Chapter 36 - Building the Gletscher
Having dealt with the inconvenient interruption from the Shoggoth, which I still tried to put in the back of my mind. The whole situation was just too much to deal with now, “The First” alone was quite the problem to solve and I didn’t have enough time to waste on other issues.
Having successfully pushed the problem out of the way, at least for now, I got back to building the 9th zone of my dungeon. Searching for some inspiration on how to build the third area of the zone, I took a look at the first two. The “Sea of Shadows” is filled with various creatures of the shadow affinity origination from the “Shadowliquid Grassland” and the various earth elementals from the “Earthmental Plain”. I wanted to continue creating unnatural and unique environments that could not really exist naturally in the real world. Having gotten my needed creative relaxation in the already build zones, I was ready to tackle the next area.
The environment of the cornerstone that I had already built some weeks ago had adapted slightly to the environments. Something not normally possible, but by not concentrating and maintaining the cornerstones’ environments they had developed in interesting ways I could further use to create more unique areas. The Third cornerstone lay in the colder and lower mana areas of the zone, creating a harsh environment in which only the most adaptable and hardy creatures flourished.
I expanded on the already present idea and transformed the cave system into a subterranean glacier slowly moving through the caverns and tunnels of the area. To increase the danger presented by the zone and encourage interesting evolutions I made it so that the glacier emitted a large amount of mana, leaving behind an extremely cold but mana-filled area where the glacier had passed.
Letting this area develop on itself I only influenced the environment and the creatures evolving within slightly to better fit my vision and to speed up the development I knocked the mana up a notch during the development period. My more hands-off approach reworded me two weeks later with the beginnings of an apocalyptic Iceland filled with strange and abstract creatures.
Here and there I witnessed the influence the surrounding zones had on the environment, not only the first and the second but also the two others I experimented on while waiting. The other zones influence luckily was only really visible in the outer zones and didn’t fundamentally change the ecosystem I let develop naturally.
The “Sea of Shadow”’s Influence brought forth the snowflake ooze and the White Pudding, a quite obvious influence from the Black Pudding and its counterpart the Aqueous umbra. Together with the Slushy a Semi frozen ice elemental and the Orglash a snowstorm elemental, they created the basic creatures defending the entrance of the “Gletscher” area. All of them were at Tier 5 to 6 which quite surprised me because their influencers were quite a bit stronger than them.
The influence from the two other zones I had been working on while the environment developed was more prominent in the far reaches of the area. There the, relatively speaking, warm environment allowed for liquid water and welcomed the frost-influenced underwater creatures from the next area. Due to the scarce climate, there wasn’t too much plankton in the sea, which reduced the number of fished and thus the number of predators was limited to a small number.
Tier 6, Killer-Narwhals swam through the larger bodies of water and hunted down the walruses that presented the only real predators for the smaller fish. Further, into the arctic zone, the walruses were able to live a life free of their predators, though they had to adapt to the new environment and changed into Tier 6 peak Albino Walruses. These species of Walrus had a rather unique hunting method, it lay waiting on high cliffs for prey to wander underneath the cliff's edge.
It would then plummet down the height and crash into the prey, killing it immediately. Its enormous weight combined with the reinforced and wall-like chest was sure to squish any creature, not twice its size, and its white skin proved to camouflage it from any predators.
Sharing the space with the walruses was a new species I was experimenting with within the 5th area. They were a sentient race that somehow used up only a really small portion of my intelligence to fuel theirs, thus enabling me to create far more intelligent creatures than before. Though this sadly came with a disadvantage, not only was the mana needed for these creatures far higher than normal but they also took up quite a lot of control to stay under my rule.
Thus I only utilized the more basic specimen of the species and used the really intelligent ones sparsely and only in the 5th area. Those I could use in the “Gletscher” area where the family tree of winter fey, ranging from the Tier 2 Frosts to the Tier 3 Winterlings and Tier 4 Icelings. They were at the lowest of technological levels and were just starting to utilize tools that were crafted and not farmed from nature.
With my little overview of the outer area and the influence from the other areas finished I was finally able to take a look at what the hands-off approach got me.
The outer areas of the arctic area held Polar Bears at Tier 4 and the Arctic Bears at Tier 5, hunting the seals, small animals, and larger fish living in the harsh environment. They shared their hunting grounds with the packs of Crag Cats at Tier 4, hunting for any leftovers or small animals.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Further in the stray polar bears themselves became the prey for the large Snow Owlbears securing food from every environment, land, sea, and air. Though predominantly the family tree of the Winter wolves ruled over these caverns and tunnels. Together, in small families of up to 5 members ranging from the Tier 4 peak Winter wolfs and Tier 5 Kupuks to the Tier 6 weak Wulgs creating the packs‘ alphas.
They hunted the Yeti tribes trying to survive in the harsh environment with brute strength and higher intelligence than a wild beast. Living in large tribes that fed of everything they could find they represented a great prey for the Winter wolf families if it were not for the Taer. These Tier 6 peak creatures led the tribes of Tier 4 Yetis and were the only reason the race didn’t yet go instinct.
