Spider and goblin had their time to shine and now Core was excited to see his lizard in action. While he did not like the rats he kind of wanted the next invader to be a rat, because then he could compare them all equally. Spider so far was still his favorite because of the combination of its species passive abilities.

Trapdoor Trapdoor spiders will burrow into the soil and gain the hidden status effect. While hidden a Trapdoor spider is less likely to be detected by enemies. 50% + 5% per skill level chance to not be detected by normal or magical means. Current skill level: 1.

Current % progress: 10 / 100. Ambush The first attack made against an opponent, while hidden, deals 150% + 10% per skill level damage.

A successful hit with the first attack has a 10% per skill level chance to make your next attack deal 150% damage. Current skill level: 1.

Current % progress: 10 / 100.

While it had lower statistics then the goblin and the lizard, the boost in damage put it ahead of both other creatures. The new rat creature had the lowest statistics of them all. The rat and goblin didn't have any passive or active skills. While the lizard had an active skill, Core wasn't sure how good that would be in a fight. Its undead status also made it so the skill used more mana than the defender currently had.

Tail slam Mana cost: 10

Cooldown: 30 seconds The next tail attack that hits an opponent will deal 125% blunt damage and knock the target back 10 + 1 per skill level feet.

If the target is knocked back into an object, that target is stunned for 1 + 0.2 per skill level seconds

If the target is knocked back into another opponent, that opponent is stunned for 0.5 + 0.1 per skill level seconds. Current skill level: 1.

Current % progress: 0 / 100.

He'd have a look at it when the skill was in action when his lizard got to a higher level. But that, as to how things were going, wasn't any time soon. The last invader had entered his dungeon a few hours ago. The outside of the cave had also turned to darkness. Core learned from System that each cycle of brightness and darkness is called a day. System also said most creatures are active during the bright part of the day and not te dark part. So either Core had to be lucky something tried to invade his dungeon now or wait for the bright part again.

While waiting for a new invader and having his chat with System about what she called day, nothing much happened Core then got an unusual message he hadn't seen before. He did receive a similar one once.

Warning: Dungeon mana has reached the maximum capacity.

He asked System what the last message meant so he might as well do it again. He, once again, sure was glad he had System to answer all his questions for him.

"System, the red box gave me a warning. Is it a bad thing to have reached my mana capacity?"

Having a full mana capacity isn't a bad effect.

While it will have no impact, It's highly recommended spending your mana when you reach full capacity. All dungeon operating processes require mana to perform. A dungeon floor can not be altered once invaders are inside a dungeon floor. It is advised to spend mana expending the floor layout while mana is full and to keep a part in reserve to recreated defenders after the invaders have left or are defeated

Core pondered over this new information. He liked how his dungeon looked sofar. He's out of sight, his traps keep him safe and his defenders have plenty of room to fight the invaders. For now, he had two traps and 3 defenders but what if he got more trap and defender slots in the future, then he'd need room give them all a spot. If he moved his core room deeper inside he'd also have more time to coordinate his defenders.

"System, does staying in the dungeon too long have an effect on invaders?"

Invaders will have reduced recovery of stamina while inside the dungeon. Stamina is used for actions such as walking, running, fighting, and perception. Higher-level invaders have a lower stamina consumption rate.

'So the longer they stay inside the weaker they will get'.

This was information Core could work with. He could make lots of tunnels and fill them with traps to weaken and kill invaders. The invaders that made it past the initial traps would have to fight his defenders in a weakened state. There's only one problem with that setup, his creatures could only get experience from killing invaders. Invaders killed by his traps would only give him experience, so invaders that made it past the traps would be pretty strong and fight his low-level defenders and most likely win. His thought trailed back to the goblin biting the head of the weak rat invader.

Making a lot of tunnels go in different directions was an option but what if they didn't take those tunnels? Any defenders or traps placed in those tunnels would be useless. He could order his defenders to move and attack from behind, but they all made plenty of noise moving around. Noisy defenders wouldn't be good at ambushing invaders. No, he would make empty tunnels and only keep his traps and defenders in the tunnel leading to his Core.

He would alternate his defenders with a trap and when his defender would gain a level he could replace it with one of the lower-level ones, so they would all gain experience and grow in power.

'But what if I use only one type of defender, then it would grow really strong and I wouldn't need to level all of them instead.'

System can read his inner thoughts but will only reply if Core directly asked her a question. Probably so she wouldn't give an answer to everything he thought about anything.

"Hey System, can I do that?"

This isn't possible.

Each kind of defender can only make up 50% of a floor's defender capacity.

Well, that put an end to that train of thought. Guess he'd just have to keep using different kinds of defenders then, but it did mean he could get away with only using two kinds of defenders. So the winner for the race for best defenders was still to be decided. He also needed to decide how to build out his new tunnels. Core looked at his room and opened up his dungeon interface. He selected his Core room and moved it sideways deeper inside. Moving the Core room costs him 20 mana and an additional 5 mana for each new tunnel, so he would stay connected to the entrance. He spent 75 mana in total and keeping to systems advice kept 25 mana in reserve in case he needed it. His mana would be refilled in thirteen hours so that should be plenty of time for him to come up with a new tunnel schematic. Once he had the schematic layout, all he'd need to do was chip away at it one segment at a time.

