Dungeon of Niflheim

Over the past several weeks whenever Frost wasn’t training or directly managing the dungeon he would delve into the monster creation system, testing out all the possibilities that entered his mind however nothing really felt right.

He heard from Aqua that Yami had already developed his unique race and received high praise from Dark for his accomplishment.

His eldest brother created a race called Vampires, masters of shadow magic as well as blood magic. An intelligent race that was humanoid in form but could transform into night based creatures, stronger in darkness just like their creator. Yami had put a lot of thought into his creation already establishing a solid and expansive evolutionary path for the vampires. They would be a welcome addition to Nova.

This accomplishment spurred him on as well as Aqua who finished her unique race shortly after, and of course she just had to tell her favourite younger brother all about it.

Aqua being the embodiment of water and dwelling in the ocean made a sea dwelling race that she called whalekin. She took inspiration from the several fish kin races that were equivalent to the beastmen present on land. She’d seen many varieties of such creatures and asked her guardian Levi about the many species living in the ocean yet there was no whalekin or whale beastmen. There were humanoid sharks and humanoid fish but no humanoid whales only the beast type. Thus she thought to change that, of course she added her own spin onto the race to make it truly unique and not a copy and paste situation.

Her whalekin or Whale tribe appeared similar to sea elves in their regular form and shared in their diverse capabilities though they held tremendous physical strength hidden within their rather lithe frames. However what really set them apart was their ability to transform into massive whale monsters which she called going berserk. In that form they would have the capabilities of their whale ancestry, a species with two natural forms.

Frost’s eldest brother and sister were really acting as shining beacons for the rest of their siblings, lighting the path forward, inspiring each of them. Frost couldn’t allow himself to fall behind, he promised himself that he’d be next, he wouldn’t allow Pyro to surpass him.

Thankfully after studying the high earth rank cold flame Frost gained substantial inspiration. He planned to create a unique monster race that would be born with such flames, able to naturally harness them like they were their own limbs. Their flames grade would naturally grow as they did, evolving with them thus allowing for a dedicated evolution tree.

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Such flames would allow these creature to not only be resistant to ice mana and be powerful fighters but should also allow them to perform cold smithing, a process that required cold flames. Maya had told Frost all about cold smithing as it was what created her ancestral hammers, 8 star quality weapons -of course a heaven rank flame was used for that, but the fundamentals were still the same. Cold aspected metals and monster materials reacted much better when forged with a cold flame, establishing a stronger and more durable material.

Not many creatures within Nova could easily harness such flames and those that could were generally very high ranked and or spirit races. Frost didn’t want a spirit race, but something made of flesh and blood, physically strong, able to fight in close combat and function like a regular sapient race.

All that was left was to decide on their form, their appearance which thanks to the polar werebears he had finally decided on, it was soon time for Frost to join Yami and Aqua as shining beacons.

“The sixth floor that is to serve as a rest area can also serve as their living quarters, a high quality mine and beneficial environment will be needed.” Frost showed a glint in his eyes as all the pieces were rapidly coming together. He would use the sixth floor as their habitat perhaps keeping it as such since this race would serve primarily as his management staff, handling the adventurers in the external camp as well as future territories within the dungeon. They’d need to be relatable in appearance, intelligent and able to easily speak common tongue meaning at the very least they’d be starting at D-rank, a sort of average cut off for intelligence.

Frost brought up the sixth floor that was still currently bare and undeveloped before checking out the 2 star environments that were available.

· Frozen tundra 11,000DP

· Winter highlands 10,500DP

· Winter forest 12,000DP

· Ice maze 12,000DP

· Ruined artic castle (interior) 12,000DP

The options available were pretty much the exact same as with the 1 star category, even the names were similar though their prices were about 5 or 6 times more.

The reason for this was because the layout and environment’s features didn’t differ too much only the quality improved as well as a decrease in temperature. For example in the 1 star winter forest environment the majority of the trees are of common quality with a few being considered 1 star level. In the 2 star winter forest however it’s primarily made up of 1 star trees with a few 2 star ones, a significant leap yet the appearance of the woods itself would differ only slightly.

