Dungeon Emerges

"Next came the ordinary monsters."

Luo Ao looked at the mere 130 points of Primordial Power remaining on the panel. He had no intention of saving them. This was no time to hoard resources. If he failed to stop the adventurers three days from now, they would stab their way into his deepest depths and mold him into the shape of an adventurer.

This time, however, Luo Ao did not plan to use his talent to create monsters. The Magic Spring and Magic Iron Vein had both been nearly depleted and needed time to recover.

But that did not matter much to Luo Ao. The monsters he wanted to create now were merely the dungeon's built-in template monsters—the common low-level monsters found in other dungeons.

His only requirement for them was that they serve as cannon fodder to disrupt and confuse intruding adventurers, creating chances for the monsters truly meant to defend the dungeon to kill them.

"Slimes, Goblins, Wolf Beasts, and Gnomes. They really are classic dungeon monsters."

Luo Ao recalled the knowledge he had gained after becoming a dungeon. These things were innate to dungeons. Dungeons that had never developed self-awareness created monsters instinctively according to these knowledge templates.

The abilities and habits of these monsters had long since been thoroughly understood by adventurers. Even novice adventurers who had yet to become professionals would not fear such low-level monsters as long as they had a little courage.

These monsters, fit only to serve as cannon fodder, had one advantage for Luo Ao: they were cheap.

Just 0.1 points of Primordial Power could create ten of them without requiring any other resources. They were simply the ideal cannon fodder. After all, even the monsters Luo Ao created were fairly strong.

Yet against an endless stream of adventurers and three entire open dungeon floors, there were simply too few of them spread across too much ground.

"Monster Creation!"

As Primordial Power on the panel was continuously consumed, low-level monsters began appearing in an unending stream throughout the dungeon's three floors. The hard rock walls transformed into nests that birthed monsters, and green-skinned Goblins and Slimes crawled out one after another.

The moment they appeared, these monsters began wandering through the dungeon according to their instincts, or settling in areas suited to their survival.

"Awooo—!"

Suddenly, a miserable wolf howl drew Luo Ao's attention away from creating monsters. When he projected his mental power over, ripples spread across the surface of the great orb of light, and he saw the newly born Goblins surrounding several Wolf Beasts.

Then, regardless of whether the Wolf Beasts were male or female, the Goblins began forcibly mating and reproducing with them. A group of Goblins pinned five Wolf Beasts to the ground while a mutated Large Goblin pounced forward and began plowing away. In less than a minute, he had had his way with each of the five Wolf Beasts.

Afterward, the remaining Goblins crowded around as well, and the Wolf Beasts' bellies began swelling at a visible rate.

[Name: Goblin]

[Level: lv1]

[Skills: Forced Reproduction lv1, Rapid Growth lv1, Corrosive Stomach lv1]

[Description: A green-skinned monster like a cockroach. Every member of the species is male, yet they possess powerful reproductive abilities without reproductive barriers, allowing them to forcibly reproduce with any species. Their vast numbers of offspring and short growth period make them as difficult to eradicate as cockroaches. If you find one Goblin, that means there are even more somewhere you cannot see.]

After glancing at the Goblin's panel, Luo Ao could not be bothered with these cannon-fodder monsters any longer. Once he had used up all 130 remaining points of Primordial Power, a full thirteen thousand cannon-fodder monsters appeared across different areas of the dungeon's three floors.

Goblins wandered everywhere, casually stuffing mushrooms growing from the corners of walls into their mouths. Some Goblins that provoked Puchi wandered into dense spore fog and quickly died from the toxins, becoming nutrients for the spores' reproduction and growth. Numerous Slimes gathered around the Steel Slime.

Wolf Beasts roamed through different cave tunnels, while ugly Gnomes no taller than human children used simple materials to set traps in dark corners of the passageways.

Their figures filled every corner of the three floors.

The dungeon's three floors, once empty, now seemed full of life. Vast amounts of mycelium continued to grow and spread. Glowing mushrooms illuminated the pitch-black caves, while all sorts of mushrooms became food for the Goblins and Gnomes.

However, Goblins and Gnomes often picked poisonous mushrooms. After eating them, they fell into mental frenzy and became breeding grounds for spore growth.

Meanwhile, numerous Puchis continued spraying spores as they headed toward areas the mycelium had not yet reached, expanding the entire mycelial network. The spores sprayed by the countless newly born Puchis and various mushrooms formed a faint spore mist throughout the caves.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

"So there's half an hour left until the dungeon emerges?"

In the innermost room on the dungeon's third floor, Luo Ao looked at the countdown on the panel. Over the past three days, he had done everything currently within his ability—at least, that was how he saw it. Incidentally, the Primordial Power that had been completely depleted had recovered to 120 points.

Aside from the 30 points of Primordial Power automatically gained each day after the dungeon reached lv3 and began drawing in Void Power, the Fungus Lord, a monster born as a special resource, could provide Luo Ao with another 10 points of Primordial Power each day.

Luo Ao had not touched this Primordial Power for now. The dungeon already had enough low-level monsters to serve as cannon fodder, while he lacked sufficient materials to create special monsters.

So, Luo Ao planned to keep it in reserve for emergencies. If he could not stop the adventurers three days later, he could still urgently create cannon fodder to delay their progress through the dungeon.

And if he stopped them, he would need to accumulate Primordial Power to raise the dungeon's level.

After all, the more dungeon floors it had, the stronger and safer he would become.

While Luo Ao waited for the dungeon to emerge, on the southeastern border of the High Rock Kingdom...

The border town of Marguerite.

The earth let out a violent rumble. Everyone in the small town clearly felt the ground begin shaking fiercely. The townspeople fell into chaos because of the sudden earthquake, but the adventurers staying there and the nobles of this territory became excited instead.

Inside the castle at the center of town, Viscount Korien Os, the lord who had been taking a nap, suddenly sat up in bed. Before he could even finish dressing, he rushed straight to the castle's highest observation deck and looked toward the source of the tremors.

His heart pounded violently, and his body trembled slightly.

As far as the eye could see, at the edge of the town below, many of the shacks haphazardly built in the slums had collapsed in the earthquake, while countless civilians on the streets were thrown into chaos.

But he had no attention to spare for any of that. Both hands gripped the cold stone railing tightly as he stared at the place where the distant forest met the swamp. Two stone pillars dozens of meters tall rose from the ground, supporting an enormous stone gate.

With a creak.

The massive stone gate opened by itself, revealing a vast, deep, shadowy hollow.

"A dungeon! A brand-new dungeon that has just emerged!!!"