Far from the attention of the powerful beings, Clover watched his sky island with great satisfaction. He was happy to have his disciple discover the art of the magic puppet. This had previously been unique only to the Holy Land and a group of gnomes who live in nature that use them as guardians. The Holy Tree Puppet was something born in the Holy Land, but after getting out it had traveled. It had finally stopped at the gnomes’ place where it now lives and gave the knowledge of magic puppets to them.

All around the island small puppets walked around. Unlike at first, after absorbing mana, these puppets have grown a bit and along their bodies, originating from their chest where the gathered mana goes before refining, now lines have spread. The change came when Clover added monster cores into them all. The monster core went exactly into the open cavity in their chest causing them to form a more powerful suction and refining process as well as possessing a larger mana capacity.

The colors of the lines were, red, blue, brown, green, white and black. Unlike Dia, he had the puppets gather light and dark mana and refine it as well. The two extra mana types allowed for extra mana to seep into the dungeon allowing him to obtain a small amount of extra mana that isn’t used normally.

At this time, much to his own amazement, Clover’s first island had grown as wide as 100 meters but he noticed that the island didn’t grow longer and found that the cave entrance was facing down now with the sudden massive expansion of the land. The water edge was also covered around the island going eight meters out in all directions after he upgraded it.

After some thought, he began to modify the entrance. He already knew he would need ‘residents’ in the future so when thought of this, he decided that the first island will have a ruined temple like structure inside. Like this, the bottom began to ripple, expand out and slowly shift until it began to look like an air dock that would fit two small airships. The structure was like a pier and at the back was a stairway upwards and entering into the ‘temple’. He began to build the inside more simply than anything, having several walkways but not a complex labyrinth because he left a large amount of space for ‘housing’ that he would expand later when he actually gets someone to come in.

As for his monsters, he watched with his eyes closed through his senses, as skeletons walked shakily through the ‘temple’.

He had sent his disciples to one of the remaining land based skeleton dungeons where they got information from adventurers on the situation about the nation at this time, as well as secretly capturing low grade skeletons so that he could spawn them once he took control.

Of course, common skeletons were completely useless and were only dregs to occupy the island at this time, nothing more but servants to the researching disciples. That said, necromancy isn’t a field any high elf will ever dream of taking in their life because, even though they attacked a nature dungeon, they still favored nature over death. Their actual research was in simply figuring out the growth patterns and weaknesses of undead.

When they had gone back down to investigate, it was said that more than 60% of dungeons have turned into sky dungeons while the rest broke down into either undead, goblin or animal dungeons. The one in the elven nation was an undead dungeon which is why they could capture the undead and sever the connection of the dungeon through a special brand of taming magic focused on dungeon creatures. It cuts the connection but keeps the undead alive since it needs mana to support itself.

Aside from the skeletons that now had a catacomb room with sarcophagi made by Clover to sleep in, there were also dozens of small animals caught along the way while invading bugs and birds also appeared. Although humans and invaders can only use the bottom entrance and need to cross the dungeon to reach the top, birds could fly right into the first island. The top of the island had already become very hilly while the 10 meter area around the pond had become flat without much elevation.

The temple underground, from the area below to the top, had two floors not counting the landing zone (that he will surely need to expand upon) before ending with a cave exit on the side of a hill.

At the top, it looked like a somewhat hollowed out forest on an island where the only strange thing was the 30 cm tall magic puppets that were running about.

Looking somewhat satisfied at surpassing his crippling disability from being unable to use magical creatures like spirits and elementals who are the top class mana gathers.

“Your dungeon’s basic ecosystem isn’t too shabby but it can only be called a garden instead of a dungeon.” Maribell said appearing behind him and looking around.

“I haven’t focused on monsters either way. The plant creatures I have already are just naturally appearing creatures.” He said.

“The animals will change with time, I would keep a watch on the worms who eat the fallen leaves of the magic plants as well as the rabbits. You will probably need to make the predators stronger once they rank up.” She said looking at the bigger than average rabbits hopping about.

