Chapter 18

Pan needed monsters to seed his new floor, but he was tired of using creatures commonly found in his dungeon as a base. He wanted to create something new. The dungeon store was full of new and exotic species, and luckily the basic and tier one monsters were relatively cheap, especially when compared to the much stronger monsters, such as dragons or griffons. He found that he was able to sort through the list with different filters, such as preferred environment or behavior. That was merely a guideline since he could modify anything to fit his environment, but he wanted a solid base. Luckily, he could get a basic description of each creature before he bought it, and he decided to go on a spending spree. He spent nearly sixty points unlocking different species, some were similar, but he wanted a larger base of animals so he could compare their differences, and maybe draw some inspiration from the diversity.

Again, he started with the first level of the food chain. In this case, he had a large amount slowly decaying plant matter making up the peat bog. He spawned a large number of small invertebrates that would eat the detritus, and return the dead plant matter to the environment. There was a variety of small water beetles, worms, and ants to fit into each niche in the swamp. He created a few flowering plants, making some extraordinarily beautiful and colorful, and others smell absolutely terrible. These were meant to attract flies and dissuade adventurers from approaching. He created a few bee colonies, and they buzzed throughout the swamp, collecting the nectar from flowers that sprouted from the mud, floated on the water, or hung from vines on trees. The honey the bees produces was full of mana, and could buff adventurers for a short time when consumed, if they were willing to brave the improved venomous stings of Pan's bees. The colorful flowers and bright yellow bees added some much-needed color to the misty bog, and the splashes of deep reds, blues and purples caught the eye when compared to the muted browns and greens of the environment, giving Pan some ideas for future creations on the floor.

The ground was mostly moss, holding together the large clumps of soil and decaying plant matter. Small leafy plants grew where the ground was solid enough, and a few tufts of grass sprouted from small bulbous mounds. The water had a thick layer of scum and algae on top, and there were large patches of floating leafy plants held aloft by air sacs. Vines crawled their way up the trees, which towered above the ground, their canopies lost in the fog above. From time to time the fog would clear in an area, and a shaft of light would reach the ground, showing the true vibrancy of the colors in the swamps. Water droplets coated every surface, creating a scintillating show whenever light brushed across a dew covered patch. But it was eerily silent, aside from the occasional buzz of a bee, or the sound of a beetle dropping into the water. This was a swamp, Pan needed to fix that.

Pan moved on to the bigger creatures. He started by stocking the water with fish, which would provide an abundant food source for bigger animals. The water wasn’t overly deep, maybe twelve to fifteen feet at the deepest, but it was murky, and hid the true numbers of fish within its muddy curtains. There were small minnows surviving off mosquito larvae up to foot long bass eating the minnows. Six-inch sunfish snagged water striders from the surface, and avoided some of the larger carnivorous species Pan was creating and introducing. Pan modified each individual species, making the fish in his dungeon truly unique. Each original species he bought was modified again and again, creating multitudes of new never before seen varieties. He had countless new species, all of them he created himself. There were the usual silver or dark gray fish, but amongst them were stunning fish representing every color in the rainbow in their most vibrant hues. He made the bass a deeper green, with iridescent emerald scales. The sunfish were a deep orange, truly looking like their namesake. In areas where the water flowed faster and was clear of mud, they created a dazzling show of flickering colors darting through the swamp, darting in and out of the cover provided by the muddier waters.

It was then that Pan created the first creature that could truly be called a monster, and would threaten adventurers. He had purchased a catfish, and he decided that a variant of epic proportions would be a fine addition to the concealing waters of his bog. When he added his mana, it grew to over fourteen feet long, and weighed over half a ton. Its large flat head had a row of teeth lining the top of its mouth, and Pan gave it a few more. If it managed to grab something, it would not be getting away. He thickened the bones of its skull, and it would be able to take a large amount of punishment from any adventurers. He directed his mana, thickening and strengthening its leathery skin, enough that it would take more than a glancing blow to split it. Its already powerful body was strengthened even further, to compensate for the new weight of its skull, skin, and muscle.

