Hey guys. I thought I'd put this chapter out right before I go to bed. I'll edit it when I wake up. Since it is 3 am where I live this counts as this weeks promised chapter, but I expect to put out 1-3 more depending on how well the creative juices flow.

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Quin watched as the group of humans, presumably hunters because of their light leather clothing, made their way further into the first floor. They looked a bit weary but also very interested in every little detail. At the back of the group he spotted a familiar face. The little hunter from two months ago was back. He faintly remembered the name Grom. To be sure he checked again with and while he was at it also the rest of the group.

"Oh right. This one was Cog. 58% Mist-Mana Cultivation and 13 years old. Favored weapon is the spear. is time. Well that is really rare. Well then, lets see what the others are at. Liquid Mana Cultivation x9. Well fuck."

If Quin still had facial expressions this one would certainly be very ugly.

He hurriedly went to his and  moved it further down and away from the middle. He had made it a habit to just anchor it 10 meters beneath the future entrance to the next floor so he didn't have to move it manually every time. After a short contemplation he placed it 10 meters right under the ring of water. That would hopefully deter them enough for now. There were certain general spells to locate dungeon cores, but those mostly required someone at the stage. He didn't yet have a divine sense yet so communication with his dungeon denizens was impossible right now. 

When he observed them very closely for any signs of their plans he came to a conclusion. He was an idiot. Those youths were not greedy and took or killed everything they could while going down. If you want to take out a dungeon core then there is no point in wasting resources by letting them run loose or wither when the dungeon dies.

Furthermore dungeons are highly profitable if you have an amiable relationship. Why would anyone kill a self regenerating treasure trove? Even if you were in the area just for a few weeks, having found a dungeon was reason enough to settle there. Unfortunately he was quite deaf at the moment and no spell he knew could change that at the moment since he did not have the capability to hear at the moment.

A dungeons life was precious as long as it hadn't allied itself with someone already and he definitely did not have the capability to communicate yet. Since he hadn't seen anyone for such a long time the also wasn't situated in someones direct domain so no jealousy should have popped up yet.

While he calmed himself with repeated arguments for his usefulness the youths had advanced onto the second floor.

Gods, he hated to be powerless again. He had even turned his death into a victory, but now he was like an infant. Only an infant had parents that would protect it while he had a bunch of cannon fodder in a cave.

Resigned he bitterly watched as the hunting party slowly crept through the tunnels of the dungeon. They expertly dodged every larger group of beasts and incapacitated anything they didn't want to eat. Dungeons were a great source of food. The meat was different from the Mana as it had no corrupting effect and could be eaten without worries, but many dungeons had to fight the overhunting of the species in the first few floors by slowly shifting to species that could not be eaten like most insects or would not be eaten like rats.

It seemed tough that this wasn't necessary with these hunters since they know how to hunt while keeping the natural balance intact. Quin just had to hope that they would stay in charge of the decision making regarding his dungeon for now. At least until the diversity was high enough in the higher floors that too much hunting wouldn't hurt his future potential.

When they were in the middle of the second floor the big migration wave from the third floor reached them. They were obviously very confused as the streams of beasts suddenly gathered and began moving further down while fighting against each other for better positions or to keep their families safe from opportunistic predators. They were attacked when they went too close to the groups, but when they backed off again the beasts didn't press them like normal and just went back on their way and ignored them.

The biggest procession was formed by the about 300 , their evolved forms, 100 and even a few . They were now comparable in population to the rats. Their growth wasn't as explosive but more a steady one that would show its strength later when it enabled them to continuously grow stronger until they reach the Stage and when they evolve they can go even further.

Curiously the hunters followed them through the rest of the second floor and onto the third floor. There they rested while the strongest of them who were on the third stage started reconnaissance to search for a suitable home.

After nearly an hour of waiting the scouts returned and the march continued until they reached the center of the floor with a small lake and myriads of bones and other mortal remains of every bigger race that had previously lived on the third floor. The air had an unpleasant smell of rot a few poisonous plants could be seen near the tunnels that led them further into the dungeon. As hunters they were no strangers to foul the smell of decaying bodies, but since it was in a confined space with little air circulation most of them had to fight the urge to vomit.

The most numerous bodies on this vicious battlefield were those of rats and spiders, the two apparent former overlords of this floor, but also those with the most progeny.

The on the other hand didn't seem to mind it at all and began happily plating themselves all over the cave and began to absorb the nutrients the bodies still had left.

The and on the other hand probably had no sense of smell and were fine with wherever their protectors led them.

No one in the group wanted to linger in that particular cave any longer and they quickly went on their way.

Since they didn't have to be careful like the goblins and had no big battles they made good time and reached the middle of the fourth floor after only eight hours, including the one hour rest. If they had rushed through and not stopped every cave to carefully examine everything they could have made it in half the time as opposed to the goblins who needed approximately three hours per floor and were annihilated after 9 hours inside by the rats, or Grishnak who made it out again in six afterwards. 