Of course, the fox, wolf and hawks hunting the rabbits were larger than normal. In truth, the hawks appeared from the lowly pigeon after eating bugs and worms that were rich in mana and it moved on to eat meat.

“Well, as long as you make monsters, it doesn’t matter. Your first island is stable enough as it is, so you should make the next one.” Maribell said.

“Stable?” Clover said confused.

“Stability means that the island has reached a stable mana flow where its foundation is solid enough to handle a floor above it. It is similar to how dungeons can’t dig down more because the first floor is too small or too little mana is gathered.” She explained. “Sky and cloud dungeons follow a tower system, where the first floor is always the biggest. When you make your second island, it will cause the mana up there to thicken and as it spreads it will flow down onto the first island causing it to grow faster as you absorb more mana. Also, sky dungeons experience a denser mana density compared to common dungeons due to the mana pool but that changed of course now that all dungeons have them.”

“What effect does that even have?” He asked.

“Of course, with denser mana in the air means that the dungeon creatures are affected more. Their growth rate and all that. It will definitely cause them to evolve when they are spawned or taken to the floors above. Your puppets in particular will probably evolve naturally into something a bit bigger, possibly changing the block like hands for more complex hands with fingers.” She explained.

Clover was happy to hear of this and thought of something, “Don’t I need a boss?” He asked.

“No, this is considered a ‘safe zone’, your first floor hasn’t even started to tell the truth. The first island is completely for making residences for the invading parties. You should also think of something else besides a dock for airships, only the rich will have one and you won’t be able to bring aboard many people that way.” She said.

Clover frowned when he heard that and began to ponder on this. “Is there any form of transport?” He asked.

Maribell shrugged. “It’s your choice, the dungeon system will make it for you.”

Suddenly a flash of inspiration came over him as he sank into the ground and appeared in the library. With a wave of his hand he began to shift through the books and stopped at one. Maribell appeared as he put the book down. “Does teleportation relays also work?” He asked.

She looked at the very simplistic teleportation spell information. “Well yes…”

“PERFECT!” He said “My entrance will be teleportation platform which will place a large platform on the ground while allowing my dungeon to freely move and not be restricted. I can place them in several locations like that brat did with her trees. This way I can attract more people to my dungeon.” He said.

Entrance method partially accepted.

Dungeon teleportation platform entrance forming. Dungeon must be within 10 km of a platform on the ground for it to activate. Height of the dungeon does not matter. Entrance within the dungeon has been created.

As this appeared, the dungeon shook. The two ran to the disturbance only to find a space that had been just stone before carved out and on it was a large plaza sized space where there was two elevations with a 10 meter wide extremely complex teleportation magical formation on the ground. On the first elevation there was a bigger circle that went underneath into the earth as if the first elevation was made first before a large stone was placed over to make the second. It was a complex layered magic formation system.

“Ahahah! The system of the dungeons is truly complex. Although I do not have such freedom as I wish I had, it is better than the brat who must use the beanstalk she stupidly made for herself as her entrance.” He said.

“Although I want to say your idea is stupid, I can’t help but think that the teleportation platform idea fits the theme of ancient civilization technology that your ‘sky temple’ theme gives off. The only inconsistency is the fact that on the top of the island there are now ‘ruins’ of the temple that once was.” Maribell laughed while Clovers eyes shined when he gained this quite unique hint.

First sky island theme name has been set to Sky Temple. Theme inconsistency located please choose an ancient civilization to model the sky temple after.

When they saw this, the jaws of both of them dropped while a list of previously destroyed empires and ancient civilizations, some of which Clover did not even know about, appeared.

Warning, this base theme will persist for 10 floors before you are allowed to change, but the layout and outward island appearance and environment can be changed.

Trinity Empire

An empire known for their power and their control that was split in three powers who managed the nation.

They were once an incredibly powerful military power that once attempted to rule the world but angering the gods lead to their ruin.

