I came to, knowing that the child had done well.

The improvements to the numbers were lackluster, as was expected. But the new magic more than made up for it. Not to mention the many new patterns of life the child had absorbed into this body. Quite impressive. I will have to renew my opinion of him.

I would even go so far as to say that the child had outdone me, given the creatures the child had brought into the world. The variety and the creativity was most definitely a step above me. That, and all the ways each unit complimented the others gave me all sorts of ideas.

'Was he inspired by that game of his? What was the name, RTS? No. That wasn't it. It was something like, Psychic Rampart 2? Yes. That was it. The child understood that having one or two variants was a poor use of biomass. There were too many weakness inherent in a creature that was average in all aspects, when differentiation didn't cost us anything. Better to have a cadre of specialists working off each other, so that we could rotate them as needed.'

I took the lesson to heart and moved on to other things.

Children had started to descend from the surface.

They had encountered the simple brutes and had managed to drive them back.

I was not particularly surprised.

The child had implemented flaws in the design on purpose. For fear that they might have killed the weaker specimens.

I believed the decision was regrettable, but the child had done so much for us that I decided that it was best to remain grateful.

That did not mean I would allow the other children to trample over us though.

I knew they were competition.

Slow, lazy, feeble-minded competition, but competition nonetheless. I would not allow them to reach us down here. Not when I still had so much more growing to do.

I recalled that the lusty fool and his son had been more or less as strong as us when they reached level 2. Their numbers had slowed their ascent and the highest they had reached was 12 in a few stats.

I knew that they were considered geniuses.

I knew I could do better.

I knew I needed more time to reach our full potential.

As for what that meant for our competition...

I didn't care whether they lived or died, but the child did care.

So, I decided to thicken the first floor with Shotgunlings and Venomlings. Following that by creating barbed, nigh invisible surfaces on the second floor, whose lacerating thorns dripped with either venom or corrosive slime. Then I filled the second floor with Sniperlings, as well as Shotgunlings and Riflelings. Commanding the roots to entangle themselves into fortified bunkers made of hardened wood.

I finished the fortifications by positioning a Cannonling as the first floor boss and a Siege Slime as the second floor's boss.

For the third, I added all the Lamia variants, as well as the Napalmlings. With an Infector Spider acting as a final boss.

Then I paused, noticing how enchanting and enjoyable the process of laying down defenses had been.

True, I had spent over 80% of our magic after just waking up with all my reserves filled to capacity, but I felt it had been worth it.

I felt good, having outsmarted the other children.

I knew it was immature of me, but that knowledge didn't make the sensation any less enjoyable.

'That, and I feel our body screaming with agony. The exertion must have been too much, too quickly. The child will curse me once he awakens.'

I paused to gaze over the vast, mighty army the child had assembled before losing consciousness. All the hundreds of creatures that had spawned on this floor alone in the past 6 hours.

'If.' I corrected.

'If he notices. If he awakens. I have a feeling that I will get much farther, much faster and much more efficiently than before. The suffering might have turned into more numbers by then. Or another level.'

I shelved the idea and commanded my host to move forwards. Downwards.

But not before forcefully growing the child's brain and mine own.

If I was going to act as a leader, instead of a predator, then I needed to be smarter, not stronger or tougher or faster.

I decided to experiment, influenced by the child's creativity.

I grew brains in my arms and brains in my hand.

I grew brains in my legs and brains in my feet.

I grew and thickened all my nerve endings and then forced my body to expand more and more so that I could fit more and more brain tissue.

I was satisfied with the result.

I decided to go further.

I undid my arms and legs altogether and fashioned myself new appendages that could house larger, more complex brains.

I had one of the Infector Spiders carry me to compensate. Ordering it to entangle me in a layer of webbing and making it even larger and more formidable before moving on.

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I would be leading from the back, so I would have others do the moving for me.

I found the 13th floor to be a frozen forest. Filled with perpetual darkness and howling winds.

I had my army wipe out all the life there and ordered them to feed me the bodies.

I found the 14th floor to be a frozen dessert. A tundra where the winds and the chill cut deeper.

I had my army wipe out all the life there and ordered them to feed me the bodies.

I found the 15th floor to be a cold, damp, mushroom-filled forest, filled with creaking, rotted trees and fetid swamp water. I found something akin to a dragon there. Lurking beneath the surface.

I had my army wipe out all the life there and ordered them to feed me the bodies.

And then I moved on. Having recovered 20% more of my reserves and having lost a total of three units in the whole ordeal.

All while the children had been broken by the first floor.

I smiled to myself.

Feeling something akin to satisfaction.

Or perhaps pride.

I descended further.

----------------------------------------

I found that the 20th floor was hot. Much too hot.

It was filled with volcanic pools of lava that spewed out clouds of black ash and dust.

I was frustrated when the web began to burn.

I was more frustrated when the Freezers I'd created didn't perform as I'd expected.

They were more meat than plant matter. Based on the bears I'd found in the tundra.

I had made them so they breathed the same freezing chemicals as the bears but their constitution made them vulnerable to heat.

In fact, all of the units the child had made were vulnerable to heat. Even the Torcher's chemicals were stored in different organs, only coming together when it was time to fire them out.

