A small ant scuttled its way through myriad tunnels leading back to the nest. It was not a proper nest for an ant and the skittering insect felt a deep sense of sadness knowing this. The Great One had formed the ant in the early days when the ant swarms were enough to bring down any foe. The ant had gloried in those days, charging at the forefront of his brethren, led to battle by the call of their master. Those days were long since passed. There were many ants now, not just his brethren, queens that guided generations of ants, who fought and died without ever having felt the master’s will.

The ant wandered through its nest alone, and gently placed its small bundle of food on the ground. He didn’t need to hunt, not really at least, but it reminded him of the old days and the ant instinctively knew that each death would aid the Great One in some small way. The ant was nothing now and he knew that, could feel the strength coursing through the sacred walls the Great One had shaped from the very rock itself. That knowledge had driven many of his brethren to despair, many seeking their end in one last futile conflict or simply collapsing and refusing to move. The ant would not stop though, he knew from the end of his antenna to the tips of his legs that he was insignificant, that he could do almost nothing for the master, even if he were to surrender his life. Still, the tiny ant could not give up the dream to be something more, to defend his home from all comers, to be a true protector of the Great One once more.

The ant could feel the power smoldering within his flesh, potential primed and straining to break free. But whatever he did the tiny insect was unable to take the final step to cross the final threshold and advance.

…Threshold Met…

…Evolution Denied…

The ant clacked its mandibles in fury feeling the denial through his very being like a hand shoving it back. Like a suffocating web holding shut an egg and the ant was that egg struggling to be born anew. The furious insect shoved back against the suffocating pressure locking it into its current form with a desperation born of rage and despair. It wasn’t fair, why were he and his brothers denied advancement when every other creature grew stronger? What was the point if he would never be able to change, never even have the slightest chance to truly serve the Great One again?

...Evolution Denied...

He would not…

...Evlution Denied…

...be trapped…

...Evolution Denied…

...like this!

The ant felt just the tiniest bit of give in the shackles holding it, and with renewed hope, he pressed forward. He would change, he would be something more no matter what it took.

...Error…

...Forced Evolution Detected…

...Altering Species Designation…

...Beginning Evolution…

At last, the ant felt the chain binding it crumble and blow away like a bad dream. Power roared through his tiny frame sweeping aside what he once was and forging him into something new, something powerful. He would grow and fight, for his home, for the Great One, for the dungeon.

With great satisfaction Valens put the final touches on his twentieth floor, it wasn’t that different from the previous five floors, but it was still satisfying to complete. Having finished his last tier two floor Valens eagerly formed the beginnings of the twenty-first floor below it. Just as before the accumulated aura he had built up over the previous ten floors bore down on him, refining his core molding him into something stronger, a tier-three core.

Magnus picked up his head and looked around, spotting the now significantly smaller core floating in the center of the room he chuckled. Congratulations Valens, tier three already, you’ll be getting to tier six in no time at all at this rate.

Thanks, Magnus but I’m not sure it’ll be quite as fast as you think. Humans will start losing their effectiveness around when I become tier five and if I understood what you said correctly it will also take me longer and longer to complete floors as each tier has larger and larger floor sizes.

The drake yawned and stretched, getting up and pacing around the room. That’s true enough, still, you’ve been growing well so far so keep up the good work. Also, have you decided what you want as your new boss?

The core had thought long and hard about this choice and granted he didn’t have all the options in the world, there was no way he was going to make a deer into a boss, but it had taken him some time to whittle down his options. I have but quick question first though. The first boss on only being able to level to the end of tier two and then needing to stop right?

That’s correct, now that Aspen’s technically the boss of the twentieth floor she’ll be able to evolve to tier three, but her replacement will be stuck at tier two until you rank up again and can make a new boss.

Valens nodded, and that stopped. Why was he nodding? He had no head, the random biological habits he had inherited from Magnus still confused him on occasion. I was wondering if I could pick a boss who is already tier two instead of picking a tier-one monster and letting it level up and evolve as the boss?

Magnus tapped his chin thoughtfully with a razor-sharp claw. Truthfully, I’m not sure what will happen. I think it should be possible though, make sure you call me when you give it a try, I want to see what happens. Also, you still haven’t told me what you are going to pick as the next boss.

Right, sorry, I’m going to try and make a hobgoblin the next boss. They seem like the most consistently dangerous creature in my dungeon right now, besides the wolves who normally hunt in packs. I might try a riskier boss eventually, like a hawk or a fox, but for right now picking a hobgoblin seems like a safe choice to make.

It’s a good pick, goblins aren’t the brightest, but they get rather frighteningly strong as they get more powerful. Hopefully being a boss will make whichever monster you pick develop intelligence a little early, which would lead to an interesting evolutionary path.

You’re still not going to tell me anything about how any of my creatures evolve are you?