They specialized in combat, both physical and magical, and this will affect the appearance of the dungeon and even cause some unique monsters to spawn.

Boss monsters will all be formed from a trinity dividing the burden in three.

Supreme Sacred Dark Land

The sacred nation of the Drow, aka Dark Elves. This empire has been whipped from the land through the hands of man, god and the passage of time. Most traces are gone and the dark elf race are all but extinct.

They were once a overwhelmingly powerful nation that ruled from the overworld. They had superiority in magic but due to arrogance, they would enslave others and use constructs to do their bidding. Even the lowest dark elf would have slaves to do their work.

They specialized in commanding constructs and slaves in doing their bidding. This will affect your sentient monsters in a similar manner and your constructs will grow stronger than normal if integrated with the ancient nation’s knowledge.

Boss monsters will be weaker but will command monsters and constructs.

Carton Empire

A once existent human nation. It was once a powerful and almighty nation that spanned half the continent, ruling over many other races in peace and prosperity. It faced its downfall due to revolutions from separate races, eventually being destroyed. It split into many smaller nations and records were lost in the sands of time.

They were a peaceful and powerful nation. They boasted a strong army and countless intelligent tactics. By allying themselves with the many magical races, they had unique combat tactics that helped them to last for millennia before their downfall.

They specialized in many areas from domestic to military. They could use magic or physical tactics in combat. In small to large groups, they prefered gorilla warfare tactics, attacking in forests or rocky areas where they could be hidden and fight using traps. This will affect your monsters by making them pack hunters who stalk most of the time or use traps to hunt.

Bosses are many times more tricky to deal with as they use their environment as well as minions.

These and many others appeared, but they all had the same idea. The theme would greatly affect the tactics of the monsters and even the bosses he created as they learned to fight. Of course, he wasn’t as biased as Dia. Of all her boss monsters, only Jack remained her ‘loved’ boss monster because he is the one that protects her dungeon core and mana pond. She would obviously not want an ugly monster protecting what was most precious.

Of course, Clover doesn’t think like her. A boss has to be powerful to protect him and he doesn’t care about ugly or pretty but instead efficiency. If he was going to make a boss monster, he would want an efficient boss that would use less energy to accomplish many things.

Still, as he read each and every nation, he found that those that were not magical nations linked to the elves or plants would not fit well with him. The main reason was the fact that he started out his dungeon with plants meaning his mana alignment was towards plants. After filtering the non-plant or nature type races, leaving only elves and other sentient plant creatures, his vision became fixed on the second option. Supreme Sacred Dark Land, the dark elf lands. Dark elves are said to be a myth in today's time. They are regarded as devils of the elves but the reason was not known. However, he somewhat figured it out from this.

Still, he wasn’t even a bit interested in that and instead focused on the benefits. The boss monster may be weaker but will be smarter and command enslaved monsters. This means that they will have a powerful force to command the monsters on the floor or in the surroundings. The other benefit is that constructs like the magic puppets will grow stronger if he figures out how to integrate the lost arts of this nation into them. Another benefit is that they are elves, even dark elves have affinity towards nature plus an extra affinity towards dark mana. This will allow him to form unique underground herbs maybe.

Seeing so many benefits that seem to fit him, he pressed this one. Suddenly, everything from the teleportation platform to the walls, corridors and everything rippled as the theme changed to a black brick temple. On the ceiling were small glowing stones that lit the area but it seemed a bit morbid. However soon after, along the walls, metal torches began to appear lighting up the corridors with a wave of light that seemed less haunted and solemn. Along the walls were images of black skinned elves with silver hair commanding droves of monsters to war and conquest.

Due to the formation of the theme of Sky Temple, skeletons have absorbed the unique aura and have ranked up into Drow Skeletons.

Drow Skeleton

The skeleton of an ancient drow, they have long since lost most of their power but the bones still contain traces of the powerful dark nature magic that once permeated the body. The bones are dyed dark grey and they can use small amounts of dark magic to conceal themselves.

“Well that was unexpected.” he said and Maribell nodded.