The free flora and fauna would also see an improvement, more areas of red and blue dwindle, a higher class of medicinal herbs and an improvement in terms of the beasts summoned. Such a change would be very obvious in the winter highlands room that sports a partially frozen lake. The fish swimming within would be rarer and more delicious.

Only when the environments reach much higher stars would the unique names come about like the primordial ice forest that Frost briefly glimpsed at back at the very start of his journey.

“No none of these will do, I need a more hospitable environment given that it’s a rest area.” Frost shook his head all these environments were colder than what he already had and with harsher landscape. He needed something with a nicer temperature and with a solid surface to build on, something like Furano or Kranor.

Frost scrolled down the list looking for something that would suit this floor’s role.

“Winter prairie, 9500DP that’ll do nicely.” Frost found what he was looking for. An environment that provided a combination of flat land, hills, cliffs, wooded areas and even a couple small rivers. A picturesque paradise that was drizzled in light snow and held a temperature roughly equivalent to Furano, more than liveable for his monsters and future adventurer clientele.

The winter prairie was the cheapest environment available at 2 star quality given its fairly pleasant landscape, though like the other 2 star environments it came with a range of free flora and fauna.

Frost immediately added three of such environments as well as expansions for the three sections, making it match the other floors.

Next he moved towards the higher quality mines, the 3 star ones that had just been unlocked.

“Hissss” Frost breathed in sharply, the prices of such mines were not minor.

· Frigid iron, 50,000DP 50kg

· Glacial, 42000DP, 50Kg

· Ice borne titanium, 64,000DP, 50Kg

· F-rank ice magic crystal 58,000DP, 20Kg

· Frozen tourmaline, 54,000DP, 30Kg

· Kyanite, 50,000DP, 30Kg

3 star mines not only included ones that were metal based but also gem mines and crystal mines once again expanding the possibilities. A fully functioning territory needed more than just materials for weapons and armour.

Frost was right when he thought this section would be where the big money was. The only thing he’d seen that was higher in price were the extortionate costs of premade buildings and perhaps high level spawners.

“300,000DP suddenly feels like a paltry sum.” Frost’s lips twitched as the realisation donned on him. The dungeon was nothing but a blackhole for his money/DP.

After sighing internally Frost got to work choosing what to spend his not so magnificent reserves on.

In the end he spent around 250,000DP, saving the last 50,000 or so for his unique race.

The sixth floor was fully developed with the winter prairie environments and each section expanded to medium size. Two 3 star mines were added as separate sections attached to the floor’s second section’s left and right side. One being a frigid iron mine and the other being a kyanite mine, 50kg and 30kg daily output respectively, both far superior to the iron and glacial mines currently in use.

Frost also purchased 2 new glaive skills, [ice piercer] and [earth’s upheaval] both at the same level as [wyvern’s maw]. The first was a thrusting skill while the second one was a launching skill, a skill that aimed to launch the intended target upwards, a common staple in high level battles.

An ursa was purchased to serve as the fifth floor’s boss for when the adventurers return, now however along with a contingent of 5 frost revenant knights it would serve alongside Kiba and Findlay.

Without being in a frenzied state an ursa was far more manageable and though it couldn’t be regarded as intelligent like Kiba it could follow orders and serve as decent powerhouse, the ideal opponent to guard the fifth floor in the future.

Kiba remained in command of the bestial corps which were also expanded with the 250,000DP. The yuki-onna as well as a few more which were purchased took command of the magic corps whereas Findlay held command of the entire forces. His frost troll lieutenant would serve as his replacement for the 2nd shift and the ursa would serve as the back up forces in case anything went awry.

Though there were significant losses from the recent wave and the ice walls were torn down, Frost’s forces had only increased their strength not lost. They would be ready for the incoming waves, but Frost wanted them to be more than ready.