《Dan's Otherworldly Dungeon》


 Chapter 1 - Dan

    Dungeon Day 0


    Dan was running really, really fast. He had been running for about thirty minutes straight, and no amount of physical exercise would ever allow him to escape the thing that was chasing him. It wasn¡¯t even the fact that he was going to die since he had learned a while back what usually happens to a planet when an Eldritch God is trying to eat it.


    That¡¯s right. Earthquakes meant the Eldritch God was beginning its descent toward the World Crystal, and Earth had but a few more hours left.


    So, the real problem with his situation was that he didn¡¯t want to be turned into an aberration. However, for whatever reason, this particular squid-looking motherfucker that was called an octopien did not want to let him go. Dan had felt the thing probe his mind earlier, and after he resisted, the tentacled-faced bastard had decided to capture him.


    Dan had thought of jumping into one of the ravines opened by the earthquakes so he could die before he was captured. However, that had not work when he had attempted it earlier. The monster simply floated him back to the surface. Seriously, what was the thing¡¯s problem?


    Anyway, without being able to do anything, Dan just kept running. His body would give out soon, but he did not want to give the aberration the pleasure of making him surrender.


    Sadly, Dan¡¯s plans ended early when he got the worst case of heartburn in the history of mankind. It felt like his chest was on fire. The pain got so bad that he felt his consciousness start to slip away, and he muttered a "fuck" right before darkness found him.


    <hr>


    Half of the continent was completely destroyed. His minions had shattered the space just like that Eldritch God had done to Earth all those millennia ago.


    Remembering that invasion, he compared this world to Earth. He imagined that-that Eldritch God had been able to shatter Earth¡¯s Ethereal Barrier just as quickly and efficiently as he was about to shatter this one. The ritual to weaken the barrier always took some time to prepare, but it had been done in record time with this particular planet, and he wondered if he could have shattered Earth¡¯s barrier just as fast.


    Floating above the planet, the locals called Glacion, he looked down at his next meal. It had been around five centuries since his last one, and he was looking forward to devouring the World Crystal.


    Dan, as his name used to be, felt nothing anymore. He just watched as the planet''s inhabitants, beings of ice and snow with fleshy interiors were killed and turned into more of his loyal servants. The planet hadn¡¯t even been a challenge. It was primitive in magic, though its level of ambient mana was high. He figured it was all due to the planet''s young age but didn¡¯t care either way.


    Eventually, he decided it was time, and he began amassing his power to finally shatter the weakened area of the Ethereal Barrier and enter the frozen planet.


    He empowered his large tentacles, which were the size of continents, and they shone bright with power as he called forth space, time, and soul magic to shatter the barrier.


    After a few strikes, the barrier cracked and broke, letting him finally enter. It was usually around this time when he met resistance from a planet''s inhabitants with the usual assistance of their gods. However, it was not to be; the planet was too young for gods to have manifested, and the natives were too weak. So, looking downwards, he began the descent to the core, which caused earthquakes all over Glacion.


    It didn¡¯t take long, and he quickly arrived at the world¡¯s core, finding the snowflake-shaped crystal shining with rainbow light. The crystal was huge, and as always, he brought it forth to his maw, taking slow bites and savoring the power that rushed into his being.


    The crystal was soon devoured, and the Eldritch God was left wanting.


    Thankfully, there were always more planets to consume, and he and his legion of aberrations left the broken remains of the snow planet behind, already looking forward to conquering the next world.


    <hr>


    An unknown amount of time after Glacion, Dan finds himself in a new world dealing with yet another World Crystal. Except now things are different, very different.


    <hr>


    Dan woke up to find himself in a dark void.


    The only thing in the void was a deep blue, jagged shard of crystal slowly spinning on its axis.


    Wanting to take a closer look at the damn thing, Dan willed his consciousness to get closer, and it did.


    As Dan inspected the crystal, he began wondering why he was dreaming about a blue crystal.


    Actually, what was going on? He had been running from the aberration, and then bam! He got hit by a wave of heartburn that somehow had been strong enough to make him pass out. Which meant he should be an aberration by now. Or maybe he already was, and this was his existence as an aberration.


    That didn''t seem right. He had been told by a fey whom he had almost made a deal with that when a new aberration was created. It loses all memory of its previous life, and Dan still remembered his life before passing out.


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    After inspecting the shard and finding nothing and with nothing better to do, Dan began examining the void around him. Not long into his examination, he was startled by a voice emanating from everywhere.


    ¡°Ah, Dan, glad you are finally awake.¡±


    Dan, having no reason not to respond, did so.


    ¡°Hi. Yes, I am Dan. Can I ask who you are? And where I am?¡±


    ¡°I am the World Crystal you just tried to consume, and this piece of you is currently located in a spatial pocket.¡±


    ¡°Listen, Mr. World Crystal, sir, I most definitely did not try to consume you. I was running from this aberration, then I passed out and found myself here.¡±


    ¡°From your perspective, that is correct. However, you currently only have a fraction of your memory. In truth, you were turned into an aberration and then grew into an Eldritch God. At that point, and after an incredibly long time, you had the unfortunate fate of coming to my world where your Heart Crystal was shattered.¡±


    ¡°Me? An Eldritch God? Ha!¡± Dan laughed maniacally like he had just heard the dumbest thing.


    ¡°Enough!¡± Shouted the void, causing existence to tremble and scaring Dan half to death.


    ¡°I do not have time for your nonsense, and if it weren¡¯t for the fact that this shard contains most of your humanity, I would destroy your miserable existence.¡±


    ¡°Fuck you, man! You¡¯re not my boss! If you want to destroy me, then do it!¡± Dan growled as he tried to hide his fear and worry.


    ¡°As much as you vex me, you foul thing, I must obey the laws. However, considering I am your only lifeline back to godhood, I would suggest you restrain yourself.¡±


    Dan wasn¡¯t sure if the void was telling the truth, but he was indeed stuck in a pitch-black space and wanted to get out, so he reined in his nonsense. It was better to be safe than sorry.


    ¡°All right, fine. So, if what you are saying is right, then I am the shard floating in space here. Which was part of the Heart Crystal of me when I was an Eldritch God?¡± Dan responded, confused, yet something itched at the back of his metaphorical mind, telling him that the stupid crystal might be right.


    ¡°Yes, that is correct. Now, the battle between you and my inhabitants caused the shattered space your followers created to become even more twisted. And now none of my inhabitants can enter after your last-ditch effort repelled them outwards. The problem is that the rest of your pieces are still somewhere in the many spatial pockets, and due to your uniqueness, they are slowly growing in power.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± Dan said, cutting the void off.


    ¡°So, you need good old Dan to march in there and put down my other pieces before they rejoin and finish the job. Is that right?¡±


    ¡°Frustratingly so. However, I do not trust that you will remain sane and reasonable, so we must strike a bargain. I will assist you so that you may get ahead of your other selves and have a better chance at consuming them and regaining your old power. And in return, we will make a contract that you cannot use your newly gained power to strike back at me, my world, or my inhabitants. Well, at least not outside of the agreed terms.¡±


    ¡°I imagine there will be more to this contract than you have just stated, correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and to assure you, I will not be the enforcer of the contract.¡±


    Now, that made Dan curious. If this thing was an entire world and he was a fallen Eldritch God, what in the universe could possibly enforce this contract?


    Of course, that was precisely what Dan asked, doubtful yet incredibly curious.


    ¡°Really? What''s more powerful than a living World and an Ex-Eldritch God?¡±


    ¡°That which created both.¡±


    Now, that was a hell of a revelation. Even if Dan didn¡¯t know all the facts, there had always been questions on Earth about the universe and its creation, especially after magic and aliens came about.


    Dan almost went down a spiral hole of conspiracy just then but was stopped by the void talking again.


    ¡°Very well, Dan, I have set up the contract and its many workings, but before we contact the enforcer you must read and approve of it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, probably a good idea with any contract.¡±


    Words Dan came to regret.


    The contract was long. It took him years, well, maybe not years, but a very long time to read. The damn thing went on about how Dan was going to function like some space-claiming machine and how he would have all these different abilities akin to a god but not to the same level. Honestly, it was starting to sound like he would be making his own conquering dungeon, which sounded badass. If Dan loved anything, it was conquering stuff.


    After reading the contract and mentally signing it, he felt something in the air change, and reality went all twisty and bendy before a humanoid figure, much like some female mannequin, appeared in the black void. The mannequin''s skin was the cosmos. Dan saw floating galaxies and nebulas swirling on her skin, and she also had literal suns for her eyes.


    <hr>


    She was doing what she always did: watching the cosmos for exciting things.


    Everything had livened up after she remade it, and watching her creations was always a fun pastime.


    It was then she felt something she hadn¡¯t felt in quite a few millennia.


    One of her World Crystals was calling out to her.


    She giggled. Reality was so fun.


    <hr>


    ¡°Yes, Child? Why do you call?¡± The woman spoke, her voice manifesting into reality.


    ¡°Mother, I ask for your assistance with a delicate matter.¡± Responded the World Crystal, which was now next to Dan, taking the shape of a translucent crystal that emanated rainbow light. More importantly, it was the same size as Dan.


    There was no way a World Crystal was that small. He had learned some things on Earth from the fey and knew that World Crystals could be just as big as stadiums from Earth, if not larger.


    Moving on from those thoughts, the two entities were quiet. Some sort of exchange was happening, finally ending as the woman giggled.


    ¡°Oh my!¡± she said with delight, and in between giggles, she continued, ¡°What an interesting thing you have here. An Ex-Eldritch God and a World Crystal working together. I just love reality!¡± She finished with clear excitement.


    ¡°Very well, you have my approval,¡± Then, with some more giggles, she disappeared as Dan heard her last words. ¡°Have fun! I¡¯ll be watching!¡±


    ¡°Uhhhhh, who was that?¡± Dan asked the empty void, realizing the crystal other was now gone.


    ¡°That was Mother Eternity or The Chaos Mother; she has many names. However, that is not important right now. What is important is that with her approval, we can move forward. Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, as ready as I can be with a super god watching.¡±


    ¡°Very well. I will now be initiating the Crystal Dungeon System.¡±


    As he registered the words, everything went completely dark, and Dan lost consciousness again.

 Chapter 2 - Dungeon

    Dungeon Day 1


    Dan woke up, but this time, he was in a naturally formed cave. His crystal, which was also him, was now shaped like a heart. The lovey-dovey and perfect kind, not the actual monstrosity that was a real human heart.


    The shard, which was still dark blue, floated in the middle of the cave, bobbing up and down while spinning on its axis.


    Dan wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about his new shape. It didn''t seem imposing enough, though it made some sense since he was the heart of his soon-to-be dungeon. Not that it needed to be a dungeon, but he had always wanted to make his own awesome dungeon, and he felt a dungeon would be the best way to take advantage of the many exciting abilities he had access to.


    The World Crystal had given him access to a butt load of knowledge about his abilities from both when he was human, Eldritch God, and now when they had transformed to fit his new form.


    He had received more knowledge than just about his abilities, which explained some aspects of his new existence and just how much they were going to break the rules of reality with the approval of Mother Eternity. He would put that knowledge to good use as he expanded, something he had delayed enough.


    Dan looked around the small cave, deciding it was time to get to work. The cave was next to the shattered space that his minions had shattered so his Eldritch God self could break and enter the planet. The goal was to let him start outside the chaotic and dangerous space in order to let him build up some forces. This starting bonus was minimal, as he couldn¡¯t claim much area of the planet''s actual reality. In fact, the outside area he was about to claim was only a small portion of the total land he would eventually have when he entered the shattered space. This starting zone was more of a temporary spot to set up for his invasion of the lands, which would eventually become his proper dungeon.


    That was the first thing he was informed of with his new dungeon system. The notices were more in his head as he got an image or feeling of how they looked, but it was still helpful, especially after he switched them to pop into reality.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Notice! You can only claim 500 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.


    To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.


    ??


    Seeing the screen from all perspectives was odd, but he didn¡¯t mind and just thought about how funny it would look if some random person walked in and saw a bunch of boxes floating in space.


    Those thoughts led him to consider his change in perspective. Even though he had apparently become an Eldritch God, he had just been human from his current perspective and memories, which made the ability to see space all around him incredibly odd.


    Thinking about his new sense, he dug up his old aberration spatial ability and compared it to his new dungeon sense.


    Spatial Sense: You can inspect your surroundings with your telekinesis and receive feedback as if you are experiencing the area with your senses.


    His old ability was relatively straightforward, and from the looks of it, his new ability was the same, though more inclined to his new existence. Additionally, the World Crystal had clearly learned of his dungeon intentions through their bond and had adapted the descriptions.


    Dungeon Sense: You are aware of the entire area of your dungeon and all that happens within. Additionally, some of your abilities can and will work throughout your whole dungeon or only in certain areas.


    Where before, his spatial sense was based on his power and rank. Now, it was based on his dungeon area, which sucked. Specifically, it was the loss of freedom Dan hated since he was basically blind to everything outside his dungeon lands. Dan knew there were ways to bypass the annoyance, but it didn¡¯t detract from his dislike of it.


    After calming himself, Dan moved on from the whole sense thing, inspected the area around him again, and found a small hole where air was moving through. Dan knew he had derailed himself and decided it was time to get to it.


    First, he went to look at his Dungeon Menu. The menu was a good place for him to see his growth and was an excellent tool to visualize his powers. Technically, he didn¡¯t need it, but he had it and his human brain liked menus from way back when he was playing games, so he would keep it.


    The menu appeared with a thought.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Common.


    Shards Collected: 0/100.


    Points till Next Rank: 0/100.


    Mana: 300/300.


    Mana Regen: 8 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 4 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 100 feet.


    Total Area Claimed: 20 feet.


    Abilities: 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    ??


    The menu summed up his current state reasonably well, and he quickly assumed that the Chaos Mana was responsible for his daily mana. Seeing the slow regen rate, he would have been worried, but he knew one of his new dungeon abilities would alleviate the problem, eventually.


    Mana Collection: With a modification from the World Crystal, your Heart Crystal will allow you to collect the diluted mana from other entities¡¯ magical spells or abilities within your dungeon. Additionally, you may also collect excess mana from a creature¡¯s soul when it dies in your dungeon area.


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    Moving on from his new ability, Dan looked at the three menu options and quickly chose Claim or Edit Area. He was interested in the possibilities the other two would have but figured he would eventually get to them.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    ¡ª Claim Area


    ¡ª Edit Area


    The option was straightforward, and he mentally clicked on Claim Area, which prompted him to select the area.


    That''s when things got interesting. Dan could only sense the area he had claimed, and everything was blank outside that area. He knew stuff was there, but his senses went blurry, and then there was nothing. However, once he clicked the claim area, he was prompted to choose two options. They didn''t show up as actual prompts but more like telling him two options were available.


    One was him claiming open ground like an already existing cave. This was him just exerting his power over the space. The second was claiming new ground by digging it out. This would create a tunnel, cave, or opening while also claiming it. He innately knew this second option would be slightly more expensive. However, that was his only current option because he had run out of open space in his small cave. Also, that option was the most interesting one because it allowed him to see an extra five feet past his current sense limit, even without him purchasing the space. He could also choose a certain distance in a direction, and it would claim and remove matter in that direction. Doing this would let him see ahead but would lock in the purchase regardless of what was there or not. Now, as nice as that was, he needed to be careful because removing stone and dirt was cheap, but the price could skyrocket if he ran into something more precious or durable.


    Knowing this, Dan chose to claim five feet toward the small hole he felt because the extra sensing distance that the option gave him told him that he would run into a tunnel there.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Claim and dig five feet for two mana?


    Yes or No.


    ??


    He obviously hit yes and watched as the rock seemingly evaporated away, revealing the five-foot hole in the stone and letting his sight move forward a bit. And since his senses told him there was a more natural cavern, he kept claiming the area slowly but surely.


    All in all, he claimed an additional 425 feet of cavern that led up to the surface and into what looked like a forest. He did claim a tiny portion of the forest, but not much. After claiming everything, he had 50 feet left, which he would use to tunnel to the shattered space behind the room holding his crystal.


    In total, he had spent 85 mana from his total of 300, well 87 if he counted the earlier five feet. It was also important for Dan to note that the area it showed he claimed was technically the surface area. It just didn''t show all the empty air-filled space that was still his.


    Additionally, Dan wondered how things would work inside of the shattered space. Using the claiming ability for 500 feet of space wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. However, if things escalated in size, things would get ugly fast. That, however, was a problem for future Dan, and current Dan moved on.


    With the area claimed, Dan mentally smiled as it was time for what was going to be one of his favorite things: Creature Creation. Opening the menu, he was met with two options and went ahead to create a new creature.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    ¡ª Edit Creature


    ¡ª Create Creature


    - - Type.


    - - - Monster.


    - - - Humanoid.


    - - - Hybrid.


    When prompted to choose what kind of creature he wanted, he quickly chose a monster, as that was the only thing available to him. Dan currently only had access to some of the beasts from Earth, and he needed to absorb new creatures to be able to create them. This meant the humanoid and hybrid options were currently unavailable since he had no humanoids with which to make hybrids. Technically, he could make beast hybrids but apparently, they still counted as beasts.


    After choosing the monster option, a new menu popped up, and a list of beasts appeared.


    Aardvark, Agouti, Albacore, Albatross, Alligator, Alligator Gar...


    Nope. He was not going to go through all of the animals. Fuck that. However, he wasn¡¯t sure what was normal on his current planet, so he decided to go with a somewhat normal creature like a bear. Well, normal for him.


    From there, he could choose to make the bear large or smaller and give it a few different abilities. He gave it four abilities and left it as a large beast, which was its natural size.


    Dan could also give the bear some other extra special abilities as he was making the bear a boss-type monster for his dungeon, but he decided it wasn¡¯t worth the cost in mana just yet.


    It was a lovely creation.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Ingot the Bear.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Bestial.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 4.


    Metal Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Rootbind. Body Enhancement - Resilient.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Night Vision. Keen Smell. Strength. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 24 Mana (48 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 48 Mana.


    ??


    The name wasn¡¯t the best, but it wasn¡¯t that bad.


    Looking at the stats, Dan was unsure of the Bestial mind. He had given the bear the highest level of bestial intelligence, putting it up there with things like dolphins and dogs, so it should be fairly intelligent. Dan had wanted to give it proper intelligence but had also wanted to save the extra mana for now.


    Feeling okay with the mind thing, Dan inspected the abilities. They were simple and meant to give it the highest chance of catching something and bringing it back alive, as things dying outside his dungeon area didn¡¯t give him mana. Continuing to inspect the bear, the bear''s innate abilities caught him off guard. He had been expecting Night Vision and Keen Smell but not the other three. Though, Strength was self-explanatory.


    However, a quick check of his dungeon abilities cleared the confusion for the other two.


    Eldritch Regeneration: All boss creatures of your dungeon have health-regenerating abilities that can only be impeded by magic one rank above them. Note that this ability increases in strength significantly based on the creature''s rank.


    Dungeon Mind: With assistance from the World Crystal, you are able to process all information happening within your dungeon. You can also manage many aspects of your dungeon simultaneously through the Crystal Dungeon System.


    Additionally, your dungeon creations may manifest Telepathic and Telekinetic abilities that will also favor the Domination side of magic. Furthermore, you and your creations are resistant to negative mind-altering effects.


    Well, that was nice.


    Seeing that more of his aberration abilities were pulling their weight was excellent. They were definitely better than his old ones, that was for sure.


    Eldritch Regeneration: As long as your Crystal Heart is intact, you may regenerate your physical body using Arcane Mana.


    Eldritch Mind: You can perform a variety of Telepathic effects with your Telepathy ability. These effects include creating illusions and mentally dominating creatures. Additionally, you have resistance to negative Telepathic effects, and you are able to process more information from different sources at a faster speed without being overwhelmed by excessive mental stress.


    Dan was starting to feel rather overpowered, but something told him that his power wouldn''t seem as strong once he started fighting the other shards. So, he had to build up faster and decided to make a mini-boss.

 Chapter 3 - Visitors

    Dungeon Day 1 ¨C Continues


    For a mini-boss, Dan was not going to go with something practical like a bear to a cave. He wanted to give Ingot some eyes in the sky. Even if the two dungeon creatures couldn¡¯t communicate telepathically, Dan wanted Ingot to have some air support.


    So, for a mini-boss, Dan was going to make an eagle. He quickly pulled up the creature creation menu and went through the process. An eagle was a beast, of course. The problem was that it was considered a small creature, so Dan bumped it up to medium size, maybe the size of an average human. Then he gave it some sweet new abilities and bam! A new creation was made.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Hawk the Eagle.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Bestial.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Stealth. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Night Vision. Wind Affinity. Wind Slash.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Keen Sight. Flight. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 24 Mana (47 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 47 Mana.


    ??


    The name was stupid, but Dan liked it. Hawk the Eagle would be something hilarious for his future explorers to see.


    With his new creations done, Dan told his two monsters to go out into the forest and bring him some living creatures. He didn¡¯t gain mana from things dying outside of his dungeon area, so he had to kill the things in his little cave system.


    That thought sparked something that he would put into progress later. For now, he was looking at his barren mini-cave system with its few mushrooms and spider webs and just sighed internally. He only had 118 mana left, so he should probably wait until his mana suppliers returned before doing anything else. Dan wanted to have enough mana to sling some kinetic blasts in case something came too close to his core. Something like that weird-looking mole with metal claws coming at him from the side of the shattered lands.


    ¡°Shit! Of course, stuff is going to leak from the shattered lands!¡± Dan cursed as he got ready to start blasting.


    The stupid mole was coming straight for his Heart Crystal, so he elevated it. A few moments later, the mole shot up from the stone. Dan had claimed the area, but he hadn¡¯t reinforced the stone, and the mole melted through it like butter.


    Now, even if the thing was just a mole, Dan was not taking chances and spent 50 of his mana to blast the thing.


    The mole flew against the cave wall, and though its claws were made of metal, the rest of its body was not, and it splattered against the stone wall.


    ¡°All right, maybe that was too much force,¡± Dan said aloud to the dark cave as he inspected the splatter on the wall, which had left behind a semi-metal skeleton. If the thing had-had some regeneration, it could have been comparable with a certain clawed hero. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t, as that would have made the battle much more annoying.


    Still, Dan had used too much force, and seeing that the mole only gave him 25 mana back, it was not worth the kill. Hopefully, not too many things would come out of the shattered space. After all, the size it covered was immense. However, since it seemed like a possible threat in the foreseeable future, Dan was thinking of spawning some basic animals as diversions.


    He knew that with adventurers giving him mana, he would eventually have some proper bosses guarding his core. Though, in truth, he would probably end up sealing himself off completely. After all, there wasn¡¯t any game rule in his new system that said he couldn¡¯t. And more than likely, the stuff he would eventually deal with could probably disintegrate any obstacles as they made their way to him.


    In the end, Dan didn¡¯t make any more creatures. He would hold out and put some faith in his telekinesis.


    Telekinesis: You can affect your dungeon area via your Dungeon Menu but are not limited to its options. Additionally, you may use Telekinetic attacks on invaders that enter your dungeon core room. The force of the telekinetic attacks is measured based on the mana spent.


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    With the whole mole situation out of the way, Dan went back to inspecting his cave system and realized it was small. How was he supposed to make a good introductory area for newbies with 500 feet of space!? Outraged, he poked the World Crystal through their eternal connection.


    ¡°Yo, chief, I need more land.¡± That was all it took, and he got a system message informing him of his increase in claimable land.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Notice! You can only claim 1000 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.


    To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.


    ??


    Dan was honestly surprised at how a semi-eternal creature could be so lazy! He was trying to make a freaking dungeon here and was getting reused assets from the chief investor.


    ¡°Fucking, money grubbers!¡± Dan blurted out loud, thinking back to all the awesome games ruined by money-hungry bastards.


    That was a bad idea because he then got another system message.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Notice! You can only claim 500 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.


    To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.


    ??


    ¡°Fuck! I am sorry! I take it back!¡± Dan yelled desperately into the air.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Notice! You can only claim 1000 feet of total space outside the shattered reality.


    To claim more land, you must enter the shattered space.


    ??


    Welp! This is not a free-speech world, Dan thought.


    Moving away from the topic of land, he didn¡¯t have mana to claim. Dan was going to start planning out his future cave layout when something entered the cave at blinding speed. And before he could even react, there was what Dan could only classify as an adventurer in front of his heart-shaped crystal.


    The human in front of him had been moving so fast that the only reason it didn''t look like they had just teleported into the room was that his dungeon sense registered something moving through his dungeon area. However, just because Dan knew there was something in his dungeon didn¡¯t mean he could even remotely track it with enough speed to react.


    She was a dark-haired beauty with tan caramel skin and beautiful golden eyes. The woman had a lean body and wore black leather armor with intermixed embroideries of small chain links that glimmered silver-white and light blue. The beauty in front of him was a bit taller than the average human woman back on Earth and was built like a sexy olympian athlete, at least from what Dan could appraise. She also had beautiful black earrings whose shining and glimmering jewels reflected unseen light in the dark cave. Closer inspection showed she had some expensive-looking daggers strapped to the sides of her thighs and a small leather pouch magically attached to her belt.


    Even if she looked good, the human was an intruder, and Dan would at least try to defend himself. However, before Dan could gather his mana, the woman spoke, her voice sweet and soft, unlike the sheer pressure she gave off as if a dragon was in the cave.


    ¡°So, this is the new creation by the World Crystal.¡±


    Now, even if Dan couldn''t use telepathy with creatures not from his dungeon, he could still talk by using telekinesis and abusing his magical dungeon abilities.


    ¡°Technically, it didn¡¯t create me. Though in a sense, it is the reason why my current form exists.¡± Dan said, smiling inwardly as he saw the woman suddenly hide the surprise from having him talk.


    She then stared at his crystal for a moment before speaking.


    ¡°Hmm, I see. Either way, you are quite an interesting existence with a unique way of speaking.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, I would use telepathy, but sadly, you aren''t special enough.¡± That particular line caused the lady to harumph, denying his statement. Dan, unbothered, continued. ¡°So, why are you here if you aren''t here to destroy me? Actually, who are you?¡±


    ¡°I am an Adventurer, Arch Cleric, and overall badass.¡± She responded with some sass and then casually dropped a bombshell: ¡°I am just here so my god can talk to you.¡±


    That''s when the pressure in the cave really began to rise, and Dan felt like he was going to shatter, at least until his connection with the World Crystal tugged, and a literal coating of multicolored sparkling light covered his crystal, blocking all the godly energy.


    As Dan watched, the woman in front of him began to glow with silver, blue, and golden energy, and her eyes became orbs of power of the same color. Her dark armor was also overcome with energy and transformed into a shining black metal with hints of light blue chains. The adventurer floated above the ground, her body adjusting as she became more graceful, filling with unnatural grace. She was blessed with unequal perfection and radiant splendor that could only be given by divine energy of the highest caliber.


    Once the transformation was completed, the divine entity before him was content to float around his crystal, inspecting it again. Then, once their curiosity was satisfied, it spoke.


    ¡°Hello, ??¡¯????? ???¡¯????.¡± Dan had no idea what the entity said, but reality did not like it, and everything went funky for a bit before he felt another pulse from his World Crystal connection, this time mixed with a bit of anger. Whatever the avatar or god had said was not approved by the world, and as reality was restored, Dan saw the energy around the woman flicker for a second.


    ¡°Apologies.¡± It said out loud, and Dan felt the anger lessen and eventually disappear.


    Turning its attention back to Dan, it spoke once again.


    ¡°I am the deity of adventure in this world that you so kindly tried to destroy.¡± The avatar said, and Dan kindly interrupted.


    ¡°Listen, Linda. I haven''t done jack shit! I am just some dude who was on Earth a few hours ago before being shoved into this situation. And now, apparently, I am trying to help unfuck your world. So, I would appreciate it if you would go fuck yourself!¡±


    That got her or it, whatever, laughing hysterically.


    ¡°You are one rude crystal and either especially brave or stupid talking to a deity like that. You¡¯re lucky that she is interested in this little scenario, or you would be scrap by now.¡±


    Well, that was useful information to know. Dan had political immunity from the gods, though maybe it was best if he didn¡¯t push it. It''s not like what he had said was a lie. He still felt like the whole thing was a freaking dream. Some things were just hard to accept. Either way, he responded, moving the conversation along.


    ¡°Uhuh, so what do you want? I can¡¯t imagine you¡¯re here to chat.¡±


    ¡°I just wanted to come check out the thing that is responsible for killing so many of my adventurers and to give you a warning since you will be their future trainer as well.¡± The avatar stated calmly before the energy in the cave changed, and things got serious. Dan wasn¡¯t affected by it but could still feel it, and it sent a chill down his crystal.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take advantage of my heroes. A fair challenge, a quick death, and all with equal recompense are acceptable. Anything less, any tricks, and even the World Crystal has limits you do not wish to test.¡±


    The entity spoke, and the world reacted as the walls melted for a fraction of a second, and the air became glass. Then, the dark hair returned in a flash, and the woman¡¯s feet hit the ground. Blood spilled from her nose and eyes as she gave Dan a soft smile and disappeared.

 Chapter 4 - Upgrades

    After the woman left, Dan changed his attitude, and his sense of reality shifted. He had wanted more land for a newbie training area, but honestly, this world he was in had clearly gone through some shit. And a small piece of land was nowhere near enough to give adventurers the needed space to advance and train properly. Dan was going to be a dungeon and be dependent on adventurers, so it was best if he kept them alive since that would let him milk them for more mana. It was also good to keep a good force of adventurers in case another Eldritch God decided to come along and try to finish the job. After all, this was also his world now. So, Dan needed to focus on getting to the shattered lands, where the real challenges of his new life and future would show themselves.


    To do that, he needed more creatures under his command. Luckily, after the deity''s little display, his mana was back to 300. Dan didn¡¯t think it would happen often since he couldn¡¯t use the Ambient Mana and was sure that the refill was a gift given through the World Crystal from the goddess, probably as a peace offering. Now, regarding the whole Ambient Mana thing, Dan had wondered why he couldn¡¯t use it, and it was because of balance. Usually, a situation like his wasn¡¯t possible. As such, part of the contract, and probably the reason Mother Infinity had agreed to it, was the fact that he had limits. Otherwise, Dan would steamroll through the shattered lands.


    Speaking of the shattered lands, Dan wasn¡¯t sure what kind of enemies he would find there, so he needed to prepare. The best approach Dan could think of was to make a reasonably balanced force. To do so, he needed some scouts, decent damage dealers, and some burly types to act as the front line. Obviously, Hawk would be the aerial leader for possible scouting, while Ingot would be the burly bear. Now, he just needed some agility base beasts with high damage capabilities.


    Dan was thinking of making some jaguars to fill that agility and damage role, so he got to work.


    The first jaguar would be a boss monster and be upgraded to a large size. Then Dan was going to give it four new abilities. Another thing he was going to do was give it Intelligence and proper Sapience, something Dan also planned to give Hawk and Ingot. Another thing he gave Xinos was the Share Sense ability that would let Dan see through the boss''s eyes and share all its senses. All in all, his new Jaguar was badass and came into existence in his cave.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Xinos the Jaguar.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 4.


    Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Agility. Metal Affinity. Metal Slash.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Night Vision. Keen Smell. Stealth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 59 Mana (118 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 118 Mana.


    ??


    Much like Ingot, Xinos''s fur was dark gray but with lighter silver dots. It took the jaguar a few seconds to catch up with reality, and once it did, he spoke with Dan for the very first time.


    ¡°Hello, Master. How may I serve?¡± his voice was interesting as it was a bit gruff, but it sounded like a young man speaking.


    ¡°Just chill for now, Xinos. I am waiting for your companions to come back.¡±


    ¡°Very well,¡± Xinos responded before lying down and closing his eyes.


    Dan wasn¡¯t going to make the other jaguars yet, but he considered making a mini-boss for Xinos as his lieutenant. However, he also held off on that, deciding to wait and upgrade Hawk and Ingot first. Then he would make the mini-bosses for each of his bosses and finally make some minions.


    For now, he decided to expand his cave by digging out the central space and creating a larger overall space. Dan planned to eventually make this area into a proper welcoming zone that would bring people into the dungeon. Instead of the training zone he had first imagined.


    After digging that bit of stone out, he was down to 156 mana and decided to wait for his two gatherers by planning out the mini-bosses.


    Dan was thinking of making Xinos¡¯s mini-boss a cheetah. The speedy cats would make good land scouts, and with some better agility and earth magic, they would be a threat in any land environment. As for Hawk the Eagle, she would be given a hawk named Eagle. The reason for this choice was simple. Dan wanted Hawk the Eagle to be the bigger aerial threat instead of an actual scout, and instead, he would make Eagle the Hawk a future aerial scout mini-boss. Finally, for Ingot, he was thinking of giving him a gorilla for an additional ¡°oh shit!¡± factor. He had thought about a rhino or hippo, but a gorilla seemed like a good fit for any terrain. In contrast, a rhino and hippo would need open ground to traverse properly without running into everything.


    As for the minions, Dan planned to have a bit of everything¡ªwell, not really. He would have some panthers, jaguars, and cheetahs for Xinos. For Hawk and Eagle, just more of their kind. Finally, Ingot would get some more bears, gorillas, and maybe some baboons to ride on said bears for an infantry of sorts.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Losing himself in planning, it wasn¡¯t long before Ingot and Hawk came back.


    Hawk was riding on top of Ingot and guarding a couple of deer entangled in half-metal wooden roots. Dan could see the deer struggling as his dungeon beasts slowly made their way through the cave until they finally reached the core room. Having noticed the pair some time ago, Xinos was up and staring at the eagle and bear, who in turn stared back. Dan thought for a second that they were going to fight, but then some sort of understanding was exchanged, and the jaguar returned to lying on the stone floor.


    Hawk jumped off Ingot as the bear tossed the two deer on the ground, and with a command from Dan, the bear quickly killed the two beasts, giving him a whole 20 mana and taking him to a whopping 176 mana.


    Sighing inwardly, Dan looked at Xinos and told him to take the eagle-bear combo back out and bring back something stronger. Then, telling Ingot and Hawk to follow Xinos, the trio walked out of the cave.


    Dungeon Day 2


    A whole day later, the trio came back with a haul as they dragged the body of a huge ape tangled in metal roots. The thing was barely alive and was bleeding heavily from slashes all over its body. Honestly, it was almost dead. In fact, it died right before the trio made it to the core room, and this time, Dan got a sweet 80 mana from its death, bringing his total to 264 with the eight of a new day also added in.


    Finally, with enough mana to upgrade Ingot and Hawk, Dan got to it.


    First was Ingot, who was going to receive the biggest upgrade. The bear went from large to huge and was going to get Intelligence, Sapience, and Share Sense like Xinos. Additionally, it would go from metal affinity to earth and gain two new abilities. The most important one being Mana Storage, which doubled the monster''s available mana pool. Overall, Ingot would be his most expensive monster yet, with a total of 204 mana spent to create him.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Ingot the Bear.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Huge.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 200/200.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Earth Affinity. Earth Slam. Earth Entomb. Mana Storage. Body Enhancement - Resilient and Strength.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Night Vision. Keen Smell. Strength. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 102 Mana (204 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Original Create Cost: 48 to 204 Mana.


    ??


    Ingot was engulfed in dark brown light that lit up the cave, and the bear disappeared momentarily from sight.


    The change was obvious and instant as the bear now barely fit in the core room. Ingot was huge and sturdy, with literal dirt covering him and growing out of his dark brown fur. The bear stood almost like an unmoving mountain, and Dan wanted to see his first boss tumble something to the ground.


    After stabilizing for a minute like Xinos had, Ingot finally spoke with a deep and rumbling voice.


    ¡°Master, how may I be of assistance?¡± He said as he lowered his body to the ground.


    ¡°Oh, man! Ingot, you look freaking awesome. Let''s go out to the bigger cave so we can upgrade Hawk there.¡±


    Getting up from his bear bow, Ingot slowly backed out of the small cave, and Dan followed the jaguar and eagle as he floated his crystal to the bigger cave.


    Now, it was time for Hawk to get upgraded. Hawk was going to go from medium to large, become a proper boss, and gain Share Sense. Dan would also give the bird sapience and intelligence, bringing her upgrade to completion.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Hawk the Eagle.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Stealth. Body Enhancement - Speed and Strength. Night Vision. Wind Affinity. Wind Slash.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Sight. Flight. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 64 Mana (128 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 47 to 128 Mana.


    ??


    Unlike Ingot, Hawk didn¡¯t change much other than being half the size of the new and improved Ingot. However, Dan knew the bird was strong and could lift a bear off the ground. Additionally, she had a slight green tinge on all her feathers.


    With the upgraded boss, Dan was now broke, with only 27 mana. However, he wasn¡¯t worried and told Hawk and Xinos to bring back something good. He also wanted to send Ingot, but with only 27 mana, Dan wanted some protection just in case something else happened.


    Still, now his bosses had Share Sense, and he quickly began inspecting the forest through Hawk''s eagle vision. The first thing Dan noticed was that they were actually quite close to the ocean. In fact, the shore was only a couple of miles away from his cave entrance. Dan, who wanted to see more, nudged Hawk to move that way. The two couldn¡¯t communicate properly as the eagle wasn¡¯t close enough for telepathy, but they still had a connection Dan could use to give a few nudges.


    Dan spotted some other large sky predators on the way there and could feel Hawk''s worry upon seeing a wyvern in the distance. Even so, they quickly made it to the shore.


    There, he spotted a large fish in the water, and he felt Hawk doing some mental math before plummeting down to catch it.


    With a splash, Hawk went into the water, and before Dan could blink, the large bird was back out with a fish almost the same size as her. She then began flying to the cave, and Dan switched to Xino¡¯s vision.


    The jaguar was being stealthy as it stalked a freaking bear. It was just a regular bear, unlike Ingot, who was magically empowered. Still, a jaguar hunting a bear was crazy. Xinos watched the bear for a few minutes before deciding he could take it and pounced at the beast.


    Dan felt as the jaguar''s skin gained some of the resiliency of iron, and his fangs and claws transmuted to metal. Then Xinos struck the bear, his bite digging deep into the creature''s neck before his claws glowed, and his mana went down as he unleashed some metal slashes, bringing the bear down.


    Xinos then dismissed his magic and bit into the half-dead bear as if he were grabbing a kitten before the jaguar dragged the body to the cave.


    Hawk was the first to arrive, or better said, Hawk''s fish was the first to arrive as it splatted into the cave entrance, dying on the spot and giving Dan a sweet 40 mana. After Hawk came Xinos, who walked into the cave before slaying the bear and giving Dan another 40 mana.


    Seeing his mana go up, Dan smiled inwardly as he prepared to spawn some more monsters, but before doing so, he gave Ingot the go-ahead to leave and do some hunting.

 Chapter 5 - Expansion Part 1

    Dungeon Day 2 ¨C Continues


    Dan wanted to have at least 250 mana before starting the creation of the mini-bosses, so he just chilled in his cave and waited for his three bosses to come back with more creatures. Luckily, he only had to wait a couple of hours after Hawk spotted a huge scorpion that was almost D rank. She wasn¡¯t too comfortable taking the beast alone and had asked for assistance from Ingot and Xinos.


    The trio traveled near the marsh and battled the thing. His three bosses were maybe considered to be a quarter to D rank, and the battle was hard-fought, as they had to watch out for the deadly stinger and claws. Even then, Ingot got stabbed once and was in rough condition. Still, they had managed to weaken the scorpion a lot, and Ingot had held it still with his Earth Entomb ability, which summoned slabs of stone on either side of a target. The move then allowed Xinos to cut the stinger off.


    With the thing¡¯s stinger cut, Hawk snatched it and was flying back to the cave while Xinos safely escorted Ingot home. Dan was honestly more worried about paying the 204 mana to respawn Ingot than anything. It made him a bad boss, but he didn¡¯t want to delay his conquering for too long.


    Dan wanted to hit D rank, as that was when adventurers would start coming to him and giving him a constant mana supply. Then, with the constant and reliable mana supply, Dan could focus on expanding into the shattered lands faster. Dan knew that the shards would only grow stronger with every day that passed, and the faster things went, the better.


    Dan was smacked out of his thoughts as a scorpion''s body smacked into his cave, and he gained a sweet 100 mana, taking him to 207. He then ordered Hawk to go back to Ingot and make sure he got back alive, and finally heard the Hawk''s voice as she responded in a somewhat deep yet young and womanly voice.


    ¡°Yes, master!¡±


    Moving on from that revelation, Dan went back to reviewing what exactly he would purchase for his mini-bosses and decided that he might as well spawn in at least one to speed up the hunting time.


    Considering they were in a forest, Dan decided to start with Ingot''s mini-boss. He was going to get Ingot, a gorilla buddy. Gorillas were considered medium, but that wasn¡¯t acceptable, as the boss needed to be intimidating like Ingot, so Dan upgraded it to large. Next, he gave the gorilla some wood and earth affinities with a few body enhancements. Finally, he made it Intelligent and Sapient, as he needed it to communicate properly with his other bosses.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: George the Gorilla.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Wood Affinity. Earth Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility and Strength. Wood Control. Earth Control. Night Vision. Smash.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Strength. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 48 Mana (96 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 96 Mana.


    ??


    George was around half the size of Ingot, though definitely larger than Hawk, well, not if Dan included the eagle''s wingspan. Still, the green and brown gorilla was rather interesting, with the brown being their usual black fur while the green was their silver back.


    Dan liked George and was tempted to make him yellow but decided against it. Either way, Dan told George to go do some light hunting, and the gorilla nodded and skipped away. Dan called it a skip. Honestly, he wasn¡¯t sure what to call gorillas walking. It definitely wasn¡¯t a walk, maybe a trot?


    Anyway, Dan had enough to make another mini-boss, as the two that were left weren¡¯t going to be as expensive as George. However, Dan decided to wait and instead began working on a boss to act as a healer with an accompanying mini-boss and healing squad. He originally wasn¡¯t going to bother with healers, but after seeing Ingot get beat up so hard, Dan decided it was best to invest in a healer. This would also delay the spawning of minions, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.


    After some calculations, Dan was mad. He was short five mana to be able to make the new boss.


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Dan shouted before sending a nudge to George to come back with whatever he had caught so far.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    George returned an hour later with a deer, which gave Dan 20 mana. And considering Dan was about to go super broke, he told George to chill and act as his defender while he began the next creation.


    He was going to make a female elk for his healing boss. A female elk was considered medium, and Dan was happy to leave it like that. In terms of abilities, Dan just stuffed a bunch of healing things into the boss, along with night vision and mana storage. Then, like he planned to do for every boss creature, he gave her Share Sense, Intelligence, and Sapience, which rounded up the creation. With that done, Dan watched as a white fur elk with slight tinges of gold came into existence.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Fir the Elk.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 200/200.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Restoration Affinity. Cleansing Affinity. Healing Touch. Cleansing Touch. Aura of Healing. Aura of Cleansing. Night Vision. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 3.


    Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 54 Mana (108 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 108 Mana.


    ??


    The elk bowed by folding one leg and extending the other forward as she spoke with a refined, ladylike voice.


    ¡°My lord. How may I serve?¡±


    ¡°I have a heavily wounded bear on the way. They should be arriving soon. Meet them at the entrance. Then Dan watched Fir walk away and start a conversation with George while waiting for the trio of bosses to arrive.


    For his part, Dan just relaxed and waited until Ingot and his escort got to the cave.


    As soon as Fir saw the bear past a few trees, she rushed forward, and Dan saw through George¡¯s eyes as the deer lit up in gold and touched Ingot with her nose. Soon after, Ingot also glowed with golden light, and Dan could feel him relax through their bond.


    Soon enough, the party was close enough, and Dan began telepathically talking to his bear.


    ¡°Hey buddy, how are you feeling?¡±


    ¡°I am all right, master.¡± The bear responded with his deep, rumbling voice.


    ¡°Good, good, take a break. You have done good work.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, master,¡± Ingot responded as he entered the cave with the rest of the entourage.


    The rest of that day was mostly spent relaxing as Fir healed Hawk and Xinos, and all his monsters just talked to each other about their hunts and existence so far. For his part, Dan just listened to them, only chipping in now and then.


    Dungeon Day 3


    Everyone was good to go the following day, but Dan told Ingot to chill and let everyone else leave except for Fir, who wasn¡¯t a combatant. Dan only had 28 mana and wanted to give Ingot some extra rest while the bear acted as a guard.


    For the most part, Dan knew his monsters were smart enough to know not to fight certain things and when to run away. However, the situation with Ingot taught Dan it was better to be safe than sorry, and he told everyone that if they reencountered something like the scorpion, they should make sure they got Fir for healing before engaging.


    From then on, things went rather smoothly, and Dan got some more mana throughout the day. The rate was slow as their movements in the area had alerted the weak prey, and his monsters had to travel a bit further out to hunt. There was also the problem of avoiding stronger monsters.


    Dan got 20 mana from a large boar, then another 20 from a deer, and 35 from a rather large fish and a centipede, bringing his new mana total to 138. With that amount, he was going to create a new mini-boss and keep Ingot guarding him, but his plans were interrupted when he got a bad feeling through his connection with Hawk, which was followed by a notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Boss Death ??


    Notice! Boss: Hawk the Eagle has died to Poison Wyvern.


    Due to Death outside of the Dungeon Area, extra penalties are added.


    Respawn Time is 10 Hours, and Respawn cost is 128 Mana.


    ??


    ¡°Fuuuuuccckkkk!¡± Dan¡¯s scream resonated throughout the cave, scaring Ingot and Fir. His anger was also felt through his connection with his monsters, and he felt as they began making their way back. However, he quickly sent a feeling that everything was fine and that he needed mana.


    Sadly, there wasn¡¯t much he could do. If Dan had to guess, a wyvern was probably C rank, which was way above his current capabilities. That was annoying, though; why would some C ranker go after his nonrank monster?


    After that incident, things slowed down even more as all his monsters went about things carefully, and he only got 50 more mana from some other weaker beasts.


    Eventually, all of his monsters returned to the cave, and Dan wanted to give them time to get to know each other. He knew they had many more trials to go through and wanted them to trust and learn from each other. Dan also wanted to learn about them and see how they thought and processed information. He knew that the way they were created was a bit odd as they came to as adults or at least with adult-like minds. This meant they had former knowledge and even instincts that they hadn''t learned firsthand and would need time to adjust as they put their knowledge into practice. Even then, there was always more to learn.


    Heck, so far, Dan had been getting to see more of Xinos and Ingot. Xinos was what amounted to a silent and judging killer. He stayed quiet, watched, and pounced just like the predator he was. This wasn¡¯t just in combat but like how he conducted himself. When everyone else was talking, Xinos would listen and speak occasionally.


    On the other hand, Ingot was like the jolly dad of the group. The bear and his deep and rumbling voice were always there to try and be helpful and make sure everyone felt included. As for Hawk, she was another loner but was more playful and social than Xinos, but she definitely wasn''t as social as Fir. Though the elk was the most recent addition to the group, she was the mom, which made sense as a healer. The elk always checked on everyone, ensuring they were good to go and in top condition. Even during all her time in the cave, she had just been worrying about the rest of the monsters, especially after Hawk died.


    As for George, he had yet to show much of his personality. Being Ingot''s underling, the gorilla tried to match the bear''s personality, but it just wasn''t him. Still, George had plenty of time to figure out exactly who he was.


    Watching his monsters interact made Dan question just what they meant to him. Right now, they were his only monsters in a small cave in the middle of nowhere. This made them feel closer to him, like family. However, what would happen when things escalated and he had thousands of monsters in an even larger dungeon? He wasn¡¯t sure how big the shattered zone would be, but based on some information from the World Crystal, it was at least the size of a quarter of a continent.

 Chapter 6 - Expansion Part 2

    Dungeon Day 4


    As soon as the respawn timer was done, Dan brought back Hawk, who seemed just fine.


    ¡°Hawk, you okay there?¡± Dan asked the eagle telepathically.


    ¡°Yes, master!¡± She replied as if nothing happened.


    ¡°You sure? You did die, after all.¡±


    ¡°Is that not part of our purpose?¡± Hawk responded once again.


    The response was a bit of a shock to Dan; it was true, but he still didn¡¯t think it would play out so well.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, Hawk. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to take it so well.¡±


    Hawk, in turn, just gave him a bird shrug and hopped to the rest of her companions. While the monsters talked, Dan wondered how the rest would react to death. He did not believe they would all take it so calmly, or maybe they would. After all, Hawk had a point: they were all pre-programmed to die.


    The monsters mainly asked Hawk how she felt and if it had been scary. Naturally, there were differences in how they went about that, with Fir trying to examine the eagle in every way imaginable.


    Ingot just gave the eagle a welcome-back hug while Xinos just nodded at her in admiration. George was the odd one out as he was essentially the only underling and wasn¡¯t sure how to interact with his superiors well. Something Dan planned to fix. He had 60 mana, which was enough for one of the other mini-bosses that he had planned.


    Dan wasn¡¯t sure which one to go for. There was the cheetah, hawk, and another elk. The elk was out as it was going to be too expensive. However, between the cheetah and hawk, he wasn¡¯t sure. Another aerial scout could be nice, but Dan really liked cheetahs. Ultimately, he felt bad for Hawk and decided to give her a companion.


    Hawks were considered tiny beasts, and Dan was fine with leaving them as such. After all, the hawk would be more of a speedy scout than anything else, and Dan imagined a small size would be best. He was going to give the hawk two wind base abilities, one body enhancement, and a quality-of-life improvement, but other than that, it would just be the Intelligence and Sapience to round it all up.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Eagle the Hawk.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 4.


    Wind Affinity. Wind Control. Body Enhancement - Speed. Night Vision.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Vision. Flight. Speed. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 21 Mana (42 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 42 Mana.


    ??


    Eagle the hawk was tiny, with light gray feathers slightly tinged with light green. She came into existence and dropped for a millisecond before her mind kicked in, and she kicked up a mini storm around her and quickly zoomed through the cave and between the bosses.


    ¡°Hey, Boss! How is it going!? How are you feeling!?¡± Eagle squealed in a high-pitched child-like voice as she zoomed about. However, before Dan could answer, she squawked again.


    ¡°I am doing great! I am doing more than great. In fact! I am amazing! Look at me go! Look at me go!¡±


    Oh great, I have a hyperactive child in my care. Dan couldn¡¯t help but judge and eventually responded.


    ¡°I am doing fine, Eagle. It''s great to have you on board.¡±


    From there on, Dan let his monsters hang out for a little longer before telling them to head out in search of more creatures. Of course, Fir stayed behind, and he told Xinos to remain close to the base until he had more mana to play with. Dan wanted to go ahead and get his mana back to full so he could finish up the last mini-bosses and properly start building up his army.


    Having nothing better to do, Dan began watching his different bosses work. Ingot was roaming the forest, waiting to find something good to bring back. Hawk flew up high as she chatted with Eagle while the small hawk zoomed around her boss. Xinos was roaming the nearby forest, far enough from telepathic range but not too far, where he couldn¡¯t return to the cave in case something happened.


    Surprisingly, it was Xinos who got a target first, as the jaguar was stalking a large two-headed snake around his own size. Seeing the snake surprised Dan a bit as they hadn¡¯t spotted any strong beasts like that near their cave due to his bosses hunting them all. Heck, they even struggled to find weak prey. However, it seemed this snake was looking to inspect the forest and maybe try and take down whatever had been causing it to clear out. Sadly for it, it was about to meet its end.


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    Dan felt the jaguar tense up as he enhanced his body with metal, causing his claws and teeth to turn into grey-looking iron that matched his dark grey fur. Then, between blinks, Xinos sprung, aiming to slash at the snake''s heads.


    Surprising Dan and Xinos, the snakes reacted just in time, the jaguar''s claws leaving a small gash on one of the heads. Turning to meet the jaguar, the two heads hissed before one spat something, which Xinos dodged as the acid or poison splashed against the ground, causing it to sizzle.


    Dan felt his jaguar''s mana drain almost entirely, and moments later, Xinos jumped forward, the snake dodging again. However, this time, the jaguar did a typical cat thing and twisted his body mid-air, turning to face the snakes and unleashing his Metal Slash ability as two waves of energy flew from his paws. One struck a snake head, cutting it off, while the remaining head barely dodged the other.


    The snake hissed with pain, realized it wasn¡¯t going to win this fight, and attempted to flee. This was a mistake, as Xinos just pounced and bit the snake''s neck, almost killing it, before remembering he had to bring it back to the cave.


    Rushing back to the cave, Xinos made it right before the snake expired, and Dan got a sweet 80 mana, bringing his total to 94.


    Having expended most of his mana in the fight, Xinos stayed at the cave to regenerate his mana instead of heading back out.


    Dungeon Day 6


    The following two days went by relatively fast as Dan began to get a slow but constant flow of mana from several slain beasts. They were the same things he had been getting but with some new additions like wolves, sharks, moose, other eagles, and bird-like things. Heck, some of his monsters even teamed up against another scorpion, and that time around managed to get back to the cave without injury thanks to Fir joining in and healing or cleansing as needed. All in all, Dan got a great haul of mana that he quickly put to use to create his two remaining mini-bosses.


    Dan first created Fur, the male elk who would act as a guard for Fir.


    Fur was given earth-related abilities and was the first to have proper magic like abjuration as an affinity, and not just a specific magical affinity. Of course, Fur also got Sapience and Intelligence, but unlike Dan¡¯s other mini-bosses, he would also get something Dan had not yet given to anyone: Control. It was an ability that would allow Dan to take control of his creature and would, along with Share Sense, let Dan fight instead of Fur. His main reason for giving Fur that ability was the fact that the elk was going to protect Fir. Dan trusted that his monster would do a good job, but in case things got hairy, Dan wanted to have an in, as Fir would be very important in his expansion.


    All right, maybe he was putting too much importance on the healing elk since he didn¡¯t know what he would walk into inside the shattered zone or how things would play out, but he would rather be safe than sorry.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Fur the Elk.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Earth Affinity. Abjuration Affinity. Mana Storage. Tremor Sense. Earth Spike. Earth Wall.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense. Control.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 63 Mana (126 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 126 Mana.


    ??


    The male elk was rather large, but definitely not larger than Ingot. His fur was brown with tinges of light blue. His massive antlers were clearly made of the usual bone-looking material, but the tips were made of some grey-looking stone.


    Like his female counterpart, Fur spoke with a noble voice and a tone similar to a knight''s. The elk also bowed like Fir, bending one leg, but unlike Fir, Fur''s head lowered so far that his massive antlers touched the cave''s stone floor.


    ¡°My Lord, how may I serve?¡±


    ¡°Hey, Fur, you are to guard that lovely lady over there,¡± Dan said out loud while commanding Fur to look at Fir, who was in the cave.


    ¡°If she dies, it better have been after you perish, understood?¡±


    Dan didn¡¯t need to worry since as soon Fur looked at Fir, he could feel the elk instantly fall in love with her, and he knew Fur would be damned before he let anything happen to her. Fur, however, still sent a mental confirmation to Dan before slowly approaching Fir and giving her a bow.


    As Dan watched the couple leave his small core room, he began wondering how much the World Crystal was tampering with the souls it was making. Not that Dan would complain, as it was better this way.


    Next up was going to be the cheetah, and seeing as Dan had plenty of mana, he was going to give it some further upgrades purely for his own enjoyment. In truth, he would probably give Eagle the Hawk another upgrade later on, and maybe George, though he wasn¡¯t sure, the gorilla felt decently balanced.


    The cheetah would have the Earth Affinity to help him move over land faster. It would also have some Lightning Affinity because Dan couldn¡¯t have a speedster without lightning. Then, just some basic enhancements plus Share Sense because Dan wanted to experience the speed firsthand. Dan knew that it was odd for something to have both Earth and Lightning affinity, so he thought about changing it to metal, but he decided to see how it would turn out first.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Kinetic the Cheetah.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Earth Affinity. Earth Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Night Vision. Lightning Affinity. Lightning Charge. Lightning Enhancement.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Keen Sight. Keen Smell. Stealth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 41 Mana (81 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 81 Mana.


    ??


    Kinetic was a normal-looking cheetah, which surprised Dan, as he was expecting some brown coloration due to his Earth''s Affinity. However, something Dan did notice immediately was the small currents of lightning running through the cheetah''s fur as small blue arcs sparked on and off. The cheetah also had striking blue eyes, and unlike Eagle the Hawk, Kinetic did not immediately run off. Instead, he sat down and spoke, sounding rather young and having a bit of a chill yet excitable personality like a stereotypical surfer dude.


    ¡°Hey, boss bro! How is it going!?¡±


    Dan, smiling to himself, just greeted his new favorite monster.


    ¡°What''s up, Kinetic!? Glad to have you!¡±

 Chapter 7 - Expansion Part 3

    Dungeon Day 10


    Following Kinetics creation, Dan would need a lot of mana to make a decent-sized force and feel comfortable entering the shattered space.


    Thankfully, he now had plenty of monsters to help provide an even better supply of mana for his future creations. He was worried about messing up the local ecosystem, but if he had the World Crystal''s approval, he didn''t think his hunting would make that big of a difference. So, as the days kept rolling by, Dan continued creating his monsters.


    The first order of business would be making his ground troops¡ªspecifically, those who would be the ground warriors in the upcoming conflict. Considering Dan would be mostly earthbound, he wanted his main line of defense to be the most coordinated. Well, he also hoped the first area of the shattered space was mostly ground, as if it were water or air. It would mess up Dan''s plan, and he would have to return to the drawing board.


    Hoping he would get a ground-based area, he should probably start with the bears, gorillas, and baboons. Then he would move on to the big cats, healing deer, and finally, the air force. He wasn''t too worried about gaining mana, as his monsters were doing a great job finding all sorts of things to fight. It was mainly beasts, but still, it was better than nothing.


    The days passed, and nothing particularly exciting happened other than his monsters teaming up to defeat a very Low-grade D Rank beast that Hawk had found not far off from their cave. And when D meant low grade, he meant it. D rank was the lowest grade in the hierarchy of power, but D rankers were still strong compared to his own monsters. However, even in the ranks of power, things were not equal. For example, a D rank cat had no chance to ever beat a D rank lion, well, unless something crazy happened.


    The monster his bosses fought was a large moose with metal-like antlers, and with the combined force of all his bosses and mini-bosses, it was quickly taken down. Ingot was bigger than the moose and almost as strong while enhancing himself. Then, just adding Xinos and Hawk for some offense, along with Fur for some terrain control and Kinetic, Eagle, and George for harassment, they got some good damage against the beast. Finally, with Fir healing any damage his monsters took, the big moose was eventually brought in, giving Dan way too much mana. Dan was annoyed as his mana storage wasn''t enough to keep all of it, but there wasn''t much he could do.


    Other than the D rank fight, the only interesting thing, at least to Dan, was the further interactions between his monsters. Mainly, George finally filling out his personality. If Ingot was the dad, Fir the mom, Xinos the distant but cool uncle, Hawk the fun aunt, and Eagle and Kinetic the rowdy ones, then George cleanly became the fun yet responsible uncle of the group and a great tactician to boot.


    After finally talking, George had a relatively average yet gruff voice, whose way of speaking could switch between a regular guy and one of the smartest people in the room.


    Again, this intelligence made Dan question how much each soul contributed to each monster. They weren¡¯t all dumb, but Eagle definitely did not have the foresight of battlefield strategy that George seemed to have. The whole thing was interesting as it would bring an uncontrollable aspect to his monsters. This made Dan consider keeping the same monsters for invasion plans and upgrading them into new forms as needed. That way, he knew what to expect and could hold some form of control. He would, of course, still create tons of new monsters for his dungeon but keep a team specifically for conquering.


    However, Dan also understood that it was early in his dungeon life and that things could change. Just because he felt a certain way now didn¡¯t mean he would be up to it later on. He had yet to face any real challenges, and he couldn¡¯t deny he was worried about how he would change when he started absorbing the other shards.


    Moving from that, leaving it for future Dan to deal with, he began creating his minions. First up were the bears, gorillas, and baboons. They would mostly stay the same size, though he would give them some abilities like their stronger counterparts. In total, Dan wanted ten baboons, five bears, and five gorillas.


    The five gorillas would have Earth and Wood affinity with some basic enhancement and Night Vision. They came out to 140 mana and were like George, brown walking mountains of fur with greenbacks. Finally, they would only be given Intelligence and not Sapience. Dan didn¡¯t need every monster to talk, and since they would be able to understand him just fine, it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. That was actually going to be the status quo for all his minions in terms of their mental capabilities. So, with that decided, Dan took a look at the gorilla''s stat block.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Gorilla.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Wood Affinity. Earth Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility. Night Vision. Wood Control. Earth Control.


    Innate Abilities: 2.


    Strength. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 14 Mana (28 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 28 Mana.


    ??


    Next up were the bears, who would also be mini versions of Ingot but would be less powerful. The bears were going to be the true front line of Dan''s army as they would be the tanks but also have great damage capabilities. They would be his cavalry and heavy front liners all at once. Effectively, combat would go with the bears heading in first and softening up any front lines with the gorillas and baboons following up for the cleanup. Of course, Dan was a bit delusional, and actual fighting would never go as neatly, or maybe it would. It was annoying not knowing what challenges were waiting for him inside.


    Putting that aside, Dan paid the 130 mana to create five bears and saw them pop into existence.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


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    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Bear.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Earth Affinity. Earth Slam. Earth Entomb. Body Enhancement - Resilient and Strength. Earth Control.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Night Vision. Keen Smell. Strength. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 15 Mana (30 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 30 Mana.


    ??


    Finally, there were the baboons. The baboons were going to be smaller versions of the gorillas with just as much fury. Dan was thinking of changing up their abilities but didn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but having the baboons and gorillas have Wood Affinity felt right. When he envisioned the two apes, he saw them fighting in the trees, using their abilities to mold branches into weapons or causing an enemy to stumble by making the ground shift slightly under them. Of course, they could also be completely worthless, but Dan could always change them if that were the case. Either way, Dan wanted two baboons per gorilla, so he made 10 in total as soon as he had accumulated the 270 mana.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Baboon.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Wood Affinity. Earth Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility. Night Vision. Wood Control. Earth Control.


    Innate Abilities: 2.


    Strength. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 14 Mana (27 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 27 Mana.


    ??


    Moving from the tanky front lines, Dan began working on the big cats. He would make three different types of big cats for variety''s sake. There were going to be cheetahs, jaguars, and some panthers. The cheetahs were going to be the hawks of the ground, mainly used for scouting and harassing, while the panthers were going to lean more on the stealthy side of things. Then, the jaguars were going to be the brawlers of the trio. Dan considered making three cheetahs and panthers, with the rest being jaguars. He had been tempted to go with five of each but decided that, more than likely, everything would end with combat, and he wanted more firepower.


    The big cats took the longest to create as they cost the most mana, at 510. However, with the increase in power caused by the creation of the bears, gorillas, and baboons, mana began coming in faster, which made up for the high cost.


    For the most part, the jaguars and panthers were going to be the same in terms of abilities mirroring Xinos, while the cheetahs were going down Kinetics path. The one thing that would stand out the most in the minion''s stats was the Earth Affinity and Earth Control. Dan gave those two to the cats so they could better muffle their passing while stalking prey. Additionally, since Dan did plan to upgrade Xinos, his minions would reflect the incoming upgrade at least partially.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Jaguars and Panthers.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Earth Affinity. Earth Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Metal Affinity. Metal Slash. Metal Enhancement. Stalker.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Sight. Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 17 Mana (34 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 34 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Cheetah.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Earth Affinity. Earth Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Night Vision. Lightning Affinity. Lightning Charge. Lightning Enhancement.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Keen Sight. Keen Smell. Stealth. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 17 Mana (34 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 34 Mana.


    ??


    With the cat minions out of the way and before moving to the air and healing units, Dan upgraded Xinos. The jaguar needed a bit more oomph to his attacks and a faster way to reach its targets. Of course, some extra stealth wouldn¡¯t hurt either. However, for all of that to happen effectively, his jaguar would need new abilities, some of which would probably be very expensive for non-rank creatures to use, even if they were considered relatively weak.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Xinos the Jaguar.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 200/200.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 12.


    Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Agility. Metal Affinity. Metal Slash. Space Affinity. Teleport. Illusion Affinity. Invisibility. Mana Storage. Death Affinity. Necrosis Infusion. Stalker.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Night Vision. Keen Smell. Stealth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 82 Mana (164 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 118 to 164 Mana.


    ??


    Teleport was rather straightforward and would be expensive, using 50 mana per use, and that was within 100 feet of a target. Invisibility would cost the big cat at least five mana per second of use. However, that was all fine, as Xinos should already know where his target would be before engaging. The teleport and invisibility kit would be used to make it the final distance to his target. Then there was the necrosis, which would add more damage to his Metal Slashes and attacks in general. Finally, there was Stalker. The ability would let Xinos mark a target, and as long as the target was unaware of the assassin, the big cat¡¯s ability would deal extra damage.


    Dan wasn¡¯t sure how that worked, but he figured it was the World Crystal bending reality to make it work via his system. Finally, Xinos fur became a lighter silver color, though not by much while his silver dots became incredibly dark.


    All in all, Dan was pleased with the upgrade and couldn¡¯t wait to see the murder kitten in action.

 Chapter 8 - Expansion Part 4

    Dungeon Day 14


    Coming up next were the air support units of eagles and hawks. The two would be copies of Eagle and Hawk, at least for the most part they were. Dan wasn¡¯t planning on having a lot of air superiority, at least not right away, as he planned to seal up the cave from the outside world and slowly expand into the new zone, which meant that any attack coming at him would be through the ground which was where he would have the most forces. The air support was mainly there to scout ahead and support his troops. However, if it turned out that the shattered space was filled with flying creatures, he would set up a base of operations at the cave while he built up a stronger air force.


    Moving to make the monsters, he planned to make five eagles and ten hawks. The air force was mostly for scouting, at least for now, so having more speedy hawks was important. The hawks were his drones, while the eagles would act as jets, and Hawk would be the bomber. In total, all the birds would cost him 315 mana. Which, at that point, didn¡¯t phase Dan as he had designated part of the cave as a prison area where he could hold captives for future death. It was a bit fucked up, but it was what he had to do.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Eagle and Hawk.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small and Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 4.


    Wind Affinity. Night Vision. Body Enhancement - Speed. Wind Control.


    Innate Abilities: 4*.


    Keen Vision. Flight. Speed*. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 11 Mana (21 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 21 Mana.


    ??


    The eagles were small, and the hawks were tiny. For obvious reasons, the hawks were the only ones with the speed ability. The birds also looked like their boss counterparts, with the eagles having dark feathers with light green tinges and the hawks having grey feathers with the same.


    With the new additions, the cave was getting rather crowded, so Dan had to kick a bunch of the minions out to explore the nearby forest. He also encouraged the bosses to start working with their minions so they could start getting them to coordinate properly and instill some order in the ranks.


    Moving on from the birds Dan began making the last part of his army. However, instead of making them elks like their bosses, he would make the minions stags and doe¡¯s.


    Considering he only needed five of each, the total mana cost was only 305, which wasn¡¯t bad.


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    The reason he needed five of each was simple. Dan was planning to start with five-strike teams. Each team would have a bear, gorilla, hawk, two baboons, a healing doe, and a stag to guard said doe. Additionally, they would have a jaguar. At least that was the base setup; however, they might get an eagle, cheetah, or panther, depending on the situation.


    Finally, the bosses were going to be mostly stuck in the base except for Kinetic and the two birds, who would out scouting. The rest would act as emergency support and help with base defense.


    Actually, now that Dan was thinking about monster scouting, he should probably give Eagle the Share Sense ability so he could get a lay of the land himself. So, adding that to the to-do list, Dan got started.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Doe.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 Per Minute (0 Outside of Dungeon).


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Restoration Affinity. Cleansing Affinity. Healing Touch. Cleansing Touch. Aura of Healing. Aura of Cleansing. Night Vision. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 1.


    Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 17 Mana (33 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 33 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Stag.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Earth Affinity. Abjuration Affinity. Mana Storage. Night Vision. Earth Spike. Earth Wall.


    Innate Abilities: 1.


    Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 14 Mana (28 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 28 Mana.


    ??


    The doe and stags came out looking like their bosses. The females had golden dots, while the males had light blue dots and a darker brown coat. Unlike Fur, however, the male antlers did not have stones at their points and looked like regular antlers.


    Moving on from the healing deer, Dan quickly upgraded Eagle the Hawk, giving her Share Sense.


    Next, he created a bigger entrance to his core room and dug out a 15-foot-wide tunnel straight to the spot where reality met the shattered lands. Naturally, he placed monsters to guard the tunnel in case something else leaked before they entered.


    Following the tunnel creation, Dan waited for his mana to fill back up to 300 in case he needed to do some emergency spending.


    After filling up his mana, he spent some more days with his monsters. Dan wanted to make sure they all knew what was expected of them so that they could get a better idea of how to work together. And in the end, they didn¡¯t need that much training. The monsters were basically the perfect soldiers, and other than the first few hours when they were adjusting to their new existence, they were born ready to do their jobs. It didn¡¯t mean that they were perfect, but they knew the essentials, and even though they were bound to make mistakes, they were innately at a better level than a soldier starting fresh. Naturally, that put them far apart from normal creatures, but they weren¡¯t normal creatures. They were dungeon monsters bound to Dan, which made Dan feel somewhat bad, especially knowing they didn¡¯t care about their future of endless death due to very much being made that way.


    Alas, this was their future and Dan¡¯s. He had a planet to save and lands to conquer, and by the end, he knew he likely wouldn¡¯t be himself anymore. He knew those shards had the rest of his existence, the parts that had destroyed entire worlds, and if that didn¡¯t change him, then Dan wasn¡¯t sure what could. Of course, he was going to resist the change, and maybe with the help of the World¡¯s Crystals, some of his humanity would still be here by the end.


    Dan decided to move on from such grim thoughts and review his plan.


    The plan was to have Ingot lead the charge forward with three squads. Following Ingot were going to be the birds, who would hopefully take to the existing skies and get a layout of the land. From there on, the remaining monsters would wait until they had secured the exit and entrance before moving out.


    Finally, once Dan felt all his monsters were ready, he sealed off the cave''s entrance from the outside world and prepared to start his first incursion.

 Chapter 9 - Breaking In

    Dungeon Day 20


    Giving the go-ahead signal to the World Crystal, Dan felt the space in front of Ingot stabilize, and it slowly faded, allowing daylight to peek through. Waiting until the space was fully clear, he saw the forest on the other side. So, Dan gave Ingot the go-ahead, and the bear rushed through with his two squads following soon after. Then, once the bears were out, Hawk and Eagle moved out with their minions and began a survey of the nearby region.


    Dan could feel the unease from his monsters as they prepared to confront the unknown.


    Switching from Ingot''s point of view, Dan began observing the world through Hawk''s eyes, high up in the air. The bird could see around three miles off into the distance, and all it could spot was forest as far as it could see.


    Something Dan noticed that his bosses might have missed was the sky. The sky looked just like a normal earthen sky, well, at least before the invasion.


    It was nice and blue, and some clouds were even floating calmly across it. However, there was no sun, and light seemed to just come from very high up. Wanting to know more, Dan issued Eagle, who was the fastest flier, to head up and see where the limit was. He also switched to the small hawk as he wanted to view it himself.


    It turns out the sky went up for maybe three to five miles off the ground; at least, that''s what it felt like from Eagle¡¯s internal height measurements. After that distance, things got odd as the space would go all silly, and she would find herself flying in a different direction.


    Coming back down, Dan also properly saw how the space connected to the rest of its reality. The ¡°walls¡± of the area gave off a fog that got thicker and thicker as it got closer to the spatial connection to whatever else was out there. For their part, the World Crystal seemed to have stabilized a small area that then connected the cave to this new space. That alone made Dan question why the deity-like entity hadn¡¯t already taken back the shattered space, and he was quickly given an answer.


    Apparently, after it had finished making the world, the World Crystal''s large terrain remodeling abilities were revoked along with his soul creation. It could still stabilize reality like it had done with the outside world, stopping shattered lands from expanding further, but it couldn¡¯t retake them and remake them into proper reality.


    Adding to that, the crystal also explained that usually, the inhabitants of a planet could go in and stabilize the shattered lands; however, due to Dan having been so strong, the inhabitants of its planet weren¡¯t able to overwhelm him as was possible. This then allowed Dan to self-destruct, further destabilizing the space and stopping the world''s inhabitants from going in and doing their thing. And now with permission from the Chaos Mother, Dan would go in and stabilize the shattered lands. That was the only reason they were doing this: because the Chaos Mother had agreed. The World Crystal wasn¡¯t sure why she had, and it had expected her to deny the request since it wasn¡¯t her problem in the end.


    Dan didn¡¯t believe that the Chaos Mother would actually let an entire planet full of people die by letting the other shards grow in power inside the shattered space. After all, he was here and had been given the opportunity. It was a bit of a roundabout way of doing things since, with the power involved, either of the two beings should be able to fix the issue. However, Dan thought of it as something from the stories of ancient Greece and the Olympians. There, the gods didn¡¯t solve mortal problems but gave them the tools, in this case, Dan, to fix them instead.


    This time around, there were certain conditions, just like with quests. For this quest, one condition was that only Dan could enter the zones, even if that was his own fault. Another condition was the whole not being able to use Ambient Mana. In fact, the only reason his monsters could regenerate mana was due to their connection to him and his connection to the World Crystal. The crystal god was, essentially, regenerating their mana but in a balanced fashion; hence, they could only regenerate mana inside his dungeon areas, and the amount they regenerated was completely based on their rank.


    There were a few other things that Dan still questioned, but decided to leave that for another time. Instead, he finished processing the current information he had been given.


    Looking back at the rest of the information from the World Crystal, Dan learned that the gateway the crystal had just made to let him enter the shattered lands was a one-time thing. That after heading inside, Dan would be able to move to the next zone by himself. In a final addition to that, even the World Crystal wasn¡¯t sure what Dan would find inside. Apparently, when Mother Infinity got involved, the bit of sight it had inside the space had gone fully dark, which wasn¡¯t reassuring to Dan.


    Deciding to move on from the latest revelations about reality, Dan focused on his monsters.


    He told Hawk and her eagles to chill in the area for aerial protection while Eagle was to spread out with the rest of her hawks and try to map out the area they were in.


    From there, he switched to Ingot as the bear inspected the nearby woods, and Dan was glad to see that they were mostly empty. The edge of this particular area was fairly empty of trees, at least the area where it met the fog was. Another plus was that it was mostly a flat area, which gave Dan the perfect location for a temporary camp. And since the forest didn¡¯t start properly until further out, they would have clear space to spot any approaching enemies.


    So, with Ingot having secured the outside properly, Dan began to push out the rest of the monsters. He didn¡¯t want anyone to fully head out just yet. However, he did set lines of defense. The bears and gorillas were on the outer edge with the baboons riding on their backs.


    Then came the big cats, and finally, the doe¡¯s and stags were in the inner circle closest to the cave entrance.


    From there, he decided it was time to properly set up a camp of operations. He got Fur and the stags to start summoning ten-foot-high walls in a rectangularish area around the dungeon entrance. Dan wanted to claim it, but he would rather save the mana. Overall, he would have to claim around 1500 feet of space, and it would take too much mana. In fact, the whole claim thing was going to need to be reworked because the costs would spike incredibly hard, and there was no way that Dan would grind that hard. However, before he got into that conversation with the World Crystal, he needed to ensure his new base was operational.


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    He would keep Fir, Fur, Ingot, Hawk, and Xinos in the base, along with pretty much the entire force. The only ones he planned on deploying along with the hawks would be the panthers, cheetahs, George, and Kinetic. And even then, it would be at different distances. Dan had to plan for the long game, and even though his monsters didn¡¯t need sleep, he wouldn¡¯t leave himself undefended.


    Eventually, he gave the go-ahead for George and Kinetic, with the condition that they couldn¡¯t head out more than half a day''s distance, which was a lot for Kinetic. Speaking of days, time did seem to pass as the shadows were growing longer, but from measuring them based on old Earth standards, it was around 1 PM, giving them plenty of time to explore.


    The cheetahs were allowed to explore freely, while the panthers would be the early warning systems. The black cats could go somewhat far, but Dan wanted them to stay relatively close so they could spot any approaching problems.


    From there, Dan had five teams to work with. Three of the teams were going to be on patrol, while the other two would sit in the base in case of a direct attack or as support for the other three teams in case they came under attack.


    Each team was going to have a bear, gorilla, jaguar, doe, stag, eagle, and finally, two baboons. So, giving them the go-ahead, the three teams marched out the exit of their small camp. Dan made the other two groups patrol the walls or guard the exit. Well, it was more like the gorillas, baboons, and jaguars patrolled the walls. The bears guarded the exit while the doe¡¯s asked to return to the dungeon cave, which Dan agreed to, the stags following soon after, which Dan didn¡¯t mind.


    That left Ingot, Fir, Fur, and Xinos standing outside.


    The bosses were on edge, but Dan was sure it was more from sitting still and waiting for the scouts to report something than worrying about a possible threat. Dan also had to admit that his nerves were also getting to him.


    As the day passed, Dan noticed that there wasn¡¯t much heat. Instead, it just felt pleasant. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was just the lack of sun or the fact that there was a constant breeze from the forest. Either way, Dan was beginning to get bored as he wasn¡¯t getting much from the scouts. It had only been about 30 minutes, but still.


    However, just as Dan had been thinking about that, he got a nudge from Eagle and switched to seeing things from her eyes.


    There was a big ass grey tree. A dead big-ass grey tree. The whole thing was in the middle of a clearing and was fortified by a semi-circle of dead trees lying on top of each other, along with a big rock in one of the corners. Most of the trees and the rock were covered in thorny vines that did not look welcoming. Additionally, Dan spotted a large bear, snake, and raven.


    Of course, they weren¡¯t the same size, but they were larger than usual. Luckily, Eagle was high up, and the raven hadn¡¯t noticed her. However, Dan could feel Eagle wanting to dive down and smack it, but Dan nudged her against it and instead encouraged her to keep exploring.


    Dan didn¡¯t want to start a fight with anything or anyone just yet. He wanted to get the lay of the land first. So, he nudged George and Kinetic to head in different directions. Dan wasn¡¯t sure exactly where they were but knew their general direction and could point them towards a different angle than where he felt Eagle. Additionally, he nudged the rest of the hawks and ensured everyone knew not to engage unless they were attacked first.


    After that bit of excitement, Dan decided it was time to speak with the World Crystal about the whole claiming problem. Well, speaking was saying a lot as now they just communicated via feelings. Still, Dan managed to get his worry through as it was a fact that if he kept claiming land the way he was currently doing, and the shattered spaces came in the size of dozens of miles. Then his claiming costs would reach into the millions of mana spent.


    The World Crystal told him he would have to check the contract between them and Mother Eternity again. After a few minutes, Dan was told to check his status and that he would still need to claim land, but only when presented with certain situations that he would eventually run into.


    Having nothing better to do, Dan opened his status.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Common.


    Shards Collected: 0/100.


    Points till Next Rank: 0/100.


    Mana: 300/300.


    Mana Regen: 8 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 4 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 100ft.


    Total Area Claimed: 695 feet.


    Abilities: 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    Naturally, he clicked on Claiming Goals.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 0/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 0/8.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


    That gave Dan lots of information that he was definitely not aware of.


    First, there were nine different factions in the area with him. He did not know what these factions were or how big, but in the end, he didn¡¯t have much of a choice and would eventually have to conquer all of them. Additionally, he now knew that eight of his Eldritch God shards were in the area with him, which he also had to find and absorb. At the very least, he hoped that some of the factions were under the control of these shards, which would make everything much simpler.


    Finally, there was the part of him needing to control all creatures within the shattered space. That alone was going to be an undertaking. However, hoping to get more information, he nudged the menu and discovered that the first and third options were connected.


    Taking control of a faction also meant taking control of all the creatures belonging to that faction, regardless of their type. It also specified that they needed to be under his sole control via his Dungeon God Connection ability. Thankfully, another addition was that each faction had lands under control. And, once Dan took over that faction, their land would be automatically claimed for him. It further specified that claiming the land did not automatically give him control of all creatures within said land.


    Thinking about it, Dan was a bit confused at first, but after breaking it down, it became much clearer. A faction controlled their lands, but within said lands, there could be creatures that did not belong to that faction. Thus, if he took over a faction by conquering the creatures belonging to it, he would then get their lands but not the creatures that didn¡¯t belong to that faction. To that extent, he would have to make the other creatures in his claimed lands serve him via the Dungeon God Connection ability. There were a few other fine prints about certain interactions, but nothing Dan needed to worry about then and there.


    Looking at everything, Dan was pleased as it would all be less trouble than spending millions of mana on claiming land. He was also happy to know that even a superpower full system creating World Gods wasn¡¯t perfect.

 Chapter 10 - Exploration

    Dungeon Day 20 - Continues


    The first to return were Kinetic and George. They had made it relatively far but had decided to return as nighttime approached.


    As he also waited for his birds to return, Dan ran into the fact that he wouldn''t know what the hawks were up to until they came back or died. He could have given them the Share Sense ability but hadn¡¯t due to his lack of mana, and he hoped that wouldn¡¯t be a problem next time he entered a new zone. Still, this meant that Dan was stuck with Eagle for scouting since he wanted to keep Hawk in place just in case there were aerial threats he had yet to learn about.


    Time passed, and the temptation to investigate the dead tree grew, but he held it down harder since he didn''t want to instigate any fights until he learned more about the region.


    As the day passed, Eagle nudged him. He had nudged the hawk a while back to head straight east from the dead tree, as that was the direction where only one of the hawks had gone.


    Thankfully, that command paid off, and the hawk stumbled across a giant lake with immense lily pads floating on its surface. Eagle the hawk explored the lake but didn''t get too close. It was only a few hours before nighttime set in when Eagle found the lake, and Dan decided to recall her.


    Dan could feel that the rest of the hawks were making their way back and wanted everyone back so he could move forward with new information.


    As night came, the forest went incredibly dark due to the lack of moon or starlight. And he finally recalled the rest of his monsters from scouting, Dan wasn¡¯t sure what might prowl at night and wanted to be prepared just in case.


    The hawks arrived in camp one after another, and as they entered the dungeon proper, he began getting mental images of their travels. Wanting to make a proper map to share with his monsters, Dan brought the bosses into the cave.


    First of all, the area they were in was squared, not a perfect square due to the fog, but close enough. As such, he made a square in the cave wall.


    The square could be divided into three sections. There was straight north, northeast, and straight east.


    Dan¡¯s camp was in the bottom left-hand corner of the square.


    Straight north, following the squares left fog wall, was a cave that Dan named Cave One. Further north from Cave One was a large camp of tents filled with orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins. Dan gave this camp the simple name of Green Camp. These two spots were part of the first section and were straight north of Dan¡¯s camp.


    Resetting back to Dan¡¯s base camp and heading diagonally straight towards the northeast was the giant dead tree, followed by another cave, which Dan named Cave Two. Continuing the same route, the hawks then found a village. The village was a plain, medieval-looking village populated by the typical fantasy races, such as elves, dwarfs, gnomes, and humans. It might have more fantasy folks, but those were the ones the hawk spotted at the time. The village was also rather large and had more than just a few dozen buildings; it might even be called a small town by some.