She looked at him and snorted, “I actually expected you to choose this one. The reference toward constructs was quite obvious, even more so dark elf and ‘enslave’.” She sneered, “Each and every word fits you like a glove.”

“Whatever, I'm going to finish making the last few adjustments to this island." he cursed. He then walked out of the temple to start changing the stairway to the top of the island into a ‘ruin’ and in ‘empty’ areas that were left without any structures, he began to make different structures here and there going underground but leaving places to dig later.

Finally having plenty of ruins and structures, he pressed the ‘add floor’ option. As a result, the area around his core and pond broke off and began to elevate while the water from the nearby rivers linked to that open space and filled it up to make a central pond.

***

After the halflings reached the fourth floor, they set up their base on an island with a relatively good number of dwarfs and spirits. It wasn’t a safe zone, instead it was an island a safe distance from the home of the pirate sharkmen so that they had plenty of time to build up their forces.

Their arrival on the fourth floor prompted the halfling captain on the ship to grow into Greater Halflings. The difference wasn’t much, but it turned out that halflings had some degree of communication abilities with animals. The greater halfling has even better abilities in this. Their physical difference makes them just a bit taller than dwarfs, being around 110 to 120 cm tall while dwarfs are between 90 to 100 cm.

When this ability was discovered, the halfling captains went around and actually tamed a mount each. Some had fun taming the sky dire wolves but the Marine Commander Greater Halfling, the first halfling who was captain previously, had gone and tamed himself a cloud bear which he proudly mounts and can rush through the sky sea like a king on a fierce beast.

Under his command and power, he routed the awed dwarfs and spirits who were influenced by the aura he exuded. With their help, the island was rapidly developed to possess a large marine base with a training field and most importantly, a shipyard. What was further unique about this shipyard was that it was not dwarfs making the ships but the Halfling Craftsmen that appeared. As a ship was built, he would go around engraving strange magical runes in different places. The first boat to come out was no bigger than the one that Dia made Captain Hook. However stepping upon the ship, the marine commander caused the ship to ripple before it bore the colors of the marines and it grew to a similar size as the ship they had before. However, this one had even more potential whereas Dia’s ship was simply to bring them to the fourth floor.

Finally, they had created their own spiritual boat that would be bound to the marines and under the marine commander’s rule. This first boat was his own while the others made would soon become the ships for the captains and below.

Dia had watched and clapped when the first boat came out, finding it was fun to watch them work but soon she got bored, as a child normally would, and flew up to play in the snow. It was only once she got bored did she go to her little pond where Jack was sitting, wearing a large fur cloak that had been made at Dia’s request for him. Lyra was playing while in front of them was a large campfire melting the snow that had been falling ever since the island reached 50 meters wide and snow clouds formed above the island.

“So bored~!” Dia exclaimed.

“Why don’t you make some snow creatures then?” Misty said towards the little girl’s exclamation. Dungeon fairies don’t fear cold or hot unlike spirits who are affected by the different mana in the air.

“But what?” She muttered and as she ‘laid’ floating in the air, she tilted her head and it happened to turn towards the dwarf and runt city that had formed on the entrance island. Along with the growth of the main island, the other islands also grew bigger. One of the best features of the winter wonderland, as the dwarfs found, is that the land has an extremely high metal content.

This caused the dwarves to abandon underground living and to begin developing like real dwarfs, making stone buildings and forges. This caused a very large amount of warmth to exist on the entrance island that the fire spirits actually were able to come up once more and live in the forges and smithies of the dwarfs, helping to get the fires to very high temperatures.

Now there were lots of chimneys with fires in the huts. The snow elves on the other hand moved to the main island in some of the forest areas making very large ice huts from blocks of frozen cloud sea water.

When Dia looked at the runts from far away her eyes blinked once, then twice as the memory of one of her favorite holidays came back. “AH!” She shouted and suddenly lost focus, causing her body to drop into the snow where she poked her head out grinning. “I know now!” She said and closed her eyes.

