The Tower in the Shadows

Several more teams showed up and at the end of the day, so did the miners. They all acted normally, but none went to the third as they were all Tin groups. I was still confused by the first team's actions.

"Why take the 1st floor Guardian's corpse?"

It had respawned without issue. But why?

The last had just left and I had locked the doors. Larry was back in his favourite spot, the rafters. A Tin group had spotted him and tried to hunt him, but he used the flaps I had created to elude them. From their interactions, I learned that the local Adventures were aware of him but were unsure what to make of his existence.

"Research? Alchemy of some kind? Trophy?"

Listing reasons for taking the corpse helped with the itch of not knowing. Larry, as most times, kept his thoughts to himself.

"Well, you're no help."

I could talk to Puck, but he was worse in his blatant ignoring me.

"CP is back up. I will risk it to finish the floor tonight and not manipulate my aura."

I realised that using my skill would add three to four more days to the floor creation.

"Not willing to do that. I want it finished and open to kill the unwary."

I went to the stairs on the third floor and linked them to the fourth. This was a message to myself to finish the bloody floor tonight!

"I can move myself down later."

I was a bit impatient with this floor and the time it was taking to finish. True, there had been a few unexpected events and developments, but still, I wanted it finished. I returned to the last room I made and placed the spiders in. The spiders had been busy and the area was covered in webbing. Looking around, I could see the ambush areas the spiders had decided on and the scattered routes between the alcoves and nooks around the room.

"Hey, this is working better than I planned. The lighting level is also good even with the webs."

The webs were defusing the light produced by the moss, but not to the point that I was unhappy. I looked at the first room and the spiders did the same. I noted there was a lot more moss around the stream, but as a water source, that was to be expected.

"Octagon room, here I come."

I needed to think about numbers. I was leaning towards two again. The rafters in this room were shaped in a U amongst the four pillars I had created. These pillars were connected to the walls by three more rafters.

"Going to be two."

After agreeing to the respawns and loot messages, I made the spiders and looked south again. The next corridor was quickly carved from the rock. It did not go far before I turned west. Travelling a bit further, I started where I planned the next room. Before I made the room, I claimed the space I would use.

"This room will be the same size as the third-floor second room. But with a twist."

I had spent the last few days thinking about this room and what I was planning with it. I started by carving out a rectangular space with ten pillars, five set on each side. This gave the room a grand hall or temple vibe.

"Looking good."

Next, I carved sections out of the walls to the north and south. This gave the room the appearance similar to the teeth of an old-style key. Once this was finished, the alcoves and nooks were added, but far more of them. The rafter beams came last. They were shaped like an S through the pillars, connecting five more to different outer wall parts.

The moss was then added to the room. I looked at my CP count and knew I would finish the floor today but not add the guardian.

"I am happy with that."

It will take about twelve hours for the moss to grow fully in. Now spiders. This room was going big! As in eight of the things will be here. This was nearly half of my remaining CP. I would need to wait a bit to regenerate it, but this was happening. I had to wait two hours, but my CP regeneration was now 4.3 per hour, which was far shorter than before.

"Here we go."

The eight spiders took time to create, but they were created. I was mentally exhausted at the end but was happy I had eight new minions running around. I confirmed the respawn costs but thought about the loot rewards offered.

Loot Assignment.

The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the eight Shadow Spiders.

Cythian Copper coins x50 (Chance – 50%)

Cythian Silver coins x1 (Chance – 40%)

Cythian Silver coins x 2 (Chance – 10%)

The odds and types of rewards may be set manually, but this will increase the room respawn's overall support cost.

Do you wish to alter the rewards. Yes or No?

"No."

I wanted to alter the rewards or even try something different, but I was hesitant because of my limited resources at the moment.

"Finish the floor first, then experiment later with what I have left."

I knew this meant the fifth floor would be more experimental, but I could try mixing things up with the floor guardian when I create it. This was to be left for the future. With the spiders now placed, I headed west again with a new corridor.

"Let's see forty-nine CP left to use. Damn it, that's not a lot."

My plan was for another large room with a good quantity of spiders, but that was impossible. I had to go for a smaller room, which would be linked to the second cave where the guardian would be located. I ensured the one-way door was also in place in the corridor, connecting the two caves together. This would save me time later.

