[Short Story] Lake Placement Error

{

Increasing World Energy Stagnation Detected

Triangulating Source...

New Sapient Civilization with active [Fertility] Deity detected

Analyzing Tech Level...

TL2 (S-Factor: 8)

Analyzing Arcane Level...

AL3 (S-Factor: 14)

Analyzing Faith Level...

FL3 (S-Factor: 5)

...

Anomaly detected!

Faith levels too low for [Fertility] deity to be the primary cause of population growth

Commencing deeper analysis of Faith...

• [Fertility] FL3

• [Medical] FL4

• [War] FL1

• [Sun] FL4

• [Moon] FL3

• [Magic] FL3

• [Change] FL3

• [Evil] FL3

Pantheon within standard deviation of normal

Commencing deeper analysis of Magic...

• [Abjuration] ML3

• [Conjuration] ML3

• [Divination] ML2

• [Enchantment] ML3

• [Evocation] ML2

• [Illusion] ML4

• [Necromancy] ML1

• [Transmutation] ML3

Schools of magic within expected ranges. Cross-referencing with deities reveals no exceptional forms of magical healing beyond normal.

Commencing deeper analysis of Tech...

• [Transportation] TL2

• [Construction] TL2

• [Energy] TL2

• [Medical] TL5!

<Break>

Anomaly detected!

Medical Tech level above expected. Analyzing...

Spark Remnants detected

Out-of-Place Medical Knowledge spread despite [Spark Resistance] being at normal levels. Commencing deeper analysis...

Analysis shows the remnants are from peak level Tech Spark. Advanced medical knowledge exists as only the most minor of teachings. Original population sources from Tech-based artificial generation of citizens. Population mostly made of a new variant of the catkin (humanoid). Bloodline stabilized at AL3 after falling from AL7, though a number of the original AL7 carriers persist.

Searching for Spark...

Peak Tech Spark not detected within the borders of the country

…Borders of the continent 

…Borders of the world

…Borders of the solar system

Peak Tech Spark detected within the borders of the galaxy. Location deemed to be at a high enough TL for sparks presence to not be a destabilizing factor.

Determination: Disturbance to locale already removed. Increased generation of sapients is likely to slow down.

Fix: New Dungeon near the center of the civilization 

Analyzing civilization for Core placement...

Error

Error 

Error

Settlements too close together

Attempting to place Core...

Error

Attempting to place Core…

Error

Adjust placement criteria...

Allowing spawns in harder to reach places...

Attempting to place Core...

Water placement available!

Settlement too close!

Override 

Placing Core...

}

“Hey dad, what’s that!” A young girl stands up from the sandcastle she was building and points towards the center of the artificial lake.

Her dad yawns and stretches. His one ear flicks away a gnat and he looks out over the water. “Huh, looks like the system is doing something?

“That’s odd. Normally it doesn’t place things so close to a settlement and we’re like, at the center of so many closely packed settlements! The Youthful Doctor made sure we would be safe from such stuff.”

The young girl’s tail wags as she hops about, “Maybe it’s spawning in an ice cream float!”

The father chuckles, “That’s not what an ice cream float is. You don’t literally float ice cream out on water. You float it in cola.”

The girl makes a face, her whiskers practical curling in disgust. “Blah, I Hate cola! Who’d ruin ice cream like that?”

The man shakes his head, “Well, some of us like the stuff.

“Now, it looks like the system is almost done. Come, stand behind me for a moment.” The catkin stands up and stretches. His broad shoulders, with a few bits of marred fur covering scars from his time as an adventurer inspire confidence in his daughter. Nevermind most of the marks are actually from training and not fighting monsters.

Off in the distance, the odd disturbances caused by the system begin to ramp up until the area at the center of the artificial lake can no longer be seen.

While this happens, the guards and a bunch of adventurers show up, pushing the two, as well as everyone else, away from the water.

Then without any notice, the disturbance vanishes.

Time almost seems to freeze as everyone stays still, waiting.

All that can be heard is the quiet lapping of waves on the shore.

They wait for what seems like forever, when suddenly a wave pulses past everyone. The guards and many of the adventurers are confused. However, a handful of said adventurers have a look of recognition on their faces.

“Was. That the pulse of a new dungeon opening?”

No one is certain who asked the question, but now that it was out there, those who had felt such a thing before all recognized the phenomenon. Even if it shouldn’t be possible.

Suffice it to say, for such an improbable event to happen, the bureaucracy meant nothing much happened for a good bit. Well, besides closing down the beaches. That went into effect right away.

All the while, out in the middle of the lake, a newborn dungeon core finds itself sunk into the muck. Which isn’t exactly conducive to creating a dungeon. That’s fine though, the core isn’t exactly thinking and so quickly stumbles through the prompts.

In particular, because of the location, it ends up with the “Freshwater Sunken Shipwreck” type. Which results in the core instantly throwing up an overturned hollow tugboat around itself as a core “room” and spawns in some catfish for defense.

One catfish moves to leave the room, but instantly comes apart, like a soap bubble popping.

That means only one thing!

More wrecks!

