Chương 73: Day 108 - Blue

Ow. Just... ow. Having a bunch of high-level people fighting each other in your innards is not pleasant. Nothing had hurt that much since I was a tiny little dungeon and a knight broke one of my walls. Even after I'd fixed the damage it still smarted, though the overlay claimed that I was still at full hitpoints. That was Core HP, though, so maybe there was some hidden stat for my everything else. Or maybe I was just imagining it, something like a phantom limb. That wasn't the only weird thing though.

I was pretty sure I'd run into another instance of dungeon-system-supplied emotions. The moment the moils had gotten into range and been registered by the overlay, I'd gotten angry. Not just mad, but enraged. Completely pissed off. I bet if I'd had my own monsters I'd have sent them out. If I had normal traps I'd have triggered them.

But I didn't have monsters or normal traps, so I retained enough presence of mind to let the moils and foremost goblins, all of which had been given some sort of heat resistance to judge by the Affinities I could see attached to them, into the tunnels to cut them up with pressurized water. The land mines had been shockingly effective for the rest of the army.

Even if actual direct deaths were fairly low, they still made it impossible to escape when I pushed the lava I'd been using for the steam pressure to the surface and set everything on fire. Annoyingly I didn't actually get any experience for the whole fight, since I no longer got anything from killing enemies. Apparently too many people died for the few mercenaries who escaped to trigger [Merciful].

Sure, I still had over a hundred thousand experience banked but at this point that would rank up [Spatial Control] all of one time. So the only benefits I got from the victory were the non-overlay kind. I was pretty happy with the fight overall, though actually watching fourth-tiers in action made me increase my standards for protection yet again. Stonesteel didn't seem to be particularly impressive despite its description.

Sure, nothing normal harmed it but Ansae and Yamal and people like that Ironbound seemed to be able to tear through it like paper. I needed to be able to do something with metal, probably, but I had yet to figure that out. Not like I didn't have enough to do. I'd dusted off the nearly-forgotten boring beetles and sent them off in the direction of Meil. I just needed the tiny tunnels they carved and I could do the rest without much thought.

Making tunnels was tedious, as I'd found out when I was trying to rescue Shayma and Iniri's group. The beetles at least I could set and forget for a while, assuming they didn't need to be recovered once they hit the water table. Which was good because I needed to focus for the other thing I had planned for the day. The audience with Ansae. Even though she was seeking audience with me, it sort of felt like the other way around. After all, she was the one who knew what she was doing. At least it seemed so to me.

Shayma just had basic adventurer-wear and Ansae's stuff was probably worth a kingdom or two. Shayma also wasn't all that keen to meet her again, but Ansae seemed more in control of herself this time. The dragon had requested, rather than demanded, a meeting, which was an encouraging sign. Nevertheless, I kept my metaphorical finger on the core recall. I'd only used it the one time, but that one time had created a hell of a feedback effect between Shayma and I.

She just felt tingly, but I felt awful and it sucked up something around eighteen thousand mana by the time it died down, besides. The effect was worth it though, since it made me feel a lot more confident as Shayma went down to talk to Ansae. She clearly saw Shayma coming well before the door opened, but I figured that would be the case.

If she could somehow see through half a mile of stone to comment on both my disposal of the idiot adventurers and of the army of goblins and moils, she could tell if someone was coming down the hall. By the time Shayma opened the door she was upright in her chair rather than sprawled across it, and I could swear she'd lengthened her horns. Her armor was certainly looking slightly fancier, though it had never looked particularly unkempt despite the days she'd spent waiting around without food or drink or anything.

At her levels, she probably didn't need that kind of thing, though she hadn't been shy about raiding my kitchen the very first time she'd come. Ansae gave Shayma a nod as she arrived, and Shayma nodded back as she sat down. We were both somewhat at a loss for how to open the discussion.

"So, uh, I guess -""I wish to enter negotiations with you," Ansae said, somewhat stiffly.

"What would it take to repair the relations between us?"

"I think an apology would be a good start. To you, Shayma, not to me. I'm not the one who was attacked, after all." Shayma hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

"Blue says that he would like an apology for your behavior toward me."

"Not him?" Ansae's response wasn't as intense as her conversation the first time, only mildly interested rather than ravenous.

"No, he says that I'm the one you attacked, so, me."