What she was doing was looking for a specific person. What she needed was not a blacksmith but a wood craftsman. Among the dwarfs and runts, there were very few carpenters that took to crafting small trinkets but where work appears, a hobby shall as well. Soon she found three who did just that but only one did it for the fun and not for money or trade. It was this runt that she wanted. With a single mental call, the runt froze in his place and looked outside. He quickly stored away all of his tools after putting aside the half carved humanoid piece of wood that would eventually be a small doll. He then took a big white fur coat, made from cloud bear, and put it on before walking out and off the island through the island cloud bridge that still connected the islands. After half an hour of trudging through the snow, he finally reached Dia’s pond.

“Mah, little miss, wut did ya call be fur?” The tall runt asked as he bent down and looked at her at eye level.

“I want to make a unique spirit, do you want to be him?” She asked.

Jack and the runt’s eyes jumped up. Mir who was in her hut came out shivering while dressed in fur clothing after hearing Dia’s words. “Dia, you're gonna make a unique spirit? Is he like the sand one?” Mir asked.

“A little bit, but he won’t be as strong. He needs a lot of help from helpers to do his job and his job is done once a year instead of every day like Sandy.” She said.

“What kind of spirit?” She asked.

Dia closed her eyes and rubbed her head trying to remember what kind of spirit and only after several long minutes did she shout, “Ah! That's it! He was Guardian of Wonder, and he was also a really good toymaker!” She shouted.

“Wonder?” Mir said confused.

The runt on the other hand laughed, “Ah dat soun mighty intersten, Wonder eh?”

“Alright, I guess it shouldn’t be to over the top like the Guardian of Dreams. Alright, let's see the result.” Mir sighed while rubbing her hands on her coat to warm them up as she soundlessly cursed being in such a weak body to be affected by just this little bit of cold.

Dia smiled as she took the giant hand of the runt and dipped her other hand in the mana water before shivering momentarily from the cold.

Closing her eyes, she saw the runt in his coat. Unlike an evolution, she was making more of a unique variant so she did not need many extra components. However, as she tried to add the winter element like Santa, she found too much resistance and was forced to merge in a snow fairy that she called on quickly, allowing her to continue. The runt’s orange hair and beard quickly grew white while the beard turned curly and very long. His belly grew a bit fatter while his white cloud bear coat that covered his body became red with the collar and trimmings remaining white. A large white fur hat then formed on his head covering his white hair. His shirt turned into a red striped cotton shirt with diamonds and other patterns that looked like gift wrapping. Finally, he had very long cotton pants with large black leather boots.

Dia next began to change his personality to be jolly and have a super amount of skill with toy making and wood crafting. Then, to make it look cool, she made him really good at using two swords. Another ability she gave was being able to control mana to form a long whip that he would use when fighting or driving his sleigh that will be made later. Then she made him have the ability to form snow globes that he can use to move around the world quickly. Another ability was being able to pass through chimneys and enter the houses of good children in order to leave behind presents. Furthermore, he was also given the ability to sense all the children of the world, knowing their actions and if, during his travels, they were sleeping or not. The final thing she thought of was that his eyes could see the wonder of the world and he loved to use his toys to spread this to all the good children of the world.

Opening her eyes, she saw the big runt stand up as his body began to shine until a glowing blue ball that was the snow fairy landed on him. His coat and outer appearance changed until he was the picture of what Dia believed he should look like.

You have created a unique variant race for the runts. Please name the race.

“I’ll call it Santa Claus.”

Santa Claus

A unique race created by a young dungeon. This spirit was made by the desire of the young dungeon to spread wonder through the world. This being has unique eyes to see the wonders of the world and can spread this wonder through the toys circulated by him. He gifts children who are obedient and nice with toys and gifts.

Although jolly and nice, he is fierce in his pursuit to protect the children’s wonder of the world. He grows stronger the more people believe in him.

“Kya! I did it!” Dia jumped around in glee as she saw her very own Santa Claus being born. “Your name is Nicholas Claus.” She said grinning as she named the man.

