Hadruga and her guards stared at the quartet in front of them. While the two rabbit-kin were lower rank than her, the orcs beside them were clearly stronger.
Hadruga cleared her throat to break the tension and asked, "Who are you?"
To her surprise, it was the male rabbit-kin who stepped forward rather than the orcs. She assumed they were leaders, but apparently, it was not so.
"I am Viket, a scholar of the em- of the dungeon's rabbit-kin."
Hadruga didn't miss the way that the other rabbit-kin's eyes narrowed.
"Of the dungeon's rabbit-kin?" She asked.
"Yes. We removed ourselves from the power of Asergia, so we won't call ourselves members of the emerald rabbit-kin."
"I understood that fine. What do you mean dungeon?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean?"
"Do you mean dungeon as in a dungeon? Monsters, traps, and resources type?"
"I do."
"That isn't possible. I've been through a dungeon portal before, and this is still the nightshade region. I would have felt dimensional displacement even under the effects of that dragon's aura."
"Feel the mana."
Hadruga let her tightly controlled aura spread out, facing the twin auras of the orcs like steel walls, but otherwise facing little resistance. She used it to draw in a small amount of the ambient mana to analyze closely.
It was clearly tin-rank. It held none of the spatial compression of higher rank, yet it was denser than tin-rank mana. About a hundred times denser. Just as she felt when she'd entered dungeons in the past.
She pulled a small bag from her inventory and pushed in a small amount of the ambient mana. She'd need to study it later.
[You have discovered a new phenomenon. Your comprehension of the Law of Existential Density has slightly increased.]
[Your conception: Mana has increased by 0.31%.]
She ignored the voice in her head as she pushed more mana into the bag. It was absolutely essential that she understand it, if even this small time with it increased her mana conception.
If anything, she was surprised that the tin-rank rabbit-kin weren't suffering from Mana Sickness. Even when not under the effects of higher-ranked mana, high-density energies of any kind could lead to illness and even death.
But her aura picked up on at least forty rabbit-kin above tin-rank, and another fifty at least at the rank. She didn't sense any of the telltale signs of mana sickness from any of them.
She wanted to study them, but she'd come to find sanctuary for her people against the existing threats of nightshade and the new threat of the spiders.
"I find your words truthful. I cannot think of another explanation for the dense mana other than a dungeon. Now, as to why I'm here." She paused before pulling a golden piece of paper from her inventory.
"I wish to relocate the amethyst rabbit-kin clan in its entirety. This includes those of both the emerald and topaz clans that have previously joined as members of my clan."
The one to speak wasn't Viket, but the child of the Lord Rabbit, Atu. She didn't bother to hide the rage in her aura as she said, "And why to this dungeon?"
"We believe it will offer us some sort of safety we cannot find naturally. Especially considering the room we're standing in. How long has it been since the emerald clan vacated their territory?"
"Just over a month," said Prokt.
"And you live in robust homes with access to food and water. We simply wish to share in your good fortunes."
Hadruga had hoped to get Atu to agree. She had stories of the woman from before the emerald rabbit-kin had left, and it was said that she was unhappy with Asergia and the rabbit-kin as a whole. The emerald clan had treated her well enough, but kept her as an outcast. She hoped that putting her intentions on the table would get the woman to agree.
But Atu's aura flared like a truly feral beast. The sheer ferocity of it took Hadruga aback. What truly shocked her was a secondary, almost responding pulse of aura from the ground around them. The massive tree in the center of the room lit up like a beacon to Hadruga's aura sense as the entire room seemed to target her with its aura.
It still wasn't nearly enough to pierce her defenses, but it completely shocked her. She'd never seen anything of the sort.
[Your conception: Aura has increased by 0.93%]
The accompanying system message was tuned out as she tried to trace the reactive aura. It had moved, but didn't have the animative spirit behind it that signified the living. It was like the aura of an aura crystal rather than that of the living. But it responded to Atu.
Before she could ask a question about it, one of the orcs pulled Atu away, leaving only Hadruga's party, Viket, and the male orc behind. Viket looked shaken by the aura bursts, which made sense considering his tin rank.
The orc took over the conversation in Viket's place, "My apologies, the dungeon is currently in a sensitive state and seems to have responded instinctively to Atu."
"Fear not, I still hope to go through with this deal nonetheless." She replied. The dungeon hadn't harmed her, and its capability to respond autonomously might be exactly what she and her clan needed to remain safe.
Dur pulled Atu aside, "What was that about?"
Atu growled low in her throat before saying, "The reason I got Azotreh was that Asergia wanted to use them for their possible use to the clan, and nothing else. The others in the clan simply used them for a new home. Now, another group openly wants to stay inside their dungeon for no reason other than the use of it?
"How am I supposed to tolerate that? How do you expect me not to be angry about it?"
"You really care about them, don't you?"
Atu didn't respond. Dur patted the other woman on the back, "You have every right to be angry. But Azotreh has their own will. They have power that I don't entirely understand, and if they can help someone, why shouldn't they?"
"I want them not to have to. When I was their age, the Lord Rabbit taught me that it was my responsibility to care for the rabbit-kin. To defend them against threats to the survival of our species. But he also taught me that I needed to care for myself.
"Azotreh doesn't know how to care for themselves, only how to care for others. They've been a puddle on the floor for a week because they didn't know when to stop. When to let us take care of them. It shouldn't be on their shoulders to care for others."
Dur bent down a bit to meet Atu's gaze, "Do you know why Azotreh makes such a good candidate for the role of the old turtle?"
Atu shook her head silently.
"Azotreh isn't just a dragon and a hero, but a dungeon and so much more. Most of the candidates can't even compare to what Azotreh has already achieved. Despite the cruelty they've suffered, they're kind enough not just to accept the rabbit-kin, but to build them a home."
