The Cycle of Lives and Floors

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"Did... Did anything change?" I heard Kyr's voice in my mind, reminding me of his newfound sapience. The allure and incredible nature of my newest ability had distracted me.

I focused on Kyr once more, "Yes, yes something most definitely did change!" I couldn't quite keep the glee I felt out of my mental voice. Kyr's head tilted to the side as he practiced his flight, moving slowly and speeding up as he went, "I gained the ability to revive my floor bosses after they die! Letting them fight to the death, come back, and fight again!"

"Floor boss?" Kyr's voice was laced with confusion.

My excitement faltered for a moment, not having realized how little Kyr still knew about the dungeon. It was alright though, I'd be happy to teach him. "Yes. My instincts as a dungeon core push me to make distinct floors to the dungeon. For example, the entrance and rocky cavern with the stream? That's floor one. The winding and hazy tunnels are floor two, and there is a large water-filled cavern below that which is floor three. I'm actually about to make floor four, which is why I'm having the Drake-Kin Warrior and Leira come to the bottom of floor two, I'll be bringing them and you to the fourth floor."

Kyr began to weave his way through the tunnels towards the bottom of the second floor as he responded, "Why is that? I thought we did rather well here?"

I paused for a moment, wondering how to explain it to him, but also taking a moment to enjoy actually being able to speak with Kyr and potentially get a second opinion on my ideas. "Well, I always shift my core room to be beyond the last floor, so one reason is so you're all closer at hand to protect me. The other reason is I want to test the first three floors."

"Test? What are you testing?"

"I want to make sure the way I designed them is working. I don't want the floors to only be effective at stopping intruders when there are a number of powerful creatures on them. So I need to test them."

Kyr hisses softly in the tunnel he was traveling through, "Ah, that makes sense..." He paused for a moment, "What are floor bosses?"

I startled for a moment, remembering the original topic. "Ah, yeah. Well, when I finish making a floor, I can assign a creature on that floor to be it's boss. They can't evolve anymore, but I can give them a powerful improvement. The Deiron Drowner that is the boss of the first floor I gave a speed increase, making it much faster. The Gladiator Skorpion in the floor you're in I gave a resilience boost, making it much tougher. And now, I can make it so if they get killed, they come back!"

I paused for a moment, thinking, "I intend the floor bosses to be the most powerful creatures on a floor, sort of the gatekeeper you need to defeat in order to reach the next floor. I've been a little worried that something or someone really strong would slaughter their way through a lot of floors and kill all the bosses, leaving the dungeon vulnerable. But with this, even if they do, the bosses will come back, meaning there will always be at least one strong creature on a floor!"

Kyr finally emerged into the Gladiator Skorpion's chamber to find Leira playfully darting around the skittering creature, using her newfound strength and speed to bat at it with her paws while it couldn't do anything to her. "So, is there a boss for the third floor? And what will the boss be for the fourth floor?"

I sent a feeling of uncertainty, "No, there isn't a boss for the third floor yet. Huntress is serving that role right now, but I can tell she'll need to eventually move lower and I definitely want to evolve her further, so I can't give it to her. I'll probably wind up giving it to one of the Darkwater Sharks when on evolves..." My voice trailed off as I quickly examined the sharks, finding two that were relatively close to evolving. "And I haven't a clue what I'll give the fourth floor to! So that'll be exciting to see!"

Kyr bobbed his head gently, flying sedately around the edge of the room, leaving Leira plenty of room to batter the skorpion around. After a few seconds he landed and coiled up next to the Drake-Kin Warrior. The warrior side-eyed Kyr a few times, clearly a little nervous of the powerful serpent, even with his new evolution. Then again, it might have something to do with the way they were currently watching Leira demolish the skorpion.

After watching for a few minutes myself, I decided enough was enough. I sent the feelings of battle, calmness, and the idea of coming again to the skorpion, and told Leira she could kill the skorpion. Both of them paused for a moment, clearly processing the messages before Leira purred softly but menacingly. The skorpions pincers clacked loudly in the suddenly quiet room. A moment later, the two leapt towards one another. Leira dodged sideways, avoiding the heavy and powerful stinger that surged forward. Her emerald claws ripped through one of the skorpions forward legs, making it release a loud screeching noise. It's pincer snapped forward, but Leira managed to pull back before it managed to connect.