"I see. I, Ansae Ziir, do apologize for my unwarranted and violent behavior. I will not lose my control like that in these negotiations, rest assured."

"Thank you," Shayma said, relaxing a fraction. That was suspiciously easy. I figured that someone like Ansae would be super prickly about her dignity and apologizing to lesser mortals or whatever, but she didn't hesitate nor sound like she was forcing the apology out. The extra promise helped, though I did take note that she restricted it to these negotiations. A word choice I actually found encouraging, because if she intended to break her word she wouldn't be so careful.

"So what exactly did she want? I know what I want, but better to find out what she's interested in first."

"Blue wishes to know what you had in mind when you requested the meeting." Ansae laughed.

"Direct. Blue has a way of curing Depletion. I want to be cured."

"Oh. Well. I would, but... her Depletion is so high it'd take seven hundred thousand mana." Shayma, nodding along as I spoke to her, nearly choked on that number.

"Now, if I can figure out a way to reduce that to something more reasonable, or do it piecemeal, I will, but for now I'm just not powerful enough to Purify her. Also make sure she knows it's a breeding option. Don't want to spring that on her later." I let Shayma explain that, watching Ansae's expression. Oddly, what she reacted to most was not that she'd have to climb into a breeding station, but that I knew how much Depletion she had.

"You know both my Depletion and my name. How do you know these things? I have gone to some trouble to protect myself from most forms of divination and appraisal."

"It just shows up for me when you're inside. Name, health, stamina, mana, Depletion. Everything else is hidden though, including level." Looking over the overlay's report, I noticed now that her health and stamina hadn't gone up at all since the first time she'd arrived. Or if it had, it was only by a point or two. Her mana pool seemed to have gone down slightly, no doubt from whatever spells or natural abilities she was fueling to see the goings-on inside my walls.

"... interesting." Ansae regarded Shayma, then glanced around at the walls, seeing more than just the nearest stone faces, no doubt.

"If you're not yet powerful enough to cure me, I can wait. I have been patient enough so far, another century or two won't hurt me." Century?

"Uhh, I hope it'll be sooner than that. I just need some chances to study it. I'm over two-thirds of the way to what I need for Iniri, assuming she's the next one I [Purify]. I could do Annit and Keri now but, uh, I don't think they'd want to. Not sure I want to offer and make things weird." The last was just thinking out loud for Shayma's benefit. I wasn't actually willing to fuck any female that wanted it, despite the reputation dungeons had, especially since for most it would just be to [Purify] them.

Shayma's friends were definitely on the list we'd made of worthwhile or deserving people, should their Depletion rise too high.

"Given that I've gotten this far in three months, there's a good chance I'll be able to do something in the reasonably near future." Ansae had difficulty controlling her expression as Shayma translated into something less rambly.

"You're... three months old?"

"Well, this dungeon is." Clearly I had some existence other than being a dungeon, but I wasn't sure it really counted. It wasn't like it had done much to prepare me for dungeonhood, or all the rules that governed this world. Oh, there were some familiar things in play, like Ansae having a hoard, but for the most part it seemed irrelevant. I hadn't even mentioned it to Shayma, since I figured it'd only confuse matters.

"If you could do all this in three months, that does imply you might be able to expand yourself significantly in just a few years," Ansae agreed after pausing to digest the fact.

"But until then, I should stay. You may have been able to deal with that army but there are more potent threats around, and I am not going to leave my only route to a cure unguarded."

"That's great, actually! I can make you a new, larger lair to live in, and more access to the rest of the dungeon - but I also need information and training. For myself and for Shayma."

"Wait, training for me?" Shayma blinked.

"She's a shapeshifter. I'm hoping she can help you with [Combat Shapeshifting], and maybe general spellcasting? And who knows what else. She's crazy high level, so she has to know all kinds of things."

"Mm…" Shayma nodded reluctantly, relaying the message.

"Training?" Ansae was amused.

"Though I suppose the more able you are, the more likely it is I get what I want. I have to admit that was a nicer place to stay than the cave I dug."

"Don't forget you can come visit upstairs, too," Shayma said.

"I'm sure Queen Iniri would love to meet you!" I wasn't sure about that. In fact, I wasn't sure I was happy that Ansae knew about the human... ish guests, but it was too late at this point. I should probably make it a point to inform everyone in the future and make sure they knew not to fight. I might need to host other factions in the future and it was best to make the rules clear.

