There are a number of unique effects that venom can cause. Dungeon Heart had a lot of content and this reality only added to it. If he really thought about it, there were ways to manipulate people and adventurers. However, he wasn’t sure if he had the flexibility to do this scheme.

There were three possible ways to reach outside of the dungeon. The first was a hive mind, sending a drone out into the world. This could work, it also could not work - it ultimately depended on what the dungeons does or provides to dominated creatures.

The next possibility was a mind parasite. He could create one eventually, the big issue was whether the mind parasite can leave this dungeon while controlling a host. If he could control a human through a parasite, that would allow him to solve a lot of his problems. Like the hive mind, it might work and it might not.

The third possibility, and the one with the best success, was to create a mind-altering venom that caused adventurers to bring what he wanted. In theory, it should be possible. There were venoms and poisons that increased aggression, greed, lust, and other possible parts of the brain. In the game, there was nothing stopping afflicted adventurers from leaving, and he doubted that the fog wall would cleanse them of status effects.

The issue with all of this was that these cost soul points he didn’t have to waste. Creating a hive mind dungeon creature was the most expensive option, and he didn’t have the right type of insects to create a mind parasite. The system and abilities he has allow him to customize the creature’s biology, creature’s behavior, but he didn’t have the ability to greatly customize venom.

In the game, venom and poisons had to be bought from a skill tree to be used. Here, it was a little different. Instead, like dungeon grass for [Create Dungeon Organism], there are five pre-created poisons of different types. They were labeled ‘neurotoxic,’ ‘haemotoxic,’ ‘violence stimulant,’ ‘greed stimulant,’ and ‘internal hemorrhaging.’

He had chosen ‘neurotoxic' as many of the others either didn’t cause damage or wouldn’t stop the victim from leaving the dungeon. Many of these poisons didn’t work as venom, and many others were only viable if he had at least a second floor.

In other words, he didn’t have a way to create a venom or otherwise force adventurers to get the supplies he needed. There was the option that he could, in some way, influence the adventurers, but he had no way to attempt that. He had no understanding of the culture, language, or beliefs of the adventurers. For all he knew, a modern city was just outside of his dungeon.

Hmmm… He can postpone that for a little bit. He had collected some mold when he was catching insects. Fungi were very different from plants, with the biggest reason being they aren’t foundational to a food chain. At least, not in the game.

Alex found himself in a very strange direction of thought. As he was thinking over everything, he realized something. Plants were autotrophs, they made their food from photosynthesis. However, there is very little light in the dungeon. So, what was his dungeon grass used to create calories and grow.

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“Dungeon fairy, where are you?” he shouted. After a few moments, the fuzzy image of his dungeon fairy appeared.

“How can I be of service, Dungeon Lord?”

“Dungeon grass doesn’t have sunlight, what does it use to grow?”

The dungeon fairy thought for a minute before replying, “Dungeon grass uses residual power from the dungeon core and mana from the overworld to function. However, there appears to be a misunderstanding.”

“What?”

“Dungeon grass is not a complete organism.”

“What do you mean?”

The dungeon fairy looked at him before replying, “How many soul points would it take to create a blade of grass?”

Alex thought for a moment and realized what the dungeon fairy was suggesting. He skipped ahead and replied, “So the reason dungeon grass is so cheap is because it isn’t a real organism?”

The dungeon fairy answered, “Starting out, dungeon lords don’t have the capital to create new organisms. Struggling to feed their creatures and create breathable air was a common struggle, that is why they added dungeon grass as a temporary solution.”

Alex caught the loaded word and quickly asked back, “Who are ‘they?’”

The dungeon fairy was confused and replied, “What do you mean, ‘they?’”

Alex didn’t push it, he developed a hunch that it would only cause the dungeon fairy to glitch out again. He reviewed all of his time playing the game. Dungeon grass had few uses, and was pretty much only used to create dungeon soil. It was expensive to upgrade, it was simply better to use seeds from adventurers or plant monsters.

The wooden monster that had attacked him didn’t have any seeds, he checked. He didn’t have enough soul points to tame it either, nor did he have a way to store and weaken it to make taming easier. Fusing organisms together was something he could do at level 2 to a certain degree, but true fusion was something that happened at level 4.

At that level, he could just have taken a vine and fused it with dungeon grass. At this stage, he needed a living plant and added dungeon grass characteristics to create a genuine dungeon plant. Seeds counted as a complete and living plant, making this process easier.

“So, how does dungeon grass actually work?”

“Without a mana system, it uses soul points to work. A single soul point has a lot of power. Combined with mana pillaged from outside, the dungeon grass is able to grow and reproduce.”

“Wouldn’t that mean that, eventually, all the dungeon grass here will die?”

“Yes.”

“So how am I supposed to feed plants?”

“You were supposed to have a mana system by now.”

“...HOW? I barely have enough soul points to survive. I can’t even repair the dungeon core with how fucking broke I am. If you want to say something as stupid as that, give me the soul points I was supposed to get as a reward!”

That shut the dungeon fairy up. Well, this was enlightening. It turned out that the dungeon grass was so nutritional bankrupt because it wasn’t really grass or food, only a magical imitation.

So, that leaves the question, how can he create the foundation for his dungeon’s ecosystem?