"I may not be able to intervene directly, but I can conjure weather phenomena to deal with the intruders," I contemplated aloud.
The problem was that the rain would then fall across the entire floor, and there was no way to control it.
"But what choice do I have at the moment?"
I searched for a suitable rain or thunderstorm for a while; it had to be capable of extinguishing the inferno.
"No... No... not this... maybe this!"
[Temporal Storm]
Its powers were strong, almost too strong for a mere thunderstorm.
A substantial amount of rainwater was expected, and I feared it might upset the balance.
"But it's all or nothing," I thought and overcame my small fear.
With ten [EC], I conjured the storm one time.
I watched as the entire sky over the floor immediately filled with thick rain clouds, so dense that it became darker than night.
Even the shimmering of the sea seemed to have been swallowed by the darkness.
An ear-splitting, deep rumble echoed across the entire floor, followed by a massive lightning bolt striking in the distance, with a diameter of five meters.
The Temporal Storm had arrived.
"Wow. You're supposed to extinguish the fire, not ignite something new!" I exclaimed at this spectacular natural display.
While I continued to hover over the lizard people's city, I heard loud noises.
Chaos erupted as the residents navigated through the city with the small lamps they had, each searching for a safe place.
The commanders try to control it, but with little to no effect.
I saw the priest with a panicked expression standing at the entrance of the temple, beckoning residents to him.
I flew over to him, and he fell to his knees again, shouting amidst the thunder.
I wondered if he could sense my presence.
"Forgive us! ... Apostle... We will... destroy humans!" he cried desperately.
I feared he might be sacrificing humans again, so I decided to disappear.
As I looked around, I saw the 72 houses overflowing with lizard people.
But, of course, not everyone could fit inside, and others were sent to the stone mines, where they quickly ran.
Luckily the the excavation was slightly upwards, so they would be somewhat safe.
Because the carriages do not have enough space, they were left behind.
Everyone was in a panic, and I hoped the humans have the same phenomena's, then they were the cause of the whole situation.
Suddenly, a massive lightning bolt struck the tent camp in the darkness. For a brief moment, everything was as bright as day.
The tents caught fire, and chaos escalated.
*Drip*
*Drip*
*Drip* *Drip*
Then it began to rain, slowly at first, then increasingly harder.
Golf ball-sized raindrops fell from the sky. The tents that were on fire could be heard hissing as the rainwater hit the flames.
In no time, all the fires were extinguished, but it was just the beginning.
It rained so heavily that the ground couldn't absorb the water, and almost everything was standing in the water.
*BOOM* *RUMBLE* *ZAP*
Then thunder struck again, dark and loud, every three seconds. And when the lightning bolts hit, you could see the devastation of the storm.
The water flowed through the bay, sweeping away tents, lizard people, and even two houses into the raging and rising sea.
I teleported to the human army, but the situation wasn't any better.
The 800,000 people in the open field had no shelter, and some were brought to their knees by the rain.
The problem was that the storm hadn't even truly begun.
The rain grew worse with each passing second, and it became increasingly darker.
The lightning slowly took on a rainbow-like color and became stronger and thicker.
So strong that it seemed to tear the space around it. And slowly, the wind also picked up, a wind that seemed to disrupt space and time.
The wind grew stronger, and it became pitch black.
"Hahahaha!" I heard someone laugh during a brief lull. "Show us what you can do!"
Then the silent was over and I looked after the voice
It was the older commander in his silver-green armor. He laughed maniacally, standing proudly in the rain.
I wondered if the rain even touched him.
As I looked, I saw that the rain simply bounced off him. His hair wasn't even wet.
I watched with bated breath, and then two lightning bolts simultaneously struck the army, which was already standing knee-deep in water.
About 10%, including the carriages, had already been washed away. Some were hurled into other areas by the wind.
A bolt struck directly behind me into the battalion, and the second struck in front of me, hitting the old commander and the portly man beside him.
At least 20,000 soldiers, probably more, were killed by the power and abilities of the lightning. Among them were the commanders.
The wind continued to intensify, and I couldn't just watch. I soared upwards and observed the black storm and the map.
There, I noticed that the weather wasn't the same everywhere.
In the colder areas, it was even snowing, which made me laugh because of its absurdity.
But I also saw that some areas had more lightning than others, like the river that separated the two islands.
The river was already electrically charged and ready for electric shocks.
The water raged as the rain continued to pour relentlessly onto the islands and the sea.
I teleported back to the lizard people.
The lizard people who had gathered in the houses were desperately trying to protect themselves from the flood.
But the storm, seemingly from another world, showed no mercy.
Houses were torn away by the wind and water, and the water was already about a meter high.
Amidst the chaos, I saw the priest again.
He stood on an elevated rock, shouting against the wind and the whipping raindrops.
"Forgive us, oh great Dungeon...! We sacrifice ourselves to appease your wrath!"
It was clear that the priest believed that the Temporal Storm was a "purification" unleashed by me, and he was trying to appease me by sacrificing himself and his people.
The scene was surreal and frightening at the same time, but even if I want, I can't end this storm.
Then something unexpected happened.
The sky above the first floor began to distort as if reality itself were unraveling. Space and time seemed to ripple and stretch.
The lightning grew more intense, and their colors merged into a hypnotic rainbow that filled the entire sky. It felt as if the forces of nature themselves were coming apart at the seams.
"Oh dear..." I muttered in disbelief.
