With the difference between floors, the four were expecting to see sothing worse as they headed to the third floor. But instead, they found that there were a fair number of tars around. "New at!" One tar shouted as the four ca down the stairs.
"Look at that, I didn't think we would see new people coming down so late in the day.' The other tar that spoke laughed before sitting back down.
"How'd you like the rats!? Were they fun!?" The group of tars laughed again.
"Is this normal for all of you?" Clark kept himself calm when he asked out loud in general. He wasn't sure what the tars were doing here at all.
Don't worry kid. This is a journey back up. We always stop here to wait for the rest of our squads. Let introduce ourselves, we are the silver wing group. We operate in various dungeons. This month we have a contract to gather tunneling armadillo shells from the sixth floor.
What about you? School trip?" The man that spoke had so gray hair but was still young enough to be running around a lot.
"You could call it that. Need real life experience sowhere." Clark didn't give much away and the man clearly saw it. He nodded approvingly. "In that case you are just like my son and daughter. They will be entering an academy soon so I have been working extra hard. They are training with their mother now.
Maybe you will et them when the academy tournant happens in a few weeks." The man laughed as he waved off any of the other tars that seed like they were going to get ready to leave.
"We will be resting here for a while before we head to the surface. Can't get away with resting the whole night if we return now. Just be careful. From the looks of you, you will have trouble with the fourth floor. It has so black ants. They have lived there for a few years now and are still a small colony.
But they are annoying." The man went and sat down but there was a warmth around him. He had so good charisma for sure.
"Thank you for the warning. I assu you say the fourth floor because you have cleared this floor?" Clark could tell that the third floor was like a basic basent area. Many basic hos in a city had a basent. This first room looked just like a normal family ho basent. That ant that the dungeon would have connected many of them the sa as the storage areas of the second floor.
"You're right. Smart kid. We handled the pesky rats and roaches around here. Not many since the nest was cleared by a larger group a few months ago." the man went silent as he watched the four leave. The rest of the tars chatted and made jokes about the young ones. It was an overall pleasant experience.
"That was a very good opportunity. Because we t them we might have the chance to work with them in the future. So tar groups create small organizations. It is not as large as Isa's older brother but they gather materials too. But they take contracts for specific materials." Maria had learned a little about these things. She had to so that she could support the entire group.
"Good to know. I tried to be respectful until I knew that they were not going to cause trouble. I assu their hunt was good. They were happy." Clark was sure that this was the case. Many tars would not show that much energy after a hunt if they had not gotten more than what they ca for.
"You both were fine seeing them? One of them had a lightning wolf standing behind them!" Brad had a worried look on his face. He couldn't believe that Clark and Maria had been unaffected seeing the powerful beast behind one of the tars. The powerful beast that had just been there watching and not moving.
"They are crazy Brad. That is why. No one normal would be alright seeing them." Reese had to agree. He wanted to be powerful but that didn't an he didn't fear those with ten tis as much strength as him. It was easy to tell that one strike from that wolf's claws would break his partner in to pieces.
"They were stronger and we did see their beasts. But Maria and I have faced death before. Both of us know that we can die even to the weakest beast. Why should we show fear?" This was a good lesson. Clark also knew that the tars were just ssing around. If they actually had negative intentions, Devi would have reacted in so way.
All beasts had so sixth senses that ca with instincts. Danger would alert them much more easily than a human's instincts would alert them.
Brad and Reese just shared amazed looks before they continued to follow the path through the third floor. They were thankful for an easy floor. They had a feeling that Clark was going to push them, even more, when they reached the next set of stairs.
"If they are worried about black ants then that ans we should be too. The black ants are an annoying beast species that lives in large colonies. Once they set down roots, it's nearly impossible to beat them. With enough ti they can populate an entire dungeon." Clark and just about anyone had heard of black ants.
The black ant was a beast that was considered very dangerous but also very peaceful. They would only defend their territory if they were attacked or their nest was invaded. But otherwise, they were nice and would even lead so people to water. It was like a wild dog that cared for other living bearings.
The problem with them was that they rembered accents. They would attack anything that caused them a problem and share that information with the entire colony. It would make the tars have a hard ti. Especially if they didn't eliminate the queen causing the colony to temporarily collapse.
The reason it was temporary was simple. Any worker could grow in to a queen if they were not suppressed by a queen. That also ant that they were a very hard to grow species. The workers had limited potential if they couldn't beco a queen. Although, there were a few famous tars that had grown a colony and defeated powerful opponents. But it took a great deal of resources to make that happen.
Therefore, the black ant was not a normal beast choice.
"Be respectful of the ants and they will be respectful too." Clark stepped on to the stairs and imdiately noticed the large fist sized black ant newborns on the ceiling. They were not quite workers but still exploring the floor. They had stopped on the stairs because that was as far as they were allowed to scout.
All four of them shivered, feeling the many eyes on them. But the ants did nothing. The fourth floor was clearly going to be a trial of ntal strength. Clark pushed down the stairs and found that the room was similar to the last floor. The average stone and dirt basent that didn't have anything in it.
Here and there they could hear a black ant but it seed far off. The floor was clearly well traveled with footprints on the dirt floors leading one way. The ant tracks also circled about here and there without issue.
"Umm, what do they eat?" Brad managed to get this out in a soft voice.
"Tars that fight them or the beasts that make their way to this floor when they shouldn't. But if I rember right, so ants grow grubs and worms to eat. Why?" Clark glanced at Brad and noticed that the three had stopped to look down a passageway branching from the one they were following.
Inside the passageway was a pale white group. It was the size of a small wooden carriage and could easily block the passageway if it ate more. There were larger dog sized black ants around it but they were not attacking it.
'cattle worm- uncommon
The cattle worm originally lives in the fecal matter of animals. Sotis ant colonies of many varieties will raise them to cut down their waste chambers. They can also be eaten by the ants to replenish their nutrients.
The cattle worm has no growth potential. It will one day tamorphosis in to a cattle beetle that is known to attempt to eat red cows. They often are hunted by farrs in the spring when they co out of hibernation to breed. They are also…'
"It is harmless. Ignore it and let the ants dote on their composter." Clark kept them moving. He did admit to himself that the large grub was gross. It would stick in his mind for a decent amount of ti if he didn't have to be so focused on where they were going. Yet, he still wondered how smart the ants were.
Surely there was a higher intelligence level since they could raise food for themselves and even take over dungeons at tis.
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