*Okay enough of this for the moment we can’t even create them anyways yet until I make five floors so how do we do that you said each floor has to have five regular monsters and a boss right do I need to make a certain number of rooms and how do I carve those out do I just use the golems I have or is there another way?*
Putting her hand to her lips she says
“Well you could let the golems do all the digging but it would take longer for you to do it that way. Alright you know that feeling when you pushed your mana to the entrance I want you to now push it into the rock surrounding the tunnel and go till you hit any ore vanes. Typical ore you will find is copper and iron but gold might show up we are in the mountains.”
Following her advice I began to push the mana I was using to see into the rocks when the walls absorbed my mana the color changed to a lighter brown as it pushes further. After a few hours of this, I stumbled along a small copper deposit.
*Okay I found a deposit of copper what do I do with it?*
Sending her own mana out into the wall I indicated had the ore she nodded
“About twelve feet into the rock before a vein huh ? Not bad I guess too bad about the other types though we will just have to make veins of them after we get some samples off of weapons and jewelry.”
“Well to begin with just study the copper till you have a high level of understanding of it once your done you can either leave it there or completely absorb it to make more of it later. Once you know the pattern for it you’ll be able to make an infinite amount anyways. Most of the time the sentient races come to dungeons for this kind of stuff.”
After about an hour of studying the base compounds of the copper I was able to make a bar d of it appear in front of Cera.
Knugging if with her foot “ well that didn’t take too long I’m surprised you were able to refine it to pure copper though.”
“I guess we might as well get into how you make monsters to protect yourself and me”
Flying over to a wall in the cavern she grabbed a spider off of it as it flailed in the air she continued to speak.
“Dungeons mainly survive by making it monsters and traps to use to fight invaders since your core is too new you don’t have any minions besides that golem skill you were gifted, golems while powerful are limited in their action so unless you can make them truly sentient the won’t move till you command them making it much more difficult for a dungeon to survive trying to split it focus into multiple monsters that require complete control to fight at top performance. Making monsters with base instincts is better and they let you still control them but they have a base survival level that lets them know if you die and they are still in the dungeon they will die too.”
Holding the spider up to my line of sight she motioned
“Just like how you made the walls absorb your mana feed it to the spider to make it into a monster. Now be warned some monsters won’t obey you if the have some intelligence ,this spider might so first you either need to kill the animal or monster or force it to submit to your will beforehand. “
Trying to connect to the spiders mind to speak to it all I got were pieces of it killing small insects.
Sending an image of the insects it killed but many more in number the spider froze as it took in the sight.
After a moment the connection to the spider became clearer and the desire for the insects I showed was strong
“Well the spider has calmed down so I guess you bonded with it?” Cera hinted at
*I think so I gave it an image of food being in abundance and it sent back a strong desire for it. *
Looking down at the spider she had placed on the ground she noticed how it acted like a small puppy waiting for a treat.
“Well gaining its obedience by an offer of food is one way but just remember though the spider is expecting food. When a creature makes a deal with a dungeon or is born of it the need for food and water disappears for as long as they stay inside of it. It makes them last longer than starving or going cannibal on the other inhabitants.”
Glancing up at my sight line again
“Well give it a small amount of mana and push it into is body we will need to make base mobs before a boss can be made so they have a hierarchy.”
Pushing a small amount of mana into the spider it began to shake slightly. Growing to the size of a dog the spiders legs became robust with a tinge of flexibly to them the body of the spider became darker and looked to be made of rock forming a crude outline of a bolder sitting in the tunnel.the eyes of the spider formed a pair of two squares on the sides of it face its fangs grew wider as a smaller second set appeared below them being longer than the top set.
The spider stood up seeming more intelligent than before scanning its surroundings before hunkering down in the corner of the room to wait.
“Okay that looks cool. Cera quipped. I think it is an ambush predator seeing as it went to the corner to wait for food. Kind of looks like a large rock.”
“Why not give it a command to catch more insects for you , that way you can make mobs out of all of them.”
After giving the large spider the order it walked off into the tunnels to catch anything.
“Well since we have that going why don’t we start by making some rooms while we wait for the spider to comeback.“
Pointing to the walls she smiled.
