Leon managed to go the rest of the trip without being mobbed by the girls again. Though he still hadn’t decided on a team to work with. He had also added to his list of Earth Fauna to feed to the Dungeon. Only a few additions but he thought that it would be interesting... Okay it was a lot of additions. He’d added the African Crested Porcupine, Western grey kangaroo, Malayan tapir, Red kangaroo, Lowland anoa, Mountain tapir, Northern cassowary, Seven-arm octopus, Baird's tapir, Varanus salvadorii, Mountain gorilla, Giant forest hog, Mountain anoa, Mountain nyala, Colossal squid, Bonobo, Kouprey, Megamouth shark, Saola, Giant muntjac, Bigfin squid, Omura's whale, Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, Kabomani tapir, Tapanuli orangutan, Rice's whale, Giant squid, Przewalski's horse, Okapi, Hoan Kiem turtle, Grizzly–polar bear hybrid, saltwater crocodile, Green Anaconda… He’d basically just gone down the list of modern Megafauna and added them all to his growing collection of eggs and embryos. After he’d fed them to the dungeon his intent was to wait a little while and then start adding at least one of every modern creature his skill could produce until he got to the prehistoric stuff. Adding in the aquatic creatures felt like he might be inviting trouble, but having a few water levels should be good for building character, right? He really hoped he wouldn’t regret it too much.

When the Airship landed, Leon followed Malorie to the brow where they filed off of the ship and onto a desert isle only a few miles in diameter. They were surrounded by ocean all around and the island felt more like a massive sand bar than anything else. The only thing that stood out on the island was an enormous outcropping of at the rough center of the island with. The outcropping of rock was all hard angles and appeared to be made of some kind of odd grey stone that contrasted greatly with the sand that made up the island.

“Go feed the dungeon while we all unload the supplies and start setting up. It definitely doesn’t have any creatures being out here.” Malorie said offhand as she went to talk to the other Mentors again.

Leon activated both Stealth and Perception Filter to their max before using Quantum Blink to carry him directly to the rock outcropping. Teleportation was so goddamn useful. Circling the rock for a minute Leon found the entrance on the opposite side of the rock from where the airship had landed. The entrance was a large archway, easily wide and tall enough to allow a couple of carriages to pass through it without much trouble. Though the fact that instead of a slope there were stairs descending downward in a spiral right after the archway kind of made the idea of using carriages a tricky proposition.

Leon entered the Dungeon and immediately felt the difference in ambient mana. The mana here was thicker, denser, though maybe only to about half the density of Tier 2 it was still far more dense than Leon’s own mana. Shrugging off the strange feeling of being in denser mana, Leon took off down the stairs at a brisk pace. Descending a good fifty feet before the Staircase ended and opened into a fairly large square room of solid grey stone. There were no adornments, and no variations in the stone save for the three doorways that led deeper into the Dungeon.

Stopping at the center of the room Leon glanced around for a moment before he began speaking to the Dungeon, his stealth skills turned off.

“Ok, so I’ve read a bunch of books about Dungeons and if you are anything like those Dungeons from the books you are basically a person who should have a little fairy or pixie helping you build a death trap for adventurers to test their skills against and provide rewards for those who survive. I hope that we can make your life not as boring as most of those books made it seem. I’m actually here to bring you some gifts. Though I hope you hold off on using the Aquatic ones until deeper floors. Water levels in Dungeons tend to be something that we adventurers hate to deal with. Anyways here you go.” Leon said as he began dropping every fetus and egg, he’d made over the past five days onto the ground.

Then he dropped a single coin of each denomination that the Guild used as well as a few bits and bobs that he’d accumulated over the years. Paper, one of those needles that the Regeneration trainer used. A sack of tea leaves. A random padlock he didn’t remember ever picking up, a couple vials of alchemical solutions that he still had from his days helping his mother out in the workshop. A few ingots of different types of steel that he had from helping his dad out. pretty much he just did a spring cleaning on his inventory and dropped a bunch of junk that was useless to him now. Hopefully it would kickstart this dungeons development.

“Hope you have fun with all the new stuff. I’ll keep an eye out for more stuff to give you later!” Leon called out as he made his way back up the stairs and out of the Dungeon.

The second he stepped foot out of the archway a notification flared up in his vision.

Congratulation

For creating and releasing 10 or more never before seen creatures/monsters into the wild you have been awarded the Title (Invasive) Effects: All creatures created by you cost slightly less mana to create and may have one additional affinity added to their makeup during creation. Grants a perfect affinity for Death magic.