The wind turned into a true tornado, engulfing the city in a vortex of darkness and chaos. Remaining buildings were ripped from their foundations, trees snapped like matchsticks, and the rising water turned into a wild whirlpool.
The priest, still standing on the rock, stopped screaming. His eyes widened in fear.
"Oh dear... How many lives are being lost in this storm..."
"Should I have just left it alone?" I doubted.
I reviewed the abilities once more, which were slowly but surely fully manifesting.
Five minutes had passed since the beginning.
——————
[Name: Temporal Storm]
Abilities:
[Time-Drain Bolts]: The Temporal Storm generates immense, multicolored bolts that illuminate the sky, temporarily bathing the surroundings in daylight-like brightness. These bolts are so intense that they seem to distort reality itself.
[Floodstorm Rain]: The rain from the Temporal Storm is fierce and relentless. It can cause massive floods in a matter of minutes, turning the ground into rushing rivers.
[Space-Time Vortex]: The storm creates whirls and currents in space and time that can affect the movement of people and objects. It's challenging to maintain perspective amid these swirls, and reality appears to ripple and stretch.
[Lightning-Shrouded Darkness]: Between the bolts, there is deep darkness, shrouding the surroundings in eerie blackness. This darkness is only broken by the flashing bolts, making the storm even more imposing and eerie.
————
"Absurd... why did I choose this again?" I chuckled awkwardly. "It's going to wipe out my entire floor."
It got worse, reaching its climax. "How long is this going to last?"
"Ironically, I said, 'I wanted to preserve the floor from destruction, and now I'm the one destroying it!'"
I didn't know, but I didn't want to witness the misery any longer.
The island was now almost completely underwater, and in some mountain valleys, massive lakes were forming.
When I returned to the control center, my vision went…black.
Again…
When I reopened them, I saw the usual green lettering of my soul.
——————
[Status]
Name: -
Age: 0 years, 0 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours
Species: Dungeon Core
Level: 4/4 [Evolution]
Experience Points: 143/ 0
EC: 324/600
—->1 EC regenerates per hour (from the atmosphere)
Attributes:
- Space (unique)
- Time (unique)
Floors: 2
- Control Room
- First Floor (Tempora) ---> 0.88 EC per hour
[More]
——————
Everything around me was unrecognizable darkness.
As I examined my status a bit, a few things immediately caught my attention. First, I had reached my level cap!
"Yippie!"
And because of that, [Evolution] was listed next to it!
"Amazing!" I exclaimed. "So does it expedite the regular evolution, or is it something fundamentally different?"
I put those thoughts aside for now and continued to look. I noticed that my hourly income from the first floor had plummeted!
"Did that many really die, I even skipped a Level?" I wondered. "That was a hundred years of work!"
„I even have some extra EXP!"
I was slowly starting to doubt my decision more and more, but I was relieved to have reached my level cap.
I suspected arrogantly, I might be the fastest in history to achieve this in four weeks.
To make a long story short, I thought about the [Evolution] option. This opened a new window with several choices.
————
Evolution Options:
- [Double Dungeon] --> [600 EC]
- [Challenge Dungeon] --> [400 EC]
- [Great Dungeon] --> [500 EC]
- [World Dungeon] --> [600 EC]
————
"Oh, not too many options!" I remarked. "What are all these?"
"Dual Dungeon? Do I become two?" I grinned.
I wasn't exactly sure what each evolution would entail. I could only speculate.
What surprised me, though, was that the evolution required a significant amount of [EC], so much that I didn't have enough and had to wait in this empty space.
With time on my hands, I carefully considered my choices and, after much deliberation, settled on the [World Dungeon].
„Why? I don't know, it is just a feeling!"
Unfortunately, my hourly profit from [EC] on the first floor had dropped even further to 0.85 [EC].
It might not sound like much, but it was! 0.03 EC, for example, would be 300,000 intruders. However, after some waiting it looks like, this was the minimum, and it wouldn't decrease further on an hourly basis.
In my spare time, I explored the weather, material, and creature options, which had expanded a bit. About 36 hours later, I had accumulated 600 [EC].
————
[Status]
Name: -
Age: 0 years, 0 months, 4 weeks, 2 days, 15 hours
Species: Dungeon Core
Level: 4/4 [Evolution]
Experience Points: 34,234 / 0
EC: 600/600 (1 EC regenerates per hour)
————
"Oh man, oh man!" I thought to myself because by this time, more time had passed than the intruders had spent in the dungeon. They had been in there for almost several months.
I was worried about Tempora because who knows what it looked like after the storm. Were the people going to burn my dungeon again? Were lizardfolk still alive? How was the first floor in general? Had they found the exit yet?
These were the questions running through my mind. I had no choice but to think about the [World Dungeon] selection, because I couldn't even leave. :(
[Successfully chosen]
As a result, my [EC] was completely empty, and a new window opened.
————
Characteristics:
- [Water]
- [Air]
- [Fire]
- ...
- [Consciousness]
- [Mana] (unique)
- ...
————
"Oh, difficult choices!"
I saw that I had another unique selection.
This confirmed a little my initial theory that new [CS] were unlocked through experience and knowledge.
However, I decided against the [Mana] option because I already had the knowledge to produce mana.
Instead, I chose the [Consciousness] [CS].
With this, I want to create conscious creatures. After all, what is a world without beings to shape it? But not in a bad way!
I selected this option, and my status confirmed it.
[Successfully chosen]
[Processing]
[Preparation]
[You will enter a coma as more mana is required]
[Dungeon temporarily closed]
...
[Successful]
[Evolution is starting]