Roots and vines twisted as the ten seeds began to form a sea worthy craft. It was large bulky and armored with layer after layer of hardened wood armor. The wood was grown and interwoven in a way that was impossible to do with hand tools.

Spikes jutted and curved around the structure. Razor like in nature they would cut at any sea life insane enough to come too close. Constrictors like leviathans and sea serpents were my main concern. The whole ship was colored bright red. It wasn’t difficult to color the outside with bright leaves. It was an attempt to look poisonous. The brightly colored animals and plants in nature often didn’t need to hide. I employed poisonous seedpods on spikes that covered the ship. Any creature foolish enough to attack my vessel would soon find vines growing in their wounds.

A mass of black umbrella trees burst from the deck. They formed an approximation of sails. “Alright let’s go.” I yelled and leapt aboard. Tomas, Eric, and Jim hauled in bananas, and all the coconuts they could find. We caught and butchered half a dozen lemurs for our morning breakfast. Greg kept the bones, something about alchemic ingredients.

That wasn’t the case. I saw him preparing to make a broth from the bones. We might want a meaty taste after eating nothing but fruit for however long it will take to get to the next floor.

Wood craft gained ten level from the ship alone, I spent nearly 50k mana on the vessel. This next part was Tomas’s job. He held out his hands and unleashed a powerful gust. The sails filled with wind and our ship began to move.

It wasn’t a 100meters from the island when something large bumped again the ship. Roots erupted from the deck at my will and tied our feet down.

“Good job John, Greg can you sense where it will hit next.” I felt Greg use a series of detections spells and something disrupted his mana flow.

“Nine o clock Phil,” Greg blasted the water with an ice beam. The ray of cold froze the top of the sea just before a massive dragon faced serpent erupted from the ice. It hadn’t attacked the ship unscathed. Between its scales there were cuts filled with vines. The parasitic vines were attempting to link up to cause maximum damage. Our vessel wasn’t massive, but it was built to take a hit. The creature opened its mouth and Tomas began to blast it with electrified arrows.

“John, I want you to save your energy this time. You just built our vessel that couldn’t have been cheap on your reserves. Hang back, this ship isn’t busted up already, that means we must kill this guy and we are home free. The small fry, want nothing to do with this ship.” I held back, and cast learn repeatedly on the sea serpent. My dragon skin went up 5lvs and I gained the skill water breath, dive, swim, and water aura.

The fight was going well. Every time the creature tried its water breath Tomas shot its mouth full of thunder arrows. Phil had long since shot the creature’s eyes out and Greg kept the creature in place. Eric and Jim were with me preparing to attack if the monster tried to constrict the ship. There was a shift in the creature’s mana and I turned to see what was happening.

A blue aura appeared around the monster. “Its in its death throws. John now’s the time to attack. It will take a few seconds for it to finish charging.” I nodded and let my fire tendrils out.

The wooden guard rail of my ship threatened to collapse under the force of my jump. Mana burst accelerated my speed. The creature opened its mouth massive amounts of mana pooled in earnest forming a sphere. My mana tendrils split into four. Learn stole another skill from the serpent.

New skill

Mana Burn I lv1 – An, attack meant to eradicate all enemies. High amounts of mana are condensed into single attack. This is a skill used by low level dragons and fiends. Cost 10,000MP/sec +1Int, +1End

The serpent’s tongue shot out when my fire tendrils stabbed through its scales to get a hold. Lightning arrows pinned its tongue in place, as I climbed up the creature. Its scales were hard to pierce even for tier 3 flames. The sound of gun shots rang out and I heard Eric yell as he jumped from the deck. Two swords in hand, Eric used them to climb by stabbing them in the small creases where scales met. Ice was climbing up the monster, Greg was holding the beast in place. Jim peppered it with senbon, I could smell the acrid scent of poison from a football field away.

It fought to gather all the mana from its body for a single blast. Parts of its body died, and it began to sink, as I climbed to the most opportune spot. The once vibrant blue scales of the serpent were turning black and peeling off. The creature brought every ounce of mana to its final attack. Its magic resistance was failing.

Once at the top, I placed a hand on the monster’s head where the brain should be. Its head moved trying to shake me. Eric stabbed it repeatedly in the mouth to make it lose focus on its attack.

