Peter was right on the money. The first death was two days after the third floor was opened. A second one occurred by the end of its first week. Neither were from one of the three most local villages. Thank God since by this point he was starting to recognize them. It would tug a bit more on his psyche, when Peter clearly knew the guy had a wife and children.

  The second guy was clearly from the trading town, since his clothes were made of cotton or at least something that did not consist of various hide pelts. Saying he was an amateur adventurer would be an understatement. He was killed on the second floor. However the locals might soon be diluted as more and more continued to come. The nearest three villages were basically boom towns. Already new structures were being erected. The additions had started as the second floor became far too overcrowded, but the third floor was not enough to attract everybody back in.

  In addition there were multiple hunting camps along the hillside. The biggest consisted of more than a hundred seemingly permanent residents. A third death had occurred in one of the lesser hunting camps. A guy murdered for his accumulated loot. Another guy that looked to be from the trading town. While only indirectly responsible for this third death, Peter actually found it the most concerning. How much longer till one of the real locals was killed? Some of them had surely started to accumulate some wealth.

  What was he doing to these people? That young red headed girl who had first discovered the dungeon probably had no clue on what she had introduced to her village and region. It made him think of modern society. How people were priced out of their communities by ever increasing property taxes and potentially even crime. How long till ‘the before smiling pleasant people,’ who had likely lived here for generations, were pushed out by those with more means? Or even worse, how long till their own greed pushed them to do things they would have never otherwise considered? Peter was already seeing signs of it. Members of the local hunting teams now disputed kills and drop claims, where before they were more gracious. Right now they were basically operating under whoever killed it claimed the reward, no party sharing, and tensions were rising.

  Yet Peter knew he could not change his course, outside his dungeon might soon descend into anarchy, but he had his own goals. He was really only introducing opportunity and wealth to this poor region. Before him, the villagers likely had to struggle just to survive. They probably prayed to make it through the next winter, potentially with some even starving to death. Others would die of sickness or disease.

  His dungeon would now make the area far more survivable as long as he could keep up with the swelling population. He had seen some good out of him being here. It just stank to get a real look at human nature, and know that he was adding fuel to the fire. God he needed a companion so he would quit dwelling about such things.

  Now that he was pulling in over 1,000 essence a day after opening the third floor, the expansions started to happen quickly, although the cost for expansions increased with each lower floor. Which meant that his first two floors started to once again see occasional increases now that floor 3 was up and running. They were more cost effective for increasing his ambient essence and they were also in need to meet his ever growing clientele. Not to say that progress was halted on the third floor which was also seeing increases. Within another two weeks he had added rare E tier water elementals that would appear in the pools that he started to build throughout the floor. Then an E tier Bone warrior. A gray skinned humanoid fighter that used a big bone club.

  By the start of week 15, Peter was already working on expanding the fourth floor. The fourth floor would be the first to introduce the D tier, but would mark the end of the beginner floors. At the end of the floor would be a boss room, helmed by good ole porcupine himself. He was a mid D tier unit that would be the gatekeeper. His existence should ward off weaker hunters adventurers, and hopefully would buy Peter some time. He had not unlocked the fifth floor for 10,000 yet, so if the porcupine was beaten the door would open right up to a small room where the core was.

  Building a boss room was already a major expense at 20,000 itself. Costly but it would allow porcupine and a handful of E tier minions to respawn after a day or so. Peter could never take the porcupine away from the room, but he was already obsolete by this point with the availability of C tier’s, not that he planned to even set aside the 500 essence he would need to buy a C tier design card yet. The spawners were also 4 or 5 thousand a piece now for the basic version for a D (-) unit. They would cost even more when he started building D (+). That would only continue as the tiers got higher.

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  By the end of week 16, Peter had his boss' room. Floor 4 still had a lot further to go, but there were at least two D(-) minions to get things running. Both were apes, black baboon and the pygmy gorilla. Both were past what a normal person could handle, yet even the local hunter teams could manage them with team work.

  Still the boss room had given him some breathing room outside was still becoming increasingly more chaotic, but inside things were starting to settle down. His fourth floor added a flame hedgehog (D-) along with its own spawner two days after it opened. Several more deaths had occurred already. Each garnered him around 3,000 essence, a good 3 to 4 weeks worth of what he would have gotten for the hunter being inside his dungeon. If that continued to occur he could get his fourth floor to the right level in two weeks. There was a reason dungeons liked deaths, and it was not just the dungeons that knew it.

  Someone that had committed a crime on the outside was brought down to the second floor and executed. They were clearly well aware on what helped a dungeon grow, unless they just wanted his dungeon to deal with the body. It was only a deadbeat worthless guy, but he still received 832 essence. That was nearly a day's worth of what he was currently bringing in.

  The good times continued for another week before it happened. Peter did not notice them until they actually entered the boss room setting off his newest proximity trigger. It was a legit adventurer party. A middle aged man in full plate led the party, which consisted of three others. An male elven swordsman, a large barrel chested man with both a shield and a warhammer, and a female archer. It was his first time seeing someone of another race, but it was not something that he could worry about right now.

  The fight began a second later. The eleven swordsman took off, running forward, and chopping through two weak E tiers before encountering the porcupine. He nimbly dodged a swipe from the porcupine’s tail and dispatched the room boss in one stab. He then proceeded to clean up the other E tier support. The guy had done everything by himself, and now Peter could not do anything to stop them from destroying his core. Sure he had a spare, but he should not have to lose it here. He zoomed in as the boss door open.

  “It’s the core,” the elf said, sheathing his sword that had self-cleaned over the span of 10 seconds. “That was entirely too easy.”

  “Four floors this soon is already beyond expectations for a dungeon. According to reports, it is not even half a year old. It should not have this many floors of this size,” the female archer spoke up in his defense.

  “Never trust reports, the dungeon could have been here for quite some time before its initial discovery,” the leader admonished. “Still it is clear that it is expanding rapidly. I wish we could wait 20 years to ensure it doesn’t burn out first, but this place has already become a madhouse. I will have to recommend that we create a division here sooner rather than later. It's the first dungeon that has come to Dawn in nearly a hundred years. The more we can do to support its growth the better.”

  Peter was ecstatic. Sounded like some law and order was coming to the region. Then whatever entity this party answered to would establish things that would both help him grow and develop the region for the future. Then there was the last comment.

  “What if what happened at Grayford happens again?” the bulking shield warrior asked.

  “Then this place will become a ghost town just like Grayford. This region can’t possibly support what's coming without the backing of a dungeon,” the leader said matter of factly.

  “That did not end so well for thousands, tens of thousand. Makes me wonder if it would be better to cut things off before we ever reach that point,” the archer said, raising her bow threateningly.

  Damn it lady, to think he had secretly been hoping the female archer was among those that became stationed here. Now he had to hope against that.

  “Dungeons rise and fall, it's the way of life.,” the elf said philosophically. “However, unlike most other things, a dungeon that progresses quickly will be more likely to last,” he advised.

  “Teran,” the leader physically pushed the women's bow back down. Dawn was just a town before the appearance of a dungeon, back when we were still a part of the warsaw empire. The dungeon might have disappeared, but we are still here. This dungeon might be the key to our empire's revival, short lived or not,” the leader said.

  “A fresh breath of air, might set a boat right, or it might push it into the storm,” the elven swordsman said, nodding. Were all elves like this guy or was he just a real peculiar fellow, Peter wondered.

  “The elves have just as much to gain from this venture as we do,” the leader said.

  The elf nodded. “It is the reason I was included with your team.

  “Good, then as long as the dungeon doesn’t disappear overnight we should all be just a little bit better off,” the leader said as they departed.