《AS LONG AS IT'S INTERESTING, ISN'T IT FINE TO LIVE AS A DUNGEON? (Hiatus)》 Chapter 0 : Prologue Is this heaven? This white dullness on the edge of your mind, as comfortable as the moments between sleep and waking. Is this limbo? This infinite lines, filled with infinite souls. Always moving, and yet going nowhere. Or perhaps am I in hell. This madness of being stuck in my own mind, unable to do anything other than follow the soul in front of me. I¡¯m oddly content for dying in my 20s. I mean, I guess I¡¯ve been prepared for it since the doctors never expected me to live past my childhood. Looking back, I was pretty blessed. I got quite a few years more than we expected, and had rich enough parents that allowed me to travel and study and learn whatever I wanted so long as it caught my interest. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re alright; my little brother is with them after all. Well, maybe it¡¯s due to what seems like an eternity doing nothing but ponder upon my situation in my mind. Even though I feel like I¡¯ve spent so much time thinking, I dont think I¡¯ve waited for very long at all. Either way, my mind and emotions feel sluggish. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I suppose it¡¯s my turn now. A¡­. lottery? Do I just spin the wheel until a ball pops out? Is the afterlife really luck based? Or does karma or good deeds change the probabilities? I want to figure out how this system works, but I suppose it¡¯s too late. It¡¯s not like I can control my actions anyways. CLNK CLNK CLNK CLNK [___] A soul summoning huh. It¡¯s a rare one. And high enough grade that your mind wouldn¡¯t be suppressed as usual huh. Fufu, perhaps you¡¯ve had bad luck in your last life, or were you just a good person? Either way, you got quite lucky. Have fun now. So the person behind the lottery wheel says as he (She? It? Do souls have gender?) examines the light gold ball that fell out. It¡¯s quite frustrating not being able to ask any questions in such a situation. A light beneath me started glowing, ever brighter until it fully obscured my vision. When it disappeared ¡­ [ ___ ] ¡°You can eat me so please, become a good dungeon lord!¡± ¡°Ha?¡° ... Ah, I can speak again. Chapter 1 : What On - Not Earth? [Little Girl] You can eat me so please become a good dungeon lord! These words were said by a young girl, probably no more than 12 years old. Her head was on the floor and she was shaking. Her sandy brown pigtail braids were starting to get dirty from being on the dirty floor. Has it been too long since I¡¯ve been able to think? Or is it that I¡¯ve been thinking too much and my mind is tired. I can¡¯t tell anymore. It¡¯s been awhile since I was completely unable to keep up. And what¡¯s with this abnormally smooth cave anyways. [Eita] Ok you¡¯ll have to help me catch up on the hell is going on. My brain feels like I haven¡¯t slept in a week. So. My name is Eita. Who are you and what¡¯s going on? You might be cute but I dont have those kinds of hobbies ok? [Saeri] Um... I''m Saeri. I''m representing the village just over there. We wanted to help a dungeon near our lands to help revitalize the economy. uuu. I guess I heard them say summoning before the light happened. This.... isn¡¯t Earth is it. I¡¯m sure if Earth had any kind of summoning it would¡¯ve been abused to death by the rich and famous already. Anyways, more info, less panic. Panicking always makes things worse. [Eita] Well... I sort of have an inkling of what a lot of what you just said means I guess? Either way. Where are the adults? You don''t look like you''re some big shot magician that can perform summonings. [Saeri] Well, it would be bad if the dungeon ate everyone. So um please just eat me and don''t hurt the other villagers. I even brought some offerings if you¡¯re not satisfied with just me. [Eita] Why do you think I''m going to eat you? Or rather, if you thought it was dangerous, shouldn''t it be an adult or something? If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. [Saeri] It''s pretty normal for new dungeons to just eat whatever they can to gain power. A lot of dungeons don¡¯t really think and talk for quite a while. I wouldn''t want the others to get hurt. And um I''ve been free loading off of them since my parents passed away. I have to repay them somehow. The village chief said this was the best way. At least this way I''ll be of some use to the village. So basically she was forced by the village chief huh. Asshole. Who makes a 12 year old risk their lives while they sit back and reap the benefits? I sigh and pat her head. We¡¯ve got to get over this misunderstanding first I suppose. [Eita] You can stop shaking now. I''m not going to eat you. [Saeri] Eh? You won''t? But um you''ll gain power and stuff if you consume humans. [Eita] But it''s not a requirement that I eat you right? It''s fine so get on with the explanations already. It''s going to be a long day.
I look around while Saeri was explaining. Surroundings : Cave. Climate : Warm and a bit dry. Cave walls : Abnormally smooth. Items of interest : A dead rabbit, on a bed of flowers and leaves. Saeri probably spent a while making it presentable. Handy exposition : adorable little sandy haired girl. I¡¯ll have to hug her later a bunch later. Also, my dungeon core, a fist sized piece of amethyst, deep purple. Ah, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯m not paying attention to the explanation ok? [Eita] Long story short, the village and the surrounding areas have been suffering due to poor crop yields and fewer traders and travelers. Luckily some religious group got an oracle saying a dungeon crystal would become active here. I got summoned by some god or another as the soul to drive make the damned thing function and now my life is now tied to this dungeon heart crystal. I poke at the fist sized piece of amethyst that was in the back of the cave. [Eita] Furthermore, dungeons can turn mana from things, living beings, and nature into items and monsters. This will provide resources and incentives for people to visit. They wanted to let the dungeon eat you and give it a mana boost so that it would make things faster and attract people. In other words, they are a bunch of assholes sacrificing a little girl for their own gain. Are you sure you don''t want me to teach them a lesson? [Saeri] I don''t want to hurt the village. It is where I grew up and spent time with my family after all. Plus I was nominated by the village chief so I''ve got to live up to the responsibility. [Eita] Well. First things first. It''s getting late and I do NOT want to sleep out in a cave. Let''s see if I can learn enough to make some lodgings for us today. Fastest way to learn is to dive right in I suppose. [Saeri] Um I should be able to give you some information. I''ve read up about dungeons since I''ve been chosen. As for your dungeon, as long as the crystal core can be reached from the outside, it''s fine. As long as there is a path, the mana can flow to it. I don''t think anybody will come explore so soon after the summoning anyways. [Eita] Smart kids are great. Saves me so much time. No cheating and locking away the core. Well, it wouldn''t be interesting if it was an unbeatable game right? 1.5 - Saeri Side 1 She was the one that answered the summoning. Eita. Her long, smooth hair; a dark crimson more suited for some long forgotten battlefield than for any human to bear. Tall and lithe with sharp steely grey eyes. I knew then that it was a success. That my life would not be given in vain. That this could save the village. I hoped it would be quick. But she didn''t even eat me. I was scared. There was no getting around that. I guess she found out. I really was prepared to be eaten. But she spared me even though she could have gotten more mana and levels. I guess I really got lucky. She wants me to stay with her. Maybe I''ll get her to bind me to her so I can always be around to help. She''s trying to build us somewhere to sleep, but I don''t think it''ll be that easy for her to control mana. Well, it¡¯s not like I require anything fancy. After all, after my parents died...The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡­ The village chief told me that this was the best way to repay the village was to make the dungeon grow. If she didn¡¯t turn me into mana then I have to help her some other way. She seemed really comfortable with absorbing the environment to make our room. I barely said anything and she could use it like it was natural. I don''t know if I even helped at all but I''m glad I read up on dungeons ever since the oracle was given. I hope I can help her and my village even a little. Maybe something I¡¯ve read will be important. I guess tonight is simple. She only absorbed part of the rabbit and we ate the rest. The bedroom she made was a simple one with a stone bed and lots of rabbit fur on top. I don¡¯t think she really needs to eat and sleep but when we went to bed she held me tight anyways. She was warm. I missed having someone to hold me like this. Chapter 2 : Inspection and Perception Right. First things first, what can dungeons do. Know thyself and all that. [Eita] So, what exactly can dungeons do? It¡¯s no good to just have a bunch of assumptions in my head and run off and end up doing something stupid after all. [Saeri] Um it¡¯s all just information I read at some point if that¡¯s ok. Dungeons cores consist of a core and a soul. People think that a soul is summoned at random by either the core or one of the gods. Usually it¡¯s an animal or insect or something though so a dungeon is pretty unstable at the start. Dungeons usually don¡¯t learn to think very well until they¡¯ve grown quite a bit. Then the dungeon core creates a body that the soul is familiar with. It¡¯s sort of a reflection of the dungeon core and it¡¯s the easiest way to predict what sort of dungeon it will be. When the dungeon core is destroyed, the body is destroyed, although since the body is made of mana it can be destroyed and remade. Ah, that¡¯s right. All living things tied to the dungeon seem to have a crystal. It seems to act like a second heart, except it absorbs mana from the environment and distributes it, just like the actual dungeon core. Uwah is she really telling me there¡¯s a crystal embedded in my body? [Saeri] Oh and the special thing about dungeons is their power over mana and matter. While it doesn¡¯t say anything about their abilities as a mage, dungeons are naturally competent at controlling mana and turning it into matter, and vice versa. Their ability to break just about anything down into mana and to use it to create monsters and treasure is what makes dungeons unique. [Eita] Well. I knew there was a lot to learn but that¡¯s a lot to take in. I guess I¡¯ll have to mull over all of that and ask you more later. But first things first, I heard something about destroying and creating matter. That should get us a nice place to sleep. So¡­. how do I do that? [Saeri] If you think status you should get a screen with your innate skills. Thinking about the skill, you should get a feeling of how to use it. Huh. I wonder how that works. Well, no harm in trying. Status
Name Eita
Race?? Dungeon
Level 1
Mana 100
Mana Generation 1 / hour
Dungeon Points 10
Skills Territory Expansion, Mana Sight, Mana Conversion, Dungeon Presence, Avatar, Dungeon History, Dungeon Summoning, Dungeon Soul Binding
Avatar Race Human
Strength 4
Vitality 4
Speed 4
Perception 5
Mana Control 5
Mana Pool 100 (Shared)
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. [Eita] Hm. Most of these are pretty self explanatory. Let¡¯s see what these skills do. [Territory Expansion] allows the user to push mana into the environment to claim it as part of the dungeon. Mana regeneration is proportional to territory claimed. [Mana Sight] allows the user to ¡°see¡± the flow of mana. [Mana Conversion] is a dungeon specific skill. Allows for the conversion of mana to matter, and vice versa. The pattern of things broken down in this manner is retained by the dungeon. [Dungeon Presence] is a dungeon specific skill. Allows for the dungeon master to be everywhere in the dungeon at once. Default state of existence if the Avatar is destroyed. [Avatar] is a false body. This avatar is gifted by the gods and takes a form the soul is comfortable with. If destroyed, a new one may be created with mana. Does not have a mana pool of it''s own, uses the dungeon''s mana pool. [Dungeon History] is a dungeon specific skill. Allows for the viewing and purchasing of various dungeon abilities or summons, as long as they have been independently developed by at least 2 dungeons before. [Dungeon Summoning] is a dungeon specific skill. Life that leaves the dungeon requires a mana crystal. Automatically summons a soul fragment to be bound to life created by the dungeon. [Dungeon Soul Binding] is a dungeon specific skill. Allows the dungeon control over some souls. Souls already under the dungeon command can be altered to become less sensitive to death. Souls under the dungeon command can be reused automatically if another body of the same type is prepared. Ok I guess the most of those are alright but what¡¯s with that last one.... [Eita] Right¡­. Well let¡¯s just start by converting some of this wall into mana I guess? [Mana Sight] Woah. Have you ever taken a dusty object and polished it and watch the color transform from dusty and bland to a richer, deeper color? It feels like that. The world seemed to gain a layer of color. With this new mana sight, it felt like I was colorblind my whole life and I¡¯m seeing the world for the first time. I could see the density of mana changing, swirling. I could see veins of higher density mana through the tree trucks. I could see that the mana was getting thicker towards the piece of amethyst that is now my core. Interesting. I take a closer look at the back wall of the cave. I could see the mana pulsing just underneath the surface. I stretch my hand towards it and [Mana Conversion] The real world seems to fade as the mana is brought further into focus. I tried willing it to cut a cube out and I could see, if one could see something that was only inside their head, lines stretching into the rock. It was almost like drafting that I did back in college. I had spent untold hours creating sketches and models. And with this, there is no clunky interface. I think I can work with this. It took a little time, but I created a temporary bedroom for the two of us tonight. A simple four poster bed of rock. Absorbing the other offerings allowed me to make several rabbit hide bed sheets. Rabbit hide stuffed with herbs worked fine as a pillow. We had rabbit meat roasted over an open fire. Luckily Saeri knew how to start a fire easy enough. We called it an early night after eating and chatting some more. Of course I slept holding Saeri extra tight. She might be young but she is an adorable little thing after all. My last thoughts before drifting off with her was that this wasn¡¯t so bad. This dungeon business seems interesting and I¡¯ve got a few ideas in my head. As long as it¡¯s interesting, isn¡¯t it fine to live as a dungeon? Well, not like I can do anything about it anyways. I¡¯ll just keep doing what needs to be done and try to keep things interesting, as I¡¯ve always done. Chapter 3: Summoning Some Help Morning always comes too quickly. Given all the surprises, I slept surprisingly well. Although that may have been due to my adorable little hug pillow. Well, down to some actual work today I suppose. Yesterday, creating a room took about 15 mana. About 10 of those was for expanding my territory, 4 of those was for creating the bed and blankets and everything, and 1 of them was for creating the room. Well, there might have been a higher mana cost, but I think breaking down the rock and offerings helped me recover some mana during the process. It was for about 40 cubic meters? Somewhere between 1 and 2 bedrooms I guess? Well I was never a good judge of such measurements in the real world though. However, my mana regeneration had increased by 1, which will be helpful. Now, how do we do this optimally. It¡¯ll hardly matter in the long run, but now¡¯s quite a dangerous time. [Eita] Saeri, when do you think the village will come to check on us ? [Saeri] Well, newborn dungeons tend to be a bit unstable. They¡¯ll probably leave you alone for a week or so? It will take that long to learn that you were summoned and an adventurer team brought in. [Eita] Good. We have some time then. Let¡¯s start by spreading my territory and increasing the mana generation. Hm. I also broke down things for mana so hunting and gathering will help gather mana as well as give me new things I can use. I broke down that rabbit yesterday so food isn¡¯t an issue. I can create rabbits, using a similar interface as the one that I used to create rooms. It even lets me modify components of it. It¡¯s kind of like having a system on the back end doing all the hard work. Stolen story; please report. Hm. Oh, that¡¯s right. I had 10 dungeon points right? That¡¯s how most dungeons summon their first monsters. After all, I only know how to summon that rabbit that was an offering after all. And since I could probably make a few simple traps myself once I get some materials, let¡¯s get a creature first. Something to hunt and bring back things for me to break down. [Dungeon History] A list way too large appears before me. Rather, I can¡¯t find anything like this. Who even uses this thing alphabetically. [Eita] Uh¡­. Filter for creatures I can afford? Oh, it worked. Nice. The list was drastically shorter now. It seems like it¡¯s composed of low level generic monsters. Slimes, goblins, animals, you know the deal. While they seem tempting, I don¡¯t want to waste too much DP on summoning low level things. I¡¯m not even sure how to get more yet. Hmm, what would be most interesting and still effective¡­. Oof. Tough choices. But I think in the end i¡¯ll have to go with the cat. I¡¯ll definitely need something that can hunt. Wolves are overdone, insects are creepy and might be weak at the start, and humanoids might have some issues with housing and control. Cats are natural hunters. Don¡¯t underestimate cats. Stray cats kill tons of animals each year. Think of what they can do with a little magical enhancement. It¡¯s definitely not because they¡¯re cute ok. Aaaand there goes all my dungeon points. I guess I should have figured out how to get them first. Oh well. I start working on the cat pattern I learned. It looks like a normal house cat. Let¡¯s give them sharper teeth, more jaw muscles, sharper claws, and enhanced leg muscles for those pounces. It should do for now. I create 3 and send them out to hunt and gather. My updated kitties cost about 10 mana each. I also summon 3 rabbits, after enhancing their leg muscles. They might be rabbits but they should be able to avoid being caught if they¡¯re just fetching some plants. I¡¯m quickly down to a mere 40 mana. I use it all to expand my territory from 40 cubic meters to 160. I summoned an additional cat to stand guard with Saeri for now. I try to focus on making it extra cute with big eyes and a shiny black coat. I spent a couple of points making a bag for myself and the rest was saved up for emergencies. Of course, my core was really unprotected right now, but it¡¯s not like I could create any real defenses for it anyways, until I get a little more mana. Luckily my mana regen is up to 5/hour. Investing in this early really is the right move. Alright, time to get a better idea of the surroundings. Chapter 4: Gathering the Surroundings From our little cave, we can see the opposing cliff wall. That particular wall seems to have crumbled somewhat a long time ago. A lot of the material is now what makes up the bottom of this canyon. The canyon floor is more or less a grass plain. It is however quite uneven, with plenty of rocks jutting out. In front of our cave there¡¯s a flat area about 3 or 4 people wide. There are natural paths, both to the ground and to the top of the cliff, in the rock about that wide too. The cliff face probably broke along some ancient sedimentary layer to form these paths. I kick a pebble off the edge of the flat. One and two and three and four and f. Hm. So¡­ assuming gravity all works the same about 100 meters then? And upwards is about¡­ 3 times that I guess. Either way it¡¯s quite a hike. I¡¯m more or less in shape and the cats seems to have headed down first. I suppose I¡¯ll have to hike up. At least it¡¯ll be much easier coming down with anything I pick up. It took a lot less time than I expected. I even picked up a few interesting looking rock samples on my way up. I tried to break them down but it seems like I can¡¯t do so outside my territory. From the top, it was clear that the bottom of the canyon had been much kinder to life. The top on the other hand, had little left for it. It appears there used to be some sort of forest here, but all that¡¯s left now is the charred remains. The only real notable feature within walking distance was that of a river bend, passing near the edge of this canyon before veering off to who knows where. A village was visible a ways off, at the bottom of the canyon. I shouldn¡¯t have to worry about them hunting cats, but hopefully the rabbits stay safe. It should be Saeri¡¯s village, given that it¡¯s the only one I can see. I¡¯ve got plans for them too, but now¡¯s not the time. Business first, fun second. I also tried to focus in on my dungeon from up here. It was there, in the back of my mind. Like some appendage I had long forgotten about. I could sense what was going on inside as if I was there watching every corner. This is good. I could also absorb a few of the things my animals brought back. Plants, mostly. An odd rodent or two. One small bird. A small snake. A few worms and insects. Basic, but this is good enough for now. While all I managed to bring back is some water for Saeri and a few freshwater plants, I wouldn¡¯t say this is a loss. No, rather this little trip has been very very helpful. By the time I got back down it was the afternoon. I completely forgot to fix Saeri lunch, but luckily there was leftovers of the rabbit from yesterday. Having absorbed all the stuff the cats and rabbits brought in, my mana is back up to 50. Stepping into my dungeon territory, I also leveled up. I guess it¡¯s from the cats killing animals?
