Legendary Builder: Reconstructing Alefgard in the World of Dragon Quest Builders
2 Points
2
You were minding your own business, going about your day as usual when suddenly, everything around you began to blur and warp. You felt a strange, tingling sensation sweep over your body, like electricity buzzing just beneath your skin. The world you knew, every detail and every person, started to dissolve into a burst of vibrant colors and swirling patterns, mixing and melting into something completely unfamiliar.
Before you could react, the tingling intensified into a full-body shock, forcing you to your knees with a groan of discomfort. Your clothes—it seemed like only moments ago you were wearing your usual attire—were now morphing, shifting into something rugged and archaic. The colors around you converged into the hues of a world far different from your own.
As the transformation progressed, you struggled to hold on to your identity. Your height seemed to regress, bringing the world around you into a different perspective. Whether you had been male or female mattered not; your form became chibi, with stubby limbs and a head outsized to the body, your eyes becoming large and anime-like. If you had been female, your curves flattened, your breasts disappeared, and your feminine genitals transformed, replaced with those of a male—completely beyond your control.
But it wasn't just your body that was changing. Your mind felt fuzzy, like a thick fog had rolled in, making it hard to think. Memories—your memories of friends, family, and past experiences—started to slip away like water through your fingers. Panic set in as you tried to grasp any remnant of yourself. “Remember,” you desperately thought, your grip tightening on your spinning head. “This is not me! I can’t lose myself!”
But the changes were relentless. Your voice, the very sound of which was so sorely your own, shifted into a different pitch as a new character asserted himself within you. The deeper, brisk voice and newfound inability to speak more than yelps or grunts claimed you. The new memories, the personality of the Legendary Builder, swept in with unrelenting force.
"There is no escape," you realized as your previous self dissolved into the void, the dizziness overwhelming you and leaving you no choice but to relinquish your hold. The struggle became futile, the last echoes of your former life vanishing into the depths of your mind.
When the transformation finally ceased, you awoke to a voice lingering in the air—a soft, divine female voice.
"Can you hear me, Builder?" Rubiss intoned.
You found yourself in Alefgard, in an unmarked grave. The Divine Spirit was guiding you, her words clarifying your newfound purpose. The fog around your thoughts cleared, leaving you with memories that weren’t particularly your own but were deeply familiar and rooted in your essence.
"Our world has fallen under the curse of the Dragonlord," Rubiss explained. "You, Builder, are the last person capable of harnessing the power of creation. Only you can construct and forge from raw materials to rebuild Alefgard."
You stood up, examining the blue tunic, the red scarf, the sturdy white pants, the brown leather gloves and boots, and the blue Phrygian cap with its distinctive brown goggles. The giant mallet you held fit perfectly in your hands, as if it had always belonged to you.
"Wait," Rubiss continued, "Remember, Builder, you are not a Hero. Your role is to rebuild, to provide sanctuary."
Builder—your name now—nodded as the new reality became your only reality. Questions and confusion about your former self were gone, replaced by a deep sense of purpose. As you set out to gather materials and start your monumental task, you heard the Divine Spirit sigh.
"Ah, Builder, you just want to build, don’t you?" Rubiss' voice carried an amused tone.
Brick by brick, material by material, you began your work, a smile playing on your face. The struggle, the confusion, and the fear of transformation were lost to you. All that mattered now was your mission, the creation, and the rebuilding of Alefgard—for that was who you are, who you have always been: the Legendary Builder.
This story was generated by user LanHikari with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.
Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.
