"Are those... deer?" Rilith asked, stopping mid-step, her eyes narrowing.
Indeed, a group of deer grazed quietly a few ters ahead. Their coats were not the expected brown but a shimring deep blue, glowing faintly with bioluminescent veins that pulsed like rivers of moonlight beneath their skin. As one of them lifted its head, it blinked slowly, revealing eyes that glead with the sa unnatural luminescence.
"They look like they stepped out of a painter’s dream," Romina whispered, awe in her tone.
Velara took a defensive stance, instinctively cautious. "Or a nightmare. Those things aren’t natural."
"They’re not as I explaine before," Shennong said, stepping forward. "It’s the Lunamarite. The mineral’s been embedding itself into the ecosystem ever since I began shaping this dungeon. It’s rewriting nature’s rules."
"They’re so calm," Yenissa observed, brushing her gorgeous hair back as one of the blue deer tilted its head and stared at them. "Mutated but peaceful. For now at least."
As the group walked past the deer, the creatures watched them without moving, their glowing antlers flickering like torches in the dark.
Further in, a squirrel darted across the mossy path—only it wasn’t like any squirrel they’d seen before. Its tail shimred with specks of blue light, and when it scrambled up a tree, it left behind a faint trail of glowing dust.
"Adorable!" Romina squealed. "Can I catch one? Please?"
"I wouldn’t," Shennong said, his expression grim. "That dust it leaves behind is probably toxic or so kind of defense chanism because I noticed other creatures are vary of it."
It doesn’t just change their appearance—so of the creatures have gained entirely new traits and abilities. It’s truly wondrous.
The squirrel paused on a branch, its luminous tail coiling like a tendril. It squeaked a sharp, musical tone before vanishing deeper into the branches, leaving behind faint sparkling motes in its wake.
They passed a gentle brook, water trickling peacefully under a thin curtain of vines. Below the surface, fish darted about—except their scales had transford into translucent mbranes, making them nearly invisible except for their glowing blue skeletons.
"Look," Cassandra pointed, crouching beside the stream. "You can see their bones. That’s... horrifyingly beautiful."
Shennong stepped beside her. "It’s not just appearance. Those fish generate their own light now to lure insects. So even use it to communicate."
"Wouldn’t that attract predators, too?" Velara asked.
"Exactly," Shennong grinned. "They’re faster now, so they can escape if it attracts predators."
Romina knelt beside the stream, staring in wonder. "I cna’t believe how this mineral changed all of these animals."
"Correction," Yenissa said. "Shennong is partly responsible for this."
Just beyond the brook, a rustle in the underbrush caught their attention. A pair of deep-blue rabbits hopped out—though these had small glowing stripes down their backs, and their ears were longer, with bioluminescent patterns like veins glowing in soft pulses.
"Oh no," Rilith said imdiately, feeling the danger. "I don’t trust cute things in dungeons."
The rabbits paused mid-hop, staring at the group. Then one opened its mouth—not to bite, but to release a series of glowing chirps that hovered in the air as sound-ford light.
"Did it just sing?" Velara asked.
Shennong nodded. "They communicate in musical frequencies. I’ve been observing them. The Lunamarite altered their brains but it is dangerous because it can easily destroy your ear drums if you are weak."
"Crazy rabbits. What’s next?" Cassandra asked.
"Slis," Shennong said.
And like fate answering a cue, several blue slis oozed into view ahead of them, their bodies jelly-like and transparent, glowing from within like lanterns.
"Ugh, slis," Romina said, stepping back. "I hate how they jiggle."
"These don’t just jiggle," Shennong said. "Watch."
One of the slis pulsed and then flashed suddenly, casting bright light into the dim forest. The group shielded their eyes.
"Blinding light?" Yenissa said. "That’s... new."
"They store light inside them like a capacitor and then release it as a defense chanism," Shennong said proudly. "They’re my children, in a way."
"Don’t ever say that again," Velara muttered.
Soon after, a growl rumbled in the distance. Goblins erged—blue-skinned, lanky, and glowing faintly in the joints. Their eyes shimred in the dark like lanterns.
"Hostile?" Rilith asked, stepping forward, blade ready.
The goblins hissed and backed away into the shadows.
"Uncertain," Shennong said. "They’ve beco more reclusive. The Lunamarite enhances intelligence too, so they avoid direct conflict unless provoked and I think soon they will be the most inteliigent creatures in this wild."