    Moving further northeast from the village, the hawks found a hilly area with large lumbering figures that looked like ogres and trolls. These hills were one of the two farthest areas from Dan''s camp, and he was happy with that, as the ogres and trolls were probably the most dangerous creatures in the shattered space. Well, aside from anything, the other shards might be cooking up.


    Section three was odd as it didn¡¯t entirely go straight. For this section, it was best to start from the giant dead tree and head straight east. Eventually, one would find the large lake that Eagle had seen, and further past that was an insanely large rock containing an animal camp. Finally, from the rock and straight north were some ruins that were definitely populated by bandits.


    Effectively, the hills were straight across from Dan¡¯s camp on the other side of the map. Then, the furthest thing north was the Green Camp, with the large rock being the furthest thing east.


    Sandwiched between the green skin camp and Dan¡¯s camp was Cave One, with both locations making up section one. Section two was made up of the dead tree, Cave Two, the medieval village, and the hills. Then, finally, was section three, which had the lake, large rock, and bandit ruins, with all three locations making a lying down L.


    Though not much, Dan had more information about the land, and he could start planning how to conquer it all. Though before he did anything, Dan wanted more information. So, he planned to send out the hawks again, but this time with the intent to get a closer look at each area. All the while, Dan wanted to do some probing of the giant dead tree and see what was there. Honestly, the tree was the closest spot to Dan, and there was no way the layout was created by normal animals.


    Dungeon Day 21


    Dan sent the hawks back out early in the morning. He had ten hawks and sent out eight of them, as the dead tree was near enough, and he would use the two remaining ones to probe it.


    After the eight hawks were sent out, Dan established the same scouts he had the day before. Then, once the defensive line had been established, Dan sent out the two hawks with Eagle watching them from further up in the sky. Dan had even been tempted to give Eagle invisibility but decided against it. He still had his 300 mana and wanted to keep it that way until an offensive started. He knew he could hunt some of the wild animals, but he was worried that it might set off alarm bells for whatever was happening in the tree.


    Once the guard had been set up, Dan switched over to Eagle.


    The two hawks took a slow approach. First, they just flew above the tree at a somewhat respectable distance. However, that didn''t do much of anything. So, they slowly started flying closer and closer. At first, they landed on the trees outside the clearing.


    That also didn''t get any attention, and Dan began to wonder if it was just that two random hawks only being around for less than an hour was not worth looking into. Still, Dan didn''t want to leave the tree alone, especially after watching it for a bit.


    The animals were not acting right. They all seemed too well organized for animals. And Dan only had two explanations for it. The first was that the animals were working for some druid, while the second involved one of the shards. Naturally, he was inclined to believe that a shard was involved, as there were supposed to be eight in this area, but he also didn''t have enough proof to rule out the druid idea fully. Also, there was a third idea that could also make sense. However, since he was still using the mindset of an Earther, he hadn''t thought of it.


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    The fact was that monsters could also be intelligent, and Dan didn''t believe for a second that his creatures were the only ones that could form complex thoughts. And if a higher-tiered monster was around, they could also be part of why these animals acted in such an organized manner.


    So, with the hawks comfortably watching without raising suspicion, Dan began to observe the clearing. And as the day passed, he got the information he sought.


    To begin with, whatever was controlling the animals had a decent amount under control. Dan counted two bears, a couple of wolves, a large snake, a raven bigger than his hawks, along with some ordinary crows. That list of animals represented the most dangerous ones, while the rest were bunnies, foxes, squirrels, and other smaller birds.


    The animals all seemed to be gathering more creatures or at least trying to. However, unlike his much more intelligent creatures, they were having trouble understanding the concept of bringing stuff back alive. Well, some were. Still, whatever was going on, the fact was that an animal would be brought half alive, and said animal would then be placed near the tree where something then happened, and it went still. Then, it would just be left there.


    Sometimes, the animal recovered, depending on the wound. If they recovered enough to move, they would be taken to the side to heal, or so Dan figured. If they did die, they became the meal for the other animals.


    After observing for a while longer, Dan got the proof he needed when he saw some of the bigger animals using basic forms of telekinesis. That alone confirmed that one of the shards was involved, and it was definitely dominating the animals and using their mana to make basic telekinetic effects. And now that Dan knew this, he began planning a proper offensive, which would begin by testing the shard''s strengths.


    It didn''t begin right away as Dan wanted to get a full measure of the shard''s forces in case it had some of the animals on longer expeditions. After all, the last thing Dan wanted was to attack and get flanked by returning beasts.


    Dan also wanted to see how many beasts the thing controlled, as the more creatures it controlled, the stronger the shard was. So far, Dan had counted around 20 or so beasts, but there could be more. Another factor was also just how much mana the shard had built up. Usually, the higher the rank, the more mana something could have, and since the other shards didn¡¯t have the same restrictions, they could store more mana than he could. Another important thing to check was the size of a shard, but not for any really dangerous reason.


    A bigger shard meant that their innate ability to produce Chaos Mana was larger, which might help it rank up faster or produce more ambient manna by converting its Chaos Mana. This was one of the two ways shards would have access to ambient mana inside the shattered lands. The other way was to absorb it from creatures.


    It was an issue Dan had wondered about. After all, if the shattered zone was filled with Ambient Mana, then couldn¡¯t the shards wield that?


    However, the World Crystal had told him that after his self-destruction, the shattered lands, which were already teeming with Time and Space Attune Chaos Mana, became even more unstable, making it almost impossible for normal mana to exist within. Thus, when said Time and Space Chaos Attuned Mana started bringing spaces into the shattered lands from across time and space, all creatures in said lands were modified to absorb and transform said Attuned Chaos Mana into normal mana. This then let the creatures use magic while stopping the World¡¯s Crystal¡¯s original denizens from actually entering space since they would eventually run out of mana while within, not that they could even enter past the incredibly unstable outer shell of the lands.


    Of course, the question Dan had asked was obvious. Wouldn¡¯t the attuned Chaos Mana eventually run out? Turns out that was a no since normal Arcana Ambient Mana was still making its way into the shattered lands and was being consumed by Chaos Mana, making more of itself.


    So, as Dan saw it, this all pointed to a few things. One, the shards in the shattered zone would definitely take over creatures to absorb their mana since aberrations needed normal Chaos Mana to make their Arcane Mana. Two, he was the significant changing factor for adventurers since in order to stabilize the shattered zone, he had to claim it, and then via the contract, the World Crystal would fix it, allowing for normal mana to finally be properly available, which would enable adventurers to roam Dan¡¯s lands. Adventurers would then fight his monsters, giving him mana in the process, which Dan would then use to create more monsters and expand into more zones. Then it was rinse and repeat until Dan had conquered everything.


    Learning all of that put Dan at ease. Things made much more sense, and a path was clearly laid out for him. He entered a shattered zone, took it over, made a dungeon, got lots of mana from ensuing adventurers, and moved on to the next zone. There were bound to be complications, but he believed things would work out. So, Dan got back to looking at his current target.


    In total, the shard had around 50 animals under control. Around 20 were on the weaker end, being rabbits and such, while the other 35 were bears, wolves, stags, moose, elks, and a couple more ravens. With the information gained, Dan felt confident in taking down the shard since it was definitely the same rank as him. However, before doing so, he wanted to learn a bit more about the rest of the land, which wouldn¡¯t take long since his birds were returning just as night was coming in. That revelation surprised him, and he couldn¡¯t believe how long he had spent animal-watching.


    Dungeon Day 22


    The first thing Dan learned was about the caves and the lake.


    Cave two was home to some creatures that Dan could only identify as kobolds. These kobolds were in some sort of fight with the denizens of Cave One, who were gnolls. He identified both of them thanks to his tabletop days.


    There was no way to know why they were fighting, but it was good to know that there were two fewer areas to worry about for the time being. However, Dan was definitely convinced that the caves were part of the nine factions he needed to control.


    After the caves came news from the lake, which was followed by news from the large rock.


    The lake was inhabited by some frog-looking humanoid creatures who seemed to be fighting each other or something else, at least if the bloodied water was to be believed. The large rock was home to a druid with some sort of beast alliance going on. However, there was no way to know if this alliance was friendly towards Dan. For the most part, however, the beasts mostly seem to travel between the lake, the village, and the kobold cave. Dan was curious about why that was a thing, but he would probably find out sooner rather than later.


    Next up were the ruins and bandits who were harassing the under-armed village. Meanwhile, the village itself was on high alert and filled with basic town folks like farmers, smiths, and other random folk with basic jobs. It had about ten guards, which wasn¡¯t much against the many bandits. However, they did have one dragon-looking humanoid that was decently armored up and was apparently enough to hold the bandits back from having taken over the village. Well, at least, that was the only thing Dan could think of.


    Finally, the orc, goblin, and hobgoblin encampment numbered in the thousands, unlike the hundreds of trolls and ogres in the hills. Thankfully, both didn¡¯t seem to be doing much, and Dan hoped it stayed that way.


    With all this new information, Dan was finally able to take a proper, decisive action. First, he sent the hawks back to their respective areas. He wanted them to keep watching and learning. However, instead of having them constantly report back, he would have the two remaining hawks act as replacements. They would be flying back and forth, allowing two hawks at a time to come and update Dan on any changes. The only reason the stationed hawks were to leave their zones was if something major happened, like if they found a shard.


    So, with those commands given, it was time for Dan to begin working towards absorbing the first shard.

 Chapter 11 - Probing

    Dungeon Day 22 - Continues


    The first thing Dan wanted to ensure happened was that he got all the enemy monsters in one go. Dan wasn''t sure if the shard could somehow survive through a monster by transferring its mind, and he didn¡¯t want to find out. Another possible issue was how exactly he would absorb the shard. He hadn''t thought about it, and he quickly searched through his options and knowledge but couldn''t find how he would absorb another shard.


    So, he reached out to the World Crystal and was informed that he needed to come in contact with the shard and absorb it. This meant he had to put down all enemy minions or convert them to his side. Currently, that was fine, as he should be able to overpower this particular shard and its minions, but depending on the strength of future shards and their monsters, things could get complicated. Once again, though, that was a problem for future Dan, and he focused on the coming fight.


    The real issue was that if he attacked the tree directly, all those monsters would die over there and not within his dungeon area. However, the tree was too far away, and it would be too risky to try anything but a full-scale invasion to eliminate the shard in one go.


    His first thought had been to bring the beasts of the enemy shard into the cave and kill them here, but doing so might tip off the shard. And if the enemy shard got worried, it might leave for another area and be more careful, making it even harder to find. From there, it could build up a bigger army and pose an actual issue.


    A two-prong attack was also ill-advised for Dan, at least with his current limited forces. There was a small chance that either front could be outmaneuvered or just straight-up outmatched in combat, leaving him open. This problem was based on how intelligent the shard was, which so far Dan didn¡¯t think was that smart, but it could just be playing the fool.


    Being so indecisive wasn¡¯t good, and Dan got his bosses together to bounce off opinions, and he was glad he did.


    ¡°Boss, I recommend we just take out the shard in one fell swoop,¡± George said.


    ¡°Why do you think that, George?¡± Dan had questioned the ape, curious to pick the gorilla¡¯s brain.


    ¡°Well, boss, I know you are going to miss all of that mana, but the reward in exchange for missing the mana will solve most of your issues. If I remember correctly, you will claim the land once you take over a faction, correct?¡± The gorilla said in a more refined and scholarly voice.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Dan answered questioningly as his brain was starting to connect the dots.


    ¡°So, once the shard is taken, you will get all of the land under its control. Then, once it is under your control, we can hunt in any part of that land, allowing you to get the mana instantly. Additionally, if we get into conflicts with other factions and they attack us, we will have a much larger area to plan with.¡±


    Thinking about it for a minute, Dan did find a possible flaw in the gorilla¡¯s logic.


    ¡°Alright, George, but what if the shard isn¡¯t one of the factions?¡± Dan¡¯s counterargument was weak, but it was still a real possibility.


    ¡°The chance is there, boss. I will admit that even if it is small. However, if we are playing the odds, there are nine factions to conquer and eight shards. Which all adds up rather nicely.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, very well, George, we will give it a shot. Good job.¡± Dan answered, and the gorilla¡¯s chest inflated with pride.


    After the meeting came the actual planning. They would need a good plan to address the concern of the shard escaping into the mind of another beast. So, as part of the plan, Dan decided to poke the hornet''s nest, at least a little bit.


    He started by giving the go-ahead for two of his eagles to harass the birds of the tree. It was nothing crazy, but enough to be an annoyance.


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    Watching from Eagle the hawk''s eyes as she flew high in the air, Dan saw as the eagles would fly by the enemy''s air space. The first few times, it had been ignored, but once it had become a consistent annoyance, the crows got riled up and began chasing the eagles as they flew by. The crows never actually left the immediate area of the tree, but it was good enough for Dan, at least for the time being. Additionally, the eagles weren¡¯t constantly doing so and would fly by a couple of times an hour, which helped put the rest of the mind-controlled animals at ease.


    Eventually, Dan did increase the harassment. As the day was coming to an end, he commanded the two eagles who had taken a rest at the base camp to go ahead and give the crows a small blast of wind. The eagles had no actual wind ability but could control the wind slightly. So, both did another fly-by, except they controlled the wind just enough to startle the crows. They didn¡¯t actually get damaged, as that would require a skill, but feeling a random blast of wind would be concerning.


    The crows, or rather the shard, hadn¡¯t done much after that. However, Dan wasn¡¯t sure if it was because night was approaching or because it was planning something else.


    Dungeon Day 23


    After yesterday''s events, Dan observed the tree through Eagle¡¯s eyes yet again to see if the shard had been spooked enough. However, the enemy camp had stayed the same. There wasn¡¯t any build-up of forces or increased defenses. The damn thing was either confident or very stupid.


    Deciding to spice things up even more, Tesilim ordered the eagles to do some actual skirmishing. Meaning Dan wanted them to take out one of the crows.


    The act had been relatively easy: a quick dive, a flash of talons, and bam, a dead crow.


    The bird hadn¡¯t even known what happened, and it even took the camp a second to realize what did happen. Dan imagined the cut connection took a second to register, and when it finally did, the whole camp went into a furry of activity. All of the birds began crowing as they flew into the air and circled around the tree. Meanwhile, all land-based troops were on full alert, looking into the forest and scanning the skies every so often.


    Getting the desired effect from the enemy with his eagle''s kill, Dan decided to move to the next phase of the plan¡ªmore death.


    It took around an hour for the enemy camp to calm down again, but it eventually did. And as soon as it did, another eagle struck yet another unaware crow. The camp didn¡¯t give chase that time, but it finally let the shard know something was up, as it began having proper lookouts.


    After the second attack, one or two crows always flew above the tree. Dan wasn¡¯t sure when it happened, but the shard had gained a few more crows along with a few other birds. If he had to assume, it had been during the night. Still, it didn¡¯t change the fact that things were getting heated.


    For the rest of that day, Dan just told the eagles to harass the flying patrols but not to kill any of them. Dan wanted the shard to recall its beasts and for them to be all nicely placed in one spot before he struck.


    Dungeon Day 24


    Apparently, one of his stationed hawks had been contacted by another bird.


    That had come as a surprise as the other bird wanted his hawk to contact Dan and request a meeting with it. Dan guessed that the same hawk flying in the same area for a few days would set off some alarms. The hawk in question was the one near the giant rock, and if Dan¡¯s guess was correct, then it was a druid who had spoken with his hawk.


    Dan wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to meet with this druid, but he figured he had nothing to lose and told his hawk to ask the other bird what it wanted. He also thought about switching around his spy hawks but decided against it. The likelihood of someone else noticing that the same hawk had been flying around was almost nonexistent. In fact, the only reason his hawk was noticed was probably due to the instincts of the normal birds living on the giant rock.


    Moving on from the druid business, Dan got back to inspecting the dead tree, which had seen some changes overnight. The shard had definitely recalled more of its animals, though definitely nowhere near the amount that Dan thought it had access to. However, progress was progress, and Dan planned to step up the harassment. He wouldn¡¯t actually show all his forces, and the ones he did show would go the long way around to throw off any possible pursuers.


    Dan decided to send two of his bears, each with one of the two eagles that had been harassing the crows. And instead of going directly northeast, one went up north first before turning east towards the dead tree. Meanwhile, the other bear and eagle went east first before heading north, then finally doing a U-turn and heading back west towards the dead tree. Additionally, and also unknown to the bear and eagle combo, a panther followed each of them. Dan had decided not to tell the skirmishers as they might accidentally acknowledge the panther and thus give it away.


    Anyways, the bear and eagle combos got to the tree and were told to be loud and obnoxious. Dan didn''t want them to engage directly, at least not yet. He had given directions for the bear to roar and knock down a tree or two, announcing its presence some distance from the enemy while the eagle would screech and fly high above the camp. Then, hopefully, if the shard was smart enough, it would link the eagles to the two newcomers, showing that another apex predator was encroaching into its territory.

 Chapter 12 - Attack Begins

    Dungeon Day 25


    Surprising him, the shard did not send out beasts to harass the bear and eagle combo, so Dan had let the duos spend the rest of that day being annoying before recalling them through the same route they had taken. Even more surprising was the fact that the shard didn''t send out beasts to follow his monsters.


    Luckily, the tactic had worked, and the shard had recalled even more of its troops back to the dead tree. So, Dan decided to give it a last push before he finally decided to strike with full force.


    Dan sent out the same duos, but this time around, he wanted them to do more than be annoying. Additionally, and in case a fight broke out, Dan sent two gorillas and four baboons to act as reserves further away from the dead tree.


    He was going to have the bears and eagles pretend to charge the tree but not actually commit. The main reason for doing this was to see how the enemy animals would react. If the enemy retaliated, the duos were to back out, and if they did chase, they would meet up with their gorilla and baboon reserves and skirmish their way out.


    Dan had also wanted to send out two doe¡¯s and stags, one for each team, but had been advised against it by George. The gorilla had pointed out that it was better to keep the fact they had healing capabilities out of the picture for as long as possible. That way, the enemy could be surprised by the sudden recovery of troops. And after hearing George out, Dan had agreed.


    Back to the fake charging, he had sent Eagle and Hawk to watch so he could also watch, and things were looking good.


    Each bear and its eagle were taking turns charging while their counterparts on the other side rested. One bear would charge from the west, and the eastern eagle would do a sweep by. Then, they would reverse and keep going back and forth.


    The first charges had been the best ones as they had spooked the animals around the tree, and they had indeed prepared for combat. However, it was weird that the shard hadn¡¯t sent out any of the animals to attack. His bears and eagles were outnumbered like five to one, at least currently, and if the shard wanted, it could probably take them out. Still, after the first few charges, things did calm down, and though the beasts were on guard, none of them responded to the charges after a while, so Dan eventually pulled the animals back to the camp.


    After pulling them back, Dan decided to wait two more days, as he increased harassment, before pushing in and finishing the job.


    Dungeon Day 26


    The following day, Dan sent out the bears and eagles again, along with a panther and the gorilla and baboon reserves for each of the teams. Additionally, it was time to spook the shard even more and hopefully get it to attack.


    Looking at the enemy base through Eagle¡¯s eyes, Dan saw that pretty much all of the animals were back. In total, he counted around 70, which was 20 more than the last time he did a count. Seeing the increase in number, Dan decided to wait for a bit before starting the troop harassment. He wanted to see if the enemy had patrols going and if any more beasts arrived in the following hours. Not that he was worried; Dan matched the shard in terms of numbers and definitely outmatched it in power with the many abilities his monsters had. However, it was better to be safe than sorry.


    Watching the tree didn¡¯t give him more information, and it looked like the shard only had 70 monsters. There was a small chance it had some animals still out, but if the number didn¡¯t increase again after tonight, then Dan was confident that was the shard''s maximum.


    Harassment began like the previous day, with the bears and eagles doing their things. The harassment started around midday due to Dan¡¯s watching session, but it would leave more than enough time for what Dan wanted to accomplish.


    After letting the bears and eagles charge for an hour or so, Dan gave the go-ahead for Kinetic and Eagle to do their thing. Dan hated exposing two of his mini-bosses, but he needed to find where the shard was hiding. The whole operation was for naught if it wasn¡¯t even in the tree. As such, he wanted Kinetic and Eagle to rush in there and run around for a bit while he looked through their eyes and sensed for the stupid shard.


    Running was fun. Dan felt the electricity rush through Kinetic¡¯s body as he also tapped into his earth affinity and moved into the camp before the lookouts could even raise the alarm. Running through the enemy camp while jumping on heads and bodies and dodging some swipes, Kinetic and Dan didn¡¯t spot the shard anywhere on the ground area. There was no secret cave or hidden holes, not even in the giant rock. Honestly, Dan expected the shard to be in the base of the tree trunk or in the rock.


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    Switching from Kinetic to Eagle, Dan saw the enemy camp rushing towards him as the hawk dove down while everything was paying attention to the cheetah. Dan nudged the hawk to search the tree thoroughly. Luckily, that gave some results as Dan saw a hint of blue through a small hole midway down the tree. Not long after seeing that, Dan felt as Eagle''s mind got assaulted by what had to be the shard. Thankfully, his monsters had that mental resistance ability, and the hawk quickly shrugged off the influence. However, with that confirmation, Dan was finally ready to finish the war and nudged Kinetic and Eagle to back out.


    Both mini-bosses were out of the enemy camp just as fast as they had arrived, and some of the beasts even chased them, but not being able to keep up, they quickly gave up. Heck, not wanting the riled-up beast to switch targets, Dan decided to pull everyone back in preparation for the next day when he was finally going to absorb his first shard.


    Dungeon Day 27


    Dan left the cave. His thoughts were that he didn''t want anyone or anything to find the cave to the actual world and possibly escape. So, he decided to seal off the cave and leave with his entire entourage towards the tree. However, he wouldn''t be stupid and march his whole army there.


    He planned to split his forces into five teams while he kept the bosses. Each team would consist of a bear, gorilla, stag, doe, eagle, jaguar, and two baboons. Each team would approach the dead tree from different directions, and when they were all ready to go, Dan would send his bosses in. Initially, he was worried about leaving the cave but figured he was the safest with his monsters, and by participating in the fight, he could absorb the shard faster.


    So, around noon, his five teams were approaching the dead tree from each cardinal direction, with another one coming from the northeast opposite where Dan was approaching. The teams began a slow encroachment into the lands of the shard. They didn¡¯t all go at once, and it was mainly the eagles and bears showing themselves, getting the attention of the beasts at the tree.


    As the attention was focused on the bears and eagles, the rest of the teams slowly approached. Dan did have one final addition to each team, giving each a cheetah or panther, with the furthest teams from his position gaining an additional jaguar as well. The big cats would be used as skirmishers or placed back to ensure no beasts snuck out of the dead tree.


    In terms of bosses, well, Hawk, Eagle, and the last two hawks were on high air patrol, making sure no birds escaped if they got past the five eagles. Then, Ingot and George were the battering ram that would fully breach a path into the shard and even bring down the tree. Xinos was going to be Dan¡¯s hidden guard. The jaguar would follow behind Dan and make sure no beast got past Fur, who would escort Dan along with Fir.


    Finally, with everything planned, Dan nudged all his monsters to begin the fight.


    It began with the five teams approaching the dead tree. The eagles were the first to arrive and engaged in combat with the weaker flying beasts. The eagles outmatched the crows or any other non-apex predator except for the large raven, who began harassing them. The damn raven even took one of his eagles down before Dan told Eagle to deal with the dam thing, and the hawk dove from her high vantage point.


    After the eagles had engaged, the bears arrived almost simultaneously at an already panicked site. Two bears used their Earth Entomb ability from a semi-safe distance, causing two walls to appear out of the ground and crunch the trees and vines, giving them an easy way into the enemy fort. Meanwhile, the other three bears used their Earth Slams on laying tree trunks and forced their way in.


    George devised that strategy to force the enemy beasts to prioritize the three slamming bears and ease up on one side. This would then let the two entomb teams enter much more easily into the enemy site. And sure enough, it worked.


    Dan knew the shard had decent mental abilities, but it could only deal with so many situations at once. And, of course, it had chosen the closest targets, which were the slamming bears.


    The shard had around ten normal bears, five elks, five moose, 15 wolves, 15 crows, and the one raven with an additional giant snake. The rest of the beasts were smaller flying birds, foxes, bunnies, boars, etc. So, when the attack hit, the shard left one bear for each of the entombing teams, along with an elk and three wolves. The rest were sent to rush at the three slamming teams, which was a good strategy as they would be highly outnumbered.


    Dan¡¯s bears met the moose and were quickly surrounded, but their Resilience let them stay afloat until their help arrived. Each gorilla began tossing about smaller beasts before leaving it to the baboons as they engaged the elks and wolves. Then, the jaguars began slashing things with their metal claws as the doe waited to do their thing behind the stags.


    With the addition of the new beasts, the slamming teams managed to stabilize the fight but were still outnumbered, and it was only a matter of time before the tides turned again. However, thankfully for them, the plan began to work.


    The two entombing teams, meeting less resistance, began to make quick work of their opponents. Meanwhile, Eagle had arrived in the aerial fight. The hawk had wind control, and though it couldn¡¯t be used for incredible offensive attacks, it let her be even faster as she removed some wind resistance in her dive. Thus, the raven didn¡¯t even know what hit it as it was struck at an insane speed and landed dead on the ground a few seconds later, with half of its body missing.

 Chapter 13 - Absorption

    Dungeon Day 27 - Continues


    After Eagle demolished the enemy raven, the aerial battle took a turn for the better as the hawk began taking out the crows. Meanwhile, the battle on the ground that had come to a stalemate with the entrance of the rest of the teams was finally starting to shift back into the enemy''s favor. Even then, with the stags and does, the three teams could hold their positions while waiting for the other two entombing teams to flank.


    However, Dan decided it was time to go for the finishing strike. He had been watching the whole time and knew the snake had yet to join in. The damn thing was wrapped around the tree where Dan figured the shard was located. The only good thing about the whole fight so far was that none of the beasts had tried to escape just yet, but that was probably something that would happen soon.


    Dan gave the order, and his boss entourage began to move forward. Ingot was going ahead, and he was going to clear a path for Dan. The large bear trotted in front until he was near the enemy camp. Then, the bear went into a full sprint, making the party increase their speed as well. Coming up behind one of the slamming parties, Ingot roared, causing the battlefield to go silent for a few seconds as the beasts saw the giant bear sprinting toward them.


    Dan¡¯s beasts, recognizing Ingot, were smart enough to move out of the way as the bear ran through them, slamming right through other bears, moose, and elks as he headed straight for the tree. It was then that the battle finally shifted to their side completely as Dan¡¯s beasts were the first to recover and began their attack, taking the other animals by surprise. The battle shifted even more in his favor as the entombing teams defeated their opponents and began assisting the other three teams.


    To the shard''s credit, none of the animals began fleeing just yet, but Dan knew that would soon change as he saw Ingot reach the base of the dead tree. As the bear got on his hind legs, Dan told Xinos to take out the snake. Then, he felt Xinos go invisible while Ingot activated his Earth Slam ability, and the bear''s paws became as solid as stone.


    The bear then cleaved the tree trunk, removing a huge chunk of it with a loud, crunching noise that caused the battlefield to go quiet once again. Then, with everyone watching him, Ingot placed his two front paws on the tree and heaved. It took a second, but eventually, with another loud cracking noise, the thing began tilting as it descended toward the large rock.


    It was a sight to behold. All the beasts stared in silence as the giant tree slowly fell to the ground, landing with a crash and cracking in half as its center struck the large rock. With the tree''s fall, the battlefield stayed silent for a little bit longer before everything went into chaos.


    His monsters roared and hollered in victory as the enemy beasts began panicking, running towards the fallen tree while others seemed to gain their mental freedom and began to attempt their escape. Sadly for them, Dan couldn¡¯t let any of them leave alive, and he commanded all the beasts that could hear him to begin the slaughter.


    Meanwhile, as the beasts ran towards the tree and the shard, Dan switched sights over to Xinos. Dan wasn¡¯t too worried about being attacked since he had Fur and George on watch.


    The jaguar did not need to teleport as the snake was already preoccupied and trying to free its master from the tree. So, Xinos cautiously approached with his invisibility and activated Stalker, marking the snake. Then, with that done and within fifty feet of the snake, the jaguar infused his claws with metal, making them turn as hard as iron. After that, he also activated Necrosis Infusion, quickly covering his claws in dark energy. With everything ready, Dan felt Xinos¡¯s body tense up, preparing for the jump.


    Xinos waited till the snake looked towards the camp at the approaching beasts before finally leaping. The cat flew in the air and activated his metal slash ability as he sent out large crescent slashes infused with dark energy. The slashes flew and struck the unsuspecting snake and tree, cutting them both into pieces. After landing on the sliced-up snake, which was beginning to rot, the big cat switched over to the incoming enemy beasts before roaring and charging at them. Seeing the scary cat, some of the beasts wrestled free from the shard''s control before attempting to flee. Sadly, for them, they were struck by more slashes and were cut into pieces, with the rest of the beasts being flanked by Dan¡¯s animals.


    Switching the view from Xinos back to Hawk, he nudged the hawk to focus on the tree where the shard still lay. While watching the tree, Dan told Fur and Fir to stay back, and he prompted George forward as the small shard emerged from the slashed trunk. Dan himself couldn¡¯t actually see the area as it wasn¡¯t claimed yet and was stuck with viewing from his beast''s eyes. That was a slight issue as the shard still had Dan¡¯s old spatial sense ability and could quickly feel its environment. Thankfully, Dan could now feel the shard since it was close enough and no longer hiding.


    The shard, now floating in the air, began to float towards Dan and was quick to unleash a blast of kinetic force that struck against Fur¡¯s wall of earth. The attack didn¡¯t faze Dan, as he knew the shard shouldn¡¯t have much more mana than himself. Luckily, the shard seemed confident and dumb and continued to approach Dan, unleashing more kinetic attacks from its fist-size body until it finally ran out. On the other hand, George dodged the blasts of power and approached the shard when the thing''s innate survival instincts kicked in, and it began floating the other way.


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    Dan, smiling inwardly, prompted Fur and Fir to move forward with him as he saw George begin to trot after the shard. The gorilla then jumped over the floating shard and spent all his mana on his Smash attack, striking the shard like a baseball and forcibly sending it back toward Dan. The shard, now within ten feet of Dan, was entrapped by Fur¡¯s walls.


    It tried to float up and above the walls, but Dan was there.


    Finally, when he was basically touching the shard, he flexed his will as he called forth the contract along with his own power and saw as the shard began turning into blue energy. Dan began to absorb the energy, and a notification popped up once he had consumed it.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have absorbed an Eldritch God Shard!


    By absorbing the shard, you conquered its faction and, therefore, have claimed its lands.


    ??


    Dan really wanted to check his status, but before doing so, he got hit with a wave of information as a shit load of land was instantly claimed, and his mind expanded. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it was definitely a weird thing for a human to experience, at least all of a sudden.


    Ignoring this crucial fact of the new land, Dan moved to check and see what exactly had happened to the rest of the enemy beasts. Thankfully for them, with the death and absorption of the shard, the beast''s minds were freed, so he ordered his beasts to stop killing them and round them up instead.


    The round-up was easy as his own beasts were much scarier than the normal ones, and the ex-enemy beasts had the massacre that had just happened fresh in their minds. Once the animals were rounded up and put under guard, Dan went through to see how many casualties there had been on his side, and it wasn''t that bad. Three eagles, one bear, one gorilla, and four baboons had died. Dan wasn¡¯t that worried about the loss as they weren¡¯t that expensive to respawn, even if they did die outside of the dungeon. If anything, Dan was more worried yet interested in the beast''s mental state after respawning. He knew they were made for this exact reason but didn¡¯t believe for a second that everyone would be nice and relaxed like Hawk the Eagle had been.


    Outside of deaths, there were plenty of injuries, but all his beasts were quickly treated with the doe¡¯s at hand. Finally, after checking that everything was somewhat okay, he checked his status screen.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Common.


    Shards Collected: 1/100.


    Points till Next Rank: 50/100.


    Mana: 300/600.


    Mana Regen: 12 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 6 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 200 feet.


    Total Area Claimed: 135 Square Miles.


    Abilities: 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    The progress was nice, though looking at the number of shards, he still had a long way to go. However, Dan¡¯s happiness overshadowed his worry as he was almost at D rank and would finally enter the big boy leagues of power, even if it was the lower ranks. Continuing to look at this status, he saw that the shard had indeed been Common Rank since it had only increased his mana tank by another 300. Additionally, due to its size, it only gave an additional 2 Chaos Mana a day, which wasn¡¯t much.


    The one thing that was nice to see had increased by a decent amount was his telepathy range. It was only an extra one hundred feet, but it would have been helpful back in the fight. He had thought that his telepathy only worked up to a certain range extending outward from his claimed lands, meaning he shouldn¡¯t have been able to use it during the fight. However, it seemed that since he was the hub for the whole thing, he had his own telepathy range. What he just discovered about how the ability worked wouldn¡¯t be a game-changer, at least not anymore, but it was still nice to have.


    Finally, the most impressive change brought by the absorption was the sheer amount of land he had control over. 135 Square Miles was no joke, and it was crazier to think that it was only a small part of the total area they were in. That wasn¡¯t even thinking about the fact that there would be more shattered areas later on, some of which were probably larger than his current one.


    Moving on from the sheer amount of land he now controlled, Dan looked at his Claiming Goals to verify that the shard had indeed been a faction. And sure enough, George had been correct, at least this time.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 1/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 1/8.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


    Finally, and before moving on to properly managing his new kingdom, Dan looked at the other changes he had gone through. The first was that his size had increased, even if just a bit. Before, he had been the size of a soccer ball, and after absorbing the tennis-size enemy shard, his size had increased by maybe an inch.


    The last change was what the absorption meant for his mind. This shard hadn¡¯t been that smart and had primarily been dominated by feelings of greed and wishing to expand. Additionally, the shard didn¡¯t have a proper consciousness and could grasp some emotions and concepts but didn¡¯t have much long-term planning ability. That alone explained why it had been so slow to expand and react to Dan¡¯s advances.


    Honestly, Dan was glad the things mind did not influence him too much. However, he would need to devise some measures to defend against his own influence, if that was even possible. After all, Dan knew that he would meet shards with more memories and personalities that could twist his own.


    The fact was that they were all once part of the same entity, and even though Dan was currently in the realm of mortal and human thinking. There was no way that wasn¡¯t going to change later on.

 Chapter 14 - New Camp

    The first thing Dan needed to do was decide the fate of the new animals. They would need to be under his control at one point or another. Still, even if they came under his control, they wouldn''t be turned into upgraded versions of themselves like his current monsters were. Instead, the beasts would be regular creatures that he could alter, but they would otherwise remain the same. The main issue was that he wanted to avoid slaughtering the whole area and respawning everything.


    There were two choices as far as Dan was concerned, though honestly, he was already leaning towards one. The first choice was to let the beasts go and deal with them all later. However, as that was going to be a hassle, he just decided to take the secondary approach. He would make this group submit, but from there on, or at least until he got to D rank, he was going to give beasts choices. They could join him then or go free. If they went free, Dan would let them do their thing until he controlled most of the land. Then, once he did control it and his power was unquestionable, he would give them the choice to join willingly or die.


    The choice was rough, but it was the only way, as per the World Crystal, he needed to control every single creature in the area. He would have liked to start with the two choices from earlier on, but it would have made him look like a tyrant. This would then cause factions like the druid to be antagonistic from the start, making everything that much harder.


    So, for this first group of beasts, it was submit or die, and naturally, they all agreed as no one wanted to die.


    After they agreed, Dan quickly dismissed the lot with directions to find and try to convince their fellow animals to join Dan. Obviously, they couldn¡¯t tell other beasts what happened in the camp, as that would be bad for business. Additionally, they were to report if they found any intruders approaching Dan and his new campsite.


    With that done, Dan moved to configure his new camp. Dan planned to follow the same route as the old camp, which was now dismantled, except he would put in some extra effort.


    Opening his menu, Dan went for his Claim or Edit Area.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    ¡ª Claim Area.


    ¡ª Edit Area.


    Then he chose the Edit Area, which caused two more options to pop up.


    ¡ª Edit Area.


    - - Transform Environment.


    - - Add Enchantment.


    Dan was interested in the whole enchantment thing but knew he would need more mana to mess with it properly. So, he chose the Transform Environment option and felt endless options appear in his mind. He could turn the sky within his area purple or any color for that matter. It was the same with the grass or trees or anything. He could turn everything into gold or diamond if he wanted to, well, as long as he had the mana. Heck, he could even create a whole mountain. Sadly, he didn¡¯t have enough mana for that, either.


    The main difference Dan instantly felt between this newly claimed land and the one outside of the shattered space was that it was all his. At least until the space came to a halt at the fog, but that was still more than enough. Much like the sky, the ground extended deep down about five miles, which was plenty to work with. The space did have one similarity to the land outside: Dan still had a hard limit to his perception. His perception came to a slow end as it approached the fog until everything just went fuzzy and dark. Dan assumed that the World Crystal was blocking him from seeing the space between spaces, which, as far as Dan was concerned, was a good thing.


    Focusing back on the whole editing thing, Dan quickly got rid of the dead trees and spiky vines, along with the dead animal corpses and any other stuff like blood and guts. Afterward, he flattened the ground, which surprisingly was free. Apparently, matter disposal was free, at least so far. After making the camp nice and flat, Dan began with the creation of a new central tree. He wouldn¡¯t make it as big as the dead one, but it would definitely be sturdy with a thick trunk. The tree would be an oak, and he would carve a hole at the center of the trunk just slightly above the ground where he would place himself. Overall, the whole thing cost him around ten mana.


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    With the tree standing nice and proud, Dan moved to the next thing, which was to command the stags along with Fur to start erecting walls. He wanted the walls to be thick, with a width of five feet. Dan also planned to make a large square for each corner and have a thick piece of stone as a watch tower. The thick stones would go up around 15 feet, while the walls would be 10 feet high. Fur was the one to make the corners as he could create them in one go. The entire area came out to be 190 feet by 190 feet, and Dan was just glad he didn¡¯t have to pay the mana to claim it.


    Dan knew it would stand out but would rather have the increased defense. He debated changing the walls and towers'' colors from their light brownish to more regular grey stones but decided against it, as he was saving mana.


    The new fortifications took a few hours to complete, as the stags only had so much mana, and they had to wait to regen it back up. As they worked, Dan began to create new trees inside their fort. He hated spending the mana, but George had brought up so many good points.


    George pointed out that the ex-shard had no cover, which opened them up to easy spying and aerial harassment. Additionally, if the giant dead tree hadn¡¯t already been easy to spot, the large clearing around it was a bigger giveaway. Finally, the trees would provide nice resting spots for the apes, big cats, and birds to help them relax while not on duty.


    Sadly, for Dan, the gorilla made excellent points and quickly gained the support of everyone, including the bears, as they would ¡°have good scratching spots.¡± So, Dan didn¡¯t have a choice.


    The trees would make it harder to see what was happening within the fort and would help their birds weave between the branches if they were ever attacked. Additionally, Dan was thinking of making spiders for some proper aerial traps, and the trees would be perfect spots for them. Even more interesting than the spiders, and now that he had a larger area, Dan wanted moles or worms. He wanted to be able to fight on all fronts, and the burrowers could cover the underground, but that would be something for later when he started gaining more mana.


    So, with the decision made, trees began to sprout all around the fort area. The new trees weren¡¯t going to be as large as his main one, and they came to cost between two to five mana each, for a total of 145 mana, bringing his new total mana to 135. Dan was unhappy with the amount, but he enjoyed watching his beasts relax and enjoy the new natural amenities. And considering they had fought hard, he felt like they earned it.


    After finishing the tree-growing process and with the stags done with the walls, Dan decided to add something extra to their new fort. He began deleting dirt outside the walls to create a five-foot-deep moat. It wasn¡¯t going to be much, but it would help in case of an overground attack.


    In the end, the fort was a large, squared area with four sizeable 15-foot-tall pillar towers at each corner and ten-foot-tall and five-foot wide walls. The moat was going to help with possible invaders, and when the tree defenses were complete, along with a possible fog enchantment, the area was going to be a proper base of operations.


    With the fort mostly complete and night approaching, Dan decided not to go too crazy, and though he did begin proper scouting and guarding, he wasn¡¯t going to push for much else. However, the hunt would start first thing the following day as he needed more mana to expand.


    During the resting hours, a hawk came back with new information about the druid situation at the large rock to the east. The hawk reported that the druid and its beasts wanted to see Dan and form an alliance. Supposedly, it was to help various other factions in the shattered area, such as the kobolds and the frog people. Dan was definitely on board with this, as it would be his in into the various factions.


    The information also made it clear to Dan that the different factions were clearly having issues with each other. Though he did sort of already know it but hadn¡¯t been able to gather any more information on the specifics of the conflicts via the hawks, and he hoped that the druid could give him some more details. Either way, Dan wasn¡¯t comfortable just yet as his forces were still on the smaller end, and he wanted to build up a bit more before doing anything.


    As a human, and with some of the mental itchiness that came from his new form and information gained through the contract, Dan knew just what magic could do, and he didn¡¯t know how strong the druid was. Heck, the whole thing could be a ploy by a stronger shard to strike him while his guard was down. And, of course, Dan had to be careful as the whole thing could go downhill. It¡¯s not like he could respawn via the World Crystal, and if a shard or something else got him, that was it.

 Chapter 15 - A New Challenge

    Dungeon Day 28


    After the whole battle ordeal and setting up camp, Dan sent the hawk back to tell the druid he was interested in the proposal but was not ready to meet yet. He also prompted the hawk to ask the druid if the hawk could approach the rock and observe things. The hawk left soon after, and Dan got back to things.


    Mainly hunting things.


    He had enough animals to make three full teams, so he sent those out. However, he made sure to keep things to a limit and not hunt weaker things like foxes or squirrels. He kept the beasts that didn¡¯t have full teams. Dan believed they were enough to defend him, and if he needed more firepower, he still had some leftover mana. And now that his core room was considered to be the whole fort, he could blast things once again. He wasn¡¯t sure why it worked like that since it wasn¡¯t an actual room, but maybe the trees counted as a roof, so he wouldn¡¯t complain.


    As for the bosses, he kept Eagle, as Hawk hadn¡¯t done much in the previous fight and was itching to do something. Dan also kept Fir and Fur, but other than that, everyone was told to roam the forest.


    While his beasts went off, Dan began looking into upgrading Eagle a bit more while also making plans to make his new bosses. The new bosses would be a spider and a mole, along with their mini-bosses and hench minions. He also wanted to make more beasts in general to increase his total battle capacity.


    Looking at his current dead beasts, he would need 229 mana to respawn them. Then he calculated how much mana it would cost to create at least another five teams, and it came out to a shit load even without including all his future plans.


    The day went by as Dan looked into the various beasts he wanted to create to act as minions for the new bosses and mini-bosses he would make. Besides the mole and spider, he wanted to make a worm mini-boss for the mole and a bat mini-boss for the spider. In terms of minions, he would just make the same beasts but weaker, as he didn¡¯t need that much variety, at least not yet. That decision came from the fact that his current creatures would work fine in the zone since it was mostly forest. Then, the mole and worms could deal with underground problems. The only place he knew he would need to make some new stuff for was the lake, but that would come later.


    As Dan waited while making plans, he began to gain a constant stream of mana from his monsters, who were finally killing stuff. That did make him pause as he worried about the implications of the killings. If he kept at it, he would kill so many beats in the forest and would have to respawn them, which was counterproductive. Sadly, he couldn¡¯t see a way around this problem and went back to the task at hand.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Dan to reach 300 mana, and he quickly respawned all his dead creatures. They came into being around his core, but he knew he could assign respawn points all around his claimed area. Something that would be useful when he began making his dungeon.


    Speaking with his newly respawned minions, Dan found that they were all pretty much okay with the whole death thing. Some looked a bit worried, but it wasn¡¯t from the fact they died, as they knew that as long as Dan lived, they would return. Instead, it was more about the fact that dying hurt. Sadly, Dan couldn¡¯t relate as he didn¡¯t remember dying, but he still knew pain and wondered if there was a feature he could give to his monsters to gain some pain tolerance. Looking, Dan did find something, but it was just an addition to the whole body enhancement thing or yet another ability he could give. However, before doing anything, Dan would wait and see if the monsters would get over their fears on their own.


    After respawning the monsters, Dan wanted to send them out to hunt immediately but didn¡¯t, mostly because he felt bad about the few who were still shaken. So, he decided to let them spend the day resting while he continued his business, which eventually included surveying his new land.


    His land was just forest. The land wasn¡¯t fully flat and had dips and rises with some hilly areas. The whole place also switched from a thick canopy forest with even thicker undergrowth to sparser areas that allowed easier travel. There were plenty of caves and hiding spots for beasts to hide in, but none of them went very deep into the ground. Overall, the area fit the rest of the shattered zone¡¯s theme, and Dan had yet to spot any possible problems.


    While exploring, he noticed that his sense, much like how the fog at the zone''s edges worked, would slowly fade until everything went dark, and he could no longer see out from his claimed land into the neighboring lands. The most annoying part was the fact that all of his senses were cut off like a curtain stretched from deep underground to high in the sky, and he could not peek over the curtain at all. Still, he wasn¡¯t worried, as even if someone could travel like that godly avatar, he would still have a decent amount of time to react. However, that brought the question of teleportation, and that was when he found something that could prove a bit dangerous.


    Teleportation worked within his claimed area just fine, at least for his non-allies. If Dan wanted things not to teleport to him, he would need to place proper enchantments in an area to stop teleportation¡ªthe same thing as with flight. Even then, if someone was stronger than Dan, they could force their way past the restriction. Luckily, doing so would still cost the invader plenty of mana, but it wasn¡¯t that great of a trade for Dan.


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    Thankfully, from what Dan had seen around the shattered zone, there didn¡¯t seem to be many things that could teleport around. However, Dan was still worried about disguises. It wasn¡¯t something he had thought about until just then, but it could be a problem. Could magic fool him even within his own dungeon area? Could a druid pass as an actual animal or an illusion expert make themselves truly invisible to Dan''s senses?


    Worried and not wanting to get taken by surprise, Dan reached out to the World Crystal and did not receive good news. In short, yes, Dan could totally be fooled by stuff like that. The World Crystal had wanted to give Dan full magical vision for such things, but Mother Eternity had intervened under the guise of balance. So, there were definitely things that Dan could still be blindsided by. Thankfully, Dan could still do things to detect these disguises, but much like the whole anti-teleportation thing, it was going to cost him.


    For his part, Dan was not happy with Mother Eternity, but at least now Dan knew about possible flaws in his defense, and he could adequately address them in the future.


    One worry Dan still had was the fact that this druid that had contacted him could be watching him right now, and he wouldn¡¯t know. So, he decided to do something about it, at least something minor. Well, at least he was going to. Then, he saw his whole 71 mana after respawning the monsters and the cost for what he wanted and quickly abandoned the plan.


    Something he did notice while trying to make his weak barrier of mist was that the World Crystal had changed the formula to claim land and, by extension, the formula to apply enchantments over large areas.


    Now, Dan could claim more land without needing as much mana, something he figured he would need later on, along with his enchantment abilities. Because yes, he could still claim land, but it would be in more specific scenarios.


    Moving on from the flaws in his claimed land ability, Dan wondered about the druid situation some more and figured he would hold judgment until he knew more about that particular faction. So, he decided to spend the rest of the day waiting for mana to keep his progress going.


    As the day progressed, Dan made his first adjustment by upgrading Eagle. The main change was going to give the bird another body enhancement and the ability to Wind Slash. Then, he would proceed to do the same for the rest of the eagles and hawks, though with slight changes.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Eagle the Hawk.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Wind Affinity. Wind Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Wind Slash. Night Vision.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Keen Vision. Flight. Speed. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 36 Mana (72 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 42 to 72 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Name: Eagle and Hawk.


    Rank: Common.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small and Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6*.


    Wind Affinity. Night Vision. Body Enhancement - Speed, Agility, and Resilient*. Wind Control. Wind Slash.


    Innate Abilities: 4*.


    Keen Vision. Flight. Speed*. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 14 Mana (27 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 21 to 27 Mana.


    ??


    For Eagle the Hawk, the upgrade was just more agility and the Wind Slash ability, as for the normal hawks and eagles. Well, the hawks got the agility and slash combo like Eagle, while the eagles gained Resilient instead of agility while also getting the wind slashing ability. It was a minor upgrade but something that would help the birds stay alive longer while finally getting some offensive measures. Especially since the upgrades only costed him a total of 15 mana.


    As the day continued and his beasts continued to hunt, Dan¡¯s mana eventually came back to 300 from the 56 it had been after upgrading the birds. Eventually, though, the sky began to darken, and he received a notification that caused him to recall all his monsters, whether they were residents or not.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Warning! As instructed by the Chaos Mother, a new challenge has been issued.


    An invasion of Monsters will appear from the fog.


    Protect yourself and your monsters from the invading creatures.


    The event will end once you have conquered all Factions in the zone.


    Good Luck, Dan. Mother says this will be a one-time thing. She says it¡¯s to help you gain mana until your dungeon is ready for adventurers and to help with your animal slaughtering issue. She also says not to get too angry.


    ??

 Chapter 16 - A Map

    Dungeon Day 28 - Continues


    ¡°What the actual fuck!¡± Dan roared, annoyed, while looking at the notification. His monsters, who were back at the fort, looked in his direction. He quickly dismissed them, and they returned to relaxing or guarding.


    For his part, Dan was just annoyed. He couldn¡¯t do much of anything about the new challenge except build up his forces in response to whatever new threats were going to start appearing in the zone.


    Dan already had a plan in mind, and he just needed more mana, something he figured the new monsters would provide. The annoying part was the fact that depending on the threats, he might lose more mana than he gained. However, Dan hoped the challenge was fair and that he wouldn¡¯t encounter flying birds that could launch fireballs from hundreds of feet away.


    Either way, it''s not like he could do anything about it and to be fair, the World Crystal and its parent had been relatively fair so far, so he should be fine. In fact, he actually began to appreciate the event after thinking about it for a while. It was true he would have otherwise needed to kill all the beasts in the forest for mana, and now this event gave him a way to avoid doing that. Not only that, but if he played his cards right, he would be able to build his first dungeon floor before any adventurer ever stepped foot inside.


    Dungeon Day 29


    The night passed without incident, and Dan did not see any of the new monsters. That first part was the most annoying thing, as it meant that they passed as normal creatures instead of straight-up enemies. However, Dan wasn¡¯t even sure if his dungeon area would mark creatures as enemies. He had a count of the number of people in his dungeon and the amount of monsters he had access to but not of anything else. That made him guess that the World Crystal probably had an accurate count of everything but was not sharing. Still, he tried to process the information in his mind and go through all the living creatures within his dungeon area until he found something new.


    It took him a while to review all the information, but eventually, he found something on the outskirts of his claimed land and near the fog wall. He found some odd-looking wolves. They had dark green and brown fur and green glowing eyes. There were ten of them, and after watching them for a bit, he found that they were leaving most other creatures in his land alive. This meant that the fuckers were really just concerned with messing his stuff up, at least so far they were. Dan imagined that outside of his claimed area, they would attack whatever, but within it, they were just focused on him.


    Now interested in these new monsters, Dan continued scanning his land and found some more monsters. They were much like the wolves but just different animals. He saw snakes, bears, stags, elks, and other smaller things like foxes and bunnies. Watching the new creatures, Dan didn¡¯t think they were very strong, but he wouldn¡¯t know until he actually engaged them in combat. As he continued watching the creatures, he wondered if he could mark them as enemies and found that he could!


    Now, he could easily spot them within his claimed area, making finding and slaughtering them much more manageable.


    After marking the ones he found, Dan tried to make a sort of filter to find and mark the new monsters automatically. It took him some time and finagling, but he eventually found a way to place some of his consciousness on finding and marking the creatures. The whole thing was rather nifty, but it wasn¡¯t perfect, as if something looked like a regular beast. There was no way for Dan to know it wasn¡¯t anything but a regular beast. He could only spot these beasts from the rest because they had green tinges of fur and scales or looked different in appearance compared to the norm.


    He thought about marking everything that entered his territory, but that would take longer. Dan could make an enchantment that did so, but it wasn¡¯t worth the mana cost right then and there. So, instead of attempting new security tricks, Dan did something simpler.


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    A miniature map of his land that would visually update targets via his dungeon magic. Basically, he spent a bit of mana to create an ever-changing illusion on the ground near his core. The illusion was a 20-foot wide by 20-foot-long thin layer above the ground that would act as a map. Dan then used his magical dungeon abilities to make the illusion into a still image of all the land he controlled. He had wanted to make a live map, but that would require even more mana.


    After the illusion was projected, and he had a miniature still picture map of his land. Dan did the next obvious thing and separated the illusion by adding a 20 by 20 grid of boxes over the large map. On top of the map, he placed 20 letters from A to T for columns while he had numbers 1 to 20 for the rows. This setup would let him easily track the monsters he marked.


    Sadly, the monsters wouldn¡¯t show up in real-time, at least not fully, because that would also take more mana. Instead, they would be updated around every couple of minutes. The whole thing would function due to his background dungeon brain constantly going through all the mark targets and updating their locations onto the illusion. The only thing that would be displayed live on the map would be the locations of his dungeon monsters, as he always knew where they were within his lands.


    Speaking of his monsters, Dan updated his residents and told the normal beasts that it would be dangerous for them to leave the immediate area of the fort. The issue with them was that they were now part of him, and he was sure the new monsters wouldn¡¯t leave them alone as they did with the other beasts in the forest. He told them they could ignore the warning but that they would more than likely die. Something that made many of them stay within the nearby forest. He did eventually plan to make the forest safe enough for them to travel, but he wasn''t going to spend mana respawning them if they died.


    After updating his residents, Dan moved on to begin hunting these new monsters. He had five teams ready to go and was interested in testing the power of the new monsters.


    The enemies were still rather far from Dan¡¯s current location, and Dan wanted to be ready for any surprises, so he also sent Kinetic, Eagle the Hawk, and George to back up the three teams that would make contact. The other two teams and his other three bosses were told to hunt in the nearby area until after first contact was made.


    Team 1 was approaching a pack of six wood boars and had Kinetic with them, who was running ahead. From what Dan could gather, the cheetah wanted to get a measure of the wood boars before he had his team engage. Something that Eagle was also looking to do as she flew ahead as well, though he imagined the hawk was just going to look and not harass.


    Eagle¡¯s team, Team 3, seemed to be taking things at a much-relaxed pace for whatever reason, and he assumed they were waiting to hear back from the hawk.


    George and Team 2 had a completely different approach to the other two teams. George, like the great leader he was, was indeed moving ahead, but just by a few feet. His team was making their way across the forest at a decent pace, though Dan did notice their eagle was missing. Something Dan assumed was due to the bird going ahead and scouting. Dan had to respect George for that, as that was the smart move, unlike the other two mini-bosses who were approaching unknown enemies with unknown abilities.


    The first to arrive at their target was Eagle, who didn''t have to deal with the problems presented by land travel. Dan had sent her team to fight some half-wooden snakes about the size of the average human. Looking at them, Dan didn¡¯t find the snakes to be particularly strong, but he could be completely wrong. The snakes had green scale skins mixed with a wooden leaf pattern, making them rather hard to spot for regular animals. There were around five snakes, and he felt that Eagle wanted to dive and smack one, but the hawk held herself back and returned to her team.


    Next up was Kinetic, who was approaching six boars. The boars rushed through the forest''s undergrowth as their half-bone, half-wooden tusks tore the shrubs apart. Each boar was also around the size of a human, though a bit bulkier. The boar''s skin was a mangle of wooden roots that oddly intertwined and merged to make rather tough-looking skin. However, Dan saw that their bodies looked just as flexible as if they were made from ordinary flesh. So, Dan figured the outer shell was tough, but the stuff beneath it was still flesh and blood.


    Finally, there were the wooden wolves, who looked like ordinary wolves but had greenish and dark brown fur with glowing green eyes. The wolves were the size of regular wolves, which meant they were slightly larger than most people. Unlike the snakes and boars, the wolves'' glowing green eyes made Dan feel like they were capable of using magic. He was tempted to speak with George and let him know, but he didn¡¯t. Dan wanted to see how the gorilla dealt with the enemy.

 Chapter 17 - Wood Beasts

    Dungeon Day 29 - Continues


    The closest to their targets was Team 3. The fight began when Eagle dove down and slashed one of the snakes, which started to bleed thick green blood. Surprisingly, the attack almost cut the snake in half, incapacitating it.


    As Eagle finished her first fly-by, which also helped indicate to the rest of her team where the enemies were, she returned to the sky. The fight was already in their favor, and Dan assumed the impatient bird wanted to let her team have some fun.


    Her team had the bear up front with the gorilla slightly behind it and to its right while the two baboons flanked on the left. After spotting the snakes, the bear halted and reared up before smacking the ground, activating its entomb ability and summoning slabs of stone on either side of a snake. However, before the slabs crushed the snake, a slight green glow encased it, and it rushed out of the way of the slabs, flying like a missile straight at the bear.


    The gorilla, probably getting impatient, quickly rushed past the bear, running at another of the snakes, which also glowed and sped through the air, shooting straight at the gorilla.


    Both snakes arrived at the same time. The one aimed at the bear hit the beast right on its chest and pushed it on its back before trying to wrap around its head. Meanwhile, the one going after the gorilla did not have the same luck. Instead, the gorilla dodged to the side, letting the snake pass by for a fraction of a second before reaching out and grabbing it by its tail.


    Next up were the baboons, who were a tad faster than their two bigger companions and arrived at a third snake''s location. Apparently, the snake''s ability could only be used at medium range. So, instead, it tried to lash out with its fangs, which dripped a green liquid while swinging its tail about. Sadly, for the snake, the baboons were faster and outnumbered it. So, the snake soon found itself the victim of a stomp-smack game as the apes stomped and smacked it while dodging its strikes.


    Seeing only the doe and stag, the fourth snake activated its ability, rushing to strike at the doe. Sadly for it, midway to its target, a form came from the sky and smacked downwards as the team''s eagle interrupted its strike. Then, once the snake had landed, still befuddled by the strike, another predator appeared from the shadows. The jaguar simply approached it, quickly slicing the snake into small pieces.


    The gorilla was essentially smashing the snake about like a whip, and the thing was quickly turned into a bloody green pulp. As for the other snake trying to choke the bear, the bear rapidly ripped the thing apart with its claws, smearing itself with green blood.


    After seeing those snakes get handled, Dan looked over to the baboons. The two apes were still playing stomp with the barely alive snake. However, it looked like their target had managed to get one of them, as one seemed more sluggish than the other. Thankfully, the problem was quickly fixed as the doe walked up to the baboon and activated her Cleansing Touch, which was soon followed by the Healing Touch.


    All in all, the fight had been a one-sided massacre and had landed Dan a whole 150 mana which was freaking sweet.


    Another great thing was that Dan now had some new monsters he could make, which brought him to the whole monster creation system. The entire thing was rather versatile, and he could do anything, but it had some limitations. First was that he couldn''t evolve a snake into a dragon. Well, not unless he had a dragon already on his list, but at that point, he would make a dragon. This also applied to things like drakes or wyverns. He couldn¡¯t just make something he didn¡¯t have. There were other issues with it, but they varied too much from situation to situation.


    Following the evolution issue was the problem with innate abilities and monster types. Basically, if he took a creature too far from its base body by adding a little too many things like limbs, abilities, and affinities, it could change the monster. This could then remove, add, and replace certain innate abilities. Additionally, it would change the type of monster it was.


    Essentially, if he took one of the new grass snakes and gave it legs, wings, and a bunch of random crap that didn''t make sense, it would change and become a Monstrosity. For reference, the snakes were considered Beast-Wood Elementals. On the other hand, if he gave the beast too many fire-related skills and affinities, then it would change to a Beast-Fire Elemental. This would then morph the snake and give it a new look.


    Another important change related to types was that some things were straight-up not allowed. He hadn''t run into it yet, but he had the knowledge.


    This rule was related to a soul. A soul made to be a fey could not be switched to a devil, demon, or elemental. Same thing for a water soul changing into a fire soul. It just wasn¡¯t going to happen. He could technically give fey fire abilities, but not any innate powers found with a devil. The same applies to elementals, as he could give a water elemental the ability to produce steam or an earth elemental the ability to make an earth tornado, but not just a tornado. All in all, the entire thing was very sensitive to certain things.


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    Finally, he could not create a monster with a higher rank than his own. Dan understood this for obvious reasons.


    Anyways, moving back to looking at his teams, Dan found Kinetics team approaching their targets. And Kinetic started his lightning charge ability as he ran, making Dan feel bad for one of the boars. The ability let the cheetah charge up a lightning ram attack by spending mana while running. The ability also increased his speed, and the cat was a yellow blur dashing through the forest and heading toward the lead boar.


    The lead boar spotted the blur that was Kinetic, who was charging ahead, and began speeding towards it in order to meet the cheetah head-on. Kinetic, who had noticed the boar coming at him, poured more mana into his charge, causing his lightning-blue glow to increase. The boar, unworried, still smashed through the forest as its tusk and thick outer skin smashed through vine spike brushes while pushing aside a few trees and ramming through fallen tree trunks.


    Dan watched as the boar and cheetah approached. The gap closing faster and faster until finally, they were feet apart and, with a bright blue flash, collided.


    The flash only lasted for a second or two and was followed by the discharge of electricity and a cloud of dust, leaves, and splinters before Kinetic ran out of the cloud utterly unharmed without even losing most of his original speed. Looking at the collision spot, Dan only saw a clear spot where plants had been completely fried, leaving behind an explosion hole around half the size of the boar.


    The boar was gone.


    There wasn''t any flesh or blood left behind. It had just been deleted, and everything was fried to ash.


    Dan was smiling¡ªpoor boar.


    As Dan watched the dirt hole, admiring the cheetah''s first use of the ability, he was interrupted by the rest of the beasts finally getting within fighting distance. Surprising Dan, the rest of the boars seemed unperturbed by the lead boar''s death. However, they were scared of Kinetic and let the cheetah run by them without attempting to intercept.


    The boars had seen the approaching beasts and were making their way to them. In response, the beasts stopped in their march and waited for the boars to approach. The bear was reared up at the front, and the gorilla was next to him, looking at the approaching boars. His two beasts stood there while the eagle approached the rest of the boars, unleashing weak versions of the Wind Slash ability. Meanwhile, the jaguar climbed a nearby tree while the doe stood a few feet behind her stag, which in turn was a few feet behind the gorilla and bear.


    His beasts stood there, and Dan was wondering what they were doing when he finally noticed the baboons and the two pointy sticks they had. The apes were evolving, and they were now using tools. Dan swore he expected one of them to say, ¡°Apes together strong,¡± but he was thankful it didn¡¯t happen, at least not yet. What did happen was the gorilla yeeting the two baboons at the incoming boars.


    With a non-existent mouth wide open, Dan watched as the baboons landed on a boar and simultaneously slammed the makeshift spears into the boar''s neck. Naturally, this caused the boar to stumble, and the baboons hopped off as the boar came to a stop. The other four boars didn¡¯t flinch as they just charged the last distance to the rest of his beasts.


    One boar went for the bear, the other went for the gorilla, and the last two looked to go around and target the stag and doe.


    The bear, still on its rear, was going to do what Dan was already expecting as it began its Earth Slam move to meet the boar''s charge head-on. Likewise, the gorilla was looking to meet his boar head-on but with a different strategy. The two boars struck at the same, and the bear easily slammed his boar, crushing the beast''s head into the ground. Meanwhile, the gorilla tapped into his Earth Control ability and spent mana, causing the earth to support him as he took the boar head-on by reaching out to grab its tusks.


    Using the ground to help absorb the impact, the gorilla pulled a wrestling move as it flexed its natural strength and lifted the boar up into the air before slamming it behind him.


    As this happened, the other two boars were still charging at the doe and stag.


    One of the boar''s charge came to an early end as the jaguar that was on the tree pounced, targeting its neck and bringing the boar down as the giant pig lost its balance. This was followed by the jaguar''s claws glowing as it used its metal slash and almost beheaded the pig. The other boar, who was still charging at the stag, ran right into a wall of earth as the stag used its Earth Wall ability. Unsurprisingly, the wall barely stopped the hog, but it was enough for an earthen spike to strike the boar''s underbelly, pinning the thing in place.


    Back to the semi-suplexed boar, it quickly died as the bear and the gorilla bashed it to death. Then, the fight ended as the jaguar finished off the pinned boar, who was still trying to reach the stag.


    The fight had been absolutely fantastic! And Dan made some mental notes on some upgrades for his beasts to further increase their fighting power. He planned to give the gorillas George¡¯s smash move and maybe one weapon or another. However, he was definitely going to give the baboons proper weapons, except made of metal, not just wood. Finally, he needed to give the eagles more mana or something like Kinetic''s charge attack. The birds just didn¡¯t have enough mana to be super useful with their Wind Slashes, and their smaller sizes didn¡¯t give them much combat capabilities against large foes.


    After noting all that down with his nice dungeon abilities, Dan switched to George and the wolves.


    Something told him that this fight was going to be even better.

 Chapter 18 - Wolves vs Gorilla

    George got the report back from the eagle and began preparations.


    There were ten wolves, which meant that the party was outnumbered, and if the wolves did possess magic, as Dan believed, then George might lose some monsters. However, Dan still had hope, as George had a plan in mind.


    The wolves were walking toward George, and the ape had stopped his party. They had stopped amidst the trees, which would give them some cover in case the enemy had range attacks. Additionally, George placed his group in the same way the other two teams had positioned themselves. The bear and gorilla were up front, with the two baboons on top of the gorilla. Meanwhile, the jaguar was told to climb a tree and wait for George to act before jumping down. However, unlike the other two teams and surprising Dan, George instructed the doe to back off far enough that the incoming wolves couldn¡¯t spot it. Naturally, the stag immediately followed the doe, but another command from George caused the stag to stop in its tracks.


    That command, of course, enraged the stag as its role model; Fur always followed Fir. However, Dan had never given any specific instructions for the doe¡¯s and stags to be inseparable. The only reason no one had done so yet was that they mimicked Dan¡¯s commands. However, George was a strategist at heart, and clearly, he knew that there wasn¡¯t such a rule. His team was his to command, and unless a boss-level monster told him otherwise, he would make sure the monsters did as they were told. The stag had even wanted to complain as it snorted, but a simple look from George was all it took to rein in the poor guy.


    From what Dan could gather, the plan seemed to be for the gorilla, bear, stag, and baboons to be the contact force while George and the jaguar would be the surprise. So, the monster group waited in their spot until the eagle finally screeched, alerting them of the incoming wolves.


    The greenish-dark brown wolves quickly spotted the team waiting for them. Dan honestly expected the wolves to charge instantly, but the head wolf seemed to be in charge and was looking around. Apparently, that had also been part of George¡¯s plan as the two baboons began picking up rocks and throwing them at the wolf. The stones just bounced off, barely doing anything, but the beast was clearly annoyed and began to slowly approach Dan¡¯s beasts as the baboons hollered.


    Oddly enough, the pack of ten stopped around 30 feet in front of his beasts, and then they began to howl in unison as their eyes glowed a brighter green. The sound of their howl seemed to bring nature to life, causing the branches and shrubs to move with unseen wind. Even so, the most unexpected thing occurred when his beasts started to sway, becoming befuddled. Another surprising thing was that the howl didn¡¯t just stop after a bit but kept going, keeping his beasts and the forest in their current state.


    It was at that point that Dan figured George would strike, but he was completely wrong, and the gorilla just watched the happenings from up high. The jaguar and eagle also watched as they waited for George to act.


    Sadly, the first to act were the wolves, as half of them stopped howling and began approaching Dan¡¯s befuddled beasts. And Dan had to admit that was one hell of a tactic. They could render their opponents useless with their howls, and after a while, the effect gained enough strength that half of the pack could break off and kill the enemy while the rest kept the effect active.


    Thankfully, the wolves were only half away to his beasts before George struck the overconfident idiots who thought they had everything under control.


    Well, the rock struck first as the thing was hurled with such strength that it crushed the unsuspecting lead wolf''s head. Then, before the rest could react, George dropped down, squishing one of the howling wolves and killing it. Of course, soon after that, the jaguar jumped, unleashing its metal slashes, cutting and biting another howling wolf''s head off. Finally, with three wolves down, the eagle struck as it flew under yet another unsuspecting howling wolf, unleashing its Wind Slash right at its throat, also basically decapitating the animal. With four wolves down, the rest finally noticed as their howling stopped while the ones that had been moving forward turned back to look at the commotion.


    The problem was that the rest of George¡¯s team was still under the wolves effect, which left them outnumbered. Even so, George quickly rushed a nearby wolf who stood its ground and received a smash-empowered fist, blowing its head off. That set the whole thing off as the rest of the wolves rushed towards the gorilla and jaguar. One quickly tumbled onto the ground as it wrestled the jaguar. The other four, however, jumped George as they bit into the gorilla while it tried to strike at them. Things were looking rough, and Dan believed George and the party would die, at least until the doe appeared with its cleansing aura.


    The aura took a few seconds to dispel the howls effects, but soon enough, the rest of the party was back to their senses, and they quickly got into the fight.


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    First up was the bear and gorilla, who slammed into the four wolves attacking George, sending all of them tumbling. Next were the baboons, who also began to tumble with the jaguar and wolf, who quickly separated.


    The first wolf fell as a spike emerged from the ground and pierced its belly. Afterward, George and the other gorilla held off two as the bear grabbed its wolf with its front paws, giving it a bear hug. The hug became a smash as the bear activated its Earth Slam and splattered the wolf against the ground. As that was happening, the wolf that was having the stand-off with the jaguar figured out he was going to die if he stayed and decided to bolt. That shocked Dan, as he believed these invaders were the ones to fight to the death, but apparently not. After that, yet another insane thing happened as the two remaining wolves submitted and Dan got a notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Notice! Two Howling Wood Wolves wish to serve you. Would you like to place the two wolves under your control via your Dungeon God ability and make them a part of your creations?


    Yes or No.


    ??


    Well, that was a first, and Dan quickly accepted. Then he felt as the connection between him and the wolves was created, and they became part of his monster force. The first thing Dan did after recovering from the shock was check the stat blocks of his new monsters.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Name: Howling Wood Wolf.


    Rank: Common.


    Type: Beast-Nature Elemental.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 0.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Hearing. Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Befuddling Howl. Forest Friend. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 11 Mana (22 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 11.


    ??


    Looking at the wolf''s abilities, they were self-explanatory, well, except for Forest Friend. That ability, however, was still relatively straightforward and gave the wolves a small boost to their abilities while they were within a forest. Dan figured it was the reason why the forest felt like it was alive when they howled.


    The best thing about the wolf, however, was the fact that since Dan hadn¡¯t made it, all its abilities were considered innate, which made the monster stronger without needing as much mana. That was the big difference between getting a creature''s blueprint and Dan making it himself.


    After inspecting the wolves, Dan instructed his teams and new members to return to camp. He then looked back at George and asked for an explanation about his incredibly good plan.


    It turns out it wasn¡¯t all planned, making Dan feel much better. George explained that he knew they were outnumbered due to the eagle¡¯s scouting. So, he had planned a basic ambush. He had wanted the wolves to engage the team that was making the last stand. He knew the team was well-suited to survive for a while. Then, when the wolves had engaged the team, he and the jaguar, though mainly him, were going to flank.


    George knew he could take out at least three wolves with his rock, fall, and smash with the jaguar, taking another one out. From there, they would engage the melee and try to come out alive by having the doe join at the last minute for some heals.


    In truth, it had been a stroke of good luck that the wolves had those specific abilities, and if they had-had more melee-suited capabilities, then the entire team could have died. George also thought it had been stupid that the wolves just stayed still, which let them take out one additional wolf than they had expected via the eagle¡¯s well-placed slash. Then things had gotten even better as the wolves had disengaged the last stand party, allowing the doe¡¯s quick thinking to cleanse them from the debuff. Of course, from there, the fight had played out rather well as they gained the upper hand through teamwork and good ability usage.


    After hearing the explanation, Dan was even more proud of his animals. They clearly knew how to work together well, and that was not even mentioning their apparent abilities to improvise and react. Dan was also pleased, as he now had 568 mana to play with and could probably finish creating the beasts for his new teams.


    However, before doing so, he went to look at some of his abilities. He knew that he needed to gain control of all the monsters in the zone, which would then make them his. The issue was that the transition involved the World Crystal and was just for the monsters inside the zone.


    What confused him was that the wolves were not from the zone. Which meant he had something that let him form contracts with other creatures. He had definitely missed something, as he wasn¡¯t perfect and could miss information regardless of how amazing his dungeon mind ability was. After all, the ability lets him process information, but it doesn¡¯t mean he could pay attention to everything, everywhere at once. Effectively, his Dungeon Sense was a radar, and his Dungeon Mind was the computer that processed and stored the information. He was the user who had access to all of it. A rather well-integrated user but a user nonetheless.

 Chapter 19 - Dungeon Godling

    Looking at his abilities, it didn¡¯t take long to find the ones responsible.


    Dungeon God: Through the Crystal Dungeon System and the World Crystal, you gain various powers, such as creating new souls and bodies with which to populate your dungeon. Additionally, through the Crystal Dungeon System, you may create new objects, materials, and a large variety of things by spending mana. You may also claim areas like a deity''s divine grounds. Finally, you gain the ability¡ªDungeon God Connection and are bound to your claimed Dungeon Area within or outside of the Shattered Lands.


    Dungeon God Connection:  You form a connection with your creations. This lets you speak via telepathy with your creations and command them. This link is unbreakable and will not fade regardless of the distance between you and your creations. Additionally, creations of your choosing will have access to Pure Arcane Mana and Order Mana at the correct ranks of power. Finally, you are able to create pacts with entities outside of your creations. Once the pact is accepted, the entity in question falls under your control like any other of your creations.


    Looking at his two abilities, it was clear which one offered the ability for beasts to submit. The ability didn¡¯t care about rank, which meant it technically enabled Dan to get a dragon under his control right now. He just had to find a dragon willing to serve someone weaker than itself, and he doubted that would happen. Still, it meant he could make pacts with all sorts of entities, and since he couldn¡¯t make creatures higher rank than him, finding some higher ranker to serve him wouldn¡¯t be the worst idea. Of course, the problem was finding said higher rankers without having them turn on him.


    After reading the new features of his new form, Dan went to read the old ones that belonged to his old Eldritch God form to get a measure of what exactly he had been.


    Eldritch God - You may now consume World Crystals to increase in power without over-exerting your Heart Crystal. Additionally, you gain the ability¡ªEldritch God Connection.


    Eldritch God Connection:  You can form a connection with Aberrations and other entities weaker than you. This lets you share thoughts and mana through the link. Aberrations connected in this manner will obey you. In exchange, you will give the Aberration a trickle of power, allowing them to grow in power without needing to consume Heart Crystals. The link can only be broken upon the Death of the Eldritch God or its minion.


    Well, that was rather straightforward, but it made Dan question the universe and its apparent creator. Not only had Mother Eternity created the things that made Worlds, but then created things to hunt said creations. The cycle was a bit fucked, in Dan¡¯s honest opinion.


    Having learned a little bit more about himself, Dan looked back at his monsters and mana. He did want to look at the rest of his abilities to compare them, but the enemy was not going to wait for him.


    Dan was delighted and annoyed to see that his mana had capped out at 600, meaning some of it had probably been lost. Thankfully, Dan knew what he wanted to do and quickly pumped out monsters.


    First, he would update the number of monsters his current teams had access to. He quickly created one jaguar, five eagles, and three cheetahs and panthers. The new addition to the teams cost him 509 mana, but they were well worth it, as each of his five teams would gain a massive boost in power.


    Each team now had one bear, gorilla, doe, stag, cheetah, panther, and two baboons, jaguars, and eagles, bringing a team''s total to twelve. However, the roles of the monsters still hadn¡¯t changed. The bear and gorilla were meant to be the main tankers. Then, the doe was the healer, with its stag being its guard and also acting as a tank. The cheetah and eagles were scouts while also being skirmishers, and then the jaguars, panthers, and baboons would share the title of brawlers and ambushers.


    From there, Dan looked at his item creation since he wanted to give the baboons some actual weapons to use. As the menu popped up, Dan quickly hit Create Item, which prompted a list of possible things to create.


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    Create or Edit Item.


    ¡ª Edit Item.


    ¡ª Create Item.


    - - Item Type.


    - - - Weapon.


    - - - Armor.


    - - - Potion or Elixir.


    - - - Clothing.


    - - - Other.


    - - - - Specify.


    It was nice to see that he had many options to choose from, with one even allowing for his imagination to be the limit. Well, his imagination and his available mana.


    No, wanting to dally any longer, Dan nudged the weapon option, and he was given some options to choose from. They were the basics, such as sword, spear, bow, and, oddly enough, shield.


    Thinking about it, Dan wanted to give his baboons some leverage and range, so he chose a spear. From there, he decided what enchants to add. And was prompted to see a list of enchantments, but he knew what he wanted and added them. He could even choose the power level for each enchantment with a nifty slider bar.


    Afterward, he was asked what materials he wanted to use, and he went for regular wood and steel. Finally, with everything chosen, he was given a final prompt to make sure that was what he wanted to make, and by choosing yes, he spent 12 mana.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Item Creation ??


    Name: Basic Steel Spear.


    Item Rarity: Common.


    Enchantment: Sharpness. Sturdy. Self-Repair.


    Ability: N/A.


    Description: A basic wooden spear with a steel tip. The spear has a few enchantments to help it be sharper and sturdier while also providing self-repair for easier maintenance.


    Instructions: N/A.


    ??


    The item that appeared next to his core matched the description perfectly, except for the fact that it looked freshly made as if it were from a factory. Sadly, he only had 71 mana after creating the beasts and spear, so he couldn¡¯t outfit all the baboons. Deciding it was better to wait and do it all in one go, Dan returned to look at his monsters and gave the go-ahead for everyone to return to the base.


    A couple of hours later, with all his monsters in the fort, Dan moved on to put his beasts to back work. However, first, he made sure to establish a chain of command. First, George was going to become the Marshall of his forces. He was going to stay at the fort and keep an eye on the map.


    Dan also upgraded George a bit, as he needed the gorilla to be more aware and easily able to communicate with his monsters. Paying the seven mana for the upgrade, George quickly gained the Mana Storage and Dungeon Leader abilities. Mana storage increased his available mana from 50 to 100. And Dungeon Leader, let the Gorilla telepathically speak with Dan¡¯s monsters as long as they were within his dungeon area. The ability was good, but he was blocked to only having one boss monster have it per each of his own ranks. This meant that until he was D rank, he couldn¡¯t give it to another one of his bosses.


    With that now out of the way and happy he had someone expressly set to make sure his monsters were running smoothly, Dan decided it was time to get some more mana. He sent out all the teams with their new members because he knew they could handle most threats, except something like the wolves. Thankfully, with George in charge, the gorilla should be able to strategize and make up for any of his monster''s weaknesses.


    Speaking of the wolves, Dan wasn¡¯t sure what to do with them, and they were currently lounging in the fort. He decided he would just let them chill in the fort and have them help with patrols since the fort was pretty much empty.


    Deciding that pretty much everything was under control, Dan wanted to take a look at another one or two of his abilities until some more mana came in.


    Crystal Heart - The Crystal Heart is your core. If fully destroyed, you will cease to be. Additionally, your Crystal Heart gives you the following abilities¡ª Eldritch Regeneration, Mana Conversion, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Spatial Sense, and Eldritch Mind.


    This was back before he became a dungeon and is literally what gave him most of his aberration abilities. Comparing it to his new one, it hadn¡¯t really changed what it gave him, as the abilities had just been transformed. The one thing it did clearly state was his new and only path to power.


    Crystal Shard - Your Crystal Heart is broken. Collect its pieces to grow in power. If your current shard is destroyed, you will die permanently. Additionally, and through your pact with the World Crystal, your Crystal Heart gives you the following abilities¡ª Eldritch Regeneration, Mana Conversion, Mana Storage, Mana Collection, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Spatial Sense, and Dungeon Mind.

 Chapter 20 - Climbing the Waterspout

    Dungeon Day 29 - Continues


    Mana didn¡¯t take long to come in as his beasts began fighting the last few groups of wood-like beasts in his current area. All of them were effectively coming from the south or west, where the fog was, but Dan imagined they would eventually start appearing from all sides as they roamed in from other areas in the shattered zone.


    He only got another 500 mana from the various groups, as none were as strong as the wolves. Out of the five or so additional groups, the strongest one was a group of elks, with the rest being bunnies, foxes, and such. The fights hadn¡¯t been proper fights because he had decided to forbid his beasts from hunting regular beasts, so everyone just ganged up on the enemy groups.


    The hunt ended late into the afternoon, and soon enough, his beasts were heading back to the fort. Having nothing else better to do, Dan got back to monster creation. He planned to make another five teams, equip the baboons, and start making his new bosses and their minions.


    Each new full team he made cost 363 mana, so it would be a slow burn until he had his ten teams. However, he had enough mana to make an entire team, and he did so. The monsters appeared around his core like always, and he would give them a few hours to get the hang of their new existence.


    Afterward, Dan only had 132 mana left, and he spent it creating 11 more spears for his baboons, which would be enough to equip all his current monkeys.


    Eventually, all his monsters reunited back at the base as they met the new members of the dungeon. The night passed just fine, and a new day soon came about.


    Dungeon Day 30


    A new day came with some more mana as his 12 daily mana was added to his pool, bringing it to an impressive 17. However, Dan wasn¡¯t worried as he had marked some more creatures during the night, and it was once again hunting time.


    As the day passed, Dan quickly made it back to 363 mana and quickly spent it as he created yet another team, bringing his new total to seven. Sadly, he didn¡¯t have enough spears or the mana to make more, so these new baboons would be weaponless for the foreseeable future.


    It had been nearly noon when he got enough mana for the new team, and that excitement had been followed by the return of the hawk that had gone to speak with the druid. The hawk had returned with a new detailed update.


    First, the area the druid controlled was much less flat than his own. The forest was filled with cliffs, though from what Dan saw in the hawk''s thoughts, there was still a decent amount of flat ground. Outside of that and the insane amount of rocks found in the area, the rest of the place was a forest with a few small lakes and streams here and there. Of course, there was also the giant rock and the big tree at its base.


    Something that was not previously seen in the hawk''s last scouting mission was a medium-sized shack that was home to a few druids. A piece of information Dan was happy to have, and that also made him glad he hadn¡¯t just gone full conqueror on the area.


    Another critical piece of information about the new druids was that the druids did, in fact, control or had an alliance with an insane number of beasts. Honestly, Dan was convinced that most beasts in the zone had some connection to the druids.


    The druid faction had enough beasts to make Dan worried about fighting them. The beasts were, of course, just normal creatures, but still, at his current power level, quality didn¡¯t matter as much as quantity. And knowing that his beasts would face something like a 100 to 1 ratio was worrying. Thankfully, the druids were good, something that was confirmed further when his hawk hadn¡¯t gotten mentally attacked and instead was treated like a proper envoy.


    The final critical piece of information was something Dan couldn¡¯t let the druids know it was his fault. Apparently, the druids reported new creatures that were battling their beasts and causing more injuries than they wanted. Where before, the druids were looking for an alliance whenever possible, now they were being pressured to find a strong ally, which they believed Dan was.