I just want it to be a surprise when they evolve, I feel like it will be much more enjoyable that way.

Then why are you teasing me talking about the evolutionary line for the goblins? It's like you enjoy dangling what I don’t know just out of reach. He was being a little harsh, but the drake had it coming, and maybe now he would get some good information.

I’m sorry if you feel that way. I'm just trying to provide the best advice I possibly can. Magnus seemed a little amused and not overly distraught by what Valens had said. The old drake probably knew exactly what he had been doing the whole time, oh well he would just have to wait and see what happened when the creatures actually evolved.

Right, sorry, Magnus.

It’s fine I’m really here to help. If you think of anything I can do for you don’t hesitate to ask.

Besides telling me what the evolutions will be?

Besides telling you what the evolutions will be. The drake confirmed with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

How about a fish then?

Magnus looked confused at that request. A fish?

Well not just one fish, but a lot of fish. It would be nice to have a fish pattern to put in my water areas. It had been bugging him for a while now, what was the point of having massive swamps when there were no fish to be found anywhere.

Well, I was more thinking along the lines of intellectual advice that I could give you to shape how your dungeon works. The drake was gazing around the core room very obviously not looking at Valens.

It's just some fish, Magnus. What's the big deal? If you’re worried about being seen, just I don’t know, cast invisibility on yourself or something, I’m sure it can’t be that big of a problem for you.

But the ocean’s so far away.

You’re tier six Magnus I don’t think it's that far away for you.

How would I carry so many fish back? It would probably be better just to wait for the adventurers to bring the fish pattern.

There haven’t been any adventurers coming in here with fish and seriously, just do your fancy pulling it from thin air trick like you usually do. Valens didn’t see what the big problem here was; it was just some fish.

The drake sulked in the corner grumbling at the ground. Fine, I just don’t like fish. They’re disgusting, smell nasty and they always flop around like crazy.

Valens tried very hard not to laugh, the big bad Magnus just didn’t like fish, did he? Well fine, you don’t have to get fish now but maybe you could try and think of a way to get me some that doesn’t make you freak out?

Magnus popped his head up looking a little indignant. I don’t freak out about fish, I’ll go and get you some eventually, I just need some time to prepare. You’ll need a lot of fish to get the pattern, so I’ll need to create some appropriate spells. The drake was once again not looking at the core and shuffling his feet around in a suspicious manner. Valens thought about calling his bluff on the whole thing but decided he would leave things for now; he wanted his fish eventually though.

There was actually something else the core was curious about now that he thought about it. Magnus, could you go out and get me other templates? Not the fish, but just in general why not? You have a way to sneak past the humans, right?

The drake tapped his chin thoughtfully with a claw. I could, I suppose but there are a few problems with that, the first being that there are not that many monsters in the area. You probably killed off a good chunk of them, but the rest will have been decimated by all the adventurers running around in the town above. Also, the way for me to sneak around isn’t perfect and rumors of me or a very powerful monster hanging around your dungeon are exactly the thing we want to avoid. They tend to attract powerful people who I might need to actually kill, which will draw in more and more and you get the idea. Maybe once you are significantly more powerful, I’ll feel comfortable trying to sneak out or even leave for an extended period. As it stands now though it just seems like an unnecessary risk for a few templates that frankly aren’t all that good.

Valens was rather disappointed that Magnus wasn’t willing to go out and get him more templates. The reasoning made sense he supposed but he also guessed that the drake was just being a little lazy. If he accidentally attracted a bunch of strong adventurers to the dungeon, Magnus would have to spend all of his time fighting them off instead of lazing around or playing with magic like he usually did. What are you doing all the time by the way when you’re playing around with magic that is?

The drake sighed and rubbed his eyes with his claws, apparently glad to be changing the topic. I’m not ‘playing’ Valens, I'm researching the various interactions between mana types and trying to figure out better ways to use them. I’m also trying to improve my control over the elements as well. I could use a room of my own at some point, I don’t really feel comfortable trying some of my more destructive experiments here with you.

I can do that at some point, just remind me later. Also, what kinds of interactions are you talking about? Valens had kind of figured mana types mostly operated separately from each other.

Mostly what I’m looking into right now is something called compound mana types. These types of mana are created by combining other types of mana, one of the more common examples would be lava mana which is made by blending earth and fire mana in specific amounts. There are a lot of combinations like that, and they tend to get increasingly more complicated as you go along. I'm trying to discover or rediscover new types that might be helpful to me.

Right, thanks, Magnus. Maybe the drake really wasn’t all that lazy, Valens was immediately proven wrong as Magnus lay down and went right to sleep. Sighing the core started carefully combing through his dungeon. What he was looking for might not actually exist, but he had to try. Then again what were the odds of finding a goblin that wasn’t stupid?