Chương 133

-0-0-0-0-0- The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea -0-0-0-0-0- With the Beastborn, Scaleborn, and Mer settling in well, I decided it was time to start work on that training area the Guild petitioned me for. Though more than half of the island was being used for farming by now, It was simple enough to pick the right spot. There was a small valley on the back side of the cliff where my dungeon's entrance was, the one topped by the lighthouse and freshwater spring.

While most of the island was relatively flat, apart from the volcano, it wasn't like there weren't hills. The human settlers had long decided to expand westward toward the flatter part of the island while writing off eastward expansion as more trouble than it was worth. All the better for my purposes. First, I cleared most of the excess foliage. If this was going to be a training area, I wouldn't make them push through it like it was the third, except for a small section where they'd have to do precisely that.

Next, I cleared paths. This section would have three main areas: the Forest, The Clearing, and the Cliffs. The Clearing was self-titled; it was an open clearing with one large tree in the dead center. I added bunnies and other barely-enhanced animals for 'babies' first run.' For example, the bunnies had horns, but they were just horns with no special magic. I did add one special kind of monster, though. Something I hadn't tried before, but now I had a better idea of how they'd work.

I decided to try my hand at slimes. The main problem is categorization. What is slime? Is it an enormous amoeba? A colony of bacteria or other cells? Instead of trying to build a new creature wholesale, I took something already halfway there: the humble Jellyfish. Semi-transparent and brainless, it was practically perfect. I quickly chose one floating around the eleventh floor and gave it a core. First, I stretched its membrane to encase it fully; it didn't need trailing tendrils.

Next, I filled the newly empty space in its sack-like body with a less dense, acidic version of the same. The slime's main point is that its only organ is the core; since it absorbs and dissolves its victims, it doesn't need a stomach or intestines. Of course, since it had no physical means of locomotion, it needed to use mana to move. There were two options: water magic, to 'throw' around its own body, or gravity magic to do the same. For now, I went with water magic.

Giving it gravity magic might be too much for this training zone. I could try that in a future variant. Some basic instincts later, along with a quick demonstration of how to move around, rolling through the grass on an ordinary island, eating and dissolving all the grass it rolled over. The grass it 'ate' visibly bubbled and sizzled in its acid and slowly disappeared. After about an hour, it'd reached the size of an average car tire.

The slime then moved into the shade of a tree and pressed itself against a hollow in the roots. I'd thought long and hard about how the slime would reproduce. First, I thought it could split in two, each having half the mass of the original. That wasn't feasible since I couldn't figure out how to divide its crystalline core in two without shattering the thing.

But here's where my choice of base animal came in clutch: Jellyfish have a larval form called a polyps, which anchors itself on the ground and grows, then releases dozens of juvenile Jellyfish. It was simple to make Slimes asexual since I wasn't planning on any genetic variation anyway. So, I had the slime produce its own egg and sperm, combine them, and deposit the resulting egg in the dirt. It then moved away, returning to its grazing. I focused on the egg and fed it mana to accelerate its growth.

The larval form grew into a dark blue spherical coral-like structure covered in small depressions. Each depression had a small light-blue orb at its center, which slowly grew larger. After another hour of accelerated growth, which would normally take days to complete, a dozen juvenile Slimes detached and ate their egg. The fist-sized slimes dispersed after that, exploring the island. Satisfied, I asked some Children to collect and transport the juveniles to the surface.

A slime would only reproduce once independently, so I was okay with leaving the adult one down on the Eleventh to experiment with later. While they were doing that, I focused on the next area: the Forest. The Forest was precisely that: an area entirely covered by trees, with plenty of bushes for monsters to hide in and thinned enough to navigate but not enough for easy traversal.

As for monsters, I spread some giant spiders (lone spiders, not a colony; I'm not a savage), a giant wasp nest (of Wasps about the size of the average fist), as well as plenty of snakes (None with venom, only constrictors.) This would be the transition from easy monster-killing to a point where you need to watch your surroundings, defend yourself from ambush, and work on team coordination.

The Cliffs took advantage of the natural cliff formation, hugging the rocks and leading out around the back side of the promontory my dungeon entrance sat within. The monsters found here would mainly be smaller versions of my Crabs, only the size of a basketball at the smallest and a tire at the largest.