    Dan was a bit annoyed that the monsters were killing his future beasts outside of his claimed area and didn¡¯t understand why there was a switch in aggression. His only guess was that it had something to do with the different areas this shattered zone was divided into. Dan could feel the three different areas he was surrounded by, and from the map of the entire shattered area he had made a while back, the non-magical map that is, he knew the nearest zones to him were the lake, kobold, and gnoll areas. So, he was curious if the animals in the other zones were also being attacked or if the druid''s beasts were singled out since they were technically a faction.


    Either way, Dan was happy about the turn of events and told the hawk to fly back after resting for a bit. Dan wanted to let the druid know he was happy to make an alliance, that they just needed to give him some more time, and to hang in there, and maybe see if they could give him more information on the rest of the zone.


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    With that out of the way, Dan needed to change the tempo of his current monster production rate. Dan currently had seven teams, and he knew that by the end of the night, he would have eight, maybe nine. He knew this because instead of letting everyone rest through the night, it was time that he put the fact that his monsters couldn¡¯t really get tired to use. He would allow them to come back and heal up when they got hurt and a team¡¯s doe was out of mana, but otherwise, it was time for them to be put into overdrive. Something he quickly communicated to George.


    Sure enough, as the day passed into the afternoon, his mana reached the threshold for a new team, and he quickly spent it. From there, the night quickly came, and two teams returned as they had been heavily wounded when they decided to engage a second group of creatures after already being out of mana. Thankfully, none of them died.


    As the night passed and around midnight, at least to Dan¡¯s guess, his mana reached the threshold again, and he pumped out another team, team nine. It was then that things slowed down.


    They had been fighting for the whole day, and everyone, including all his bosses, looked rather rough. Thankfully, Fir quickly got to work along with the fresh doe¡¯s that had been created or had been resting.


    Dungeon Day 31


    A new day soon came, and Dan got his usual 12 mana. Then, as soon as everyone was ready to head back out, they all left simultaneously. There were around 12 different teams of invaders that had come from the mist during the night and Dan needed mana badly as he was at 29. Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t long before he hit 600 as his monsters took out five of the different teams, with the rest of his teams still on the way to intercept the rest.


    With the mana, he quickly brought forth team number ten, almost completing that particular goal. Moving to complete the goal fully, he spent 86 mana creating eight more spears for a total of 20.


    With the spears done, Dan could finally dust off his non-existent hands from that task and was looking forward to creating some new beasts. However, before he got to that, he wanted to see the different beast-elemental things he had added to his roster of available creations.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    ¡ª Edit Creature


    - - Current Creature List.


    - - - Howling Wood Wolf.


    - - - Bark Skin Boar.


    - - - Leaf Snake.


    - - - Wood Elk.


    - - - Oak Bunny.


    - - - Grass Fox.


    - - - Nature Doe.


    - - - Nature Stag.


    - - - Wing Leaf Bird.


    - - - Grasshopper Branch.


    - - - Bark Blade Wolf.


    - - - Vine Serpent.


    Of course, Dan also had his current beasts on the list, but he had changed it so that only new stuff he had yet to make would show up. Looking at the list, Dan did note that the blade wolves were the reason why so many of his creatures had been hurt. The damn things could hurl blades of wood at them, which were rather sharp and deadly.


    With that inspection out of the way, Dan turned to look at his remaining mana and sighed inwardly, seeing he only had 170. Well, he sighed until he checked how much it would take to make one of his new bosses. Then, if he had had a face, he would have had a manic grin.


    The spider was going to stay tiny. However, he would need it to be deadly and specialize in defense, as it would be a mostly stay-at-home boss like Fir and now George. Except, unlike his other bosses, the spider was legitimately going to be a proper defense force.


    To make sure the spider succeeded at its task, Dan started by giving it three different affinities. Metal, Illusion, and Wood. Then he made sure it could enhance itself properly along with its venom and finally gave it some decent aerial attacks and something to help it stay unseen within the tree canopy.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Itsy Bitsy the Spider.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 12.


    Metal Affinity. Illusion Affinity. Wood Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Wood Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Enhanced Venom Gland. Venom Infusion. Metal Needles. Web Blast. Camouflage.


    Innate Abilities: 10.


    Spider Climb. Web Sense. Web Walker. Stealth. Keen Vision. Night Vision. Venomous. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 65 Mana (130 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 130 Mana.


    ??


    Itsy manifested a top of his crystal. The tiny spider had a somewhat clear crystal appearance for the most part. However, its six eyes glowed a bright pink in color, and her crystal body had specks of tiny black dots, with her tiny crystal fangs being completely black. Finally, her eight crystal legs changed from the dotted crystal her body was to a more greenish tint until the very tips were a deep dark green.


    It took the spider a bit to grasp reality, but when she did, she quickly spoke to him telepathically, her voice a high-pitched yet cute thing that matched her tiny size. As she spoke, she also gave a small wave with her frontmost leg.


    ¡°Heya Boss!¡±

 Chapter 21 - A Mole, a Bat, and a Worm

    Dungeon Day 31 - Continues


    ¡°Hey Itsy! Good to have you on board! How are you feeling?¡±


    ¡°Doing great boss! Happy to be here! What do you need from little ol me?¡±


    ¡°Well, you are going to be part of the stationary defense force. I suggest webbing up the trees and making it harder for us to be invaded from above. Go meet up with George over there so he can give you the rundown.¡±


    ¡°You got it, boss!¡± The spider answered before slinging away.


    Watching the spider swing away, Dan couldn¡¯t help but smile inwardly at the tiny yet insanely deadly creature he had created. It made him question whether he should give Hawk the Eagle and Eagle the Hawk a full proper upgrade and make them more deadly in the sky. Honestly, he needed to upgrade many of the old minions as well, but as they had been handling everything rather well so far, he was not yet wholly inclined to do so.


    Looking at his mana, Dan grimaced. He had a whole 40 mana, so he settled down to wait until some more started coming in.


    Thankfully, only an hour or two passed before his mana quickly reached 400 as more enemies were taken out. From what he felt, his monsters had taken out another five teams, though they had been on the weaker end, which was why he had only gained 360 mana from the entire thing. However, 400 mana was more than enough to finish creating his new bosses, and he quickly got started.


    First up was going to be a mole. The mole would be his underground defense and offense monster, along with the eventual worm mini-boss. It would be a relatively straightforward creation and partially copy the original mole that attacked him back in the cave all those days ago.


    Naturally, this meant giving it the Metal Affinity and Earth Affinity. Following that, and for obvious reasons, it would get the all-so-common Metal Enhancement that so many of his creatures had, along with the Earth Control ability. Then, he would add some basic agility and speed enhancement and two other offensive abilities to let the mole pack a punch. With all that completed, Dan paid the 112 mana and saw the mole come into existence near his crystal.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Jamole the Mole.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Earth Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Earth Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Bullet. Pierce.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Tremor Sense. Stealth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 56 Mana (112 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 112 Mana.


    ??


    Jamole was a mole, but not like a usual mole. His fur was dark silver, and his little nose, often pink, was now a much lighter silver that matched his claws. Also, he didn¡¯t have eyes and had an incredibly smooth appearance. It was as if the creature in front of him was made to surf through the ground at the fastest speed possible, which was precisely what Dan wanted.


    Dan had made Jamole with the specific intention of being an absolute speed demon capable of piercing through any monster defenses. In fact, thinking back, Dan should have given the mole the Stalker ability and something like Kinetics charge-up to make the mole even deadlier. Alas, what was done was done, and it¡¯s not like Dan couldn¡¯t always go back and upgrade his new pal even further.


    Watching the mole finally come to, he heard it in his mind.


    ¡°Hey boss! How ye be?¡± The mole spoke in a gruff voice and with such a tone that Dan could not be convinced the mole was not a dwarf at some point in its life. He really needed to ask the World Crystal if it was just recycling souls or something, but that was something for another time, and he quickly regarded the dwarf mole.


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    ¡°Hey Jamole, do you know what a dwarf is?¡±


    ¡°Ay boss, I do. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°Nothing, just curious. Please go speak with George over there and he will give you a rundown of how things work around here.¡±


    Then, with a simple grunt of agreement, Dan saw Jamole dig downwards and disappear into the earth. Dan could, of course, still feel the mole underground and was surprised at how the mole didn¡¯t leave a tunnel but instead shifted the earth back behind him.


    Moving on from the dwarf living inside a mole''s body, Dan looked to make the mini-bosses to accompany Itsy and Jamole. The first was Itsy¡¯s mini-boss, another addition to Dan¡¯s aerial forces.


    If Itsy was the artillery, then her mini-boss would be the jet interception.


    In terms of combat prowess, Dan was planning to lean toward a bat''s natural capabilities. The Wind Affinity was an obvious addition, and so was the Sound Affinity. From there, it would have some agility and speed enhancement along with the usual Wind Control Dan gave his flying monsters. Finally, Dan was going to give it some offensive capabilities in terms of sound attacks, a sort of stealth amplifier, and a possible spell counter to help silence mages in the future.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Balbatzar the Bat.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Sound Affinity. Wind Affinity. Wind Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Sonic Boom. Sonic Resonance. Silent.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Echo Location. Keen Hearing. Stealth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 42 Mana (84 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 84 Mana.


    ??


    Balbatzar appeared on top of Dan, looking a lot like a regular bat with brown leathery skin and the usual size to match. Oddly enough, and like Jamole, though they were both considered tiny, they weren¡¯t as tiny as Itsy, which showed Dan how big the difference between the different creatures was in terms of size.


    Once the bat came to, it fluttered its tiny eyes open, revealing light green orbs for eyes, which was something Dan wasn¡¯t expecting. The bat then released a wave of sound, which Dan assumed was done to get an idea of its surroundings. Soon after, and once it seemed to be satisfied, his new boss finally regarded him.


    ¡°My liege, how may your humble servant serve?¡± Balbatzar¡¯s voice and tone reminded him of Fir and Fur¡¯s noble demeanor, except it was more like a butler. The bat¡¯s voice was smooth and flowed easily, and his little winged half-bow sold the image of a butler.


    ¡°Hey, Bal, I''m glad you''re here. You and Itsy will be our main aerial defense force. Just help her out and make sure you guys coordinate. Now, please head over to George so he can help you set up.¡±


    ¡°Very well, Lord Dan, as you wish,¡± Bal answered with another cute bow before flying off.


    Dan liked the bat. It made him want to make a human with dead parents who happened to be rich. Then Dan would give Bal over to this human as a butler and see what would happen.


    Well, either that or a vampire.


    Anyway, it was time for the last mini-boss, at least for now.


    The worm was going to be the complete opposite of Jamole. First, it was definitely not going to be tiny, and Dan enlarged it to be large as he wanted the freaking thing to be able to swallow stuff in one gulp.


    Much like the mole, the worm would have the Metal and Earth Affinity; however, Dan would also give it the Space Affinity for one particular purpose. Dan wanted the worm to gobble up things without issue, so he was going to give it the ability to distort its maw and intestine to fit things much larger than it would typically be able to eat. Moving on from that, the worm would get a basic enhancement and a way to strike stuff without breaching the surface.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Chomp the Worm.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Earth Affinity. Space Affinity. Earth Control. Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Speed. Earth Spike. Consume.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Tremor Sense. Stealth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 60 Mana (120 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 120 Mana.


    ??


    Chomp appeared wrapped around Dan¡¯s tree. The worm was incredibly large and could swallow a normal bear in one go if it wished. Its skin was brown with specks of white here and there, giving it an odd polka-dot appearance. Additionally, it had a ringed body like most worms do, and its massive maw was easily identifiable by the thin slits on one of its ends that would probably open to reveal an incredible number of teeth eager to devour anything and everything.


    The worm took a minute longer than most creatures to come to, but it eventually did. However, when it did, it plopped to the ground, causing the earth to tremble a bit. Additionally, Dan noticed something interesting. Unlike Jamole, who had to dig through the ground using its claws and Earth Control ability, Chomp sort of just phased through it. Looking into the odd ability, Dan figured it had to be some interaction between Earth control and the worm''s Space Affinity.


    That made him wonder if he should give the mole the Space Affinity to achieve even faster speeds underground.


    Dan¡¯s thoughts were broken when Chomp finally reached out to him telepathically.


    ¡°Master? What is my purpose?¡± Said Chomp with a bit of a gruff yet monotone voice, and Dan got the feeling that the large worm wouldn¡¯t be much of a talker.


    However, as he had done with Bal, Dan told Chomp about his much smaller boss and the worm''s purpose, which was to act as a defensive and offensive force, depending on what Dan needed. Then he told Chomp to speak with George for further instructions, and the worm was quick to swim away through the dirt and join the small meeting that George was having with the rest of the freshly created bosses.

 Chapter 22 - A Small Slaughter

    It wasn¡¯t long before the last enemy team was killed, and Dan earned another 150 mana. With his new total of 234, he went on to make some more defenders for his fort. Dan was tempted to make worms and moles first, but feeling like he was most exposed to the sky, he decided to make spiders and bats.


    Each bat would cost 38 mana, while one spider would cost 48 mana. In total, Dan wanted 20 of each, but he knew it would take some time. Dan also knew that it was going to take even longer to make all his worms and moles, but slowly but surely was key.


    Once the last enemy team had been slain, Dan recalled everyone so they could meet the new bosses. Well, along with the few new beasts he had created, equaling three bats and two spiders.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Crystal Spider.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 12.


    Metal Affinity. Illusion Affinity. Wood Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Wood Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Enhanced Venom Gland. Venom Infusion. Metal Needles. Web Blast. Camouflage.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Spider Climb. Web Sense. Web Walker. Stealth. Keen Vision. Night Vision. Venomous. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 24 Mana (48 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 48 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Sonic Bat.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Sound Affinity. Wind Affinity. Wind Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Sonic Boom. Sonic Resonance. Silent.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Echo Location. Keen Hearing. Stealth. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 19 Mana (38 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 38 Mana.


    ??


    The minions looked like their bosses, with the bats just like regular bats, while the spiders had their crystal bodies with black dots all over them. The one thing that was a bit strange and was something Dan was glad had come out the way it had was that they all were the same size. Unlike his other bosses and minions, who had slight differences in size, these new bats and spiders looked pretty similar to their bosses. That peculiar trait would help confuse any enemy as to which one was the actual boss. However, Dan supposed that those with strong enough senses could eventually figure such things out. Still, a win was a win, even if only temporarily.


    Eventually, everyone settled down for the night as Dan¡¯s background mind continued to inspect for the arrival of new creatures. An inspection that quickly got annoying as he didn¡¯t spot anything new. There were no more wood beasts. In fact, Dan didn¡¯t find anything through the night, which was problematic. Since the seeming silence of invaders meant that something was coming, or they had somehow been hidden from him.


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    Dungeon Day 32


    The night eventually passed, and Dan got his 12 daily mana, which brought him to a measly 36. The problem was that there were still no monsters, and for safety reasons, Dan did not let any of his monsters out of his sight, and instead went through his area. However, after hours of searching, there was still nothing.


    Nothing meant no mana, and Dan needed mana. So, he began to mobilize his monsters. He had ten teams, plus his bosses. However, he would be careful, and everyone was on high alert.


    Progress was slow, but his monsters began circling around the base as they slowly widened their search. Dan wasn¡¯t going to risk anything, and all his bosses were at the base just in case some dumb super event showed up with an especially difficult monster. Thankfully, there wasn''t such a thing, and instead, a day of utmost carefulness and tension turned into a day of completely slaughtering enemy creatures.


    At some point in their slow advance, a team of his monsters was attacked by a random fox that blew flames at them. The flames weren¡¯t even that strong or covered that much area. The only reason why the fox was able to strike was that his team believed the fox to be a regular beast just passing through. Of course, as soon as the fox did its thing, it was quickly smashed into the ground.


    After the fox came some other creatures that just suicidally attacked his teams. A few birds that pecked or whose sounds attempted to confuse his beasts, but they truly did nothing. The saddest thing was that the attacks got more frequent, with more beasts piling on each time. At first, it had only been one or two, but as the morning progressed, the numbers began to ramp up to four, then eight, then twelve until his teams were eventually harassed by twenty different small beasts at a time.


    Dan wasn¡¯t worried about his beasts dying, as almost all the attacking beasts could and were easily swatted. Things got even easier when Dan finally started getting a proper list of the new monsters and, with some more dungeon shenanigans, could identify the new invaders. Identifying them meant he could project them onto the map, and the real slaughter began as every one of his beasts started their killing spree.


    Each puny enemy beast didn¡¯t give much mana. At most, they gave ten, and those were just things like the flaming foxes or lightning rabbits. However, when a slaughter begins, and things begin to die by the hundreds, it all quickly builds up, and mana started cranking in.


    With the mana cranking, Dan began to create more of his monsters. First up, he evened out the spiders by creating four more for a total of 192 mana. Afterward, he also evened out the bats by adding three more of their kind for 114 mana. Then, with that complete, Dan moved to create some worm and mole minions.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Bullet Mole.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Earth Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Earth Control. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Bullet. Pierce.


    Innate Abilities: 3.


    Tremor Sense. Stealth. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 19 Mana (38 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 38 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Worm Chomper.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Earth Affinity. Space Affinity. Earth Control. Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Speed. Earth Spike. Consume.


    Innate Abilities: 3.


    Tremor Sense. Stealth. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 31 Mana (62 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 62 Mana.


    ??


    In total, Dan made six worms and twelve moles. The worms came out to a total of 372 mana, while the moles came out to a bit more due to their higher numbers, for a total of 456 mana.


    In terms of looks, the minions looked like their bosses. The worms were pretty much the same size as Chomp and had the brown and ring-filled skin with white polka dots. Meanwhile, the moles had the same dark and light silver hues as Jamole.


    Dan had created the new minions throughout the day as the mana came in, and as it was approaching afternoon and the tide of beasts was slowing, so did his mana intake, but he still ended the afternoon with a decent 302 mana.


    Dan wanted to be careful and keep some mana in reserve in case something new popped up. However, there was one more upgrade he needed to do. The upgrade was simple, and it was to give the gorillas George¡¯s smash move. Dan was also tempted to improve his birds more, but he honestly didn¡¯t feel a need for it yet. From what Dan had seen so far, this specific shattered zone was mostly ground-based in terms of enemies, and he didn¡¯t feel like his birds would be a big factor in the upcoming fights.


    On the other hand, the gorillas had already clearly performed well in combat, and there were probably even more formidable foes they would face, so it was logical to upgrade them.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Gorilla.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Wood Affinity. Earth Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility. Night Vision. Wood Control. Earth Control. Mana Storage. Smash.


    Innate Abilities: 2.


    Strength. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 15 Mana (30 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 30 Mana.


    ??


    With Smash and now the extra mana from Mana Storage, the gorillas were going to be a force to be reckoned with, but even then, Dan still felt like it wasn¡¯t enough.


    After experiencing this extra challenge for a few days, Dan knew there would be more to it, and that wasn¡¯t even adding the possibly stronger enemies out there like the trolls and ogres. He had yet to confirm it, but Dan believed all the ogres and trolls had to be D rank.


    Still, progress was progress, and Dan was beginning to get comfortable enough to actually start messing about with the various factions. However, before doing so, he wanted to finish creating the worms, bats, spiders, and moles, and when that was complete, maybe add a few more teams so he would be comfortable sending a couple of them to see the druids.

 Chapter 23 - Monstrosities

    Dungeon Day 32 - Continues


    After the slaughter, the rest of that day passed without issue, and night came and went just as fast. As the night passed, Dan looked for more enemies and was glad to find the old ones reappearing. However, along with the old wood ones, there came new batches of the new smaller beasts that his monsters had slaughtered. Even so, the difference was obvious as they didn''t come in the same numbers, and even more importantly, they weren''t alone. Instead, the new smaller enemies traveled alongside the much larger nature groups from before. And Dan wasn¡¯t concerned since the small beasts didn¡¯t add any real firepower to the groups.


    As he saw the new beasts, Dan was reminded that he now had access to all of their blueprints and quickly brought up his list of monsters while hiding the old list of wood beasts.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    ¡ª Edit Creature.


    - - Current Creature List.


    - - - Torch Fox.


    - - - Lightning Rabbit.


    - - - Stone Pecker.


    - - - Seeder Squirrel.


    - - - Poison Possum.


    - - - Spore Butterfly.


    - - - Smoking Robin.


    There were more, but Dan had stopped looking at the list as he was happy with the variety he had to play with. Heck, it made Dan wonder what other stuff he would end up getting because of the challenge. Technically, he could have made them himself, but having the blueprint ready to go was nice.


    That was an aspect of his monster creation he liked. Just by having access to beasts and magic, he already had an incredible number of creatures he could make. However, the thing was, even if he could technically make a bunch of creatures, getting blueprints was still better.


    For example, Dan could make a dragon out of a komodo dragon by enlarging it and giving it wings and a lot of magic, but it would never be an actual dragon. Additionally, it would be very expensive. On the other hand, when he got blueprints for monsters, all their abilities became innate abilities, allowing Dan to empower that monster even more with even less mana.


    The best example of this was with the Howling Wood Wolves. Dan would have had to give the beast Sound Affinity to replicate their howling ability, which added to the cost. Then their Forest Friend ability would have needed Nature Affinity. However, instead, the beasts already had those abilities for free, giving them a stronger base. Thus, if Dan wanted to empower them, the total mana spent would be less than if he had made them from scratch.


    Moving on from the list and creature system. It was time for Dan to send his monsters back out to start another day of hunting, and from what he saw on his lands, there were plenty of things to hunt. In fact, in the following days after the slaughter, the hunting became incredibly good, and Dan¡¯s mana quickly filled and emptied as he began pumping out more of his new monsters.


    Dungeon Day 35


    It wasn¡¯t until the night of the 34th day, as it moved to the 35th, that things began turning from the established normal of wood beasts and small beasts to something more. To Dan, it wasn¡¯t surprising that things got harder. The surprise came in how things got harder. Well, not that Dan was scared, as he finished up all his monsters and was not worried about his new teams being unable to deal with any new threat.


    Each of his new teams had the new addition of two moles plus a worm, which brought the team''s total number of monsters to 15. Overall, each of his teams could easily take on one of his bosses, though a team would definitely take a casualty or two.


    Additionally, he made some extra monsters when he created his new batch. These leftover monsters were mainly five worms and ten moles, which would be part of the base defense force. Of course, there were also spiders and bats that were part of the base defense force. Which Dan wasn''t always going to keep in the base because that would be a waste since things weren¡¯t as dangerous as he first thought.


    There was also the fact that Dan was going to make more teams for his eventual excursion to the other zones. However, that would come later. Honestly, later was approaching now, as Dan didn''t have many more excuses to hold back on finally getting a move on conquering the entire zone.


    However, before he could move to deal with the druid situation, Dan was going to address a new issue that had popped up during the night. So far, all the monsters that had been attacking Dan and his beasts weren''t really that strong or disturbing. The beasts were beasts; sure, they had nature affinities, among other things, but overall, they were not very strong. In fact, with his new teams, the current invaders had become things that his monsters could easily slaughter. That fact changed during the night when Dan spotted some new invaders that were worrying him. They still resembled beasts, but it was clear that they were stronger, far stronger than the ones that had been appearing so far.


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    They weren''t nature ones or smaller magical varieties like the torch foxes, lightning rabbits, and whatnot. Instead, Dan believed they were more destructive and powerful.


    If Dan had to be more precise, they were more like monstrosities.


    These new monstrosities had yet to attack them, mainly because he had yet to send out monsters to intercept them, but they were there. And Dan could see them approaching his base. There were three different types of monstrosities; however, they did share similarities. These similarities were mainly shown in their scorpion-like tails and the fact that they looked ravaged, deceased, and hungry.


    The largest of the monstrosities were bears, though not larger than Ingot, but definitely larger than his normal bears. Thankfully, these acted more like bosses than anything else, keeping their numbers reasonably low.


    On the other hand, there were raptors that also had scorpion tails. The raptors had a mix of scales and feathers and also looked diseased and hunger-stricken. Comparing the raptors to his animals, he would put them around the same size as one of his big cats. And just one of the things could easily take out two of his minion beasts. Naturally, such power put them easily in the miniboss category, making them a threat. The last of the monstrosities that Dan had seen were owls.


    Again, the owls looked diseased and had feathers falling off them, with some of their ribs clearly showing. These owls were the most numerous of the new invaders and the weakest, making Dan believe that his own birds could take them. Now, just because his birds could fight them didn¡¯t mean they were going to come out unscathed. Not only did the owls have scorpion stingers, but their whole faces were missing. Instead, they had circular open maws on their faces, just like Dan¡¯s worms had.


    All in all, the new monsters were something that Dan wasn¡¯t looking forward to, but he imagined that they would give a decent amount of mana. In total, he had spotted around three of the bears, each accompanied by two raptors, with a few owls flying around and doing their own thing. Of course, it wouldn''t have been much of an issue if that had just been the case. The problem came when a bear the size of Ingot walked out of the smoke on the edge of his territory.


    That particular bear''s stinger was massive, and it had four raptors the size of Dan¡¯s monster bears with it. Then, as if that wasn''t enough, around ten owls flew around the large bear and its raptors. Looking at the new enemies, Dan knew they would put up one hell of a fight.


    So, as the morning came, Dan began preparing his monsters to engage.


    First up was the team that was going to fight the giant bear. Naturally, all his bosses except George, Itsy, and Balbatzar would engage the large monstrosity. From there, two teams would be sent out to attack each of the three bears. The four teams left would, in turn. Just hunt more of the regular wood beasts.


    Dan watched his team of bosses slowly make their way toward the giant scorpion bear. He didn''t believe for a second that his monsters would lose the fight, but he was definitely prepared to take some losses. And almost as if the new monsters weren¡¯t enough, he received an extremely worrying message


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Warning! A Crystal Shard has been consumed!


    Claiming Goal updated.


    ??


    ¡°Fuck.¡± Was Dan''s only response as he thought about the implications of what he just read. Clearly, one of the shards had absorbed another, which meant that now there was another crystal shard out there that was stronger or just as strong as him. Of course, he had to confirm it and quickly opened his claiming goals.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 1/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 1/7.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


    And, of course, there it was. In truth, it didn''t change the objective as he still needed to control the whole area, but it would just make conquering it even harder. The main problem out of everything was that he didn''t know where the rest of the shards were. However, he hoped that it would be one of the places furthest from him. That way, he had even more time to build up his forces.


    Thankfully, he was about to get a lot of mana and could create even more teams.


    It took about an hour, but his team of bosses eventually got close enough to the enemy bear.


    Unsurprisingly, the first to make contact was Kinetic and the birds. Well, Kinetic didn''t really make contact; it was more like he just zoomed around the monsters, looking at them menacingly. Now, Hawk the Eagle and Eagle the Hawk did actually make contact.


    They were the first to engage in the fight as they began to demolish the owls flying above the scorpion bear and its raptors. Of course, the first two were the easiest to fall because they were taken by surprise, and we were not expecting the Wind Slash. However, after those two fell, the other eight finally started their attack.


    Hawk was the first one to get struck, as she was the largest.


    It turns out that the owls could shoot some spines out of their maws. However, even then, all of them didn¡¯t seem too smart, as two of them flew straight at the eagle and were quickly torn apart by Hawk.


    Meanwhile, Eagle the Hawk was having the time of her life. The hawk outmaneuvered the owls like it was child''s play and swooped through branches, trees, and everything else. It wasn¡¯t long before Eagle took out another three of the owls as they couldn''t match the speed of the small bird.


    The aerial fight finally came to an end as the last few owls managed to get on top of Hawk the Eagle. Then, they drove their stingers deep into the bird''s flesh and began pumping poison into her. That left the birds as stationary targets, and Eagle the Hawk quickly took them out.


    From there, both birds flew back to Fir and began to get healed. However, now that the two birds had engaged the enemy. The enemy knew there was something out there capable of hunting them. The information would help them, but it still wouldn¡¯t prepare them for the massive worm beneath them.

 Chapter 24 - Sacrifice

    Dungeon Day 35 - Continues


    Chomp wasn''t going to strike, at least not yet, and neither was Jamole, who was also tunneling underneath the enemy. Instead, they were both waiting for the right opportunity. Meanwhile, the other beasts began to get closer to the giant scorpion bear, with Xinos quickly detaching from the boss party.


    A few minutes passed, and his monsters finally saw the enemy directly, well, besides the birds and Kinetic. The cheetah was still running around, slowly charging himself while eyeing the enemy squad, which had yet to make a move. At least until they saw Ingot, Fir, and Fur with Hawk and Eagle flying in circles above them. The birds were mostly out of mana but still wanted to contribute to the fight.


    A fight that was definitely going to be hard. Just by looking at the enemy bear, Dan could tell it was D rank. Though it was still in the early stages, it was still in D rank. Meaning it was stronger than his own bosses. Then, the fact that it was a monstrosity added an extra level of uncertainty and power to it.


    Both groups of monsters stopped about 100 feet apart. His bosses were sizing up the enemy, and the enemy was sizing up his bosses. On one hand were Ingot, Fur, and Fir, with Hawk, Eagle, and Kinetic circling both groups. There were also Xinos, Chomp, and Jamole, but the enemy had yet to spot them. Meanwhile, the enemy''s bear matched Ingot''s size and sported a scorpion tail. Then, there were four raptors the size of bears who also wielded stingers.


    The stare-down lasted about half a minute, and the whole fight began with a simple grunt from the scorpion bear. Hearing the grunt, the four raptors opened their stingers like blooming death flowers, and four spikes shot out from the tips, aiming straight for Ingot. Fur expertly summoned a wall of dirt that took on the four spikes.


    And by the time the dirt wall came down, the scorpion bear and raptors were already charging his monsters. In response, Ingot roared, and Dan felt the bear flood his body with power, enhancing his strength and resilience even more as he charged the enemy bear and its four raptors.


    Both bears met first and clashed against each other, coming to a stop like two ramming bison. Meanwhile, the four raptors went around the clashing bears and headed straight towards Fur and Fir.


    The raptor charge didn''t last long as two things smashed right into two of the raptors, disturbing them.


    The first one to hit was Jamole, who burst out of the ground and pierced right through a raptor''s stomach! Sadly, the attack didn''t kill the raptor but did cause it to fall.


    A blur of yellow hit the second raptor as Kinetic finally decided to get into the battle and slammed into the monstrosity! Unlike with the wood boar the raptor did not die or explode. The charging cheetah did do damage as the raptor now had a large hole in its side. However, both the raptor and Kinetic were sent tumbling into the ground, and the cheetah was quickly stung.


    This disruption didn''t matter too much to the other two raptors, who continued with their charge, ignoring their wounded brethren even as a giant worm came up from the ground, swallowing Jamole''s victim entirely and disappearing soon after.


    Back with Ingot, Dan could feel that the bear was only holding on against the enemy scorpion bear due to his enhanced body. However, that would only last for so long as Ingot¡¯s mana was quickly dipping. Still, the bear needed to hold on for long enough so the rest of the raptors could be dealt with and everybody could converge on the scorpion bear. The two bears fought as they continued clawing and crashing into each other, with the scorpion bear thankfully having yet to use its stinger, which worried Dan.


    Now, regarding Xinos, the jaguar was up in one of the trees about 50 feet from where the whole fight was going on. Not invisible, but still definitely in stealth and had yet to be noticed by the enemy. The jaguar had also already marked the bear and seemed to be waiting for the right moment to strike.


    Looking back at the still-charging raptors, who were heading towards Fir and Fur, Dan saw his two birds fly towards one of them in an attempt to halt its march. Eagle was being an annoyance, flying around it, trying to scratch it with its talons, but wasn''t doing much. It was worse when the small hawk finally got slammed with a tail swing from the raptor, sending her tumbling to the ground.


    Hawk the Eagle used the distraction to swoop in, grab the thing''s tail with her talons, and lift it into the air. The raptor struggled to get out of the bird''s grip, but it simply did not have the mobility to attack the bird. It was then that Dan learned something new about the raptor as it fell down towards the ground.


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    Hawk the Eagle hadn¡¯t made it too high, but it was still a 50-foot drop, which the raptor surprisingly took without issue. However, now the raptor was bleeding out of its tail area with the limbing missing after it had detached it, which was debilitating on its own.


    As that had been going on, the other raptor kept running towards Fur, and the elk prepared to meet it. The raptor opened its tail again, sending another spike directly toward the elk, who deflected it with its antlers, breaking a couple of pieces off them in the process. Not bothered by its blocked attack, the monstrosity continued with its charge by jumping at the elk. The jump was quickly blocked as a semi-dome of stone appeared out of the ground, causing the raptor to land on it instead.


    Surprised for a second, the raptor continued its attack by jumping off the dome and attempting to sting Fur. Thankfully, a small metal mole pierced out of the ground, piercing right through the tail and cutting it off. The raptor did not care and lunged at Fur who had not been expecting the monster to shrug off the attack as it did, and both creatures went down as the raptor began clawing and biting the elk.


    Some distance from the tumbling elk and raptor was a tumbling cheetah and raptor. The raptor struck with its tail as they both came to a stop, sending the cat flying towards Fir. The cheetah was hurt and had been poisoned. Luckily, it had been sent in the right direction, and Fir began the healing process.


    As that was going on, the fight between the two bears continued, and Ingot was still managing to hold back the scorpion bear. However, things took a turn for the worse as the scorpion bear finally plunged its stinger into Ingot, causing him to roar in pain. Thankfully, Ingot had still done some damage to the bear but was nowhere near enough to kill it. Looking at his bear''s mana, Dan saw it was reaching the halfway point, which was not good.


    All in all, Dan felt like the overall fight was going alright, but he was annoyed that Xinos had yet to join in and was very close to telling the jaguar to do so.


    Moving on from the jaguar, Dan remembered that Eagle the Hawk had been struck hard and went to look for her. Thankfully, the small bird had recovered enough and was now flying above the battlefield, although she was heavily injured and was clearly not going to join back in anytime soon.


    The fight continued as Hawk the Eagle perfectly timed another swoop against the raptor that had been tumbling with fur. The elk didn''t look good and had taken large gashes on its body, but it was far from dead, especially once Fir activated her Healing Aura to heal both the cheetah and the elk. The aura also getting Eagle the Hawk to fly toward the healer.


    Of course, now that the elk was doing its job, the other two raptors, who were still alive and on the ground, began to rush towards the healer. The two raptors didn''t get far as Chomp appeared and quickly consumed one like it was a nice, delicious treat. Meanwhile, a piercing metal mole struck the second raptor in the head. Though unlike before, it didn''t do much damage, but the attack was enough to disorient the beast. Looking at Jamoles mana, the mole was nearly out after having dealt a decent amount of damage during the whole fight. Thankfully, the disorientation caused by the mole¡¯s strike was enough, and a spike of earth struck right through the raptor''s body as Fur used the last of his mana to finish it.


    Finally, the last raptor came to its splashy end as Hawk the Eagle dropped it from way up high in the sky, and the thing just splattered against the ground.


    With the raptors dead and his party heavily injured, they all headed towards Fir.


    The problem was that the fight was not over, and Ingot was still battling the scorpion bear.


    Ingot was not looking good at all, and a lot of his fur was falling off as it was pumped with poison. His bear¡¯s mana was also low, with only about 20 points left.


    Then, to make things worse, the scorpion bear showed off its might as it clearly tugged into its purified mana.


    Dan wasn''t sure why it had been saving it this whole time, but Dan guessed the bear felt like its life was finally on the line. The scorpion bear then overpowered Ingot, throwing the bear to the side. Unable to move, Ingot lay there watching as the scorpion bear looked at Dan¡¯s injured group near Fir.


    The thing was even regenerating a little bit as its wounds visibly healed. Dan was about to yell at his jaguar to do something when he finally felt Xinos infusing himself with power. However, the bear was also planning to do something, and Dan felt its power rise even more as its stinger became three, and they quickly opened.


    Out of the three stingers flew three large spikes of tainted bone.


    Right as the spikes flew out of the stingers, Xinos launched forward. The big cat had spent all his mana on Metal Slash, Metal Enhancement, and Necrosis Infusion, and his front claws were glowing with a dark power that glinted like polished metal.


    Everything happened at once.


    First, one single pillar of stone appeared in the path of one of the spikes that was heading towards Fir. Meanwhile, the other two struck. One hit Eagle the Hawk and the other Kinetic.


    As the spikes struck, so did Xinos, the jaguar, easily cleaved through the scorpion bear, almost completely severing the damn thing and killing it as the rest of its body rotted away due to the jaguar''s death energy.


    Sadly, the bear had managed to take its toll.

 Chapter 25 - Wolfbats

    Dungeon Day 35 - Continues


    Dan felt the losses through their connections, but he also got the notifications as usual.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Boss Death ??


    Notice! Boss: Eagle the Hawk has died to Scorpion Bear.


    As death was within the dungeon area, no penalties are applied.


    Respawn is time 2 Hours, and Respawn cost is 36 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Boss Death ??


    Notice! Boss: Fur the Elk has sacrificed itself.


    As death was within the dungeon area, no penalties are applied.


    Respawn time is 2 Hours, and Respawn cost is 63 Mana.


    ??


    Looking at that second notification, Dan questioned how exactly his boss had killed itself. However, he quickly got his answer when a new notification popped up.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Notice! Fur the Elk has earned the innate ability Sacrifice. Sacrifice allows the elk to sacrifice his own health and use it to activate magical effects.


    Sacrifice can only be used when Fir is in mortal danger.


    ??


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be damn.¡± Was Dan¡¯s only words as he read the notification.


    With the appearance of the Sacrifice ability, Dan learned that his monsters could develop their own abilities. He wasn''t sure if the feature was something new or something that had always been there, but he wasn''t going to complain. It was clearly something that couldn''t be done easily, as his elk had killed itself to accomplish it. However, Dan needed to ensure that his monsters wouldn''t just randomly start killing themselves in the hopes of getting an ability.


    Dan also wanted to be mad at Fur for making him spend mana on respawning him, but it wasn''t a big deal as Dan would get the mana back in no time. In fact, Dan had already made a bunch of monsters from the fight, and he was only going to make more as his monsters started hunting down the rest of the aberrations.


    In total, he had gained 2500 mana. With all that mana, he had pumped out some monsters and created five new teams. So, with just that one fight, he had gained a total of 75 new monsters, which would increase his total mana income as they began to hunt.


    With the fight done, Dan recalled his bosses. He had been thinking of sending some support just in case they were attacked by something on the way back, but he doubted his monsters needed any help, especially with Fir healing them.


    Eventually, his bosses got to the base and sat down to rest, and Dan was happy to let them do so. Meanwhile, his other monsters continued engaging the monstrosities as they rested, and he had a few more casualties. However, they were just regular minions, which wasn''t a big deal considering the amount of mana he was raking in; he was not worried about a couple of birds getting killed.


    Eventually, he respawned the minions that had been killed along with Fur and Eagle and was glad they were not traumatized. That weakness seemed to have been wrung out of them, probably by the World Crystal, and Dan appreciated it as he didn¡¯t want a bunch of monsters with ptsd.


    All in all, as the day came to an end, Dan was able to make two additional teams with all the mana that he gained and ended up recalling all his beasts, just in case the night brought with it some other type of challenge.


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    Surprisingly, Dan was indeed right, and a new challenge came during the night. Well, a new challenge and an old challenge. The old challenge was just the owls now coming in more regularly, flying around by themselves, and harassing his beasts here and there. Of course, there were also the same monstrosity teams, the wood beasts and smaller magical beasts that had become a common sight. The new challenge, of course, was a new monster that could only be described as a wolfbat.


    The wolfbats were the size of an average wolf, except they had a more humanoid look to them. Their bat genes gave them two leathery wings, though theirs extended from their backs. Additionally, the wolves also walked with a hunched posture, like a werewolf would. They also had pointy ears and a bit of a snout that was much like a combination of a wolf and a bat, and finally, they had nice fluffy tails.


    The wolves couldn''t fly, but they jumped and glided as they ran through the branches of the many trees in the forest. They weren''t necessarily the biggest problems, and Dan hadn¡¯t deemed it worth attacking them just yet. If they did come, the fort had plenty of defenders. The problem was that now it would be a bit more problematic to send his monsters out to hunt at night.


    It wasn''t that his monsters couldn''t take care of themselves. It was just that they would be outnumbered by the number of monsters out in the wild. From looking at the map Dan could see there was a sea of red dots in his lands. Well, at least comparing the enemy numbers to his own.


    He could still send out his monsters to hunt in the nearby area with the support of the bats and even the spiders, but he did not want to stretch out his defenses too much. In truth, Dan hoped that the wolfbats would sleep during the day or at least be less active, allowing his teams to hunt more easily.


    Dan also believed that eventually, when he did have enough monsters. He could just constantly be on an extermination run against the enemy beasts, killing them as soon as they came into his territory. However, for the time being, his lands were too big, and he did not have enough monsters. So, as far as Dan was concerned, it was best to chill during the night and hunt during the day. This was especially so considering that he was planning on sending beasts over to help the druids, as they would certainly be struggling with these new monsters.


    Dungeon Day 36


    Thankfully, Dan had been right, and as the day came about, the wolfbats started being less active, and more of them began to settle for the day, a weakness he would use to hunt them down.


    Finally, looking at the druid situation, the main issue was that the druids were very far from him. Not only would he need to travel through his own territory, but he would also have to cross through the frog''s territory until he reached the druids. As such, he had been looking for something to close the gap and had found it. The answer was teleportation.


    Sadly, as much as Dan wanted to set up a teleportation network from his base to the druids, that was not going to be possible. The simple fact was that he could only really set up something in his own claimed area. However, he could still set up a teleportation circle from the fort to the edge of his territory. This would shorten the travel time between his lands and the druids even more. Additionally, suppose he went for the frog people first and captured their territory. That would allow him to establish another teleporter, thus shortening the gap even further.


    To establish his own teleportation, he needed a new, smaller base at the edge of his territory to keep the circle safe. This new base would be even faster to set up than his current one, as he now had plenty of mana to spend. So, he quickly constructed yet another basic stone structure much like his current one, just smaller. He copied the same square layout as he couldn¡¯t be bothered to be super creative for a temporary structure. The only thing that he would bother with was placing some guards there when construction was done. However, that wasn''t going to be much of an issue either.


    It cost him about 100 mana to set up the new base, as stone and trees only cost a little. While he had been setting up, it had occurred to him that he should set up a proper hiding enchantment, but he wasn''t as worried about that yet. This was mainly because he wasn¡¯t D rank, and he wanted to set up those types of enchantments whenever he had proper power. If the new monsters had been a proper challenge, he would have set up new enchantments, but he wasn''t too worried about anything for now.


    Looking at the teleporters themselves, he wanted to make them rather big. Mainly so they could transfer more monsters in one go. He also needed some sort of base slate to enchant onto as he didn''t want to do it on the dirt because it could be easily disrupted. So, for a base, Dan made a high-quality piece of large stone.


    The enchantment was considered tricky because it would take some work for his beast to activate it, but not much. The main issue with it was that it was space magic, and so it would cost a bit more because of it. In total, each teleporter came up to 315 mana for a total of 630. Then, any time a beast wanted to use it or any time it was activated, it would cost 158 mana.


    Overall, it was a good deal as Dan would get plenty of use out of it, and it would be less distance for his monsters to travel when they dealt with the frogs or the druids.


    Dan continued the creation spree by creating some bats, spiders, moles, and worms to defend the smaller base. He created four worms, six moles, six spiders, and six bats. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but it should do to help defend the base. He could also teleport more beasts over there or spawn them in if the base needed extra defenders.


    However, after all that was completed, Dan was running low on mana again, and as night approached. He began recalling his monsters back to the base. Last night, he wondered if another new creature might appear overnight and how he would handle that if it happened. He also thought about the druids and how they were faring with this whole thing. He had yet to hear back from them after the hawk returned to give him the report on their lands. He hoped they were doing well and they would make it for a few more days until he finally sent over some creatures to help them.

 Chapter 26 - Druids

    Dungeon Day 37


    The night went by without much issue, and soon, his monsters were back out hunting. It would be a bit longer before he could send them to hunt again at night, but the wolfbats were too much of a problem. Dan needed more numbers, and as the days passed, he would get more. However, he was getting impatient with the whole druid situation. So, he decided to finally send out a proper envoy other than the hawk to go and meet with them. The envoy would mainly be a show of force to show the druids that he had reasonable power, and it would consist of Xinos and seven of Dan¡¯s teams.


    It would probably be another day before Dan sent them, as he wanted to get some more monsters under his belt before doing so. Dan also wanted to make more hawks for easier scouting, as those he had made so far weren¡¯t enough.


    The day progressed, and Dan gained mana from the various hunts. There were even a few casualties as some of his birds and much weaker big cats got in trouble, taking too much damage. Even then, Dan couldn''t complain, as he ended up getting some new monsters that gave up, just as the wolves had. In total, he had gotten two-blade wolves, one vine snake, a lightning rabbit, and even a poison possum, along with a bark-skin boar. These new monsters didn''t have much to them outside of their abilities.


    The wolves could send blades of hardened wood at their enemies. Honestly, the wolf was the most dangerous out of all of them since the vine snake didn''t have any poison, and it was just more like a constrictor snake. The lightning rabbit could make small sparks of electricity, and the poison possum would poison things if it was attacked which was kind of bad. Then the bark skin boar was just a big boar, much like the one Kinetic had demolished some time back.


    In fact, the blade wolves were the ones that were responsible for the most casualties out of the nature-related beasts since now that Dan and George knew how to deal with the howling wolves, they weren''t much of an issue and were just ganged up on. Of course, there were also the scorpion bears and raptors, who were also responsible for some casualties along with the wolfbats. The owls weren''t much of an issue. Sure, they could deal some damage to his birds, but never anything lethal with Dan¡¯s healing doe¡¯s around.


    Even with the losses, Dan still got a decent amount of mana and was able to make two more full teams of his monsters, along with ten new hawks.


    An issue that Dan was noticing with the creation of all of these new monsters was that there were too many of them, and his little fort was starting to get a bit too cramped. There was still some space for them to rest, though it was only available because the worms and the moles mostly spent their time underground.


    It wasn¡¯t long before hunting time came to an end once more and Dan found himself recalling his monsters to a rather cramped camp.


    Dungeon Day 38


    The night had passed without much issue, even if some owls and wolfbats attacked the base. They didn¡¯t do any damage, and mana was gained, so Dan hadn¡¯t cared, especially since he had been able to create another team of beasts, bringing his new total to 20.


    The one thing that did begin to annoy Dan, was his mana capacity. It was just too low. And he couldn¡¯t do anything about it until he absorbed another shard, and he wasn''t sure how long it would be before he did so. Hopefully not too long.


    Starting the day with 20 teams, Dan decided to send eight full teams along with his jaguar instead of the seven he was initially going to send. He could teleport two teams at a time as long as they were appropriately stacked on top of each other. The whole thing was a bit of a loophole, but mana saved was mana saved, as each teleport cost 158.


    It would cost Dan 632 mana to send all eight teams, something Dan quickly did. He even exploited the loophole even further by stacking Xinos on top of the first two teams sent through.


    He had told Xinos that safety was a priority, as dying so far from the dungeon would cost more and make them take longer to respawn. Additionally, even with the teleporter near the bottom right-hand corner of his lands, it still would take about 12 hours to walk the full distance to the druid''s area or, more specifically, to their cabin, making death even more annoying.


    Knowing it would take until the afternoon before his jaguar arrived, Dan decided to relax and enjoy the dungeon life. He would watch his monsters fight and even explore his lands more. Dan would still keep pumping out his teams, as the more he had, the better.


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    One important thing Dan did with his new hawks was to send them out to scout the other lands that his original scouts were still observing. Even if he figured he would get all the information he would need from the druids, the notification about a shard being consumed demanded he keep an eye out.


    Time passed, and Dan was able to make two new teams before finally, the afternoon came about, and he began to recall his monsters for the night. More importantly, though, Xinos arrived at the druid''s place. They had been in the druid''s territory for the last four or five hours. However, they had been met by some of the druid''s beasts for the last bit of their journey as they were escorted to their destination.


    Dan watched through his jaguar''s eyes as his entourage of beasts approached the shack where the druid lived. The shack wasn''t much to look at and had clearly been built by those who didn''t know much about construction, something that Dan would happily fix when the druids eventually came to work for him one way or the other.


    In fact, part of Dan''s plan for his future dungeon was to use some of the current residents in the zone to establish some sort of pre-layout, and he was definitely going to use the druids for that.


    The lead druid was a blonde elf who wore simple leather clothing and had a nice-looking oak staff. She had green eyes and was of average height, which put her around 5 feet and a bit.


    Looking through Xino¡¯s eyes, Dan couldn''t tell if the woman was more shocked by the sheer size of his jaguar or the incredible entourage that was with him. Either way, she tried to hide her shock and welcomed Xinos. Her voice was soft and caring, which matched her. Well, at least Dan thought so.


    ¡°Welcome, welcome. My name is Dena.¡±


    ¡°Hello Dena, I am Xinos. Nice to meet you on behalf of our master.¡± The jaguar spoke, opening his mouth and letting his gruff voice seemingly come into existence. Of course, the beast speaking in such a proper manner caught her by surprise once again.


    ¡°Oh my! You can speak so fluently. It is truly a surprise as even with our magics, our beasts can''t communicate so wonderfully.¡±


    After that brief introduction, Dena was quick to get down to business. The druid tried to pry into exactly what the jaguar''s master was and the overall force they had access to. She even brought up the crystal, which was actually Dan. However, and for obvious reasons, Xinos was not inclined to comment on it. He simply stated that they were powerful and that they were on the druid''s side against whatever was going on in the area. In fact, it was more important for them to get information about how exactly the druid got into the zone and how this area came to exist.


    As far as Dan knew, the shattered lands could range from a mishmash of random places in the universe to a version of the area that used to exist on a planet before the space was shattered.


    Thankfully, the druid quickly gave up on pursuing information about Dan and began sharing their own story. They were from some planet that had yet to be named as it was very young in its development. From what Dan could gather, the druid and her fellows were sucked into a random riff that opened in their small grove, and when they came to, they were in the shattered zone.


    At the time, there had been confusion as to what to do. However, since they had seen regular beasts about, they did what they did best and began acquiring their help. Soon enough, they had a huge number of beasts as part of their group and were able to start exploring the entire zone. They found the other factions that were also existing within the space. Some of the factions were nice, and they quickly made friends with them, while some were not so nice and had attacked them on sight.


    In general, the druids had been in the area for about five or so days before Dan arrived, which wasn''t much.


    Hearing that from Dan, George had questioned if the rest of the inhabitants were there for longer, but from the druid''s information, it didn¡¯t seem like it. This meant most of the factions had to have been in the shattered zone for around the same amount of time the druids had been.


    Learning the back story of the druids made Dan feel a bit better about them, but he didn''t care in the end. He just really wanted to get this whole thing over with so he could make a proper dungeon. And, of course, continue expanding to the other shattered zones. Still, the Druids definitely had more information, and Dan needed that information.


    Xinos also asked about the invading beasts that they had been encountering and what they had seen, which was when Dan got a surprise. Though the druid had seen the monstrosities, they hadn''t had to fight many of them, as most of them were heading into Dan¡¯s territory. This probably meant that many more of the monstrosities were coming over from the different zones, which wasn''t good, or maybe it was since it gave him a lot of mana. Additionally, Dan was also able to confirm that outside of the druid zone, the invaders weren''t attacking the regular beasts. The only reason why they were attacking in the druid zone was because the druids used the beasts as part of their faction.


    He also confirmed that the invaders were also attacking the other factions, but definitely not to the same extent that they were attacking Dan. For example, the bandits barely got harassed, nothing really attacked the ogres and trolls, and the gnolls and kobolds were mostly left alone to do their own thing. Surprising him even more, the humanoids from the village and the green camp were also mostly left alone, which was a bit odd. One spot that was left entirely alone without issues at all was the lake. It made sense since none of the invaders could go underwater.


    After hearing all of this information, Dan was glad he had finally sent his jaguar over. However, he still needed to know more about the exact goings on with each faction. So he quickly nudged his jaguar to ask about that, and the druid was more than happy to explain it.

 Chapter 27 - Factions

    Dungeon Day 38 - Continues


    The druid began by explaining the frog lake. The frog lake was the area between Dan¡¯s land and the druid¡¯s land. It was a giant lake with many islands and giant lily pads. From what Dan had seen before through the eyes of the hawks, there was some battle going on in the lake, but Dan was unsure as to what exactly the battle was about. Thankfully, the druid was able to clarify this very nicely.


    Essentially, the entire lake had once been in a different world filled with frog people. From what the druid had been able to gain from the frog people. The world that they had been in was also fairly new, and their lake was ripped from that world and taken to the zone. Of course, they hadn''t noticed that at first, as they were all in the lake, but once they realized that the current¡¯s flow had changed, they explored and found that they were no longer in their old swamp-like world.


    This confusion of being in a new place was further augmented as some entity began taking over the minds of some of the frog people. Hearing that, Dan instantly knew that it had to be one of the other shards but would wait to confirm it before doing anything. The druid continued the explanation by explaining how the frogs were eventually sent into a civil war as a fight broke out between the free frogs and the mind-controlled frogs. In fact, the fight was still raging on as they spoke, and as Dan heard that, he was even more eager to go and challenge the possible enemy shard.


    Additionally, the druid added that the free frogs were slowly losing the fight, as with every day that passed, the mind-controlled frogs were able to slowly expand by taking over new hosts. It was at that point that Xinos interjected and told Dena that they would be able to help the frogs if she provided an introduction. Of course, the druid was happy to do so as they were also trying to help the frogs, but they had only been able to do so much because they didn''t have that many animals that could function underwater.


    From the frog lake, the druid moved on to speak about the kobold and gnoll caves. Apparently, both places had appeared around the same time, at least from what the druid had learned. The gnolls had been aggressive from the start and almost killed one of their druids. So, it wasn''t a surprise when they eventually started fighting the kobolds. The kobolds, on the other hand, were relatively nice. They had been happy to help the druids and had made an alliance with them. However, that alliance only came after the gnolls attacked the kobolds. According to the kobolds, the gnolls had simply attacked as they wanted to expand their territory, and the kobolds were the nearest and weakest creatures they could attack.


    It didn''t make any sense to Dan as the village was right there by the kobolds, but maybe the gnolls had yet to explore and had gone for the first thing they had interacted with. Either way, both were at war with each other, and from what Dan could gather, he would probably help the kobolds win, or he would make them both play nice with each other. Of course, Dan also asked for an introduction to the kobolds, as Dena said the gnolls would attack on sight.


    Next up were the bandit ruins and the village. The bandits were a bunch of humanoids that had indeed spoken with the druids at first, but both factions had quickly fallen out. Much like the rest of the zone, the bandits were also from a different world. They had come from a world named Gar, and though it wasn''t too advanced, they had been advanced enough to where most of the enlightened folks had already met each other. Much like the druids, the bandits had also been seemingly minding their own business when a rift opened and swallowed all of them. However, from the number of bandits, the rift had to have been much bigger than the one that swallowed the druids. According to the druid''s count, there were around 150 or so bandits. They were all fairly skilled with their weapons and were led by what Dan identified as beast folk of the bear variety.


    The village was much like what Dan had seen. They didn''t have many combat-capable people, but a High D Rank dragon knight held together the whole place. To be specific, it was a dragonkin that was indeed a knight. And, of course, the bandits were harassing the village since it was the only spot they could harass without too much worry.


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    For example, the druids had one or two D rankers, but they were on the lower end of the scale, and though the bandits did hold more D rankers than the druids, the druids had hundreds of beasts they could call on for help. On the other hand, the dragon knight had enough experience and magic capability that the bandits didn¡¯t dare engage fully, and there had never been a full-on fight between the two sides. It was more harassment of the outer areas of the village and the theft of goods during the night.


    Dena pointed out that the bandits were slowly becoming more aggressive and confident that they could take on the dragon knight and the measly guards who guarded the village.


    After she finished explaining this, Dan was glad his jaguar asked if the kobolds and the gnolls had any D rankers in their midst. Dena explained that neither faction had any D rankers. However, they made up for this with sheer numbers and the fact that they both lived underground. If it hadn''t been for that, the druids would have probably been able to help out the kobolds long ago.


    The main issue was that the gnoll cave had only one way inside, making the entrance into a butchering field. And since the druids wanted to avoid getting too many of their beasts killed they were stopped from doing all-out charge with the kobolds. This was even more difficult now with the new invaders showing up, making it harder for them to support the village or the kobolds.


    After explaining that particular situation, Dena began explaining the problem of the remaining two factions.


    Up first was the green camp, and as Dan had seen, it was a camp of goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins who were having some conflict. Dena said that the fights weren''t full-on fights but more of sneaky maneuvering. Dan had asked if the druids had figured out exactly what was happening, but apparently, the green skins had been aggressive from the start and wouldn''t even talk to them. Sadly, that was information Dan already knew from his own surveillance.


    The strength of the green camp was the one thing the druids knew since they had been watching longer than Dan. The camp had more D rankers than the bandits. Each of the leaders was a High D Ranker and could match the dragon knight in power. The rest of the D rankers were of lower power, but there were many of them, with each captain being a Low D ranker. Additionally, each captain also controlled 200 of their kin, giving the entire green camp a total of 30 Low D Rank individuals controlling a total of 6000 soldiers.


    Dena agreed with Dan and was thankful the camp had minded its own business so far. Still, the druids were worried that once their problems were fixed, the green skins might turn their eyes to the rest of the zone. And unless the remaining factions combined to try and stop them, the green camp would easily overcome them.


    Hearing about the strength of the green camp, Dan was beginning to suspect the World Crystal had put him as far away from the higher rankers as possible. Or maybe the spot Dan had emerged from just happened to coexist in that general space. Either way, one obvious thing was that the further away from his starting area he went, the stronger the enemies would get, which really made him glad that he started where he had.


    Moving on from the green camp, Dena also spoke about the ogres and trolls, and as Dan figured, they weren''t aware of what was going on there either. Apparently, they had learned that the trolls and the ogres were fighting but were unsure why. Dan hadn¡¯t noticed this fighting since his hawks could only be in one place at a time compared to the druid''s many beasts, but with the revelation, Dan did prompt Xinos to ask Dena if they had noted any signs of mind control. Sadly, the druid didn¡¯t think so unless the enemy was very good at hiding it.


    The answer made Dan worry that the large humanoids were being controlled by a much more powerful shard with higher mental capabilities and could easily fool anybody watching. After all, he knew he had eight, well now, seven shards to collect, but he didn¡¯t know their ranks. So, considering that a shard had now been absorbed and that none of the other factions outside of the frogs showed signs of mind control, Dan was beginning to think that something was definitely going on with the hills. And he feared a truly powerful shard was gaining momentum there. Sadly, and annoyingly, he couldn¡¯t do much since if he sent his monsters that way, they would be demolished.


    At the very least, Dan was glad he could start properly planning things with all this new information from the druids. Obviously, the first thing he would do was approach the frog people and make sure that he won that fight for them and absorbed that shard. Then, once it was absorbed, Dan would reach D rank, and the real battle against the rest of the zone would start.


    He would move from the frog lake and quickly take over the gnoll and kobold camps. From then on, he would hit the bandits and the village and leave the green camp and the hills for last.

 Chapter 28 - Frogs

    Dungeon Day 38 - Continues


    Following the nice chat about the factions, Dan was interested in knowing what the druids would need from him, and he nudged Xinos to ask. Dena quickly gave him an answer.


    Effectively, they just wanted some assistance in fighting off the invaders and some help in addressing the other factions they were currently helping. Naturally, as this was already part of Dan''s plan, there wasn''t much else to discuss other than having the druid introduce them to the frog people and the other factions. However, before they went to be introduced to the other factions in the zone, Dan wanted to get to D rank, and the best way to do that was to get to the lake.


    Before going, Xinos quickly mocked up a plan to assist the druids in defeating the invaders. Luckily, the druids were not being invaded by as many creatures as Dan, and taking them down wouldn¡¯t be that hard. Speaking of the invaders, his hawk hadn¡¯t gotten back to him because some owls had hurt it, and it was slowly healing up with the druid''s help.


    Now, of course, having to leave his monster teams behind, Dan was wondering if he should leave his jaguar as well. And he was leaning towards leaving Xinos behind as he currently didn¡¯t need the Boss. In fact, he wouldn''t need his jaguar until after he conquered the lake. And as long as he didn''t send out any other of his bosses, he was confident in taking something like the scorpion bear again. Of course, he would have to provide extra assistance, but sending Balbatzar and Itsy should deal with most things.


    In regards to actually dealing with the invaders in the druid lands, Xinos proposed a strike team approach. The druid''s birds would be on the lookout for the invaders, and once spotted, they could report back to the druids, and then a team of beasts would be sent out to exterminate them. Additionally, now that they had some doe¡¯s over in the druid''s land, they would help heal the druid beasts that got injured from fighting off the invaders.


    With that resolved, Dan had one question left as he wondered if all of the druids could actually transform. Dan figured transforming was some sort of magic, so if they all could do it, then it meant all of the druids were technically D rank, but Dena said that only one or two of the Druids were D rank. So, Dan was wondering if the rest were just regular mortals. However, Dena confirmed they gained the power from their bloodline, more commonly known as Innate Magic.


    Anyways, with a plan on how they would move forward in the druid lands established and knowing what he needed to do next, Dan began calculating what exactly he would need to do to help the frog people. Naturally, he would need to make a beast that could work underwater. The problem was taking said beasts over to the lake. Dan was tempted to claim a chunk of land all the way to the lake, but that would take a little bit too long, and it would be a waste of mana. Instead, he figured the best thing to do would be to make some kind of cart, floating carpet, or something to transport the beasts.


    As he thought about transport vehicles, night quickly came, and Dan began doing all the configurations he would need for all the new beasts.


    Dungeon Day 39


    It was with great shame that Dan remembered that he still needed to figure out who was going to make contact with the frogs. Obviously, Dan himself wouldn''t leave his little fort, but he still needed to send somebody down there. Or maybe some of the frogs could come up to the ground and meet with one of his bosses. Actually, thinking about the whole thing, it would be best if he sent Eagle the Hawk or Hawk the Eagle to do it. Both birds could get there relatively fast. They could meet the frog people on one of their islands, and communicating back and forth would be easier due to their Share Sense. Even better was that they could fly, so if another event boss came, they could get back to Dan extremely fast.


    Having decided to do so, he nudged his jaguar to stay still and told Dena to do the same. After doing so, he told Eagle the Hawk to start moving towards the druid area as she would be able to get there the fastest.


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    Dan also told the hawk about the different negotiations she could make with the frog people. Mainly, it was that Dan would help them deal with their mind-control frogs. Then, once the situation was resolved, the frog people would fall under his rule. Of course, it wouldn''t be like a tyrant type of thing. At least not yet. Dan knew that the frogs would not be very happy with that deal, but considering that they would eventually lose the war, it was better than nothing. Dan felt a bit bad since, as soon as they accepted the connection, he had complete control over them, but he wouldn''t make them do anything crazy. At least, not yet.


    Though honestly, it''s not like it was a bad deal on their end, as they couldn''t die as long as Dan was alive. In truth, it would be better if half of the faction accepted the deal. That way, they would fall under his control, and he could keep respawning them in his own lands whenever they died in battle against the shard.


    Time passed as Eagle the Hawk teleported away and quickly made her way to the druid''s place. It only took the bird around five hours to get there, and once she did, she introduced herself to Dena, and both quickly flew off to the lake.


    It took them about another hour or two to get to the lake, where Dena left Eagle the Hawk on one of the islands while she went down into the lake as she transformed into an aquatic snake. Around 30 minutes later, the druid returned, and thankfully, she was not alone.


    A contingent of around ten frog people and a snake that turned back to Dena burst out of the water, landing on the shore. The frog folk were all various shades of green, and if it wasn''t for the clear differences in appearance and because they were a little larger, they could be mistaken for aquatic goblins.


    As expected, the frog-people had features that Dan could honestly expect from entities called frog-people. Though Dan believed they were likely just a subspecies of beast kin. They had webbed hands and strong, muscled legs to propel them in the water. As they emerged from the water, they stood at full height, clearly marking themselves much taller than your average goblin. However, Dan wasn''t sure if that was because these were warriors and they were slightly larger or just the natural size of these specific frogs.


    Either way, they all wore similar armor, a mix of metal, some leather with kelp-like straps and shell-like pieces. The armor was mostly for their torso, as Dan assumed that they needed mobility in their arms and legs to swim freely. In terms of weapons, they all carried tridents, though some carried swords and small shields. For some reason, Dan expected to see some crossbows, but they carried no-range weapons.


    A much taller frog man stood in front of all the frog folk. This frog man wore a shell-like crown. The crown was not fancy; it was just a shell on his forehead tied around his head with the kelp-like leather material they used for their armor.


    The small party quickly approached the tree that Eagle the Hawk was on, and of course, Dena was quick to make introductions. The frog folk didn''t make any faces of confusion, probably because they were used to the druid being able to talk to animals.


    They did show surprise when the hawk spoke back to them, as Eagle the Hawk opened her beak, and her rather cheerful voice came out.


    ¡°Hello, friends!¡±


    The frog people looked at his hawk for a minute before the leader spoke up. He had a bit of a ribbit to his voice, and his chin area inflated as he spoke.


    ¡°Good day, bird. Dena here tells me your master might be able to help us in our struggle.¡±


    ¡°Yes! Master is very powerful and willing to assist as long as you can provide what he wants.¡±


    ¡°And what is it that your master wants? Ribbit.¡±


    ¡°You.¡± Answered the cute bird cheerfully, as if it were just the most natural thing in the world.


    ¡°Excuse me? Did you say your master wants us?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Master wants you to become his vassals! Don¡¯t worry, master is great!¡±


    Of course, the chief didn''t think it was funny and looked at Dena like she had wasted his precious time. However, Dena just shrugged.


    ¡°The hawk speaks the truth. This master of theirs has access to odd powers. I have seen it myself. This is why I spoke with them about forming an alliance.¡±


    Clearly, Dena''s words meant a lot to the frog man as after the druid finished speaking, the frog took on a look of contemplation. Then, after a minute of thinking, he finally looked back at Eagle and spoke.


    ¡°Show me.¡±

 Chapter 29 - Unexpected Submission

    Dungeon Day 39 - Continues


    ¡°How exactly should we do that?¡± Eagle responded sarcastically.


    ¡°That''s for you to figure out, ribbit.¡± Replied the frog chief.


    Hearing that through Share Sense annoyed Dan, but it''s not like the frog chief was in the wrong. Even if they were losing the war, submitting his entire species and all his lands wasn''t what Dan would call a very appealing deal. Still, this wasn¡¯t something Dan could pass up, and he began thinking about how to approach the situation. More specifically, Dan needed to find out how to deal with the problem right then and there.


    He could always send monsters to do a combat trial to show the frog chief they had plenty of power, but that would take even more time. Eagle the Hawk could provide a decent fight, but the bird wasn''t necessarily the best at combat with other larger creatures. The best way to prove his point would be to get the chief to agree to his contract and then show him there and there, but obviously, the chief was not going to agree to that. So, looking at all his powers again, Dan thought he could do something interesting.


    He nudged Eagle to go and touch the frog chief. The chief was worried at first, but Eagle lowered his concerns when she told them that it was the best way to show the power of her Master.


    As soon as Eagle made contact with the frog chief, Dan willed some of his power through the bird''s connection with him. The power then contacted the frog chief, and the chief gained some rather interesting knowledge. Dan asked the frog chief to temporarily give up control of a few hundred feet of water off the island''s shore.


    Gaining this information, the chief weirdly looked down at the hawk, unsure what to do.


    ¡°What did you just do? Ribbit.¡±


    ¡°You said you wanted proof; this is part of it.¡±


    Meanwhile, as the hawk and the frog interacted, the druid was looking at them, puzzled as to what was happening. Even so, Dena stayed quiet and continued watching as the frog chief thought long and hard about something.


    Eventually, the chief finally agreed to the terms. The terms were simple: the chief would give up authority over 100 feet of water, and Dan would be temporarily appointed as its owner, thus giving Dan authority over it. The claim would only last for a few hours, but it would be more than enough for him to show the chief the power he had access to.


    After the chief gave over the hundred feet of water, Eagle the Hawk told the chief to sit tight and wait for a few minutes. The druid, still extremely curious, was also watching the water intently.


    As they all watched the water, Dan began to work on one of his new bosses who would deal with the underwater situation.


    He was planning to make a shark for the lake. Why? Because sharks were cool no matter where you placed them. Lava sharks, land sharks, flying sharks. Sharks were an all-encompassing species. They were also scary. Running into a great white shark at a lake back on Earth would have terrified anyone, and Dan hoped to achieve the same result.


    His shark was going to be large, and she would be awesome. As he made the boss, Dan gave her the Metal Affinity because metal teeth sounded awesome on a shark. Following that, and for obvious reasons, were the Water Affinity and Water Control abilities with a few body enhancements in speed and resilience.


    Finally, Dan added two water-related offensive abilities, paid the 120 mana to create the shark, and chose to spawn her in the 100-foot area he had control over.


    Dan saw through Eagles eyes as the druid and the chieftain just watched in amazement as the large shark appeared from nowhere and splashed into the water.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Jaws the Shark.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


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    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Water Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Water Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Resilience. Water Maw. Water Jet.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Keen Senses. Night Vision. Electroreception. Strength. Water Breather. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 60 Mana (120 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 120 Mana.


    ??


    Jaws was a beauty, her underbelly having a silver-like sheen while her upper side had a deeper blue hue. She was truly a beast to be reckoned with and came to after a few seconds.


    Coming to, she began swimming around in bursts, seemingly trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully, as she was in the water, Dan was able to contact her and tell her to stay still and float up to the surface, where Eagle and the rest were waiting.


    The shocked faces of the druid and the chieftain grew even further as the shark used her Water Control ability to float above the sand and go right up to where they were on the shore. The frog kin were spooked by this sudden shark, a creature they probably hadn''t seen since, according to the druid, the frog people lived in a swamp-like world. Or maybe they did see it, and they had swamp sharks. Either way, they all got ready for combat, at least until Eagle spoke up.


    ¡°Ha! You should see your faces!¡± The bird mocked the druid and the frogs before landing on the shark.


    ¡°Hey Eagle! Are these the frogs I need to eat?¡± The huge shark spoke gruffly, like what you would expect from a large and tough biker lady.


    ¡°Not yet!¡± Eagle responded, giggling as she saw the frogs tense up even more.


    ¡°What is this?¡± Dena spoke up, worry in her sweet voice.


    ¡°It''s our boss¡¯s latest creation,¡± Eagle replied proudly.


    ¡°What do you mean creation? I thought your master summoned these creatures for small durations. I saw many die in that battle around the tree.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that, yeah, they died. Don¡¯t worry, though; our master brought them back to life.¡± This particular response from Eagle, however, was met with disgust.


    ¡°What! Your master is a necromancer!?¡±


    Apparently, necromancers weren¡¯t very well-liked.


    ¡°No. He can revive us.¡± Replied Eagle matter-of-factly.


    ¡°That''s impossible. Even we can¡¯t do that, and back on our planet, revival magic was of the highest caliber.¡± A comment from the druid that Eagle shrugged at as if saying, ¡°Hey, I am just telling you how it is.¡± A response which quickly caused the druid to ask for the obvious.


    ¡°Prove it.¡±


    That answer annoyed Dan but made sense since his hawk had made a bold statement. Still, he had just made a shark appear out of nowhere, and they were still unconvinced. Dan was considering how to go about the situation and was starting to get frustrated as he didn''t really feel like sacrificing one of his monsters to prove a point. He was considering going through with his regional plan of sending his beasts through a carrier system and taking out the enemy shard without needing to consult the frog people. From there, he would reach D rank and move on to properly secure the rest of the factions.


    However, he was taken out of his thoughts when Eagle spoke up.


    ¡°Ugh. I already died a few days ago, but alright, come on, kill me. Let''s get this over with.¡±


    This answer shocked Dan, and he immediately expressed thoughts and disapproval to the bird. He wasn''t worried about the mana as he was getting a constant supply now and would have enough to respawn her. Instead, it was more about the principle of the thing and having his monster die for no reason. Apparently, the frog people and Dena were also shocked at the mention of death so casually that they just stared at his hawk, who, in response, just got annoyed.


    ¡°Come on! Hurry up, it''s going to take like two hours for me to revive, so let''s get this over with!¡± The hawk yelled as she flew above the 100 feet of water that were technically Dan¡¯s dungeon.


    After a few more minutes of contemplation, the frog chief and Dena just looked at each other, and they finally decided to believe the hawk. Eagle was hovering above the water, and the decision was that in order to do it in one fell swoop, the druid would use her magic.


    Dena began channeling some of her magic as she chanted, then pointing the staff at the hawk, and with Dan watching in disapproval, a beam of dark green energy hit Eagle. The magic activated in a flash of green and quickly disintegrated the bird. This was quickly followed by the usual notification of having a boss die.


    Skip to two hours later, and Dan quickly spent the mana and respawned the bird above the 100 feet of water. He then proceeded to go off on her for doing something stupid, but eventually, he just gave up as she clearly didn''t care.


    Eagle also quickly took off as soon as she appeared and promptly began jeering at the frog and the druid. However, she did thank the druid for killing her fast and pretty much painlessly. Seeing the bird appear out of nowhere left the druid and the chieftain wide-eyed and with open mouths. Then, surprising Dan, they both took a knee, and he quickly prompted Eagle the Hawk to go and touch them both.


    The hawk passed by them and slightly tapped them with her wing, allowing Dan to proceed with the contract through his Dungeon God Connection ability. Both entities quickly accepted, and Dan¡¯s dungeon expanded as it doubled in size.


    Honestly, Dan was expecting the frog chief to submit, but the druid submitting had definitely taken him by surprise. He, of course, passed this thought to Eagle, who questioned the druid about her sudden submission.


    ¡°In all my years of life, I have not seen such a power be displayed. Stuck here in this place with no real way to go home, I believe my people''s best chance of survival is with an entity such as yourself.¡± Dena spoke to the air, knowing the hawk¡¯s master was listening.

 Chapter 30 - Change in Plans

    The unexpected submission of the druids threw a wrench in Dan''s plans. A good wrench, mind you, but a wrench, nonetheless. Thankfully, this wrench brought something into Dan''s perspective early on. Throughout his current invasion, Dan has been slowly formulating a plan for how he would have his first dungeon area look and work. And, of course, something that he had been slowly realizing was that to make his plan come to life, he would need a lot of mana. Not just to create enough monsters for adventurers to fight, but also to create the other different aspects he wanted in his dungeon. So, the sudden increase in land showed Dan how many months he would need to create a proper dungeon.


    The issue was that when he conquered the entire zone, he probably wouldn¡¯t have any more invaders coming in to try and terrorize him. That would mean that his nice income of mana would run out. Dan knew he could always let the adventurers in and gain mana that way, but he wanted to present a finished product to the adventurers. As such, he decided instead of following his original plan of conquering the lake and following that up with the kobolds and the gnolls. He would actually conquer the lake to reach D rank, and then from there, he would leave the kobold and the gnolls alone until the very last minute.


    The plan was to go ahead and conquer the rest of the zone and then allow the kobolds and the gnolls to do their thing, allowing the invaders to still appear in the zone and letting Dan farm them for mana. Of course, this would only be a one-time thing since when this first area of his dungeon was done. He would have a constant flow of manna from adventurers, allowing him to quickly conquer other areas without having to stall like he was going to do with this first area.


    With that decided, Dan moved on to inspect the rest of his newly acquired land, which had doubled in size. The main point was that he did not gain all of the lake. Instead, the lake was divided in half, as he imagined that the shard counted as a different faction leader who was vying for control of the lake.


    Wanting to learn more about the lake in general, Dan spoke with the chief.


    Dan learned there were three civilized places within the lake. There was one big town in the middle and deepest area of the lake, with two smaller villages at each end of the lake but still within the deep zone.


    Having gone to the small village that was now under his control since he owned the southern part of the lake, Dan had found it rather simplistic. The buildings were made of stone and were simple square structures with lots of algae growing on them. In regard to the town itself, well, that was a bit blurry as it wasn''t fully under his control. The town was right at the center of the division between his controlled land and the shard-controlled land. Since it was right at the center, the whole place was contested, letting Dan make out some of it but not all.


    Another interesting point was that none of the civilized locations had actual names. Instead, the frogs just called them by village in the north, or village in the south, or whatever other name they had. The town was just called ¡°The Town,¡± and Dan didn¡¯t like that, so he quickly gave them names, at least in his own mind. He would eventually let their names be known, but for now, he would keep it to himself.


    The village up north, which was still in enemy territory, he named Ribbit. Then he named the town Fraggles, and the village to the south was called Rana. Looking over at the village that he had full control over, Dan found out there were a lot of frog people there. In fact, most of the population that was still free was in this village. The town itself had actually been empty and was devoid of much life.


    That made sense to Dan since it was designated as the current battleground for any decisive fighting. Speaking of fighting, the reason why the frogs were losing the fight was that their mental resistances were worn down.


    Dan knew that all creatures had some resistance against mental attacks. However, after fighting the mental attacks of the enemy for so long and then actually having to perform in combat. The frog''s mental resistances were slowly eroded, and now, if they entered combat without being fully prepared, they could easily be taken over by the enemy. Of course, this all changed as soon as the chieftain accepted Dan¡¯s rule over their lands and peoples, as they all automatically got the Mental Resistance ability. Still, even if he did rule over them, Dan wasn¡¯t going to waste mana on upgrading them just yet. He would instead rather create monsters to take out the enemy quickly.


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    Thinking about fighting brought up one of Dan¡¯s main worries. He did not simply want to kill the frog people under the enemy''s control and would rather knock them out. Dan wasn¡¯t sure what his strategy would be in that regard, but he would try to create monsters to help with it.


    Leaving the underwater troubles behind for a bit, Dan looked back at the druid side of things, and things were looking up for them. The beasts under the druid''s commands were technically just regular beasts that invaders wouldn''t attack since Dan had chosen to refrain from gaining control over them. That decision had been mostly made because they were just regular beasts and would quickly perish against the invading monsters unless he upgraded them, which he didn¡¯t want to do because that would cost him a lot of mana, and Dan would rather make new monsters instead.


    The invaders were still trying to attack the druids, now more than ever since they were considered his, but Dan had eight teams plus his jaguar over there and wasn''t too worried about their safety. It also helped that they had two Low D Rankers.


    Additionally, Dan was considering making more teleportation circles so the frogs and the druids could move around faster. After thinking about it for a bit, Dan really liked the idea and told the monsters guarding his small teleportation fort to teleport back to the main fort. He then quickly dispersed that fort and removed the teleportation circle, which sadly didn''t give him any mana back.


    With that done, he went to take a look at the best spots to place down the new teleportation circles. Looking at the claimed land, he decided to place the teleportation circle for the frogs on the largest island available to him currently, which was also close to the village of Rana. Dan quickly spent the 315 mana to create a teleportation circle and told the chief about what he had made to ensure it was staffed with guards.


    Now, for the druids, it was a much simpler thing. He would place the teleportation circle outside of their cabin. They could guard it very easily right there, and with his teams in the area, he wasn''t too worried about anything destroying it.


    With that done, Dan finally looked at the notification he had been ignoring.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have gained control of two additional factions and thus have claimed their lands.


    Warning! You have only claimed partial control of one of your current faction''s land. The faction of the Frog Lake is still partially controlled by an enemy. Defeat this enemy to gain full control of the Frog Lake.


    ??


    Well, that was obvious, and Dan dismissed it and moved on to check his status screen to see how much land he had gained access to.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Common.


    Shards Collected: 1/99.


    Points till Next Rank: 50/100.


    Mana: 100/600.


    Mana Regen: 12 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 6 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 200ft.


    Total Area Claimed: 135 to 455 Square Miles.


    Abilities. 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    Looking at his status screen, which he hadn''t seen since he absorbed the first Shard. Dan was worried about seeing that his number of shards had gone down to 99. Alas, it was a reminder that he was indeed on a timer and kind of made him stress out about encountering the future shards.


    Dan chose to distract himself by looking at the rest of his status. He couldn''t help but be amazed at the amount of growth he had accomplished. The amount of land he had gained made his non-existent mouth open wide. He had tripled the size of his growing empire and was excited to be able to eventually put the land to work as a proper dungeon.


    All in all, his recent accomplishment was impressive, and he couldn''t believe that he had gained so much with so little. He had literally only spent some mana making a boss and had respawned Eagle the Hawk.


    After celebrating inwardly for a while, Dan calmed himself as he thought about the challenges still to come. He had a lake to finish conquering, a shard to absorb, and still more than half of the remaining zone to place under his control, which alone would be more challenging than anything else he had done so far.


    Once he had calmed down enough, Dan began thinking about what he would make for his underwater mini-boss. It didn¡¯t take long to make a decision.


    Gators were cool, and he started calculating how much mana a dope assassin alligator would cost.

 Chapter 31 - Water Preparations

    Dungeon Day 39 - Continues


    It was time for Dan to start pumping out even more monsters. Not only did he have to make the new gators and shark minions, but he also had to make the gator mini-boss. On top of that, he needed to create even more of his regular teams to adequately patrol his newly expanded lands.


    So, after getting the new lands, he told the druid to return to their lands and do their own thing for now. As for the frog chieftain, he told them to hold tight, as Dan didn''t want any more frog people to fall under the command of the enemy shard.


    Dan wanted to make this fight with the enemy shard a one-sided massacre. However, he had been asked by the chieftain to try and save as many of his people as he could. Something that Dan would strive to accomplish. This would mainly be done by attempting to knock out the frog people instead of killing them right away, which made him question if he should strictly make some underwater monsters for that purpose. Dan was very tempted to do so, but he felt like if he just did a proper good strike against the shard and took it over, the frog people that were under its control would be released. Such an attack would have some of the frog people die in the assault, but it was better than a prolonged period of fighting.


    The most difficult part of the plan was finding where the shard was hiding. Once that was accomplished, he could send in his army of sharks and gators and quickly capture the shard. Of course, he first needed to make an army of gators and sharks, which he would create in the following days as he gained more mana. However, with his current amount of mana, he could still create the new gator mini-boss.


    Unlike the shark, Dan wanted the gator to be a stealthy assassin. Sort of like Xinos, as such, many of his jaguar''s capabilities were given to his gator. The gator got the Illusion and Metal affinity but not the Space Affinity, instead getting the much-needed Water Affinity. It also got Metal Enhancement and a few other body enhancements. Then, in terms of other abilities, it got Invisibility and Mana storage. Additionally, his gator was going to have Water Jet, which would help him move faster through water, much like his boss shark had. Finally, Dan gave it another ability to help him chomp down on things and keep whatever was bitten in its maw.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Billy the Gator.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 100/100.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +2 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 12.


    Water Affinity. Illusion Affinity. Metal Affinity. Water Control. Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Speed and Strength. Iron Clamp. Invisibility. Mana Storage. Stalker. Water Jet.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Strength. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours (4 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 54 Mana (107 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 107 Mana.


    ??


    Dan honestly expected some odd-colored reptile thing to appear, instead, near the water of the island upon which he had built the teleporter for the frog folk. A rather normal-looking alligator appeared and splashed down. The alligator was as large as his shark boss, just flatter. Still, Billy the Gator was not something to be messed with, so much so that he was quick to make Dan eat his words. The gator was definitely not normal, and its scaly skin flickered and changed.


