Seras little snippet thread

I kept expecting the stupid humans to show up again, but they never did. Instead slowly the room expanded, and eventually…

It was big enough. Not finished. I think I wanted to make it even bigger over time. But it was done.

I looked over the large room with a high ceiling and grinned, then I opened my menu. I wanted this room to be lush, basically a swamp, or jungle. A hellhole meant to ambush humans at every corner.

So just… Let me do that!

[Designate room as Jungle: 10 mana cost]

Nice. I nodded happily but then slumped, my eye bouncing off the ground as I once again remember I was out of mana.

Aaaaaaaa!

—--

[Yes] I selected the option after waiting over an hour for my mana to regenerate.

Instantly the room shifted. The stone floor grew almost spongy and shifting as if alive. The walls gained similar texture.

Cool.

Then to my surprise I saw tons of countdowns pop up.

Things were growing!

I was so excited I floated all over checking on the little sprouts that started shooting up.

Grass sprouted, but it felt weird. Unlike say Carrots, or other things I had grown, the grass seemed almost bland. It wasn't even called something special. Just grass.

The trees I noticed growing up were Morrel trees! But more interesting? They didn't look the same!

Either Morrel trees had a lot of diversity in their characteristics, or the trees were more mimicking the shape of trees you'd find in a jungle, but the wood was one I had already collected.

Considering that. I pulled out a seed type I hadn't don't much with yet.

Omi Seed. They were flowers! I created one, and it plopped into the soil, and with a grumble, I called Slug over where he had been staring at the Beetle spawner and had him push it deeper into the ground for me.

Done.

Timer start. Now I would have pretty flowers in my jungle too!

I bobbed up and down in delight as the room slowly came alive and it felt good. As life bloomed it made me feel good.

—--

Since I wasn't blowing through all my mana on expansion for a bit. I decided to continue growing the Jungle room.

The next thing I saved up for was another insect spawner, as a reward for my Goblins I made another Ikara Beetle nest.

When I showed Uge the new nest hidden a bit further into the Jungle room she flipped out and once more a Goblin celebration was done. I laughed in delight as the four Goblins danced around the nest cheering, their [Hardened Sharp Sticks] waving around in delight.

Then I realized they weren't just celebrating, but…

They were cheering for me!

I felt it, their attention and focus…

Eeeee!

I bounced up above the nest and then danced myself all of us celebrating as I felt their thankfulness!

Yes! Praise me more!

Mwahahahahaha! I'm the greatest Dungeon Core in the world! Hahahaha!

It was a good celebration.

—--

The humans returned and I popped back to the Core room to glare at them.

It was Combry again, and again two of the humans that he had escorted in to get a class.

"Alright. You know what to do." He spoke and they nodded. I felt at least a little more sympathetic to this group. The girl that had given me the pressed flower was here. She had tipped big so I felt at least a little friendly towards her.

Not that she wasn't going to get goblin ambushed, that was that, and this was this.

They once more checked the farm, but this time they found the Lina Herbs, and the girl gasped in surprise at the little plot I had made for them.

"These are Lina Herbs!" She gasped as she hurried over, and started checking them over.

The boy beside her didn't seem to understand, but Combry did, but his face told me something was wrong.

He was frowning heavily as he stared at the plot.

"Ser Combry? What is it?" The girl asked, after turning around holding one of the herbs she had plucked, although I noticed she had shaken loose its seeds and worked to replant them.

"This isn't right. A dungeon isn't smart enough to make something like this." He said, looking at the plot. "She only had Goblins last time I was here. This is showing me greater intelligence than a newborn dungeon and a pack of Swamp Goblins."

These words turned the atmosphere serious, the two younger adventurers looking between themselves and then to Combry for what to do.

But he just kept frowning as he glared at the Lina Herb garden.

Then he turned to me.

Uh-oh… Look innocent!

I blinked.

He blinked.

I blinked.

"What is it doing?"

"I don't know. She's been doing it since I woke her up though." He said, and I pouted, how could they not realize I was blinking innocently?

The three finally broke off as the Knight sighed and rubbed at his head. "C'mon we need to check the rest of the dungeon, be on the lookout for any extra monsters. I don't like this."

"Yes, Ser."

The girl nodded even as she packed away some of the Lina Herb.

I glared as I watched them head towards the Goblin Nest. My Goblins were ready, but I already knew how this would go.

There was just such a gulf between my four, and Combry, that I don't think I could do any damage without drastically changing something.

With that, I decided. Racing ahead I gathered my Goblins up so instead of hiding in the nooks, they were right at the entrance to the nest. Spears ready pointing into the tunnel. Let's see if a good spear wall would faze him!

