Down in the Dungeon, Doyle is distracted from watching how things are developing in the town by a long-awaited development of his own. The bear on floor 21 was finally evolving!
Doyle first noticed something was up when the energy on the floor got churned up. Which, given his core was also on the floor, wasn’t something he could have ignored, even if he wanted to. Ally was the same, popping out of her apartment moments later to watch the show.
The ceiling had fallen on the bear only moments before, rocks still covering the floor and piled on top of the monster itself. A normal enough scene, except they aren’t resetting. Without delvers in the floor, a trap like that should already have the stones returning to the ceiling.
Not that the trap could constantly rise and fall without pause. There was a cooldown before it could be triggered again. It is simply that the cooldown happens once the trap has reset and not while it is still fallen.
Ally floats over next to Doyle, ‘Hmm, I think it will be absorbing those stones as part of its evolution.’
Doyle, ‘Well it is definitely absorbing something. Though mostly energy at the moment.’
Ally gestures at the screen, pulling out a few extra screens that are close-ups from the scene. ‘It is hard to see, but the smallest pieces of stone are shaking. Good chances this is one of those evolutions that draw heavily upon the environment to happen. Or well, it does when going directly to it.’
On the screen, the bear begins to roar. It isn’t from pain, but that’s about all they can tell.
Ally, ‘Oh, maybe instead of environmental, it’s actually emotional? Those kinds of evolutions can have oddly heavy effects on the environment around them.’
Doyle, ‘Back up second. What do you mean about “when going directly to it”?’
Ally shrugs, ‘Well, for a regular beast to turn directly into something that is at least partly not made of actual flesh requires a lot of energy.
‘Energy which most beasts won’t bother waiting for. So they’ll evolve into something else first. The shortcut around that is to be in the right environment and absorb the right elements.
‘So if that bear is evolving into a more elemental monster, but it didn’t have all that loose stone to work with? It would likely instead evolve into either a monster with stone magic or maybe has some surface-level stone plates scattered across its body.
‘Then as long as it stayed in that evolutionary path? Each subsequent evolution would have the stone cover more, replace more. Admittedly, most of the time this doesn’t happen to a single monster. Rather, over time you get a breeding population of the stone plate monster, and from there if they’re lucky, a breeding pair will eventually evolve into the next step. And repeat!’
Doyle, ‘So if it starts absorbing the stone, we’re looking at something like the wooden goat instead of the grassen goat?’
Ally frowns, ‘Sort of? I mean, yes for the wooden goat comparison. The grassen goat, however, is not a good example of the other. They aren’t goats that evolved to have plants growing from them. Grassen goats are a fusion of two monsters into one, kept at a precise balance.
‘It can’t evolve to have more or less grass. Doing so would either result in a regular goat as the grass loses and can’t stay planted. Or you end up with a carnivorous plant that has fully consumed the goat. If you want a goat made of vines or with just a flower on its back, you’ll have to evolve those separately. Which wou–
‘–Oh, hey! Some of the gravel is rising up into the air!’ Her sub-screens that had been zoomed in on the gravel are showing exactly that.
Though saying the gravel is “rising up into the air” makes you think of something more extreme than is going on. The smaller bits of gravel are simply raised off the floor. You could fit a piece of paper under them, but most wouldn’t notice.
Doyle, ‘Is this taking long or what?’
Ally, ‘There is no standard time for this sort of thing. Not even among similar evolutions. Though monsters out in the wild do tend to evolve quickly. That is simply more of a survival thing.’
Doyle, ‘Does the time taken mean anything?’
Ally nods, ‘Yes, though also no. How long an evolution is supposed to take won’t make the resulting monster stronger or weaker. That is simply how long it takes.
‘However! Those monsters in the wild that evolve quickly? That isn’t always how long they were supposed to take. And while evolving in an instant or taking days doesn’t mean anything, being forced to take less time than was intended? That will weaken the resulting monster. Even to the point of them turning into a lesser form of their intended evolution.
‘Sometimes as a literal “lesser” something or other. Though it can also simply be that instead of a bear mostly covered in stone plates, you get a bear lightly covered in them.’
They both quiet down as on the screen, more rocks begin to lift up with the previously floating gravel now actually rising into the air properly. And this doesn’t stop. All of the stone within a few meters of the bear begins to float based on size with the smallest reaching about a meter above the bear’s head.
During this, the bear has been roaring its head off, but now it returns to silence. Though it does yip as it begins to float as well. Which was odd to Doyle as he didn’t think bears could yip. Maybe they can’t and it was just this bear being weird?
Anyway, the bear doesn’t take as long to rise about half a meter up, right at the midpoint of all the floating rocks. And as if that was some kind of signal, all the rocks moved directly towards the bear. Not quickly, in fact, Doyle would classify the speed as quite slow. However, it had a sense of inevitability. That while the stones might take a while, they Would reach their goal.
