Chapter 4

After sleeping and then returning to the Dungeon, Arcius opened the status again.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

3160/6600

Mana Regen:

990/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

121

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

2

Dominant Species:

Prokaryotic Cell

Number of Bosses:

0

He had a decent amount of Mana available, and about a century and a half until he activated the Magmatic Seal. Thinking about it, he decided to increase the amount of rooms he had now, and then increase them every 30 years from then on, that way he would get a good amount of rooms up for once he had the Seal, and he wouldn’t be in here constantly working.

Using 2160 of his remaining Mana, he created 72 additional rooms, pushing his total up to 193. He then decided to do something a little different. Using 300 Mana per, he created three rooms 10 times the size of his other rooms, all perfectly circular. These would be his first evolution rooms. Here, he would use a Mana rich environment to accelerate natural evolution, alongside various different environmental features.

In order to use them, however, he would need to do some upgrading. First, he used the increase Mana Capacity and Regen abilities three times per room. This would greatly increase the Mana concentration in the evolution rooms, which in turn would increase the rate of evolution of the organisms within.

Next he spent 500 Mana Capacity on the Environments I upgrade. This allows him greater control over the temperature of the rooms, as well as small changes to the rooms. Upon purchasing Environments I, Environments II became unlocked, and it looked interesting.

Upgrade

Description

Mana Capacity Cost

Environments II

This allows you to create new environments in your rooms. At tier II, this you to make greater changes to room layout as well as to control the water in the environment.

1000

New Species

This unlocks a new species for you to use. [Warning: all species acquired this way are pre-designed]

3000

[Note: Increases with every form of life present]

Upgrade Species

This allows you to upgrade an existing species to its next form. [Warning: only works on pre-designed species]

500+

[Note: exact cost depends on current level of life]

He now had a choice. If he got Environments II he could actually set up his evolution rooms the way he wants them. However, his Capacity would drop by another thousand. On the other hand, if he left out on getting Environments II until next time, his Capacity would be the same for now, allowing him to make more rooms next time, and reducing the impact of his lost Capacity.

After thinking about it for a while, he decided to go with the upgrade immediately. Yes it reduced the amount of rooms he would be able to make later, but it allowed him to get started immediately on creature development. After all, the Infirmanabacteria were cool and all, but they could, at best, be seen as a beginning point.

Environments III got unlocked as a result, but he didn’t need its benefits right now, as what he had now was fine. He spent 95 of his remaining 100 Mana reshaping his three rooms. The first evolution room, which he decided to label E1, he removed the water almost completely, and gave the room some hills. He left some water in the form of puddles and streams, and then increased the temperature such that the room became very hot, like an ever-present summer near a world’s equator. He stopped the increase before the remaining water could start to evaporate, and left it at that.

The second room, which he named E2, he turned into a small island surrounded by water. The water height was only about a fifth of the room’s height, so depending on their size, a human may find the water up to anywhere between ankle and knee height when standing in it. He had the island form like a hump, with a raised centre, and left it at that for now. He set the temperature such that it was constantly somewhere between warm and cool, never quite being one or the other.

The third room, dubbed E3, was the least changed. He left it filled with water, and created pillars, spires, and rocky mounds in order to add variety to the environment. He made the temperature here fairly cold, but not quite enough to make the water start freezing. He then left and returned to his room. He’d decided to sleep for 27 years this time so that, when coupled with the three years he’d slept earlier, he would be able to hit the 150 year time limit on the Mana Gathering process after only four more sets of 30 years.

He returned to find his status much as he had expected. The only major difference was that the dominant species had changed to Infirmanabacteria, showing, as anticipated, that they were better at surviving and thriving than their normal Prokaryotic Cell compatriots.

Dungeon God:

Arcius

Dungeon Name:

Mana Capacity:

10950/10950

Mana Regen:

1867.5/year

Faith Capacity:

0/0

Faith Regen:

0/year

Number of Entrances:

1

Number of Rooms:

196

Number of Floors:

1

Number of Species:

2

Dominant Species:

Infirmanabacteria

Number of Bosses:

0

He spent all of his remaining mana creating an additional 365 rooms of equal size. He then decided to create 10 more sets of Mana and Life Gems per E room, which would increase the rate of evolution exponentially. He chose to leave again at this point.

Upon returning to his room, he moved not towards the bed, but the door. By this point it had been at least 30 years since he had last left, and he hadn’t seen everything while he was there. Upon leaving, he chose to enter the nearest corridor. It seemed long at first, stretching almost endlessly, but he had barely stepped foot within when he found himself at the other end.

Fascinating, he thought, the corridors are teleporters, keeping the sounds of the contents of their destination away from the home of the Gods, but the contents themselves within only a few steps. Looking around, he realised he was in a smaller circular hub, like the one he’d just left. This time, however, there were only nine doors.