This time, I made an odd-shaped room with cut-out areas that did not match and three pillars running down the centre in a western direction. The second cave was just north and I created the passage linking them. I placed an L-shaped run of rafters through the room and then I added the alcoves and moss.

"Spiders. Spiders. Spiders. How many?"

I was leaning towards three. Two seemed too few after the last room, while four too many. So, what will room 4E have?

I procrastinate for a while over this.

Suddenly, I felt strange. I could sense something in my Dungeon, so I turned my attention towards it. It was weird…… yet familiar.

"It's mana formation! Mana Sight. Activate."

What I found was new. The essence condensed into a new type of mana at the top northern end of the second cave. Unlike the other three, this was a rich brown in colour.

"I have seen this before. The ogre had some of it within his body."

The process finished and a glob of mana was sitting on the rocky ground in my Dungeon. I could see it was decaying and reached out for it. The alert filled my vision when it opened.

Alert!

Earth Mana discovered!

Mana Absorption is possible!

Do you wish to absorb Earth Mana and have it become your….

++ ERROR! ++

++ ERROR! ++

Absorption is impossible!

++ ERROR! ++

++ ERROR! ++

Earth Mana is absorbed and stored within Mana stone.

"Hell, yes! New mana type to play with!"

This was an unexpected and welcome surprise to my Dungeon. What could I do with this new mana type? New options filled my mind.

"Focus, finish the floor!"

I cannot allow myself to get distracted. The visions of possibilities got me thinking, bringing me to something I had been mulling over for a while.

"Can I create an improved spider?"

I had considered that question. I have created improved versions of creatures and pushed that further with my Guardians. But what if I can do it again with an existing design but on a smaller scale?

Would I risk it?

"Hell, yes, I will! It's time to be bold!"

I was feeling reckless. Sure, I was still feeling like shit from the corruption I had absorbed, but the gaining of new mana type had lifted my mood. Was it dangerous? Yes. But I was willing to risk it.

"But how will I do it? New Mana type added. No, I don't know enough About it. What then?"

I mused over this for about an hour. In that time, I looked at my status screen and noted I had eight mana points with a regeneration of 0.5 an hour.

"Not bad. Well, I have to decide on this…….. Two more CP and one Shadow, that's what I will do."

If the respawn costs were too high, I had to factor in my low CP level and the danger of running out of Shadow Mana. After I had calculated the problem, the additional resources would not have been too much.

"Right, here we go."

Opening the design, I set about customising the design that I created. Approving the additional resources, I made the new spider—the vortex of wind, dust and motes of light formed in the room. I concentrated on controlling it to stop it from spinning out of control and collapsing.

The strain was far worse than I had encountered before, but I remained resolute in my goal. The spider outline was forming, and I could see the beginnings of details.

With a sudden pop, the pressure vanished from my mind as my newest creation appeared.

"Open alert."

Congratulations!

You have created a new, improved minion. A Greater Shadow Spider

Design gained - Greater Shadow Spider

"Bloody hell, that was hard! Close alert."

Before me was the fruit of my labours. The Greater Shadow Spider.

"Damn, you are scary!"

I was no fan of spiders but was not afraid of them. My other creations were not pretty and freaked me out a little on some level, but these were far worse. It was the same size as the first but more…… angular?

The points on its body, especially its legs, are more pronounced and sharper. The spider's colouration was deeper and the back part where the web fluid was created was slightly larger, along with its mouth.

"Right, let's get into the details. Status screen. Greater Shadow Spider."

Name

Greater Shadow Spider

Level/Class

1 - Dungeon Minion

Race

Shadow Touched Spider

Essence

0%

Health

90/90

Mana

30/30

Stamina

90/90

Corruption

0%

STR

9

9 Damage base

DEX

10

AGL

11

END

9

VIT

9

PER

10

INT

3

WIL

3

LUCK

2

Equipment:

Bite: 3 DAM + STR

Perks/Restrictions:

Creates Webs: +35% Chance of being caught and immobilised.