"I was also wondering if I could trade for gold. I need it, but I can't find any. I'm pretty sure I have something worth trading." I waited until Shayma had delivered the message before putting one of each of the Primal sources I had on the table. By now the room was fully repaired, which I guess just sort of happened at some point while we were talking, but that was fine. It was annoying having a messy room anyway.

"What are these?" Ansae stared at them, reaching out her hand but stopping short of touching the glowing stones.

"Primal Sources. Um, so, take this stone." I lifted up a stone pillar next to the table, letting Shayma narrate, then compressed it into Stonesteel.

"I did that to Source gems. Given the name I thought you might appreciate them? Or know what's happening with them more than I do, anyway."

"... you can't do that to Source material." Ansae half-complained.

"Mana of the proper Affinity goes through it, everything else just bounces off or damages it. But…" She reached out again, this time scooping up the even dozen stones, six to each hand. Unlike with other people who'd touched the stones, they didn't seem to change.

"Primal mana is different. The mana most people use is processed by their Class, tamed but limited. Reach past that, touch the raw source behind it, and maybe -" She stopped as something happened with the gems. She'd flickered her own mana over them, ever so briefly. With my mana perception I could only see that she had, it was too fast for me to figure out what she was doing.

But that seemed to be enough as it sparked something like, but not quite the same as, the attunement process that happened with everyone else. The gems shivered, then slid into each other as if they were water droplets. It didn't stop there, though. The two combined gems, one in each of her hands, pulled together as if magnetized and, when Ansae didn't let them go, actually flowed right through the flesh of her hands to meet in the middle. She caught the resulting gem as it dropped.

It was far smaller than it had any right to be, maybe the size of a cherry, and entirely clear save for a few points of light floating about the interior.

"Well. That's new."

"Um," Shayma agreed. I had... some idea of what had happened. Ansae's magic wasn't just one Affinity like most people, it was many. Or most, or even all. I couldn't really tell. But because of that, the tendency for the Primal sources to try and mimic the individual mana meant that even though each of the gems was of a different Affinity, they wanted to be the same... thing. How that translated into them merging into one physical object, I wasn't sure.

"What an astounding little trinket." Ansae held the gem up, peering into it.

"I don't have anything like it in my hoard. The closest I do have is this beauty." She patted the dagger at her side, the one that shone so brightly to mana-sight that it hurt.

"And she took an ocean over a thousand years to make." She regarded a moment more, then popped it into her mouth. Shayma stared. I... well, the stare was there in spirit, anyway. What the hell was Ansae doing? The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The question was answered when she swallowed and, a moment later, her horns went from steel to a diamond-like lustre.

They already resembled a crown, curled about the front of her head, and now they seemed even more like one, humming with power and authority. Somehow, she'd integrated the Source into them, maybe into her entire body. Casually, in an instant.

"Well, that's scary impressive." Which was probably the point. Hopefully I wasn't about to get into a one-upmanship contest with a dragon, because I was pretty sure I'd lose. Shayma repeated my maybe-compliment, and Ansae laughed, showing her teeth.

"It has been some time since I've gotten to show off." Shayma nodded politely, a little spooked still, and Ansae waved her claws.

"If gold you want, then gold you shall have, but this thing is worth more than mere metal trifles." Spatial magic appeared from her clawtips and a dizzying array of runes appeared in the air. One of them lit up, flying to hover over the surface of the table while the rest of them vanished. Then, suddenly, it popped, bursting to reveal several massive gold ingots, weighty enough to make the stonesteel table groan.

It all happened too fast for me to really take in the magic itself, but I could tell it was far more complex than anything I was doing. It seemed that she was pulling things from some other space, kind of like my inventory or material stockpiles, but with a lot more finesse. I couldn't read the runes, which was odd because everything I'd seen so far was the same language as the overlay or Status, but I would bet they organized Ansae's inventory pretty nicely.

Even if I couldn't really profit from the magic, the gold was very, very welcome. Especially so much of it. I pulled it into my system but still had to park most of it in one of my holding rooms, as only a tiny chunk filled in the one hundred fifty unit cap. I could finally build those resource crystals!

"So what do you want besides gold? My honor compels me to give you something else, and I do have quite the hoard."