Thrust was an interesting skill. It directed another skill concentrated to a single point. Right now, my range was only two or three meters in front of me. That was just enough to blast a hole through the creature’s skull.

Brain matter pulsed just below me. This was my chance to end this. Though the creature was moderately magic resistant on the outside. Within was another story. My fire aura cranked up to max and I blasted the creature’s skull with several fireballs. Flames billowed out from the destroyed eye sockets and the creature went rigid. Mana fibers were funneled into the creature. I wanted every secret it could give me. The fibers carried learn, area inspect, and inspect in equal measures. The creature was like an open book. With no mind to direct its mana and guard from my inspection, I could take it all. A skill I didn’t anticipate came to me.

New Skill

Sea Serpent lv1 – By learning everything there is to know about the monster; sea serpent you can replicate the monster. The higher this skill’s level the stronger your monsters will be initially. Cost 5000MP, 1small water stone, Sea Serpent scales. +1Int, +1 Luk

Three large water stones and 10 Sea serpent scales appeared in my inventory. My level went from 90 to 95 from the kill. Eric grabbed me by the shoulder and tossed me back to the ship. He jumped and we both landed on the deck. Tomas cast wind repeatedly to get our ship moving.

“Good job, not many survive my lv120 sea serpent. I didn’t think you would survive at all. It’s a good thing you had the help. Now sail for two days west and the next floor entrance should be there.” Luci said. I wanted to ask her about the monster and what she meant by, she didn’t think we would survive.

“We did it, John I think we should celebrate our victory. Greg claims he can make some wine out of some of our rotten bananas he’s at work right now. Do you happen to have any rooms that we can sleep in on this ship?” I nodded. When I built the ship, I had the others in mind. There were six bed rooms, two rooms for recreation, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a loot room. If we ever found anything we didn’t want to horde in our inventories we could store it in there. The rooms were covered in leaves from a hade’s umbrella tree that made them as flame retardant as possible. That also helped keep the rooms nice and cool for sleeping.

“Yea go down the stairs and take a left there are six bedrooms and at the end of the hall there’s the kitchen and after that the recreation room. If you need to go to the bathroom, then take a right then another right.” I said. Phil nodded his thanks and waved for Greg to follow him. I walked over to the wheel and turned us west.

“Why did you do that?” Jim asked. He was manning the wheel when I turned us.

“We need to go west. That’s where the mana gets thicker. That means that’s where the next floor is.” I said. He took my word for it. We locked the wheel and Jim took out a set of playing cards. Eric and Thomas joined in. We put up sea serpent scales for 1s, small water stones for 5s, and large water stones for 10s. As our ship traveled it killed a lot of sea life. We collected the items automatically.

Once the cards were dealt we began to bet and talk. I forked over 5 scales and the other called me. This was the practice round. “So, John what are you going to do when you get out of here. There are other dungeons out there besides the half dozen here in Amazonia. Why don’t you come with us to the Republic of Dominion? They don’t give a damn about the fems here, heck they would welcome a solo adventurer with the wood element with open arms. Hell, I bet the elven women will be all over you. Its rare for them to get the wood element, for we humans its considered a 1 in a 100,000 opertunity. I raise you a small water stone.” Thomas said. I called and added another small water stone. I had a straight and so long as no one had a flush or higher this round was mine.

“I don’t know man, the pointy eared women sound hot and all, but I do want revenge on this nation. The dead babies and children aren’t ok.” I said.

“What about the cucks don’t their lives matter?” Eric said in a chuckle.

“No,” everyone said in union. Eric raised the pot by a large water stone and Jim dropped out. I tossed in two large water stones and small. Thomas dropped out.

“Let’s see what you got John.” He said and turned up his hand. I showed the straight. He showed two pairs of 8 and 10. I raised and eyebrow.

“I thought you were bluffing and didn’t have anything. Why else would you raise at the end?” Eric said.

“Maybe because he had already gone in a few water stones.” Jim said. Eric smiled and shuffled the deck. Thomas cut it and we went back to it. I can’t say I kept winning. At the end I was out two large water stones and up three small stones. Though, I cleaned up in the serpent scale department.

While holding three scales, three small water stones, and 15k mana, I created three sea serpents. My skill went up a lv and the three serpents stared at me in wonder. I could feel them, there was a bound between me and the snakes. This was great. I had three real mobs now. That meant my plans to passive level was possible. I commanded the three serpents to remain on standby, as I began to create more of them.

