Chapter 34

I woke up on my own again for only the second time. I felt refreshed and healed and ran my hand along the fading scars across my chest.

"How is everything?" I asked Daisy as I stood up stretching. Every joint and muscle felt loose like I had just gotten back from a refreshing spa day.

"The dungeon is functioning normally. I closed my eyes and looked through the surveillance spider's eyes in the tree room. The trees had grown thicker and taller casting a thick canopy across the fake sky. Ella was tending her now an extravagant garden and was shockingly accompanied by more than a few spiders who were sprawled out in the sun and shade napping.

"What am I seeing?"

"After we separated from the dwarven world the spiders have been enjoying the sun from time to time. They return to the caves when it gets too bright or they start to overheat."

"Are they at risk of injury from staying in the sun like that?"

"No. They simply enjoy the outdoors."

"Whatever floats their boats, as long as they are ready if anything happens I have no reason to stop them. How long was I out this time?"

"2 months." It wasn't as long as I expected, but I also didn't exert as much energy as I had done in the past. I walked down the throne and stopped at the base where I had dropped my weapons before my nap. I picked up the sword inspecting it again. It was as perfect looking as it was when I first grabbed it, the same went for the shield. I held the shield in my left hand and the sword in my right and pretended to defend and attack a few imaginary enemies. The extra weight and length of the sword made the swing faster and more damaging, however, it was harder to control than the hammer. After a few minutes of shadow fighting, I put down the weapon and grabbed the club. It weighed about twice as much as the sword and was too heavy and clumsy to use well in tandem with the shield. However, switching between one and two-handed swings that club was a fantastic weapon that caused a wave of air with each swing. After I was comfortable with the club I set it down and wandered the halls.

Now all of the tunnels were smooth and very professional. I had been having the miners touch up their previous work regularly to keep the dungeon at its best at all times. It was a good time consumer.

"Oh, how is Elton doing?"

"He is doing well. Enjoying the food and sand in his room." Daisy made the surveillance spider hop down from his spot on the tree and run to the desert room. It entered the bright room on the ceiling of the cave and climbed up the wall looking down at the sand. There was no Elton in sight.

"Guess he is below the sand." I was about to have the spider go back into the tree room when the screen changed. It took me by surprise as the clear view turned into the bright mixture of colors you get from thermal cameras. My jaw dropped at the vision change. "What is this?"

"Thermal vision."

"I get that, but why?"

"The surveillance spider ate some of the werewolves and gained a new type of vision."

"Wait so he evolved?"

"Correct." I focused on the screen. The sand was mostly red and orange indicating the heat absorbed by the hot sun. The cacti scattered around the desert were a darker green color indicating that they were cooler than the area around them.

"I mean this is awesome but how can we find Elton." The spider looked around and focused on a small section of the sand which was rippling from red to orange and gliding across the sand like a fish under the water. "Ah, I see. This is very useful."

I pulled up the surveillance spider's information in my mind and looked it over.

Name:Survalice spider

Level: 6

Skill: Thermal vision

"Well, this is cool. But why did he get a skill and not the cleaner who ranked up faster?"

"Spiders will gain skills at different times. The surveillance spider as a support spider can gain skills faster than the warriors. Between all of the support spiders, the surveillance spider will get a skill faster due to the need for the skill." The information was interesting and helpful.

"Maybe I should focus on a single individual instead of all of them to level up and get a skill. Although having one strong spider isn't worth it unless I can make a commander out of them." I pushed the idea back, that was a problem for a time when I had more bodies to feed to my spider. So, let's hope for another dungeon soon.

I opened my eyes and walked to the tree room after ordering the spider to leave the desert room. The tree room was more alive when I entered, while it still had that odd empty-of-life feeling with no bugs, birds, or breeze at all. The size and plant life in the room made it feel like a real forest that had been alive for many years instead of a new valley or something from before.

"Good afternoon," Ella said when I walked in. She was on the ground pulling a carrot-looking plant that was planted near the edge of the garden. She had a grass-woven hat on her head to block the sun. It was well made and kind of made me jealous as I stood there squinting 2 of my eight eyes keeping the rest closed to fend off the brutal sun.

"Hey think you can make me one of those?" I asked and pointed at her head.

"The hat?" She pulled it off her head as I nodded and headed it to me. "You can have this one for now." I graciously accepted the hat with a nod and placed it on my head. It covered 2 of the eyes furthest back but allowed me to open the other 6 and not be in pain. The room looked even greener now that I could actually open my eyes.

"Thank" I stopped talking as Ella busted out laughing. "What?"

"You look hilarious. It's like an evil farmer." She kept snickering as I hissed at her and crossed my arms over my chest. "Sorry, sorry ill stop laughing." It took her a while to finally stop. She kept apologizing as she snickered covering her mouth trying to continue picking vegetables. I left her to her work hearing her laugh behind my back.

I went threw the rest of the dungeon before heading back to my throne. It was in working order and I had nothing left to do.

"Well, time for a nap," I said to no one and made my way back to my throne bed and settled in for the next coming weeks. "Let me know when something fun happens."