AI Prompts
Prompt: Write a POV transformation story of the human reader turning into male Builder (who is also a human, albeit magically reanimated unlike the reader himself/herself) from the 2016 video game "Dragon Quest Builders", complete with gender change (if the reader is a female before the transformation; in case the reader is female, her breasts flatten to leave her flat-chested, while her feminine curves vanished to give way to a male body, as an Adam's apple forms in her throat to give her a masculine voice, and her female genitals (vagina, ovaries, and uterus) invert itself into male genitals (testicles and penis); however, the reader could be a male before the transformation, so gender change is optional and only if the reader is female), instant clothes change (the reader's clothes instantly transform into male Builder's outfit), height regression (making him/her shorter due to his/her chibification, making his/her body small with stubby limbs, an oversized head, anime eyes, and minimal detail), age change, voice change (the voice change also causes the reader to lose the ability to speak and becoming silent (aside from yelps, grunts, battle cries, and so forth)), reality change (the reader's real world becoming the world of "Dragon Quest Builders"), and mind/mental change (with all of the reader's personality and memories being completely replaced with Builder's personality and memories, making him/her dizzy with a fuzzy mind (the dizziness and the mind's fuzziness clears up when his/her memories are fully replaced), despite his/her best efforts on fighting them off (he doesn't want to forget his previous self but then completely forgets all about his previous self against his will), making him unable to remember his previous self, so he remembers (or rather knows) that he has always been Builder (which is his true/real self), completely oblivious/unaware of his previous self (which wasn't real to begin with)). The transformation is permanent (meaning it is forever) and is completely irreversible. For male Builer's appearance (after the reader turned into him), he is a young man (without any facial hair) who has light sandy-brown spiky hair (which is short and spiky), while his skin is fair in color, and his eyes' irises are blue in color. He is a very distant descendant of Erdrick and the last person left in Alefgard who has the power to create new things (as such he is titled as the Legendary Builder and he is tasked with rebuilding the ruined world around him). He wears a blue tunic with a red scarf, black undershirt, white pants and brown leather gloves and brown leather boots as well as a brown belt (with a gold circular buckle at the front) around his waist, which is adorned with a sleeping roll and water skin (representing Wayfarer's clothes). He also wears a blue Phrygian cap with large brown goggles (with yellow rims) on top. He is shown equipped with a Hammerhood's giant mallet. On his hands, Geo wears red fingerless gloves with yellow squares on their backs, which widen into red-and-gold discs around his wrists. Here is male Builder's personality; The Builder is curt and informal when addressing their fellow citizens, and even when communing with Rubiss herself. One such instance of this is upon first meeting Myrlund, the Builder opts to address him as "Gramps". The Builder have a noticeably carefree attitude, often telling others not to worry about their concerns and also is initially disinterested in the larger plight of Alefgard, professing that they would rather build for building sake than doing it so for the good of mankind and their fight aganist the monsters. Over the course of his task however, the Builder's attitude changes, forming deep bonds of friendship with the people he met and assisted. In the end, when asked to leave them under the looming threat of the Dragonlord despite having at disposition all the tools necessary to confront him, the Builder couldn't bring themself to do so, and choosed to challenge the tyrant, even if it meant losing Rubiss protection and critically shortening their own lifespan. Even after proving their identity as the Legendary Builder and earning their respect, the Builder hopelessly appears inattentive and dim-witted to the citizens of Alefgard, who often remark on their vacant stare or overestimation of their own skills. This character follows the Dragon Quest series tradition of being silent, though character's voice actor is employed for yelps, grunts, battle cries, and so forth when taking damage or fighting monsters. Furthermore, a sassy personality is strongly implied for both as the protagonist will talk back to several characters over the course of the adventure, even the Goddess Herself. No dialogue is displayed when this happens, and the implication is carried through by the reactions of the other conversation participants. Here are the male Builder's abilities; The Builder is the only person alive who is able to combine, rearrange and construct objects from materials and the only one who can reduce said objects back to their components by destroying them. This being said, the Builder is not totally immune to the hex--he will be stripped of all knowledge gained during a chapter when beginning a new one, and must relearn every recipe again. Due to the focus of "Dragon Quest Builders" (the game which the Builder is part of) being more sandbox-orientated than previous Dragon Quest game titles, the Builder has far fewer stats than the typical protagonist. Only HP, attack, and defence are shown in-game, with the former improving through leveling up the quality of a given chapter's town and through Seeds of life, with the latter two being completely dependent on weapons and armour. Here is the male Builder's origins/history; The Builder's history prior to the events of the game are never fully explained, only that he died sometime ago by an unknown cause and was brought back to life by Rubiss for the express task of rebuilding Alefguard. The reasons for Rubiss's choice to revive him in particular is due to the fact that the Builder, like the the fallen Hero, is also a descendant of Erdrick--something she does not reveal to him until he has completed his task. However, unlike his ancestor, he was not blessed with strength but with the power of creation, an art lost in this series' timeline. The story is that the reader is minding his/her own business, but is then interrupted by a weird tingly feeling as his/her world suddenly starts warping into the world of Dragon Quest Builders, and his/her body starts to change against his will. After the physical transformation ends, his (the reader is now totally a male if he was a female before) mind starts clouding up (making him dizzy) and he starts forgetting all about his previous self (also against his will), making him hold his head in fear and tells/screams himself to remember, but then he loses his ability to speak (other than yelps, grunts, battle cries, and so forth) and he is losing all memories and personality of his previous self as he suffers from amnesia, making it completely impossible to remember his previous self or life and leaving him as an unnamed Builder. The Builder awakens in Alefgard at the words of Rubiss asking if the Builder can hear Her voice. She explains the fate that has befallen Her world, and that the Builder is the only person alive with the ability to forge items from raw materials, as all others have fallen prey to the curse of the Dragonlord that has clouded creative clarity the world over. The Builder begins the tutorial of the game entombed in an unmarked grave, where in Rubiss explains the process of crafting tools and what will be required of the Builder to save the remaining lives left in Alefguard (while being interrupted frequently). The Goddess ends the tutorial by stating that he is not a Hero, and thus the Builder's responsibility lies strictly with rebuilding the towns of Alefguard and giving safe haven to the people. The Goddess is then flabbergasted to hear Her chosen one "doesn't get it" and "just wants to build things" (but the Builder may in fact rebuild the towns of Alefguard and giving safe haven to the people, which depends on the Builder himself). There should also be quotes from the characters in this story so we know what they're saying and what they're thinking. Also, it is a POV reader story, so it should not be in an author's point of view (my, I, mine, etc), and it should be from the point of view of the reader (you, your, etc).
