So Valens ended up agreeing to make an ecosystem, mature enough to admit he was wrong and move on. After the rather terrifying scene of Magnus annihilating everything that set paw or claw into the dungeon, he was feeling a lot safer. He was also a little scared of the dungeon companion now, Magnus had seemed so laid back until he hadn’t been. Valens took a look at the temperamental drake, fortunately, he was still just lazing about. The core decided it would be best for all parties if the wannabe dragon stayed happy and lazy. Magnus didn’t seem like he had wanted to scare the core and had even apologized afterward but Magnus rolled over yawning widely, I just can’t get the picture of foxes getting crushed into a bloody puddle. He had gotten the fox template, which was nice.

Magnus opened one eye and Valens froze guilty, I need to kick these weird biological habits. Valens are you ready to set up your new dungeon. That was right it was today, Valens had removed all of his painstakingly created tunnels and chambers and turned it into one big cave. It didn’t look like much but it did increase the core’s mana regeneration by a solid amount which made the sacrifice worth it.

Yes Magnus, I still don’t see why we can’t use goblins though. The core had more or less gotten onboard with the dungeon companion’s plan but there was just one sticking point. Magnus was adamant about not using goblins yet. Valens wanted to use the pattern, he had gone through a lot to get it and it felt useless to just sit on the knowledge until he was ready to use it.

We’ve been over this before Valens. Goblins act as invasive predators in almost every known environment, they will kill and eat anything that moves, driving all other species to extinction that completely defeats the purpose of what the system is supposed to be. You just need to get a hold of a good enough predator for the goblins then you can use them.

Fine. Valens had planted some grass in his new cave and it had spread to carpet the entire floor. This would provide the basis for the food chain he was going to establish. Drawing on his mana reserves Valens began crafting ant queens spacing them out around the room.

Remember to make insects other than ants too, a good variety is important at least in the beginning.

Alright, I will. Beetles and earthworms started to make appearances around the room as well. Valens had been against using earthworms in the ecosystem but apparently, they were a preferred food of birds which he was including. The new chamber was large enough for them to fly so they should do fine. It didn’t take long for Valens to create the insects that he wanted, he had gotten a lot faster at creating them these days. Also, he wasn’t trying to create as many of the creatures as he would need rather he was trying to make a base population to start with. He hadn’t given the insects any orders yet and didn’t plan to so they went about what their instincts demanded of them.

Food that they would get from the grass or each other would help them grow and reproduce at a pace even faster than normal dungeon creatures. Valens had added a layer of dirt specifically to encourage the grass to grow. In a week or two, there would probably be enough of the little pests to eat every blade of grass in the dungeon, not that he planned to let things get that far. Several new scorpions were prowling around the floor as well along with the original combatants of the dungeon would keep the insect population from growing too crazily.

Several days later Valens added birds and mice to the ecosystem. The newly introduced species preyed on the insects helping the scorpions to keep the insect numbers under control. For some reason, a few of the mice also seemed to develop a taste for scorpions despite the inherent dangers of such an undertaking. Several mice died from unlucky strikes from the scorpions, that was fine it was all within expectations of the plan. Valens checked in again on Magnus to find him fast asleep snoring outrageously. The drake had been out cold for three days, Valens was rather impressed by just how loud the tiny thing was. Although the core room had expanded some it still forced Magnus to maintain the size of about a rabbit.

Valens kept a careful eye on the varying populations in the dungeon trying to get them to more or less stabilize. If any species got too numerous and threatened the balance of the dungeon Magnus had promised to step in to rectify the situation. However, Valens didn’t want to have to resort to that and kept a firm handle on his creatures.

It took a few days as birds and mice had a bit of a longer reproduction period than ants but eventually, things started to get out of hand again. The larger animals were starting to hunt the insects a little too much. While it wasn’t an issue right now Valens could see the writing on the wall, if this went unchecked eventually the insect population would be destroyed. That meant it was time for the last step of the ecosystem creation.

This time Valens added in the snakes and the newly acquired foxes, it was the first time he had used the fox template. These final creatures would be at the top of the food chain for now, and with the core’s help would regulate the numbers of the other animals. They would also serve as the primary line of defense for the dungeon besides Magnus for now at least.