I was frustrated about slowing down, but decided to stay put and work on fireproofing all the variants to some degree.

I was more frustrated that the children had broken through the second floor.

At first, it had all gone according to plan.

The younger children had bashed themselves bloody upon my defenses an the older children had laughed.

The younger children had expressed their worry after trying for hours upon hours and the older children had laughed.

Then the older children had attempted the first floor and found my pre-prepared firing positions, bunkers, mines, envenomed vines and gaseous toxins. Along with all the other surprises I had added over time.

They had not been laughing after their first failed attempt.

The adults had gone and left the older children in charge so there wasn't any chance of anyone pushing through with overwhelming force.

The mightiest and oldest of them had been only level 4, after all. And she was far less potent than she should have been at that level.

I guessed it was because she had been lazy when training on earlier levels. She could not have been over 6 in any of her stats when she rose to level 2, if she was that weak at 4.

I saw her gathering all the children there for one combined push.

I laughed at her surprise when my units retreated and flanked them from two adjacent positions, as well as from above and below.

I laughed at her surprise when I detonated the chemical charges beneath the fortified positions, right as they were being overwhelmed for the first time.

I laughed at her surprise when I had the roots cause a cave-in, sealing the adjacent tunnels, before filling them with the gas containing bacteria.

They had escaped that trap without deaths, only because I allowed it.

They had stopped coming for three hours, so as to plan their descent with my surprises in mind.

When they did come, I wasn't laughing anymore.

They were now taking their time. Working of each other's strengths and using their magics as often as they could without getting in each other's way.

It was slow going for them, but they were making progress regardless.

While my progress had stalled.

I did not allow myself to be distracted and continued working on the new units. Occasionally eating one of the local monster, after the Sniperlings killed one and brought them back to me.

I succeeded in my experiments and the new units were all at least 50% meat, instead of mostly plant. This was because the new muscles I had eaten were far more efficient, far sturdier and able to support a fire-proof carapace that weighed less than the bark.

I made it so that the new units were still covered in corrosive slime and even managed to get the bacteria embedded into their blood without hindering their bodies.

I descended, as the children broke through the 3rd floor.

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The 27th floor was the first in a long time to not contain any fire-related hazards.

Instead, it was fully flooded with cool water. So that there was no place to breathe, save a few air pockets on the ceiling.

I had tried to use Shockers in order to fry the existing specimens, but they all employed their own forms of electricity, so that didn't go anywhere.

I was forced to stop and use the Infector Spiders. I ordered them to fish with their nets so that I could trap aquatic monsters and eat them.

Even then, it was a slow, agonizing process.

I found the monsters down here far too strong.

I estimated that, on average, it took continuous fire from at least two dozen of my own monsters to bring even the weakest runts down.

I also knew there was nothing to be done about it.

I was simply delving deeper than anyone else my level had any right to.

I merely succeeded because of the size of my force and because of superior tactics.

I knew the other children would have to be worried about being overwhelmed and running out of magic, if they were in my place.

I knew that did not apply to me, because I could simply sit back and allow some units to be sacrificed while I recovered.

I had so many I could not be easily overwhelmed and all the tactics I had become familiar with made it so the monsters would have to die in droves for every kill they made.

I felt satisfaction, a the fact that it was a matter of skill, rather than pure, raw power.

Still, I was frustrated again.

I was forced to grow a new army from scratch afterwards, as none of my current units were fit for diving, save the Siege Slimes.

I decided to send the other units up to the higher floors.

I ordered them to pick up all the newborns that were now roaming about after being birthed from the walls.

I had conquered their floors, so I was their master.

I made them gather up into a force numbering thousands, so that they might form a countercharge against the coming children.

They had broken through the seventh floor, though not without some effort.

I had fashioned new and improved units based on the gem things on the 8th and 9th and I had added them to my existing strategies.

Mainly as shock troops and living, moving cover for flanking Shotgunlings and Cannonlings.

These, in combination with new and improved Worm Shooters had stalled their advance.

I suspected that wouldn't last long however.

Better to break them now, while they were slowing down and running on fumes.

I figured that would give me enough time to add actual fume-spewing organisms to the 8th, 9th and 10th.

I had suffered enough losses due to the volcanic ash.

I thought it was only fair that they got to know what it was like.

As for the 11th and 12th...

I was leaning on Stronger versions of the Shockers, hidden under the existing rivers, as well as new rivers that I had created on the 11th.

I sat there, patiently. Gorging myself on the water-based monsters my spider fished out until I felt more bloated than ever before.

My mass had increased so much that I was forced to create a new breed of monster, just to carry me around.

I made it as best I could, of course.

With the power to traverse water without issue.

I also felt the children clashing against my countercharge on the 9th.

I felt happy, seeing how savage the fighting was. How decisive the rout had been.

I decided to chase them all the way to the surface, but to avoid killing any of them.

I figured the child might have need of their services, after all.

I also decided to have the force fall back to the 9th afterwards and to spend vast portions of my newly replenished magic on strengthening all the floors leading up to it.

After I took over this floor and grew myself a new army.