Response: You were minding your own business, going about your day as usual when suddenly, everything around you began to blur and warp. You felt a strange, tingling sensation sweep over your body, like electricity buzzing just beneath your skin. The world you knew, every detail and every person, started to dissolve into a burst of vibrant colors and swirling patterns, mixing and melting into something completely unfamiliar. Before you could react, the tingling intensified into a full-body shock, forcing you to your knees with a groan of discomfort. Your clothes—it seemed like only moments ago you were wearing your usual attire—were now morphing, shifting into something rugged and archaic. The colors around you converged into the hues of a world far different from your own. As the transformation progressed, you struggled to hold on to your identity. Your height seemed to regress, bringing the world around you into a different perspective. Whether you had been male or female mattered not; your form became chibi, with stubby limbs and a head outsized to the body, your eyes becoming large and anime-like. If you had been female, your curves flattened, your breasts disappeared, and your feminine genitals transformed, replaced with those of a male—completely beyond your control. But it wasn't just your body that was changing. Your mind felt fuzzy, like a thick fog had rolled in, making it hard to think. Memories—your memories of friends, family, and past experiences—started to slip away like water through your fingers. Panic set in as you tried to grasp any remnant of yourself. “Remember,” you desperately thought, your grip tightening on your spinning head. “This is not me! I can’t lose myself!” But the changes were relentless. Your voice, the very sound of which was so sorely your own, shifted into a different pitch as a new character asserted himself within you. The deeper, brisk voice and newfound inability to speak more than yelps or grunts claimed you. The new memories, the personality of the Legendary Builder, swept in with unrelenting force. "There is no escape," you realized as your previous self dissolved into the void, the dizziness overwhelming you and leaving you no choice but to relinquish your hold. The struggle became futile, the last echoes of your former life vanishing into the depths of your mind. When the transformation finally ceased, you awoke to a voice lingering in the air—a soft, divine female voice. "Can you hear me, Builder?" Rubiss intoned. You found yourself in Alefgard, in an unmarked grave. The Divine Spirit was guiding you, her words clarifying your newfound purpose. The fog around your thoughts cleared, leaving you with memories that weren’t particularly your own but were deeply familiar and rooted in your essence. "Our world has fallen under the curse of the Dragonlord," Rubiss explained. "You, Builder, are the last person capable of harnessing the power of creation. Only you can construct and forge from raw materials to rebuild Alefgard." You stood up, examining the blue tunic, the red scarf, the sturdy white pants, the brown leather gloves and boots, and the blue Phrygian cap with its distinctive brown goggles. The giant mallet you held fit perfectly in your hands, as if it had always belonged to you. "Wait," Rubiss continued, "Remember, Builder, you are not a Hero. Your role is to rebuild, to provide sanctuary." Builder—your name now—nodded as the new reality became your only reality. Questions and confusion about your former self were gone, replaced by a deep sense of purpose. As you set out to gather materials and start your monumental task, you heard the Divine Spirit sigh. "Ah, Builder, you just want to build, don’t you?" Rubiss' voice carried an amused tone. Brick by brick, material by material, you began your work, a smile playing on your face. The struggle, the confusion, and the fear of transformation were lost to you. All that mattered now was your mission, the creation, and the rebuilding of Alefgard—for that was who you are, who you have always been: the Legendary Builder.
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