"What does that have to do with that big turtle?"
"The dragon turtle is a preserver. Have you ever visited his cavern?"
"Never. I don't know anyone who has."
"Lord Bloodskull has, though only once. The power of that turtle was enough to drive even the lord to his knees. But he said that the turtle had a kind heart and a small ecosystem in his cavern."
"I still don't see why it makes Azotreh a good candidate."
Dur looked at her for a long, silent moment. Atu looked away. She did realize why. She just wanted Azotreh to follow their own goals. To live a life without the expectations forced on them. Dur watched Atu carefully before turning away and speaking, "We still have a deal to forge with these rabbit-kin. Once Azotreh wakes up, you can begin to teach them about what it means to be their own person. Until then, we have to take charge."
Atu nodded and followed Dur back to the delegation, Viket, and Kurdan.
The queens had used the instinct of a monster to finish its job even as its body collapsed to make their ants continue to slice into the wall of the core room.
The process was made easier when they recalled the powers of their creator and instead used direct shaping abilities to move the stone without mandible or claw. Removing small chunks into their inventory as they worked. After the remembrance, the work only took about a day to create the large room adjacent to the core room.
After they'd cleared the space properly, they began the process of replacing much of the stone. An ant colony wasn't a hole in the ground, but a nest of intricate tunnels and chambers. Their instincts told them that wide open spaces, while fine for other denizens, were not acceptable for the brood.
The queens also hoped to use their developing awarenesses to further understand and expand on both the process of laying eggs and raising brood. Maybe creating natural variants, or even increasing the probability of an elite monster spawning from their new chamber.
The ten also knew they shared many aspects of their personalities with their progenitor, including a desire to create and design their zone. As of now, they had few options for their home, but that would change.
They created a central room for the queens to lay eggs, nearby brood chambers, and then began to extend the tunnel network out into the rest of the dungeon. They wanted to be able to navigate the dungeon with ease. All to better serve their creator.
What amazed the queens after their room had been initially carved was the immediate and spontaneous creation of eggs. Not laid by the queens, but simply appearing from the mana in the air.
The room spawned a hundred of the eggs simultaneously. Ninety-one of the eggs contained lesser monsters, and the last nine contained standard monsters.
The rate was half that of the queens, but the queens had no capability to create the eggs of a regular monster. Only the workers and soldiers spawned by the nexus itself could be standard monsters, until now.
They would serve their purpose faithfully, as all their kin should.
The orc called ants to him. A day had passed since they had created their nest, and many could now be put to other uses.
Half of all spawned ant monsters, or rather, a third of them now, were sent each day to attack and strengthen the native colony of the biodome. But that still left two hundred spawned ants each day. Even including the many that sacrificed their own bodies to expand the growing tunnel network that connected their nest to the other rooms of the dungeon, they had plenty to spare.
When it had been possessed by the ego Nicholas, it had felt the man's intentions. Like the ants, it knew its duties were to the dungeon and its continued growth. He had been focused partially on advancing their skills: Punch, Meditation, Punch Mining, and Meditative Mining.
It was difficult to enter the meditative state needed to advance those abilities, but the orc had managed it to assist in his project.
Nicholas wanted a proper storage room and trophy room. A space to display and hold the oddities Azotreh had picked up. He especially wanted to make a space for the bone bookshelf the Azotreh had taken from the Master's Dungeon. Otherwise, he just wanted a place to organize the materials they kept getting from monsters that wasn't their limited inventory.
But the orc knew that their creator had a passion for design. For the beauty found in small aspects of architecture, and its control was not fine. Nor was the control of their creator, but even in comparison, the orc's control was abysmal. So it hoped the ants, with their smaller size and clear penchant for smaller workings in stone, could assist him in this initial storage project.
The puma moved through the poisonous swampland it had come across while the creator's facet Errazorrus had controlled it. Every minute, it pulled in enough energy to push one of its six potens forward, and by extension, send some of that energy back to its sleeping creator.
It had returned to use its body to its fullest capabilities. Errazorrus had a correct idea, but had little of the instinctive control the puma had over its own form. It pulled on the soul of its progenitor to use Scales of the Black Dragon almost constantly, staving off some of the poison damage of the zone.
It also felt a secondary pulse of a forming ability within itself in response to the fungi still burrowing into its scales, skin, and fur. A sense of green, of overwhelming life, and symbiosis in the core of its nascent soul.
But unlike Errazorrus, it knew how to properly regenerate from the small damage inflicted by the spores. The spores fed on mana, but also required nutrients. While it had nutrients to feed them, it could deny them to the spores. It did mean that its form had small clumps of nitrogen, iron, and phosphorus around its body, but that was a tolerable downside to keep the life from growing in its body.
In the end, without the dense essence of the biodome's air and with the puma's repeated dives into the deeper waters of the marsh to drown the spores, they had no time to grow further than an eighth of an inch.
With mana, it simply regenerated the tiny holes created by the hostile spores and continued exploring.
It did avoid fights with the denizens of the realm. Despite its monstrous instincts screaming to bite and scratch until the foul pestilence was cleansed, its creator was its first priority. Their survival and advancement its purpose. So it left them alone. It would hunt them once the spores didn't require active effort to dispel, or until Azotreh gained an ability to somehow offset that effect.
It didn't forget to devour any of the spores it could, though, gaining one BM for the dungeon and gaining a record for Invasive Nightshade Spores, as well as progress in the new Parasitic Nightshade Fungus and Common Nightshade Fungus records.
[+1 Scarce System Boon]
[+10 Depth to the Spurt Poten]
[You can now replicate Invasive Nightshade Spores within your dungeon.]