Novels2Search
The Drifting Dungeon
Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

As the child scoured every inch of the area in their control, they came across many animals and plants that they instantly added to their domain.

They obtained many species that they did not have before.

They gained two crab species. The first one was a large blocky crab, around 30 centimetres long, that was almost identical and camouflaged into the surrounding stone. The second was a crab with a small body but had long spindly legs that seemed to always be moving. They decided to call the first crab the “rock crab” and the second the “spindle crab.”

Of the fish that they collected, they found four different species. The first was a fish with long, whisker-like protrusions along its lower jaw. Its colouring was silver to gray with black tinted fins and around 36 centimetres long. The second was a dark grey fish with black spots with a tall middle section, giving the fish an almost oval shape. It had two large teeth on the tip of the upper jaw, had sharp spines along its fins, and it was 18 centimetres in length. The third fish was a small flatfish with a round body and had strips that were black bars and light spots. The fish had its two eyes on the side facing the water’s surface, and it was around 15 centimetres in length. The fourth species was a yellowish disc-shaped fish, with five vertical black bars on its sides and a small mouth. The fish’s size was around seven inches in length. They decided to call the first species “whiskered drum,” the second “pinfish,” the third “shaded flatfish,” and the fourth the “spadefish.”

Of the two plant species they found, one was a seaweed and the other a type of grass. The seaweed was small and was a mix between a fan shape that started to become funnelled the bigger it grew. At the edge of the plant, the leaves were thin and translucent and became olive to a dark green closer to the base. As the seaweed grew, it became a tangled mess, and along the leaves and fronds, silver lines grew. The second plant they obtained was at the very edge of their territory, closer to the first island. The species grew in a large colony of stems, around three and a half metres tall. There were no leaf blades, just sheaths, and at the top of the stems hung a cluster of 30 light brown flowers on most stems. They called the seaweed “tangled fan grass,” and the second plant would be called “brown bush grass.”

One of the most interesting species found was a type of gelatinous snail. This creature was a four-centimetre, shell-less snail that was almost completely translucent skin. Inside of the snail, their organs were a pink and orange hue colour, making this snail very pretty. They have wing-like fins to propel them in the water and have two appendages with numerous hooks and very small and very fine teeth lining the hooks. They decided to call the gelatinous snail the “angel snail.”

Once the area where their territory lay was mapped out, and all new creatures and plants were added to their domain, the child focused on finishing their second floor. They took the plant that grew in their plant room during the storm and spread out the plant along the walls of the rooms. As they were doing this, the child realized they hadn’t named this plant yet. Due to the droopy petals, the child decided to call it the “drooping orchid.”

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With the land plants added to the room, the child continued on with adding the aquatic plants and coral. They took the ice coral that they stashed on the first floor, brought it through the portal, and started splitting and increasing the growth. Along the rock structures made of ice, the child attached and grew the coral until they almost covered the structures.

Once the coral finished growing, they brought in the tangled fan grass that they had just obtained and the blade grass. Then, they started attaching and growing them around the coral structures. Very soon, the rooms, both in the water and out, were populated by plants.

As they looked in satisfaction at the plants growing within the room, the child realized they had forgotten something. Right before the storm, Ivory had brought back the ice jug containing objects from the five islands. They sealed the objects within two rooms, one filled with water and one with just empty space for safekeeping until they could go back and look at them.

So the child went and looked at them. In the aquatic room was part of one of the brown bush grasses, and on the stem was an egg sack. They looked around the room and saw nothing else, so they went to the other room. This room had pieces of plants and seeds, as well as an egg sack and an egg ten centimetres tall.

They took the egg sack and the egg through a newly created tunnel, into the portal room, through the portal, and onto the soil pocket. The child delicately placed them down and inserted their own mana strings.

The child pushed their mana into the eggs and started increasing their growth. Quickly the sack of eggs hatched, revealing a creature they discovered to be a type of spider. 20 spiders from the egg sack hatched, and they were a dark green-brown colour. The spiders had elongated bodies, legs, pincer-like claws, and long jaws, and they soon scurried up into the plants. They watched as the spiders chose their plants and started building these orb-like webs. As they watched, the child decided to name the spider species “long-jawed orb weaver.”

As the spiders roamed the room, the big egg started hatching. What hatched was a small snake, only 30 centimetres long, with greyish scales and brown banding along its body. They watched as the snake started to explore their surroundings, and very soon, they started to slip in and out of the water. That gave the child an idea of what to call it the “grey watersnake,” but enforced one rule with the snake, not to eat the water shrew. At least not until they gain more water shrews.

Going back to the empty room with plant parts, the child brought some of the soil from the seed room and started growing the plants at their natural speed.

With that all sorted out, the child started adding aquatic creatures to the second floor. They added the blue sea lilies, grey tassels, striped gobies, spindle crabs, whiskered drums, pinfish, spadefish and angel snails to the second floor. For the animals that they only had a few on hand or in their domain, the child used mana strings to increase their reproduction speeds and growth.

Soon, the entire floor was booming with creatures and plants, and the child was quite satisfied. Then, just as they were going to start choosing a creature to become a monster species, they noticed something large moving toward the five islands and their iceberg quickly.