Core was going over the last blue box he received after the fight with the Acid Slime. He gained a lot of experience from the fight, a whopping 22 experience points. Almost three times as much as he had gained from the rats. Of course, the slime was a lot harder to kill compared to the rats, and he lost his goblin. Still, the difference seemed way to big, so he decided to ask System about it.

"Hey System, can you explain why I got so much experience?"

Experience is based on the level of the invader.

A being of level 1 is worth 10 experience points. Each level gained by the being increases its experience value by 5.

Your defenders killed a level 3 invader gaining 20 base experience points.

You killed an invader 1 level higher than your own level. This resulted in a bonus of 10%, making your total gain 22 experience points.

Your lizard is 2 levels lower than the invader, so it gained a 20% bonus, making its total gain 24 experience points.

Your goblin died and only got 2 base experience.

"Hey System, why didn't I gain a skeletal slime and why did I only gain 5% for the archetype?

The Undead archetype can only be applied to beings made of flesh and bone. The slime lacks both components.

While simple beings can be understood by absorbing a low amount of them, other more complex beings will need additional information before they can be produced by the Core.

As always, System's logical explanation couldn't be faulted. Too bad the slime needed so much archetype experience. Core could only imagine how many invaders would get caught unaware by the slime and be consumed into glorious experience points. Now knowing the weakness of the creature he felt confident that the slime would soon be a part of his dungeon defender line-up.

With his troubled mindset at ease by System, Core set out on his next order of business. Planning out his extended tunnel network to drain the invaders of their stamina. At least that’s the plan, while System said they expended stamina and being in the dungeon had a negative effect on their recovery rate he still wondered how big of an impact it would have on their overall capacity.

Having no other pressing issue that needed his attention he might as well make his dungeon bigger. The two things needed to build a dungeon are time and mana and Core isn't short on either. Well, he was technically short on mana, but nothing his regeneration wouldn't solve over time.

Instead of directly building his tunnel system onto his already existing tunnel, Core decided to build it partially away from the entrance. Later on, when he completed his work he would reroute his tunnel to fit on the new section of his dungeon. He took out his dungeon planning tool and got to work. The tunnel system would need to be pretty big and lengthy. Plenty of tunnels that lead to dead ends and obscure places to place traps and monsters just waiting to kill any invaders who made a wrong turn.

His first design was pretty simple and straight forward. He made a simple 3 by 3. Invaders would enter from the middle and have a choice between going up or down. The upper path let to a dead end and the lower path let deeper into the dungeon. Feeling satisfied with the simple design he wanted to give it a test since he wasn't sure it would actually work out the way he planned it. Core decided to just build it into the upper tunnel. He picked the upper tunnel because his design could fit and because he planned on closing up the first tunnel since that would lead into the big system.

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Core had the goblin walk around the tunnel a few times, so he could get an understanding of how it all worked. Since he already knows the layout it was easy to understand, but if he made this four or five times bigger they could be lost wandering the tunnels for a pretty long time. He wanted to add the fourth layer to his design, but he'd run out of mana with just this design. While his mana poll was decent when full waiting for the regeneration of it was a bit troublesome.

Wanting to see his creation in action while he waited for his mana he moved his first trap to the last tunnel. Goblin was placed in the dead-end top tunnel, spider in front hidden in the ground and the lizard took up position around the corner of the lower tunnel. Right as he had given his defenders their order he got the all to familiar prompt from red box.

Warning: An invader has entered the dungeon!

The newest invader was a small creature about 5 feet high. Its body was covered in shiny blue scales and its head looked somewhat like his lizards but had large bulky eyes. Its legs were pretty long if it stood upright but its knees were bent forward like it was getting ready to jump at any moment. Its legs ended in small webbed feet. Its arms also a longer size also ended in webbed feet but with more defined finger features. One of the hands was holding a long wooden stick.

Its bulky eye kept scanning around the tunnel as it slowly made its way forward. When it got to the first corner it eyed the vast darkness before it. It tried squinting to get a better view but it lacked any means to see through the darkness. Standing still for a few minutes the creature seemed to weigh its chances as it kept looking back and forth between the tunnel and the entrance.

