NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5 - Expansion Part 1
Dungeon Day 2 – 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 waited 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. Now, 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. This allowed Xinos to cut the stinger off.
Now, with the thing’s stinger, Hawk was flying back to the cave with the scorpion as 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 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.
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 while speaking 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 as they both waited 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 go 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 alright, 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 chipping in now and then.
Dungeon Day 3
Everyone was good to go the following day, but Dan told Ingot to chill for a bit 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 became safer, 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 into being 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, he has 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, well, 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, well 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 this escalated, and he had thousands of monsters in an even larger dungeon? He wasn’t sure just 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.