Chapter 23
How could a new dungeon already know how to shield its thoughts with Soul magic? Oh well, better just push through.
both
I really need to figure out why I''m feeling this way. I was never this sentimental in the past, and I still currently don''t care about the life and death of any other sentient. We need to do this test now.
Hartjenstein family, so I''ll just read the rest of his memories before sending him...” Dorn said, while once again trailing off.
“What is it this time?” Kiera asked.
“Fuck. He had a contingency plan,” Dorn said.
“Which was?” Kiera prompted.
“He told the drow that there''s a celestial tree here in this dungeon. They will be coming for sure.”
“Is that bad?” Kiera asked.
“Yes, Kiera, it''s very bad. We''re going to have a war on our hands, soon, and I don''t know how much I''ll be able to help.”
***
After telling her that they would discuss this more in the morning, Dorn had sent Kiera back to her room to sleep for the night. Emelia came flying out of invisibility. She said, “Which do you want to talk about first?”
“What do you mean,” asked Dorn.
“The test with Kiera, the plans for the Hartjenstein family, or the drow,” answered Emelia.
“Uggh, when did life become so complicated. Let''s discuss the drow first,” said Dorn.
“Okay, so a bunch of infernal-worshiping dark elves are coming to this dungeon to destroy a celestial tree, and will most likely kill off everyone else who lives here while they are at it. Plans?”
“I really can''t do all that much, since the fighting will have to be done outside my dungeon. I suppose I could try to create a large number of Jerrys to assist the fight. But that''ll bleed me of a lot of DP''s that I won''t recoup in the war. And then I''ll have a bunch of Jerrys with no purpose.”
“Two things. First, you have control of the King of Khal through your link with Friedrich, right?” asked Emelia.
“Yes, I do,” answered Dorn.
“So, use the King to rally troops and adventurers to fight the drow when they arrive. That''s more useful than releasing the King so he can go fight a hopeless war against Ilsan,” said Emelia.
Dorn responded, “That''s a good idea. Plus, the Kendran army should be arriving before or during the fight, which should help. They will want to clear out any forces impeding their path towards ownership of the dungeon.”
“That''s true. And my second idea is, you''re currently sitting on a massive influx of DP''s in the form of your new soul-bound mage. Which leads nicely into asking what you plan on doing about the Hartjenstein family.”
“Simple, I''ll use Friedrich to lure the rest of the family here, before soul-bonding all of them. I''ll then use them as slaves or kill them off for the DP''s. I haven''t decided yet,” said Dorn.
“Well that''s pleasantly ruthless of you, good thinking,” praised Emelia.
“Yes, I thought so myself,” Dorn said proudly.
“Well then, what about the subject you''re avoiding?” asked Emelia.
“I''m not avoiding it; I''m just giving it some more thought,” said Dorn.
“Well, what happened when you dissolved the beast core in her?” asked Emelia.
“My… urges went away. It didn''t change how I feel about her, though,” said Dorn.
“Oh gods, I can''t believe I''m giving a dungeon advice about women. Don''t you think these, ugh, urges, are why you started liking her in the first place?” said Emelia.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Probably. But what am I supposed to do now?” asked Dorn.
“Well you should have left her without a core and tried to get over it. You''re a dungeon for fuck''s sake.”
“Well, no, fuck that. I''m a dungeon now, so I''m going to do whatever feels good. If I want to do something, then I''ll do it,” said Dorn.
“Oh that''s a great plan,” Emelia said sarcastically. “What if tomorrow, it feels good to stop killing adventurers? Or to have a monster break?”
“Well that''s stupid. Those things would have negative consequences on my dungeon. How will being with Kiera change anything,” Dorn asked.
“How can you be so blind? Let''s see, what happens if she runs into trouble on a floor? Are you going to save her?” asked Emelia.
“Well, I''d probably...um...” Dorn articulated, thinking about the problem.
“And if she''s around other people? And they see a dungeon giving preferential treatment to a human? Is this really a can of worms you want to open?” asked Emelia.