The three doors immediately to the left of the entrance were labelled Gym 1 to Gym 3. After that were Arena 1 to Arena 3, and finally, completing the circle were Pool 1 to Pool 3. An exercise area of some sort. Arcius pondered on why this was needed when, as his own lack of weakness demonstrated, Gods of any kind didn’t need exercise to remain fit.

The answer hit him soon enough: boredom. This was a place to help prevent the Gods from getting bored. It stood to reason that the other corridors ended in locations with similar purposes. This one was clearly for those who liked using exercise to alleviate boredom. And stress, now that he thought about it.

Also, he thought while looking towards the Arena doors, it provides a place for those that like to fight. Considering it some more, he realised this would be a good place to settle the lesser conflicts. After all, CoG never stated that conflicts between Dungeons and Dungeon Gods had to be settled in the world. Only that certain things were forbidden, such as outright destroying another God’s Dungeon.

It made sense then, at least in Arcius’ mind, that lesser conflicts, things of no major import, such as minor territory disputes, could be settled in the Arenas. Also, the Gods could hold competitions between themselves for their amusement.

As he looked around, he realised that although most of the door labels were glowing white, two were glowing green, and one was glowing red. Curious, he looked for any sign that showed what that meant, and noticed one just inside the corridor on the right hand wall.

Colour

Meaning

White

Unoccupied

Green

Occupied. Can be entered.

Red

Occupied. Private. Cannot be entered. [Warning: only Gym, Arena, and Pool 3 can be set to Private]

Interesting. That meant that Gym 2 and Arena 2 were currently occupied, but open, while Pool 3 was currently set to Private. Feeling curious, he stepped inside of Arena 2. Inside he found two more doors, one labelled Participate, the other Observe. Participate was glowing red, while Observe was glowing green. So, assuming the colour system was the same, then that meant that he couldn’t enter Participate, but he could enter Observe, and someone was already in there.

Going through the Observer door, he found himself in a long and wide corridor. One of the walls was completely see through, being a window made of, he assumed, enchanted glass. Through that, he could see that the corridor curved around a large circular room, maybe 100 or so times as large as his E rooms. Along the outer wall were chairs and a more of the cupboards he’d seen in the dining area. Directly in front of him was the green-leaved tree-man, who was now turning towards him.

The tree-man spoke, “Ah, human, I wondered when I would see you outside your room. My name is unpronounceable in your tongue, so please, call me Green.” It offered no hand-shake, but did incline its head.

Figuring that that was its people’s version of a greeting, he inclined his own, and responded, “It is nice to meet you. I am Arcius.” He glanced towards the window, before continuing, “So, who’s in the Arena?”

The tree-man gestured for him to come closer to the window, before replying, “The serpentoid Slaras is currently fighting with the Rei’Oc, Clarull.”

“Really? What’s it about.”

“Apparently it’s a result of some form of interspecies rivalry from their segment. Theirs is filled with various kinds of humanoid animals, and some of these have become bitter rivals. The serpentoids, from what I understand, have always been proficient in the use of mana for combat, and, in the joint species societies that have developed in their segment, tend to be the guards and soldiers, alongside other, more physically powerful species.

The Rei’Oc, or Roach Being in the common tongue, have a different kind of specialty. They tend to be good at using defence and stealth based magic skills, and have a tendency to become the more criminal element of the societies. While annoying for all guards and soldiers, their power is apparently very good at fighting serpentoids, so over the years they formed a rivalry. This particular battle is not their first, and is a result of another of their arguments.”

Arcius looked into the Arena now, observing the fight. The Arena was fairly bland, all things considered. Simple. It was flat and circular, no obstacles, and seemed to be made of some form of granite tiling. Judging by the sheer lack of any damage from the ongoing fight, it seemed likely it wasn’t actually granite.

The two combatants themselves were not as unscathed. Both were covered in scratches, although none were severe. Slaras was using his tail like a spring to launch himself into the air, and seemed to be using Fire-type magic to launch devastating infernos at Clarull. Clarull, however, seemed to be all but unaffected by the fire, and the reason soon became very clear. Their carapace was glowing with a red Mana aura that seemed to glow brighter with every flame it blocked.

“What type of magic is that?”

Green responded, “Absorbing magic. A variant unique to the Rei’Oc. They can absorb the power of any magical attack, so long as it is an Element-type, and then unleash what they absorb as a focused magical attack that is hard to defend against. It is particularly effective against Fire-type magic, which is the only magic-type serpentoids can use.”

Arcius pondered this for a moment, “Then, why is he still attacking with Mana? Wouldn’t it be more effective for him to attack physically?”

“The reason for that is twofold. First is that physical attacks are not very effective on Rei’Oc. Their natural defence is strong, weaker only than the turtloids’ shells. Serpentoids, on the other hand, aren’t built for brawling, so their natural physical offence is not all that great.

