“Wake the Fuck Up!” Cynthia yelled, “The Dungeon made a new floor finally and the other Teams have already started delving it!” she practically yelled as she burst into the bedroom.

Leon was of course awake, but he was currently under a tangle of flesh that consisted of Lamia, Farthallahn and Daisy. And up until a few seconds ago they had been slumbering deeply. These cuddle puddles were oddly comfortable once you got used to it. But hearing Cynthia’s words as she burst in caused grumbling and bleary eyes to open and blink rapidly.

“Just five more minutes.” Daisy mumbled as she snuggled in closer to Farthallahn who was practically draped across Leon’s midsection.

“Yeah, five more minutes.” Far agreed as she shifted to accommodate Daisy’s new posture a bit better.

“Nope! Get the fuck up!” Cynthia screeched while grabbing Daisy’s ankle and pulling her from the bed in one fell swoop. Daisy was gripping Farthallahn quite tightly and she went along for the ride desperately grabbing onto Leon to try and prevent herself from being pulled along with Daisy. Which then resulted in Leon also getting dragged along with them. Cynthia might be a petite woman, but her physical strength was still in the second Tier and hauling four hundred pounds of people off a bed with enough force to send them crashing into a wall was well within her capabilities. And she did just that.

Leon saved himself from being imbedded in the bedroom wall by Quantum Blinking into the kitchen. The girls were not so lucky as they smacked into the wall and bounced around each other in a tangle.

“Get dressed and be ready to head out in five minutes. Lamia I’m glad I don’t have to pressure you to get a move on. I swear these two are the laziest people I’ve ever met.” Leon heard Cynthia saying from the Kitchen, “And I know you can hear me Leon, if you’d be a dear and have food ready everyone so we can head out immediately that would be perfect.”

“Not even married and she already runs my household…” Leon whispered to himself as he started activating the enchanted stovetop.

“I heard that!” Cynthia, “Marriage is a concept for short lived races. But that the woman is in charge only makes sense to me, all you men are good for is making babies. Maybe we should get married so I can officially take over.”

Something had Cynthia all worked up right now, she wasn’t usually this… Actively aggressive… Leon realized that it must be because last night only the Team had been in the house, the rest had all had things to take care of and were probably already in the Dungeon. She was upset that none of them had come to them with the news. Maybe… After getting to know her so well over the past two year he’d come to understand that when she got comfortable around people her personality was… flexible. She adopted whatever demeanor she thought would get the job done that she wanted done regardless of what that was. If she wanted sex, she’d be a freaking effective temptress, if she wanted food, she would either make it herself or hound Leon to cook it for her, if it was time to work, she became a slave driver.

Fathallahn was simply a bold and straightforward person. Leon couldn’t imagine a world where she would lie or play games to get what she wanted.

Lamia was shy, but she wanted attention. It was a little bit of a strange dichotomy. Her dwarven culture came through her shyness and made her surprisingly forthright once you got to know her. She was diligent and hardworking but gave off a timid feeling that hid how fierce she actually was.

Daisy was just a ray sunshine. Her personality could be fairly easily summed up in the word ‘Bubbly’ She always seemed happy. But Leon knew well that she was probably the most cunning member of their team. Beneath her bubbliness was a mind that was sharper than any blade.

“Food will be ready soon.” Leon called back as he slapped some bacon into a pan, followed by sausages and eggs. The Dungeon was a wonderful resource generating tool. He had access to all of the cooking supplies from earth that made it so that he could make earthly foods with enough experimentation. Peanut Butter was one of those things that he was still experimenting with creating. Along with ketchup. If he could make a burger, it would complete his new life.

Breakfast didn’t take long to finish. Team Terra made their way over to the entrance of the Dungeon as a full group for the first time in several weeks. Normally they would all delve solo, but they were going into the second Tier of the Dungeons floors. It was likely to be extremely dangerous. Leon was fairly certain that the newest floors would be exceedingly dangerous given the vast amount of megafauna that he’d fed to the Dungeon. Also, he was not looking forward to encountering all of the different great ape species that he had created and fed to the Dungeon. There were at least twelve Homo-type species that had been classified as non-sapient. And one of those Leon was pretty sure was responsible for the whole ‘Uncanny Valley’ phenomena that humanity had been aware of back on earth. They looked so close to human but were savage predators. That along with the literal thousands of mega predators that he’d fed the Dungeon made Leon especially cautious of what they would find down there.

“What do you think is down there?” Lamia asked as they started to descend the stairs to the first floor. They’d be using their port-stones to teleport to the tenth floor as soon as they reached the bottom of the stairwell.

“With all the stuff I’ve fed this place… who knows. But I’m guessing were going to be seeing a lot of really big and dangerous stuff.” Leon responded.

“Tier 2 floors are where Dungeons start becoming very dangerous. Tier 2 floors are even dangerous to low end Tier 3 teams. This is where we need to start being very cautious. Even if the floors are exact copies of first ten floors it will be orders of magnitude more deadly. Leon will scout stealthily ahead, and we will proceed only when he gives us the go ahead. Tight formation and be alert.” Cynthia said as they reached the bottom of the stairwell.

Everyone nodded as they activated their Port-Stones and teleported to the tenth floor.

Cutting their way through the tenth floor was easy as always. Netting Leon tons of meat and animal bones as he Instant Harvested every monster they came across through the Labyrinth. Soon they found themselves emptying the chest at the center of the Labyrinth and starting their decent to the eleventh floor.

The first thing that Leon noticed as they descended the stairway was the ripples in space around the stairwell. It flexed and bent far more drastically than anything Leon had seen prior. When they emerged from the stairwell where there used to be a room… Leon and the team were met with a view that was not totally uncommon in this Dungeon but was still impossibly amazing to witness. They emerged onto the eleventh floor through an archway atop a massive mountain. In biting cold winds that were trying in vain to sap Leon’s heat from his armored and resistant body. The air was thin here, and Leon could feel his lungs working harder than usual to get at what little oxygen was available. There was no ceiling in sight, only a clear blue sky with what Leon assumed was a pseudo sun hanging at the midway point overhead. The mountain top was barely large enough for the group to all be standing there. And all around them as far as the eyes could see was a layer of clouds nearly a thousand feet below their position.

“Well, it looks like we’ve got a long hike down a mountain side.” Daisy said without preamble, “Are you going to stand around all day? Or are you going to go scout a path for us Leon?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m on it.” Leon grumbled as he activated Stealth, Muffle, and Perception Filter to their maximums and began searching for a path down the mountainside.

It took Leon only about twenty minutes to perform a full sweep of the area around them and realize that there was nothing alive around them. The environment was too hostile for most living creatures’ steep cliffs and subzero temperatures would do that for most places, but in a world where animals could just as easily gain skills for survival as humans or any other sapient, it was worth it to be sure. Unless there were creatures around here with stealth skills similar to Leon’s own and powerful enough to evade his senses, the team was safe to proceed. Leon used his Telepathy skill to let Cynthia know that it was safe to proceed and then kept ahead of them as they descended the mountainside.

The group moved down the mountainside at a decent pace. Leon staying ahead to scout for anything that could bother them. Be it traps or monsters. It wasn’t until they’d been descending the mountain for nearly four hours that Leon encountered the first monster he’d seen. He scanned it with Identify.

Himalayan Tahr (2nd Tier)

Himalayan tahrs are wild mountain goats native to the Himalayas region. It is densely found in the Everest region of eastern Nepal. The males Himalayan Tahrs headbutt each other as a part of a mating ritual during their breeding seasons. The Himalayan tahr has a small head, large eyes, small pointed ears, and horns. Female Himalayan tahrs are a relatively smaller size and have smaller horns than the males. They have thick exterior, reddish wool coats that protect them from harsh winters. The Himalayan tahr has a lifespan of around 14 or 15 years. They are herbivores and graze on grass, leaves, and fruits.

This particular Specimen is a male, approximately 7 years old, and has a surly disposition.

The Identify skill had gotten much more detailed after it leveled up to Tier 2. Giving Leon access to a lot more information than he’d ever had before when using it on animals and people. The Tahr was not alone, as Leon got closer to it, he noticed six female Tahrs clustered together around some shrubs that they were eagerly munching at.

After observing the goats for a few moments Leon decided to try his hand at fighting them. He wanted to see what these things were capable of before he tried rerouting his team or worrying about having the other actually have to fight on the steep mountain terrane. Releasing his stealth skills Leon revealed himself to the animals and stepped forward, expecting them to charge the moment they noticed his presence. Only they did no such thing. The moment he revealed himself the small herd of goats bolted away. Fleeing into the distance as fast as they could go. That was very UnDungeonlike mob behavior. They acted like real animals in the wild would have. Leon relayed his discovery to the team and kept his scouting up after that incident.

