It wasn’t long before the last enemy team was killed, and Dan earned another 150 mana. With his new total of 234, he went on to make some more defenses for his fort. Dan was tempted to make worms and moles first but feeling like he was most exposed through the sky, Dan decided to make spiders and bats. Each bat would cost 38 mana, while one spider would cost 48 mana. In total, Dan wanted 20 of each, but he knew it would take some time. Dan also knew that it was going to take even longer to make all his worms and moles, but slowly but surely was the key.
Once the last enemy team had been slain, Dan recalled everyone so they could meet the new bosses. Well, along with the few new beasts he had created, equaling three bats and two spiders.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Crystal Spider.
Type: Beast.
Size: Tiny.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 25/25.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 12.
Metal Affinity. Illusion Affinity. Wood Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Wood Control. Body Enhancement - Agility, and Speed. Enhanced Venom Gland. Venom Infusion. Metal Needles. Web Blast. Camouflage.
Innate Abilities: 8.
Spider Climb. Web Sense. Web Walker. Stealth. Keen Vision. Night Vision. Venomous. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 24 Mana (48 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 48 Mana.
🔷
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Sonic Bat.
Type: Beast.
Size: Tiny.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 25/25.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 8.
Sound Affinity. Wind Affinity. Wind Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Sonic Boom. Sonic Resonance. Silent.
Innate Abilities: 4.
Echo Location. Keen Hearing. Stealth. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 19 Mana (38 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 38 Mana.
🔷
The minions looked like their bosses, with the bats just like regular bats, while the spiders had their crystal bodies with black dots all over them. The one thing that was a bit strange and was something Dan was glad had come out the way it had was that they all were the same size. Unlike his other bosses and minions, who had slight differences in size, these new bats and spiders looked pretty similar to their bosses. That peculiar trait would help confuse any enemy as to which one was the actual boss. However, Dan supposed that those with strong enough senses could eventually figure such things out. Still, a win was a win, even if only temporarily.
Eventually, everyone settled down for the night as Dan’s background mind continued to inspect for the arrival of new creatures. An inspection that quickly got annoying as he didn’t spot anything new. There were no more wood beasts. In fact, Dan didn’t find anything for the night, which alone was problematic. The seeming silence of invaders meant that something was coming, or they had somehow been hidden from him.
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Dungeon Day 32
The night eventually passed, and Dan was worried, even as he got his 12 daily mana, which brought him to a measly 36. Still apprehensive, Dan did not let any of his monsters out of his sight and instead went through again to do another scan. However, after hours of searching, there was still nothing.
Nothing meant no mana, and Dan needed mana. So, Dan began to mobilize his monsters. He had ten teams, plus his bosses. However, he was going to be careful, and everyone was on high alert.
Progress was slow, but his monsters began circling around the base as they slowly widened their search. Dan wasn’t going to risk anything, and all his bosses were at the base just in case some dumb super event showed up with an especially difficult monster. Thankfully, there wasn't such a thing, and instead, a day of utmost carefulness and tension turned into a day of completely slaughtering enemy creatures.
At some point in their slow advance, a team of his monsters was attacked by a random fox that blew flames at them. The flames weren’t even that strong or covered that much area. The only reason why the fox was able to strike was that his team believed the fox to be a regular beast just passing through. Of course, as soon as the fox did its thing, it was quickly smashed into the ground.
After the fox came some other creatures that just suicidally attacked his teams. A few birds that pecked or whose sounds attempted to confuse his beasts, but they truly did nothing. The saddest thing was that the attacks got more frequent, with more beasts piling on each time. At first, it had only been one or two, but as the morning progressed, the numbers began to ramp up to four, then eight, then twelve until his teams were eventually harassed by twenty different small beasts at a time.
Dan wasn’t worried about his beasts dying, as almost all the attacking beasts could and were easily swatted. Things got even easier when Dan finally started getting a proper list of the new monsters and, with some more dungeon shenanigans, could identify the new invaders. Identifying them meant he could project them onto the map, and the real slaughter began as every one of his beasts started their killing spree.
Now, each puny enemy beast didn’t give much mana, as most gave ten, and those were just things like the flaming foxes or lightning rabbits. However, when a slaughter begins, and things begin to die by the hundreds, it all quickly builds up, and mana started cranking in.
With the mana cranking, Dan began to create more of his monsters. First up, he evened out the spiders by creating four more for a total of 192 mana. Afterward, he also evened out the bats by adding three more of their kind for 114 mana. Then, with that complete, Dan moved to create some worm and mole minions.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Bullet Mole.
Type: Beast.
Size: Tiny.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 25/25.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 8.
Metal Affinity. Earth Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Earth Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Bullet. Pierce.
Innate Abilities: 3.
Tremor Sense. Stealth. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 19 Mana (38 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 38 Mana.
🔷
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Worm Chomper.
Type: Beast.
Size: Large.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 25/25.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 8.
Metal Affinity. Earth Affinity. Space Affinity. Earth Control. Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Speed. Earth Spike. Consume.
Innate Abilities: 3.
Tremor Sense. Stealth. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 31 Mana (62 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 62 Mana.
🔷
In total, Dan made six worms and twelve moles. The worms came out to a total of 372 mana, while the moles came out to a bit more due to their higher numbers, for a total of 456 mana.
In terms of looks, the minions looked like their bosses. The worms were pretty much the same size as Chomp and had the brown and ring-filled skin with white polka dots. Meanwhile, the moles had the same dark and light silver hues as Jamole.
Dan had created the new minions throughout the day as the mana came in, and as it was approaching afternoon and the tide of beasts was slowing, so did his mana, but he still ended the afternoon with a decent 302 mana.
Dan wanted to be careful and keep some mana in reserve in case something new popped up. However, there was one more upgrade he needed to do. The upgrade was simple, and it was to give the gorillas George’s smash move. Dan was also tempted to improve his birds more, but he honestly didn’t feel a need for it yet. From what Dan had seen so far, this specific shattered zone was mostly ground-based in terms of enemies, and he didn’t feel like his birds would be a big factor in the upcoming fights.
On the other hand, the gorillas had already clearly performed well in combat, and there were probably even more formidable foes they would face, so it was logical to upgrade them.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Gorilla.
Type: Beast.
Size: Medium.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 50/50.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 8.
Wood Affinity. Earth Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility. Night Vision. Wood Control. Earth Control. Mana Storage. Smash.
Innate Abilities: 2.
Strength. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 15 Mana (30 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 30 Mana.
🔷
With Smash and now the extra mana from Mana Storage, the gorillas were going to be a force to be reckoned with., but even then, Dan still felt like it wasn’t enough. After experiencing this extra challenge for a few days, Dan knew there would be more to it, and that wasn’t even adding the possibly stronger enemies out there like the trolls and ogres. He had yet to confirm it, but Dan believed all the ogres and trolls had to be D Rank or very close to it.
Still, progress was progress, and Dan was beginning to get comfortable enough to actually start messing about with the various factions. However, before doing so, he wanted to finish creating the worms, bats, spiders, and moles, and when that was complete, maybe add a few more teams so he would be comfortable sending a couple of them to see the druids.