Confusion and consternation.

They were the best words to explain what came next.

Ranus expected some of it. He had mentally prepared himself for the ridicule he expected to hear from the three people in this room. Instead, he got utter silence for a few moments and then chaos.

The three tried speaking at once, realising that they were talking over each other. They looked at each other, deciding who would go first.

Averance, as the most senior, started.

"Ranus, what you are asking of us is the most closely guarded secret thought any Dungeon Core possesses." Her face was calm but deadly serious. "It is why many raid dungeons for their cores, as it is the very means of the ability of a core to create. In many ways, it steps into the realm of the divine."

He was both confused and terrified of that answer.

"Then why does the Tower in the Shadows Core want to know this?" This question came to his mind, as he did not understand why the Core had asked him to find out the requested information.

"My first instinct is that the Core is seeking to cause chaos. But this goes against everything I have perceived and witnessed it has done so far." Averance spoke, but she was looking off into the middle distance, and they were not sure if she was actually addressing anyone in the room or just talking out loud.

"Should I ask the followers of Astraus?" He asked.

"No!" The three said in unison.

"You would be fortunate to survive such a question being asked of a priest or priestess, let alone within the house of Astraus," Averance told him. "What you're asking goes to the core of what a dungeon is, and the goddess of them will not take lightly to such questions being asked."

"Then what do I do?" He asked the group.

"My advice. Look for a few books and tomes on the subject. Even supply them to the Dungeon if you think that would help. Then, inform the Core that you have done your best but cannot answer that question." Averance's words were firm. "Seek nothing beyond that let you bring down retribution above your head."

Ranus heard and understood her words. Sometimes, knowledge was a dangerous thing.

## ## ## ## ##

Days turned into weeks and then into months.

Within and without the city of Shadow Vale, Life went on. Schemes and plans were laid and plotted. People went about their lives with joy and sadness coming to visit them. Adventurers fought and struggled, seeking to gain new steps along their Path.

A new cult slowly grew.

And the Dungeon slowly waited as it worked on something new.

Then, during the autumn, with the threat of winter approaching, the Dungeon's doors slammed shut, and the expansion process began.

## ## ## ## ##

"Errrwww."

I emerged into the ultimate hangover feeling of levelling. I spent a few minutes collecting myself, as I had experienced it many times before, but could never get used to it. Eventually, I was able to go around and start the process of preparing the next floor.

First, I checked the Dungeon to ensure everything was where it needed to be, and every minion I possessed was in position. It did not take long, and everything looked good.

Puck and Larry, I've been guarding my Core during the level up, and they returned to their usual places when I started my tour of the Dungeon.

I checked out everything and started to think about what would come next. First, I looked at my character sheet.

"Status sheet Bhaldor. Open."

Name

Bhaldor

Essence

0%

Race

Dungeon Core

CP

158(1200) 10.5 phr

Level

9

Corruption

0%

Floors

9

Health

100%

Skills:

Mana Manipulation: 7 - 5%

Core Refining – 25%

Mana Sight: 14 – 56%

Aura Manipulation: 8 - 45%

Herb Lore: 2 – 0%

Spell Casting: 1 – 0%

Alchemy: 10 – 0%

Enchanting: 5 – 63%

Perks/Restrictions:

Godless

Affintyless (++ ERROR! ++)

Companionless

Limitless Monsters/Traps

Core Refinement max – 90%

Spell Casting (++ ERROR! ++)

Mana Stored

Illusion – 120(120) / 0.01 phr.

Shadow – 120(120) / 1.1 phr.

Light – 120(120)/ 0.1 phr.

Earth – 120(120)/ 0.9 phr.

Ice – 120(120)/ 0.012phr

Fire – 120(120)/ 0.1phr

Air – 120(120)/ 0.35phr

Death – 120(120)/ 0.2phr

Infernal - 120(120)/ 0.1phr

"Right."

I had made improvements to Mana Manipulation and Mana Sight through the limited experimentation I could do. Overall, I was happy with what I was looking at. The only fly in the ointment was my low CP, but that was to be expected. I already knew I would have issues with that number, and I would have to be far more intelligent in using my resources.

"Let's do this."

I opened the Dungeon as it was early in the day, and it seemed to allow people into it. This would give me time to put my plans into place. It would slow me down when people were below the 5th floor, which would mean I would have to stop working, but I was willing to accept that. I needed to start working towards the next floor anyway.

I started pushing down into the ground, claiming the rock below me. I began by claiming an area big enough for the core room. I then excavated it, leaving enough material in place to finish off the stairwell when I connected it to the floor above.

I was forced to stop here as a Guild employee came down and checked the status of the 8th floor. After confirming there was no link to the 9th, he quickly darted back up the stairs. Once he was out, I continued.

