The Swarming Slime boss fight concept has been proven successful! Sure it lost, but that was largely due to my own interference midway through. Once my small tweaks are made it should prove efficient at deterring all the untrained village kids from reaching the second floor. Even the party that had defeated the boss had been wiped out except for 2 members! Speaking of Bit, I owe him a Teleporter pretty soon. But I’ll get to that in a... bit! Okay I’ll stop...

“Mary? Could you bring our young friend down to the core room please?”

Looking up towards my consciousness as she dodged her Coal Cat sparring partner’s tail Mary asked casually “Any specific reason why?”

“I realized a problem with the boss design and need the axolotl to fix it.”

“Just give me a minute.” She said sinking into her shadow and traveling up the spiral staircase.

Before Bit had entered the Save Point I already confirmed my monsters could enter the space just fine. My monsters would only be forcefully removed by the voice if they showed aggression of any kind. Even dueling with each other was deemed too much. I may find some use for peaceful monsters in future safe zones but I don’t intend on having Mary clean the rooms or work in the kitchens right now.

The young axolotl in question has been hiding out in one of the [Recovery] spots I’d hidden around the floor for 2 days. During the trial run of the boss fight he’d almost been severed in half by the party’s tank and killed. It was at that exact moment it donned on me the only axolotl who knew how to fight with the Swarming Slime wouldn’t respawn upon death. In the heat of the moment I ordered the boss to launch the poor guy to safety and take the loss.

About 2 hours later Mary came into the core room with the young Tidal Axolotl hiding from the second floor’s flames within her shadow storage. Once he stretched and walked up to my core I began relaying to the little guy my intentions. He would become the second Named monster of the dungeon. At this he gave a cute smile and began bouncing in excitement.

Just like with Mary what felt like an eternity ago I had him bow down in front of the core. As I’ve learned more about the voice and running the dungeon in general I’ve found several different ceremonial procedures like this one. I’d love to learn in the future if other dungeons must uphold the same rules.

“So that you may better serve your role as the boss of our Mangle Bog I name you, Irwin.”

Compared to the transformation Mary had from 2d to 3d during her ceremony Irwin remained largely the same. Besides a minor increase in muscle mass relative to his body size, the only physical difference was the extension of his 6 whisker like pink gills to cover the full length of his body. Along with their increase in size the mana attuned gills began visibly pulsing with magic power. Even when compared to the water magic of a standard Tidal Axolotl Irwin was in a league of his own in terms of raw affinity. Given that he had already proved a remarkable talent I have high hopes.

“Feeling better buddy?” I asked as Irwin’s body stopped shifting.

Distracted by wiggling his new gills Irwin only gave me a small nod before creating several small water bubbles around the core room. At first I thought he had just ignored me but it soon became obvious Irwin couldn’t speak like Mary.

“He’s most likely too young Master. I was at full maturity when I was [Named] and thus had the capacity for speech. Irwin’s growth may have been affected given your timing.”

Wishing I could pet the cute axolotl like a dog I said “That’s fine. As long as he can understand me and you then there’s no problem. We’ll test your maturity theory on the next one.”

“Next one?”

“Yup! I’ve selected another candidate while you were training.”

Wiping away a fake tear Mary said in a voice “I can’t, sniff, believe it... Master want to replace me already!”

Long used to her sarcasm I sent the simple response “Shut up.”

Bursting out laughing Mary began asking Irwin to spar while we waited for the next candidate. Since I wanted Mary and any other Living Shadow’s to be special inside the dungeon, they were my first monsters, I hadn’t assigned her a proper location to guard other than the core. With so much free time Mary had started challenging other dungeon monsters and occasionally attacking adventuring parties to grow stronger. According to her she was getting extremely close to evolution a few days ago.

“Caw.” Called my next Named as she flew into the core room at the back of the second floor.

When evolving the original Red-Tailed Hawks I’d been unable to make a breeding pair of Serrated Hawks. In order to save mana wherever possible I ordered the last remaining female hawk to train and unlock the evolution. I’d received the evolution notification this morning but I had already labeled her as a likely choice before even seeing it.

In order to fulfill my order quickly the small hawk had continuously challenged her genetically stronger brothers and sister every day. The first few fights had expectedly been rather short, but on the fourth day she surprised all of us watching. Despite being unevolved she had defeated a Serrated Hawk with swordsmanship alone. She’d understood that her raw power could never match the others and instead decided to hone her technique. Today she stood as the strongest hawk on the floor having claimed that title with sheer determination and commitment. Fittingly she alone had received a special evolution option.

*RONIN HAWK: A solitary hunter with unrivaled pride and skill, the Ronin Hawk will continuously seek out a lord to serve. Only a hawk that has shown great devotion and mastery of their chosen combat style will receive the revered title of Ronin.

If the term was the same of that on Earth a Ronin would be attributed to a samurai without a master, hence the “seek out a lord” part of the description. I already liked the hawks attitude and having my own samurai sounded pretty cool. So I repeated the [Naming] ceremony with the talented hawk as I’d done with Irwin.

“For going above and beyond my expectations and overcoming your physical limitations I have chosen to name you, Mulan.”

