Dungeon was best at eating. Undead invader tried to be good at eating. Stole mana from dungeon, but dungeon was stronger.
Invader was [hunt]ed, [kill]ed, and [consume]d. Not in that order… It became knowledge for dungeon to become smarter. Ready for new upgrades. Ready to [grow] and [expand]. Soon it would use its strength to [conquer]!
First dungeon just needed monsters to evolve. Easy, there’s lots of mana in dungeon after battle. Start with ants. Fill ant with mana to make stronger.
Ant exploded. Large crystal burst out of body…. dungeon try again.
Ant exploded. Large crystal exploded in body…. hmm…. Dungeon keep trying.
Ant exploded from crystal burst out of body. Hmm….
Ant exploded. Ant exploded… lots of corpses, but corpses not move. Dungeon need to think how to fix.
Too much mana? No, mana is good and there is no such thing as too much mana. Too much crystal? Crystal like to explode from ant, so ant not like crystal.
Dungeon just need to feed ant slower. Avoid crystal exploding.
> Locked: Ant has reached the final stage of environmental adaptation. No further upgrades are available for free.
Useless words say no. Dungeon just go to ant spawner and give it mana.
> Spawner Atrophy: To conserve mana, this spawner has been neglected as the ant colony became viable species. Spawner will resume progress only if the current colony becomes extinct.
Useless words are stupid and mean. Not let dungeon grow. Dungeon needs to grow to become strong.
> Information: Hate is misplaced you brainless rock.
> Tutorial: First stages of monster evolution are free. Prerequisites must be met for further adaptations. Ants are of the ‘beast’ category, which requires advanced ecosystems to support their continued growth.
Dungeon not understand. Too many words, too little meaning.
> Exasperated: Make food for the monsters to eat so they can grow further.
Ohhhhh. Monsters like food. Dungeon smart for thinking of this.
Thinking…. Slimes like plants, and birds like seeds… ants like grass… Undead invader liked eating monsters.
What if not beasts? What if undead like ‘chimera’ invader?
> Undead path known - requires the sacrifice of another species to fuel transformation.
Hmm…. still need food. Can spiders be food for ants?
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She was the queen of today’s generation, one built by its forebears. She watched her children practice the magic they recently inherited. Each day, each generation, they became more adept.
She knew because she could listen. Generations ago, her body had adapted to the circumstances of a horrific battle. The day had won, her colony and children survived, and she kept her hearing.
She neglected her body as it grew worse with every rebirth. Her shell had softened, her legs weakened, and vestigial wings clung to her back long after she have shed them. Yet these small things did not matter to her, for they were just a mark of their triumph. She had a kingdom where her children were safe, that’s what mattered.
Content with her kingdom, she didn’t even notice when she gave the command to dig. A subconscious desire to reach deeper, to expand the colony. Her children obeyed without hesitation as they excavated the earth below their home. They dug deeper.
Like a siren’s call, the queen wanted, no, needed, to dig deeper. That night her body faded into mana and did not reform.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
With the rising sun an egg hatched, and the queen emerged, born into the deepest chamber. Without a body of pure mana, she felt it, no, she heard it. The siren’s call was louder. Dead mana penetrated the earth so deep only one of flesh would ever perceive the voice.
She heard the call of the dungeon. Not the commands of the crystal that held the Crown’s consciousness, but the innate drive that filled the world she lived. She could hear the instincts of the dungeon. It called to her, warped and faint. It demanded to dig deeper, to expand the tunnels.
As she listened, the queen realized the truth. The dungeon, the Crown that created her, never learned to listen to its own instincts. This voice of the world was as vestigial as her wings, worn out and forgotten from disuse. Yet the more she listened, the more she realized how important these words were.
The others needed to hear these words, yet few would listen. If the queen wanted to share these words, she would have to do it herself. She would have to become a priestess to the Crown.
As the day turned to dusk, she was resolute. She knew exactly what the following dawn would bring.
