"Eerwww"

  I came back to awareness and the hangover feeling. I had made it to level six, which made me happy. The death of three teams in a single day had pushed me across the threshold. You must love overeager/greedy adventures and the stupid things they did to get killed. I decided to open an alert flashing in the corner of my vision first.

  "Now, this is something I can get behind."

  This was a huge thing, giving me a bonus that would help me develop faster. After the reduction from the Core Refinement, I had plenty of CP to use. The second part was more important, meaning I could work on floor six without interruption during the day. I opened my status sheet to see how much I had to play with.

  "Right, that's a lot of CP. What can I do with it?"

  The Dungeon was secure and everything was in order. It was a day outside and I opened the Dungeon. It would take time before the adventurers would reappear, and I used this time to start digging out the stairwell room location below the present one. I would shift my Core room down when the floor was finished. If I had done it before, it may have raised suspicions.

  The room was made and nothing was discovered or found.

  "So far, so good. Right to the east we go."

  The stone gave way as I started to cut out the first room. This floor would not have rooms but caverns so that I could be more haphazard with their layouts. The cavern was slow going, but it was taking shape. Above, an individual had entered the Dungeon and descended the stairs.

  "They will be here to check to see if the new floor was open."

  I continued with my work. As I suspected, they reached the bottom, looked around and then returned to the surface. By the time they left, the first cavern was finished. I was pushing the limits of height and depth when this cavern was finished. I filled the bottom with earth, levelling it with the floor of the stairwell room. This was room 6B, as the stairwell was 6A.

  "Now, the plants."

  I smiled in my mind as I chose them. The first adventurers were now entering the Dungeon. I ignored them as I continued my work.

  "They will not expect these."

  I did some planting and added a little water to help things along. Now, to the next room, I turned south. Expanding my aura, I claimed the stone and removed it to form the cavern. Another took form, and I filled it with earth as the first, listing it as 6C. Checking my CP count, I knew I could go a bit further.

  I went west with my aura. As I expanded, I found something that triggered an alert. I stopped and opened it.

  "Well, that might be a problem."

  I reached out again and claimed the vein on the southern end of the cavern I was planning. As I expanded, I got more worried as it just kept going. It exhausted my remaining CP, but I brought it under my control. I opened another alert.

  "It's how big!"

  The numbers before me were a bit scary. This threw my plans into considerable disarray.

  "Well, I cannot go on for now. I need to think about this."

  I settled in to think about this problem while the adventurers continued to come and go. The miners appeared, indicating that the day was coming to an end and then they went to the two resource nodes. The fifth floor took longer to reach, but they made it with their escorts, claiming the rewards for the kills. The copper was quickly extracted and they packed up and left.

  The night rolled in and still, I thought, turning the possible scenarios over in my mind. This would be the time I was working, but I was still waiting for my CP to recover. The caverns were large and took time to create. The silver vein could become a resource node, but it would cost me dearly if I chose to do this.

  "I could just absorb it and be done with it."

  Near dawn, I returned to work finishing the cavern I counted as 6D. I had decided to leave the vein's fate until the floor layout was completed. The earth and plants were added to the space and I turned my attention northward. Any cavern was formed here with the earth and plants added; I labelled it 6E. I continued north once more but had the cavern turn east; this would be the guardian room 6F. I connected it to the stairwell room. I went back and put all the earth and added the plants.

  I felt good about the floor. It was smaller than the one above, but only slightly. I had thought about going more extensively, but I was using this floor as an experiment to create full environments. The other floors had aspects of environments, but they would be tailored to the minions here.

  "Talking about minions, better get the first one made."

  I opened the creation screen and got to work. Selecting the snake I had been working on, I increased its CP cost from six to eight and went about making it. The motes of light began spinning and the pressure came to my mind. I concentrated on keeping the image in my mind. The small whirlwind of dust and earth joined the motes. The snake began taking form and, with a pop, came into existence.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  I said nothing and looked over at the snake. It was similar in size to the Rock Worms above. Its scales shimmered and seemed to blend in with the surrounding earth. What drew my attention was a diamond-shaped marking on its head, and then I knew.

  "Diamond Head Snake."

  With this done, I went into the details of my newest creation. After much experimentation, I had given it crystal-like fangs, which I had learned from the minions above.

  "Let us see what you can do."

  "Well, not bad, not bad at all."

  It was not as tough as the Rock Worms but had no restrictions and some decent perks. Its ability to ambush was far better and combining it with its strike skill could do some severe damage.

  "It's a fair trade-off."

  I looked around 6B, the room where I had created the snake. The first green shoots of the plants were appearing. Now, I had a question to answer, as I ignored the loot allocation alert. How many were in this room?

  "Shall I ease them in? Or throw them in the deep end?"

  By now, they should know the score if they had reached this floor. Suppose they have jumped some, well, more fool them.

  "Time to take the gloves off."

  I checked my CP and created three more snakes. They are assigned to the room and open the loot alert.

  I read over the list and thought about it. I wonder if this is a bit too thrifty? The system rates the minion and assigns what it thinks is a fair reward but allows me to change it. Over the last few years, I have understood that the additional benefits brought financial gain to most of the adventurers. Plants, minion parts and resource nodes were where the money was.