The Seagulls who nested in the cliffs above would also contribute, giving the trainees a flying enemy to fight, and the final boss of the training area would be a giant seagull I decided to name Scuttle, Son of Gull. He was one of Gull's many offspring and at a strength level that I judged perfect for a final test. There were still some adjustments to make, but with all the areas done, it was time to invite the Guild to perform their test run.

I was confident they'd ask the summoned heroes to do the first run as the least powerful members of the Guild on the island, with Haythem and Bertram acting as their minders in case they got in over their heads. I couldn't wait. -0-0-0-0-0- Surface Training Area, Atlantis, Kalenic Sea -0-0-0-0-0-"This looks... interesting," Tamesou Akio commented, eyeing the so-called 'training area's' entrance.

"So, the dungeon... accepted your idea and made somewhere people weaker than Gold rank can train in? Why? As a dungeon, Isn't that a little counter-intuitive of it? To train people who'll dive the dungeon later?"

"The Guildmistress has her ideas as to why The Voice accepted our proposal," Haythem replied, his eyes likewise narrowed. Akio didn't blame him. It wasn't often you saw two trees intertwine themselves into an archway. Especially because those two trees certainly hadn't been entwined the day before." Personally, I think the dungeon wants more Guilders on the island, specifically Golds, who're inclined to view it favorably. The dungeon has proven itself remarkably benevolent, though there are moments...

The Voice said those refugees went into the dungeon of their own accord, but they disappeared overnight, so we can't exactly confirm that." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Akio actually did believe they went in on their own accord.

The people they'd spoken to at Blackwater Bay and here on Atlantis seemed to believe in 'The Creator' as a god and a dungeon, which seemed like a dichotomy, but people could think whatever they wanted.

"Sad we couldn't bring Elize," Sophie commented, unsheathing her twin shortswords. She'd upgraded after it was made fully clear her daggers just didn't measure up.

"But I suppose this is the first time it's being explored. What did the Voice say about it?" She directed her question to Bruce, who'd been reading the piece of parchment in his hands with a furrowed brow.

"Three 'areas' to explore of increasing difficulty," he summarized."

'The Clearing,' for noobs, 'The Forest' once they've got some idea of what they're doing, and 'The Cliffs' for a final challenge. Soooo we do each in order?" Everyone nodded, and together, they passed through the archway. As they did, Akio felt a chill run down his back. This...

"This feels like being in the dungeon, but not?" Apart from some nods, no one else commented, and they followed the path further. A minute later, they reached a crossroads. Three paths split off, each with its own living wooden archways and signs. The sign for the leftmost path had a single tree, the middle had multiple trees, and the right had what looked like a stylized cliff. Akio motioned to the left path, and they moved down it.

After another minute, Akio had to squint as they left the shaded forest and emerged into a sloped clearing. At the center was a single tree larger than all the ones they'd already passed. From their elevated position at the top of the hill, Akio could spot a dozen places where the long grass shifted and moved unnaturally against the prevailing winds. The path narrowed and looped around the tree, returning to their position.

"Interesting..." Akio said, shifting his shield.

"Shall we?" They followed the path and reached the first bit of rustling grass within a few minutes. Though it was less than ten yards from the path, and they hadn't been quiet, whatever was in there hadn't moved toward them.

"Maybe it's pokémon rules?" Sophie ventured unsurely.

"We're safe on the path and will only be attacked if we step into the grass?" Akio shrugged and took a steadying breath. He knew it was supposedly a safe area for people just learning how to fight, but the nagging voice in his head said it could all be a trick or a trap. He raised his shield and sword, then stepped in the grass. Nothing happened. Each step brought him closer to the rustling grass, and he quickly saw just what it was. It was... a Sime. It was a real, genuine, sky-blue Slime.

It had a spherical core floating around inside it as it slowly rolled through the grass. It wasn't larger than a basketball, but whatever he'd expected, it wasn't this. This one seemed like an actual Slime instead of the ooze-like slime they'd encountered before.

"It's a Slime!" He called out, excited.

