Otherworldly Dungeon

A few hours go by as I sense my minions spread out across the forest, collecting various items and a few small critters. As I watch this happening with my new dungeon sight, I start to make a small, hidden room with no entrance somewhere on the first floor to hide my core inside. The room is small, plain, and gray, with smooth walls and only around the size of your average garage.

The room doesn't need to be flashy or anything because I'm just using it as a temporary core room until I need to make another on my next floor.

Getting slightly bored after quickly making the plain core room, I start to make a large archway and door for the entrance of my dungeon. I enchant the large doors to open automatically when something sentient approaches. Then I open up the [Cave Widow]’s status windows and have a look.

[Status Window]

---

Name: [Cave Widow]

Type: Spider (Beast)

Rank: Common

Level: 3

HP: 120 / 120

MP: 40 / 40

[Abilities]

- Web Trap: Creates a nearly invisible web to snare enemies, reducing movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds.

- Venom Bite: Inflicts a venomous bite that inflicts paralyzes, and 10 poison damage over time for 5 seconds.

- Wall Climb: Can scale walls and ceilings, making it difficult to target in enclosed areas.

- Dark Vision: Can see perfectly in complete darkness, making it a deadly hunter in caves.

---

[Resistances]

- Poison Resistance (Low)

- Dark Magic Resistance (Low)

[Weaknesses]

- Fire Magic (High)

- Light-based Spells (Moderate)

“Wow, not bad for my first monster. At least, I think so. I don’t really have anything to compare it to.”

Returning to the work-in-progress entrance to my dungeon, I examine it from top to bottom, trying to figure out what it’s missing. “It’s obviously not mysterious enough.”

Thinking back to all the cool dungeon entrance designs from the video games I used to play, I come to a conclusion: I should add some writing or runes to the archway and door. However, I don’t know any runes or ancient scripts. Well, I have some time, so I could probably make something up while I wait for my minions to collect resources from outside.

By the time I finish creating my new writing system, I can feel the sun starting to rise. Seeing this, I mentally command my minions to return with their loot. As they start making their way back, I create a secret entrance to help them bring their haul into the dungeon without going through the main entrance. I design it as a large tunnel off to the side of the main entrance and conceal it with powerful illusion magic, making it inaccessible to outsiders, and appear as dense foliage to any observers.

After about an hour, I watch as the five [Cave Widows] return through the secret entrance, each dragging a large sack made from their own silk. As the sacks full of loot enter my dungeon, they deflate as I absorb all their contents, my vision filling with system notifications.

“Nice! I can finally start making my forest!”

I begin by randomly selecting plants from the list and spreading them across the first floor. Once the floor is seeded, I coat the floor with magic, accelerating the plants' growth. In just two hours, the entire floor is teeming with life. I enhance the layout by adding rolling hills, rocky outcrops, small caves, and several ponds and rivers, culminating in a massive lake in the northern section.

Next, I browse through my list of animal blueprints and start populating the floor with various forest creatures. I watch as newly created rabbits, birds, foxes, and countless insects and bugs spread across the floor, digging burrows and claiming territories. My [Cave Widows] even managed to secure a young wolf's blueprint! I place a few wolf packs throughout the floor and observe the ecosystem taking shape.

Looking at the variety of common forest animals, I start to think to myself.

“I should modify a few animals into monsters, so that when people delve into my dungeon, they face an actual challenge. Then I need to make some rewards for defeating them. But which animals should I modify first?”

I wander around my floor, enhancing various creatures and transforming them into monsters by infusing them with magic and programming drop items into the system. After spending the entire day modifying creatures, I check a few of their system windows and see that they all rank as [Common] grade. From what I understand, the ranking system from lowest to highest goes [Common], [Uncommon], [Rare], [Epic], [Legendary], [Mythic], and [Ancient]. Higher rarity items are harder to find and, as a result, are more powerful and effective as crafting materials.

“And now I need a floor boss. I don’t want it to be easy to find, either.”

Looking through my blueprints, I start brainstorming how the boss encounter should work. After a moment, I got the perfect idea. Instead of a traditional boss room, I’ll have the boss roam the floor and only engage adventurers who are carrying a specific item. It’s genius! It needs to be fast, though, so it can evade anyone without the item.

I scroll through my blueprints and stop on the rabbit. This should work. Now I just need to make some changes. Maybe I should try creating a new monster entirely. Thinking back to mythical creatures and fictional monsters from my old world, I think of the perfect choice. Summoning a rabbit, I gather my magic and focus on what I want my new creation to look like. A sudden surge of magic bursts forth from my core as the rabbit begins to glow with a bright, golden light, nearly blinding me, even with my dungeon sight. The light eventually fades, revealing my new creation.