    The gator''s scales first went through various hues of blue. Then, they shimmered to a foggy crystal-like substance until they finally shifted to a silver-like metal. Once they went through all these stages, they finally shifted again and became a nice deep green with a bit of a gleam to them. After the changes, the boss was confused for a second until he finally caught up to reality and looked around.


    ¡°Hey Billy, how are you feeling?¡±


    ¡°Feeling pretty good, boss, itching to bite something.¡± The gator spoke with a bit of a rural accent.


    ¡°All right, just hang about for a few, and don¡¯t bite any of the frogs. George should be contacting you soon to catch you up on events.¡±


    Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°You got it!¡± Was the gator''s only reply.


    With his mini-boss out of the way, it was time to start making the minions that would become the main force of combat in the lake. Sadly, he didn''t have enough mana, and it would probably take a couple of days to build up his small new underwater army properly.


    Dungeon Day 41


    Dan knew it would only be a matter of time before he stopped bothering to look at his mana. In the beginning, it was something that he constantly paid attention to see how much he had left. However, as he continually gained new chunks of mana due to his monsters fighting the invading beasts, it had become a lesser priority to care how much mana he had access to. This attention would plummet even further when he would eventually open his dungeon to adventurers and would have a constant flow of mana coming in. So the only reason why he even looked at his mana now was to make sure that he had enough for what he wanted to accomplish at the time. That would also come to an end soon enough whenever he had more mana storage. This storage would increase the more shards he consumed until he eventually stopped worrying, or at least Dan hoped he would.


    Overall, Dan would usually get between 1000 and 1500 mana per day, and even then, this was mainly limited by the number of monsters he had access to and the number of monsters that were invading his space. Naturally, as he expanded and gained more terrain, even more monsters would spawn, which then would require more of his monsters to hunt them down. The current issue that Dan found himself with was the immense amount of land that he had gained. He didn''t have enough teams to hunt the invading monsters.


    Even then, the whole thing was fine, as the monsters couldn''t go underwater and attack the frog people. As for the druids, he had eight teams and Xinos guarding them. And that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the fact the druids had two D rankers. So, any of the beasts that did bother to go towards them were dealt with. Adding to the druid¡¯s safety was that all the invading monsters were slowly filtering to Dan''s first territory, where his core was located. This had-had Dan question if he should have integrated all the beasts that the druid had made an alliance with, but Dan had decided against it as they would probably get killed too easily by the invading beasts. Adding to this decision was the fact that even if the invaders all filtered to Dan¡¯s core area, he was confident that his monsters would hold them off. Finally, the big deciding factor was that Dan wanted as many of the normal beasts populating his dungeon as possible, and he didn¡¯t want to waste mana creating them when the time came. Sure, he would have plenty of D-rank beasts for adventurers to fight, but Dan still wanted a proper and living atmosphere.


    Moving back to the topic of monster creation, Dan finally managed to build up his proper underwater army during the last few days. He had made 15 gator minions, which cost him a total of 705 mana. He would have made even more, but he didn''t need that many gators, as they would be the assassins of his army. What he would need a lot of were sharks, which is why he made 30, which cost him 1560 mana. Dan felt that that was more than enough to deal with the shard. Dan would have made more, but it was clear that the shard was not D rank, as if it had been, the frogs would have lost the fight long ago.


    Additionally, Dan had also made some more of his base teams, as he was still in dire need of them, though sadly, he hadn''t been able to make many. Each team now cost 527 mana, which included the creation of the spears for each of the baboons, and he only made two additional teams.


    Looking back at the sharks and gators he had made, they were basically identical to his boss and mini-boss. Naturally, they had the usual exceptions of being slightly smaller and weaker with access to less mana, but otherwise, both new creations were mostly the same in terms of abilities.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Jet Shark.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Water Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Water Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Resilience. Water Maw. Water Jet.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Keen Senses. Night Vision. Electroreception. Strength. Water Breather. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 21 Mana (42 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 42 Mana.


    ??


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Stealth Gator.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 50/50.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 12.


    Water Affinity. Illusion Affinity. Metal Affinity. Water Control. Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Speed and Strength. Iron Clamp. Invisibility. Mana Storage. Stalker. Water Jet.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Strength. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 24 Mana (47 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 47 Mana.


    ??


    The sharks and the gators looked much like their bosses, and there wasn''t much else to them except that they were ready for combat.


    Dan wasn''t sure if it was a boss minion thing, but Billy the Gator''s restlessness was rubbing off on his other minions, and Jaws had also been getting a bit restless, which didn¡¯t help the situation. The fact that they hadn''t been able to bite anything yet seemed to get on their nerves.


    Dan told them to hold on for a little bit longer as they would wait for the next day to begin an investigation in search of the shard. This investigation would take some time, but it was the only way. It would help that the chieftain had provided a map of the unconquered land, but searching still took time.


    On another note, Dan had also wondered whether he should teleport over there to be ready to absorb the shard but had decided against it, at least for the time being. The main reason for this was that he didn¡¯t want to shift the invaders to move towards the lake. It was also better to wait for the shard to be secure, then go absorb it rather than be there doing nothing for no reason. It wasn¡¯t as if it would take long for Dan to get there with the teleportation circle setup. Ultimately, he decided to go once the strike team moved in on the shard for the final fight.

 Chapter 32 - Plan(t)s in Movement

    Dungeon Day 42


    Morning came to find that Dan had caved to his need to create. He was originally going to use the sharks and gators to knock out the frog people, but why use them when he could create something new?


    His new monsters were something new, something he had yet to create. Not only in appearance, but their type and how they functioned were refreshing. First of all, they were not beasts. Instead, he had created his first plant monster.


    They were lily pads.


    Each one was the size of a person, though they were round, so more of a radius than anything. They all look like lily pads, except right at their center, where they had eight vine tentacles sprouting downwards and spreading outward like an octopus. Not only was his creation something amazing to look at, but he hadn''t even given them proper intelligence like the rest of his monsters. The lilies were going to be simple creatures with their main purpose of capturing and holding frog people. As such, simple bestial intelligence would allow them to follow commands, which was more than enough for their task. This would be especially true whenever their usefulness came to an end, as they would just be allowed to float through the lake until his dungeon came to fruition. And even when his dungeon was up and functioning, the lily pads would mainly be nuisances for the adventurers to deal with and nothing else.


    Dan had created 15 lilypads, which came out to 450 mana. Like the rest of his monsters, he would probably create even more by the time the lake conflict ended. However, he only expected a need to create up to 30 of any of his underwater creatures, except for maybe the sharks, for which he might add ten more. Even then, Dan was hesitant as he would need more ground troops than underwater troops after the lake conflict had ended.


    Looking back at the stat block of his new plant creatures, Dan was still amazed by the innate abilities that they had gained.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Octo-Lily.


    Type: Plant.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Bestial.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 6.


    Water Affinity. Plant Affinity. Water Control. Plant Control. Body Enhancement - Strength. Vine Wrap.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Blindsight. Vibroperception. Uncanny Stealth. Inattentional. Plant Counterfeit. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 15 Mana (30 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 30 Mana.


    ??


    The abilities that Dan had given them, which were self-explanatory, were the Water and Plant Affinities, which would allow them to control water and plants. This would then allow them to use other plants as support or propel themselves through the water without actually having to use their vine tentacles.


    Then, body enhancement was for enhancing their vines so that they could use their wrap ability to firmly entangle things.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The innate abilities are when things get interesting. First of all, Blindsight gave them a radius around their main lily pad body where they could naturally perceive everything happening. This blindsight also extended around their tentacles, but not by much; however, to make up for that, there was Vibroperception. That specific ability allowed them to sense ripples and vibrations through the water, allowing them to pinpoint where targets were much more easily.


    The last three abilities were not as good individually, though each one was still pretty cool on its own if Dan said so himself. First was Uncanny Stealth, which allowed them to move through water so seamlessly that, from other creatures'' perspectives, they remained somewhat in place. Dan placed this in the realm of how clouds moved through the sky if someone wasn''t paying attention. One moment, you were looking at them, and the next, they were in a completely different spot.


    Then came Inattentional. That particular ability made it so that creatures that were staring at the lily pad would easily place them in the background, thus making it easier to forget about them. Naturally, this would only work on creatures of the same rank as the lily pads, but it was still a nice ability when combined with Uncanny Stealth. Both abilities would essentially allow the lily pad to sneak up on a foe without them even noticing.


    Finally, the last ability tied everything together and made it so that when the lily pad was not moving, it could pass itself as a regular plant. Dan didn''t know how that would work specifically, but he imagined that it would have something to do with identify or maybe the senses of creatures.


    Anyway, his new plant creature was fantastic, and it was time to put them all to work. The operation was going to begin with scouting, which itself would begin with Dan making teams go out and explore the part of the lake under enemy control. The lake was large, but his monsters were tireless, so he divided them into six groups.


    Five of the groups had six sharks, three gators, and three octo-lilies. These were the groups that were going to be the main scouting force. Joining these groups were going to be ten frog folk warriors who could now easily fight in the front lines due to the added mental resistance Dan provided.


    The last group would have his boss, mini-boss, the chieftain, and 30 of his soldiers. This left their small village a bit undefended, with only 37 warriors left to protect it, but as they were going on the offensive, there was little to worry about. Additionally, as the day went on, Dan would make more gators, sharks, and lily pads as a defensive force.


    The plan for the groups was relatively simple. The first five groups would split and search the enemy area to spot where the shard was hiding. While they did that, the group with his bosses would head straight to the town and attempt to take it over. Well, it was more like they would take it over, as he doubted much could pose a threat to his bosses.


    His teams quickly spread out, and the search for the shard began. Dan knew it would take some time for any results to come back to him, but at least he was finally actively searching for it. Meanwhile, his two bosses and the 30 frog warriors made their way to the town, and surprisingly, they met no resistance as they entered it. That alone had shocked the chieftain, as before Dan came along, the town had-had some enemy activity. Naturally, the town being empty made Dan¡¯s alarm bells go off. Obviously, the shard was watching their movements, at least to some extent, and knew they were coming towards the town. So either the shard knew it was no match against Dan, or it had simply retreated to return with a bigger force and permanently remove Dan¡¯s troops.


    Fearing for the worst, Dan decided to play defensively, and as the day continued, he began making more of his underwater monsters. By the time the sun started to set, Dan had made an additional ten sharks, five gators, and fifteen lilies, which cost him a total of 1105 mana. He would have rather spent that mana creating more land teams, but he would rather be safe than sorry when dealing with this clearly intelligent shard. This whole thing reminded Dan of the last shard and how it was nowhere near the level of intelligence this new one possessed.


    So, in preparation for the obvious attack that had to be coming, Dan sent ten of his lilies over to the town, with the rest staying in the small village where the rest of the frog population was currently staying at. The lilies would serve the same purpose in both areas, acting as an early warning system for any incoming attacks. However, unlike the lilies, Dan did not split his gators and sharks; instead he sent all of them to the town.


    Dan was ready for an attack, and he hoped it would be decisive, where he could easily squash the enemy and quickly move in to seize control and absorb it.


    Sadly, the night passed without incident. Not only had his scout teams not found anything, but they had also not been attacked by a single fish. To be fair, they had yet to cover a quarter of the total area that the enemy shard had control over.


    The town had not been attacked either, and Dan used the extra time provided by the enemy to question the chieftain some more.


    It was then that he learned some information he had come to overlook. First of all, in total, there should be around 1000-something frog folk. Dan had control over 600 and a bit; out of those 600, there were around 127 guards. So when he did the math, that meant that the enemy shard had control over at least another 50 to 70 guards, depending on how many had died. Adding to the guards was the fact that the chieftain said that a decent amount of the fish population still needed to be included.


    Dan would have never thought about that as he didn''t really question the fact that the lake seemed to be low on fish. Dan honestly thought it was just normal. Maybe the frog people had eaten many of the fish, but instead, there was a good chance that many of the fish in the lake were under the control of the shard. The damn thing could have control over thousands of fish. Even if they were small, it still meant that the shard could summon a swarm of fish to its side, which could serve as cannon fodder.


    At the very least, now that Dan knew of this possible issue, he could do something to deal with it. That something would be a new plant boss that would absolutely dominate the enemy''s brains.

 Chapter 33 - Skirmishing

    Dungeon Day 43


    The boss was, of course, going to be an octo-lily. It would have most of the abilities of its smaller counterparts, except for a few that would give it the extra oomph. These new abilities were the Domination Affinity and a new domination-related skill to help the boss ward off the possible thousand-plus fish that were coming. The ability itself would be weak due to its magic needing a higher rank to work properly, but it would be enough to debilitate weaker-minded fish. Something Dan was fine with as that''s all he needed, as his other bosses would be the ones doing the actual fighting along with the frog folk.


    Another difference between the boss and its smaller counterparts was its size. Dan had made the boss a large creature, unlike the smaller lilies, who were medium. This change allowed him to add extra vine tentacles to the lily, giving it an additional power boost. The final and one of the most important abilities that the boss had gained was the ability to allow its mind powers to extend further out. Rounding off the boss was the addition of Mana Storage to give it access to more mana. In total, Dan paid 166 mana and summoned it near the town where his two other underwater bosses were.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Lory the Octo-Lily.


    Type: Plant.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 200/200.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon)


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Abilities: 10.


    Water Affinity. Plant Affinity. Domination Affinity. Water Control. Plant Control. Body Enhancement - Strength. Mana Storage. Vine wrap. Dominating Aura. Magic Beacon.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Blindsight. Vibroperception. Uncanny Stealth. Inattentional. Plant Counterfeit. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Respawn Cost: 83 Mana (166 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)


    Original Creation Cost: 166 Mana.


    ??


    Getting straight into it, there was the Dominating Aura. That was going to allow his new boss to disable the weaker-minded fish in order to reduce the enemy that would come his way. The other standout was the Magic Beacon ability, which would allow the Dominating Aura to extend further, allowing it to affect even more creatures. The aura would have only extended a couple hundred feet out from Lory before, but with the beacon included, it could now easily extend to the entire town, making Lory the counter to what Dan believed was coming.


    In terms of looks, Lory looked like the other lily monsters. The one exception to this, outside of her size and number of tentacles, was the pink bulb at her center and above where her tentacles sprouted from. Whereas the other octo-lilies had a few bulbs here and there, they didn''t do much and were rather small. However, for Lory, the bulb acted as her brain. This was why she was able to have the Intelligent and Sapient mind. For the most part, the bulb looked just like any other pink bulb that a lily pad might have, except Dan knew that it was the center of the monster and that if it were damaged or destroyed, she would become a semi-mindless creature like her brethren.


    It took a few seconds for the giant lily pad to come to, but when she did, she quickly spoke to Dan with a rather refined, ladylike voice.


    ¡°Hello, master. How can this humble plant be of assistance?¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°Hey, Lory, nice to meet you. For the moment, hover over the town.¡± Dan paused to send her a mental image before continuing, ¡°You won¡¯t be very active in the coming conflict, and I would prefer you stay as unnoticeable as possible. Your main role will be to debilitate a horde of fish that will no doubt show up.¡±


    Dan did give the lily pad additional information, but for the most part her role was going to be simple but effective, and he didn¡¯t want her to be targeted by the enemy. However, he permitted her to defend herself or intervene if things got too dangerous.


    It was around mid-morning when he finished creating his new boss, which turned out to be right on time, as not even an hour later, some of his scouts were eliminated. It hadn''t been at once, but slowly but surely, some of his sharks were taken out of the fight. After the first monster fell, Dan had put everybody on alert, expecting some attack to hit the town directly. Thankfully, that attack never came, but annoyingly, more of his scouts were taken out. The attacks were made over a couple of hours, and during that time, some of his surviving scouts returned to his side of the lake.


    The losses had been rather large, with all his sharks being killed but only around half of his gators being taken out. Unsurprisingly, none of the octo-lilies were taken out, and they made it all back in one piece. With the return of his scouts, Dan finally started getting more information about what exactly happened. And it was just as he suspected, massive amounts of fish had targeted the scouts. And even though they fought back, it was just too many fish to actually do anything about and they were buffeted to death. Another thing the scouts confirmed was that it would be more than just small fish Dan had to worry about.


    Some looked like catfish, and others were longer but skinny with large razor-sharp teeth on snout-like mouths. The only good thing about the whole thing was that the bigger fish were in the minority, and the hordes were mostly comprised of smaller fish. Even so, this still meant that there were at least 100 to 200 of the bigger ones.


    Then there was the fact that the fish Dan called small could still range from palm size to arm''s length. The one silver lining that Dan saw in the whole fight was that his new boss would be able to take care of many of the smaller fish.


    Another issue that Dan was worried about was the fact that not a single enemy frog warrior attacked the scouts. This meant that the frog warriors, along with whatever else might have been roaming the lake, were being held back. Nonetheless, this was still fine with Dan as it was still very much in the range of possibility that the enemy shard would make one massive attack. This was especially true after Dan made a decision that he would respawn his monsters and hang about in the town. The truth was that Dan was on the winning side of this fight. The longer the enemy shard took to make its move, the more monsters he could spawn and the more his strength would grow.


    So, with the decision to hold up in the town made, Dan spent the following day respawning his lost monsters. The ones he needed the most were the sharks, and due to losing all of them except for the few that he had already been guarding the towns, they would also be the most expensive ones to bring back. Still, by the time midnight arrived, Dan had spent a total of 1260 mana to respawn all of his 30 sharks.


    Dungeon Day 44


    By midmorning the next day, Dan had respawned the seven gators he had lost. Naturally, it wasn''t until he was reminded by the chieftain that Dan remembered he had also lost the frog warriors he had sent out. Dan didn¡¯t want to spend the mana to respawn the warriors but had told the chieftain he would do so later when he had more mana, which was totally a lie. Honestly, Dan could have just wiped the guy''s brain and rewired him from the moment he accepted the contract, but for the time being, he liked having the frog around. The chieftain was a reminder that he wasn¡¯t the only creator around.


    Either way, with his monsters back in action, Dan sent all 30 sharks to the town and ordered the freshly spawned octo-lilies to make a wall across the lake and keep themselves at some distance from each other. With this detection wall set up, he added the 15 gators to it and told them to patrol the areas between the lilies. Dan wanted to make sure that no fish army made it past the border and somehow managed to target the village under his control.


    The wall lasted a whole two hours. Not because it was destroyed by numerous fish but because said fish began showing up around the town. It was a trickle at first, one or two fish that swam around the town''s boundary. Dan didn''t even notice because he thought that one or two fish were coming back from wherever they had been. However, Dan began to get suspicious when those two fishes turned to 10, then 10 turned to 50, and 50 to 100. They didn¡¯t even stay around for long. They would come by, swim around for a few minutes, and then swim off into the lake once again. Those actions gave them away, as fish didn''t just randomly swim around the town before swimming off into the darkness of the lake, at least not so consistently.


    These small swarms of fish eventually changed from scouting to skirmishing. The tactic did not make sense to Dan as the fish took more losses than they inflicted. Regardless of that, the use of the tactic itself told Dan two things about the shard. The first was that the shard was intelligent enough to know tactics but not smart enough to know how to use them, at least not all of them. Dan made this distinction in how the shard had ambushed its scouts rather well, but now, it was struggling to apply another basic tactic


    Skirmishing only really worked if the skirmishing force did more damage than they took. In fact, skirmishing wasn''t even done against fortified settlements like the town. A skirmish was best done out in the wilderness, where the attacking party could quickly retreat after inflicting damage. However, it seemed like the shard knew skirmishing was a good tactic; it just didn''t know where and when to apply it.


    So, for about another hour or so, the stupid skirmishes continued. Some fish would come in and try to attack his sharks, and the sharks would rip many apart before the fish retreated. After enough of these attacks, it seemed like the shard understood that it wasn''t getting anywhere with its skirmishes, and they stopped coming. This meant that if Dan was right, the next practical move for his enemy was to make one giant attack against the town.


    Sure enough, an hour or so later, as the afternoon was turning into night, Dan was informed by Jaws and then proceeded to look through her senses as the area in front of the town became slightly darker as a massive swarm of fish approached.

 Chapter 34 - The Battle for Fraggles

    Dungeon Day 44 - Continues


    Seeing the swarm approaching, Dan immediately prepared his monsters for the fight. All his sharks emerged from hiding and started swimming above the town''s roofs. Dan also recalled all the lilies that were out on patrol, along with the gators.


    It was going to be a rather straightforward fight. He would have his gators stand at the periphery and act as snipers, taking out individual targets whenever possible. As for the lilies in town, well, there was no point in hiding them right now, so he tasked them to engage in the fight, though only in the periphery as well.


    His sharks and bosses were going to be the main attack force, and since Lory was going to take out many of the fish from the fight¡ªnot by killing them, but by simply making it so they couldn''t do anything¡ªLory alone would make the fight a lot easier since only the much larger fish with more mental capabilities would be left.


    In total, Dan had 40 sharks, 10 gators, and 10 lilies, with the rest either having been sent on patrol or stationed in the small village to the south. Even then, Dan felt more than confident that his current force could take on the incoming horde of fish as long as Lory took out the smaller ones.


    The large lily still sat in the middle of town and a bit above it, floating harmlessly. Meanwhile, the horde of fish was slowly approaching the town, and his gators started fanning out as they backed away from the town and began to try to encircle the incoming horde. The gators were the fastest to move undetected due to their already stealth assassination tactics, while the lilies took a much slower approach so as not to attract as much attention.


    Eventually, though, the fish horde stopped some distance from the town''s edge as both of the forces stared at each other. Dan used this time to tell Lory to move forward a bit so her power could affect more of the horde. Honestly, Dan wasn''t sure what the shard was waiting for, as it spent about a minute or two just letting both forces stare at each other. From his best guess, that shard was maybe trying to figure out what exactly Dan¡¯s plan was as, from its perspective, it clearly had the number advantage.


    If Dan hadn''t been confident about his monsters and their ability to tear through the incoming fish, the start of the battle would have frightened him. It certainly frightened the chieftain. The fish hoard went from standing still, hovering in a spot, to moving forward in one large mass as if a race whistle had been blown. Seeing a wall of fish move forward in unison was a sight to behold, especially once they started picking up speed and covering the last distance to the town before entering it properly.


    Even so, they still had a bit of distance to go before they struck his shark wall, which was exactly what Dan needed. He wanted as many fish to enter Lory''s range as possible. His plan was simple. Once the fish entered Lory¡¯s range, she would take them out. Then, once the smaller fish were out of the fight, all that would be moving were the stronger, bigger fish that could fight off his boss''s influence. Once these stronger fish were exposed, he had told his sharks to shoot forward and target the bigger fish to try and take out as many as they could.


    And just like Dan had planned, everything went rather nicely. The fish hoard approached, and Lory activated her Dominating Aura a couple of dozen feet before they were about to crash into his sharks. It took a few seconds for the aura to travel through the town and crash into the incoming fish horde, but once it did, the effect was noticeable as the wall of fish just stopped. Not all of them, but the large majority stopped, which meant that the larger fish that were able to resist the effect kept going, giving themselves up as perfect targets for his sharks.


    His sharks didn''t even hesitate. As soon as they saw the bigger fish, they all activated their Water Jet abilities and rushed forward as their teeth were infused with metal. Forty sharks struck, and just like that, forty of the larger fish were taken out as large chunks of flesh were ripped out, coloring the water red in seconds. The best part was that his sharks hadn''t even used most of their mana, so they had had at least another good burst of movement in their tanks. Nonetheless, even if forty were taken out, there were at least another 100 plus of the large fish who, after the momentary shock, turned and began targeting his sharks.


    Looking at the attacking fish, Dan could see that there were indeed catfish-like fish with large whiskers, except they had very toothy maws. The other skinnier fish also had sharp, tooth-filled snouts that made them look like tigerfish. Either way, they struck his sharks, ripping small chunks of flesh from them or just slamming into them. The bigger threats were the catfish as they were able to inflict bigger wounds on his sharks.


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    The fight had just begun, and even if the enemy had finally engaged and were doing some good damage, Dan still had plenty in reserve. His sharks still had some mana left, and many of them began enhancing their skins with metal, making it harder for the enemy to tear into them.


    Adding to the growing chaos, the enemy frog warriors also engaged in the fight. They had been approaching underneath the mass of fish with large lobster-like creatures sporting rather big pincers. These lobster creatures were not as big as his sharks but were still around the size of the frog folk.


    Of course, not having any other option, his own frog folk began to engage the incoming frogs. And honestly, with the inclusion of this new force, Dan was beginning to worry about the fight.


    His worry lasted for a whole few seconds as his two bosses finally started engaging. They had decided to chill on the back and wait for the battle to start properly before moving. The best part was that they didn''t even need to enhance their bites to kill the enemy. All they needed to do was zoom around with their speed abilities, and their normal bites were more than enough to do the job.


    This mixture of the bosses finally entering the fight, with the gators also joining in began to give his monsters a slight edge. Annoyingly, some of the sharks had already perished, but there was nothing Dan could do about that. However, now that the gators had gotten into the action, they would target enemies that were endangering the sharks. The gators effectively acted as a sniper force, taking out an enemy before they could take out one of Dan¡¯s sharks.


    Seeing as his fish were holding, Dan looked back at the fight with the frog folk, and they, too, were holding their own. The main issue Dan saw was that his own frog folks were trying to knock out the enemy while the enemy frog folk were just trying to kill his own.


    Additionally, it didn''t help that the enemy had the lobster things that further endangered his frog folk. The only good thing was that the lobsters couldn''t swim, so his frog folks could stay above the enemy lobsters as they battled with the enemy frogs. In the end, looking at the entire battle, Dan knew it was turning in his favor, so he made sure to send out a command to the very slow-moving octo-lilies.


    The lilies were still trying to flank the enemy, but their movement was very slow as they wanted to maintain stealth. They had barely left the town''s side when the fight started. So, Dan ordered them to forget stealth and use their Water Control to move toward enemy warriors in an attempt to take them out of the fight alive. This also brought Dan¡¯s attention to the enemy warriors, as there were only 35 of them, which meant that the shard still had control over at least another thirty other warriors and was probably using them to defend its hiding spot.


    Dan watched as the fight continued. The whole thing was a bit of a mess to watch as half of the fight was happening within his territory, but half wasn''t. So, he had to switch from his normal dungeon view to one of his bosses to see how everything was going.


    As he waited for the octo-lilies to engage the enemy warriors, Dan¡¯s attention returned to the fish fight. He had lost a few more of his sharks as there were only so many gators, but overall, his bosses were tearing the enemy apart. From what Dan could see, he had around 20 or so sharks left, while the enemy still had around 40 of the larger fish.


    It was nothing that his monsters couldn¡¯t handle, but there was still the worry that Lory would run out of mana and her Dominating Aura would fade. Upon checking her mana, Dan was correct to worry; sure enough, she only had about 100 left. The fight so far had taken about a minute, meaning he had about another minute left before the rest of the fish came back into action.


    Dan was counting on the shard, deciding it had taken enough losses and retreating the horde of fish. Adding to that hope was the fact that his lilies finally engaged the enemy warriors and began wrapping them in their vine tentacles. The warriors, already somewhat exhausted from the fight, didn''t put up much of a struggle before they were knocked out.


    With the enemy warriors being slowly taken out of the fight, his own warriors began engaging the lobsters and began inflicting casualties. Speaking of casualties, he had lost about five of his own warriors, but it was nothing he was worried about.


    As the fight raged on, the enemy''s numbers started to be slowly whittled down. Eventually, there were only 10 to 15 of the larger fish left, which was when they began to retreat. The retreat of the large fish caused the lobsters to also begin retreating, along with the few frog warriors that were still left on the enemy side.


    Right as the enemy retreat began, the rest of Dan¡¯s gators, which had been patrolling, arrived on the scene. Instead of having them engage, he had them hide in the perimeter. Dan would use them to stalk the retreating enemy to the shard''s lair.


    Looking at the battlefield, the water was filled with blood and chunks of flesh that had been bitten off both sides. It was a gory scene, but it meant that Dan had won the fight. Especially after Lory removed her dominating aura and all the fish scattered in all directions, letting Dan know that the shard had given up control over the horde.


    Without the threat of the looming hoard of fish, Dan took stock of all his losses. He had lost around 17 Sharks, 8 of the frog warriors, and 3 of the gators. And as far as Dan was concerned, the losses were worth the victory that he had just achieved.

 Chapter 35 - Differences

    Once the fish scattered and the battle had concluded, Dan began to look at his gains. Only to find that he had barely gained any mana from the endeavor. That didn''t make any sense to Dan. Even if most of the fighting had been out of his territory, which it wasn''t, he should have still gained a decent amount of mana unless the fish hadn''t had any mana, which was not possible. He had gained a trickle of mana but not anywhere near the amount that he should have gotten, given the strength of the fish that were killed. That was even counting the fact that most of the horde still lived. Counting the large fish alone should have given him close to 1000 mana.


    So the fact that he hadn''t gained any mana meant that something else had happened to it. And the only thing that Dan could think of was the fact that the shard had taken all of it. Thinking back to the fight, Dan hadn''t seen a single fish or frog warrior use telekinetic magic. He knew they could, as back with his first shard at the large dead tree, he had seen the animals use it. This realization brought him back to a reality he had dearly mistaken.


    For the most part, during this time, he had imagined that the rest of the shards worked like he did. Not exactly, as he did, as they didn''t have a system or the ability to spawn monsters, but he figured they were limited in the amount of mana that they could store. However, that was not true. At least not entirely. He may have that limitation as a system-enforced rule so he didn¡¯t become too broken. After all, according to the World Crystal, the whole thing had to possess some sense of balance. Otherwise, he would just be able to store an infinite amount of mana and expand without consequence. Something that he imagined Mother Infinity would disapprove of.


    So all of this meant that the other shards could store much more mana than he could as long as they could reach that understanding. Thinking back, it made sense why the shard at the tree hadn''t reached that conclusion. The thing had been running on pure instincts and the need to expand, so it hadn''t thought about draining its controlled creature¡¯s mana. However, the shard that he was confronting now had a decent amount of intelligence, and Dan had to believe that it had reached the same conclusion he had just reached but much earlier on. This meant that the shard had to be absorbing the mana from the creatures it controlled and storing it for the final fight that was sure to approach. That train of thought, however, brought up some inconsistencies.


    The more Dan considered it, the more it didn¡¯t make sense for the shard to still be struggling against the frog folk. Sure, it was bad at tactics and trying to capture them alive; however, it didn¡¯t make sense even then. The damn thing could easily wield its telekinetic power to take over the lake without issue, so there had to be something else holding it back. Once again, it made Dan question whether the World Crystal was intervening on his behalf to make his start that much easier. Even if Mother Eternity wanted balance, Dan didn¡¯t think she was a rules lawyer and would be on them if the World Crystal bent the rules a bit. That had to be it; otherwise, the shard would have conquered the lake long ago. Feeling like he was beginning to see the cracks in a carefully laid out plan, Dan got back to it, feeling better about his future chances.


    Dan focused back on the events on hand. Since he didn¡¯t want to misuse the World Crystal''s possible help, he had sent some gators and octo-lilies to track the retreating animals, which would lead him directly to where the shard was hiding. And as he waited to hear back from them, he would respawn all his sharks and gators while fully recalling all his underwater creatures to the town. He would also send the chieftain and the frog warriors to care for the small village. Dan knew that they would complain, but they would be cannon fodder in the upcoming fight.


    The frog warriors were not a match against his creatures, and they were not D rank, so they didn''t have access to magic as his creatures did, even with their normal rank. Of course, Dan could rework them and give them some abilities, but that would cost way too much mana and take too much time.


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    Additionally, in order to swing the battle even more in his favor, Dan called for the druid to join the fight. Dena was D rank, even if on the lower end, and she would prove useful. Dan knew that the shard would not be D-rank, but even then, the amount of mana it probably had access to at that moment would still make it a threat equal to a D ranker, at least a good one.


    So, as he waited to get word back from his gators, he began respawning his sharks while letting the ones that had battled rest. It cost 855 mana to respawn the 17 sharks and three gators he had lost. The cost made Dan glad that he hadn''t had to use any of his mana to convert the 30 enemy frog warriors and turn them back to his side. There had been 35 of them, but five had sadly met their end early, and at the time, they weren¡¯t under Dan¡¯s control, so they could not be respawned.


    Still, the other 30 warriors had snapped out of their mind control once the fish began retreating, and upon doing so, they automatically joined his faction. As such, all the frog warriors who had participated in the battle and had survived were currently making their way to the small village back south.


    Dena arrived relatively fast through the teleporter that Dan had set up. Then, about an hour or two after the druid arrived, he finally got notice from his monsters. A few of them had returned and shared the location of where the rest of the retreating fish had gone. It was some cave in one of the deeper parts of the lake. It was near an island that was then near the northern village.


    Having the location of where the shard was staying, Dan began to mobilize his troops. While mobilizing his troops, Dan contemplated one major issue with the coming battle. That was the fact that Dan would not have control over his monsters or be able to keep in contact with them. Most of their communication would be cut as his monsters left his claimed lands. He would still be able to use their shared senses and was even thinking about giving Control to one of his bosses so he could take control of them. However, Dan firmly believed in letting his bosses prove their worth. So, he would outline the plan and allow them to make their own decisions in combat.


    The plan itself would be relatively simple. They could not allow the shard to escape no matter what. As such, all of the octo-lilies would be put on the perimeter. Dan was confident that the shard would first try to fight, and if that didn¡¯t go as it wanted, it would try to escape. He knew that the weaker of the octo-lilies wouldn''t be able to do much, but at least they would be able to delay the shard until one of his bosses could step in.


    With that in mind, Lory would be the operation''s leader. She would sit back and command the forces while also ensuring that if the shard tried to escape, she could restrain it with all her tentacles.


    Now, even if Lory was going to be the commander, Dan had given them an outline. More than likely, the shard would send out the frog warriors first, empowered with some telekinesis magic. Dan wanted the sharks and the gators to be the forces that engaged those warriors, with the smaller octo-lilies stepping in if necessary, regardless of their previous orders. Dan believed that his monsters would be able to shred the enemy warriors to the point that it would cause the shard to engage itself. Once the shard engaged on its own Jaws, Billy and Dena would step in.


    Once his three bosses and the druid stepped in, Dan was confident they could make the shard use much of its mana. The whole point of the operation was to have the shard use as much of its mana as possible. That way, when it was weakened enough, Lory could step in, capture and suppress the shard with her aura and tentacles, and then bring it back to Dan.


    To that point, once the fight began, Dan would teleport to the frog island and make his way to the town so he could make contact as fast as possible and absorb the shard.


    Having laid out his plans to his bosses, Dan sent them off into the lake. They would take about an hour to arrive at the cave entrance. However, Dan would be watching the whole time through Jaw¡¯s senses.

 Chapter 36 - Sharks vs Frogs

    The cave was set into the wall, where the lake floor slowly rose to the surface. This didn''t mean they were up close to the surface, as they were still deep underwater. However, it did mean that the cave entrance was relatively barren. It was a somewhat uneven area, and the large cave mouth was nicely tucked into it.


    Arriving at the cave area, his monsters began to put his plan into action. The octo-lilies spread out, covering the area around the cave but still keeping enough distance to allow the fighting to happen. Considering there were thirty of them, they managed to make a rather nice wall to intercept the shard. However, it would still take them some time to intervene in the fight if they were called upon. Dan wasn''t too worried about it, as he hoped that Lory would be able to make the call way before they were actually needed.


    The second ring of monsters was going to be made of gators. With only twenty of the gators and their designation as assassins, Dan did not want to put them up front. Instead, he wanted the gators to use the same strategy that they had used in the previous fight. They were going to sit back, watch the fight happen, and engage as needed to preserve the shark¡¯s lives.


    Finally, the first line of defense was going to be the sharks. With forty of them and their design to be the front liners, they were semi-spread out right in front of the cave entrance¡ªnot too close, but close enough to where they would be the first ones to engage.


    The bosses themselves were in different positions. Way above the cave entrance, looking down at everything that was going on, was Lory. This way, she could try to make the best possible decision during the fight. There was also the fact that if the shard tried to escape, it would more than likely try to fly upwards and thus run right into Lory.


    Jaws and Billy were the opposite of Lory. The two bosses wore underneath the cave entrance, hovering around the lake floor. They would also watch the fight as they would only engage the shard itself and none of its minions.


    The positioning of his monsters only took a minute or so, and the shard seemed to be waiting for them to do their thing before making any moves. However, once everything was ready, the frog warriors came out.


    There were 30 of them, and as Dan watched through Jaw''s eyes, he noticed a very important detail. The frog warriors were not swimming. They simply floated out of the cave''s mouth. They moved in a manner that Dan knew could only be achieved through telekinesis or flight, but considering what they were dealing with, it was most likely the first.


    Each warrior had a simple coral spear tipped with metal and wore the customary armor Dan had seen the warriors wear. Meaning it was mostly some coral-looking armor with bits and pieces of metal all attached together with some seaweed type plant.


    The warriors stood still for a minute, looking at their surroundings and the forces stacked against them. More importantly, the shard looked through those eyes and saw everything that came to fight it. His monsters also kept calm during this time as they observed what the frog warriors would do, and everyone was tense as they waited for the battle to begin.


    A battle that began in a burst as all the warriors glowed pink and rushed outwards. Many headed straight at the sharks, while a few attempted to target the gators. Seeing the enemy''s movement, the sharks rushed forward, going for both the ones coming directly at them while also attempting to intercept the ones targeting their fellow monsters.


    The sharks all pour some of their mana into their Water Jet ability, making them rush forward at speed. Meanwhile, the rest was put towards their Water Maw ability, and watery maws resembling the shark''s own appeared before them.


    With so many abilities triggering, the dark corner of the lake glowed light blue as the elemental abilities were activated.


    It wasn''t long before this light blue glow was joined by a bright pink, as all the frog warriors glowed, and their speed increased to match the sharks. Then, in an explosion of blue, pink, and red, the two forces collided as chunks were torn off both sides.


    Thirty sharks met 25 frog warriors head-on, and through Lorie¡¯s senses, Dan could feel the aftermath. Pretty much every single warrior or shark was either dead or heavily wounded. It was a result that Dan had not been expecting. There hadn¡¯t even been time for any of the gators to intervene in the fight. The two forces simply crashed and did massive damage to one another.


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    Things took an even further turn for the worse as the remaining five frog warriors began to shine in an even brighter light. The energy that had been going to the rest of the warriors was now being focused on the remaining five. This meant that the ten sharks going to intercept the warriors were torn apart even faster than their already mostly dead brethren. Thankfully, their struggles had somewhat diminished the brightness around the five frog warriors, which let Dan know they had limited energy to pull from. Or, at the very least, the shard had given them a very limited amount. However, Dan knew that the thing could definitely feed the warriors more energy if it so chose to, but Dan wasn''t sure if the shard would do so.


    The only good thing about the massacre was that Lory was getting things into motion. Dan sensed how some of the gators went invisible, with others already having shot forward to try to hit the remaining frog warriors. Heck, even the octo-lilies were moving forward to be closer and engage in the fight.


    As the frog warriors took a second to recover from the rush of power, they were struck by fiver gators who, like missiles, smashed into the warriors and their shields. The gators hadn''t even gone in for a proper chomp. Instead, they had enhanced their strength and speed on top of making their scales metal and then slammed into the warriors. Not only did this lower the brightness of warrior''s shields, showing that they had indeed taken some decent damage, but it also threw them off their game for a few more seconds.


    Once again, as the frog warriors attempted to recover, the ten gators that had gone invisible came out of invisibility and shot forward. Their self-sacrificing brethren had bought them time, and they planned to use their chomp abilities along with Stalker, with five of each gator targeting one warrior as they went in to try and rip off their limbs. The two frog warriors, not expecting such an attack, were each grabbed by one of their limbs as the gators chomped down, broke through their kinetic shields, and tore off their limbs.


    Annoyingly, by the time the gators had struck, the other three frog warriors had recovered and, with the death of their allies, had gained yet another boost of power as the energy from those particular frogs was drained and given to them. As such, the ten gators were quickly pierced through and blasted apart as the frog warriors slammed into them, spears first.


    Dan didn''t like the strategy at all. All of his monsters were sacrificing themselves just to take out these empowered frog warriors. However, he couldn''t complain too much as the strategy was working. So he kept watching as the last five gators rushed forward, picking one single target. Three rushed in like the original self-sacrificing missile gators, while the other two went invisible.


    Unsurprisingly, already having seen the tactic once, the three remaining frog warriors were ready, and as the three separate gators approached, they held out their hands, and blasts of force met the gators, blasting them apart. There were only two good things from that strategy. One, their blast had cost them more mana than simply tanking the attack. A conclusion Dan drew from seeing their glow diminish. The second good thing was that the blood and gore from those three gators blocked the total sight of the incoming attack from the last two remaining gators.


    Both gators hit the same frog warrior in staggered hits. They, of course, slammed into the warrior''s shield, but the damage was considerable as the warrior''s magic glow dimmed even more. Finally, as these gators struck, the lilies joined the fight, along with two sharks that had survived the initial charge. One shark did much like his gator pals and simply slammed into the warrior, killing itself, which was enough to finally break the warrior''s shield. The second shark came after, taking one big bite and ripping the warrior apart.


    As the water bloodied even further with even more death, Dan was glad to see that the last two remaining warriors were not empowered even further. The only problem was that they were still reasonably healthy, and the last remaining monsters outside his bosses were the lily pads. A problem further enhanced as their vines were not very fast. So when the 30 or so lily pads reached forward to grasp the two remaining warriors, the two warriors could easily slip or tear through the tentacles.


    Sadly for the warriors, there were 30 lily pads, and each had eight tentacles, for a whopping total of 240 combined tentacles. So, as each lily got closer and closer, it just became a forest of tentacles that the warriors had to cut their way through or dodge. This was made even harder when each lily activated its strength enhancement or made it so the water near them was turbulent as they used their Control Water ability.


    The fight between the lilies and the two frog warriors ultimately came down to numbers versus quality. It was a fight that the octo-lilies won since they completely outnumbered the two warriors. There were simply too many attacks and not enough space for the warriors to dodge as they moved around, cutting their way through.


    This didn''t mean that the lilies didn''t take casualties, as by the end of the fight, at least half of them died, and the rest were heavily injured. The fact was that the warriors had been powerful in their own right, and even embedded in a forest of vines, they were able to get lucky or deal enough damage to make casualties. However, the critical part was that all the enemy minions were defeated, which meant it was time for the big bad itself.

 Chapter 37 - A Rough Fight

    The blood and guts from the previous clash between the sharks and the frog warriors slowly began to settle at the bottom of the lake floor, along with chunks of green plant flesh and their green ichor. Thankfully, not all octo-lilies were dead and could still fight even if they were heavily injured. And as much as Dan hated to admit it, they were going to be the cannon fodder against the shard. Dan knew they needed the shard to spend as much energy as possible, and he couldn¡¯t hesitate to use his monsters.


    Honestly, Dan wished he had made more monsters, but after the first fight with the first shard, he had been getting a little too cocky, and thus this fight was looking to be rather close.


    There was a slight chance that they could even lose, and he would have to retry the whole thing again. Losing was the worst scenario, though, as that meant that the shard could escape and possibly go to another area of the zone. So, to avoid the worst-case scenario, Dan had nudged Lory to properly join the fight. Surprising Dan, the large plant fought back against the decision, implying it knew better. As annoying as it was, it was a good learning moment for Dan as he realized that nudging one of his monsters to do something didn''t necessarily mean they had to do it.


    While outside his dungeon area, the monsters were compelled to act in a manner that helped Dan the most. This meant that if disobeying his nudges would help him, they wouldn''t need to follow through.


    So, letting Lory do her thing, Dan watched as all the remaining octo-lilies slowly made their way to the open cave mouth. He wasn''t sure why the shard hadn¡¯t come out yet, but the longer it took, the better. While the lilies did their thing, Billy the Gator moved away from the cave and into the lake to prepare for the incoming fight. In turn, Jaws began swimming towards the cave entrance, staying above and a bit further back than the octo-lilies. On the other hand, Lory was floating above Jaws, and the octo-lilies as her tentacles were long enough to reach deep down. Having stayed with Lory the whole time, Dena got ready to act as soon as the shard came out.


    Having finished whatever preparations it had been making, a large, jagged shard the size of a refrigerator and of a deep blue color shot out of the cave mouth. It abruptly stopped in front of the octo-lilies, examining the scene in front of it. Of course, seeing their query, all the octo-lilies moved forward, attempting to grasp the thing with their tentacles.


    The octo-lilies didn''t last long as, after a few seconds of examination, a pink wave of energy rushed out of the shard, obliterating the octo-lilies and splitting them into multiple pieces.


    Their sacrifice hadn¡¯t been in vain, and it allowed Billy to activate Stalker while Jaws activated her Metal Enhancement and Resilience Body Enhancement.


    Not wanting to give the shard a chance, Jaws shot forward, her metal body slamming into the shield of the shard. For its part, the shard seemed to regard the large shark for a second before releasing a blast of energy, sending Jaws tumbling outwards. Still, Jaws recovered quickly, not being hit with anywhere near enough power to kill her. Shaking off the feeling of being blasted away, Dan felt as Jaws imbued some energy into her Water Jet skill and shot forward once again. Meanwhile, as the large shark covered the distance, Dan saw the druid''s hands glow green as a blast of energy similar to the one that had killed Eagle the Hawk shot towards the shard, striking a second later. The blast took Dan by surprise as it actually pierced the shards barrier and hit it directly.


    Effortlessly, the shard''s shield was knit together again, and the shard turned its attention to the druid.


    With the attention on her, Dan saw a light blue shield appear all around the druid right before a blast of pink energy struck it and dissipated against it. Honestly, Dan had forgotten entirely that the druid was D rank and that the energy blast from the shard would not be enough to pierce through Dena''s defenses. Dena also seemed to understand this and swam away from the large lily pad she had been floating near.


    Following the druid were more blasts of pink energy that dissipated against the light blue shield. However, that interaction made Dan wonder if the shard did not realize that the large lily pad was a monster. Hopefully, it didn''t, as it would be very nice for Lory to do a surprise attack when they most needed it.


    Back with Jaws, the shark rushed the shard again, slamming into it before swimming away, making a U-turn, and slamming into it again. Dan wished that the shark would use its offensive abilities, but it also understood what it was trying to accomplish. The battle was going to be a battle of attrition, and all they had to do was make sure that the shard lost as much mana as possible. And the best way to do that was for the shark to spend all of her mana enhancing herself.


    The shard finally brought its attention back to the shark, which was a good thing, as it let Dena rest for a bit. Well, it was a good thing until the shard started glowing a deeper pink, and a deep slash of energy struck jaws, finally piercing through her enhancement and tearing a chunk off her side. It was made even worse as two more energy blasts followed the first. The first one jaws managed to dodge by activating Water Jet and moving out of the way, but the second changed direction at the last second and managed to strike the shark, tearing another chunk off.


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    Just as the shard was starting to get ready to send even more slashes of kinetic energy, Dena struck it once again as another beam of green energy pierced its shield, striking it directly. However, unlike before, where the shard had switched attention to Dena and had left jaws alone. This time around, it did no such thing, and it sent out even more blades of energy to both opponents. Jaws managed to dodge one, but the other two struck it, and more chunks were torn off it as the shark was starting to look rough. Even so, Dan knew that the shark still had plenty of fight left as that regeneration ability was beginning to do its job.


    Meanwhile, the slashes of energy that had gone after Dena struck her shield, but this time around, they left tiny cracks on it. The cracks mended themselves rather quickly, but it was still mana the druid was spending.


    The battle was beginning to get more problematic as the shard was now targeting both Jaws and the druid with constant barrages of kinetic energy. Even if Jaws was regenerating, she was taking too much damage too fast. And Dena was even more preoccupied as she had to be careful to keep regenerating her shield while tanking those attacks. Thankfully, the druid hadn''t stopped her attacks, and every so often, a green beam of energy would strike their shard. The main problem was that Dan wasn''t sure how much mana the damn thing still had, as he couldn''t tell at all from its glow. He was very tempted to go ahead and nudge Lory again but was saved from doing so as he finally felt Billy start his thing.


    The gator hadn''t been wasting mana going invisible and had swam off a bit of a distance as he watched the fight. However, now he was spending a bit of mana now as he went invisible and began approaching the battle. Most of his mana, however, was going into his enhancement. Dan felt as the gator turned his jaw, skull, and many teeth into metal. Additionally, instead of enhancing his entire body, all of his enhancement power went to the muscles around his jaw and tail.


    Slowly but surely, the gator started picking up speed without even using his Water Jet ability, and soon enough, he was a blur through the water as he approached the fight. The shard, still preoccupied with trying to tear off chunks from Jaws and remove the druid from the battle, did not even notice as the gator approached.


    Finally, with a last burst of power, Billy infused even more strength to his tail as he rushed forward even faster. Then, all of his mana went into his Iron Clamp move as his jaws opened, and he bit down into the shard appearing next to it in a flash of speed.


    The gator had put so much power into his bite that it broke through the shard¡¯s shield, and he bit directly into the crystal, which even caused cracks to appear. Quickly responding to the threat, the shard glowed a deep pink and unleashed a wave of kinetic energy outward in a flash of power, with much of the power being directed at the gator. Once the light cleared, all that was left behind from Billy was his metal skull still holding onto the shard.


    The sight made Dan smile inwardly at the absolute badassness of his gator. He also hoped that the clear display of rage had caused the shard to use more energy than it wanted to. Nonetheless, Billy¡¯s involvement had allowed for Jaws and Dena to recuperate. Dena specifically had used a healing spell on Jaws causing the shark to be ready once again.


    So, as soon as the flash of light disappeared, Jaws rushed in and bit into the shard, whose shield was still down. Following Jaws was another beam of green energy, stronger than any that the druid had unleashed before. And once again, the energy struck the shard directly, pulsating all around it and sending even more cracks across its surface. Apparently, that had been Dena''s last contribution to the fight, as once the beam disappeared, she turned into an eel and swam away. Dan couldn''t blame her as she was probably out of mana, and without mana, she was dead meat.


    Unsurprisingly, being struck again and so directly had pissed off the shard once again, and another bright flash occurred, and once that cleared, there was no more Jaws. Sadly, the second wave of energy had been so strong that it also destroyed the skull of Billy. And Dan hoped that having used so much energy so quickly had depleted the shard''s mana by a lot. Otherwise, things did not look very good.


    However, now that the other two bosses were dead, Lory had no choice but to finally move into action. The lily pad had somehow managed to stay out of the shard¡¯s radar the whole time and was close enough that her tentacles moved and quickly clasped around the shard.


    The shard was definitely surprised by the sudden attack and tried to move out of the tentacles but could not find the power to do such a thing. So, naturally, it did the one thing that had worked so far, except this time around, instead of releasing one quick burst of power, Dan could see the power accumulating.


    The shard began to slowly increase in brightness as it accumulated more power. Dan wasn¡¯t worried; he was in Lory¡¯s mind and knew exactly what the plant was planning. She waited until the very last second before activating her Dominating Aura and pumping as much mana as she could into it. The stunning mental attack against the shard caught it off guard, and all the power that it had built up burst outward harmlessly. Dan, seeing the power disperse harmlessly, sighed in relief as the shard simply stopped struggling in Lory¡¯s tentacles. Obviously, the thing was not dead, but it didn''t have much mana left, so it couldn''t move around with its telekinesis. Additionally, the still ongoing Dominating Aura from Lory kept its mind subdued, so it would not even be able to try to take over nearby creatures'' minds.


    And just like that, Lory began moving towards Dan¡¯s location with a large blue refrigerator-sized shard firmly grasped by her tentacles.

 Chapter 38 - Ranking Up Part 1

    The shard, which was basically out of mana, didn''t put up much of a fight as it was taken towards Dan. In turn, knowing Lory only had so much mana to suppress the shard and bar it from making new minions, Dan began floating toward the town in the middle of the lake. He was tempted to create some escorts but didn''t as he doubted there was anything else in the lake that could threaten him.


    Dan took around ten minutes to get to the town as he could move much faster within his dungeon. Annoyingly, it meant he was stuck waiting for Lory to make it to the town. After about another hour, the large lily pad reached the town. The shard had run out of mana long ago and had given up, which Dan appreciated. Unsurprisingly, though, when it felt Dan, it attempted to free itself again, but without much mana, it made no progress. For his part, Dan slowly approached the shard before touching it and beginning the absorption process.


    The first thing that struck him were the memories and feelings. Much like Dan thought, the shard had enough sense and intelligence to create tactics, but some cunning was missing, which made sense. Its original ambushes had been smart, but the way it approached the town battle could have been more tactical, especially how it had given its intention with the initial scouting. Overall, the shard was an intelligent entity, except it just had that bit that needed to be added, stopping it from being able to plan way too far in the long term.


    The shard was controlled by one too many emotions that muddled its thinking and thus did not allow it to use its full mental capability. The more he absorbed the shard and its memories, the more information Dan got.


    He saw how the shard pierced through the spatial membrane that separated this zone from the rest. As he fed on the memories, he saw the shard falling, the lake underneath appearing, and it entering its waters. From there, it took the minds of the fish around it before stumbling upon the northern village, where it properly began its conquering of the frog folk.


    Dan sped forward through the following memories as he saw the fights with the frog folks as the shard conquered more and more territory. However, it once again was obvious that the shard had held back. The warriors under its control had sparingly used telekinetic magic, which delayed the shard¡¯s conquering of the lake.


    From there, Dan watched the fight between the shard and his monsters, from how it ambushed his scout teams to the fight at the town to the last battle that he had just fought. He even noticed how the shard had lost control of the frog folk it still had under its grasp as it lost itself in the rage against his bosses. Once he had gained all those memories, the final core of the shard came into Dan''s mind.


    The memory was from Earth. It was of him looking at his transformed body after being transformed into an aberration. He felt the oddity of the situation as he remembered feeling disgusted at his new form. Yet, he had been somewhat thankful for being able to survive Earth''s destruction. The memories continued as Earth was still being destroyed, and he looked down to see giant cracks appear on the planet''s surface. It had been at that point that he made an important decision. Dan knew of the rifts appearing on the planet''s surface. Much of the information he had about the Earth and the Eldritch God had come from the Realms and its entities who had given the information to his kind in exchange for souls or contracts of submission. Part of the information they had learned was that the rifts that opened while the Eldritch God fed could take entities to different places in space, time, or both.


    Now, even if Dan had to live with his new form, there was no way he would accept working for the thing that destroyed his planet. And since he was not attached to it by the connection he now knew about, Dan had decided to take his chances. He floated down to the planet and entered one of the rifts before everything went dark, and he once again snapped out of the absorption process.


    The shard was gone, and he had new memories, but more importantly, he got the notification he had been waiting for.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have absorbed an Eldritch God Shard!


    By doing so, you have finished placing the Frog Lake under your control and thus have fully claimed their area.


    ??


    Soon after that, he got another notification he already knew was coming.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have absorbed enough Eldritch Shards to reach D Rank.


    Continue to absorb shards to progress through your current Rank and enter C Rank.


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    Good Luck!


    ??


    Naturally, Dan quickly opened his Dungeon Menu.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Shards Collected: 2/99.


    Points till Next Rank: 0/700.


    Mana: 400/600 to 400/900.


    Mana Regen: 12 to 32 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 6 to 16 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 200 to 300ft.


    Total Area Claimed: 455 to 578 Square Miles.


    Abilities. 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    Looking at his status, Dan had really grown a lot since the last time he checked it. Now firmly in D rank, Dan was much more confident about his power, even if he was in the lower grades of it.


    Even so, the rank didn''t mean as much for him as it meant more for his monsters. Now, they would get a qualitative increase in power even if they cost more to create. Heck, even upgrading them from their current rank up to D rank would cost a bit of mana. Not that Dan could complain too much, as the increase in power would more than make up for it.


    Moving to other things regarding his new status. He had more mana capacity, mana regeneration, increased telepathic range, and an update on the amount of land he had gained. The telepathic range wasn''t much, as that would only mean over 300 feet from his dungeon border, but eventually, he knew it would be in the miles, and it would be much more helpful.


    Out of everything, and moving back to the previous topic, the most notable thing was that his monsters would have access to Pure Arcane Mana upon reaching D rank. The new mana type would allow his creatures to gain a rather large leap in power. It effectively acted as a boost, which would increase in purity as creatures grew in rank and it was what made the difference in the power rankings since purer mana meant stronger magical output.


    Dan was very happy he had finally reached this milestone and moved on to another important thing: checking his goals.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 3/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 2/7 to 2/6.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


    Dan was unsure if it was a coincidence, but as he was looking at his goals, the total number of shards collected went down again, and soon after, he got a notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Warning! A Crystal Shard has been consumed!


    Claiming Goal updated.


    ??


    ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuucck!¡± Dan screamed inwardly.


    Eventually, Dan calmed down and hoped that things hadn¡¯t gotten way harder. Dan believed that there were no D rank shards in the zone. This belief came from his theory that this zone was acting like a training ground for him. He couldn¡¯t prove it, but things were going a little too well in the grand scheme of things. Not only had he come out in the weaker area of the zone, but from the battle that had just occurred, something was happening in the background to help him. He had asked the World Crystal, but it had just denied anything about helping Dan in any such manner. Of course, Dan didn¡¯t believe it.


    All of this meant that if there were no D rank shards, there was a good chance one had just been created. From what Dan got by learning the workings of things when shards merged, they grew in power much like he did and much like him, and, thanks to Mother Infinity, the scaling of the shards had been altered. It was one of the things made for balance¡¯s sake. So now, instead of shards having access to random levels of power, each of them had been altered to possess enough energy that when a certain amount combined, they would increase in rank. In this case, if one normal rank shard absorbed two other normal ranked shards, they would reach D rank.


    To that extent, it was three shards to a rank, meaning three commons made a D rank, three D ranks made a C rank, and so on. Thus, if the same shard had just absorbed two other common ones and his theory about no original D-rank shards was true, it meant a new D-rank shard had just been created.


    With this new piece of information, Dan really needed to step up his game, and he didn''t think he was going to respawn his underwater monsters. There was simply no need for them now that the lake shard had been taken over, and they would just be swimming around doing nothing. He would eventually have to respawn them when he opened up the dungeon, but for now, he would leave Lory to do its thing around the lake.


    With that decision made, Dan started making his way back to the teleporter in order to go back to his fort. He needed to make some improvements to his defenses, not only because there was probably another D rank shard around but because he was about to start engaging other D rankers.


    One of these improvements was obviously going to be powering up his monsters, starting with his bosses. He knew that his monsters were already rather powerful compared to normal beasts, but the difference in rank was going to be a game-changer.


    One of the big differences was going to be seen in sheer power, whereas before, Ingot had to use one of his abilities to tear down a tree. When the bear eventually got to D rank, he would be able to do that with just a swing of his paw.

 Chapter 39 - Ranking Up Part 2

    Dungeon Day 45


    Dan received the new day by catching up on some universal lore about the ranks. He had gained the basic knowledge back on Earth and knew that his Eldritch God self knew more, but he didn''t have many Eldritch memories. Luckily, the system was able to give the information once again.


    Officially, there were six ranks. Five of them were just referred to by letters, while the last one was a bit special. The first five were D, C, B, A, and S, with D being the lowest and S the highest. Finally, the last rank, known as the Demi-God rank, was the strongest of the six.


    Each Rank was a qualitative increase in power, and even within the same ranks, creatures could be divided into Low, Mid, and High Rankers. This getting even more complicated depending on magic use, training, and genetics. The last one was especially important for monsters. Not that any of those three things mattered to Dan, as all his creations came in ready-to-go bundles for the most part.


    For creatures outside of his dungeon, progressing through the ranks would take time and combat; at least for many, it did. This was because they needed to use pure mana, which they refined from normal ambient mana to refine their bodies. This refinement would allow them to handle purer mana, which in turn allowed for higher magical capabilities.


    For many, that wouldn''t seem bad until they realized that refining their bodies past Low D Rank would actually become painful. The higher the refinement, the more painful it was. To counteract this pain, much of the refinement was done in battle, where adrenaline would mask some of the pain.


    So, overall, how fast a creature ranked up was really up to how much dangerous combat they were willing to put themselves through. Even so, Dan felt like there were definitely other ways to rank up, but he wasn''t sure how.


    Either way, ranking up meant a creature became more resilient and powerful as it gained access to purer mana. This trend increased with every rank until they finally achieved mana so pure that it became Order Mana, and through it came an incredible boost in power. Still, Dan was far from that point, so he didn''t have to worry about it. What he did need to worry about was the differences in power between his Low D Ranked creatures and the much higher ones out in the zone.


    Dan was convinced that in terms of power, his Low D Ranked monsters could match any other creature of the same rank as long as he provided them with the right skills and matchups. A thought that made him think about the Low D Rank scorpion bear his bosses had fought. That thing should have completely wiped the floor with them. However, they beat it fairly easily, which meant the thing was definitely a garbage tier D rank, and Dan didn''t think that was going to stay the status quo now that he was actually D rank. He knew the Chaos Mother created the challenge, and so far, it had been all but that, even if there had been a few casualties.


    So, Dan expected the invading monsters to start appearing as stronger variants. However, even then, out of everything in the zone, the goblins, ogres, and trolls were the things that gave him the most pause as he didn''t have anywhere near the strength to match them in a fight, at least not yet. Thankfully, the plan for Dan was rather straightforward. He just needed to make more monsters.


    Soon enough, Dan found himself back in his fort as he began looking to upgrade his bosses to D rank. Looking at the menu, the system had gotten a good update, as some redundant stuff had been removed. It was interesting to see that the system was still improving. He imagined that it would change some more by the time all of this was done.


    The changes were to his monster''s stats screens. Mainly, it was information that was removed as it was rather apparent at this point what it meant, and he could always nudge the screen to show the information again.


    Happy with the new update, Dan began looking at how much mana he would need to bring all his bosses into D rank. Thankfully, the way it worked was that he just had to pay the difference between the old and new rank. Which meant he wouldn''t have to pay an even higher amount of mana to remake them again. In total, he would have to pay 1197 mana to bring all of his bosses to the new rank.


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    It seemed like a lot of mana, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn''t, and by mid-morning, he had already upgraded all his bosses to the new rank. Along the way, he made some changes to some of his bosses in order to increase their capabilities. Changes that he was very happy to show off.


    First on the list was Fir the Elk, whom Dan would use as a main example of the changes to the creature''s stat block.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Fir the Elk.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 1200/1200.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 600/600.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 8.


    Restoration Affinity. Cleansing Affinity. Healing Beam. Cleansing Beam. Aura of Healing. Aura of Cleansing. Night Vision. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 3.


    Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 92 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 184 Mana.


    ??


    The changes made to the boss were rather simple. Instead of the Healing and Cleansing Touch, Dan had switched them to beams in order to help the support boss heal and cleanse things from afar without having to get into the thick of it. In retrospect, he should have done that earlier, but he hadn''t thought about it.


    Looking at the actual stat block, the most prominent changes were the missing words that stated the information about a monster being outside his dungeon area. At this point, he knew that his monsters would only regen mana in his dungeon area. Along with the fact that them dying outside of his dungeon area would cost him more mana to respawn them, and it would take longer before he could do so. Adding to this regard was the original cost of mana. Now, the mana stated how much his current ranked monster cost instead of the old cost compared to the new one. The other thing that had been removed was the Order Mana line. Dan knew that this had been removed due to the fact that it didn''t need to be seen. His monsters would only have access to that once he reached B rank at the very least, and it was just cluttering up the space.


    Next up on the change list was the obvious fact that the Pure Arcane mana section was now unlocked. The conversion option was how much mana his monsters converted from Ambient Mana into the pure version.


    Of course, looking at the mana, Dan also saw that the mana regen was a plus 6 per minute, and the pure mana conversion was half of that. Now, unlike how mana regen was capped on a hierarchy basis with common ranked monsters, all of the D-rank creatures would have the same mana regen. In regards to the normal mana storage, his bosses now had a total of 600. The minibosses had a total of 300, with the minions having 150. Fir had 1200 due to her Mana Storage ability, which still doubled her storage amount, including the Pure Mana Storage.


    Having taken a look at all the new changes, Dan moved on to look at another change he had made to another of his bosses.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Hawk the Eagle.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 1200/1200.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 600/600.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 8.


    Body Enhancement - Speed and Strength. Night Vision. Wind Affinity. Wind Slash. Mana Storage. Buffeting Storm. Eye of the Tornado.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Sight. Flight. Mental Resistance. Regeneration. Share Sense.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 105 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 210 Mana.


    ??


    Hawk the Eagle had gained two new abilities, and Dan had removed an old one. Dan had given the eagle Mana Storage to complement Buffeting Storm and Eye of the Tornado. These two new wind-based abilities would help Hawk in her offensive and defensive capabilities. To accommodate this, Dan removed her old stealth ability as he wanted the bird to focus more on fighting.


    There were many more changes that he had made to his other bosses, but Dan would explore those later. He was getting a bit distracted and needed to make some actual defenses, just in case.

 Chapter 40 - Defenses and Nerfing

    Dungeon Day 45 - Continues


    Confidence boosted with his new D-rank bosses. Dan decided to move on to the next step of his ¡°conquer the zone¡± plans. He hadn''t missed the fact that Dena had stated she had seen him summon monsters in addition to watching the fight around the tree. It was something he had been worried about at the time but hadn''t bothered to address then due to lack of power and mana. Now, however, he had both, and with the threat of more D rankers, including a possible D rank shard, Dan needed to step up his defenses.


    So, his plans began with creating a proper defensive position that he could feel safe in and hold in case something was able to threaten him. The first thing was to create a shield that would both stop attacks and any magical spying. Sadly, the shield and effects were only as strong as he was, so if a strong enough foe came, they would be able to eventually smash or pierce its anti-clairvoyance magic. Still, it was a good investment, so Dan quickly looked through his menu, selecting the add enchantment option as the menu cascaded to show more options.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    ¡ª Claim Area


    ¡ª Edit Area


    - - Transform Environment


    - - Add Enchantment


    - - - Enchantment List


    The list of enchantments was vast, and he could even create his own. This time around, that wasn''t going to be necessary, so he selected the shield and anti-clairvoyance options, which he quickly found through a nice mental filter option. Both enchantments were going to be D rank, though their complexities differed. The most straightforward one was the anti-spying magic, which would be more passive since its whole thing was blocking one specific type of magic. Now, the shield was more complex because it needed to defend itself from attacks from multiple sources, with each source having a different magical nature.


    Either way, Dan would still have to pay a daily cost to keep the enchantments active while also feeding them mana to actually make them work. He would have worried about that, but since his minions could contribute and give their mana to them, it wasn''t as big of a deal. In total, the cost of both enchantments in the area around the fort came to a nice upfront cost of 276 mana with a daily price of 138 mana to keep refreshing the enchantments and not let them fade.


    Confirming the purchase, Dan felt the mana drain from him, and a nice light blue and slightly fogged shield appeared around his fort. Happy with his creation, Dan then moved to the next defense enchantments that were probably more important than the ones he had just made.


    What could be more important than a defense shield to stop enemy attacks and an anti-clairvoyance zone? A defense that would stop most foes from easily getting within striking distance to begin with. Dan was going to make an anti-flying and anti-teleportation zone along with a mist to help keep out normal prying eyes.


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    This new zone would be much more expensive than the one that had just been made as it wasn''t going to just cover the small fort. Where the fort area was around 36,000 square feet, the new zone would be 80,000 square feet around the fort.


    Even then, the covered area would only add around half of the total cost. The real expenditure was going to come from the magic used. In short, magic, as Dan knew, was roughly divided into four categories in many worlds. There was simple, advanced, crafting and mind magic.


    Each magic category could be divided into many more separate magics that were then debated into oblivion as to what made them different. It was such topics that wizards went on about in a normal world. However, Dan couldn''t be bothered to get into it. The only thing he needed to know was the four different categories. Specifically, the advanced and mind magic ones, as any enchantments using magic in those categories, were inherently more expensive.


    Advanced Magic consists of Soul, Space, Gravity, and Time, with Mind magic dealing in Telekinesis, Domination, Telepathy, and Illusion. As such, a dome prohibiting teleportation would be much more expensive than a zone that shot out fireballs.


    This meant that in addition to his anti-teleportation and anti-flying zone. The mist he was going to make to confuse invaders would add even more cost due to the use of mind magic. Then, adding the strength and complexity of the enchantments brought the upfront cost to a total of 659 mana with an additional daily charge of 330 mana. Even then, he paid the amount and felt his mana tank dip heavily. After paying, Dan felt a buzz of magic go through the area as the enchantments activated, and a fog slowly appeared in the surroundings.


    Having spent so much mana, Dan had to wait a bit more before he could start doing other things.


    As the day went by and Dan regained some of his mana, he decided to respawn his two underwater bosses. Paying the 690 mana, Dan respawned Billy and Jaws outside of the island where his teleporter was. Dan didn''t have much use for his underwater bosses and told all three of them to do as they pleased as long as they didn''t bother the frog people. He was tempted to make it so they could work above water and make them breathe air, but he didn''t feel the need to have them join combat. They had done their job, and they had done it well and had secured him the win, so as far as he was concerned, they could just chill in the lake until it was dungeon time.


    From there, Dan continued spawning even more of his monster teams. In total, he was able to spawn four more teams, which was a rather nice amount for only a few hours of work. He would have made more, but he had spent much of his daily allotment on the enchantments and upgrading his bosses.


    As night approached, Dan began to get a bad feeling because things stopped spawning. Usually, it would slow down by the end of the day. Then, things would pick back up after midnight as the new day seemed to reset the invader spawns. Some still came from outside of his territories but still, it was a bit of a low number.


    Around an hour or two from midnight, his worries were relieved in the worst way possible.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Attention! A new event has been activated.


    Event Name: Wolfbat Rumble.


    Event details: A wave of wolfbats will invade your territory, along with their leader. To succeed, you must eliminate all wolfbats and survive.


    Warning! Until the event is completed, any creature tied to you cannot leave your territory. Additionally, time outside of your territory is frozen, and night will remain frozen until all wolfbats are beaten!


    Good Luck, Dan. Mother says congrats on ranking up!


    ??


    ¡°God Dammit.¡± Were Dan¡¯s only words as his attention was brought to the fog west of his fort.

 Chapter 41 - Wolfbat Event Part 1

    Dan felt them before he even saw them. A dozen Low D Rank monsters were coming out of the fog. All of them were wolfbats and were led by a large High D Rank wolfbat. The ranker wolfbat was around the size of Ingot and definitely stronger, even with his monster''s latest upgrade. The only saving grace was that the monsters were not able to fly, just like the normal wolfbats. This was especially true for their leader, whose wings could not even help it glide like its minions did by jumping off trees. Even that small piece of news was not great as the smaller wolfbats were still in the lower tiers of D rank and, due to their smaller size, were much faster than their boss. Well, that''s what it appeared to be, but in actuality, Dan knew that the high-ranking status of the boss would let it move faster than his much weaker minions when the moment needed it to.


    Knowing shit was about to get real as he watched the incoming monsters, Dan began recalling Xinos and the eight teams that had been helping the druids. He then told the druids that they would have to fend for themselves for a while as a rather problematic situation came up. Dena had asked about the problem, and Dan had explained that they were suffering an invasion. The druid had wanted to help, but Dan would rather leave her with her family in case something else happened on that side of his territory. However, as he watched the invading monsters, he might come to revert the decision.


    The wolfbats were slowly moving toward his core, which was intentional since they traveled in one direction with a singular purpose. Things got worse when the leading wolfbat unleashed an aura blast that radiated across Dan¡¯s first territory. At first, Dan was confused as to what the aura did since it didn''t last long and was more like a sonar ping. Then he got the report from George that the already existing invaders were making their way toward the large wolfbat. It was clear then that the damn thing was calling for reinforcements which left Dan no choice but to start recalling his own monsters as a large battle was about to ensue.


    Still, even as many of his monsters retreated, Dan commanded them to attack any enemy monsters since he still needed mana. He mainly wanted to have his tank full in case somehow all his monsters were killed, and the damn invaders made it to his core. At which point, he would be able to access that mana and attack directly. Dan doubted it would come to that, but it was better to be safe than sorry.


    An hour later, all his monsters had returned to his base and lounged around his fort. Additionally, his mana was full, and he was ready to rumble. In total, he had 555 monsters that he could bring into the battle. Technically, he had more monsters in general, but his water-based monsters were not available to him for this battle, at least not if he wanted to conserve his mana. He had 15 D rank monsters, but since his underwater monsters did not come for the fight, the number was brought down to 12. It was the perfect amount to counter the lower-rank minions that the large wolfbat had, which made Dan feel like the whole thing had been arranged against him, and in a way, it had. Even so, he knew his monsters were of better quality and had confidence in them.


    Next, Dan quickly took a look at the number of monsters available to him that would actually be able to fight.


    31 Gorillas, 31 Bears, 62 Baboons, 62 Jaguars, 31 Panthers, 31 Cheetahs, 20 Hawks, 62 Eagles, 31 Doe''s, 31 Stags, 26 Bats, 26 Spiders, 38 Worms, 86 Moles, 2 Blade Wolves, 2 Howling Wood wolves, 1 Vine Snake, 1 Spark Rabbit, 1 Poison Possum, 1 Bark Skin Boar.


    His army was growing, but he still had a long way to go. Looking over the growing horde of invaders, Dan counted at least 250-something monsters. A decent amount that had united in around an hour, and that would only increase as the wolfbat boss made its way to the core. Though honestly, many came freshly spawned from the fog, Dan had just overlooked them.


    The horde was made of everything Dan had seen so far: the different wood beasts, the smaller magical beasts, and even the monstrosities along with the normal wolfbats. Dan didn''t want to let the enemy build up too large of a force and was already mobilizing his monsters. The upcoming fight was going to be some nice practice for Dan as he planned to set up his monsters like a medieval army. The only issue that Dan saw was that the enemy boss was actually intelligent and kept itself and its D rank minions back. From what Dan saw, the monster planned to use its recruited forces as fodder, leading Dan to believe that the monster had some prior knowledge of him. Not that Dan was worried just yet. At most, the horde would have around 350 by the time it got to him, letting him outnumber the enemy forces.


    Setting up his monsters would be rather simplistic. The bears and gorillas would act as the main heavy infantry, followed by the jaguars, panthers, and baboons, which would act as the light infantry. Then, behind them would be the stags protecting the healer doe¡¯s.


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    As he looked over his battle plan, Dan realized he had made a crucial mistake. All of his doe¡¯s still had their healing skill as touch base. This meant that they all had to be near the front lines to perform their duties, which was something he did not want. Thankfully, he could fix the issue without paying mana. And he quickly switched out his doe¡¯s abilities from touch to beams like their boss. Other than this initial change, he wasn''t planning on changing any more of his common monsters. He had planned to change some of them when he made them as D rankers. However, he wanted to have a balanced dungeon, which meant leaving his current monsters as his, at least for the most part. This first area of his dungeon would be a starting location. It would be the place where nonrankers could come and join the ranks. While also being a place for D rankers to progress. It would take some work to get his plans into motion, but he believed in himself and knew that his dungeon would be the best.


    Saving further dungeon talk for later, Dan focused on his current predicament in dealing with the horrible monsters approaching him. He wanted the incoming horde to crash into his monsters.


    It was better for him if they had a much more straightforward fight than an outright brawl. This was mainly so he could have his doe¡¯s support his monsters from a relatively safe distance, as if it was just a brawl, anybody in the fight could get pulled into it. However, if the fight was more controlled, the doe¡¯s could do their duty and keep his forces alive for longer, reducing their losses.


    Dan wanted to fight near his core, but not too near. As such, he began sending out his monsters.


    When they arrived at a location about a mile from his fort, he began to set them up. Dan quickly set up a clearing around the size of his fort by deleting some trees. He knew the best chance that he had at winning the fight was to have the advantage all the way through. So, he also made walls to either side of the clearing to make it harder for enemies to strike at his monsters from the side while at the same time funneling them toward his monsters.


    The plan was to make the monsters battle out in a controlled environment. He knew that the enemy monsters could climb over the walls as they were only around 10 feet tall, but it was still a deterrent and would hopefully cause the enemy boss to make the monsters follow Dan¡¯s plan and rush into the meat grinder. It¡¯s not like the enemy boss should care for some random monsters.


    With the clearing done and the enemy monsters only around an hour away from their current location, Dan began setting up for real. The gorillas and the bears would be at the very front of the formation. In a perfect world, all the enemies would smash head-first into them before breaking through and making contact with the rest of his monsters. However, just in case that perfect scenario didn¡¯t come true, around 10 feet behind the bears, Dan set up the jaguars and the panthers.


    The next line of defense was the baboons, who were set up in a curved shape, with the front of the curve right behind the big cats and the two ends bedding backward like the limbs of a bow. Inside the bow''s curvature were the stags and the doe¡¯s. That way, they had the easiest access to the front line so the doe¡¯s could shoot their healing beams without issue.


    Naturally, Dan was worried about getting flanked; as such, the back of the formation would be guarded by the cheetahs. They would be roaming around the back of the formation, taking out any enemies that could strike the doe¡¯s. Even if some enemies got through the cheetahs, the stags still protected the doe¡¯s.


    That was the formation of the standing body of his small army. Of course, there were still the underground parts of his army and his air force.


    The worms and the moles would act as unseen defenders. Their job was to ensure that the walls where his main formation found itself did not get breached as easily. They were also to help out any of his monsters that might be struggling in a fight. Finally, his air force would be the first to engage the enemy. In fact, he had already sent them the horde''s way to ensure they came to the exact spot Dan wanted them to. The birds were ordered not to engage heavily and simply harass the horde enough that they would follow them to the chosen spot.


    Finally, there were his bosses. Every single one of them except for his underwater bosses was there, including George. Dan hadn''t sent the spiders and the bat minions as he wanted them as a final form of defense, but he had sent their bosses. Dan was already struggling with fielding enough D rankers and wanted to ensure the playing field was as even as possible.


    In terms of his boss''s positioning in the fight, that was more complicated. Dan wanted them nearby in case the enemy rankers joined the fight but not too close that they would cause the enemy to react and send their rankers prematurely. The fact was that Dan had the common enemy monsters beat in sheer quality. It was just that Dan was overwhelmed in terms of rankers. So, letting the enemy horde kill itself against his normal minions would give Dan an edge as he could use the minions left alive to aid in the battle against the enemy rankers. As such, Dan had left his bosses at the very back of the formation, a bit behind the area where the walls created the final part of the funnel. It was also the area where the cheetahs were going to do their thing, but his bosses had orders to refrain from interfering with anything until Dan ordered them to.

 Chapter 42 - Wolfbat Event Part 2

    There was one clear advantage that Dan had over all of his invaders and enemies in the zone. He had instant and clear communication with all of his monsters. At least while they were in his territory, and this upcoming fight was going to be one that he put that advantage to use. Not only did he see all the monsters coming for him, but he could then communicate what he saw with his monsters, who were waiting for combat. Even more importantly, he could direct his air forces where to strike the enemy''s best and when it was best to retreat.


    Around ten minutes before the enemy made contact with his monsters, Dan recalled all of his aerial forces. The retreat marked the correct path for the enemy to take in order to find his small battle clearing.


    He had decided that retreating was the correct course of action as he wanted his birds to have some rest before they truly engaged in combat with the enemy aerial forces. The enemy had few aerial forces, mostly the owl monstrosities and the smaller magical birds. Technically, the wolfbats could count as aerial forces as they could glide, but Dan thought they were more likely to engage in the melee.


    Eventually, the confrontation came as the invaders got closer to his small hold. Thankfully, the enemy boss did not bother using tactics or much of anything. The boss stayed back behind the horde of monsters with its other D rankers, sending his other forces first.


    In the end, the monsters did follow Dan¡¯s plan, but not to the extent that Dan wanted them to. A large majority of them funneled into the walls as they charged at the bears and the gorillas, but enough of them went outside the walls that Dan knew he had to rely on his other monsters to stop them from flanking or going over the walls. Still, the large majority of them were heading towards his own frontline, and he got ready to give the command to his monsters.


    A dozen or so feet before the horde crashed into his front line, he told the bears to begin the assault. The bears used some of their mana to activate their Entomb skills, but a rather weak version of it. The point was for the emerging stone to appear in front of the incoming horde''s front line, causing the monsters to stumble into it. The stone easily crumbled underneath the assault, but it also made many of the enemy stumble.


    The frenzied horde didn''t care about their fallen allies, and the fallen monsters were crushed. Another result of the stone was the disruption of the enemy lines, which, as much as they tried, were still tangled by the domino effect of the falling monsters. This then cascaded into the final clash as not as many monsters slammed into Dan¡¯s front liners as they would have otherwise.


    Even then, there were still too many monsters for his bears and gorillas to hold back, and many of them ran past his frontline to engage the jaguars and panthers, who eagerly also charged forward as the battle truly began.


    As the front lines engaged each other, the monsters that hadn¡¯t entered the walled area began attempting to climb over said walls or go around them. However, just as Dan had planned, the cheetahs were there, along with the worms and the moles, who began taking out the much smaller wave of monsters. All the while, the aerial battle also began as the eagles and the hawks engaged the incoming owls, who shot their spikes. The enemy also had the magical birds who used smoke, fire, and sheer pecking force to deal damage. Not that Dan was worried about his aerial forces, as they outclassed their enemies.


    It was only a matter of time before the incoming horde also made their way through his jaguars and panthers, as there were too many of them. Thankfully, he still had the baboons who engaged with their spear wall. For the moment, the baboons could hold back the monsters that got past the panthers and the jaguars. It was thanks to that-that the doe¡¯s could do their job, and Dan saw healing beams hit the most damaged of his frontline monsters. It was then that Dan finally gave the final order of this battle phase. He had wanted the enemy to truly engage him before he told his monsters to start activating their abilities. And when he did so, the battlefield changed.


    His bears enhanced themselves and began smacking boars and wolves while also squishing snakes under their feet. The gorillas also engaged as they activated their Smash skills, doing large amounts of damage as they spun around while it was active. It was an interesting move as they were able to do some real area damage by spinning around and hitting more enemies in the process.


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    Also impressive were the jaguars and the panthers when they activated their Metal Slashes. Dan witnessed as all sorts of monsters were cut apart, from the bear monstrosities to the raptors, who lost tails and limbs like they were nothing. It didn''t mean that he hadn''t taken casualties, as he had lost some of his monsters, but so far, he was winning the fight without question. The fight was especially easy up in the air when his eagles and hawks began using their Wind Slashes, causing enemy birds to fall by the dozens. Sadly, their upper hand didn''t last for as long as Dan wanted as the enemy boss roared and a wave of energy passed through the battlefield.


    The effect was clear as it passed over the invading monsters. The monsters had already been in a frenzy, but the roar seemed to double the dose of whatever they were on, and they became even more frenzied as their strength doubled. This caught Dan¡¯s own monsters by surprise as they had already unleashed many of their skills to turn the tide, and their mana was low. It was also when Dan began taking more casualties. Still, if the enemy boss wanted to get involved, then Dan would have one of his bosses get involved, and he ordered Ingot to activate his Roar of the Mountain skill.


    After his rank-up, Ingot was truly something to behold. He had grown in size just a bit, not enough to bump into the next category but enough to be noticeable. His size was then added onto by his earthen armor that covered his body giving the appearance of a moving mountain of earth and stone. The armor had plates of dark brown stone covering the bear''s body, all of which were padded with dirt.


