Hey you,

I have a poll about my usage of <>. So far I was pretty consistent with it for important terms, but I think I forgot a few. I have also heard that it really breaks the immersion if I write like this and I personally gravitate towards options 2 and 3.

Another complaint I heard was that in my dialogue it is unclear sometimes who speaks. Is the dialogue like it is in this chapter ok?

This will be the last chapter for this week. See you next week.

2576 Words

The last week had been very uneventful for Quin. Maria was out in the camp for the most time to help repair the damage and the outer disciples that survived unscathed and were motivated to go back into the danger of the dungeon were understandably few. But that didn't bother him anymore as just this morning the first rank 2 beast had emerged.

The rat's leader was surprisingly the fastest one to advance. He had battled daily with the and under that self-imposed pressure his progress was really astonishing. Now that he was at rank 2 stage 1 the would inevitably loose to him since it was somewhere between rank 1 and rank 2 at the 11th stage due to the uniqueness of the only giving it a stage higher in power then it would originally have.

It now moved on only two feet and used its wings to keep the balance even while running. The wing's feathers also began to spread a bit onto the shoulders and a thin strip on the back. Standing up it was now as tall as a and had the ver imaginatively named race of . Cultivators really had the worst naming sense.

The led the other rats to finally delve deeper into the dungeon, but the only outcome was that the other rats were prevented to move deeper. But not by the but the dungeon itself. Quin had already anticipated that something like this would occur and had placed a filter formation that only allowed rank 2 beasts through. This ensured that the genes passed down there were of higher quality and ensured that every beast on the floors below would be able to reach rank 2.

The could not ensure that since the beasts that reached rank 2 could easily bypass him and ensure that their races could too.

Since the rat population was one of the biggest now their leader was naturally not the only strong one and so they left again while the turned and wandered alone in the darkness of the tunnel connecting the 10th and 11th floor. For the first time since its birth it would be alone and had to fend for itself.

But when it finally reached the end of the tunnel a pleasant surprise awaited it. At the end of the tunnel 9 young that were created by Quin were sitting there huddled together.

As soon as they saw the former rat leader they instinctively saw it as a parent and began squeaking in delight. Since it now had someone else from its race sitting there it naturally felt an odd responsibility for the young ones and took the lead of them to find shelter at the earliest convenience.

Since it was now the strongest beast on the next ten floors the title was automatically awarded to it. Previously a plant at the peak of grade 1 had held that title, but it naturally couldn't compete with a stage 2 beast.

Luckily for them the first room featured very few flesh eating plants and also a temple ruin with a deep cellar complex. After two close encounters with the resident plant life they began traveling on the road as it was the only place that was reasonably free of trees and large brushes. And this room led them straight to the aforementioned temple ruin.

The leader was very curious and explored it thoroughly as it had never seen something like this before. That led to the discovery of the cellar, that was also explored thoroughly.

As they found no other life inside it declared this structure as its new nest.

Deep inside the cellar though, it made another discovery. On the wall furthest down inside the tunnels under the ruins it found strange markings that had an indescribable charm to it. Like in trance it stared for two hours at the markings until the information inside had fully been transmitted inside its mind.

Suddenly, it had knowledge of the creation process and usability of various tools that could make life easier in the future if they managed to get their paws on them or the materials to create them.

But the sudden influx of information also had another side effect. The rat leader had gained a slight bit more self awareness. This was an additional benefit that Quin had added a few days ago to further cement the route of evolution that the more intelligent beasts had taken.

After it had received all that new information it was a bit dizzy for a while, but then it brought the other ones to also view the strange markings. It had always been more intelligence then the other rats and had secured plenty good nesting spots for the group. This had led to its role as a leader to be very cemented and also a certain mentality to bring as many members of the group to any good spots it found as possible.

Quin on the other hand was watching the actions of the rats with great interest as they were his test subjects on how dangerous the new floors were. He was a bit disappointed that they had stopped advancing so soon, but there was plenty of time for them or other races to do that.

He was especially eager since he had managed to get to 3% in the last two weeks and now he had 3 floors that were essentially empty save for the abundant plant life. That also included the plants with the ability to use the Mana to continuously evolve instead of only supplementing nutrients with it.

The young ones also grew nicely under the enhanced Mana pressure and had already reached the fourth stage after six hours and would reach the fifth after twelve.

Had they been with lower aptitudes their Mana channels would probably have ripped under the immense strain of so much Mana pouring through.

Over the course of the next few hours more and more beasts arrived at the next rank and migrated further down to secure a spot for their species to stay. The title was also passed on multiple times as its holders left the 10th floor one after the other.

Quin had to expend quite a bit of Mana to ensure that everyone got the same starting advantage, but it would be worth it as it helped to quickly populate the next floors.

After a bit of thought he also created a barrier that did not allow the inhabitants of the lower floors to get back to the first ten floors. That was a counter measure to prevent a power imbalance and stifles growth of the weaker creatures.

As he had now a divine sense to better exert his will on the dungeon dwellers they would have to be at rank 3 to currently slip his control and exit the lower floors and eventually the dungeon. There really was no reason for the beasts to seek a less Mana-rich environment, but better be safe then sorry.

His divine sense had also enabled him to nudge beasts to do certain actions and trigger certain evolutions that he wanted to have further down the line. He knew he would spend roughly one and a half years at this stage and he had very much time to slowly design his dungeon like he wanted it to be.