The room was soon filled from top to bottom with snakes. I felt a kinship with the serpents that I didn’t feel with normal people. The multitude of serpents crawled across my body as I relaxed. Was this what it was to be a dungeon? Did Luci enjoy surrounding herself with legions of her monsters, did it make her feel safe?

“It isn’t a matter of safety John. It’s a matter of utility. My mobs are my digestive system. I use them to consume a multitude of adventurers.” They gathered around me and hissed at the dungeon’s presence. They have only been alive for a short time and already they knew, I created them, and the dungeon was an outside force.

From here I would like to say, it isn’t my fault that monsters ravage our universe. I am just another in a long line of mob ranchers. It isn’t my fault that raising and sending out millions of mobs is the best way to level up.

All the serpents were white with scales the same color as my skin. They starred at me with eyes like my own. This was a difference between Luci and myself. My mobs inherited shards of my power. This strengthened their connection to me. By the time I filled a room, my mobs were born at lv25. Some inherited mana fibers, others carried duel elements. They all carried the water elements sea serpents are known for, but they inherited from me wood, fire, thunder, and ice.

Jim opened the door to my room. An avalanche of sea serpents knocked him down, as they caught the strong scent of the ocean. They followed their instincts. Jim got up no worse for wear and turned in time to see the sea of white snakes slither up the stairs. “Soups on,” Jim mumbled and turned around.

“What the hell was that?” Eric said, he just walked out of the bathroom.

“It looks like John learned how to make mobs and decided to practice in his room. Its fortunate that the only area where mob creation is unregulated is in a dungeon.” I shrugged my shoulders and sent extra mana to my serpents when they ran out. Over half had died, by getting dashed against the ship. The latter half was busy fighting for a place in the ocean. I could feel Luci’s mana shift as she gave orders to her mobs. My serpents wouldn’t have an easy time fighting for survival. Through area inspect they have begun rapid leveling and were scouting out a fort within the coral reefs below us. I didn’t give them orders, but I did cast Rally upon them to boost their moral and buff their stats. My war magic had to be useful somewhere.

After we ate supper, I checked in on the serpents. They had dropped again in numbers. Now, only the strongest and most intelligent of them survived. They used wood to create shelters within the coral. There were a multitude of fish that lived around the coral, it wasn’t difficult for them to hunt with hit and run tactics.

Two weeks later we were still heading west. Every now and then we found an island and scavenged what food we could. Did Luci see time differently than us. Every morning Thomas unleashed heavy winds upon the sails and we set off at a fast pace.

Everyday when we weren’t fighting mobs we trained our skills. Fire and wood were getting ever closer to tier 5, water reached tier 3, and ice was getting closer to tier 2. Each day I unleashed as many sea serpents as I could in one go. The monsters we fought were growing stronger.

More and more mana filled this floor each day. We were getting closer to lv100.

“Hey Thomas, do you know how to combine thrust with arrows?” I said.

It was early in the morning the day15 sailing. The banana wine was taking a while to bubble. It was fortunate that Greg had a wine making set and granulated sugar. Eric was in his room. I assured him that he could work a forge in his room and the ship wouldn’t be damaged. I used mold wood to install a vent for ventilating smoke and the guy has been beating a few broken swords together since last night.

“Yea, why do you want to know. Isn’t it better to focus on a few skills and increase their tier. I mean a jack of all trades is always weaker than a master of a single art.” Thomas said. Phil turned and waved at us. He was cleaning his guns on the deck.

“I disagree. In a dungeon having as many tools as possible is the difference between life and death. My sea serpents will net me a massive amount of xp, when they are finally able to kill the mobs in here. My wood skill allowed me to craft this ship. I wouldn’t put it past the next floor to be a desert, so my water skill will come in handy keeping us alive.” I said. Thomas held out his hands in protest.

“I get the message John. God, you can bitch when you don’t get your way. What your missing is the enchant skill red mages often acquire when they take the tree. Now you can either take up red mage when you hit 100 or you can go about it the hard way.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Just shoot arrows and try to add the skills to them until you get it right. It should work the same way with melee weapons too. I’m sure Eric has some old swords that he wouldn’t mind letting you practice with before he breaks them down.” I nodded and left him to whatever he was doing. I followed his eyes to see a Siren. My head turn to the side.