    Rearing up, his earthen armor shifting, Ingot unleashed his skill, causing the earth to shake slightly as a wave of energy was released. The effect was noticeable in the fight as all his monsters became more resilient or healed slightly, skins even becoming tougher.


    Unhappy with the change of events, the enemy boss finally decided it was time for the enemy D rankers to engage. The issue was that the enemy D ranker were not going after his bosses. Dan didn''t know why, but he had expected the enemy to ignore the lesser minions and fight it out with his bosses. However, instead, they were charging right into the fray of the normal beasts. That was the last thing Dan wanted, as that would cause more casualties on his side. Thankfully, the moment he saw the enemy rankers start to charge, he sent his rankers forward as they began building up their powers.


    Just as the ranker''s charge was beginning, he noticed that he had won the aerial battle, and he quickly sent all his birds to help kill all the monsters running outside the walls. Additionally, he told his stags to stop holding back their mana. They had been waiting to use their earthen walls in case the doe¡¯s were threatened, but Dan didn¡¯t have time for that. He needed to win the non-rank skirmish as soon as possible. As such, the stags were commanded to start using their Earth Spikes on enemies in order to help turn the tables entirely.


    As he gave that command, he was already watching as Ingot made his way straight through the battlefield, bouldering over enemies while making a path for George, Fir, and Fur. Naturally, all the others were already gone, starting their own strategies. Kinetic and Eagle the Hawk were charging up. Balbatzar flew over the battle while Itsy had been waiting rather close to the enemy rankers all this time, still unseen. Meanwhile, Xinos went invisible and joined the unseen gang of Jamole and Chomp. Thus, the first to strike the incoming rankers were Itsy and Hawk the Eagle.


    Hawk rammed into one of the wolfbats as her talons gripped it, and she began to unleash her Wind Slash, which, at such a close range with the amount of mana she put into, tore the D ranker apart. Annoyingly, this let all the other enemy rankers know that they couldn¡¯t take this as a joke, and Dan felt their mana spike as they all enhanced their bodies with their own pure mana. Honestly, Dan wished it had happened just a little later as just as they enhanced themselves, one of the wolfbats was struck by five metal needles infused with venom. The venom was strong, and the damn bat felt it, but it wasn¡¯t enough to kill it now that it was enhanced. Additionally, it gave Itsy¡¯s position away, and one of the wolfbat rankers moved toward the spider.


    That left ten wolfbats, two of which targeted Hawk the Eagle and hit the bird with an unexpected silent sonic scream that visibly vibrated the air, forming ringed waves. The bird, obviously unprepared, lost consciousness and began falling to the ground as the two wolfbats converged on her location. The other eight were still rushing towards the ongoing battle and would soon clash with Ingot.


    On the battlefield, where the majority of the monsters were clashing, the battle finally started to fully swing in Dan¡¯s favor. All the outlying monsters had been taken care of, and his remaining monsters were converging on the main battle.

 Chapter 43 - Wolfbat Event Part 3

    Five of the ranker wolfbats clashed with Ingots group. Two of them went directly for the huge bear, while the other three targeted the remaining party members. Dan imagined that they split in such a way because Ingot seemed so much more of an imposing monster than any of his other creatures.


    The move was problematic because even if the bear looked much tougher, they were still in the same rank, and it forced the bear to tap into his large pool of mana in order to hang on against the enemy rankers. Thankfully, the bear''s base quality was still higher than the wolfbat¡¯s, allowing him to put up a good defense.


    That was something Dan was glad about, as in the battle between monsters when everything else was equal, one of the things that mattered was the monster¡¯s ancestry. Something he was sure the World Crystal only gave him the best of.


    Even then, there was still a problem as one of Dan¡¯s rankers was not combat based. Fir was a healer through and through, which would not let her put up much of an offensive fight against another D ranker. Thankfully, the wolfbat that clashed with her hit a barrier created by Fur. Surprising Dan, the wolfbat just shrugged off its responsibility as it kept running past Fir and towards the ongoing battle. Dan didn¡¯t necessarily like the outcome, but it was better than Fir being taken out of the fight early on.


    On the other hand, George and Fur were able to hold their own though George was putting up a much better fight than his elk companion. This was mainly because George also had Earthen Armor, but unlike Ingots, his armor was more humanoid and not as intrusive and bulky. George¡¯s armor was made of a darker grey color that matched his fur, which Dan had returned to its original colors. The armor was also more stylistic as it reminded Dan of those that the Romans used to wear.


    The enemy wolfbats, seeing that they were at a bit of a stalemate with Ingot¡¯s party, released their sonic blasts. Sadly for them, Fir was already on the lookout for such a tactic, and as soon as they released the blast, she released her Cleansing Aura, removing the stunning effect from her party. That, however, brought notice to Fir, and she became a target of great interest to the four wolfbats. Thankfully, they were still engaged in their own fights with George, Fur, and Ingot, so they were unable to strike the elk easily.


    Moving his sight from Ingot''s party, Dan was worried about the four remaining wolfbats that were going straight toward the main battlefield. He had put a plan into motion in order to deal with them, but it would only stop three of the damn monsters.


    The plan began with Balbatzar, who had still gone unnoticed. The bat targeted one of the wolfbats with his Silent ability. This would stop the dumb bat from using their sonic blasts. With that done, Balbatzar struck, giving the wolfbat some of its own medicine as it was hit with a Sonic Boom. Balbatzar¡¯s Sonic Boom was amazing and sounded like a crack of thunder. Dan was glad then that the enemies did not have resistance to their own attacks, which meant that the dumb enemy bat was disoriented, and Balbatzar just kept slamming more and more blasts of sonic attacks into it.


    Following Balbatzar into battle were Kinetic and Eagle the Hawk, who had been charging their respective abilities since his D rankers engaged, and now they were ready to unleash them. Dan needed these damn bats out of the fight, as he didn''t want to take more casualties than needed.


    The first to strike was Eagle. She had been using her new Wind Charge ability, which worked much like Kinetics Lightning Charge. The wolfbat rankers had wholly removed the flying bird from their notice, which was about to cost them. Eagle activated the Stalker ability and dove down at incredible speeds as she poured all of her pure mana into one single strike. The bird was literally glowing with power as she was encased in the light green light. Then, surprising Dan, she broke the sonic barrier with a boom! And slammed into her target, cleaving right through its enhanced body like it was nothing.


    After Eagle the Hawk came Kinetic. His rank-up had caused the cheetah to become slightly lighter, and his eyes had gained even more of a vibrant blue color. His lightning capabilities were now more present than ever as he had a consonant small field of blue sparking lightning all around his fur. This was more noticeable than ever when he was charging up his ability.


    As he ran through the forest, his body was surrounded by blue and yellow lightning, making him a blur of yellow and blue, causing him to stand out in the darkness of the night. The cheetah ran straight at one of the wolfbats heading to the battlefield. The wolfbat noticed the clear amount of energy the cheetah was releasing and was quick to react as it got ready to receive the cheetah''s incoming attack. Dan knew what the wolfbat was trying to accomplish as he saw its body tense, trying to wait until the last second before jumping over the incoming cheetah. Kinetic noticed this, too, and decided to play into the wolfbat''s plan.


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    The cheetah got closer and closer as the wolfbat got tenser and tenser. Then, Kinetic did something that the bat did not expect. A couple of dozen feet before slamming right into it, he opened his mouth and, with a hiss, unleashed all of the pent-up energy as a lightning bolt rushed forward and struck the wolfbat leaving a large hole right through its chest as electricity flowed through the damn thing frying it. Amazingly, it did not kill the bat, though it left it at the death¡¯s door, unable to return to combat.


    That still left one wolfbat heading toward the rest of his monsters. There wasn''t anything else Dan could throw at the damn bat as all his other bosses were busy. Chomp and Jamole were heading straight to Hawk the Eagle to assist her with the two wolfbats tearing the bird apart. At the very least, the pain had shaken the bird back into wakefulness, but with a damaged wing, she couldn''t fly and was struggling to keep the wolfbats at bay.


    Meanwhile, Itsy was blasted with a sonic blast by the wolfbat that had engaged her and struggled to stay conscious. The small spider had been able to strike the bat with some more needles, but it would take some time before the venom did its job. Dan had ordered Xinos to go help the spider, and it would be a few more seconds before the jaguar got there.


    Meanwhile, back with Ingot¡¯s party and thanks to Fir, they gained the upper hand in their fight. George had been able to put his wolfbat down by repeatedly smashing it onto the ground, though it had cost him a good bit of his mana. Then, after having put down that wolfbat he switched to helping Fur take down its wolfbat, something they were almost done with it. For Ingot''s part, the bear was still holding on and keeping the two wolfbats that had originally engaged it under control, but at a great expense to his own mana pool. Overall, most of his monsters were winning their fights but had used a lot of their mana to do so.


    Back on the main battlefield, the ranker wolfbat had finally engaged his monsters, who were in the middle of wiping out the normal invaders. The fight, which was already in their favor as they massacred their enemies, suddenly turned against them. The ranker enhanced its body further and started tearing through Dan¡¯s monsters. Pretty much every swing of the monster''s claws took a life.


    As it got even more chaotic, his monsters noticed the enemy and rushed at it without care for their selves in an attempt to bring it down. Dan knew they could eventually kill it as they outnumbered the thing, but the sheer power difference would cause many of them to die. The view showed Dan how far his monsters had come at overcoming their worry of pain, or maybe the World Crystal had just tweaked them and erased that useless bit. Either way, Dan was happy with the change.


    Dan hoped the enemy boss would only engage once the fight settled down more. However, his hope was quickly shattered as another roar went through the battlefield, and the enemy boss began to move.


    The thing moved slowly at first as it headed towards Hawk the Eagle. That fight was coming to an end as Chomp and Jamole managed to take down one of the wolfbats that were harassing Hawk, and then the three began teaming up on the last wolfbat. It hadn''t been without injury as they still had taken some damage, but nothing like what Hawk had taken. The bird was essentially done for, especially when they saw the boss was moving towards them.


    Dan quickly told Jamole and Chomp to disengage while giving Hawk the command to deal as much damage as possible to the remaining wolfbat they were engaging. Thankfully, they didn''t stop to question his orders, and Jamole and Chomp quickly disappeared under the earth, with Hawk pouring as much mana as she could into her Wind Slash. The light green blade struck the wolfbat, but she wasn''t able to do much damage before; in the blink of an eye, the boss appeared behind the bird and, with a swift punch, crushed her into the ground, killing her.


    Taken by surprise by the sheer capability of the boss, Dan quickly gave orders to his bosses. Xinos, who was about to strike the wolfbat harassing Itsy, was told to back off and wait for a good moment to strike the boss instead.


    The timing was perfect.


    Right as he gave the instruction, Xinos stopped himself from hurling at the wolfbat. The wolfbat was already heavily injured by the venom in its veins, but Dan knew what was coming. He felt the boss move as it appeared in front of Itsy and, with another powerful punch, squashed the spider under its fist. The spider was a bit healthier than Hawk the Eagle, but it still didn''t have as much life energy as the large bird could carry. It was why the spider had been placed as a defender, and Dan had given it so many camouflage and stealth abilities.


    Seeing the boss fight, Dan knew it was spending mana to be able to take out his bosses so easily, but the fact that the damn thing was a High D Ranker put it on a different level. The one upside to the situation was that there was no way a D ranker could move at such speeds, and it meant that the boss should not have any of the sonic abilities his weaker versions had. More than likely, it had been created to be a tough and strong opponent that could move at speed. Even so, now that it was engaging in the fight, it was only a matter of time before the fight was again turned against Dan''s favor. Not that Dan was too worried about it, as he still knew he would not lose the overall battle. Dan¡¯s confidence came from two things. He still had not engaged in the fight, and all his defenses were still fresh.


    Even more important than those two things was the fact that throughout the whole fight, he had been getting mana, and that mana was not just being used to spawn regular monsters. He had the design for his new D rank monsters for a while now but had finally been able to spawn them. In fact, his new D ranked teams were already on the way to the battlefield, and it was only a matter of minutes before they arrived.

 Chapter 44 - Wolfbat Event Part 4

    Throughout the fight, Dan had been accumulating mana, and even as he had been watching and commanding his monsters, a part of him had been creating new creatures. Dan didn''t plan to edit his normal monsters further. He could do so, but he wanted his future dungeon to have different levels of difficulty. He would have normal beasts that could prove dangerous to commoners and would also help populate his dungeon. Then, he would have enhanced versions of beasts and monsters, much like his common rank monsters were. These beasts and monsters would have abilities that they could use but would still be considered common rank.


    Then there would be the actual D rank monsters. They would be a clear upgrade to the common rank monsters and would be the actual challenge against D rank adventurers. Additionally, Dan wanted his dungeon to have some level of variety. This meant that if he gave his common rank monsters the abilities and improvements he would give his D rankers, it would increase the spike in difficulty while not keeping any surprises. So, he had decided to leave the common rank monsters as they were, except for the change he had made to the doe¡¯s.


    Now, as much as Dan wanted to admire the looks of his new D rank monsters, he was still limited by his current rank. His new rank did increase his processing power, and he now could pay more attention to more things at the same time, but sadly, there were still limits. And currently, he had reached said limits. Not only was he communicating with his monsters and paying attention to most of the fights at once, but he was also spawning new creatures and attempting to update them with directions as they approached the fight.


    It would still take some time before they truly engaged, but it was better for them to have the knowledge than not. So, considering the fight was about to get even more serious, Dan focused back on the active battlefield.


    With Hawk the Eagle and Itsy the Spider dead, the enemy boss was starting to approach Ingot and his party. Dan needed Ingot''s party ready to receive the boss in the best condition they could. The party still had two wolfbats harassing them and could probably remove one but at the cost of even more mana. So, Dan ordered Chomp and Jamole to help Ingot''s party. Meanwhile, he also ordered Eagle the Hawk and Kinetic to go eliminate the wolfbat that was engaging the main battlefield. Additionally, he began to order a retreat for the rest of his monsters as he wanted to avoid as many casualties as possible. At this point in the battle, Dan''s main bosses were just there to stall the enemy boss while the other D rankers he had created made their way to the battlefield.


    With those orders given, Dan watched as the boss slowly approached Ingot¡¯s party, which was still dealing with their two wolfbats. Thankfully, it wasn''t long before Jamole and Chomp appeared and quickly helped dispatch the two wolfbats. Jamole pierced one, taking the already injured creature out of the fight entirely, while Chomp swallowed the other one as it became distracted by the sudden appearance of the mole. Annoyingly, Chomp wasn¡¯t able to kill its prey in one gulp, and as the worm headed back underground, Dan still felt the worm take internal damage from the battling wolfbat.


    With that out of the way, however, Ingot¡¯s party was able to take a brief reprieve, though not for as long as Dan wanted them to. The death of the two wolfbats seemed to anger the boss, and Dan felt the boss enhance itself further as it rushed forward, but thankfully, it was not as fast as before.


    While that was happening, the fight on the main battlefield ended when Eagle and Kinetic took down the already injured wolfbat whom Dan''s many monsters had assaulted. The battle hadn''t been without many losses, but it was now won, and his monsters began to retreat to Dan¡¯s core.


    Back at Ingot¡¯s party, the boss arrived and, with one solid strike, sent the large bear tumbling backward. The bear hadn''t even seen the boss coming and was surprised, almost losing consciousness. At the very least, Fir hit Ingot with a Healing Beam, repairing some of the damage. However, that highlighted the elk even more, and the boss switched targets as it went for her. The boss was never able to hit Fir as a barrier appeared in front of the elk, even if it cracked and broke with the second punch.


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    Dan felt that it had taken a good amount of mana from Fur and began to worry that the boss would take out their healer. Thankfully, before the huge wolfbat was able to strike again, George infused all of his mana into one final smash, his fist glowing with power as he struck the boss wolfbat.


    It was the first hit to have been made against the boss, and it had done a good amount of damage, sending the boss stumbling as it took the punch. The boss roared in pain as it turned around to face George. The exhausted gorilla couldn''t do much, so the wolfbat rushed forward, its clawed fist slamming through George''s chest. The boss, obviously angry at being hit for the first time during the battle, took extra time as he tore George apart. The extra time it spent doing that let Ingot enter the fight as it slammed into the wolfbat, and both of them tumbled onto the ground. Dan felt Ingot pour even more mana into his enhancements as he took hits from the wolfbat and, in turn, tore into the thing''s flesh with his claws and maw.


    Even then, Fir showed her value once again as she struck Ingot with beam after beam, keeping the bear in the fight. The boss wasn''t oblivious to the elk''s doings, and they all felt the rush of power as the damn thing infused even more power into itself as its claws tour into Ingot''s body, ripping the bear in half. Then, in a flash of movement, it appeared in front of Fir once again, a punch flying in the air to remove the elk from existence. Thankfully, it was still oblivious to Fur, who collapsed onto the ground as he poured every last bit of mana into the barrier to stop the wolfbat from hurting Fir. Things got more desperate as the wolfbat¡¯s increase in power allowed it to break the barrier in one punch, and Dan then felt Fur use all of his life force to create yet another barrier, stopping the second punch from striking Fir but causing himself to drop dead on the ground. The only good thing was that the increase in power had taken a good toll on the wolfbat boss as it definitely did not have endless energy. Dan knew they were making progress, but he was worried that his other D rankers wouldn''t make it in time before the enemy killed all of his bosses.


    The rest of the battlefield had calmed down as his monster retreated. Additionally, the wolfbat that Itsy had targeted succumbed to her venom while standing back with his other compatriot, who had been saved. Her fellow compatriot didn''t last long either as Jamole struck once again and was then assisted by Eagle the Hawk as Chomp had taken too much damage from the wolfbat it ate.


    With the only remaining enemy being the boss, Dan decided to recall Kinetic, Eagle, and his two underground bosses. If possible, he did not want to lose any more bosses and would rather leave the rest to the D rankers that were on the way. The only exception being the approaching jaguar.


    Xinos had been waiting the whole fight. He knew he was an assassin, and if he had struck back when the boss was at full strength, he would have just been killed without doing much damage. Or if he had done much damage, there was a good chance that the boss would have regenerated. However, as the jaguar saw the boss starting to weaken, he decided to attack. Just like he had done to the large scorpion bear monstrosity, his moment came when Fur gave all his life energy to create the last barrier. As the barrier came up and the wolfbat punched, Xinos jumped forward, imbuing all his mana and making him glow in that same dark, glinting metal-like energy of death.


    Xinos tore into the thing''s back, tearing away its wings and clawing chunks of flesh from its body while infusing his necrosis into it. All the while, Fir turned and hurriedly began her retreat as the wolfbat turned its attention to Xinos.


    The jaguar had done a lot of damage but not enough to kill the thing. However, it had been enough to exhaust it further, and it took longer than usual for the boss to make it to Xinos, who had jumped away. Sadly, the jaguar did not have any more mana and simply stood there holding a pose of bravery as it waited for its death. A death that arrived sooner rather than later as the boss tore into the jaguar, ripping him apart. Thankfully, in its anger, it spent longer than necessary squashing his boss''s body, allowing Fir to escape.


    Once it regained its mind, the wolfbat boss looked around the battle before roaring, and it once again began its march toward Dan. Not that Dan cared. The thing wouldn¡¯t survive his four teams of D rank monsters approaching its location. In fact, the last thing the damn thing saw was four yellow and blue lightning bolts strike its head before four piercing green hawks poked further holes into its body. Then, as it lost consciousness, its limbs were torn apart by giant slashes of wind from some eagles before four large worms swallowed its cut body parts.

 Chapter 45 - Reality Chat

    The boss''s death ended the event, and with the end of the event, Dan received the notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Attention! Event: Wolfbat Rumble has ended. The shattered zone will now return to normal.


    Be warned: With the event''s conclusion, new monsters and stronger variants of previously seen monsters will begin to appear.


    Be on the lookout for further events!


    ??


    Another aspect of the event''s end was its aftermath. Around half of Dan''s forces were killed, though honestly, he was not worried about that. He knew that he would eventually respawn them all. What worried Dan was the sheer power displayed by D rankers, more specifically, the sheer power that he held by being able to create such entities.


    Dan started thinking about the possibilities he now had in his non-existent hands. He had been worried to some extent about the rest of the areas in the zone. However, now he was more than assured that even with his current ranked monsters, he could easily take most of the zones over. In truth, they wouldn''t even pose much of an issue. Heck, even when it came to the green camp and the hills, Dan wasn¡¯t as worried. Even with the shards, there wasn''t anything that could stand up to him anymore.


    As such, the real issue came when he still felt rather powerless. These were his lands by all accounts. He had seen that he could reshape the very world around him. Yet, looking back at the battle that had just occurred, he truly hadn''t been in control. He could have fought the invading monsters in a hundred different ways without ever putting his forces at risk. He could have opened a giant pit underneath them and trapped them in there by reinforcing the walls. If not that, he could have made lightning rain from the sky with mana and simply demolished the horde of beasts. However, he hadn''t done any of that.


    Something had taken hold of him and guided him to fight the battle in the manner he had. Dan had-had some control, but it was like he had tunnel vision to fight the battle in the way he had.


    Dan''s thoughts went down this line of thinking and how everything in the area felt like a training zone for him. He knew that there was a chance that the World Crystal was intervening in this zone, but he didn¡¯t think that the large piece of glass would be able to control him in such a manner. There was simply no way. Dan had read and felt the contract they had made. So, after thinking about it, it all pointed to the one entity that could do such a thing: Mother Infinity. Of course, just as that realization hit him, everything went dark.


    <hr>


    Dan came to with a start.


    Being a crystal dungeon entity was odd, and after knowing where everything was at all times, only being aware of his immediate surroundings was something new and annoying.


    He stood floating on an empty dark void. Well, most of it was empty. A humanoid woman stood in front of him also floating in the dark space. Just like the last time he had seen her, her skin was that of the universe. Dan saw galaxies and distant stars slowly floating across her skin, which was colored by the literal light of the universe.


    What was more unbelievable than the deity of the universe was what said deity was doing. In front of the deity were hundreds of floating screens. Each screen showing different scenes from all over reality. One showed an exploding star, another an Eldritch God feasting on a World Crystal, and yet another showed a World Crystal slowly forming a planet around itself. These were all sights that Dan couldn''t help but stare at since they were the most eye-catching.


    However, there were other screens displaying what Dan would say were less exciting things. These were usually random individuals in the cosmos doing a multitude of things. From cooking to killing monsters, Dan spotted a variety of entities doing an even wider variety of things. Dan wasn¡¯t sure why the creator of everything was watching such events. He remembered that she had said she would be watching him, but she had actually meant that more than he thought she did.


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    Entranced by the sight as he was, Dan slowly floated toward the woman, her long universe-filled hair moving to winds Dan did not feel. Once he was next to her, she looked over at him with her two glowing star eyes and spoke with a sweet voice that Dan had not expected.


    ¡°So, what do you think?¡± Mother Eternity said as she motioned at the screens, one of which switched to a live image of his crystal back in the shattered zone.


    ¡°A very interesting hobby, I suppose. Though honestly, when you said that you would be watching me, this is not what I had in mind.¡± Dan said rather calmly as he spoke to the super god.


    The goddess giggled and Dan saw her skin grow brighter as reality brightened for just a second. ¡°It''s fun. So, many possibilities out there, and it''s always fun to see new, unexpected things, like your situation.¡± The goddess answered with a smile on her lips.


    ¡°Really? How rare is something like me?¡±


    ¡°Believe it or not, you are very rare. Not a human becoming an Eldritch God, mind you. A human blessed by a World Crystal who then became an Eldritch God. That alone is incredibly rare. You are maybe the second one I have seen. However, to see that Eldritch God die while trying to eat a World Crystal, only to end up with both of them working together. Well, the odds of that happening are almost impossible.¡± The deity answered with a soft chuckle.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It doesn¡¯t seem so far-fetched when you have eternity. Also, what about our little system thing? Is that new?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, I guess you only really have your mortal mind right now, so let me put it into perspective a human earther can understand.¡± She stopped for a second, supposedly thinking before speaking up again. ¡°All right, so the odds of your scenario happening is as rare as someone on your planet winning the lottery 100 times in a row. You have to understand that many things in reality end up repeating themselves, which is why I like finding those that don¡¯t. At least, that don¡¯t repeat that often. Like I said, in this run of the cosmos so far, you are the very first I have found in your scenario. On the other hand, something like your system is nothing new. Many planets out there have already done something like it, probably better.¡±


    ¡°Damn, okay.¡± Dan said a bit dejectedly before he continued on, ¡°One thing I don¡¯t understand, though, is if you can see all of time and space, how can something surprise you?¡±


    ¡°Well, that''s easy; I just don¡¯t look at time and space,¡± she answered with another giggle.


    ¡°Now, as much as I have enjoyed this chat, that is not the reason why I brought you here.¡±


    And, of course, like magic, Dan suddenly remembered the things he had been thinking about before coming here, and some anger flared up within him.


    ¡°Are you just using me!? Am I some kind of pawn for your game!? Does anything that I am even doing matter!?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Yes. No.¡± The deity answered, not bothering to look at him. The happy entity he had seen a second ago had disappeared.


    Shocked at the answers, Dan wasn¡¯t sure what to do. He had been expecting her to deny it or something, but having her agree somehow made everything much worse.


    He wasn¡¯t sure how long he spent in silence as the goddess seemed more than happy to keep watching the ever-changing screens. However, there was still something that still didn¡¯t make sense. If he was really just there to be a pawn for entertainment, why had she bothered to bring him here into this place at all?


    ¡°Why bring me here then? Why speak with me?¡±


    ¡°Because, Dan, I wanted to give you a sense of how I operate. In truth, I don¡¯t care if you save that world or not. The only thing that matters here is me. My fun and enjoyment. To that end, I thought it would be fun to play dungeon master to a dungeon master. So, yes, you are in the starting area. I am letting you learn the controls. If I want you to cheat and open a hole under your enemies, I will let you. If not, then I won¡¯t. In return, I will let you make your dungeon as you envision. Think of it as a gift from me. This means allowing you to do some things not in your contract, but seeing as the contract means little to me. There is nothing you or anything can do to stop me.¡± She answered without an inch of malice. These things were just a matter of fact.


    ¡°So, what''s the point then? If nothing matters, if you can just send some high ranker whenever to destroy me?¡±


    ¡°Well, first, I can destroy you with less than a thought, but that''s the point. I won¡¯t. I just want you to know that this is all a game to me. To that extent, I will set some rules that I will follow just for the fun of it. Will I intervene? Probably. How? That''s for you to find out and for me to enjoy.¡±


    ¡°What happens afterward? What happens if I beat your game or you get bored?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you beat the game, then you are the winner, and you will continue existing as you have been until that point. If I get bored, well, I will stop watching. As I said, everything has been set up. All that is left is for you to play it and deal with the consequences of your actions within my creations. Think of it like that dungeon''s game from Earth. I am the Dungeon Master; you are in my world, but your choices can very well mean the end of you. Again, I must remind you that I have no real limits. Reality is my playground. You can conquer half of the universe, and with a simple wave of my hand, it all returns to zero.¡±


    ¡°Will I still have the system?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course, that''s one of the things I will keep and let the World Crystal manage. I can¡¯t be bothered with that. Now, carry on. You have areas to conquer.¡± The deity said as she waved her hand, and once again, everything went dark.

 Chapter 46 - Moving Forward

    Dungeon Day 46


    After coming to, Dan spent some time thinking. He shut out everything else as he contemplated what to do next. The chat with Mother Eternity really put into perspective how little he was in the grand scheme of things. Was there any point in continuing what he was doing?


    However, it was as he was thinking of giving up on the whole thing when it was made clear to him just how out of his control the entire situation was. He legitimately could not give up. The contract between him and the World Crystal was still active. So, regardless of what else was happening, he needed to keep fulfilling his part of the bargain and continue progressing toward capturing the other shards.


    Dan had mixed the words of the Chaos Mother with his own feelings. Just because the contract did not apply to her did not mean he could easily get out of it. If she dissolved the contract, it was a whole different thing, but he doubted she would do so anytime soon. Thinking of this sent Dan into an entirely different spiral of thoughts.


    He could do the bare minimum, barely attempting to capture the shards. However, that would likely end up with him dead as another shard outmaneuvered or overpowered him.


    It took him longer than he wanted to come to a conclusion. This was, of course, because he was stuck in the same loop that some people back on Earth were stuck in. The fact that no matter what he did, it all seemed pointless as there was somebody bigger controlling the grander scheme of things. Thankfully, his conclusion was something simple.


    It didn''t matter if the Chaos Mother was setting up the board for him to play. That was something natural that just happened whether there was a bigger thing behind reality or not. Heck, that''s how he played his games: somebody else made them, and he was the player clearing the maps and dungeons or building empires. It was a bit unnerving for it to have actual consequences, but it was nothing that he hadn''t done before. Besides, it wasn''t like he was really in it to clear the shards. That was just a side quest. His real goal in this whole endeavor was to make an awesome badass dungeon. He had ideas on what he could accomplish, and now, with this so-called gift of the Chaos Mother to let him break some rules or bend them a little, he could take his dungeon to a whole different level.


    Honestly, in a way, Dan had to be thankful to the super god for giving him a starting zone. She could have easily thrown him into the deep end and just watched him struggle for years and years.


    So, remotivated to start pushing forward and with the idea of making a fantastic dungeon, Dan once again sent out his senses throughout his lands. Hours had passed, and he saw all the changes that came with the end of the event.


    There were D rank invaders in his lands, only a few, at least as far as Dan could tell, but he imagined that they would start appearing in bigger numbers the more D rankers he had. Then he stopped again. That thought itself could be a lie, as the Chaos Mother might want him to think that. Dan contemplated things and pushed that aside. He decided to continue with his work. He could not just keep questioning himself. He had bosses and minions to respawn, as well as taking another look at how he would approach the foreseeable future.


    Dungeon Day 48


    In total, it took Dan 4030 mana to respawn all his bosses and monsters, well, all except the gators, sharks, and lily minions. He had lost 209 minions in total and half of his bosses, more or less. The cost in mana took him a bit of time to pay up, but it wasn¡¯t all too bad. If anything, he was currently more worried about being overrun by monsters than anything else. This worry came from the increased spawn rate of the monsters he had already previously dealt with and their D ranked counterparts. Thankfully, they still couldn¡¯t overwhelm him as they had to travel to his core location, which gave him plenty of time to pick them apart. It helped not having to worry about the frog folk since they were underwater, which made it impossible for ground monsters to target them. Even the druids were doing fine, at least for now.


    One major worry Dan had-had was how the rest of the zone would deal with D rank monsters. However, his worry was short lived as he found that D rank invaders only spawned from the fogs surrounding his territory. Speaking of the invaders, the new monsters that appeared seem to fall under the beast category, at least for the most part.


    These monsters were of both the common versions he had dealt with before, but they also had some D rankers mixed in. The beasts were different animals with aspects of magic. More bears, big cats, foxes, badgers, squirrels, and a large variety of birds. Some had nature themes like the previous beast he had seen, like the bark skin boar, but many more were just beasts mixed with simple elemental magics. The standouts among the new monsters were the monstrosities.


    Though much larger than normal, these new monstrosities were centipedes and came in three varieties. There were the speedy ones, limbs made of metal blades helping them move through the forest like chainsaws. Their bodies could detach in sections, making them even more dangerous since they were moving blenders the size of men.


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    Then, there were the massive, slower versions with heavier carapaces whose larger limbs ended in weird-looking blobs. These blobs helped support their enormous weight but also could open up like mouths releasing poison.


    Finally, the last version and most deadly ones looked like normal centipedes except for their very bright colorations and crystal-like antennae. Though they varied in colors, they were always a mix of red, green, brown, and blue. At most, they had at least three colors, with a few just having one. Of course, the colors meant something, and this time, it meant the types of elemental magic they could use. Red stood for fire, green for wind, brown for earth, and blue for water.


    Even if the new monstrosities were a new form of danger, it didn¡¯t detract from the increase in power the rest of their kind got as scorpion owls, bears, and raptors appeared as D rankers. Thankfully, they weren¡¯t as bad as these centipedes, and their upgrades just meant more poison. The real issue with monstrosities came from wolfbats. Unlike those in the event who couldn¡¯t fly, the new D rank wolfbats came in three different types. Some were burly, much like the event boss had been. Others were much thinner, could fly, and even used sound bullets to attack from range. The last type was just their normal type except enhanced, which didn¡¯t make too big of a threat.


    Naturally, all of these new monsters meant a few things for Dan. First and foremost, he would get a lot of mana and some new variety of monsters. Second and more annoying was his birds being contested in the sky. Still, it just meant one thing for Dan: he needed to get stronger.


    Dan wanted to have the bandits and village under his control in less than a week, a very accomplishable goal. From there, he would conquer the kobolds and keep the gnolls at bay. All the while, he would keep building up his forces to rush and take out the green camp and finally, the hills area. Then, once that was done, it was time to get to dungeon building.


    He was always dungeon-building in his mind, thinking of areas he could make, quests, and npcs. However, new ideas came to light with every new development, and some were erased. In fact, the whole deal with Mother Eternity made him rework some of his previous plans. In truth, Dan wanted to build a dungeon game of sorts for adventurers to play. It would be a dungeon multiplayer game like back on Earth, but with a different amount of detailing and interface.


    Dan envisioned factions that adventurers could do quests for until a cap was hit and an event would start. Then at the end of the events, there would be special rewards for those who participated. There would also be cool quests with unique rewards and boss fights. Boss fights of all kinds, even wondering bosses. Honestly, there were so many things he could do that Dan forgot about the Chaos Mother situation.


    Still, Dan couldn¡¯t get too lost in his dungeon building, at least not yet. There were monsters to spawn and conquering to do. The first target would be the bandits, followed by the village.


    Dan expected the bandits to put up much more resistance than the village, but he knew that if he showed up with like 20 D rank monsters, there would be nothing the bandits could do. However, he needed to make more D rankers to do all of that. Currently, he barely had enough to protect himself from the spawning ranked monsters, let alone enough to intimidate anyone else.


    Speaking of his D rank beasts, he had made some good changes to a few of them during their upgrades. The first of which had been the doe¡¯s, whom he had originally changed their common counterparts. This change being the Healing and Cleansing touch being transformed in beams. Regarding looks, the D rank doe¡¯s hadn¡¯t changed much, but looked more beautiful and graceful.


    The hawks and eagles were next. Their grey and green tones were more prevalent, and a constant breeze ruffled their feathers. This change came with their new abilities, which also influenced their names to have the word Wind before their species. In terms of abilities, the eagles got the Storm¡¯s Kin and Mana Storage abilities. The main skill being Storm¡¯s Kin, which worked with Hawk the Eagle¡¯s Buffeting Storm ability to make them all a much more fierce force in the air.


    The hawks got the previously mentioned Wind Charge ability, which allowed them to charge up like the cheetahs. Their other ability also worked well together as long as they were in a group. This ability was Bullets of the Wind, which let them increase in speed and piercing power when they dove in a group¡ªthe more hawks dove together, the higher the scaling.


    After the birds came the big cats. The panthers got darker in D rank, and Dan decided to have them go more into the stealth department. For this, he gave them Stalker and Camouflage. Their names also changed to Stalker Panther to show this change. The jaguars became more metal greyish to show they had gone more into the metal route. Dan had given them the Metal Whirlwind ability, which did as its name implied. Additionally, he gave them the Resilient Body Enhancement to make them more front-line fighters. Finally, the cheetahs got Kinetic¡¯s treatment, becoming more lightning-attuned and having the ability to save lightning in a special gland for later use.


    Finally came the infantry of Dan¡¯s forces. The bears took after Ingot, gaining the Earthen Armor ability along with an Enhancing Roar for friendlies and a Fearing Roar for enemies. The gorillas also got Earthen Armor like George, but, more importantly, had received the Earthen Fists and Mana Storage abilities to let them punch things even harder and for longer. The last of the infantry upgrades, and possibly Dan¡¯s favorite, was for the baboons. They had received the Wooden Armor ability, and much like the gorilla''s armor, it gave the baboons a chest plate and helm made out of wood.


    The wood was magical and relatively sturdy, actually protecting the monkeys. More important was their Wooden Weaponry ability. This ability was incredibly versatile and allowed the monkeys to summon simple weaponry made out of wood. Now, even if they were made out of wood, Dan had made sure it was good, and it was made of ironwood. Thus, when monkeys summoned one of their available weapons, they were sure to inflict some good damage while still maintaining some protection and not even losing their mobility thanks to the wood''s odd flexibility.


    His monkeys were really becoming dangerous, and he couldn¡¯t wait to see the reaction of the adventurers.

 Chapter 47 - Waiting

    Dungeon Day 54


    Dan spent days just relaxing and watching his monsters fight. He was waiting to get mana to spawn in new ranked monsters. Thankfully, he wasn''t bored during the process, as watching his monsters fight was rather entertaining. He had made changes to some of his monsters as they upgraded to D rank, and throughout the last few days, he had been able to see them in action.


    The first of the changes that he had seen were against some of the new wolfbats. His hawks, now called the Wind Hawks, engaged in aerial fights against the flying wolfbats which Dan came to know as simply wolfbat flyers.


    The hawks had gained two new abilities, Wind Charge, which let them charge up, much like the Kinetic could, making their dives even more deadly.


    Then, to add to the already deadly dives, Dan gave them an ability called Bullets of the Wind. He had made this ability specifically as he had-had something in mind. This something being to allow the hawks to dive as groups, reinforcing each other''s dives, allowing them to do even more damage at even greater speeds.


    The combination of the two abilities let the hawks essentially one-shot the enemy flying wolfbats. Dan said one-shot, but it was more like two to three shots as they had to dive together and hit the wolfbat at once in order to do it. Still, the now much greener-looking hawks were streaks of light green light as they dove down from high above, really making them look like bullets or missiles homing in on their targets.


    Since Dan still had the idea in mind that the hawks were the scouts of his aerial forces, he had given them speed and the ability to do more damage with said speed. On the other hand, the eagles were more of his aerial infantry and were going to be led by Hawk the Eagle. To this extent, he had given the boss an ability called Buffeting Storm. The ability let the eagle spend mana to alter the weather around herself, and on its own it wasn''t anything major, simply allowing the bird to increase the winds in an area around her. However, when combined with the rest of the eagles and their new ability, Storm¡¯s Kin, it became something grander.


    Storm¡¯s Kin let the eagle minions connect to their boss''s Buffeting Storm ability and feed it mana. This would then allow the Buffering Storm to grow in power at an alarming rate as the weather became more turbulent. Naturally, this weather would not affect them, allowing them to maneuver freely while any other aerial forces tumbled about.


    Dan had to admit it had been fun seeing wolfbats, owls, and other birds buffeted in the storm as the eagles swooped in and ripped them apart. It wasn''t as satisfying as seeing the hawks put holes into wolfbat bodies or make enemy birds explode, but it was almost there.


    Sadly, even with all these abilities, Dan still suffered some losses with his new D rank monsters, having been outnumbered by the spawning invaders. The losses were not crippling but something that just happened when monsters fought. Even then, it was nothing compared to the number of losses he had taken from his big cats.


    The big cats had received some changes, mainly specializing in what Dan wanted them to do. The panthers became Stalker Panthers as Dan had moved more into the stealth area of their nature. He gave them Stalker and Camouflage, making them even better at being stalking cats.


    His jaguars became Slashing Jaguars upon gaining the Metal Whirlwind ability, and as the name implied, they could now summon a whirlwind of small metal shards around themselves. These shards spun at decently high speeds and could tear into enemies along with the jaguar''s claws.


    Dan had decided to specialize the jaguars more into skirmishing infantry and, as such, had also given them the Resilient Body Enhancement. Of course, this meant that they were fighting things like the Centiblades, which were the centipedes with bladed limbs, causing the big cats to take almost as much damage as they dished out.


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    The last of the big cats were the cheetahs, who now became Lightning Cheetahs. These cheetahs followed after Kinetic and gained the ability to shoot out Lightning Bolts after charging up.


    In terms of looks, the jaguars gained a more greyish metal-like look while the cheetahs own colors gained more vibrancy.


    After the cheetahs, the last major change was to the primates and the bears. For their looks, Dan had reverted them back to normal, meaning black and silver fur for the gorillas, brown fur for the bears, and the mixture of colorations that baboons could have.


    Regarding their abilities, Dan had modeled the new D rank gorillas and bears after their bosses, but with some minor differences. The bears, now called Earthen Bears, had gained the Earthen Armor ability, making them look just like Ingot¡¯s bulking form. Like Ingot, Dan had given them some cool roars that were called the Enhancing Roar and Fearing Roar. The Enhancing Roar boosted the speed, strength, and resiliency of allies, while the Fearing Roar decreased the speed of enemies. This boost or debuff wasn¡¯t huge, but it was something.


    The gorillas, now called Earthen Fist Gorillas, had also gained the Earthen Armor ability. However, unlike the bear''s clunks of rocks, the primates had proper chest plates and helms. Additionally, Dan had given them the Earthen Fist ability to help them punch things harder with their already powerful Smash ability. Dan had to admit that seeing the gorillas uppercut all sorts of monsters had been incredibly entertaining.


    Now Dan''s favorite change had been to the baboons. It wasn''t because the change was extremely powerful but because it was incredibly adaptable. The baboons, now called Baboon Skirmishers, had been given two new abilities. The first was the Wooden Armor ability, and the second was a match for the first and was called Wooden Weaponry. These two abilities let the baboons summon wooden armor and weapons. Of course, Dan wasn''t dumb and had ensured that the armor and weapon summoned would be made of ironwood. The wood was magical and just as tough as iron.


    The armor summoned was like the gorillas and gave the baboon''s chest plates and helms. Since the wood had a dark metal coloring to it, the baboons looked like mini dark legionaries while they wore it. Something that Dan thought was one of the dopest things he had seen.


    If the armor was awesome, their Wooden Weaponry was just as good. Their new ability let the monkeys summon a pair of weapons for 24 hours, and considering they had three different pairs they could choose from, it was pretty nice. The baboons could summon a sword and shield, a spear and shield, or a short bow with around 15 to 20 ironwood-tipped arrows. These changes made the baboons Dan''s new favorites because who didn''t love a monkey legion?


    Anyways, moving on from the primates, who could now contend with the skirmishing wolfbats and the much heavier centipedes. Dan looked at the last and minor change he had made to his monsters. Even if they were minor and were just being brought over from his previous monsters, it was still one of the most important changes.


    This change was having the doe¡¯s continue to have their beams instead of touch-base abilities. The doe¡¯s were still one of Dan''s most important creatures as they had single handling reduced the amount of casualties he had-had. They weren''t able to stop all of them, as he had been low on monsters from the beginning, causing him to split his D rank teams, which, of course, also increased the number of casualties. However, as he slowly became able to spawn in more D rankers, the number of casualties decreased because they were now fighting in teams and had access to quick healing.


    Slowly but surely, things began to pick up since the faster Dan''s monsters could hunt, the more mana he could gain. In fact, most of the teams he had created recently had been in the last four days when the hunting had been at the highest. And now, with his current amount of hunting, Dan could bring in around 2,000 to 3,000 mana a day, depending on how many invaders his monsters could get to it.


    Honestly, when Dan looked at the grand scheme of things, the travel time was becoming a problem more than anything else, and he had to stop his monsters from coming back to the core to rest. Instead, Dan had them find safe resting spots, or he created random caves for them by removing dirt. It helped that all the monsters were coming to him instead of him having to send monsters too far and wide.


    Eventually, things had evened out for Dan, and in the last couple of days, he had spent a total of 11,228 mana to create 12 new D rank teams and 30 new D rank hawks to help the teams further. This number had been enough to stop the casualties he had been having from having to separate the rankers. So, without the worry of too many casualties, the next groups of rankers would be the ones used to conquer the bandits and the village.

 Chapter 48 - Bandits

    Dungeon Day 56


    Two days later, Dan created three more D rank teams. This time, however, he had spawned them near the druid''s house. Additionally, he had also sent Kinetic and Eagle the Hawk over to the druid''s place via teleporter. These two bosses were going to be the ones speaking with the bandits and possibly engaging in combat if necessary.


    He had wanted to send all of his bosses to deal with this bandit issue, but he wanted them around in case another event happened. And out of all of his bosses, he felt like Kinetic and Eagle would be the ones less missed during a fight. It helped that they were the ones that could cover the most ground the fastest outside of his two underground bosses, but he would rather keep them around in case the next event just happened to introduce underground monsters.


    Once at the druid''s place, it was only a matter of time before they got to the bandit''s area. He could have set up a teleporter to the edge and north of where his lands met the bandit''s lands, but he would rather have his three teams get him some mana on the way.


    The group of D rankers engaged against enemy monsters, but as united as they were, the enemy posed little problem. So far, though the invaders sometimes assembled teams, it wasn''t something his monsters couldn''t handle. When the enemy did assemble, there were two types of teams. One was usually formed with all the nature-related beast and their less nature-related yet magical counterparts. Naturally, these consisted of things like bark-skin boars, bark-blade wolves, torch foxes, nutter squirrels, and such. This type of team was the easiest to deal with out of the two.


    Though strong, the magical beasts were rather straightforward and not as bloodthirsty. The real problem was when monstrosity teams emerged. Much like the beast teams, these were also made up of D rankers but instead hosted various monstrosities.


    Annoyingly, the monstrosity groups were not only more bloodthirsty but rather well put together. They were usually a match for one of his teams, as they had tanky front liners in terms of the wolf bat skirmishers, scorpion bears, and centibulkers. Then their damage dealers were just as bad, consisting of the centiblades, centimentalists, and scorpion raptors. Finally, tying it together, they had much better aerial force than before with the new and improved wolf bat flyers and the old yet useful scorpmaw owls.


    Even then, since he currently had three D rank teams running into one of these groups, which consisted of two centibulkers, one centiblades, two centimentalists, and a couple of scorpmaw owls, his teams were able to deal with them without much issue. Usually, such a group going against one of his D rank teams would pose a challenge.


    In fact, if this particular enemy group had run into just one of his D rank teams, they could have likely killed a couple of his monsters. The centimentalists alone were not a joke. They could shoot bursts of flames, pressurized water, and wind gales, even being able to cause spikes to rupture from the ground. These monsters were the first time Dan had given his minions a kill-first order against a specific monster. The magical centipedes essentially acted as mages for the enemy, and as many knew in a game, healers and casters needed to be put down first.


    The other two centipedes weren¡¯t as bad as the centimentalists but were still rather dangerous, but since they specialized in either poison or cutting, they could be dealt with more easily. Of the two, though, the worst was the centiblades since their agility enabled them to inflict good damage on his monsters. This was added onto by the fact that they could essentially detach and extend their bodies.


    Dan had seen his monsters fight the damn things and one second, they were facing one head-on, and next, it would detach into multiple sections, and it would now be behind his creature. Then, with all their blades, they would tear into his monsters, dealing incredible damage.


    Thankfully, against three of his teams, there wasn''t much they could do, and lightning bolts, metal, and wind slashes quickly blasted them apart. Additionally, they were torn into by the moles as they pierced holes into their bodies.


    Any damage that the enemy did manage to deal with blades, elemental attacks, or even their centibulker''s poison was quickly healed up by his doe¡¯s. And luckily, after that peculiar incursion, in which he gained a good chunk of mana, his party of monsters did not encounter any more issues.


    Eventually, and after high noon his party crossed the threshold and was officially in bandit lands. Watching from high up with Eagle¡¯s point of view, Dan saw that his team of monsters travel time would quickly pick up. The more north they traveled from the druid''s land, the flatter and less forestry the environment was. It seemed that most of the bandit''s area was grassy plains. There were patches of trees here and there, but for the most part, his party eventually got to see rather far into the horizon. And since they were no longer dealing with the brushes, roots, and other things found in the forest, they would make it to the bandit''s ruins within an hour or two of crossing into their land.


    The closer they got to the ruins, the more details Dan was able to see through Eagle¡¯s eyes. He hadn''t really paid attention to the images before, and outside of seeing that it was some ruins, he didn''t care. Taking a closer look, Dan could see that it used to be a town that was now in ruins.


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    The whole thing was fairly large and seemed to be made mostly out of stone, the grayish colors of the buildings still somewhat visible through the covering of vines and general shrubbery. Dan could also see where paths had once been; however, now, most of them were covered by grass, fading away into obscurity. Honestly, outside of the many humanoids walking around the ruins doing whatever they did, there wasn''t much to the whole town.


    Dan had given Eagle and Kinetic a plan. It was a simple plan as he did not feel like bargaining with bandits at all. The fact was that he was now the top dog in the area. Sure, he was going to struggle a little bit with the shards, green skins, and the larger humanoids, but not too much. Dan had plans and would not bargain with this weaker force.


    The plan was for Dena to introduce the bandits to his monsters. From there, he would have his monsters discuss the situation, mainly involving having the bandits surrender. Obviously, Dan knew that the bandits would resist, a fight would break out, and he would have his monsters completely demolish them, and then the lands would be his. Honestly, Dan didn''t care much about the bandits, and he could just kill them all, but his humanity wanted to try a peaceful revolution first. Ultimately, business was business, and his business was conquering the land to create a dungeon, so if the bandits didn¡¯t bend the knee, they would die.


    Dena went ahead of his group, and all of the bandits had gathered by the time his monsters made it to the edge of the ruins. Leading them was a large humanoid bear-looking dude that, based on old world standards, would have passed as a bugbear. Much like his retinue of bandits, he also wore scrapped leather armor, though his set was very much more put together and better kept. Looking around the group, Dan counted 130-something bandits, a bit lower than previous estimates, but maybe they had been killed by the invading beasts. Dan knew that the monsters didn¡¯t necessarily target these folks, but things happened.


    The bandits were a mix of bear folk, along with some dwarfs, humans, and a couple of gnomes. Watching them, Dan could see that they all looked rather apprehensive, watching armored bears, gorillas, and baboons along with the other rather interesting members of the party.


    Dena already stood beside the leader, who became surprised as Kinetic spoke in his approach.


    ¡°Yo bro, how is it going?¡±


    The leader, confused, looked over at Dena, then back to Kinetic, and once again back to Dena. For her part, the druid just shrugged and motioned for the bear guy to speak.


    ¡°Uhhh, it''s going alright, I suppose. Dena here says you have some business with us.¡± The bear guy''s voice was gruff, matching his rough-looking visage. His dark brown fur caused some of his armor to blend in slightly, but he otherwise looked like a bandit, even with a small scar on his cheek.


    ¡°Yeah, bro. Our boss is conquering these lands and wants to give you a chance to surrender without bloodshed, " the cheetah said in his surfer dude chill voice.


    ¡°Are they joking?¡± the leader asked, looking back over to Dena, who responded with her usual soft and sweet voice, clearly not worried about what was going on.


    ¡°No, they aren¡¯t. Their master is very powerful. In fact, our family serves them now, and I would suggest you do the same.¡±


    ¡°Really? What does your master have to offer?¡± The bandit asked.


    ¡°Well, eternal life, maybe power, and honestly, I am not sure what else,¡± Kinetic responded once again, still relaxed about the whole situation.


    However, after listening to the cheetah''s response, the bear man began to laugh hysterically, only to calm down a minute later.


    ¡°Ha! Phew! Now that was funny.¡± He told the cheetah before turning to the bandits behind him, ¡°You hear this, guys!? This cat here is offering eternal life if we submit to their master! What a bunch of shit!¡±


    The leader''s words caused a bit of laughter to pass through the crowd of bandits, and hearing them laugh, the bear dude turned back around.


    ¡°Listen here, uh, sorry, I didn¡¯t catch your name.¡±


    ¡°My name is Kinetic.¡±


    ¡°Okay, well, listen here, Kinetic.¡± The leader paused as he watched Dena slowly back away from him. Still, that didn¡¯t stop him, and he continued, ¡°How about you grab your little beast friends here and go back to where you came from and go tell your boss they can shove a donkey up their a-¡±


    Right before finishing his sentence, the ground under the bear leader erupted as a large worm swallowed him up. Then, the worm disappeared underground a moment later, leaving nothing behind.


    Surprised, the bandits just stared at the spot their leader had been in. They took a few seconds to process what had just happened before a grumble went through their ranks and weapons were drawn.


    Sadly for them, they didn¡¯t even get to charge before moles, worms, earthen spikes, and wind slashes tore into their ranks. The whole thing sent the bandits into chaos as they tried to figure out what the hell was going on.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the bandits to start fighting back, but it didn¡¯t go well.


    The bears, gorillas, baboons, and big cats had charged in after the attack from the moles, worms, and eagles. So, it wasn¡¯t long before the bandits were being squished by bears, smashed by gorillas, torn apart by the cats, or speared by the baboons.


    Eventually, after Dan guessed that around half of the bandits had been killed, the rest surrendered. And right as they did that, Dan got the notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have gained control of a faction and thus have claimed their lands.


    ??


    And like always, Dan opened up his claiming goals.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 4/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 2/6.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.

 Chapter 49 - A Typical Village

    Dungeon Day 56 - Continues


    After the fight came to an end, Dan took stock of his new minions. They were all mostly on the weaker side, though still able to fend for themselves against the weakest of monsters. Luckily, not all of their D rankers were killed during the fight. And out of the eight rankers that they had, four of them were still alive. They had been injured during the battle, but now that they were within Dan''s lands, the doe¡¯s could regen their mana, and the bandits were quickly healed.


    With night soon approaching, Dan did not want to leave the bandits. Additionally, he did not want to send his monsters toward the village and have them arrive at night, as that would make things a bit more complicated.


    A group of monsters arriving in the dead of night would raise more suspicions than anything. As such, he would have his group of monsters spend the night with the bandits. The bandits were still a bit wary of his monsters, but once they had surrendered, nothing really made a move on them, so they moved to one side of the ruins and left his monsters to do their thing.


    In this new spot, they had picked a new leader, a human woman who looked as rough as anyone could look by living out in the wild. She had her brown hair in a ponytail and was very well-muscled. Dan imagined she was picked as the leader because she was the strongest person left alive. Not that it mattered to Dan, and soon enough, the night passed without issue. The only really new development was the creation of two new D rank teams.


    Dungeon Day 57


    Not wanting to leave the bandits completely undefended since they were technically his minions now and would be attacked by the invaders. Dan decided to leave behind one of his teams to help them fend off any possible attackers. The other two teams headed out towards the village early in the morning as Dan wanted to get the whole situation over with as fast as possible. Of course, Dena also joined in the journey towards the village since she would be the one introducing them to the villagers.


    Getting to the village only took his monsters a couple of hours. The village was much closer to the bandit area than the bandits had been to the druids, so it was only natural.


    Just like with the bandit area, Dan once again took a much closer look at it as they approached. It was not that the layout of the village mattered too much at the moment, but it was still nice to take in the details.


    The whole thing was made up of three dozen or so buildings. At its center was one massive building, which Dan assumed to be some sort of town hall. The second largest building, which was three stories high, was likely an inn of sorts. Outside of those two buildings, all the other structures didn''t really stand out to Dan, except for a few.


    To the north of the village was the farm area with wheat fields and some other green vegetable things that he wasn''t sure what they were, though they looked like cabbages. This farm area had two windmills along with what had to be granaries and one large farm structure with some sheep. There was an additional third windmill, but it was to the southeast corner of the village, and its respective fields were empty. Then, west of the village were two lumber mills, at least if Dan had to go by the amount of wood outside these buildings, along with basic cranes that were being used to haul the wood around.


    The last notable place was beneath what Dan still assumed was the town hall. The spot was filled with tents, which could only mean it had to be some sort of market area. However, Dan wasn''t just going by that alone, as the whole place was buzzing with activity.


    Now, even if he didn''t spot them, Dan still assumed there would be a smithy, a stable, and definitely a guardhouse. He did spot two wells, one between the town hall and the markets and the other behind the town hall. The last notable thing that Dan could think of was the stone road.


    To call it a stone road was a bit much as it was more like gravel mixed with some larger stones. Still, he expected dirt roads, so he guessed that was an improvement, not that it would stay that way for long as when he made his dungeon, the whole place would receive quality upgrades.


    Either way, looking back at his monsters, they had approached from the east, so they were near the windmill with the two empty fields. They were all being watched with curious eyes by the few villagers that were around. Dan had fully expected the villagers to run away, but they recognized Dena, and with that recognition came acceptance of the odd animals.


    As his group of monsters made their way into town, they received more weird and worried looks from all the villagers, but once again, with Dena at the lead, they didn''t do much. Speaking of villagers, there was a large variety of them: humans, dwarves, gnomes, elves, and even a few beast kin. And they all looked like any normal-looking folks, wearing simple clothing, some of them looking a bit rougher than others. The town had to definitely be from the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing truly dazzling about it.


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    So, with stares, the party made their way towards the middle of the village where the presumed town hall was.


    Word had gotten ahead of the party, and when they arrived at the small circular town square that formed around the well, they saw a group of guards waiting. Though calling them guards was a bit much. One or two had proper metal armor on, while the other three or four members of the group wore mixed-match armor sets, much like the bandits had worn.


    The other important and noticeable feature was the way they stood. The ones who were actual guards were ready for anything and were watching his beasts with calculating eyes. Unlike their untrained counterparts, whose stares showed worry and fear as they toyed with their arms and armor.


    The most impressive out of all of them was the seven-foot-tall individual wearing half-plate armor. The armor itself didn''t seem to be anything special, but more than likely, it was enchanted. Just because Eagle couldn¡¯t detect the magic, it didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t there. This individual was also clearly the dragon knight that Dan had heard of. Not only did he look impressive and ready for battle, but it was rather obvious that he was a lizardy humanoid, at least if his tail and snout were anything to go by.


    Due to his tail, it was obvious that he was of fiery dragon descent. The scales were deep dark red, matching his slitted draconic eyes. Another obvious thing was that the knight was also the only reason the guards seemed to hold as much confidence as they did.


    The party kept approaching, and Dena motioned for his beasts to hold on and let her walk forward on her own. Now, Dan wanted this integration to go as smoothly as possible and had told his monsters to follow Dena¡¯s commands on this particular mission.


    As the druid approached the dragonkin, he gave her a rather creepy smile, at least by Dan¡¯s standards. It was just hard to give a good smile when you also exposed the rather sharp teeth underneath. Still, it was definitely something Dena had seen before, and she didn''t seem to mind.


    Dan wasn''t sure why Dena and the dragonkin began to whisper, but he wasn''t worried. Not only were they all D rank, but she had to know he would be able to hear them or more like one of his monsters would, and of course, he was listening through Kinetics cat''s ears, which didn''t miss much. However, since he had decided to trust Dena to handle this, he waited while listening to the conversation.


    ¡°Mistress Dena, it''s a pleasure to see you again.¡± The dragonkin responded, his voice rugged like a veteran, though much more gravely, probably due to his draconic nature.


    ¡°A pleasure to see you as well, Sir Drax,¡± Dena responded, curtseying to the knight''s quick bow.


    ¡°May I ask what brings you to our lovely village this fine morning? And if those mighty beasts are truly with you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I bring some news I wish to speak with you about, and yes, they are with me. They are the reason why I am here, to begin with.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, I see. Well, you have done right by us so far, so I can hear you out at the very least.¡± Drax said as he glanced at the relaxed group of beasts.


    Hearing this, Dena gave the dragonkin a genuine smile before speaking again, ¡°Would you like to take this inside then?¡±


    This time, the dragon knight answered with a shake of his head before explaining himself, ¡°Mistress Dena, as you know, I am the real power behind this village, and I simply wouldn''t feel comfortable losing sight of such mighty creatures. I do apologize, but you must understand.¡±


    ¡°I understand, Sir Drax, and I will be straightforward,¡± Dena replied before pausing to put her thoughts together and starting again, ¡°As you no doubt can tell, all of these beasts are D rank. What¡¯s even more impressive is that there are more of them. Last time I checked, it was at least 50.¡± Dena lied as she actually didn¡¯t know how many ranked monsters Dan had, but she imagined there were a lot. Not like it mattered anyway, so she continued, though a smile crossed her face when she saw Drax¡¯s surprised draconic face.


    ¡°Now, not only is that impressive, but their master has already helped us and you without you even knowing.¡±


    ¡°How is that so?¡± Drax asked, puzzlement showing on his otherwise neutral draconic face.


    ¡°Well, their master is in the process of conquering these lands and, with their strength, has already dispatched your bandit problem.¡± A sentence that brought understanding to the knight''s face as everything clicked into place for him, and he spoke up, stopping Dena from continuing.


    ¡°And let me guess, we are next in their master¡¯s plans?¡± Drax asked, receiving another smile from Dena and a simple nod before she answered the question properly.


    ¡°Yes, but do not misunderstand. Though their master wishes to conquer these lands, he does not wish to spill the blood of the innocent. This is why, instead of simply ravaging this town with its forces, it has tasked me with convincing you to submit of your own free will.¡±


    Hearing Dena¡¯s reply, Drax grunted as he went silent for some time, supposedly thinking things over. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t take long before the dragonkin spoke once again.


    ¡°I understand. It¡¯s not like there is much we can do. We are clearly outmatched in combat prowess, and I would rather avoid having the villagers be killed without good reason. I do have some questions before doing anything, and Dena, since you serve this master, it would be best to ask you. So far, you seem to be a force for good, so I do trust your judgment, but I would like to know your thoughts.¡±


    Dena nodded, and Drax asked, ¡°Why do you serve this master? Do you think they are truly a force for good? And what exactly will change for this village under their rule?¡±

 Chapter 50 - Answers

    Dungeon Day 57 - Continues


    Drax¡¯s questions were valid, and Dena was more than happy to answer them in order to appease the worried knight.


    ¡°Well, Sir Drax, I joined them because their master showed power over magic that I had never seen before. As you can see, they have access to powerful creatures whose numbers, I assure you, will only increase. And as you have seen, you are no longer in your old world, nor are we. So, the best way I saw to assure the safety of my family was to join them.¡± Dena said, answering the knight''s first question while pointing toward Dan¡¯s beasts. Then, taking a quick pause and seeing as the knight had nothing else to add, she continued.


    ¡°The subject of good and evil can be rather flexible as many things can fall on either side based on situations. However, so far, I have seen their master save the frog folk, who, by the way, have also bent the knee. Their master has also done its best to keep us safe and has already solved your bandit issue. Furthermore, it plans to deal with the bigger issues like the goblins and trolls, which you no doubt are aware of.¡±


    At the latest answer, Drax¡¯s face went very solemn. The knight knew of the goblins, trolls, and ogres. Sure, they had yet to do much, but that could change at any moment. And no matter how strong he was, there were simply too many of them for him to fight alone. It was hard to believe that this master of theirs could deal with such a threat, but based on the beasts before him, it was hard to deny the fact. There were 30 D rank creatures in front of him, which alone could definitely stand against the mentioned threats.


    If Drax had to be honest, he was already mostly convinced about bending the knee; it all depended on the final answer. The last thing he wanted was for the villager''s life to be turned upside down by whatever was coming. He expected some change, but he would accept only so much. Thankfully, it was a worry that was quickly appeased as Dena continued with her answers.


    ¡°To answer your final question, I think there will be little change for the village. You will likely have some more beasts around guarding the place, and speaking from experience, you might be called forth to fight. Otherwise, I don¡¯t think Master has much of a need for a simple farming village.¡±


    Thinking about the druid''s answer, the knight thought it over and found it to be true. They were just a simple village, and there wasn¡¯t much they could offer this master. He was more than happy to fight since that was what he was good for.


    ¡°Very well, I trust you and your judgment. However, I do feel we are being coerced into this since there isn¡¯t much to do against the clear display of power this master has shown. Still, I don¡¯t see a better way to move forward. How do we proceed?¡± Drax finally said as he relented to the inevitable.


    Hearing the dragonkin, Dena smiled as she motioned for Kinetic to move forward. The cheetah''s movement caused the guards to tense up, and Drax gave the beasts a weary eye. The knight had a much sharper sense than Dena, his planet having progressed in magic further than hers. Not to mention, he had received a high level of training in his home world. All of this meant that though all of the beasts in front of him were on the lower end of D rank, he could still sense the qualitative presence of a clearly superior monster. Even so, he had made his decision and trusted Dena.


    The beast approached, looking up at Drax, and spoke.


    ¡°Sup bro, you ready?¡±


    The act caught the dragon knight by surprise, and he stepped back while staring at the beast in front of him, whose fur sparkled with lightning. Drax¡¯s actions caused Dena to giggle as she stared at him with amusement. In turn, Drax gave the druid an accusatory look, his voice giving way to his sentiment.


    ¡°You knew!?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Dena answered, a smile still plastered across her face.


    As this exchange happened, Dan looked at the so-called guards, only to find they were more curious than anything. They still had some clear trepidation, but after having stood there throughout the whole thing, much of their fear had slowly sipped away.


    The knight took a deep breath, releasing just the tiniest bit of heat with his exhale as he tried to overcome the shock. Drax knew of monsters, and those with enough intellect to speak were usually the worst. The issue was that this creature in front of him hadn¡¯t shown a single bit of hostility throughout the entire time it had been here. This clearly showed that whoever this master was not only had powerful minions but had enough control over them to stop them from doing as they wished.


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    In a way, this aspect of this so-called master scared Drax as the entity itself then had to possess power beyond its minions. However, at the same time, having such a powerful entity watching the village would be a boon. It was getting harder and harder for Drax to deny the clear benefits of siding with this entity, so seeing the druid and beast had waited for him to deliberate further, Drax continued on.


    ¡°Hello there, beast. May I know your name?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, bro, I am Kinetic. Nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°A pleasure to meet you too, Kinetic, though a surprising one. To answer your earlier question, I am ready. How do we proceed?¡±


    At his words, the cheetah moved closer and lightly put its paw on Drax¡¯s foot.


    Drax felt energy pour into him, and then a will pressed on his own and called for him to submit his lands and all things within them, including himself. The experience was odd and disturbing, causing Drax to lose himself in it. The knight, unsure of the whole thing, hesitated but brought himself back to reality.


    Dena saw the fear and worry in the knight''s eyes and nodded, encouraging the knight to give in to the feeling she once felt. Drax, seeing Dena, remembered he had agreed to this and gave way to this foreign will, feeling it spread all across his body. The presence invaded all of him, and Drax lost consciousness for a fraction of a second as it entered his soul. Then, when he came to, he was back in the village, standing right where he had been. Looking around, he saw things that looked the same. However, Drax knew it was far from the truth.


    Unlike Dena, Drax''s presence was far better, having been honed over years of training. Drax had been one of the elites back in his home world, and he was only in his current situation because he had been traveling.


    Drax had stopped at the small village for the night only to find that when he woke up, things had changed. At first, panic had set in, but realizing he was the strongest thing in the village and with all the villagers looking to him for guidance, he had been forced to step up. As days passed, everything seemed to be fine, at least until the bandits arrived, and he had been forced to push them back.


    They had been getting braver and braver, thinking they could take him. However, Drax only worried about the villager''s safety as he knew the bandits were no match for him. Even so, he eventually learned about the green menace and the danger in the hills. Sadly, there wasn¡¯t much he could do about the situation, so he had turned to training the villagers in the hope that they had even the slightest chance at survival if it ever came to a battle.


    All of this is to say that even with all the many dangers lurking about, something had always stayed the same. As odd as the place they found themselves in was, it never felt truly off. If it hadn¡¯t been for the fact he had seen the mists himself, he would have never believed they were in some sort of weird space. Sure, there was no sun or moon, but there was still a day and a night. Due to this, the villagers could continue as if nothing much was truly happening.


    However, as Drax stood, there was something clearly different. The entire place was awash in a presence. It didn¡¯t feel more powerful than himself, but the sheer fact it covered the entire area, almost like it was coming from everywhere, stunned him. Where before the place had seemed free of any influence, now it was as if some all-powerful entity had placed it under its control. And, of course, Drax only knew of one entity that could be responsible.


    In fact, when he focused on Dena and the beasts, the presence was stronger there than anywhere else. Drax realized it was because they were giving off the same presence, though slightly changed. Their peculiarities still marked them as different creatures, but their own energies were tinged with this power.


    As Drax thought about it, Dena and the beasts served this master, and now he did, too. The thought brought panic as he inspected himself, only to find that he was also tinged with this power.


    Dan felt the knight freaking out and decided to intervene. The knight was technically his, but much like Dena, he had yet to take the final step, which would be getting properly remade in Dan¡¯s image. It was problematic as it would mean he didn¡¯t have full access to the guy and couldn''t just make him chill. So, Dan decided to change that. Thankfully, the dude was more shocked than anything, so he hadn¡¯t spoken yet, and Dan used that to swoop in. In fact, since Dena was there, it was best to get her as well; otherwise, she would start asking questions.


    There wasn¡¯t much thought to the whole thing as Dan wasn¡¯t changing anything, so he quickly paid the 300 mana. Then, in a blink, Dena and Drax disappeared before reappearing again, almost like nothing had happened. The villagers seemed confused, trying to figure out what exactly had happened, but since Drax and Dena didn¡¯t say anything, neither did they. The best part was that now Dena and Drax were officially his.


    After that, Dan looked at this notification just to make sure nothing had happened and that there wasn¡¯t a secret second leader in the village or anything.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have gained control of another faction and thus have claimed their lands.


    ??


    Happy the town hadn¡¯t somehow hidden a shard from him, Dan decided to actually take a look at Dena¡¯s and Drax¡¯s stat blocks. The change had been so automatic that he hadn¡¯t actually had to do anything except want it to happen.

 Chapter 51 - Drax and Dena

    Dungeon Day 56 - Continues


    Looking at the stat blocks for humanoids, Dan was glad he didn¡¯t need to pay for the innate abilities of creatures he had gained the blueprint for; otherwise, things would have been more expensive when re-making the two humanoids.


    Humanoid''s stat blocks were similar to monsters except that instead of abilities for powers, they had spells and techniques on top of innate abilities.


    What was even better was that as long as humanoids were D rank and above, Dan could give them as many spells as he wanted without extra charge. Of course, there were a few other things to make things fair and balance things out, but it wasn¡¯t something Dan had to worry about when he had remade his two humanoids.


    This was because they were initially created the normal way, and he had their blueprints. So, Dan had bypassed some of the things that would have otherwise made them much more expensive. However, if he made his own elf or dragonkin now, he would have to go through the proper channels and pay more. Thankfully, that didn¡¯t matter right now, and Dan returned to looking at his two humanoid stat blocks, starting with Dena.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Dena Liasis.


    Type: Humanoid - Beast Elf.


    Choice: Forest Druid.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 600/600.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 300/300.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Dark Vision. Beast Shapeshifter. Nature Attuned. Language of Beasts. Forest Attendant. Presences. Long Lived.


    Spells: 9.


    Basic Beam of Extinction. Basic Heal. Shield. Barrier. Basic Control Elements. Basic Clean. Summon Light Fruit. Basic Root Control. Body Enhancement - General.


    Techniques: 0.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 61 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 122 Mana.


    ??


    First were the innate abilities, unlike his monsters, whose innate abilities he couldn¡¯t really touch much. A humanoid was much more adaptable. Looking into it, Dan saw it had something to do with the many varieties found within humanoid ancestry. Monsters were usually more one-tracked, whereas humanoids could be a mix of a multitude of different things.


    A good example was seen in their types. If Dan took a beast''s changes too far, they would become monstrosities, half-elementals, or whatever. However, if he went and changed Dena¡¯s innate abilities she would become a different type of elf. She would still be a humanoid, just a different subclass of her main species. Either way, monsters, and humanoids were still the same in that their innate abilities showed what their lineage entailed.


    Looking at Dena, her beast bloodline is seen in her shapeshifting and language ability, which then classified her as a Beast Elf. This could be different and display something like Forest Elf or Nature Elf, etc. However, the bloodline overrode that. The other interesting thing was the choice. Now, as far as Dan could discern from the information he was gaining, the whole choice assignment was more of something the system did to help Dan. The choice was a quick way to summarize what Dena specialized in.


    In this case, Forest Druid meant she was a druid or someone who cared for nature and specifically focused on forests. Apparently, magic was more complicated than games back on Earth, and just because you were a druid didn¡¯t mean you could shape-shift. This time around it was purely coincidental that Dena was able to shapeshift and also followed the path of a druid. In fact, when Dan took a closer look at her ancestry, it was just that this beast''s bloodline truly overpowered the rest. It turns out that Dena came from a line of Forest Elves, which is why she has the Nature Attuned and Forest Attendant abilities. Those abilities made the druid better at caring for the forest and using any nature magic.


    Following all of that were the spells. Dan immediately saw the beam she used to kill Eagle a while back, and the name was actually kind of badass. Other than that, everything else was rather basic. Though he did wonder what the heck the difference between the shield and barrier spells was. And he was happy to learn, courtesy of the system, that the shield was something she constantly had to maintain but acted as a bubble around her, allowing her to block many things as long as she had mana. Meanwhile, the barrier was fed a certain amount of mana, which it then used to block whatever was coming since it stayed stationary. Dan honestly thought the shield was better but could see how the barrier would be useful.


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    Either way, seeing as Dena didn¡¯t have any of these so-called techniques, Dan pulled up Drax¡¯s stat block, hoping he would have some.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: High D Rank.


    Name: Sir Draxis Kron.


    Type: Humanoid - Flame Dragonkin.


    Choice: Draconic Fighter.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 1600/1600.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +10 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 800/800.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +5 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Dark Vision. Flame Breath. Flame Resistant. Flame Attuned. Dragonblooded - Fire. Presences.


    Spells: 8.


    Body Enhancement - General, Strength, Speed, Resilience. Sub Body Enhancement - Boost, Minor Levitate, Wall Climb. Shield.


    Techniques: 5.


    Burning Flames. Light like Ash. Lacerating Slash. Piercing Thrust. Scales of a Dragon.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 89 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 178 Mana.


    ??


    Dan had to admit that Drax did not disappoint. Not only did the so-called knight have techniques, but more importantly he had stayed at High D Rank. Dan had honestly been expecting the dragonkin to be demoted, but the fact that he didn¡¯t was a pleasant surprise. Sadly, it didn¡¯t mean Dan could now create High D Rankers, and it was more of an exception to the rule since he hadn¡¯t actually changed anything. Then, adding to the fact the dude had still been alive, something the wolf bat boss no longer was, thus making it unable to be respawned as a High D Ranker.


    Honestly, just the fact that he now had access to a High D Ranker changed the whole game, and Dan felt even more confident about taking down the shards even faster. Comparing the high ranker''s stats to his lower rank creations, the difference was night and day. Just looking at the Arcane Mana alone, if he gave the knight the Mana Storage ability, it would take him up to 3200 mana. To Dan, that alone seemed overpowered, and now that he had brought attention to it, he truly expected it to get nerfed.


    It didn¡¯t even take long after the discovery when he received the news from the World Crystal; if he wanted to give Mana Storage to bosses or mini-bosses who were High D Rank or higher, he would have to pay extra.


    Taking a minute to calm down at the unfairness of reality, Dan proceeded with his inspection.


    Drax¡¯s innate abilities did not really surprise Dan. Since the dragonkin was part dragon, it made sense that his innate abilities reflected that. The only thing that wasn¡¯t necessarily obvious was the Dragonblooded ability. The ability did a bunch of different things and was the real center of the dragonkin and where all his other abilities came from. Including a few that didn¡¯t show up on the stat block since they were integrated into the Dragonblooded ability. Such as the fact that Drax could speak Draconic, aka the language of dragons. Additionally, since he had dragon blood within, he would unlock other abilities as he grew in power. All abilities also counted as Innate Magic. Meaning they were unique in their workings and fell into a special magical category too expansive for Dan to bother getting into.


    Moving on to the techniques, Dan found they were basically a separate category of magic that could accomplish the same thing as chanting and relied more on willpower than knowledge. However, that didn¡¯t mean casters didn¡¯t use them. Techniques fell into a wide variety of things, though they were mostly described as spells that could be used with fewer words and lots of willpower. In truth, the whole thing was also another pain in the ass, and Dan couldn¡¯t be bothered. As far as Dan was concerned, it was simple; you said the name of the technique with lots of your willpower and mana behind it, and cool shit happened. Usually, the name of the technique implying what it did.


    And from looking at Drax¡¯s, it was rather straightforward. Light like Ash was clearly some sort of movement technique. Meanwhile, Lacerating Slash and Piercing Thrust were weapon techniques. Then Scales of a Dragon was definitely a defensive technique. Looking into Burning Flames, Dan found it lit the dragonkin and his weapons on fire as he chose to let him burn things much more easily.


    After spending some time inspecting his two official humanoids, Dan looked back at their location to find everything had been resolved. They were inside the town hall eating and drinking while his monsters relaxed outside. Seeing this, Dan instantly got them moving. Well, he got his monsters moving. The village and all its citizens were now part of his dungeon, which meant things would start targeting them. So, he sent his two teams of monsters, Kinetic and Eagle the Hawk, to begin patrolling.


    Additionally, Dan created a teleporter behind the town hall so he would have another spot to teleport to. Actually, as he did that, he made another one at the bandit ruins. In total, it was another 630 mana, and Dan barely batted an eye.


    With the teleporters out of the way, Dan just needed to create more monsters to increase the villager''s defenses. In regards to Drax and Dena, he would allow them to continue doing their thing for another day or two. Then, it would be time to bring in the kobolds.


    Dan had originally decided to leave them for last, along with the gnolls, but it was best to leave the gnolls for last. Unlike the gnolls, Dan knew he could bring in the kobolds with little to no combat. Honestly, Dan expected he would have to wipe out half of the gnolls, if not all of them, for them to see reason.


    He would have loved it if all areas could be conquered as easily as the ones he had done so far, but it seemed something had changed. Or maybe it had always been this way, and Dan had never realized it. The thing was that even if he killed an area leader or leaders, it didn¡¯t mean he would just claim it right away if the rest of that area''s inhabitants were still hostile towards his forces. Their leader either had to submit or the majority of forces needed to surrender.


    He hadn¡¯t experienced it until the bandits, since he had consumed his first shard, and Dena and the frog chief had submitted. Dan did wonder if it had something to do with the majority of power found in the faction. For example, if he had killed Drax, who held all of the power in the village, would the area have been claimed just fine? Whereas the kobolds or gnolls leaders didn¡¯t hold most of the power, would killing them not hold as much weight?


    Anyway, in the end, it truly didn¡¯t matter; Dan¡¯s rule over these lands was inevitable.

 Chapter 52 - Kobolds

    Dungeon Day 58


    With Drax and Dena staying behind at the village along with his two D ranked teams and two mini-bosses, Dan wasn''t too worried for their safety. Instead, he had looked into dealing with the kobolds. They were the last weak area outside of the gnolls that he needed to conquer. The only thing that had held him back was the lack of D rankers. He knew that monsters would start to target the kobolds once he conquered them, and Dan would have to make sure he left some defenders behind. So, after waiting two days in order to make five new D ranked teams, Dan finally decided to conquer the kobolds.


    After taking Dena and Eagle the Hawk away from the village, Dan replaced them with another ranked team. The druid would be the one doing the introductions as usual, but this time, Dan also sent Chomp the Worm with her. He knew that the kobolds resided underground, so having something that could target them directly would be good.


    Dan honestly doubted that the kobolds would give up as easily as the village had. They had a proper military force, and no doubt believed themselves to be capable of defending against most threats. So, he imagined he would have to flex some of his power to get them to cooperate.


    Leaving from the southern part of the village it only took the party a few hours or so to make it into kobold lands. The terrain changed from a rather forestry environment and into a much more rocky outcropping. Rocks began to jut out of the ground with large piles of boulders strewn about. Overall, the area was much more treacherous and hilly. Now, it didn''t mean that there weren¡¯t trees about, as there were a couple here and there, but nowhere near the same forestry environment that could be found in the rest of the zone.


    Watching from the sky, Dan could easily spot the two massive stone structures that contained the entrances to the kobold''s and gnoll''s caves. Both of them grew from the stone around them and were rather imposing compared to all the other boulder piles around them. If Dan had to compare their entrances to anything, it would probably be like a hanger-sized hole big enough to allow an airliner through.


    Much like he had seen before and had been told, both entrances were heavily guarded and structured. However, having taken a look at the gnoll''s entrance first, Dan had to admit that the kobolds were much more prepared in their defense. Whereas the gnolls focused more on ground defenses by having many spike walls, trenches, and all sorts of detritus strewn about. The kobolds had created more structural lines of defense. Things weren''t seemingly put all over the place and followed a coherent plan. They had towers with archers manning them and even alcoves attached to the cave walls with a couple of ballista-looking things on them. Dan had to admit that he was genuinely impressed, even if such defenses wouldn''t do much against his monsters.


    As Dena approached the first defenses of the cave, Dan nudged Eagle the Hawk to land on the druid. He couldn''t really see through Chomp¡¯s senses like he wanted to, and since he wanted a good view of the goings-on, he needed Eagle¡¯s eyes.


    The party stopped in front of the defenses, and Dan could tell that the kobolds seemed rather weary of the beasts standing behind Dena. The kobolds were small creatures standing maybe two to three feet tall, with a few bulkier ones standing a little taller than that.


    Much to Dan¡¯s earlier surprise, they weren''t all red. He didn''t know why he had the idea that all kobolds were red, but it was far from the truth. They came in all sorts of colorations: red, blue, green, orange, purple, and a couple of others. In a way, it made sense. The little lizard folks were descendants of dragons, so their coloring should match their ancestry.


    In this particular case, all the kobolds in front of the party were shades of brown or grey, showing they probably descended from some earth or stone dragons. Aside from their color, other things they had in common were their short crocodile-like snouts and the fact they stood on two raptor-like legs and used thin raptor-like tails that were half of their height to balance themselves.


    As far as differences went, well, outside of their pigmentations, with some being lighter colored than others, the two main differences were with their horns and scaly skin. Their horns came in a wide variety of types: short, long, twisting, straight, curving, or a mix of any. Additionally, it wasn¡¯t uncommon for them to have more than two horns. Now, as for their skin, well, from Dan¡¯s view, it seemed to mostly depend on what they did.


    The archers looked to have much smoother skins, with only patches of rough, bigger stone-like scales growing in certain places, usually the feet, elbows, and back. Meanwhile, those who seemed to deal in closer combat had much denser scales all over. These scales, though bulkier, somehow didn¡¯t prevent them from wearing some basic armor, but not always. Even so, it was impressive that with the number of kobolds missing armor, they all still looked like a proper military force.


    While they stood there, a commotion was happening within the ranks, and eventually, a kobold who had to be in charge came out to meet with Dena. The kobold was one of the bulkier and wore chain mail armor. Other than armor, the kobold had a simple sword on his waist and a tabard showing a sword stabbed into and across a chunk of rock. Also, the kobold was a male, as his snout was slightly larger than the females, or so Dan had been told. Either way, the kobold came to a stop in front of Dena and quickly addressed her.


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    ¡°Druid, it is nice to see you again. What brings you to our warren once again?¡± The kobold''s voice was squeaky, like how you expected a goblin''s high-pitched voice to sound, but with some gravel added on there as well, which gave it a hint of seriousness.


    ¡°Captain Uldu, I wish to meet with Lady Diba if it isn¡¯t too much to ask,¡± Dena responded calmly, giving a quick bow.


