John decided to explore for better materials, having stronger golems provided a better defence then just having a deeper dungeon. Although if his dungeon was deep enough, until the air becomes dense and heavy with his mana and oxygen becomes rare, then that will also be a excellent defence against living things. But he probably won't be able to dig so deep anytime soon so finding for ores or minerals nearby to test his theory on advanced golem spell should be a better bet….but before that there was something else he needed to do. With his 31 golems, John prepared another ambush and cast the [advanced lure] spell, it was time to settle his craving for more life and eat !!. With a mixture of anticipation and hunger he waited to see what new creature might come into his dungeon. To his slight disappointment, instead of a semi humanoid being, it was just another animal that dropped in from the ceiling entrance. The animal walked carefully on all fours with heavy armor on its body and a otherwise normal appearance. Its movement was slower then the previous animals that entered his dungeon, probably due to all that heavy armor...this looks like an easy ambush. John waited for the animal to enter the shop where he casted the lure spell, then he ordered his golems to attack. The animal was busy exploring the shop when it heard footsteps and turned around in surprise, only to find a group of golems blocking the shop entrance. The animal hissed threateningly and opened its mouth to spray out a stream of acid which hit 5 of his golems. Normally this would be a very debilitating attack on a living being as the pain of feeling your body melting is enough to cause severe shock, unconsciousness and even death depending on where the acid hits. The animal watched with cold eyes as its acid spray melted into the golems bodies, causing bubbling brown liquid to pour down from rapidly expanding holes on their soil bodies. However at the next moment its eyes widen in unpleasant surprise as the golems kept moving forward as if it was nothing. The animal let loose an alarmed cry and overtaxed its body to spray out a even greater amount of acid. This time afew golems stumbled to the ground as parts of their legs melted off or their body melted too much until it became unstable and couldn't keep their balance.
Despite knocking down afew golems, the animal still gave a alarmed cry. For its whole life this acid spray had almost always caused its enemies to flee in either pain or fear. Those that did not run away either tried their best to attack it with the fastest speed possible or they were already dead. This was the first time it was facing enemies that continued walking so slowly after being sprayed twice by acid. The animal knew it was in for a tough fight and retreated backwards in uncertainty. It looked up at the hole in the ceiling and suddenly desperately wished it could crawl its way up again. The animal forced itself to spray all its remaining acid on the golems, however to its dismay, apart from afew golems that fell, the rest of the golems were still coming and it had no where else to go. Feeling desperate now, it tried running to break through the golems but its slow speed and normal physical strength was easily stopped by the group of golems. Trembling to itself as the golems surrounded it, the frightened animal could only use its armoured front paws to cover its head and roll itself into a protective armoured ball. John was delighted when he saw the animal roll up, he watched with a unholy passion as the animal was pounded to death by his golems. Hearing the animal shrieking in pain, whimpering in fear as his golems heartlessly kept hurting it, John felt a sense of guilt for killing this innocent animal, if only there was another better way to grow stronger but there wasn't! He felt his resolve falter, maybe he really is a monster and he should just let the world destroy him. John felt it was painful and depressing to think about himself. As soon as the soul appeared, John sucked it into his crystal and happily lost himself in a world of bliss for awhile. Forgetting all his troubles and just enjoying the pleasure.
After enjoying his happy time devouring the soul, John got back to work with a renewed vigour, seemingly forgetting all of his earlier doubts. He sent 29 of his golems out in different directions to look for materials, leaving behind only the 2 female golems to guard his chamber. With nothing left to do he refined more golems using the soil from the 6th floor. He also cycled his attention between the 29 golems just to see if there is anything interesting and make sure everything is ok. The 29 golems dug through lots of soil and in his mini map he can see 29 tiny tunnels extending out from his dungeon. Eventually the tunnels left his lighted up areas and entered the grey areas of his minimap. This grey areas are still within his domain, its like the undeveloped outskirts and the mana concentration there is very low. His golems slowed down once they entered the grey area because there was lesser mana to power their movements. As for the dark areas in his minimap, those represented areas totally outside his influence with zero dungeon mana to power the golems. More grey areas started to become explored as his golems tunneled through and John hoped for the best. During this time he also created 4 more golems which he sent directly below to explore the earth underneath the 6th floor. Days passed with no results and John changed directions for golems that reached the edge of his grey area. He was still creating more golems but he no longer sent those out to explore, preferring to keep them working on the 6th floor. John wondered if he could get gastric from not eating for so long, the urge to eat was already troubling him everyday but he kept it suppressed . Too bad he only had 5 new golems + 2 bodyguard golems in the dungeon and didn't feel safe enough to lure in another creature.
After many days of searching he still didn't find anything useful. Feeling disheartened and troubled by constant hunger, John recalled back all his 29 golems from the grey areas, this exploring idea wasn't working out and he will instead just dig further down while eating more creatures to grow stronger. The various golems slowly made their way back to the dungeon as John impatiently waited for their slow asses. Once enough golems came back for there to be 28 golems in the dungeon, John stationed 20 in ambush and another 8 to reinforce his crystal room. Then he casted a [Basic Lure] spell, desperate for some bloody action and another soul to eat. He knew he shouldn't be thinking like this, but he told himself that it was all just to get stronger faster. The lure spell succeed in luring in another animal and he excitedly ordered his golems to punch the frightened squeaking animal until it became a silent bloody corpse. Seeing the pitiful soul exit its battered and lifeless body, John briefly felt a flash of guilt for killing yet another innocent animal but it was all necessary for him to get stronger ! Thanks for the meal ! John shouted in his mind as he gave in to his monster urges and sucked in the struggling soul into his crystal body. Awhile later, John came down from his mental high and started reasoning with himself to lessen the guilt. He hadn't eaten in days when its normal for humans to eat meat every day. In the past, ancient humans also had to hunt and kill for their food to survive, its just that in modern times the food industry killls the animals somewhere you can't see and then deliver guilt free neat packages of meat to you.
John is simply returning back to ancient times, like ancient humans he had to kill for his own food. Ahhhh, John feel much less guilty now. In fact he hadn't eaten in days so its ok if he ate more today. Casting another [Basic Lure], he waited again for the next easy meal. However a while passed and still no animal dared to come in, was it the lingering scent of death ?. John dispelled the [Basic Lure] and since his mana was nearly full he created 3 more golems before casting another [Improved Lure], maybe he will finally attract a demi human this time?. However to his slight disappointment, it was another easy animal that came in. After killing the animal, gaining another smart golem and absorbing its soul, John started thinking of some questions. What if there was no demi humans living nearby ? What's the difference between [Basic Lure] and [Improved Lure] ? More power, more range ? John was given the spells for free and so far he just used the spells without trying to understand how they work, maybe he should spend some time trying to understand his spells. And theres still the unknown abilities he should have and the rabbit souls wandering around his dungeon and those corpses that never rot.... Wait a minute, can he get the rabbit souls to return to their corpses??