“Is that a,” Thomas covered my mouth with his hand.

“You will not cock block me. I’m lv 98 and she is lv70. My perception makes me immune to her voice. Just let me appreciate it.” Thomas said.

I stared into Thomas’s crazy eyes. Then back at the Siren. She had long flowing feathery hair and long angel like wings. There was a devious smile on her face when she met my eyes. She had no idea who she was messing with. I put a hand on Thomas’s shoulder and gave him a winning smile. He shrunk back a bit when I straightened up.

“Tom my friend. Why are you starring from afar? She is just right there. We could grab her and bring her aboard. Your right we have more than enough perception to make her voice a moot point. Why don’t we bring her aboard? The bed rooms are sound proof. She doesn’t deserve to live on that rock out in the middle of god knows where. Why don’t we bring her aboard?” My charisma was working. The stat didn’t just smooth out my features and strengthen my chin. It made my words more alluring like the siren’s. I could slip an idea to others and it would be followed more easily. Not to mention it looked like Thomas needed his dick moisturized. Who better than the water fowl out there to do it?”

My eyes turned to the Siren. I listened to the music and acted like it was pulling me from the ship. Phil jumped up and tried to keep me from going overboard before, I winked at him, and then leapt over the deck. Mold water, water walk, and water jet were added to my repertoire the instant I saw the army of mermaids and mermen. They wasted no time in blasting jets of water at me must to my annoyance. To think, I would acquire resist water of all things.

I turned my hands behind me and used water jet. My aura ignited and boiled the water around me as I passed by the sea folk. When I reached the massive island the siren sang from, I saw just how rocky and treacherous it was. There were stone spikes jutting out that could easily skewer our ship. I pointed my hands down and let the water jets blast me to the surface. The water continued to bubble around me.

Mana fibers flew from my hands and sticky fibers attached to the shear cliff. I used them as a sling shot. I extended them and retracted rapidly launching myself in the air. Like a nightmare I appeared before the siren.

She opened her mouth and unleashed a sonic attack. My sensitive ear drums burst. The sound was so powerful it damaged the rock face. Luckily the sound stopped when my hand wrapped around her throat. Other sirens emerged from the nearby cave mouth, so I tapped the back of this one’s head to knock her out.

I took a step and left a foot impression in the rock. They weren’t ready for me to appear between them. There were seven of them and I onely needed five more. I punched the one closest to me as hard as I could. Their bones were fragile like a bird’s, so my fist exploded out the back of the siren. I lifted the new corpse over head and tossed it over the cliff for the mermaids to eat. The dungeon was so distracted by the infestation of my sea serpents, it didn’t bother to gather the loose mana.

“Wait,” one of the siren’s whispered. I stopped my assault momentarily. “You adventurers come to our home and the great mother tells us to sing and kill as many of your kind as possible. Most avoid us whenever possible and none have attacked with such fury before. Why do you attack us when our songs can’t mislead your crew to come this way?” Why indeed. I came because it was easy. My body had become a machine built to rip, tear, and burn. I was the ghost in that machine and my instincts to me to destroy. But that wasn’t why I was here right now.

“My men and I are stressed and closing in on insanity. We do nothing but train, eat, and grind our skills. You, sirens are beautiful, you have the potential to relieve our stress filled lives.” I said. It was true. Thomas was set to crack. He was going to do it by siren, he could have just as easily turned on us.

The one who spoke had a head of red feathers like a cardinal. She had breasts and a mostly human anatomy. They were designed to lure men to their deaths boobs had to be in the package somewhere. Unlike humans they had a layer of small feathers that covered their bodies. They had nipples, so they did produce milk, but as I used skills like learn and inspect, I made a shocking discovery. They have a cloaca. Enhance voice, sonic voice, and charming voice skills were added to my skill list.

The next day was filled with the sirens singing. Our perception was far too high to be affected by their hypnosis, but they did have nice voices. Thomas’s siren was named something in a series of highly musical notes. I called her Lea and left it at that. The red bird who did the initial negotiation I called her Sasha. It wasn’t her name but as it turned out sirens lived very boring lives killing random sailors wasn’t as entertaining the 100,000th time as it was the 1st. Their kind lived mainly on a diet of shellfish and whatever they could find in the sea. Male sirens were a rarity the dungeon didn’t want the siren population to grow too large.