Except somehow, despite the stones all moving the same speed, the small gravel all manages to reach the bear first, coating it. Then, by size, the rest of it arrives, layer after layer building up around the bear like a rocky cocoon.
Ally and Doyle keep watching, but it seems this is the end of the show. Though one other thing is noticed.
Doyle, ‘I can’t see inside of the rocks?’
Ally, ‘People normally can’t. What do you mean by that specifically?’
Doyle tilts to the side, ‘Well, obviously I can’t do this with delvers or outside of the dungeon. But if I focus on things, I can get an image of what they look like inside. I normally don’t because I see monster guts enough already when delvers kill them. Why would I want to see their living guts?’
Ally, ‘Oh, didn’t know you could see that much. Uh, you can’t do the same with me, right?’
Doyle shakes his core rapidly, ‘No I can’t. Err. I don’t know, actually. Rather, I’ve never tried. That isn’t polite.’
Ally smiles, ‘But you did try it with the delvers?’
Doyle, ‘Ah, hmm. You’re right. That isn’t different. I guess I just felt better doing it because I don’t really know them like I do you? But I can safely assume it isn’t possible.
‘The cut-off for what I can and can’t see inside of seems to be related to having a soul. If you do, I can’t see inside of you or through stuff you conceptually accept as a part of you.’
Ally, ‘Conceptually?’
Doyle, ‘That is how I think of it? A good example of this is swords and backpacks. Many people use them as just tools and I can peek at the inner structure of the sword or take a look at what a delver has in his pack. However, “true swordsmen” who see the weapon as a part of them or less extreme, porters who gave a deeper connection to their packs as equipment can block my sight.’
Ally nods, ‘Okay, I get why you said it like that. I’m not sure if that is the correct word, though if there is a better one, it escapes me. I wonder if this is a common restriction or in some way unique to you? I haven’t exactly heard of this before.’
Doyle, ‘What do you mean you haven’t heard of it? How would you think a dungeon could see inside closed rooms and such?’
Ally, ‘Well, like with the blue screens I can use? I mean, I guess it is similar, but you can use the blue screens to look inside a rock, let alone the body of a monster. Are you sure it is soul-specific or living creatures in general?’
Doyle, ‘I’m sure. Remember, I have more than a few critters coming in from the second portal.’
Ally, ‘Okay, yeah, that would work. Though it does make this even stranger. I doubt the bear manages to find a soul by evolving. Is there anything else you can’t see inside of?’
Doyle shakes his core, ‘Not that I know of. Or rather, I guess whatever this is? Is the system involved in evolution or is it natural?’
Ally shrugs, ‘They should just be a thing. Whether the system is poking around when they happen? Well, I don’t rightly know the answer to that one. Do you think it is the system hiding things from you?’
Doyle, ‘That would be one way of explaining it. Though for some reason, I kind of doubt it. I’m a dungeon after all. This sort of thing is an important part of my growth.
‘If I had to guess, my inability to see has more to do with some sort of primal mechanic of the universe. That, or the fact that magic is technically foreign to this universe? There is also a possibility that this is a defensive reaction that hides evolutions from nosey types. So yeah, my guess is it could be anything.’
Ally, ‘I doubt we’ll ever know the truth of it. Anyway, the rocks are shaking. Let’s focus on that and find out what we’re getting. Given the stones, I figure we’re fine, but it would suck if the resulting bear was “earthy” enough.’
Doyle sighs, ‘I think that as long as it has anything to do with the “earth” I’m going ahead with things. This has taken too long. Ace and Jim are getting pretty far. I’m kind of surprised that they haven’t reached the boss yet. After all, they’ve gotten to the twentieth floor. I think they might be holding back for their own reasons at this point.’
Ally goes to respond, but the floating rock cocoon really starts to shake.
Dust almost seems to fall from the mass. Except that dust didn’t fall all the way, pulled up from underneath and onto the top of the mass.
Then the two hear a crack. It isn’t the cocoon as a whole cracking, though. Rather, the largest rocks are cracking apart. Quite visibly and are doing so at an accelerating pace.
Those large rocks crack and shatter, dust falls, and soon those large rocks are reduced in size until they match other rocks. And of course, now this next smaller size of rock follows the same process. And on, and on, the rock cocoon is reduced from a mass of rocks to a mass of gravel and finally a lozenge of compressed dust.
That dust compressed further, turning from a single mass of dust to a single mass of stone similar to sandstone. Then the mass continued to compress down until it was barely bigger than the original bear had been.
At this point, Doyle and Ally are on the edge of their metaphorical seats.