Days passed in a flash. Strange, though, the rain never stopped. Water filled the lowest points in the dungeon valley. Water even began running into the valley from above, but after about a day, the rain had changed. It's color progressively yellowed, and where it hit, fumes hung in the air. After a while, every drop of rain ate away at the plant outside, only for them to leak out a waxy substance. A few of the

saplings mutated after days of these conditions, growing pulsing yellow fruits and solid yellow wax on the leaves.

 

As the rain poured, the dungeon set about getting more plants. After learning the moss template, the dungeon core quickly realized that it was much simpler than the rest of the vegetation. The other plants were more complex and required more varied specimens to gain a template. For example, the core needed root and stem samples or fern branches and roots. Without a variety of samples, he could not fully understand how to make these plants, so he couldn't get their templates.

 

With his snail's hard work, though, he was able to get five more plant templates.

 

 

 

What? Strange, something new appeared thought the core. Well, it doesn't matter right now. I have more important things to do than think about this.

 

He went to the next plant, the fern.

 

 

 

 

While the dungeon was gaining templates, the weather outside was growing worse. The air carried an acrid stench as plants melted in the acidic rain. The only place saved from the worst of it was the dungeon valley. The vegetation just outside shriveled and melted away, clearing the area around the forest of all but the most resilient of creatures and plants. Soon, the springs began to bubble and steam before drying up, the steam going up into the sky, spreading the storm further until it reached the border of the Star Spring even a little further beyond. Only a few hours later, the ground began to crack and shake. Massive cracks burst open, revealing lava, which quickly turned to dark stone as rain poured down from the sky onto the cracks. Trees were ripped from the ground as the wind began to blow with the ferocity of a massive beast.

 

The Biomancer was torn from his thinking when his whole dungeon shook. His vision darted to the entrance, scanning for any problems. He saw the puddles of rainwater turned to steam as lava bubbled from small cracks in the earth, which then turned to black stone as the acid rain quenched it. Above the valley, the wind tore at anything it could, ripping trees from the earth and flinging rocks around like a child with toys. Further out from the edge of the valley, nothing but steam appeared, cloaking the chaos. The sky above darkened, and lightning struck down, blowing holes into the rocky ground as boiling water shot up into the sky, only to be carried away into the wind.

 

"What's happening outside!?" exclaimed the dungeon, surprise, and fear evident in his usually even voice.

 

Unfazed by his change of demeanor, Starlid responded, not stopping feeding the snail some of the moss, "Do you mean the shaking? Probably an earthquake. It's fine, though. The stone of the dungeon is resilient enough to withstand even the worst of it."

 

"It's not an earthquake! The weather is going crazy! The ground is cracking, lightning is striking, lava is pouring from the ground, acid is raining from the sky! Is crazy out there! Look outside and see for yourself!" spouted Corvis as he quickly projected the image of the outside world before the elemental.

 

Starlid scanned the screen for several minutes, its eyes slowly brightening as it watched. "It looks like a mana confluence. All mana around the dungeon is battling each other as they collide from the star mana, pushing it out. When the star mana takes its place, the mana is pushed together. When pushed together like this, it clashes and causes disasters like this. Don't worry, though; the star mana will protect the immediate area and us." responded the elemental.

 

"Okay… How long will it last?" asked the core.

 

"Well, with how violent it is… I would say about three days, give or take a few hours", said Starlid.

 

"Are you sure we're safe? It is very violent out there."

 

"Of course. We're completely safe!" responded Starlid in a chipper voice.

 

The pair continued to watch the disaster just outside the crater valley. After a few hours of watching the destruction, Corvis spoke up.

 

"I thought mana could coexist." stated the dungeon

 

"It normally does, but it was pushed together so fast that it started battling instead of a peaceful fusion or diffusion."

 

After a few more minutes, Corvis asked Starlid another question.

 

"So this chaos will last for three days?" asked the core sadly.

 

"Yes, unless something else were to intervene, the storm will continue until the mana has either been used up or found balance. Typically, the process is much more peaceful. Of course, you produced a lot of star mana, and it displaced a lot of mana in the area around the dungeon. After it collided, it started a chain reaction with what I assume is most of the Starspring. "

 

"Why would it spread to the whole spring?"

 

"The star mana throughout the spring has probably been gaining strength and displacing some mana as well. Nowhere near the amount that was here, but when the storm started, it started a mana confluence, so all the mana clashed. With mana being displaced throughout the spring when the storm near us started, it was pulled together by force. That's why it'll be done in only three days. The more violent the reaction, the shorter the reactions", said Starlid matter-of-factly.