"Garble blob garble garble" the creature seems to shout toward the dungeon entrance. Core had no idea what the creature was saying if it was even talking at all.

"Garble wlaarg gorb garble" a second voice from seemingly outside of dungeon was heard. Core assumed that the two creatures were having a conversation on whether to go further in or not.

The invader looked at the darkness for about half a minute longer and then started walking back towards the entrance.

Warning: An invader has left the dungeon!

Well, that wasn't what Core hoped would happen. He wanted the invader to test out his latest creation. He also wondered why the creature didn't go forward and instead turned back to the entrance.

"Hey System, do you know what happened?"

While multiple options are available as to why the invader didn't continue further in, the most likely option is that it can't see in the darkness.

Most living beings use their eyes to see, and most of them can't see in the dark. You as the Core can always see the layout of your dungeon. Your Undead defenders have no eyes and use a magical type of sense to find their targets.

Lighting will be needed if you choose to have living beings without a form of darkness vision to defend the dungeon.

To enable darkness mode open the dungeon layout tool and select it from the menu.

Core opened up his dungeon layout and toggle on the darkness mode. Instantly only the entrance tunnel was visible. The entrance was the brightest spot on the map and slowly the further the tunnel went the less bright the tunnel became. And just as System predicted the tunnel going up was completely dark. The only other bright spot on his map was his Core room and part of the tunnel that connects to his room. His dungeon layout menu was quickly replaced by the red box.

Warning: An invading party has entered the dungeon!

Core instantly noted that this message was different from the other one so far. The warning was always 'an intruder' and now it said 'An invading party', he had a feeling this wasn't really a good thing to happen. As he looked towards his entrance the previous invader with the stick was ones again inside, but he was followed by a second invader similar in appearance it was almost a head shorter than the other one and the scales on the new invader looked more greenish than blueish. The new invader was also holding a wooden stick, but on top of the stick was a glowing green orb that cast a green light onto the tunnel walls. Core assumed that the green orb was a light source like System told him about just now.

"Hey System, is the glowing orb a light source, and what’s a party?"

When invaders entered his dungeon he'd lose access to almost all his menus but System could still answer his questions.

The green orb is indeed a light source.

Invaders who want to explore the dungeon can form a party of up to four beings. While this will reduce their overall experience gain since it will be shared between them it will also increase the likelihood of survival. Much in the same way as your goblin and lizard fought the slime.

And just as he had suspected a party entering the dungeon is a troubling event.

The two invaders slowly made their way forward carefully examining the tunnel and floor they walked on. It seemed these invaders had a form of intelligence, unlike the goblins or monsters that had entered his dungeon before.

They made it through his second tunnel just fine since he had relocated his trap to the end of his new setup. The light from the orb wasn't too bright but it gave them enough light so see at least ten feet ahead of them. He moved his goblin slightly forward and into the other dead-end of his tunnel. If they could see ahead they might notice it too late if it was around a corner, or not at all and he could use it to attack them from behind.

The bigger invader upfront warily looked at the floor in front of him. His bulgy eyes seemed to focus on the tile his spider was hiding. Suddenly a message popped up and the invader started moving forward again.

Spider's Trapdoor has activated, it has successfully remained undetected. Current skill level: 1.

Current % progress: 20 / 100.

Core quickly commanded his spider to remain hidden as the first invader set foot on his tile. The second invader looked weaker so Core wanted the spider to attack that one first. Without light, the other one would be unable to see and his defenders could easily kill it.

Core could feel the spider instinct trying to resist his command to wait. Predatory instinct wanting to sink its fang into unsuspecting prey. Core's command proved to be greater then instinct as it remained in place. No sooner had the second invader barely walked past spider before Core unleashed him on the creature. With its back turned towards the spider it never had a chance to dodge its attack. Spider jumped from his hidden spot in the floor and aimed for the scaled neck of the invader. Two sharp fangs bit deep into its neck as the scales were no match for the piercing damage inflicted on it.