The core slams down a schooner and then a houseboat, one right after another in a line. In these, the core places its first actual monster; the catfish being a pattern it gained from an actual catfish that got caught in the core’s creation.

Floating in the middle of each wreck is a one and a half meter long sturgeon-like fish. Except the spine is curved and there are oddly humanoid arms and legs such that it could probably walk around on land, if with difficulty.

More fish!

The core, unsatisfied with how empty the rooms are, places some trout. Another species that was swimming around. And following that is a bunch of koi. Well, they’re carp, except the dungeon ended up spawning the more colorful sorts.

Then more wrecks, more fish, more monsters. The core runs itself dry spawning stuff over and over. It feels nearby people and can’t help but go into overdrive.

All the while back on the shore, people argue. Politicians make a mess of the situation while the adventurers sit back and wait for the go-ahead. That or for the dungeon to stop actively growing.

It isn’t often you get to see a dungeon growing. To see the new rooms expand out from the old, taking control of the space.

All of which takes time, but since nothing is actively attacking, there seems to be nothing but. However, there is soon a problem. The lake is full.

It was never a big lake to begin with. While no one would call it a pond, calling it a lake was more because they didn’t have another word for something in-between the two. So with that, the expansion stopped and the first floor was completed.

At which point, the adventurers ignored the officials telling them to wait and a team quaffed down some potions of water breathing. With that, the officials get out of their way as the team chosen to check things out first walks towards the water without any intent to stop.

In the group there is only a single catkin. They generally prefer to avoid getting wet. And the rest are humans. It’s a bit odd to see other species this far into the civilization, but humans are the most common sort of outsider so the party makeup is otherwise normal enough.

Though as the group explores the dungeon, the system realizes a mistake. The world it was placed on is one of those types that is mostly ocean. And within the oceans, there are a few aquatic enlightened. So when the dungeon core was placed in the lake, it defaulted to being aquatic-focused!

The first floor is already made and so that can’t be changed. However, the system is able to prod the core and cause it to dig down in preparation for the second floor. Except what was down, wasn’t normal.

In fact, there were the ruins of a temple underneath the lake. Now, this temple was a known quantity. It was once set up to some ancient deity of water and when whatever civilization spawned it fell; the deity collapsed the small island it had stood on. A common enough story. No reason to waste faith on upkeep for an unused temple and so a minor miracle to destroy said temple was worth it in the long run.

However, it was this water temple that allowed the system to sneak something in. The system, what with free will and all, couldn’t force this. Part and parcel with having a soul and whatnot. Anyway, the system was allowed to poke at the dungeon and thankfully; it ended up picking an option that gave a second dungeon type. Which, in this case ended up being “water temple”. 

This change provided the dungeon with exactly what it needed to expand into the ground beneath the lake. While shipwrecks work fine in the water. Under the muck requires a bit more reinforcement than the dungeon is currently thinking about.

On the other hand, sturdy temple stone is more than suited for holding up that weight. And even better from the systems perspective, this new dungeon type includes air-filled rooms!

Of course, not even the system knows why the newborn dungeon decides to use said rooms. However, the rooms aren’t free of water, and when combined with some thematic traps? That means even without monsters. At least for the moment. Things won’t be easy for delvers.

And speaking of delvers, the local guild isn’t too happy with how the dungeon has expanded over the last week. Well, they aren’t happy it exists at all, but the general populace are actually ecstatic as it means cheaper fish at the market.

They had always gotten some amount of fish out of the lake. After all, that was where the original fish the dungeon had grabbed, came from. Still, when depending on nature to restock the lake, there was a limit on how many you could take.

With a dungeon? Well, that’s not a problem anymore. Even better, the sturgeon-like monsters share another thing with the ancient fish. Caviar! And this was ethical caviar since it isn’t even in the monsters, but rather only comes from drops.

Admittedly, not everyone is the biggest fan of the stuff, but it sells super well in the human kingdom next door. Which was fine. The fish fillets that dropped couldn’t exactly be shipped far and the catkin are more than happy with that! Though a little sad that it is fresh water and so missing some of the more premium fish. The rare tuna that makes it to these lands is quite prized.

Still, fish are fish and so the various catkin adventurers get over their dislike of water to help plunder even more of the favored food. Team after team enters and clears the first floor, before retracing their steps and leaving. Many of them lament the fact that there isn’t some sort of shortcut yet to leave directly .

And with all this delving activity, the dungeon itself is able to grow at a decent clip, and soon enough, the temple section becomes popular as well. Despite much less fish as loot, the temple theming means that coins, gold, and jewelry are all quite common. Making the subsequent floors a literal gold mine.

Though the good loot was balanced against how annoying the floors were. Maybe if it was either wet or dry, they wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it. After all, once you’re in the water, things are fine. And of course, out of the water is also good if you get a chance to dry off. Too bad the dungeon switches between water and air by the room and even within a room, traps can alter the water level. So suffice it to say, that involves a lot of damp cats being less than enthused about their time down there.

Still, in the end, the system’s goals are met. This new dungeon, despite being a good bit too close to a settlement, has grown and prevented further stagnation of the world energy.