Chapter 12

When Arcius returned to his Dungeon he was pleasantly surprised by the development of his various species. He actually had eight new species, seven of which developed from his Origins, and the eighth came about from the Cyanocoral. Said eighth was known as Primordial Plant, a very apt description as they couldn’t really be labelled as a specific plant type, unlike Cinderblade Grass or the other Primordials he already possessed.

These Plants were thin, green, stick-like entities with yellow-green orbs at various intervals, such as when the shaft splits into two, or bend in another direction, as well as on the ends. Interestingly, although not surprisingly, it had evolved to handle rooms of a more average temperature, although it could survive an increase or a decrease to a certain level. As such, it was found in rooms E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, and E2.4.

When it comes to the other seven, however, two evolved from the Primagin, two from the Secugin, and three from the Tertiagin. From the Primagin, there were, as he came to call them, the Prima-Biter and Primer-Grazer. These two laid down the foundation for more typical carnivores and herbivores. The Prima-Biter had evolved from the interactions with one of the new Secugin species, and had become completely carnivorous, barring a small amount of plant matter, roughly 6% of its total intake.

The Biter was about the same size and shape as a Primagin, with its main distinguishing features being more developed fins and musculature, improved thermal vision, and a very, very sharp beak. In fact, it was more of a blade at this point. It seemed to hunt primarily by dashing in and slicing its prey with its blade beak, before dashing away again. Rinse, repeat, and eventually, it would probably die. Because of its meat diet, it could be found in rooms E1.1, E1.2, E1.4, E1.5, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5, and E3.4.

The Grazer, as its name suggests, was an herbivore through and through. But unlike the Primagin, it wasn’t restricted to Cinderblade Grass, and was able to devour the Primordial Algae, Moss, Fungus, and Plants on top of said Grass. It was about 1.5 times the size of a Primagin, and also had evolved to need to spend about half as long in water in order to moisturise its scales. Other than that, nothing else much changed between it and the Primagin, and it could be found in rooms E1.1, E1.2, E1.4, E1.5, E2.2, E2.4, and E2.5.

From the Secugin, came the Giga-Secugin and Thermo-Secugin. The Giga-Secugin, as their name suggests, were essentially just larger Secugin, possessing many of the same habits and characteristics as well, although their mating season came every 4-5 weeks, and they didn’t have quite as many offspring, although the difference was hardly significant.

They had also lost some of their heat tolerance, but in turn had gained some cold tolerance. Interestingly, it was actually a younger, less distinct version of the Giga-Secugin whose interactions with Primagin had led to the development of the Prima-Biters, which happily tried to feed off of them as well, although the success of such action varied. They were found in rooms E2.1, E2.3, E2.4, E3.3, and E3.4.

The Thermo-Secugin were potentially the most interesting evolution, as they were an evolutionary path that Arcius hadn’t even considered. It turns out that the Primagin returning from the surface to the water in their rooms would knock a decent amount of Thermocoral into the water.

Not large enough to put the Thermocoral species at risk, but still a large amount. In E2.5, where Primagin and Secugin could both be found, the Thermocoral that fell into the waters, during the brief periods before they died and were destroyed by the surrounding water, had quickly become something akin to a delicacy to the Secugin, containing many of the nutrients they need to survive.

During these semi-frequent feasts, at some point in time, some of the Thermobacteria, which was dragged along with the Thermocoral, as well as remnants of the Thermocoral, combined with the cells of the Secugin, in much the same way as mitochondria became a part of animal cells. This led to the creation of the Thermo-Secugin, which was actually capable of performing the same Thermosynthesis as the Thermobacteria and Thermocoral, although it naturally needed more than that to survive.

A side effect of this development was that Thermo-Secugin were the same near-black red colour as the Cinderblade Grass, although its other physical characteristics were the same as a normal Secugin. In fact, it would not be too surprising if the Thermo-Secugin eventually replaced the Secugin completely, although it was a bit off of that at the moment. It could be found in rooms E2.1, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5, E3.2, E3.4, and E3.5.

From the Tertiagin, came the Micro-Tertiagin, Tertia-Leech, and Tertia-Drifter. Micro-Tertiagin were, as the name suggests, smaller Tertiagin, approximately a third the size of a normal Tertiagin, which actually made them smaller than the Primagin, but bigger than the Secugin. Nothing else really changed about them, save that they were no longer as cold-adapted as they once were, but could now survive in warmer climates, hence why they could be found in E2.4, E3.1, E3.4, and E3.5.

The Leeches were very interesting, as they had evolved a double-row of razor sharp, saw-like teeth that ringed their ‘mouths’. They were technically carnivorous, although it was more accurate to call them blood-suckers. They ate meat as well, but their main course was blood.

They fed by latching onto their prey with their inner row of teeth, and then spinning, allowing their saw-teeth to cut into the circle of flesh they had latched onto until said circle came away from the body, promptly being devoured by the Leeches. They remained latched on using their second, outer row of teeth after the flesh comes away, and then would drink the blood coming out of the wound. Because the rest of their physicality was nearly identical to an ordinary Tertiagin, they could only survive in rooms E3.1, E2.3, and E3.3.

Finally, the Drifter were a strange evolution at this time, as they had started down the kind of evolutionary path that would, a long, long, long, way down the road, lead to similar species to Jellyfish, They had become approximately double the size of a normal Tertiagin, although most of the growth went onto width rather than length, as the length from head to tail was only about 10% more than a normal Tertiagin.

