After a month of continuous excavation and matter-mana conversion I had already realized that my plans for my third floor would be taking longer than expected. Luckily for me, I had started my digging from the bottom up. Hence I decided to go further along with my plans, in parallel to my excavations so that my landscape had the time to settle in and grow, which might save me time in the long run. After a month of Excavation I already had a room of ten kilometer square area and two hundred meters in height to work with.

At the end of the second week I started with a Redwood Tree dead center of my room. At the end of my one month of digging, the redwood was already at the height of around eighty meters. So, I decided to plant my second tree - the Banyan tree, one of my newest available additions. Now, the thing about Banyan trees is that, instead of growing up like other trees, banyan trees do something strange. They act like vines and propagate themselves using “host” plants to establish their entangled trunks and broad branches. So it figuratively “walks” along by putting down roots wherever and however it can and then once it’s taken hold, it keeps putting down roots laterally as far as it can go.

Hence, I put down the Banyan seed on one of my Redwood branches and let both my trees grow naturally in the mana rich environment as I continued my digging upward. Once the seed started germinating. The banyan’s roots started to grow in the moss found on the redwood branch. As the trees continued to grow, its roots, initially confined to the surface of the redwood bark, began to spread. At first, the roots dangled in the air, but as they grew longer they began to cling to the redwood’s bark, slowly descending towards the floor. In some parts, the banyan tree’s aerial roots wrapped around the redwood’s trunk as they descended, creating a complex network of roots that eventually encased parts of the redwood. However, luckily since the redwood is a massive and robust tree, it was not negatively affected by the banyan’s growth unlike a smaller host tree might have been. And once the roots made contact with the soil, they anchored themselves and began to thicken, becoming more like secondary trunks. The banyan, once able to access the soil, no longer competed for resources directly with the redwood. Instead, the two trees started to coexist in a unique ecological relationship.

Since, the amount of mana had a direct correlation to my digging speed and the growth speed of the trees, both my speed of digging and growth of trees increased exponentially as more and more mana was trapped inside the room, converted from all the soil dug up. Thus, by the end of the third month the room had almost reached the height of three kilometers. Meanwhile the Redwood tree had grown to the massive height of two thousand seven hundred meters, while the Banyan tree started its canopy from the height of around one thousand eight hundred meters. The trunks of both trees together encompass a staggering width of six hundred meters, with their upper branches varying in length between one to three hundred meters. However, when you went lower you could see the tree spreading out, with humongous branches hundreds of meters thick, and even the shortest being around five hundred meters in length. The Banyan on the other hand let down its lateral roots, thus spreading across the whole ten kilometer square area, and still showing the tendency to continue spreading further.

Obviously, I had made slight mutations to the seeds to make this kilometers tall structural wonder possible. The final outcome came into fruition due to a series of modifications, which included a widespread buttress root system, ultra dense fibrous wood far denser than normal wood and finally most importantly advanced capillary system to transport water and nutrients the vast distance required along with leaf adaptations to make the leaves able to capture water vapors directly from the air. To give my trees a healthy growth and even out any deficiencies I also added a small spring of lesser Health potion hidden amongst the roots of the Redwood and Banyan tree. The leftover spring water after the absorption by the trees, would meander through the room as a tiny brook and join the other future water sources, to provide my future water sources a minute regenerating effect.

After filling my biggest room yet, with just two trees, while continuing to extend laterally to give my Banyan tree more space to grow than, just the ten square kilometer area it was already inhabiting. I moved on to the other living organisms inhabiting this floor and of course, had to start with the organisms which had a symbiotic relationship with the current two inhabitants of the room. Thus, I started with Fig wasps which were the main Pollinators for Banyan trees. In the outside world only these wasps could pollinate Banyan flowers, and in return they laid their eggs in their fruits. Obviously, I have to make them bigger to match the size of the flowers currently borne by the trees, and give them Metal variation, because why not?

Furthermore, I created the Mycorrhizal fungi, some with water and some with earth variation. These fungi would help trees to access water and nutrients from farther away, and they along with Cloud moss, a water absorbent moss in the upper reaches of the trees, would be the main benefactors in keeping the trees healthy. Despite me currently seeing no defensive benefit in these two variants, unlike the Metal stingers of the Fig wasps, they are nonetheless a necessary part of the new ecosystem of the room.

