Chapter 19: DAVE! Digivolve into! Dave... let?

 

[Narrated in the voice of Sir David Attenborough]

In the darkness of Dave's mind, a small mote of light came to flame, synapses connecting to one another as its mind-melded with its master, an event spurred on by its recent meal of a sentient being.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Memories, dozens, hundreds, not ones belonging to itself but rather Hiro and the catalyst in Dave’s stomach, an unheard-of event occurring between it, the consumed soul, and the thing trapped in the shell of a rubber duck. 

 

The human soul.

 

[Species Advancement Available]

The word appeared to Dave, not as a voice or tangible letters but rather as a feeling to its non-sentient mind.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Human feelings, human thoughts. The soul of a higher being brushing against its own, the life experience forgotten in the shadows of time by one infected the other, propelled forward by the catalyst.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Dave shifted, knowledge unbefitting of its status touching upon its monster core, warping it, changing it. The unique status of Hiro influencing a change that should not have been possible and would not have been if not for the monster’s master being a human.

 

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Sad. Hungry. Sleepy.

Eeepy. I sleep. 

 

But hungy. Hungy much hungy. Ugggghhhh. Hungry! HUNGRY! But sleeepy.  

As if waking from a long slumber, a spark was ignited. 

The emotions twisted, combining with the knowledge of the souls and Hiro’s desires to be free from his shell, to be human again, to speak with another person, spurred on an event unique to the Sentient dungeon that allowed a 177013 to occur.

[Species Path Selected!]

The message played, words in the awake warped soul.

“Errrrrh.” Dave let out, the Krocotaur feeling weird, mostly hungry. Its mind racked with pain as it blinked repeatedly, wiping its eyes with a slender green talon as it yawned and sat up.

“Hrrn.” It let out, its mouth feeling weird, its top teeth clacking loudly against its bottom. Had it broken another tooth? Dave didn’t know. The Krocotaur ran its talons through the long green fur on its head. Weird. 

Dave opened its eyes fully, coming face to face with a menagerie of monsters staring at it. 

“m hurnkry.” Dave slurred awkwardly, the evolved Krocotaur speaking to the rubber duck that let out a squeak in response.

****

 

CONGRATULATIONS! A NEW SPECIES HAS BEEN CREATED! Would you Like to Name your new species?

 

As the blinding light faded in my domain, I was left flabbergasted at what I was “seeing”.

Dave: (???) LvL: 1 HP: 500/500 MP: 30/30 Skills: Bite LvL 6, Iron Tail LvL 5, Blend LvL 5, Swim LvL 4, Endure LvL 2,  Pain Resilience LvL 3, Minor Regeneration LvL 3. Strong Body LvL 1. Heavy Constitution LvL 1. Human Potential, Darkvision LvL 2, Iron claw LvL 1.

After nearly a week of training my minions, dissolving weapons, setting up traps, and using bones scavenged from the catacombs to build a “fence” around my domain, Dave had finally woken, a notification striking my mind as I was in the process of having my spiders reinforce the walls with their webs.

Dave had evolved! And Dave wasn't a Dave at all but a Dave-! Let? Davetta? Davida? Davina? Davinia? Davella? Ok, enough of that.

DAVE! I sent, the monster jolting at the mental command.

Dave blinked, the reptile cocking its humanoid face, its black-spotted eyes staring at me. Dave was now a green-skinned humanoid, its face that of a woman with long green hair. Its scales had rescinded greatly with its once elongated jaw now a human mouth attached to a human face that had human-like green pupils.

The scales that had coated its body, now only dotted its face, and parts of its naked green body that was muscular and toned with two massive mountain tops facing me.

Huh…

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Suddenly I was on the floor, dropped by Slimey while Dave was on the move. 

WHAT? HEY!

The ten-foot-tall green woman was abruptly snatched up by Slimey, the blue holy slime carrying Dave away and tossing her over the walls of bone that surrounded my domain.

Slimey! Bad! I sent as Dave attempted to climb over my newly constructed bone-fence, only to be blocked by the five hundred gallon slime at every turn, the creature's cores vibrating so violently the blue goo turned red.

Huh that’s new.

Dave let out an annoyed growl, the creature attempting to get back to its bed only to be blocked by Slimey left and right. 

In response Dave swiped, attacking Slimey who spit acid into the reptile-woman’s face, causing her to roar in anger before charging through my fence!

SLIMEY! LET THEM BACK IN HERE! STOP DESTROYING MY FORTIFICATIONS! I yelled, ordering the two to stop, In response, all I heard was the chorus of a hundred voices, unified in its singular purpose that shouted four words. 

NO! YOU! ARE! MINE!

 

Ah…. 

Ok. Fair enough. I'll just be right here on the floor while you two work that out.

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Wait. No! Why am I sitting in silence?! I'm the boss here!

The pair of monsters were attacking each other now, Slimey attempting to dissolve Dave as the monster flailed around, completely unfamiliar with its humanoid body.

 

STOP!! I ordered, sending out my mental command that washed over Slimey, the creature shaking violently but finally freezing.

Dave walked passed, the lumbering depressed muscular woman awkward with her steps. It also probably didn't help that Slimey, although frozen, had several tentacles of ooze attached to Dave, attempting to slow down the monster who was keen on getting back to bed.

Slimey was unhappy, but it'd have to make due while I tried to figure out what was going on.

But first things first!