The team continued on down the mountainside, occasionally seeing birds, herds of Tahrs, some kind of Marten that Leon didn’t have time to throw an Identify on before it bolted out of viewing range, and a Mountain Weasel which Leon did get a scan on.

Mountain weasel (2nd Tier)

The mountain weasel is generally found in high-altitude environments, including tundra and grassy woodlands. Rock crevices, abandoned burrows, and tree trunks are where these small animals tend to prefer to rest. They are capable of climbing, swimming, and running. Their short legs and long bodies make them quite agile. They communicate visually and vocally as they have excellent vision. They produce surprisingly loud sounds to warn others of kind to the presence of predators when mating. Though not very large these animals can be fairly territorial.

This is an adult specimen, age undetermined, it has an aggressive temperament.

Though Leon’s scan of the Weasel said that it was aggressive the thing just hunkered down and hid in a small barrow when he revealed himself to it. Leon actually sighed to himself after that. If even naturally aggressive animals were behaving more like their regular selves than the ridiculously bloodthirsty monsters the animals of the first ten floors were, then Leon was fairly certain that the group would be much safer from attacks. The trip down the side of the mountain was going to be a long one.

Gerald Crumbl

One of Gerald’s worst fears had been realized after he’d gotten forced into his second marriage. Annise and Ameillia had joined forces against him. Conspiring to make his life miserable. Oh, they didn’t think that was what they were doing. But they indeed were making his life harder than it had to be. Ameillia and Annise had become fast friends, which really didn’t make much sense to Gerald. Ameillia had always been territorial and assertive. Annise seemed to be more of a follower type. The things that were making his life more stressful than before were things like pushing him to start taking care of the bookwork, keep the house clean, and watch over the kids more. The average Gnomish House husband activities sure, but Gerald was used to being a more equal provider for the family. Now his contributions felt lessened. The stressful part about that was that he actually enjoyed doing all of those things more than he enjoyed actually working and helping to make the families living. It made him feel guilty. Like he wasn’t actually doing anything of value, which he objectively knew was wrong. Everything that he was doing more of now alleviated the stress his wives were feeling at constantly working.

The main reason that Gerald was feeling the squeeze though was that they were in an ancient Dungeon City. There were tradesmen here that so outclassed what he could do that he barely got any business for himself. Ameillia was getting an overabundance of work, and Annise had already had a big market that she was supplying with herbs. So, Gerald found himself in the strange position that his own work was now significantly less valuable than either of his wives work. But he wanted to help more than just being the normal old house husband who was little more than a maid. Because of this Gerald had concocted a plan.

Gerald still had a good deal of money saved up. And to top that off Leon had sent over ten thousand gold coins to him by way of the Guild mailing services. Bringing his total up to a little over fifteen thousand gold and a bit of change in personal monies. It was honestly a ridiculous amount of gold. Well over what most people could make in fifty years of work outside of a Dungeon City. His plan was to use that Money to purchase a skyship. One large enough for the whole family to live on and at the same time continue their work as well as expand their business into transportation of merchandise. Gerald would be able to pay for one up front and get lessons enough to fly the thing safely for about eight thousand gold. It would be a crazy big investment, but with Lilly growing up and Jerry well on his way to getting old enough to really start training skills Gerald was trying to think of how to give them more options in their lives than he had had growing up.

A skyship would do just that. They’d be able to travel very easily, maybe even find trainers for specific skills that the kids would want to learn. Lilly had shown little interest in any of the family’s professions and Jerry seemed destined to become a model Gnomish House Husband. But Gerald wasn’t going to settle on good enough. He was going to make their lives amazing.

With that thought Gerald found himself making his way to the skyship yards. His spatially expanded coin bag metaphorically heavy with the massive amount of gold he was about to spend.

