Evolution Begets Evolution

As the glow of white light suffused the tunnels of the second floor, my attention shifted to the watery depths below the first floor. A large number of Broodlings had found their end in those waters, and evidently, it had brought with it a few evolutions as well. Unfortunately, only one of the creatures brought anything new. I quickly evolved the Lamprey's that had reached the threshold into Hunter Lamprey's and sent them to await their descent into the third floor. The sole Glowmouth to earn its evolution was simply turned into a Giant version and sent off with the Hunters. While I could see the potential use for the Flash Knifer, I didn't feel any particular place in either the first or third floors could truly use it. As such, I left it alone for the time being. After all, I could always use future Glowmouth evolutions to gain the schema if I decided I wanted it.

I began to expend mana rapidly, spinning creatures into existence that did not exist before. Slowly, I began to refill the first floor of its slaughtered occupants. And as I did, they found a bountiful harvest of bodies and food around them. The remains from the Broodling attack that I hadn't absorbed away would serve as a source of food for these new creatures, at least until they settled into a more natural cycle. Looking across the first floor, I realized that I had a problem. The floor might very well serve its purpose of appearing as a natural ecosystem, but it was very weak as a result.

The second floor was shrouded in darkness and was a maze of twisting and almost impossible to distinguish tunnels. And all the while when navigating them, one would need to fight Rock Skorpions who would be attacking with venom near their feet, where it would be hard to see through the haze. Stonecloaks would be dropping spheres of true darkness and attacking the blinded foes. And when one reached the hubs, Giant Bats along with the Ironstone Lasher could be found there. The second floor was a test of attrition and constant vigilance, and it was far more dangerous than the first floor.

The third floor was similarly more dangerous. The water-filled floor alone presented its own challenges, requiring the ability to move, fight, and breathe in the water to be effective in any way. But once one was actually in the waters, they would need to contend with pods of Giant Glowmouths. Lampreys, both regular and Hunter would be threats coming from hidden crevices and rocky tunnels. The Darkwater Sharks would prove the strongest threat however, their strength and speed in the water making them a powerful enemy. And at the moment, Huntress lived on the third floor, making it at the very least twice as dangerous as it would be at another time.

With the first floor as it was, I was essentially crippling myself. I needed to make the first floor more dangerous while not taking away its natural appearance. As the first floor was, it wouldn't be difficult for Delvers to simply fight back the creatures and simply move into the second. I needed a way to delay them, to make holding off creatures or moving quickly dangerous. My mind suddenly shot back to the schemas I had gained, and I felt a trickle of an idea enter my mind. I checked on the glowing and changing forms of my creatures evolving but found that they were still barely getting started with the process. For two of them, it was their second evolution. No doubt that made it a more intensive affair.

Nonetheless, I quickly began the familiar process of drawing Earth mana from the emerald set into my pillar. Once I had a useable amount, I turned my attention to the first floor again. Immediately, I began creating small offshoots from the main, central stream. These smaller streams either connected to the existing smaller pools of water or created new ones. Where the first floor was roughly 85% land before, I was quickly changing it to resemble more of an even mix between land and water. More than that, I began having these new pools of water drain into the reservoir I'd made beneath the first floor, instead of connecting to the underground network of tunnels.

These smaller streams would serve to increase the rate at which I collected water for future use. However, that was not their main purpose. Along the banks of the dozens of small streams I'd made, I grew hundreds of colonies of Bluecap Mushrooms. Absolutely massive amounts of the fungi exploded into beings. Before long, the majority of the ground that could be considered at all near the water on the floor was simply covered in the blueish-green fungi. And hidden among the blooms of Bluecaps, I began to grow small Sporeshrooms. Tan-colored Lykesis Blooms were grown and hidden in the dense Bluecap colonies, their paralyzing spores still managing to escape outwards. Tyralis Blooms and Destral Blooms alike joined, with their fear-inducing and burning spores spreading as well.

If a group of Delvers simply rushed through the first floor now, they would undoubtedly run directly into one of these pockets of spores. Only by moving slowly and carefully could Delvers be able to spot and avoid the dangerous and hidden Sporeshrooms. Or, they could attempt to travel in the water and expose themselves to all the dangers hidden in there. Either way, the first floor now had a way to either force intruders to slow down, or to punish them for moving too quickly anyways. I wasn't happy quite yet though. Instead, I looked to the tunnel leading from the first floor and to the second. The pitfall trap there was unique in my entire dungeon, ever since its creation, I hadn't made another like it.

Studying it closer now, I thought about ways to make it more dangerous than it already was. As I thought, I quickly remade the thin stone covering that served as the trap's covering. At the same time, I had an idea. If I had a mouth, I would have been smiling viciously. I decided to quickly add the same thing to the rest of the first floor as well, and so I gathered another amount of Earth mana for the task. And I began to carve out another tunnel system, similar to the underground watery tunnels. This system, however, was above the first floor. I made small open spaces at regular intervals, along with spindly tunnels that connected them to the much wider tunnel that ran the length. And descending to the first floor, I created small connecting holes, through which to move through. And then, in this tunnel system, I began to spin mana into creatures once again. New ones, this time.

Webdrop Spiders began taking form in this new tunnel system. Dozens and dozens of Webdrop Spiders. The eight-legged creatures made small noises at one another before they quickly dispersed, each seeking their own holes to guard and hunt from. Their web nets that they would drop and drag prey back up in already being designed in their minds. The smaller rooms I'd carved out easily serving as nests for the creatures. And before I was done, I made sure to put one of the spider holes, directly on the far side of the pitfall trap. If a Delver made it over the trap, then they would just be snapped up by the spider. Surely that would demoralize and scare their allies.