The four set up, two on each side of the cramped tunnel entrance, [Sharp Sticks] ready!

Well until Slug saw Combry stalking through the tunnel, and since Slug wasn't hiding his instincts seemed to trigger and he charged!

I gaped as that got Crup to also squeal out his battlecry and charge, and despite being a bit hunched over Combry cut them both down without issue…

Ah. Just because I could tell the Goblins advanced tactics, didn't mean they would follow them. They were Goblins after all.

But Uge was a good girl! She barked at Mog and they both held spears out and Combry was actually stalled for a moment as he took it in.

"Hmm. Too smart." He whispered but I heard it. And then his sword glowed white and he swung, and both Goblins were cut down.

Cheater! What was that awesome sword magic? I didn't get that! Cheater! Hacker!

"I thought this was supposed to be for us Ser Combry?" The boy with him asked a little teasing from behind, but the Knight didn't respond, instead moving into the Nest and searching around checking for any more Goblins.

"It is, but the Goblins changed tactics. They are supposed to wait until we enter before jumping out of the holes. They didn't. They were waiting here this time. Something is off."

"Is it that unusual? I heard Dungeon Monsters are revived and are the same monsters over and over? Wouldn't they learn?" The girl asked.

"You ever heard of a Goblin learning something?" The younger boy asked, but he was silenced by Combry.

"Not usually. Monsters usually rely on instinct, if you see them do one thing, unless something changes they'll keep doing it. This Dungeon…" He grumbled a bit but I couldn't make it out, he did take a moment looking over the room. I felt myself flinch every time he came near the secret tunnel, but eventually he didn't find anything.

The kids were poking at the Goblins sticks but only as a curiosity and didn't actually take them. And then they started to leave.

I felt myself relax as they all shuffled out the younger kids still anxious as they kept their weapons up, but I was out of defenses now.

"Ah I shouldn't forget." The girl said and then reached into her pouch. "I thank you for your challenge. Please take this offering." She whispered and dropped… Well it was some kind of fruit, I think. It looked like an apple if you stretched it out a bit.

Then they were gone.

[Acer Fruit] was what it was called once I picked it up.

Grumbling I settled in to wait for the mana to resurrect my minions and since I had nothing else to do I headed for the Jungle.

—--

The Jungle wasn't good enough. I knew that. From the entrance you could look out, and most of your sight was blocked, either by trees or the hills I'd had the goblins dig through. But it wasn't Jungleish enough yet.

I was floating through the Jungle, noticing a few Ikara Beetles crawling around now that they had time to spawn while I waited for mana to resurrect.

Something shooting through my eye startled me and I jerked away bouncing against a tree and some of the vines that were starting to grow. Unfortunately those were like the grass and just vines, and not a material.

But what had just startled me? I hovered around looking up and down, before I finally found it.

A water drop flowing down off a leaf.

Was the Jungle area humid? I couldn't feel anything, or smell anything, or-

It didn't feel weird to me, but I guess it was… I shook it off.

Jungles were supposed to be wet. It was one of the reasons they sucked so bad. This was simply something I accepted… Rain Forest…

Heh.. Hehe HEHEHE!

I pulled up my menu and thought hard about what I wanted.

[Rain Generator: 10 Mana]

Yeeeessss! I didn't have the mana right now, but that was what was coming next! Rainforest! Wait. I should find out if Goblins deal with water well.

I floated back to the main area and Uge was currently sitting against the Core pedestal watching the entrance lazily.

Uge? Do you like water? Like rain? I'm thinking of making it rain inside the Jungle room.

"Kek?" She asked, scratching at her stomach lazily.

Yeah rain! I wanted to know if it would bother you and the others a lot?

"Keeakka." She said rising up a bit and raising her hands up and dancing around a little.

Oh Goblins like rain! Yes!

Then we are going to have rain!

Uge cheered along with me and we both began dancing around the pedestal which brought out the other Goblins and soon I was bouncing from their head using my own inability to impact anyone to act almost like a ball as we all had fun playing.

—--

*Drip*

*Drop*

*Drip drop*

*Drip drop drip drop!*

I was staring up at the ceiling of the cave that was now completely hidden away. I had placed the [Rain Generator] In a spot high up above the entrance door so it would be out of the way, and instantly a fog had rolled out of it like the most crazy fog machine I had ever seen.

The moment it had spread out, it started.

Drips and drops, and then more and more.

Rain came down. I could control it too. I could change how strong the rainfall was, or even turn it off, but for now I just let it go. I wanted to see what would happen.

