Chapter 2 (Part 1 of 2)

A dungeon is a place filled with mystery. The longer I study them the more question I posses. How can something closer to godliness than a mortal could ever comprehend be so stupid? If a dungeon had the brains of a mortal they could conquer the world, grow an empire that spanned across time and entire civilizations.

-(Master Mage Pierre Augustus, the ‘Dungeon Scholar’)

(Adventurer Guild Master's Office, Edgar’s POV)

It had been three days since we found the dungeon and sent word of it to both the closest elven city of Mapleton, 7 days travel from the dungeon, and the nearest human city Whiterock, named after the massive deposits of marble common in the area. Still the policy around dungeon discovery was that the full details were required to be reported in person at the closest settlement with a guildhouse. We arrived at Whiterock last night just before the gates closed but now we had to go report our findings.

“Are you sure it’s even a dungeon?” A haughty voice asked, the man was dressed up more outlandishly than almost every women I’d ever met. My family was lower class nobility in one of the Eastern Kingdoms but I had never met someone as ostentatious as Baron Gable. He was a short man barely 160 cm (5’3”) but he made up for it with the wedges on his shoes to give him another 10 cm (approx. 4”). Still it was his arrogant attitude and the crazy way he dressed that got me. The silver scaled tunic was fine if flamboyant with it’s ruby studded trim and buttons. Besides that he had a massive silver and red plumed buccaneer style hat with skin tight red leggings underneath his tunic which just emphasized how puny and scrawny his legs were. However, the real kicker was the feathered sword belt. He had a jeweled and gaudy rapier that was a mere ornamentation on his belt but it was the trail of feather plumes that dragged behind him almost touching the ground. What kind of man wants a feathered tail to follow him everywhere, can he even sit down I thought.

“Yes we have confirmation on the dungeon isn’t that right Edgar?” Snapping back to attention. I gave no indication of my lack of attention a skill I’d trained for over a decade in my younger years.

“It is most certainly a dungeon, so far our knowledge of it points to a plant and bird based dungeon with water, earth, and lightning attributes. This could be a massive boon to the surrounding area especially with how rare plant and lightning type dungeons are.” Lightning dungeons were some of the most popular dungeons because of the unique items they can produce but are also the rarest attribute for a dungeon to posses. While plant types are just as rare and often bring in high ranking alchemists into an area.

The guild master and Baron Gable kept debating about the specifics of them all I slowly tuned them out. I don’t really care how long it takes them to find a suitable number of craftsmen or the specifics of the supply chain. Sure I am happy to reap the benefits of a functional in or tavern but the most important part to me was getting back in the dungeon as soon as possible. It might be low level but our team wouldn’t have to worry about competition and this was was a very rare specimen of it’s kind.

“Your team will have to head back to the dungeon, I want daily reports on the dungeon so we can further analyze the materials and see if anything new pops up. Make sure no one takes the core, this dungeon is the best thing to happen to the area in a long time.” I looked up and nodded at the guild master. Our kingdom was a relatively weak one and this could go a long way in improving it if the dungeon kept growing. The baron had slipped out while I zoned out after mumbling something about informing the king I think.

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*****

(Dungeon POV)

The monster’s died but after the adventurers left I realized that about 90% of the mana used to create them returned to me and the 10% loss was more than made up for by the mana I managed to siphoned off of the adventurers when they were here. The adventurers gave off an aura of life for lack of a better world, as they fought I could collect fragments of it and it was like pure adrenaline in my system, it turned into large amounts of mana. In total I earned about 1,000 mana from the adventurers after factoring in the cost of spawning new monsters and birds.

Dungeon: Arvid

Mana: 4,354

Mana Regen: 19 mp/h

Skills: Dungeon Manipulation, Earth Magic, Water Magic, Forest Spirit Flame (Divine Flame), Heavenly Lightning Flame (Divine Flame), Creature Creation

Now it was time to truly finish my first floor. I created 7 more rooms each roughly the size of the third room but not all of them were such perfect squares these ones had more rounded edges and sides. I linked them all with short narrow hallways like before. There was only one path through my dungeon and to each step forward was to be paved with blood.

Now in order to really challenge adventurers I needed stronger monsters, the ones I had now were just regular animals or weaklings. It was time to start experimenting, I’d been jumping to due this since the beginning but was too worried about the mana cost, now I had no choice I needed stronger monsters. Looking at the hawk flying just over my core I grinned it would be the first.

*****

I’d wasted almost 2,000 mana but I think I had my new monsters finally. In total I had created four new monsters. The hawks became static hawks which were twice the size and had a kind of electrical defense. I had infused their wing and tail feathers with lightning mana causing the feathers to turn a goldish yellow color. Personally I thought they looked stupid with their brownish colored bodies and bright yellow tail and wings but looks weren’t what mattered. When attacked the inherit lightning mana in their bodies automatically counterattack, currently it was mostly just painful but it did  slightly stun the attacker and deaden nerves..

The woodpeckers were also greatly improved. I decided to experiment of making them armor. Infusing their feathers with earth mana and then fusing the hair follicles which made of the feathers with magnetite ore them into a metal version of their former selves. The change to metalback woodpeckers caused their defenses to greatly strengthen but flight was greatly hindered they could still climb the trees but from their they attacked by jumping down and have gliding half falling at adventurers.

The most startling change I had brought about was the dewdrop birds. The hummingbirds lost some aspects of their physical form and took on more slime or water like qualities. They would reform if cut in half or smashed and only magic or certain skills could be used to kill them. Basically they were water slimes in the form of hummingbirds but the system still considered them a bird type since they evolved from hummingbirds which was good to know.

The last monster was one I had created solely with my own knowledge of plants and earth magic. The mossy boar was formed using a mana stone core that was then seeded with moss and manipulated by earth magic. A mixture of golem and plant, unlike true golems it would grow stronger like a plant over time if it survived. In the future I would make more creations like this I already had a bigger version in mind but it was to strong and mana intensive for now.

The only downside was the costs to the new monsters. Dewdrop birds were the cheapest at 50 mana, metalback woodpeckers cost 60 mana, static hawks cost 75 mana, and mossy boars which were by far the strongest cost 200 mana. Even though it was expensive it was still worth it if I could ensure my survival and continued growth.