My manavision showed me Leira's sudden buildup of mana. A moment later, she manipulated a small wall of earth to rise up and block the skorpions stinger, but the powerful limb simply pierced straight through. I realized that she'd planned for it a moment later. The earth of the wall suddenly flowed forwards and locked itself around the stinger, locking it in place. The skorpion began screeching and hissing as it yanked at it's tail and snapped its pincers wildly, trying to keep Leira at bay. She instead made a wide circle, moving around behind the trapped creature. A moment later, she pounced forward and slammed her claws into and through the skorpions carapace, piercing its brain and killing it immediately.

I heard the Drake-Kin inhale sharply and watched it edge towards the wall a little farther. I immediately sent him a feeling of calm, reassuring him once I realized I hadn't told him what was happening. A moment later I felt a connection, a faint one, spring up between Kyr and the Drake-Kin, allowing Kyr to communicate with him. I simply watched for a few moments, surprised.

A faint white glow distracted me though, as the skorpions body began to slowly dissipate and disappear. Leira pawed at the disintegrated body a few times before losing interest and laying down. Mentally, I could feel what felt almost like a countdown, a timer that needed to run out before I could reconstitute the skorpion. I felt a pang of disappointment, but I had expected it. I'd been hoping to be able to bring it back immediately, but I supposed that was too much to ask for. Thankfully, the timer was relatively short. Only thirty minutes of waiting later, I was able to form the skorpion again, and I was happy to discover it cost almost no mana to do.

I watched Leira and the Drake-Kin stare at the Gladiator Skorpion with surprise for a few moments before I felt Kyr connect with them and start explaining as best he could. I debated interjecting, but decided that I was alright otherwise. Instead, I decided to focus on making the fourth floor. Mentally, I triggered that little pressure that told me I could descend.

Your Descent has begun!

Congratulations on completing your Third Dungeon Floor!

Please Select a Guardian Creature!

Stone Slime (Common) : Slimes are among the most notoriously common and weak creatures. Their ability to adapt to any environment is oft looked over, as are the sometimes stunning adaptations they produce. The Stone Slime utilizes a hardening exterior to prevent it from harm, its usually weak membrane hardening into a semblance of stone for a short time.

Cave Bear (Scarce) : Cave Bear's are amongst the strongest of bears, but are limited to their natural form given their lack of access to mana. Despite this, they still have incredible strength and endurance, able to easily crack stone and dent metal with single blows and continue fighting even when wounded heavily.

Obsidian Hound (Rare) : The Obsidian Hound is a lackluster single combatant, but when in a pack, the Obsidian Hound can defeat even powerful enemies. Its sharp and tough fur allows it to shrug off many enemy strikes while its razor sharp obsidian fangs can rip through even weak stone. For all its short ranging speed, the Hound is actually quite limited in range due to its need for constant sustenance. It simply cannot afford extended chases.

Orthruan Serpent (Rare) : The rare Orthruan Serpent is often drawn to Dungeons with an affinity for serpentine creatures. With a powerful serpentine body and thick, regenerating scales it is an incredibly durable creature. Most notable however, is its two separate heads. While it lacks venom of any kind, the sheer power and regeneration it shows in combat make it a powerful fighter against any foe.

Lightning Eagle (Rare) : The Lightning Eagle is a very dangerous predator. Flying beyond the reach of most enemies, it bombards all it hunts and fights with powerful bolts of lightning. And even if you should find some way to reach the eagle or ground it, it can release a spherical wave of weakened, but still dangerous lightning all around itself. And beyond even that, it's beak is viciously hooked to tear flesh while it's talons are razor-sharp.

Reading through the two new choices for a guardian creature, I found myself torn. I had wanted the Orthruan Serpent since it had appeared, but the Lightning Eagle would fit in perfectly with my idea for the fourth floor...

