Dungeon: Scarlet Brimstone has risen to level 4. Perk point acquired. Maximum evolution reached.

  My last thoughts before evolution were ones of sadness at my single zombie's death before the blackout.

  Begin Evolution Selection.

  as usual, the trio of options swam across my vision, green screen in an otherwise dark mass of nothing

  The source row was new. I guess now that the system had something to work off, it was telling me which of my choices granted these options?

  Zombie room looked gross. I didn't want to rely on these monsters any more than I had to. Gauntlet and forge looked cool, and I would have had a hard time choosing from them until I saw the final branch.

  Who gives a damn how every solitary protagonist and their sister had this, Cliches were cliche for a reason. And many such rationalizations gunning it for raw power. I had monsters to drain, humans to make deals with, and so many delicious options. It didn't grant me a perk, but the other bonuses were far too great to pass up

  Something in the fourth option cracked and shattered, shards stabbing themselves into my very being. I screamed; world scraping, grinding, crunching itself into place.

  And weakly, dizzily, I looked around.

  My walls converted from cobblestone to smoother, more refined stone. I felt a jump in size again, counting my edges with Selection. 7x7 ceiling, 7x5 walls, 1x1x1 self-

  Wait what?

  I focused my observation on myself from above, full picture visible. I was no longer a eight-sided glass dice, not to the naked eye. The construct registering as me was instead a stone basin, with a polished silver bowl and four crimson struts. The floor was sloped upwards, alternating between this grey brick and a newer one I couldn't identify until it reached this basin. In the four corners of the ceiling, glowstone shone downwards, illuminating my slope. I could feel a comforting warmth from them, the first time I had felt either since my shower as a human, and knew right away I was supposed to protect these things.

  And so, I summoned up by status window.

  It had grown more than I had! My old skills, blocks, and summons remained, interwoven with my new ones for a prospect that oozed evil. Literally in the case of that dark slime. I always thought slimes were cute, and slime girls even more so-

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  But that wasn't why i was here. I had two runes and a perk to choose from,

  So many good choices! Unlike the trap-bearing options from before, i could see myself working with all of these. I guessed it was because I had made enough choices so that the perk generator actually knew what I wanted, or failing that it was a string of lucky options. Weirdly, nothing even mentioned runes. Time to look at those...

  And... wow. No mana generation rune, but these were a wide selection. Effect runes looked like they solely benefitted spellcasters, but any dungeon could enjoy support runes. Did I even have spells?

  I looked over my status window again. "Cantrips" was a term i knew all too well as a kind of spell, and I had three. Place block couldn't do damage, and dark deal was far from an attack, but my eyes fell on one.

  Drain blood. It already synergized well with runes of thirst, even more so if I found a way to deal more damage with magic. I was barely using my capacity and was limited in rate by mana, not speed.

  Range it was. Followed by Thirst.

  The perk choice was more difficult. I already had a strategy forming of increasing my range as far as possible and sniping much as possible with blood drain. I wanted to do something for my monsters, protect them so they could protect me.

  Since when did I care this much?

  Blood Magic and Desperate Draw were right out. They helped me in ways that were, albeit useful, boring. Spreading curse and Enchanted gift were made what I was already doing better, but Arcane Tutor and Serrated Gear were the real game-changers. More magic meant more options, and I was a big fan of all my monsters having a way to drain blood.

  I thought back to my original zombie. it could cast a shadowbolt, but didn't drain any mana away from me in the process. It's status screen even displayed 3 mana, before it walked out of my range of vision. Would monsters only regain their own mana if they had blood dra-

  Wait a second

  What was drained was blood. And the only one who could convert it was me.

  My will submerged Arcane Tutor, glowing on it until it burst into a swarm of butterflies that flew towards my basin and melted within, raw knowledge filling my mind.

  Spell acquired: Poison Spray

  Spell acquired: Tremor Stomp

  Spell acquired: Corrosive shot

  Poison spray looked like a basic attack, and corrosive shot a more advanced one. Tremor stomp made me question how I could as I was short on legs, until I thrust my will at the ground on one of the sides of my realm.

  I'd blink if i could at the impact. It felt like a heavy invisi-bowling ball fell on that corner, every square inch of that corner of my perception field shaking.

  "Note to self, do not do that indoors." I commented, waiting for my headache to fall

  And as I did, my mana rose. I felt better about this whole thing, no longer lacking toys to play with.

  Skill: patience has risen to level 3. Bonus mana regeneration applied.

  I greedily checked my status again, seeing the uptick in skill- and more importantly, in mana gain. It had shot from 40 to 50 per hour, meaning almost a mana per minute. And I was determined to push it even higher.

  I broke a stone brick in the back corner of my wall, willing part of myself into the hole it left behind. An older, more vital part.

  The mossy cobblestone was working exactly as intended. Three more blocks got replaced with moss stone in a straight line, before I felt hostility. My systems locked up, and I knew this only meant one thing.

  An Invader

  My Status window: