Valterra was surprised to find that the first creature wasn’t even a creature at all. His Windblown Moss was one of the first plants he had claimed alongside his plain Grass Schema. He hadn’t done anything with it as he had just been happy that it wouldn’t become a monster or something when he had put it on his Sixth Floor mountains. What was even more surprising was that it wasn’t any of that moss that had reached the threshold but rather one of the chains that was growing on the outside on the Second Floor.

  As his gaze passed over the single option available he immediately reached a conclusion as to how his humble plant had reached the required threshold. The battle between his Wyvre and the human had been brief but his Wyvre had lost a lot of blood and that blood had been absorbed by the moss the human had been standing on. Valterra eyed the option skeptically but accepted the evolution. He didn’t know how it would help his Dungeon but perhaps his creatures could make use of it somehow.

  Turning away from the shining moss chain, he let his gaze pan over the next options and he let his Core shine to communicate his happiness. It looked like one of his beetles had reached the next threshold and could now evolve. They all seemed rather useful too. His choice, however, was made the moment he looked at the last option. While it wasn’t perfectly suited for his Seventh Floor the Core was certain that it would be able to survive, which was more than he could say for the majority of his other Schema.

  He chose the Aestiran Ground Beetle and moved on to the next options, of which there were quite a few but after looking through them the Core realized that a few were repeats. That wasn’t such a bad thing in his mind as it meant that he would have multiple opportunities to receive Schema if multiple ones interested him. In total, there were about five different creatures to pick from and Valterra simply went to the top of the list and began.

  Valterra let out a chuckle that reverberated through his Dungeon. This day just kept getting better. He hadn’t had a lot of time to observe the garden with everything that had been going on but he knew that these were from there. In fact, when he looked over the five options he found that all of them were from the garden. That…probably shouldn’t be as big of a surprise as it was. After all, they had been there for some time and he had just claimed the whole thing a few days ago.

  Thinking of it that way, it was more of a surprise that more hadn’t evolved. As it was he had about five different rabbits that had reached the threshold so he would be able to get every option. Despite that, he took his time and made sure that there weren’t any differences, and a moment later he was glad he did so. Two of the creatures had a separate entry that replaced the Rabbit Brood Dam option.

  Valterra didn’t quite know what a dog was but a quick check with his help desk gave him a better idea of what to expect. They would be absolutely massive! ‘Well I suppose not necessarily to the outside world but in here they will be giants.’ His thoughts took on a whimsical tone as he dreamed of gigantic warrens of rabbits that would answer his call and the surprise of any would-be Delver that stumbled upon them.

  ‘Who knows, if the warrens get big enough maybe I could make them into an entire Dungeon Floor.’ It was in that frame of mind that he chose one of each option but he hesitated between choosing another buck or a male Aestiran Hare. He didn’t think it would matter all that much. He most likely would get the full Schema and could decide later but he thought it was fitting to have two right off the bat. So he chose another Aestiran Hare and moved on, content with the fact that he hadn’t really needed to struggle with the decision.

  Valterra found the next options quite interesting as they consisted of one entry each. The caterpillars they were evolving from seemed to evolve based on their diet, only diverging in their evolutionary pathway after the larval stage. All of which was fascinating and it made his job incredibly easy. The caterpillars had decided what they wanted to eat and the magical makeup of their bodies did the rest. The Core confirmed the choices and moved on.

  ‘Seriously! Did my father like fire or something? Is it just because we are in the north country?’ Valterra didn’t know the answers to his questions but something was going on. To be honest, he wasn’t complaining all that much. The more creatures with a fire affinity he could get his hands on were just fine in his opinion. He was able to get all of them so he did but he eyed the Extinguishing Firebug skeptically. He would have to make sure he was there when the bug awoke so that he could guide it to where it needed to go.

  Bar that he could always wait for it to die and then move its eggs to the Seventh Floor to hatch. After all, it wasn't like he wanted to start a forest fire, although from the description it didn’t seem like that would be much of an issue. Giving a Core’s approximation of a shrug, he made his choices and let the System bring the next options into focus.

  To the Core’s immense disappointment, there were only two chipmunks who had reached the threshold. He knew it was going to be a long shot that he would be able to get every Schema for every creature but a Core could dream. Actually, he couldn’t but that was beside the point. Valterra felt stuck as he looked at the three options.

  All three seemed like they would have interesting implications for his Dungeon going forward but he had a favorite. He had a few memories of taverns and the idea of a muscly chipmunk acting like one of the bouncers from his father’s memories was hilarious. He chose that one immediately after identifying both of the chipmunks’ internal desires. They were barely sentient but they were magical creatures, which already provided increased intelligence, albeit to a minor degree.

  Having chosen his enforcer, and he chuckled again at the thought, he moved to the next one and delved past the surface level. There wasn’t much there so he decided to go with his gut. His Dungeon thrived on conflict and when he looked at the Honeydew Aphids he had received there was mention of bees using them as well. That made his choice easier and he chose the Aphid Herder. The System would automatically choose the Mystic Chipmunk if nothing new came up later anyway.

  Valterra stared at the last entry with interest and not a little excitement. He hadn’t expected this turn of events but he would not turn it down. ‘Thank you, Father,’ the Core thought happily. Perhaps it was time for his High Danians to have a little competition.