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After a few minutes of indecision, I relented to the needs of the moment, and chose the Lightning Eagle. The serpent had remained since the last time it was offered, hopefully it would remain still when I next needed it. A brilliant white glow began to light my core room, the light shaping and taking a recognizable form. After a few minutes of waiting for it to die down, I laid eyes on my new guardian creature. Standing on brutal looking talons, the Lightning Eagle stood two meters tall, I could feel that it's wings would extend and span over seven meters. Deep within the eagle I could feel a large pearl-like organ that was constantly absorbing mana and slowly spinning and converting it into the sparking and dangerous lightning mana. It's feathers were predominantly dark blue, with golden high-lights going down it's body. It's glaring yellow eyes focused in sharply on my core before glancing around the small room and shuffling its feathers.

Recognizing the claustrophobia it was experiencing, I sent it a feeling of calm. As it settled down, I felt my core room gain that strange sliding feeling, as if it could simply slip through the surrounding stone without issue. I began drawing out more and more earth mana from the emerald set in my pillar, preparing to carve out the room that would become the fourth floor.

I immediately sent my core room back and away from the edges of the third floor before descending sharply. The tunnel leading to the fourth floor would be one large drop, showing them a hint of what they were in for. Once I was over seven hundred meters below the bottom of the third floor, I set to work. I estimated that my three hundred and seventy-five mana could guide close to a thousand earth mana from the gem, giving me a very large amount of mana with which to shape the room, but even then, I knew I would need to work on it again in the future in order to get the end result I wanted. Nonetheless, I set to carving out a massive, mostly empty room.

As I worked, I could begin to see my plan come to life. The fourth floor would eventually be almost entirely empty space and open air, with a series of platforms, ranging from minuscule to relatively large, leading across the room. The floor of the chamber would be far below, over two hundred meters below. Falling would mean almost certain death, and I planned to have quite a few flying creatures flitting to and fro, threatening to send intruders flying to their dooms. The tunnel leading to the room opened out to a five meter by five meter platform. From there, it was a number of tiny platforms that were just close enough to jump that led to the first large platform. I planned to put the Kerberus Skorpions and their burrows within the pillars the platforms rested atop, allowing them to attack those traversing the platforms, as well as any who fell and are trying to climb back up.

With the enormous mass of mana I had at my command, I managed to carve out a third of the intended floor, which was enough for now. The eventual room would be one thousand and two hundred meters long, two hundred meters down from the platforms and five hundred up from them. There would be thirteen large platforms with plenty of medium and small ones between them, making the journey across all the more treacherous.

As it was, I had managed to carve out the first third with four of the large platforms. I sent the eagle a feeling of exploring and it quickly took flight into the fourth floor to explore. I guided it to the secreted away roost I'd made for it in the side of the wall, almost at the roof. I'd shift it to the far side once I finished the room. I watched the eagle explore what existed of the room, which was admittedly pretty barren at the moment. I used what remained of my mana to open the two tunnels needed to bring Leira, the Drake-Kin, and Kyr down as well as bring in some of the water from my reservoir to fill in the watering holes I'd prepared.

I was almost completely dry of mana as I watched Kyr emerge from the tunnel and begin to fly around the room before introducing himself to the eagle. Leira began happily hopping from platform to platform, apparently enjoying it. The Drake-Kin on the other hand, eyed the small platform's nervously before he quickly made his way to the nearest larger platform, settling down with a relieved sigh. I sent him a feeling of calm assurance that was tinged with my humorous amusement. He looked towards me for a moment, before shaking his head and laying down.

I watched them all slowly find their places to settle whilst I began bringing the Kerberos Skorpions I'd chosen down through the same tunnel they'd used, showing the critters to the dens I'd prepared for them. I let my focus diffuse over the entire dungeon as I waited for my mana to regenerate, making a few creatures for Leira, the Drake-Kin, and the eagle to eat when they needed it. As the second day of slowly regenerating mana was at it's midpoint, a few creatures reached their evolutions. One's I'd been waiting quite a while for as well.

Two Humming Flyant's had reached their evolution, along with three Darkwater Sharks, and one Webdrop Spider. I checked the Flyant's first, wanting to see if I could get a breeding pair of a species that might actually help.

Your creature, Humming Flyant, has reached the threshold for evolution!

Please Select your desired evolution!

Giant Humming Flyant (Common) : The Giant Humming Flyant is often regarded as something of a joke of a creature. The Giant Flyant's size makes it too large for their previous predators to hunt, that is true. However, their size and lack of improved abilities, makes it all the easier for any other creature to kill them anyways. They are only able to thrive somewhere with only their previous natural predators.