Congratulations

For creating and releasing 25 or more unique monsters into the wild you have granted the Title (The Father of Monsters) Effects: Any monster created by you will be far more subservient to your will. Significantly increases the physical and mental strength of all monsters created. Enhances overall base Mind, Body, and Soul resilience by a small amount.

Leon felt a rush of new power enter his body as he read the notifications. He felt like he’d suddenly become sturdier instead of stronger Resilience was he assumed the ability to not take damage so that made sense. But the fact that he’d just gained two Titles felt like the system wanted Leon to create and release new creatures as much as possible. It made him wonder if he’d get a title for unleashing the entire biosphere of Earth into the Dungeon.

That done, Leon reactivated his stealth skills and made his way back to the group. Noticing that the airship was nowhere to be seen and there was a giant pile of wooden crates at the center of the crowd. Rejoining them Leon listened in on the conversations going on. Apparently, no one had thought that they would be on a deserted Island with no building materials available. Several of the boxes were filled with materials to feed the Dungeon and Leon was quickly drafted into transporting them into the dungeon because of his Utility Pocket skill. Leon just stored the whole of the crates meant for the dungeon and teleported back to the entrance and descending down the stairs once more.

“Sorry I forgot to give you some other stuff. Hope you like the presents.” Leon said before dropping the boxes in the same place where he’d dropped the eggs and stuff before which was now clear and exactly as he had encountered it the first time, he entered the room. “See ya soon! Gotta go build a house or two.”

With the Dungeon feeding done Leon headed back to where the Mentors and students were now pulling materials out of the remaining boxes. There was a lot of preserved foods, nails, and raw metals ready for processing. Everything needed to set up a functional forge and smeltery was there. Carpentry tools, and even enough raw materials to build a longhouse with enough room for the entire expedition. Which was apparently the first step. Build the Longhouse. And because Leon was one of only five people who had the Carpenters Lore Title it was falling to him and them to build everything.

Leon was actually kind of excited about it. After getting that particular Lore Title he’d not had any reason to actually use the knowledge that he’d gained in acquiring it. Gathering together with those that had the Title, Leon differed to the Mentor among them, and plans were rapidly drawn up.

Construction took little more than a week. With everyone helping out the entire operation was quick. Once they’d established a foundation for the longhouse directly in front of the entrance to the Dungeon that is. The establishment of the longhouse and an outhouse made the living arrangements stable for the time being. But they were going to need to establish a source of wood or stone or something else to start really building. They were also going to need a supply of food. Which wasn’t that hard to get. Fishing around the Island was incredibly easy. But they were definitely going to need a source of grains, fruits, and vegetables. The Mentors were all hoping that the Dungeon would have some edible plants alongside the monsters it made. Among the contents of the boxes Leon had fed the Dungeon were a myriad of fruit, vegetable, and grain seeds to help with that possibility. But they were giving the Dungeon a month before anyone was to venture beyond the entrance room.

In the meantime, a work schedule was being set up for when they managed to get ahold of more construction materials. And the teams were being set up as well. Leon’s group hadn’t been decided by him but more Cynthia the Crylanth. She had taken it upon herself to recruit three other girls and had named him a member of the team on the official roster. Cynthia, Daisy, Lamia, Farthallahn. Lamia was a dwarf, and Farthallahn was an elf. They all seemed competent enough and Leon wasn’t about to argue about who his team consisted of at the moment.

Leon did, however, insist on them doing group training exercises to get a feel for how their group cohesion would pan out. Cynthia was, despite her slender frame, a tank. She could take damage and her earth magic armor made her practically immovable if she didn’t want to be moved. Daisy surprisingly had fire magic and she was focused mainly on being a ranged damage dealer. Lamia had healing magic and would basically be the party’s cleric. Farthallahn’s magic was a combination of Demonic and Body and she was a warrior through and through. She hadn’t learned any external magics, she’d learned buffing magics that made her own body vastly stronger and faster, and she used a sword and shield as her main weapons while wearing a set of plate armor.

The group gathered up on the far end of the island near the waters edge. They were going over formations and strategies for fighting. Leon was their flanker; he could get in and out of combat very quickly. Meaning that the formations were mainly centered around Cynthia being the front line with Daisy in the rear, Lamia in the middle, and Far serving as an off tank while rotating around. They all practiced moving in a diamond formation.

