Valterra let his awareness wash over the old kitchen in its entirety. Dungeon stone covered the old wooden cupboards and cabinets. It covered the walls as well, creating the illusion of a weirdly shaped cave. Five stone pillars climbed to around five feet tall before meeting a ceiling of stone that cut the kitchen in half. Green moss hung in curtains from gaping holes in said ceiling, draping over and slick with water that fell from somewhere above. The water formed puddles within depressions in the rock floor, watering holes for the various creatures that battled for dominance.
Following the moss upward, above the ceiling, Valterra was met by floating islands of stone chained together by the same moss. Beautiful azure waterfalls poured off before turning into mist near the fifth floor. What he saw here made his core swirl with an orange tint, displeasure tinting its standard blue-purple color. The Wyvre’s had been driven back to their dens, and the sky was filled with the buzz of insect wings. While he had increased the number of Wyvres earlier, it was apparent that they didn’t work together as cohesively as the Deeplight Swarmers.
Their higher rank, in addition to their ability to swarm, made it difficult for the Wyvres to hunt properly, which allowed the swarm to take over and spread. If left alone, the Wyvres wouldn’t even be able to defend their dens. Valterra didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if the swarm then turned its attention to the fifth floor. Something had to be done, but he wasn’t sure what. He sighed, just one more problem to add to the pile. Let’s figure out the fifth-floor situation before we deal with this, Valterra.
Ignoring the fact that he just referred to himself in the third person, Valterra turned and made his way back down to the fifth. Here, he centered himself, observing the issues that it had. The lack of conflict was still there, and it bothered him. The main problem was that the Aether content satisfied his creatures to the point where there was little reason for them to hunt. That wasn’t a bad thing per se, but it prevented the growth that he wanted to see. No creatures were climbing up to the sixth floor, after all; no creatures were reaching the point of Ascension other than those who had fought in the invasion. That had been weeks ago.
Unacceptable. So he had to change it. The first introduction was already slithering its way through the walls. Valterra opened a hole and let the Iron Scale Boa enter the fifth, closing the hole behind him. Then he summoned more. Tiny though they were, they were still D Rank and would provide some measure of conflict and, at worst, would provide necessary Aether to other creatures.
He watched for a time, but the change the Iron Scale Boas made was negligible. They were just another predator, and the same problems were there. Then again, they did consume more Aether now, so the floor would gradually be less filling for those within it, prompting hunting to begin again. I don’t know when it will reach that point, though. Hold on, hmm, Valterra hummed, as an idea came to him.
Maybe I can name the floor. Give it something that forces them to hunt. Hmm, no, not force, perhaps just something to make them hungry again? That way, they decide on their own to hunt. It doesn’t even have to be very strong, and the more intelligent creatures would still realize that they don’t need to. Yeah, that could work. Let’s give it a shot!
Valterra flexed his power over the floor, taking it in his metaphorical hand. After thinking about it for a moment, he called on his divinity—the Hungering Caverns. As the name reverberated through the floor, Valterra felt Divine Potential leave him to settle over the environment. The change was slight, but already the core could see beasts start to shift in their dens. Their eyes began to gleam a little more savagely, and their body language began to shift into a familiar predatory state.
Satisfied, Valterra moved up to the sixth. He had more plans for the fifth, but he hoped that his new idea would solve the majority of the problem. Now it was time to fix the sixth. It wasn’t terribly difficult to find the problem. There simply wasn’t a vibrant enough ecosystem. There were two creatures, and that was it. To solve it, Valterra would need to implement a few changes. He started by making a massive island in the corner of the floor. It sat on the ceiling of the fifth since Valterra wanted to do more with it before lifting it into the sky.
Namely, planting another tree. Luckily, there weren’t as many dangers associated with growing a lower-rank plant on a higher Aether density floor. If his moss hadn’t turned into a monster yet, it wasn't very likely that a tree would, so, with a flash of Aether, a Sylcyne Sugar Maple formed on the island. As it did so, Valterra added the runes that caused his islands to float, and it gradually took to the skies. Soon, there was a floating tree island, complete with a little watering pool at its base and its own little waterfalls streaming past roots that had breached the bottom of the island.