Name Eita
Race Dungeon
Level 2
Mana Pool 52
Mana Regen 6/Hour
Dungeon Points 10
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Hm. Turns out I can kinda modify this menu to show whatever I want. I don''t know that I''d like living just based on some numbers though. I''ll try not to use this too much. [Saeri] Welcome back! [Eita] I¡¯m back. Been doing alright? Sorry I forgot to get you lunch. [Saeri] I¡¯ve been fine. There was plenty of rabbit meat left over. Nobody besides the cats and rabbits came by either. [Eita] Good. Well I found a river basically right above us. It¡¯s pretty big too. So we¡¯ll have a source of water from now on. I also have a pretty good plan. So, can you get dinner ready? The cats brought back some bird so let¡¯s have that for dinner. [Saeri] Sounds good, will we be roasting it again? [Eita] Ah. That¡¯s right. Let¡¯s up our living standards a little. I focus on one of the cave walls. This time, instead of cutting away a whole 40 meters, I purposely create some areas of rock that would not get absorbed. Pots, pans, utensils, chairs, tables. Things of that nature. It did cost me a little more mana then before, but that¡¯s fine. This is necessary after all. [Eita] Here you go. Utensils and a pot and pan. Since I can absorb the river water and make some clean water, maybe a soup tonight? [Saeri] Ok, but don¡¯t use up too much mana on this. I mean, you don¡¯t even need to eat anymore right? [Eita] Well, that¡¯s true. This body doesn¡¯t seem to need to eat or sleep. But I can, and it¡¯s comforting. So don¡¯t worry about it. I wouldn¡¯t put us in danger over some simple pleasures. I also summon up some bird meat. It sort of looked like a chicken, but much more agile and capable of flying. I also summon what seem to be herbs and root vegetables the rabbits brought in. Dead animals tend to be a lot cheaper than summoning a live one and mundane plants are cheap anyways. Ah, I say mundane because apparently there was a magical herb mixed in there and it would cost me a good 10 mana to summon a patch. I look at my stats again.
Mana Pool 34
Mana Regen 6/Hour
Dungeon Points 10
Well, it¡¯s good enough. In an hour I¡¯ll have enough to expand my territory another 140 meters. I also gained another 10 dungeon points. I guess it¡¯s 10 per level for now? I browse through the dungeon history and find what I¡¯m looking for. A dungeon operated door. It looks like the dungeon itself has to open and close it. It¡¯s secure, but also can¡¯t be the only way to reach the dungeon core. It¡¯s only 5 DP so I buy it. It would be ridiculous if Saeri had to go through the same dangerous path everyone else had to after all. There was also an indestructible terrain item in the dungeon shop. Oddly enough it was only 1 DP. Well, at least it¡¯s cheap. And we wouldn¡¯t want the walls collapsing like the cliff across the canyon. .... What? It¡¯s literally just compressing the atmospheric mana and making like a shell? I mean it''s a geometric shell that overlaps with where the actual material is but still. Shit. No wonder it was so cheap. I could have figured that out. I kept muttering about what a waste of points that was, but proceed to protect all the walls in the dungeon anyways. I spot another option that I¡¯ll need to buy when I get more DP. Dungeon Lighting and Dungeon Temperature. I¡¯m ok since the dungeon is part of myself, but Saeri will start having a hard time walking if we make the dungeon any deeper. Well, hopefully this can be dealt with soon. Now then. 40 mana. I spend it all expanding the dungeon territory and rooms. It will take a little while, but with another 5 days or so, we should make it. Chapter 5: Mixing Business with Pleasure
Level 5
Mana Pool 30
Mana Regeneration 15/hour
Dungeon Points 14
By the time the adventurer¡¯s team was spotted, I had done quite a lot renovating the first floor. I leveled up another 3 times, and boosted my mana regen to 15 per hour. I¡¯ve made the first floor into quite a comfortable little home for my creatures. It¡¯s filled with grass and herbs and trees. The most dangerous thing here is tripping over your own two feet. I¡¯ve added snakes and birds and rodents. None will be particularly useful for defending against adventurers, but that¡¯s alright for now. They will evolve sooner or later. Speaking of evolution, Saeri told me that all living things, including people, absorb a part of the mana of anything they kill or help kill. In addition in the dungeon I can help by infusing mana into a creature too. That said, the fact that elves, beastmen, and many other races are all evolutions of humans surprised me. It seems that when they are 12, they have a whole year to decide upon a race and absorb mana from the environment. If they absorb a lot of mana, they gain a lot of power. However, they also gain what are called ¡®compulsions¡¯. The desire of dragons to collect gold for example. Of course staying human is fine too. It¡¯s one of the more common races since everyone knows about humans and they don¡¯t get compulsions either. Saeri turned 12 not too long before we met so she still has most of the year left to decide. Either way, hopefully she¡¯ll choose something mostly human so that her compulsions aren¡¯t too strong. She can always evolve further by me helping her gather mana. Well, for now I¡¯ve heard her talk about herself from before we met and also told her what was to be done next. Turns out Saeri¡¯s pretty knowledgeable. I dont think all kids are like that. I guess she was always a indoorsy reading type. Currently, Saeri spends most of the day indoors. She¡¯ll need to until my plan can take place. Luckily with my level ups giving me 10 points per level, I bought Dungeon Lighting for 10 DP. The dungeon¡¯s living area for us has been expanded too. With a little practice, I could make most necessities out of the materials that has been gathered. Saeri¡¯s gotten real close with the cat I summoned to protect her and the core. She wanted to name the sleek little black thing Flashpaws, after the white pads below her foot. I of course accepted, but it turned into a bigger deal that I thought. Apparently naming a creature activates soul binding and binds it to me, increases their stats a little, and more importantly completes it¡¯s soul. At least, that¡¯s what the system told me, when it told me that I had named a creature for the first time. Saeri requested that I bind her to the dungeon when she knew. I guess she still can¡¯t let go of the whole serving me thing. I mean, I do concede and bind her. She was persistent and it doesn¡¯t seem like there¡¯s any downsides. It¡¯s not like she won¡¯t be able to go outside. The only difference seems to be that she grew a monster core, just like everything I summon. I presume I have one too, but I can¡¯t really tell. We only knew she grew one because it was a bit painful and we could feel the lump in her sternum. Ah, for the record it was a medical examination ok? There was no other meaning to feeling her chest ok? Oh, and Dungeon Lighting helped me learn how to turn ambient mana to create light. I haven¡¯t managed it with my human form yet, but at least with my dungeon it¡¯s basically constantly casting light magic. Turns out Saeri is actually knows some magic and is pondering an artisan or magician race for her evolution. It¡¯ll take some time but she should be able to teach me magic eventually. Well, even if I don¡¯t have anything too special, those adventurers will still have a hard time getting any further. Hehe. I am so looking forward to finally meeting more people.
[ ___ ] Hey Fravit, Look! We can finally see the dungeon. [Fravit] Calm down Pyria. We are here for a job you know. My companion is always so energetic. It¡¯s no wonder she needs someone to actually pay attention. [Pyria] Sure sure. But it¡¯s gotta be more interesting than sitting on a carriage all day. We didn¡¯t even get attacked by any monsters. [Fravit] If all travellers got attacked we wouldn¡¯t have a nation anymore. There¡¯s standing bounties on anyone with strong harmful compulsions or anyone strong enough to cause real trouble anyways. Besides, not many people are both strong and stupid enough to catch the attention of the adventurers guild. [Pyria] Yeah yeah I know. For a tank you sure like avoiding fights. [Fravit] It¡¯s because I¡¯m a tank that I like avoiding fights. I¡¯m the one getting hit after all. For an elf you sure are blood thirsty and impatient. [Pyria] Hey, I am not. I just like adventures. Sitting on a carriage is boring. And being an elf has nothing to do with it. Now can we go in yet? [Fravit] Yeah yeah. I¡¯m sure the villagers are waiting for our report anyways. [Pyria] Yay!
[Pyria] Boring. This is boring! All there are is grass and rabbits and probably some wild cats attracted by the rabbits. Where are the monsters! The traps!Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. [Fravit] Now now. There¡¯s plenty of herbs that can be used for medicine and potions. The villagers will be happy at least. [Pyria] Yeah but the person assigned to take over the area from the chief won¡¯t be happy. Not much earnings from just herbs. Besides, this is boring. What kind of adventurer would come here. Calling this a G- ranked dungeon is already being too generous. [Fravit] This dungeon will grow before the administrator from the capital gets here. It¡¯ll probably take him another 2 weeks after we return to give our reports. Well it is unusually safe. You could characterize most of the things in here as just normal creatures without much mana. [Pyria] They aren¡¯t even trying to hurt us. Ugh. Whatever let¡¯s just hurry up and see if we can find the core. [Fravit] It shouldn¡¯t be so hard. There has been a few offshoot rooms, but the path forward is just this straight path. [Pyria] Well it¡¯s better than a maze I suppose. Hah. And? It looks like we¡¯re in the last room but what¡¯s with that door? There wasn¡¯t anything like that before now. Hm. It¡¯s a pretty morbid looking door. It¡¯s more or less covered with layers and layers of bones. [Fravit] Maybe this dungeon isn¡¯t as daft and defenseless as we thought. [ ___ ] Oh dear. We can¡¯t have people thinking that now can we? [Fravit] Shit. Who¡¯s there? I fix my stance and raise my shield in the direction the voice came from. I can tell Pyria dashed back behind me and has her daggers ready. [Eita] Pardon me. My name is Eita, the master of this humble little dungeon. Where I swear was only a wall before now stands a lady in a pure white dress giving us a curtsey. Her demeanor is only serving to put us more on edge. [Fravit] A human? Are you from the village? Noone is suppose to enter the dungeon until the guild representatives have inspected it. [Eita] Hah. Really? It¡¯s like you didn¡¯t listen to me at all. Why don¡¯t you talk some sense into your friend there knife ears? I glance back and notice Pyria is tensed, like a bow ready to fire. It would be unexpected for anything in such a new dungeon to put her on such high alert unless... [Pyria] Sorry Fravy. Better keep your eye on her. She doesn¡¯t seem particularly strong, but the dungeon¡¯s mana is reacting to her in a strange way. Plus behind her. A sealed entrance that we missed? That¡¯s probably the same type of hallway dungeons use to create ambushes. [Fravit] She¡¯s with the dungeon then? That¡¯s odd. I ain¡¯t never heard of a human as a dungeon master¡­ Young dungeons aren¡¯t even supposed to be sentient yet. [Eita] Well aren¡¯t you fortunate. You¡¯ve discovered something new. I¡¯m sure the guild would reward you for this won¡¯t it? [Fravit] Yes I suppose so¡­ If we make it out of here of course. [Eita] Oh yes. You two can stop being so tense. I have no intention of harming you two, so long as you do not go past that door. Behind the bone door leads the path to my core. I shall assume anyone who enters wishes to do me harm. [Fravit] That¡¯s not going to last lady. The villagers might be ok with just a bit of herbs but the adventurers will come and they¡¯ll want to push further for fortune and glory. [Eita] Of course. And I shall be glad to provide it, when I¡¯m able. Soon I shall begin work on the second floor. It will be less safe than this floor. And the floors past it will have dangers and treasures as well. I only ask that nobody enters any bone doors they find. [Fravit] And if we listen you¡¯ll promise a reasonable reward for the risk huh. [Pyria] That¡¯s not good enough. You¡¯ll have to listen to some of our requests as well. We need to be able to talk to you. [Eita] Demands already huh. Very well. Take this cat with you. Do treat it well. It shall deliver messages to me if you attach it to his collar. Do let it run around and such. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find it if you need to. Two identical, short haired, sandy yellow cat sauntered down the hallway behind the mysterious lady. The only difference between them seemed to be the dark brown fur running up their legs. I had my doubts about whether it would get anywhere in a timely fashion without being carried. Or without us begging it. [Eita] His name is Azizi. He will be going with you so that you may deliver letters to me. Her name is Aziza, and she will be staying with me in case I need to send you letters. Do treat them as you would me. They will be the ones carrying my word after all. [Eita] Now then. I hope you can deliver a message for me. To the people of the village, I shall be making a visit in two weeks. The village chief is to be there. The villagers are welcome to spectate. I shall speak to them and how they respond will help determine how this dungeon will grow from now on. That is all. I shall be taking my leave now. You may do as you like, but my warning about the door still stands. Good day. The dungeon master walks back through the tunnel with one of the cats and the stone door slides back into place. Without knowing it was there, I¡¯d be hard pressed to pick it out. Pyria finally relaxed a bit and starts examining the hidden door. [Pyria] Yup. This is a dungeon only trap door alright. Pretty well made, to look just like the surrounding cave wall. [Fravit] What about the other door. Should we push forward? [Pyria] I don¡¯t know that we want to get on her bad side yet. She might not develop in a way that''s helpful. But I suppose no harm in checking it out. I tug the door open. It was heavy, but unlocked. The only thing to grab onto was bone though. God knows what it belonged to before this. When the door was opened, we could hear the sound of a waterfall. No, it would be more accurate to say we couldn¡¯t hear anything except the sound of a waterfall. It was deafening. It¡¯s surprising how much the door dampened the noise. Pyria, despite being focused on speed and daggers, was still an elf. She was at least competent enough to know a basic light spell. [Pyria] [Lux] A small ball of light flew down into the darkness. A series of steps and a giant waterfall. Nothing more. Nothing behind the waterfall. No stairs beneath the waterfall. Just a drop. [Fravit] No. We are not going down there. We are not prepared for that. Hell, even with preparations I might still drown or fall to my death or whatever with all this heavy armor on. Who knows what she set up under this. [Pyria] As much as I hate to admit it¡­ I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll make it back out if we went in. Let¡¯s go back. We¡¯ve got a hell of a report to give. The sandy cat jumped on Pyria¡¯s head. [Pyria] HAH. And the stupid messenger cat. Right. Gods this did not turn out the way I had hoped. [Fravit] Well. At least you can¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t interesting.
Haah. I can finally let out a sigh of relief. It¡¯d have been dangerous if they decided to go down. Hell, if they had a good water mage I suspect they could have done it pretty easily. After all, there are no real traps set up down there yet. The only thing between them and the real core was the large amounts of water pushing down, forcing anything in it¡¯s way onto the jagged spikes below. Good thing the river was large and deep. Well, right now it¡¯s just me manually opening and closing a door connected to the river though. It¡¯d be for the best not to let anyone know where my water is coming from after all, even if I could just make more myself. [Eita] Hm. And I was trying to convert their weapons to mana. It looked like their personal mana was interfering with my mana control. I guess I¡¯d have to wait for people to leave the room. Their personal mana seems to diffuse into the air and mingle with mine. That said, it does mean once they get far enough, bits of mana will be left behind for me to absorb. Ah. Shoot. I forgot to ask them about adventurers. Oh well. There will be time for that in the future. At least I got to make a dramatic entrance and exit. Chapter 5.5 : Teatime [Saeri] Welcome back. Did the talk go ok? I slump down into the chair in our makeshift living room. Saeri and I have gotten into the habit of having a small tea time when we can so I summon some herb tea and slices of some fruit. Well, it¡¯s more like a round cucumber that grows on trees though. Refreshing, but I do miss having access to caffeine. [Eita] Yup. I think everything¡¯s going to be fine. Just one more big task ahead. [Saeri] Um do you really have to - [Eita] I do. But don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t matter very much. It¡¯s going to happen even without me doing anything. It¡¯s just for my self satisfaction. Besides, I wouldn¡¯t feel safe letting you run around otherwise and we can¡¯t just keep you locked up. [Saeri] Well ok. If you insist¡­ [Eita] That¡¯s a good girl. I see you¡¯re wearing the dress I made you. How¡¯s the fit? [Saeri] Ah um yeah. But it¡¯s kinda embarrassing. Saeri stood up so that I could see. Before me was an adorable little girl. I had braided her sandy hair into two pigtails. A thin soft red miniskirt ending in frills. A body hugging white top with long sleeves that provides a nice contrast with her lightly tanned skin. A small red choker around her neck. Tall white socks ending just below the skirt. There she stood, nervously pulling here and there.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. [Eita] Aw that¡¯s not true you look so adorable. I could just eat you up. Besides, this was a good test of what I could do with raw materials. Remember one of the cats brought in a plant that had a little puff on top? It wasn¡¯t enough to make the plant worth growing to harvest, but I tried to just use that material when I was making our clothes. Well. I say it was a good test but it was pretty tough. The process sounds easy but I had to extract it, create a large amount of this cotton like substance, and manually go in and start braiding strands together. Luckily the drafting-like system let me save and use patterns so I could just make one strand and duplicate it, make one piece of cloth and duplicate it, and so on, on quite the fine scale. Still the detailed work took quite a bit of time and mana. Not to mention experimenting with colors. White was from the sap of a medicinal herb, and the red from a berry. Both of which would be difficult to use as a dye if it wasn¡¯t for the dungeon¡¯s magical power to create a bunch of it. Ah, but it was a good test, so I didn¡¯t lie ok. [Saeri] Well, um, thank you. I don¡¯t remember the last time I had something new and pretty like this. [Eita] You¡¯re welcome. After all you¡¯ve been through you deserve it. More importantly, are you wearing those too? Saeri clams up and turns even redder. [Saeri] Mm. She answers as she starts lifting up the miniskirt. Her squishy thighs that fills her new thigh highs and just a tiny bit of white peaks out and I burst out into giggles and pull her into my lap. [Eita] Gods you¡¯re so adorable and obedient. Haha I wonder how far you would¡¯ve gone for me hmm. [Saeri] Um well I mean I do owe you my life and you¡¯re doing so much for me and um well Squeee [Eita] Gah why are you so adorable. I¡¯m so lucky I get you all to myself. We spent the rest of the day just messing about and cuddling and messing with the animals. I completely forgot about all the stress and nerves for the big event. Chapter 6 : A Dive Into Magic Now then. I¡¯m glad the adventurers have been rebuffed for now. It should mean my core is more or less safe for the time being. Of course a waterfall and spike trap can¡¯t be the only thing that¡¯s defending it, but the rest can be created as we go along. We still have a few weeks until the meeting. In that time I should capture some transportation and learn some magic. As for transport, I have a plan. We¡¯ve spotted something that looks like a fat antelope. Well I say fat but it¡¯s pretty muscley. It¡¯s horns go at an angle and out. It seems like they are used for scratching and gouging. Definitely not just ramming and show to assert dominance. I¡¯m having the cats scout out their habits. It¡¯s a bit difficult since they understand me but I can¡¯t understand them, but they can just point or act it out. Just like horses, the weakness of these things should be their legs. I¡¯ll try to capture one that way. If that doesn¡¯t work, well I can always walk. It¡¯s not that far and this body doesn¡¯t seem to get tired as fast as my old one. All of that might just be excuses though. I finally have a little time to relax and dive into something interesting and new. Saeri said she¡¯s pretty decent at magic and with the help of all these dungeon skills, I¡¯m hoping I can figure out some things this week. Well it¡¯ll still be some time before Saeri comes. She¡¯s taken to petting and brushing the various creatures that I¡¯ve summoned. I had no idea that snakes even liked getting brushed. For now, I decide to observe the mana in things and examine what I can already do. [Mana Sight] The world of mana is burst forth once again and colors I can¡¯t properly describe fill my vision. I start by looking at the core. The chunk of amethyst seems to have quite a bit of mana swirling around it. Or at least I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s more. It¡¯s certainly brighter and more vibrant than most of the surrounding. While mana sort of looks homogenous, some twists of ¡­. Space? Light? ¡­ something occurs. Like a gem with constantly changing imperfections, or how different densities of air will distort the light passing through. Walking along my dungeon, mana seems denser, closer to the core. Not by much, but it is noticeable. I¡¯m not quite sure but I think the mana in the environment is drawn to it. Speaking of environment, I got some abilities to change the environment of the dungeon before the adventurers came. [Indestructible Terrain] [Dungeon Lighting] and [Dungeon Temperature]. Indestructible Terrain just pushes mana into the terrain and compresses it. Or that¡¯s what I thought at least. It turns out that if I combine my [Dungeon Presence] and [Mana Sight], I can essentially mentally zoom in on mana. Now that I can take a closer look at it, it¡¯s actually incredibly uniform. The walls and such no longer have this fluctuating mana density like in the air. The reason? It sort of looks like the mana formed bonds with each other, forming some weird lattice structure. However this seems tied to my dungeon core. When I lift up the core, the lattice starts breaking down from where the core was sitting. Not very fast, but it breaks down. The same thing happens if I force the lattice structure into a piece of stone and lift it up. I guess I can¡¯t get unbreakable items that easily. Something similar happens with [Dungeon Lighting]. Rather than a lattice shape, the mana in the air forms many tiny rings. Within the ring the pattern continues to form some geometric pattern. This pattern seems to oscillate and produce light. The intensity seems to be tied to the oscillation. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Hm. How unusual. Mana seems to form geometric patterns depending on the effect. Within the dungeon, using my skills, I can more or less create them just by thinking about the effect that I want. However if I step outside my dungeon territory, I can¡¯t do much to effect mana at all. [Saeri] Sorry I¡¯m late. The bunnies just seem to want extra attention today. [Eita] No no it¡¯s fine. I was just figuring out how my skills work. It looks like my skills are a form of magic, but really it¡¯s more like breathing for me. Maybe it¡¯s a dungeon thing, but it just happens automatically, meaning I can¡¯t really do anything outside of my dungeon territory. [Saeri] Hm. Well since you can already perceive mana, it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to teach some basic mana exercises. [Eita] Yes please Professor Saeri
Professor Saeri¡¯s Teaching Corner [Saeri] Eh? Professor? I¡¯m not nearly good enough for such a title. Well anyways. Ahem. First things first. Magic works like this. Mana exists within your body. As everything is made of mana, so too is your body. However only some of it is in its raw form and can be used for magic. You take this mana and force it out of you, while creating a spell circle. Spell circles are special shapes that use the mana that comprises it to effect the world. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know any magic circles to teach you. I don¡¯t have mana sight after all. Fortunately, magic isn¡¯t only limited to people with mana sight. The books I¡¯ve read says that mana is based upon, or at least affected by, belief. This is sort of like how faith and worship of a god empowers a god, and if a god no longer has believers, it also loses all its power. Since mana is affected by belief, you can force it to take the shape of a magic circle without you knowing the magic circle. All you have to do is force the mana out while imagining the results. Well, I say all you have to do but it¡¯s actually quite difficult. Converting mana into a new and real effect is quite difficult, and seems to get more difficult the more types of spells you know. This is why often magicians will focus on a branch of magic. For example, the hardest part of learning the spell [Fireball] is converting your mana into fire. Holding it and moving it, while tough, is a piece of cake compared to that first step. That¡¯s why after learning fireball, it¡¯s much easier to proceed with another fire spell such as [Firewall]. Learning to convert mana into fire after learning, say, to convert mana into water seems to consistently be harder. And this is true for each new ¡°branch¡± of magic. I¡¯m not quite sure why though. It was just stated as fact by the books. Anyways, there are downsides to casting mana without knowing what the spell circle looks like. You have to refine the spell circle by sense and feel, as opposed to you who can just see how it changes over time. Spell circles that aren¡¯t ideal don¡¯t produce ideal results. This means using your imagination will make spells cost more mana, have a longer cast time, be weaker, or even backfire. This is also why spell circles are often well kept secrets and passed downwithin a family. Even if you can see spell circles, it¡¯s not exactly easy to see the details mid combat after all. Of course two people casting fireball may come up with two different spell circles. I don¡¯t think anybody is entirely sure on ¡®how¡¯ spell circles cause the magic to manifest after all. Many people use something to help channel their power or focus their imagination. For example, if you have a staff, it¡¯s easy to imagine a fireball coming out of the tip. That means you don¡¯t have to imagine the location and the direction very much and can focus on the image of the fireball. Chants are also common for the same reason good poems and songs can bring up vivid images and feelings. Obviously this comes with the downside of being easier for the opponent to predict. These aren¡¯t exactly set in stone and there are less used methods like dancing and tattoos, but it¡¯s quite rare. That said, you can¡¯t even get to any of this until you learn to control and release mana. I guess I¡¯d suggest you sit near the dungeon core and try to feel the fluxuations in mana first. Even I can feel that the mana isn¡¯t exactly stagnant near your core after all. After that you¡¯ll have to try and find the mana within your body and focus on it until it moves. You should learn what the sensation of mana and moving mana is from being inside the turbulent mana of your core. But in order to focus on the mana within yourself, you should probably do it where there¡¯s not so much noise. Maybe outside of your dungeon territory?
