Argul had used the last 7 days to plan his next floors. He mulled a bit over his options before he accepted them.

 Floor 2

• Natural caves, Luna (moon)
• Cave size: medium to large
• Eternal night
• Temperature: 25°C to 35° 
• Events:
• Tunneling
• Caves form randomly with a minimum distance of 50m and a maximum distance of 1000m between each other. Each cave has to be at least connected to one other cave in some way.
• Earthquake
• There is a chance of 5% that small localized earthquakes happen each month.
• Heatwave
• For 5 to 15 days, the temperature will increase to 45°C. This event has a chance of 10% to occur each month. 

He didn’t care to set a numerical value for the cave size. He wanted the caves to look natural even if they were most certainly not. A large cave roughly meant it could house up to 5 four-story buildings, which would have to be enough for the mana AI to work off.

His core moved again, but he was too occupied with something else to take notice this time. 

The space inside his entrance to the second floor shifted, and a second rip opened in the last cave. This one didn’t show the moon but was a swirling pool of different colors or at least as pool shaped as a rip in space can be.

Argul instinctively knew that one could choose if one wanted to go to Luna or his first floor and that it would add more options if new portals formed or someone had already been to a higher floor. 

He instinctively changed that so you could only go to a portal you have already been and planets would have a corresponding floor.

It still wasn’t the most crucial thing for Argul. Sure, he had a portal, but as far as he knew, his domain just brutally punched a hole through time and space to create it. 

But this time, space had shifted in HIS domain, and now he knew. 

Argul didn’t even understand one percent of the information, but it opened a lot of possibilities for him. 

He couldn’t just create fancier ways for entrances to lower floors, no, he could manipulate his portals, and if he really wanted to, he could become a space mage. 

And he had to be honest. If he could become a space mage without having to sell his soul to some demon or god, he totally would! No questions asked.

 Argul immediately got to work. He had to wait for his second floor to grow anyways. 

First, of course, he could just manipulate space with mana, but this would require a lot of power, power Argul didn’t have. 

He had to learn how to sense weaknesses and irregularities in space like he sensed mana. 

Chasing after the fickle feelings was so hard it took Argul’s all. He even had to take his WIS capabilities from the first and second floor, and with them, it still took him 10 days of constant work to finally achieve his breakthrough.

He got rewarded with a new notification.

You created a skill Sense space

You can sense space, its irregularities, traces of space magic, and weaknesses in space. This takes a lot of effort and concentration. Through more knowledge of space and much more training, this skill may become better and easier until you can use it passively. 

Completely spent, Argul gave back his WIS and continued to grow his second floor.

Alyra’s avatar immediately phased into existence, interrupting any possible rest. She was pleased and excited right now. “Mom! What you just did was insane! All the knowledge of your previous life is a drop of water compared to the ocean of information you and I just learned. Thank you!”

Argul sighed. He would really like to rest, but not giving his daughter attention felt wrong. 

Being as tired as he was, Argul just ignored the mom part. Might as well just embrace his new role. “I’m happy I could give you something new and complicated, though I don’t think I will be able to do anything other than training this skill for a while. I don’t have the power to manipulate space yet, and I’m mentally drained after that training session.”

He had been unable to sense anything more than space itself, and it had overwhelmed him. Argul didn’t even have an idea how one would see space.

Alyra clapped her hands together and smiled so radiantly at Argul, he hoped he wouldn’t get polluted by it. “That’s okay, mom, and thank you again! We have enough time to learn new things anyways, so you don’t have to stress about learning more for me.”

The Avatar turned away. “I’m still going to give you quests for it, though. You should still get rewards! Have a nice nap. If you want me to, I will wake you up when your second floor finishes growing.” 

New Quest: 

• Space Mage (1)
• Requirements: Sense Space
• You took the first step as a space mage. Learn or create something new related to space magic!

That had been nice of her, and Argul was thankful for her offer. “Thanks, Aly. If you could wake me up, that would be nice.” 

He looked at the quest and had an idea. “You might want to make progression quests such as this one a common thing that would motivate many people, and you could create special quests that need specific knowledge as ‘side quests.’”

Alyra’s eyes glittered, they literally glittered, in excitement, and her Avatar ran out of Argul’s field of view. “That’s an awesome idea!”

A few seconds later, a speech bubble hovered inside his view. “Good night, mom!”

Argul shook his head at her antics.

He slowly fell into his sleep-like tranquility, still perceiving the things happening in his domain while also resting his mind. After a day, his second floor finished growing, and Alyra woke him with an army of different colored wake-up messages.

Argul had to painfully close every single one of them before he could look at his second floor, only to see nothing. That might have something to do with there not being any light in his caves, but who knows?

He technically could feel where everything in his domain was, but he still wanted some form of light, and as the ever-creative mind he was, he went for glowing mushrooms.

Argul wanted them to be able to grow anywhere, but especially on the ceiling. They should be able to survive the heatwaves and be toxic because why not? 

He only created them at level one as they would attain level two naturally on his second floor anyway.

The mushrooms grew in his portal room. If Argul had to describe them, they looked like the ceiling had leaked pus at some point which then had started to dry out and glow. He already regretted his decision to go for mushrooms and was about to dub them pusshrooms when a warning sign popped up in his vision. “No, you don’t!!”

Argul sighed and thought about it for a bit before calling them muddy stars.

Maybe later, they would have some use other than looking horrible?

muddy stars

This is a small plant. These mushrooms grow in warm caves and especially in ceilings and dry spots. They glow orange and are highly toxic to most creatures.

During heat waves, their toxin denatures into multiple acidic substances, and they change their color to green.

Argul took a day off from creating anything else to train his sense space and to give his pus some time to grow. At the beginning of the day, he only managed to use sense space for about 5 seconds before he had to take a break. He could sometimes see white wisps where the space seemed to be weaker. His feeling said there was a structure to it, but it looked random to him. At the end of his training, he managed to use his skill for 15 seconds. 

Argul sadly didn’t learn anything else during his training other than that he did not see everything that was there. 

This realization seemed to spark an idea in him and the system.

Quest completed: 

• Space Mage (1)
• You realized that human senses limit your ability to perceive space. Int +1

 New Quest: 

• Space Mage (2)
• Requirements: Space Mage (1)
• Learn or create 3 new things related to space magic! You have realized that you might have more success if you go beyond the capabilities of the human senses.

 It was really nice to have someone confirm things.

Argul still had a little problem. How do you perceive something different than a human?

He could try to find some weird 7th sense, but that was unlikely to happen any time soon.

Maybe he should go with the theory of geometrical dimensions? 

They were somewhat more connected to space than anything else that came to his mind right now.

As a mana core, he might be able to perceive more than 3 dimensions, but as he didn’t know what it would be like to perceive more than 3, he would have to stumble on how to view more than 3 dimensions through sheer luck.

Wait, he did know what something 4 dimensional was supposed to look like, but he had no idea how to do it.

He could try to only perceive 2 dimensions. In his opinion, that was a lot easier and might lead to a result. 

He noted that idea on his mental try-out sheet and looked at his second floor.

The muddy stars had spread a lot. 

Anywhere he looked, far and wide, up and down in nearly every cave and tunnel, there was at least one of the damn shrooms.

The caves were of a similar gray material to the one on his first floor. The difference to his first floor was that now he knew how to conjure water and banish it and had a stream flowing through a cave occasionally.

The place around the streams was always devoid of any mushrooms as they didn’t like wet spots.

Argul initiated the mission WAM (Wet As Moss). 

Moss was a good option, in his opinion, because the plant liked wet and humid areas. He added the ability to distribute water, enabling it to grow further away from the streams.

Some kind of red moss grew near the stream Argul was looking at. It had a moist sheen to it that made one know that your boots would get soaked if you stepped on it.

Sadly it was not a soft moss and looked more like the bristly type.

Otherwise, it didn’t seem to be all that special, so Argul identified it before he decided on a temporary name.