Core was mapping out his new layout on the planning tool of his dungeon layout. This tool lets him make changes to his dungeon without actually changing the dungeon itself. It has a button to implement all the changes he made with the tool but only if he had enough mana to complete all the changes. Core was then rudely interrupted as another box entered is vision.

Warning: An invader has entered the dungeon!

Core had still been waiting for this moment but forgot all about it while he was busy with the planning tool. He focussed his sight on the entrance tunnel and saw... nothing? That's weird the alarm box clearly stated he had an intruder. So why didn't he see it? He wondered if the intruder had a hidden skill like his spider. Not knowing what had invaded his dungeon, Core did one of the things he did best, he waited.

Patiently Core waited and waited and waited, but nothing happened. He didn't see anything moving around, his defenders still in place, and his traps untouched. This made no sense, invaders always marched deeper inside his tunnel but this unseen invader didn't even move. What if the invader had set a trap and was waiting for something to come check what entered the dungeon?

Core was tired of waiting. He had a dungeon to build and defenders to train and this unseen invader was helping do neither. With spider still hidden and not knowing how the lizard fought yet, he commanded his goblin to go investigate the entrance tunnel. Even if he lost his goblin the invader would lose its hidden buff and Core could see who he was fighting against. He still had plenty of defenses left.

He gave the goblin two simple commands. Move forward to the entrance and get back when you see an invader. Uncaring for danger the undead goblin walked forward all the way to the edge of the "safe zone" and nothing happened. Core wondered if the invader had left the dungeon instead of going inside, which also made him wonder if the red box would tell him if an invader had left the dungeon.

"Hey System, is the invader still here, and will red box tell me if they leave?"

Yes, the invader is still inside the dungeon.

Yes, you'll receive a notification when invaders leave the dungeon just like when they enter.

So the invader was still hiding out afraid to fight his defenders. He ordered his goblin to walk back inside the tunnel. It walked a couple of feet back inside as ordered and then it stopped moving. The goblin's foot was stuck in something. It tried to pull its foot out, but the thing that covered its foot stretched out as well. Instinctively the defender lashed out with its sharp claws. Where the goblin slashed open the creature that was holding it, it's form almost instantly reformed itself. The weird creature was also slowly enveloping more and more of the goblin.

Warning: Unknown invader is highly resistant to Slashing damage.

The wild flailing didn't seem to have much effect so Core told the goblin to stab in with its sharp claws instead.

Warning: Unknown invader is highly resistant to Piercing damage.

That's not good. The goblin didn't have any other attacks besides its claws and teeth, and biting the thing would do anything either. The goblin was not covered up to its thighs by the strange invader. Core's traps and the spider all did piercing damage, so he used his last option.

The goblin was still flailing away at the invader when a thunderous sound was heard coming from within the dungeon. The sound bounced and echoed off the tunnel walls and was getting close to the goblin. The lizard was charging down the tunnel on its way to aid the goblin in battle.

The lizard didn't have pointy fangs or sharp claws, but Core remembered the Tail Slam attack the lizard naturally had. The damage type was Blunt so Core hoped all his defender's attacks would be of this type and that the invader wouldn't be resistant to it as well.

The lizard charged right up to the invader, then lifted its front bony paws and stomped down on its wiggling body. The impact of the attack looked heavy, but the creature again reformed itself. At least the red box didn't say it was resistant to the damage so Core hoped the creature was taking damage even if it was reforming. Upon closer inspection Core saw that while it was reforming itself it was also decreasing in size. Part of the goblin's thighs was no longer covered.

The lizard twisted its tail to the right before it snapped it to the left pivoting on its front paws. The tail hit the invader right in the side and momentum carried the invader and goblin along the path of the tail as it impacted the tunnel wall, actually separating the invader down the middle. The goblin wasn't of any better as the impact shattered its torso, sending skeletal parts in all directions along the tunnel. It might have survived the friendly attack if it had full health, but the invader's attack had depleted most of its health points while it was trapped inside.

Acid Slime Level 3 has been killed by Experience gained: 22. Current experience 38 / 100.

Dungeon Points gained: 2. Current Dungeon Points: 19. Progress gained: Understanding of archetype +5%.

Current % progress: 5 / 100. Undead archetype experience gained: 13.

Undead archetype current experience: 23 / 1.000. Skeletal Lizard experience gained: 12.

Skeletal Lizard current experience: 12 / 50.

Skeletal Goblin experience gained: 1.

Skeletal Goblin current experience: 6 / 50.

Core was relieved the battle was over. Charging in his lizard was the proper choice to make after all. His goblin had died, but he instantly summoned another one to reinforce his defenses. He now understood why he couldn't only use one kind defender. Enemies had strengths and weaknesses just like his own defenders, and he'd need to be prepared to face all kinds of different invaders.