NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7 - Expansion Part 3
Dungeon Day 10
Following Kinetics creation, Dan was going to 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 would continue creating his monsters.
The first order of business was going to be making his ground troops—specifically, those who would be the ground warriors in the coming 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 really 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. 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 think of keeping the same monsters for invasion plans and upgrade 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 on in his dungeon life and that things could definitely 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 no 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 were going to 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 🔷
🔷 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 cause an enemy to stumble by making the ground shift slightly under an enemy. 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. Those two, Dan gave 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 just 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.