Ah. Looks like I¡¯ve got some homework to do huh. Chapter 7 : A Breather This is harder than I thought. I was never good at meditation, but I figured with being able to see and interact with mana so easily in my dungeon, I¡¯d be able to move it at least a little bit. But right now all I can sense is vaguely something inside of me that is probably mana. I spent the last few days on this and this is as far as I got huh. Well, I guess even people taught by professional mages have a hard time on this step. Although, that does make me appreciate how much hard work Saeri must have put into it. Still, just trying to move mana all day makes my body feel all sore. Luckily, a good little distraction has come in. That small herd of fat little antelope? The kitties have learned their habits. The alpha male seems to be quite territorial. We can use that to lure it into a trap. Besides, it¡¯s got pretty white and brown striped hide. Unfortunately, it tends to just ignore smaller things like my kitties here, so I¡¯ll have to go out myself. Well, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get through it safely. Name : Eita Race : Dungeon Soul : Human Level : 5 Mana Pool : 500 Mana Regen : 20 / hour Dungeon Points : 5 Those two adventurers coming in gave me a nice little boost in mana and surprisingly a dungeon point. Most of the mana went into expanding and creating the second floor. The DP I saved because better things tend to cost exponentially more DP. Besides, if it¡¯s not urgent, then discovering it yourself is plenty of fun too. 5 points doesn¡¯t get me much anyways. Ah, that wasn¡¯t the point. Right. I create quite a few rabbits with strengthened muscles and nails. The territory of the fat antelope is too far away for me to extend my dungeon territory to right now. That means if I want to dig traps, I¡¯ll have to do it the old fashioned way. They¡¯ll all be coming back at night since going out of my territory means they can¡¯t replace food and sleep with mana. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. [Saeri] Uwa. So fluffy! Why are you making so many rabbits today? [Eita] Because it¡¯s finally time to set up our trap against the fat antelope. The plan is to set up the trap a bit outside its territory. There¡¯s a grove of trees that should be perfect. It shouldn¡¯t bother us if we do. Then the cats and I will taunt it and get it¡¯s attention. Once it¡¯s angered, it will hopefully chase us out. We¡¯ll lead it into the grove, and into the traps. Trap 1 will be simple, a small pitfall trap. If it so much as sprains an ankle it¡¯s our victory. Of course it¡¯s likely not that easy. Right after it will be trap 2, a series of wires to tangle up it¡¯s horns and legs. If even that doesn¡¯t work, I should at least be able to get a little distance. We¡¯ll also have a noose-like trap right around head height. If it runs into that full speed, it should catch on his neck or horns. There will be another pit trap right after that so hopefully it¡¯ll either fall in or even better just die. If even just one of these works we¡¯ll be in the clear so it should be fine with this many. As for the material, well, let¡¯s say being a dungeon really is sort of like cheating. While on earth wire would be the go to choice, I don¡¯t have access to any metals yet. Instead, I have access to incredible amounts of spider silk that I can create. See? Cats leaving dead spiders outside your door IS them looking out for you. With the way I can create and braid spider silk, they come out to be very very strong. Possibly stronger than steel, although not nearly as stiff. Note to self: make some cute silk pajamas. Oh. Maybe a qi pao for Saeri. Or maybe . . . [Saeri] E-Eita! [Eita] AH. Ahem. Anyways. Spider silk traps will work just fine. I wish some of these spiders were the poisonous kinds but we haven¡¯t found any that were and I don¡¯t have time to figure out how to get poisons inside of them without killing them yet. Instead we¡¯ll coat the kitty claws with some paralytic plant mush. It shouldn¡¯t affect them since it¡¯s only useful if it gets inside your bloodstream. [Saeri] Well this has always been a pretty safe area. Not many dangerous animals at all. [Eita] We just have to make do then. Anyways I¡¯ll make a little wheelbarrow thing to help carry it back so bring it over once the kitties come get you ok? [Saeri] Ok¡­ Be safe out there. [Eita] I will. With all the planning, what could go wrong? Chapter 8 : What Could Go Wrong? Shitshitshitshitshit Were antelopes always this fast? Things started out pretty well. I brought Flashpaw and Aziza as well as two other of the faster cats with me. The cats with their claws coated in paralytic herbs got a few scratches on the leader¡¯s leg. I managed to land a few stone throws as well, although it was just to ensure it chases us. Then we ran off into the grove with it chasing us. Everytime it stopped, we could get a few stone throws or cat scratches in. Everything was going well. Then we reached the first trap. It was a simple pit trap. It wasn¡¯t very deep but it was steep and covered with sticks and grass. It¡¯s front foot stepped into it and -crack-, the branches gave under its weight and it started to fall down. I thought we had it. Boy was that premature. Before it could land, I felt a burst of mana coming from it. It then burst forward with it¡¯s head down and cleared a good 20 feet. It was like a mana fueled ram. The sudden forwards charge let it clear the pit before it¡¯s leg could fall in and take any damage. Honestly if we were any closer we¡¯d have probably been hit. It¡¯s aim must have been off from the fall because it rushed towards a tree slightly away from us instead. I don¡¯t even want to think about he gouge marks it left. Things were going to get interesting. I could feel my heart pace rising and my mind truly focusing on my prey for the first time. It felt like I could see each patch of fur and each white mark on it¡¯s horn, worn down by use. Good news is that it doesn¡¯t look like it can do that repeatedly. After its charge ended, it was slow and couldn¡¯t chase after us right away. The kitties used this time to make a few more scratches and run away with me. Bad news is that it seems to have decided that it really, really hates us. It¡¯s been using that stupid magical charge attack every so often. If that hits, we¡¯re definitely dead meat. I¡¯m lucky I chose a place with trees instead of the open plains. Still. I can¡¯t help but feel my mind racing and a grin coming to my face.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. And that brings us to now. We¡¯ve been weaving through the trees. Sometimes a kitty will jump on its side and make a few scratches. That would distract it for a few seconds, enough for me to get just a little bit further. Luckily trap two is coming up. Ah. But if it uses that charge attack I¡¯m afraid it will just break through by force huh. Heh. It can¡¯t be helped. I guess I¡¯ll just have to do something about it myself. Despite all that running I could feel a shiver working its way through my body. This is it. I stood in front of the second trap and turned to face it. The cats were waiting at the sides. The antelope caught up. Each shiver ran through my body tensed my muscles. Each muscle like a spring pushed to its limits. More energy than I thought a body like mine could contain. A myriad of emotions contained within each heated breath. Fear. Pain. Nervousness. Insecurity. Pride. Greed. Hunger. Excitement. Madness. The poor thing seemed like it was breathing a little heavy too. Perhaps it was using all of those magical charging attacks. I giggled. Maybe it was some of that extra energy escaping. Seemingly spurred on by the laughter, and it¡¯s anger at having missed its mark for so long, it lowered its head once again and - - - - - - I felt the wave of mana wash over me and my tensed muscles reacted. My muscles reacted before I could process it. Each spring snapped, it¡¯s tension and energy allowed to be released. I leapt and avoided it¡¯s charge. It couldn¡¯t stop immediately but after passing where I stood just a moment ago, it no longer had the explosive energy of its charge. The magic behind the force had dissipated and all that was left at the end was momentum. It should at least take a while before it can do that again. It was at this time that it ran into the spider silk wires I had set up. It started getting tangled up and was thrashing around. However I knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough. The wires would snap sooner or later. It even reared up to try and escape. [Eita] Kitties, now! The cats leapt on my command. They started scratching and biting the antelope¡¯s hind legs and rump, startling it. That was enough to make it stumble forwards in surprise and - CRACK He was in position. It was the last chance. He stepped on the second, much deeper pit trap. However this time he didn¡¯t react in time and his charge couldn¡¯t be activated again so soon. He tumbled forwards as he was caught off balance. His head and horns got caught in the snare set up at head height. Suddenly, he found that his front feet could no longer find any footholds. There was no longer any way for it to escape. It was only a matter of a quick or slow defeat. He reared up to try and escape but the cats kept attacking it''s back and climbing on him, leaving him off balanced. I don¡¯t know what did it. Perhaps he just needed a little push. Perhaps the numbing agents were taking effect. Perhaps his panic was his undoing. No matter what it was, he could no longer balance on his two hind feet and collapsed forwards from his reared up position. All that extra weight and momentum was enough. CRACK And all that was left was a few unsightly twitches. I collapse on the ground with the kitties. Even as I felt the energy leave my body, it seemed to bubble up into full on laughter. I couldn¡¯t help it. It was exhilarating. The tinge of pain in my ribs couldn¡¯t stop the joy. [Eita] It¡¯s over. I¡¯ll have one of the go bring Saeri here, but for now we all deserve a break. [Eita] Good job kitties. I¡¯ll be sure to feed everyone plenty of meat tonight. [Cats] Nyaaaaaa~ Chapter 9 : Spoils [Saeri] Geez what are you thinking I can¡¯t believe you didn¡¯t just run away! If it can use mana like that it¡¯s clearly evolved into a monster right? You don¡¯t even know anything about fighting I can¡¯t believe you did something so dangerous! As expected. I¡¯m getting quite a lecture all the way back. [Eita] Haha. Well I was trying to run away right? Besides, isn¡¯t it fine? We got our prize and everyone is safe. I am certain that I would have died, or at least have had to give up on my prey, had I not learned to sense mana properly outside my dungeon. That was certainly a closer call than I would have prefered. Well, I¡¯m not going to tell Saeri that though. I promise myself to make a few extra backup plans from now on. I¡¯m not a girl who can¡¯t learn from things going wrong ok? So in a way things going wrong is exactly what went right. [Eita] Everything turned out ok didn¡¯t it? Now come on. We¡¯re almost at the dungeon so keep pushing. I¡¯m just going to extend the dungeon territory down once we reach the foot of the path. I don¡¯t want to have to pull everything up this path. [Saeri] Hmph. Fine but you¡¯ll have to explain yourself properly later. I giggle and walk up the path back to the dungeon. Saeri is adorable when she¡¯s serious and acting bossy. It almost makes me forget how sore all of my muscles are. Almost. I made a promise to myself to spend the rest of the time until the meeting slacking off and doing whatever I want. I spend a good deal of the saved up mana pushing the dungeon territory down the path. I absorb the antelope and feel it¡¯s mana fill up my reserves again. I also get it¡¯s pattern to play with. I start playing around with it and Saeri and the cats come join me soon after. It wasn¡¯t too late but it did end up taking us until mid afternoon. I figure it¡¯s good enough to start eating and having fun now. I did promise the cats lots of delicious meat after all. Let¡¯s see. There¡¯s this delicious berry, and a apple thing that¡¯s pretty sour. As for salt, well luckily it seems the river I¡¯m occasionally diverting has some dissolved rock salts in it. Oddly enough I couldn¡¯t just filter the salt out of the water with my dungeon. It wouldn¡¯t let me create salt until I boiled away a bunch of it to create some. It took Saeri quite a while to purify it as much as we could too. Well, it was worth it. No more bland food for us.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The dungeon creation could control just how much of this antelope meat I wanted to create and what shape so I tried all sorts of things. Animal fat to substitute oil. Thin slices that cook immediately on our stone pan with a nice berry and herb dipping sauce. Thick steak pieces topped with salt, diced herbs, and a little of that sour juice. I even minced some venison and rabbit meat by hand. It¡¯s difficult, or maybe impossible, to do that sort of thing with the dungeon interface. But at least once it¡¯s absorbed a good sample I can create more, no problem. With a little extra animal fat mixed into ground venison and rabbit meat, I made little hamburger patties. Those were by far the most popular. The steaks turned out either a little raw or a little tough but the cats seem to enjoy those anyways. I myself love the paper thin slices which really lets you taste the meat. All in all, it was a nice night. We ate and drank juices and all in all had a hell of a feast.
