Day 153
I lower the last two floors. Then I focus on the future inhabitants of the third floor. I leave on the same construction and for 3 weeks I build a large labyrinth of 100 rooms all larger than on the second floor, they are 30 meters by 15 meters. I'm creating a new evolution stage for insects and introducing modified foxes with two evolutions, one inconspicuous that hides in the dark and one with strong, sharp hairs. I'm also introducing some modified wolves that are more powerful but without evolutions. I also add new plants, bats and snakes evolved from advantages. Finally for the floor warden I create a large circular room with lots of holes and boxes behind. I create a rat mother, she is able to command a massive rat horde with multiple bosses and can devise some strategies. She can fight too and is the size of a dwarf with very long claws and teeth.
Day 174
With the third floor finished I am calm, I go down the artificial nucleus to the third. I order all the inhabitants of the second floor to go down to the third floor when they reach the sufficient stage of evolution.
Another team of adventurers came while I was preparing the third floor, but I had brought the waiting servants back outside the village. And they fought with the monsters when the adventurers wanted to turn around after defeating the bear on the first floor.
Day 180
A new team arrived and explored the first floor, I let them go again so as not to arouse too much suspicion and because a message arrived yesterday confirming to me that the merchant now owns the land for 100 square kilometers around the dungeon. The discovery of the dungeon risks making this suspicious and could attract lust. So I warned the merchant to be careful and start selecting craftsmen for the construction of a village at the foot of the keep.
With the urgent issues resolved I can concentrate on my experiments in alchemy. I have been developing new potions recently. One that will make anyone who drinks it blue, it has little use but I am currently looking for a method to modify it so that it can be used for camouflage. There is also a potion that blinds those who drink it for an hour or two with no other effects. I am currently working on a potion that would make people numb to pain. There are already herbs that give this effect, but consumers usually have unwanted side effects like an anesthetic.
Day 193
I am completely immersed in my experiences and let the artificial core run the dungeon for me. Two weeks after the team of adventurers left the dungeon, news arrived. They seem more experienced and cross the second floor without much difficulty. They are surprised to discover a third floor; they manage to defeat the horde of rats but suffer several minor injuries because they were surprised. They confirm the location of the artificial nucleus and I cut off all connection with it. They pass an object over it and I recognize it as being a dungeon tester, often used by guilds to discover the peculiarities of dungeons. I think the team is a scoring team for the dungeon.
They seem satisfied with the rewards obtained and leave the cave quickly. I reestablish the link with the artificial core and receive a message from the merchant telling me that he has signed an agreement with the guild for their support in exchange for the right to the dungeon. Concretely, it will impose only weakly the adventurers registered with this guild. The agreement only lasted two years but it was more than enough for this guild to establish itself as dominant in the region. There are about fifty dungeons in the kingdom and most major cities have one. The discovery of a dungeon promises a rapid development of the surroundings. I sent gold to the merchant to start building an infrastructure around the dungeon.
Day 203
Ten days later, a long caravan emerges from the forest, there are over twenty carts, and immediately guild members descend from the first five and build tents and a perimeter around the dungeon to regulate access. It is often in the early stages that thieves try to steal the nucleus. From the rest of the carts, mages of the earth and craftsmen of all kinds descend accompanied by the merchant and his guards.
Surprisingly I recognize a famous town planner, it is a great opportunity for them to build a dungeon city because you have to build a city from nothing and there are no obstacles. Craftsmen build large tents and begin the plans. The first day nobody entered my dungeon but the mages leveled the exit and traced general access routes. A servant brought me a map and I can see my entrance from one side of the cliff arch with a mansion at the other end, a large plaza surrounds my entrance with the guild headquarters and other important buildings , a large wall encloses the cliff. They also planned a fairly complete sewer system. I am satisfied with the plan and validate it.
During the night, the merchant and his guards come to kneel in front of me. I congratulate him and give him several mana crystals that will help mages to recharge in mana to speed up construction.
The next day, the first groups of adventurers enter the cave. The labyrinth can hold more people than a straight line path. The guild regulates the entrance so that it is not crowded. The adventurers map the caves and the corridors and I notice that there is no trap, I will start to set one on the fourth floor.
The adventurer system is divided into letters that go from A to F with the weakest F, the majority of adventurers present are F groups and some are E the group that tested my dungeon is D and they classified me as a dungeon class E. The guild seems very happy with the rewards that I give including the herbs present. I haven't noticed it but some herbs common to me are quite rare. I don't change the layout as it is beneficial for me but I have to be careful not to produce plants that are too rare so as not to attract bad attention.
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A few adventurers died and only one group was wiped out because of their recklessness. As the dungeon is discovered there will be fewer than fewer deaths but at the moment I am getting a sudden surge of mana and I can already see that I could build my fourth floor in a week to 10 days. Less if the adventurers remain reckless.
The merchant offered a gold reward for mapping the third floor which prompted adventurers to explore it and several died.
Day 205
The ants were reckless and stumbled upon an adventurer patrol outside the dungeon, they managed to kill them with great loss. This disappearance alerted the guild, on the other hand the queen mother fed on the richest parts of the body and is close to a new evolution. They are now more discreet and careful when going out into the forest.
Day 206
The guild does not panic about the number of deaths, there are already 50, they are adventurers not simple slaves, they give a lot more mana. Adventurers are very common, there are dangers everywhere and the birth rate is very high so it is not uncommon for adventurers to be seen as fodder.