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

When they were done taking samples and cataloguing the species they packed up and went back much to the relief of Quin. What really astonished him though was that they completely pushed out their whole Mana pool before exiting and after a while there were 30 more hunters who just went in and pushed out their whole Mana. And that was not just a bit , but the much more compressed and pure .

This huge rush of energy pushed him directly to 60% with some to spare that he promptly used to dig out most of the area for the next floor. Luckily for him they continued to deliver and he was able to reach the next stage after around 4 days. That catapulted him two and a half months further, but it also meant that the beasts in the dungeon couldn't keep up with his rate of improvement at all. They had already hovered about 10% beneath him with the difference slowly growing, but now his lead would be insurmountable.

But he had hope that the purer Mana in the lower floors would let them advance much more rapidly then normal as well. Having more then originally planned was not a real problem obviously and would just lead to his safety advancing by leaps and bounds. No one would be unhappy about more safety. Especially not him after his previous reminder about his own weakness.

Once he reached the stage there would be a whole slew of new options available and it would also lead to the most explosive growth period relative to the previous size a dungeon would encounter in a very long time.

Then Quin once again began to design a floor and and make the other ones bigger. This time he decided that he liked the earth floor and only made the Tunnels completely out of stone. He also liked the giant room and decided instead of one big room he would do 4 and a in the back. Each of them had a lake with an island in the middle with an opening in the middle of that. Each opening converged into one central tunnel that led to the boss room. 

This time however the water was 3 meters below the bridges to the islands, impossible to reach if you were in the water. So if you had the misfortune of falling in there was only one way to escape and that was through the tunnel to the . Since those of the beasts that lived in the water and on the land both needed an easy way to access the element they were currently not in he added a few cave entrances which allowed smooth entry and exit to the water. Those converged into the tunnel to the to make it harder to defend and easier to exit at the same time.

After a few hours the beasts had mostly moved again and every race had found its new home. The had once again proven themselves as the undisputed rulers of the dungeon and didn't even need to rush downwards like the rest as no one was willing to claim the and risk getting wiped out by them.

The long time at the top was used well by them and they had bolstered their numbers considerably. They were the first race to cross the 1000 member mark and occupied the big and the long tunnel leading to it just for themselves. From there frequent invasions on the other races could be mounted when the food ran low. But since they were also spiders even the weaker members of their own race frequently were on the menu.

The other four caves were respectively ruled by the rest of the spiders and rats who occupied the whole cave and the tortoises and the centipedes who only had enough numbers to occupy the island in the middle.

In the following days the first three floors were thoroughly explored under the lead of an ecstatic young man who furiously scribbled away as they walked, having the air of a crazy scholar. They also brought him up the next 10% every day without fail. He almost felt bad for them as the floors would continue to grow by 10% for every breakthrough he had. They obviously thought he grew over time and never knew that much of the floor was still not explored.

On the seventh floor Quin decided that he wanted to mix things up once again and made the whole floor a labyrinth of very high and 10 meter wide ravines with some caves in the upper parts for those able to climb or fly. He only designed such obviously unfavorable terrain for some of his leading species because he knew that it would only have to last for one day.

The eighth floor went in the other extreme and featured many small caves and tunnels who were just wide enough to allow the biggest beasts to just about travel through them. To top it all off the whole floor was covered in water that reached the ankles with the occasional very deep pool from where the swimming beasts could emerge at any time and ambush anyone who went too close to them.

On the ninth floor he did the same but this time the floor was just one big room  with eight islands  in a circular formation around the big central island and the rest of the room flooded. he also added waterfalls that sprung out from the ceiling and the walls On every island there were trees planted and they had a hole in the middle leading to the next floor, except for the central island one that led to the .

The tenth floor consisted of caves that got bigger the further you went in. But the special part of this floor that instead of tunnels, bridges connected those caves and the space between and above the caves was empty. That gave the effect of a floor in three parts, one above the caves that could be used by flying and climbing beasts, the cave system connected by the bridges and the water ways 10 meters under the bridges with extra caves under the caves above them often times connected by a tunnel inside.

The was the only exception and it stretched on all three layers with an entrance on all three of them making a three pronged siege possible.

Since he now was at 100% the only thing left to do was to condense and purify his current Mana. After a whole day he was finally done. He had transformed his 100% into a whopping 1% .

Finally his senses of smell and sound were back again and he even had a way to communicate now. Even if that was only possible with for now pretty dumb beasts or a specially contracted person that he didn't have.

But that was a problem for another day and for now he just wanted to revel in his new senses and watch his beasts progress further in their development.

The following days he would be very busy with cultivating and then exploring all his new options in designing his dungeon.