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Deep in the earth, at the heart of the ant colony, an egg hatched. The grub was laid into the hastily constructed temple chamber. It would grow overnight and become the queen of the next day, a slow process that resulted in better results than the rushed adaptations that came during war.
Yet this grub would not become an ant queen, nor even a priestess. Lofty expectations were shackled to the young grub as two cosmic beings spoke.
“Spiders are useless, sacrifice them for food. Now evolve ant to make stronger”
> New Monster Classification for Ant Queen - Undead
> Specialist Adaptation Unlocked - Moth Revenant. Soft shells animated by mana stones that replace their organs, these insectoid rulers take great care to protect their young as they wrap them in fine silk.
Mutations wrapped the royal grub in a protective cloth. It would be forever safe as it was to be the queen. Unfortunately, the silk was harvested from Spell-infection spiders. The queen was safe, but the same could not be said for her children.
> Result from Genetic Drift and Tampering: Ancient Ants have become Decrepit Ants due to mutation in breeding members of the species. Broken shells, missing limbs. These ants were born to die.
> Decrepit Ant Innate Ability - Ready for the Grave: each living member of the species has its maximum health reduced by 50%. When a new member of the species is born, it has a 5% chance of becoming undead, animated by [undetermined].
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As she hatched from her cocoon of silk, she gazed upon all those who had gathered. All of her children had gathered in the chamber that would become their church. They waited to see what the new queen would become.
Happy to oblige, the queen stepped forth to greet them, only for her weakened legs to buckle under an unfamiliar weight. With tattered wings forming a royal cape, and antennas folded upwards like a feathered crown, she held the appearance of true nobility. Just as she should, as she was not only the voice of the world, but an empress. No, she was the Empress.
“Today we have taken a step back. Progress was lost for the first time in our history.” Her gaze fell on her children, on their broken shells, chipped mandibles, and missing limbs. “Yet weakness is nothing to fear. We have not lost. Today we stumble on new legs. Tomorrow we learn to walk, and by overmorrow we run into the future. The Crown has chosen for us to ascend beyond the cycle of rebirth, so that we may never stumble!”
Her words vibrated the halls as her children clacked their mandibles in celebration. They were ready to build the future, no matter what it took. As they dispersed, they went their separate ways. Each ant had a small part to play, thousands of minuscule steps that would topple mountains.
The most magically adept toiled away at the graveyard with the springtails. They sought to learn from the dead and the mana crystals that littered it. Each one the size of a grain of sand, yet in mass they would become more.
The largest of the species dug deeper, expanding the tunnels to accommodate the ever-increasing bulk of her super major guards. The hive expanded, the hill above climbed higher like a monument to the sky.
Many died during their work, and some did not stay that way. Others were born without organs, puppeterred by their own magic. They were weak and unsure, yet these lifeless husks would only be refined.
Yet it was the smallest members of the species that worked with the Empress herself, tending to the young. Silk cocoons that were to protect the young were repurposed. Unraveled for string, they layered that over her brooding chamber, lining the walls to create a single cacoon that would hold them all. The webbed walls gave support, and under the touch of the Empress turned to crystal.
The Empress would protect her children. Every life she lived was to protect them.
She was the royal, the priest, and the mother of her kingdom. A kingdom that would never die.
A kingdom built by the sacrifices of those before her. A kingdom of greatness.
No, she corrected, an empire.
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From a bird’s eye view, the paragon of the sky watched the ants toil away. His body was so malformed from flesh that was not supposed to be he had lost his flight. Falling with direction was all that he was capable of.
So he spent his days watching the others' work. He watched the less flight-hindered birds explore the mountains, the slimes tend to their plants, and the ants build their home.
So when he saw a new ant, one darker than the rest, broken and missing its head leave the hive, he was thoroughly confused. He knew the dungeon had learned what undeath was, and he had expected it to be for him.
Yet there they were, the ants getting all the attention.
With a mighty caw that quickly turned into a cough, he yelled loud enough to echo down the valley.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL FU-”