Now for the sake of imitation and to fuck with the minds of my intruders, let me create the Glimmer bees. They are Bees with light variation. Concurrently, the bees closely resembled their cousins the Fig wasps, with the wasps having golden metallic striation, while the bees had striations made from glimmering light which was only properly visible at night. Despite my fondness for imitation, I added the bees mostly because I had a hunch that the trees might produce special flowers and fruits, what with all the added mutations and being continuously irrigated with health potions. I was already curious about what properties their honey would have.

Continuing on, I added Redwood Sorrel, Sword ferns and Various poisonous and non-poisonous Mushrooms to the Ground. Of course I felt that Sword Ferns were not living up to their name and thus added metallic property to them making them razor sharp but still retain the normal flexibility of ferns. I again added insects, rodents, amphibians, snakes and boars to this area. My two newest additions were one, the Roe Deer and the other the Turkey. The Deer I left as it was for now, but I mixed Water and Fire Mana to make Steam Mana which I added to the Turkey to make it a steam variant. Having knowledge in modifying brains in monster leaders to make them more intelligent, I did the same for the Turkey and added a little bit of extra Essence to it, just to see what would happen. A one and half meter tall Turkey enveloped in an ethereal aura of swirling steam with deep, smoky gray feathers took shape. Its feathers constantly emitted wisps of steam, as though the turkey itself is smoldering from within. The steam, imbued with mana, gives the bird an almost ghostly appearance, as if it’s fading in and out of reality. To my surprise the System message showed me that my Turkey had an extra attribute.

Congratulations! Creation of Mistwalker Turkey (Steam Variant) successful. Due to enhanced mental faculties Turkey has awakened additional Mental attributes.

Mental Power classification: Illusionist

Shit, have I been missing out on hundreds of possibilities due to the limitation of my imagination? Now I have to totally experiment on this subject to see what exactly I have been missing out on this whole time. Checking on its status screen, I saw that in addition to the two abilities granted by its steam variation, which are Fog of Displacement and Scalding Veil, it also had another ability called the Illusions of the Mist. In which it used its mental powers in conjunction with steam mana to create lifelike illusions with some resistance and body temperature offered from the vapors. A way to make my creatures even deadlier? Awesome!!!

Now that I saw the possibilities, I obviously had to utilize them. So I went back to my Roe Deer template, modified it slightly to make the deer bigger and its antlers deadlier. When I was done with the template, I pumped it full of Light Mana and Essence. A glowing, almost transparent white deer, with shimmering light emanating from its body took shape. Its presence feels like a fleeting moment of reality, as if it was only half-existing in the material world, constantly seeming on the verge of phasing out. The Deer much to my surprise, could almost float, and took to the branches of the Banyan tree, using its interconnected branches as roads for it to travel around.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Congratulations! Creation of Wraith Deer(Light Variant) successful. Due to enhanced Soul Essence Deer has awakened additional Spiritual power attributes.

I see where this is going. Pump full of Essence, awaken Spiritual attributes, whereas slight injection of Essence to enhance the brain awakens Mental Attributes. However, it seems that Spiritual power does not have any further classification, whereas mental powers does. I wonder what the other classifications are, and whether this will work every time as long as I put in the effort?

A few hundred Turkeys down the line, I realized how lucky I got with my first one. Since any extra enhancements to the blueprint needed to be handcrafted each time as long as they were not permanent mutation, I realized how difficult it was to make the exact same brain. Most of my turkeys ended up with no mental powers, while a few of them got classes of mental powers I deemed useless or of little use for now such as Retrognition, Empathy, Sensory Enhancement etc. I was almost crying of happiness when I finally got a Turkey with Mind control.

I decorated my upper layers further with Monstera vines and Arcade Blue Orchids, a very precious magical plant with the ability to store Mana from its surroundings, and if I got lucky sucked the mana from the intruders who unsuspectingly got close to it. Finally I added Luminous Moss as an apology to all my Intruders for making their lives so difficult as they would probably have to spend a few nights on tree branches. Of course, glowing Moss will also help my creatures find the intruders more easily at night. Whahahahah.

And because I found that life was not hard enough for my intruders, I decided to add Black Panthers with Shadow Mana and Spiritual attributes, so the opposite of my Celestial Deers. Metal Scaled Anacondas with Telekinesis, as well as Water Salamanders with Mental manipulation into the mix. Oh and let us not forget the Giant Eagles and Monkey hordes with elemental variation. But I will play nice this time, and will not let the Mandrills loose once again on this floor. Nope, luckily I got another species of tiny cute fellows, the Spix's Night Monkey. Each individual weighs only around one Kilogram, see you can not find a more hospitable core in a hundred mile radius. Let us just push the fact that they are one of the most aggressive monkey species, quietly under the rug. Lala lala twirling my thumbs, nothing else happening here Lala lala la.

