“I’m going now.”
“Please be careful.”
I watched as Alveria left the dungeon. The sun was already high, so she would end up camping outside tonight and reach [Rahziel] by tomorrow morning. Nothing to worry if it was her though.
Since I told her how Loen and company had poisoned father, she insisted to personally visit him to apologize and give the
According to her, there would be no visible symptoms until
As not even a week had passed, we still had plenty of time to give father the antidote. Yet Alveria decided it was better not to make any delay. As a son, of course I was grateful with her decision. However, as a man, it was a bit lonely to be apart after being together only for less than a day.
It couldn’t be helped though. More importantly, within that short amount of time we already found a way to exploit a bug in the system, if I could call it a bug. It was regarding the usage of mana recovery potion.
First, with mutual consent, Alveria was no longer considered as an outsider and I could absorb things with her being present. Not only that, the creatures wouldn't attack her and would even give priority to her safety in case of danger. After some experiments, we figured the things I could absorb was including her mana, without I had to kill her first.
Second, the regenerative effect of a recovery potion would last for an hour. If she drank a mana recovery potion after I absorbed her mana, she would be fully recovered in about a third of an hour. Therefore the absorption could be done three times with the cost of one potion.
One absorption would give me 600 mana points, much lower than if I absorbed a whole corpse, while making a mana recovery potion would cost me 275 mana points. Thus within an hour I had gained a net of 1,525 mana points. Since we had been doing this continuously for five hours straight, I had gained total profit of 7,625 mana points.
Although she didn't mind if we continued for a while longer, I decided to stop. It felt like I was exploiting my own woman and I disliked the feeling.
(As expected, I need to secure a mana supply, am I not? Just relying on dead creatures won't be sufficient if I want to expand and I can't just kill any coming adventurer either.
(Should I buy some slaves for mana source? No, ordinary slaves won’t give much. If we talk about mana, of course mages are better. Mage slaves then? Ah, it’s even better if they’re women too. No, no, what am I thinking, I already have Alv.
(Uh, let’s just wait some evil adventurers to come for now. Not that I’m in desperate need for mana or anything.)
As Alveria's figure was finally out of my sight, I returned to my chamber with a portal. The golem, or should I say the golem body, was sitting unmoved in the corner. Without me supplying mana and controlling, it was nothing more than a pile of rock in humanoid shape.
(Ah, if I give this thing a monster core, will it come to live? Well, it’s not hurt to try.)
I created a core, put it on its chest and saw it being absorbed right away. To my delight, the red glow returned to the previously empty eye sockets and the golem was standing up.
*Ding!*
Requirements meet. New race is acquired!You have successfully created Golem race.
(Uwaah, it works! But, Alv was able to defeat it way too easy, she even cut its arm like it was a paper. May be I can do something about it?)
I touched its chest and felt the core. This was how I interfered with monster evolution. Somehow I just knew how to do it by instinct.
The image of the golem entered my mind. First, I hardened the the rocks as much as I could. Then, I compressed them so the golem had a denser rock-muscle and a slimmer appearance but no reduction in strength, made it more suitable for a fast movement. Lastly, I added small spikes all around its body, made it looked a bit like a hedgehog.
(Done. Now for the offense…)
My eyes were laid on the wind-attributed broadsword which rested on the wall.
(Hmm. Giving it a sword won’t make it stronger unless it know how to properly use it. Hey, probably I can make him copying Rowd’s movement? Let see...)
I tried to remember how Rowd fought while feeling the core, replaying every battle scene he had done since he entered my dungeon.
*Ding!*
Requirements meet. New subskill is acquired!You can now use
SubskillsRankMemory-implantImplanting a strong memory may affect target's behavior.Beginner
(Oh, I got a new skill? Right, I'm done with the golem anyway.)
I pulled my hand from the golem, which began to shake hard. It fell to four, then its back was cracking and two hands came from it, widening the crack from inside. After that, the new golem emerged from the hole.
