I’m looking at the ‘adventurers’ as they’re entering the first room of the maze. It is not one of the special areas I’ve prepared for them, just a widening of the corridor. Here they’ll get their first rewards if you don’t take into account the corpses they gather and the mana they absorb when killing a creature.

The creatures here won’t be stronger, but there will be more of them. The people wandering the maze are beginning to grasp how to use their weapon, there are less and less friendly-fire and each of their strikes deal more damage to the small critters living in the maze.

Here they are, getting in the room, they stop and look at the place. It’s the first time they have a choice of direction, going right or left. As they’re starting to discuss the options I send the rats at them.

Each time they suffer a cut I receive some mana escaping their bodies, the taste is making me tempted to send too many creatures for them to handle and kill them. But I force my mind to satisfy itself with this little as I think of how it is a better taste to have them die peacefully.

Anyway, they made a quick job getting rid of the rats. Maybe too easy, I’ll maybe have to make the next floors harder. The first must stay easy, to help the weak get stronger and allow them to get some loot.

Speaking of loot, I drop it on the ground, there is not much and it’s of the lowest quality, but it will still be helpful for my future people. I give them one object by creatures they killed in this room and look with amusement at their puzzled faces as they’re gathering the loot.

“What is that? A fork?” Asks Jack.

“And here, a spoon. Dwarf, it is iron, right?” Adds Grundy.

“Hrumpf.” She makes.

“Plain and simple iron, yes. Did you see the knives? They’re so small you can’t seriously use them as weapons. And the tip is round, I’ve never seen a rounded tip knife before.” Answers the Gnoll instead of the dwarf.

“It’s because they’re not supposed to serve as weapons, those are table knives.” Explains Mililara to her comrades. “It’s used by the nobility and the wealthy. But what is really surprising me is the fact that those objects appeared out of thin air, just like that.”

“Actually, I’ve heard of that.” Starts to explain Charles. “Dungeons do that to lure people in, it’s the loot.”

“Usually, it’s better than that, at least if we’re to believe the stories our grand-da’ told us.” Completes his brother.

Hey, if you want better loot, you’ll have to go deeper. It may be easy for me to make it - I had plenty of practice creating the pirates’ treasure - but I won’t hand it over easily anymore.

“Ok, I’ve made the count.” Says Jack after a bit. “We have four forks, three knives, five spoons, five nails and seven copper coins. It’s not much, but it’s a start.“

“Grumph.” Makes the dwarf, I feel like I’m being insulted there.

After a few remarks from the other members of the party about how I’m a cheap tightwad - just go deeper in the maze you ungrateful little brats - the group chooses to go further in the left tunnel.

Two hours later, and after some more ironware, the group is ready to enter the first special area they encounter. It’s a big room with grass and flowers growing on the ground and an apple tree in the middle, beside the tree is a small pond and between its roots is a chest. I’ve also put a big stone that procures a clear light.

When the former slaves enter the room they’re startled to see it, after all, they haven't seen grass, or flowers since numerous weeks. They are also surprised to hear the sound of bugs buzzing around.

After some time looking around and exchanging exclamations about the place they walk further in, and I unleash the creatures waiting there. The group is attacked by a number of rats and other rodents, but also by birds, bats, and two bombardier beetles.

It’s a hard fight for them, they’re not completely used to their weapons yet and it’s the first time they're attacked by flying creatures. I could be coordinating the rats’ attacks with the bats’ ones to have greater chances to pass the peoples’ guards, but I restrain myself, this will be done on other floors.

The fight goes on for five minutes before the ‘adventurers’ finish the last creature and I deliver the loot. It’s the same kind as previously, but I had some bowls and plates this time.

When they open the chest, they find an empty backpack, some blankets a small hammer and a hunting knife. It’s the first real weapon I gave them and the hammer can be used as one, even if it’s not a big one.

---

Melinda didn’t wait for Jack’s group to come out of the dungeon, she had to take care of the few people still unable to do it by themselves. It was no easy task to do with nothing else than her bare hands to prepare the food and a few rags for the rest. And only three people to help her.

She was taking a break when she heard the news, they were back.

She ran in the streets, along with other former slaves, to see them, feeling stress growing in her belly at the idea they may not have all come back. But she was relieved to see they were all alive.

Jack’s group had been absent for seven hours in total. They come back with goods news, and not so good ones.

First, the creatures on the first floor of the maze are weak, but they are numerous. So there is no real danger unless your careless and other groups can enter it without too much worry.