“I have the feeling that we are not going to be able to keep formations up all the time in the dungeon.” Far said as they finished making a circuit on a small course they’d set up for themselves.

“Of course, we won’t.” Leon replied, “Us practicing these things are just for us to able to react to evolving circumstances without having to think about it. If we condition ourselves to rely on one another there is little chance of one of us getting killed because we do something stupid.”

“My mentor said that we shouldn’t be facing anything inside the dungeon that poses a serious threat for at least a year.” Lamia pointed out.

“Then we should take that time to make sure that we are fully and completely prepared for when the threat reaches a dangerous threshold for us. If we practice and don’t get overconfident, then when the real danger starts, we won’t be behind the curve. Which means that we will be able to safely dive deeper and get the best rewards consistently.” Leon pointed out.

“Leon’s right about that.” Daisy inserted, “The dungeon will eventually be able to kill us. He’s right that we should treat it as if it can always kill us. Taking it lightly could get us all killed. At least later on.”

“Also, I have a little bit of an idea. Its going to sound weird to you guys but I don’t see how it can hurt… When we go into the Dungeon, I think we should make it a tradition of bringing random things with us to gift to it. Also, I think we should try to explore and comment on everything while inside. Giving compliments and such on cool and interesting things inside it.” Leon proposed

The girls all turned to him like he was insane.

“And why on the Heavenly Spheres would we do all of that?” Cynthia asked, bewilderment clear in her voice.

“I want the Dungeon to like us.”

“What do you mean? It’s a Dungeon not a person!”

“You very well might be right about that. But think about it this way. We know for a fact that Dungeons grow, they make puzzle rooms, and cleverly disguised traps or hidden cashes of treasures. To me that seems to be a clear indication of some sort of intelligence. Now, mind you, I have no proof of this, and I am only making this a suggestion. The dungeon will still try to kill us regardless, but if we can be its favorite group then we very well may get the best loot. I am not above giving the Dungeon a little bribe to get us some better rewards. And if it doesn’t work, we won’t really be putting ourselves out either if it’s just small things we offer it.” Leon explained.

Leon had in fact already started making a stockpile of modern creatures from Earth. Rats, lizards, bugs, fish, birds. He was planning on giving the Dungeon a new one every day he went in. Slowly dumping Earths entire biosphere into the Dungeon. And hopefully, getting on the dungeons good side if it was indeed an intelligent thinking creature.

The girls all had various different looks on their faces ranging from ‘you are insane’ to ‘seems like a reasonable idea’ and Leon could live with that.

“Regardless of whether or not you all do it, I already have my bribes lined up for the foreseeable future.” Leon said with a smile.

“Though there is no proof of what you want to do being viable. I guess I could figure a few things out to give to the Dungeon. Especially once we’ve got a Telepad set up and running. I can order small samples of minerals, and metals from my dads trading company without losing any money really.” Far finally said with shrug.

“Well, if you two are going to do it, I’ll get some stuff lined up as well. Maybe seeds from the family farm.” Lamia gave her piece.

After a bit more conversation it was agreed that everyone would try to get gifts for the Dungeon whenever they could. It would only help the dungeon grow. Leon hoped that he wouldn’t be overwhelming the Dungeon with all of the new stuff he was planning on force-feeding it. He’d already compiled a list of things that he was going to order when the Telepad went online. Potions, Enchanted doodads, books. The list was quite long. Leon had already snuck over to the Dungeon and fed it every Lore Book series he had already finished plus a bunch of books that were just informational. If he was right about the Dungeon being a sapient being, then he was already well on his way to becoming it favorite person if he wasn’t already.

Returning to the longhouse the party got some food and just went about their day. Leon was already almost finished with the Body Lore books and he wasn’t exactly sure what everyone was waiting on for starting the Dungeon dives. It had been nearly a month already.

Apparently, they had been waiting for the Rock outcropping where the Dungeon entrance was to change its shape. The next morning emerging from the long house Leon was surprised to see the entire outcropping now looking like a statue. A statue of two creatures that Leon was familiar with, and it immediately made him fear that he may have provided the Dungeon too many aquatic creatures. It was a Colossal Squid doing battle with a polar bear.

“It looks like the Dungeon is ready.” Leon heard a mans voice say from behind him.

It was one of the Mentors that Leon didn’t really know. The Dungeon apparently announced itself to be ready to do business by creating a more elaborate entrance. Leon couldn’t wait to jump into the Dungeon and start seeing what was what inside.