“Such a sweet thing.” He said.

“Ah! I just forgot! We don’t have all the people that help you with making your toys! Not even your sleigh, your reindeer, or your elves. Huh, elves? AH the snow elves! Maybe I can make them...” Dia began to ramble about many things that made santa who he was, causing everyone to laugh.

“Calm down little missy.” Jack laughed.

Just as he said that, Dia’s vision darkened and she found herself looking at an image of Nicholas.

Because the Santa Claus, Nicholas Claus, was born as a spirit of wonder and rewards good children for being good, the gods of order and chaos have sensed a small shift in balance. Because of this, the gods have decided to make a balancing creature comparable to Santa Claus. Please design and name said creature.

“I don’t wanna! It will ruin Christmas to make a naughty creature!” She said.

Suddenly a wild laugh came to her ear before the laughed died down and the voice turned cold. “Girl, you made something that completely changes how the world will face itself. Everything needs order, life has death, dreams have nightmares, your ‘wonder and rewards for good children’ will also have ‘fear and punishment for bad children’. You better make something before we decide something far scarier than what you will want!” The cold voice from the God of Chaos said.

“I-I don’t wanna!” Dia said almost in tears.

At this time, Waid suddenly appeared beside her. “Young dungeon, we require you to make a spirit of punishment similar to this spirit of wonder you see before you. You should know what this creature is about so make it something similar.” Cosmos said.

“Spirit of wonder to reward good children. Spirit of punishment to punish bad children.” He said.

With a thought, the image of the santa rapidly distorted into something that could only be a wrinkled demon with horns.

“NOOO!” Dia shouted and stuck her hand out causing the image to change back but it still had pale skin, unlike the healthy skin Nicholas had and he didn’t smile. His coat was blood red with a black collar and trimmings.

“Dia, stop this at once.” Cosmos said.

“No! This is my fairytale not yours!” She said.

“This isn’t a fairytale girl. This is real life.” The god said.

“But no!” She said.

“Hmph, since you wish to persist then let's see…” he said as Dia felt a sharp pain in her head. She saw Waid vanish and the image of the santa stabilized at what it was but instead of fat, it became a skinny red robed man with horns and a stern look on his face.

“This creature shall be named from your own fairytales. A companion of this Santa Claus, Krampus.

The unique variant race for the runt, Krampus, has been created.

Krampus

A race made by the God of Chaos with the memories of a young dungeon. This creature is a companion of Santa Claus but is his opposite. He is a creature who is strict and punishes children who the Santa Claus marks as ‘bad’. These two work together in the form of balanced educators, rewarding good children and educating bad. He can fight and do almost all the same things that Santa Claus can, but he isn’t as jolly and has a strict personality.

The beings known as the Santa Claus and Krampus have both been recognized by the gods of order and chaos as high level wonder spirits and their powers can freely affect those outside their dungeon without the need to follow the orders of the dungeon spirit. Their purpose in now to spread wonder in the world, rewarding the good children while punishing the bad throughout the world. The power used for this function is unrestrained, but during combat the dungeon restrictions still applies.

When Dia came to, she saw that a glowing light came from Nicholas and grew until it was the same size as him, but it formed into the skinny bearded old man in a deep red cloak who did not have any happy expression.

“Good to be alive.” He said simply stretching and cracking his neck.

“Krampus, I think we should go.” Nicholas said, most likely knowing about who this is through his instincts.

“We shall need an island for your toy workshop and maybe some workers." Krampus said ignoring the big man.

“Come on!” Nicholas said pulling a snow globe, “Entrance island.” he said and smashed it, causing a portal to open. He then dragged the skinny old man through before it closed.

Dia was left on the ground before she jumped into Jack’s hat and began crying inside. Only after that did she come out and explain to Mir, Jack and Misty what had occurred. They could only comfort her and say that the goddesses will try and deal with it.

With Lyra playing a song, Dia fell asleep in Mir’s arms before being put in bed.