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Chapter 4

  Tunnelling to the surface took far less time than I imagined. The map had made it seem like I was buried in the middle of the mountain, but in actuality, I was just a few dozen metres from the surface.

  Barely an hour or two after starting, I broached the surface. It was far more underwhelming than I had anticipated. A momentous occasion marked by the flowing breeze that swept from the surface, rustling the leaves on the trees, and blowing through the grasses, making them wave in hypnotic harmony.

  There was no fanfare, no congratulation message from the system, just a bright white light that I couldn’t peer through. It blotted out my vision whenever I looked at it.

  Some kind of barrier, perhaps a limitation of the system that ruled me, I pondered. I’d already felt the pain of the system and I wasn’t keen to test it again anytime soon.

  Turning away from the entrance, I went back to watching the hedgehogs.

  So cute!

  It was perhaps a few days later that I got my first visitor, a small rodent. It scurried in, hiding from a rainstorm, and wandered into the grasses, hiding amongst them, and nestling down.

  I could tell it was raining, by the water flowing down my tunnel, but no sound or feeling penetrated this deep into the mountain. It seemed the mouse also, couldn’t tell it was raining, and didn’t leave again.

  I watched it for a while, tracking its progress as it pushed through the grass, searching for food.

  Later that day, it stumbled upon one of my berry bushes, and had itself a feast, gorging on the sweet flesh of the fruits.

  It seemed it had no desire to leave, and I had found myself another creature to house. Rent free.

  It was another week before something slightly more impressive than a mouse wandered in, and by the time it did, I had a few more colonies of insects and a small family of field mice, my original one having found a partner. A day later, a couple of bats had flown in while I was waiting, and then immediately flown out again. I had been curious as to what those strange creatures were and had scoured the store for them.

  Bats! How strange! I thought. Nocturnal.

  Day and night didn’t exist for me, and so the concept was strange, a period of time each day where one couldn’t see properly. Sounded horrible.

  The bats had seemed freaked out by the dungeon and they scarpered as quickly as they arrived.

  When the antelope wandered in, I was ecstatic.

  Finally!

  Something to kill!

  I watched, enrapt as the deer began to graze on my grass and explore the floor.

  Come on, come on, come on! I chanted, mentally coaxing it closer.

  Find the herbs… find the herbs, and then wander too close to the trees.

  It seemed that my wishes were being granted, as the deer worked its way over to the herbs, as if it were drawn to it.

  I felt like I was going to burst as I watched it begin to nibble at the green herbs, munching on them with tantalising slowness.

  Just a little more, come on you silly deer… just one more step, one more. You can do it… please… YES!

  I whooped in joy, as it took that last step, bringing it into range. Like a whip, the branches of the willow snapped out, wrapping around the deer’s antlers, drawing it closer. More branches slipped around its throat, squeezing, and slowly tightening, constricting the deer.

  Soon the deer passed out, blood not reaching its brain, and only a minute later I saw its mana start to fade, the colour leaching out of it, just like its life.

  Grey mana, blossomed from the corpse of the deer, and I hurried to absorb it. Like a hearty meal I chowed down filling me with mana.

  ~~Congratulations: Having killed your first complex animal, you have been awarded a 1000% mana bonus for it, make good use of it.~~

  Yes! Nice! I thought happily, reading the message. This would be able to fuel my growth for a while. It was time to start building again.

  *** 2 weeks later***

  It had taken me far less time to carve out my second cavern than the first; I had got far better at the process of breaking down the rock. With more mana, I could do so much more. It was astounding really; in barely two weeks, I had carved out a cavern almost twice the size of the first floor, stretching nearly 200 metres across, with height enough to accommodate the tall trees that I hadn’t been able to use in floor one. Due to the sheer height of the trees, I had had to dig down significantly farther than I had originally intended, almost eighty metres, and as a result, the stairs that I had previously cut out ended just a short distance from the ceiling of my new cavern.

  I had been contemplating what to do about this issue for a while, and a part of me rebelled against continuing the stairs down through the walls, until they extended to the bottom of the floor.

  Instead, I planned for the stairs to end in the canopy of the largest tree. But first, I had to build the floor.

  As with the first floor, I built up the floor in layers, with the compacted soil first and then the rest of the soil. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough materials left over from the first floor and so I had to buy some.

  I ended up buying 5000 kilograms of compacted soil and another 5000 of regular soil for a 100 dungeon points.

  Spending so much had set me back a little bit, but I wouldn’t have to buy any for the next few floors, and it was easier to buy it in bulk.

  It took me the rest of the day to fill up the floor with the soil, making sure there was enough depth for the trees to be supported before I could move on.

  Moving on involved creating a small babbling brook that wound itself through the ground, in wide meandering loops, like a snake. The stream had a few tributaries that fed it, springing from underground pools.

  The main branch of my stream started life in an undercutting in the cavern’s wall. Swimming up the stream underwater took you past the wall to a small secret cave.

  It was here that a source provided the water to the stream, whilst at the other end, the water was removed with a banishing enchantment. These, I picked up on special offer for forty-two dungeon points.

  Once I had the stream done, it was time for the trees. Their huge size meant that encouraging their growth from seeds took me a few days of work. But as I stopped to observe my work, I knew it was worth it.

  All along the stream, slightly smaller trees traced the banks, their roots extending into the stream, making little shelters for the animals I planned to introduce.

  Farther away from the stream, the trees grew denser, though still sparse in nature, this was supposed to be woodland after all, not jungle.

  The trees were a good few metres around, with dry cracked bark and thick branches that interwove to form a tough layer of matted branches and wood. A proper canopy. One that blocked all view of the ground from the stairs.

  Between the trees, there were paths, or at least there would be after I was done implementing them. Animal trails.