When I was somewhat satisfied with the current flora and fauna covering the current floor, I moved on to my next great Idea, my Entrance. From what I had gathered from my extensive experience of scolding the system messages, is that there should be a passable way to reach from one floor to the next. However, in my infinite wisdom I thought. To make the way passable does not necessarily mean to make the way easy. Thus came my newest creation: a vertical tunnel of twenty meters diameter at the very top of my three kilometer tall room with hand and footholds cut into the walls, leading to my second floor. I started digging my entrance tunnel from my third floor up towards the second floor.

Of course I will leave the poor buggers a small ledge at the end of their thirty meter rock climbing session, so that they can rest for a while before finding a way to jump from the ledge to one of the nearest topmost branches of the Redwood tree, I am not totally heartless. The fact that when I finish digging this tunnel, the river water from the second floor will be falling down the same tunnel, and that they have to climb down the waterfall with the water pressure getting higher as they climb lower is purely physics and not my fault. I really want to make it easier for you, my dear intruders, but my trees absolutely need the mist generated by a three thousand thirty meters high waterfall, to meet their water requirements through leaf absorption. It is definitely not me making it difficult for you guys, by making the falls so tall, No, with their added benefits of lower visibility, extreme terrain, making everything slippery and looking damn beautiful they are a need not a want. Hopefully my plan works, and this will be deemed as appropriate entrance.

Now that I think about it, I should really create Leeches as it is the perfect environment for them, and mutate them to take in more blood and make their mouths really big. Especially since leech wounds have the added anti-coagulating property benefit. Too bad I do not have their blueprint. Should I maybe tell the goblins to sacrifice some to me? Hhhmm. It would be especially funny to see their faces afterwards when they get bitten by the same leeches. He he he.

Halfway through digging the tunnel I got another great Idea, which was to push all my Essence reserves into the Redwood and Banyan tree structure, which by now had become so entangled, they were almost a single structure. Maybe I can make them sentient, like my first contractors, three kilometer tall treants would be cool.

A few days later I finally managed to finish the entrance. And the divine messages announced several unexpected things at the same time.

Congratulations! Your third floor has been completed. Reward: 1XP

Congratulations! Your fourth floor has been completed. Reward: 1XP

Congratulations! Your Fifth floor has been completed. Reward: 1XP

If my assumptions are correct, then each kilometer in floor height was taken as one floor. But I have a nagging suspicion this only came about because there were challenges on each height area. I am pretty sure they would not have made it into floors if the three kilometers were filled with air. Now the questions come, why does this not apply to horizontal areas? Or have I not reached my limits yet? Improbable. Hmmm, so the only way to make multiple floors is to either build several kilometers vertically, or probably by making some kind of separations between lateral surfaces. Hhmmmm.

Before I was finished processing the implications the next message came.

Congratulations! Your Dungeon has given birth to sentient Creatures.

Fraternal twins of high ranked Dryant race have been born. Rank: E

Note: Please expand the room with the growth of the twins.

Warning: Please upgrade Dungeon as soon as possible to prevent Dungeon creatures outgrowing your Dungeon.

Looking down I saw two babies holding hands and lying beneath the trees. The male druze, with emerald eyes and hair like cascading autumn leaves, reflected the towering strength of the redwood, his small limbs echoed the tree’s rugged bark. His twin sister, delicate and adorned with vibrant flowers, embodies the banyan's intricate grace, her hair was entwined with aerial roots. Damn, I was hoping for strong treant defenders, what the heck should I do with these babies.

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Status Screen Name : (Unnamed) Age : 168 days Class: Void Creature Species: Dungeon Core Level : F Experience : 23/100 INT (Intelligence): E DEF (Defense): G KR (Knowledge Repartoir): 4/100 STBC (Stability of Core): 13.64% Mana Pool: 570/2000 Essence: 478/1000 A/M Conversion: 2.5 M/sec Essence Regen.: 0.25 E/sec. DIV (Divine Favour) 0.00024% Abilities: Creation and Design, Spawn and Control Monsters, Trap Generation, Resource Management, Environmental Manipulation, Bonds Extra Ability: Mutation and Evolution, Artistic Conception (Passive), Disease and Healing, Guidance (Dungeon Creature) Titles: Contractor