“So, John, what is their official title so we’re clear. I’m the team leader of Pump and Dump. I must fill out the report and it’s normally seen as unorthodox, to bring a dungeon born mob out of a dungeon. Monster tamers aside, sorry ladies but I need to fill this out for when we return.” Phil said.

“We are your concubines. You did invade our territory, kill one of my sisters, tied us in your magic ropes, tossed us aboard your ship, and divided us by your respective ranks. If that isn’t a raiding party dividing spoils of war, I don’t know what is.” Sasha said with a smirk. I smacked her feathery behind for the insolence. She smirked at me so, I gave her another. They were only love taps, I was careful to show I merely displeased not murderous.

Eric made a coughing sound. “What their designations to the guild are doesn’t matter now, how are we going to feed seven new mouths.” I tossed a few fruit bearing tree seeds and they grew rapidly into fully grown trees. I was good enough to max out the genes that made the apples large. The leaves were black like a hades umbrella tree. This tree would gather mana and heat and create apples from it. The apples themselves gave a good bit of xp with every bite.

Four more days passed. The sirens began to integrate into our group. They handled a few choirs such as picking the fruit and we liked a clean ship. It seemed that they were happy for a life change. Cloacas weren’t so bad after all, so long as they were washed ahead of time.

A massive island the mana around it was the thickest I have ever felt. Something was here, the floor boss most likely.

“John, be careful. At your current level, I don’t know if you can fight my boss. With the others backing you, your chances are 51%. Be careful John and congratulations on the sirens. I decided to let you keep them.” We stepped out of the boat and left the sirens behind. Sasha looked worried her red feathers were puffed up.

The island was much colder than the rest of the floor. We walked until we reached an arena. We spread out. Eric and I in the front Jim directly behind us and the ranged fighters at our backs. We were spread out, so explosions couldn’t kill us on one go.

In the center of the arena we saw the boss monster. It was a small blue dragon. It had flippers instead of claws and wings that looked more at home in the water than the skies. As with all monsters we encountered, I cast learn and inspect. They bounced off it like water off a duck’s back. Its magic resistance was on whole other level than mine.

Name: Trident

Water Drake lv150 – This monster is a direct result of an increased food supply. The sea serpents that normally failed to evolve at lv100 form lack of food now have enough food to become drakes the lowest form of true dragons. This water drake has eaten thousands of white sea serpents and gained true dragonhood because of it. It has magic resistance beyond normal sea serpents. Don’t let its small size fool you it is more than capable of slaying adventurers twice its level.

“It seems we get to kill this small diminutive drake and by technicality call ourselves dragon slayers. Great we will all go down in the record book as the greatest puny drake slayers that ever lived. Now let’s go and bully this infant and move on.” I said. The death of thousands of my sea serpents may have pissed me off.

“John, that lizard is the size of a van. Nothing magical I’m using works on it. That cuts out most of our ranged damage. I doubt anything tier 3 will do more that sing it.” Phil said.

I unleashed my aura and a mass of purple energy surrounded me. The air heated up massively the dragon looked at me in challenge. An azure aura blasted from the beast, frost covered the ground and blasted across the arena. I had to withdraw my aura to my bare skin or else risk getting frozen solid. Slowly, I fought the overbearing drake’s aura. My mana reserves were monstrous, I just had to use more. I unsheathed my fire tendrils and began to raise them to the fourth tier. Mana burst, and mana charge raised my strength and speed to higher levels. Greg had covered the others in a light shield to protect from the aura.

None of my sensory skills could penetrate the monster’s aura. So, I dove into the azure storm blind. Claws colder than ice scraped across my back, ice crawled up my spine despite my aura. Resist ice appeared as a pop up and I turned it down.

I took a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of flames. Hundreds of thousands of mana fibers spread from my body in all directions. I placed them like spider’s web. The drake didn’t care it charged form the front its jaws agape ready to tear out my throat. That was when I realized, I was faster. I ducked under the initial bite and three fire balls appeared over my palm. I powered them with thrust launching them like bullets. The balls of fire smashed into the arena and exploded in a release of hot and cold air violently meeting. Bits of concrete flew about. The dragon had long since escaped the explosion and was coming from behind for another swipe.