I looked over at Uge who, just like she had said, had raised her hands up to the sky and was shrieking in delight as she danced around in circles in the rain. The boys had launched out into the Jungle, the foliage had started to grow dense, even if most of it wasn't fully grown yet.

But even now the bushes shook and giggled in Goblin, as they played in the rain and hidden spaces.

Yeah. This was cool. Now I just needed more mana!

But that was a worry for another time for now I just bobbed around and danced with Uge in delight.

—--

The sudden locking of my limbs surprised me, and I realized that this was bad!

Hurry! To the nest! I urged my Goblins and they raced back through the Jungle…

Soaking wet… Shit.

No time I popped over to the entrance and stilled.

I could still hear the sound of the rain! But I also couldn't turn it off!

I glared at the intruder and noticed something new.

No Ser Combry.

Just Malcolm the CHEATER! And one of the girls. The one that gave me the seeds.

"What's that noise?" She asked, and Malcolm frowned, not that it changed his face much as he was always scowling.

"I don't know."

"We should leave, let Ser Combry know."

"Forget him! There is Lina Herb here! We'll get it and get out, and no one will even know."

She hesitated but nodded.

I scowled. The only reason I had agreed to make the herbs was because I was promised Mana Crystals from the Old lady… Okay she was kinda nice. So the Nice Old Lady.

But this was…

CHEATING.

I glared and considered my options.

If they were only here for the herbs then when they left my Goblins would be fine. Forty minutes to get the mana to bring them back if they die.

On the other hand…

I didn't like just allowing the humans to think they could do this to me.

Gather up here! I called out.

And my Goblins moved.

I did my best to ignore how wet they were. Hopefully the humans wouldn't notice?

Either way, they all gathered at the hallway that leads to the Farm and settled in. I did some work telling the four how to position themselves.

Hehehehehe!

The Core cave wasn't dark enough, I realized. I was going to need to do something to make the front entrance darker because the Goblins would be easily seen from the hallway, but it was fine.

I wanted the humans to realize they had fucked up…

I bonked all of my goblins on the head. DON'T RUSH THEM. I glared and each of them wilted. Stay here!

Then we waited. I decided to float back and rest on top of the Core to watch as slowly the light of a torch started coming back down the hall. The little shits had gathered up every Lina Herb I had.

These idiots didn't have the Knights light amulet. They had an actual torch, and were hunched over in the tight hallway to the farm.

Then the light stopped and I giggled.

They noticed the four sharp sticks all pointing into the hallway, with Goblins peaking around the corner.

"Malcolm?"

"I see it!" He hissed back and the goblins cackled in turn at the sound of fear in his voice.

I instantly bobbed up. Don't charge them! I reminded them glaring at Slug who looked like he was about to charge down the hallway.

Seriously Goblins were like six year olds. Keeping them in order was a chore.

The humans stalled out trying to figure out what to do.

Mwahahaha! These Goblins might not be Kobolds, but we could still be threats to a couple of stupid teenagers!

The two began arguing and I listened in laughing all the while.

"We should charge through. I'll break it open and you can attack." Malcolm offered but the girl behind him physically slapped him a few times harshly.

"Are you stupid? You don't have the armor to push through that! You want to die?" She growled at him. "I'm not going anywhere near that! My job is Scout! I only have a dagger!" She hissed.

"I'm a Squire! I can do it."

"You have a cheap blade, and your armor is in the armory! Don't be dumb… We wait. The Goblins aren't smart. Remember what Ser Combry said? They'll break the formation and charge us eventually. We just need to force them… Hey ugly! Bleeegh!" She began and suddenly stuck out her tongue at the Goblins…

I rushed over and bonked at Uge and Mog who both had started getting pissed. No! Ignore her! She is scared and wants you to charge! Hold! I roared at them, and it was close but eventually Uge settled back down and kicked Mog who did as well.

"What?" The girl whispered, sounding actually scared now.

"The Dungeon stopped them… This is bad. This is really bad! They aren't supposed to be this smart!" Malcolm the CHEATER whispered.

This is what you get! You might have cheats, but I'm the admin here! Get banned, loser! Hahahaha!

"Gege?"

It's nothing! I assured Uge. Just focus!

She turned back to the tunnel, and despite their instinct to charge, it looks like the Goblins other instincts to make others afraid of them was working to keep them stable.

Eventually the two retreated realizing hunched over like this was bad as a position.

Stay! I demanded and the goblins did so. Let them stick around in a dark room. Their torch would go out eventually, and when it did we'd get them then!

I might not be able to do anything, while the stupid humans were inside, but that was fine! I had a big storage of mana that never seemed to fill up. It was gross to have them crawling around inside me, but at least they'd be suffering more than I would.

Hehehehehe!