  The first floor was designed to kill animals, to fuel my growth, it was a cheap and because of the passive mobs I had been given, perfect for clueless animals. For more intelligent prey though, it was definitely not sufficient.

  This floor was sure to be my first line of defence, and I wanted something dangerous to inhabit it.

  The first few monsters that the store had shown me had cost between ten and forty points and they seemed little better than the natural predators of the woodland.

  It seemed foolish to buy them for ten points apiece, when I could simply encourage a natural pack of wolves, or a forest cat, to live within myself and have something just as dangerous for no cost at all.

  With little risk of exposure, I felt no reason to rush, to waste my points on far more expensive monsters than I needed.

  When I became famous, and people from across the world would travel hundreds of leagues just to challenge me, I would need all the points I could scrounge up.

  Until then, I was determined not to waste any. So, I waited…

  And waited…

  And waited some more…

  Until finally, finally I felt a disturbance above me.

  Something entering the dungeon…

  With hope, I moved my presence upwards, phasing through the stone to reach the entrance.

  A female wolf and her cub stalked forwards, claws clinking on the rock of the tunnel as she shuffled forwards nervously, eyes wide, observing everything, for the slightest sign of danger, or… maybe prey?

  I hadn’t much practice at observing wolves yet, none really so I couldn’t tell what the she-wolf was thinking.

  Perhaps she was seeking safety, or maybe food, or a mate… or something beyond my ken.

  Either way, she had entered the dungeon and soon she would be mine.

  Bah, buying monsters is for the foolish!

  With a little bit of encouragement, I guided the wolf down the stairs at the end of the first floor. However, I soon encountered a problem I had not foreseen. How to get them from the canopy, to the floor 80 metres below.

  I focused intently, slowing down the time that I perceived and began to think. I didn’t want to just build a stone staircase, or anything else I would have to take down afterwards. It would be a complete waste of time and resources.

  If only I could grip animals with my mind, then I could just pick them up and put them on the floor!

  In the end, I decided to modify my largest tree. Growing more branches from the trunk. In spirals, they ran around the tree – a makeshift staircase that allowed access to the floor – before spreading out and intertwining with the branches of is neighbours. Making a sort of sky-path.

  I felt my mind open as I considered it. If the ground was to be a dangerous hunting grounds for my wolves, then the trees could be for more hidden hunters. A sky path on the interwoven branches with ambush predators. All I had to do was help the off the branches, sideways, for them to tumble to the floor. Dead.

  Happy

  With multiple routes, routes favouring different types of people, my dungeon would provide more intrigue and diversity, drawing more people to me. More fools and more death. I thought to myself, savouring the image. Oh yes, I liked this.

  From the stairs, the wolves had to step down into the canopy, the thick branches of the tree that grew up to meet it, wound seamlessly to blend into the wood of the stairs, providing a path to the tree that would let them down.

  Needless to say, the wolves weren’t exactly keen to do so, but they were fairly easy to steer with mana. Manipulating animals seemed to come naturally to me, their instincts easy to guide and soon I had the wolves descending the tree.

  Along the way, several larger branches acted as exits, allowing access to various sky paths, though I hadn’t yet built them. There was no need to after all, not until I decided to announce my presence to the town at the foot of the mountain.

  With the wolves down on the floor, I realised that before I could make them my monsters, I had to make sure they survived. And the lovely foliage I had placed down was not a particularly good food for them.

  To this end, I once again started by seeding the bugs, beetles, insects, and other bottom feeders into the floor. I still had loads left from the perk and if I had to guess, I would say would still have loads left after this floor.

  Instead of buying all the small animals that inhabited the first floor, I waited. I waited until they gave birth and then I forced them down to the second floor.

  I populated the floor with the small birds, the mice, and also the hedgehogs from the first floor, and set about breeding them up.

  With only two wolves - a mother and daughter - I couldn’t expand the pack to make them into a suitable defence, a threat, and I still felt a bit naked.

  However, I decided to brave it out and wait, I was confident I was safe enough at the moment, and hopeful that more wolves would enter.

  *** 4 weeks later***

  ~~Congratulations: two wolves have lived within your dungeon for 1 month, and as they are above the minimum danger level, they can be made into your dungeon monsters, with the ability to respawn for the simple cost of mana. Would you like to make the wolves into your dungeon monsters?

  YES  NO~~

  Yes! I thought firmly.

  The instant after I selected yes, I felt a strumming vibration in my mind, as if a cord had just snapped out and bound us together, vibrating at the suddenness.

  Slowly, the bond faded away, until it matched the gentle humming of all the others. Though just as with all the others, I could focus on it, bringing my presence to them, checking in.

  They were ok, though they seemed lonely, as if they wanted a pack. It was a different feeling than I got from any of the other creatures. The trees felt nothing, obviously, the hedgehogs were happy and content with sleeping the days away, buried in the plants and the mice just went about their business.

  The wolves though, they were far more complex creatures and they seemed to want company.

  Feeling guilty, I opened my menu and browsed the store, looking for more wolves to buy. To my surprise, it seemed that capturing these two wolves had given me a discount on buying more of them. Perhaps it worked this way if you bought regular monsters too, it would make sense in a way, that it got cheaper, less draining on resources.

  Either way, it seemed to be a good deal.

  Nearly half price for more wolves, why not! I thought buying four.

  Two more creatures caught my eye, the Avalt python and crash birds. If I was going to have a sky path, then a snake that lived in the trees and would ambush people seemed like a very good idea. Unfortunately, it was quite expensive. I bought two, a male and a female, with the hope to get a nest going in the future. I also liked the idea of small birds ramming adventurers and knocking them off the sky paths to their deaths. They came in groups of four and I bought three of them.

  Curious about both creatures, I pulled up their description prior to placing them.

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