"That’s even more dangerous," Cassandra said. "They’ll start laying traps."
"So already have," Shennong replied, casually.
Velara let out a low sigh. "You’re building an entire ecosystem here."
"I’m nurturing one," he corrected with a grin.
Wolves ca last. Lean, elegant, deadly-looking wolves with deep navy fur and glowing lines across their flanks and spines. Their eyes shone like cold moons, and as they walked, their paws left faint traces of light.
The lead wolf stared at them but didn’t snarl or growl. It simply watched. Then it howled, a low, echoing sound that made the very air shimr.
"That’s not just a howl," Cassandra said. "That’s magic. I felt it."
"They’ve begun to develop elental resonance," Shennong said, voice low with excitent. "Lunamarite is unpredictable but not random. It encourages adaptation. These wolves are becoming sothing else entirelyand to think these are just kids."
"What?" Cassandra was flabbergasted because the wolf they noticed was almost as big as a normal one.
"Yes! Even I’m surprised by their growth, but I think these wolves will be really dangerous once they’re fully grown. I almost died back in a real Lunamarite bio to a pack of these wolves—but they weren’t as big as ours. So, I ca to the conclusion that evolution due to Lunamarite isn’t the sa everywhere, and other factors also play an important role in a creature’s evolution."
"They’re beautiful," Yenissa whispered. "Terrifying, but beautiful."
"Just like this place," Cassandra added.
Eventually, they reached a break in the trees—a natural clearing with glowing mushrooms and pale grass waving under a breeze that didn’t co from the surface. In the center stood a dark circular structure of stone, with a wide staircase ascending into the surface.
"This," Shennong said, turning to them, "is what I wanted to show you."
Yenissa blinked. "This staircase? This is the point of entry?"
"Yes," Shennong smiled. "The first floor begins here. From the normal forest... near Percival Barony."
Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "You are going to open this to people?"
"Exactly," Shennong replied, turning to her. "This is going to be a public entrance. I’m opening this dungeon to adventurers. Anyone who wants a taste of danger and glory will co here."
Cassandra crossed her arms. "And I’m going to profit from this, I assu? I can imagine how big the influx of people will be once the news about this new dungeon goes viral. I have seen lands flourish just because of a simple, small dungeons because most of the ti they have rare materials."
"You’ll beco richer than you ever imagined," Shennong said. "Resting rights, exploration fees, trade routes, monster materials, rare herbs—your Barony will beco a central hub of power and comrce and to be honest...I don’t think you will be a baron after this because if I guess correctly, you should at least be a count."
"And Shennong?" she asked, tilting her head. "What do you get out of this?"
He smiled, a spark of amusent in his eyes. "I get to watch."
Romina blinked. "What?"
Shennong turned and walked toward the staircase, gazing down the steps as if they led to a dream. "I get to see how humanity responds to sothing truly alive. A dungeon not filled with predictable challenges, but a living ecosystem that changes, grows, mutates. Those who survive will beco stronger than anyone before them and show more intreseting things."
Cassandra narrowed her eyes. "You and Yenissa were scouting before this, right? Near the Barony?"
He nodded. "We went around every supposed dungeon in the vicinity. Useless. All of them. Just patches of rare herbs or nests of ordinary beasts. No real challenge."
"This one has a purpose?" Velara asked.
"Oh yes," Shennong said. "It’s mine."
He turned to face the group, the blue light casting shadows across his face. "This will be the first real dungeon in this land. A place of transformation. Of rebirth."
"Or death," Rilith added.
He shrugged. "That’s part of the ga."
Cassandra looked back at the forest—still shimring, still glowing, alive in a way that defied reason. Then she looked again at the stairs.
"It’s dangerous," she said quietly.
"That’s the point," Shennong replied.
Yenissa stepped up beside him. "And fun, apparently."
Shennong’s grin widened. "Exactly. Let’s make a legend, shall we?"
With those words, Cassandra returned to her barony and began arranging everything necessary to make the appearance of this new dungeon go viral, fully aware of what was to co. anwhile, Shennong and his group decided to add more creatures to the Moonlight Forest—not animals this ti, but more intelligent monsters, starting with orcs, who were infamous for their violence, known to kidnap both won and n, breed them, and feast on their flesh.
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