Second, there are some places where the rodents are stronger or more numerous. But at those places, the dungeon gives away some kind of rewards. That’s what interests Melinda, the wares and the blankets, with that she will be able to take better care of the needy. The weapons are good too, but it is not really interesting for her.

Third, there are resources in the dungeon. Fruits, herbs, and vegetables to be harvest in some areas. The creatures’ corpses can be used too, to produce meat, leather and bone tools or jewels.

Fourth, the dungeon gives away money. Not much, only copper coins, but Melinda and others are wondering what kind of economy they can build over here. Does it count on the ones who are diving in the maze to pay for the other for services? And them to pay back the divers for materials and tools only found in it?

Fifth, Jack’s group hadn’t explored all of the floors. They wander in it but didn’t manage to find a way down. It means the maze is too big to be explored in one day and the explorers will need to prepare for long journeys.

A lot of people want to dive in the dungeon, but right now all of them are pretty tired after waiting all the ‘day’ for Jack’s group to do so. And their return should call for celebration, but unfortunately, they have nothing to prepare a feast, so they just cheer loudly and eat fruits and row fishes.

---

I must admit it’s nice to see the former slaves rejoice like that. But it’s a bit sad they have almost no diversity on the tables. Well, as they’ll go deeper in the maze they’ll be able to better furnish their tables and homes.

On the other side of the island, the Marms seem to have noticed the change in the air after I claimed the whole island. For most of them, it doesn’t change a thing, but I can see that the ‘priestess’ is happy with the situation, if only she knew the truth about me, she wouldn’t believe it. Klopri, on his side, doesn’t say much about his appreciation or not of the situation, but I can see he’s using the denser mana in the air at his advantage.

The procession is almost ready to leave, in fact, it will start its journey tomorrow. I’m eager to see it arrive in front of the ‘Goddess’’ statue. Actually, they don’t need to come all the way to do their offerings, but they don’t know it or are pleased by the idea of going there.

During the night I make the count of the creatures the group of ‘adventurers’ killed. They killed a lot of them, I was expecting this, but it means I need to find a way to speed up their reproduction.

For that purpose, I choose a couple of rats copulating and infuse my mana in their sexual parts. The action accelerates and is soon over. After that, I keep focusing mana in the female rat, particularly in the uterus and in the male sperm. When the fertilization takes place and I feel the life appearing in the womb I push a bit more mana in. Some of the feeble life signs grow, starting to absorb my mana. Suddenly part of the life disappears, I suppose it’s to be expected, they are so weak right now, but others start to grow, and that’s more pleasing. After a few seconds of growing I remark something I wasn’t expecting, some of the life signs are dividing, there is now more living little rats in the female womb than at the beginning, I stop infusing mana but take an eye on the mother.

After the first one, I start experimenting with other pregnant rodents. I infuse mana in the future children and remark some things. The unborn are really more sensitive to the change in mana, it’s easier to kill them if I don’t take care than for the adults. But on the other side, they are absorbing my mana like dry sponges absorbing water, I have a feeling I could make a lot more changes in the appearance of my creatures if I do it before birth, particularly in the first stages of pregnancy. I already did it a bit with the crabs at the debut of my life as a dungeon.

Oh! I just had an idea. I take control of a female squirrel in heat and a male bat and force them to copulate. I infuse mana in a steady way in both of them, focusing mainly on the sexual organs and wait for the miracle to happen.

Victory! It worked! The squirrel is pregnant with the bat pup. I need to keep a particularly keen eye on this one. It cost me a big deal of mana, but it was nothing compared to the last time. It is far cheaper to mix mammals during the fertilization than fully grown bugs, in the future, I will only create hybrids with this method.

I will also start doing more experiments on pregnant females and unborn creatures. I will also do some on the sapient ones, once I manage to claim some of them. That makes me think of something I have to test right now.

I find one of the pregnant former slaves and feel for the baby, I try to push my mana gently in it, but like I thought, the mana bubble of the mother is preventing me to influence the child. I will have to wait for them to be claimed.

In the waiting, I will practice on my manipulation of the babies to be born. I need to master it with the small mammals, the birds, bugs, and fishes of all kinds before starting it on bigger creatures and especially on the sapient creatures. I’m starting to have plans for the Marms and the former slaves. Especially the former slaves, they are supposed to become my people and my protectors, they need to become strong, and their descendant even more as I have plans that the world will not like.