[You've surely been wondering how you'll get adventurers to come into your dungeon, haven't you, core? You've probably also been thinking that you'll just have to have good luck and wait for someone or something to stumble upon the entrance!]

got it in one, I guess.

[Worry not! The tutorial has a solution for you!

This next step will involve the creation of lures! Lures are objects that attract the creatures Outside to come Inside of your dungeon, where you can do as you please with them!]

that sounds...wrong. I don't think you needed to phrase it like that.

the screen darkened. [The tutorial hopes the core is not thinking of the tutorial in some dark and perverted manner! It is a pure and holy subject of the gracious system; whatever the core is suggesting, the tutorial should hope it does not in the future!]

then it brightened again, turning a very ugly, popping pink. [Let's get started with your first lore!]

ominous warnings come and go. then it acts like it wasn't just threatening my well-being two seconds later...this thing is either going to give me an aneurysm or a heart attack.

probably both.

ignoring my words, the tutorial shot a beam of mana. it landed just in front of my core but it didn't scorch the hardened dirt floor. instead, the beam formed a small green seed.

[This is the seed of a Scented Berry Bush! Absorb it to see its template!]

...why didn't you just give me a regular Scented Berry Bush and get it over with? am I going to have to grow this myself?

[The little core is confused! Understandably so as it cannot understand the wisdom of the system just yet. Perhaps never...]

you-

[Fret not! The tutorial knows what it is doing! Just absorb the seed as instructed.]

sighing, I formed a mouth sucker right under the seed. it wobbled frantically before melting into the ground where my sucker awaited.

[You have absorbed a Scented Berry Bush Seed! +5 mana for the new discovery!

You have gained the template for the Scented Berry Bush Seed!]

mmm new discoveries were always nice. as long as the mana didn't push me over my cap, anyhow. then, unbidden, a thought came to me.

what if I could taste the things I absorbed? I hadn't really thought about it before, but I was picturing a mouth to absorb this stuff. mouths had tongues, right? shouldn't I be able to taste what I was absorbing?

well, it's not like I pictured a tongue along with the mouth...I'd have to do so next time something dropped in my dungeon.

in the midst of my musing, I sensed the tutorial's screen slowly brightening. sighing, I put those thoughts away for later. no need to make the sarcastic pain even more annoying.

without prompting from the tutorial, I flicked through the menus to get to the plant templates.

[Plants Templates

Flowers
Shy Poinsettia - 0 Variants
Whispering Huckleberry - 0 Variants

Vines and Greenery
Cane Grass - 0 Variants
Soft Rainbow Vines - 0 Variants

Seeds
Nutty Bonsai Seed - 0 Variants
Scented Berry Bush Seed - 0 Variants

Create new Plant Template]

so I can make variants of plants, too? interesting. I'd definitely have to look at those-

the tutorial's brightness was so bright I could feel the heat radiating off the screen.

-later. for now, best to stay on track.

the uncomfortable warmth faded. tutorial acquiesced, I selected the Scented Berry Bush Seed and took a look at its template.

[Object (Plant) Template: Scented Berry Bush Seed

This seed grows into a small bush bearing small clusters of 3-4 red berries with...distinct smells. Scented, pungent, and everything in between, these berries can smell like just about anything depending on how it is cultivated in its early growth stages. Something with a strong enough smell just needs to diffuse the ground around or on the seed for long enough that the berries will begin producing its smell. However, once it is fully grown, the smell is permanent. It is recommended that the mixing of smells is kept to a minimum, or else the berries might make a big stink of things!

Special Features: Cultivatable
Effects: Attract/Deter

Base: 2 MP

Upgrades available!]

wicked. I can bet what the system wants me to do with this...but I don't have anything to make it, uh, smell.

[On the contraire, core! You have—drum roll please!]

out of nowhere, the sound of someone tapping fearsomely on a drum rumbled next to my core. I flinched away and I could've sworn I saw my core tilt slightly as well. when I looked back, though, it was as still as ever.

huh...

cutting through my thoughts, the tutorial's cheerful screen exploded in a dazzling display of Hill Moisture¹lol green.

[—mobs!]

...I'm not following you there.

[Simply spill the blood of one of your mobs onto the seed when you summon it! The berries will gain the scent of your mob's blood, which is also suffused with mana. To any creature with mana-attuned senses on the Outside, it'll be a beacon!]

huh. that makes sense I guess. I don't really have any mobs that have blood—

wait. the Rabbihorns! that's right! they're kind of pricey, but I guess I could...have it cut itself? maybe Fanny has something sharp...

eh but doing that sounds kinda...gross? and somehow morally wrong?

hmm. well, moral dilemma aside, the Foot Piercer could probably make it bleed. but the more I thought about it, the more blood seemed to be a bad choice.

if I was trying to attract more Rabbihorns, wouldn't the smell of the blood of a Rabbihorn, even if it was Dungeon-born, make it nervous? or maybe they were too bloodthirsty to care?

ugh, this was too much thinking! screw the Rabbihorns! can't I just dump my mana in the seed and have it smell like mana? does mana have a scent? what makes things have scents? cells? does mana have cells?

TOO. MANY. THOUGHTS.

UGGGGHH

AGGGGHGGHGGDHHGDHGSD

sleepy time...