Hey…Why the hell is it different?! Dylan was staring, ‘mouth’ agape at the new quest screen. There was a new prize on the bottom; two human prisoners. In addition, the number of wolves Dylan would need to kill or defend against seems to have risen as well. Did the number increase due to the new prize? Well… At least it only went up by several wolves, and not any of the other monsters… Dylan thought to himself. The fact that the numbers went up for the weakest enemies; the wolves, meant that the number of other enemies such as wind wolves or fireball wolves might increase. Dylan hoped that none of the higher ranked wolf-type monsters would increase in numbers, as that might be devastating for Dylan, who had no clue as to what their capabilities were. The only thing he could do was base his defenses off of their names and prepare accordingly.

First off… I know that normal wolves have combat prowess similar to an (F+) or (E-) ranked monster… Dire Wolves are at the (D-) rank so I am expecting their speed and strength to be higher than the wolves by a large margin. Maybe they might be bigger too… The wind wolves might be faster or capable of controlling wind or using magic of some kind related to wind, and the iron spine wolves might have durable bones possibly? Or it could just mean their whole body is tougher. The ember wolves and fireball wolves probably use fire, which is a massive threat to my delicate forest cave! Dylan worried to himself. I must make full use of my skills now!

Dylan began to plan out his ideas while gathering mana. When his mana refilled, he intensively got to work. In this way, over the course of 3 days, Dylan’s forest cave had expanded to nearly 5 miles in diameter. In addition, multiple smaller rivers and hills decorated the forest cave, and the forest itself had been expanded to cover the new land which Dylan had built. The breeding caves had been expanded to a mile in diameter each as well, and pushed back in accordance with the expansion of the main cave

Is it really possible for a mountain to be at least five miles wide in any direction? There’s no way I’m underground since there’s a forest outside… Isn’t more than five miles in diameter too large?! Not even considering my outlying breeding caves, this is too much! Dylan was mildly stunned. In his previous life, mountains hadn’t interested him much, so he wasn’t sure how large a mountain would be. Another possibility was that this was an exceptionally large mountain or he was in a mountain range, Dylan assumed. Well it doesn’t matter; it just means I can keep expanding! And so, Dylan got back to work.

The next day or so, Dylan finally finished his work. It had taken him thousands of mana and several days of work, but the huge number of organisms within his cave luckily helped with his mana regeneration, allowing him to get back to work quickly. Currently, his forest cave was 6 miles in diameter, with 4 breeding caves each 2 miles in diameter scattered in different directions around it. The forest cave had one huge river nearly 100 feet wide flowing through the center, with the occasional twist and turn. Multiple sharp rocks jutted out of the rushing water could definitely devastate someone who got swept away, and the deepest parts of the river were nearly 50 feet deep. Dylan had put a lot of effort into the river, and had put multiple [Dungeon Laws] on it which generated whirlpools within the river at random. In addition, Dylan had implemented a [Dungeon Law] which caused the forest cave to have a lower temperature and to always have light drizzling and mist flowing through it. He wasn’t sure if this was enough to counter a forest fire, but he hoped it would help.

In the Northeast edge of the forest cave, in the second half of the cave, there was a large area made out of natural-looking stone pillars and boulders. The pillars ranged anywhere from a foot high to reaching the ceiling of the forest cave, and varied in thickness from a diameter of 1 foot (0.3 m) to nearly 15 feet (4.57 m). The boulders ranged in size from the height of a goblin to the size of a small hill, and had countless pore-like holes in them, big enough to allow smaller monsters to crawl through. This strange arrangement of boulders and rocky pillars was where Dylan’s core now resided, nestled deep within one of the largest boulders. This was a new area which Dylan had experimented with, and he liked it a lot. There were no plants here, and few of Dylan’s common species lurked around the area. This was because the area was frequented by the [Stone-Clawed Spider], [Whistle Wolves], and [Hard Shell Centipedes]. Together they formed a strange group which would defend Dylan’s core hopefully long enough to meet the one-day time limit. Dylan had even given a [Dungeon Order] to ignore [Natural Order] for all of his monsters in preparation for the battle. Dylan, however, was absolutely certain that he couldn’t defeat all of the incoming opponents and the reason was simple.

