Darkness. That's all I could "see" after I died. Looking back, it was a really stupid way to die. All I wanted to do was play some Mount & Blade: Bannerlord, conquer the world, and have some coffee while I grind. But of course, it was my fear of spiders that ultimately killed me. It dangled right in my face as I was in a battle, scared, I started flailing my arms, knocking my full cup of coffee over. I wasn't even able to drink half of it. It spilled all over my desk, and that was enough for a spark or something to catch. All I felt was pain before I ended up here.
I'm not sure how long I spent in this darkness. All I felt was a vague warmth all over my body, which is weird, you'd think you wouldn't be able to feel anything when you die. Even more oddly is that I still have a consciousness.
I continued to float, thinking back to all the anime I've watched, trying to keep myself entertained. My thoughts wandered to the game I was playing when I died. Maybe if I was lucky enough, I'd be reborn. Then I could actually fulfill some of those fantasies I had, world domination, war, harems, wealth. The thought of it sent a surge of excitement through me. Fantasies are obviously different from reality, but the thought of two large armies clashing, mine utterly dominating the opposition, it does something to me.
I continued to think about all of these things for an undetermined amount of time. I would feel flashes of warmth, "something" would drain out of me and then later I would feel that "something" come back to me. During this time, I felt that warmth grow. When I first gained consciousness, it was a dull warmth, I could barely feel it. But after some time had passed, it became something very tangible I could feel.
Then, a thought occurred to me. What if I just tried opening my eyes? I'm obviously not dead, I can still feel and think. If I'm a soul, maybe it's like opening my mind's eye, or a spiritual sense.
So, I tried it. I cleared my mind and tried to "expand" it. I tried opening my eyes, metaphorically. I continued to strain, trying to push my mind outwards. Then it broke. The warmth that was all around me rapidly expanded outwards. Instantly, I became aware of where I was at. I could see wherever the warmth engulfed, meaning I could see that I was now in a large stone room. Since I basically had a 360 view of my surroundings, that also meant I could also see myself. I was a crystal ball.
I was a bit lost for words, my dream of reincarnating into another world as a warmongering king turned into reincarnating into another world as a crystal ball. Maybe I can tell the future? All is not lost though. I'm obviously something unique if I'm able to see my surroundings as a stone. I also have a suspicion this warmth I feel isn't just the temperature of this cave.
As I continued to think, my vision turned to focus on two things. One, a gigantic flying rat, and a slightly smaller bat. They were engaged in a fight with the bat flying circles around the rat. While the rat could fly, it seems its larger body made it a bit less agile than the giant bat. The bat was whittling down its opponent by making quick attacks and dodging fast before the rat could hit it. Eventually, the rat lost too much blood and collapsed.
A couple of seconds later, something changed. I started to feel that same warmth I felt earlier transferring from the rat to me. I could feel my sense of being grow. For some reason, I also felt that I could produce the rat somehow. Like its essence had been copied by me, allowing me to recreate it.
This discovery was exciting. Following this logic, I could absorb the essence of whatever died in my vicinity and recreate it using this energy inside of me, which I'm assuming is mana. It's kind of like what a dungeon core could do…
Hm. Yeah, it looks like I'm a dungeon.
What's odd is that I had felt this earlier from when I couldn't see. The energy flowing in and out of me. But for some reason, I only have the ability to produce the rat, for now. Is it because I wasn't fully awakened? I'm not sure why, but I don't think now is the time to think about it.
The bat from before is still alive, and I don't have its essence. If I want to become powerful, I need to gather a diverse range of monsters to build a successful dungeon. For that, the bat needs to die.
Thinking from before, the bat was able to beat the flying rat during one vs one combat, but how would it fare against multiple? Let's test it out. Comparing the amount of mana I gained from the rat to the amount I had before, I could probably summon 6 rats before I'm totally empty. It seems consuming the rat not only gave me its blueprint, but also its mana.
To be safe, I produced 5 out of the 6 rats. One by one they started to form. Starting with a magic crystal forming from the mana I was providing, then the flesh surrounding the crystal. For now, I could only produce one at a time. While I have some sort of innate instinct, I think I need to practice before I can do multiple at a time.
A couple of moments passed and I finally had all 5 rats lined up in front of me. The bat had already noticed the rats and started to fly towards them. The flying rats didn't need any command. They flew towards the bat as well. Unfortunately, the bat's strength in speed was of no use in this fight. The flying rats unleashed an onslaught of bites and slashes. Every time the bat would try to dodge, there was a rat there to attack.
The bat died very quickly. As the rats feasted on the body, the bat's essence flowed to me. Now, I have the flying rat and the cave bat in my arsenal of weapons to use in my dungeon.
During the battle, I recognized another ability I had. It seems I can passively gather the mana in the air to fill my reserves. By the time the fight was finished, I had already regenerated 2 manas worth of flying rats. Judging by my capacity, it also looks like I've increased my capacity to being able to summon 7 flying rats before I ran out of mana.
From the time I've woken up to now, I've gotten an idea about my abilities so far, and it's exciting to say the least. One, I'm able to reproduce monsters I've killed in my vicinity. Two, with every monster I kill, I also gain a permanent increase in my mana capacity. Three, I can passively absorb the mana in the air to replenish my reserves.
Yes, it seems my power fantasy is off to a great start.
The only thing I'm concerned about now is the size of my dungeon. While the stone cave is large, it's only one floor. That means I am very exposed to anything that may come from the entrance, which is not far from where I am currently.
I need to find a way to expand my dungeon.