Shadow Touched: +15% to surprise attacks chance to hit and -15% to ranged attacks when in Shadow.

Produces Shadow infused Spider Silk(common)

Vulnerable to Light: +5 Damage for Light sources. May cause Fear in a minion.

"Well, that's interesting. It is not a major improvement over the base Shadow Spider but a more refined one. Honestly, I would call it improved over greater, but that's me."

The stats showed me that the new spider was a little stronger and tougher with more agility. The perks have also shown some improvement. These spiders' webs were slightly better at catching "prey", aka Adventures and their Shadow Touched ability was on par with the Floor Guardian upstairs.

"Not as fearsome as I wanted, but I can work with them. Open alerts."

Loot Assignment.

The following rewards will be generated randomly after killing the two Greater Shadow Spiders.

Cythian Copper coins x30 (Chance – 50%)

Cythian Copper coins x40 (Chance – 40%)

Cythian Copper coins x 80 (Chance – 10%)

The odds and types of rewards may be set manually, but this will increase the room respawn's overall support cost.

Do you wish to alter the rewards. Yes or No?

"No."

I approved the respawn costs. After doing a rough calculation, I found that a complete Dungeon wipe would drain my Shadow Mana heavily. The spiders had not crossed the ten CP mark, so they did not warrant individual loot assignments. Looking at the numbers, I had a thought.

"I wonder what the conversion rate between coins is? Most of the stories were one hundred coins between metal grades. Is it the same here?"

Another question to add to the collection. Ignorance truly is not bliss in this regard.

"Thirty-three CP left for the Floor Guardian. Shit!"

Dawn was approaching and I needed to finish. I planted the moss in the cave and waited for my CP to tick back up. I got an alert that it was now sitting at 4.5 an hour.

This was going to be close!

Two hours later, dawn was nearly here and the Adventures would be arriving soon.

"Right, got to be fast and dirty here with this Floor Guardian."

I was using the Greater Shadow Spider design as the base for this one. Eight CP and five Shadow for the base minion. What should we add?

"Shit! I don't have time for this. I will….. er, the third is fifteen CP and ten Shadow, so more then?"

I was running out of time and thoughts about what to do were causing my mind to spin. I knew dawn was less than fifteen minutes away.

"Damn it all!"

What the hell! As I have said in the past, go big or go home!

I opened the Greater Shadow Spider design and started the creation process, but I added twelve more CPs and two Shadow.

I felt the forces tugging and pulling in its creation. I stayed focused on keeping the process; it was more intensive than any other, even the third-floor guardian. The others were easy in comparison and I could just cruise through most of them. This time, I was being forced to pay attention far more. The whirlwind of dust and motes was thick and spun fast. The corruption sought to fog my mind, but I focused on my newest minion.

I could see the spider taking shape and it was big! It was done with a sudden loud bang and flash of intense grey light.

Congratulations!

You have created an improved minion.

Shadow Touched Spider (Queen) created!

……………

This minion can be assigned to this room as the floor guardian.

Do you wish this to happen: Yes or No?

"Fuck me, what was that!...... Yes!"

I was disoriented from the flash/bang effect as I had no idea it would happen. Focusing, I looked at what I had brought into this world.

The spider was a giant. I mean, it is the biggest thing I have created so far and possibly the scariest. It was four times the size of the other spiders and bigger/outmassing the third-floor guardian by a good thirty to forty percent.

It was darker still in colouration and even more angular, to the point of being almost alien in appearance. It was looking around the cave, which was its new home. It had another set of eyes and I saw the intelligence in them. For the first time, I had to wonder…

"Have I gone too far?"

The Fourth Floor Guardian stopped in its inspection of the cave and turned. It was facing my core now on the third floor.

"No creator, I do not believe you have."

"You can talk?"

"Indeed, you have granted me that level of intelligence creator."

I realised that the Spider Queen was not communicating with me by speaking but by some form of telepathy. It was similar to how I communicated with Larry and the others. With them, I had to project images of what I hoped they understood, but with the Queen, I was having an actual conversation.

I still had alerts to open and things to do, but I could actually talk to "someone" now!

Before I could begin, I sensed the door opening and the first Adventures arriving.

"Fucking typical!"