Another change that had occurred on the first ten floors, was that the beasts had begun to further dig out their bases. The dungeon Mana then seeped into the new tunnels and caves slowly converting them into part of the dungeon so that Quin had full control of them. This was one of the phenomena that were not yet able to be explained by anyone who had researched the matter. He was only able to expand the dungeon every 10% of cultivation, but parts that were dug naturally somehow were not limited by such restrictions.

He had only once heard a legend that dungeons were an artificial race that were created by a very powerful god. Maybe he or she had arbitrarily decided such a rule. Of course that explanation had never satisfied him and he would strive to find a better one some day.

Almost every species had variations that specialized in digging and so the expansion quickened its pace with the increase in the respective populations. Occasionally he also connected a tunnel they dug to a lower level, so that their bases would eventually span every floor. That led to Quin having to update his map for the sect daily and also battles between the species on massive scales because of the increasing need for food or the reduction of their population. As soon as the sect joined the fun with more of their disciples he would have a show to watch whenever he felt bored.

Two of the disciples that entered the dungeon daily were Cog and Grom that were supervised by the excitable scholar Seth. Since Quin had made an agreement with the sect that disciples could not just go inside and vent their frustrations on the beasts, they mostly acted as an insurance policy for the younger outer disciples. Any inner disciple that broke that rule would go in Quin's personal blacklist and be swarmed by enemies if they ever dared to go farther then the 10th floor.

The potential loss of access to many valuable resources in the future had prevented any incidents from happening. They would at most hunt a few beasts as food, but never more then 20-30 and always from the species with large populations.

"Hey Quin." His thoughts get interrupted by Maria that just returned.

"All finished up with cleaning the camp? I haven't seen you in a whole week." Was his response.

"Did you miss me?"

"Not you specifically. If there was someone else to chat with I would gladly do so." She had to suppress a laugh as she pictured him saying that while pouting. Despite his insistence that he was hundreds of years old he often behaved like a man-child.

"I always thought that immortals would behave more dignified."

"Why would I do that? There are always the ones who don't know how to have fun, but would you want to live like that for eternity? Most immortals would do anything to relieve their boredom."

"Speaking of serious old men, a protector of the sect arrived yesterday and wished to speak to you."

"Well that's fine. He can come whenever he wants. If I have anything in abundance then it is free time. There is only so many small changes you can do to a dungeon. Speaking of your sect, why would you use the term 'sect'?"

"I don't really understand what you mean." Came her confused response.

"I mean normally the term is used for religious groups isn't it?"

"What is 'religious'?" Another confused response.

"Great! Now how do I explain that? It is believing in a higher power, mostly a very strong being, that helps you out in life."

"So you mean like the ancestor that founded the sect? There are cults in the city that pray to him, but most just ask him for good fortune before battle from him."

"Oh. I think that answers my question then."

"Sometimes you really ask the weirdest questions Quin." Sighed Maria.

They chatted for another hour before a strong Mana pressure at the alerted Quin of the protector's arrival. He was led to a side room near the entrance by Maria that Quin had furnished with furniture made of stone and wood. Maria had then added cushions and a carpet to make it a comfortable room for her long talks with Quin or any guests they might have.

When they were both seated Maria began the conversation.

"So how can we help you protector Garold?"

"Well I'm here to do two things. First would be to inform you that I will be staying in the camp permanently to ensure the dungeon's safety as we have already suffered an attack by the and there will possibly be future attacks.

The second reason I'm here is to negotiate further contracts and ensure the dungeon has everything he needs. I'm sure you have done so already to the best of your ability, but as a protector I have a greater influence on the sect as a whole and can promise things to him that you couldn't. Could you please convey that to him?"

"Oh I don't need to do that protector. He was able hear everything we said, I only need to tell you his responses as he can't communicate on his own yet."

"Ask him if he has something specific to offer or something that he wants." Quin chimed in.

"He asks if you have anything specific that you require or want to offer."

"Well there are multiple things that we need in the future. The first would be a place not deep into the dungeon where we can mine stones for the construction of the city outside. We have information from other dungeons in the kingdom that found this highly beneficial as they are unable to excavate further after a certain limit, but that was somehow able to be circumvented by manual labour."

"Tell him that we will accept the first offer. No species settles in the first rooms anyway as there is the constant threat of humans invading their lairs and there is really no downside to it."

"He accepts the first offer without any conditions since he deems it mutually beneficial."

"Good. Very good. With that out of the way we are also in need of ores for the smithing and formations departments. For the right to mine we will deliver 10 different types of , , or treasures for you to copy. Once we are unable to deliver anything new anymore the contract can be revised with new conditions."

"Tell him that I also need the ores that should appear to scan them first. This offer is also very good and if they accept the condition we have a deal."

Maria was very happy with the way the negotiation went and conveyed Quin's words. The protector once again agreed and just wanted to leave to prepare the contract when Quin chimed in with an offer of his own.

"I also need elemental essences. At the moment the whole dungeon Mana is neutral, but I need those essences to create more advanced environments for the rarer variations of beasts. In return I will create an emergency path leading straight down the dungeon should the inhabitants of the camp ever need to retreat into the dungeon. The tunnel will stay closed off and be clear of any enemies."

"Please wait protector Garold. He also has an offer to make"

Maria quickly conveyed the offer.

"In light of recent events this seems a valuable option to have. I foresee a lot of fighting in the next years, be it against other clans, sects or the . We will accept the offer."

Protector Garold had never had such smooth negotiations before and he had done a lot of them for the sect. This was likely the result of having two sides that depended on each other so heavily.

Not a bad change. He thought and left the dungeon satisfied with the results.