If any adventurers able to travel this far into my domain somehow thought that this zone was easy then they would certainly be surprised by the powder snow wastelands that lay before them. The arctic wind shooting through the tunnels created fine ice shavings that formed into seas of snow akin to icy deserts. Calling these ecosystems their home was a family of ice butterflies of gigantic scale and ravenous hunger.
The caterpillar equivalent of the species was the Ramorhaz, a Tier 5 weak flatworm “swimming” through the powdered hills and searching for any scraps that were blown in by the harsh winds. Once they had eaten enough they would develop into the Tier 5 peak Snowstorm Legiana, a gigantic flying creature using the harsh wind to hold itself aloft. Similar to hawks or eagles, once it spotted its prey it would dive down headfirst and surprise with its mindboggling speed.
This creature would then evolve into a Tier 6 Snowcloak, flying around in the snowstorm environment stealthily and catching any Snowstorn Legiana, waiting for their prey, by surprise. Their white fluffy wings allowed them to fly around unseen and unheard and ambush their prey. Then locking them down with both of its heads, the instinctual ice magic took care of the rest.
Eventually, they would evolve into the Frostbite Phoenix, the flying master of ice magic, using it to hunt even the strongest creatures in the “Gletscher” area. I didn’t yet know a lot about them due to their first evolution only being very recent.
Though my lack of knowledge may also stem from me ignoring them in the face of the fantastical environment closer to the center of the area. There the Glacier would make its way around the cornerstone, blasting the area in an unhealthy amount of ice mana and a wonderous environment with even more spectacular inhabitants.
From the snow stealth master hoar Fox at the low, Tier 5, wandering the forest of ice spikes, the perpetual hail storms, or the delicate frozen storms, creating hundreds of meters high ice constructs. Accompanied the more passive lifestyle of the hear fox were the Icebergs, gigantic moving masses of stone and ice, creating a rapidly changing mountain range and a field of meter wide and deep footprints. Flying around the Tier 8 giants were the sole flying monsters of the central area, the Coldronic Barioths at Tier 7 weak represented the prey of the central area.
The more dangerous members of the area were the floating Eye of the Frosts at Tier 7 peak, using their mastery of arctic spells to overwhelm their opponents and feed on their mana. Or the Tier 7 peak Glacier Maws, which tried to prey on the Icebergs with hit and run tactics. Using their regrowable ice teeth and their gigantic mouth they, step by step, ate the icebergs alive, while trying to outrun the gigantic beasts’ legs.
At the utmost epicenter of the zone, the guardian protecting the way forth was the Tier 8 Hallorgarath, a large frost iron construct with a living spirit. It found its origin in an iron sword that somehow found its way into the area and slowly absorbed all the mana and the death the was all to present in the first balancing days of the area. These powerful energies birthed this cursed piece of arctic metal, using its imbued mana for spellcasting and conjuring wondrous spells, never before seen.
Though before I could go on to building the next area I had to an extra look at the by far most interesting creature of the naturally created environment, the Wuschel. They were a spirit-beast hybrid which somehow was found throughout the whole area, from the last nooks and crannies to the centermost parts. These beasts were born at Tier 1, either naturally by division or through imbuing a bunch of fur with ice mana.
The ability that allowed them to live throughout the whole area was their ability to combine into one creature. A lone Wuschel could group up with ten others to create their Tier 2 evolution. Though this ability also stopped them from ever-evolving on their own forcing them to group up and fight and live together. Furthermore, the form the Wuschels took on got crazier and more abstract the higher of a Tier there were and none looked like the other, every individual creature having adapted to their environment perfectly.
With the third area, the “Gletscher”, fully finished I prepared to get back to developing the fourth area, a tropical underwater paradise creating a unique and vibrant underwater cave system not seen naturally. Though while getting ready I got out of the trance I always fell into while building my dungeon and was alerted by the Arinea king himself, Arthur.
He brought me up to date on the things that were going on in the Alliance while I was “occupied” and explained to me their finer plans going forth. Most of the things he told me about I already knew from meetings before the dungeon building, though the last part was what stopped me from immaterially going back to dungeon development.
Apparently, members of the undead races have recently been seen across the Four Kingdoms region and they were slowly beginning to present some problems for the people. Normally undead outbreaks were quickly solved by the local military and rarely developed into a larger problem. This was because the alliance educates every larger settlement in dealing with the dead and how to bless them so the death mana won’t result in any undead.
Even though we take all these measures to prevent a catastrophic undead outbreak, which, if left unattained, can quickly develop into a large threat, an undead wave was currently in the rising. Arthur was asking me specifically to search for the outbreak's origin because of my acute mana senses and wanted me to clear some diplomatic matters on the way.
I would use this chance to create a portal at the “rogue dungeon”’s graveyard now that I mostly was over its death. Additionally, I would also try to solve some problems with the orcs and reinforce the diplomatic relations with the humans to somehow try to get into the elven domain and finally get them to become part of the alliance.
Stopping dungeon building for now and opening the parts that I already finished to the public I made my way to the orcish tribedom, my first stop being the “rogue dungeon”!!!