[Summon]: Stone-Clawed Spider

Ding!

You have insufficient mana. 375 mana required for summon.

If Dylan had a body right now, he might’ve actually cried. His only trump card required too much mana to summon. He could level up again to have a higher maximum mana, but Dylan wasn’t sure how long it would take him to level up this time around, as he did not have any time to spare. He still needed to set up tons of traps and evolve more of the insects into their higher forms, plus he would still need to summon more Stone-Clawed Spiders after evolution before they could be useful, which made the idea less attractive. He didn’t know how much time he had left, so he decided to check his quest once again. The situation would affect whether he would risk the level-up or not.

Quest

Current Quest!

Challenge: Defeat or Survive Encounter! The goal of this challenge is to destroy all incoming enemies, or survive for an allotted time without having your core destroyed!

Enemies:

‘Maxin’ the Werewolf Mage (C+)

‘Uruga’ the Werewolf Warrior (C )

2x Fire Ball Wolf (C )

10x Ember Wolf (D)

10x Wind Wolf (D)

10x Iron Spine Wolf (D)

11x Dire Wolf (D-)

47x Wolf

OR

Survive for One(1) day after the enemies entered the Dungeon!

Please Note! You will not obtain the ability to summon anything you don’t kill! Also, regardless of whether or not you kill the Werewolf Mage or Werewolf Warrior, you will not acquire the ability to summon them! Lastly, the more floors you have within the Dungeon at the time of entry, the more days the enemies have to conquer the Dungeon!

Rewards:

2x Human Prisoner

[Summon]: Psychoceros (C+) (Rare)

[Summon]: Rampant Lesser Raptor (C ) (Rare)

[Summon]: Long-Necked Lesser Drake (C ) (Rare)

[Catching Gehennia’s Attention] (Skill)

One(1) Random animal [Summon] of a species which would be unavailable to you now

Enemies arrive in: Two(2) days One(1) hour

Guh! If Dylan had a body, he might’ve spat out blood just from viewing the dire situation. The number of wolves had greatly increased while his rewards hadn’t at all. In addition, the amount of days he had left had dropped considerably, although his defenses had risen significantly. Dylan was betting nearly everything on the river which swept through the forest cave. Hopefully the wolves couldn’t swim too well, or the whirlpools and sharp rocks could catch them. After seeing how much the numbers had risen, Dylan, however, had decided on something. Although large numbers of traps were fairly useful, the fact of the matter was that he needed combatants to survive.

Although I need both traps and large amounts of monsters which are capable of supporting me, I am truly in need of monsters. Thus… Even if this might kill me… I guess the only thing I can really do in this situation for now is… [Level Up].

Following Dylan’s command, he immediately fell unconscious for his level up.

Dylan was once again in the ‘dreamland’ that came with leveling up. He felt significantly more conscious and alert compared to previous level ups. Like how he had compared it before to being driven around in a car, Dylan could now definitely direct where he wanted to go within his dream. Looking around, he couldn’t see anything, however. It felt like the world had turned black, and he couldn’t make out any details. He decided to move back, but realized he couldn’t. The same for left and right, he couldn’t move. But when he tried to move forward, he was able to take a ‘step’ forward in his ‘form’. He took a few more steps forward before attempting to go back, but he realized he couldn’t once again.

Does this mean something? Dylan thought to himself as he continued to move forward. Some bullshit way of telling me there’s no way back from being a dungeon? Hurry up and show me what I need to see so I can wake up, I have a lot to do.

Regardless of what Dylan wanted to do, he couldn’t force himself to wake up, so he only continued to move forward as quickly as possible. Eventually, three pricks of light appeared in the lurking shadows, and they seemed to grow in size as Dylan rushed over to see them. After what seemed like an eternity, Dylan finally stopped before the three lights, which appeared to be glowing orbs. Looking at them, Dylan felt strange feelings well up within him. During his level up to level 5, Dylan had ‘grabbed’ at the orb which had appeared. Coincidentally, the quest had popped up after Dylan had grabbed an orb, which made him incredibly suspicious as to what those orbs signified. In addition, all of the orbs this time were different colors. Back in his level 5 level up dream, the orb had been a blinding white standing out amongst the pitch-black dreamworld. Now, there were three orbs, one glowing a bright blue color, one shining white, and one smoldering orange. They seemed to sit there as if waiting for Dylan to choose one, though Dylan wasn’t sure what to pick.