“You do this kind of like how you made the spider grow take the mana you pushed into the rocks and tell it to move till you have enough space to build what you want.”
“Now a good thing to know is that once your mana seeps into the stone it will naturally spread away from you giving you more control because I had you sink your mana into the whole tunnel the spread will be slow but continues just know that you can stop the mana the same way you made the bubble on the entrance. ”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The spider wandered off down the tunnels to look for prey, following Cera’s tips I enlarge the tunnel we were in into a set of 5 rooms making them completely dry except for the stream that was flowing down the middle thinking about it I decided to lower the surrounding ground around the river making a large swamp that spanned the first five rooms in the fifth room I expanded the bottom making a large pond that was about forty foot deep. At the back of the room the rivers current went into the wall and flowed into the rest of the tunnel.by the time I finished this task the spider had killed a variety of animals including a frog and a catfish somehow! Lots of insects died too so there was now a great range of animals I could turn into monsters. Putting the catfish into the pond I made on the fifth room I add mana to its body causing the catfish to grow from a mere two foot long to a whopping fifteen feet long with it was the size of a bear it’s whiskers on its face lengthen to about six feet growing large barbs on the side giving it a sinister look. Filling the rest of the swamp I made with other smaller mobs made from the insects,
I turned to look at Cera
*So how does it look?*
Flying around the level she seemed to be impressed.
“Looks good you have a great range of mobs here I see you didn’t use the spider though.”
Glancing down past the fifth room the spider was heading towards the raven to look for more food.
*I didn’t think it would like to live in the swamp most of the floor is covered in water that would go to my waste if I was still a human.*
Small mounds protruded out making island chains where the land based mobs scurried about those who couldn't claim one fled to the ceiling or deeper into the dungeon.Plenty of water based life has flowed into the cave now making the types of non mob food swell so I thought it could go scout out the raven for use.”
“Guess that works,”she said while crossing her arms. “ Make sure you grow some plants in here too even if they don’t need light they can still thrive because of your mana , Also don’t be afraid to experiment and find different combinations. “
With that the water filled rooms and tunnels began to burst with flora causing the insects to chirp and sing finding a stable food supply. The catfish sat at the bottom of the pond awaiting for food or some of the larger insects I made and random depree coming into the cave
After I was satisfied with the look a blue box popped into my vision
Congratulations you have completed your first floor! By making it an ecosystem you have succeeded in making an essens generator. Be warned by producing more mana you will cause other races to come to investigate the new source, dungeon cores though rarely found are considered a high mana compound these newcomers might try to use your core for their own personal use.
Reward dungeon mana may now leave one hundred feet from any entrance granting vision for the core
“So you got a reward huh?”
*Wait can you see the box too?*
Nodding she pointed at the box
‘Yeah most dungeon wisps can see their bonded partners quests and rewards it helps us make sure the core is on task we can also give quests to the core that have the core complete major tasks.’
Another blue box appeared
You have received the quest Birth of a new Race with your base race design made your wisp has decided that it is one of your top missions completing this will grant you one mana seed.
*What’s a mana seed?*
“Mana seeds are a reward dungeon wisps can give it will have one of a 100 rewards inside that can be a new mob or material for the dungeon.”
*Soo more gambling huh?*
“Eh most dungeons have a large dosage of greed so the gods and us wisps figured it was a good way to keep them in line. Also mana seeds are the highest reward wisps can give. There are other rewards so never feel like you collected all of them.” She said matter of factly
Digging a little ways down the tunnel from the end of the first floor I extended down and form a second floor giving this one a maze like structure I created ten rooms with paths leading back to the first room,the rivers flowed through all of them leading to holes in the walls where the water would regroup in the final room and continue to flow through the tunnel.
*Hmm maybe just continue with the maze design for now but what to put into the second floor*
Placing many different types of plants down all over the maze I noticed a plant that looked like it had a maw on the tip of it.
Thinking of a certain plummer I placed the plant in the final room and fed it mana with a certain image in mind. The plant shook as its maw expanded to the size of a small car and its stem expanded spawning more off shoots growing smaller maws the size of a large dog. The roots of the plant burst from the ground and rushed up the small holes in its room leading to the other rooms there it grew another head the size of a cat.
“Well that looks interesting what kind of monster is it?”