Its mouth was big enough to swallow a man, nearly four feet wide, and Pan really hoped it managed to do so. The massive fish were uncanny, seeming to disappear in the murky waters. In fact, the slow moving goliaths could hide inches below the surface, and still remain undetected. Their long whiskers searched for food, since their beady eyes were useless in the muddy waters, and they sucked down large amounts of prey simply by opening their giant mouths, creating an empty space in the water, pulling everything in. After some consideration, Pan gave them one last alteration. He modified their front fins to be sturdier and stronger, allowing them to partially drag their massive frames out of the water if they needed to chase landborne prey, such as a careless adventurer.

The giants, once introduced, lazily navigated the stagnant waters, sucking down anything living that got in their way. With the amount of fish that could be supported in the mana-rich swamp, there was no shortage of food. The next creatures he added were amphibians. They ranged from small, camouflaged frogs, to two foot long beasts. There were salamanders, frogs, and toads of all sorts of new varieties. The majority of them feed off insects and fish, but the larger frogs would eat the smaller species. None of them presented a direct danger to adventurers, but they would be a good source of food for the stronger denizens, and the croaks added to the atmosphere of the floor. He did add a few highly poisonous species, all brightly colored yellows, oranges, or blues. They didn’t have any predators, and they were toxic enough to kill an adventurer if they touched the vibrant skin.

He let the new species settle in for a time, and adjusted the ecosystem as new issues presented themselves. He added some larger fish species, mostly passive ones, that could grow four to six feet long, and weigh hundreds of pounds. They would mostly eat plants, but would consume smaller fish if they had the chance. He found a species of small carnivorous fish called piranhas, and decided that they’d be perfect for the swamps. He changed them a bit, making their bodies jet black, and enhancing the red bellies until they had a deep crimson hue. He made them less aggressive, unless they smelled blood. If that happened, they’d turn into a vicious frenzy of flesh-stripping monsters, able to reduce creatures to a skeleton in minutes. But if there was no blood, they’d stick to eating plants and small insects, seeming like the average fish, content to graze on the abundance of subaquatic flora. The seemingly random attacks should worry adventurers until they figured out the trigger.

He had filled the water with dozens of new fish species, and although he wasn’t finished, he turned his focus towards the land. He introduced the obligatory small rodents and birds, lending high pitched songs and quiet squeaks to the croaking and buzzing sounds of the floor. Again, he made a bunch of brightly colored species to contrast with the dark misty swamp, since flashes of color darting through the mists would disorient adventurers, and keep them on edge. The terrestrial animals settled in, providing another source of food for the frogs and larger fish, setting up the base of the food chain for future additions. He had found a massive rodent species called a capybara, and added them to the mix. They were massive, and he made them even bigger, the largest now growing well in excess of two hundred pounds. They lived in large groups, and were supported by fruit trees he had added to feed them.

Again, he made colorful additions to the floor with the new fruits. His modified trees produced extremely nutritious fruits, able to support large populations of animals. They drew extra energy from ambient mana, just like the glowing pods, and the denser the mana they absorbed, the better the fruits they produced. There were clusters of large red spheres, looking like oversized grapes. One variety of tree grew massive gourds, surrounded by a thin blue membrane. When ripe, the foot wide, two-foot long pod would drop, exploding on the ground. Its mushy insides were full of tiny black seeds that would be eaten with the sugary flesh, and carried to new parts of the floor to spread the species. Some fruits grew in spiky pods, while others were fleshy balls of color. Each was unique to Pan’s dungeon, and provided sustenance to multitudes of animals. The massive capybaras would stick close to favored fruit trees, migrating from time to time as the food was exhausted. Even the biggest capybara were nothing but a snack for goliath catfish lurking in the waters, and they quickly learned to avoid the deeper stagnant pools. A few were even dragged in by catfish powering themselves out of small pools in ambush, a prophetic scene as far as Pan was concerned. The fish would drag themselves to unconnected pools of water that looked too small to hide them, just to prepare an ambush.

Next, Pan added snakes. Some were small and highly venomous. He made some of them colorful, and the small ribbons warned anything from approaching. Others were just as venomous, but blended, camouflaged against the ground, or appearing to be vines. There were some larger constrictors, up to twelve feet long, that would hunt the capybaras. But the biggest were giant anacondas, which Pan pumped up even further. The snakes grew to be thirty feet long on average, with Pan's help, and were even able to prey on the smaller catfish. They hardly needed modifications from Pan since they were already incredibly strong. They would swim through the swamp, snagging unwary animals off the banks and wrapping them up in their coils.