Although he had been against the idea at first, Valens thought the whole ecosystem thing had gone rather well. He was getting a constant stream of experience and unless the dungeon suffered catastrophic damage he wouldn't have to make more creatures for a while. Still, he couldn’t put his efforts into expansion just yet, the core would need to be sure that things settled in the dungeon before he started expanding again. It was weird, there hadn’t been any invaders the entire time he had been working on the dungeon. That was good as any intruders might have thrown off the just starting ecosystem it was a little too convenient though.

Magnus. The dungeon companion stirred in his sleep and rolled over burying his head under his arms. I hope this doesn’t backfire but… MAGNUS. The drake shot to his feet, waking his head rather hard on the roof of the core room.

Ouch Valens, what is it? I was having a good nap.

Several days' worth of sleep is a nap. The ecosystem we talked about is set up.

That's good. Magnus nodded his head agreeably and settled back down to resume his nap.

Also, there haven’t been any new invaders yet. Do you have any idea of why that would be? It had to be him; there was no way that Valens had run through the local animal population that quickly.

Nooooo. The drake very guiltily looked away. You would think someone so old would be a little better at lying.

Anyway, Valens deliberately overlooked the blatant failure of a lie. It is a wonderful time to start getting more invaders. The dungeon is stable and ready and it would be a shame to have my growth slowed because I didn’t have any invaders wouldn’t it. He didn’t really mind that Magnus had blocked off his dungeon, it had been helpful while the animal populations were in flux but it was unneeded now.

Ah yes, it would. Say Valens I think I’ll go inspect the dungeon just to make sure the system we talked about is doing well. I’m sure you did a great job. I'm just double-checking for my peace of mind. Magnus stood, and his ever-present book popped out of existence to who knows where as the drake entered the dungeon proper.

Valens was a little smug at the moment of startled surprise that crossed the drake’s face as he stepped out into the main dungeon. It was quite the change, gone were the tight and mostly barren tunnels with winding paths and sparse creatures. The dungeon was now a sea of green grass filled with the sounds of insects. Birds fluttered through the air and the long grass concealed many things from the timid mice to the creeping snakes. Valens had even added moss to the walls of the cave to break up the monotony of the grey stone, he had put a lot of effort into this he wanted it to look good.

Magnus stayed in his smaller form, probably to stop the local populations from panicking, and set about examining the dungeon. To his credit, Magnus actually did examine the various species on the floor to confirm they were all doing well. Before the foxes and snakes were introduced the grasshoppers had been having a rough time, but they had bounced back as the mice and birds were picked off. There weren't a lot of the apex predators around but the dungeon still housed a solid two dozen foxes along with maybe half again that of snakes.

Valens was sure he would be able to support more of the creatures as time went on but for now, this was the limit of what his environment could comfortably support. He had even ordered a halt to breeding for the snakes and foxes to keep their populations at a manageable level. The dungeon was also a very impressive two miles across with all the tunnels taken out, so it took Magnus a little while to make his way over to the entrance while still keeping up the appearance of checking on the dungeon creatures.

The core kept a careful eye on the drake as he tried to act inconspicuously with little success. Valens was putting off his expansion because he wanted to know how Magnus had sealed off the dungeon. He would probably just tell the core if he asked but Valens didn’t want to confront Magnus about his tampering with the dungeon. He was fixing the problem now so it was fine.

Magnus stepped right up to the entrance of the dungeon and traced his claw around a specific pattern around the stone. There was a brief spike of mana and various shapes were outlined in power around the edges of the entrance. Then just as quickly they faded, I wonder what those were, it looked kind of like a solidified spell maybe? Once again Valens cursed the inconsistency of the memories he had inherited from Magnus, why couldn’t he have gotten all the important stuff like magic? Valens was so caught up in his musings that he almost missed it when Magnus stepped right out of the dungeon. Before he had a chance to panic, the drake stepped back into his aura which was a relief. He might be a little scary but Magnus seemed to be genuinely trying to help Valens.

As Magnus started to make his way back to the core room Valens took a second look at the entrance. He wanted to see if there was anything left over from Magnus’ magic, and there were little disturbances in the ambient mana that he could feel. But Valens couldn’t sense even the vaguest hint of the shapes he had seen before. That left Valens with two things to think about as he set about expanding his aura once more. What were the strange symbols and why could Magnus leave the dungeon?