Day of Goblin Invasion:
By the time the two dozen goblin monsters almost reached my Core, I made my escape to the second floor with seconds to spare. Aaahhhhhh.. Float faster ….stupid floating mechanism…faster… I kept shouting to myself as my crystal made its way down the shaft painfully slowly. The only saving grace was that the kobold stopped the goblin monsters from intruding further and started leading all of them back out of my dungeon depths. I only stopped hyperventilating when I was sure that all of them were out of the dungeon.
I almost died today. Those intruders were so strong!!! Some of their screens even displayed D and C rank. The strongest creature I can create till now is only E rank. And my second floor currently only has low level E-Ranked creatures. This won’t do. What if the next time they come, they won’t stop just because they saw my crystal and realized it was too pretty to destroy? I mused.
Hmmm… Since I can not defeat them in rank I should try to do it with strategy and teamwork. However, I do not seem to be an expert in them either. What, being a dungeon Core and all. Hmmm…
This was because my dungeon instincts seemed to override my rational side everytime intruders came. And therefore, I felt like I was too emotional and unable to properly coordinate all the hundreds of creatures currently inhabiting my depths, in real time in case of an attack. Despite being a genius I had my specialities, and war strategy did not seem to be one of them, especially as it took away my attention from much more fun things like creation.
At last I decided to make stronger and more intelligent monster leaders for all the different species inhabiting my caverns. I was determined to start with the second floor since my strongest monsters were currently inhabiting that floor. Hence, I decided to create a boar leader first. I pumped double the mana I previously used along with a lot of tainted earth mana into the blueprint, all the while giving special emphasis on their brain. I was hoping that with a smarter brain it would be able to strategically lead its brethren and work in a team. The final product was two meter tall, two and a half meter long giant boar, weighing around three hundred fifty kilogram. It has coarse dark brown fur, obsidian hoofs, eight long white tusks jutting out of its mouth along with black stubbs along its spine.
Congratulations! Elemental mutation successful. Wild Boar changed into Giant Boar (Earth Variant).
Class Change successfully assigned : Sounder Matriarch
Perhaps, because my intention on creating it was for it to be a monster leader, hence something new happened in the system message upon creation, the class was directly assigned as Sounder Matriarch. As soon as it was created in the first level of the second floor, the Matriarch let out a series of loud grunts. Multiple boars all over that level congregated towards its location as soon as they heard the noise. As soon as they formed a group of fifteen, I heard a system message through my spiritual connection with the Matriarch.
-> Congratulations! Creation of Sounder successful. +20% Bonus to all stats while travelling with a Sounder.
Interesting, it seems there are many yummy bonuses of being in a group, maybe I should focus on this aspect a bit more than I was planning on doing.
Encouraged by my first success, I decided to create a few more leader monsters for my creatures. I decided to create another Metal boar variant for the second level of the second floor. Once the Giant Boar with bronze metal spiky fur, and Iron tusks was created another system message popped up.
Congratulations! Elemental mutation successful. Wild Boar changed into Giant Boar (Metal Variant).
Class Change successfully assigned : Boar Elite
My second leader monster turned out to be an Elite. Contrary to my first success, this one just started marking its own territory in the second level, rather than gathering all the boars of that level. Confused by the different behavior, I stared at my two Monster leaders unsure what I had done wrong. Maybe it is the problem of elemental difference? I decided to form another Earth variant in the third level just to be sure. Again a new system message popped up.
Congratulations! Elemental mutation successful. Wild Boar changed into Giant Boar (Earth Variant).
Class Change successfully assigned : Boar Elite
Same problem appeared again. So it is not the problem of a different element. Can it be that I can only make a single leader on each floor? But that should not be the case, whenever there were such limitations the system was always very vocal about voicing them to rub my face in. So what, other differences are there between the elites and matriarchs, to encourage one to form groups while the other preferring to remain solitary. Or is it maybe the difference between the normal boars from the first level? Do they maybe have a mutation compelling them to form groups?
Checking out the wild boars from the first level I noticed that despite a group of fifteen following the Matriarch around that level, there were still some normal wild boars which were wandering around alone without joining the group. When looking at all the screens of the different boars, I finally noticed that all the solitary boars were male while the ones who joined the sounder were female. Was that the problem? When I double checked the Screens of the matriarch and elites, I realized that here too the Matriarch was female while the Elites were male.
