As before, my consciousness fades away before it's drawn from my body. The dizzying experience of having one's soul sent spinning down the plug-hole isn't one that I missed, but I'm starting to get used to it.
What does that say about my life?
Eventually, everything falls still and I float, formless in the void. I suppose that means I've arrived?
[Indeed. I am interested to see that you have survived yet again.]
Wow. Way to damn me with faint praise. You sound surprised that I survived. I've been kicking backside in the Dungeon! I'm taking names up there!
[You continue to surprise me with how well you have adapted,] Gandalf muses. [If all of your fellow introduced souls performed as well as you, progress would be much more swift.]
Progress? Progress to what?
[I don't believe that is any of your business.] The voice is faintly amused, happy to continue dangling his secrets beyond my grasp.
Fine. Keep your damned secrets to yourself then. I've got other things I want to complain about.
[You want to complain?] Gandalf sounds almost surprised, as if nobody had ever done so before.
Of course I do! Diamond Centipedes? I mean… really. DIAMOND CENTIPEDES! Why don't you just spit in my face, huh? Why not just show up and poke me straight in the eyes? It'd hurt less!
[I believe I've explained to you that I am not in direct control of such things. The centipede species has been performing well in the Dungeon and so they are being propagated. Success breeds success.]
Performing well? My family has stomped them into the ground every time we see them! Obviously, ants are the superior insect. Something must be direly wrong with the Dungeon if it keeps spitting out those clawed idiots.
[The working will take care of itself, there are no mistakes. The System does not play favourites.]
Could have fooled me….
[I am more interested in discussing your new evolution. You decided to forgo the Larval Deity evolution? An interesting decision.]
I can't really shrug as a bodiless soul-thing, but I make an attempt.
It wasn't really my vibe.
[An evolution like that would surely have been picked up by the powerful Dungeon Seers located around the globe. I doubt you would have survived to reach tier eight.]
… There's also that, I suppose. Yikes.
[I am pleased you continued down the Path of the Paragon to its conclusion. Though I didn't expect you to choose the Altar of Self. You have been rather selfless in your actions, generally speaking, to this point.]
I was pretty tempted by the Altar of Many. I can admit that. Perhaps this is a little un-ant of me, but I want to step forward to protect my family from the things out there that want to harm them. The best way for me to do that is to become strong enough to fight off all challengers.
Especially the Ancients. Can you believe those bums stuck this stupid Call in me? It's a literal pain in the backside.
[It's almost irritating how stubborn they are,] the voice of Gandalf muses, [I ceased taking pleasure in their futile struggles millennia ago. Yet still they persist.]
Struggles? Against what?
[Fate, I suppose you might say.]
Care to… elaborate on that?
You really are a stick in the mud. Are you going to let anything slip? It's not like I get a lot of opportunities to come down and speak to you. In fact, I'm probably running out of chances to engage in this conversation. Pretty soon, I expect I'll run into the wall and won't evolve much anymore. One or two more times, probably, three tops. After that, you'll be forever denied the pleasure of my company.
[You know, I may actually miss that. Observing your journey and engaging in these conversations has been a highlight of the recent cycle.]
There. You just throw out words like 'cycle' and I have no idea what that refers to.
[I suppose that is no great secret. The Dungeon operates in a cyclical manner, mana surging, new monsters emerging, fighting to see which are the best, then receding and slowing before starting again.]
So then I assume we are currently in a surging part of the cycle?
[Correct. Mana levels are rising and will continue to do so. New species will be injected into the Dungeon and refined. You may even see more ants start to pop up, considering your own success.]
Good! Ants are the superior insect after all…. Except that ants are often each other's worst enemy. Wars between ant colonies are horrific, bloody conflicts with death and destruction on both sides. Some ants' primary food source is other ants!
Eh, we annihilated the termites. If some fancy ants want to challenge my family, they'll be put right back in their place.
[I'm sure there will be no shortage of challenges in the coming months and years,] chuckles Gandalf. [Turbulent times are coming for all who live on this world. The only way to be truly safe is to rise above it all so that none can challenge you.]
That's what everyone says. Is the endless pursuit of greater power really the only thing that anyone is interested in on this planet!?
[Are you not interested in it?]
Only because I need it to protect what I love from idiots who seem determined to be dumb at all turns! Why can't people just chill out?
[Will the Colony allow them that freedom? Or will they too seek to push until others begin to push back?]
I see what you did there. My family is different. We haven't started a war of aggression, not even once.
[That is true. So far. Now, our time together has come to a close, I believe. Try to stay alive, and I will see you again. Who knows, I may even share a secret with you if you make it back.]
Somehow, I doubt it….