It was by the time I'd finished with this new project that I realized the evolving creatures on the second floor were slowly finishing their own changes as well. Turning my attention there, I decided to let the spiders sort themselves out and find out how that was working later. The Rock Skorpions that had reached evolution finished first. Their evolutions into Kerberus Skorpions proving to be quite a dangerous thing for any potential intruders. My plan had been initially to move the first two Kerberus Skorpions down to the fourth floor when I decided to make it. But in line with my rapid escalation of dangerous situations in my dungeons floors, I decided instead to keep the dangerous Kerberus Skorpions on the second floor. They would all serve beneath the Gladiator Skorpion, who reigned as the Floor Boss.

Despite the Kerberus Skorpions proving their worth during the fight against the Broodlings, I had much more interesting things to focus on. Namely, the Drake-Kin Warrior that the Kobold had turned into. I watched as the white light faded from his form, and quickly examined the changes. Those changes were very clearly drastic. His height had rocketed upwards, from five foot six inches all the way to six foot two inches. Correspondingly, he was much broader now. And while the Kobold's body had been tough and surprisingly strong, it had nothing compared to this new form. Powerful muscles rippled visibly beneath his scaled skin, his mere appearance was intimidating. More than that, the scales themselves were actually stronger and ever so slightly thicker, giving him even more of a natural defense.

I watched as the Drake-Kin examined himself, inspecting the changes across his body with interest. More than anything though, I watched the Ironstone Lashers spike that the Drake-Kin wielded as a weapon. While the Kobold had managed to use it, to some effect as well, it had never looked as natural as it did with the Drake-Kin. When the Warrior went to practice a few swings, I could see even its surprise at how quickly, powerfully, and inherently skillfully he did it. The sharp and long spike served as a powerful weapon for the Drake-Kin, and I did not doubt that the Kobold using it had led to the Warrior evolution instead of just a general evolution. Nonetheless, I couldn't simply watch the Drake-Kin practice swinging its improvised sword the whole time. Instead, I quickly had the Drake-Kin move down to the end of the second floor, to await me opening a path for it to the fourth floor I would create soon.

Instead, my attention shifted to Leira. She had entered her evolution not long after the Kobold, and so I wasn't very surprised to see the glow begin to fade from her as well. Looking closely at the changes in her, I couldn't help but feel savagely satisfied. She had grown to seven meters long, from nose to tail. Massive, powerful muscles were visible under the dark fur. And now, to match the emerald in Leira's forehead, each and every one of her claws were made of emerald. The gem claws were impossibly sharp and strong, a far cry from what regular emerald would be like. Standing to her full height of two meters, Leira pawed at the ground and her claws sliced through the stone with ease. I could hear the purr of satisfaction that emanated from her, apparently happy that stone was nothing in front of her anymore.

Before long, however, she quickly began to experiment with the power the description of her new species had ascribed to her. The massive rivers of Earth mana pulsed out from her claws where it pooled passively. I watched with interest as she forced spikes to rise in front of her, the Earth mana cutting roughly through the stone. Leira herself seemed fascinated by this new power. She bounded quickly over to a nearby tunnel, and I could feel Earth mana emanate from her. The next moment, a spike of stone impaled a Rock Skorpion near her. I suddenly realized what she had done. She'd used Earth mana to map out all the rock and stone in her surroundings. And since the Skorpion didn't show up on that map, she knew it was a Skorpion just disguising itself.

Something resembling a smile ran through the mana in my core. I was excited to see a creature of mine displaying control of any kind over mana, instead of just passively using it to empower themselves. Seeing an active use, I was very happy with Leira. She seemed to feel the satisfaction in my attention, as she purred. Still smiling in my own unique way, I had Leira move to follow the Drake-Kin. Her place would be on the fourth floor as well. I would let the first three speak for themselves without any additional help. There was a need to know if the floors were truly effective, or if they had only worked until now because I had so many powerful creatures on one floor. Nonetheless, Leira began quickly running in that direction.

With her and the Drake-Kin gone, My attention finally turned to Kyr. His long, serpentine form was still lit with a powerful white glow. Probably the brightest I had ever seen from any change yet. As it slowly faded, I could feel the ambient mana condense slightly around Kyr from the sheer amount of attention I was putting into seeing his new changes.

Kyr had been almost twelve meters long before his evolution, and he had only grown. His body was almost seventeen meters long now, and he was a third of a meter in diameter. Three meters back from his heavy triangular head, rose a pair of wings. The feathers were dark gray but had a powerful sheen to them. As I watched, Kyr curled around to investigate these new wings. Aside from the wings and the size increase, it could almost seem like not much had changed. However, my mana-vision told me otherwise. The feathers of those wings were taking in a slow and steady supply of mana from Kyr. Then, in a process so efficient it had to be a 99.99% conversion rate, the feathers would turn the pure mana into Air mana to allow Kyr flight. Each wing had a span of over three meters, and with so many feathers acting in concert...

I wasn't surprised then when I saw Kyr spread the wings excitedly and his body begin to rise from the ground. Slowly, meter by meter, his long form lifted and began to slither through the air. Watching this, I felt a wave of joy coming both from myself and Kyr as he took flight. More than just that flight though, my attention was stolen from the wings by what I saw in my mana-vision. A massive amount of mana and capacity for holding mana had exploded inside Kyr. I could immediately tell that he could hold roughly a hundred points of mana, only a little less than half of what I myself could hold! The magical brilliance emanating from his scales and internal magic was stunning.

And yet, above even that, my attention was stolen by one last thing.

"Is... Is this you Sybas?" A hesitant but strong mental voice spoke to me over the thickened and powerful connection between us. Hearing what was undoubtedly Kyr's mental voice for the first time. I realize what had happened at the same time as I received a message.

Congratulations! You have gained your first Sapient Creature!

You have reached the threshold for your second Evolution!

Beginning Evolution...