"Hmm, samples of magic exotic materials would be nice, in case I can manage to replicate them. But first, why don't you ask for something, Shayma?"

"Me?" She blinked.

"Of course."

"... Blue wants me to ask for something for myself, but honestly, he provides pretty much everything I need. I would like to know if my parents are okay, and get a message to them if possible. They were out in the Wildwood forest the whole time I was over there, I think. That's the direction [Seeker] pointed, anyway." Ansae's smile softened.

"They do say a child should honor their parents. A divination, then. Not an issue, though it will be easier if Blue takes down the [Warding] for a moment." To be honest, aside from the [Warding] around my core room, I didn't really need it anymore. My location had been found out anyhow, and so far as I could tell dungeons did have some natural defenses against anyone looking too closely at them.

With that being the case I dropped it while Ansae did her thing and started working on the new lair, as well as placing a bunch of the storage crystals in my test area since I had the materials for them now. I planned to fill most of them with mana. With the amount of gold I'd gotten from Ansae, I would be able to reach the required mana levels for Iniri's [Purification] just on the strength of the storage crystals. She needed almost twenty-two thousand, I was up to sixteen at this point.

But I also wanted to put some of my other materials into them. Notably iron, because I was actually generating it and a single crystal would give me half again the storage space for it. That turned out to be a good decision. [Metalworking] learned. Allows integration of stored metals into dungeon elements.... Oh.... I could have done this ages ago. I did have a single gold for a very long time, I just hadn't wanted to spend it when I only had the one.

But if I had, then I would have gotten the Ability and been able to do something with all this iron I was piling up! Though to be honest, iron by itself, in pure form, wasn't a very strong metal. What I really wanted was steel. I did have coal. No forges, though, but maybe I didn't need them. A moment's experimentation showed me that the storage crystals didn't want to take more than one resource, but that didn't mean I couldn't try and force it.

I filled up a large-size storage crystal with iron, until there was only one unit left, and then tried to shove coal in there. Steel was about one percent carbon, after all. I figured that mana would solve the problem, but I hadn't figured on the crystal exploding when I tried too hard. I could recover the fragments to get back most of the iron, but not the gold, which would have been really annoying if Ansae hadn't given me so much. So, once again, but this time holding the crystal together with [Customization].

Between trying to force in that single unit of coal and constantly resealing the cracks in the storage crystal, I blew through over three thousand mana before something happened. [Metallurgy] learned. Unlocks Metallurgy category. I hadn't unlocked an entire category for a while. This was awesome! Since it started out at base level five, it had a number of entries, and I immediately dumped my banked experience into it to get another two levels, though to no avail. Still, what it had was well worth it.

Crucible Crystal (size 100): 20 Gold, 50 Iron, 150 Stonesteel, 3 Fire Affinity Source Gems: Converts metals to liquid version. Alloy Crystal (size 200): 50 Gold, 50 Iron, 250 Stonesteel, 5 Kinetic Affinity Source Gems: Mixes liquid metals into alloys. Infusion Crystal (size 100): 20 Gold, 50 Iron, 150 Stonesteel, 10 Purifying Gems: Allows mixing of stored non-metal material with liquid metals.

Hardening Crystal (size 100): 20 Gold, 50 Iron, 150 Stonesteel, 10 Alchemical Diamonds: Converts liquid metals into solid form. That was amazing. Not only did it do what I wanted to do, but it looked like my dungeon ecology actually fueled the unlocks. The purifying gems and alchemical diamonds were some of the non-Source fruits from my various flowers, finally giving me an actual use for them. I wanted to dive right into it. But I didn't.

I'd completely missed Shayma's message to her parents while I was messing around with my own toys, and now I felt too guilty to allow myself to be any further distracted while Shayma and Ansae were still talking. I caught maybe the last ten words or so of the message, inviting her mom and dad to come up north where I was located. Fair enough.

"How long do you think it'll take them to get here without teleportation? Are they as fast as you?"

"It will probably take a couple weeks. Mom's only quick over short distances."

"Aw, well, I suppose I can wait that long. Anyway, you can tell Ansae I'll have her new lair ready by tomorrow. I'll leave it up to you two how and when you want to do shapeshifting training... but I have some questions for her right now, if she doesn't mind."

"Certainly. I have all the time in the world." There seemed to be some personal meaning behind the flippant phrase but it was probably something to do with her being an, at minimum, centuries old dragon.

