I awoke as if lightning had struck me. But not in a painful way, I was simply awake and with an extremely refreshed feeling. In all the days I had now spent in this world I had never felt this good before. It was as if the very essence of life was boosting me.

Wow what's going on. Oh right! I had that evaluation thing happen last time. Must be something with that. I wonder how much time passed.

Just as I wanted to hurry into my body and get the news from the goblins, I noticed something else was different. Something about the whole placed seemed different. I began to scrutinize the place and was quite surprised. The crystal which was my body had increased in size. It had at least increased by a third though it could have been more than that. But that was not the only thing. Upon closer inspection with my mana sight I could see that the mana around the crystal and within the room was by far denser than before.

Huh… if I see things right it is quite strongly inclined towards earth and there is also some spirit type within it. But still how did it get this dense?

With the increased rank and level the dungeon core now refines and gathers mana more efficiently. Area closer to the core will profit stronger from the changes.

Blue screen once more came up with a random tidbit of information for me. But it did prove true when I checked my map. The second floor and in specific the goblin home showed a rather dense amount of mana while the first floor and outer blocks only got a slight increase.

Hmmm right, I heard something about bonuses from the evolutions. Hey blue screen show me my evolutions!

Goblin Dungeon

The Dungeon has evolved to suit the goblin species. Overwrites less effective species evolutions of the Dungeon.

Highly increased skill acquiring

Highly increased chance for evolution and variant evolution

Mitigation of decreased lifespan through growth skill by 25%

Unlocked building options

Plant Dungeon

The dungeon has evolved to support all plants and related higher related species.

Increased skill acquiring

Increased chance for evolution and variant evolution

Mitigation of decreased lifespan through growth skill by 15%

Unlocked building options

Insect Dungeon

The dungeon has evolved to support all Insects and related higher related species.

Increased skill acquiring

Increased chance for evolution and variant evolution

Mitigation of decreased lifespan through growth skill by 15%

Unlocked building options

Mana crystallization

Through this evolution the Dungeon begins now to crystallize mana randomly and in focused areas.

Unlocked building options

Increased chance for evolution and variant evolution

Earth affinity

Mana within the dungeon inclines naturally towards the earth element. Will affect other evolutions of the dungeon.

Increased skill acquiring

Increased chance for evolution and variant evolution

Unlocked building options

Decreases cost of dungeon skills and building options of the related elements

Spirit affinity

Mana within the dungeon inclines naturally towards the spirit element. Will affect other evolutions of the dungeon.

Increased skill acquiring

Increased chance for evolution and variant evolution

Unlocked building options

Decreases cost of dungeon skills and building options of the related elements

Sentience is reached faster

Oook that's a shit ton of stuff. Well this makes the evolutions a whole lot more interesting. I wonder why that wasn't unlocked at the beginning already. Let´s see what those things actually did.

I quickly took a look over all the stuff that had been mentioned and noticed that indeed a good many things had changed. A lot of additional preset building stuff came in and the ones I already had got either more refined in the way it looks and its utility or it got different versions of it unlocked.

Hmm the affinities really did unlock some interesting stuff. Magic stonegate, spiritual monolith…nice! It seems they do not only affect the normal evolutions, the affinities combine as well.

I was totally excited and could not wait to test out all of it. The evolutions for species were of course highly interesting. I would have to choose the species that I would support carefully and stuff as many different types of the general evolutions into the dungeon to get the most out of it.

Name: Spiritual Goblin Cave Rank: D Mana Quality: E-F Mana Density: D-F Level: 5 Progress: 3%

So they really did change the display. Hmm it seems the core still needs some time to purify the mana. But at least the density is quite good.

I was satisfied with the results, but for now it was time to get to my duties and pleasantries as a Dungeon Lord. I quickly dived into my body to get to it. By now I was quite fast in getting the whole watery stuff out of my respiratory system. First thing after that I noted the windows informing me of the still available trait selection and summoning process. But I decided I would do those later when I had more leisure time to consider these things thoroughly. Luckily these windows were dismissable so waved them away and went on to get out of the cave. Drying myself off and getting dressed before I went towards the larger cave. Upon entering the hall like structure I saw the busy activities of the goblins. Taking a moment to observe them in the middle of lunch as I presumed before walking over to where I spotted Gobar.

(Me):”How is the meal today Gobar? ”

(Gobar):”Haha, it is quite pleasant. The meat soup is excellent with the herbs.”

The goblins were even more hectic than usual. But nearly at the same time as I sat down close to the old guy, I also had a wooden bowl full of the said soup. I motioned the ones serving that I would not need any more for now and focused on the conversation. Of course not all the goblins had such a meal. Meat was still a luxury for now until the rabbits would have a high enough population.

(Me):”So how long was I out and what happened meanwhile?”