We¡¯re getting to the end of week 1 now. One more week before the meeting, and that doesn¡¯t include travel time. Name : Eita Race : Dungeon Soul : Human Level : 7 Mana Pool : 750 Mana Regen : 30 / hour Dungeon Points : 20 Huh. Apparently that thing is worth about 30 or 40 cats. Plus what I gained overnight. Oh and I gained a level from killing it with my cats I guess. There¡¯s definitely some things I need from the dungeon history but that can wait for a bit. I haven¡¯t even introduced monsters to my floors yet anyways. For now, let¡¯s modify the fat antelope we just got. Interestingly, it has a crystal, similar to the ones that are in my creatures. It¡¯s the first one that got brought in that has one. I guess this is proof of its ability to interact with mana on more than a basic level? The crystals in my creatures helps them use my ambient mana instead of eating and such after all. I can vaguely tell what it¡¯s crystal allows it to do, but it doesn¡¯t look like I can do anything with it yet except for change it to the smaller one my normal summons have. Another interesting thing I hadn¡¯t noticed was that beneath its fur, on the sides of its neck and body, is actually several tough, almost scaly, patches. The scales are small and overlap each other, sort of like on a snake. They are well hidden by the fur growing in between them, but they probably provide some defense for when it¡¯s fighting against another charging antelope. Well, either way for now let¡¯s increase the muscle density and make it a little more aerodynamic. I will keep the horns though. Hmmm. You know, horns and teeth and nails and shells aren¡¯t all that different from one another. Let¡¯s see if I can add in a connected row of short dull horns across it¡¯s chest where a harness would go¡­. Holy crap I can. It kind of looks like how a spiked collar would look actually. It¡¯s a pretty nice aesthetic. It shouldn¡¯t affect the antelope¡¯s movements at all so why don¡¯t I add a few more on it¡¯s back to help distribute the force. Of course I¡¯ll leave room to sit in case I need to ride it. Maybe I should spread the scales over its entire body too. Oh and it would look amazing if we got rid of the hair except maybe some white stripes of it on it¡¯s neck and back, sort of like a cool mane. It costs¡­. My god it costs like 500 mana. Come on I didn¡¯t even do that much to it. Ugh. Most of the changes were just aesthetic. Ok so I need 2 of these for transport¡­. Then a carriage¡­. Plus gifts and a new dress and all the harnesses. Hmm. This is going to cost a lot of mana. Sigh. Thats most of the mana for the next few days huh. Chapter 10 : Waiting Oh how much of human life is wasted waiting. Luckily, I¡¯m not quite a human anymore. Now I don¡¯t have much mana to spare. I want to start playing with my dungeon again but I can¡¯t do much. What I can do is start absorbing materials and shaping the path outside my official dungeon. I¡¯ve spread my dungeon territory all the way to the top and bottom of this valley along the path so there¡¯s plenty of material to clean up. I set about smoothing and enlarging the path down. Mundane work but it¡¯s easy to do it while I¡¯m thinking of other things. People who arrive should be settling down there in the valley. I don¡¯t think I want too many people going up to the river. They might figure out I¡¯m drawing water from it. I am constantly drawing a small amount water in advance to store but after that I will be relying on the river again. Hm. First things first. Let¡¯s block off the path up for now. Nobody really needs to go up there. Instead I¡¯ll draw some of the river through a part of the dungeon others can''t access, and let it create a waterfall coming out nearby. I¡¯m going to let this waterfall create a small river and fall into a hole back into my dungeon. This should at least be enough for them to work with for a while. After that then they can negotiate with me on how they want various plumbing things to work. Next thing, I really don¡¯t want to pay attention to absorb things. I can sort of do it unconsciously, but only while I¡¯m inside the dungeon territory. It sort of feels like blinking. Once you¡¯re conscious of it, it always feels sort of weird and gets a lot less smooth. It seems like something I can work out eventually, but it¡¯s important enough for me to spend DP on. Dungeon Points : 15 [Automated System] : 10 DP What the automated system does is that I can set some repetitive tasks for it. It¡¯s sort of like a robot. It can¡¯t really think for itself but all I need is for it to absorb things in certain areas when it can. This should stop water from overflowing when I¡¯m away from the dungeon for a longer period of time. I also task it with reviving monsters. I¡¯m not entirely sure how the whole soul and revival thing works yet because all my creatures are still alive. But either way, it¡¯s good to be prepared. Wouldn¡¯t want to wait too long and miss my chance to revive them. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Honestly I would have learned this eventually. I could feel that my ability to multitask and do dungeon functions while not paying attention increase, but it¡¯s important enough to invest in. Let¡¯s see. What else can I do while waiting for the day to come. Hm let¡¯s take a look at how all the animals are doing. I mostly just let them do whatever they want with a few jobs here and there though. Rabbits : There¡¯s a lot of them. I think they might be reproducing? At least I don¡¯t recall making so many of them. There isn¡¯t much to say about them other than that. A few of them are getting quite big, and all of their hairs are nice and glossy though. I made sure to create a nice thick layer of dirt for the plants so there are plenty of burrows. They¡¯re quick and can pop out from the ground to grab whatever is lying about. Never leave your carrots on the ground or you¡¯ll be going without soon enough. Saeri had to learn that the hard way. Snakes: All still pretty small. None of them would even pose a threat to the bunnies. Are they all garden snakes or something? If they keep hunting bugs and mice I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll evolve eventually though. Keep working hard little noodles. Birds: My precious little scouts. They don¡¯t seem to like being too far in the dungeon. It might be because there isn¡¯t much room to fly in there. That¡¯s fine though. I¡¯ll make a nice high ceiling in one of the later levels. Maybe some trees outside now that I¡¯ve spread my dungeon territory outside of this cave. For now they¡¯re just messengers and spies. I can¡¯t tell if they got faster or bigger, but their bird song is so nice sometimes that I don¡¯t really care. Bugs: Eeeeeh. I¡¯m not going to look too closely at them. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re growing. Probably. I¡¯m absolutely certain they¡¯re multiplying though. Maybe I¡¯ll drop a big ball of them on an intruder. Maybe I should ask them to find me a queen ant at least. Cats : Now these kitties I can tell are growing. Physically most of the kittens are getting better. Flashpaw and Aziza especially are getting quite quick. I think they¡¯re finally getting away from regular cats and getting closer to what this world calls monsters. Well, there¡¯s this fat white cat with spots that kind of just lazes around at the entrance. I guess not every summon can be a win eh? Plants: It seems the mana is really good for growing plants. They¡¯re spreading and growing like weeds. They¡¯re encroaching on the areas I set as walking paths, but it¡¯s only a little. I¡¯m sure when people come by to harvest them it¡¯ll get better. I¡¯ll ask the bunnies to keep the path clear though. I guess I¡¯ll just spend the next few days just playing with animals. Oh. I wonder if I can use the animal templates to make adorable animal ear hoodies for Saeri. Chapter 11 : Sparks There was an unusual tension and nervousness in the air today. Calchet is a small village and few things change around here. Wake up. Tend to the field or fish. Offer prayers more out of habit than thankfulness. Go home. Or in my case, Wake up. Go follow the chief around doing whatever he asks. Apologize to the people he¡¯s offended. Go home. Most people¡¯s schedule only change with the seasons. I could probably tell you what each villager will be doing on any given day and time. Predictable. Dull. But it¡¯s a living. But if what those adventurers said was true, then this dungeon core is both sentient and going to visit any time now. A dungeon core being sentient this early is unusual enough, but taking the initiative to leave their territory too¡­. Either way we have no idea what it wants. But if things go well, I hope we can put some much needed life and resources into the people of this village. We aren¡¯t exactly starving but Hasaat knows the tax is suffocating. The harvest will come, but so too will winter. While I was mulling in my thoughts, a bull beastman came running up to me. I backed up a little as he lumbered to a halt in front of me. Even if I¡¯ve known him for years, It¡¯s difficult not to when a 6 foot wall of muscle twice as wide as me comes running. [] Fargy! What¡¯s the rush? Is she at the gates already? [Fargy] No not yet Syl. I do see a carriage on the way though. It¡¯s coming from the right direction. The scaled beasts that are pulling it seem unusual though.. [Sylcor] I told you it¡¯s Sylcor while we¡¯re on the job. And it sounds like she¡¯ll be here soon. I¡¯d better wake the chief. Pass the word on and then make sure the other guards are ready. We don¡¯t really know anything about those beasts she has after all. If things go bad she might even attack. [Fargy] Mm. Got it. We¡¯ll be ready to jump in if that happens. I hurried over to Thorrik¡¯s house. Of all the things he¡¯s had to deal with this one was probably the most important. [Sylcor] Chief! Chief Thorrik! We need you ready! The dungeon core is coming! Chief? It was such an important time that I couldn¡¯t even sleep well, but all I could hear through the door was grumbling and - [Thorrik] QUIT POUNDIN THAT DOOR. I swear if ye don quit that racket I¡¯ll give you somethin to make a racket about. [Sylcor] But chief! This is important. This could determine the whole future of the village. [Thorrik] HA. The village be fine before the bloody dungeon and it be fine without it. I ain¡¯t gon let a dungeon tell me what to do. I¡¯ll come when I¡¯m ready. Tell the bleedin dungeon to wait just like e¡¯eryone else. Soon nothing more than the occasional grumbles could be heard behind the door. Likewise, panic was setting in. All I could do is pace and mutter while trying to clear my head. [Sylcor] Trouble. Trouble. Bloody dwarf just wandered into town and took over as mayor. Sure no one really wanted the job. But if he was going to take it over he could at least do his damn job. And interrupting my thoughts was the bell. The bell was wrung whenever an important person came. It was also wrung whenever someone died. I had never thought the tolling of the bell was ominous before but I¡¯m rethinking that today. [Sylcor] She¡¯s about here. Gah. I can¡¯t rely on him after all. I have to keep it busy until Thorrik comes out. I rushed over to the gate. I seem to be rushing everywhere today. The gate was opened but I know Fargy is prepared to slam it shut if the signal is given. I could see a little ways off a carriage being pulled by two animals. I¡¯m no animal specialist but they certainly don¡¯t look like any beasts I know. As they approached I could see the elegant fur manes, light reflecting off their scales, and those muscles moving underneath. I could also see the unusual and somewhat dangerous looking horns and spikes coming out of it. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s much doubt that that¡¯s a dungeon creature. At the very least it¡¯s not something natural to these parts. As the carriage passed through our gates, a lady stepped out. She¡¯s wearing an elegant one piece dress. It¡¯s skewed longer on one side, with some cute frills and a bow at the back. The vivid purple hue really catches the eye. It¡¯s a difficult color to make and certainly not one you¡¯d expect to see so far from the capital. As I was analyzing her, her steely grey eyes locked onto mine and she gave a bright smile that blew away all these thoughts. [Eita] Hello there. My name is Eita, the dungeon master. I believe I am expected? [Sylcor] Yes! Of course. Right. Right. Uh. My name is Sylcor. I am the chief¡¯s assistant. Right this way. We prepared a public venue like you asked. Follow me. Would you like something to eat or drink ? [Eita] Not right now. I believe business comes first right? Still this is quite a gathering. [Sylcor] Yes¡­. Well this is quite unusual and it has been quite a while since something as exciting has happened in this little place. We¡¯re quite far out in the countryside after all. [Eita] Ah that makes sense. So, where is this ''chief''? If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Sylcor] Right. Uh. He¡¯s a little preoccupied. Um. It should only be a shor- It shouldn¡¯t take him too long. Probably. Maybe I can keep you entertained for now? [Eita] Hm. Maybe this¡¯ll be easier than I thought. That¡¯s alright dear. There¡¯s quite a group gathered here and I want to address them anyways. She lightly hopped up onto a chair and curtsied. It was a bit dangerous to do so with me being so close to her and her standing on something tall. I made sure to look towards the crowd instead, although I could still feel myself getting a bit warmer. [Eita] Ahem. Greetings, people of Calchet. I believe you know, but I am the dungeon master of the nearby dungeon. Since the chief has not shown up yet, shall we first discuss what it is I want from you and what you need from my dungeon? Rather than a speech it seemed like a proper conversation. Things seemed to be going well for her. I¡¯m glad that things are going smoothly even though the chief isn¡¯t here. She¡¯s mostly calmly giving out some rules she wants us to follow and why she set those rules. She also properly notes which of the villager¡¯s requests are reasonable and which aren¡¯t. With the way the conversation is going, the villagers will be sending over a cart full of material by the end of the day. I could feel the excitement and hope seeping into the people. Well. In hindsight I probably relaxed a little too much. [Eita] Now I do have one request before I can accept this deal with you all. You see, when this whole thing was getting started, someone sent a cute little girl over to my dungeon. Ah. Shit. I knew it was going too well. I could feel my face cramping up already. This was a spark I did not want to deal with. [Eita] Did you know that someone sent an adorable hard working girl like that to die. They couldn¡¯t offer themselves of course. No. They adopted a little girl who had just lost her parents, all the while thinking off sending her off to die. I could hear murmurs running through the crowd. Of course they knew. How could they not know. Small town. Aging population. Little entertainment. Word gets around. [Eita] How has he treated you lot? Is he worthy of being your leader? Of the trust to make or break your village? The behavior from just earlier popped into my mind. And yesterday was hardly different. Rather it was harder to find days that were. [Eita] Has he been a trustworthy person, holding the village together? Or have you held together despite him? I, for one, cannot entrust my dungeon to someone who would treat the lives of others so lightly. As if right on queue, Thorrik¡¯s door slammed open. [Thorrik] Bloody ¡®ell what¡¯s all this then? Can¡¯t a dwarf rest in peace around here. Scram. The lot of ya. Don¡¯t ye have jobs to do instead of makin this ruckus? I saw Eita smirk and felt my stomach drop. I knew what was coming and I was helpless to stop it. [Eita] In order to work with the people of Calchet, I demand that the current Chief Thorrik step down from his position, for the benefit of the dungeon and the people. [Thorrik] WHAT? AND WHO ARE YE GIRLIE TO TELL ME TO STEP DOWN? YER JUS AN OUTSIDER COMIN IN TO MY VILLAGE AND TELLIN ME TO GET OU¡¯ THE WAY LIKE SOME BRAT. I thought I had heard Thorrik mad. I was wrong. His usual outbursts and yelling was just a pin drop to this. [Eita] Well. Look who¡¯s finally joined us. A short wait indeed. Unfortunately we have the small matter of who holds power here to deal with. [Thorrik] Are you makin fun o¡¯ me? I¡¯ll have you know ye can¡¯t find anyone else. I been doin this for the past 15 years. And why are you lot so quiet. After all I done for this village ye lot are gon stay quiet and let me be talked to like tha? It was deadly silent. But I could tell. My eyes are sharper than most people here. There wasn¡¯t a pair of sympathetic eyes in the crowd. [Eita] I guess you really are the type of man who won¡¯t admit to any shortcomings. Get off your high horse. You aren¡¯t suited to lead. You¡¯ve done as much harm to this place as good. Besides, I need to stand up to you. If I don¡¯t stand up to you now after you¡¯ve sacrificed a good hard working girl whose only crime is losing her parents, then when will I? [Eita] You¡¯ve all stood by while he yells and berates his way to power. You¡¯ve all stood by while he sacrifices your hard work for his lifestyle. Will you stand by when he sacrifices the pure little Saeri for his own benefit? What¡¯s next? Will you stand by when he decides my dungeon is more useful to him dead than alive? When he does something because of his short temper that harms the whole village for his pride? When he decides your children are better as mere labourers than learning a proper craft? When he decides it¡¯s better to get some gold than to keep everyone in the village safe? When there¡¯s a plague and he deserves to be the first one at the healers? I don¡¯t know about you but I can¡¯t trust my life in the hands of someone who couldn¡¯t bother to come on time to a meeting that could decide the future prosperity of the entire village. We need someone more worthy of the title. And more worthy of your trust. As her speech went on the silence in the crowd broke. Thorrik was right. They could not hold their silence anymore. However it was not in the way that he thought. Old grievances came to light. Dark thoughts found themselves uttered. As if her words had released a flood barely held back by our rational minds. But today they hold it in no more. He found that culmination of his every day deeds was not washed away and forgotten with time. No. In a small village as this, grudges and slights were buried. Not forgotten but nurtured. Each secret slight they can¡¯t express whispered to it¡¯s branches. Watered with each hidden tear they cannot show. Trimmed and shaped and cared for so that none else may find out. It¡¯s the only way life in such a small village could go on without things coming to a breaking dysfunctional halt. Unfortunately, with Eita¡¯s speech, these grudges have bloomed. [ ] you always - yell at my son - why - first pick of the food - bad harvest - what have you even done - way too much taxes - your assistant does everything - why do we need you - outsider - - remember that time - we were just fine - walked in from nowhere - thinks it¡¯s his village - doesn¡¯t own me - lazy - bum - short tempered - sacrifice - poor girl - why don¡¯t we - hey lets - CLAP All the attention immediately focused in on that noise that pierced through the crowd. I¡¯m surprised with one clap she could garner their attention so well. Even I was brought back from my introspection and grumblings. [Eita] Now now. First things first. I guess I forgot to mention that Saeri is still alive. Luckily I was the dungeon core and can think. She¡¯s taken to living with me now. A small murmur of relief runs through the crowd. A few approving nods. I myself feel relieved. I had been friends, although not close friends, with her father. [Eita] Besides we wouldn¡¯t want to get too out of hand. It¡¯s not like what he¡¯s done warrants us killing him. So we should simmer down that anger. We just need to replace him with someone who we would trust more with the responsibility right? [Thorrik] Y Ye think I can be replaced so easy? Who would do the job? She gave her biggest smile yet. Very toothy. Makes me uncomfortable. [Eita] Why haven¡¯t you been training a perfect replacement? Mr Sylcor here has been seeing you do things and even replacing you in some duties has he not? I suddenly found it quite difficult to breath. Of course I wanted things to change. I¡¯m just not sure I wanted things to change. And this. This was a change. [Sylcor] I- I mean I don¡¯t think - There must be someone - [Thorrik] HIM? He hasn¡¯t even a spine. Ye think he can - [Eita] I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be fine. But we can always let the village decide. [ ] He¡¯s always there to apologize for Thorrik. He¡¯s pretty good with the kids. He does make time to entertain my son with some magic. I mean I never got yelled at by him. He practically does all of Thorrik¡¯s job for him anyways. I mean - [Eita] Well there you have it. I hope you¡¯re satisfied and will work on not being so short - tempered. I was completely overwhelmed. And so too it seems was Thorrik. For the first time since I¡¯ve known him has he not had something to yell at people telling him what to do. Then again. Amidst this sort of atmosphere all he could do is skulk off and slam his front door. [Eita] Well then. Pleasure working with you Chief Sylcor. A representative from the capital should be coming soon enough. I hope you¡¯ll judge and guide him to becoming a good mayor or whatever position rules this city. But for now, you¡¯re the chief. I¡¯ll be heading back to my dungeon now. Do make sure the things the villagers wanted to deliver finds it¡¯s way to my dungeon soon. Tata. Before I knew it she was through the crowd and in a slowly retreating carriage pulled by two unknown scaled beasts. And I was here surrounded by all sorts of people patting me and giving me advice. Oh. Oh dear. Chapter 11.5 : Of Mice and Men [] Here look. I brought a fish. In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this. He stared down at the measly tribute. He knew that this was no tribute fit for a king, never mind a god. Of course, how he knew any of this was anyone¡¯s guess. From his seat above the cabinet he cried out in indignation. [Azizi] Meow. (Is this it? Is this all you have to offer the great Azizi? I could have you killed for your insolence, elf.) [Elf] Aww adorable. It''s your favorite right? Come on down and eat. [Azizi] Meoow. (Ugh. Why did I ever allow you to be chosen as the next leader.) [Elf] Gah. Hey you did not need to jump on me to get down. You''re a cat. Can''t you just land on the floor? Your claws are sharp you know Not even fresh. Ha. I guess I''ll have to make do with this for today. [Elf] Aw who''s a cute little kitty.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Damnit that''s it. [Elf] Gah! My hand!
Hmph.Sleeping in again. How inattentive. It¡¯s hours past midnight, the slacker. [Azizi] Meow. (Awake servant. You need not sleep in so late when your master is already up.) [Elf] Agh. What. What time is. Gah. Azizi. Stop stepping on my face. Hey. What do you even want. [Azizi] Prrrrrr. (My hair maintenance is long overdue.) [Elf] Ugh. I¡¯ll pet you as much as you want after the sun comes up ok? Let me sleep please? [Azizi] Prrr (Don¡¯t you dare fall asleep again. How will you take responsibility if my beautiful fur degrades because of your lack of care.) [Elf] Sigh Alright alright I get it. Please stop stepping on me with those claws. Where¡¯s that brush¡­. [Azizi] Meow (That¡¯s better. It would have gone much faster if you had just obeyed properly in the first place. Or better yet learn how to meet my needs before I have to ask you for them.)
Asleep again. How this creature manages to survive I will never know. Hmph. Well as a merciful master I shall bestow upon him a reward. Perhaps this will energize him some. And hopefully he¡¯ll learn to fetch some appropriate tributes. PLRP [Elf] GAH. Holy Hasaat what on UGH. That stench. [Elf] ¡­ Is¡­ is that an octopus? AZIZI. Why the hell did you bring an octopus in here? Where did you even find this thing? I don¡¯t recall the lake having octopuses. AGH. And WHY are there dead mice on my bed? [Azizi] Meow. (Perfect. It seems my generosity has bestowed upon you new energy. Use it to serve me well.) [Elf] Ugh. Now I have to dispose of all this. These are pretty big mic- notdeadnotdeadnotdead oh gods they aren¡¯t dead. Sigh. All I do for him and the dunce just lets the mice scatter. If I were any other master I¡¯d give him 20 lashes. Rightfully earned I might add. Well. Another day another chance at educating him. Chapter 12 : Special Delivery If you cared to ask, the first thing anyone would tell you about Kanva was that she was old. Old old. She had been around since anyone in Calchet could remember. That was saying something, in a place where one could as easily end up a centuries old elf as an early grave. Stories have been passed down about how she was a beauty in her younger days. Now she¡¯s withered and old and has lines on her face like tree rings. Of course the second thing they would tell you is that you did not hear it from them. After a bit more prodding, you would be told that Kanva lived alone off by the river in the woods. That was a shame, considering what a spectacular alchemist and doctor she was. On the other hand, it meant there was a lower risk of accidentally getting on her bad side. Oh. Yes. As an afterthought, it may occur to them that they haven¡¯t told you that she was part dryad. It was on this day, nearly a week after the chaos of the dungeon¡¯s visit settled, that we drove a wagon of goods towards the dungeon. It had originally been the duty of Fargy and perhaps some of the hunters but Kanva insisted we take on this burden. Nobody keeps pushing when she insists. Of course I say we but she just sits in the wagon relaxing. Her apprentices do all the hard work. Not to mention there is only two of us. If I knew how hard she¡¯d work us, I¡¯d have chosen a part earth elemental or something with more endurance than a Vespide. I didn¡¯t even absorb that much mana so all I got was these antennae, wasp wings, and two pairs of wasp legs coming out of my back. Worst thing is I¡¯m way smaller than Kesia. She went for earth lizardkin. She¡¯s like twice the size of me and ended up doing most of the work loading these items. As always. How was I supposed to know she¡¯d choose that? How does being an earth lizardkin even help with alchemy. [Kesia] Vance! Look! We can see it from here! Thump thump thump [Vance] Hey! Watch where you¡¯re swinging that tail. You know you earth lizardkins basically have a mace for a tail. [Kesia] Hmph. I¡¯m sure you would have preferred it if I became one of those water types that hang out by the lake. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re much softer. [Vance] Oh come on you know that¡¯s not what I mean. [Kesia} Oh look. That¡¯s the path! It seems larger than Mr Fravit told us about. Oh there¡¯s even kitties! [Vance] I swear, this girl¡­ [Kanva] Hush now. You two know we¡¯re here for business. I can hardly trust Sylcor and some mob¡¯s judgement on how trustworthy this girl is. I don¡¯t need you two blabbering away, making us look worse. [Kesia] Yes mistress¡­ [Vance] We¡¯ll try not to get in the way ma¡¯am. [Kanva] Yes yes. Just keep your eyes open. You never know if the dungeon would rather consume us instead of talking. [Kesia] But didn¡¯t Pyria and Fravit say it was pretty weak and lacks monsters? I don¡¯t think it would stand a chance against you.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. [Kanva] As likely as that may be, we shouldn¡¯t underestimate it. Not to mention you are liable to just run off and of course the boy is going to follow wherever you go. [Vance] T-That¡¯s not true. It¡¯s just someone needs to keep her out of trouble. That¡¯s all. We continued our usual banter until we pulled up near the path up the canyon wall. [Vance] Should I fly up and let them know we¡¯re here? [Saeri] That¡¯s unnecessary. You guys can leave all the stuff there and just come on up. [Kanva] Saeri huh. At least it seems part of the rumors were true. At least the dungeon has the manners to get us a guide. [Saeri] Of course Miss Kanva. Eita has been quite nice to me and quite reasonable to everyone else. [Kesia] Waaa~ She¡¯s cute. Look aren¡¯t her clothes just adorable? I was a little too on edge being near the dungeon to have noticed such a thing but I guess it¡¯s true. Despite her small frame, the maidlike outfit she had on did give her a dignified yet doll-like appearance. I didn¡¯t know her before this but if she¡¯s Saeri, then she certainly doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s been injured or abused. As we were walking up the path I felt like I should warn Kesia once more. [Vance] Calm down. We don¡¯t know what will happen in the dungeon. The less we talk to her the better. [Kesia] Don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯m sure both Saeri and the dungeon are nice. I mean, would a mean dungeon give such a pretty dress to her? [Vance] Ha. Just. Just stay near us ok ? [Kesia] There. You won¡¯t worry if I just hold you like this right? [Vance] Gah. What are you doing? Put me down! Ah come on wait I¡¯m still a guy you know. AH hey you¡¯re pushing me to spots where your scales don¡¯t cover. [Kesia] Don¡¯t mind. All I could feel was her squeezing me tighter and how smooth and warm the scales on her stomach were, as well as the skin between the lines of scales. I certainly can¡¯t pay attention to the surroundings like this. [Kanva] Hah. Those brats. So? Where¡¯s this dungeon master of yours? [Saeri] Eita will be meeting with you soon. She asked me to take you guys through the dungeon first. [Kanva] Hmph. Very well. Go on then.