Pan needed more monsters to threaten adventurers with, and decided to turn back to spiders. He had plenty of small species running around the floor, and a few orb weavers catching bugs in their nets. It was the orb weavers that he focused on, and he chose a particularly interesting looking variety. It was long and spindly, with a more rectangular abdomen than a traditional spider. It also had bright yellow and black banded legs, with some yellow spots contrasting against its black abdomen.

He made them almost two feet across, and created a sort of hive mind. He gave them a section of the floor, and allowed them to take over. They quickly covered trees with webs, creating an impenetrable maze of sticky curtains. Then, he added his assassin spiders to the mix. He gave them a symbiotic relationship with the orb weavers, where they would provide their venom to ensnared prey, and would get some of the spoils in return. It was a particularly beneficial setup, and plenty of capybaras were caught in the webs, not to mention all the birds, frogs, and snakes caught as well. The venom quickly slowed the trapped animals, since the confusion effect stopped their violent thrashing attempt to escape. It would also prevent future mages from blasting through the silk forest.

Pan’s next addition was a creature created to control the skies of the swamp. He had a collection of dragonfly species, and he wanted them to periodically threaten the adventurers. He increased their size, making them large enough that even their nymphs would be a danger to adventurers crossing the swamp. The largest species had a five-foot wingspan, and would be able to topple adventurers if they latched on their heads and pulled. They were massive, and subsisted on bird species in their adult stages. Pan worked on their bodies, but didn’t want to make too many changes since they still needed to be able to fly. He improved their jaws and flight muscles the most. They would be able to bite through leather armor with ease, and could work through metal armors if they had the time. Their flight muscles became stronger, faster, and more efficient, allowing them to travel twice as fast as a horse with ease. If one of the heavy flies collided with an adventurer at those speeds, no amount of armor would be able to prevent injury, although the fly would surely die. They were as colorful as everything else on the floor, with verdant emerald greens, to sunset oranges and scarlet reds.

Pan wanted to add bats as well, but for the time being, he did not have the proper magical imbuements to make them into the monsters he dreamed of. For now, he settled for hiding a few colonies around the floor, letting them fly around hunting insects or fruit trees, depending on the species. He wanted to give them magic that synergized with their natural talents, and he felt that he was currently unable to do so. He really hoped a water or life mage died soon, since those powers would be incredibly beneficial to his dungeon. For now, all he had was access to the dark, light, and fire elements. He still needed to get the earth, water, and air elements to round out the six basic elements. Next were the higher elements, life and death. Everything else was a combination or modification of the eight pure elements, creating massive amounts of distinct useable elements.

Pulling away from his thoughts on magic, he focused on adding the final touches to the floor. He added massive reptiles he had heard of, said to be related to dragons, although he doubted it after receiving the knowledge of them once he purchased the species. They were called crocodiles, and they were gargantuan. His were twenty feet long when he was done with them, the undisputed kings of the swamp. His modifications made them even more powerful, and they were the only heavily armored creatures on the floor. Their scales were reinforced with metals, and would be able to turn away blades with ease. Their biggest weak spot was their small eyes, but Pan hid them even further behind a prominent ridge, protecting the vulnerable targets. Their massive jaws and razor sharp teeth would puncture through nearly any armor, perhaps even Behemoth’s.

Pan didn’t want to do too much more with the monsters for a while, besides tweaking them here and there to optimize them for the environment. He wanted to come back to the crocodiles in the future, and give them some more bonuses, but for now, they would be almost too strong for adventurers. As long as they gave the crocodiles space and avoided the edges of the water they should be fine, but it was a swamp, and they needed to cross water to get most places. Between the giant catfish and the enormous reptiles, traversing any water would be a nearly suicidal proposition.

There were patches of packed ground, and paths ran all across the firmer parts, created by the comings and goings of the rodents that called the swamp their home. Pan decided to add small stone bridges connecting patches of solid land, creating a network of paths that could take adventurers all across the floor, just in a roundabout way. Some enterprising adventurers would surely go off the trails, and would be rewarded if they managed to survive doing so. Pan intended to hide better rewards across the floor in hidden and dangerous areas, such as the silk forest. Eventually each area would get its own boss, but for now, Pan would only have one main boss on the floor. Behemoth.