    Uldu answered, suspiciously eyeing the beasts, ¡°What do you wish to speak with her ladyship about? Perhaps these beasts? Have you brought them to assist us in our war?¡±


    Dena smiled and nodded as it was technically the truth.


    ¡°Very well, follow me, though your beasts must wait outside.¡±


    ¡°Would it be possible to bring in the hawk?¡± the druid asked as the kobold turned around to walk away. Still, he nodded, and she followed.


    Walking into the warren, Dan was once again impressed by the kobolds. After the main entrance and its many defenses, the tunnel stretched forward a bit longer before it took a turn downwards. Slowly but surely, the tunnel got smaller and smaller until it went from its hangar size to a much more normal size. Meaning it could now almost fit two average-sized humanoids.


    Through the tunnel, they ran into other defenses built into the wall. These were mainly kill rooms that would allow the kobolds to attack any invading force without suffering much damage in return. Eventually, though, the tunnel opened back up, and Dan found himself in a large cave bustling with activity.


    Smaller tunnels veered off this large area, and many kobolds could be seen darting in and out of them. The place was barely lit, and it was then that Dan was happy he had given Eagle the Hawk Night Vision.


    Looking at the cave in amazement, Dan appreciated how the kobolds used any space available. The walls were filled with stairs leading into rooms and other tunnels, allowing the kobolds to truly maximize the amount of area they had available. However, looking around, Dan also saw that the kobolds weren''t all fighters. Though he did see some warrior-looking kobolds walking around, many more seemed to be of much more simple crafting backgrounds. They all worked neatly and efficiently to help run the warren, but it also meant there were fewer warriors to fight off the gnolls.


    Eventually, Uldu took them to the back of the large cave and through a tunnel that opened up into a larger space that was obviously some sort of throne room. The room was guarded by a dozen or so soldiers that formed a line in front of the small stone throne. A few guards stood in front of the two tunnels that left the throne room, but none actually guarded the entrance Dena had come through. The room itself followed a simple layout and was separated into two areas.


    The area where Dena and Uldu were was on the lower end. Steps led up to and separated them from the raised area that held the throne.


    After a few moments of waiting in the plain stone room, another kobold wearing simple brown robes came from the tunnel on the right and shouted in a much squeakier voice than Uldu¡¯s.


    ¡°Now presenting her Ladyship, Lady Diba Snix!¡± After finishing his presentation, the kobold bowed, and a female kobold with the smoothest kobold skin Dan had seen so far came in. She wore nice-looking caramel-colored garments made of a nice, smooth-looking material. These garments went well with her grey-spattered skin, which made her look like she was a mix of many different stones.


    As her ladyship walked in, Dena and Uldu bowed, with Dan nudging Eagle to give a slight bow of her hawk head.


    Her ladyship eventually sat on her stone throne and spoke up in a shrill voice that made Dan wish he couldn¡¯t hear.


    ¡°Captain Uldu, please rise and tell me why you have brought our friend, the druid, here before me once again.¡±


    Uldu slowly rose, never actually bringing his head upwards but always staring down at the ground, answering firmly and unworried.


    ¡°Yes, your ladyship as you wish. I have brought the druid here as she wishes to speak with you regarding the war and her willingness to assist with some new and mighty-looking beasts.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, I see. Very well, Captain Uldu, you are dismissed,¡± Diba said and waited for Uldu to slowly back out of the room before finding it in herself to speak with Dena. ¡°Friend Dena, please rise and do tell me about this additional assistance you wish to offer.¡±


    Now, it was when things began to get interesting. Dena rose, but to the lady''s surprise, instead of staring at the ground, her eyes met the supposed noble. This seemed to anger the kobold, but she didn¡¯t say anything. As for Dena, well, like usual, she smiled and spoke.


    ¡°Yes, your ladyship, I come because I have found a new master to serve. This master is powerful and commands many powerful beasts. Naturally, I spoke of your and your people''s plight to my master, and they offered to help. However, their help comes at a price.¡±


    Dena¡¯s answer definitely made the kobold uncomfortable, but from what Dena told Dan, the kobolds knew they were on the back foot. There were around 2000 kobolds, meaning they outnumbered the gnolls two to one. The problem was that this number added all the kobolds, which was wrong as not all of the kobolds were warriors. In truth, only around 600 of the kobolds were warriors, with maybe another 200 to 300 being able to actually perform somewhat decently in combat. This meant the kobolds were outmatched in combat since one gnoll could easily fight two kobolds. So, in the end, her ladyship knew that they were only holding on by a thread and only because the gnolls hadn¡¯t mounted a full-on attack just yet. Thus, it meant she, at the very least, had to ask in the hopes that the price wasn¡¯t too high.

 Chapter 53 - Three to Go

    Dungeon Day 58 - Continues


    ¡°Friend Dena, what is this price you speak of?¡±


    ¡°It is simple. You simply have to bend the knee.¡±


    ¡°What!! You wish for me to prostrate myself before this master!¡± Lady Diba exclaimed, her voice reaching a higher shrilling level than ever before.


    ¡°I, Lady Diba Snix, serve no one but the warren!¡±


    Hearing her ladyship scream out in anger, the guards reacted, putting their spears forward.


    ¡°Friend Dena! Leave, leave now! How dare you come to our home and demand we surrender to some unknown master!¡±


    ¡°Your ladyship, I demand nothing. I assure you that-¡± Dena was cut off.


    ¡°Enough! I will not hear any more of this. Guards!¡±


    Hearing that, Dan figured it was time to act, and Dan nudged his monsters to emerge. The guards who were taking a step forward stopped as they saw a large worm slowly rise out of the floor behind Dena. Not only that, but four other worms appeared from the ceiling, and eight weird metal moles ripped from the ground, landing lightly on the floor in front of them.


    For her part, Lady Diba was so lost in her ruckus that she didn¡¯t notice until a few seconds later when Chomp opened its maw and activated its Consume skill, causing the space in the small cave to become odd, now seeing what was in the room the once shrilling kobold stopped and stared. Sadly, even in the face of possible death, Diba didn¡¯t seem to stop, and after getting over, the shock began once again.


    ¡°What is this, friend Dena!? Have you brought these beasts to devour us!? Do you care so little for your warren? For your friends?¡±


    Dena, smacking her face with the palm of her hand, was about done with the entire thing.


    ¡°No, your ladyship, I bring them to show you the power of my master. If you bend the knee, this power can be used to protect your warren.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense, I, Lady Diba, serve no one! These beasts shall be mine regardless. Guards capture them!¡±


    Needless to say, the guards were quickly ripped apart, and not soon after, Dena convinced Diba to bend the knee, promising she would still be able to rule the warren. Well, convince was the wrong word. More like she threatened Diba with death by worm if she didn¡¯t bend the knee and then consoled her afterward by telling her she still ruled.


    Either way, Dan got the notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have gained control of another faction and thus have claimed their lands.


    ??


    Afterward, Dena left the warren and teleported back to her home on a teleporter Dan created in some stone outcroppings near the kobold cave. He also left the four teams behind to secretly help guard the kobold entrance and the teleporter. Then, with all that done, Dan finally looked at his dungeon menu to see how much progress he had made.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Shards Collected: 2/98.


    Points till Next Rank: 0/700.


    Mana: 900/900.


    Mana Regen: 32 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 16 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 300ft.


    Total Area Claimed: 578 to 877 Square Miles.


    Abilities. 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    Feeling happy about his growth, Dan checked his claiming goals to see how close he was to finishing them.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 6/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 2/6.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


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    Three more factions¡ªthat''s all he needed. Actually, it was more like two factions since the gnolls didn¡¯t count for much. The best part of everything was the shards. He only had three areas left to conquer, which meant the remaining shards had to be there. It was less great when he thought about fighting a D rank shard, but he wasn¡¯t too worried.


    As he thought about the whole shard thing, Dan wondered if the Chaos Mother had changed something for the upcoming fights. It was a real worry because pretty much all rules were off the table moving forward. Sure, Mother Eternity said she would keep to some rules, but that only extended as far as she wanted. In one zone, Dan could fight mana-storing shards, while in the next, he was somehow fighting a shard that could summon stuff in a different way than he could. Heck, some zones might be live right now with things happening, while others were trapped in time until he reached them.


    In a way, it was a nightmare for Dan that he had the Chaos Mother as a Dungeon Master, but in another, it was rather interesting. Dan was on an ultimate adventure, never knowing what to expect.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Warning! A Crystal Shard has been consumed!


    Claiming Goal updated.


    ??


    Speaking of not knowing what to expect.


    Honestly, looking at the notification, Dan wasn¡¯t even fazed. It was just another challenge to overcome. So, instead of worrying, Dan looked to bring some creations to life.


    If Dan was being truthful, he was getting tired of having the same monsters. He wanted some variety, at least before he began making his dungeon. He would have plenty of variety at that point, but until then, some change would be nice.


    First, he looked to make some monstrosities. Specifically, he wanted to make some of the centipedes, and looking at them, he was surprised. Spawning a Low D Rank centipede would cost less mana than most of his beasts. This was due to the fact that he wouldn¡¯t have to give them abilities. Instead, since they came pre-made like they were, and he now had their blueprints, their original abilities didn¡¯t cost mana. Ecstatic, Dan quickly looked at the centipedes available, knowing they would be an even stronger force when he gave them some new abilities.


    First up were the Centiblades. Dan gave them a few body enhancements and two abilities to help their already powerful bladed limbs.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Centiblade.


    Type: Monstrosity.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 75/75.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 4.


    Metal Affinity. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Blade Sharpen.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Bladed Limbs. Splitable Carapace. Unhinged Mobility. Vibroperception. Thermal Antennae. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 21 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 42 Mana.


    ??


    Looking at the centipede, Dan was happy with its looks and hadn¡¯t changed anything. For its abilities, Blade Sharpen let it channel mana to make its blades sharper. Bladed Limbs was obvious as far as its innate abilities went. Splitable Carapace enabled the centipede to detach its body segments, giving it more reach. Then, Unhinged Mobility allowed it to twist its body in new ways, like twisting its spine. Vibroperception let the thing see by detecting vibrations, while the Thermal Antennae further help it perceive its environment by detecting heat.


    Overall, the centiblade wasn¡¯t bad, and Dan moved on to the next centipede.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Centibulkers.


    Type: Monstrosity.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 75/75.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 6.


    Poison Affinity. Body Enhancement - Strength and Resilience. Regeneration. Enhanced Poison Gland. Rolling Charge.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Strength. Reinforced Carapace. Poison Gland. Poison Blast. Vibroperception. Thermal Antennae. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 30 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 61 Mana.


    ??


    Much like the centiblade, Dan gave the bulkers things to help them further in combat. Regeneration to keep it in combat for longer at the expense of mana. Enhanced Poison Gland to help it create a more potent poison and Rolling Charge, allowing it to roll up and charge into the enemy, dealing some damage before releasing its poison.


    The centibulkers were just the bears of the centipedes with a little extra spice. They weren¡¯t Dan¡¯s favorite and were in last place among the centipedes, with the centiblades in second, with the top centipedes being the centimentalists.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Centimentalists.


    Type: Monstrosity.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 300/300.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 6.


    Abjuration Affinity. Evocation Affinity. Enhanced Evocations. Mana Storage. Shield. Camouflage.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Innate Elemental Magic - Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water. Basic Evocationist. Arcane Antennae. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 31 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 62 Mana.


    ??


    The centimentalists were the casters of the bunch. Their innate abilities were rather straightforward, with Innate Elemental Magic giving them access to elemental magic while Basic Evocationist actually allowed it to summon that magic. Finally, their Arcane Antennae were what they used to focus their magic and truly bring it to life while at the same time working as a mana receptor, letting the centipedes ¡°see.¡±


    Dan had decided to improve these centipedes and their colorful carapaces by doing a few things. Enhanced Evocations strengthened their magical attacks, while Mana Storage gave them more mana. Shield was an MVP and let them summon shields around them much like Dena and Drax could, allowing them to take a bit of punishment. Finally, Camouflage was to let them hide their colorful spots whenever they were hunting something or trying to be stealthy. Dan could have just removed them, but he liked the colorful splashes. He felt it gave them that dangerous vibe that poisonous things had.

 Chapter 54 - Variety

    Considering he still had plenty of mana left and was constantly getting more, Dan continued with his variety streak. The centipedes would be an excellent addition to his fighting force, but they were still the same type of creature. They were all somewhat different but still technically centipedes. So, Dan looked to make some new beasts.


    He wanted to make something that would add some function to his upcoming fights but also really change things up. Looking at his available beasts, Dan chose three to modify and bring to the top.


    The first of these beasts was going to be a type of bird. So far, he had eagles, hawks, and bats, which, when compared to the number of ground beasts he had, the birds took a hard loss in the variety factor. It wasn''t anyone''s fault, as there were just more things on the ground than in the air, and Dan hoped to bring a bit of flare into his monsters with this new addition.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Flaming Cardinal.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Tiny.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Bestial.


    Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 75/75.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 6.


    Flame Affinity. Flame Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Flaming Flock. Flame Spitter.


    Innate Abilities: 2.


    Keen Sight. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 25 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 50 Mana.


    ??


    Dan¡¯s idea of creating the cardinals was something akin to the octo-lilies. He was going to have them operate in swarms, hence the Flaming Flock ability, which let them boost each other the more of them there were. In Dan¡¯s mind''s eye, he saw a bunch of small flaming birds diving down at a horde of enemies and setting them all on fire.


    Not only could the cardinals spit small sparks of fire that would build up in quantity the more of them there were, but the Flame Enhancement allowed them to set themselves on fire without the obvious downsides. Mainly because it was more of an outer layer that was set on fire, and their bodies were actually protected by magic. Dan''s main concern was that they would set each other on fire, but the Flaming Flock''s ability gave them resistance to flames created by their own types of beasts. So, when everything was added up, the more of them there were, the hotter things got, but the more resistant they were to their own fire. Of course, anyone who wasn''t resistant to fire would be left behind in a charred pile.


    Moving on to the last two ground-based animals, Dan began with porcupines. They were going to be the perfect artillery to use against his enemies.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Launcher Porcupine.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 300/300.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 8.


    Metal Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Body Enhancement - Quill Regeneration. Explosive Quills. Homing Quills. Piercing Quills. Quill Discharge. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Quills. Keen Smell. Keen Hearing. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 30 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 61 Mana.


    ??


    At first glance, the porcupines might seem overpowered. However, they could only use one of their offensive quill abilities at a time. This meant they could only discharge Homing Quills or Piercing Quills one at a time and couldn¡¯t mix them up. The good thing was that they had variety for different types of fights. If the enemies were bunched up together, Explosive Quills would be the best. For enemies that had too much defense, no worries; they could use their Piercing Quills. And finally, if there was just a singular or speedy enemy, their Homing Quills would be put to work.


    Dan had to praise himself for the Metal Enhancement idea, yet again, since the quills themselves were only as tough as they normally were, even if the beast''s rank added to their toughness, it still wasn¡¯t enough. However, with Metal Enhancement added, the quills could be made into metal needles that would add extra piercing power and durability that they would not normally have. All in all, Dan really liked what he had created and couldn''t wait to see the sky filled with quills.


    Out of the three beasts, the last one was his favorite. Not only would it add an extra oomph to his combat prowess across all fields, but the silliness of it all made Dan smile inwardly.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Nutter Squirrel.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 75/75.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 10.


    Wood Affinity. Conjuration Affinity. Evocation Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility and Speed. Stealth. Basic Wood Meld. Summon Explosive Acorn. Summon Tangling Acorn. Precise.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Night Vision. Dexterous. Keen Smell. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 39 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 79 Mana.


    ??


    The name itself was just the best. Nutter Squirrel. Ha!


    Anyways, the squirrels would be more of a one-shot type of monster. An idea that made Dan giggle. Squirrels throwing their nuts; what a dumb idea. Dumb but, at the same time, incredibly genius.


    The main reason Dan had made the damn squirrels was for annoying purposes. Their whole thing would be to appear, throw their acorn at an adventurer, and then disappear. To this extent, Dan gave them the Wood Meld ability, which would let them meld into the wood of a tree. The ability seemed strong, but what adventurers wouldn¡¯t know, at least if they had bad senses, was that the squirrel just got stuck in the spot they melted into. They would then have to wait there until the danger passed before getting back out.


    Okay, well, if he was being honest with himself, he also made it for another reason: bomber squirrel detachments. Dan was going to have the eagles grab the squirrels and fly them over enemy lines. Then, the squirrels would unleash their explosive acorns, causing chaos and destruction. And to ensure they didn¡¯t miss, Dan had given them the Precise ability, which helped with their aiming.


    Another good ability, though not as good as the explosive acorns, was the tangling acorns. These acorns erupted into a mass of roots and vines that reached out to grab anything near them. They would be perfect when combined with other monsters as they would cause distractions and let other monsters hit with impunity. In fact, looking at the squirrels Dan realized they were more support animals than anything else. They were there to be annoying yet useful by setting up their fellows.


    Dan was feeling rather happy with the new additions, though he knew it would be a while before he had enough to make them truly useful. In fact, Dan would focus on creating more monsters for the next week or two. He wanted to have enough so he could sweep over the green camp and the hills in one go. However, while he waited, he needed to keep his nonexistent eyes open. There was definitely a D rank shard out there, and there was the possibility of a second one in the making. As such, he would need to send out scouts and keep an eye on the goblin camp and the hills just in case they started mobilizing.


    Honestly, Dan would have loved to charge right in, but he didn¡¯t have enough monsters to defend his lands properly. There were too many invaders spawning, and he had just enough monsters to keep them at bay.


    In a way, his own expansion had been done way too fast, but it had been for the best. He had hoped to find some shards in his three new areas but hadn¡¯t. That alone had been good enough since he now knew where the remaining shards were and, by extension, where he would have to mobilize his forces towards.


    Now, all that was left was to wait and build up before the final battles of the zone came to a head.

 Chapter 55 - Spawning Spree

    Dungeon Day 59


    It was late into the afternoon when Dan felt like he had enough hawks. He had spent most of the previous day along with most of this one, using all the mana he gained to create his scouts. Dan wanted to ensure he always had eyes on the green camp and throughout the hills.


    To accomplish this, Dan had spawned 40 hawks at the cost of 2,520 Mana. Their sole purpose would be to fly over the camp and throughout the hills, making sure to update him whenever anything unusual happened.


    Keeping him informed would have been a problem before, but now that he had much more land bordering the green camp and the hills, it wouldn''t be as big of a deal. Dan just wanted to make sure that he was up to date so he could focus on summoning things and preparing for his future dungeon.


    Dungeon Day 61


    Things were starting to get a bit silly. There was less and less reason for his normal monsters to get involved in any of the fighting. Dan wouldn''t remove all of his common rank monsters since he had a plan for them, but they provided little fighting power. Sure, they could take on the regular spawning invaders, but with the threat of even more spawning enemy D rankers, common monsters were starting to take even more casualties. It was getting to the point that Dan was thinking of just recalling them and having them only hunt around his core. After all, his D rank monsters could do what his common monsters could and more.


    Actually, that was exactly what Dan was going to do, as with the latest edition of five additional D rank teams, he had more than enough monsters to cover his lands if he recalled the common ranked ones.


    Something else Dan had also been thinking about as he spent the last two days creating the five teams was the creation of a new team of monsters. For this new team, he was thinking of combining centipedes, bats, spiders, squirrels, and porcupines. It was a good idea since he had yet to make any D rank spiders or bats.


    He had thought about keeping the spiders and bats as defenders, but honestly, he wasn''t worried about it anymore. Not only did he have his shield and other magical defenses, but any enemies that would come were more than likely to come from the mists. Even if they didn''t come from the mist, they would still have to make their way through a lot of land, passing a lot of his D rankers on the way. So, it was better if he sent out his soon-to-be-created ranked bats and spiders to fight than to keep them cooped up.


    The idea was to Dan¡¯s liking, and he decided to go through with it, especially since he wanted to have a decent number of his porcupines and squirrels for the upcoming fights. As he thought about it further, he decided actually to have some fun with it.


    It was something that he didn''t need to do but just seemed interesting. There was an upcoming fight with the green camp if the moves they had been making were anything to go by. And Dan figured it would be interesting if he fought the camp with his new teams instead of combining the old ones with the new ones.


    Dan believed he still had plenty of time to build up his new teams before a fight broke out, especially since the green camp was taking some time to put themselves together. Whatever issues had been going on within the camp had been resolved, possibly due to the interference of a shard or shards. And during the last couple of days, he had gained news from his hawks that the camp was starting to restructure as the cleanup process began. Dan expected that enemy parties would soon be approaching his territory. Parties that he would have to kill, which would then escalate the conflict until a full-on battle came about.


    Dungeon Day 65


    Just as expected, the goblins began making their move. It had started a day ago when Dan had gotten the report that goblin parties were being sent out in all directions. Since that meant that most of those goblin parties would head into his territory, Dan had to react. He had sent teams, both old and new, to intercept the parties and take care of them. It would be some time before the goblins actually sent anybody to investigate the missing parties, but it would eventually happen. Until then, Dan was happy to keep observing them and building up his forces.


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    His build-up of forces was going great, and during the last four days, he had created 16 new parties at a cost of 12,130 mana. These new parties were sent to patrol the village and kobold area since Dan wanted them closer to the green camp in order to make it easier to mobilize them for a fight. The original parties in those areas were sent toward the druids or the bandits since the teams there were getting pressured by the ever-spawning invaders.


    With the buildup of forces going rather well and the goblin situation somewhat in hand, Dan was more worried about the hills. As far as he could tell, the fight between the trolls and the ogres was still ongoing, and his hawks had spotted many D rank members on both sides. What was more interesting about the whole situation now that he had a closer look was that the trolls seemed to be fighting among themselves. Dan wasn''t sure whether that was a new development or something that had just been happening.


    He had asked Dena, but she said she never truly went too deep into the hills or stayed for that long, so she couldn''t know for sure.


    So far, Dan had good reason to believe that at least one or two shards had to be in the hill area. This then added to the claim that either the ogres or the trolls were being controlled, though it was a bit hard to tell. When Dan thought about it, maybe both of them were being controlled.


    In moments like this, Dan wished he could sense the shards with any accuracy, but from previous experience, the shards were good at hiding themselves. This added another layer of worry that there could be a shard hiding with the gnolls and Dan wasn¡¯t aware.


    In the end, as long as he wasn''t ganged up on, Dan felt confident that he could take on any of the shards. All he needed to do was keep on creating more monsters.


    Dungeon Day 70


    Five days later, Dan was still building up his forces. He had even made some more cardinals. This time around, he had set a new record for the most mana he had spent. He had made 14 new parties at the cost of 10,822 mana with an additional mana expenditure of 5000 to create 100 Flaming Cardinals for a total of 101 cardinals. Dan would call them the 101 Cardinals, the first official dungeon flying squadron.


    Things looked good for Dan, and if things kept going as they were, he would wipe the floor with the green camp. They had sent out a few parties to investigate the disappearances, and Dan had also eliminated those parties. He knew they would eventually escalate, but he would keep building up until then.


    So far, he had added another 360 D ranked monsters, all from the newly created parties, though if he added the cardinals, it was 461 D ranked monsters. The amount made Dan feel like the green camp was going to be a walk in the park even if they had 6000 members. The thought of wiping the floor with the goblins made Dan so excited. So, it wasn''t very pleasant when his excitement came to an end in the most expected way possible.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Attention! A new event has been activated.


    Event Name: Green Aberration.


    Event details: The Green Camp and the minds of its many denizens have managed to overcome the mind of the D rank Shard controlling them. The shard, in its last moments, has fused itself and the three High D Rank members of the camp into a large green humanoid aberration. The new creation empowers all previously Low D Rank members of the Green Camp, bringing them to Mid-D-Rank.


    Warning! The new aberration has sensed your influence in the nearby lands, and its army marches in your direction. Eliminate the Green Aberration and conquer the green lands.


    Sorry, Dan. Mother says things were taking a bit too long. Good Luck.


    ??


    ¡°Stupid, motherfucking shit!¡± Dan roared, the sound being heard throughout his lands, scaring the crap out of all its living inhabitants.


    As anger bubbled in Dan¡¯s mind, he wished he had a body with which to smash things. He had to make a note of that and make some sort of golem he could control and fight with. Sadly, he couldn¡¯t get lost in his rage, and Dan quickly began mobilizing his monsters to move towards the new incoming threat.


    However, when he went to call on all of his monsters regardless, he found that his previous idea to only use the new parties wasn¡¯t something that came from him. Something was influencing him to use only the new parties and the cardinals. And the only entity that could do that was The Chaos Mother.


    ¡°Shit. Can I least use Drax?¡± Dan thought and said out loud. Then he thought about mobilizing Drax, and nothing stopped him, so he took that as a yes.

 Chapter 56 - The Green Army Part 1

    Dungeon Day 70 - Continues


    Dan was glad to find that even though he couldn''t use his hawks to fight, he could still use them to scout. And they started coming in with news shortly after he got the notification about the new event.


    Dan got information and images of how the entirety of the green camp residents had just marched out. They were ready for combat, armored up and traveling in a somewhat coherent formation. Hearing this and wanting a better live feed, Dan sent out Eagle the Hawk and was soon blessed with up-to-date information.


    At the very front was a mixture of orcs and hobgoblins. They were all melee combatants and wore armor¡ªat least, the majority of the hobgoblins did. The orcs, on the other hand, were mostly bare-chested, and since there were more orcs than hobgoblins in this particular line, it was rather noticeable, making the battle line more green than brown.


    The two species also stood out due to their physicality. Hobgoblins were a bit lankier, while the orcs were bundles of muscles ready to explode into action. In a way, the hobgoblins made up for it by being more organized, but the discrepancies in lifestyles were visible. For example, the orcs that did wear armor only had a mixture of mixed-matched pieces. Meanwhile, the hobgoblins wore full sets of armor even though they were all made of leather.


    As they marched, it was clear that the orcs beat the hobgoblins in strength. Meanwhile, the hobgoblins beat the orcs in agility and composure.


    Behind the melee combatants were the archers mixed with infantries made up of goblins. However, the goblins also made up a large number of range units. The other range units were hobgoblins with a few orcs scattered here and there that used regular crossbows. This secondary line was interesting because they were truly more of the skirmishing types. Sure, they had bows, but every single one of them also had swords or other weapons that they could use in melee combat. Dan liked the idea of having range units that could also function at close range. However, considering it, Dan also didn''t like the idea since these enemies would take out his birds. They wouldn''t take out many, considering his birds were D rank, but losses would happen regardless.


    This second line of soldiers also showed another disparity between the different green skin species. The orcs were clearly much more interested in melee combat, whereas the hobgoblins and goblins swung either way, giving them that range advantage over their muscle-headed comrades.


    Another thing that stood out to Dan as he watched was that there were as many goblins as any of the other two green-skin forces, which wasn''t right, as goblins were known for their numbers advantage to make up for their small sizes. This made Dan think that even if these green skins were transported here from another world, the Chaos Mother had reduced the number of goblins to make it all look nice and neat. Not that Dan could complain about it too much damage since it was fewer enemies for him to fight.


    Aside from the difference between numbers, the secondary line followed armor tactics similar to those of the first one. The goblins and hobgoblins wore more armor than the orcs, but considering the goblins were smaller and their armor pieces were ragged and tattered, Dan didn¡¯t think it mattered. On the other hand, the hobgoblins were still neatly armored in leather.


    Behind the range units were the casters, at least the few of whom the army had. From the information that Dan got from his hawks, there were 200-something casters. The majority of them were goblins, with the second most being hobgoblins, thus leaving the smallest portion to the orcs. These casters weren¡¯t wizards and looked more like shamans, witches, and warlocks.


    They all carried staffs of many different sizes and made of many different wood types. The staff themselves were often adorned with skulls, and some held crystals or gems. As for the casters themselves, they wore tattered robes and single armor pieces. They also had many different talisman knick-knacks, like small critter bones, along with many bottles on their waste. Their more distinguished feature was the many intricate headwear that they were adorned with. Some, like the goblins, wore the skulls of larger humanoids adorned with jewels or feathery-like items. The bigger casters belonging to the hobgoblins and the orcs ranged from pointed hats as if they were trying to copy a wizard to much more intricate mane-like headgear made of feathers and cloth.


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    Outside of their small numbers and odd gear, the casters stood out from the rest of the green army for one simple reason: pets. Every single caster had one to two animals as pets or even mounts, which was often the case for the goblins. These pets ranged from birds to reptiles, with the goblins often having wolves, panthers, or boars. Dan wasn''t sure if the pets were just a green-skin thing or something related to their magics. Magic Dan was ultimately assigning to them by their looks, as he had no actual idea what the goblins could do. They simply looked like shamans and witches, so he assigned them that name. However, it didn''t help that a multitude of wooden totems were being carried by what were definitely servants or apprentices. The totems were roughly carved out of wood into a variety of shapes. Many were simple animals like snakes or wolves, while some resembled shields and swords.


    Anyways the final line of the army was actually the smallest and was home to 30 green humanoids and one big ass monstrosity aberration combo. The 30 rankers were evenly spread and consisted of ten goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins. This number was further broken down into their rather well-known chosen fields of combat. Five of the ten orcs were fully encased in black plate armor, wielding large two-handed weapons. Meanwhile, the other five wore no armor and matched the looks of barbarians, who also used big two-handed weapons.


    Following that were the hobgoblins, four of whom wore brownish robes and floated above the ground using telekinetic magic. The other six wore their usual leather armor and wielded long bows and long swords. Finally, the last rankers were goblins, who had professions similar to those of the hobgoblins. Four were casters, except that instead of robes, they wore the common tribal attire that made them look like shamans or witch doctors. Dan figured they, too, had access to telekinetic magic even if they weren''t in the process of using it. And instead, they rode large wolves or boars.


    Looking at the remaining six goblins, Dan saw they were more roguish in nature. They wore blackish leather armor that Dan figured was more colored from dirt and soot than anything else. The goblins had hoods and wielded daggers, which Dan assumed could be easily covered in poison. Additionally, pinkish-black energy flowed around them, and Dan believed it was some mix of telekinetic and shadow magic. Either way, Dan would have some cool rogues for his dungeon.


    The last enemy combatant was the worst one and stood looking down at the entire green army in front of it like the green-skinned giant that it was.


    Despite its slow strolling pace, two long legs allowed it to easily keep up with the army. And its well-defined torso with four incredibly muscular arms gave no doubt to its incredible strength. Dan just thanked the two entities watching that it at least had simple leather pants hiding its more private area.


    In Dan''s opinion, the worst of its features was the head or heads.


    The heads were a mixture of what Dan assumed were the three green heads of the army leaders. Facing the front was the largest one, which was obviously the orc leader. Its gruff and scarred face, along with its two jagged tusks, stared ahead with light blue crystal eyes, a trait shared by the other two heads. This trait also clearly showing its combined nature.


    Stuck on either side of the orc''s head and merging seamlessly by the sides, creating an almost perfect three-faced mask, were the other two army leaders. On its left was the goblin, its face grotesquely enlarged to fit the theme of the mutation. The enlargement really gave the ugly goblin''s head a new and terrifying look, which did not help the goblin''s already ugly visage.


    Surprisingly, the hobgoblin face didn¡¯t look as bad and still looked somewhat refined by its new combined standard. Both faces had their eyes opened and filled with the light blue tinge of the crystal found within.


    Looking at the green giant thing, Dan knew that its simple humanoid looks had to be a farce. The green skins it had empowered showed signs of using telekinetic magic, something Dan doubted they had been able to do before. In fact, pulling up the event notice, it clearly said it was an aberration, which meant it could have a variety of other powers, the worst possibly being regeneration.


    In addition to that, there was a good chance the damn thing had also become part monstrosity granting it access to some new and unwelcome abilities. Of course, that didn¡¯t even count the fact that it had to have some of the powers of the old army leaders.


    The only good thing that Dan had going was that the boss was still D rank, High D Rank, but still D rank nonetheless. So, at the very least, a D rank enemy shouldn¡¯t be able to crush his army completely, especially with Drax involved.


    Moving away from examining the army itself, Dan looked to see where they were heading.


    It didn¡¯t take very long to figure that out.


    The army was heading straight for the village.

 Chapter 57 - The Green Army Part 2

    Dan was going to wait until the army entered into his territory. It would take a couple of hours before they did so, allowing him to rally his troops. Additionally, it ensured he got as much mana from the army as possible while still allowing his monsters to regenerate mana.


    As far as strategies went, he planned to use the bats and squirrel combo to thin out the army before the actual battle took place. He knew that the ordinary members of the army wouldn¡¯t be much, but they still outnumbered him and, considering that his monsters would have 30 Mid-D-Ranks to deal with on top of the boss. The more minions he had available, the better.


    To that extent, he had calculated the army''s marching route, which placed them in a few large clearings as they approached the village. He would have preferred to explode them back in their territory since it was more open, but once again, the mana called to him. Not that it would even do him any good, as he was barred from sending any new or old monsters outside of the already designated groups to join the fight.


    Two hours later, Dan¡¯s minions, who had already been near the village or wandering around the kobold area, were all finally gathered up. He immediately ordered the bats to grab the squirrels and fly towards the incoming army, which was minutes away from crossing into his territory. There weren¡¯t many of his bats and squirrels, only 60 of each matching the porcupines in numbers.


    Watching the bombing squadron leave, Dan was glad he had waited so he could witness the whole thing through his own senses. It would take the bats some time to get to the army; meanwhile, he ordered his troops to move away from the village. Dan knew that the final battle would be a mess and would rather avoid damaging the village. Following his order, his monsters moved about three or so miles from the village and waited in the direct path of the army.


    During this time, the army crossed into his territory, and Dan watched with anticipation as his bombing squadrons approached from high in the air. The swarm of bats inched ever closer to the army, and the squirrels were barely grasped by their tiny claws as the bats struggled to stay in flight.


    They were finally beginning to fly over the army when he gave the squirrels their commands. They were to spend all their mana summoning their explosive acorns in order to give them that extra boom factor. It took a second or two for the squirrels to summon their acorns, and Dan waited until they were all above the army before giving the command to release. Following that command, Dan had the bats fly away as the acorns fell downwards to an oblivious enemy.


    As he watched, Dan realized he had a bit of a problem. He had forgotten about the wind, and from so high up, the Precise ability couldn¡¯t do much to calculate for it. Thus, Dan spent all 763 points of his currently available mana to halt the wind for a few seconds in that very specific zone and immediately saw the acorns begin to fall straight down without shifting so much. The issue was that the damage had already been done, and the wind had pushed much of the acorns forward, targeting the first and second lines of the army with a few going for the third and even less for the rankers.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Explosions sounded through the army''s ranks as acorns made contact with the heads of green skins, though a few only impacted the ground. Still, it was important to remember these were D rank attacks against non-ranked individuals, making them very effective. So it was without surprise that Dan saw flying body parts and large amounts of splashing blood scattering about and painting the ground red.


    The green skins had no chance. One minute, they were there, and the next, nothing.


    Dan had lived through the war; at least, his current memories said he did. However, nothing prepared him for the gore he saw. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he expected less stuff and disgustingness. He had seen his monster''s battle, but that had been different. They bled, and stuff came out, but not to this extent. It was incredibly disturbing, at least his humanity said it was.


    Of course, if Dan was surprised and knew the attack was coming, the rest of the army was even more surprised, causing panic to quickly spread as they registered the massacre.


    The panic lasted for a few minutes before big green and the rest of the rankers established order. And soon enough, the army was moving again, except with a few new changes. First, they were moving with more speed. Second, they purposely avoided clearings. Thirdly, they finally deployed some of their magic.


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    Though the explosions had taken out around 50 of their casters, the rest were still in tip-top shape and had been put to work.


    The casters had spread around the army as they worked on three large areas of effect spells. As Dan watched them work, it was clear that it wasn¡¯t their first time doing whatever they were doing because their coordination was immaculate.


    The first spell gave a weak body enhancement to the remaining green skins, increasing their speed and stamina. The second one made the army travel through the forest much more easily as Dan saw a large green dome of energy appear in a radius around the army. This spell made plants and branches move slightly out of the way to let the army pass without too much issue. Finally, the last one was the most important and probably the most demanding. The casters had summoned a large domed shield that glowed with faint light blue and pink energy. This shield floated a couple of feet above the army, and it was obviously meant to intersect any incoming projectiles, triggering them before they could hit the army¡¯s ranks.


    Dan saw one major flaw in their shield strategy. It only covered the area above the army, which left every other direction exposed. So, if Dan couldn¡¯t attack from above, he would switch strategies.


    The army was getting ever closer to his small army of monsters who were waiting in an area of the forest Dan had clear of shrubbery. Dan wanted the trees around for the hidden squirrel strategy, but he could do without the annoying shrubs making the fight that much more annoying for his monsters.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the goblins to enter the large shrub-free area of the forest, causing them to dismiss their nature spell; then, soon after, they saw his small group of monsters with Drax standing behind them.


    Seeing an actual enemy, the army got excited but didn¡¯t rush forward straight away, more than likely being held back by their superiors. Seeing this caution, Dam wondered if the enemy rankers were now wary of a trap, after all, they had lost so many of their kind to his previous explosives.


    Observing them, Dan saw that their shield was still up, but their enhancement wasn¡¯t. Additionally, the enemy rankers were looking around as they recalled the casters that were no longer working on a spell. Watching them, Dan realized the green skins were conversing about strategy, and he knew he couldn¡¯t just keep waiting.


    In unison, squirrels emerged from the branches of trees nearby and began summoning their acorns. The green skins noticed, and the rankers quickly interfered as energy flooded the shield, and it extended downwards, covering the sides of the army while gaining a much more pinkish hue. A second later, acorns flew and struck the shield causing cracks to appear, but none were not able to break the damn thing.


    With that strategy done, Dan ordered the squirrels to retreat as they had used all their mana. Seeing the squirrels retreat, the enemy decided it was time to stop messing around, and the call went out.


    Dan saw the archers and casters preparing to launch a barrage at his army and finally commanded the centibulkers to roll forward while telling the porcupines to unleash quill hell.


    A moment later, the sky was flooded with quills as the porcupines turned their quills into metal, activated their Piercing Quills ability, and hurriedly discharged their load at the same time the enemy unleashed theirs. The best part was that the enemy had to bring up their shield for their projectiles to go through, and Dan thanked his lucky stars for the enemy''s shitty magic skills.


    The two projectile rains met, and Dan won by a large margin since each porcupine could shoot about 100+ quills in one go. Yes, Dan knew they had a lot more, but there was only so much magic could do. Either way, the problem wasn¡¯t numbers but explosions. The enemy casters had unleashed a fair amount of explosive projectiles, which caused many of the quills to lose their trajectories. Many still hit the enemy, taking out quite a good number of them, but many more landed on the ground, in trees, or even struck the receded shield above their heads.


    Thankfully, Dan had a backup plan to the hidden squirrel tactic and was glad he hadn¡¯t used both together. This plan would work even better than the hidden squirrel plan because the monsters were already out and about.


    Giving the command, Dan saw blasts of webs leave the trees, striking and then expanding, catching many green skins in sticky webs. Some webs even struck the rankers but were quickly shredded apart. Not that it mattered because it stopped a lot of the green skins from shooting stuff again. Plus, the rolling centibulkers were approaching, ready to squish them and mark the moment that hell truly yet figuratively broke loose.


    Green skins rushed forward to meet the centibulkers while many more struggled to break free. Things were already going great for Dan, and half of his army had yet to do anything.


    Now, Dan wasn¡¯t sure if Mother Eternity planned this, but she probably did because whenever he thought things were going great, the universe decided to make sure he regretted his thoughts.

 Chapter 58 - The Green Army Part 3

    Unlike with the wolfbats, where the rankers waited until almost the very end of the fight to engage, the greens-skinned rankers began to act rather early. The melee orcs launched forward, the unarmored ones glowing with a slight, red-tinged aura.


    Dan knew they were enhancing, and he made sure to let his centibulkers know some actual resistance was coming. In response, the centibulkers unfurled, already having run over some of the green skins that had charged forward. Dan, deciding it was best to do so, now told the bulkers to unleash all the built-up poison before enhancing themselves and getting ready to engage the incoming orcs.


    At the same time, Dan called for the rest of his monsters to act. The centiblades and centimentalists move forward, dodging attacks from the six ranked hobgoblins longbow users. They had to spread out somewhat as their numbers made them easy targets, and more than one centipede was pierced through, though thankful not killed right away.


    While the hobgoblin archers did their thing, the caster hobgoblins began blasting at the trees with flames, setting the nearby area on fire and forcing his spiders to crawl away. That was acceptable to Dan since they had already spent their mana on the Web Blasts, so Dan would rather have them leave and charge up before returning.


    The goblin-ranked casters were also beginning to engage as they shot elemental attacks at his incoming mass of centipedes. His centimentalists countered, and considering they outnumbered the goblins, it wasn¡¯t long before said goblins were on the defensive. All that was really left was for the rogues to do their thing. Said rogues were standing there, seemingly waiting for something, but Dan wasn¡¯t sure what.


    Meanwhile, plenty of normal-ranked goblins were still left, and they were starting to break free of the webs with the remaining normal caster''s assistance. Then, they were all throwing themselves at his ranked monsters.


    Wanting to get rid of them, Dan called forth his bats. The bats had been hanging around the canopy of the forest, which was now even darker thanks to all the smoke.


    His bats swooped in and started blasting the area with their Sonic Boom abilities. Dan also ordered some to target the casters with their Silent abilities to stop some of their chants.


    Everything was going well yet again, which meant shit was about to hit the fan yet again.


    Sure enough, an aura spread outward from the boss, garbling the area around the fight, causing Dan to lose sight of the area.


    ¡°What the fuck! Since when is that a thing!¡± Dan shouted out loud as his mind got hit with a bit of mental confusion.


    Looking at the area, he couldn¡¯t see anything just like outside of his territory; it was a massive black hole in his senses. Thankfully, Eagle the Hawk was still spectating, so he switched over to her sight. Sight wasn¡¯t the biggest issue; however, it was communication. He couldn''t communicate with any of his monsters inside whatsoever.


    The only good thing about the entire endeavor was that his spiders and squirrels were out of it, so at the very least, he could tell them to go back in when they recovered.


    Another problem, though not as big, was the rogues. Now, as the canopy burned, Dan saw them slink through the shadows, striking at his centimentalists. Somehow, their stealth shadow magic let them bypass the sentimentalist''s mana detection capabilities.


    Even so, the battle was still in Dan¡¯s favor, and he hadn¡¯t even brought the 101 Cardinal Squadron into the fight. And every second that passed, his monsters ripped apart the normal green skins, with the ranked ones being pushed back into a corner. Not even the hobgoblins joining the fray changed much, even if Dan had already taken a few casualties. Looking at his numbers, he had lost around three of each of his centipedes but no squirrels, spiders, or porcupines. Sadly, the porcupines hadn¡¯t retreated since Dan wanted them to stay in the very back and shoot another barrage of quills when they recovered enough mana.


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    Thinking about the quill barrage, Dan imagined it would be a little while before they could do so, and seeing as they were winning the fight, the porcupines wouldn¡¯t retreat unless ordered to. That was a problem because things began to get a little weird as the boss unleashed a pink aura across the battlefield. The aura didn¡¯t seem to do much at first other than send the unranked green skins running toward his monsters, which they were already doing, at least the melee combatants were. However, when Dan saw the casters running carefree toward his monsters, it was obvious something was about to happen. Especially when he saw the enemy rankers begin to attempt a retreat. Annoyed that he couldn¡¯t call for a temporary retreat, he watched as some of his own monsters pulled back on their own while some still gave chase.


    Then the explosions started.


    It began with one goblin who exploded in a blast of red and pink. The red its blood, and the pink being kinetic energy. The explosion sent one of his centibulkers tumbling. Then, more blasts started happening as the green skins ran into and around his monsters, trying to reach the backlines.


    Explosions rocked the forest as green skin after green skin exploded. Thankfully, his centiblades, centimentalists, and the earlier retreating centibulkers saw what was happening and were quick to escape. They still took casualties, but not as many as the porcupines would take. They were slow boys and girls, so the green skins were soon upon them, seemingly okay with ignoring the escaping centipedes. The explosions continued, and the only good thing was that they created enough dust, dirt, and general cover that the enemy couldn¡¯t target his monsters too easily.


    Eventually, the explosions stopped and Dan saw that there was not a single common-ranked green skin left. However, all of his spiky boys were dead, and overall, his forces had taken quite a hit.


    The fight had started with thirty of each of his centipede types, and now there were only ten centibulkers left, all with minor injuries. The sentimentalists had lost eleven, leaving them with 19 left. Then finally, the centiblades, who had just lost five, having had greater agility. The only reason why the centimentalists had lost so many, even with their shields, was because of the rogue goblins who had been able to take more of them out during the explosions.


    When the explosions ended, the fight restarted.


    Centibulkers met orcs, and his monsters were put on the defensive, only able to hold on thanks to their resilience and regeneration, which would stop when their mana dropped to zero. And now that they were no longer in his claimed area, they couldn¡¯t regenerate, which was a problem. On the other hand, the armored orcs clashed unbothered by the bulker''s many slams, and their own weapons flashed with energy, striking relentlessly.


    Also fighting unworried were the barbarian orcs, with every hit they took seeming to strengthen them further. Thankfully, things were going better with the rest of his minions.


    The enemy casters were on the defensive against his elemental centipedes, who no longer worried about the rogue goblins since they were too busy dealing with the centiblades. The hobgoblin longbow users had also joined the melee fray, knowing the fight was theirs if they took out the centiblades and bulkers.


    As the battle continued, Dan went ahead and gave another order. He needed to eliminate as many rankers as he could before the boss acted. Surprisingly the damn thing had yet to actually engage in combat, even if its aura bull shit did change the fight. Luckily, Drax had been ordered not to engage directly until the green aberration began to fight and had been watching the entire thing unfold, unphased even as porcupines rained around him.


    It took some time for the effect of his order to be seen as a wave of flaming red birds went down towards the forest floor. As they flew, they added more smoke to the already burning area that was also covered in dust from the fight and ensuing explosion.


    The squadron of cardinals engulfed the enemy casters, forcing them to put up their shields. The cardinals, seeing the shields, flew away, moving to engulf the orcs.


    His birds were putting in some work and if the fight had stayed just like it had been, Dan would have easily won. Sadly, it wasn¡¯t to be, and the three-headed monstrosity roared, its body giving off a red hue like the unarmored orcs did. The enhancement caused its already well-muscled body to strain as it bulged and seemed to grow an inch or two. The thing, seeming happy with itself, took one step, then another, and another until it was sprinting forward, and it wasn¡¯t long before it smashed through the orcs and into the centipedes, quickly crushing one with its four freakishly muscled arms.


    Since the damn thing had acted, so had Drax, though he had been a bit slower. Right as the three-headed monster squished the centibulker, Drax slammed into it, making it stumble backward just a bit. Drax had his body enhanced, probably with just strength, so he didn¡¯t see the fist coming before it was too late.


    A blur of green slammed into the dragonkin, and the next thing he knew, the dragon knight was embedded into the dirt. Dan saw the knight was unharmed, though with a shocked expression on his face that quickly turned into a ¡°this shit is about to be fun¡± draconic smile.

 Chapter 59 - The Green Army Part 4

    An already chaotic fight further devolved with the boss joining the battle. Now, not only did the monsters need to watch out for the enemy rankers, but they also had to be on the lookout for two High D Rankers fighting in their midst.


    Speaking of the two High D rankers, Drax, who had been slammed into the dirt, quickly lost his smile as he stared up at the green menace. The small scuff that he had done to the thing''s chest had disappeared, indicating its regenerative capabilities.


    Needing to move on with the fight, Drax quickly switched from enhancing his body with strength to a general enhancement, allowing him to keep up with the monster by increasing all his physical aspects.


    In response to seeing that its punch hadn''t done much to the scaled figure, the monstrosity tried to keep pummeling the dragonkin. Drax, obviously not wanting to keep taking a beating, activated one of his techniques.


    ¡°Light like Ash.¡±


    The dragonkin was briefly surrounded by ash and then, in a speedy dash, moved out of the hole he had been in and, with another quick motion, unsheathed his long sword and shield, stabbing forward and piercing one of the monster''s biceps. The green aberration, who had already punched the ground, noticed upon lifting its fist that the dragonkin was no longer there. Then, upon feeling the stab on its bicep, it looked only to find the dragonkin standing before it. That¡¯s when Dan and everyone involved learned another of the monstrosity''s abilities.


    In a bright flash of blue light, its large hands grasped for crystalline long swords that appeared out of nowhere. It didn''t even take a second for the swords to appear before the monster was already rushing at Drax, who had to parry and block with his sword and shield against the flurry of attacks.


    As the two high-rankers moved around, slashing and parrying, the rest of the fight wasn¡¯t going well for the green skins. They were still outnumbered and being slowly worn down by Dan¡¯s monsters. The cardinals were the main game changers as their renewed harassment of the green-skin casters was letting Dan¡¯s own casters take down the enemy melee combatants.


    Additionally, it turned out that the rogues weren''t great at fighting against multi-limbed creatures, and the centiblades gave them a good what for. One by one, the enemy green skins were falling though they were still able to take out one or two of his own monsters. Many of these casualties were to the cardinals. The squadron was now down to 80 of the 101 original birds. It didn¡¯t seem that bad, but considering the boss was still rather healthy, Dan wasn''t so sure.


    The fight between the D rankers was getting intense, and Dan was getting a bit worried about Drax. It was obvious that the warrior didn¡¯t have much practice against combat with a four-limbed menace, and he was struggling to keep up.


    Drax, feeling the pressure, decided to do something that might hamper the regenerative effects of the boss.


    First, he activated another of his techniques, yelling, ¡°Lacerating Slash!¡± his sword glowing white with power before he swung it at the monstrosity. It was the first time he had used the ability against the aberration, so it had no idea what to expect and attempted to block it. It succeeded because of its strength, but the power of the technique was unexpected enough that it was pushed back, giving Drax a quick rest, which he used to charge up his innate ability.


    Quickly recovering from its short delay, the four-armed goblinoid charged at Drax once again. In response, Drax waited until it was close enough before opening his mouth, unleashing a torrent of flames upon the boss. The response from the creature was instant, as everyone heard its roar of pain.


    When the flames cleared, Drax and Dan saw that the fire had been very effective, and it was having some trouble regenerating, which was precisely what Drax had hoped for. Since it was confused by finding this new weakness, Drax took his chance, moving forward again, activating two of his techniques one after another.


    ¡°Burning Flames!¡± This technique caused flames to flutter into existence around his sword and was followed up by ¡°Piercing Thrust!¡± as the dragonkin pointed his flaming sword forward and was pulled by it, quickly covering the last few feet to the monster.


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    His sword pierced the thing''s chest, causing it to roar in pain and wildly slash at Drax to make him back off. Pulling back, Drax was happy to see that the hole wasn''t healing at all, and he had finally done some truly permanent damage to his foe.


    The battle around the two High D Rankers continued as they fought. Smoke, dirt, dust, and everything else still permeated the air. The green skins were on the verge of getting wiped out, though they had managed to deal some decent damage to his monsters. At some point during the battle, the casters had switched from elemental attacks to solely kinetic blasts, which completely outdid the centimentalist''s own attacks.


    In the enemy ranks, the first group that had been wiped out completely was the rogue goblins. They couldn''t handle all the different blades coming at them from the centiblades and had been quickly torn apart. Then, with the rogues out of the way, the centiblades engaged the hobgoblins, though not before tearing into the orcs and slicing them apart.


    They eventually also moved along with the remaining centibulkers to deal with the mages with the support of the centimentalists. Their charge had caused them to take some casualties as the hobgoblins and orcs had gone out in blazes of fury, uncaring of their wounds.


    Sadly, the mages weren¡¯t as easy to take down, and Dan¡¯s forces ran into their shields. The green-skin casters had combined to work as one machine, and with death at their doorstep, they were burning all they had to in order to stay in the fight and take out as many of his monsters as possible. And when Dan said they were burning, he meant it literally. He wasn¡¯t sure what they had done, but the casters were literally being consumed by pinkish flames that burn away at them. So, surrounded by a pinkish shield that had lost all its blue coloration, the casters sent out waves of force that slammed into his monsters, tearing many of his unarmored centiblades apart since they were the first to arrive.


    It would take a bit of time for his monsters to break through the combined shield, but they should eventually get to it, and hopefully, enough of them would remain that they would be able to put up a decent resistance against the boss.


    The shield situation was also not being helped by his retreat of the cardinals, who were rather good at tearing into the shields of his enemies due to their great numbers. The order had been possible because the spiders and squirrels had retreated before the weird aura thing came about, and the bats did so after the explosions.


    He was keeping them in reserve since much of their energy had been spent. However, he had sent some bats to relay an order to the flaming cardinals. Dan wanted to keep as many of them as he could alive in order to use their fiery attacks against the green aberration. Something they had quickly gone to do as they joined the fight against the aberration along with Drax, who had been keeping the thing busy as his flaming sword managed to score some hits here and there.


    With the addition of the cardinals, the aberration was quickly being burned, halting its regeneration further. However, it also meant that the thing had more targets, and it swung its sword, slamming them into his birds, each swing strong enough to kill with a single hit.


    The aberration didn¡¯t look anywhere near as dead as Dan had hoped. It still had plenty of energy left and apparently just as many tricks. Since, in another flash of blue, one of the swords was replaced by a plain-looking crystal staff. The thing looked like a normal wooden staff, except it was made out of blue crystal, not wood. The color was then emphasized as the staff glowed a light but rich blue color like the color of the sky, and in a flash, the swords of the aberration were covered in frost. The change in temperature was immediate, and Dan could even spot the small puffs of cold smoke dispersing from the swords. Even more annoying, the aberration itself was also covered in frost, and the cold spread over the ground as the monster emitted this cold aura that brought down the temperature in the area.


    There was a whole second where Drax and the aberration just stared at each other after its trick, and then it was broken in unison, both dashing forward and clashing once again. Except now, every time that Drax managed to strike a blow using the cardinals as a distraction, the fiery sword didn''t do as much damage as before. In fact, Dan could see from up above that now the flames were being someone smothered by the frost, letting the aberration regenerate once again. The process was low, but it was still happening, which was not good.


    Dan needed the fight with the rest of the green skins to end so his monsters could help Drax in his battle. As such, he ordered his bats to fly in once again and blast the casters in one go in order to overwhelm their defenses. The bat''s mana wasn''t fully recovered, but he needed more monsters in the fight against the boss. There was no way that Drax had as much mana as the monstrosity, and it would only be a matter of time before the dragonkin stalled.


    Dan imagined that the knight was no longer using the rest of his techniques in order to focus all of his mana on enhancing his power so he could keep up and slightly surpass the monster since it was the only way for the fighter to deal a bit of damage.


    Thankfully, when his bats arrived, half of the green-skin casters were already down, their bodies consumed by the pinkish flames. It wasn''t long after their arrival and unleashing of their Sonic Resonances, which combined to an even greater level, that the enemy shields broke apart under the magical sound waves. With the shields down, the centiblades finally got their blades on the green skins who attempted to bring up their personal shields only for them to be sliced along with their bodies by the sharpened blades of the centiblades.

 Chapter 60 - Raid Boss Material

    With the enemy army obliterated came the hard part of the entire battle: killing the boss.


    The boss was still fighting Drax while slicing away at his cardinals. However, with the last of the green skins dead, the rest of Dan¡¯s monsters could finally target the monstrosity. The only bad part was that many of his centipedes had been brought down.


    There were only two centibulkers, eight centiblades, and around twelve of the centimentalists left. Dan hoped that it would be enough to deal with the boss, but something told him that the damn thing was still hiding even more powers.


    Either way, with the addition of the bats who got to the monstrosity first, it was starting to finally feel cornered. Not only was the aberration dealing with Drax and the birds, but it was also now having to swing at his bats, which weren¡¯t doing much other than being annoying.


    The bats were mostly out of mana, but Dan couldn¡¯t afford to bring them out of the fight. Even if they weren¡¯t anything but target practice for the monster, it was still time the boss spent on them, allowing Drax and the birds to attack without too many issues. Sadly, Drax¡¯s flames weren¡¯t as effective as they were before. Even so, they were still doing some damage to the monster, causing it to use mana for its regeneration and other abilities, and Dan knew that when its mana ran out, it would face its end.


    Things got even worse for the monstrosity when his centimentalists finally joined the fight. Though all of his centipedes were still low on mana, now that they didn¡¯t have to worry about defense as much, they could throw everything into attack. And his elemental centipedes bombarded the aberration with even more flame attacks, these attacks were weak, but they still added up.


    The boss''s frost defenses were slowly brought down, and Drax empowered his flames once again to deal even more damage. The monster was cornered even further as the remaining centibulkers and centiblades finally joined the scuffle. And since the monster had to worry about even more targets there were more chances for Drax to do his thing. It also helped that the thing didn¡¯t have armor, letting the centiblades tear into its flesh, and countless gashes began appearing on it. The only problem that his forces ran into was that too many of them were in too little space, and they found themselves having to dart in and out.


    Of course, Dan was very happy with the current fight, and seeing as things were going well for him, he knew something was coming up.


    He was proven right as the aberration unleashed a blast of ice stronger than anything it had done before, causing all his monsters to back off. Getting some space, the aberration went through a quick transformation. First, its green skin gained a hue of pink, and so did its blue eye gems. This color was then transferred to the aura it had gained at the beginning of the battle.


    The now pinkish-green monstrosity grew slightly more, standing even taller on the battlefield. However, those changes weren¡¯t even the worst ones. Its face quickly shifted to have the hobgoblin face stare at his backside in order to command the pink-green tentacles that sprouted from its back. Even worse than that was the fact the weapons it was holding began glowing with a pink hue, clearly showing they were ready to dish out telekinetic force blasts.


    With its transformation complete in a matter of seconds, it wasn¡¯t long before his monsters dashed back into the fight. The only one that didn¡¯t rush in was Drax. Dan guessed that the dragonkin was not convinced that was the last of the boss''s changes and wanted to see if it had any other surprises.


    In a way, that was something that humanoids were better at, even among intelligent monsters. Outside of a few of his bosses, most of his monsters didn¡¯t really think ahead in a fight like Drax had just done. And sadly, not being able to command his monsters, Dan couldn¡¯t stop them from rushing in.


    Sure enough, his monsters were met with blasts of force as the ice staff unleashed its new telekinetic power. His two centibulkers were cut in half as the three swords were now empowered with telekinetic force and easily cut through their defenses. His birds and bats started falling out of the sky as the tentacles extended outwards and started slamming into them. Thankfully, Drax quickly joined in, which slightly put the aberration on the defensive as the dragonkin further enhanced his body.


    Dan was also happy to report that the monster¡¯s regeneration ability had stopped. Sadly, the cardinals couldn¡¯t get any closer due to the tentacles, but now that the monstrosity was no longer regenerating, the dragonkin no longer needed to spend mana on his flame technique, which would allow him to stay in the fight longer.


    The battle continued as the monstrosity kept unleashing kinetic blasts, and its tentacles kept smacking his birds out of the sky. Thankfully, they still outnumbered it, and when one monster was blasted back, another was able to step in. The best part was that all of his monsters, including Drax, were starting to get into a rhythm. Dan knew it wouldn¡¯t last long because his battled-hardened monsters were running too low on mana, but they still had a little more to go.


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    The dragonkin was holding the entire battle together as he could get the boss¡¯s attention at key moments when too many centipedes were pushed back. Still, the aberration was strong, and if it decided to focus on something, there wasn¡¯t much that could stop it. This meant that its decision to target the centipede casters because they were the main threat was terrible news.


    The monstrosity kept Drax busy with its swords as the dragon knight weaved out of or blocked its kinetic-enabled slashes. However, Drax could only keep up because the centiblades took the other blade¡¯s attention, being able to use their agility to dodge since taking a blade meant they were out of the fight for good.


    The birds and bats were a good distraction, keeping the tentacles occupied, and the cardinals were able to damage them thanks to their flames. It wasn¡¯t much, but the damage was adding up, and the aberration¡¯s body was starting to look rough. It bled from many places and had even more burn marks.


    However, the monstrosity''s attention wasn¡¯t really focused on the melee combatants or the birds. Instead, it was completely focused on the elemental centipedes. So, as the battle danced around the forest, causing even more destruction, its staff flashed with power as blasts of force targeted each centipede, each blast capable of taking one out.


    Sometimes, they were able to dodge out of the way when the monstrosity got distracted by the melee battle going on around it, and the blast would hit nothing, but more often than not, it would strike one of them, flying too fast for the centimentalists to react.


    The battle raged on as the aberration kept taking out the elemental centipedes. With every loss of a centipede, the melee combatants managed to strike at the monstrosity. Slowly but surely, the wounds started piling up, and it bled even more, with the cardinals having burned the tentacles almost completely off, though at a significant cost to their numbers. Additionally, Drax was starting to show signs of flagging behind and was no longer interested in the offense. Instead, he tried to dodge and conserve as much energy as possible.


    Dan knew the battle was coming to an end, and he put into motion a plan that would hopefully stop the monster. Meanwhile, the death of the last centimentalists marked another turning point in the battle. With a flash, one sword disappeared and was replaced by a staff, which, as far as Dan was concerned, couldn¡¯t be good. There were only five centiblades, a quarter of the original cardinals, and even fewer bats, with the last addition of a dragon knight showing signs of weakening. And Dan hoped they would last for a bit longer.


    With the appearance of the new staff came new magical powers. Now not only could the damn thing throw around more blasts of force, but it could summon pink barriers to block incoming attacks. It was no surprise that with this new addition to the battle, things turned for the worse.


    Having decided it had-had enough with the birds, it blocked the attacks of the centiblades and Drax with some barriers before blasting them back. Then it turned its attention to the birds and bats before condensing energy in its new staff and releasing a vast and intense wave of force upwards, causing his flying monsters to pop in a rain of blood that turned its pinkish skin into crimson red. Having terminated one more annoyance, it once again set its gaze back at the centipedes and dragonkin.


    Dan knew that the monstrosity was about to dismantle his melee fighters, and he just needed them to hold on for a little bit longer.


    Drax saw the monstrosity rip apart the birds, and he knew his time was coming. Instead of rushing in, he let the centipedes charge in ahead. Drax had seen them. Squirrels and spiders slowly making their way up the nearby trees. He was glad the fight had moved from the burning area, which would allow this plan to work. Now, all that Drax needed to do was buy some more time and make sure the aberration stayed in one spot. So, he waited for it to rip apart the centipedes.


    Once the boss finished and was watching Drax, the knight threw his sword and shield to the ground and balled up his fists. The monster, clearly understanding Drax¡¯s intent, dismissed his swords and staff and dashed towards him. In response, Drax reached deep within his mana pool and pulled all that was left before unleashing it in his final technique.


    ¡°Scales of a Dragon!¡± He roared, feeling the mana rush into his body, empowering his scales and the rest of him. Then, with a smile on his face, Drax took the aberrations punch and was once again embedded in the ground.


    The monstrosity focused on beating the absolute crap out of Drax, and filled with rage as it was, it didn¡¯t notice the summoning of many acorns all around the forest. The other less likely thing to be noticed was the green infusion of power from half of the spiders, which were also hanging all around the forest. As such, it was no surprise that it was caught off guard by dozens of flying Web Blasts that quickly restricted its movement. This was then followed by even more needles infused with poison that quickly seeped into its already damaged body. Thankfully, it was paying attention by that point, so it couldn¡¯t miss the explosive acorns flying through the air straight at its ugly head.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The explosions shook the forest, and Dan had no doubt that the monster had been reduced to atoms. Even more importantly, the crystal was destroyed within his territory, which had been returned upon the death of the aberration. This also meant he instantly absorbed the energy and was overwhelmed with information.

 Chapter 61 - Green Journey

    Dungeon Day 70 - Continues


    The memories began when the shards found themselves in the zone. Unlike the one in the lake, which had arrived ahead of its fellows, these ones simply appeared in the zone as if placed there. Something that Dan, of course, now knew was correct. More importantly, not only had they been placed in the zone, but they had been placed within the three big tents of the green-skinned army camp.


    At that point, each shard was not D ranked yet, and their powers were not enough to overcome the minds of the High D rank Commanders. However, each commander could definitely feel the power coming off each of their shards, and they believed that the shards would give them an advantage in controlling the entirety of the green army.


    So, the game between the commanders began. They attempted to influence the captains or the members of the other groups to switch sides and join them, promising that they had power that was unknown to the other commanders. The funny part, at least to Dan, was that each commander was making the same promise and counteracting the other by influencing their own forces.


    Eventually, seeing that words weren''t doing the trick, they began attempting to commit assassinations, but that didn''t go very well either. It was much harder to assassinate somebody when the place was full of their minions, who could then stop your attempt. The most interesting part was that those who attempted the assassinations weren''t heavily punished and were simply reprimanded. Dan believed that had something to do with preserving their numbers since D rankers weren''t the easiest to find in the situation they had found themselves in.


    As time passed, each commander wasn''t making any progress. And in their hubris and greed, they were still plotting and planning a way to use the shard they had been given.


    The first of the commanders to fall to a shard was the goblin commander.  This commander was the primary caster of the army and had used his casters to formulate a ritual to siphon the magic of the shard. The problem with that particular plan was that they willingly accepted the energy of the shard and thus its influence on their minds and souls. Once that happened, it was game over, and the shard quickly took hold of them.


    Once the shard had one High D Ranker and four Low D Rank magic users under its command, it wasn''t long before the goblin rogues also fell, and so did the rest of the goblins.


    Dan knew that as soon as one of the High D Rankers fell, the rest of them would fall one by one. However, how they would fall was a mystery that Dan was looking forward to. And what he found out truly gave him a pleasant surprise. Instead of using magic that would obviously point at them as the attackers, the goblins, and thus the shard, took another route. They decided to slip something into the food of their victims to make them fall asleep. They had initially wanted to target the hobgoblins but found their lot too disciplined and too well-quartered for them to easily sneak into their camp and perform the deed that had been fine since the orcs were much less disciplined.


    It didn''t take long for the goblins to slip in their drug, and soon enough, a wave of orc snoring went through the camp. The best part was that the hobgoblins didn''t care and blamed the event on the orc¡¯s undisciplined selves.


    With most of the orcs asleep, the goblins easily made their way across the camp, only to find that the orc commander wasn¡¯t fully asleep and was more drowsy than anything. Still, the commander didn¡¯t put up much of a fight, and they put him to sleep with a few sleep spells.  From there, the goblin shard quickly absorbed the orc shard with help from its casters. Then, strengthened by the absorption, it promptly took hold of the unconscious orc commander.


    Once the second commander was under control, taking the last shard was much easier. This time around, they used the same plan but slightly altered. They now had the numbers and were easily able to cast a wide range spell that put all the common hobgoblins to sleep.


    From there, a battle devolved, but once again, their numbers prevailed, and they quickly incapacitated all the ranked hobgoblins. Afterwards, and with some more assistance, the shard absorbed the last piece and officially became Low D Rank. Sadly, for it, that''s where the problem really began.


    Unlike Dan, who had the backing of the World Crystal and thus was mentally reinforced to some extent, the shard wasn''t as lucky. Dan could handle Drax even though he was a much higher rank than himself. That was only possible because the connection went through the World Crystal, and it managed to keep the dragonkin in check. However, the shard didn''t have any such backing, and not only was it a Low D Rank handling 26 other Low D Rank minds against their will, but it also had two High D Rankers struggling against it. The most important part of the whole thing was that Dan was also using his Dungeon God Connection ability making it impossible for his minions to truly revolt. Meanwhile, the shard had taken over their minds or souls, which was completely different than having them agree to work under it. The difference wasn¡¯t large, but it was there, which was what mattered.


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    Things worsened as the shard kept gaining control over the remaining green skins.  Dan wasn''t sure why it did it, though he had a few guesses. Either way, the problem kept scaling as the shard kept taking over the minds of the green skins.  Each green skin added its rebellious nature to the fight, and unbeknownst to the shard, their energies were starting to affect it as it was affecting them.


    That was the problem of controlling humanoids at such a level without the proper strength to block their influence. A connection, for the most part, was a two-way street, and unless you could block the incoming traffic, you would eventually find yourself at its mercy. Thus, the problem impacting the shard and its connection with the green skins became deeper. Then, finally, the dam broke, and as a result, along with the addition of a nudge from Mother Infinity, the transformation happened.


    Once transformed, the minds of the commanding goblins were mixed with the shards, and the less powerful goblins were put under complete control of the abomination. Their minds took a while to heal and properly fuse together, and even then, though there was one central entity controlling everything, the three commanders and the remnant''s thoughts of the shards whispered at the new entity''s consciousness. It wasn''t enough to truly cause it distress, but Dan experienced it, and he was certainly glad not to be under the constant stress.


    From there on, the rest was history.  The new monster was created, the event came to be, the army marched, and Dan''s fight came to an end. However, Dan knew that wasn¡¯t the end of it as he had yet to experience the shard¡¯s memories of his past.


    Sure enough, as things went black with the death of the monstrosity through Dan¡¯s combined attack of acorns and poison, the first memories began trickling in.


    <hr>


    Many things made aberrations different from most entities in the cosmos.  The most important of these things was their Mana Conversion ability. It allowed aberrations to convert Chaos Mana into the ambient Arcane Mana that could be found in worlds. Without this ability, aberrations would be incredibly limited and unable to easily travel across the Astral. Instead, they would be bound much like the rest of the cosmos was, since without Arcane Mana to form a shield against the ever-consuming Chaos Mana, all creatures would be sucked dry and, sooner or later, perish without magic. And like all aberration abilities, this ability to convert mana came from their Heart Crystal.


    Dan, who had been transformed into an aberration, had one of these crystals, and like his brethren, he used it to travel across the cosmos.


    His first memories were after he had left Earth. He was still in the same solar system, having decided to visit the planets he had always heard about and seen many pictures of but never imagined he could visit. The interplanetary trip took some time and was only possible due to his ability to convert Chaos Mana and propel himself across space with his telekinetic magic while still protecting himself from danger.


    He had first visited Mars and left Venus and Mercury for another time, fearing what would happen if he got too close to the sun.


    Considering Dan had been a C ranked entity at the time, it took him a hell of a long time to visit the planets. However, since he needed to find other aberrations to consume and was leaving the solar system anyway, he didn¡¯t mind. After all, he was now ageless.


    It had helped that the rift he had taken back on present Earth had left him somewhere back in time when magical civilizations were starting. Meaning he had plenty of time to power up and eventually come to stop the Eldritch God from destroying the planet.


    One thing that did suck about the entire thing was that he was alone. Thankfully, his new mental abilities were up to the task, and he didn¡¯t go entirely insane.


    As Dan consumed all this new information, reality struck him. How lucky had he been when the rift only took him back in time and in the same area? It made Dan wonder whether that had been some intricate play by Earth¡¯s World Crystal or just pure luck.


    The memories continued as the Dan from back then traveled past the local solar system, making his way deeper into the unknown. Sadly, there wasn¡¯t much else to see. The burn was slow yet ever-going. Space was really empty, at least when traveling at such slow speeds. Years passed as Dan made his way through reality. The only good thing about the lost time was that Dan could slowly grow in power thanks to one of his abilities.


    Chaos Mana: You can produce a trickle of Chaos Mana attuned to your being. You may consume this Chaos Mana to slowly increase in power, therefore not having to consume Heart Crystals.


    The ability was one he got from the blessing the Earth¡¯s World Crystal had given him in the form of heartburn, which had then caused him to pass out. The ability did exactly what it said, and Dan knew it was shared with all the other shards in the shattered zones. Sadly, it no longer worked like that for Dan, and it just let him transform the Chaos Mana into Arcane Mana, which gave him his daily mana regen.


    Dan also had another ability given by Earth¡¯s World Crystal, which had been useful in his aberration journey but had also been altered by this whole dungeon nonsense.


    World Crystal Blessing - You have the ability to understand, speak, and write most languages. Additionally, through the pact made with the World Crystal, you gain access to the Crystal Dungeon System, which will help you with many different dungeon tasks.


    The first sentence was the boon his old ability gave him, with the rest being the modification made by the new World Crystal he had made the deal with.

 Chapter 62 - A Rocky World

    Before he could start questioning why he had been chosen to gain the World Crystal''s abilities, more memories started coming in. These memories showed the real start of his journey to power.


    In his journey through space, he had taken a long time to climb in power but had still been able to increase from Low C Rank to Mid C Rank. However, Dan knew that the higher his power got, the longer it would take for his Chaos Mana to bump him to the next level. What he needed was to consume other Heart Crystals, and the only way to do that was to encounter more aberrations. And as it turned out, Eldritch Gods and their destruction of planets weren¡¯t the only way for aberrations to form.


    If a soul was taken out into the Astral and left to be corrupted by Chaos Mana, the end result would often be the formation of a new aberration.  This meant that worlds whose residents managed to head out into the Astral in search of the wider universe would undoubtedly face issues, and the souls of those explorers would end up as aberrations.


    Now, Dan did not doubt that there were also space wars out there whose participants, more often than not, ended as aberrations. Much like him, these aberrations were low on the power rankings and would set out into the universe in search of power. And just like him, they would run into a world untouched by Eldritch Gods. In fact, it wasn¡¯t long after arriving outside of another living world that other aberrations assaulted him.


    These aberrations were on the weaker end, and their minds weren¡¯t necessarily all there. They were weak blobs of flesh and tentacles no doubt made from the weakest of souls, and as such, Dan had quickly dispatched them, taking their Heart Crystals.


    The sight of the aberrations made Dan finally scan himself, finding that he was some sort of octopien subspecies, not that it did much for him as it was a form he disliked.


    He was humanoid in appearance, with tentacles sprouting from his chin. Unlike the ones he had seen on Earth, he had muted facial features with green-red orbs for eyes and a very flat, almost non-existent nose attached to his roundish octopus head. His hands were tentacles that sprouted from where his elbows were, and his legs ended at his knees, with thicker tentacles sprouting from there. Dan had changed a lot, but one thing that had yet to change from when he was human was his odd desire for companionship. He didn¡¯t need companions, as his track through space showed, but it was more of a luxury he still wanted to partake in. So, seeing as he had a planet with life in front of him, he made his way down.


    Dan was still a C ranked nobody in the cosmos, but due to his rank, entering the planet still took a couple of months. Eventually, he pierced through the planet''s Ethereal Barrier and slowly floated down.


    The planet was rocky, with minimal greenery and a decent amount of ocean. Overall, it was a combination of mountains, deserts, bare plains, and the odd forest here and there. Unsurprisingly, the most civilized locations were near the greens, which were located at the center of each of the three large, almost interconnected continents.


    Dan decided not to head there, at least not right away. He was unsure of how long the planet had been around and didn¡¯t want to run into natives who might be stronger than him.


    Making his way to a much more empty part of the planet, Dan traveled for days before encountering a small village hidden by a stone overpass. The village was made of squared stone buildings and was closely built around a tunnel that had to be an entrance to a mine. The villagers were elves, dwarfs, and humans, except entirely made of stone as if they were statues come to life. Worried about scaring the hell out of the villagers, Dan had opted to control the minds of some stone birds whose very existence meant they shouldn¡¯t be able to fly. However, on closer inspection, Dan found they used gravity magic to levitate across the land.


    Hiding among the other rocky and oddly shaped hills, Dan used the birds to spy on the village and was happy to find that there didn¡¯t seem to be anyone there who was truly strong.


    With the confirmation that he was the strongest thing around, Dan approached the village in the dead of night, thankful that the planet had no moon. Once at the village, the first thing Dan needed to find out was if the villagers were susceptible to mind magic. Unlike the birds, which had a fleshy interior with a brain, all the villagers might be golems.


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    Dan was happy to find that the villagers had brains, but not exactly how he had been expecting. Their brains were effectively rocks in their heads that did what brains did, except they were rocks. Still, it meant he could control them or at least make a few things more easily acceptable.


    With ease, Dan nudged the villagers to accept his illusion, which made him look like a human, even to their touch¡ªthe illusion was not exactly like them, but just an average human from Earth. Dan¡¯s idea was to pull the isekai trope of someone who had just been taken to a different world. He wanted to see how the villagers would respond. It was also the best way for him to ask questions without seeming out of place. Of course, Dan could just mind-control them, but he still felt a bit odd about the idea at the time.


    Dan''s idea worked, and he quickly learned that nothing on the planet had outer flesh. Everything and anything had a layer of rock or something else coating it. It was very bizarre, and Dan didn''t believe them at all until he confirmed it with his own eyes and spatial sense.


    While in the village, Dan learned a few other things while talking to the villagers. Yes, he talked since he actually had a very thin, almost unnoticeable mouth right where a mustache would be.


    He learned that all villagers had rough, gravel-like voices, no matter their apparent gender.  Additionally, they didn''t have genders. Even though some looked female and others looked male, they were rock people and did not reproduce like Dan was used to. Thankfully, due to his act as another worldly creature, they were happy to explain that they used special rocks. Using one of these rocks, they combine two pieces of each of the parent''s rocky material. Then, after some magic stuff, a mini rock person would form. Needless to say, Dan had been pretty amazed.


    The last two pieces of information the villagers gave him were the answer to why the world barely had any green on it, along with directions where he could find out more about the world''s history.


    Apparently, the world''s oceans were acidic. At least the first layers of the ocean were, which caused the land to be assaulted by acidic winds and storms coming from the coasts. These storms were why the green areas were at the center and thickest part of the continents, where the acid winds and storms couldn¡¯t reach. Dan had questioned whether it rained acid and found that it did not rain acid. The storms that brought the acid water strictly came from the ocean and, much like hurricanes, dispersed when they reached too far into land, only leaving the winds, which crashed against the mounds of rocks, hills, and mountains.


    In terms of the actual water cycle, well, that actually magically removed the acid, and it rained normal water, but since there was a constant breeze of acid flowing, all plants on the surface without protection were wiped out.


    The acid winds also answered the question of why supposedly all living beings had a rock layer. If they really dealt with acidic winds and storms, the planet''s denizens would need some protection from them. And it turns out their stone skins were resistant to the acid, much like the deeper layers of the hills, mountains, and, by extension, their planet''s deeper layers. Dan supposed there might be actual plants down below, though it was still weird that the plants didn¡¯t have natural protection against the acid.


    Finding himself spiraling, Dan stopped himself before further questioning reality''s workings and instead pondered what the acid meant for him.


    It meant he would have to use kinetic shields to avoid being completely eroded, if that was even possible since the regenerative powers of aberrations were rather impressive. Still, Dan was glad he gained the information the easy way instead of learning about the acid winds when a storm hit him. Thankfully, he was far from shore, and the wind had been almost nonexistent when he landed.


    Either way, Dan still wanted to make the planet his temporary home; he had already encountered some aberrations while entering and imagined there would definitely be some on the planet he could hunt down. However, before he could do anything, he had to ensure he was relatively safe, so he needed more information. Thus, he asked the villagers to point him toward the nearest city where he could find more about the world than the information some backwater village in the middle of nowhere could offer him.


    Unsurprisingly, the directions to the city led him directly to the tunnel the village was built near. The tunnel connected to an underground cave system, giving access to the places where people lived underground. That piece of information did make Dan question why the village existed above ground at all.


    He eventually learned in the city that the above-ground villages were established to gather minerals created by the acid brought through the acid storms and winds. Apparently, the minerals were good for alchemy due to their acidic nature, which made Dan lose complete interest in the topic.

 Chapter 63 - The City of Bakkabuz

    Dan was glad he didn''t need to see with his eyes because the tunnel sucked. The lack of light would screw anyone over, and there was a good chance all the villagers and rock people on the planet had some version of dark vision. Alternatively, they could have tremor sense or some other talent to help them navigate the dark.


    He had his spatial sense, which was as good if not better than anything else out there.


    The tunnel that Dan traveled through began as an even and well-planned piece of work, but the further he got from the village, the rougher it became. Eventually, the tunnel turned into tunnels that also became ragged and lacked shape. The only exception was the clear and worn-out path that the villagers used to travel from and to the city.


    The main tunnel was the only consistent one, though obviously the smallest of the bunch. Even that was saying something since it was wide enough for a carriage to pass through, while the other tunnels that split from it could sometimes easily accommodate two semis from Earth.


    As he traveled the ever-winding tunnel, Dan wondered if anything would ever attack him. There was no way the planet was filled with peaceful creatures. It wasn¡¯t long after that thought that Dan got an answer, and he became alerted to noise coming from far ahead, even though his hearing wasn¡¯t the best.


    Thanking his lucky stars that he now floated everywhere and didn¡¯t make noise while moving, Dan put on his illusion while landing softly on the ground.


    Only a minute later did the cause of the noise come into Dan¡¯s spatial view.


    Marching towards him was a contingent of soldiers. They were all rock people, twelve of them in total, though nothing different than the types he had seen so far.


    At the very front marched six stocky stone dwarfs who had a rough-looking layer of rock-like metal covering them, almost like a second skin. Something that none of the villagers had used.


    These metal-rock dwarfs wielded metal shields and spears. Four dwarfs marched in a line, taking the space of the entire tunnel, while the other two stood behind the first four. Finally, behind all of the dwarfs were a mixture of humans and elves who also wore the same stone-metal layer over their bodies, though it was less thick, and unlike the dwarf''s darker, more rigid layer, theirs was more crystal-like with slight hints of blue and brown. These folks at the back also had swords at their sides, but aside from that, they did not hold anything else that Dan could see.


    The group got closer, and Dan saw that one of the elves distinguished itself from the rest by having a slightly glowing spot on its chest where the crystal-like layer was shaped like a hammer and colored a lighter hue than the rest.


    Eventually, the soldiers came to a stop a few dozen feet from Dan, and one of the dwarfs spoke up, their voice rough and direct.


    ¡°Who are you!? And what are you doing down here!?¡±


    Dan, thankful the soldiers were only D rankers, began to spin his mental magic while still answering, trying to sound like a meek and worried civilian who didn¡¯t know he had just broken the law.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Apologies¡­ I am Dan. I just came from the village found in that direction,¡± Dan answered, pointing the way he had come. ¡°You see, I came here from another world. And after speaking with the villagers, they told me I could find a city in this direction.¡± He finished, pointing in the direction he was heading.


    At his response, the soldiers seemed to relax just a bit, as Dan¡¯s fleshy self was an odd sight to them. However, there was no reply, and Dan figured they were waiting for their leader to speak up. Something the elf with the blue hammer mark did a few seconds later.


    ¡°Did they not warn you of the dangers found in these tunnels?¡± The elf asked, his voice still rough and gravely but less so when compared to the dwarf.


    By that point, Dan¡¯s magic was fully at work as he subtly guided the stone folk away from asking about the otherworldly topic. Not only that, but he wanted them just to let him go on his way instead of trying to escort him back to the city. Dan still had to be careful as he worked since the humans and elves were definitely casters and might notice his influence on them.


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    The chances of such a thing were low, based on his rank and specialty with mind magic, but things were never guaranteed. Dan doubted things would go wrong, but he still answered in a manner that would help him reach his goal sooner.


    ¡°They did say the tunnels could be dangerous. However, they mentioned that guards like yourselves worked hard to keep the tunnels safe. And considering I have yet to meet any monsters, I have to agree with them.¡±


    At his words, Dan could see a wave of pride rush through the soldiers, and he chose to amplify it just a bit¡ªsomething he came to regret.