What the hell am I supposed to do now? Dylan thought to himself. Immediately following his thought, the darkness in front of Dylan’s form converged on itself, and a humanoid shape with spiky hair seemed to pull itself out of the darkest pits of the void which had formed in front of Dylan. The humanoid shape tilted its head endearingly before Dylan felt a voice scratching horribly in the deepest pits of his mind. It sounded like nails scraping against a chalkboard, like the old bones of a house creaking, and the shriek of a rooster all at the same time.

“CHOOSE AN OPTION. I AM THE LORD GEHENNIA’S SUBORDINATE, LUREWICH, CARETAKER OF DUNGEONS. THE WHITE LEADS TO OPPORTUNITY, THE BLUE LEADS TO SKILL MASTERY, AND THE ORANGE LEADS TO VALUABLE MONSTER KNOWLEDGE. FROM HERE ON OUT YOUR PATH WILL BE DECIDED BY you AND you ONLY. MAKE IT COUNT. AND HURRY QUICK. YOU AREN’T THE ONLY DUNGEON AROUND.”

Skills? Monsters? Opportunity? WTF is this? Dylan thought to himself as he considered the options. An opportunity definitely means that shitty quest I got dragged into! The blue will give me a skill perhaps, or upgrade a current one? Remembering what Gehennia’s message had said made him realize. OH! I was still an infant dungeon before. That’s why they gave me all those skills I would suppose. So now I have to choose my own pathway, I guess… I’ll take the skill mastery. Dylan ‘reached’ out and ‘grabbed’ the blue orb.

Lurewich nodded once before both he and the dream-like world slowly disappeared, bringing Dylan back to his dungeon. Wasting no time, Dylan checked his quest and status.

Current Quest!

Challenge: Defeat or Survive Encounter! The goal of this challenge is to destroy all incoming enemies, or survive for an allotted time without having your core destroyed!

Enemies:

‘Maxin’ the Werewolf Mage (C+)

‘Uruga’ the Werewolf Warrior (C )

2x Fire Ball Wolf (C )

10x Ember Wolf (D)

10x Wind Wolf (D)

10x Iron Spine Wolf (D)

11x Dire Wolf (D-)

53x Wolf

OR

Survive for One(1) day after the enemies entered the Dungeon!

Please Note! You will not obtain the ability to summon anything you don’t kill! Also, regardless of whether or not you kill the Werewolf Mage or Werewolf Warrior, you will not acquire the ability to summon them! Lastly, the more floors you have within the Dungeon at the time of entry, the more days the enemies have to conquer the Dungeon!

Rewards:

3x Human Prisoner

[Summon]: Psychoceros (C+) (Rare)

[Summon]: Rampant Lesser Raptor (C ) (Rare)

[Summon]: Long-Necked Lesser Drake (C ) (Rare)

[Catching Gehennia’s Attention] (Skill)

One(1) Random animal [Summon] of a species which would be unavailable to you now

Enemies arrive in: One(1) day fifteen(15) hours

Status:

Level: 6

Name: N/A (Dylan)

Species: Dungeon

Titles: N/A

Mana: 0/375

Skills: [Dungeon Overlay] [Dungeon Edit] [Dungeon Watching] [Dungeon Order] [Dungeon Communication] [Absorb Essence] [Absorb Bodies] [Absorb Objects] [Dungeon Summons] [Forceful Evolution] [Natural Order] [Naming] [Subordination] [Dungeon Law] [Mana Healing] [Corruption] [Dungeon Avatar]

Passive Skills: [Auto-Absorb Bodies] [Siphon Mana] [Nullify Damage I]

Attributes: N/A

Evolution Points: 9

[Nullify Damage I](Passive)(New): A skill which automatically nullifies all incoming damage towards the Dungeon’s core with no mana cost. This skill nullifies a single physical or elemental magical attack which would impact the Dungeon’s core, and takes 24 hours before it is active again.