Even with my new forest fully completed, I still felt insecure. I decided that I needed more creatures to protect me, I looked through my repertoire of possible creations. then it dawned on me, most of my creatures were harmless with the exception of the wolves and the ents. I created 3 wolves, commanded some of my ents to go out and find me things and went back to sleep. When I awoke I found a treasure trove laid out in front of me, among the pile I spotted a dead woodpecker, I remembered the special evolution from earlier and had an idea.

I quickly absorbed the treasures. My mana skyrocketed to 40 but I had to act otherwise this excess mana would soon dissipate, I quickly bought 5 new woodpeckers and 7 new deer. After that, I was almost completely drained. In hopes of creating a new weapon for myself, I ordered all woodpeckers to attack any deer they came across in the hopes of killing them. I then fell back into a deep slumber,

I awoke once more to find all but one of the deer had been killed. I created 4 more deer and sent out some of my ents to find some more materials. WIn they returned, the ents dumped a new pile of materials in front of the dungeon core. As I looked through the pile I became disappointed. most of the stuff there I had already unlocked and wIn I absorbed it all I only got 10 mana. I sighed and ordered them to go out to forage more materials but this time, go further out. the dungeon watched as my woodpeckers pounced on an unsuspecting deer and brutally stabbing them with their beaks. I decided to take a look at their evolutions

name: N/A species: generic woodpecker level: 1 description: A small bird with a sharp beak capable of drilling holes in wood. possible evolutions: N/A

I frowned at the words in front of me. I continued to oversee the dungeon. I suddenly felt a strange presence near the entrance. I focused on the entrance and saw an ectoplasmic eye floating in midair. I searched my vision for a notification to alert me of an invader but none came. the eye began to move closer to my core. I sent one of my wolves to strike down the eyes. WIn the wolf reached the eye it slashed and the strange anomaly with its claws. the wolves claws harmlessly passed through it. the eye continues unhindered by the wolves attack. WIn the eye finally reached the dungeons core it just floated there, still as a rock. after a few minutes of just floating there, the eye blinked out of existence with a small flash of light to mark its exit.

I just stared at wIre the eye once was with a look of confusion as to what just happened. I then began to look around my dungeon while trying to figure out what to do. I looked at my mana pool to find it fully charged I introduced 4 new deer and 5 new woodpeckers. I felt every last drop of mana drain away as my new creatures materialised. I managed to give to my woodpeckers the order to hunt the deer before darkness takes its hold as I fell unconscious. WIn I woke up I was greeted by a new notification.

Enemies have entered your dungeon, mana costs have now been doubled and passive mana regeneration has been disabled.

My eyes widened at the message. I looked as a cloaked man stood at the entrance of my dungeon. A hood covered most of my face except for the wide grin that was plastered on my face. I scrambled to gather all my ents to prepare for an ambush only holding back Grix to protect my core. the group of ents pounced on the cloaked figure. the man snapped my fingers and the ents froze in place as if I was viewing a simple picture. the dungeons eyes widened at the strange sight. the dungeon brushed it off and sent all of the woodpeckers at the man, with another snap of my fingers the birds too became still and motionless. the man smirked and moved forward towards the dungeon’s core. I called all animals to attack the man but again, the same thing happened. He soon reached the dungeons core.

“Greetings mighty dungeon core, I am known simply as the traveller,” the voice was sinister and yet everything I said sounded genuine “I beg you to show yourself to me,”

"I have no body to show," I said

"It's very simple, just compact your presence into and then will your presence to be revealed to me,"

I did as the man said and compressed my consciousness, it ended up taking the shape of a human which I was fine with. Underneath his hood I strangers eyes widened,

“What do you want and could you please release my minion,” the dungeon spoke in an irritated tone "and also, please refer to me as Von from now on,"

“This is quite irregular, your appearance is human and you sound human too,” the man said “I will release them once I am gone, I prefer to err on the side of caution,”

“I will ask again, what do you want?” the dungeon asked, curiously

"I have come with gifts," the man said

"And why in the world would you want to do that," I asked, I didn't know what to think of this man

“because your different, I can see within you a spark of intelligence that rivals any other dungeon I have seen,” the man said in an almost theatrical tone

I raised an eyebrow at that last remark. I decided to focus on whatever gift I was going to receive. After no response from the dungeon, the man decides to continue talking

“I have brought you an archive crystal containing both basic and advanced knowledge on spellcraft,” the man said and then retrieved a blue crystal with the size and shape of a marble.