"I can see and manipulate mana but it's got no Affinity, and I have no idea how to turn it into any of the Affinities myself. How do I do that?"

"Oh, now that's interesting." Ansae eyed Shayma, leaning back in her chair.

"Pure mana, lacking any sort of Affinity, is extremely difficult to make. To have the opposite problem... hm." She considered. The fact that I had a different issue from everyone else made sense to me, because I was pretty sure dungeons weren't supposed to have spellcasting to begin with. They had features, and while I hadn't unlocked any that converted the mana, more normal dungeons likely did. By now it was pretty obvious I was well off the rails so far as what was "normal" for dungeons.

Or maybe that was [Tempered Wisdom] talking.

"What causes mana to take on an Affinity is... truth." Ansae said at last.

"A combination of understanding and intent. You need to understand what the mana must be and what it must do. For most, their Class and Skills are all they need for this. Even those without spellcasting have their bodily mana converted into some type of Affinity, because they envision themselves to be or do things. If yours isn't doing that naturally, you'll have to gather it up - with [Mana Control] or whatever skill you have - and push your concepts and images onto it." Ansae snorted.

"It's rather like telling someone how to breathe. Be glad that I actually know how it works since I reached into Primal mana myself."

"That's why I asked!" Though there were still tremendous gaps in the explanation, I wasn't sure I was going to get anything better because it was so reflexive for everyone but me. I did see what Ansae was getting at though, and while I'd tried to push and prod mana in various ways, I hadn't tried anything like what she had said. In fact I'd assumed that Affinities were something mechanical, like a phase change or something, and been massaging mana shape and density. To no avail, and now it was obvious why.

"Before I spend however long fiddling with that, what do you know about Powers? People keep saying I'm one, and I'm all for it, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do if I am."

"You do whatever you want." Ansae chuckled dryly.

"Nobody is exactly sure what makes a Power, but we're all unique. You're a thinking dungeon. I'm a primal dragon. Enkinden is a living storm. Tok is a roving mana spring. We all have our own pursuits and interests, and there's no real overlap between us. Nor is it usual for Powers to interact," She added, her eyes narrowed.

"One of the few commonalities we have is the ability to make Bargains, and we know better than to Bargain with each other."

"I guess it's really important if you're bothering with me, then."

"You can see my Depletion. What do you think?" For the first time Ansae showed actual anger, though I didn't take it personally. Especially since it wasn't aimed at Shayma. The comment had been a little flip for what had to be a mortal danger. I didn't know what happened if Depletion reached the cap, but even without that the sheer amount she had could not be pleasant.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'll see what I can do to start working on yours." Since it looked like I'd be ready for Iniri in the next few days, I could try and figure out what was actually going on during [Purification]. I needed to know not just for Ansae, but because I really wanted a non-breeding method to address Depletion. Otherwise, I'd only be helping out a select few women.

"Apology accepted." Ansae relaxed slightly, idly running her claws over the table.

"I... appreciate that you're willing to help me despite how I acted in the past. That you're willing to do so without asking for some guarantee that I would cooperate." Then she snorted.

"Or even payment in advance, though I'm not sure that's so much gracious as foolhardy."

"Mostly I'd rather be on good terms with you. It tickles my vanity to house a dragon's lair, if nothing else, and I'm so brand-new here that I'd really appreciate having someone with a little bit of wisdom - not the skill - I can ask about things. So to speak."

"That's a refreshing attitude." She smiled, more relaxed now.

"Not one most people have toward me. In the past it's been mostly running, screaming, begging for mercy - that sort of thing."

"... should I be worried?" Shayma asked, looking more than a little uncertain.

"No, you're quite safe." Ansae waved it away.

"Not only are you Blue's, but I got all my rampaging done centuries ago. Until this Depletion is fixed, I'm fairly well stuck anyway. I'm sure Blue's already noticed, but I don't regenerate at all. I have to be careful."

"That sounds... terrifying."

"Yeah, I have a regeneration field I can add to your lair. I'm not sure how much good it'll do but it can't hurt." Actually, I'd gotten an upgrade to it by plugging it directly into the mana dynamo. [Rejuvenation] reduced my mana income pretty significantly but it was far more effective than regeneration, and included mana restoration. But it was a multiplier, so it wasn't likely to do much for an already-anemic regeneration rate.

