NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8 - Expansion Part 4
Dungeon Day 14
Coming up next were the air support units of eagles and hawks. The two would be copies of Eagle and Hawk, at least for the most part they were. Dan wasn’t planning on having a lot of air superiority, at least not right away, as he planned to seal up the cave from the outside world and slowly expand into the new zone, which meant that any attack coming at him would be through the ground which was where he would have the most forces. The air support was mainly there to scout ahead and support his troops. However, if it turned out that the shattered space was filled with flying creatures, he would set up a base of operations at the cave while he built up a stronger air force.
Moving to actually make the monsters, he planned to make five eagles and ten hawks. The air force was mostly for scouting, at least for now, so having more speedy hawks was important. The hawks were his drones, while the eagles would act as jets, and Hawk would be the bomber of sorts. In total, all the birds would cost him 315 mana. Which, at that point didn’t really phase Dan as he had designated part of the cave as a prison area where he could hold captives for future death. It was a bit fucked up, but it was what he had to do.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Eagle and Hawk.
Type: Beast.
Size: Small and Tiny.
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: 4.
Wind Affinity. Night Vision. Body Enhancement - Speed. Wind Control.
Innate Abilities: 4*.
Keen Vision. Flight. Speed*. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 11 Mana (21 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 21 Mana.
🔷
The eagles were small, and the hawks were tiny. For obvious reasons, the Hawks were the only ones with the speed ability. The birds also looked like their boss counterparts, with the eagles having dark feathers with light green tinges and the hawks having grey feathers with the same.
With the new additions, the cave was getting rather crowded, so Dan had to kick a bunch of the minions out to explore the nearby forest. He also encouraged the bosses to start working with their minions so they could start getting them to coordinate properly and instill some order in the ranks.
Moving on from the birds Dan began making the last part of his army. However, instead of making them elk like their bosses, he would make the minions stags and doe’s. Considering he only needed five of each, the total mana cost was only 305, which wasn’t bad.
The reason he needed five of each was rather simple. Dan was planning to start with five-strike teams. Each team would have a bear, gorilla, hawk, two baboons, a healing doe, and a stag to guard said doe. Additionally, they would have a jaguar. At least that was the base setup; however, they might get an eagle, cheetah, or panther, depending on the situation.
Finally, the bosses were going to be mostly stuck in the base except for Kinetic and the two birds, who would be leading the scouts. The rest would act as emergency support and help with base defense.
Actually, now that Dan was thinking about monster scouting, he should probably give Eagle the Share Sense ability so he could get a lay of the land himself. So, adding that to the to-do list, Dan got started.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Doe.
Type: Beast.
Size: Medium.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 50/50.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 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: 1.
Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 17 Mana (33 if Death is Outside of Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 33 Mana.
🔷
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Stag.
Type: Beast.
Size: Medium.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Intelligent.
Arcane Mana: 50/50.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 6.
Earth Affinity. Abjuration Affinity. Mana Storage. Night Vision. Earth Spike. Earth Wall.
Innate Abilities: 1.
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.
🔷
The doe and stags came out looking like their bosses. The females had golden dots, while the males had light blue dots and a darker brown coat. Unlike Fur, however, the male antlers did not have stones at their points and looked like regular antlers.
Moving on from the healing deer’s, Dan quickly upgraded Eagle the Hawk, giving her Share Sense, finally finishing most of his preparations to enter the shattered space.
Next, he created a bigger entrance to his core room and dug out a 15-foot-wide tunnel straight to the spot where reality met the shattered lands. Naturally, he placed monsters to guard the tunnel in case something else leaked before they entered.
Following the tunnel creation, Dan waited for his mana to fill back up to 300 in case he needed to do some emergency spending.
After filling up his mana, he spent some more days with his monsters. Dan wanted to make sure they all knew what was expected of them so that they could get a better idea of how to work together. And in the end, they didn’t need that much training. The monsters were basically the perfect soldiers, and other than the first few hours when they were adjusting to their new existence, they were born ready to do their jobs. It didn’t mean that they were perfect, but they knew the essentials, and even though they were bound to make mistakes, they were innately at a better level than a soldier starting fresh. Naturally, that put them far apart from normal creatures, but they weren’t normal creatures. They were dungeon monsters bound to Dan, which made Dan feel somewhat bad, especially knowing they didn’t care about their future of endless death due to very much being made that way.
Alas, this was their future and Dan’s. He had a planet to save and lands to conquer, and by the end, he knew he wouldn’t be himself anymore. He knew those shards had the rest of his existence, the parts that had destroyed entire worlds, and if that didn’t change him, then Dan wasn’t sure what could. Of course, he was going to resist the change, and maybe with the help of the World’s Crystals, some of his humanity would still be here by the end.
Dan decided to move on from such grim thoughts and review his plan.
The plan was to have Ingot lead the charge forward with three squads. Following Ingot were going to be the birds, who would instantly take to the skies and get a layout of the land. From there on, the remaining monsters would wait until they had secured the exit and entrance before moving out.
Finally, once Dan felt all his monsters were ready, he sealed off the cave's entrance from the outside world and prepared to start his first incursion.