I had been thinking long and hard about this floor and the one after it, and decided to implement something a little different. Not much, though, but I was happy with what I had planned.

Lions would be the minions on this floor.

A single mana type would enhance two large rooms with two groups. The floor guardian will be a lion, but greatly improved and fused with both types of mana. Simple but effective.

That was the original plan. After many days and weeks of thought, I made a slight alteration to it. The floor guardian will use a third mana, different from the other two, to throw off any adventurers on the floor.

A group was up on the 3rd, fighting the boars. I used this opportunity to get to work. I created the first exit to the core room to the West. Three rooms were to be made along the cavern and grass environment, with a few additions. Rocks of different sizes were scattered across the room. I remembered from nature documentaries that lions like to use them as both lookout and ambush points.

Once the cabin had been excavated, I added the blue Moss to the walls and ceiling, covered the floor with soil, and planted grass. It will be the same tall grass found on the other floors above.

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Next, I created a short tunnel heading northeast. It was only a few metres long and was to act as a connection to the next cavern. This cavern mirrored the first one in terms of both size and internal environment layout.

I then created a second corridor leading southeast, which would be the guardian's room. Again, this one was the same size and layout as the others, but had another connection to the core room. Here, I created the door that would be the exit from the guardian's room. All this took the better part of a day, and I got most of the work done at night when I was not bothered by adventurers passing the 5th floor.

Mountain Lions cost 15 CP per minion. Stat-wise, they were very similar to boars and cost the same. With my limited resources, I had to be more careful with what I was doing here. I planned to have four lions in each room that would work together, with a final one as the guardian.

I made it a reality once I was sure of what I was planning.

The first room was ice. It took a few attempts to get the actual design to work, and a few of the prototype lions exploded. But in the end, I managed to get a stable minion out of it.

Name

Ice Lion

Level/Class

1 - Dungeon Minion

Race

Lion

Essence

0%

Health

110/110

Mana

40/40

Stamina

120/120

Corruption

0%

STR

11

11 Damage Base

DEX

10

 

AGL

15

 

END

11

 

VIT

12

 

PER

10

 

INT

5

 

WIL

4

 

LUCK

2

 

Skills:

Leap: 1 – 0% (10 meters. END + 3 impact damage. Chance of KNOCKDOWN) Cost: 10 Samina

Dodge: 1 - 0% Cost: 2 Stamina

Spells:

Ice Breath: Cost: 10 Mana (Duration: 10 seconds, 10 DAM(Ice))

Equipment:

Claws: Dam 6 + STR

Perks/Restrictions:

Resistant to Ice attacks.

Vulnerable to Fire attacks.

Tough Hide: - 3 Dam.

Infusing the ice mana into the lion had changed it somewhat. It used to have a grey mane, which was now white and sparkled like frost, and its hide, a dull grey, was now a pale blue. These Changes had the effect of reflecting the light around it more, making it stand out. The lion's eyes, which were once golden yellow, had changed to a deep blue.

Overall, I was happy with what I had created. I produced three more and let them wander around the room together.

Next, I opened up the rewards prompt.

Loot Assignment.

The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the four Ice Lions.

Cythian Copper coins x25 (Chance – 30%)

Cythian Copper coins x30 (Chance – 30%)

Cythian Copper coins x40 and x1 Ice Mana Stone. (Chance – 40%)

The odds and types of rewards may be set manually, but this will add to the overall support cost of the minion respawn.

Do you wish to alter the rewards: Yes or No?

"That's not much."

I spent several minutes thinking about altering this. Honestly, I was torn as it was not a lot, but I was being as frugal as possible.

I forced myself to stop procrastinating and left it as it was. During this time, the lions had wandered around the whole space investigating what they had access to, and I had noticed a very odd occurrence. Due to their presence, the room now had a light dusting of frost across all the floor surfaces. This was unexpected, and I wondered if other types of mana would also cause environmental changes.

Well, I was about to find out.

I moved on to the next cavern and began the process again, using fire instead of ice this time. I had a better idea of how much these lions could take in alterations to their design, so this went much faster.

Name

Fire Lion

Level/Class

1 - Dungeon Minion

Race

Lion

Essence

0%

Health

100/100

Mana

40/40

Stamina

120/120

Corruption

0%

STR

11

11 Damage Base

DEX

10

 

AGL

16

 

END

10

 

VIT

12

 

PER

10

 

INT

5

 

WIL

4

 

LUCK

2

 

Skills:

Leap: 1 – 0% (10 meters. END + 3 impact damage. Chance of KNOCKDOWN) Cost: 10 Samina

Dodge: 1 - 0% Cost: 2 Stamina

Spells:

Fire Breath: Cost: 10 Mana (Duration: 10 seconds, 10 DAM(Fire))

Equipment:

Claws: Dam 6 + STR

Perks/Restrictions:

Resistant to Fire attacks.