  Is that the wrong approach?

  I thought about it a bit longer, but I felt that, in the end, I was on the right course, as the adventurers were generally happy to venture through my floors.

  "No."

  Dawn had arrived, and the bottom of the stairwell was rechecked to see if entry to the sixth was possible. I looked around the cavern and again at my plant list. My CP total dropped by 32, which was assigned to the snake's respawn cost.

  "Should I keep the silver vein?"

  I still had no idea what to do with it. With my low CP count, I would have to wait for it to regenerate. But my rate had increased to 6.9 per hour, so there was that.

  The day passed as most others had, and I waited while watching the adventurers. The first to third floors saw all the action, while the bottom two floors were ignored for the time being.

  In the end, the miners cleared out and I had enough CP regenerated. I could have started earlier, but I wanted to have a good number to work with. Before I did anything, I was going to deal with the silver vein.

  "Yes."

  Twenty-five CP points were painful, but not as painful as I feared. Silver is a higher-grade metal, and I had created a large node, so the regeneration time was three times longer. This made sense, as producing too much of a valuable metal could crash the local economy. I'm back to work in room 6C. The plants are growing nicely and will be fully grown in a day or two.

  "Looking good."

  I had already decided on no traps on this floor, mainly to save on CP to be used on minions. This room got another four snakes assigned with the same loot chance.

  There are three rooms left and 94 CP to be spent amongst them. It's time to be a bit more strategic with my resources. Maybe a minion upgrade?

  I had to think about this some more.

  ## ## ## ## ##

  Nimora did not show it but was getting frustrated. Her team had been ready to explore the new sixth floor for four days. Finally, five days after the opening of the Dungeon, the sixth floor became accessible. So today, on day six, they were allowed to go down.

  At first, this was confusing, but the Guild informed her that this was normal. The new floor was not opened until the Dungeon was ready, but access to the rest was allowed. At first, she thought that was odd but came to realise it was smart because as it worked on the new floor, it could still be gaining essence from the adventurers entering.

  Dawn was a here but was still young. Her team was gathered and she looked them over. Randle and Fredrick were the group's fighters. Both wore heavy plate armour with large shields. Randle carried an old Empire Legion rectangle shield, while Fredrick carried a more modern oval one. Both used heavy swords.

  Kyle was dressed in his usual light leather armour and tested his bowstring. Xerack was dressed in his new shadow-infused leather armour, making him more challenging to see in the predawn light. He carried a short sword and half a dozen daggers of different sizes and shapes. Finally, Mealina, their healer, was checking her supplies. Her white robe contrasted with the rest, with only Nimora wearing anything other than dark clothing.

  The new addition to the group, Ator, is checking his gear. He was just more than a carrier with a low-grade dimensional bag. He wore light leather armour and carried a spiked mace. Nimora could see the various tools and pouches on his belt. According to his records, the man had quite a few skills that would be beneficial in the run. She checked up more and found him to meet her needs, so she hired him.

  Guild Leader Wooland arrived, and Nimora met her. The woman was dressed as an assessor and would map the floor with them as the escort.

  "Guild leader Woodland." Nimora greeted her with a slight tilt of the head.

  "Team leader Airspeaker." She returned the greeting.

  "As soon as we have completed your request to your satisfaction, we plan to work our way up the Dungeon from the bottom." Nimora informed her. Woodland looked confused briefly but quickly understood the reasoning.

  "I understand. That is an interesting approach." Woodland looked over the Dungeon's surface building. "Tell me what you have learned about this Dungeon Team Leader Airspeaker?"

  "Please call me Nimora during the exploration; it will be easier."

  "Of course. Please call me Elian."

  "As you wish, Elian. As to your question, I have been hearing some very unusual things. It seems this Dungeon has a few quirks. For a shadow-based Dungeon." Nimora said. She had heard and overheard several things that were basically fabricated to her.

  "Well, we will see. I will be interested to hear your thoughts when you are finished." The Guild Leader gave her a strange smile that put Nimora on edge.

  "I will be glad to share any insights, Elian." She hides her thoughts about what a lower-grade Guild leader thought. Reaching Bronze meant she and her team should quickly sweep through this small Dungeon. Six floors and graded Copper, what a pile of cow dung.

  The sound of the doors unlocking drew everyone's attention.

  Turning back to the team, she spoke.

  "Time to go. Standard entry formation. Trust nothing. Ator and Elian, please remain back until we clear the room or area." She stamped her authority on the mission. Her team nodded their understanding. "Begin."

  Xerack took the lead and opened the doors. They had found out that there was nothing but a poisoned bottle of wine and an odd sharoon on the surface. She debated killing it, but in the end, it would not prove anything worthwhile. Xerack motioned that it was in the rafters, but she shook her head and he carried on. The rest followed.

  The stairwell was at the base of the tower, and blue, glowing moss could be seen along the walls going down. The stairwell also had no traps or defenders, so according to everything they had learned, Xerack continued forward and down the stairs.