[Status Window]

—

Name: [Jackalope]

Type: [Beast] (Mystical Creature)

Rank: [Mythic]

Level: 20

HP: 500 / 500

MP: 200 / 200

[Abilities]

- Vocal Mimicry (Unique): The Jackalope can replicate any sound or voice it has heard, including human speech and animal cries. This ability can be used to deceive, lure enemies, or communicate across vast distances. When mimicking, the Jackalope can project the sound up to 100 meters away from its actual position, causing confusion or distraction.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Duration: 10 seconds per use

- Antler Charge: The Jackalope charges forward with its powerful antlers, dealing 3x damage and knocking back enemies 10 meters.

Cooldown: 15 seconds

- Mystic Dash: The Jackalope moves with blinding speed, phasing through obstacles and becoming temporarily invulnerable for 3 seconds.

Cooldown: 25 seconds

- Nature’s Aura: Being a mythic creature of the wild, the Jackalope passively regenerates 5% of its HP and MP every 30 seconds when in natural environments (forests, plains, etc.).

Passive

- Illusory Escape: When its HP falls below 30%, the Jackalope creates three illusory copies of itself, each capable of mimicking its attacks. The illusions last for 10 seconds and deal 50% of the Jackalope’s normal damage.

Cooldown: Once per encounter

Resistances:

- Nature-based Attacks (High)

- Psychic Attacks (Moderate)

- Light-based Spells (Moderate)

Weaknesses:

- Dark Magic (Moderate)

Loot:

- Jackalope Antlers (Rare): Glowing with ancient energy, these antlers can be crafted into powerful weapons or used in rituals to summon powerful familiars.

40% drop chance

- Jackalope Fur (Rare): The soft fur provides excellent magical protection and can be used to create enchanted gear.

25% drop chance

- Echo Stone (Rare): A small stone imbued with the Jackalope's power of vocal mimicry, allowing the user to replicate sounds once a day.

5% drop chance

Looking at my new floor boss, I watch them curiously sniff around the forest, sitting on its haunches. The Jackalope stands around 4 feet tall, with soft, sleek fur that shimmers faintly with a silver or golden sheen under the light. Its grand, branching antlers glow faintly with an otherworldly aura, giving it a regal presence. Its sharp, intelligent eyes and alert, pointed ears make it seem constantly aware of its surroundings.

As I observe, it suddenly turns toward me and tilts its head curiously. I recoil slightly.

“You can see me?!”

The Jackalope nods.

Gathering myself, I address it directly.

“Okay, um, Ms. Jackalope, you are now this floor’s boss. You will only fight people carrying the item called [Lucky Rabbit's Foot]. Do you understand?”

She nods again, showing her understanding. A few moments of awkward silence pass before I speak up again.

“So, do you want a name? I'm not that great at naming things, but I can still give you one. You are the floor boss, after all.”

She pauses for a second, then nods in agreement. Okay, naming a female jackalope—this should be easy, right? I pause for a few minutes, using all my brainpower to come up with something. Then, I addressed her.

“I will name you... Holly!” I declare loudly, my core sweating profusely from the strain of thinking so hard.

She looks at me, her round eyes seemingly boring into my soul, but then she nods happily and starts jumping up and down in excitement, waving her small jackalope paws in the air.

[Status Window Updated]

I dismissed the system message, relieved that my newly appointed floor boss doesn't hate me and, in fact, seems pleased with her new name. Leaving Holly to get acquainted with the first floor, I take a closer look at the layout. After some time, I realize something—the forest doesn’t look as natural as it should.

From my bird’s-eye view, it looks like some idiot just threw seeds around and used magic to make them grow all at once. I should probably fix that. Another issue is that, for a dungeon, my monsters have absolutely no combat experience. Sure, I turned normal animals into monsters, but they haven’t fought anything because they were only created recently. So, I’ve come to a solution: I’ll accelerate time on the first floor. This should jumpstart the ecosystem and help the monsters gain some much-needed combat practice through fighting, respawning, and trying again through friendly competition.

With this idea in mind, I start pulling a steady amount of magic from my core and turn to Holly.

“Okay, Holly, I expect you to train hard during all of this and help your fellow monsters grow stronger as well!”

Holly stands tall on her haunches, her ears raised in attention as she salutes with one paw, a strange sparkling in her eyes.

And with that, I activate the magic and accelerate time across the entire first floor.

For some reason, I have a strange feeling about this.