Since it couldn’t end it quickly the dragon was going for a war of attrition. It had correctly unleashed its aura to obscure vision. The aura would interfere with my wood skills, so I couldn’t use them. That left fire, ice, and thunder. I leapt up in the air to dodge another swipe and brought my tendrils down, I scraped a wing and the dragon shrieked. It rolled out of the way, before I could hit it three more times and pin it. I used the stab of my tendrils to push me up and away as the drake lunged for my throat in retaliation. When its teeth missed my neck, it twisted and struck me in the ribs with its tail. I rolled and got to my feet, before it could capitalize on its advantage. My mana fibers were spreading nicely, I could track its movements.

I tried something new when the mana fibers reached the end of the arena, I had them rise just outside the dragon’s aura. The fight continued as a game of cat and mouse. The dragon was fast and resourceful. Even when I landed a fireball it shrugged it off. With its aura so thick my fire was greatly weakened. The strike at its wing from earlier had already healed. I heard the jaws of the dragon snap closed just behind my ear, as I dodged another pass.

I was beaten up and covered in claw marks that were slow to heal. There was frost bite in places. That necrotic flesh would have to be cut out before my wounds would heal. The dragon knew it was winning this battle. It hissed and snapped acting wounded trying to lead me around, only to turn and score another mark across my back or a nip to my thigh.

The mana fibers above had linked together. More fibers were linking the sides together. I began to unleash Fire Burn through the mana fibers. The Fire Burn carrying mana fibers lit up even through the dragon’s aura. A large barrier curtesy of Greg covered the burning cage of mana fibers. All the heat they produced was concentrated by the barrier.

My aura slowly began to expand. The necrotic flesh that covered my body burnt away. The dragon’s aura was shrinking, it couldn’t battle the extreme heat produced by Fire burn concentrated against it.

“You must be wondering how we arrived here.” I said as the dragon began to exhaust itself to fight back the rising heat. The dragon made a run for it toward the fence. It flung itself against the Mana Fibers only to be knocked back by the released energy from Fire Burn.

“I will admit you were hard to work around. That defense of yours is no joke. Your bite is deadly, and your aura would freeze a normal adventurer cold. You are an anti-mage and anti adventurer weapon. You correctly identified me as the main threat and attacked me as such. From the beginning you tried to kill me by aiming for the throat. If I wasn’t faster, you may have killed us.” The dragon struggled back to its feet. It went for the same spot. I had long since repaired the breach. Another explosion knocked the dragon back. My dragon skin had long since healed. The heat from my own flame felt rather comfortable to me.

I walked behind the dragon and grabbed two of the three horns upon its head. It snapped and struggled as I placed my knees in its foreleg joints. The dragon jerked its head and tried to ramp up its aura. With this much heat contained in one spot my aura was dominant.

“The real reason this fight lasted as long as it did, was because I like to acquire every skill I possibly can. Combining weather and aura ingenious you managed to gain the upper hand. If you had used a breath attack maybe you would have beaten me.” The dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a gout of ice beam. It fizzled out in the extreme heat.

I opened my mouth, and bit into the dragon’s neck. The neck had softer scales normally protected by the dragon’s own maw and fangs. For a normal human such an act would have been ludicrous. My body had been altered by my stats and skills. I barely resembled the human I was. My teeth had become like razors the teeth were serrated and very sharp. I lost them and regrew them every day.

My teeth slid into the dragon’s neck and I tasted the coldest of blood. Something went through me an old emotion one of conquest and power. The fire grew ever hotter but the blood I drank was cool and refreshing. I gained the skills cold aura, dragon skin evolved to tier 2, ice dragon skin, and Ice storm. My level went up to 112.

New Unique Skill

Tyrant Dragon’s Fire – This skill is given to those with tier 4 fire skills, has a dragon skill, and reached lv100. X2xp from fire kills and X3 when the bodies are burned to ash. All flames carry a black and crimson color scheme. Fire damage +1% +10Int 1/50

A few drake scales and bones filled my inventory as the dungeon absorbed the drakes body. A treasure chest appeared, and the rest of my group walked up.

“Dude, you’re naked again.” I turned to Jim. I gave a nod then fell on my back and took a breather.