(Like an animal shedding its skin, isn’t it? It's rather creepy looking form a close. But to think it costs me more than 3,000 mana points, I guess that’s why you don’t evolve a race before they accumulate enough mana themselves.)
*Ding!*
Requirements meet. New race is acquired!You have successfully created Fighter Golem race from Golems.
*Ding!*
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With your intervention, {Golem} has evolved into {Fighter Golem - Two handed sword variant}.
(Wow, a variant?)
“Do you understand me?” I asked the two and half meters tall Fighter Golem variant in front of me.
‘Yes, master,’ it replied directly to my head.
(Uwaah, cool, it’s even smart enough to reply with words. Was it because of Rowd’s memory?)
“The sword over there is for you to use,” I pointed the laying wind-attributed broadsword. “And these...
‘As you wish, master,’ it replied and turned to take the broadsword, before left my chamber with its two underlings. They didn't forget to close the stone door again afterwards, good boys.
(Ah, it turns out great. May be I should make monsters with Loen's and Alv's memory too?
(... No, they have to wait. Currently I don’t have monsters with fire affinity, nor monsters that can utilize Alv's speedy style.
(At least I know how to get the fire monsters. I should be able to summon the fire guardians once I raised my
(Although, I’ve no idea about monster that suited Alv’s battle characteristic. Yet.)
I turned my attention to the dungeon view and added another twenty rooms. Rather than a straight path like before, I arranged them like a maze. I played with arrangement for a while until I satisfied, spawned traps here and there, added rivers and created new nests. Now stronger monsters could have their own room as a base.
While moving the monsters, I realized I had gotten myself two new races since Alv’s invasion the day before. Finally the bugs had their monster representatives, I couldn't help to make an imaginary grin.
In the last several days the creatures had grown significantly, both in numbers and individual strength. All four non-bug animal kinds had evolved, but as expected, rats were in the top of the food pyramid.
Especially after the Fierce Rats appeared, they could only be killed by their own kind at first. Cannibalism wasn’t a rare sight amongst my rats after all. Then Great Bats sprang from the bats ranks. Cooperation from two or more of this bigger bats could kill one Fierce Rats. However, when the human-child size rats were coming in pack, no other monsters could stand in their way.
On the other hand, the other two non-bug monster races were rather disappointing. The Poison-spitter Frogs could only kill normal size rats at most and the Rock-shelled Snails were, well, harder to kill. That was all. Now with two additional races from spiders and ants, I expected a more balanced ecosystem.
I wondered why only two kinds evolved amongst the bugs, but it was probably because ants and spiders were the only ones that could kill and eat bigger preys. The spiders with their web traps and the ants with their swarming cooperation. With bountiful scattered meats when Alv was attacking, they had finally been able to evolve.
(Okay, that’s enough for the first floor, Let’s expand to second floor.)
I chose
*Ding!*
You don’t have enough mana points to expand by 1 level.
(Wait, not enough? How come? I’m sure I still have several thous- Ah!
(... To think I only have this much left... Must be when I was playing with the corridor to make a maze before.
(Uh, I should have paid more attention to my mana.)
Dungeon OverviewDungeon TypeCaveLevels1Rooms31Biological Types19Non-biological Types3Drops Types5Dungeon Skills5Titles0Mana Points97
Biological TypesPlants (2)#N/AFerns, MossesAnimals (11)#N/AAnts, Bats, Centipedes, Cockroaches, Flies, Frogs, Mosquitoes, Moths, Rats, Snails, SpidersMonsters (8)#N/A
Ants
Bats
Frogs
Golems
Rats
Snails
SpidersGolems
Gi-Ants
Great Bats
Poison-spitter Frogs
Fighter Golems
Fierce Rats
Rock-shelled Snails
Lesser Tyrantulas
Non-biological TypesTraps (3)Arrow traps, Mind-disturber traps, Pitfalls
Drops TypesWeapons (1)Wind-attributed BroadswordsEquipments (4)Basic Tunics, Basic Trousers, Basic Male-underwears, Traveler Boots
Dungeon Skills