 

After their conversation, Starlid laid down on a mossy bed, and Corvis continued to watch the chaos outside warily. Hours passed as the Starspring was hammered with different forces of nature. Corvis hoped that the creatures of the spring had somehow hide from the storm. His mood darkened when he realized he had caused the disaster, even though it was inadvertently. The only redeeming part was that there were no villages in the spring, and the closet was far enough away to avoid the storm.

 

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt his mana pool fill completely. My mana pool is full. I think it's time to make my first special monster. I just hope something is left for it to explore when the storm is done

 

"Starlid, I'm ready to make the snail into a special creature."

 

"Perfect! I'll guide you through the process! First, slowly push the desired amount of mana into the creature".

 

Slowly, Corvis began to push some mana into the snail. Slowly, ever so slowly, the creature started to change. It's body began to be covered by a starry black miasma before it began to solidify, appearing to look like a cocoon.

 

"Let me tell you that something important before you name it. Names have significance, and because of that, dungeons usually give the creature a title that will shape its future development.

Hmm. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, ideas zooming through the core's mind. "I think I have the perfect name to test its limits."

 

With a mental command, Corvis bestowed a name into the creature. He felt something in his core, letting him know that a link was being formed. Finding the branch budding from his matrix, he strengthened it. As this happened, he felt a minuscule drain from his nearly empty mana pool.

 

Once finished, the mana cocoon slowly began to shrink, seemingly being absorbed by the creature. When the cocoon was gone, a slightly larger snail sat in its place. Other than the size, the snail was also another color. Its skin was black as the night, with small glowing dots of various colors dotting its skin. The most notable feature or lack-there-of was the shell, which had no hint of the crystals that once grew from it. Instead, it had a metallic sheen to it. The most striking thing, though, was the moss growing from the shell. The dark metallic shell had slightly glowing blue moss growing in patches on his shell, with the whole top being covered in a thick layer of moss.

 

The snail's eyes wandered around the room, looking at everything before finally settling on the core. The snail's eyes drifted below the core to the moss below. For several minutes the snail stared at the moss.

"What's it doing?" asked Corvis.

 

"I'm… not sure", responded Starlid.

 

Suddenly the moss began to move. It slowly began to pull itself into a pile beneath the core until it reached it and covered it. Corvis could feel moss tighten around his core, layer after layer coming and thickening the moss barrier.

 

"What… was that?" asked Corvis after a few seconds of shock.

 

"I'm not sure. It seems to have evolved some plant manipulation power. It seems to have covered you with moss to protect or hide you. It seems smart. Much smarter than it should be. How much mana did you use?" responded Starlid in surprise and curiosity.

 

"Most of my mana. I don't have much left."

 

"Well, what a welcome surprise. Intelligence is one of the hardest things to evolve most of the time. Especially for creatures like this."

 

"Oh, be reassured, I was surprised myself, to be quite honest." responded a third voice in both Starlid and Corvis's minds.

 

"What?!" Exclaimed both at the same time, looking towards the only other creature in the room.

 

"I was simply saying that my new capabilities surprised even me. Thank you for the gift of the self creator." sent the snail into the other two's minds before lowering his raised upper body in something akin to a bow.

 

"How… how did this happen?" asked Corvis in bewilderment.

 

"What did you name it?" asked Starlid in the same set of bewilderment.

 

"I named him Squib the scholar." he paused "I didn't realize a name could make a simple animal as smart as a person. Interesting!" said Corvis.

 

After several moments of silence, Starlid responded, "It should't have made him that intelligent." he paused again. "Well, unless the name has a lot of significance to you. Did it?"

After a few moments of thought, Corvis responded, "I had a pet snail named Squib. Maybe it was that?"

 

"How long did you have the pet?"

 

"Until the day I died. As is common knowledge, Korvax snails are extremely long-lived, so I had him for my whole lie. He helped me in many an experiment." said Corvis, thinking back to his past life.

"Hmm. Maybe it had to do with the emotional significance mixed with the 'title' you gave him." responded Starlid in interest.

 

"Well then, Squib, it's nice to meet you. I'm Corvis, your creator."

 

"My name is Starlid, his elemental guide."

 

"Well then, It's nice to meet you, gentlemen. I hope we can get along, and more importantly, learn from each other!" said Squib in a chipper tone.