Spider's Ambush has activated, the next attack will do 150% damage. Current skill level: 1.

Current % progress: 20 / 100.

Another lucky break for Core. The invader screamed out in pain as the fangs bit down a second time into its unprotected neck. The spider seemed to have hit a vital area as the invader slumped to the ground bleeding heavily from the second attack. Using its freehand it tried to punch the spider, but the angle in which the spider was positioned didn't allow for any real damage to be inflicted and it held on to its helpless victim.

The other invader turned around came running as its companion creamed out in pain. It used the stick in its webbed hands to attack the spider. The force of the impact sends the small spider flying through the air. It landed a few feet away a couple of its legs broken by the attack, while the spider tried to move to attack once more it couldn't even get up properly.

The tall invader propped its companion up again the hall. The color of its face and scales already starting to fade as it was taking short and shallow breaths. The tall invader pulled out a piece of cloth and pressed it against the profusely bleeding wounds. It spoke again in the weird language Core didn't understand. The dying invader tried to say something itself but only managed to cough up the blood that was filling its lungs. Then it closed its eyes and stopped breathing shortly after.

Core got a notification but pushed it to the side for later reading. The remaining invader picked up his stick again and walked over to the spot the spider was still in after the initial attack. Spider tied to scurry forward and sink its fangs into something, but the invader hoisted his stick high and stabbed the spider through the back killing it.

It walked back over to where the body of its dead companion rested. The dungeon already in the process of absorbing the corpse. It picked up the glowing stick in its freehand and yelled something toward the tunnel in front of him charged forward seemingly intent to avenge its fallen companion.

The mad dash forward ended quickly enough as he now faced the split path Core had created. Bulky eyes darted left and right before it picked the lower path to follow. Core instantly commanded his goblin to follow after the invader as it took the correct path to his core room.

Just as it was about to round the second corner a bony maw shot out from the darkness as the lizard snapped at the invader. The invader slightly stumbled back at the surprise attack. With the lizard coming in full view of the light the invader used the stick to jab at the lizard trying to keep it at bay. Unfazed by the strikes made at its head and paws the lizard kept snapping. Its full attention aimed at the lizard in front of the goblin had a clean opportunity to attack.

Two bony arms wrapped itself around the leg of the invader as the goblin bit down with pointy teeth. The invader let out a curse as the teeth sank into the flesh of its leg. It dropped the glow stick and wrapped his second hand around the stick in its other hand. Using the force of both hands he launched a heavy strike against the goblin hoping to knock it off just like the spider before. The blow wasn't enough to send the goblin flying. While it did release the leg, the surprise attack had already done what it was supposed to do. The invader had taken its eyes of the lizard to deal with the new threat.

The giant tail of the lizard flew through the air as it impacted the invader right in the ribs and momentum knocking it into the wall. It took a moment for the invader to get back to his feet after hitting the wall. Not missing this opportunity both the goblin and lizard resumed their combined attack on the helpless invader, killing it moments later.

With both of the invaders dealt with, Core could now check out all his new notifications.

Pudling Level 2 has been killed by Experience gained: 15. Current experience 53 / 100.

Dungeon Points gained: 1. Current Dungeon Points: 20. Progress gained: Understanding of archetype +20%.

Current % progress: 20 / 100. Undead archetype experience gained: 8.

Undead archetype current experience: 31 / 1.000. Skeletal Spider experience gained: 8.

Skeletal Spider current experience: 13 / 50. * Skeletal over type has been applied to Pudling. Pudling Level 3 has been killed by Experience gained: 22. Current experience 75 / 100.

Dungeon Points gained: 1. Current Dungeon Points: 21. Progress gained: Understanding of archetype +20%.

Current % progress: 40 / 100. Undead archetype experience gained: 24.

Undead archetype current experience: 55 / 1.000. Skeletal Lizard experience gained: 12.

Skeletal Lizard current experience: 24 / 50.

Skeletal Goblin experience gained: 12.

Skeletal Goblin current experience: 18 / 50. Item has been added to

Item has been added to Spoiler: Dungeon map