"That's kind of you," Ansae said, amused for reasons that were entirely her own.

"For myself, I should see if I can figure out a way to speak with Blue directly. You're very charming, Shayma, but you can only be in one place at a time."

"Oh, I think Blue would like that," Shayma said, an impish smile touching her features.

"It'll give him someone else to wake up in the middle of the night so he can pester them with bad jokes."

"It was just the one time!"" Three times."

"It was just the three times!"

"You have an interesting way with your servants," Ansae said, muzzle stretching into a toothy grin.

"If I hadn't seen what you did to that army, I'd wonder if you were too soft."

"Oh, I'm totally soft on Shayma," I said cheerfully, and watched her blush and then glare in the general direction of my core.

"This is another reason you need to figure out a way to talk to him," Shayma appealed to Ansae.

"It's not fair that he expects me to repeat his flirting."

"Yes, it seems he's a thorough scoundrel." The grin was permanently stuck at this point.

"I'll have to be cautious dealing with him."

"Good idea." Shayma nodded sagely.

"Okay, I'm going to break this up before this turns into a conspiracy against me. Besides, I've got Annit's and Keri's area nearly done. Oh! I need to make Annit's blowgun for her." Shayma giggled.

"All right, Blue is afraid we're going to start conspiring against him. I need to go back and talk to some other people anyway, and I'm sure Queen Iniri would be happy to meet with you any time. Though I think we'll be attacking Meil in a week or so? We won't be around then."

"Ah, I remember the last time I razed a city. Do have fun." Ansae smiled cheerfully, and Shayma laughed before bowing to her and leaving.

"You do realize she wasn't joking, right?"

"I'm still going to pretend she was." Shayma said firmly.

"That's fair enough. Anyway, I need to finish Annit's weapon while you show them around."

"You gave them their own room, and Ansae too... how big are you now?"

"Most of the time when a woman asks how big you are, they mean something entirely different." Shayma just snorted in reply.

"Uhh... pretty big. Though I've been growing more slowly of late since I'm taking over the mountain and want to keep from accidentally collapsing it."

"I appreciate not having a mountain collapsed on me." Shayma swished her tail from one side to the other.

"Sometimes all this still catches me by surprise. Just, that you're this enormous dungeon and you're dealing with dragons that are also Powers and... it's daunting."

"Actually you're doing more dealing with them than I am. You're making me sound actually diplomatic and coherent, but I understand. It's strange even if I think about it too hard. But you know I won't make you do it if you really don't want to, right? I can dictate letters or something."

"I know," she said.

"Thank you." While Shayma rounded up her companions I considered Annit's blowgun. It might have been a touch hasty to promise that, since I'd never done anything like it before, but I was pretty confident it was possible. I just needed a large enough Source gem. Fortunately, the wind-Affinity Source gems had been growing for nearly a week and one of them was big enough that I thought I could manage it.

I was able to use [Customization] on the gems while they were still attached to the plants, and considering a blowgun was just a single piece I thought I could manage it. I used Annit's current weapon as a reference, minus the artistic flourishes and the charms chained to the tube. I was pretty sure that it was a simple design, but didn't want to take any chances by doing it freehand. The end result was a thin shell of swept gray, recognizable as a blowgun but maybe more fragile than I'd like.

Still, it was a weapon. [Fabrication] learned. Unlocks Fabrication category. Wait, what? I pulled up the tab in question and found that it was incredibly expensive, experience-wise, to upgrade, and had only one entry in the category. Assembler: 1000 Biomass, 10 Gold, 10 Steel, 100 Stonesteel: Allows Dungeon to assemble items into more complex products. The material cost wasn't cheap either.

I'd have to build some of the metallurgy stuff first just to get the steel, and once again I mentally thanked Ansae for the massive amount of gold. I wasn't sure why these things took gold, and so much of it, but at least it wasn't asking for things I didn't have. Plus that hefty biomass requirement suggested whatever this looked like, it was going to be huge. But worth the investment. The description was as lacking as usual for dungeon skills, since 'assemble' was a pretty vague descriptor.

Fine, coarse, quick, slow. Maybe it only fit opposing shapes together, or perhaps it could join with nails or other fastenings. It also didn't have a level, so I wasn't going to be able to advance it directly, but I didn't care. I could finally make things.