    ¡°The villagers are correct, of course! We pride ourselves on keeping these tunnels safe and making sure our people travel through them unbothered. To that extent, who would we be if we didn¡¯t take further pride in our work and make sure you made it safely to our great city!¡±


    Dan didn¡¯t like that answer at all. He was still new to the whole mind thing and even if his new existence brought him much innate knowledge, he still lacked the subtlety and wisdom to foresee the consequences. However, he wasn¡¯t going to give up and shifted his approach.


    ¡°I am thankful for your offer; however, I do not wish to take you away from your duties. Though I may look weak, you must trust me when I say I have the ability to protect myself; otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have risked the tunnels.¡±  As he spoke, Dan infused some magic into the words while also pushing the soldiers to believe them.


    He knew he could blast the soldiers away or straight up force his way through by taking hold of their minds. However, this was good practice as they were the first rankers he was using his powers on. Additionally, Dan didn¡¯t know if the guards had trackers on them, letting their headquarters in the city know their locations and whether they were alive. And if he just killed them, it might send an investigation his way, making things much more complicated for him. Of course, he could always abandon this area and try to find another civilized location, but he would rather just go through with this. Thankfully, his words worked as he saw doubt begin to appear in the minds of the soldiers.


    The will he had infused in his words was explicitly done to let the soldiers feel a tiny bit of pressure from him so they knew he had some power. Meanwhile, the mental manipulations were done to advance the narrative that they did have a job to accomplish, and it was not escorting some nobody.


    His plan worked, and Dan heard the murmurs of the fact that the tunnels around here were safe to travel through. A set of thoughts Dan pushed forward even more while also introducing the idea that the tunnels were safe due to their patrols. Finally, he added that Dan was technically not part of their kingdom or whatever ruled these lands, so they didn¡¯t have an obligation to escort him. Eventually, his manipulations worked, and the leader allowed Dan through.


    Soon enough, Dan was making his way through the tunnel again, and he reflected on just how good the idea of pretending to be an outworlder was. The whole persona would bring more problems going forward, problems he didn¡¯t want to deal with. So, after much consideration, Dan decided that he would have to enter the city in a different disguise. Probably just pretending to be one of the natives. It¡¯s not like he needed to stick to one persona and could change his identity as he needed. However, before he could get too deep into the whole thing, Dan knew he had to find the city and learn exactly where he stood in the power scale of the world.


    Dan wasn¡¯t sure how long he traveled for since it was hard to tell time underground. However, eventually, the tunnel gave way to a massive cavern. The problem was that Dan didn¡¯t know how huge it was since the lights coming from the many buildings far ahead were insufficient to illuminate the ceiling. In fact, the entire place was dark as shit. There were no torches or fires anywhere, and the only light came from plants, rocks, or enchantments on the multitude of items throughout the city. The sheer number of enchantments and runes gave the place an eerie feeling since the outline of buildings could be seen, but not much else could be made out. And thanks to the varied colors of enchantments that people wore or runes that were used on the infrastructure, the place was like a magical fairyland of darkness.


    Dan could tell people were moving on the walls thanks to their enchanted items moving around with them, but otherwise, he couldn¡¯t tell any other details about the folks that patrolled the walls.


    The sight made Dan question how the people lived their lives, but it all made sense once he stopped to consider that they didn¡¯t need light to see. However, it didn¡¯t explain the lack of fire unless the stone folk didn¡¯t need to eat like he once did.


    Back on Earth, people cooked their foods, but considering these were stone people, who was to say they couldn¡¯t eat everything raw and have their stone stomachs protect them from any harm? Heck, he hadn¡¯t seen anyone in the village eat anything, so maybe they didn¡¯t even need to eat.


    Either way, Dan needed to get inside the city, but more importantly, he had to get used to the idea that even if his eyes couldn¡¯t see jack shit, the guards on the walls probably already spotted him.


    Knowing he stood out a lot less, Dan was glad he had switched to a stone human identity and approached the gate that was faintly outlined by its many runic enchantments. As he walked, Dan extended his spatial sense as far out as he could, about a 100-foot radial sphere, though it didn¡¯t go through walls.


    At that moment, while approaching the gates, Dan¡¯s mind went to a very important detail, and he quietly cursed under his stone breath.


    ¡°Fuck. I hope they don¡¯t have items to detect aberrations.¡±

 Chapter 64 - Passing the Time

    It turned out that Dan didn''t even need to worry about such things. The guards waved him through after he explained that he was an explorer who had run into a rough time in the tunnels, thus explaining his lack of equipment. The explanation seemed common enough that the guards didn''t even think twice and let him into the city while expressing their condolences. Dan was shocked that the guards hadn''t even questioned it, but he imagined the planet had to be young, and the influences of aberration had yet to show their hideous colors.


    Once inside the city, the work truly began. The guards had been D rank, and many people inside the city were also of similar rank. This definitely placed the area as a low-risk area, at least to himself. However, Dan still needed more information and began the process of extracting said information.


    At first, he spent weeks learning the routine of the city.


    Which areas were the worst and filled with societies unwanted? How did the economy work? How attentive were the guards? What was the extent of the world''s magic? How was the city ruled? Where exactly was he in the grand scheme of things? At least planet-wise.


    Dan found that in his search for answers, society had mostly stayed the same. The strong ruled like always, except now they had the power to back their rule. There was corruption, but not to the level Dan expected due to magical contracts. However, just like back on Earth, corruption worked like it always did, with money.


    In this world, Dan found that money came in the form of rare mana-infused ore. The higher the level of mana infused within the ore, the more valuable it was. The type of ore also added value, with something like a chunk of mythical-infused ore being the equivalent of 1000 iron-infused chunks, even if they both had the same mana levels.


    From an economic perspective, the infused ores could be used to make weapons and armor, which were the layers of metal that the soldiers wore. Thanks to that, the ores had value since they provided actual benefits.


    Looking into magic, Dan learned that the world was less advanced than he originally gave it credit for. Sure, they had lots of enchantments, but the level of those enchantments rarely passed D rank in power. And through his snooping, Dan did learn that the city of Bakkabuz was on the outer edge of the kingdom that ruled it, which put it at the bottom of the magical forefront.


    The ruling classes were a power-based system, with those at higher ranks at the top. As for the actual chains of commands, Dan finally learned what he had initially wondered about. Kingdoms were ruled by the strong, which meant that in this current era of the world, the King was a B ranker. Then he put C rankers in charge of running his cities, with the top officials of said cities usually being C rankers themselves. That had been enlightening for Dan since he now knew he needed to watch out for C rankers. However, it wasn''t as big of a problem for his current city since the leaders of this particular city were all on the lower end of the C Rank ladder.


    Feeling much more comfortable with moving around and doing things, Dan began to implement his plans. He needed aberrations to consume and more knowledge of the universe. Dan knew it would take some time to gain the information he wanted, but he had plenty of time.


    The last thing he wanted was to spend another thousand years, or however long he had spent traveling in space before running into another planet. So, the best idea was to build up on this planet, learn, and grow as much as he could before heading out if things got too dangerous.


    Dan was mainly looking for spatial magic that could take him to another world since he couldn¡¯t use such magic himself, at least without getting attached to an Eldritch God.


    Dan¡¯s plan was straightforward in theory but would be a pain to execute. He wanted to build up some sort of organization to help him scour the world for aberrations he could consume. At the same time, he wanted to have a magic research institution to help him devise ways to travel between planets. Both would, of course, also act as shields for him in case others came poking about.


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    The first thing Dan needed to get his plans moving was currency. At first, Dan¡¯s human sensibilities came in hard, wanting him to work and make an honest living. However, having spent years doing just that, Dan would not repeat it all over again. Thus, it wasn¡¯t long before Dan ran through the city and took control of any underground activities. He essentially wiped them out of existence and took all their goods, which were quite a lot.


    Dan did leave many alive, though under his direct control via mind control, illusions of a mysterious new leader, or threat of death. The idea was that he needed his people to make sure the crime that happened was known to him so he could remove any other upcoming crime lords. Dan wanted to take control of the city, and starting from the ground up was always best. Funnily enough, his disdain for using mind control wasn¡¯t as strong when dealing with criminals, and that was how he crossed over the line. And once the line had been crossed, it got easier every time.


    With all his money, Dan¡¯s next step was to build something he could use to gather information. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t pass up the opportunity to own a guild. It was surprising the planet didn¡¯t have a proper explorer¡¯s guild or something akin to it, but Dan was about to start his own.


    Dan went with something simple like The Explorer¡¯s Guild. They would be the first out on the frontiers exploring the underground places of the planet. Dan knew it would take a long time to get the guild moving correctly, but one thing he had was time. As for what the guild actually did well, they would map out the planet, but more importantly, they would note things of interest, such as monsters, ores, plants, and other locations. Then, he would sell the information to those who wanted it. Of course, it all was just a ruse for Dan to get notified when some weird mind stuff was happening so he could investigate it himself and hopefully take out other aberrations.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the guild to lift off the ground. After all, there were many desperate folks out there who were willing to risk everything for money. And since all they had to do was go out and explore, why wouldn¡¯t they? It''s not like they had to fight stuff.


    The explorers only had to survive since Dan had found that the world already had nice little magical items that would scan their surroundings and slowly build an internal map. The only reason why no one had used them yet to do what Dan was doing was that they were lazy and happy with the status quo. More importantly, no one wanted to pay others to go out and explore for no real reason. They did do it occasionally, but it was with a purpose in mind, not just for the sake of exploring.


    Still, the Explorer¡¯s Guild didn¡¯t start too great. Mainly because Dan didn¡¯t know what the hell he was doing. There also weren¡¯t too many incentives to go and explore, and only the truly desperate took the job. This changed as the years passed, and not as many members were torn apart by monsters. It also helped that Dan offered incentives for those who found new things. You find a new untapped ore vein; you gain a percentage of what is mined. Oh, you found a new type of monster, then you gain a few extra chunks of ore for it, even more for additional information about said monster. Naturally, Dan also expanded what the Explorer¡¯s Guild did after some time. He started hiring miners to mine the ore veins, and then he had to hire guards to protect the miners.


    Years passed, and the Explorer¡¯s Guild grew from a small organization in this one city at the edges of the kingdom to a place one could find in every major city. As the organization grew, so did the profits, with the kingdom purchasing the maps of the surroundings for strategic purposes. While warriors bought the locations where certain monsters had been found. Of course, the ores were the most profitable out of everything since the guild found lots of infused ore.


    In Dan¡¯s opinion, the best part was that the guild was barely corrupt, which came about from his ability to read into the other top executives'' minds and extract any secrets. The only problem was that Dan hadn¡¯t found many aberrations with the guild. And the ones he had found were D rank at most. Dan¡¯s question was whether it was just a problem of scope. After all, the guild only covered a small portion of the planet. However, Dan was worried about expanding too far since it would take things out of his control.


    After around three decades of growth, Dan wasn¡¯t technically the sole leader of the guild. He had-had to step down and eventually fake his death when rumors of the King wanting to meet him spread. Since he hadn¡¯t named an heir to the guild, Dan killed another executive and took their place to avoid future problems. Still, he was only one creature, and if the guild spread worldwide, he would lose his current control. He also couldn¡¯t mind control other executives since they all moved around the highest level of power, which meant a powerful C ranker might notice.


    So, with few other options, Dan decided to branch out into two things.


    First, he needed to create the magical research guild to help find ways to travel between planets.


    Secondly, and most importantly, Dan had to create a cult.

 Chapter 65 - A Cult

    Dungeon Day 70 - Continues


    Dan didn''t think he would be someone who would, at any point in his life, be willing to create a cult.  It''s not like you could just go and make a cult, at least as far as Dan was aware you couldn''t.


    Now, why did Dan need to make a cult of all things? Because it was an organization that was easily controlled and made for one specific goal, that they would not betray no matter how sensible anything else might seem. Cults were great for controlling others to do precisely what you wanted them to do without question. There was no way to bribe cult members as they lived for their cult¡¯s purpose and nothing else, which was precisely what Dan needed.


    Unlike his Explorers Guild and the many executives and other personnel who had gone corrupt more than once and had been stopped by Dan, a cult wouldn''t present him with such a problem. The best part was that he would then replace high-ranking guild members with cult members, thus eliminating any other corruption problems from the guild, at the very least in the higher ranks.


    As far as what the cult would be about, that was the easy part. However, it made Dan question whether cults had to be evil or just nebulous and undaunting in their beliefs. The train of thought revealed to Dan that cults were just organizations of highly loyal and undaunted members. And their bad reputations only came with the naming scheme.  After all, the Organization of the Dark God Cthulhu didn¡¯t have the same ring as the Cult of the Dark God Cthulhu. Same thing with the Cult of Rainbows and Unicorns. It was no wonder cults got a bad rap since all of them were named after not-so-great things. However, it was honestly more due to them sacrificing people than anything else.


    Anyways, back to the whole cult creation thing. Dan wanted the cult to be a force for good, which made him think of not calling it a cult and simply a secret organization, but that would break one of the main things behind a cult. A singular leader who stood above all else and led the organization to a final purpose. Whereas other secret organizations were more like one-for-all and all-for-one, a cult was great since it was more of a dictatorship. In this case, Dan would be the dictator or figure leading the cult to a greater tomorrow.  In fact, the best part about the entire cult that Dan was making was its irony.


    Dan needed a cult to help him maintain control of things without questioning him. Of course, he needed to give the members a reason to listen to him, and what better reason than the truth?  The cult would focus on the bigger picture.  Dan would be the messenger from the stars coming to inform the planet of an impending pandemic of monsters that would pose a great threat.


    What were these monsters? Well, they were aberrations just like him, except the cult wouldn¡¯t know about that critical last little detail. What they would know was that he was there to guide them to a better future where they would fend off an invasion of these monsters. Most importantly, Dan, as the mysterious figure, had founded the Explorer¡¯s Guild to help find those monsters that had already breached the planet, but he needed the cult¡¯s help to keep the guild going in the right direction. Which coincidentally meant not being corrupt. It was a glorious idea, and Dan needed to come up with a good name for the cult.


    Dan was thinking of something like the Defenders of Kroger, which was the name of the world, as he had found out some time back. It had taken Dan a while to learn that because the locals weren''t aware of such a thing. He had only learned the name because he had questioned some scholars who cared enough to name the rock they lived on.


    Defenders of Kroger seemed like a good one, but Dan felt it might be a little too much on the nose and something a paladin group might call themselves. After a bit more thought, Dan came up with Earth''s Guiding Shadow.


    Earth''s Guiding Shadow felt more subtle and didn''t feel as in your face. They weren''t declaring themselves as the protectors of the planet; they were more like just another hand trying to do good in the world of earth and rock they found themselves in while also keeping themselves unseen.


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    Dan already imagined his members saying things like ¡°Earth''s Shadow be with you¡± or ¡°May the Shadow Guide you.¡± Yeah, Dan was definitely going with that name.


    After completing the small yet essential bits, like the name and purpose, Dan began working on the actual important stuff, like recruiting.


    Recruiting was going to be a pain in the ass. Dan didn''t know where to start, like how did he approach random people and pushed the idea of joining a secret organization? Usually, those types of things started very slowly or due to some actual revelation by a group of people.


    Eventually, Dan figured he needed to have some people have otherworldly experiences. He could simply mind-bend some individuals to get the whole thing started, but where was the fun in that? Sure, he would use mind magic to move things along, but he figured having the thing start semi-organically would add truth and some real purpose behind it.


    First, Dan spent a year traveling through the kingdom doing various mind fuckeries. He gave random members of the guild dreams about things coming down from the skies and infiltrating the planet as fake members of the stone folk.


    Dreams of fights against flesh-shifting monsters. These dreams usually ended with the savior, Dan coming to the rescue and killing the monsters. Dan made his visage covered in smoke and unreadable to help maintain an air of mysteriousness.


    Dan had to give these individuals multiple of those dreams, doing various rounds of dreams throughout the kingdom; even then, it wasn''t good enough. Dan needed to give them another push.


    So, he began ¡°having¡± guild members get attacked by the fleshy aberrations. At that point, the lack of actual aberrations in the kingdom came to his aid since the reports about them were almost non-existent, and no one connected the dots.


    Reports about these attacks started surfacing slowly but didn¡¯t garner much attention with the rest of the guild or society since they were just put in the general monster attack pile. However, that was fine with Dan since that wasn¡¯t the reason why he did it. In actuality, those individuals whose dreams Dan manipulated started investigating the different appearances. Of course, the way Dan had planned it, he made sure there were multiple of these individuals in the various cities, which meant they eventually met up.


    From there on, things began snowballing.


    His original cultists found out they all had the same dreams, even if it took some time, and they flocked to the events he created like moths to flame. Their investigations grew, and Dan made sure to keep things flowing in the background. He needed them to believe they were the chosen ones who were being given information from some god about the incoming invasion. And, of course, Dan integrated himself into the group in order to keep pushing toward what he wanted.


    Dan encouraged thoughts that made them believe they were truly chosen and that they were the only ones to know of this coming invasion. Likewise, he discouraged thoughts that doubted the dreams or questioned the so-called truths they had been presented with. And, like always, he kept giving them a few dreams here and there, emphasizing it would be a long time before the invasion came along.


    Eventually, Dan introduced himself as this mysterious stranger who came to warn them about the unseen dangers of the world. His introduction did bring some questions into the mix, but Dan just used mind trickery and flowery language like ¡°The world itself called for me to rally the forces against the incoming threat¡± or ¡°I am a god in the making here to rise to power in defense of his home.¡± Either way, the group was soon prostrating themselves before him.


    After that, things became even simpler. They had a leader of sorts, a purpose, and a belief in something greater than themselves. So, the group began their work with Dan¡¯s ordained rule about not acting directly but more acting from the shadows. Dan figured he would give them a year to expand in the kingdom before having them take over the work of the guild executives. Additionally, he would still have random attacks by aberrations, the targets of which the guild would recruit.


    Outside of helping the cult recruit, Dan spent his time looking into magical research. The thing was that he didn¡¯t want to create some magical research association for the betterment of the world. Dan wanted some researchers to study what he needed. Mainly teleportation. To that extent, he began using all the money he was making from the guild to hire scholars from all over the world and have them research whatever he wanted. Dan knew it would take some time before things got moving in the research field, but it was worth it.

 Chapter 66 - Moving On

    Years passed as Dan kept working to expand his organization. After a decade or so, the cult and the Explorers Guild stopped needing his direct input. Mainly because the cult was running the Explorer''s Guild, making it all one big organization.


    Dan still needed to make up sightings of aberrations and plan attacks for possible future members, but the bigger the cult grew, the less he needed to do. Something that helped that along was that the stone folks were a long-lived species, so each member of the cult could live for centuries and maintain their positions without issue. It''s not like they needed to control everything since having the majority in something like the Explorer Guilds was good enough. Even better was the fact that Dan also pushed them to integrate themselves into other important roles in society, which would then help them in the long run.


    At some point, the cult and the guild grew enough and were stabilized enough that Dan finally moved to expand outside their current kingdom. That took some time, but it wasn''t too long, as he could send members of the cult ahead and have them start new branches of the Explorer''s Guild. Of course, by then, people had already heard about the Explorer''s Guild, and it didn¡¯t take as long to gain members.


    Meanwhile, the one area that Dan didn''t have much success with was magic research. Looking into the issue, it turned out that it was mainly because the researchers didn''t know much about the wider magical world. Dan had pushed them to learn as much about space magic as possible, but that aspect of magic seemed relatively advanced. As such, he pulled back on his need for space research and began letting the scholars and other magic users he had hired over the years look into the other aspects of magic.  He would let them build a foundation over some time before switching their focus back to spatial magic.


    With the expansion of the Explorer Guild, and by far, one of the things Dan appreciated about the entire endeavor was that they did find more aberrations. Not only did that make Dan''s work of faking aberration attacks fall off since there were actual attacks, but it also meant that he started hunting them down at a much greater rate. Sadly, a much greater rate meant about one aberration a month at best. The worst part was that the aberrations were usually D rank or lower, which didn''t really offer Dan much power. In fact, if it wasn''t for him bringing attention to these aberrations by creating the cult, Dan doubted anyone would investigate their appearance.


    Either way, the finding of more aberrations meant that his duties were stabilized since the threat was much realer now.  Thus, he decided that it was time for him to finally visit the green areas at the center of the continents. These green areas turned out to be the greatest disappointment since they were just normal forests like the ones he had seen many times back on Earth.  Obviously, they were amazing sights to the locals since most of the planet was just rock and stone.


    With nothing else to do, Dan traveled around the planet hoping to find more aberrations while also setting the seeds to help the guild and cult expand.


    After about a decade of traveling throughout the planet''s barren lands and visiting many underground places in which he did indeed find normal plants, Dan felt it was time to check back on his magical research team. He was glad to find that the research team had made some good progress at cataloging information. The progress was breaking down the different types of magic and finding how mana interacted with reality.


    It explored what Dan had already learned plenty of by simply traveling around, such as how chants worked and why will was such an important aspect of magic. None of it mattered to him since aberrations couldn''t use magic like regular folks.


    Aberrations could harness ambient mana but only to unleash their telepathic and telekinetic magics. Usually, the higher the aberration was in rank, the more ambient mana they could control and unleash. It was an annoying but balanced approach, well, unless you followed an Eldritch God, because then the rules of magic for aberrations changed.  Either way, Dan felt it was some good give and take because most people couldn¡¯t travel in the Astral as free as aberrations.


    With the new magic research on its way, Dan began steering the researchers back to spatial magic and the study of the Astral. He really needed to get off the planet, as he felt that he was falling behind based on the amount of time he had spent on the stupid rock. There were just not enough aberrations for him to progress quickly, and even if he did slowly power up, it wasn¡¯t at a good enough rate. Things were even getting a bit worse as the guild expanded. Sure, they were finding more aberrations, but usually, by the time he made his way across an entire kingdom, the thing had already been killed. And the locals took the Heart Crystals, crushed them, and used them for enchantment purposes.  He had bought a few here and there, but their rarity and usefulness caused a real shortage.


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    The hope was that the research team would unlock teleportation via ritual circles, and he could teleport quickly between places. This would then allow him to reach the aberrations sightings sooner. Even then, Dan didn¡¯t think it was enough to get him to a high rank fast enough.


    Based on Dan''s current rate of progress, he decided to give the planet a few more decades. If nothing was accomplished by then, he wouldn¡¯t have a choice but to set out blindly into the Astral once again.


    Dan was quickly getting bored. There was only so much time he could spend on such a limited planet. He had explored all he could without it getting too dangerous since there were monsters higher in rank than him. The planet didn''t have much on the side of art or games or anything, and the citizens were mostly trying to survive and expand. He had thought of bringing some games from Earth over to the planet, but he felt it might bring too much attention to him. What made everything worse was that he couldn''t progress like normal creatures on the planet, so fighting didn''t do much for him¡ªmaking conquering or hunting monsters pointless or attracting unneeded attention.


    Out of everything, the one thing he was glad about in his new form was that he no longer had any true needs. He didn¡¯t need to eat, sleep, drink, poop, or anything, and thanks to losing much of his humanity, he had also lost his sex drive. Which, in retrospect, sucked because that would have been a good way to pass the time.


    The only reason why Dan didn''t go crazy as he waited for things to progress was his mental capabilities from being an aberration, giving him a much tougher mind. Additionally, he could meditate, which helped him pass the time and was something he often did when he wasn¡¯t dealing with minor problems in the cult or the branch of the guild he controlled.


    Thankfully, after a decade of waiting, Dan finally got some results from his research group. They cracked teleportation.  It was expensive and required a huge setup of runes to take in and store mana for the teleportation process, but it was accomplished. The wait was worth it since he began having the guild set up the teleportation network.


    It took time for the guild to set up a good teleportation network, and by that point, they were expanded across half of the globe. With the new network, the guild became the talk of the world, and much attention began raining down upon it. Dan, worried about the attention, had used the cult to twist the story to say the guild itself had created the advancement as a group project, which helped reduce the attention directed at him.


    With the active teleportation network, Dan could quickly cross the globe, making his hunts much easier.  Sadly, the aberrations that were found were still weaker than he was, so they didn''t help him progress much, but every little bit helped.


    Though the network was great, its creation brought out one of its biggest issues. It wouldn''t help him move between planets since it already took so much mana to use it within the same region. Dan believed it would get better the better the runic circles got, but he didn¡¯t feel it was worth the investment. Instead, he moved the research project to try and find a way to detect planets or World Crystals. If he could get a gadget that allowed him to do so, it would make Astral travel much more straightforward.


    It did take some convincing to get the researchers to do what he wanted, but there was little issue considering he was paying them to research. He did tell them that it was to expand the Explorer''s Guild out into the stars, which helped with their motivation.


    This time, the research didn''t take as long since there was one big difference between planets with life and those without it.  Mana. As far as Dan knew, all planets with life needed mana, and mana came about via World Crystals. So, all the researchers had to do was make something that could detect mana. The problem was that the Astral was huge, and spotting quantities of mana from so far away would be challenging.  Even so, he was the perfect research assistant since he could easily leave the planet and test whatever they came up with.


    To Dan¡¯s delight, it didn¡¯t even take a year for the research group to develop a mana monocle that would let people see mana. Something Dan couldn¡¯t do since he lacked the ability to use normal magic to enhance his vision. Sensing mana was doable, but it wasn¡¯t very good at the distances he would need to travel in the Astral.


    Either way, hoping there would be another planet with mana nearby that would act like a beacon in the emptiness of space, Dan headed out of the planet''s protection. Putting on his monocle and looking around, he first saw that the planet gave out lots of mana in the form of the Ethereal Barrier. The barrier not only protected a planet from invading forces but also fended off the always-hungry Chaos Mana.


    Now, what Dan didn¡¯t expect to see was a torrent of mana traveling across the cosmos like a river. The river of mana came from one side of the planet, merging with its Ethereal Barrier before reappearing on the other side. The best part was that both sides extend outwards into the Astral.


    Thinking back to Earth, Dan hadn¡¯t felt it before since the mana given by Earth¡¯s barrier had blocked his senses, and he had probably flown off in the wrong direction. However, now that he could properly see mana without too much issue, the river of mana was as ever-present as the stars. The best part was that it eventually flowed off into the distance where Dan¡¯s eyesight gave out, but Dan imagined if he followed, he would find all sorts of neat things.

 Chapter 67 - Reflecting

    Dungeon Day 71


    Dan slowly came to as if waking up from a dream. This time, the shards had held much more of his past, and he had experienced the sequences of events in different ways. Sometimes, he was fully immersed, while in others, he was more aware of his current situation and could think about things with a more outside-of-the-box perspective. It had been an odd experience but one he cherished. He was glad he had more of his memories back and that they were being presented in an orderly fashion.


    He knew he had already spent quite some time in slumber, considering it was the morning of a new day, but the entire thing still felt so fresh. Dan had spent a century or more on that planet, which seemed like a lot, but it was barely anything compared to the possible hundreds of years he spent traveling through space to find the planet in the first place. However, as he thought about it, the entire thing had passed in a flash. It was like he had been in a movie, and only the important points were highlighted, while the rest were fast-forwarded.


    Dan still remembered his whole journey and could recall it without issue, but the majority of it had been more of him watching his old self as he did a bunch of day-to-day crap. Thankfully, that stuff had been fast-forwarded, and he was glad. Watching himself travel from place to place or do an otherworldly number of tasks was not appealing. Instead, he spent time watching the other, more interesting parts, which allowed Dan to look at what he was becoming both then and now. It was odd to look at the differences, and Dan began to question how his human memories interacted with his new existence, even more so as he absorbed the shards.


    Sometimes, he was emotional and, even though he knew his monsters were no more than tools. Something from his human side had seen them as pets, so he had named them, and maybe that had even been the cause that manifested their personalities. Sure, the World Crystal brought them into creation, but it was by Dan¡¯s will that the monsters were created, and Dan was sure the Crystal was happy to accommodate.


    On the other hand, opposing his mortal sensitives were the times when he just saw the entire dungeon as his plaything. Maybe it was a way to protect his old human psyche, but it was a fact that Dan was sending hundreds of beasts to their deaths, and the number would increase when the adventurers started coming in. However, even with that knowledge, he didn¡¯t seem to care half of the time.


    To Dan, it felt like there was a war always going on between his old mortal memories and his new existence. A war that his mortal mind was sure to lose with the addition of his Eldritch memories. Dan¡¯s transformation to an aberration had clearly changed him. A human couldn¡¯t go for centuries in space without going mad, yet he had. He had traveled through the solar system, out of it, and continued on as if time was of no consequence, which it wasn¡¯t. Not really.


    He only had been worried about the clock that Earth was on, but with so much time to question things. Dan had questioned if going back to Earth was the right move. He didn¡¯t know how time worked. What if he killed the Eldritch God that had threatened Earth and that stopped him from becoming one? Time was such a mind-bending paradox that Dan had slowly convinced himself not to return to Earth. Those thoughts actually reminded him that he had access to an entity that could answer such a question about the aspect of time, and he resolved to ask Mother Infinity the next time they met.


    Aside from the clear alteration to his social ability, Dan also questioned how his sense of morality had shifted. Whereas before, something like mind controlling someone else had been abhorred, clearly that had changed, and he had messed with people''s minds as he wished. The whole thing getting worse and worse as Dan watched. Sure, he had given himself some rules to avoid crossing some lines, but Dan couldn¡¯t deny the power and convenience of mind-altering magic. In fact, he was glad that aberrations didn¡¯t have a sex drive. Otherwise, he was worried about the many depravities his past self could have caused in the future.


    Speaking of the future, Dan had forever altered that world''s future. Not only had his teleportation magic been revolutionary, but the cult and guild were powers that could completely change the outcome of the planet''s history. The cult would provide a group of individuals loyal to protecting the planet, at least from an invasion.


    Dan knew from back on Earth that all planets suffered some form of Realm invasion at some point or another. Sometimes, planets fell to these invasions while others managed to push back the invasion. However, there was never truly a way to stop the Realms from interfering, at least a way that Dan currently knew of. Either way, the cult would always be on the lookout for such things, and the guild provided them with the perfect force to find an incursion. Of course, Dan could also be a little too optimistic, and everything would fall apart in a matter of centuries.


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    Alas, whatever happened to the planet was not Dan¡¯s concern. What was Dan¡¯s concern was what would come next for his old self. In the end when he had gone into the Astral, Dan had found some sort of current that moved through space. It had been sheer unluckiness that he hadn¡¯t felt it back on Earth, as he had gone in the wrong direction. However, now that Dan had learned of it, he knew his future memories would consist of following this current of mana.


    In the present, was Dan very tempted to tap into the knowledge from the World Crystal and learn what it was? Yes, yes, he was. However, Dan didn¡¯t want any spoilers. He wanted to slowly uncover some of the mysteries of the universe, much as he had already done. It¡¯s not like whatever the damn thing was truly mattered right now.


    Right now, Dan was stuck in a newly refurbished space he had created by cracking a world open like an egg. He wasn¡¯t sure how he did it, but at this point, everything pointed at him.


    Having assimilated his old memories and with worries about how they might change his psyche, Dan looked to his notifications and the damages from the battle.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Attention! Event: Green Aberration has come to an end.


    Congratulations! With the conclusion of the event, you have absorbed a Merged Shard and gained control of the Green Camp Area.


    ??


    So, that was nice. However, what wasn¡¯t nice was the following notification.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Boss Death ??


    Notice!¡ªBoss: Sir Draxis Kron has been killed by the Green Aberration.


    As death was outside of the dungeon area, penalties are applied.


    Respawn time is 12 Hours, and Respawn cost is 178 Mana.


    ??


    Since the aberration had killed Drax while the area was still out of his control, it counted as Drax dying outside his dungeon, meaning Dan had to pay extra and wait longer to respawn the knight. Of course, that also meant that all of his monsters that died inside the area counted as dying outside his dungeon, and they would cost even more to respawn.


    In total, and Dan hurt while looking at the number, it would take 18,818 mana to respawn all the monsters that had died during the battle, which was pretty much all of his new teams except for the spiders and squirrels.


    At the very least, it had been an epic battle, and Dan imagined it would make for an epic movie. He could imagine a 6000-strong green army with its giant monster leader coming to destroy a beautiful city, only for a force of 400 D ranked monsters led by a brave dragon knight to go into battle and die valiantly in an epic battle that would be told for centuries.


    Looking at the battle, the green skins had put up quite a good fight. If Dan had done the math correctly, after the initial bombardment that took out a quarter of their army, it should have been around a 1 vs 8 ratio¡ªone of his monsters taking out eight of the enemy. However, with the buffs, spells, and other stuff the green skins pulled, they managed to deal quite a good amount of damage.


    Still, the battle had been won, and it was time for Dan to look at the rest of his menu to see how much he had grown.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Shards Collected: 5/99.


    Points till Next Rank: 150/700.


    Mana: 900/900 to 1800/1800.


    Mana Regen: 32 to 44 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 16 to 22 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 300 to 600 ft.


    Total Area Claimed: 877 to 1066 Square Miles.


    Abilities. 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    The most interesting thing to point out was that his maximum number of collected shards had gone back up, and now he was just missing two. From there, everything was normal. His points to the next rank had gone up a bit, and his mana tank had increased along with his mana regen. The rest was obvious stuff: the increase in telepathy along with the new addition of the size of his newly controlled land, around 200 new square miles.

 Chapter 68 - A Giant Problem Part 1

    Dungeon Day 72


    Dan had been relaxing, minding his own business, and focusing on respawning his monsters when the notification hit him.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Warning! A Crystal Shard has been consumed!


    Claiming Goal updated.


    ??


    Dan didn''t even flinch and opened up his claiming goals.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª  Factions Under Control 7/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 5/6.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


    Sure enough, there was one more shard to go, consisting of three shards combined to make another D rank shard. Dan had been paying attention to the hills for the last day since the army fight ended and hadn¡¯t seen anything out of the ordinary.


    However, something had been happening as now there was a final winner in the competition.  And yes, Dan was sure that the shards had been in that area.  During the last day or two, he had directed his worms to scour the land of the gnolls for signs of shards and they had come back blank.


    So, it meant that the last threat would be located in the hills.  Dan imagined it would work something much like the Green Camp had worked. There were three shards there. They were fighting for control over the area, and then one of them would eventually win, turning themselves into a D rank monster aberration thing. After all, this whole thing was a tutorial, and Dan figured he had learned most of the lessons needed.


    These lessons taught him that he could do whatever he wanted unless Mother Infinity intervened, and apparently, she intervened a lot. Honestly, Dan didn''t care and just wanted the tutorial to be over so he could get to the actual dungeon building. During the last few days, he had been planning for his future dungeon. Now, all he needed was to finish beating up whatever the D rank shard had to throw at him so he could then begin his true passion.


    Dan figured that he would have at least a few more days before whatever events happened, and he would use those days to finish respawning all his monsters. In the meantime, he would also have his hawks traveling through the hills to try to figure out exactly where the threat was.


    Dungeon Day 74


    It turns out the threat was a giant, like an actual giant. The damn thing stood at twice the height of the green monstrosity, which put it at least 20 feet tall. He also wore nothing but a brown loincloth and was surprisingly chubby.


    The giant was strolling around the hills with a crystal club the size of a freaking refrigerator. Of course, what the crystal club was-was obvious. And it made Dan question a couple of things, mainly whether the shard or the giant was in control.


    Surely, if the shard were in control, it wouldn''t let the giant haul it about. However, the fact that the giant had a small army of trolls and ogres, all of which were too calm, could mean the shard was in control. There could be a chance that both of them were somewhat in control and were sharing minds, but Dan wouldn''t be sure until he consumed the shard or until the battle broke out.


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    The one good thing about the situation was that the giant was not marching directly towards Dan. Instead, the giant and its army walked around the hills, seemingly doing nothing. Dan was certainly not going to complain, as that meant he could finish spawning his monsters and set up a good army to engage the enemy.


    Thankfully, it seemed like the Chaos Mother wouldn''t have any annoying restrictions this time, and Dan would be able to throw his monsters at the problem. In a way, that could be the restriction since he wouldn''t fight in his own territory, and he needed to send his army to the enemy.  If that was the case, it would cost him more mana, which Dan was fine with.


    Dungeon Day 80


    Dan spent days spending a lot of mana, 23,450 mana to be precise. All of which went to creating new teams. In total, he created 12 of the old beast teams and 16 of the new centipede teams for a total of 372 new monsters. With them, Dan was confident of stomping the giant''s butt. Not only was he going to send the new monsters, but he was going to send the burning cardinals and all of his bosses, except Dena and Drax. Drax, because the dragonkin was still shocked from having been killed, only to have respawned a day later just fine, and Dena, because she didn¡¯t bring much to the table. The moment Dan¡¯s monsters became Low D Rank, her usefulness ended, and Dan felt like letting her enjoy life until he ended up altering her mind later on.


    <hr>


    Dan watched as his army of monsters made their way out of the edge of the bandit ruins area and headed straight into the hills. He had spawned them there for that exact reason since he didn¡¯t want to wait forever for a battle to start. The day had just begun, and he guessed a battle would begin around midday.


    The giant and its army were on a relatively flat plateau. A spot he knew of because the enemy forces traveled around their lands repeatedly, and he had spotted them stopping there a few times. So, Dan determined it was the best place to fight. The area was somewhat uneven and filled with large rocky outcroppings. It was an excellent spot for his beasts to use for cover against their much larger opponents.


    His beasts marched in formation towards the plateau. At the very front were the bears, gorillas, and centibulkers. All of them looked tough and daunting. The bears and gorillas had their earthen armors, while the centibulkers had their thick carapaces. Behind them were the jaguars, baboons, and centiblades. The jaguars looked fierce and matched the blades of the centiblades with their newly changed metallic colors. Of course, the baboons looked incredible riding the jaguars while they wore their wooden armor, though having yet to summon any weapons.


    Next up were the casters of the group, meaning the doe¡¯s, stags, and centimentalists. The casters hadn¡¯t changed much and were mostly the same. The doe¡¯s and stags look more majestic with fine coats, and the centimentalists with their colorful spots on their otherwise blackish carapace. Following the casters were the range artillery consisting of the spiders, squirrels, and porcupines. The artillery hadn¡¯t been changed either since their last outing, but Dan might do something for them in the future.


    Above the entire group were the eagle, bats, and, as a final addition, a chunk of the hawks. Dan didn¡¯t need them for scouting and figured it was best to use them here for unquestionable air superiority.


    Below ground were the worms and moles, who were going to be the hidden strike force of Dan¡¯s small army. Finally, there were the cheetahs and panthers. The cheetahs would be in skirmish mode, running in, blasting something with lightning, and then running out. Hopefully, Dan wouldn¡¯t need them to come into the melee, but he would keep them around regardless. On the other hand, the panthers would be doing a big circle around the enemy and coming in from behind.


    Naturally, all of Dan¡¯s plans were up in the air since he didn¡¯t know what nonsense the giant and shard would be able to pull. And that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the fact that the entire army was D rank. It consisted of 37 Ogres, 54 Trolls, and the giant.


    The ogres all wore metal armor, though it was patched up in the best of cases, which didn¡¯t offer as much protection. They also had large metal swords, axes, and hammers, with some wielding shields as well. As for the trolls, well, they only wore loincloths and wielded large wooden clubs, probably believing their regeneration was more than enough to deal with anything.


    On the surprising end, Dan did spot three shaman casters on the troll¡¯s side, and they might have a few tricks up their sleeves.


    Either way, it didn¡¯t matter. Even in the worst scenario where Dan lost the battle, he wouldn''t lose the war. The one thing that he truly needed to ensure was that some ogres and trolls, along with the giant, were caught alive so that he could spawn them later.

 Chapter 69 - A Giant Problem Part 2

    Dungeon Day 80 - Continues


    The battle wasn¡¯t going to be a battle. It was going to be a slaughter. That was something Dan firmly believed as he watched his monsters approach the enemy. The enemy was too outnumbered, even if they had multiple High D Rankers in their midst.


    The green monstrosity had stood a chance because of the fusion and its large army. However, this small army of ogres and trolls was nothing. Dan also didn¡¯t think that the Chaos Mother cared anymore about this area and was just ready for him to move on. Otherwise, he knew this battle would be much harder.


    Noticing his moving forces as they approached, the enemy reacted, and Dan heard a horn as the small army began to form. For their part, his monsters stopped their march, and George took control.


    The first thing the gorilla did was tell the eagles and the hawks to grab the squirrels, all 92 of them. It didn¡¯t take long, and the birds were soon flying off, the enemy most likely losing track of them. Dan did spot through Eagle the Hawk that the giant was paying attention to the birds but didn¡¯t have the forces needed to do anything about them.


    Next up, George had the bears, gorillas, and centibulkers get closer together to form a proper line of defense. Naturally, the baboons, jaguars, and centiblades moved forward as well to back their heavies up. Then, the giant decided not to let his enemy set up, and its army began to march.


    Getting real-time feedback from Hawk the Eagle, who was flying above their army along with the remaining bats and cardinals, George told Hawk to engage. This left Balbatzar, the bats, and the cardinals behind.


    As they waited for Hawk to make it to the advancing enemy, George gave out more orders. Jamole and Chomp, along with their worms and moles, were to remain under the enemy, and after the explosions, they needed to make sure they got a troll and ogre out of the fight so Dan could absorb them later. The cheetahs joined the moles and worms, having been told to wait for the underground beasts to do their thing before running by and unleashing lightning bolts on the enemy before retreating. Meanwhile, the panther already had their orders to flank the enemy and wait for further instructions. So, with those orders given, the underground team and cheetahs moved out.


    Next were the stags and centimentalists, who were ordered to ensure the enemy had only one way toward them. In response, the group began erecting thick walls in possible paths the enemy army might use. Dan doubted they would need it, but having the walls even as a delaying tactic was nice.


    Hawk the Eagle finally made it above the enemy army and was met by bolts of green gooey energy from the shaman trolls. She dodged them with ease and began to work.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the enemy to realize something was wrong as the eagle flew in circles above them, starting to work her Eye of the Tornado skill. As the skill activated, the wind grew in strength, and it wasn¡¯t long before a full-on tornado was making a mess. It didn¡¯t do much damage or lift the enemy up since it was still relatively weak, and they were rather heavy, but it stalled them, and by the time they started moving, Hawk had left.


    Meanwhile, as Hawk had done her thing, George had ordered the spiders and porcupines to head up to the front line and stand on top of the highest rocks they could find. By then, the centimentalists and stags had done their thing and were back behind the front lines.


    The enemy army continued marching, and as they got closer, the giant saw how they had walled off other paths, giving only one specific path for its army to follow. In a move that surprised Dan, the giant gave orders that Dan understood thanks to one of his oldest and first abilities¡ªthe blessing the World Crystal of Earth had given him. Anyways, the orders from the giant was to make the ogre and trolls fan out. Sadly, before they could, nuts started raining from the skies, and explosions went off as the falling nuts rocketed the army. At the same time, George sent the cardinals forward to specifically target the trolls and their regenerative ability.


    The shamans shielded themselves, avoiding a good portion of the damage from the nuts, but were still slightly blasted about. After the explosions stopped, the worms and moles appeared from the ground, piercing through bodies or swallowing monsters whole. Then came the lightning bolts from the cheetahs that had been running laps around the small army.


    Seeing its army getting devastated, the giant and probably the shard roared and charged forward. Hearing the giant roar, his worms and moles retreated, and Dan, knowing they had already captured some of the enemy, was fine with it since the battle had already been a success.


    Sadly, for the enemy, they still had some more presents to receive. George called for the spiders and porcupines to unleash their needles and spines, and a rain of pointy things struck the enemy.


    The giant had been hit, too, but he didn¡¯t look bad. Still, it had been a good distraction letting the bats move in, and they soon opened their mouths as they activated their Sonic Resonance skills. The skills melded together, creating a field of thundering sound that blasted into the enemy. It was a powerful combo skill that caused even the giant to place his hands over his ears.


    The bats were long gone when the enemy realized the sound had stopped.


    The enemy army was in shambles, barely one or two ogres standing. Though unsurprising, ten trolls were still standing, two of whom were shamans. The giant looked around his destroyed army and roared angrily, his once-normal eyes glowing bright blue, matching his crystal club.


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    That told Dan that things were about to go down, and he pushed George to recall the army and have the bosses engage. Agreeing with Dan¡¯s assessment, George had the army part, and the bosses, including the gorilla himself, made their way forward.


    Of course, George also gave additional instructions. He had the spiders, porcupines, and almost everyone who had expended too much mana back off. Meanwhile, the rest of the monsters, which included the bears, gorillas, centibulkers, jaguars, baboons, centiblades, stags, doe¡¯s, centimentalists, hawks, and eagles, split into teams and were sent to remove the remaining enemy monsters. With orders to join the main fight by the time they were done if it was still going on by then.


    The approaching bosses finally saw the giant, who had come to a halt as the light intensified to cover him completely. Dan had to assume the thing had gone to its final form.


    When the light cleared, the club had been split and reduced in size. The giant now had two clubs that were more like thinner tree trunk size than the previous refrigerator size in thickness. They weren¡¯t as long either, and he was able to dual-wield them without problem. That wasn¡¯t even the most impressive thing. What was impressive was the blue crystal armor the giant now wore. It was a full suit of armor covering the giant completely, and the monster gave off blue crystal knight vibes with his two matching clubs. The giant also glowed with pinkish energy, and Dan had to admit that it was its own full-blown raid boss.


    Things were about to get crazy, and silence spread over the now-gathered army. Yes, the army. His monsters had dispatched the trolls and ogres rather quickly, and pretty much his army''s full front line, along with the caster group, was grouped up behind Ingot, George, Fur, and Fir, who had been standing together.


    As for the rest of Dan¡¯s bosses, Kinetic was running around charging up, Xinos was hiding and waiting, and Itsy was riding Kinetic. Jamole and Chomp hid underground, their mana having been partially depleted, but still wanting to fight. Hawk the Eagle was also in the fight, even if her mana was half gone. Apparently, she didn¡¯t want to let Eagle the Hawk show her up, and the two, along with Balbatzar, were flying above the battle site with all the hawks and eagles.


    The giant broke the silence by roaring and charging straight at Ingot, the only monster actually around its size, if not matching it. Ingot roared but with his Roar of the Mountain skill, buffing all of his allies. Then, the bear activated his body enhancement at full blast.


    As it ran, the giant was blasted with wind slashes from everywhere as the birds flew above it. The slashes didn¡¯t do much of anything, but they annoyed the giant, which was a good thing. And it spent mana sending one or two waves of kinetic energy into the sky, hitting nothing but keeping the birds at bay.


    The giant got closer and closer to Ingot before it jumped, gaining quite the height. Ingot just waited to receive the incoming slam attack at least until Hawk¡¯s Wind Slash hit the giant''s side and took the monster off course, causing it to slam into the ground, eventually sliding to a stop.


    As it was getting up, Ingot arrived, stood on his hind legs, and his front paws glowed with power as he activated Earth Slam. The giant acted in time, and a pink barrier popped around it. The barrier cracked but held, and instead of dismissing it, the giant turned it into a blast of force, causing Ingot to stumble back.


    Kinetic ran by as the giant was getting back up again and unleashed his fully charged lightning bolt right at the giant''s head. It didn¡¯t react in time, and the bolt struck it, shocking it and leaving a nice singed mark on its forehead. This was then followed up by Itsy shooting a bunch of webbing toward its face, blinding it for a second. A second was all George needed as the gorilla had already been running towards the armored giant, his fist glowing with power. Needless to say, the giant did not see the uppercut that struck its chin, cracking its helmet a bit while also sending it tumbling back down.


    Next in the combo was Eagle the Hawk, who came down in a streak of green energy and slammed right into the giant''s face, cracking the helmet further. After Eagle came Jamole, who struck the helmet from the back at full speed. The impact finally shattered the helmet and briefly stunned the giant.


    From there, things didn''t go well for the giant.


    Unlike the fight against the green monstrosity, the giant didn''t have an army, and it was quickly overwhelmed.


    Ingot, George, and Fur got into it, and so did all the melee combatants of the army. The bears, gorillas, centibulkers, and the three bosses were good distractions and damage sponges. And even if the giant could hit hard, there were only so many things it could react to. And there was a lot to react to.


    From range, Eagle, Hawk, and Balbatzar, along with the hawks, eagles, centimentalists, and bow-wielding baboons, kept a constant barrage of projectiles, always keeping the boss unbalanced or making it spend mana as it created barriers to absorb the damage. Then, when it got hits on the melee combatants, whether directly with its clubs or indirectly via telekinetic attacks, if the attacks weren''t enough to kill the monster in one hit, it let the doe¡¯s do their jobs, and healing beams shot to retreating minions preventing their deaths.


    The stags even joined in the fight at some point when George ordered them to. The doe''s were safe since the giant was focused on the nearby combatants. Thus, the stags summoned earthen spikes or rammed into the boss, giving it more things to target, allowing the centiblades to use their superior agility and strike unbothered. As the fight continued, monsters were hurt as area-wide telekinetic blasts whittled down Dan''s army. Still, that was in Dan''s favor since the more mana the monster used, the better.


    It was a battle of attrition, and Dan had the numbers. More importantly, Mother Infinity hadn¡¯t put any restrictions on him. Heck, the whole fight could have probably ended even faster if Dan had sent more monsters, but he still needed to keep his monsters clearing the invaders in the rest of his controlled territory.


    The battle finally reached its apex when Xinos came and tore into the giant''s already cracked armor. Dan''s jaguar broke the chest plate apart in a combo attack with Ingot, George, and Chomp, who put the giant off balance. Xinos tore a good chunk out of the giant''s body and gave the rest of the monsters a good area to target since it no longer had a chest plate.


    Slowly but surely, the giant''s energy was whittled down until it eventually fell exhausted onto the ground. It had taken almost half an hour of fighting, and Dan had taken a decent number of casualties, but nothing like with the green monstrosity.


    It took about another hour for the body to be dragged to Dan''s territory, during which it recovered enough to put up a quick fight. It didn''t do it much good, and it wasn''t long before its body crossed over to Dan''s territory, where he had been waiting. Slowly floating over to the crystal giant whose eyes were now blue crystal, Dan tapped it with his body and began the absorption process.

 Chapter 70 - Cliff Hanger

    Like before, the absorption process showed Dan how the shards had reached the shattered space. This time around, they had fallen from the sky, much like the one in the lake. Then, more than likely, by the Chaos Mother¡¯s hand, they had landed near their respective targets. One had fallen near the trolls, one near the ogres, with the last near the giant. However, unlike the frogs, even the youngest ogres or trolls were still able to easily resist the shard. This then became even harder when the D rankers of each species came to possess the shards.


    For the trolls, the shamans were trying to harness the power of the shard. Meanwhile, though the ogres were able to resist complete mind domination, they were still a bunch of dumb brutes. As such, it wasn¡¯t hard for the shard containing Dan¡¯s hunger for domination to push the ogres to conquer the rest of the land. So, the trolls suddenly found themselves in a war against the ogres.


    Once the war started, things quickly escalated, and both sides found themselves rather evenly matched. This was mainly because, eventually, the ogres were consumed by Dan¡¯s influence, and one ended up merging with the shard. This gave the ogres someone who could suddenly use telekinetic and telepathy magic, which evened the field.


    Meanwhile, the giant had stumbled onto its own shard and easily resisted its mental attacks, being at Mid D Rank at that point, and due to its ancestry, it was stronger than most monsters at the same rank. The giant wasn¡¯t very intelligent, but its force of will allowed it to easily resist any mental attacks from the shard. Eventually, though, the shard the giant held began using other tactics to tempt the giant. Offering it power, mates, and all the food it could want. The giant, not being the smartest, didn¡¯t realize it was being manipulated, and it eventually gave in, choosing to partner with the shard.


    That''s when things got interesting. Dan, or at least the part inside the giant¡¯s shard, knew the ogres would surrender faster out of the two factions in the hills. The ogres respected or, more likely, they feared strength. So, all it took was for the giant to beat their empowered ogre before they submitted. After the union, the shards continued their conquest and moved to bring the trolls under their control.


    The trolls, finding themselves on the battle''s losing side, finally started relying on their shard. This shard also had enough intelligence to help them, and they made pacts of sorts. However, that added to their detriment.


    For one, it showed the giant and its shard that there was another shard in the hills, making them push harder. It also gave the troll¡¯s shard direct access to the troll''s souls, eventually leading to the fight between them.


    Two factions arose within the trolls. One wanted to surrender to the giant, while the other, being controlled by the shard, didn¡¯t. The shard had sensed the giants shard and did not wish to join it. Sadly, that infighting brought their defeat. Eventually, the side that wanted to surrender did so, leaving the minority controlled by the shard alone. With its newly gained minions, the giant quickly found the fleeing troll shard and absorbed it.


    By that point in the fighting, many of the giants and ogres had died, explaining their small numbers on the battlefield. Additionally, when the last shard was absorbed, they combined and reached D rank. This then allowed the shards to put up a decent fight against the giant¡¯s mind. Unluckily for them, they found themselves evenly matched. This was what bought Dan time to build up his monsters. The giant had found itself unable to act and wandered around the hills area while in conflict with the shard.


    Then came Dan. Seeing the army of monsters approaching it, the fighting between the giant and the shard stopped. When Dan decimated its army, the two entities finally realized there was a bigger fish, and that was when they finally joined hands in battle. Luckily for Dan, the shard hadn¡¯t been able to absorb mana since it was using its full powers to try to take over the giant.


    Now, Dan wasn¡¯t sure why it hadn¡¯t simply taken over the trolls and ogres to overwhelm the giant, but he wasn¡¯t going to question it. Either way, that story was history, with the rest playing out on the battlefield. With the end of that story came the beginning of a new one as Dan finally got to the memories of his old life.


    Annoyingly, it started with a rush of emotions as a need to dominate minds and worlds hit him like a tsunami. It was as if all of his need to be in control had been put into one shard and then dumped on him, which it likely had been.


    Following the dump of emotions were proper memories. He saw his preparations to leave the rocky planet that he had called home. The preparations were mainly him taking care of more mortal matters. He left behind instructions via his shadow persona that he was going out into space to see if he could find more information about the invasion. Then, he had his personal goods, which included the branch of the guild he oversaw, the research branch he had created, and all the money he had made inherited by the original cultists. Once all of that had been accomplished, Dan left the planet.


    He traveled in the emptiness of space, which was no longer as empty. He now always felt mana around him as he followed the river in one of the two directions. Dan wasn¡¯t sure where each one led, but he randomly chose to follow one.


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    At first, traveling through the river was a rather lonely affair. However, eventually, he began running into a few more aberrations and odd elemental-like beings made of nebula and specks of light. The elementals were happy to ignore him and instead delved deeper into the river of mana. He had been tempted to follow them further in but was wary of finding stronger beings deep within. Additionally, the further he got from the planet, the more he ran into aberrations and elemental entities.


    When he said more, he meant going from one or two every few months to every few weeks. He knew the time because he had bought the equivalent of a watch for just that purpose.


    As far as combat went, well, most aberrations were D rank, with very few being weaker than that. And all of them became his meals or escaped deeper into the river of mana.


    That became routine for five long years. During this, he slowly advanced in power and became a High-C Rank entity. The power-up brought him some joy, even if he knew it would only get harder from there. Dan felt and knew that every time he increased in power, the lower-ranked crystals would give him less energy. In fact, once he reached High C Rank, Low D Rank aberrations did nothing for him, and he began to let them go.


    It was also when he reached High C Rank that his newfound confidence began pushing him to go deeper into the river of mana. Even so, he held off and was glad he had done so.


    After about another year of travel, Dan encountered the oddest thing. He saw a ship¡ªa full-on sailing ship from Earthen medieval times just traveling through space. The sails were fully blown as if strong winds were pushing it forward. The problem was that there was no wind in space.


    Sadly, the wonder of the moment didn¡¯t last long because the damn thing began shooting blasts of force at him. The blasts were coming from large cannon-like contraptions on the ship''s deck.


    Dan would have been worried, but there were two reasons he hadn¡¯t been. One, the ship was still too far away, so the blasts dissipated into puffs that barely scratched at his shield. Two and more importantly, the blasts were at High D Rank at most. Honestly, it made Dan question why a bunch of D rankers were traversing the Astral, but considering they had fired first, he wasn¡¯t going to let things go. It¡¯s not like he was worried about running out of mana.


    That was one of the best things about the river. The thing was exposed to the Astral, letting Dan transmute more than enough Chaos Mana, but as if that wasn¡¯t enough, there was plenty of regular mana all about. The river seemed to be an endless supply of the stuff. So, Dan engaged the ship, fully knowing he would win.


    Of course, it went without saying that Dan quickly broke through the D rank shield protecting the ship. The shield was decent enough but wasn¡¯t very good at deflecting power from strong one-time attacks. So, he made a hole, and before it could regenerate itself, Dan made it inside. As for the ship''s defenses, well, even if the ship also had unlimited mana, it didn¡¯t have much projectile speed in its force blasts, and Dan had easily dodged them.


    The ship was full of humans, which surprised Dan since he also expected some other species. Now, they weren¡¯t Earth humans, noticeably because of the odd language they spoke, which Dan could understand thanks to the blessings the World Crystal of Earth had given him.


    The speech power was useful, and using it, he found out that the humans did not plan to give up the fight in the least. Dan, tired of being lonely and wanting to learn what a bunch of humans were doing in space, quickly subjugated their brains. All of them were Low D Rank, with a few at Mid and the Captain at High, making it relatively easy to bring them under control.


    Dan did feel a bit bad at first, making them think he was a friend, but once the information and comradery started flowing, he quickly got over it. It also helped that they attacked him first. Either way, Dan learned a few things. First, they had come from a world that was relatively advanced in magic. The world was called Otel and was rich enough to allow even D rankers to afford simple flying Astral vessels. The problem was that they didn¡¯t know where the world was. The ship had come from deeper in the river of mana which Dan quickly learned was called the Astral River due to the fact it traveled all throughout the Astral, connecting all planets that contained World Crystals.


    That was a vital piece of information.


    More importantly, there was actual stuff inside the river¡ªdifferent dimensions, at least according to the space sailors. These sailors had apparently wanted to loot these dimensions in their overconfidence, so they took a flying ship that, with a few modifications, could also travel in space, and so they had headed into these dimensions. They, of course, had quickly learned how bad an idea that had been and fled out of them towards the outer part of the river. Surprisingly or really unsurprisingly, the space sailors hadn¡¯t bothered to learn how reality worked and were rather surprised when they didn¡¯t find themselves right outside of their planet just now.


    Dan didn¡¯t care about their sob story. What he did care about was visiting the Realms. That''s right; apparently, the Astral River held all of the Realms within. However, to Dan¡¯s incredible annoyance, just as the ship and Dan¡¯s new crew headed deeper into the river, things started to go dark, signifying the end of the absorbed memories.


    ¡°This bitch.¡± Dan muttered as he came out of his memory dosage. He knew the Chaos Mother had control over these memories and was feeding them to him. So, there was no way all of the coincidences were adding up.


    First, a shard with lots of emotions belonging to dominating and conquering, and now this cliffhanger on a clearly amazing adventure.


    She wanted Dan to hurry up with his dungeon building and continue exploring the dungeon she had made for him to conquer. Well, two could play that game, and he was going to take his sweet time building his dungeon¡ªstarting now.

 Chapter 71 - Dungeon Building Starts

    Dungeon Day 81 to 89


    Dan awoke to a new day. He was still where he had absorbed the shard, and all around him were piles of his monsters who had protected him while he was under. After rousing, thanking them, and sending them back to work, Dan checked his notifications.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    Congratulations! You have absorbed a Merged Shard. With its adsorption, you have gained control of a new area while also completing one of your Claiming Goals.


    ??


    The notification was rather straightforward, and he checked his goals.


    Claiming Goals.


    ¡ª Factions Under Control 8/9.


    ¡ª Shards Collected 8/8.


    ¡ª All Creatures in Area Under Control 0/1.


    This particular menu would stay like it was for quite a while since he wouldn''t move on to finish taking over the gnolls until his dungeon was complete. So, Dan went on to check the final thing he needed to check on.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ??Dungeon Menu ??


    Name: Dan.


    Rank: Low to Mid D Rank.


    Shards Collected: 8/100.


    Points till Next Rank: 300/700.


    Mana: 1800/1800 to 2700/2700.


    Mana Regen: 44 to 72 Mana a Day.


    Chaos Mana Regen: 22 to 36 Chaos Mana a Day.


    Monster Telepathy Range: 600ft to 900 ft.


    Total Area Claimed: 1066 to 1332 Square Miles.


    Abilities. 15.


    Claim or Edit Area.


    Create or Edit Creature.


    Create or Edit Item.


    Claiming Goals.


    ??


    Starting from the top of the menu, he saw he had moved up the ladder of power. It was rather nice and would help ensure his monsters put up an even better fight against the adventurers.


    Moving away from his rank, Dan was happy to see the numbers of shards had stopped fluctuating back and forth as they had absorbed each other or he absorbed them.


    Inspecting his mana regeneration, he was glad it had increased, even if it didn¡¯t do anything for him. Those particular numbers were mainly there to look nice since he gained more mana from the invading monsters in much less time. The last thing to note was that his telepathic range and claimed area had grown. Both were nice additions, and he figured he would have around 1500 square miles under his control after he took over the gnoll''s territory.


    Happy with his progress, Dan finally started to work on his dungeon.


    The first thing he did was take another look at his lands. Dan had many plans, but starting in the right spot was important. As he inspected the lands, it was hard not to be amazed at what he had accomplished in almost three months. He had come in and snowballed the entire region. It had felt like an eternity to him, but looking back now, barely any time had passed.


    After passing his gaze through his conquered lands and with all his monsters having respawned, well, except for the common ranked ones at the lake. Those he would keep dead until it was time to dungeonfy the lake. Noticing he was looking to spiral, Dan forced himself to focus; there were so many things to do, and he just wanted to make it all happen. Sadly, he could only store so much mana, and good chunks of it were going to waste. He needed to start building, so he focused on the village. That was going to be his first target.


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    The village was going to be the official starting zone for adventurers. Every single one of them, at least for their first visit, would start in Typic Town. That¡¯s right, Dan was renaming it and rebuilding it into a proper town. After all, it wouldn¡¯t do for the adventurer''s first impression of Dan to be some backwater village.


    To start, Dan spent some mana remaking the villagers. Each villager took less than ten mana to be remade and were finally and firmly under Dan¡¯s control. Dan had taken a look at their stat sheet, but since they were all standard humanoids, there wasn¡¯t much to see. He had been informed by the World Crystal that when he actually made more humanoids, there would be a process to give them proficiencies.


    From what Dan understood, since the current villagers and other humanoids in his dungeon were born normally, they didn¡¯t need such things. However, if he wanted to give them extra skills in certain things like smithing or cooking that they didn¡¯t already have, Dan would have to spend more mana by giving them proficiencies in the chosen skills. Thankfully, after looking into the whole thing, Dan was relieved to find that breathing, walking, eating, and other basics didn¡¯t need proficiencies. If they did, that would be a pain in his non-existent ass.


    With the villagers now entirely under his control, Dan removed them from existence. Remove was quite a strong word. They still existed in principle, and he could spawn them back in, but it was better that they didn¡¯t exist for some time. He didn¡¯t want to spend time moving them to a safe out of the way spot while he rebuilt the town. And honestly, it is not like they were going to remember not existing.


    Having taken the villagers out of the way, Dan finally got to town building. Thankfully, removing matter was free inside the shattered space, unlike when he had been back in the actual world.


    Dan basically removed the town from existence as well because he wanted a blank canvas. The only places he didn¡¯t delete were the town hall, the inn, the two northern windmills, the two western lumber yards, the market area, and the two wells. He wanted to keep these buildings to use as a reference.


    Once the village was demolished, Dan looked to make a wall. The wall would keep him from turning the town into a city when he couldn¡¯t stop himself from adding more and more.


    Dan pictured the wall in his mind''s eye. It was going to be a wooden square wall around the future town area with gates on its four flattened corners that would give adventurers easy access in and out. He had thought of making a stone wall but felt like a town in the middle of a forest was more suited to a wooden one. With what he wanted to do pictured clearly, he began spawning it.


    Dan designated the very northern part of the town as the farming area. Outside of the walls, he grew fields of corn and cabbages, which were just for show since his villagers wouldn¡¯t need to eat.


    Inside the northern part of the town, he made farmhouses for the npcs, who would play at being farmers. Dan called them npcs, but in actuality, he had to keep in mind that they would be able to feel and live semi-realistic lives. It was just that they would be programmed not to care about certain things, like the fact they were stuck in a town, in some random space, with constant strangers coming in and out.


    It was important that villagers acted that way so they could blend in with the idea the adventurers would have of his dungeon. The thing was that the adventurers would know the place was special since, in their world, monsters didn¡¯t just spawn in, and they didn¡¯t have a screen telling them they were in a dungeon.


    So, in that regard, though Dan did want to make a dungeon, he wanted certain places in it to feel realistic. One of the best ways to accomplish that was by having a somewhat realistic town with which the adventurers could interact. To achieve that, Dan wanted his villagers to be believable. They wouldn¡¯t need to eat, but they would anyway, and Dan had to ensure ¡°food¡± respawned and they never ran out of supplies. Additionally, they would be able to feel, make memories, and enjoy themselves. It was just that they wouldn¡¯t question how the food came about or why they never left the town.


    The villagers would fear death, and their lives would be as real as they could be. They would hand out quests to adventurers and perform various other actions. What they wouldn¡¯t be able to do was remember dying or remember specific interactions. All in all, they would be stuck in a loop of semi-reality.


    With this in mind, Dan continued creating things. He created farmhouses for the farmers. And since he was still going for the medieval theme, all houses were made to look old-school, made of wood and stone, and had a ¡°this was made by hand¡± look to them.


    Many of the houses would be places the farmers lived in and had bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. Dan also decorated the houses with the usual furniture and furnishings. It wasn''t that hard since all he had to do was think about the stuff and pay the mana cost.


    At first, Dan thought he would have to make things separately, but since none of the items were magical, there wasn''t a need. If he had made all the items, magical items, then it would have been a different story and definitely a much more expensive endeavor. Thankfully, even when he eventually made loot for the adventurers, he wouldn''t need to always put in so much detail.


    His current creation spree had prompted him to look at the item creation options, and there were options to give general parameters for magical items. Dan would still create some items himself and would have to assign what items dropped where, why, and when, but that was a completely different thing he would eventually get to.


    Focusing back on the farm area, Dan created buildings that were actually used for farming, such as windmills, stables, and granaries. He also made pastures for animals, along with animals for said pastures. The animals consisted of things he was familiar with, like chickens, horses, pigs, and cows.


    After creating the animals, Dan continued by creating tools and other farming decorations¡ªthings like hay bales, anvils, sacks of grain, and a bunch of other stuff. Once again, none of it was magical, so it didn''t cost too much mana and didn''t take long at all. Even better was that, due to dungeon shenanigans, the things that could rot wouldn''t.


    Dan wasn''t sure why essentially putting things in stasis didn''t count as making it magical, and he wasn''t going to question it. Especially when the World Crystal didn''t interfere to nerf it.


    Eventually, Dan felt the farming area was done and began looking towards the rest of the town.

 Chapter 72 - Typic Town Part 1

    Dungeon Day 81 to 89 - Continues


    The roads were going to be left as the last thing Dan built. He wanted to make the town feel even the slightest bit organic and the best way he could think to do that was to plop buildings down first and then accommodate the roads. The other way he could also make the town feel more real was to have the correct set of buildings or areas to make it feel and look like a town.


    To that extent, hindsight was twenty-twenty, and he realized that maybe having the farms inside of the town wasn¡¯t the smartest move. Dan didn¡¯t recall towns having farms inside their walls but decided to wave it off as his town being special. Which it was. After all, the main reason farms weren¡¯t left inside towns was because of the smell the animals would bring. However, Dan¡¯s town wasn¡¯t like most towns, and he could keep the area clean with an area-wide cleaning enchantment.


    The enchantment would keep the place poop, dust, dirt, and anything else free. Even the adventurers would be cleaned as long as they didn¡¯t resist the enchantment. Because that was something they would be capable of doing if they so wished. That''s how Dan planned to do his dungeon. If someone had the power, they would be able to easily fight their way through or ignore certain traps, among other things.


    To that extent, his different floors would be ranked locked. Dan would make sure to only send properly ranked adventurers to their intended floors. Meaning he wouldn¡¯t just let C rank adventurers enter D ranked areas and trump everything. Of course, that also meant Dan didn¡¯t have a safety net since, technically or really realistically, those with enough power could manually break into his dungeon. Additionally, he would naturally try to stop this, but it was possible for individuals to set up teleporters within his dungeon. Thankfully, those were problems for another day, and Dan focused on the task at hand.


    After having made the executive decision to leave the farmhouses inside, Dan went back to constructing more buildings.


    The buildings Dan felt would make the town a town were as follows: a town hall, an inn, a tavern, a smithy, and some barracks. In terms of areas that would make the town feel like a town, well these areas were places that explained where the town¡¯s economy came from. And for Typic Town, that would be farming, which he already made the area for, as well as a lumberyard and, finally a marketplace, since all towns needed one.


    First, the buildings.


    Dan already had a town hall. It was an L-shaped stonewall building with a bell tower that connected its two corridors. The building had a wooden roof following the same medieval aesthetic that the rest of the town would follow. The only problem Dan saw was that the current building was a bit too small for the size of the town he was planning. So, he demolished it and rebuilt one just like it, but larger. Feeling good about his new, larger town hall, Dan moved on to the inn.


    The inn was around the same size as the old town hall and made of the same stuff. However, the two buildings differed in actual area coverage; the inn was squared and had more height with its three floors, whereas the town hall covered more land with its particular shape.


    Just as with the town hall, the inn was too small for the new town, and Dan also removed it and brought it back larger, its newer and larger central chimney rising just as high as the town hall''s bell tower.


    Dan had used the removal and reconstruction of the two buildings to alter their locations a bit. Well, he had moved the town hall a bit and the inn a lot.


    Now, both buildings were facing each other at the town center, with a newly installed water fountain right between them where the old town well used to be. The town hall was north of the fountain, and the inn was south of it, with both buildings basically being the centerpieces of the town. Additionally, Dan had laid out the first ¡°road¡± of the town, having changed the gravel where the old well used to be to a paved stone road.


    Having accomplished that, Dan moved on to the next building, the tavern.


    It would be located behind the town hall because Dan wanted to keep all these ¡°important¡± buildings near each other, and he felt that would be one of the best spots. The tavern wasn¡¯t part of the main centerpiece, but Dan also didn¡¯t want to just throw the building in some corner since he considered it one of the important buildings that brought the town together.


    Making the tavern, Dan decided to make the building around the size of the inn in terms of width and length, but not in height since there was no need for it to have two stories. The tavern would also follow the medieval theme, and it was a semi-rectangular building with a triangle-shaped roof and chimney.


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    Honestly, looking at the town so far, all of his medieval buildings were looking identical. To remedy that, he changed some of the wood colorings to something better than the dull, darker colors he had been using. As he thought of that, he remembered that back in the old days, they also used tiles, which came in red or shades of red. And Dan replaced some of the wooden roofs with tiles, feeling much happier with the variety.


    As he built, things were coming faster and faster. He was earning around 10,000 mana a day from the constant fighting in his lands, which helped him pump out buildings. It also helped that non-magical things weren¡¯t that expensive. However, what was helping the most was the system. The system was starting to get what he was going for, and many details were being added to the original build before he even brought it to life.


    Before, Dan would think about what kind of building he wanted, and he would get a basic hologram of the building. However, now, when the hologram popped up, it had more details showing where furniture and other decorations would be placed. It helped Dan save a heck of a lot of time since with every building, the system got better at predicting what was going to be needed and adding it to the total mana cost. This upgrade was the reason why the tavern came into existence, ready to go, only really needing its workers and patrons.


    Happy with the tavern, Dan decided the smithy was next. The building was a simple stone building with darkish-red tiles for a roof. Even if the building was simple, it was still an important structure in any medieval town. And Dan placed it up in the northern area with the farms since he felt that made the most sense.


    With the smithy done, Dan created the barracks next. They were going to be put next to the town hall for easy communication between the future mayor and the captain of the guard.


    The building was a long one made to accommodate multiple guards. To Dan, it felt like a long house with a small office in a corner. However, one thing set it apart from the other buildings in the town. The barracks had a nice walled-off courtyard that would let the guards train in peace. Overall, the barracks was a simple building and the system had already pre-made it with training dummies and other such things. In fact, the only things Dan saw missing from the buildings he had made so far were clothes. Dan did not want to make a bunch of clothing items for a bunch of villages, so he began thinking of ways to outsource the job. As he thought, Dan continued on with his creation.


    Up next was the marketplace, which he had-had to demolish since he had placed the inn where the tents had once been. Looking at his town, Dan decided to put the new market area next to the inn with the idea of a road going in between both. This road would eventually lead to the bottom right-hand corner gate of the town, making it one of the busiest streets since a lot of the dungeon was in that direction. With the decision made, Dan began popping up market stalls filled with food and other general items.


    Like with the crops, the marketplace was for show since the villagers would already have all that they needed. Even so, he would program them to browse the market for believability¡¯s sake. Dan did expect adventurers to buy stuff, but since he didn¡¯t need gold, they would pay for all services in mana. That¡¯s right; if they wanted a room at the inn, they paid with mana, and if they wanted a meal, they were paying for it with mana. The whole idea was dumb since Dan knew the space would have mana, it was just that he couldn¡¯t access it for balance and entertainment reasons.


    That was the only reason the entire plan was going to work. The adventurers would come in and spend mana. In exchange for their mana, Dan offered a semi-dangerous place they could train in since he wouldn¡¯t have his monsters kill them off, well, unless they pissed him off. Additionally, they would be getting loot, and who didn¡¯t love loot?


    Moving back to the marketplace area, Dan added a few extra details and then looked to make the last ¡°important¡± area. The lumber mill area.


    Spending some mana, Dan moved the already existing lumber mills by shifting the earth.


    He moved them to the bottom left-hand corner of the town, where another gate was located. He made a road coming into the town from the gate and placed one mill on either side of it. The idea was that since the mills were a key resource for the village, they had a gate for themselves to give the workers easier access to the forest.


    The mills were basic buildings, with their insides mostly being open spaces, except for the saws used to cut the wood. These saws weren¡¯t magical and had used animal labor to work. Dan didn¡¯t see a need to change them and left them be. Dan did plan for the workers to actually cut down trees, except they would always cut down the same trees. Dan would accomplish this by making an enchanted area with some very intricate enchantments that would turn the cut logs back into trees, thus keeping the cycle going forever.


    After finishing the lumber area, Dan returned to building more normal buildings around the town. They would mainly be normal houses for families, but he would add a few buildings for villagers who focused on hunting, mining, or fishing. Dan¡¯s idea was that these villagers would give quests to be escorted into the hills to mine or be taken to the lake to fish. Of course, they didn¡¯t need fish or ores since Dan would make sure the ones that were ¡°used¡± respawned, but it was all for that realism that Dan wanted.


    With the houses done, Dan still had to add some greenery, make the actual roads, add the lumber mill enchantment, and, of course, spawn in the villagers. And that was just the start. After all of that, he needed to create some quests, set the monsters for the area, and, more importantly, create the wizard¡¯s tower for the future admin of Dan¡¯s first dungeon floor.

 Chapter 73 - Typic Town Part 2

    The roads and greenery were the easiest things to make. After all, creating trees, bushes, flowers, and all sorts of other plants wasn¡¯t hard and didn¡¯t cost much mana. As for the roads, well, there was a slight issue once or twice where Dan had to move a building to make sure roads weren¡¯t completely over the place, but it wasn¡¯t anything too annoying.


    Much like the center plaza between the town hall and inn, the road network was made of cobbled stone like the type Dan had seen used in England during medieval times. Additionally, he was thinking of adding a self-repair enchantment to it since constant usage would cause it to degrade, and that wasn¡¯t even considering adventurers making all sorts of messes.


    However, he had decided that a lot of the enchantments would need to wait until after he was done creating the dungeon. Otherwise, the various enchantments would stack up and eat his daily mana intake. There would still be a few enchantments he had going, but for the majority, he would wait.


    With that in mind, there wouldn¡¯t be a lumber mill enchantment, cleaning enchantment, or many others until the very end, and since the npcs were going to be programmed to ignore oddities, he wasn¡¯t worried. This was doubly so since they didn¡¯t need to eat, and the action would just be done to make the world realistic.


    No longer worried about enchantments, Dan began looking to respawn his villagers along with Drax. The villagers, along with the dragonkin, had been reprogrammed to ignore many things and simply keep living life. To that extent, Dan had created plenty of more villagers to inhabit the town. Many were common rank, with only a few notable exceptions in the town being ranked. Obviously, Drax was High D Rank and would stay like that since he would become the Captain of the Guard for the town.


    As he had created the new villagers, Dan had run into the new thing the World Crystal had told him about for humanoids. This new thing was proficiencies, which he had to give to new humanoids to actually have them be skilled at things. Thankfully, Dan could choose from ¡°pre-set¡± options the World Crystal had made when he was spam-creating the villagers; otherwise, he would have been bored. He had created his own villagers with specific things, but only a few got the Dan special treatment, for example, Lerry.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Common.


    Name: Lerry.


    Type: Humanoid - Human.


    Choice: Tavern Keep.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Arcane Mana: 25/25.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +1 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Unfulfilled. Adaptable. Prolific Breeder. Creative Curiosity. Alcoholic Constitution. Charismatic.


    Proficiencies: 6.


    Brewer. Mug Slinging. Drink Mixing. Drunkard Dexterity. Word Slinger. Listener.


    Spells: 0.


    Techniques: 0.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 17 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 34 Mana.


    ??


    Lerry was going to be the tavern keeper of the town''s tavern, and Dan had wanted to make the guy himself. The tavern keeper was a dark-skinned, tall, bald, incredibly well-muscled man.


    As he looked at Lerry¡¯s stat block, Dan was happy to see his innate abilities. They weren¡¯t anything as crazy as Dena¡¯s or Drax¡¯s but were still unique to the type of humanoid he was.


    Unlike elves, who were truly shaped by their ancestry, humans, unless mixed, all had access to the same innate abilities.


    Unfulfilled gave humans a need to go and do things, find a purpose, if you will. Adaptable let humans, and this was important, unmagically adapt to pretty much all environments and situations with time. It was an interesting ability that let humans thrive anywhere. And, of course, it was unique to them, and though it could be passed down, the ability was often overridden by other, more immediate abilities that gave faster access to resistances. An example of this was Drax¡¯s Flame Resistant ability. If Drax mixed with a human woman, Flame Resistant would override the child¡¯s Adaptable ability. Dan found it odd that it worked that way, but he wasn¡¯t willing to go down that research rabbit hole.


    Instead, Dan was more amused by the Prolific Breeder ability, which like the name implied, let humans breed and be willing to breed with anything and everything. It was a wild ability only available to humans that weren¡¯t too mixed. This means that if a guy ended up having sex with a dryad, the resulting child would not have the Prolific Breeder ability.


    The last truly innate ability was Creative Curiosity, which was also self-explanatory. For Dan, Creative Curiosity and Prolific Breeder explained everything regarding the human race.


    Finally, the last two innate abilities were given to Lerry by Dan, thus not truly being part of the human race.


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    Alcoholic Constitution would let the tavern keep chug drinks as if he were a D ranker while not dying from alcohol poisoning. Then, Charismatic was self-explanatory and made the tavern keep act more friendly and outgoing.


    Proficiencies were what truly made Lerry, Lerry. While making the tavern keep Dan had thought about what made a tavern keep a tavern keep.


    A tavern keeper needed to have some brewing experience so they could talk about the thing they were serving. So, Lerry got Brewer.


    A tavern keep needed to be a good drink mixer and also be incredible at slinging mugs, whether empty or full. Thus, Lerry was given Drink Mixing and Mug Slinging. Much more arguably, a tavern keep had to be able to function incredibly well while drunk since they should have plenty of experience. And Lerry would certainly be able to do so with his incredible Drunkard Dexterity.


    Finally, a tavern keep needed to be good listeners and even better at throwing quips. So, Dan made Lerry a good Listener and a great Word Slinger.


    Lerry was just one of the few villagers Dan made, and he was rather basic when compared to the town''s mayor and the guards, who were actually D rank.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Jim.


    Type: Humanoid - Human.


    Choice: Guard.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 75/75.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Unfulfilled. Adaptable. Prolific Breeder. Creative Curiosity. Presences. Duty Bound. Unflinching.


    Proficiencies: 8.


    Sword & Shield. Intimidation. Light Armor. Medium Armor. Body Enhancement. Abjuration. Evocation.


    Spells: 5.


    Body Enhancement - General. Shield. Barrier. Elemental Magic Missile. Basic Light.


    Techniques: 2.


    Reinforce Shield. Basic Thrust.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 40 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 80 Mana.


    ??


    Dan had made 1500 villagers to fill all sorts of roles in the town. They were all common rank as Dan was emulating the real world. However, realistically, these commoners needed protection, so he had made the guards.


    He had made 200 in total, and they would be led by Drax. However, in actuality, no monsters outside of quest-related events would attack the town. In fact, events and quests were the only times when guards would actually be doing something that wasn¡¯t just walking around.


    Okay, maybe that was Dan being hopeful. He knew with certainty that adventurers would cause all sorts of problems. That¡¯s why he had given the guards Duty Bound and Unflinching. Duty Bound would have them stand up for the townspeople and uphold the basic laws that Dan figured all towns had. Then, Unflinching would make them not care if they were facing adventurers or not.


    Making the guards, Dan finally ran into something he hadn¡¯t dealt with, which was spell proficiencies. Dena and Drax hadn¡¯t needed them since they came prebuilt, but since the guards were being made from scratch, that wasn¡¯t the case. He could have saved some mana by only giving them Body Enhancement proficiency, but he figured if his guards were going to deal with adventurers, they needed more defensive and offensive capabilities to command respect. To that extent, Dan had also given them proficiency in Intimidation so they would know to actually intimidate folks and hopefully deter adventurers from causing too many problems.


    Finally, the World Crystal had taken liberties with their uniform, and they wore deep blue tabards with a light blue crystal heart symbol. In a way, it was Dan¡¯s insignia. Actually, it was Dan, literally. So, Dan was fine with it though he imagined it would confuse the crap out of adventurers.


    Next up on the chopping block was the mayor of the town.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Arthur.


    Type: Humanoid - Elf Worker.


    Choice: Mayor.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Dark Vision. Hard Worker. Enhanced Stamina. Profession Proficiency. Long Lived. Presences. Charismatic. Coordinator.


    Proficiencies: 12.


    Calligraphy. Sword & Shield. Heavy Armor. Lance. Horse Riding. Speech. Body Enhancement. Evocation. Conjuration. Abjuration. Transmutation.


    Spells: 8.


    Body Enhancement - General. Shield. Barrier. Basic Control Elements. Conjure Quill. Conjure Parchment. Parlor Tricks. Basic Light.


    Techniques: 2.


    Reinforce Shield. Basic Thrust.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 104 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 207 Mana.


    ??


    The first thing that had popped up at him was the rank. Dan had forgotten he was now Mid D Rank, so he could actually make creatures at that rank. He hadn¡¯t done so with the guard and was okay with it since having a mayor weaker than his guards was a bit dumb. Of course, Dan understood that the Captain of the Guard would be stronger than the mayor but at least that could be twisted through story means.