(Gobar):”You only slept through the night, my lord. The only things you missed were the departure of the scouting group as well as the usual training and working of a usual day. There is no problem of any kind so far. ”

I nodded pleased with the situation and over having not lost too much time to the evaluation. After that we leisurely enjoyed the meals as I brought Gobar up to date with the things that had changed. He had already noticed some things but he was quite elated after knowing the full extend. In turn he informed me that my pet had joined in eagerly on the training as soon as the day started. Though she was wary of the Drow she didn't hesitate to learn from them and seemed to be an eager student on everything. Of course the now unlocked common language made it a lot easier for everyone to teach and learn. Of course it would take some time until the goblins actually accepted her, but that was a natural course of things so I was not too worried on this account yet.

(Me):”So the Drow showed no signs of anything unusual ?”

(Gobar):”They must have noticed that something changed in the Dungeon. But they seem to be preoccupied with something else. From what they told us the Ambassador actually was ordered to come back with the last shipment. Most likely he will return this evening.Since most of them wear those leather masks all nearly all the time it is hard to guess anything in specific.”

Of course Vierna must have reported what happened in the cave with the elf. It is suspicious that they have not been wanting to talk to me at all. I hope they are not planning anything extreme.

(Me):”Since he is not here anyway I should do something useful in the meantime. I will be at the laboratory. ”

Gobar nodded and we both finished up our meal after that. After all we had enough to do. I did take a moment though to gaze over the cave though. It had changed quite a bit. The goblins had made themselves homely by now, decorations on the walls and simple grass curtains before the entrances. With the ever increasing population it became a bustling place, conversations, arguments, even some small time trades were made here and there.

Good, they are getting there slowly. But still they need to reach a higher point in development.

While Pondering over what I could do to let the goblins advance faster, I soon reached my Lab. The elf was of course where she had been left on the grass bed. She seemed to be in quite the depressed mood.

Well I guess if someone tests poisons and antidotes on you that would be natural.

But she was of no interest at this point. I went over to the side of the cave where the gathered herbs were stored in baskets and were given a quick inspection that left no bad impression on me. The goblins had thoroughly completed their tasks and since I was absent for a while the amount was much higher than usual. With a slight sigh I went to work. After all there was a highly needed transaction ahead, so good trading materials were needed. I worked on the process for a good time without much of a break. The whole lab cave was filled with constant bubbling and hissing sounds as I operated the various tools to extract, mix and all the other needed processes. The only slight interruption was one of the goblin shamans that came in to take a look on the elf. After all, being bound tightly all the time was not too good on the limbs.

Hmm i'll have to make a cell or something for her tonight.

I observed the goblin in his workings for a while. He had actually managed to raise his class so he was now the same as gobar. Though still he was still considered a student as he had much less experience than his teacher. The goblin in question actually noticed that I was observing his doings and he seemed to get pretty nervous. He made sure to not touch the elf anywhere unneeded and even began to sweat profusely.

Ah crap… they must think I have a thing for elves. You would of course get nervous while touching your lords presumed toy. I should put his mind at ease.

(Me):”Don't be so tense. The elf over there is just a testing tool. No need to mind all too much how you treat her as long as she stays in a somewhat good condition. ”

The way the goblin twitched as I directed my word to him actually made me chuckle. But an even louder hiss from the apparatuses behind me reminded me that I should focus and give up on observing. There were still plenty of things to be made. More and more barrels were filled with the weak wound healing potions, light sickness medicines, some poisons and some other things. More and more time passed, the work was not hard but needed concentration and the continuous heating which was needed on some instruments had me bathed in sweat plenty of times over. I only made breaks to drink or eat some snacks before I went back to it.

(Quimoira):”Ah, Master is still working hard ?”

A cheerful voice came from the entrance. Looking up I saw my pet leaning against the wall next to the caves entrance. A somewhat tired but satisfied smile on her lips. She seemed to be fresh out of bath as her red hair was still plastered against her skin which had a rosy hue to it.

(Me):”I am just about done. It seems you had a good training session?”

(Quimoira):”It was marvelous Master! To move so freely is pure pleasure. My body is as energetic as never before.”

I finally closed the last barrels lid and stretched my back with a deep sigh. Motioning Quimoira to come closer. With a deepening smile in which I could see a hint of tease she walked over until she was a few steps away, then she sunk to her knees and covered the missing distance with a quite tempting sway to her movements. As soon as she was close enough she began rubbing her head against my thighs like a playful cat.

(Me):”Well now, isn't someone eager to please?”

I reached down to stroke through the still damp tresses of her hair which she answere with a pleased purr, leaning fully into the touch for a bit before she gazed up at me.

(Quimoira):“Of course I am Master. Isn't that what a good pet should be like. ”

She had a cheeky grin at her words, making me laugh in a pleasant manner. The pet really was getting comfortable in her role.

Hmm thinking about it.... I should have earned a little break.