The site is progressing well and many people in search of wealth have flocked to the city under construction. Mainly adventurers and artisans but also peasants. An access road is under construction to cross the forest and climb the mountain.
Day 207
At the end of the week I was able to build my fourth floor, I stay on the same model by increasing the surface by a third but I put the emphasis on the spiders on this floor, there are the same creatures as on the third floor but I make the spiders evolve. They are giant spiders 1.50 wide, they have sharp legs, poisonous fangs and sticky webs for ambushes, they are at the top of the food chain. I also designed a 30cm wide variant that lives in bands, they are inconspicuous and hide in cracks or drop from the ceiling. For the Floor Guardian I simply create a huge 3m black and white spider with a cold affinity that allows it to boost its defense and slow down the enemy. It is identical to the giant spiders but everything is improved.
I increased the rewards and added plants with a slight cold affinity to the boss room.
Day 220
The discovery of the new floor was very well received by the E-rank adventurers who have an added challenge. F-rank adventurers can hardly fight it unless they are prepared in advance and have experience in spider combat. D ranks need to be careful but don't have a real problem.
This new floor has energized the city which is starting to take shape, the mansion is finished on the outside as well as the plaza and the main roads, the guild house too. The craftsmen's houses are being built more slowly and the perimeter wall is starting to rise, the sewers have only just started. The construction is fast thanks to the mages but they are expensive, once the main infrastructures are finished the majority will leave.
A veteran C-rank group entered the dungeon that night. Dungeons are generally closed at night to allow time for dungeons to replenish clocks. They are probably ill-intentioned, either a rival guild, an enemy country, or a nobleman who is unhappy with the merchant's wealth.
They easily reach the fourth floor thanks to the maps and start the fight. Obviously the giant spider is going to lose so I call on the ants to ambush the group. They manage to kill the archer all the way back but the group has a nature mage who are healing mages and after the initial panic the last three members get organized and easily kill the ants. I am obliged to bring all my available minions who attack them from a distance to kill them. This is not enough so I impose my will on all the monsters on the floor and have them attack wave after wave. The losses are heavy for the ants especially since they have not yet recovered from the adventurer patrol outside the dungeon. This incident scared me and I decide to be more careful, I charge the artificial core to warn me if a too strong group of adventurers is approaching.
I leave one of the adventurers to the ants and collect the others. Absorbing their knowledge, they appear to have been sent by a small opposing guild. She was competing with the guild which has a deal with the merchant and she is falling behind. She'll probably try something else to slow him down or destroy me.
Day 222
My mana is steadily increasing and I use it to improve my heart and do enchanting experiences. My level is improving rapidly and my understanding of the different principles has increased. I even discovered new runes which I hadn't done for 15 years.
The ramparts and sewers are complete and most of the construction mages are not staying. Some remain in the city to be employed by the wealthier craftsmen. The city takes shape quickly with the arrival of citizens and peasants in the surroundings. The city now has 500 adventurers, mostly rank F or E with some rank D taking turns entering the dungeon an average of two or three times per week for each group. I let the merchant take care of the city because it doesn't really interest me.
The ant colony is expanding rapidly around the dungeon and I am expanding my domain to encompass the tunnels. Part of the colony is destroyed every time I create a new floor, but the ants are hardworking. And rebuild the bottom of their colony every time.
Day 254
After a month I can build a new floor again. There were two new intrusions and then nothing, the guild gave up or selected a more powerful team. I was better prepared and I was able to cope more easily.
The fifth floor will be the top floor with a maze of tunnels. I want to change the theme after that. I dig 200 coins in a similar gathering on the upper floors. I use the same races as before but I evolve the snakes more strongly so that they are more dangerous. There are 10-meter constrictors with thin iron scales, small spring-loaded snakes that propel themselves at adventurers to bite them with powerful poison. Finally I create traps for the first time, a simple false one with a thin slab of stone, at the bottom of the pit I have poisonous snakes, and slightly more technical traps with rocking ground, thicker slabs positioned on a tree or it can rotate, it is blocked by a slab under it but if you pass the tree the slab tilts and you fall on sharp spikes.
Finally, as a guardian, I create a huge basilica serpent with an earth affinity, it is 30 meters long and can defend itself against ordinary swords and arrows. He can create earth spikes and strengthen his skin, but above all he transforms the creatures he looks at to stone, it takes several seconds and consumes a lot of mana but it is a powerful weapon. Above all, I give him a soul that allows him to understand human language and gives him a certain intelligence in addition to his natural instincts. The reward is a weakly enchanted weapon that should attract new adventurers.
With this floor, the first five are completed. I will be able to change the theme for the following ones.
Day 291
The first adventurer mages arrived recently and I killed one mage of each elemental affinity to have a base of work. My computational ability has improved greatly as I can store more mana. But I want to build a big knowledge library that I can look up something for my experiments in, I can't store it all on my own. So I create a new door on my top floor.
I begin to create a massive crystal of knowledge. The Knowledge Crystal can be created through alchemy without much difficulty. It is an old process which allows knowledge to be stored and by contact to be taken back. I am building a huge crystal ten meters in diameter. I read it back to 6 new artificial cores, each created with a corresponding soul of affinity. They will be responsible for doing magical research, one for each affinity. They will all impart their knowledge to the crystal. I myself connected to get them and I keep control over the artificial nuclei.