Core of Eros
Mana: 388/400
Tier: 0

[

Almost there. A few more trips. The tunnel was a few arm’s lengths deep, and a few heads taller than him. It hadn’t taken much stone before the core had filled up. Then again, ‘tier 0’ had the ring of ‘tutorial’. He doubted progression would be this fast for the next tier.

Whatever ‘next tier’ meant.

Finally, it happened. Logan pressed the last handful of stone into the dungeon core, which it greedily absorbed.

[

Core of Eros
Mana: 400/400
Tier: 0
[ Evolve? ]

[

Sure enough. His intuition had been correct.

In an unexplainable way, he willed the [Evolve] option into existence.

The orb shuddered, and the swirling banners of red picked up speed. It glowed, becoming brighter by the second, the banners transforming into a whirlwind. Logan took a step back.

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Then the storm halted, as suddenly as it had come. Inside the pink depths, now, sat a crimson internal orb, being circled by the ribbons.

A visual representation of tier one? Logan thought. Would there be two red orbs, on tier two? Just a guess.

[

Core of Eros
Mana: 0/50k
Tier: 1
= Avatar Skills =
[Construct], [Ephemeral Form], [Bind], [Withdraw]

[

Logan blinked. Progress. That’s good. But what did it mean? 

Can I [Inspect] skills, not just objects?

[Construct]: Shape mana into material.

That’s a yes.

And also opened up a slew of possibilities. What kinds of materials? How much mana did it cost? How large? Other limits? Was there a cooldown?

Before experimenting, though, he continued down the list of four abilities.

[Ephemeral Form]: Enter a ghostly form, aiding in dungeon management.

Interesting. And sure to be useful. It removed any last doubts that Logan was responsible for this core, and growing it into a thriving dungeon. 

What will a Dungeon of Eros look like? Logan suspected that was up to him in some small manner. But how it worked, at a fundamental level, was up to the core. Logan could only use the skills given to him, and interact with mechanics the core defined. And where does my class fit into everything?

Moving on to the next skill.

[Bind]: Link a willing entity into servitude to the dungeon. Bound entities siphon passive mana from the dungeon core. 

Okay … but I'm stuck underground. Where do I find an entity to bind? 

He would find out eventually, even if it meant a long time digging. Did he get hungry? Could he starve? Or die of thirst?

[Withdraw]: Extract mana from the core and convert into experience for the Avatar, or bound entities.

There's one answer. Logan had discovered how to level up. But at the cost of not advancing the dungeon. Unsurprisingly, dungeon management would be a game of … well, management. Tradeoffs and prioritization.

The first skill he wanted to test was obvious.

He activated [Ephemeral Form].

Even expecting something of the sort, the sensation of his spirit—or whatever it should be called—separating from his body was disorienting. Physical stimuli melted away, Logan becoming a see-through, half existing figure floating outside his corporeal form, which stood locked frozen.

Woah. This is trippy. 

He willed his body forward, and it obeyed. He floated across the room, stopping when he willed himself to.

Can I go through walls?

Logan sank into the gray stone in front of him, sending a shiver up his spine. It took some effort to push himself in, unlike the complete ease of moving through air.

Now through, the world opened up in a mind bending way. I can see through the walls. He floated up the stone, until he was looking down at the tiny cavern from far above. Like a top-down RTS. With how real all of this was, the comparison to a game felt inappropriate. But it was where his mind went. Could he be blamed? The world did work on certain game-like principles, and honestly, this felt like one. 

In the distance, through the empty see-through abyss, Logan could make out pricks of light. Some were close, relatively speaking. If I tunnel there, I'll find something. While he couldn't say it for certain, his instincts had yet to fail him. And what else would the pinpricks of light be?

Okay. How much mana do I have?

He checked.

Not much. But enough to try out [Construct]?

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