    Drax was just an old Guard Captain honor-bound, and would never betray his mayor. Either way, Arthur was a blond-haired and blue-eyed elf, which was the spitting image of a traditional elf since he was also tall and slender.


    The main oddity with Arthur was that he was an Elf Worker because Dan didn¡¯t have any other elven subspecies. Dan could have forced the issue by throwing a bunch of innate abilities at the elf to make him something else, but the elf was just going to be a mayor and maybe a warrior at times, so Dan figured it was just best to leave him as an Elf Worker. It''s not like the sub-species was bad, and it did give the elf some nice abilities.


    Hard Worker made Arthur a hard worker. It was straightforward.


    Enhanced Stamina, another innate ability from the subspecies, gave the elf higher stamina than a human at the same rank. The odd one was Profession Proficiency which let the elf become proficient at a wide variety of things in his chosen path. And in this case, since that was Mayor, it synergized with his proficiencies to make him the ultimate mayor.


    To that point, Arthur''s proficiencies were also fairly straightforward. Arthur was named after the warrior king, so Dan had given him proficiency for combat, which, depending on how things went, he might have to use. Then, the other things were reinforcing his job or expanding his other capabilities.


    With the mayor done, Dan knew it was time to make the first admin of his dungeon. And since Arthur was modeled after a king he obviously needed a wizard.

 Chapter 74 - Typic Town Part 3

    Why did Dan need an admin? Because eventually, he was going to have more dungeon floors and did not want to be bothered with having to maintain every single one. Some problems he would fix directly, but otherwise it was best to pass them on to someone else. And that someone was the admin, which was a way for Dan to keep a dungeon floor running smoothly without wasting more mana on enchantments or being annoyed by other details.


    The biggest example of this was if a fight broke out in the town and a few buildings were destroyed. Could Dan pay for a constant enchantment to repair them? Sure, but that would be mana wasted every day on an enchantment that might not be used for a year. Instead, Dan would have the admin fix the building for a fraction of the cost. The same idea also applied to other menial things, like villager clothing. Could Dan give them magical self-repair clothing? Of course, he could. Would it make sense to waste so much mana on that? No. Just have the admin repair them when needed.


    All in all, the admin would be in charge of the floor. They would have a bunch of powers, one of which included being able to communicate with every dungeon creature on the floor. This would allow them to deal with many problems without having to get Dan involved directly. At first, it might not seem like much since one floor wasn¡¯t a problem, but when Dan had three floors, all doubling the size of the first or even five or ten floors, things would become problematic.


    For the first floor, Dan¡¯s admin was Merlin the Wizard. The admin¡¯s stats did not do him justice because they didn¡¯t show how much power an admin actually wielded. Admins were truly mini-versions of Dan, who would be running around fixing things.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Merlin.


    Type: Humanoid - Human.


    Choice: Wizard.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Admin.


    Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Order Mana: Locked.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Unfulfilled. Adaptable. Prolific Breeder. Creative Curiosity. Presences. Dungeon Admin.


    Proficiencies: Overridden. Dungeon Admin.


    Spells: Overridden. Dungeon Admin.


    Techniques: Overridden. Dungeon Admin.


    Respawn Timer: Instant.


    Respawn Cost: 207 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 415 Mana.


    ??


    Merlin was an old man with a great white beard. He wore deep blue robes with small crystal hearts on them instead of stars. However, despite his old appearance, his stat block told a story of power. Sure, he might be stuck to Mid D Rank, and his mana was still at normal levels, but his proficiencies, spells, techniques, and creation cost said everything. That wasn¡¯t even mentioning his respawn timer and the ability to respawn anywhere he chose.


    The old wizard was essentially good at everything via the system. He could cast any spells without issue at any point, though they would be at the appropriate strength. To that end, he didn¡¯t need chants and was not bound by the concentration aspect that casters were bound to. This meant he could have a flying spell, body enhancement, and a lightning storm going simultaneously without needing to be B rank.


    Then, if ultimate spell casting wasn¡¯t enough, the old man could tap into the system and be aware of everything going on in the dungeon. In a way, admins were mini-avatars of Dan. Sadly, they were stuck within Dan¡¯s lands, and Dan could only have one per floor. Further balancing them, they could only use their powers on adventurers, meaning they weren¡¯t the ultimate defense force against another shard.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Even then, Dan wasn¡¯t complaining. The admin would be great at keeping his dungeon running smoothly.


    After the admin was created, Dan saw him instantly get to work as he greeted the villagers and started spawning more clothing items, which was one thing Dan hadn¡¯t done. Since each villager was relatively unique in size, and Dan had yet to make them during his town creation, he had not filled their drawers with clothes.


    Furthermore, the admin would also be great at setting certain enchantments around town.


    See, Dan needed food and other consumable items that the townspeople would use to respawn upon being used. However, outside of crops and a few other items, he wasn¡¯t sure what exactly needed to be enchanted. Thus, the admin would, during the following few weeks when Dan created the dungeon move around placing respawning enchantments on various items.


    These enchantments weren¡¯t normal, and Dan didn¡¯t need to pay a daily mana cost. Instead, the enchantments were self-contained and looped. Basically, once an apple was eaten, the mana cost could be paid, and the apple would be respawned in the same place.


    It only worked because of its simplicity.


    On the other hand, something like the future lumber mill enchantment would be much more complicated. This was because instead of a single enchantment, it was going to take the tree logs that were chopped down and revert the process, all without the adventurers noticing. Further adding to this and how the rest of the villagers were programmed, they would all work on things but never finish. An alchemist would always work on the same potion, a carpenter on the same chair, etc. It was great because it meant Dan didn¡¯t need to have a thousand chairs burned monthly because each carpenter in the lumber mill was constantly making them.


    With the admin finally set up to do a bunch of the busy work, Dan got back to work.


    Typic Town was going to be the center place of the dungeon floor. To that extent, they were going to be involved with pretty much all other areas in the zone. This meant they would have villagers giving adventurers quests that would take them all over the place. These quests would be simple introductory things for the most part, with only a few scaling to much more important things.


    An example of this involved quests dealing with the future areas of the gnolls, green camp, hills, and the druids. This was because the way Dan would set up the dungeon meant that if the quest lines in those specific areas went certain ways, they would bring said areas directly into conflict with the town.


    An excellent example of this would be found in the gnolls area. For that area, Dan would have a whole thing set where adventurers could join the gnolls or the kobolds. Then, once questing was done and certain goals were reached, a war would break out between the gnolls and the kobolds. The adventurers would further assist in the war, and once more, when goals were reached, one side would ultimately win.


    If the kobolds won, all would be good. However, if the gnolls won, they would look to keep expanding and possibly set their eyes on the town. Thus, it was at that point in time when various quests in the town would advance to the next stage and begin offering adventurers rewards to help the village defeat the gnolls. This time around, and to limit choices, the adventurers would only be able to help the town. Their help eventually escalating to the point where an adventurer raid on the gnolls would happen in order to wipe them out.


    The whole system was rather complicated and would only work because Dan planned to reset the dungeon every month or so. This meant that all the scenarios would be playing out constantly, giving each adventurer the chance to ultimately participate in every single one of them.


    Of course, that also meant Dan had some work to do. Luckily, the system was the best thing ever. Dan only had to set the ¡°main¡± parameters for what he wanted to do. And for the town, that was easy.


    Basically, he told the system to give villagers certain quests that they could give to adventurers. Some quests were simple, such as going to the forest and killing a few beasts for their pelts or collecting certain flowers for the alchemist. From there, the system took it in hand and assigned how many pelts or flowers an adventurer needed to collect. Then, since there wasn¡¯t any true difficulty ranking for quests, any adventurer could get the quest and complete it.


    From these basic quests, Dan derived other ones that extend further out in the map. These quests were things like, go kill five gnolls or eliminating a certain amount of D rank monsters. There were also quests like: spy on the goblins, kill goblins, visit the lake, escort so and so here and there. The village was the place where adventurers were sent out into the rest of the zone.


    Naturally, they could leave by themselves and stumble into the other zones which would have specific quests regarding what was going in the area. For example, if an adventurer stumbled into the kobold and gnoll zone, the inhabitants might try to recruit them to their side.


    Either way, since the town was the mixing pot, this also meant Dan had to make sure adventurers stumbled into a wide variety of monsters.


    Not just variety but proper power scaling was important. After all, the town was going to be the starting spot for those wanting to reach D rank. So, the town area was where Dan would place all his common rank beasts, and adventurers would have to venture further out in order to find the D rank monsters. Even then, there wouldn¡¯t be any Mid Rank monsters or bosses in the town area. If adventurers wanted to find those, they would have to visit other areas.


    In that regard, Dan was going to follow the classic example of the closer someone got to the base of a faction the stronger the enemies would get. Well, it would be like that for everything except wandering beasts and bosses. See, in Dan''s mind, he would have all sorts of beasts wandering about along with monstrosities. These dungeon monsters would be found all over the place at both Low and Mid D Rank. However, to that end, each area would have its own creatures confined to its own areas, well, unless a special event was happening at the time.


    Aka, kobolds, and gnolls would stay in their respective areas, and so would goblins. Thus, an adventurer wouldn¡¯t be able to stumble into a goblin all the way in the druid area. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean there wouldn¡¯t be some overlap, like goblins and kobolds fighting where their borders met.


    Everything was meant to work as if each faction had its own small kingdom, and though they wouldn¡¯t go outside of their lands unless a war was called, they would still fight with enemy troops near their borders.


    Now, obviously, this meant that many different enemies would harass the town border since it shared a border with most of the other areas. However, Dan just saw that as an opportunity for more quests and introductions.

 Chapter 75 - Frog Lake Part 1

    Dungeon Day 81 to 89 ¨C Continues


    The last thing Dan felt like he needed to do in the town area was set up spawn points for his many beasts. Specifically, Dan wanted to make a big underground cave that his beasts could exit from via a multitude of tunnels. These tunnels would extend to the surface all over the town area. Another good reason to make this cave spawn area would also be to have a safe spot for his beasts to relax before heading out into the dungeon and doing battle.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Dan to hollow out the place deep underground since removing matter was free. Then, once the location was made, he reinforced the walls of all the tunnels, caves, and the dome itself to be as strong as he could make it. Everything cost him 654 mana, which, when it accounted for around ten miles of hardened rock the cost wasn¡¯t high at all. This was mainly because the enchantment was simple.


    Originally, Dan had planned not to make any enchantments since the daily cost would subtract from his total mana income but this time around, he figured it was worth it. It''s not like a daily expense of 317 mana would hurt him, and now his beasts had fully safe spots to rest in.


    Additionally, Dan would eventually add barriers to each of the cave entrances to stop adventurers from randomly going inside. He wanted to do this so his monsters didn¡¯t get spawn camped, or more likely, so adventurers didn¡¯t get killed from encountering 100 monsters in one go.


    With the main beast spawn point done, Dan was reminded about something very important he almost forgot about: villager spawn points. Luckily, that was fairly fast, and Dan placed each villager''s spawn points in the houses where they lived. With that finally done, Dan felt the town was complete, well, aside from the various enchantments he would eventually add. However, besides that, Typic Town was good to go, and his sight moved towards the Frog Lake.


    Dungeon Day 90 to 120


    The lake was going to take much longer than the town did. This was because, unlike the town where there were fewer monsters to spawn, the lake was huge, probably triple the size of the town. This meant that most of the time spent in the lake would be spent with Dan waiting to spawn monsters.


    Dan planned to leave most of the monster spawning till the very end of lake reconstruction. Okay, maybe not all monster spawning since he still had to claim all the frog folk. Thankfully, like the original villagers, the frog folk were around maybe ten to twenty mana to ¡°remake,¡± which was the same process that Dan had originally done to Dena and Drex. Of course, once the process was done, or more like during the process, Dan re-tweaked the frog folks as he had done to the villagers; that way, they didn¡¯t start questioning things.


    Once the reprogramming was done, Dan spent some time spawning more frog folk. He planned to have at least 2000 by the time he was done.


    The first frog folk he spawned were those who would join the workforce.


    For the frog folk, the workforce was very family and trade-oriented.  This was because they didn¡¯t have currency; instead, the different families or individuals tended to trade the resources each of their respective jobs gave them. These jobs were also best done as groups due to the various natures of the work done, and there weren¡¯t many that were carried out by single individuals.


    After watching the frog folk, Dan found that some of the most popular jobs were as follows. Lily Farmers, Lobster Farmers, Shore Gatherer, Shell Grower, and Lake Weed Processor. These were the jobs often done by large familiar groups, and the names explained what each job did rather well.


    At first, Dan had questioned the frog folk and their style of living, but as he spent time watching and making their rather basic workforce, Dan came to understand why the frog folk lived the way they did.


    Frog folk, or at least these types of frog folk, had very specific diets. They were able to eat raw fish and plants without issue, but he had learned by looking at one of their innate abilities that if they ate anything raw outside of the things found in the lake, things wouldn¡¯t go well. This meant that meat and plants found inland were basically a no-go. So, it made sense why the frog folk had built a trading system that solely involved what they themselves could gather. After all, what point was there in trade if whatever you traded for had a good chance of killing you?


    The more frog folk Dan spawned in, the more housing he had to make, along with the various other things the frog folk required.


    For housing, Dan didn¡¯t do anything special. Frog folk didn¡¯t have taverns or inns, and Dan didn¡¯t bother making any since he doubted any adventurer would want to sleep underwater. Additionally, he wasn¡¯t wasting mana to make an enchantment to keep water out of certain areas. So, it was more square or dome houses for the frog folk which Dan covered with weeds and other mossy underwater plants.


    In terms of population division, Dan was looking to have at least 1000 frog folk in the main town of Fraggle¡¯s, with the other thousand split between Ribbit and Rana village.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Moving back to the previous topic of jobs, trade, and food. Dan was going to do something different with the frog people. Unlike the villagers, who would have the food they consumed spawn directly, the frog folk would instead have their various farms or resources made into nodes, which would slowly respawn at the appropriate rates of growth. Dan thought of doing this because since the frog folk actually relied on trade so heavily, doing otherwise would ruin the aesthetic.


    Of course, could he have done the same thing with the village? Sure, but Dan had felt like it wasn¡¯t needed. The variety of things villagers ate was just at a different level than the frog folk, meaning Dan had to make a wider variety of farms and other things. When in actuality it was better to spawn a bunch of food and be done with it by having it automatically respawn.


    Anyways, Dan spent more time making buildings and adding to the various frog families or creating new ones. Some buildings included special egg-laying areas even if said eggs would never hatch. Along the way, Dan also placed the frog folk''s spawn points as he had done with the villagers. It was also during this time that Dan was re-reminded about trash.


    Thus, he decided to ping Merlin so that the wizard could start making a list of trash. Dan wanted to add the list to the reset function of his dungeon floor so that every time it was reset, it would start a new month with a fresh, clean zone. He could reason making a cleaning enchantment for the village since it would be so busy and had animal farms right there. However, the monthly reset would be good enough for the lake and its frog.


    Eventually, Dan felt like he had enough workers, having around 1300 normal frog folk, and decided to start spawning new guards while also remaking the old ones.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Low D Rank.


    Name: Legir.


    Type: Humanoid - Beastkin - Frogfolk.


    Choice: Guard.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Arcane Mana: 150/150.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +6 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 75/75.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +3 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Dark Vision. Frog Beastkin. Skin Breather. Underwater Diet. Water Attuned. Duty Bound. Unflinching. Long Leg Loyalist.


    Proficiencies: 6.


    Spear. Experience Net Thrower. Light Armor. Body Enhancement. Abjuration. Evocation.


    Spells: 4.


    Body Enhancement - General. Shield. Barrier. Control Water.


    Techniques: 2.


    Propel. Spear Thrust.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 38 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 77 Mana.


    ??


    Legir was a new frog guard, which was a bit more expensive than the old guards he had converted. Still, that wasn¡¯t an issue, and Dan looked at his new guard''s stats a bit closer.


    Like he had seen before, there were the innate abilities of the frog folk.


    Dark Vision was fairly straightforward, whereas Frog Beastkin didn¡¯t offer much information. However, it had also been rather simple once he had looked into it. Basically, the Frog Beastkin ability just stated the obvious and was what made the frog folk, frog folk. It was an ability that came about from the dna of the frog folk, aka it stated that these creatures were humanoid frogs, that they were strong swimmers, could ribbit, and other such things. The ability was literally what made frog folk, frog folk. So, it had been odd when Dan had stumbled into Skin Breather.


    However, it turns out that not all frog folk were equal. In reality, most frog folks couldn¡¯t breathe underwater, and their villages would actually be found above land. This meant that Dan¡¯s frogs were some sort of sub-species that had gained the Skin Breather ability and thus could function underwater without issue. Even better was that they could also function above water without problems, and they had just decided they were going to live underwater. Which honestly, Dan loved as he had quest events planned for the frog folk that involved just that.


    Moving on to the next ability, one Dan had stumbled into earlier. The Underwater Diet ability made it so the frog folk would get sick if they ate raw stuff from the above world. It was fine if they cooked it, but since they lived underwater, it meant they couldn¡¯t eat it raw. Dan imagined that this particular village was still underwater because of tradition and had literally been stopping themselves from expanding above ground.


    The last four abilities were also self-explanatory.


    Water Attuned made the frog folks better at and when using water elemental magic. Then, Duty Bound and Unflinching were the same things the village guards had, which would have them be bound to protect and uphold laws while being less scared of adventurers.


    Now, the last ability was the odd one out and had something to do with the events that would happen in the lake. These events would involve two factions, one of which was called the Long Legs.


    Dan would get into that whole mess soon enough.


    First, he looked through the town and villages once again to see if he needed to add something else.


    Yup. Barracks.


    After adding barracks and a few other important government buildings, Dan spent time spawning in more guards. Then, once that was done, he knew it would be quest creation time.

 Chapter 76 - Frog Lake Part 2

    Dungeon Day 90 to 120 ¨C Continues


    At first, Dan questioned if he should provide some sort of effect to allow adventurers to breathe underwater. However, after some consideration, he decided that if they couldn¡¯t use basic magic to cast a spell or body enhancement for simple water breathing, then maybe they shouldn¡¯t be questing at all. In a way, that alone was a good training idea since it would have new adventurers thinking about such things from an early stage.


    No longer worried about adventurers being able to breathe or not, Dan started making the quests for the lake.


    Lake questing would start simple, and as the month passed, other events in the lake would be put forth, bringing everything together with more quests. To begin with, adventurers would be able to do simple fetch quests for maybe the first week. It was during this time that they would build up a reputation. These starting quests were gather or escort quests for the various workers in the town and villages. Something like escorting a gatherer to the surface of the lake and protecting them as they collected things on the shore. Or maybe a quest to help a family wrangle domesticated lily pad monsters.


    At first, the quests might not seem important, but when the second week came about, there would be a self-triggering event where two factions in the frog folks would start to clash. When this happened, the leader of both factions would start recruiting adventurers. And to be recruited, adventurers had to meet a certain number of completed quests, hence the importance of the earlier quests.


    Adventurers would be recruited in an attempt to have them contact the beast lords that lived within the lake in order to coax them to join one of the factions. However, as spoilers, this recruitment attempt would fail as different beast lords denied the request to join. From there on, the quest chain would move on to the phase when another self-triggering event happened, causing both factions to be directly at war with each other. Once that happened, adventurers would have to pick a side and join a faction during a limited time window.


    Then, after the adventurers joined a faction, they would be sent to re-recruit the beast lords again, but under different circumstances. The results of the recruitment efforts would vary based on how the adventurers tried to recruit the beast lords. Either way, it would all climax with a large battle, the winner of which would be decided by the amount and type of beast lords recruited.


    Of course, from there, depending on which faction won the event, it would affect the next reset as a new event would start or not based on previous results.


    Now, as far as the factions went, there were the Deep Divers, who were going to be led by the former yet newly created frog chief.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Ribbiton Croaker the Third.


    Type: Humanoid - Beastkin - Frogfolk.


    Choice: Warrior Chief.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Dark Vision. Frog Beastkin. Skin Breather. Underwater Diet. Water Attuned. Deep Divers Leader. Presences.


    Proficiencies: 4.


    Evocation. Conjuration. Abjuration. Body Enhancement.


    Spells: 4.


    Body Enhancement - General. Shield. Barrier. Control Water.


    Techniques: 7.


    Water Spear. Movement of the Current. Become Water. Command Water. Water Chains. Grasping Water. Freezing Touch.


    Respawn Timer: Conditional.


    Respawn Cost: 45 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 91 Mana.


    ??


    Ribbiton, the actual name of the chief, had come out rather cheap for a boss thanks to the fact he was already a creature, much like Dena and Drax had been. Dan hadn¡¯t changed much about the frog chief except his fighting prowess, which had increased by leaps and bounds. Anyways, silly jokes aside, Ribbiton still had his deep green skin and wore his simple shell crown. Also, like the rest of the frog folk, he still wore simple loincloths, except the chiefs were better looking and, like his armor, better put together.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Even though the chief looked the same on the outside, Dan had mentally changed him a bit more when compared to the rest of the frog folk. Whereas before, the chief was much more politically smart. Now, he was simpler. The reason behind this was so the chief would much more easily follow Dan¡¯s plans. After all, his role was to be a warrior chief who gained the respect of his people and not some politically minded noble like his rival.


    The chief¡¯s rival was slightly taller, had yellowish skin, and liked to act all refined like a noble. Like the chief, the rival lead his own faction called the Long Legs. The two didn¡¯t like each other at all and were completely entrenched in their beliefs. However, where the chief is a great warrior, his rival is a skilled liar and politician, just like his stats dictate him to be.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Victor Croakster.


    Type: Humanoid - Beastkin - Frogfolk.


    Choice: Noble.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Dark Vision. Frog Beastkin. Skin Breather. Underwater Diet. Water Attuned. Long Legs Leader. Charismatic. Presences.


    Proficiencies: 10.


    Speech. Calligraphy. Basic Politics. Skilled Liar. Domination. Evocation. Abjuration. Body Enhancement. Arrogant. Ambitious.


    Spells: 8.


    Body Enhancement - General. Shield. Barrier. Control Water. Calming Aura. Charm Frogperson. Command. Charming Aura.


    Techniques: 0.


    Respawn Timer: Conditional.


    Respawn Cost: 88 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 177 Mana.


    ??


    When making Victor, Dan had the complete opposite of Ribbiton in mind. Victor is not a warrior and cares little for honesty. The frog man is all about scheming and manipulations to push his faction to the top.


    Of course, Dan knew many adventurers would ask why Ribbiton didn¡¯t simply go and kill his rival. After all, the chief is a great warrior with a strong will, making the fight against his rival a victory without question, regardless of any domination magic. And as it turns out, Dan had the perfect answer.


    See, Victor managed to coax a great hero to his side who was strong enough to match the warrior chief in combat.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Hercuefrog.


    Type: Humanoid - Beastkin - Frogfolk.


    Choice: Heroic Warrior.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Mini-Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Dark Vision. Frog Beastkin. Skin Breather. Underwater Diet. Water Attuned. Presences. Strength. Mana Storage.


    Proficiencies: 8.


    Spear. Unarmed Combat. Light Armor. Veteran. Body Enhancement. Evocation. Conjuration. Abjuration.


    Spells: 8.


    Body Enhancement - General, Strength, Agility, and Speed. Shield. Barrier. Control Water. Summon Hippocampus.


    Techniques: 3.


    Strength of the Currents. Strike of the Hydra. Turtles Shell.


    Respawn Timer: Conditional.


    Respawn Cost: 65 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 130 Mana.


    ??


    Hercuefrog is the only thing that stands between Ribbiton and Victor.


    As the name implies, Dan made the frog after a great hero, which some thinking reveals probably did exist at some point in Earth''s history. Either way, Hercuefrog, even as a mini-boss, could fight against Ribbiton due to the various things Dan had thrown into the frog''s stats.


    Mainly the Strength and Mana Storage abilities, along with the Veteran proficiency.


    The Strength ability just gave the frog a higher base strength score on par with a boss. The real big factor was Mana Storage, which closed the gap between the two since if Hercuefrog had a lower mana pool, he would quickly lag behind the chief regardless of any other ability.


    Then there was Veteran, which gave the hero frog the experience required to fight as if he had been fighting his whole life. That was important since he had to match the chief''s innate fighting experience from years of actual combat.


    Looking at the rest of Hercuefrog''s stats, mainly the spells and techniques, they were all rather straightforward, though Dan felt like the hero¡¯s lack of techniques might make the frog falter in combat. The hope was that his summon hippocampus spell would give him that extra edge. If not, Dan would have to step in and give him some more abilities.


    There was one final thing Dan had noticed on all three creations.


    They all had the conditional tag for their respawn cooldown. The reason for this was that these bosses who were bound by events would have different respawn points or times depending on events. For example, in the final fight between the two frog factions, if Victor was killed, he would not be respawned. Another example was to prevent adventurers from doing something dumb, like killing a boss as the event triggered, possibly delaying the event. In that case, the boss would respawn instantly, and Dan would punish the adventurer. Either way, a lot of his future faction bosses would have conditional respawns, making Dan have less to worry about.


    All in all, the lake was coming together rather nicely, and Dan spent some more time adding a few more details here and there. Even then, he knew that when his dungeon eventually opened, he would have to make other arrangements since adventurers would bring in the wild factor.


    It was like getting his dungeon put to the test, something game developers back on Earth knew about. After all, everything worked fine until you had a bunch of players testing the limits of your game. And honestly, Dan couldn¡¯t wait. He was sure there were plenty of things he had missed that he would have to fix on the fly.


    Still, for the time being, and feeling like the town and villages were okay, Dan knew it was time to begin spawning the actual monsters.

 Chapter 77 - Frog Lake Part 3

    Creating the monsters was going to be the easiest part of the whole endeavor. Spawning them, on the other hand, was going to take forever. The lake and the other areas of the zone were just so large that in order to properly populate them, Dan needed to spawn monsters in the thousands.


    Actually, as he was thinking about the spawning situation, Dan realized something very important. He was going to have a lot of monsters, and there were definitely going to be overlaps. This could be problematic since it meant adventurers might accidentally stumble into a larger pack of monsters than intended. In fact, the more Dan thought about it, the more he realized that he needed to make sure there was a system in operation that would offer proper encounters to adventurers.


    Currently, all his monsters traveled around in their designated teams while fighting the invaders. However, when the dungeon opened up, Dan needed to make sure that there were not only teams of monsters but also solo or smaller groups of them. To effectively do this, Dan would make sure that there was a system in place so that when monsters spawned in or left their main spawn points, they would be told to split up, remain as a large group, or simply downsize. This way, there would always be random teams or solo monsters wandering about.


    Another way to stop his monsters from accidentally grouping up in an area was the creation of paths made from magical energies that his monsters would follow.  It was basically like the pre-programmed paths monsters in a game took. Though, of course, his monsters were free to deviate from the path by a decent chunk of distance. That way, it didn¡¯t all seem so orderly. As for how they would know which path to take, well, Dan planned to use the same system that told them to split or stay together to assign paths to the monsters.


    After making the paths in the town area, Dan implemented the same thing in the lake. Dan had created many paths that traveled above and below ground, in the sky and underwater. Out of all of them, the above-ground paths were the easiest since he only had to work on one axis while in the air, and water, as well as underground, the 3D space made things a bit more annoying. It made the work longer, but Dan eventually set various routes to cover a decent amount of distance.


    With the paths done, Dan moved on to the next important thing he had to do in the lake: spawn points.


    He placed a bunch of spawning locations for monsters all over the lake. Each node was either a solo, group, or boss spawn. So, when a monster died, they would either respawn in a group or alone. From there, they would be told to follow one of the paths that Dan had laid out, with the same understanding that they could swim some distance from the original path location.


    Something that Dan had thought of while making all the spawn nodes was the need for his underwater beasts to get some rest, at least the ones without nests. Back in the town area, the beasts had a big underground cave, but here in the lake, there wasn¡¯t an easy way to give them a spot to rest.


    The more he thought about the problem, the less worried Dan became as he found various factors that would make the situation much less daunting. One of these factors was space.


    Like the birds that would spawn in the air or sometimes on trees, the fish would be spawning in 3D space. This fact would make it much harder to pin them down since they could move in any direction. In addition to that, the lake would be a much harder biome to traverse and see in, giving the various monsters plenty of time from the time they spawned to when they would next encounter adventurers. This also did not add the fact that Dan doubted there would be many adventurers who preferred underwater combat, making the lake incredibly less busy than the surface. So, when Dan added all of these factors up, his worry for the minion''s rest decreased, and he moved on to dealing with the boss situation.


    Bosses would have some more freedom. They were going to be the only monsters that could change paths, adding more randomness to the situation. However, to make up for that, they would wander around relatively slowly so adventurers could catch up with them. Of course, a few bosses would have set locations where they would always respawn in. The lake was a bad example of this since most bosses were wandering bosses, but there were still a few with set homes, like the beaver boss.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Chuck the WoodCutter.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 2000/2000


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 12.


    Quad-Elemental Affinity - Earth, Wood, Water, and Metal. Control Elements - Earth, Wood, and Water. Body Enhancement - Speed. Iron Chomp. Iron Tail. Tidal Wave. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 5.


    Keen Hearing. Keen Smell. Rodent¡¯s Durable Teeth. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 122 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 245 Mana.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ??


    Chuck was going to be one of the beast lords of the lake. Dan would place him in the southwest corner of the lake, where he would let the beaver build a dam for himself and his minions. Said minions were going to be exact copies of Chuck except much smaller. Also, like Chuck, they would all have brown fur sporting cool metal blue streaks, with dark, slightly shiny, flat tails and very boopable noses.


    The dam was going to be one of the main spawn points for the beavers and the main spawn point for Chuck. From there, the smaller beavers could roam about the lake, but Dan wouldn¡¯t allow them to go more than a few miles from their nest. He wanted to keep some monsters localized to certain areas, and that was the best way he could think of doing it.


    Inspecting Chuck, the beaver''s abilities were fairly straightforward. The only one that was maybe a bit odd was the Rodent¡¯s Durable Teeth, which made the beaver''s teeth keep growing if they didn¡¯t munch on things to wear them down.


    Moving on from Chuck, Dan made a boss with no set spawn point. The boss was another beast lord and would spawn in one of the random boss nodes in the lake along with his posse.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Otterson the Destroyer.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 2000/2000


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 8.


    Evocation Affinity. Water Affinity. Water Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Explosive Slam. Explosive Wave. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Keen Senses. Dexterous. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 71 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 143 Mana.


    ??


    Otterson the Destroyer was a tough name for such a cute creature, but that¡¯s exactly what Dan was going for. He wanted adventurers to underestimate Otterson and pay the price for doing so.


    Looking at Otterson¡¯s stats, Dan felt it was all self-explanatory: he was an explosive otter who would make a huge commotion under or above water. Like him, his minions would also be normal-looking otters, though with shining red eyes.


    As Dan previously mentioned, Otterson would spawn randomly around the lake along with a large number of otters, some of whom would follow the boss around. However, unlike the beavers, the rest of the otters would be able to roam all around the lake, and like with the rest of his monsters, they would be told to split up or stay in small groups as they traveled through the various paths Dan had set up.


    The next boss was definitely going to be one of Dan¡¯s favorites. The boss was a small creature, and Dan was purposely going to make its fur teal and its beak and tail orange. This creature was also going to be a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal of action who would absolutely demolish his enemies.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Perry the Platypus.


    Type: Beast.


    Size: Small.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.


    Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 10.


    Evocation Affinity. Water Affinity. Water Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Agility. Water Jet. Venom Touch. Venom Slash. Venom Beam. Paralyzing Touch.


    Innate Abilities: 4.


    Electroreception. Venomous. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.


    Respawn Timer: 6 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 81 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 163 Mana.


    ??


    Honestly, Dan felt like there wasn¡¯t much else to say in regards to Perry.


    Okay, that¡¯s not true.


    Perry was going to have various different spawn points around the lake. These spawn points would be caves where more of his kind would also spawn in. Once again, his minions would have the same stats, except they would be split into Low and Mid D Ranks like all the other minions Dan had made. This would further add to the power variety in the areas, giving adventurers different challenges when faced with a group of Mid D Rank minions compared to a few Low D Rank creatures. Naturally, there would also be a much wider variety of encounters based on the total number of monsters Dan would have.


    Even if the platypuses mainly spawned in these specific caves, they could still roam around the lake, just like the otters. This would then allow random groups of monsters to link up together making it so each group had a random number of monsters. To accomplish this, Dan had simply just added an extra command to these magical respawn nodes that would, along with the path a monster would take, also tell them if they should group up or not. Additionally, it would assign a group leader who held data on the number of monsters that a particular group would have. Again, it was a bunch of system stuff that Dan was thankful for and would work automatically once he had it all set up.


    As for Perry, well, the platypus was going to be a roaming boss as well and would have his own group of minions following him around. However, unlike Otterson, Perry would occasionally visit each of his family caves at set times during the day or week, thus allowing adventurers to eventually track his movements.


    One thing Dan had forgotten to mention was that the minion platypuses would mostly look like regular platypuses with brown fur and dark beaks or tails. The one variation would be slight tinges of green, indicating they were different than normal platypuses in the lake.


    Because, yes, there were still normal bests in the lake and in the zone at large. Dan had yet to make them all submit in order to avoid having them killed by the invaders. He would eventually fix that issue, but not until he took over the gnolls.


    Anyways, back to monster spawning, Dan spent quite a while making more monsters to populate the lake with. Naturally, he set their spawn points and swimming or flying paths accordingly. And eventually, after a month of work where he also finished setting up the quests for lake events and the beast lord interactions, Dan felt like he had completed the lake to the best of his ability. Like with the town, Dan was sure he had missed a few things, but after working on the lake for so long, he was burnt out and ready to move on to the next area.


    The question was which area he would do next. It was a toss-up between the druids or the beast mini-kingdom.

 Chapter 78 - Druids Part 1

    Dungeon Day 121 to 143


    The druids won the toss-up, and Dan¡¯s attention shifted to that area.


    As he had done in every area so far, the first thing Dan did was remove the humanoids from existence after remaking them. This time however, he didn¡¯t bring all of them back in the same area.


    Dan didn¡¯t feel like the bandits were right for what he was currently going for, and as a result of that, he did not want to give them their own area. He could have just kept them deleted from existence, but his humanity made him feel a bit bad for them. So, instead, he remade them over in the town area, where he made a nice little cozy cave hideout for them, where they could drink and eat while occasionally getting killed. Because, of course, Dan added a quest or two in town about eliminating bandits and once that was complete, he continued on with the druid lands.


    Now, the question was where he should start with the druid area, which, for the purposes of this next dungeon creation session, expanded all the way up to the old bandit ruins mainly because those two areas were going to be interconnected with the things Dan had planned.


    After looking around, Dan felt he needed to start by making the ex-bandit area more forestry. Since, as it currently was, it was more plains than anything, which wouldn¡¯t do for what Dan was planning. After all the plains would offer easy targeting for both sides when the fighting started.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Dan to make the area into a forest since trees didn¡¯t cost that much mana. Still, it was a large area, so a couple of thousand mana were spent growing more trees all around.


    With the trees done, Dan felt it was time to get the party going.


    For this particular area of the dungeon, Dan was planning a classic cleansing vs corruption story. He would have one faction corrupting the land while another was trying to cleanse it.


    The faction doing the cleansing would be led by Dena and was going to be based in Druid Rock. Meanwhile, the corrupting faction was going to be led by Dena¡¯s sister, Diana.


    Diana was the other D rank druid in the druid circle, and Dan felt that having both sisters become enemies was a rather interesting theatrical touch. Of course, how they became enemies or how the sister was corrupted would be for the adventurers to find out.


    Diana and her faction would be based in the bandit area, which would now be called The Tainted Lands. The faction was fairly straightforward, and its goal was to corrupt the druids and their lands. This was mainly because the druids were going to be the opposing force attempting to stop them.


    To that point, adventurers would be introduced to the two factions in two ways. The first one was getting a quest from Typic Town to eliminate a few corrupted beasts that had entered the town''s land. This quest would eventually prompt them to enter The Tainted Lands or the Druid''s Domain, which was the new name for Druid Rock. Upon entering either of the two areas, an adventurer would be prompted to speak with Diana or Dena. From there, they could choose to join one of the factions.


    If an adventurer chose to meet with Dena, they would travel to the Druid''s Domain. They would have to go to the large tree, which would be the druid¡¯s new home. Dan had decided to get rid of their small shack because he didn¡¯t feel it was good enough for a future faction headquarters. It had taken him longer than he liked, but Dan had carved into the tree as seamlessly as possible as if the tree had been grown to fit its new shape. He doubted the carving would kill the tree since it was massive, and if anything did happen, he was sure he could fix it.


    The carving started at its base as he hollowed out a large dome. From there, he dug into it, making various rooms and ensuring there was room for each druid.


    Afterward, he began the decorating process by adding beds and other simple furnishings to each room. In the central dome, he added tables with herbs, bottles, and odd-looking items, along with random ritual drawings on the ground as he tried to make it all seem like it was the headquarters of the druids. Finally, Dan added hanging vines and fruits that glowed, along with various gardening spots and even an enchanted little stream of endless water. The dome needed to look amazing because it was in this dome that adventurers would come to speak with Dena.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Dena Liasis.


    Type: Humanoid - Beast Elf.


    Choice: Forest Matriarch.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 2000/2000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 1000/1000.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Dark Vision. Beast Shapeshifter. Nature Attuned. Language of Beasts. Forest Attendant. Presences. Long Lived. Mana Storage.


    Proficiencies: 6.


    Cleansing. Enchantment. Ritual. Soul. Basic Ritualist. Basic Enchanter.


    Spells: 18.


    Beam of Extinction. Heal. Mass Heal. Shield. Barrier. Control Elements. Clean. Summon Light Fruit. Root Control. Body Enhancement - General. Soul Sight. Cleanse Corruption. Enhancing Winds. Root Spike. Mass Cleanse. Binding Roots. Summon Nature Elemental. Summon Storm.


    Techniques: 1.


    One with the Forest.


    Respawn Timer: Conditional.


    Respawn Cost: 88 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 175 Mana.


    ??


    The new Dena radiated more power than ever before and actually felt like more of an imposing presence. She still had her blond hair and green eyes, but Dan had given her better leather clothing with her new upgrade since her old ones wouldn¡¯t fit her new, slightly taller frame and much more filled-out areas. After all, she was the Forest Matriarch and needed to give off the correct energy, which was that of a hot, badass, powerful druid lady leading a faction against her corrupted sister.


    Looking at Dena¡¯s new stats, there was the obvious Mana Storage for a raw increase in power. As for the proficiencies, well, some of those, along with some of the spells related to them, wouldn¡¯t be used for a while, but Dan felt they were still needed. This mainly involved the Ritual and Soul proficiency, which allowed Dena to use those types of magic. Adding to these two was Basic Ritualist, which wouldn¡¯t truly be used until and if Dena won the battle between the two factions.


    However, Enchantment and Basic Enchanter would be very useful in making it so Dan didn¡¯t have to create as many magic items. The two proficiencies would let Dena create basic protection tokens to make sure the adventurers that sided with her wouldn¡¯t be affected by the corruptive magic of the enemy faction. The tokens wouldn¡¯t be all-powerful and would need recharging because otherwise Dan felt they would be too strong.


    Outside of the proficiencies, Dena had gained lots of spells with one or two following the same path of the Soul and Ritual proficiencies since they wouldn¡¯t be used until way later on. A few more might not get used at all, though that would be because there wasn¡¯t a point to them like Clean or Summon Light Fruit. Either way, Dan had left them on there to pad the druid''s spell count.


    The final thing on Dena¡¯s stat was her new technique. One with the Forest was a simple technique that Dan had given her to further boost her supporting role because that¡¯s what Dena was, a supporting character in any of the events that were to come. Her job was to heal, cleanse, and support the adventurers, at least when it came time to confront her sister. As such, her technique would allow her to tap into the land around her, gaining a power boost to all her spells but also being made to stand still. Meaning she would be counting on the beasts and adventurers she was supporting to keep her relatively safe in a final confrontation.


    Moving on from Dena, Dan looked to the rest of her faction, which currently didn¡¯t have much. And in a way it would stay that way since the conflict between the two sisters would mostly be left to adventurers and their two factions respective beasts.


    For Dena, this meant lots of wood beast elementals because that just made sense. After all, Dan was telling a story here.


    In Dan¡¯s mind, the Druid¡¯s Domain used to be a peaceful magical forest filled with lots of beasts and wood beast elementals. In this forest, there was a circle of druids that lived happily with the land. Then, one of the druids was corrupted and ended up deserting the circle. Her family, not wanting to kill one of their own, let the corrupted druid live.


    Then, DUN DUN DUN, surprise, the druid began corrupting the magical wood beasts and their lands.


    So, that¡¯s where the story begins in Dan¡¯s dungeon and his lore reasons as to why Dena has access to all these wood beasts since they are intelligent and want to stop the corruption from taking their home. Honestly, it''s all very vanilla fantasy, but Dan didn¡¯t care since it was another good way to teach new D rankers about the dangers of soul corruption and all that.


    Alright, maybe there was also a different reason for using wood beasts aside from the fact that they fit Dan¡¯s story so well. The other reason was that Dan had a bunch of wood beast blueprints that would make monster production much cheaper for this whole endeavor.


    And once again, Dan needed a lot of monsters. It''s not something he thought about a lot, but he currently only had 2700 total mana, which would limit him when the dungeon started. This limit came in the fact that he would only be able to respawn a certain number of monsters at a time, even if he had mana constantly coming in. So, to remedy this, Dan needed a large base of monsters already roaming about.


    Thinking about monster production, Dan decided to get started on that and began monster creation with one of the first wood beasts he ever got.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Howling Wood Wolf


    Type: Beast-Elemental (Wood).


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 125/125.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 4.


    Sound Affinity. Body Enhancement - General. Fierce Bite. Booming Howl.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Keen Hearing. Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Befuddling Howl. Forest Friend. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 31 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 62 Mana.


    ??


    The wolf still had its deep green and dark brown fur mixture with glowing green eyes, which was a look that Dan liked very much. Taking a look at the stat sheet, Dan had given the new version of the wolf some new abilities, but the main power-up had been bringing it to Mid D Rank.


    Of course, the wolves wouldn¡¯t all be Mid D Rank, and like in the lake, Dan would make both Low and Mid Ranked varieties of all the different wood beasts he was going to make.

 Chapter 79 - Druids Part 2

    Dungeon Day 121 to 143 - Continues


    Up next on the creation list was a wood beast that had caused Dan some casualties early on in his dungeon career.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Wood Blade Wolf


    Type: Beast-Elemental (Wood).


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 125/125.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 4.


    Evocation Affinity. Body Enhancement - General. Fierce Bite. Empower Wood Blade.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Keen Hearing. Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Wood Blade. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 31 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 62 Mana.


    ??


    The wood-blade wolves had much sleeker forms, their skins made of sleek brownish bark. For powers, the wolves had the ability to unleash sharp blades of wood, which Dan had now given them a way to empower further.


    Dan hoped that the blade wolves would be as annoying to adventurers as they had been to him. And if the wolves weren¡¯t enough, then Dan was sure that when other nature monsters started getting into the mix, things would get much more interesting. After all, so far, both wolves were on the damage-dealing end of the fighting scale. An issue Dan looked to fix by creating his first tank nature monster, which was also one of the first ones he had run into in his current dungeon life.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Bark Skin Boar.


    Type: Beast-Elemental (Wood).


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 125/125.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 5.


    Abjuration Affinity. Body Enhancement - Resilience. Charging Momentum. Enhanced Bark Skin. Piercing Tusks.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Night Vision. Strength. Endurance. Bark Skin. Tough Tusks. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 33 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 65 Mana.


    ??


    Dan still remembered fondly when Kinetic had slammed into a bark-skin boar all the way back when they first started appearing. The cheetah had blasted the boar out of existence, a problem Dan hoped to fix by making the new version much tankier.


    Even if it was tankier, thanks to the Resilient Body Enhancement and the Enhanced Bark Skin, the boar still looked like the old version, except its gnarl bark skin was much thicker. Additionally, the eyes now glowed green, matching all the other wood beasts Dan had made so far.


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    Regarding the other abilities the boar had access to, well, Piercing Tusks just made its tusks sharper, allowing it to easily piecer tougher things, hopefully, one of those being adventurer armor. Then, Charging Momentum worked similarly to Kinetics and Eagle¡¯s charging abilities, except it used less mana, and in exchange, the boar only gained power as long as it was able to keep its momentum up. This means that if it was stopped by a restraining spell or because it rammed into a tree, the boar would have to start from scratch.


    Dan was happy with his creations so far, and though he planned to make many more, he knew it was time to make the core beast that, along with Dena, would be the backbone of the Druids Domain faction.


    See, Dena was just one individual, and she wouldn¡¯t be able to cleanse the land by herself. Additionally, Dan had a pesky feeling that since she was the good faction in this area, more adventurers would end up joining her side. As such and as a way to balance that, Dan decided that in order to cleanse the corruption, Dena¡¯s faction would have to rely on a specific beast capable of cleansing the corruption.


    Essentially, it would work like an escort and defense quest. An adventurer team would have to escort this beast to a corrupted area. Then, they would have to defend the beast until they finished cleansing the area. This then added layers of failure because if a team failed to protect their beast, it could be killed, thus resetting the cleansing process. To that end, it was important to point out that when adventurers joined a faction, they were heavily discouraged via mental means from injuring or killing fellow adventurers of the opposite or same faction. This was done to reduce casualties from having Dan actively place adventurers at odds and was only possible thanks to Mother Eternity letting them break the rules of reality, which gave free will.


    So, yes, adventurers all over the zone, not just in the druid area, would be able to fight each other and not just in certain area events. Dan was just now running into this issue so openly since the lake wouldn¡¯t actually have adventurers at odds with each other, and the final result was more up the number of quests and such they completed.


    However, for the druid area, adventurers could slay the other beasts, including this cleansing beast. This, of course, meant the defending party wouldn¡¯t just let it happen, which meant fighting would inevitably happen. Now, as to what this cleansing beast was, well, it was also a beast elemental, except it wasn¡¯t wood-related, even if it was still in the same forestry category.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Nature Doe.


    Type: Beast-Elemental (Nature).


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 500/500.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 10.


    Restoration Affinity. Nature Affinity. Cleansing Affinity. Body Enhancement - General. Healing Beam. Healing Aura. Cleansing Beam. Cleanse Area. Spearing Roots. Mana Storage.


    Innate Abilities: 6.


    Control Roots. Night Vision. Sense Plants. Control Plants. Healing Touch. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 43 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 87 Mana.


    ??


    A nature doe had green orbs for eyes and a greenish tint to their pelts. And like Dan¡¯s other mending doe¡¯s, their pelt was spattered with golden dots. Unlike Dan¡¯s other doe, these nature ones were a bit stronger since Dan had actually given them an offensive ability. He had been tempted not to give them one, but considering they would be actively targeted and not just because they were healers, Dan felt they needed something they could defend themselves with.


    Aside from their offensive capabilities, nature doe¡¯s did have more utility to them which mainly came in their innate abilities, all of which were self-explanatory. The utility wasn¡¯t great but it was something that might be useful.


    The doe¡¯s were going to be the main key for Dena¡¯s faction to push back the corruption, and one would be assigned to each team that joined her faction. Well, only if the team chose a quest to go clean up the corruption. Not that they had much choice since it was either cleanse the corruption or go kill corrupted beasts. And, of course, it was vital that they did both.


    Like in the lake, the druid/corruption area was going to be on a timer at the end of which a final event would trigger. And depending on whether there was more corruption than not, the corrupt faction would gain a boost in power, making the final event much harder for Dena¡¯s faction. Of course, if there was less corruption, it meant fewer corrupt monsters Dena¡¯s faction had to deal with, allowing them to possibly win the final event.


    This meant that killing corrupted creatures was important because some of them were able to corrupt the land. Though, that wasn¡¯t the only way for Diana to have her corruption spread. However, that was something that Dan planned to get to a bit later.


    For now, Dan wanted to finish up the Druids Domain.


    One of the things Dan was looking at was giving the nature and wood beasts a resting spot as he had given to the town monsters. The problem was that the druid area was much larger, and Dan wasn¡¯t sure if a big underground spot was the correct move since the travel time alone would cause issues for his beasts.


    Dan was tempted to do nodes as he had done for the lake but didn¡¯t think that would offer the same reprieve. Additionally, he wanted there to be a delay between the troops arriving at the frontlines where the corruption would be spreading into the Druid''s Domain. Once again, this was done for balance reasons since Dena would likely receive the most number of adventurers. Thus, Dan needed to give the corrupt faction a chance to actually do something and not just get steamrolled.


    There was also the problem that adventurers didn¡¯t need to join a faction. They were prompted to go speak with Dena or Diana but weren¡¯t actually forced. So, that presented the problem that these neutral adventurers could attack both sides without issue. A problem that wasn¡¯t found if they joined a faction, since then they would be mentally pushed to not attack their own faction monsters.


    Essentially, Dan needed a safe spot for his beasts to rest after respawning, even for a little while, while at the same time the spot needed to be away from the front lines. Thankfully, when he put it like that, it was obvious what Dan had to do.


    Dan began making large trees south of the large rock in the Druid''s Domain but closer to the large druid tree. Speaking of the large tree, these trees weren¡¯t going to be the same size as it; Dan just called them large because they were larger than normal.


    Anyway, these large trees would be the spawning points of his monsters in the druid''s area. It was far enough from the front lines to where it caused the reinforcements to be slightly delayed, giving the corrupt area a slight edge they would absolutely need. On top of that, since all the spawn points were basically next to each other, there would be a massive number of monsters in this one area. And Dan hoped that would be enough to deter adventurers from just rushing in, and if it wasn¡¯t, because they were too dumb, they would be slaughtered by the thousands of beasts.


    With the spawn points set, Dan just had to set up the paths beasts would take as they split into groups. Because yes, in the druid area, it was a faction war so it wouldn¡¯t make sense to have too many solo beasts, so they would all split into groups of varying sizes. Then, they would be given a path that they would follow all the way to the front line, where beasts of the two factions fought while trying to push the other back.


    Eventually, adventurers would join them, which would be the deciding factor between the two factions.


    Feeling he had done enough in the Druid''s Domain, Dan finally set his eyes back up on the future Tainted Lands.

 Chapter 80 - Druids Part 3

    What would be the corruption infecting the Tainted Lands? Well, Dan just wanted some classic magical corruption, something that twisted the environment, making it look all gloomy, bleak, and like a twisted version of what it once was. In this case, he was going to create something with the help of the system that would turn everything dark-black and green. Dan felt like that was the best way to represent a corrupted druid. A power that turned everything into a gothic green environment.


    As to what the actual effects of this corruption would be, well, it would legitimately be able to invade the soul of creatures. However, the process would take a long time, so it wouldn¡¯t be a real threat to adventurers, but they wouldn¡¯t know that. It would also invade their bodies, making them use more mana to dispel it unless they had someone to cleanse the effect. Either way, the magical corruption would make the adventurers more tired and sluggish as it drained their physical energies. All in all, it wouldn¡¯t be the biggest threat, but it was something they would have to watch out for and a great training moment for them.


    Another important question was, what would spread the corruption? Which Dan answered by making the thing that would spread it. And no, it wasn¡¯t going to be Diana, even if she was capable of doing so as well.


    For story reasons, it was going to be a crystal that Diana had somehow gotten a hold of from the entity that corrupted her. Then, using said crystal, she was trying to corrupt the lands and the wood beasts in the forest. Obviously, Diana wasn¡¯t actually corrupting beasts since Dan was going to spawn them, but he needed to have a story reason for these things; otherwise, it would eat him alive.


    Continuing with the actual dungeon building, Dan first had to create the crystal.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Item Creation ??


    Name: Crystal of Corruption.


    Item Rarity: Legendary.


    Enchantment: Legendary Resilience. Pillar of Corruption.


    Ability: Spreader of Corruption.


    Description: The Crystal of Corruption is a large dark green and black crystal that oozes darkness into the land. While active, the crystal releases energy capable of corrupting the mana, land, or souls of creatures in its area of effect.


    Instructions: Only Usable by Diana Liasis.


    ??


    It cost Dan 419 Mana to create the incredibly enormous crystal, which was an amazing deal and only doable because the damn thing would never leave his dungeon. Literally, the moment it left the confines of his dungeon, it would cease to work. The cost was also low because the only entity able to use it was Diana, a rule enforced directly by the system and the World Crystal. A rule that stopped any adventurer from trying any funny business.


    The crystal was incredibly hard to break due to its Legendary Resilience, and without it, there wouldn¡¯t be any corruption. Its ability to corrupt came via both the Pillar of Corruption enchantment and Spreader of Corruption ability. So, it was because of that-that the crystal and Diana would be the two main objectives in future events.


    Looking at the item description, it stated it would only corrupt a certain area, which was mostly just the Tainted Lands area. After all, Dan didn¡¯t want the taint getting out of control, making him the one to end up cleaning it up. So, once the corruption reached a certain range, it would slow to a crawl, and Diana would have her adventurers and beasts spread it further.


    As to how she was going to accomplish this, well, Dan had made another item he would spawn in.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Item Creation ??


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    Name: Corrupted Shard.


    Item Rarity: Ancient.


    Enchantment: Ancient Resilience. Corruptive Shard.


    Ability: Spreader of Corruption.


    Description: A shard taken from the Crystal of Corruption. The shard, much like its parent, is able to spread darkness into the land. However, due to its size, its corruption takes longer to take hold, and it is much weaker.


    Instructions: Only Usable by Diana Liasis.


    ??


    This shard, as its description implied, was one Diana ¡°took¡± from the main crystal. Except she didn¡¯t take anything, and Dan would basically give her a bag of holding with thousands of the damn crystals for her to use. And yes, she had to use them. Diana, like Dena, would need to enchant something onto each shard, transforming them into the next variation.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Item Creation ??


    Name: Corrupted Shard.


    Item Rarity: Ancient.


    Enchantment: Ancient Resilience. Corruptive Shard. Linked Power.


    Ability: Spreader of Corruption.


    Description: A shard taken from the Crystal of Corruption. The shard, much like its parent, is able to spread darkness into the land. However, due to its size, its corruption takes longer to take hold, and it is much weaker.


    To resolve this, the Corrupt Druid, Diana, has made it so the various shards can be linked within a certain distance of each other. Once linked, the shards help to reinforce each other, increasing their power and reach.


    Instructions: Only Usable by those aligned with Diana Liasis and her faction.


    ??


    This variation had the last two lines added to it along with its new enchantment. The enchantments of the shard were similar to their parent. Ancient Resilience meant it was very tough, while Corruptive Shard was a weaker variant of Pillar of Corruption. Out of all of them, the most important enchantment was Linked Power, which, as the new description said, would allow the shards to synergize.


    Even more important than Linked Power was the item''s instructions, which finally allowed those adventurers who joined Diana¡¯s faction to use the item for its intended purpose. The purpose being to spread corruption.


    The shard, as anyone could tell, would be the key item for one of the two quests that those in Diana¡¯s faction would be able to take.


    A party could be sent out with a shard, and then they would go to the edge of the corruption and plant it there. The whole thing would be a large back and forth between cleansing and corrupting areas until enough time passed and the final event was triggered.


    Even then, it would be important that parties guarded their shards because they could be destroyed. And if they lost too many shards at once it would hinder Diana''s faction in the long run.


    See, Dan was going to make the shards the spawn points for the corrupt beasts. Sure, monsters would still be spawning in the destroyed town, similar to how Dan did for Dena by making a large spawning area near her headquarters. However, there wouldn¡¯t be as many spawns. Instead, Dan wanted to push the two factions to use some strategy. He knew it was all based on the adventurers, but knowing how competitive people could be, Dan hoped it would spark a fun turf war.


    Diana¡¯s faction was all about synergizing their shards, making sure they were constantly pushing their front line forward while having their monsters spawn closer to the front lines. Both of these could be done via strategic shard placement.


    Meanwhile, Dena¡¯s faction would need to coordinate attacks, making sure to have a constant stream of beasts cleansing the land, defeating enemy teams, and just getting rid of the shards, which had a 24-hour cooldown period before they respawned in Diana¡¯s bag of holding.


    Further adding to the chaos, Dan would make sure that the paths each of the respective beasts followed collided with each other evenly. That way, if there was no adventurer interference, neither side could advance. Of course, it was when adventurers interfered that things would get interesting because if they coordinated with the two faction leaders, they would be able to change the paths beasts took to the front lines. This ability wasn¡¯t something the two leaders could do actively and was all system interference as it detected certain parameters Dan had set.


    Dan felt like this dungeon creation session was starting to come to an end. He had moved some buildings around and plopped down the large corruption crystal at the center of town. He had even activated the thing just to get it going and was looking forward to seeing some monsters spawn. Of course, it was then that he realized he had yet to make any corrupt versions of beasts. In fact, all this talk about factions and faction leaders, and he had yet to even make Diana.


    How would adventurers join her faction without meeting the faction leader? She was the one who was going to give out quests, bless adventurers who joined her faction, and give out the shards, which was the whole reason why the Tainted Lands could even expand.

 Chapter 81 - Druids Part 4

    When an adventurer entered the Tainted Lands, they would receive a prompt to visit Diana at the center of her domain. They would also gain a temporary buff that would make them immune to all negative effects produced by the taint. This buff would last for a couple of hours and also make corrupted beasts less likely to attack them; however, if they started a fight, that aspect of the buff would wear off.


    Naturally, the druid''s domain would have something similar, but only in the case of making it so beasts didn¡¯t attack adventurers. Either way, the adventurer would be allowed to meet with the leader of the faction without too much issue. They could, of course, not do so, but it would be much harder for them to meet up with a faction leader later on.


    Now, when an adventurer made it to Diana, they could hear her out and choose to join. If the adventurers chose not to join, they would be told to leave and given a grace period before everything in the tainted lands started attacking them like usual. And if, by chance, they were rude about refusing to work for Diana or while leaving, there would be consequences.


    If an adventurer chose to join Diana, they would be given a semi-permanent buff that did the same thing as the one they got when they first entered the territory. The buff was semi-permanent because it would wear off if Diana was defeated, at which point her faction was disbanded.


    When adventurers finally met Diana, they would find she looked rather similar to her sister. Diana was a busty elf like the new Dena. Except, now her hair was black-green instead of blond, her eyes were black orbs, and her skin paler than her sister''s. More important, however, was how Dan dressed her. In Dena¡¯s case, her leathers showed off her ample curves but kept her clothing much more proper. Meanwhile, Diana was dressed in a much more exposed fashion, wearing the equivalent of a black battle bikini.


    Dan¡¯s choice of attire had been done with purpose because he wanted to give the corrupted faction some extra chances at recruiting adventurers. After all, he was sure guys were guys no matter the world.


    With Diana¡¯s looks out of the way, Dan finally got to her stats.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Humanoid Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Diana Liasis.


    Type: Humanoid - Corrupted Beast Elf.


    Choice: Druid of Corruption.


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Boss.


    Arcane Mana: 4000/4000.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 2000/2000.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Innate Abilities: 11.


    Dark Vision. Beast Shapeshifter. Nature Attuned. Language of Beasts. Forest Attendant. Presences. Long Lived. Mana Storage. Touched by Corruption. Bringer of Corruption. Power of the Corrupt.


    Proficiencies: 5.


    Enchantment. Ritual. Soul. Basic Ritualist. Basic Enchanter.


    Spells: 13.


    Beam of Corruption. Touch of Corruption. Shield. Barrier. Control Elements. Root Control. Body Enhancement - General. Soul Sight. Weak Corrupt Soul. Corrupting Aura. Root Spike. Chains of Corruption. Ally of the Tainted Lands.


    Techniques: 1.


    Reborn in Corruption.


    Boss Phase 1: Full Heal. Multi-Cast - C Rank. Speed Casting - C Rank. Increased Mana Regeneration. Summon Weak Avatar of Corruption.


    Respawn Timer: Conditional.


    Respawn Cost: 149 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 299 Mana.


    ??


    Diana''s stats were off the charts, and aside from Merlin, who didn¡¯t count, the druid was the strongest creature Dan had yet to create and also one that he couldn¡¯t send outside of his dungeon. After all, the Boss Phase feature was too strong, and a certain entity wanted Dan to struggle.


    Starting with said feature, it was actually, and technically, the Boss¡¯s Phase 2 since her normal fight was Phase 1, but for technical purposes, it had been listed as Phase 1 because it was the first phase a creature entered after being defeated.


    Looking at the different abilities of the phase, they were rather self-explanatory. Full Heal would heal Diana back up completely. Then Multi Cast and Speed Casting would allow the druid to cast as if she were a C Ranker, letting her hold two concentration spells while casting at a faster rate. Increase Mana Regeneration didn¡¯t need an explanation, and Weak Avatar of Corruption would do some cool stuff adventurers were sure to ¡°love.¡±


    Moving back to the top of her sheet, her high level of mana was not just because of Mana Storage but due to her other innate abilities. Though one specifically. However, first, Dan started with Touched by Corruption, which was the original corrupted ability and what had changed her choice to what it was. It also was what gave her the rest of the innate abilities and what held many of the passives that made it so she wasn¡¯t debuffed by the corruption.


    Bringer of Corruption let Diana passively corrupt the area around her while empowering her when on corrupted lands. Finally, the last one was very important. Power of the Corrupt was the reason Diana had such a big mana pool and was the representation of the power the entity that had corrupted gave her. So, in a way, Diana was technically a warlock, but Dan wouldn¡¯t get into the whole mess of what were warlocks and what were clerics.


    Anyway, Diana''s proficiencies were the same as Dena''s since she would have use for them. Diana would be using a ritual on the gigantic legendary shard to control it. Meanwhile, she also needed soul magic because that was how she could corrupt things further, and among other things that might become relevant later on. As for the enchantments, well, that was going to be how she activated the shards so other members of her faction could use them.


    Looking at her spells, the only one that stood out was the ally one since that was a system-empowered buff that she would give out to those adventurers who joined her. Originally, Dan had been tempted to give the adventurers the buff via automatic system shenanigans, but he figured it would be cool to have Diana do it.


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    The last thing Dan looked at was Diana¡¯s technique, which would be another fun surprise for adventurers to experience. So, feeling like the boss of the faction was done, Dan knew it was time to make her minions.


    All the minions for the corrupted faction were going to be modified and corrupted versions of the wood and nature beasts from the Druid¡¯s Domain. This meant that most beasts would have a direct opposite, at least in the fact that there was a corrupt and non-corrupt version, not that they would actually counter each other in any meaningful way. One of the exceptions was the doe, who wouldn¡¯t have a corrupt version since that didn¡¯t make any sense and would break the balance of power between the two factions.


    With that basic rule established, Dan looked for his first monster to turn to the dark side. The monster was a bear with bark skin similar to the boars but with small grass growing out of it, making it look like it had a coat of green fur. The bear was called a Nature Beam Bear because of its special ability to unleash a beam of green energy from its mouth. This beam could either provide a healing effect or switch over to a kinetic version that would blast the hell out of something.


    After finding his target, Dan quickly got its stat sheet and began to make some changes until it looked like this.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Corrupt Beam Bear.


    Type: Tainted Beast-Elemental (Nature).


    Size: Large.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 125/125.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 5.


    Corruption Affinity. Body Enhancement - Strength. Corruption Smash. Absorb Corruption. Spread Weak Corruptive Aura.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Touched by Corruption. Tainted Force Beam. Corrupted Bark Skin. Strength. Night Vision. Keen Smell. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 34 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 68 Mana.


    ??


    After the changes, the newly spawned bear was much uglier, and instead of grass, it had a bunch of small, gnarly roots poking from its bark skin. Its eyes no longer glowed green and now were a deep black, but more importantly, its abilities were corrupted, and Dan had made it stronger.


    Inspecting the sheet, the first thing to look at was the Touched by Corruption ability, which, much like Diana, was the cause of the corruption of the bear and gave it a bunch of passive abilities to resist the corruption. It was one of those abilities that Dan was actually able to throw at a monster, and as expected, it changed them because their entire ancestry was changed as if he had tinkered with its DNA.


    From there, the only other big change in its innate abilities was the beam attack, which now both actively attempted to corrupt someone struck by it while also hurting like hell. As to its new abilities, Corruption Smash was just a force multiplier that released a wave of taint, amplifying the nearby corruption. Then Weak Corruptive Aura made the bear a bit special since it was one of the monsters that could actively spread corruption. Finally, Absorb Corruption synergized with the bear''s other two abilities by letting it absorb corruption to empower and heal itself.


    All in all, the bear was one of the stronger corrupt beasts, and with it done, Dan moved on.


    The next beast that Dan got was called the Wood Fang Tiger. It was similar to the Wood Blade Wolves in that its skin was sleeker and looked like smooth bark. Except where the wolves had their brownish dark coats, the tiger had a lighter color with dark wood knots as stripes.


    Anyways, after getting corrupted, the tiger¡¯s stats looked like this.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Dark Tiger.


    Type: Corrupt Beast-Elemental (Wood).


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 125/125.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 7.


    Soul Affinity. Corruption Affinity. Body Enhancement - Strength and Agility. Enhanced Corruption. Weak Corruptive Soul Strike.


    Innate Abilities: 8.


    Touched by Corruption. Tainted Bite. One with Corruption. Mark of Corruption. Keen Sight. Keen Smell. Stealth. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 37 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 75 Mana.


    ??


    Remaking the tiger, Dan left its looks as they were, except for the new dark eyes and the slight dark aura it emitted. As for the ability department, Dan looked to increase its assassination capabilities. After all, the tiger had already been good in a forest, and its old abilities now let it do what it did best, but in the corrupted lands.


    Before, Tainted Bite was just a reinforced magical bite; now, it also helped spread taint into the target. Then One with Corruption had been One with the Forest, which had let the tiger move incredibly well in a forest, enhancing its stealth even further. Mark of Corruption had been Mark of the Forest and had let the tiger place a mark on a target to allow for perfect tracking. And now, it also increased the damage Tainted Bite did.


    Of course, Dan had taken this further by giving it Enhanced Corruption which would synergize with Tainted Bite and Weak Corruptive Soul Strike. Essentially, Dan wanted the tiger to bite at least once but to ensure that one bite did plenty of damage.


    Next up on the chopping block was one beast he had recently upgraded.


    ?? Crystal Notice ??


    ?? Monster Statblock ??


    Rank: Mid D Rank.


    Name: Dark Blade Wolf.


    Type: Corrupted Beast-Elemental (Wood).


    Size: Medium.


    Hierarchy: Minion.


    Mind: Intelligent.


    Arcane Mana: 250/250.


    Arcane Mana Regen: +8 Per Minute.


    Pure Arcane Mana: 125/125.


    Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: +4 Per Minute.


    Abilities: 6.


    Corruption Affinity. Evocation Affinity. Body Enhancement - Agility. Empower Corruptive Blade. Weak Tainting Aura. Tainting Bite.


    Innate Abilities: 7.


    Touched by Corruption. Keen Hearing. Keen Smell. Night Vision. Stealth. Corruptive Blade. Mental Resistance.


    Respawn Timer: 2 Hours.


    Respawn Cost: 36 Mana.


    Creation Cost: 73 Mana.


    ??


    This version of the Wood Blade Wolf was much stronger with its new Weak Tainting Aura that gave those around the wolf a debuff, making them more susceptible to its corrupted attacks. However, other than that, the wolf was basically an exact replica. Even its looks stayed mostly the same; the only real change were its dark eyes and slightly dark wooden skin.


    The reason Dan had given the new version a slight advantage was that, once again, he felt like adventurers would favor Dena more since she was the good faction in this situation. So, Dan wanted to give the corrupted faction some extra oomph. And if anything, he could always update the dungeon after the first reset. After all, nothing was set in stone.

 Chapter 82 - Beast Lands Part 1

    Dungeon Day 121 to 143 ¨C Continues


    Dan spent quite a while creating and spawning more monsters. Out of everything in his dungeon creation spree, that was what always took the longest. He was just glad that it wasn¡¯t too boring since he could always watch his monsters fight. A pastime that had become less problematic the more time he spent spawning monsters.


    At first, he had been rather spread out throughout the various areas in his dungeon, but the more areas he populated with monsters, the less troubling things got. The town and lake hadn¡¯t made the biggest differences since the town had been a rather small area with fewer monsters while the lake''s creatures were mostly underwater. However, even then, the town monsters, at least the ranked ones, could patrol the townlands while the flying and semi-aquatic monsters from the lake could help patrol the surrounding lake area.


    The biggest shift came with the druid and tainted area. Those two places combined represented at least a quarter of his total land. So, having it patrolled by its respective monsters meant Dan could shift the rest to his other areas. The overall progress was slow, but Dan was slowly starting to overwhelm the invading monsters.


    As he continued spawning the monsters for the latest dungeon areas, Dan went through a checklist to ensure he had gotten the important bits of his dungeon creation. He had created the two main bosses, set the events, and had quests even if the variety was incredibly low. Dan also made the spawn points and tweaked the crystals from Diana''s faction to act as spawn nodes. Of course, to that end, he was letting the taint spread throughout the land.


    Dan had also set the paths beasts would take from the Druid¡¯s Domain and the Tainted Lands, having them overlap to create natural conflict. However, the two monster types wouldn¡¯t actually fight each other until the dungeon opened up. After all, there was no point for Dan to waste mana respawning his own monsters because they were fighting each other when they could be fighting the other invaders. That went for the whole dungeon since nothing would start until adventurers started coming in.


    After a lot of monster spawning and messing about with the system to make adventurers get notifications and whatnot, Dan eventually felt the Druid¡¯s Domain and The Tainted Lands were ready to go and knew it was time to move on.


    The next place Dan was going to work on was his first claimed area. Dan had never given the land a proper name since his progress had been swift, and the threat there had been removed rather early. However, now, it was time to officially give the area a name, and since it was going to be a place focusing on his beasts, he felt it was right to name it the Beast Lands. A rather generic name, if Dan had to admit, but one that was good enough for him.


    Dungeon Day 144 to 186


    The Beast Lands was going to be a place with possibly the most unique set of monsters. The reason for this was that it was going to be home to the monstrosities. Now, Dan knew it was a bit silly and rather contradictory to name the place the Beast Lands and then not have it solely be about beasts, but Dan felt it was the best approach.


    Initially, he was going to make the area solely about beasts, but he felt the need to have some conflict that, much like the rest of the dungeon, let adventurers become deciders in the final outcome. At first, he had-had the idea to make two factions of beasts vie for power until an ultimate winner was decided by having adventurers go out and convince Beast Lords to join one side or another. The problem with that was that he had done the exact same thing in the lake.


    To begin with, the background story for the beast area would be rather simple. Basically, a long time ago, there had been a King of Beasts who ruled the Beast Kingdom. However, blah blah, blah, the kingdom fell apart due to infighting, and the Beast Lords left when the king died. Honestly, that part didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was that it was the segue for the present.


    The descendant of the king, Ingot, felt it was time to revive the kingdom once again. Why did he feel that need? Well, Dan would get to that. However, first, the king decided it was time to reunite the Beast Lords since that was the way to revive the kingdom. Now, Ingot already had some loyal Beast Lords that had joined him, such as George, Fir, and Fur. However, to truly revive the kingdom, he needed to find more Beast Lords. To that end, adventurers would be sent out to find these scattered Beast Lords in the rest of the map and have them join Ingot.


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    Of course, many would argue that the scenario was still technically the same as the one he had set up in the lake, but just in a larger scope, with there even being two beast factions. One was the kings, and the other, though scattered, was the Beast Lords faction, even if each lord was independent.


    Now, Dan would argue that since the adventurers couldn¡¯t join the Beast Lords in resisting Ingot, there wasn¡¯t an actual second faction, but that was beside the point. The issue at hand was that it was boring. There were no actual stakes, and Ingot would end up winning unless a time constraint was put in place. Or unless, for some reason, adventurers decided to only fight the beasts in the area and do nothing else.


    Anyways, to actually bring in some actual stakes, Dan had decided to make the Beast Lands the home of monstrosities. Originally, he was going to let them roam throughout the rest of the map like beasts could, but with the new idea, it was better to keep them contained, giving the Beast Lands their own unique monsters.


    With the decision to have monstrosities, it had been easy to give Ingot a reason why he wanted to revive the kingdom. The reason was that the monstrosities were breaking nature''s natural balance and attempting to take over the world, or in this case, the dungeon floor.


    Having resolved that particular problem, Dan had questioned why the monstrosities wanted to take over the world. And, well, that was simple there was a big bad monstrosity who wanted to rule the world, because why not?  Since when did monsters need reasons to be evil?


    With two factions for adventurers to join, they would need a way to be introduced to said factions. Dan would get this done through combat. Adventurers would come in and immediately start battling beasts and monstrosities. After all, neither of the two sides was really peaceful from the start, and for beasts, it was the law of the jungle, while the monstrosities acted like monsters and attacked everything else.


    To that end, adventurers would encounter single or groups of monsters like in the other areas, with both the monstrosities and beasts fighting each other as well as the adventurers.


    As to the way adventurers would be introduced to the two factions. Well, it would be by having them kill the faction''s respective monsters. See, Ingot didn¡¯t just have bears, gorillas, and elks in his faction at the start. He still had other beasts since they weren¡¯t all following their respective Beast Lords, even if some of their kind did. Anyways, Ingot would get told about adventurers who were marked as skilled combatants by the beasts they fought. Ingot would then order the beasts to approach the adventurers and bring them to Ingot''s ¡°castle.¡±


    On the other end of things, monstrosities would follow the same strategy, telling the boss monsters in their factions about powerful adventurers. Thus, the monster faction would try to contact these adventurers. It was at that point that an adventurer could make a call to join a faction right then and there or wait until a threshold was reached and the faction they were yet to be contacted by reached out. Of course, adventurers didn¡¯t need to choose a faction, though not doing so meant they would be indiscriminately attacked by monsters from both factions.


    Upon joining a faction, the adventurers would be tasked with two things. One way was to kill the opposite faction''s monsters, meaning beasts, if they joined the monstrosities, or monstrosities if they joined the beasts. The other task was to go and find the Beast Lords.


    If an adventurer joined Ingot¡¯s faction, which Dan planned to call the Beast Kingdom, then they would be tasked with going out and recruiting Beast Lords. This recruitment could vary, but in full honesty, Dan was looking to give adventurers combat but with more of a challenge. See, adventurers couldn¡¯t kill the Beast Lords. They had to knock them out and bring them back to Ingot so these lords could swear fealty.


    Of course, if the adventurer joined the monstrosities or the Monster Mash, as he planned to call the faction due to the fact that they were made of mixed monster parts, said adventurer would be offered a similar quest as finding the Beast Lords. Except instead of capturing the lords, they had to outright kill them. Obviously, Dan had made the quests like that to put the factions at odds and add some further rivalry between the adventurers of each faction.


    And in the end, that¡¯s all Dan was planning to do for quests in the Beast Lands. It wasn¡¯t much, and it just came down to two quests, but both quests would be enough to let adventurers do plenty of fighting, which was one of the big reasons they were coming into his dungeon. Still, that was just the start of the Beast Lands, and Dan still had plenty of work to do, such as destroying his beautiful fort.

 Chapter 83 - Beast Lands Part 2

    Dungeon Day 144 to 186 ¨C Continues


    The fort had been a nice little creation back when he had felt exposed, but in the end, he never ended up using it. This was a good thing since it meant nothing was strong enough to steamroll him. Thinking about that, Dan wasn¡¯t sure if he had just been able to deal with things incredibly well or if Mother Infinity had just challenged him enough to keep him on his toes but never actually put him in any real danger. And the more Dan thought about it, the more it was definitely the second thing. After all, this area was supposed to be his starting zone, so taking it easy on him made sense.


    Either way, it was time to get rid of the fort and the enchantments he had set up around it. Removing the fort and the enchantments didn¡¯t take long, and it was only a matter of slightly flexing his dungeon power. However, this brought the question of what exactly he was going to do with his body. Dan still wanted to keep the crystal safe, and after thinking about the issue for a few minutes, Dan decided to place his crystal in the big dome under the town area. The place was underground and entirely out of sight for adventurers. On top of that, it had reinforced walls, and more importantly, the underground dome was the respawn point for his beasts in the town area, which gave him a never-ending security force.


    With the location picked out, Dan quickly moved his crystal there and returned to work on the Beast Lands.


    Next on the creation chopping block were three things.


    The first was going to be the spawn points for his minions. At first, Dan wanted to do another big underground dome for beasts, but he remembered that he needed to make sure beasts showed up in the rest of the dungeon, not just in the Beast Lands and town area. To that end, Dan decided to use spawn nodes and ended up spreading spawn nodes for beasts everywhere on the map except for three locations.


    These three exceptions were the Druids Domain, The Tainted Lands, and the town area. For the Druid''s Domain, he placed the spawn nodes rather far apart and in very low quantities. Dan wanted to keep the domain full of nature beasts since the regular ranked beasts would be able to attack adventurers freely due to not being part of Dena¡¯s faction. And since Dan didn¡¯t want to ruin the balance of that area, keeping regular beast spawns to a minimum was key.


    Meanwhile, for the Tainted Lands, all regular ranked beast spawn nodes were kept in the outer area. In this case, it didn¡¯t make sense for regular beasts to spawn inside the tainted lands, and it made even less sense for beasts to head into the tainted lands. As such, Dan would make sure the normal ranked beasts that spawn in that area kept to the outer perimeter.


    Finally, the town area. For this area, Dan wanted to keep the type of beasts there contained to a certain type. Aka, the old ones he had, and not the new beasts he was going to make. The reason for this design was to help adventurers. After all, the town was supposed to be their starting area, and he wanted the area to be as simplistic and straightforward as possible. So, if he had a bunch of different beasts with all sorts of power, it would be overwhelming and leave no surprises. Thus, Dan didn¡¯t place any new spawn nodes there.


    As for the rest of the areas, Dan had no issue throwing all sorts of beasts in different areas, and he made sure to make thousands of spawn locations in all sorts of places, going so far as to create new caves and slightly hidden areas. After all, birds would have it much easier resting-wise since many would spawn in the air. However, ground creatures were limited, and Dan wanted to randomize their spawns so they would spawn in decently hidden areas where they could rest. Naturally, the Beast Lands had as many spawn nodes as the rest of the map since that was the main beast area. Plus, it helped that his beasts could still choose to travel around.


    The next thing Dan did was create the home base for Ingot, which would be the castle for his kingdom. It wasn¡¯t an actual castle, in fact, an actual castle would have probably been cheaper to make. However, it wouldn¡¯t have made sense to have beasts living in a castle, not unless there was a princess involved. Instead, Dan decided to create a small god damn mountain range.


    He created the small mountain range in the bottom left-hand corner of the floor around the area where he had initially come in. The mountains were arranged in a U shape to create a valley, and Dan made sure to create plenty of caves in which beasts and Beast Lords could reside. Dan also placed some spawn points for beasts in there but only activated some, while the rest would activate based on the number of Beast Lords recruited. The mechanic was to make it so the mountain range and valley went from barely lived in at the start of the dungeon month to heavily lived in by the end, well, as long as plenty of lords were recruited.


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    On top of regular spawn nodes, Dan also placed spawn nodes inside Beast Lord caves. These nodes would be claimed by the first lord who entered it, setting their respawn point there. Of course, Dan manually set the spawn points for the lords already serving Ingot, and he even made an especially big cave that could act as a king''s hall with a large throne and everything for Ingot.


    Now, the mountains had taken a shit load of mana to create, but Dan was far from done in the valley. See, his ground monsters had a place to live in the mountain range, and technically, some bird monsters could live there too. However, Dan also wanted to create a special spot for his birds. So, on top of creating a bunch of trees in the valley, he created an insanely massive one whose top reached almost the edge of the mountain tops. The tree was massive, and so were its many branches, which Dan filled with a bunch of different spawn nodes for birds, along with special nodes for the Beast Lords that would dominate the sky.


    On that note, Dan had to point out that if a Beast Lord died while not having joined the Beast Kingdom, they could not respawn. This was why it was important for adventurers to either kill or safely capture them, depending on which Beast Lands faction they joined.


    Having spent an incredible amount of mana on the mountains and tree creation, Dan was glad that the next part of the Beast Land creation arc would be incredibly cheap. This arc consisted of creating the base for the monstrosities.


    Creating the base wouldn¡¯t be hard because it would just be a big chasm in the ground, and since removing dirt was free, making the base would also be relatively free. So, Dan quickly got to making the most chasm-looking chasm he could.


    He began digging in the northwest area of the Beast Lands, though only after claiming a bunch of lands from the gnolls, which made him regret leaving them for last. That claiming spree alone had taken like six day¡¯s worth of mana, but it was something he had to do since he didn¡¯t want the two faction bases too close to each other.


    Could he have waited until the end to dig the trench and stuff? Sure, but honestly, Dan wanted to get each area mostly done and gone in one go.


    Anyways, after spending that ridiculous amount of mana, he created the chasm, which went as deep as he could take it, making it about four to five miles deep but only a few miles wide in the widest spots. As for its length, well, that was also a couple of miles of land from one tip of the crack-like chasm to the other. Honestly, he had created his own grand-canyon, at least a junior edition. Either way, it did take him a while to make the canyon, though most of the time spent there was making it look legit and scary. Finally, once the chasm was done, Dan created large caves that connected to it. The caves would be where the boss monstrosities were located, along with an especially large cave for the big bad monstrosity itself.


    On top of these boss caves, Dan also made tunnels that went outwards from the chasm and into the Beast Lands. These tunnels headed towards the surface and would be the main way for the monstrosities to head into the rest of the area. Dan had thought about just scattering spawn nodes all over the Beast Lands, but he wanted to make the area feel like it really belonged to the beasts; hence, they could spawn and be found everywhere. In contrast, the monstrosities were the invading force and only came from one general area.


    Now, Dan still created spawn points for the monstrosities, but these were in the caves where their bosses spawned or random places around the ravine depths, with some even respawning at the very top. Then, once they respawned, they could either chill at the ravine, take a tunnel out and deeper into the forest, or slowly make their way above land.


    Having created the areas and spawn nodes for the creatures of the Beast Lands, Dan had to make the paths they would take, and in this case, things would be slightly different. See, the monstrosities were going to be stuck in the Beast Lands, so their paths snaked through the area in whichever way Dan felt. He even improved on the concept of making paths by creating sets of paths and having the monsters randomly assigned a set of paths based on the day¡ªan improvement he also quickly brought to the previous areas.


    As for the beasts, well, they would be able to roam around the map on top of the Beast Lands, so Dan had to account for this next level of freedom. He did make paths for the beasts in their main area, making sure plenty of them ran into monstrosity paths. However, he also set plenty of paths out into the rest of the dungeon floor, connecting them to already existing paths but mainly creating even more in the areas he had yet to touch.


    It took a while to get the entire beast path working right since Dan also had to calculate having them team up, run solo, or assign whether they could even roam in the first place. After all, he couldn¡¯t have all his beasts roaming the rest of the map and leaving the Beast Lands empty. In fact, as he worked on that, he also had to go back and adjust the monstrosities so they would travel in groups, run solo, or with one of their boss monsters.


    Eventually, Dan felt like he had the paths and spawn points for monsters under control, and he looked at his to-do list to see what needed his attention next.