I looked at the crystal curiously. then the man threw the crystal at my core. When the two collided, the crystal marble sank into my core. I was instantly blasted with new information, the pain was agonising, coming in waves each more powerful than the last. Once the pain had subsided I felt as if a strange mass was inside my head. I focused on the mass and found that I could read this mass just like a book. I smiled, this will add even more variation and difficulty to the levels of my dungeon.

"I see you have received the information," the traveller said with a small grin on my face

I walked over to my core and stuck a small piece of paper on the surface of my crystal core.

"it allows you to call on me to ask a favour if ever you need it, however, your number of favours is limited,"

I nodded, a solemn expression on my face, on the inside, however, I was barely able to contain my excitement.

"Goodbye Von, I hope our paths will cross once again," he said, then, with those parting words, the man vanished into thin air.

I sighed and turned to see my minions moving again like normal. I was silent for a minute as I contemplated what I should do next. In the end, I decided to pour over the knowledge I had received and just go from there. I began my study of basic spell crafting.

the concepts were simple. Firstly, you need to give the spell an elemental core. then you need to write what it does around the core while thinking about what it's supposed to do it. the hard part is that you have to write it in an arcane script. I decided to try out this spell crafting thing.

I walked over to the nearest tree and began shaping my mana into a magical core, I imbued the core with the fire element and then I began writing out what the spell was supposed to do. the spell I intended to make was a simple one. In 5 seconds after the spell was activated, it would explode. I let my mana flow like ink as I wrote out the proper script, I was constantly referring to the arcane dictionary that had been planted in my mind. Due to the spell having a fire core, the spell glowed orange. After an hour of total concentration, the spell was finished. I looked at my creation with a smile on my face before sending the final pulse of mana in order to activate the spell. I waited with bated breath. then, like clockwork, the spell exploded causing the tree to be torn in half. I absorbed the destroyed tree and then smiled. That spell took up a good 12 points of mana. I suspected that the more complex the spell the more mana it would cost. Then I was struck with a brilliant idea, I should create a river.

The first thing I did was to create a stone bucket. I ordered one of my ents to go outside and fill the bucket with water and preferably a fish as well. The ent departed and I began absorbing the dirt to form the river. I then created a spell along with an underground tunnel that allows the water to circulate. The spell I created to circulate the water only cost me 5 mana in comparison to the 12 mana cost of the explosion spell, however, I have yet to activate the spell so it could end up costing me more. I took a short nap to replenish some of the lost mana as I had yet to recover from casting the explosion spell.

I woke up to see a proud ent stood in front of my core holding a stone bucket of water. I absorbed the water and felt a refreshing sensation. Then I noticed a long black mass writhing at the bottom of the bucket. I was shocked, I took a closer look at then ent, the ent had puncture wounds all over its arms. I absorbed the bucket and then told the ent to step on the creature. Once it was no more than a bloody mess on the floor, I absorbed it.

You have discovered now discovered fanged eels, you may now create fanged eels.

"What the heck is a fanged eel!" I said, accidentally letting the words slip out of my mouth

name: fanged eel mana cost: 5

description:

A fanged eel is an eel variation caused when a group of eels were born with mutations causing them to not be able to produce electricity. Because of this, the fanged eel adapted to have long sharp fangs as well as the ability to produce a minor neurotoxin that slows movement and reaction speed.

I could feel a grin forming as I read the description, what a fun surprise this will be. The first thing he did was fill the river with water which didn't cost me too much mana. Then I activated the spell. In total, that spell cost me 16 mana which is much more expensive than the explosion spell although that could be due to the fact that this spell was designed for prolonged use and I wouldn't be surprised if I had to replace it. Now that the river had been established I decided to have some fun. I created an eel in the water and ordered one of the deer to drink from the river, like clockwork the eel burst from the water and bit down on the deer's neck, its sharp fangs puncturing the deer's windpipe. Before the eel could feast, I quickly absorbed the deer's corpse and created another deer. My deadly ecosystem was coming along nicely, the song of life echoed throughout the first floor of my dungeon, a truly felt a sense of pride towards all of my creations whether I created them directly or they were some of the few animals that were born through reproduction, although deep down I knew, my work had only just begun. For now, it was time to rest as my mana pool was running dry.