Humming Dragonfly (Scarce) : The Humming Dragonfly is a surprisingly capable hunter. Their wings are infused with the barest traces of sound mana, making their humming disorientating and unbalancing if in close proximity and enough strength. Their forward legs also feature a blade-like tip capable of scratching stone, and carving flesh.

Hunter Mantis (Scarce) : The Hunter Mantis is the fear of all insects. Their quick movement, wing-assisted leaping, brutally sharp scythes, and their incredible vision make it difficult to hide from and even more difficult to escape from. The Hunter Mantis is a terrifying creature to have chasing you, ever more so if you happen across them eating.

Awakener

None

Checking the three available options, I wasn't too disappointed by the lack of options presented by Awakener, I hadn't expected anything after all. One option stood out to me immediately, especially with how it could easily play into the ecosystem I wanted to create on the fourth floor. The two Flyant's immediately began their evolution into Humming Dragonflies. The flight combined with their claws and ability to disorientate their prey would make them deadly enemies on the platforms of the fourth floor. Satisfied with their evolutions, I quickly turned to the Darkwater Sharks, eager to see if I could get another new species.

Your creature, Darkwater Shark, has reached the threshold for evolution!

Please Select your desired evolution!

Giant Darkwater Shark (Uncommon) : The Giant Darkwater Shark is a threatening and dangerous predator. This creature's previous tough skin thickens, becoming so strong as to almost feel like armor. It's jaws are strengthened to the point of being able to crush metal. Unfortunately, the Giant Darkwater Shark loses some of its speed in exchange for its greater resilience and strength.

Scaled Shark (Uncommon) : The Scaled Shark is a creature that relies on two things to survive as well as hunt. It's sheer speed, and it's brutally thick and rough skin. The Scaled Shark is capable of reaching incredibly high speeds if it has the room to accelerate, giving it a tendency to primarily use hit and run type attacks. While its bite may be nothing special, its skin is so rough and thick that it almost seems scaled. The rough skin is capable of shearing away skin if it manages to slam against you at full speed.

Awakener

None

The evolutions available for the Darkwater Sharks were rather disappointing. I'd hoped for at least one of them to have something special enough to justify making it a floor boss, but it seems I'd have to wait a little longer. I chose their giant versions without having to give it much thought. The third floor, while big in comparison to the first and second, was still rather limited. There wasn't a great need for speed there, so the tougher and more powerful evolution was the obvious choice. The Webdrop Spider though, gave me hope for an interesting evolution given how recently I made them, this was a rather fast evolution.

Your creature, Webdrop Spider, has reached the threshold for evolution!

Please Select your desired evolution!

Giant Webdrop Spider (Scarce) : The Giant Webdrop Spider is a much more sure hunter than it's smaller counterparts. It's larger size means larger nets with which to hunt, making small targets and almost guaranteed grab while also opening up larger creatures to be hunted.

Thread Spider (Scarce) : The Thread Spider is a nonthreatening creature at first glance. It seems to be nothing more than your average Cave Spider, but it is anything but that. The Thread Spider has a special organ that allows it to infuse and cover it's threads in special poisons. It's webs can have effects ranging from nausea, paralysis, to even potentially fatal toxins.

Webspinner (Rare) : The Webspinner is a thoroughly dangerous arachnid, and one that many underestimate. The Webspinner is among the most intelligent of its kind, and it leverages that to the fullest. Often an adventurer or creature has though they hacked away all the dangerous threads, only for the very act of destroying those threads to lead the web to trigger a trap and capture them. The Webspinner spins not only thread and webs, but traps and plots.

Awakener

None

While it wasn't as exotic as some evolutions, I was very happy with what I'd gotten. I quickly chose the Webspinner. The ability to lay traps within traps and mislead and trick those entering it's web? Such a creature would be dangerously at home within the second floor, where it was already hard enough to see ambushes and enemies. The hazy fog that permeated the entire floor would only make it all the better.

With their evolutions underway, I let my attention again diffuse through the dungeon, happy to wait the remaining half day before I could start working on the fourth floor and see the new creatures.