Having realized what the problem was, the next task was easy. I started creating my next Wood Matriarch for the second level. It was a Giant Boar with dark brown to black base with a mottled or striped pattern of green and earthy tones to blend with the forest foliage. It had thick, coarse hair interspersed with leaf-like structures that provided camouflage among the underbrush and forest floor, along with longer hair along the spine, resembling moss or lichen, which can be raised to make the boar appear larger when threatened. I was happy to see it form a Sounder of nineteen in the second level.
I made a few more Metal, Wood and Earth variant Elites for all the three levels and moved on to make another Mariarch for the third level. For my third Matriarch I decided to mix it up a bit. I tried fusing the earth mana and wood mana during its creation with the aim to get a dual element variant like Vulthar. However, contrary to my expectation the two Manas started mixing together and changing into a somewhat transparent mana, which worked through the blueprint to create my third Matriarch.
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Congratulations! Elemental mutation successful. Wild Boar changed into Giant Boar (Crystal Variant).
Class Change successfully assigned : Sounder Matriarch
Somehow I found a brand new formula which I could not directly find in nature and created a new type of variant. Curious to know about this new type of mana, I asked the new Matriarch to demonstrate her abilities. She seemed to currently have two elemental abilities. One of them was Mirror rebound, where all the attacks on her seemed to get rebound on the attacker. I speculated that the Attackpower needed to exceed her endurance to be able to hurt her.
Her second power was the Kaleidoscope realm, where she creates a swirling vortex of vibrant, kaleidoscopic colors and shifting patterns. This ability disorients enemies, making it difficult for them to focus or aim accurately. Within this realm, the boar gains enhanced agility and speed, allowing it to dart through the confusion with ease, attacking and retreating swiftly. The ever-changing colors and patterns also provide the boar with temporary camouflage, making it harder for enemies to pinpoint its exact location. The Kaleidoscope Realm lasts for a short duration, creating a window of chaos that the boar can exploit to outmaneuver and overpower its foes. However this ability had only an effect for a short duration of three minutes and a long cooldown of three hours for now, making it more of an ambush skill till it was leveled up.
Although I was excited by the new mana type and skills of its particular variants, I got the feeling that this Mana might be more suited for more silent ambush creatures than Boars. Looking at all my creations, the Owls, Lynxes and Harpy Eagles seemed to be better suited for this type of Mana. Especially the Lynxes since the fliers would lose some of their air advantage when they had to get close to attack unless they were dual element creatures.
I tried to make multiple team leaders of Crystal variation among the Lynxes and Harpy Eagles, although I could make multiple Lynx Elites, both male and female, they refused to form groups unlike the boars. In the case of Harpy eagles a similar thing happened, and when I tried to add another element to the crystal mana it refused to work no matter how much I tried. After multiple failures I could only give up in making more Dual element creatures, and groups for these two species. Hence to compensate quality with quantity, I made many Crystal as well as Wind Elites for the Eagles and Earth as well as Crystal Elites for the Lynxes.
When I tried to add the Crystal mana to the Owls to make Monster leaders, I noticed that along with not forming any groups or adding multiple elements, the Owl elites could not even reach the E-Rank.
I think Dual elements only worked the previous time because Vulthar is a dungeon boss. I will have to try this again when higher Ranks are open to me. Though I still wonder why the Lynxes and fliers are still not forming any groups. Hmmm… Also the Owls, why are they stuck at F-Rank?
After much thought I tried to make another Owl Elite, this time on the second floor, as I was getting the instinctive feeling that it might have something to do with Vulthar. And lo and behold once the Elite was created in the Second floor, the amount of mana required for its creation increased twofold and the Elite that was created was a E-Rank Wind variant.
It seems like the Dungeon Boss is a special existence in a dungeon. Not only can they have special abilities, like dual elements in the case of Vulthar, but they also seem to be the cap to the Rank of my creation abilities in a specific floor. Now I wonder what would happen to the inhabitants of the first floor once they level up and somehow exceed Vulthar’s level. Do they just migrate to a deeper floor? Or Maybe fight Vulthar for his role? Questions…Questions… It seems like I should not casually assign a dungeon boss to every floor, what if I want to make stronger monsters in a floor later and then am unable to, because of the Boss cap. However the special abilities of the boss do increase my security by a lot. I need to think deeper, to decide which floors a Dungeon Boss should be assigned to.