It seems we have some interesting characters doing the delivery. Here I expected that new mayor to do it. He seemed like the type that would get pushed into doing those jobs even after he became mayor. Still, Saeri is doing a wonderful job as my little representative. She was so giddy and nervous when I told her she gets to speak for me but she¡¯s doing well now. She¡¯s not even stuttering or avoiding looking into their eyes. I¡¯m impressed. But more importantly, now that she¡¯s lured them away from the delivery, I can just absorb it all. Let¡¯s see if they¡¯ll be surprised when the things they brought are already being incorporated. Let¡¯s see. More seeds and flowers. Let¡¯s just add a few clumps of them randomly. I¡¯m sure after growing and dying some they¡¯ll find a spot in the floor that they prefer. With the ambient mana and temperature control I can make sure all the flowers are constantly in bloom anyways. Hm, a few of these are seeds for larger trees. Interestingly, one of them seems to incorporate metals into it¡¯s body structure. Well, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be incorporated well into the lower floor. They also provided a lot of food items huh. Meats of various kinds. Lots of seafood too. Or I guess they would be lake-food? I¡¯m glad the magical dungeon powers that be doesn¡¯t require me to have a living sample in order to recreate some of these creatures. Although I don¡¯t entirely understand it, I seem to need a certain amount of something to create it, although how much it is seems to change from thing to thing. Not to mention the more I absorb, the easier and less mana intensive it becomes to create the creature or item. To a limit, of course. Everything makes sense so far. The most important thing the villagers would want is a steady supply of food and medicine. There are some fabrics in here too. They¡¯re not as nice or durable as what I can make, but I guess most people wouldn¡¯t wear things made of hide or spider silk in their everyday lives. Oh! Here we are. This is what I¡¯ve been waiting for. Metals! I can only get so far with wood and animal bits you know. I¡¯m not some savage. They didn¡¯t provide any ore, but I guess that¡¯s to be expected. There¡¯s no point in shipping ore to a remote town when they can just ship bars of the stuff. Ore is just¡­. Little specks and chunks of metal randomly spread out in some rock right? I¡¯m sure I can recreate something similar. As for what they did give me¡­ some coins and some broken household items. Most of the coins seem to be made with steel, silver, gold, or some mix with the majority being those three. There were different shapes of each of those but I can have Saeri teach me the differences after. I expected some copper and iron coins, but I guess dealing with rust on those would be a nightmare for normal people. Most of the iron and copper I found in their deliver was in daily items. Damaged pots and pans, buckles and buttons, even a small buckler shield. Some coins and broken items. Still. This is more than enough base material to add some nice touches to the things I¡¯ve been preparing. Oh. Look. This must be lunch. Chapter 13 : Natures Fury It didn¡¯t take long to incorporate some of the new additions to the dungeon. Most of it was just metals, plants, and aquatic life. The environment was all already prepared anyways. I think even lunch will take longer to prepare. I¡¯m more excited about this than the metals honestly. There¡¯s only so much variety we could have made without more ingredients. While I planned on perfectly reproducing the lunch I absorbed from the cart, I¡¯m also going to make a little feast. Can¡¯t help being excited when I finally get my hands on some nice starchy ingredients. I go about preparing lunch while focusing my dungeon senses on Saeri and the people she¡¯s guiding.
That said. It¡¯s pretty mundane for a dungeon. At least, judging from the stories and rumors anyways. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve been in another dungeon before. Kanva¡¯s been muttering quietly all this time, wandering here and there. Kesia is enjoying this too leisurely, as if it was just any old stroll. That girl, Saeri. She¡¯s just been looking at us quietly. For someone who has supposedly been out here alone for weeks I thought she¡¯d be a little more talkative now that she¡¯s got the chance. Still¡­ [Vance] Hey. Um. I know this is late but do you need help? We could bring you out of the dungeon if you want. Kanva is really strong and a stupid dungeon can¡¯t stop - Even I was aware that I was sort of rambling but the look she gave me cut off any train of thought I had. She was looking sort of nervous and fidgety but that quickly transformed into a cold glare. [Saeri] No thank you. I am perfectly happy here with Eita. I would appreciate you not insulting her like that. She was the one who helped me and gave me more purpose and happiness than I could have imagined. If you wanted to help, perhaps it should have been before I was brought to be fed to a dungeon. I¡­ wasn¡¯t sure what to say. What could I say? Certainly we¡¯ve seen her around. We vaguely knew that she didn¡¯t have anyone to rely on. Everyone vaguely knew such things in such a small place. But we never did take the time to stop and ask. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I don¡¯t know how long I was there looking pathetic and apologetic when Kanva broke me out of my worried reverie. [Kanva] THIS IS ALL WRONG. Can this dungeon not even understand the basics? Terrible. Just terrible. Get over here we¡¯ve got work to do. This shocked Saeri and Kesia as much as me. Kanva is usually a quiet person so imagining the kind of mood she must be in gave us all goosebumps. Even Saeri seemed to forget the previous mood and hurried over. [Saeri] U um. What¡¯s wrong? [Kanva] What¡¯s wrong? What¡¯s wrong? Everything! Everything is wrong. This whole place is wrong. Island Blooms shouldn¡¯t be that far from the water. Lunar Collard only grow on high grounds. The Humble Jack-In-The-Bush can¡¯t be that close to Chill Bites. The Milking Vines only grow on Brer Trees. It¡¯s like this dungeon doesn¡¯t know anything. [Saeri] I mean the placements are a little off but all the plants look fine. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s hurting anybody. No need to make such a big fuss about it. Uwah. Backtalk. At least Kesia and I have learned better than to do that. [Kanva] As if forcibly keeping plants alive by pumping in mana can be called fine. It¡¯s hurting the plants. And what will you do when people who are used to this mess goes outside to try to find things with their twisted knowledge? [Saeri] Fine I¡¯ll ask Eita to fix it so - Ah what are you doing? Pieces of dirt and rock and plants started lifting themselves off the ground and moving all over. [Kanva] Well? What are you lot waiting for. Get to work. We¡¯re fixing this mess that the dungeon made. [[[Kesia, Vance, Saeri]]] Y-yes While Kanva was focused on moving around trees and harder to transplant items, we grabbed and pushed areas of floating plants and rocks. Kesia focused on the large floating patches of plants. I helped relocate several insect nests as well as hard to reach places such as the cliffs. Saeri mostly handled the river plants and ushering around the various animals that were suddenly uncovered. We spent the greater part of an hour just moving plants. Luckily Kanva floating them made things much easier for us but it was still all panicked running around for an hour. [Saeri] I hope she¡¯s not going to do this for all the other rooms. [Kesia] Oh no. There¡¯s not too many more rooms right? Right? [Vance] I¡­ I mean it¡¯s just a new dungeon. It can¡¯t be that big. [Saeri] This place is huge. There¡¯s several floors Eita wanted me to show you guys too. Hah. We all sighed and grumbled and trudged on towards the next room. Not too loudly of course. We wouldn¡¯t want to tick Kanva off even more. Chapter 14 : Dungeon Aesthetics What in the I knew that woman was dangerous by the amount of mana she was leaving behind but come on. She tore up the entire room? I admit I didn¡¯t pay too much attention to the plants. They tended to grow towards their preferred locations eventually anyways. But don¡¯t you think that was a bit much? Still she¡¯s certainly a powerful magic user. I don¡¯t doubt that she¡¯d be able to reach my core if she wanted to. No matter what sort of tricks I use, I guess a dungeon with only a few floors is no match for a master mage huh. Offensively, my choices are to overwhelm her magic or to trap her in a room with no breakable terrain I guess? Well, my guess is she either carries enough for her to use on her or can create things to use. Either way, best not to have her want to kill me. I better redo the rest of the rooms so she doesn¡¯t do that again. I swear some of my creatures will outright die of fright. To think she''s that much more powerful. No wonder the kitties are nowhere to be found today. Little fuzzballs. At least you think I¡¯m doing a good job right Mr. Noodles? I poke at the snake that¡¯s laying across a sunny spot on the table. ¡­ No response. Great. Just you lot remember this when I¡¯m summoning my next creature.
Phew. The three of us let out a collective sigh of relief when we visit the next room and all Kanva did was grumble. It seemed like there were only a few things that needed fixing here and there. The same thing happened for the next few rooms. She would complain about new types of plants and creatures but for the most part things she already complained about were already fixed before we got there. I guess I should be grateful to the dungeon huh. Despite being the first floor, there was still quite a bit of area. If we had to cover it all and reorganize everything, then we certainly would¡¯ve been in trouble. Not that I¡¯ve ever seen Kanva get truly tired. [Saeri] Ahem. Now as you can see we have reached the entrance of the second floor. These cave like structures are the way down. They do each lead to a different section the sections are mostly the same. They are all mining areas, seeded with the metals and rock samples that you all have brought. It¡¯s more or less safe in there. Although that safety does mean the more valuable stuff rarely if ever appears. [Kesia] Hoh. It¡¯s comfortable down here. It really smells of metals and ore too. [Vance] Ok come on. Try not to get lost just because of shiny things. [Kesia] Boo. I¡¯m better at finding my way in rock tunnels than you are you know. Besides. It¡¯s not about how shiny they are. It¡¯s about how delicious they are. [Vance] Hah. Yes yes. Let¡¯s save that for later ok? We¡¯ve still got lunch after all. [Kesia] Fi~ne. Luckily there were no big surprises waiting for us on the second floor. The second floor was made up of a series of rock tunnels. A good number of tree roots were distributed throughout the floor, seemingly having burst through the rocks. Although they may be obstacles for miners, we could also see rich greens and blues peeking through and on the exposed rocks. Someone more skilled would likely be able to spot more. Although Calchet doesn¡¯t have anyone that experienced, considering the area is lacking in mines. The folks back in town would be happy if some experienced miners and blacksmiths came from the large cities though. We had Kesia smash her tail into a wall. It didn¡¯t do too much damage but from the shallow hole she made, we found more traces of metal. At the very least this is definitely suitable for mining, even if the rock seems a little harder than normal. Doesn¡¯t seem to stop Kesia from sneaking a few metal streaked rock chips as a snack though. It was hard to pretend not to notice with how loud the crunching sound was. In terms of danger? The floor is pretty weak. It was particularly quiet, with only the sound of some trickles and drops of water in unseen sections of the mine. It might even be safer than actual mines. It¡¯s a pretty complicated series of tunnels. With the tunnels meandering and criss crossing and changing in height, it would be pretty easy to get lost in here. The tree roots provide some obstacle and it might be difficult to fight in here with a swinging weapon. They are difficult to chop down and some are actually quite sharp. Other than that¡­ well there are some balls of poisonous insects around. With Kanva, we don¡¯t have to worry about them dropping on our heads. That said, only a fool or the absurdly unlucky would die in here. If the dungeon doesn¡¯t add more dangers that is. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. [Vance] It¡¯s pretty plain for something built by a sentient dungeon huh? [Kesia] The people back in town will be happy enough with the new supply of stuff though. And it¡¯s a lot less dangerous for us to collect medicinal herbs if we can come here instead of going so deep in the forest. [Vance] Yeah I suppose. I guess the stories just gave me some unrealistic expectations for my first dungeon. Giggle [Saeri] Now now. You haven¡¯t even seen the next floors yet. I¡¯m not sure I liked her tone. We had finally reached the end of the second floor. In front of us was a double door. Metal and heavy. Any doors we ran into before this was opened by Saeri or was already open but she was standing to the side this time. I glanced at Kesia. With how her tail has been twitching she was probably nervous too. It seems like Kanva is the only one unaffected. I don¡¯t know if the door smooth or if Kanva had more physical strength than we thought, but the heavy metal door opened smoothly. The metal door must have been blocking the sound. What started as a trickle of water running through the first two floors sudden became much more. The change in volume was startling. The sound and misty, humid air crashed over us as if the sea had left the shackles of gravity. Right in front of us was a rapid moving river plunging beneath our feet. There must be an entrance below us for the water to escape from. With the water running under us at such high speeds, it was creating tremors and vibrations that were impossible to not notice. In fact, it¡¯s practically a miracle that you can¡¯t feel or hear any of this through the door. [Kesia] Uwah. I¡­ I don¡¯t like this. I think I¡¯ll stay here until you guys come back. She was probably speaking at a normal volume but with the rapids right by us, I could barely hear. I had to start shouting a little just to make sure she heard me. [Vance] Come on. I know this is a lot stronger than we¡¯re used to, but we live right next to the waterfall. How can you be afraid of this? [Kesia] You¡¯re only saying that because you can fly! If I fall in I¡¯ll just sink! [Vance] Well I guess you do have a point. We can hardly just walk across¡­. [Kanva] What? Did your eyes stop working when you can¡¯t hear well boy? I blink a few times in confusion but I slowly calm myself down and finally look around the room. The rapids might have ended just in front of us but there were various pillars and terrain on it¡¯s way down. The chaotic flow made by these lead to many paths that branched off from it as it traveled from the far side of the room. The distance was¡­ not close. The size is nothing compared to our lake of course, but it¡¯s a sizeable room. The paths that branched off from the rapids led to calmer lakes. Areas that stretched from the rapids to the edges of the room. There¡¯s definitely enough area to warrant the fishermen making some of the larger boats in here. [Kesia] Ah! They prepared a boat for us! My sight focused on where Kesia was pointing. Sure enough it was¡­ a boat? It was hardly a good boat if that was the case. I was a bit worried about using it. [Vance] Is¡­ that a boat? It looks more like a large tub. [Kanva] Ha. I swear. How is it possible you two have been training for so long and still fail to take any notice of your surroundings. There¡¯s a rope tied to it. As long as it floats it should be good enough. Ah. There is. I¡¯m a little embarrassed we missed it. Kanva¡¯s usually not so quick when she¡¯s away from plants so I¡¯m ¡­ Hm. We¡¯re on a slightly raised platform and it¡¯s¡­. made of wood. No not just wood. Roots. I at least learned a little from these years of training under Kanva. These are definitely living. This entire platform is made of living roots. I try to ask if Kesia noticed it but - [Kesia] Hey! Come on! Hurry up and get in! This is just like that ride that they have at the Almist Festival! Remember? It¡¯s the one we went on together last year and they pulled us around! [Vance] Haha. I remember I remember. Don¡¯t worry we¡¯re coming. We all got into what was basically a wooden tub and was pulled along by this rope. There¡¯s probably a mechanism hidden somewhere, likely hidden by the tumultuous water. [Kesia] Look! There¡¯s a bunch of pretty fishes over there. As we got pulled along, we passed by the various run off areas. Most of the floor seems to be made of twisting tree roots that formed tight seals and allowed water to pool. All sorts of these pond areas were formed. Some had fast moving water while others were clearly stagnant. Some of the ponds were silty and murky, others were crystal clear. In the clear ones we could see they each had a variety of shapes and designs. Some were deep and we couldn¡¯t see the bottom. Some of the ponds were rocky and others were shallow. One of the areas was even basically a beach, just sand covered in a few inches of water. Not only fish but there were signs of other life. All sorts of underwater weeds, shrimp, a few crabs. [Vance] There certainly are all sorts of environments for different species. [Kesia] Right? The edges are pretty calm and not all that noisy either. [Saeri] Well, while each floor is meant to be a little more dangerous, these upper floors are still made with the normal villagers in mind. It doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s no danger or future changes of course. That said, the fourth floor will start having some of the rarer plants and animals. It will also be the first level where things will actively attack. [Kesia] Eh? We¡¯re going to be attacked? [Vance] This wasn¡¯t all just a plan to lure us in was it? [Saeri] Ha. Of course not. Nothing will attack us since I¡¯m taking you on a tour. Besides. If Eita wanted you dead I wouldn¡¯t have told you anything. No. Hold on. She wouldn¡¯t choose something like a dungeon over real people right? ¡­ Her smile doesn''t feel like her earlier smiles. Her smile feels a little scary. Chapter 15 : Over Our Heads [Saeri] Well then. This is the entrance to the fourth floor. Normally you would be attacked by the animals inside but in the interest of time they will behave. We stare down at the entrance. It was a slippery looking set of stairs running down into the ground. To make things worse the steps were small and a not insignificant amount of water was constantly flowing down. [Vance] Kesia, make sure you don¡¯t trip. It seems deep enough that if you fall even you¡¯ll get a little hurt. [Kesia] I- I know. I¡¯m not that clumsy. Uh. But why don¡¯t you guys go first. I¡¯ll follow. She says she¡¯ll be fine but I could clearly hear her slip a few times. Part way down she more or less gave up and started crawling down on all fours. Seriously, I wish this girl would be a little more careful. With her weight, if she slips and pushes us it wouldn¡¯t be a laughing matter. At the bottom of the stairs, we both bump into Kanva. [Kesia] Mistress Kanva? [Vance] Is everything ok ? [Kanva] Hush. I¡¯m busy. I see. The root system have been reinforced. It¡¯s possibly physical matter I suppose¡­. As Kanva finally walks out of the doorway while muttering something I couldn¡¯t quite catch¡­ [Vance] Woah. This is¡­ different. [Kesia] Wow. Look Vance. The trees are above us. There¡¯s a whole forest above us! Sure enough. Just as she said, there was a whole forest above our heads. Upside down. Hanging. A whole ceiling of roots and plant life. Surprisingly the branches didn¡¯t hang at a weird angle. It was simply as if their gravity was different from ours. In places the trees almost touched the floor, while in others they were inaccessible to anyone who couldn¡¯t fly. It wasn¡¯t only trees too. There were rocks and caves and hills, all upside down. It was as if a section of the forest had been carved out and flipped. The floor on the other hand was much simpler. The terrain still wasn¡¯t a simple walk in the park but it was¡­ well, normal. Rocks, sand, lots of leaves and decaying plant matter. There were however various birds and small animals digging through the leaves, for food perhaps. When they spotted us most would fly or jump back into the trees. It was truly a living, upside down forest. I¡¯m just glad the birds and such weren¡¯t flying upside down as well. [Kanva] Vance. Quit spacing out. See that tree over there? Fly up there. I think I see something. [Vance] Y-yes Ma¡¯am. I stretch out my yellow tinted wasp wings, cast a quick lightening spell on my body, and jumped. My wings quickly caught the air and pushed. As the wing flaps sped up, so did my body. I reached the tree Kanva had pointed to in no time. I buzzed around the tree, trying my best to follow the instructions Kanva was yelling up at me and to find whatever she thinks she saw. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. [Vance] Hoh. How did she even spot this. This is¡­ I cut my lightening spell and quickly drifted down in a spiral. [Vance] These are red tipped elf ears! They¡¯re rare even in the deeper parts of the forest. I show the others the two mushrooms in my hands. They had the characteristic shape of an elf¡¯s pointy ears, with the tips of the ears stained red. [Kesia] Oh. These things. They only grow near tree tops and only a few per tree right? I remember you spent a whole week looking when we got a request for a deafness cure. [Vance] Ugh. Don¡¯t remind me. I didn¡¯t even get any help since hardly anyone can fly. If they¡¯re in here then maybe we can just buy them instead. I really don¡¯t want to try finding these in the wild more than I have to. As we walked further through the level, we heard Kanva muttering again. [Kanva] Interesting. Interesting. Ironwood. So that¡¯s what that was¡­ [Vance] Hm? Ironwood? Well there certainly are a few larger ironwood trees but what¡¯s the big deal? [Kesia[ Ah. Ah! It¡¯s starting to rain! And so it was. What started as a few drops quickly picked up in intensity. Luckily it wasn¡¯t windy or obscuring our sight too much. [Vance] Ironwood. I see. Look! It¡¯s not rain. The water is just dripping from the roots and trees. And it¡¯s IRONwood. Ironwood trees need metal deposits to survive. There¡¯s no way Miss Kanva wouldn¡¯t say anything after what she did on the first floor. [Kesia] Eh? Eh? Are you saying¡­ [Vance] Yes! What¡¯s above us is the watery 3rd floor. And what¡¯s before that is the mining 2nd floor. The tree roots we saw on the third floor must be from these trees. And the pillars we saw must be ironwood trees reaching into the mining floor. That¡¯s why there was so many roots on that floor! [Kesia] I see! So these three floors are basically all just one big floor huh. Wow. We stared up at the forest in awe for a moment, heedless of the rain. [Kanva] Hm. About 60 points I guess? It should have been easy to realize when we saw the ironwood tree trunks on the third floor. Not to mention that the trees all have natural rhythms. Just like when a human heart beats and their blood vessels expand, if the expansions and contraction of the tree roots are synchronized - [Kesia] They all shrink at the same time slowly letting more water drip through from the third floor! [Kanva] Yes. That¡¯s about right. Although normally, even an ancient forest wouldn¡¯t be quite so in sync. Or change so rapidly. It must be a change the dungeon made. Regardless, let¡¯s keep going. Even if the rain is warm it¡¯s bad for you lot to stay wet for so long. Kanva pulls out two seeds which she plants in the ground. Then she channels her mana into them and forces them to grow through a plant growth spell. They grow just large enough to form leaves big enough to use as umbrellas. [Vance] Heater Locus huh. Does she need one? I point behind me towards Saeri, the little girl who¡¯s still following us. [Saeri] That¡¯s unnecessary. I may not be a very proficient magic user, but I am partial to water spells and did know this was coming. I had cast a waterproofing spell earlier so I am fine. [Vance] I see. I mean. Could have warned us¡­.. [Saeri] Where would the fun be in that. Well. The next change shouldn¡¯t sneak up on you at least. As we walked, I could certainly see what she meant. It got noticeably colder, the further we walked. The trees on this side of the floor was much less vibrant and colorful. The rain hadn¡¯t let up during our walk. Soon it turned into slush, then hail, then snow. We¡¯re quite lucky Kanva decided to go with a heater locus, since it could generate some heat when you run mana through it. [Kesia] Look look! It¡¯s snowing. It¡¯s like winter even though it¡¯s not even midsummer yet outside. [Kanva] Foolish girl. Stop it. Stay under the locus. [Kesia] But but why? [Vance] Ha. We¡¯ll get scolded again if we can¡¯t figure it out huh. I strain my eyes and follow some flakes of snow as they fell onto the now white and fluffy floor. ¡­ Huh. Fluffy. Isn¡¯t this a little too¡­ fluffy for snow? [Vance] Ah crap. Kesia stay under the locus. Look. Most of it is snow but there¡¯s some dream dust dandelion seeds mixed in. There must be some of the stuff growing behind the trees up there. [Kesia] Huh. Oh it¡¯s true. . . . At least it¡¯s going to be easy to harvest? [Vance] Still. The seeds are tiny white fluffs and really blend into the snow. People will definitely miss it if they aren¡¯t careful. Even Saeri had to prepare a cloth mask for herself huh. And so we traveled the last bits of the floor making sure Kesia doesn¡¯t accidentally breathe in any of the seeds. Luckily there wasn¡¯t any wind or aggressive creatures. At least it made for a pretty scenery, with the inverted trees and the gently drifting snowfall. The distant antelopes and chirping birds and the rare flower that blooms in the snow almost made me forget how dangerous this place can be. Chapter 16 : Welcoming [Eita] Ka ka ka. Welcome heroes! Congratulations for making it this far. However this is as far as you go. There is no more rooms for them to explore besides my last lines of defense kill rooms after all. I let them into the dungeon only door that I control to let them bypass all the real defensive rooms and to the room I prepared at the top of the cliff. It¡¯s a simple round room I¡¯ve set up with tables and chairs to be used for meetings. Still, I¡¯ve always wanted to say such a classic line. I¡¯m glad I finally got to say it. [Eita] Well, come on then. Get in here. No use crowding around the door staring. Hearing this, the group slowly stopped crowding around the door and entered. First the old lady, Kanva; bent over, brown rough skin, gnarled hands, thick greying vines for hair. Like her skin, her clothing appeared tough but very weathered. Up close she had more wrinkles and furrows than I had expected. Her staff however is very much green and lively looking. Next, the earth lizardkin, Kesia; Tall, strong, and pulling Vance. Unlike Kanva, she was wearing only a skirt and belt with various tools attached. Hard rocky looking scales covered parts parts of her, with soft looking tan skin peeking out between. Even the ornament at the end of her braided hair seemed to be rock, or at least very heavy. Dragging behind her was a thick scaly tail with what was basically a rock at the end of it. Then the vespid, Vance; Short and somewhat reluctant. Light skin with bands of black irregularly on his body. His transparent, long, wings fully extended behind him was taller than he is. Unlike the other two, he is clothed in bright and well cared for leather and cloth. They had holes cut especially for his wings and two buglike legs coming out of his back. Two antennae were poking out of his messy hair, swinging this way and that. In his belt was a shiny rapier. Hm. Sharp and fast weapon for soft targets, blunt tail damage for armored targets, and a mage. If it wasn¡¯t for the obvious difference in strength, I¡¯d say they had a pretty good party. Lastly my Saeri enters. Still playing the role of a good secretary and assistant. Despite how young she is and how adorable she looks, she¡¯s actually behaving pretty professionally. That said, I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s just killing her feelings or if she¡¯s truly apathetic. [Eita] Well then. Come on sit down. I¡¯m sure you guys want to talk a bit. It¡¯s about lunch time as well. I¡¯ve taken the liberty of absorbing your lunches and recreating them here. I¡¯ve also used the various ingredients to make some lovely new things, just as fresh and delicious. Now sit down and help yourselves ok? [Kesia] Oh! They do look good. There¡¯s even some metal chips! [Eita] Well I did happen to notice you eating some. I¡¯m not sure if you actually eat those for a meal though so I only made a bit. [Kesia] Earth lizardkins are tough so we can pretty much eat anything. Metals have a nice texture so they¡¯re nice as a snack. Kesia smiles and sure enough there were more teeth than I normally would have seen. [Keseia] What I eat also helps when I want to grow more scales. I can peel most of them off for bathing or bed, so it¡¯s important to get some rocks and metals in my diet. [Eita] I see. Well I¡¯m glad I decided to make some anyways. Like I said, help yourself. I worked hard on making these dishes after all. And work hard I did. Just because I could reproduce things doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t have to take time to figure out what goes well together. Not to mention using all the new food means I have to actually cook a sample first before just using my dungeon powers. Summoning raw grains wouldn¡¯t do me any good after all. Kesia quickly sat down on the chair nearest to the metal chips and started eating. Next to her sat Vance. Across from me was Kanva. And lastly Saeri sat next to me. [Vance] This food¡­ it¡¯s safe right? This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. [Saeri] Of course. If we wanted to kill you we wouldn¡¯t have invited you in like this. Besides, I am going to eat a bit too so you can be sure it won¡¯t harm my body. [Vance] Well if you¡¯re going to have some too¡­ [Kesia] Oh don¡¯t be so uptight. It wouldn¡¯t even be your first time being poisoned. [Vance] Hey! I¡¯ve gotten better ok. Those were all when I was just learning. [Eita] Come on now. Nothing is poisoned and I did work hard putting this together with all the new ingredients from your lunch. Ms Kesia¡¯s sandwiches have been reproduced of course, but also let me make nice bread bowls for the rabbit stew and some beef, presumably, steaks. Your noodles have let me make quite a few sauces for them, including the classic tomato sauce. Of course Ms Kanva¡¯s rice balls have allowed me to make fried rice and simple rice cakes. The fruits, salads, and sweets are all made from local ingredients. So the only way these would be poisoned is if you had brought poisoned food to begin with. [Saeri] Let¡¯s not waste Eita¡¯s hard work. We don¡¯t usually even eat this well. [Vance] Well¡­. Alright. Despite the mumbling everyone did seem to enjoy the meal. Or, in Kanva¡¯s case, didn¡¯t complain about it. We even got some chit chat going. Progress. [Kesia] So, munch munch we missed your speech in town since we live in the forest gulp nom but are you really crunch crunch willing to listen to the town and make stuff we need? [Vance] Geez. Don¡¯t talk while you¡¯re eating. [Kesia] I can¡¯t slurp help it. This stuff is good. Of course your normal food is good too, but this is like super good. [Vance] Hey. I can¡¯t spend that much time working on food when we have things to do you know. Well. This food is delicious though. You usually wouldn¡¯t have anyone serving such a variety unless it¡¯s a special occasion or a restaurant at the capital. Anyways. She¡¯s right. Are you really going to work for the town? [Eita] Hm? For the town? I don¡¯t know that I¡¯ve ever said I would do that. [Vance] Wha- So you [Eita] Calm down calm down. I never said I¡¯d work FOR the town. That doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t have a mutually beneficial relationship. You saw that I¡¯ve prepared plenty of room for the town to collect materials from. From herbs to food to metals. I did it all because I wanted the town to work with me. A sign of good will for what¡¯s to come. [Vance] Then why would you start having levels where the people could get hurt and possibly die? [Eita] You¡¯d hardly die from that last level. I haven¡¯t even made any dangerous ones for the public yet. But that said, I can¡¯t just hang out and meet people and work like you guys right? Even if I learned various skills, would you have me leave my core undefended? If I were to stop producing materials would various governments and greedy selfish people leave me alone? If I were to produce everything free and at no risk then would you have your chefs and farmers and guards work for free as well? It¡¯s simply a matter of my own safety as well as a way for people to earn their ¡®free¡¯ stuff. [Vance] I¡­ I guess you¡¯re not wrong. But I still don¡¯t like the thought of the town folks putting themselves at risk. [Eita] Hm. Think of it this way. If I don¡¯t just give out everything for free, then adventurers will have to come. If adventurers come, then you have people who will need to buy food, new clothes, repairing weapons, and all of that. Even if they don¡¯t put themselves at risk, the fact that the challenge is here means more people coming in from outside of town and bringing in money, business, and their expertise. For example, the town getting more blacksmiths that otherwise wouldn¡¯t have come here. [Vance] Hah. Yeah. I can accept that I suppose. [Saeri] It¡¯s not like they aren¡¯t warned. Any injuries and deaths would be their own fault. [Vance] You! [Kesia] Now now Vance. Calm down. It¡¯s still lunchtime. Seeing Kesia pat Vance on the head, I also give Saeri a pat. [Eita] No need to aggravate things. Let¡¯s keep it to a nice friendly lunch ok? [Saeri] Hehe. Ok. [Eita] Hm. Now I guess it¡¯s my turn for questions. Let¡¯s see. This might be a good question for our resident dryad here. I¡¯ve been thinking about this for a while. Isn¡¯t the ecosystem around here a little strange? Kanva who has been quite quiet up until now gave me a glare. [Kanva] ¡­ How so? Ho ho. Now that¡¯s a reaction worth pursuing. [Eita] My kitties and I have actually covered quite a bit of ground you know. But the animals here are mostly just that, animals. Very few have evolved into what you would call monsters, those with access to mana and magic. [Kanva] Hmph. What would you know about how often animals evolve. [Eita] Now I suppose this could be a coincidence. It might be that very few animals naturally evolve. But the presence of an adventurers guild and the various stories I¡¯ve heard from Saeri seem a little odd. Why have a whole guild around something that rarely even occurs outside of dungeons. Of course the humans always being able to evolve seems a little odd too, but let¡¯s just attribute that to the magic of ¡®gods¡¯ shall we? [Kanva] ¡­ What¡¯s your point? [Eita] On top of all that, there aren¡¯t actually very many animals here. And the distribution is strange. The largest animals we¡¯ve seen is a small herd of antelopes, only one of which was evolved. Aside from that, mostly rabbits and birds. It seems strange that there are so many prey species here without any predators. And yet even without predators, it doesn¡¯t seem like the prey species has grown out of control. I simply thought that was a little odd. [Kanva] ¡­ Haah. The short answer is that everything will be fine. [Eita] And the long answer? [Kanva] It¡¯s a long story. [Eita] We have time. [Kesia] Oh I love having storytime with sweets [Vance] You just love the sweets don¡¯t you? [Kesia] Even though you¡¯ve had more of the sweet jam and used almost all the sap sauce¡­. [Vance] T-that has nothing to do with it. It just went with the food I was having. That¡¯s all. [Kanva] If only you two would have as much energy when it came to studying and work. [Vance][Kesia] Sorry¡­. Chapter 17 : An Old Story [Kanva] Hah. This story is old. Very old. This is not just the story of this lakeside town. It¡¯s much much bigger than that. Long ago, before our forest was even around, this was a thriving place. Thick mana, a lakeside town, this was a border city between our Kingdom of Leothage, and the neighboring Avrisia Empire. The two nations were on good terms and as such, the border city of Calchet grew into a major trading hub. The Avrisia Empire was quite proficient in research. One day, a researcher had thought to themselves ¡°What are the limits to human evolution? A dragon? A golem? What if we could find the most useful evolutions and further increase our nation¡¯s standing?¡± And so he whispered such thoughts that made their way to the emperor. The emperor of course wanted him to pursue this. The emperor thought and of course came to the conclusion : ¡°Why do humans not evolve into dungeons? If we could create dungeons where we want, then our nation would be unstoppable¡±. Certainly there was no known reason why it would be impossible for a human to evolve into a dungeon core. In fact, everything we know supports it. Evolution is simply based around desire, belief, and the amount of mana one absorbs. And so they tried. And tried. And tried. It is said that dungeons are the domain of the god of creation, as they seemingly create out of naught but mana. However the emperor and his dedicated researchers succeeded. Through many years of raising a child, they had imbued him with knowledge and desire. The child simply did not know any other path but to become a dungeon. It was a matter as obvious to the child as the fact that the sun will rise again is for us. Thus on the twelfth birthday, the child underwent his evolution. He indeed evolved into a dungeon, and those who knew of this secret project hailed the emperor as a living god. The child however was not so ecstatic. The stories don¡¯t tell of what happened, but soon they were no longer able to talk to the child. His body soon stopped responding. Eventually, his body died. But that is not the end of a dungeon. His body was simply an avatar at that point and the dungeon survived. It was fueled by instincts, but it survived. Even though they had lost control, the ever growing dungeon brought riches and treasures to the empire. Their trade with our kingdom growing ever more important. Calchet was truly in a golden age and expanded to new heights. This went on for years. Hundreds perhaps. But one day, the dungeon woke. We aren¡¯t sure what caused it, but the dungeon went berserk. It was no longer acting as a dungeon should. It caused a vast amount of havoc sending monsters out to slaughter indiscriminately and consuming the land and life force in any area it could reach. With the capital of the empire at its center, whole areas were eaten away; if not by the dungeon core then by the monsters it created. The dungeon sucked away the mana from everything within its grasps, and broke down what was left. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. There were attempts to figure out what was wrong, or to restore the core¡¯s sanity. Perhaps humans were never meant to evolve into cores. Others claim the knowledge given to the child clashed with reality. Maybe the child¡¯s mind got locked inside the core and went mad. Or perhaps the core was too inhuman, and evolving into it forced too strong an impulse and nature to arise. Some religious groups even claimed that it failed because it was a dungeon shunned by the god of creation. Either way, noone could save or fix the dungeon. The capital of the empire was abandoned. If things had stopped there then perhaps it would be alright. A mere city for the mistakes of man. But it continued. The destruction and chaos spread. The dungeon was consuming mana at an unusually high rate. While most dungeons naturally attract mana, and use less then they attract, this one did not. I don¡¯t know if it failed to attract mana or if it found a way to consume more mana than it was drawing, but it created a mana void. A natural disaster that spread out, pulling the mana even from those still alive. Eventually an elite team was formed and sent to destroy the dungeon. Rumors had it they were guided by a Hound of Utos. They succeeded, but it was a bittersweet victory. They had to endure living inside the mana void for too long. Their bodies and minds were battered. Their very life force pulled from them. They returned not as heroes, but as lifeless men and women on the edge of death. To their dying days they didn¡¯t reveal what they saw or experienced in their. Nobody felt they had the right to force it from them. In the time it took them to destroy the core, the mana void expanded. A great ever expanding vortex had reached Calchet. People fled in droves. When they returned, they found what was left was dying and breaking apart. The buildings that have lasted generations now returning to the earth. Little lived through the mana void and even less could grow. Fields turned barren and the livestock they brought back grew sickly. The fish had all but gone and the waters no longer quench our thirst. Still, some stayed. I do not know if it was fear of the damage spreading, but Calchet was the only part of the kingdom that was damaged. The kingdom could afford to fix it. A group gathered to return mana and nature to the region. That was over a millennium ago. The land improved, slowly. The void, with its heart gone, was slowly pushed back. Forests were planted and waters purified. New soils brought from deep beneath the earth. It was like they were creating the world anew. I was a child then. I only knew the Calchet that was abandoned and returning to the ground. I trained and trained and joined when I reached adulthood. Although my sole job was to take care of the forest, I evolved to do the job properly. The forest grew into mass of living things, slowly pumping mana towards us with every slow beat, like a root pulling water. Time Passed. Members died or left. Some were replaced. As time wore on, even that was deemed no longer necessary. Now I am the only one who is left. There is little left to do but to wait after all. Life returned. Mostly those at the bottom of the food chain. Few predators found their way back when there was so little life here. But it was enough for the people; enough to seek out a living. Many of the folks here today have the blood of that group in them. While they found no riches, they too found few dangers. The thin mana makes it difficult for creatures to evolve, and they are weak when they do. Things have stabilized compared to the early days. The thin mana has more or less recovered. Enough to be called normal at least. Until you appeared at any rate. It seems¡­ that your core is drawing in mana as it should be. It is very difficult to make mana flow, but a dungeon core is one of the few ways to move a lot of mana. And so you are. The mana around the forest and town has been thicker than it has been in ages. Now then. I have said much, although little of it matters now. Is that enough to sate your curiosity? Chapter 18 : Wait A Sec [Eita] No no no. Hold on. That¡¯s brings up a lot more questions than I was expecting. My mind was reeling a little bit; parsing through her story and trying to spot the most important points that need answers. [Kanva] Hah. Make it quick girl. I haven¡¯t got all day to waste on the past. Here I thought plant types were supposed to be patient. [Eita] Alright alright. To start with doesn¡¯t your story make human dungeon cores sound pretty dangerous? I¡¯m pretty sure all of Calchet knows about me by now but I didn¡¯t see any particular reactions when I was in town. [Kanva] Naturally. For them, it¡¯s been many generations since the event. A millennium is a long time There aren¡¯t many that were alive at the time, and those that are don¡¯t tend to mix with the general public. [Eita] Hm. It has been a long time. But it seems like that would bring trouble. [Kanva] The old and strong likely won¡¯t come any time soon. At the very least they won¡¯t be able to hide from my eyes. On the other hand, old stories like these may have been