 

After about ten minutes, Dave’s unmentionables were now covered in the name of modesty, the overgrown muscle gator woman now sporting chest bindings and underwear made entirely of spiderwebs. 

Dave wasn't very impressed, in fact it kept scratching at the bindings, breaking them over and over again but thanks to repeat scolding, multiple rebindings, and some paralytic from Spooderman, Dave eventually learned to keep covered.

Slimey on the other hand was eager to get into its nun clothes, trying to take up a humanoid shape, filling it out but failing to stabilize its form with the slime changing colors from blue, red, to purple, then orange, something I didn't know it could do.

I considered taking away its dress, but taking into account the outburst and behavior… I couldn't help but feel worried for my life.

Plus Slimey’s thoughts were concerning, the only word being broadcasted being MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! Over and over again with fury and rage as I rode around on my skeleton Hector’s head.

What have I created?

Turning my attention back to Dave who was munching loudly on a monster core, I observed the creature and its stats.

In its evolved state, it had lost most of its mana, instead gaining HP and several skills with something called human potential… 

Why though? 

Its blighted pus ridden body was gone, so that was cool. But what had happened to make the krocotaur evolve into a human-like species? 

Did it have something to do with me? 

Or did it have something to do with the elf's corpse it ate? 

I’d heard of monsters gaining sapience before, but that was typically for nature spirits or undead. Creatures either heavily involved with humans or influenced greatly by them, a process that took years. 

But there were no humans here, so why was Dave… human-like?

I didn't know, another question added to my growing list of mysteries.

Dave. 

The lizard woman turned to me, her hair a mess with a rat hanging out of her mouth. 

Hm? Foob? Dave sent back before chomping enthusiastically, devouring the rat with a slime cleaning up the blood splatter.

Dave opened its viscera-covered mouth, saying something to me, talking even as a slime landed on her head, cleaning up the gore it detected.

Still, despite having no air with a slime on its head, it kept talking. And talking. And talking with air bubbles filling the blue goo on its head.

This idiot must breathe through gills or something.

Eventually, the slime slid away, allowing Dave to speak clearly, but there was a slight problem…

I can't hear!

UGH! ENOUGH OF THIS BODY! I WANT A HUMAN BODY TOO! IT'S NOT FAIR! WHY DOES THIS DEPRESSIVE LOOKING DOLT GET ONE BUT NOT ME?!?!

 

My rubber casing shook in anger. Just when I was getting excited about being able to converse with someone!

 

AAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHH.

 

Ok. I've had enough. Time to start the next quest chain. 

 

[Create Mana Core!] [If you are the brain, the Mana Core is the heartbeat of all Dungeons!] [WARNING! CRAFTING A MANA CORE WILL ATTRACT RIVALS!]

I’d have been gaining new functions and abilities as I progressed the quest chain, maybe the cure to my condition lie in progress? While I was worried that I’d be under siege, after a week of moving up and down the sewers and occasionally going back up to the catacomb, it was a somewhat safe assumption that I was in a safe spot. 

There didn’t seem to be any other monsters of note nearby, and my traps laid out in the form of pitfalls, pulleys, and snares helped to ease my mind a bit. Oh! And something I liked to call, THE MACE also contributed to my peace. 

Basically, the MACE was a bunch of rocks, swords, and bones fastened together and suspended on the ceiling next to the pipe leading up to the catacombs. 

Attached to a trip wire, anything that attempted to walk through would immediately be impaled and smashed by the mace, but considering my method of getting to the catacombs was sticking to the walls, the trap was safe to all but my foes and intruders. :3

I decided to create the Mana Core. Willing it into existence. 

An odd feeling pressed down on me, like I was being squeezed, deflated as mana left my body and created a ball of energy in the space I had designated the core location.

The sphere of mana was akin to a star, at least, from what I remembered stars looking like from my old highschool memories. It burned with energy, illuminating the darkness, casting away the shadows, and bringing light into a lightless place.

Ah, is this what Thomas Eddison and Nikola Tesla felt when they discovered electricity?

I didn’t know, but what I did know was that I was feeling oddly giddy as the core pulsed and reacted to my pylons, extending my senses further that casted away a large portion of the fog of war. 

 

[Quest Complete!] [The Heart of your Dungeon is now live! Protect it with your life!] CHAMPION DESIGNATION UNLOCKED! [New Quest!] [Every Facility has a manager. A champion, these champions help to enforce your will and desires, gaining unique abilities and a stronger relationship to their master.] [Designate your Champion!] [0/1] 2 Minions Viable For Champion Designation! Slimey: Holy Super Slime LvL 14 HP: 1700/1700 MP: 310/310 Skills: Dissolve LvL 6. Slime Shot LvL 5. Cleanse LvL 5. Foam LvL 2. Solidification LvL 5. Bounce LvL 3. Physical Resistance LvL 4. Cold Resistance LvL 2. Mimic LvL 2. Blend LvL 1. Duplicate LvL 1. Shape Change LvL 1. Slime Bullet LvL 1. Holy imbue LvL 1. Mend LvL 1. Dave: (???) LvL: 1 HP: 500/500 MP: 30/30 Skills: Bite LvL 6, Iron Tail LvL 5, Blend LvL 5, Swim LvL 4, Endure LvL 2,  Pain Resilience LvL 3, Minor Regeneration LvL 3. Strong Body LvL 1. Heavy Constitution LvL 1. Human Potential, Darkvision LvL 2, Iron claw LvL 1.