I spend the next few hours reviewing the first and second floors, thinking about what I can add before adventurers start showing up. It won't be long now, since those guild members have likely already reported my existence to the guild master—Dorin, or whatever his name was.
The spider from the library is the first to return. It brought back a collection of simple books it found after sneaking into a backroom, along with some high-quality writing utensils and paper. It didn’t find much else, as it had to sneak around without getting caught by the library staff.
Next up is the spider from the mountain range. It returned with several new plants and some rare metals, and even managed to capture a massive bird of prey to turn into a blueprint. But the most exciting thing it brought back was these glowing crystals called [Lunaris Shards]. Apparently, they collect and store moonlight, causing them to glow in the dark.
I’m thinking of using these shards to make the portal keys so people can move between floors. I'll also enchant the keys so they bind to the person who first obtains them, preventing anyone who hasn’t beaten Holly from using them. Additionally, I’ll set it up so only the key’s owner can activate the portal, ensuring that others can’t bypass the floors by using someone else’s key.
It takes me about thirty minutes to craft the keys, enchant them with the portal magic, and set them as a reward for defeating Holly. With that done, I take another look at my first and second floors. I figure I should spruce them up a bit. After all, what’s the point of exploring my dungeon if there’s nothing interesting to discover? Right now, both floors are just forests filled with monsters.
This is where the third spider’s blueprints come into play. In the ruins it explored, it found a ton of old, broken-down tools and artifacts. The good thing is that, since I’m in a dungeon, I can restore these relics to perfect condition. I’m not entirely sure how it works, but based on what I’ve read from the system, it's just one of the perks dungeons have.
I use the destroyed underground city as a reference and add a few secret ruins across both dungeon floors, sprinkling in some of the magic tools the spider found. I spend a few hours scattering ruins of varying sizes throughout the floors, filling them with simple clockwork traps that the spider discovered and a few pitfall traps I made myself. Then, I cover the entrances with either dense foliage or minor illusions.
With that done, the only other thing I can think of is implementing a weather system. For now, I’ll stick with rain on the first and second floors, saving other weather effects for the larger floors later on. Creating the weather system isn’t difficult—I just need to enchant the ceiling to make it rain once or twice every other day.
After I finish putting the enchantments in place, I look around and can’t think of anything else to add. The adventurers should be showing up in about a day or two, and I’ve done almost everything I can think of.
Maybe I’ll spend some time with Holly and the [Lifebloom] mushrooms. I haven't really interacted with them much beyond assigning them their tasks. Scanning the first floor, I find Holly digging out a large burrow near the back of the massive lake on the northern side of the floor. As I arrive, Holly pops her head out of her burrow.
"Hey, Holly, how’s it going?"
Holly brings a paw to her face in a thinking gesture. After a moment, she nods. Even though Holly can’t speak, as my dungeon monster, she can still convey ideas and emotions clearly enough.
"Yeah, it might be a little boring for now, but there’ll be plenty of people showing up soon, so stay on your paws."
Hearing this, Holly gets excited and gestures for me to follow her into the burrow.
"You want to show me around your burrow? Sure, sounds fun. Maybe after you give me the tour, I’ll take you down and show you the second floor. What do you think?"
Holly nods at my suggestion and leads me into her burrow. We walk through a long, winding tunnel before arriving at the main chamber. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s mostly an empty room. There are no desks or furniture, but animal skins cover the ground, likely used as bedding or rugs—probably drops from monsters during the sped-up time period.
Along one wall, Holly has an array of homemade spears, bows, and other primitive weapons. The other walls have several tunnels branching off. When I ask Holly about them, she explains that they stretch across the entire floor, allowing her to escape easily or reach anyone carrying the [Lucky Rabbit’s Foot].
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Following Holly through some of the tunnels, we pop up in various locations across the first floor. After exploring the first floor from Holly’s perspective, I decide to take her to the second floor to see the [Lifebloom] mushrooms and the surrounding forest during the day.
The portal opens just a short walk away from the [Lifebloom] mushroom town. Holly leaps through and immediately takes off at full speed, reaching the open gates within seconds before slowing down as she enters.
As Holly strolls through the town, taking in the sight of houses and small businesses, I spot Mushy. He's rushing towards us, his stubby legs working overtime. When he reaches us, he quickly bows to Holly, then turns to me and drops to his knees, clasping his short mushroom hands in prayer.
“We welcome the great one and his divine beast! How may my humble self serve you both!” (Mushy)
Divine beast? I guess he's referring to Holly. I mean, he's not entirely wrong—she is the first floor boss, so that’s close enough, right? Anyway, Mushy is still on the ground, and now the surrounding mushroom people are starting to bow too. I didn’t notice it earlier, but it seems like Mushy is the only one who can see me. Maybe it’s because he’s the mayor of the [Lifebloom] mushroom town? That sounds plausible enough, so I’ll stick with that until proven otherwise. But I should probably respond soon.
“Hello, Mushy. I’m just here to show Holly around the second floor for a bit. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not! In fact, allow me to show you both around my town!” (Mushy)
Holly nods at the offer, and with that, we start our tour. Mushy shows us the various shops run by the different [Lifebloom] mushrooms, and Holly gets free handouts of fried veggies from every food stall we pass by.
As the tour continues, I start to zone out and think about the [Lifebloom] mushrooms. How have they survived this whole time? Sure, from what I’ve seen, they can use a bit of magic, but surviving all those mushroom zombies? I think the town gets attacked every few weeks too, so I’m really not sure how they’ve managed.
Maybe I should check their system windows and see. Realizing this, I start pulling up various system windows to get a sense of their average stats. As I scan their abilities, I’m stunned.
“What are these abilities!?”
[STATUS WINDOW]
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Name: [Lifebloom Myconid]
Type: [Plant] (Fungal Creature)
Rank: [Rare]
Level: 25
HP: 600 / 600
MP: 400 / 400
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Abilities:
- Blooming Heal:
The Lifebloom Myconid releases healing spores that restore 100 HP to all allies within a 10-meter radius.
Cooldown: 20 seconds
- Spore Shield:
It creates a barrier of thick spores that absorbs 50% of incoming damage for 10 seconds. The barrier also heals the Myconid for 50 HP over time while active.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
- Nature’s Embrace:
The Myconid summons tendrils of living fungi to wrap around a target, healing them for 50 HP per second for 5 seconds. Can also be used to immobilize an enemy, dealing 10 damage per second instead of healing.
Cooldown: 15 seconds
- Lifebloom Burst:
The Myconid releases a burst of life energy, instantly healing all plants and creatures within a 15-meter radius for 200 HP. This also causes any nearby plant-based enemies to grow hostile and fight alongside the Myconid for 20 seconds.
Cooldown: 1 minute
- Regenerative Spores (Passive):
Constantly releases spores that regenerate 10 HP per second for all allies within a 5-meter radius. This passive also affects the Myconid itself.
- Fungal Rejuvenation:
The Lifebloom Myconid can sacrifice 50 MP to cleanse all negative status effects from an ally or itself.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
- Life Surge:
Once per battle, the Myconid can release its full energy in a massive burst, restoring 50% HP to all allies in the area and reviving any recently fallen allies with 25% HP.
Cooldown: Once per battle
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Resistances:
- Poison (Immune)
- Nature-based Magic (High)
- Mind Control (Moderate)
Weaknesses:
- Fire-based Magic (High)
- Ice-based Magic (Moderate)
"These healing abilities are insane! No wonder they’re fine—there’s almost nothing in the entire dungeon that can even hurt them!"