Watching from the core room as the remaining 21 knights frantically swam for the exit I felt guilty. Only 30-45 minutes ago they’d been planning a big party to celebrate their discovery, and now tears were running down the young knights faces as they fled. I knew the deaths were unavoidable in order to protect myself but... I just wish there was some other way.

Regardless of my own feelings, the invasion has taught me some more about this world and set into action a new chain of events. These included my official discovery, the strength of people in this world, and some information I’d picked up about other dungeons, mainly that they exist, and what is typically expected within them.

Obviously the most pressing of these is my discovery. Now that people have delved into the first floor and come out alive for the first time word will spread quickly. Whatever protocols the outside world has about dungeon discovery and ownership I’m unaware of but I’m sure they don’t have my best interests in mind. No matter what, I can anticipate stronger and more frequent visitors similar to those belonging to the knights who just left.

Speaking of, the people in this world are insanely powerful compared to Earth. Even ignoring the two leaders every single knight had been performing superhuman levels of strength, movement, accuracy, and even magical abilities like healing! Listening in I’d heard them calling out spells and skill names similar to my own. Which means that the natives of this world likely have something resembling my [Dungeon Status] or another way of obtaining skills. The specifics aren’t really all that important but learning just how powerful my invaders will be should help in future floor planning. Know thine enemy and all that.

Finally I’d heard some discussion about finding “a dungeon”. Meaning places similar to me exist in this world and are common knowledge. Given how excited they were to find me at first I can assume my eternal resource enslavement theory holds some merit after all. The knights had been largely quiet during the raid but I’d overheard some whispering about my complexity and difficulty in relation to my age. Mainly that I was absurdly strong in comparison to the Dire Rat infested lone hallways of other dungeons. The validity of these claims I can’t attest but hearing someone praise my layout and creatures did feel pretty good.

Though one complaint had irked me. The knights had complained about the lack of loot! At first I’d been pretty mad given they were expected a reward in exchange for trying to enslave me but then I reflected on the how the voice had guided me thus far.

Dungeons are seemingly meant to be challenged. It’s how we grow. Without any animals or people coming inside and dying I don’t gain mana other than my passive regeneration and the mana farm I’d created myself. With how complex my dungeon appears to be I assume other dungeons may not have these farms or be capable of creating them in the first place. So naturally they’d be much more reliant on invaders and to encourage them they’d offer greater rewards. So if I opted for the same system in addition to my already complex floor I could likely increase my earnings further as more humans come to raid me.

The leader of the knights had said my average monster should only drop 20-30 Rhilos on the first floor. He was actually off by a sizable margin. My Timber Wolves range from 45-50, the Storm Hares from 30-40, and all the salamander species were easily around 100 with some closer to 150. Of course some standouts existed like Mary, who had grown her bounty to 750, and the Piranha Queen close behind at 500, but even then I agreed the prices were somewhat low.

Imagine you walk miles out from civilization with half your weight in gear across rough terrain. You make your way into a dark cave in the middle of the woods with your comrades. Swim through piranha infested waters, fight off alligators, wolves, and magic lightning rabbits with only your blade and your wits. And when you walk back out after all that... You’ve earned a few $50 gift cards to split amongst your friends.

Since my prices are already almost doubling what the apparent average is I’ll leave them be but rest assured if people start complaining I have no issue maximizing [Loot Control]. Who knows? Maybe if I give out enough money they’ll see me valuable enough to leave alone?

These were all things to keep in mind moving forward. Couldn’t do anything about most of them but I can at least put them on the ever expanding “When we can ask questions/Reach town to spy” list of things to look into.

As for what I can do right now... Let’s look at the end result of both level ups.

Unnamed Dungeon Level 9

Mana Capacity 0/10,000

Mana Bank: 3,000/3,000

Passive Regen Rate 115/day

Floors: 1/2

Named Creatures: 1/2

Skills: Remote Absorption, Create Creature, Create Flora, Dungeon Status, Naming, Expansion, Terraforming, Marking, Mana Bank, Loot Control, Creature Core, Treasure, Banners

Traits: Fast Paced, Purposeful

Between both level ups I’d only gained the new skill [Banners]. Largely pointless, the skill meant I could leave messages or descriptions for monsters and items. According to the voice certain skills like [Analyze] would then read them when activated. I of course tried using a [Banner] to write “I’m alive help me!” but the message wouldn’t appear when I finished the [Banner]. For now I left the creature descriptions either auto generated by the voice or what the text for an evolution option had been. The only special [Banner] I made was a small box in a cursive font that would appear in front of anyone entering the first floor for the first time. Short and sweet it just read “Welcome to the Mangle Bog”.

Also of note was the expensive uptick in Mana Capacity. Compared to the 3,000 needed for level 7 a full 9,000 seemed a big leap. This only strengthened my decision to not chase levels as fervently as I had been back when the dungeon was still a cave. Finishing off this floor and moving onto the next is likely a better use of mana.

Speaking of floors the bog had proven rather capable against the much stronger knights in comparison to the militia men. Part of me knew the easy kills had been a result of the precarious curvature of the roots making it difficult to fight at full strength, but I was still rather proud of everyone. The leaders had both confirmed to me that forcing invaders into straight fights was a bad idea. Each was likely capable of killing Mary without much trouble and had only retreated out of fear for their subordinate’s injuries. Adding more than just strong monsters is a good idea moving forward.