Vulnerable to Water attacks.

Tough Hide: - 3 Dam.

"Well, that is a little disappointing."

The Fire and Ice Lions were near mirror images of each other.

Loot Assignment.

The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the four Fire Lions.

Cythian Copper coins x25 (Chance – 30%)

Cythian Copper coins x30 (Chance - 30%)

Cythian Copper coins x40 and x1 Fire Mana Stone. (Chance – 40%)

The odds and types of rewards may be set manually, but this will add to the overall support cost of the minion respawn.

Do you wish to alter the rewards: Yes or No?

"I had hoped for a bigger difference between them."

There were a few differences, but nothing made them stand out—the four wandered around as the Ice Lions had, exploring their space. Their hides turned charcoal black, and their manes were fiery red. The ice had changed from yellow to molten gold, and steam came from their mouths. Over time, things became covered with a layer of soot.

I had 38 CP left to use on the floor guardian. I decided to use 30 of it, plus three times as much mana as the lions I had already created. It would be a risk, but I was confident it would work. I looked at my other guardians to see if there was anything I wanted to integrate into the design from them. Ultimately, I decided against it as it would increase the cost too much for too little benefit due to the random part of creating a guardian.

"Here we go."

I focused on creating the guardian and fought the mental strain as it took form.

The air vortex of the new guardian's creation was in full spin. Motes of different-coloured light were gathering, and as the guardian took shape, the strain in my mind increased.

With a loud pop, the new guardian came into existence.

It took me a few moments to concentrate and look at my latest creation, and when I did, I was surprised.

Before me was a lion like the others, yet so different. Its hide was a pale, almost white, pink. Its mane shimmered as it moved, reflecting different colours. Two antennae sprouted in a U shape from the top of its head, each moving independently. A kaleidoscope of various colours had replaced the yellow of its eyes. I watched it move around, looking at its new home.

"It appears Illusion mana was the right choice. Let's see what we got."

Name

9th Floor Guardian

Level/Class

Floor 9 Boss

Race

Greater Lion

Essence

0%

Health

250/250

Mana

100/100

Stamina

250/250

Corruption

0%

STR

17

17 Damage Base

DEX

20

 

AGL

25

+15% Dodge

END

25

 

VIT

25

 

PER

15

 

INT

10

 

WIL

10

 

LUCK

4

 

Skills:

Leap: 1 – 0% (10 meters. END + 3 impact damage. Chance of KNOCKDOWN) Cost: 10 Samina

Dodge: 2 - 0% Cost: 2 Stamina.

Spells:

Dazzle – Cost: 5 Mana (Duration: 35 seconds)

Reflecting Images – Cost: 15 Mana (Duration: 1 minute 10 seconds) Target Self only.

Confusion – Cost 5 Mana (Duration: 35 seconds).

Equipment:

Claws: Dam 10 + STR

Perks/Restrictions:

Tough Hide: - 5 Dam.

"Oookkkayyy."

It was an improvement. I notice several new skills and spells across all three Lions. I needed to figure out what they did to gauge these new creations properly. But I had one last thing to sort out for the guardian.

Loot Assignment.

The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the 9th-floor guardian.

Cythian Silver coins x5 (Chance – 40%)

Cythian Silver coins x7 (Chance - 40%)

Cythian Silver coins x10 and x1 Illusion Mana Stone. (Chance – 20%)

The odds and types of rewards may be set manually, but this will add to the overall support cost of the minion respawn.

Do you wish to alter the rewards: Yes or No?

The rewards were not bad, but they were not fantastic either. I left the match they were at and accepted them. This meant the floor was now finished except for one small thing.

I shifted my core room and connected it to the rest of the Dungeon.

Now it was finished. I had been thinking as I created this floor and had come to a decision. My next floor would be a single minion or a small group concentrating on quality over quantity.

It was late at night, so I would not see any adventurers soon.

I used this time to focus on my new minion's abilities. And I learned some quite interesting things.

It turns out that [Leap] differed slightly from [Charge]. On the surface, they were very similar. However, if the [Leap] attack worked, the recipient would be knocked down, allowing the attacker to dominate the fight and strike with greater damage. Reading through it, I realised this was actually quite a dangerous skill, especially for an ambusher like a lion. This was an ability that I would look at merging with new minions in the future.

The two breath attacks were relatively easy to figure out. They both produced a stream of ice/fire thought that would strike any target close to them. Overall, they were not bad.

That brought me to the spell [Reflecting Images] that my guardian possessed.

The more I read, the more excited I became.

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