At first she seemed shocked at my decision, but after calming down took a knee and accepted the name with pride. It may have been my imagination but I thought I spied a tear falling down her smiling beak.

Growing to the size of her Serrated Hawk family Mulan now stood at 5 feet tall and possessed perfect posture. Her feathers had changed from sharpened brown to a dull gray with red spots. Similar to the Honed Hawks, when her feathers aligned along her wings they became twin blades capable of slicing through the great redwoods and launching feathers at her discretion. Finishing off her new look was a bright red cuirass covering her chest made of her own plumage and a bright red feather that stuck up directly behind her head.

Still bowing as best a giant hawk could Mulan spoke “Milord, I am undeserving of such an honor. But as you have deemed me worthy I shall redouble my efforts to exceed your expectations.”

Really used to Mary’s teasing and informal tone I let out a long “Uh...... thanks! Your service is much appreciated.”

Mary was snickering in her corner while Irwin just stared wide eyed at what he thought was a “pretty” friend. Mulan simply nodded and stayed in her lowered position. It took me a few moments to realize she wanted orders.

“Oh, for now help everyone on the second floor train. The newly hatched hawks could learn a lot from your guidance. If I think of anything else I contact you over our link.”

Giving me a courteous bow Mulan said “Milord.” Before spreading her wings and flying out the entrance into the forest. She’s certainly a character...

“Yo, Master?” said Mary resting an elbow on my core with a look about to ask for something.

Rolling my eyes mentally I looked directly at her “You could learn some respect from Mulan you know. We could begin with a simple please.”

“I’m good. Anyway I think I’m ready to evolve about now.”

“Huh? I haven’t gotten a- “

*MARY HAS REACHED HER EVOLUTION THRESHOLD! 3 OPTIONS AVAILABLE. PLEASE SELECT AN EVOLUTION OPTION.

VENGEFUL SPIRIT: Acting like a parasite for the soul a Vengeful Spirit will attach itself to an individual and haunt them. Individuals being haunted can be utilized or tormented with the powerful curse spells all Vengeful Spirits possess. STALKER: A specialist in deception the Stalker hunts in plain sight just as well as the shadows. All Stalkers possess powerful shadow magic to hunt down their target and can shift their appearance to match that of a known sapients. But some will copy more than just a targets appearance. GHOST: No longer limited to just the shadows Ghosts are capable of complete invisibility in any environment. Gaining additional several new luring techniques and a resistance to physical damage, Ghosts can even possess weaker willed individuals.

Since she was now capable of thought I left the decision up to Mary. If she really thought being a Ghost was the best path for her I have no qualms letting her become one. It may be weird to say since I created her to defend me, but it’s her life in the end.

Practically drooling Mary said “Stalker!”

Getting some payback I teased “Stalker...?”

Flicking my core light enough not to damage it Mary groaned “Pleeeease.”

“Good job.” I grinned selecting the option.

Glowing for the first time in weeks Mary came out of the orange light largely unchanged. Her skin was still obsidian black, her long hair was still void of all color except for the red tips, and her pure white teeth weren’t guarded by any lips. The only outward change was her brand new pair of legs. And if her current jumping and lunges are any indication they are fully functional. She could still fall into her shadow form but obviously she wanted to run around most of the time instead of sitting inside the floor.

Other than the shadow magic she would need time to learn and get used to Mary gained two more useful abilities. After becoming a Stalker Mary could now morph her body into any shape she could imagine as long as she had enough mass to create it. This had seemed unremarkable to me at first until she began creating holes in her body to block Irwin’s water arrows and formed her entire left arm into a spear.

The second ability Mary gained was copying a person’s appearance. Using the knight’s vice-captain as a test subject Mary managed to perfectly replicate everything about the woman. Her height, clothes, voice, and even perfume were all perfectly captured by the imitation. With her newly enlarged [Creature Core] I decided to send her into Brooksdam sometime soon.

Leaving Mary to take Irwin back up to the bog and Mulan to her training I opened up my new level 18 skill tab [Construction]. It’s been 2 days and I owe Bit his teleporter.

Much like [Auras] the [Construction] skill seemed like it could grow with use. The intended purpose was the enormous trap catalogue I could spend mana to buy templates from, but during my testing I had discovered the Utility tab at the bottom of the skill. I doubt it’s a function used often by other dungeons since all they seem to do is kill, but reading through the different stores, buildings, and facilities I could create filled my imagination.

The Teleporter I would build in the Save Point was rather expensive in both mana and Rhilos considering I needed two. With this discovery I’d finally found a use for the small room I’d made to the right of the cave entrance. Best part about the Teleporter installation was that I could charge people to use it. The price seems to be fixed but every little bit helps.

Expensive as they were I was actually purchasing the Teleporters at a considerable discount. I could either pay the up front price in [Construction] or I could provide the materials required myself for a mark off. The specific materials needed for the item included some of the magic stones the Ethereal Elk have been passively dropping around the Smoldering Sequoia. In particular the recipe called for several pounds of Space affinity stones. It was pure coincidence one of my 12 Elk had picked up the Space Element. Of the current population it was the only one besides the light element mother that possessed one different than earth, fire, wind, or water.

As I spent the stones on what should be a rather high class luxury item in this world I couldn’t help but wonder if the stones were expensive.