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It was beautiful, and Valterra knew just what to do with it. Before any of the other creatures could claim the new real estate, dark forms began to flash into existence. A whole rookery of the latest birds coalesced out of Aether. They would need to make nests for themselves, but Valterra was sure they would be able to. Now there would be some real competition on the floor. Some Rank E Ascensions for the Wyvres to eat and hunt, and some Rank D Ascensions that they would need to be wary of, ones that would be able to match the aggression of the swarm currently dominating the skies.
Valterra hummed, looking over everything, watching how the floor balanced itself out. Already, with the swarm being distracted, the Wyvres were hesitantly poking their heads out of their dens. With time, he hoped they would regain the skies. If needed, he would add more prey options once he had them, and the floor would be wholly alive with all kinds of creatures. And that was that.
The fifth and sixth floors were on the road to recovery. His mice and ants on the third were getting ready to implement his plan. Geckodo was hunting for Frameworks, and the core would soon move to have the whales begin their conquest of the pond. Before all of that went down, though, there were a few housekeeping things he could do. For one, now that the garden had been claimed, the Vineglass Lizard had a place to go. With a thought, he planted the location in the not-a-snake’s head, leaving it to make its way there.
With that done, Valterra went searching for some ants that he had passed over on his earlier dungeon searching. The two other surviving Empowered Danian Ant colonies had been left to their own devices for quite some time. While the Aether wasn’t exactly conducive to a vibrant life within the walls of the cabin, the ants had made do. Thriving societies had begun to flourish, with each colony having spread to the adjoining walls and sporting several layers.
While Valterra had noticed them during his period of taking stock, he hadn’t seen any reason to interrupt them; in fact, he was almost tempted to create a hidden floor between the walls just so that they would receive the Aether they needed to continue to grow. Valterra put a note in place, scrapped it, and proceeded anyway. The Inbetween. It sounded good, fit the aesthetic, and he was tired of coming back to things. He refused to do so any longer. That wasn’t to say that he was going to rush into things, but he saw no reason to push an idea off just because.
It wasn’t like he had anything else to do right now but wait for creatures to get into place. So, now that he had a new hidden floor, he began populating it to pass the time. Some spiders, beetles, and a few Mouse Hoarders later, and he felt like the floor would be a proper little paradise with some work. He added some damp spots with some moss and stone, followed by Aetherdew Mold, and then left it to its own devices. The floor would figure itself out, and he would iron out kinks later as they showed themselves.
Which was exactly when a problem made itself known in the form of three squeaking forms. The original three Mouse Rangers had returned and were clamoring for his attention. Once again, he had no idea where they had been, but their little minds held the answer. They had left the dome of wards, seeking information outside. The images of their adventure had Valterra’s core thrumming with equal parts anxiety and relief.
The anxiety stemmed from seeing the shapes of five large, humanoid figures standing near the wards, not to mention the hordes of creatures trying to get in. The relief came from the clear sign that they were unable to enter, as the frustration was evident on their faces. He almost left it at that, but one of the figures was eerily familiar. It was the face he realized. The woman, evidently the leader of the group, was familiar. Natalia, Valterra realized as he gazed at the image within his mouse’s mind.
The perspective was weird; the woman was massive compared to the mouse, but Calamvor’s memory had etched the woman’s face into his core. It didn’t matter that the memory was from years ago, from when she had been a child; it didn’t take much to find the similarities. Natalia Talios had found his dungeon, and Valterra had a decision to make, which was the moment, of course, when the mice and ants began their mission of avian extermination.
Valterra sighed and turned away from his Mouse Rangers, making sure to shower them in appreciation. They had once again gone above and beyond for him. They would absolutely be getting their own artifacts. Still, Natalia evidently couldn’t get in yet, which gave him time to put some things in order. First, the birds would be dealt with, and then the pond. Only after those things were done would he find a way to meet Natalia. Huh, I suppose she would be my niece, right?