The other reason is the absorbing magic’s weakness. When they release the power as an attack, they have to drop the defensive ‘aura’ that absorbs the magic. Slaras is trying to put enough power into that aura to force Clarull to release it, exposing herself for a more focused and powerful attack.”

“I see.” With that, they went back to watching the brawl. It wasn’t particularly long or eventful, to be honest. It mostly consisted of Slaras firing magic at Clarull until she dropped here aura and attacked, and then trying to take advantage of the lack of aura to damage her. It eventually ended when Clarull managed to score a slicing blow on Slaras’ tail, cutting it clean off. At that point, a bell ringing sound occurred, and Slaras vanished in a flash of light.

Green explained before he could ask, “When someone loses, both parties are healed, and the loser is teleported back to their room. The winner is not, so that they may continue fighting if they wish.”

“I’m assuming death isn’t an issue?”

“You assume correct. If you get struck by a formerly fatal blow, you simply won’t die. Clarull found that out the hard way when Slaras got a lucky hit in and incinerated her head. It grew back almost immediately. Still hurt though, apparently.”

“Huh, makes sense. Say, what was the argument about?”

“They were insulting one another’s creations, although I don’t know who started. They both are the first to have spawned a third new species with their Mana, and were insulting the other’s choices.”

“Let me guess, Slaras had gone for some form of snake, while Clarull went for an insect?”

“Got it in one. Both are trying to replicate their own species, and naturally are mocking the other’s attempts at doing so.”

“Speaking of species, how many are you at?”

“Not including the Prokaryotic Cells? I have two, both plant creatures. You?”

“I’m not so fortunate, but then I’m not using Mana to purchase them. I only have one new species, a type of bacteria that feeds on Mana.”

“Interesting choice. I think there are only two others not using Mana, the male elf Richard, and one of my brethren. They also have only one new species, although I believe they were bacteria that used photosynthesis, Cyanobacteria, I believe they were called.”

“Mine are a similar concept of evolution, but are called Infirmanabacteria. They could potentially evolve into a Mana based version of plant life.” He paused for a second, thinking, before continuing, “You know, considering the fact that CoG’s opening statements made this whole thing a pseudo-contest, you seem strangely open to sharing.”

It was at this point he found out the tree-men could chuckle. It sounded like a combination of rapping your knuckles on a desk and a slightly sped up sound of rubbing two very rough pieces of wood together. It then responded, “Well, why would I need to be worried about your development.”

Arcius frowned upon hearing this, and, slightly irritated, he asked, “Care to explain?”

The response was immediate, “Certainly. When you pause to think about it, what is the big limiter to all of us, regardless of whether or not we use Mana? Resources. This affects both the before, while we’re developing our creations, and after all the sentient species have been developed.

It paused for a second, as if gathering its thoughts, “The way I see it, you are no threat to my development early game, unlikely to be a problem for me mid game, and probably only a minor problem at best late game. Early game, there is no chance of us coming to a resource clash over anything, as not only is there a relatively large amount of everything just up for grabs, but you’re also on the other side of the planet, so no real chance of us meeting each other in the world itself.

Mid game, same reasons, more or less. There will be a lot fewer resources just randomly up for grabs, however, there is unlikely to be any competition with you for them, as you will have plenty for yourself, and the way I see it, by that point, as the sentient races will not have come into play, there won’t be much need for more resources.

Late game, with the sentient races, there will be a much greater need for resources, so competitions and conflicts between us Gods will be much more common. Because you will have a somewhat larger amount of resources naturally available to you than anyone else, chances are some of us will strike at you to try and get them. However, so long as I can avoid becoming your enemy, I don’t see any reason I can’t try and trade with you, so that means you would at most be a minor problem from dealing with trading, and probably not an issue for me once again.”

Arcius was surprised. He genuinely had not thought of these issues when choosing his location. Heck, the whole reason he chose this spot, despite some meeting his requirements in a better fashion, was simply to avoid the politics as a general rule. The fact his isolation meant he was relatively safe from resource conflicts had never occurred to him.

Heck, the only reason he was open about his Dungeon then and there was because the chances of anyone challenging him for being weak were nearly zero at this early stage, not to mention that if anyone underestimated him right now for his ‘slow growth’, that could only benefit him later on.

He continued to speak with Green for about an hour, mentioning general ideas about what their home segments were like and so on, and found out that the tree-men were actually called Treeants. In the end, they parted on fairly decent terms, and Arcius decided he could count Green as, at minimum, a friendly acquaintance, if not a friend or an ally quite yet.

Thinking things over, Arcius decided to retire to his room and sleep for another 30 years, at which point, he would again work on the Dungeon, and explore the rest of this space.