Malorie FleshShaper

Malorie opened the box of books that she had sent for. Inside the box was an enchanted bag of holding. The bag contained what had taken her contacts nearly six years to gather. Ever since she had learned that Leon had a perfect affinity for every wretched and divine magic, she’d set people to collecting the lore and skill books that pertained to those fields. What Malorie had never told Leon and been damn sure to keep out of his line of sight was exactly what perfect affinities for the Wretched and Divine schools of magic really meant. As far as she was aware, there were only three complete schools of magic, Wretched, Divine, and Eldritch. All magic and magical effects came from one of those three schools. The Wretched school of magic dealt in nearly all things physical. Earth, Water, Blood, Bone, Flesh, Light, and everything that fell into the realm of solid, liquid, or gaseous materials and the consequences of their interactions with each other. The Divine school of magic dealt in things of the mind and soul. Concepts, Curses, Souls, Ghosts, Pleasure, Pain, Life and Death. Magic of these two schools encompassed almost 90% of all magic. Eldritch magics dealt in Space, Time, Vacuum, and other non-physical elements of reality which still played a part in reality. Eldritch magics were perfect for long range transportation, creating bags of holding or other spatially enlarged things. Eldritch magic also the rarest of the three.

Inside of the bag Malorie knew there well over a hundred different sets of magical Lore Books. Several hundred skill books. Both the Magical and straight skill varieties. But most importantly it had Lore book series of both the Wretched and Divine schools inside it. The Lore of The Wretched School of Magics, and the Lore of The Divine School of Magics. Those two series’ of Lore books were only found on the fifth layer of Heavenly Spheres and above. And they held the key to Leon truly unlocking his abilities.

Malorie just had to wait until the boy returned from his current Delve into the new second Tier floors of the Dungeon. Team Terra had been down there for nearly twelve hours now. She knew that they were still alive and well. But She had no clue as to when they would return. For now she could only plan as to what all she was going to teach her pupil when he returned. After she made him use that incredible harvesting skill on the bag of holding that was.

Leon Crumbl

Team Terra had taken nearly eight hours to descend the mountain and into its foothills. The air was still frigid but now there were evergreen trees surrounding them and the wildlife had gotten much more dangerous and bold.

Snow Leopard (2nd Tier)

The Snow Leopard is generally found in the alpine regions with elevations that range from 3,000 to 4,500 m. The snow leopard has small, rounded ears that help minimize heat loss. Its broad paws allow it to walk on snow by distributing weight. It has a long and flexible tail that is rather thick due to fat storage, and it uses it to help maintain balance in the rocky terrains of the mountains that it calls home. During the summer seasons, the snow leopard lies above the tree line on alpine meadows. Snow leopards are territorial and use scent marks and scrape the ground to indicate their territories.

This Snow Leopard is approximately 8 years old and is very aggressive and very territorial.

The random Snow Leopards that had started appearing in their path were dangerous foes. Even with Leon’s spherical area of perception that extended nearly 250 feet in all directions at this point he was having trouble spotting them where they lay in wait to ambush their prey. The animals were fast, strong, and resilient. As well as being somewhat resistant to Leon’s stealth skills. They could somehow detect him when he got too close even with all of his stealth skills up and running. Leon had had to take out nearly a half dozen of them in the past hour. No matter how strong and fast they were, a well-placed arrow to the back of their skulls was more than enough to end their lives. Leon was using a bow to try and level his Ranged Weapon Mastery skill.

Now however, the team was deep into the evergreen forest that surrounded the mountain. As the group progressed deeper into the forest the temperature started rise drastically. There were no longer patches of snow dotting the forest floor. There were birds in the trees and all sorts of insects making a racket. The environment around them had changed from practically arctic temperatures to tropical rainforest temperatures. Leon hadn’t spotted a single predatory animal in nearly a half hour. Leon’s senses were pushed to the maximum as he continued his scouting. The chirping of birds and insects all around was ridiculous cacophony of sound.

Then Leon came to a sudden halt as he heard a hollow sounding bark/cough sound echo through the trees around him. It was a sound that Leon had heard in another life, but only in the movies. The sound repeated several times from multiple different angles followed by a hissing squeal of a roar that raised goosebumps on Leon’s arms. If that sound was really what Leon thought it was… Childhood fantasies were about to come true.

Continuing on Leon noticed a break in the tree line where tall grass started at the edge of his sphere of perception. He made his way over to it and blinked onto a tree branch overlooking the grassland that just suddenly started in a perfectly straight line where the jungle they were in ended. In the plains beyond Leon witnessed something that made him wish he had epic orchestral music in the background. He’d seen the depictions of the creatures he saw there in plains before, seen the size comparisons with humans, but seeing the massive animals wandering the plains and realizing their actual scale was an incredibly different experience.

“Welcome… To Jurassic Park.” He whispered to himself in childlike glee as he watched a Long Neck Dinosaur casually eating the leaves off a massive tree.