Plant

This is a small plant. This moss likes to grow in warm enclosed places with access to water. It soaks up water and heats it to accelerate the evaporation process. This heightens the water concentration in the air and ultimately makes the whole place a suitable growing place for the moss.

Nothing else stood out, so Argul called it red bristle moss.

During the time it took to get his mana back, Argul improved his magic missile absentmindedly, moving some of his circuitry-like runes around and even adding new ones to make the spell more efficient. 

It occupied his mind while waiting and prevented him from overthinking his existence.

What he was going to create next wouldn’t be anything special, just a more or less ordinary plant, but he needed this plant for one of his planned animals.

It looked the same as a peace lily with dark red leaves and a violet blossom instead of the white one.

Actually, except for the form, it looked nothing like a peace lily, but who cares about these small details? Argul certainly did not.

He did not need it to have a unique ability but was surprised that it took the role of some kind of barrier between the muddy stars and his red bristle moss.

Ironically the plant had taken the peace in peace lily quite seriously.

Violet peace lily

This is a mid-size plant. This plant grows in humid, warm caves with some illumination. They are often found growing between muddy stars and red bristle moss, stopping the two plants from fighting each other for more room to grow.

After that, Argul took another day to train his ‘sense space.’ 

The longest he managed to keep the skill active this time was about 50 seconds, but it took all of his attention and concentration, so there sadly wouldn’t be any more experimentation for a while. 

After training, he rested for another day to refresh and rest his mind.

The plants had spread around the cave system somewhat. It was enough for him to create his first animal for the floor. 

Argul wanted to create a cricket half the size of a human fist. It would be dark red to black, and its diet would be moss and lily for now. 

He created 10 at once and identified one.

Cave cricket

This is a small animal. These crickets live in dark and humid caves. Their chirping masks their position as the sound rebounds from the cave walls and ceiling. They can use their mana to jump really high and far and can use their wings to glide.

They immediately started to make a racket, and compared to the silence that had been there a moment ago, it was noisy as hell. 

He waited for two hours, watching the crickets, before changing his view to a cave containing only muddy stars. 

It was time for the second animal, giving them time to procreate before he introduced a predator.

Argul wanted a worm. Every good fantasy cave had worms, so there really was no option around a worm for him. 

He already knew that he would be disgusted and regret his choice, but that was simply unavoidable. Argul would just have to live with it.

He intended for the worms to move around in the ground - like real worms, imagine! - but they would have to come out to feed on the mushrooms. 

The worms would be as long and thick as a human arm to make them adequately appalling to people.

Argul had to be honest. They looked as disgusting as only a large dark brown mass of flesh can look. 

The fact is, if he ever managed to create an avatar for himself, he wasn’t going to be looking for them. He identified one.

Large cave digger

This is a mid-sized animal. This worm lives in the ground around caves and uses mana to move in stone. They only come out to feed on the muddy stars or other mushrooms and often remain hidden from prying eyes.

Though they only feed on plants, they have dangerous sharp teeth and a large mouth for self-defense. In life-threatening situations, they spray the toxin of the muddy stars out of their mouth and try to flee.

He had to ask Alyra for her opinion now, just to annoy her a bit. “What do you think of them, Alyra?”

She looked as disgusted as he had anticipated. “You knew I would say disgusting, so why did you even ask?”

Argul had to agree, he knew she would find them disgusting, and they were disgusting. 

Did he already mention how absolutely disgusting these worms were? No? Well, good thing he did it now!

He tried not to have to answer her question. “Do you want anything special for the last two plants?”

Alyra immediately got distracted. “Make them part of the camps you established. One that takes water out of the air to make it more arid for the shrooms and one that holds the water in the air creating a dense and humid fog for the cave moss.”

Argul was happy. His mission had been successful. “Noted, those are some nice ideas!”

Alyra looked at him as if he was planning something evil. “What type of predator are you going to make?”

Argul grinned in his mind. “I’m going to make a spider.”

He knew full well she wouldn’t like the answer. Alyra gave him a look.

His tone got gleeful. “A large spider.” 