I let my hand slide down until it reached her neck and grasped it firmly. A soft growl answered the sudden change, but she was still looking up at me with a teasing smile and even licked over her red lips like a true temptress, giving them a glossy sheen that was simply too inviting. Of course I was not one to let such invitations go unanswered.

***

A good while later I fell back into a rough chairlike wooden thing. Ragged breathing was still quite audible in the cave and our clothes were all over the place. My pet was still bent over the table in front of me, naked. The white skin almost shining like polished alabaster under the light. Her legs were still spread wide and trembling slightly as she rested for a moment.

(Me):”It seems your exercises still need to go on for a while my pet, if that is already enough to make you weak on the feet like a newborn deer.”

(Quimoira):”If Master continues to stay cooped up in this place as much as today than it will soon be the other way around.”

With the amused retort she lifted her body from the table and slinked over, settling down in front of me to her knees and letting her head sink against my thigh. Like this we both calmed and recovered a little. I still had a lot to do so I sent her back to my cave before I headed back to my crystal body and changed into the Dungeon Lord mode. First thing I did was of course to claim the new blocks on the first and second floor. There was a lot of saved up mana to use. It was strange now, I realized that I actually felt how much mana something would need. The numerical display was not really accurate enough by comparison since the mana had different densities and qualities so that by directly manipulating it I could actually save a good bit of what would normally be wasted.

Now then… what should I do about the additional floor. If I extend further down I would get a wider field as the mountain gets broader of course. But if I go up I could actually turn this into something akin to a castle. After all if they have any means to deploy troops through the air They could attack us from two sides in the war.

Considering such things for awhile I decided that I would go up for now instead of down. I liked the idea of turning the upper part of the mountain into a stronghold over time. After unlocking everything I felt quite drained and a look at my Status told me what I already knew that I was barely having a mana density of E in the closest blocks. I still had to be careful but it was worth it, after all the larger I was the more mana I would get as well. The first thing I did was of course to move everything one floor higher so that the goblins home and everything was in the middle. The only exception being the small part where the Drows were. Since if the transportation circle was moved we would have to recast it.

Hmm what's that?...

As I moved the blocks around I realized that in the new blocks that were the furthest inside the mountain, on the upper floor was actually a part of a small cave system. Of course I inspected it right away. Something like that could not be left alone. There were a lot of small caves joined together mostly by small tunnels, through which many runlets were flowing towards the opposite side. The that nourished this continuous stream was raining down from hundreds of small stalactites in each cave, pooling together in puddles and small ponds.

Hmmm…. interesting. This might be of some use later on.

Since there was no immediate need for the water to be used it was left alone. Who knew whose attention I would draw if the water stopped flowing. Having satisfied my curiosity I went back to my Dungeon arrangements.

With the current manpower there is no sense in opening any new farms. The goblins won't be able to tend to them properly yet so let's leave that aside. It will soon be time to get the ore business going, but it is the same problem there. I will need some more dwarves. They should know how that stuff works. Then it's time for the new building stuff.

There was of course plenty now, but a lot of it not usable yet or was already built. It would have made no sense to tear stuff at that moment so I focused completely on a few core things.

Hmm the most valuable and affordable ones seem to be for now the crystal room, and the spiritual monolith. I quickly built one of these inside the goblin home. It was a solid rock with the height of two grown man and around three times the diameter. It was carved up with runes and depictions of goblins all over. It had not instant effect, but I could actually feel the spirit mana gather around that part slowly with which I was happy enough. The next one was the crystal room which I just put into one of the free blocks of the same floor. From what I understood it would have continuously growing mana crystals all around. Though it wasn't all too big. It was the size of a normal room mostly shaped like a sphere. On the ceilings center it had a single sun crystal that provided some light. After that I just tested the magic stonegate. Which proved to be a solid stone plate that could barricade a tunnel. I used some of them to cover the goblin tunnels inside labyrinth. The only downside to those seemed to be that any good earth magician would be able to open them as well.

Alright, I shouldn't spend more mana than that now. Guess the last thing for today will be the summon then.

I returned to my crystal body and read through the blue window again. It seemed to really be a completely random summoning.

Well… then let's begin.

Summoning process has been started

At first not much happened. But suddenly a glowing and intricate spell circle appeared in front of my crystal body. It was a shocking sight, it was infinitely more detailed and intricate than the one I had seen the Drow make. The glow grew stronger and stronger, but soon something else pulled my attention to it. A bit above in the center of the spell circle, space itself began to warp. At first it was simply a blurry patch, but it soon got more and more extreme with a darkening center that seemed to swallow everything.

Holy shit… that's kinda looking like a fucking black hole !

I was nearly freaking out that moment but just a heartbeat later everything was bathed in light as if the black hole had been replaced with a sun instead. Once my view was clearing up I had just one thought.

What the hell is that supposed to be.