The Delving schedule was already set by the mentors, but they hadn’t showed anyone yet and had remained tight lipped about the diving procedures. Mainly focusing on teaching everyone how to identify traps and how pick locks and the like. Leon heard a bell ringing inside the longhouse and returned to see what they were about to announce.

“Ok everyone listen up!” one of the female Mentors called out, “The Dungeon is ready for business. Those who go in first will be the vanguard. The first team to delve will give a full report before anyone else is allowed to enter. The goal of the first Delve is to ascertain the level of danger on the first floor and map it out for everyone else as well as collecting examples of each of the creatures inside. Because of this Team Terra will be going in first.”

Leon’s team was team Terra. He’d thought it would be a good name and everyone else had agreed. It was also another name for Earth, so Leon was sneaking in his own heritage with that little win.

“Team Terra, get your asses into the dungeon. Don’t die. And map out that first floor. If there is a second floor you don’t need to check it out if you think its too dangerous.” The Mentor continued.

“Yes!” Leon heard Cynthia shout.

Leon didn’t bother with trying to leave through the door, he just blinked outside the longhouse and waited for the others at the entrance to the Dungeon.

When everyone was there Leon clapped his hands together, “Alright everyone armor and buff up. Let’s get down there.” He said, allowing Cynthia to take point as they had practiced.

Leon and his group descended the spiral staircase and entered into a much changed first room. First of all, it was much bigger. Probably thirty feet to the ceiling and about 200 feet wide, by 400 feet long. The ground was covered in minty smelling plants, and there were at least a dozen wide but squat trees. The room was bright, but Leon couldn’t identify where the light was coming from. Leon’s perception did not pick up any creatures in the room but that was to be expected. The first room of a Dungeon never had anything dangerous in it. Still Leon kept a wary eye out.

“The entry room is quite striking.” Far said behind him almost making him jump.

Leon nodded in agreement, “Everyone got their presents or is it just me?” he said as he tossed a random egg into a wall.

Everyone fished around in their pockets before chucking a random assortment of items around the room. That done the group walked forward into the room until they spotted the only way forward.

Leaving the entrance room and entering a tunnel leading forward the party still in formation moved about sixty feet through the tunnel before it opened into another tall room that was filled trees, so much so that those who had to rely on only their eyes could not see the other end of the room. Leon’s Quantum Perception allowed him to see in a good 100-foot radius around himself and still could not see the sides of the new room nor the end of it. This was definitely a much larger space than the entry room.

“Just keep your senses pealed and let’s keep heading for the other end of the room. This is a good resource gathering location though. We can log this little forest for construction materials.” Leon noted as they pressed forward into the room.

Soon enough Leon spotted the first creature that they would be facing. Or rather, creatures. There were at least a dozen Black Mambas around them, slithering in towards the group from all angles.

“We’ve got 12 long thin snakes heading our way guys. Highly venomous. Very fast. Keep on your toes.” He called out before teleporting directly atop on of the snakes and brining his armored boot down atop the creature’s head before it could change course. It was dead before it knew what hit it.

Leon blinked to the next one and repeated the procedure. Then he did it a third time before he simply ran back to the group to save on mana. These snakes wouldn’t really give the group any trouble. The Dungeon mobs charged forward without fear or regard for their own safety and the group slaughtered the snakes with very little trouble. Though Cynthia would have been bitten if it weren’t for her Earthen Armor skill.

Exploring the room to the fullest, Leon and company encountered four more groups of 12 black mambas within the forest. The room turned out to be a square 1000 by 1000 feet with trees packed in tight enough that it was hard for their party to maintain a formation within the confines of the forest. The trees would all be useful for lumber which was a good thing. Because their little town wasn’t going to build itself. The exit to the next room turned out to be in the far-left corner of the room.

Following it to the next room the party immediately encountered their next challenge. Though it was less challenging and more an odd experience for Leon. The third room of the dungeon was about the same size as the second room, but only had grass and a smattering of flowers throughout it. The things to fight in here were the Giant Tortoises. They were slow and meandering, also obviously aggressive. As a whole herd of nearly a hundred of the creatures were all charging their way across the floor at them.

“Pretty standard Dungeon design so far.” Lamia commented, “First room is the welcome room, second room a resource harvester with annoy pests to deal with, third room is obviously a food animal, the shells could also be useful for alchemy or armor. I’d be willing to bet that the fourth room is a mining room with minor threats inside.”