As long as they didn’t have bodies, he was safe, so he had to use the opportunities sometimes. 

Argul checked his quests before returning to waiting for his mana to regenerate.

Quest completed: 

• Don’t eat that! (2)
• You created 5 animals, don’t make it too crowded! 
• Animals are more likely to procreate in the first 3 days after creation. Str +1, Int +1

New quest: 

• Don’t eat that! (3)
• Requirements: Don’t eat that! (2) | floor 5
• Create 25 animals

A new cave system formed on the first floor to house the entrance to the second one. The old cave system remained, which was good as muddy stars were now on the first floor.

After waiting another hour, Algur created what looked a lot like a flower with a wooden stalk and thorns. 

That was already the second flower with a wooden stalk he had created. Was he doing something wrong?

Anyways the stalk was a bit thicker than what a flower usually would have. 

The petals were red thick stiff leaves. What were now leaves looked a bit like the blossom of a rose. 

One of them, let’s call them false roses, had a branch with its own leaves at the end. They were beautiful compared to the muddy stars.

False roses

This is a small plant. This little tree grows in warm caves but also loves the light. Why it would ever evolve to thrive in caves even though it loves the light, nobody knows. Nature sure does the weirdest things. False roses take water out of the air instead of the ground to make the air arider and thus making it more likely for muddy stars to grow near them.

So it was a tree, not a herb or something else.

At least people wouldn’t know that he was the one creating all those weird plants.

Argul already planned the next plant while he waited. 

It was going to have a thick trunk that was about 30 cm large. The trunk would be notably thicker on the bottom than on the top, and from the top fern-like leaves would grow in every direction. 

After nearly two hours, he created the plant precisely as he intended. 

The stalk was dark brown, and the leaves became more gray the further away from the trunk they got. Otherwise, they were the same red as the bristle moss, which made the color transition a bit odd.

Mist fern

This is a mid-sized plant. This fern grows in warm, humid caves, especially around red bristle moss. It holds water in the air to create a really thick fog around it, making it even more humid around this fern. It is unknown whether the one who named the fern didn’t know the difference between fog and mist or realized that mist fern just sounds that much better. Hopefully, it was the latter.

Of course, Argul was fully aware of the difference between fog and mist and just put a lot of thought behind it (cough). 

He had no idea, but no one will ever know, at least as long as they didn’t ask him while he was drunk. 

As Argul mused about hiding his secret, the fog had already formed around his ferns.

He returned to finish his second floor and moved to a primarily empty cave near his crickets. 

His spiders were going to be the size of a human head. While the children will be fluffy and hairy, the adults will have less hair and chitin armor. 

Of course, as they are spiders, they have eight legs and a bunch of eyes. Argul’s spiders won’t build nets but, instead, be able to jump really well. 

After creating them, he nearly lost sight of them, as they were black, and immediately hid themselves.

Lunarian cave stalker

This is a mid-sized animal. These spiders live and hunt in caves. They are excellent ambush predators equipped with venom, heat vision, the ability to blend in with the shadows, and a swift jump. The only reason prey would ever know what hit it is that they wanted it to. 

When Lunarian cave stalkers find something they don’t know, they make sure their prey knows it isn’t alone. Based on the creature’s reaction, they can gauge if they caught a threat or a meal. Beware, for they also eat threats.

Argul looked at them sheepishly. “Maybe I overdid it a bit with the spiders.”

Alyra’s avatar appeared before him and shot him an affronted look. “Not maybe. You definitely overdid it. You will likely find them on every floor in some variation.”

Did Argul really care? No! “Whoopsie?”

She crossed her arms and looked sternly at him. “Not accepted! If you ever manage to create an avatar, I’m going to punch you for the spiders. Also, I’m going to make the avatar a quest.”

Argul just sighed. Hopefully, she would forget his punishment as fast as he would.

New Quest: 

• To walk the world
• You might be immortal, but you can’t freely move around and interact with the world around you. As long as you cannot walk amongst mortals, your ability to enjoy the world is greatly limited. So go forth and create an avatar!

 You finished the floor!

Level up!