"Come look at this!" The party surrounded the little guy, Bruce, and Sophie, sharing his excitement, while Bertram and Haythem looked intrigued but unalarmed. They probably thought it was like the one from the other dungeon but wondered how it got here.

"It's a Slime, so what?" Bertram asked, glancing at the teens.

"I can just bash it with my mace."

"It's not like the slimes from that 'slime dungeon' near the Holy City," Sophie explained carefully.

"After finding out about those, we didn't think there were any like the ones we remembered here. They should be easy enough to kill. Ones this small, at least. Akio?" Akio took his cue and slashed down with his sword, slicing the blue blob in two. It sagged, its inside spilling out with a honey-like consistency. The core was easy enough to grab from the sticky liquid. The liquid hissed audibly on his glove, and he quickly wiped it on the grass. Right. Acidic.

"And how are these dangerous?" Haythem asked, sounding unamused.

"At this size, it seems easy, right?" Bruce commented, still watching the guts spill out.

"Those other slimes were pretty easy to kill, too. But imagine one ten times this size that slowly rolls over everything in its way and absorbs it. Once inside, you slowly dissolve in its acid until the only things left are bones. Its membrane is too thick to cut like this one, and crushing weapons do nothing. Magic might affect them weirdly. They're not dangerous for the aware, but they like to cling to the ceilings of caves and drop on you, deadly to the unexpecting."

Bertram and Haythem looked at the dead slime with a little more respect in their eyes.

"Different to the ones we know, certainly. But at this size, they're not dangerous?" Haythem continued. All three teens shook their heads.

"That's Good enough for me. Alright, let's continue. There are meant to be a few monsters in each area, and we must find them all. -0-0-0-0-0- The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea -0-0-0-0-0- I'm disappointed some other dungeon beat me to Slimes, but the Heroes reacted appropriately to my abomination of nature. Goooood, goood. They're right to be worried, of course. I'd have a dozen variations whipped up and shipped around the dungeon within a week.

The rest of their trip through the training area went as expected, and though they had some trouble with Scuttle, Son of Gull, they still killed him reasonably easily. All as expected. This area was far too weak for them, after all. It would only be after they finished that its intended users would arrive. Guildmistress Losat quickly released the news after the training area proved appropriate; Silvers were again allowed on the island but must complete a training course before they could delve into the dungeon.

They were initially banned due to the influx of Gold and Platinum guilders, which would have caused an overpopulation problem and high casualty rates. Now, with the port more developed than ever, more berths, inns, taverns, farms, and crop yields... Atlantis was exporting a decent amount of food and other finished goods made from stuff they'd harvested from the dungeon. I know for a fact someone commissioned a full set of armor made of crab shells. No one on the island bought it, so it was shipped to the mainland.

I'm sure someone will want it. But either way, things settled into a comfortable routine over the next two weeks. The Teen Heroes reached the third before Haythem and Bertram rejoined Isid and Paetor's parties for deep delves. The healer-princess, who might not be a princess but could be, started in the training area with a party of barely adults fresh to the island. A half-dozen such parties had reached the island and explored the training area (I needed a better name for that place).

None had finished it yet, but it was inevitable someone would. I'd continued to refine and expand Olympus, adding a few odd islands on the ocean and sky. I was reaching the limit of what I could do without adding monsters, though I still didn't know what to add. I wanted to keep the haunting silence of a dead city, but wasn't sure what kind of monster would add to the vibe. I couldn't even contemplate a boss until I'd chosen the monsters. So, I was left with a choice.

Go even higher into the sky and add a third part to the Eleventh, or finally make a start on the Twelfth Floor. It was just a hollowed-out cavern from all the rock I'd been excavating to use on the Eleventh, but with expansion enchantments... I could go big. I could go really big. If the Eleventh was about the size of Poland... It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to make something the size of Europe as a whole, right?

Something that'd take weeks to months to cross, with multiple biomes to cross: mountains, deserts, plains, forests, tundra... combining every survival trick the guilders had learned so far into the ultimate test. There would be little to no water except for an inland sea/lake not much larger than the Eleventh. Yes. It's all coming together... But before I started with all that tough, the reunited CHI raid group had again reached the Ninth.

With all their party members awake and ready to roll, it was time to see how they fared in the desert. -0-0-0-0-0-