I quickly leave the second-floor forest, giving myself a moment to reflect on the nightmare monster I just accidentally created. Well, it’s a bit too strong for the second floor. Holly is capped at level 20 because I didn’t want her to be overpowered for the first floor.
Looking back at the [Soulshroom Hive Mind]'s status, I start debating whether I should lower its level. Maybe I should keep it as is? It has a (High) weakness to fire, like most mushrooms, and an (Extreme) weakness to holy/light magic. If adventurer groups are anything like those in the video games from my world, they should have at least one priest or healer on their team. Plus, they'll probably have more than one person exploring, so it should be fine, right?
One thing I should definitely fix, though, is the zombified mushroom people’s hive mind range. If I leave it as is, the moment a human is spotted, every zombified mushroom on the floor would swarm them—and that’s no fun. Looking over the second floor, I reduce the hive mind range to about a mile. This way, they could still swarm adventurers if they're not careful, but it’d remain a decent challenge.
As I examine the normal zombified mushrooms' status, I notice they're not very fast, and their stubby legs aren’t helping, nor are their rotting mycelium bodies. Now it’s time to have a chat with the [Lifebloom] mushroom people. Heading toward their village, I see it's in surprisingly good condition.
From what I’ve observed, they were forced to abandon their old town about five years ago (in their time) and rebuild here in a large field outside the forest. Normally, mushrooms can’t survive direct sunlight—they’d dry out—but the [Lifebloom] mushrooms seem perfectly fine. On the other hand, the zombified mushrooms have become even weaker in sunlight due to their decaying bodies, which is why they usually burrow underground during the day and emerge at night.
Looking for the [Lifebloom] leader, I eventually find a mushroom person dressed in clothes made of large leaves and grasses, with a bushy mustache made of thin mycelium strands. He walks around the town, speaking with other residents. As I appear before him, his beady black eyes widen, and he falls to his hands and knees in prayer.
“All hail the mighty god! He has returned to us after our long and arduous trial!” (Mushy)
What? I have absolutely no idea what he just said. Are there system logs I can check? A notification pops up, and a log appears for me to read, but before I can, the mushroom leader starts talking again.
“What do you require of us, great one? Should we build another statue in your image? I regret to inform you that our old statue was lost, but we will accept any divine punishment you deem necessary!” (Mushy)
I glance around and see the other mushrooms bowing in my direction in reverence. I should probably say something now, shouldn’t I?
“I’m not here to punish you, so you can all calm down. Umm, I actually wanted to ask you all for a favor. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Forgive me, my lord! My humble name is Mushy, of Lifebloom Town! You need not ask—we will carry out any task you give us!” (Mushy)
“Uhh, yeah, sure. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that, sometime in the future, people called adventurers will come and explore this world. Your task will be to help them by giving them quests to complete.”
“A prophecy! I, Mushy, will spread the word among our people to fulfill the new purpose you’ve given us!” (Mushy)
The nearby mushroom people quickly scatter, spreading my words with perfect clarity. They don’t even mess up a single word, which is honestly surprising. Usually, things like this get so garbled that the message turns into something completely different.
Maybe the next sentient race I create should be more humanoid to avoid accidentally making more zombies. So, what should I do now? The third floor? But people haven’t even finished exploring my first floor yet. While contemplating my next steps, I realize there’s currently no way down to my second floor.
What should I do? Spiral stairs? But Holly roams around the first floor, so adventurers would have to defeat her first and then wander around until they find the stairs. That just sounds like a hassle for everyone involved. Plus, it’s too lame for my dungeon. After spending a few hours brainstorming and failing to create a cool elevator, I came to a much easier solution.
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Maybe I should try to make portals! Just think about how cool that would be! Besides, designing a foolproof elevator with no experience is a lot harder than I expected. For the portals, I could create a drop item that opens a portal from the first floor to the second and vice versa.
I need the item to look nice. I envision some kind of key made from a unique material, but I don’t have anything like that at the moment. If only I could send my monsters further out to gather more blueprints for me!
As I say this out loud, my thoughts drift back to the idea of portals. Wait, couldn’t I open some portals to random locations and have my monsters collect blueprints from there? Summoning my five [Cave Widows], I look at them. Maybe I should modify them again? Or perhaps transform them into completely new monsters, since I don’t want to manually open portals for them every time they go collecting.
As I survey the five lined-up spiders, I decide to try turning them all into new monsters. Focusing my magic on the image of portal-making spiders, I begin infusing them with it. I watch as the gray spiders slowly transform into an obsidian black, their bodies covered in fine cracks that pulse with chaotic blue energy. The transformation halts, and their status windows appear before me.
[Status Window]
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Name: [Portal Weaver Spider]
Type: Beast (Arachnid)
Rank: Epic
Level: 35
HP: 800 / 800
MP: 300 / 300
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Abilities:
Portal Shift:
- The spider can create a shimmering portal that randomly teleports itself or a target within 30 feet to a different location in the world. The location is random unless they have previously visited the location and may place them in danger or safety.
Cooldown: 1 minute
Web Trap:
- The Portal Weaver can create nearly invisible webs to ensnare enemies, reducing movement speed by 75% for 15 seconds.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Venomous Bite:
- A vicious bite that inflicts 20 poison damage immediately and an additional 10 poison damage over 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Portal Surge:
- The spider can channel energy from its portals, creating a shockwave that knocks back all enemies within a 15-foot radius.
Damage: 30 (Bludgeoning)
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Cloak of Space:
- The spider can bend space to hide itself, becoming nearly invisible for 10 seconds or until it attacks.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Webbed Minions:
- Summons small spiderlings that fight alongside it for 30 seconds. These minions have low health but can inflict minor damage and slow enemies.
Cooldown: 45 seconds
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Resistances:
- Poison Resistance (High)
- Dark Magic Resistance (Moderate)
- Space Magic Resistance (High)
Weaknesses:
- Light-based Spells (Moderate)
- Ground-based Attacks (Moderate)
“Nice! Now go find me some cool new blueprints!” I watch as the blue cracks along their bodies begin to glow. Suddenly, a chaotic portal bursts into life, constantly swirling and becoming increasingly unstable the longer it remains open. It then starts to suck each spider in before they can even attempt to escape its pull.
As they disappear, the portals snap shut, sending small blue sparks flying in all directions. Now, I wait for the epic blueprints to start rolling in! Just then, I receive a notification that two of my spiders have died and are waiting to respawn.
“What happened?” I pull up the system logs I learned about earlier and begin to investigate the cause of their deaths. The first spider fell into a volcano, burning to death. The second appeared in the middle of the ocean and was eaten by a massive sea monster.
I check where the other spiders ended up. One teleported to a massive mountain range, while the second found itself in an enormous library with multiple floors filled with countless books and expertly designed architecture. This spider turns itself invisible and sneaks around as librarians walk by, organizing books of all kinds.
The last living spider appeared in a vast underground city, where massive stone pillars that once stretched from floor to ceiling are now mostly cracked and lay scattered across the ground. The ancient city is old and crumbling, overgrown with plant life and overrun by a few monsters.
Seeing where all the spiders ended up, I jump for joy as I watch them start to explore their new locations. Now that they’ve been there, they should be able to return at any time for new blueprints after their adventures.