“How about this. I''ll join her party as another adventurer. I''m only a C6 rank adventurer now, so technically I''m weaker than she is. I can bring my expertise and knowledge to the party, and with just that, I''ll be able to guide her safely through the dungeon,” reasoned Dorn.
“Alright, then turn over complete control of the dungeon to your unconscious core, so you don''t have an unfair advantage,” said Emelia.
“No, that''s ridiculous. What if something drastic happens in the dungeon, like the Earl comes to the same floor that we''re on or the dark elves show up?” said Dorn.
“So you do plan on providing an unfair advantage to her team!” Emelia accused.
“There''s nothing wrong with providing an unfair advantage. As long as no one knows that I''m a dungeon. It''ll be the same advantage that an experienced dungeon diver who has lost his cultivation can provide.”
“Fine,” Emelia said, “we''ll do it your way, as you''re the dungeon; after all, you''re in charge. I just hope you don''t regret it. If you''re going to do this, you''ll need to learn to split your mind. That way, if a crisis arrives, you won''t have to tell your team in the middle of a floor that you need to leave for ''something important''.”
“Alright, how do I do that?” asked Dorn.
“You''re a dungeon; you are already very good at multitasking. That''s how you are able to track so much of what is going on in your dungeon at the same time. You''ve even shown the mental exercises to Kiera that allow you to protect the mind. Instead of imagining one hollow sphere, however, you need to imagine there are two,” instructed Emelia.
“Alright, I''ve done as you said. There are two spheres in my mind. But nothing''s happening,” said Dorn.
“Now, you must imagine your consciousness as a formless gas, floating around inside and outside your two spheres,” Emelia said.
This took Dorn a bit longer, but as a previous master Soul mage, it wasn''t anything too difficult. When he said, “I''ve got it,” Emelia responded with “Of course you have; how silly of me to think it might take you the same amount of time as a normal being.”
“Stop being facetious. What''s next?” asked Dorn.
“Condense the consciousness gas into a liquid and pour half into each sphere. Then your work will be complete,” said Emelia.
Doing as she said, Dorn suddenly had the same sense of vertigo he had gotten when he had first awoken his Dungeon Avatar. He said, “Well, I can focus on two things at once, but neither very well. And I feel like I''m drunk.”
“You need to get good enough at this that you can have one body fool others into thinking you''re normal, while your second body can lead a fight against another dungeon. For this is what you might have to do at some point, if you join an adventurer party,” instructed Emelia.
At this point, Dorn started to practice. Luckily, with his consciousness split, he was able to do two things at once. He instructed one of his minds to start practicing the unabridged form of Dragon Cultivation. His other mind started using his body to practice sword fighting, as a simple attempt at training his mind to do two things at once. It was always incredibly difficult to cultivate without meditating, but at last, Dorn found it slightly easier with his mind separated.
“Can any being split their mind like this?” asked Dorn.
“Yes, but none can do so as successfully as dungeons. And certainly, none can cultivate without meditating like a dungeon can. And so, it doesn''t really serve a purpose for other beings,” answered Emelia.
Strangely enough, the next few days were a peaceful time. Like the calm before a storm. Dorn spent the time practicing splitting his mind. Warley had left to invite the Kendrans. Dorn had Friedrich invite his family to come to the dungeon, and he had the King rally the adventurers and troops to defend from dark elves. How the King knew that the drow were coming to attack the dungeon was a bit of a mystery for his troops and the adventurers, but no one questioned too intensely. Luckily, there was still some time before all of these forces would converge on the dungeon.
Kiera and her team alternated their time between exploring the underwater 13th</sup> floor and cultivating. Kiera would switch between cultivating and practicing mental and soul defenses. Occasionally, she would spar with Jeromy. Eventually, one night when she got bored, she went and knocked on Dorn''s door, to his room in the inn.
When he answered, he asked, “What''s up?”
She replied, “Can you build some more floors? We''re getting bored of doing the same floor over and over again.