Everyone nodded at that. It seemed like this was the normal setup for a dungeons first floor. Meanwhile the Tortoises were still covering ground. Leon raised his hand and activated Horrific Missile lvl 1 aiming for the lead tortoise’s head. There was a loud ‘Crack’ that echoed throughout the room as its head evaporated in a shower of gore.

The rest of the party took that as the signal to start the slaughter. Daisy unleashed what was essentially a flamethrower skill into the oncoming ranks of tortoises and cooked them in their shells. Far stepped off to the side slightly with her sword and shield at the ready. Cynthia charged forward and the battle was on. Slaughter more like. Leon used his Horrific Missile about ten times before he popped a pair of daggers out of his Utility Pocket and went to work.

It had been obscenely easy to kill the hundred giant tortoises in the room. Leon swiftly storing them in his Utility Pocket before they proceeded on to the next room. And just like Lamia had predicted the fourth room was a mining room. It looked like a cave with Stalactites and Stalagmites that obviously were made of high-quality ores. A quick use of Identify on them showed Leon that there were Iron, Copper, Tin, Lead, and coal stalactites and stalagmites all over the room. The minor threat of the room? Five Giant Porcupines.

The Porcupines were rapidly dispatched by Far and promptly stored by Leon. The next room was where there should start to be challenges. But even those shouldn’t be difficult. Each floor of a represented a skill level suggestion for how difficult it should be. Until the dungeon was at least 99 floors deep nothing should really offer their group much of a challenge. But by then even a chihuahua might be a dangerous monster.

Entering the fifth room they found themselves entering into what looked like an arena of some sort. And in the middle of the arena was a pack of ten wolves. The second that the party crossed the threshold the wolves attacked. Howling and snarling. They were easily put down by the group, but it left a bad taste in Leon’s mouth. He wasn’t looking forward to encountering actual dogs now. Killing these wolves made him feel guilty. He only stored one of the wolves’ corpses. The rest they left for the dungeon to reclaim.

Pressing on to the sixths room they were confronted the same design of room with a group of monitor lizards that were actually quite fast and aggressive. If a normal human were in this situation these things could inflict serious bodily harm. But to a group of people with Titles enhancing them, and already having been trained for at least five years in multiple body enhancing skills the results were obvious. Leon doubted that the things could actually even hurt him if he stood naked and allowed them to attack him. Slaughtering the monsters, they continued on.

The seventh, eighth and ninth rooms were all exactly the same except with various different creatures. Lions, tigers, a combination of all the others together. Then they came to tenth room and were in for a surprise. The Tenth room was the same as the previous four in deign but the contents were different. There were five polar bears, and these things were even bigger than Leon realized they would be. The group still had no trouble killing the creatures. But it had been an intimidating sight to see such massive bears baring down on them, pun intended.

“The monsters here are actually a little concerning for what the deeper floors will have in store for us.” Far said as she wiped the blood off of her blade, “Normally Dungeons do not have such large and aggressive predators so early on in their development. This Dungeon is probably going to be very dangerous by floor 75 and that won’t take it more than five or six months to reach at the rate that it is going. Look there is already a second floor.” She pointed to the exit on the opposite side of where they entered a staircase down was obvious even from where they were.

“We should take all of these ones; their pelts will be highly valued for the pure white coloring, and I doubt that their value will ever fade too much. Only five of them here. So maximum of fifty a day. They should sell well.” Daisy suggested pointing out the polar bears.

“They are called Polar Bears. And you are right I’ll just pop them into my storage skill real quick.” Said Leon as he did just that.

“How do you know what they are called?” asked a puzzled looking Far.

“I have an identifying skill” he replied.

“That’s handy, wish I had one.” Cynthia sighed.

“Well, we’ve only been down here for like 20 minutes, might as well continue deeper and see what the next floor has in store for us.” Lamia said rubbing her hands together.

As they approached the stairwell Leon spotted a chest just near the exit of the room and signaled everyone over. Examining it in fine detail with his perception skills. It didn’t appear to be trapped so he flipped open the lid and examined the contents. A stack of five silver coins, a dagger, and five potion vials. Leon used Identify on everything and was pretty impressed with the haul. Five lesser healing potions would sell for around double the price of the five silvers. The dagger wasn’t anything special just a seven-inch double-edged blade in a plain scabbard. Leon distributed the loot evenly among the group and stored the dagger for later.

Now they were ready to continue on.