After finding the reason for the Cap in floors I created a few more Owl elites of different Gender on the second floor, to keep the current one company. Moving on I saw that the Mandrills were moving along in a large group of hundred or so females while the males seemed to be climbing around alone all over the second floor. At least the Mandrills seemed to like to form groups. Their group structure seems to be similar to the boars, so making female leaders should do the job.
I started to make a Wood variant female since those variations seemed to be the most appropriate on the drawbridges. A Female with vibrant fur, primarily olive-green, interspersed with patches of leafy green and earthy browns, to provide excellent camouflage in dense forests took shape. Her face displayed a blend of soft, mossy textures around the cheeks and forehead, while her elongated nose was adorned with vine-like patterns, resembling intricate ivy. Her mane, a mix of traditional fur and delicate, fern-like fronds, adds an exotic touch. Her limbs were robust, covered in bark-like skin, and her fingers and toes had root-like tendrils, enhancing her grip and interaction with the forest environment. And as soon as she was created she went to join the group.
Congratulations! Elemental mutation successful. Mandrill changed into Clamber Mandrill (Wood Variant).
Class Change successfully assigned : Mandrill Elite
Did it succeed? She joined the group so she should be the leader now right? Is Elite the class for group leader in the case of Mandrills? So confusing.
Just to be sure I decided to make another Elite so that the huge group could be made into two separate groups. This time I decided on a Poison Variant. On her creation another female Mandrill, adorned in earthy tones and vibrant greens, with venomous fangs hidden beneath her leaf-patterned cheeks took shape. Her fur shimmered with a toxic hue, a warning to invaders. Her eyes, like emeralds, betray a cunning intellect matched only by her deadly grace in the difficult terrain. This time too the female Elite made her way to the group and joined it. However nothing else of note happened to the group.
Similar behavioral patterns happened to the next few elites of wood, earth and wind. When I saw the group was still not splitting I realized that the Elites might really not be the leaders. Deciding to give it one more try, this time I decided to make a Male Mandrill. I tried to mix Metal and wood thís time to see whether I could find any new type of mana, similar to last time where I found crystal. I have to experiment with different types of mana, when I am free, to see what new types of mana I can create. I thought to myself even as I continued to prepare the new blueprint. Finally A new class appeared upon creation of a male leader. A male Mandrill, in majestic sapphire and gold hues, possessing resonant throat sacs resembling ancient runes took shape. His mane danced with sound waves, weaving mystical melodies that would mesmerize his foes. His piercing gaze, amplified by his sonic prowess, commanded respect.
Congratulations! Elemental mutation successful. Mandrill changed into Clamber Mandrill (Sound Variant).
Class Change successfully assigned : Horde Alpha
As soon as the Alpha took shape, he ran into the hoard with a shrill cry. A small group of male Mandrills who had gone unnoticed among all the females split off from the horde to face the Alpha. After a short fight where the Alpha defeated all the other males with his soundwave attack, the Horde Alpha took his rightful position as Alpha while the other males followed him with defeated and resigned expressions.
Oh so Mandrill hordes have male leaders instead of female ones. Each species seems to have their own group structure. I think the previous fliers and Lynxes did not form groups, because it is not in the nature of their species as a whole to form groups. I wonder if there is an easier way to find the social structure of all my species, rather than making elite pairs of each species. It does take up a lot more mana to make elites and leaders than normal critters.
I again took a look at the Ant blueprint, since it was my go to blueprint for experimentation. After making a few Ant elites of different elemental variation I was able to make an Ant Queen. However even during the entire process of creation I did not feel any nudge or Instinct telling me the Ant Queen would be the leader of the Ants beforehand. Bringing up the Ant blueprint again to make another queen, this time I let only a drop of mana enter the blueprint to light it up for the creation process, without continuing creation, to see what would happen. That is when I noticed that small portions of the blueprint where the genetic code were written, were the first to light up. Putting all my focus on these parts, knowledge about ants, their behavioral pattern, social structure, Anatomy ect. Seemed to rush to the forefront of my mind.
Well I think I found a solution to my problem, I guess. I thought to myself as I injected the rest of the mana to make a second queen. You can govern your people on the second floor, little one. I told it as I moved on to my creatures on the first floor. And that is when I realized that most of the creatures in my first floor were solidory critters. Heaving a sigh, I made a few Elites for each species and let them be.