The next few days fell into a simple pattern. RJ would regain mana, then tunnel his way around searching for more underground rooms. His theme needed plausible underground structures, and the best way to come of with those, was to find some existing ones, and convert them! This had the upside of giving him access to the kind of materials that sort of place should have.
The first space he came across was the city jail, beneath the sheriffs office, he found a fairly large stone hallway lined with cells. There was very little in these, but RJ had a few ideas on making them work as a trap hallway. He quickly absorbed the metal bars of the cells, they were made of iron and had been engraved for magic, though it was long since dead. After carefully examining them he began to replace the bars with old rusty iron bars. He left the cell doors ajar, and inside of a few he placed piles of bones, one of the cells was half filled with rubble, as though the ceiling had collapsed. Through out the cells he carved mouse holes for the ghostly mice. and then spawned in two packs of five.
'Alright, listening carefully. Any time someone comes into any of the cells, i want you to slam the door shut on them. I made them extra rusty so it add an ear-splitting screech as the hinges swing. Should be good for scaring the crap out of people, and while the bars look like they're rusted through, they've still got a solid core, and the lock mechanism works. I doubt anyone over a D is going to be actually trapped in one of these cells, especially if they have a party to help them out, but it should freak'em out.' RJ chuckled evilly.
In the final cell, opposite of the side his tunnel came in, he continued his tunnels forcing them to go into at least one cell to continue down into the dungeon. He found he was mostly out of mana now, so it was a good time to check some things.
He opened up his spawn menu and noticed an irregularity.
[Dungeon spawn list]
[Ghostly Mouse (5 pack) - 1 mana]
[Bone serpent (2 pack) - 1 mana]
[Wraith Mouse (singular) - 5 mana]
[Karasu-Tengu (singular) - 5 mana]
[Albino Karasu-Tengu (singular) - 25 mana]
RJ stared at the list for a few minutes. 'wow... i'm guessing the regular tengu only have the invisibility and not the misfortune. I'm A little shocked that misfortune is worth twenty additional mana.' He brought his attention to Yuki who was in the faux brothel. She was singing softly to herself as she carefully folded one of the extra sets of sheets.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
'Yuki, why are you different from the base monster? you're supposed to be a Master-copy.' RJ asked after listening for a few minutes. Yuki perked up at his words and smiled shyly, "Master... I don't know why I am different. The first thing i remember is the sight of you."
RJ sighed, of course she wouldn't know how or why she was different. 'Thats alright Yuki, for now why don't you use your invisibilty. I'd like to see how strong it is.'
Yuki hopped up off the bed and smiled again, her eyes downcast. As RJ watched she shimmered and disappeared. His dungeon sense could still find her, but she produced no sound, reflected no light, and there was no scent that he could tell. For lesser invisibility, it was quite strong. 'That is very good Yuki, tell me, why is your invisibility considered lesser?'
Yuki faded back into view as she spoke. "Master, it is because i cannot make any aggressive action nor can i speak without breaking the effect. Once i get stronger and gain greater invisibility, i will be able to cast offensive magic, or even attack without becoming visible. I will truelly be dangerous to your foes." Her smile this time was sharp and deadly.
'Hmmm, makes sense. How strong can misfortune get?' RJ asked curiously, plans already forming.
Yuki beamed happily, her voice coming out in a gush. "It becomes very strong! if i attain the greater version, it can cause my targets to accidentally harm themselves or others and it greatly increases the chance of a spell misfiring!" Her smile fell suddenly. "Unfortunately i can only work on increasing one at a time... would you prefer i practice my invisibility more or my misfortune?"
RJ didn't even have to think about that. "Misfortune for sure, i have access to regular tengu, they will have invisibility. You however are the only one with misfortune, i think with a bit of work, you'll make an excellent floor boss.'
Yukis eyes grew wide and excited, her feathers fluffed up as her wings spread. "Yes master! I will do it! no one will every harm you as long as i draw breath!"
RJ flinched and sighed, he missed his old dungeon, none of his veteran monsters were this... enamored... with him. 'Yes Yuki, I'll be entrusting you, please calm down though? the most dangerous thing the dungeon has even seen so far is a snake.'
Of course, right as RJ attempted to reassure his boss to be, he felt the touch of foreign mana near the entrance of his dungeon. 'Damn the luck, i'm not ready yet. Yuki, go invisible, i want you to pour so much misfortune on any intruders you see that tying up their boots could be a fatal experience.'
RJ turned his attention to his other dungeon minions. 'Bruce! take charge of the Faux-cellar mice. if you get a chance to suck away some lifeforce when who ever this is isn't looking, do it. Alfred! you're in charge of the faux-trap hall. Coordinate the bone serpents there."
RJ turned and began to build up a new room just outside his core room, refunding a bit of the hall and shrinking his core room for the extra mana. he widened the room and then cursed. 'i don't even have a boss monster. Luckily with that third room i've got the option now. lets see a jail, a cellar, and a brothel... i can't even imagine what kind of boss i'm going to get.'
Normally RJ prefered to promote a seasoned monster to floor boss, but sometimes, especially in the beginning, none of them had enough experience or the right power. In those cases you could flood a pre-built boss room with mana, and let the dungeon itself create an appropriate boss.
'Alright system, don't fail me now!' He focused on filling the boss room with his mana, his core beginning to flicker and dim as he spent himself in the endeavor.