Most of that width, though, was not added meat, or bone. It was buoyancy, a type of buoyant gel that seemed to be related to mucus, and it caused the Drifters to, as the name suggests, drift about, much like the Infirmanacoral. Tertia-Drifters rarely had children, and seemed to spend much of their lifespans in hibernation, only spending short periods in an active state.

To make up for the rare breeding, though, they seemed to have evolved to produce quintuplets in 90% of case, with the remaining 10% being sextuplets or septuplets. Thanks to the fact they were more heat tolerant, but no less cold tolerant, than normal Tertiagin, they could be found in rooms E3.1, E2.3, E2.4, E3.3, E3.4, and E3.5.

When Arcius looked at the Species table now, this was the result.

Species Rank

Species Name

Rooms

1.

Giga-Secugin

E2.1, E2.3, E2.4, E3.3, E3.4

2.

Secugin

E2.1, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5, E3.4, E3.5

3.

Thermo-Secugin

E2.1, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5, E3.2, E3.4, E3.5

4.

Prima-Biter

E1.1, E1.2, E1.4, E1.5, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5, E3.4

5.

Micro-Tertiagin

E2.4, E3.1, E3.4, E3.5

6.

Prima-Grazer

E1.1, E1.2, E1.4, E1.5, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5

7.

Primagin

E1.1, E1.5, E2.5

8.

Tertiagin

E3.1, E2.3, E3.3

9.

Tertia-Leech

E3.1, E2.3, E3.3

10.

Tertia-Drifter

E3.1, E2.3, E2.4, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

11.

Primordial Algae

E1.1, E1.2, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3, E2.4, E2.5, E3.1, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

12.

Primordial Plants

E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.4

13.

Primordial Moss

E1.1, E1.2, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.4, E2.5

14.

Cinderblade Grass

E1.1, E1.5, E2.1, E2.5

15.

Primordial Fungus

E1.5, E2.1

16.

Infirmanacoral

E1.1, E1.2, E1.3, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3, E2.4, E2.5, E3.1, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

17.

Cyanocoral

E1.1, E1.2, E1.3, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3, E2.4, E2.5, E3.1, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

18.

Infirmanabacteria

E1.1, E1.2, E1.3, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3, E2.4, E2.5, E3.1, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

19.

Cyanobacteria

E1.1, E1.2, E1.3, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3, E2.4, E2.5, E3.1, E3.2, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

20.

Thermocoral

E1.1, E1.5, E2.1, E2.5

21.

Thermobacteria

E1.1, E1.5, E2.1, E2.5

22.

Prokaryotic Cells

E1.1, E1.2, E1.3, E1.4, E1.5, E2.1, E2.2, E2.3, E2.4, E2.5, E3.1, E3.2, E3.3, E3.4, E3.5

Arcius observed their behaviours. Of all the interactions that had developed, the Secugin were the least changed, with the only alteration in their behaviour being that they avoided the Drifters like the plague. Apparently their gel was toxic to the Secugin, as well as the Giga- and Thermo-Secugin. Interestingly, the Biters and Leeches were alright with it, in fact it seemed to be more beneficial to the Leech diet than blood.

The Primagin and Tertiagin were a close second when it comes to the fewest changes, as they both had to adapt to predatory versions of themselves. The Primagin had actually become slightly territorial, striving to keep the Biters away at all costs. The Tertiagin, on the other hand, were simply more aggressive, even outside of E2.3 and E3.3. The Giga-Secugin and Biters had formed a sort of predation cycle, devouring one another in rooms E2.4 and E3.4 at a near constant rate.

Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if they developed a deep, instinctive hatred of one another at this rate. The Thermo-Secugin had stayed mostly the same as the normal Secugin, however, they had come to dominate E3.2, AKA the Boiling room, as they were the only multi-cellular organism capable of surviving inside. Naturally this meant they pretty much devoured themselves exclusively, but Arcius was hard pressed to find space in the E3.2 rooms that didn’t contain a few dozen Thermo-Secugin.

The Prima-Biters were very aggressive, and would even assault other organisms regardless of whether or not they were hungry. However, they would not hunt, or even deliberately attack, each other. After a bit of investigation, Arcius found that this was because of their own thermal signature, which was subtly different from any other organism, including the Primagin. This difference produced an instinctive reaction that the organism possessing it was ‘not prey’, hence the lack of cannibalism or intra-species combat.

The Micro-Tertiagin were one of the most prolific non-Secugin species, as well as one of the most docile, second only to the Grazers, who actually didn’t fight the Biters off all that much, but would do so if young were involved, having formed the beginnings of parental instinct. The Leeches were a curious species, both as a species and from a study standpoint.

When not hunting, they would constantly explore the rooms they resided in, and would rarely send long in the same area, although they seemed to instinctually remember good hunting spots. They also wouldn’t hunt the Tertiagin too often, despite hunting other Leeches. This seemed to be because of a strange, almost pheromone like substance given off by Tertiagin, that convinced the Leeches that the Tertiagin were ‘not tasty’. They would hunt and eat Tertiagin at desperate times, but otherwise not at all.

Truthfully, there wasn’t much to say about the Drifters, as they interacted with the world around them very rarely. When they did do so, it was either to devour enough sustenance to enter hibernation again, or to breed. The most interesting thing about them was that, during their feedings, they would often leave the area they fed in devoid of plant life for a while.

Having observed all of this, Arcius decided to leave the Dungeon again while he considered his next move. After all, there were only another 409 years left until the first reports would be submitted.