*It’s called a carnivorous plant jaws variation. It seems to have an ability called main body hydra.*
“Oh! I know that ability it’s named after the beast that created it hydras are a multihead giant lizard that can regenerate its heads after they are cut off.Im assuming main body means as long as one of the extra heads are alive the main one will grow back.”
*So it’s able to live forever? that seems overpowered.*
“Eh not really if the body is too damaged it won't be able to regrow the head, lots of different types of magic can stop it as well so it's not invincible.”
The new boss plant quickly took over the rest of the room causing its roots and leaves to block the tunnel leading further down to the canyon.
“Seems like your boss mobs have the right attitude, they instinctively cover the exit so they have to be fought to continue.”
*Oh yeah, I read a lot of books in my world and in those stories people would run by the bosses to steal the better loot so the first floor forces them to fight to find the stairs down I think the way it show is gonna turn some heads.*
“Well I wouldn’t build anymore floors for now too many after a dungeon is born causes people to be scared and possibly want to destroy or seal the dungeon for being advanced for its age. For now cause a cave in after the 2 floor boss and fill it with water as well this will make it nearly impossible for mages and average people to continue.”
*Isn’t that just as suspicious*
“Nah most of the intelligent races think it’s because the core is scared and think the next room is the core they won’t try to get in because if you die the loot never appears again.”
Dropping the tunnel after the second floor boss I filled it with boulders and raise the water level up to match the second level.
“Okay your first two floors are done now you can continue building or we can work on the entrance.”
*Do I need to do the entrance don’t I want to stay hidden?*
“Nope.” She said with a pop at the end “Dungeons that stay hidden usually get killed for their core by a dark guild because no one else knows about them. The more groups that find you the better”.
*Okay makes sense. Anything I should do to it beside make it open like the tunnels?*
“Make sure the water flows in still , Oh maybe a tunnel from the source that will feed no matter what happens outside would be good.”
Sending my sight out of the cave entrance I was able to see a large pond directly in front of the tunnel entrance to the left and right of the entrance was a cliff that must of went up fifty feet or so in the shape of a crescent moon the cliff lessened till there was a spot on the other side that was slightly higher than the tunnel.
*Guess I’ll make the cliffs steeper so no one can com from behind.*
Evening the cliff to a flat wall and curving the rest to the pond like a large broken bowl I decide to raise some pillars out of the water big enough for one human to stand on placing them about six feet from each other it took twelve of them to reach the other side. Outside of the cliff face I could see about twenty more feet to the beginning of a forest , nothing ……. nothing at all total darkness.
*Hey Cera where are we exactly?*
Fluttering over to my core she peered into it. ”Well location wise we are on the northern continent real far to the top in the mountain range called Spine of the Giant. It's an old belief that this mountain range is actually a corpse of a giant and that why it sucks up all the mana in the area no races live up here but adventurers will come here for resources and training.”
*Wait a minute it sucks up mana? Doesn’t the ground already do that and why a Giant?*
“Well the ground here sucks up more mana because littering this place are stones call Grim Touch they are pure white and negate magic so a lot of people’s magic skills fail here because they drink up the mana used in the spell”
Putting her hand to her chin “the giant part I think is because of what it looks like from the south. The mountain range looks like a giant was toppled and the ribs and the spine are all that remain also grim touch is believed by shamans to be the fragments of the giants body.”
*Will anyone even come up here because of the danger? Am I even safe I literally make mana.*
“Your fine she said waving her hands grim touch only absorbs mana you feed on essence so your fine. People will come once you show yourself the races are drawn to mana for wealth and power they’ll come”
*Okay so now what? how do we get people to come I know you said earlier that just by having the entrance that people will come but any other way?*
“Well you do have a lot of extra mana packed into the dungeon…. I think if you let half of the mana you have into the air the signal will be much stronger. “
Pushing the mana to the entrance I released it all at once causing a pillar of white to shoot up into the sky
Cera slowly turned to me. “You did not just do it all at once right?……..”
Feeling like sweating for the first time since arriving here i replied……. *I did what you told me to…*
“Well shit instead of a slow signal now you just dropped a bomb! People on the other side of the world will probably feel that!” pacing back and forth “We got to get ready!”