He answered, “Oh right, sorry about that. I''ve been really busy these last few days.”
Kiera was genuinely curious, asking, “Doing what?”
Dorn said, “I''ve been practicing splitting my mind, so that I can do two different things simultaneously.”
“What for?” asked Kiera.
“I''ve been thinking about joining your adventuring party as a mage-type damage dealer. But I can only do that if I''m capable of running the dungeon smoothly at the same time,” replied Dorn.
“You''re going to join our party? That''s awesome,” Kiera said, before running up and giving Dorn another big hug. This time, when she looked up, Dorn didn''t look away. He couldn''t control himself; he lowered his head and kissed her.
***
Kiera woke up with her head on Dorn''s chest. She smiled and stretched. Then her face paled, before she thought, what the fuck did I do? I never thought my first time would be with a 3,000 year old dragon turned dungeon. Wow that sounds weird, even in my head.
“Dorn, wake up,” she said, pushing on his chest.
Gods he''s got a nice chest. No, bad Kiera!
“Mmm. Good morning,” said a sleepy Dorn, with a small grin on his face, looking up at her.
“What the hell is going on?”
Dorn responded, “Um, could you be a little bit more specific?”
“We just slept together, and you''re a dungeon, and I''m a human. Why?”
“Can''t we just stop at it felt good?”
Oh gods did it ever. No, focus.
“No. Now answer me.”
“I don''t know exactly what you want me to say, Kiera. I just did what felt right when I kissed you last night, and things kind of spiraled from there.”
“Well what now? Are we in a relationship now? Am I dating a dungeon?” asked Kiera.
“Do you want to?” asked Dorn.
She thought about it for a while. And then she thought some more. Finally, she said, “Yes. But there''s so many problems. We''re not even the same species, and why would you like me? You''ve been alive for so long, and you''ve probably been with so many other people. What makes you like some mortal human like me?”
She looked incredibly vulnerable, so Dorn sighed, and then chose his words carefully. “To be honest, I''ve been wondering the same thing for a while now, and believe it or not, you''re the first being I''ve ever been with myself. I figured out that something happened when I turned you into a dungeon-born. To test it, I called you down to my core room the other day and removed your beast core, just to see what would happen. It took the edge off the burning desire I had, but it didn''t change my feelings. I put the core back, by the way. Then, yesterday, you came up and hugged me, and I couldn''t control myself.”
Kiera was silent for a while. Dorn, somewhat nervous, asked, “What are you thinking?”
Kiera looked up at him with a blank look on her face. Then, she said, “You still didn''t build any new floors yet, like I asked yesterday.” Then she gave Dorn her usual cheeky grin. Dorn laughed, before kissing her again. It was some time before they came down from their room.
***
“Alright Emelia, I''m ready to build some more floors,” said Dorn.
Emelia just gave him a waspish look, saying, “Well I hope you''re proud of yourself; there''s no turning back now.”
“Oh give it a rest Emelia; the sooner you get over it, the happier both you and I will be.”
“Fine, fine, it''s your funeral. I''ll just be yanked back to the pixie world, to be given out to a new and inept dungeon who doesn''t go around fucking humans,” she ended up screaming.
“Gods, go watch D-level adventurers die until your mood has calmed down, and don''t come back unless there''s an emergency. That''s an order,” Dorn said.
Dorn shook his head, before getting to work building his 14th</sup> floor. Hmm, what should I build?
First, he checked his status:
<table width="390" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
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<td valign="top" bgcolor="#3333ff" width="378">
Status
Name: Dorn''axial
Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon
Dungeon Level: 25
+1 for 26,000 DP''s
Floors: 14/16
Dungeon Points: 20,632,187
Dungeon Rating: C3 – Your dungeon sucks ass.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Wait, what? That''s not even dickish, that''s jus-
“Emelia, when you told me that my subconscious is what writes the Dungeon Ratings, you didn''t happen to be lying did you?” Dorn asked.
“Human fucker,” was all the response he got.
I swear I''m going to kill that fucking dungeon pixie one of these days.