The only time I’d like to have a straight fight is against any floor bosses. Mary was technically the “boss” right now but I’d like someone more themed to the bog’s atmosphere. During this next spree of evolutions and possibly choosing a second Names I should keep an eye out for any candidates.

I could very easily choose the Piranha Queen, or salamander given they are my strongest monsters on the floor but that would feel lame. The Piranha Queen is more of mini boss or secret event over a boss everyone should fight and just choosing a monster commonly found across the floor would be boring when I could create something special.

Shaking my invisible head I headed over to the first creature ready to evolve and cleared my mind from all future preparations. Now was the time to spend our winnings.

*YOUR LESSER ANACONDA HAS REACHED THE EVOLUTION THRESHOLD! 2 OPTIONS AVAILABLE PLEASE SELECT AN EVOLUTION OPTION

GREATER ANACONDA: The Greater Anaconda simply improves upon every aspect of the lesser anaconda especially size. VANISHING VIPER: This great snake lies in wait on land or sea using its invisibility spells to surprise its victims. These snakes also carry a paralytic venom that is delivered from their fangs.

*SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS MET: Evolve from a lesser anaconda that has exhibited great stealth abilities when hunting!

ANOMALOUS ANACONDA: This snake keeps the large size capacity from its prior evolutions but gains a paralytic venom that is excreted from the skin. This new species also seems to hold an affinity for light and dark magic.

After reading my options I immediately chose Anomalous Anaconda. It was the perfect blend of both other options and seemed the most powerful. The Special Requirement text also made me think of something. Was the voice monitoring every creature in the dungeon at once? I sure hope not. Watching the Slime Shrooms would be pretty boring...

Slithering out of the orange light the previously 8 foot snake had grown to a massive 15 and with room still to grow. From a distance he would appear a normal anaconda but closer inspection revealed a faint pulsing yellow beneath his scales.

I gave him the usual order to show me any new skills and he energetically used his light magic to turn invisible right in front of me! It wasn’t a perfect transformation given the slight distortion around his body and still visible shadow but it was still remarkable. Just imagining the stealth kills he could get in the future made me nervous with anticipation.

The ability he gained for his dark magic affinity was much more repulsive. While he could now hide in his shadow just like Mary, although it was an uncomfortably tight fit, his real new power was shooting inky smoke into his immediate area. Spewing from a small hollow tube beneath his forked tongue the pure darkness would seep into the space around him. I found it of note that the darkness was not difficult to breath in like smoke but just black air.

Very pleased already I moved onto the Storm Hares which sadly only had 1 evolution.

*YOUR STORM HARE HAS REACHED THE EVOLUTION THRESHOLD! 1 OPTION AVAILABLE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO EVOLVE YOUR STORM HARE INTO A TEMPEST HARE?

YES/NO

Obviously selecting yes I watched as around a dozen of the rabbits transformed. It wasn’t a drastic change but they still grew to around 4 and a half feet long and their legs grew even more muscular. The only other physical change was the black streaks down their gray bodies now held tufts of yellow inside the outline.

Besides the small increase in power they gained 2 new combat techniques. The previously obsolete yellow spike could now be launched from the side of their legs with strong enough kicks. Not very damaging themselves, the spikes true purpose was to act as a lightning rod for the Tempest Hares much more powerful electric shocks. If the target was impaled any nearby discharges would fly towards the spike causing massive damage. Each Hare had to be careful with use though since each spike would take a full day in the dungeon to regrow.

For their rivals the Timber Wolves I was surprised to see only 2 could evolve until I read the options name.

*YOUR TIMBER WOLF HAS REACHED THE EVOLUTION THRESHOLD! 1 OPTION AVAILABLE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO EVOLVE YOUR TIMBER WOLF INTO AN ALPHA TIMBER WOLF?

YES/NO

My pair of alphas emerged from the light much larger and smarter than even the other wolves. From their necks had grown long manes of black hair designating their status and the male soon revealed a talent for manipulating the mangrove branches with his magic. Of note, the pairs newborn pups began growing the same dark hairs on their necks even after birth. Perhaps another quirk of a dungeon monster’s biology?

With a single bark the new and improved wolves organized their subordinates into scouting parties and left to the canopies. Soon the crest of every tree on the left side of the bog was a post wolves would be stationed in. Setting up a schedule the alphas began keeping up to date maps of the floors inhabitants and populations. Personally I would have called them Wolf Generals over Alphas after seeing this behavior.

Now that both the Timber Wolves and Hares had grown stronger both sides agreed to an unofficial stalemate. The hares could have the right side and the wolves the left. Small skirmishes along the silently agreed upon borders were common but nothing compared to the full scale wars from the last few days.

Using the last of my mana from the knights I summoned a female Anomalous Anaconda for 600 mana with hopes to encourage the species to breed. I found some humor in the situation when the rather intelligent male nodded in my general direction and nervously began slithering towards what I felt was his “perfect woman”.

Chuckling to myself I through up a salute and said, “Godspeed my friend!”