Off near the edge of the floor was an abnormally large patch of hard-packed earth that Pan had created to serve as an arena for Behemoth. It was about one hundred yards across, but the main fighting area was only a third of that. The rest was full of trees and swampy ground, funneling any attackers into Behemoths range. He had ample food supplies around on the island, and even if he sank in the water, he could hold his breath long enough to reach land. Considering the issue for a moment longer, Pan decided to give him basic gills, hidden by moveable plates that would open when Behemoth was in the water. Behemoth couldn’t swim, and his massive body would sink deep into the muck that made up most of the bog, but he would have no trouble moving around the aquatic environment.

Pan finally felt reasonably done with the initial setup of the floor, and decided he would open the new environment to the adventurers during the night. It was prepared with paths and bridges meandering around the swamp. Off the main routes were large supplies of rare herbs, both underwater and on land. There were chests hidden around the dungeon, offering ample rewards to adventurers. He finally decided to do away with the item selling chests hidden across the floors, and instead just rewarded adventurers with token deposits, stone monoliths that gave each adventurer one token per day when reached. The chests to sell items in were in safe areas, such as the first room and the ring room above the new floor.

He also finally got around to creating a system that would allow adventurers to bypass a floor they had already completed. While he had been creating the floor, he had received an enchanted item that had been bound to a single person, and could only be unbound when they died. He created metal tokens that dropped when a boss was killed. The coins had to be used on the floor, and would only bind to someone in the party that had killed the boss. This was so Pan could still manipulate the enchantment, since if he left it open and they left the dungeon, other people could bind to the token. The coins “read” the mana signature of the floor they were on and the adventurer using them, then gave access to that floor from then on as long as the coin was in the possession of its rightful owner. There was a separate access hallway created to allow people access to the new floors, and they needed the proper coins to open each subsequent door. Anybody who didn’t have the coin and snuck through an open door would meet a painful end. If the door was held open for them by someone who had earned a coin, they both die. Pan had installed toggleable heat enchanted metal plates throughout the hall, and could incinerate adventurers at will.

These quality of life improvements should help Pan immensely, since the deeper chests were never used for direct sales and overpowered adventurers often blew through the first floor, killing all of his slowly grown monsters. Pan had a few other minor adjustments to make, mostly loot and rewards for the new floor, but he’d modify those as time went on, adjusting as he saw the responses of adventurers. This was the first time he wanted to try to give out enchanted items, but he would save those for rewards after a boss fight. The new bosses he had planned would be the most challenging in the dungeon, he just needed to find a worthwhile candidate and gain the necessary imbuements.

His preparations finally complete, Pan prepared to connect the entry room to the second floor, to create a surprise for any adventurers that managed to defeat Adul, of which there were very few. Pan felt that if he kept up his current rate of difficulty increases, he could reach B rank in the next few floors. He didn’t want to attract powerful attention yet, and decided his next floors, when he made them, would flesh out his current floors, and cater to D and C ranked challengers. But since he discovered he didn’t have to connect a floor to a dungeon right away, he may work on a small pet project unattached to the main dungeon. Ruminations complete, he connected the floors. The mana flow had been impeded while they weren’t connected, and the new rush of mana was glorious. Pan could feel his recharge rate spike as the mana all seemed to snap into place and stabilize. The mana all flowed down, and the new room was the densest so far, so thick it was almost tangible. Combined with the fog, the atmosphere would be thick enough to discomfort adventurers, hopefully keeping them stressed and on edge.

Dungeon Menu

Level: 11

Type: Sentient Dungeon

Name: N/A

Titles: N/A

Mana: 3,021/50,000 (+1000)

Soul Energy: 13.1/500

Rooms: 122

Floors: 3

Animals: 100,000+

Plants: 100,000+

Monsters: 12,113

Skills: [Dungeon Menu], [Dungeon Manipulation], [Dungeon Absorption], [Dungeon Creation: Level 12], [Dungeon Expansion], [Dungeon Summon], [Targeted Evolution], [Monster Imbuement], [Dungeon Map], [Name Bestowal], [Drop Assignment], [Floor Creation], [Environmental Manipulation], [Dungeon Soul Trap], [Alchemy: Lvl 32], [Enchanting: Lvl 14], [Dungeon Ore Vein]

Dungeon Points:357

Achievements: Evolver, Legend Slayer, Boundless