passed down through the old noble families. Much was lost from that time but stories and attitudes live on. I wouldn¡¯t be too surprised if the noble that gets assigned to this area at least inherited a little suspicion of abnormal dungeons. [Eita] Hah. That might be trouble down the line huh. At least the general public isn¡¯t panicking so I can at least start a little track record of being sane and helpful. Let¡¯s see. Then next, is there anything in particular that can be done about this thin mana situation? [Kanva] I don¡¯t believe so. Even before this it was just a matter of time. The presence of your core has moved the mana much faster than it would have otherwise. Perhaps more creatures and natural creature evolutions will return to the region soon. [Eita] That¡¯s good to hear at least. It¡¯d be beneficial to me as well if more creatures show up. Hm now maybe the more theoretical stuff? What is this you mentioned about the god of creation?This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. [Kanva] It¡¯s¡­. Mere speculation. Dungeons can create from mana. Creation is the domain of the God of Creation. Nobody really knows anything about the god of creation though. He has no followers nor festivals nor churches. He is simply universally believed to be the creator god of this world. Whether that is true or not, I can not judge. [Eita] And the hound of Utos? [Kanva] A Hound of Utos. It is what we call the followers of Utos, the timekeeper. Utos, like the god of creation, does not have an avatar. However he occasionally gives messages to his followers. He informs them of certain people. Or creatures. Occasionally buildings. Either way. Whatever he names is deemed to be an enemy of Utos and will be killed by a Hound of Utos. [Eita] Sounds¡­ dangerous. What exactly does it take to become an enemy of Utos? [Kanva] No one knows for sure. Being immortal is usually one of the criteria but there are exceptions. The Hounds of Utos are particularly specialized immortal slayers. Most commonly, this is the undead. Time magic draws undue attention. Either way, Utos enforces the flow of time, and with the passing of time all things must end. This is true for man, beast, undead, mountains, and even gods. Eventually Utos comes for all. [Eita] Oh come on. Isn¡¯t that more a god of death? Doesn¡¯t that make all dungeons a target too? [Kanva] It wouldn¡¯t be the first time a dungeon has been a target. But like I said nobody knows how he chooses his targets. There are plenty of creatures and people older than his targets, stronger than his targets. The hounds, while often specialized in hunting the undead, don¡¯t even hold any special hatred for the undead. [Eita] Heh. Well. No point in worrying about it now I suppose. It¡¯s hardly the first time I¡¯ve lived with death hanging around behind my back. I¡¯ll just live as I feel like and what may come will come. [Kanva] Hm. Well if that¡¯s it for your questions, I¡¯ve spent much more time here than I had felt like. We will be leaving now. [Eita] Yes yes. We¡¯re at the top of the canyon wall right now so if you just walk out that door you¡¯ll see a path all the way down. I wasn¡¯t going to make you walk through the dungeon again. [Kesia] Ah um thanks for the food. [Vance] Un. Thanks for having us. While Kanva didn¡¯t even bother to look back, Kesia and Vance gave a cute little bow before chasing after her. It would be nice if they came back often. I¡¯m sure Saeri could use some young people around. I¡¯m sure I can surprise them again. Especially with all the mana and DP from Kanva¡­. [Saeri] Fuuuu. That was scaaary. Ah. Speaking of Saeri she just went all limp and sank to the floor huh. Time for some recharging. [Eita] Awww you must be tired. You did a great job speaking to them on my behalf. A real little professional. [Saeri] Hehe. I tried su~per hard but I was scared of messing up and messing up your plan. [Eita] You wouldn¡¯t have ruined anything. But you did great even though you were so nervous. You¡¯ll get a little more confidence when you¡¯ve done it a few times. For now, you deserve plenty of rest and reward. [Saeri] A-a reward ? [Eita] I¡¯ll make sure you forget all about how hard todays was for you. [Saeri] Ehhhh? Yup. A cool and collected professional Saeri is cute, but the blushing shy Saeri is the best. Chapter 19 : What鈥檚 the Difference There was still a lot to do after Kanva and the two big kids left. I hadn¡¯t expect work so soon but I can¡¯t really complain. Compared to Fravit, Kanva provided 10 times the dungeon points and 100 times the mana. I could use a little more work on my first dangerous level, considering how little actual monsters I had. It¡¯s a mix of an upside down forest environment, with a hilly and snowy terrain. To begin with, cats should be pretty comfortable here. Let¡¯s try something here. Going through the saved patterns, I pull up the cat. Then I essentially stretch it out until it¡¯s jaguar sized. It¡¯s not particularly difficult but the mana expenditure certainly goes up. Adding and adjusting muscles for the larger frame is a bit of a hassle though. After making a few of them and making small adjustments, I was pleased to see them climbing the trees and leaping from limb to limb without much problem. Then one that¡¯s a little more tricky. I pull up a snake pattern and a bird pattern. I carefully add only the wings to the back of the snake. The wings do not like being attached to a cold blooded animal. I had to pump a serious amount of mana into the creature after creating it to keep it from dying. It eventually seemed to evolve? Near the implant site, scales were pushed aside and feathers grew out in between. I had to add even more mana into its monster core until it was able to use a bit of wind magic to help it fly. It wasn¡¯t particularly agile, but let¡¯s make a few of them and see if anything comes of it. What¡¯s the difference between a dragon and a reptile with wings right? ¡­. Heeeeey. It might cost a good deal of mana but I wonder ¡­ Once the idea got stuck in my head, I couldn¡¯t help but start messing about with various animals. Millipede legs on a snake was surprisingly easy. Small wounds I guess, so it only took a little bit of mana to make it viable and not like, die. More difficult was things like adding more eyes to things, like a kitty. Adding non biological material was way beyond that. I mean, it was easy for things like a metal snail shell, but replacing my antelope scales and insect exoskeletons with metal turned out to be pretty tough. I was actually stuck until I realized the iron bark trees that incorporate metal was pretty much what I was looking for. Not that I ever want to try to mix plants and animals ever again. It took some serious refining to get anything decent. On the plus side I made a nice pond in our living area with real gold scaled fish and they look really pretty. I guess I lost myself a little. Sometimes I get stuck on an interesting problem and just throw myself at it. As they say, something¡¯s gotta give. I spent more mana than I really wanted to. Glad my dungeon territory covers a large enough area to give me a decent amount of mana every day. Lastly my dungeon points. I have more now, but all the interesting things took exponentially more points to buy. For now I purchase juvenile forest nymphs. They look like bunches of sticks and vines and leaves that form a general shape of a child. They aren¡¯t particularly strong, but they¡¯re good at taking care of the plants. They can use minor nature spells as well. When I created some of them, they strangely enough had no problems standing upside down on the root covered roof. Well. Whatever. I let them do their own thing. Interestingly, it seemed that they like to nurse from a tree with sweet sap. They could be considered the first humanoid monsters I have but¡­ Well it seems they still act and think like animals. To help them out, I try inserting a monster core into several of the trees and adding mana, but I don¡¯t know if anything happened or not. Seems it¡¯s not that easy to just make treants. I¡¯ll also buy slimes. A bit cliche, but they are useful. They are these semi-clear semi-pastel colored blobby boys. For a professional, it probably wouldn¡¯t be very hard to hit or remove that monster core just floating in the middle. Welp they don¡¯t cost very much mana to make so it¡¯s easy to make a bunch of them. Let¡¯s throw a few into those fishing ponds, a few on the upside down forest to drop down on people, a few crawling through the snow, and just some easy to spot ones crawling around on the ground. Gotta give the adventurers some easy to spot things to distract them. Well, for now there¡¯s not much challenge though. Hopefully I can get something big and strong for people to confront face on soon.
Through the next couple of weeks, I played around with researching my new little creations. Funny how even if they¡¯re a part of me, they¡¯re still their own selves and have lots of interesting things we have to find out in person. Slurp glorp plurp ¡­ The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Shlurp grop glrpppp This is both disgusting and oddly satisfying. Saeri and I was sitting there poking a slime. It more or less had the consistency of¡­ well¡­ slime. It could somewhat change its consistency but it¡¯s mostly just a ball of slime. I feed the slime a rock and watch it slowly dissolve. It seems like the inside can get pretty acidic but it can also control where it¡¯s acidic since it doesn¡¯t damage our hands while the rock is dissolving. Of course we didn¡¯t just start by sticking our hands in. [Saeri] Yah! No. Bad slimey. Slimes also have some minor shapeshifting it seems. It can form tendrils and tentacles, but it doesn¡¯t have very good control nor a strong grip. For example, this one is slowly wrapping itself around Saeri¡¯s leg. [Eita] No you don¡¯t. That¡¯s a little too advanced for her ok? Behave yourself until adventurers come. I don¡¯t really know if it can think per se, but after I unwrap it from Saeri¡¯s leg, it seems to be content to just sit there. [Eita] Well. Off you go. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t have to wait too much longer for someone to play with. Splrt glop plrp As the slime moves away, I go ahead and ask a young forest nymph take a little extra time to get here. [Eita] There there. You might have gotten a little confidence but you¡¯re still weak to surprises huh. [Saeri] I-it¡¯s not my fault. It was cold and slimy and weird. [Eita] Oh? We could probably make one nice and warm for you. Want me to heat one up to body temperature for you to play with? [Saeri] No! And it would still be slimy and weird! Look. The nymph is here. Wouldn¡¯t you rather play with it instead? [Eita] Too bad. I bet we could have gotten one to evolve to be nice and warm for you too. Oh well. Come here little nymph. The little bundle of sticks and leaves came closer. It¡¯s like somebody made an effigy of a human but didn¡¯t have any thumbs and also only vaguely knew what a human looks like. Only with my mana sight can I tell that it¡¯s basically a bunch of stuff being moved by mana coming out of it¡¯s monster core. The core is in it¡¯s chest, not it¡¯s head. Or rather it¡¯s ¡®head¡¯. What would is it¡¯s head is basically like a ball of yarn, but made of vines. It doesn¡¯t seem to really care which way is front and back though. It doesn¡¯t have like feet or hands or a face. The nymph also seems as comfortable walking forwards as backwards. The thing is only about a foot or two high. I¡­ don¡¯t think it speaks but it seems to be able to mimic various animal noises. They definitely are social creatures, making groups and running along the roof of the upside down forest, making all sorts of chirping noises. Sometimes you feel like they¡¯re just kids running around, but most of the time they seem like a group of birds or some other animal.. Speaking of running around the forest, it¡¯s not like they can fly¡­ [Eita] Hey, can you stand upside down on this branch here? [Nymph] chireak It did a little jump. I¡¯m¡­ not sure how it does that without actual knees but it did. As it did so, little thin vines grew out of its feet and the branch. The vines intertwined and seemed to shrink, pulling the little nymph right up to the branch. [Saeri] Huh. Is that their innate nature magic? [Eita] I¡­ suppose? As they are moving about, we could see the vines quickly break and reform. What a mysterious little thing. [Eita] Right¡­ Well off you go. Your friends are waiting it seems. [Saeri] And lastly ¡­ Hssss A snake glides in. This one has bat wings and many sharp centipede legs. [Saeri] Here we go. Come here little snake. I shiver a little as I watch it crawl up Saeri¡¯s arm instead of slithering. [Eita] I don¡¯t know how you¡¯re ok with that but not the slime. It¡¯d be fine if it was a slime or snake or a bat, but the feeling of hundreds of little legs¡­. Ugh. Saeri clearly looked confused as she proceeded with the inspection. [Saeri] But it¡¯s like solid and dry and doesn¡¯t feel icky? [Eita] Ugh. Whatever you say. Let¡¯s just keep going ok? [Saeri] Don¡¯t listen to her little snake. You¡¯re not creepy at all. Now let¡¯s see. Bug legs attached strongly : check. Ease of movement : check. Flying ability : ¡­ Not so much. Just gliding huh. Well keep trying and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get there. Magic : . . . None. It would be really helpful if you learned wind magic though. I¡¯m sure that Vance uses it to help his flight too. Well, slow and steady I guess. [Eita] Welp. I think we¡¯re done here. Just one last test. Practice flying ok ? I pick up the weird creature and, to get that creepy feeling of insect legs squirming around my hand off me, quickly chuck the thing like a toy plane. [Saeri] Ah! What did you do that for? [Eita] Oh just to see if we can help it get used to flying. It¡¯ll do fine. Probably. And so it did. After ascending to a suitable height, it spread it¡¯s wings and started flapping and gliding. I¡¯m glad it did. I didn¡¯t really want to hurt it per se. I mean it is still technically connected to me and a part of me. But I did want it out of here and not have Saeri be mad at me. After doing a few loops and rolls in the air, it finally glided to a stop amongst the branches. Luckily for me, Saeri forgot all about being mad after that little aerial display. [Eita] Good. Projectile test : Check. Time to call it a day. Chapter 20 : A New Test A handful large wagons sped through a dusty and poorly maintained road. An unusual sight for this area. There were too few wagons to be considered safe against monsters and bandits. However, the occupants were confident in their safety. The reason would be obvious to anyone with a sharp eye. Only a fool would choose to attack this group. In fact, if one were to look up, they could spot such a fool. A fully equipped imp and harpy flying behind a some travellers is suspicious no matter how you put it. Luckily, nobody saw them. Or if they did, nobody cared. [] Stay put you fool. You shoot at them and we¡¯re as good as dead. Don¡¯t you see that crest? That¡¯s the Sakillen family crest. They¡¯re heavy hitters in the political world. There¡¯s no way any carriages bearing their mark doesn¡¯t have a way to shoot us down. We don¡¯t have enough lives for that. [] Eh? Are they that dangerous? It looks like just some carriages to me. I bet we can get high enough that they can¡¯t hit us. [] I said no you damned dolt. Still. I wonder where they¡¯re heading. It¡¯s strange that they would pass through such a remote location, with so little accompanying them too. [] Maybe we should follow them? It might lead us to something valuable we can take after they leave! [] Hm. I really don¡¯t want to get involved with them but this could be something. We might be able to sell the information as well if it¡¯s something big¡­
The passengers inside the centermost carriage remained oblivious to the argument happening above their heads. There was very little doubt in their minds that they would make it to their destination unharmed. Staring out the window was a dragonkin. Peeking out of his simple yet clearly expensive outfit was light grey scales running up his wings and arms. He sighed. Again. [] Come now Lasarim. You¡¯ve been sighing all trip. With all due respect sir, this isn¡¯t quite like you. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The dragonkin, Lasarim, turned and looked at the man sitting across from him in the carriage. Drosum was a friend and confidant that has served him ever since they were children. Despite choosing to remain human, he had never failed to keep up, physically or mentally. Being a little older than himself, Drosum should be around sixty, yet his jet black and unchanged physique hinted at the true strength hidden beneath. [Lasarim] Come now Dro. There are few places I can ever relax. Even at home, every day I must act my part and grind the gears in my head down to a nub. Once we leave this carriage the act must return. [Drosum] Surely you jest. You are one of the most disciplined and intelligent person I know. And I¡¯ve spent quite a bit of time in the capital. [Lasarim] Fighting with my brothers and the other families may have sharpened my mind and raised my endurance, but even I need rest sometime. Those fools would never dare to change the current system, but I must and I shall. They are satisfied with their power and land slowly withering away. I may be the third son of the Sakillen family, but I shall prove to them that they have been constrained by the past for too long. [Drosum] Of course. The fight to control the dungeon city has been short but tough. I suspect you managed to come out on top only by the seeds you have already sown. Now you have the best possible base for your goals. However it still does not explain why you were sighing so much on this trip. It is hardly befitting of someone who wishes to shake up the system that has existed for so long. [Lasarim] Hah. Well, the thing is I still have not reached an answer. I simply have not grasped the right picture for the future yet. That aside, do let me rest. It is only the three of us in here. You and I certainly won¡¯t gossip, and this fellow is unlikely to as well, isn¡¯t that right Bilt? The two men looked over to the final passenger. Upon hearing his name, the gnome looked up from his papers for, what was likely, the first time today. [Bilt] Hm? Yes yes. Secrets loyalty all that. We architects aren¡¯t known for talking. I¡¯ve already sworn an oath of loyalty to you in front of the Temple of Satsi. We know full well what happens otherwise. With a grin and a shrug, Lasarim reached for some of a paper from across the gnome. The papers were stacked up on the seat opposite Bilt and overflowed until it covered the floor too. [Lasarim] The architects and workers would be the only ones that knows the secret passages and rooms after all. It¡¯s easy to understand why action may be necessary. That said, you sure are coming up with a lot of designs for the mansion and the dungeon town. [Bilt] Eh. Just ideas. Just ideas. I can¡¯t really start until we get there. All these maps are clearly out of date and we have no information about the land and terrain. We¡¯ll have to see the condition the land is in ourselves. [Lasarim] Well. I did choose you so I shall trust your judgement. We have already discussed the important points at any rate. Dro, do be sure to burn these drawings when we leave the carriage. [Drosum] Of course my lord. It was Bilt¡¯s turn to sigh now. [Bilt] So many designs and ideas, never to be shared or used. [Lasarim] They could give away your tendencies in design or contain ideas that you will use in the future after all. And so the days passed. Idle chatter and ideas never reaching fruition. It wouldn¡¯t be until after they arrived at the dungeon that everything will fall into place. Chapter 21 : Groundwork Various earth aligned creatures and heavy golems ran about the place. Those that were competent mages were creating slabs of rock. Other less magical races were walking about the land marking all the hills and troughs. Small gnomes and dwarves were giving orders while riding on the backs of golems. Golems, with their basic cognitive capabilities, made for capable and competent heavy machinery. Despite the chaos of so many people running around, it was an organized chaos stemming from each person knowing their own job. [Bilt] Hm. So this is the build site. It would be nice if we could build our little dragon nest up high. Maybe on the canyon wall? Then again we wouldn¡¯t want it too close to the dungeon and the far canyon wall is a bit too distant. Let¡¯s see. If the walls are going up over there then¡­. Hmmm. The little gnome continued muttering to himself for quite so time. Despite seemingly blindly walking through the chaos, his path never interrupted another¡¯s work. He did, however, walk right into someone. Someone who was not, in fact, working. [Bilt] Hey! Watch it. Why aint cha working? Despite his grumbling and complaining, it soon became apparent that this was not one of this workers. The light leather clothes. The cleanliness about her. The casual smile. Not one thing would place her on a worksite. And certainly not his worksite. [Bilt] You. Who are you? The guards should have stopped anyone from coming in. [Eita] Now now, don¡¯t you know? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been told things about me. The description of the dungeon core had indeed reached his ears. There was a good deal of talk about it in the carriage as well. So much so that he wished he could get away from it if only during the journey. [Bilt] You¡¯re the dungeon huh. Yeah. I have been told about you. The one you want to talk to isn¡¯t here. The new master of this town is still back in the town proper until we finish some buildings. [Eita] No no. I have exactly who I want to talk to. I did of course notice you guys building right next to my dungeon and I thought, ¡®Why I¡¯d be a terribly poor neighbor if I didn¡¯t say hi and offer a little house warming gift¡¯. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. [Bilt] Hmph. It¡¯s too early for that. You can deliver it to Master Lasarim yourself when he comes. [Eita] Unfortunately it¡¯ll be much too late by then. No. This is a gift that needs you after all. [Bilt] What do you mean? Quit speaking so vaguely girl. [Eita] Of course of course. Well you see, my gift to the new master of this town is the most fantastic building and town he¡¯s ever witnessed. The little gnome¡¯s eyes grew wide for a moment before he snorted and waved dismissively. [Bilt] Hmph. As if. I can already provide him that. We don¡¯t need you girly. [Eita] Well I certainly hope so. It would be disappointing if you were some run of the mill architect. But even you would only provide a normal town for him, don¡¯t you see? [Bilt] I am Bilt Masten. My buildings are a work of art and efficiency. Just as you can tell a dwarven architect from their straight lines and sharp corners from the elven ones from their lack thereof, anyone can tell my buildings apart on sight. I would NEVER design a mere normal town for him. [Eita] Yes but you are only¡­ well, gnome. If you could accomplish so much with what you have, then think of what you could do with me. What could you do with paper thin walls strong enough to hold a building. Of water and waste being created and destroyed for you. Of works of architectural art that could defy the pull of the earth and the ravages of time. To outsiders, this speech would have seemed to freeze the little gnome in his tracks. However, that is incorrect. Rather, the master architect simply had no more room in his brain to process walking, so fast were his thoughts. [Bilt] W-well. Yes. Indeed. But I¡¯ve sworn an oath of loyalty. I can¡¯t break it. It¡¯s impossible. There are consequences. [Eita] An oath of loyalty. Sure. But you aren¡¯t betraying your master. You are just helping me prepare a wondrous gift for him. After all, I do intend to inform him of the circumstances as well once he arrives. The gnome pulled several handkerchiefs from his pocket, each old and dusty and perhaps staind with some substances. He took no notice of this and dabbed at the sweat appearing on his neck and face with them, although it¡¯s uncertain whether he or the handkerchiefs is getting cleaner. [Bilt] I I do suppose perhaps the oath might allow for it¡­ [Eita] I couldn¡¯t imagine our master wanting to live in a city with filth in the streets, where one out of control man could destroy the walls, where repairs are slow or impossible to finish. But just think. You could present him with a city unlike any other. A city where trash and waste simply disappear underground. A world where water is ever abundant and the gold runs like water. It¡¯s simple you know. All you have to do is tell me how to help you. How to use my abilities to serve you and our master. Doesn¡¯t he deserve better than just those other towns? The gnome¡¯s eyes were no longer focused on what¡¯s in front of him. Or perhaps it could be said that it was focused on only what was in front of him. And what was in front of him was a very, very big job. Despite this, a grin was creeping onto his face. [Bilt] Yes. Yes. I suppose he does. Chapter 22 : Desire [Drosum] Yes right this way sir. I¡¯ve already memorized and disposed of the full layout from Bilt. Impressive job I must say. He really did outdo himself this time. Lasarim admired the building that Bilt had called the dragon¡¯s nest. Building was perhaps underselling it. It was a magnificent spire of marble and magic runes. Each floor seems to cover an area large enough to house an entire guild. The floors got smaller as the spire got taller. At the peak was a large disc room, as large as the base floor. Of course that¡¯s not even mentioning the various hidden passageways, the underground dungeons, and the areas for departments not meant for public eyes. The only path up was through a series of boxes pulled by metal cables. All in all, easy to control, difficult to scale, and flight would be spotted and stopped quickly. The Dragon¡¯s Nest was clearly built with a flying leader in mind. [Lasarim] Yes this is quite excellent. His work certainly exceeded my expectations. To think he was a novice a mere decade ago. [Drosum] You always did have an eye for talent sir. [Lasarim] As if. He merely demonstrated the strength of his desire and I in turn used it. The pair had walked for some time now, exploring the various rooms and hidden pathways of the structure. It was only at the very end that they visited the place that would become Lasarim¡¯s office. There stood curved wooden desk, long enough to form a wide quarter circle. Behind it, ceiling to floor windows covered the wall. Of course the windows were covered in barely legible runic script. It would be too dangerous otherwise. But that hardly took away from the view. For a moment, Lasarim stood there gazing down at what would soon be his city. A pesky thought crossed his mind. With a wave of his hand, as if wanted to wave away the thought, he sent his mana into the windows. The windows darkened and took on the look of a marble wall. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the illusion of windows faded away and the image of the marble wall returned. The artificial mana lights turned themselves on and he turned back towards the room. [Drosum] How about some tea sir? [Lasarim] Yes that would be nice. As Drosum bowed and walked out a side door, Lasarim settled his body into the leather chair. He straightened himself into his well practiced impeccable posture, his hands reaching out and running across his new desk. He pictured the piles of work that would likely cover the beautiful desk soon and sighed. [Eita] Now now. Don¡¯t you know sighing is bad luck? As this new voices unexpectedly rang out, Lasarim¡¯s mind snapped back into business mode. His tail never stopped the well practiced casual swaying as he turned around and examined the intruder to his new office. A young lady with matching black pants and jacket, both seemingly made out of a fine material. A stance that was casual, bordering on playful. It didn¡¯t seem to fit someone who was trespassing the highest office of this city, not to mention bypassing several traps. It was clear she was examining him as much as he was examining her. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Lasarim slowly settled himself back into his seat to give himself a little more time. He did not offer the young lady a seat. She took one anyways. [Lasarim] Ah. I was not expecting a guest. How do you do Ms. Dungeon? [Eita] Hmm. Not even a little shock huh? What a shame. Here I was hoping to surprise you. In truth he was surprised. Very surprised. He was only guessing at her identity after all. Well, guessing, but also the only solution so it was also inevitable. Not that he would let her know any of this. She pouted playfully as if she knew anyways. [Lasarim] Of course I am surprised. I did not expect a visit from you so soon. Most dungeons tend to be hermits after all. [Eita] Not even a little fun. How did you know? Lasarim chuckled. That had actually been much easier than hiding his surprise. He started ticking off clues on his fingers. [Lasarim] Someone who would know me and yet not fear me. Someone who clearly does not seek to attack me. Someone who would be capable of gaining entrance to this room. Neither corrupting Drosum nor avoiding him would have been simple. Someone who would have done all of that with just the bare minimum of strength that you possess. Surely there could only be one answer, no? I suspect this entire area is already part of the dungeon, allowing you to do as you please. Of course, there was also the fact that he had long since heard about her appearance from the villagers as well. The mystery to her access became trivial after knowing her identity. [Eita] My my. Well done. You are indeed correct. My name is Eita, and I am the dungeon core. Pleased to meet you. Hm. As a reward how about I lend you an ear. Tell me your true desire and surely there must be some way I can assist. He was not quite expecting this turn. Despite his carefully practiced demeanor and his years of experience, he was still taken off guard. It was difficult to gauge if this girl was joke. No, rather her entire demeanor exuded mockery, and yet her eyes were just as clear and sharp as blades. It truly felt like she may follow through and assist, although it may just as likely turn around and bite him. [Lasarim] There isn¡¯t much that I desire that I can not obtain already. [Eita] Surely there must be something. Power, wealth, fame, lust. Perhaps vengeance or reverence. There must be something you truly desire. [Lasarim] What I desire hmm? And what if I said that I desired you? He was merely probing her. Observing her reactions. And yet, she didn¡¯t even flinch, although her grin grew a little wider and, seemingly more derisive. [Eita] Oh dear. Me? Surely you have been sent here to rule over the dungeon and the people nearby. Am I not yours already by your laws? Or perhaps did you mean this body. If it is only for the night I might yet comply. Is that what you truly desire? Is that burning deep within you solely for this body of mine? She had, during her response, gotten up and climbed onto his new desk. This girl had allowed herself to rest her body in front of him and cooed at him. She might give in if he made an advance yes. Rather, despite her slim toned body covered in clothes that were as protective as a piece of paper, there was no way she could resist anything he did. And yet, he felt it was clearly the wrong answer. A test question left unanswered. A disappointed instructor. It has been decades since he had such a feeling. Yet he would not have made it this far if he faltered at just that. He pushed back. He met her eyes while allowing his hands to push against her body, his draconic claws and soft scales sending in pulses of mana wherever they met her skin. It wouldn¡¯t do to simply be pushed around. This sudden meeting would determine their future relationship after all. [Lasarim] I jest. I jest. I am a simple man who seeks a new path. It has been a hard fight to gain the rights to this dungeon..., to you. Now I must prove to them that I am the correct choice. Prove that the same old system they have been using is only stagnating the other dungeon towns. That is my desire. A giggle rang out in the room. Eita pulled back as she tried to control herself. If Lasarim had not extensively trained himself to appear composed at all times, all tension would have run out of his body and made him want to just nap right there at his desk. [Eita] Ah. Truly a straightforward desire I see. Yes that¡¯ll do. Then do you have any brilliant ideas you¡¯d care to share to achieve such an ideal? Unfortunately to this Lasarim could only shake his head and shrug. [Lasarim] It takes time, these things. [Eita] If a muse appeared simply by waiting, everyone would be an artist. [Lasarim] Then I take it you have a suggestion? You did say you would assist. [Eita] Well, if you do insist. Once again she leaned in close. This time to whisper his reward for passing her test. Chapter 23 : Breakthrough As the woman left, the side door opened. The years of service had long taught him not to step into the room during such a meeting. Of course his master, and he suspected the unannounced guest, knew that he was there. As he poured out the high class tea, the dragonkin gave him the short version of the events. [Drosum] We¡¯re going to what? That¡¯s unheard of! [Lasarim] Now now Drosum. Isn¡¯t it an interesting idea? We¡¯ll have quite an excuse to take control of the guilds. [Drosum] Sir! Are you truly going to have guilds rule the city? [Lasarim] And we control the guilds. Simple. [Drosum] But the guilds have quite the power and funds. [Lasarim] Exactly. We¡¯ll use that against them. As we allow them to take control of those in the city, and we can hold them responsible. All who wish to do activities controlled by the adventurer¡¯s guild must apply to the adventurers guild. If there are any who don¡¯t, we don¡¯t need to bother searching for them. We just punish the guild. Anyone does any forbidden behavior in the dungeon? Punish the guild. In order to prevent losing money, and god forbid their power, they will have to do the hard work themselves. The same applies to every guild we allow in or create. Of course we¡¯ll make them conform to our rules and our regulations. [Drosum] I suppose. That could be quite troubling down the line though. We will have to carefully control the elites of each guild. To think that girl would have such unusual ideas. [Lasarim] Ha. That¡¯s not even the worst of it. She¡¯s even suggested a thieves guild. [Drosum] What? A thieves guild? And allow those vermin to boast of their deeds in broad daylight? [Lasarim] Crazy isn¡¯t it? But perhaps just crazy enough to work. A thieves guild would, as she proposed, pay a fairly large tax and hunt down unassociated thieves. We would give them a monetary limit that they may steal a year. Following that, all we would have to do is ensure citizens know to report any lost items and we would repay them. Of course any discrepancies will be thoroughly investigated and punishments will be severe. We will end up losing money through repaying the citizens though. [Drosum] Aren¡¯t we just paying off the thieves at that point? That can¡¯t stand. [Lasarim] Yes. It would be if it was left as such. However there¡¯s some very simple things we can do. For example, it¡¯s still a crime to steal while self defense is not. Whenever any of them are caught, well that¡¯s another bargaining chip for us. Of course deaths will happen too and whittle down their numbers. By the time they realize things are hardly profitable, the thieves will no longer be in the business of stealing, but in the business of running a guild. Perhaps they will even ask for a small protection fee and give up stealing all together. The ones who have risen to the top by that point absolutely will keep the system running and the weak will have no choice but to be associated with the guild or be hunted by their fellow thieves. [Drosum] Won¡¯t the thieves just rebel once they realize they aren¡¯t earning money? [Lasarim] They can of course earn money through their protection fee, by working as a scout in the dungeon, or by subjugating known and unaffiliated thieves and bandits. But as long as the middle of the pack is getting by and the top few are earning money and power, there is no way for them to escape unless they quit being thieves; which is beneficial for us too. The system will keep itself going. That¡¯s simply how society works. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. [Drosum] That is.... Still what would the other nobles say? [Lasarim] Don¡¯t worry about them. They will talk sure, but success speaks louder. It¡¯s not as if this is any different from the royal family controlling the underworld. [Drosum] If you are going so far then I suppose I have not much more to say. Still, I wonder how she came up with such a thing.
[Eita] Hmm? Oh that? Yeah I read it in some story. Night had fallen, yet the girl they were talking about was still up. She was recapping the day¡¯s adventures to her small and somewhat plain companion, yet she never looked over. She sat cross legged in the middle of the grass and kept her eyes shut. Perhaps it was thanks to her ability to multitask that she could still hold such a casual conversation while focused on something else. [Saeri] Um. Like a textbook? [Eita] Nah. Just a regular old story some guy made up. It seemed like a fun and chaotic little government setup to try out. I mean, if you run it right the system should work. It does rely heavily on having a competent person in charge though. [Saeri] I can¡¯t believe you decided the future of the city based on a storybook. [Eita] Hm. Yeah. Don¡¯t worry too much. We can always have the people topple the leaders if we need to. More importantly, I think I¡¯ve got it this time. As she finally opens her eyes, both girls look up at the stony ceiling. Runic carvings etch themselves into the rock once again. They''ve been at it for quite a while now. This time however, mana swirled up to meet the intricate runes. Then in the next moment, the ceiling seems to disintegrate. In its place, the black expanse of the night sky, dotted with numerous stars. [Saeri] Wow¡­ She could only gasp. Not at the sight of course, that she saw almost every day, but at the magic. Saeri might have been a poor village girl, but she devoured books and was, in her opinion, pretty good at magic for her age. At least, magic theory anyways. For a poor village girl at least. Despite quickly losing confidence in her own abilities, there was one thing she knew for sure. The runic enchantment placed on the ceiling now was very very high quality stuff. The clarity, the size, the sounds, and, she suspected, the fact that this was all in real time. Combined with the gentle breezes caused by altering the dungeon temperature in places, and it was hard to tell that they weren¡¯t outside. [Saeri] How did you even do that? How come you can do THAT but you still can¡¯t pull mana outside of your body? [Eita] Oh come on. I¡¯ve been getting better. I can at least move mana around inside my body pretty well now. Besides when they built all that stuff in my territory, I learned quite a few new things. [Saeri] What do you mean new things? [Eita] Well, I got a lot of materials first of all. Glasses, metals, sand, tools. But more importantly They enchanted things with runic magic. I suspect for such a big fancy building, they didn¡¯t spare any costs in hiring the best. This ceiling here? Just like the ¡°window¡± in Lasarim¡¯s office. I had to do a few experiments to figure out how to make it bigger, but otherwise it¡¯s pretty much the same. Turns out runic magic is pretty easy if you can copy the physical and magical structures exactly. Now I don¡¯t know enough about runic magic to make my own things, I¡¯m only capable of copying what I can see or absorb. But just reproducing it ? I suspect there¡¯s noone better at it than a dungeon. After that I just have to pump mana into it and it turns on. Well, I don¡¯t know how much the fact that I know exactly what happens when it turns on matters. I haven¡¯t tried it with an enchantment that I don¡¯t know anything about yet. [Saeri] Hah. Runic enchantments are pretty stable and don¡¯t really care about your image of the effects. Rather, the runes themselves would be different depending on who creates them and what effect they imagine them to have. Just like how two different people casting a fireball will have two different mana patterns, two different enchanters will create two different runic patterns for the same thing. The mana efficiency goes down when other people use them, but not by a large amount. Most enchantments with mana efficiency problems just uses a manastone to power it to get around the issue. [Eita] I see. Well. No real problems for me. I got plenty of mana from all the workers and their magical tools, not to mention the amount I naturally get. I can keep these things on all the time. Eita thought for a moment and patted the grass next to her. [Eita] Why don¡¯t we sleep here tonight? We can enjoy this view tonight. Maybe we¡¯ll get a few bunnies to keep us cozy and warm. [Saeri] H-here? Um. It¡¯s a little¡­. It feels too much like we¡¯re outside. Saeri seems to shrink and get even smaller, as her mind tried to wrap around the affection Eita usually give her being done in such a ... open setting. [Eita] Oh ho. And why are you getting all shy on me. Not that I¡¯d mind pampering you outside. Maybe we should go camping soon¡­ [Saeri] Eh. No! I mean. Here is fine. Lets um go to sleep ok? I¡¯ll - I¡¯ll go find some bunnies. She continued to mutter and seemed to have trouble finding any of the bunnies, despite being the one who took care of them the most. In the end, she had to return empty handed and resign herself to keeping each other warm with just body heat. It was only after an hour of teasing and cuddling did she get any time to rest. [Saeri] Hey. Wait. Can¡¯t you just heat up the air here a bunch? Hey! Don¡¯t pretend you¡¯re asleep! Chapter 24 : Promotion Screaming. Blood. Panic. Abject horror. Again. The same nightmare that he always had. How many years had it been? Surprising what the human, or in this case wulver, brain could get used to. Even the horror of being helpless and watching his parents die every night had become simple routine. Austen opened his eyes with a start. As always. His head hurt. As always. Although he suspected that was the empty flagon of alcohol by his bed. He decided to remedy that. He pulled out a flask from his coat pocket and drank. Body temperature, as it always was. His head pounded. Or was that the door? Sighing, he rolled out of bed and pulled the door open. He hadn¡¯t had the presence of mind to think about putting clothes on. Luckily, he doesn¡¯t usually have the presence of mind to think about removing his clothes before passing out either. [Fargy] GOOD MORNING MR BROMWELL. WE GOT TO GET GOING OR ELSE YOU¡¯LL MISS YOUR MEETING. In the past few days since he¡¯s been here, he¡¯s gotten to know the bull beastman well enough to know that it was easier to just get going. For some reason his incredibly positive attitude was hard to yell at or say no to. He learned that the hard way when Fargy was manning the gates and took an interest in his job. Nothing to do now but to get going. Out of habit he ran his hands over his snout, his head, his ears. Not that it did anything to improve the limp off grey hair. It never did. [Bromwell] Wouldn¡¯t want to be late meeting with Lord Lasarim Sakillen. There couldn¡¯t have been more venom if Bromwell was a cobra. Unfortunately, the idea was utterly foreign to Fargy, who grew up in a city where everyone knew everyone and life moved slowly. [Fargy] No we wouldn''t! That would leave a bad impression. Let¡¯s get going. Bromwell had to dodge Fargy¡¯s attempt at pulling him along. He knew that he would never escape that grip until they were at their destination if he was caught. [Bromwell] I can walk by myself. Let¡¯s go then. You¡¯re only to wait outside the nest until the meeting is over. [Fargy] Yes sir! Bromwell sighed again. It was going to be a long day.
Fargy was told to wait outside. Bromwell knew well enough that allowing Fargy to meet high ranking people was bound to be nothing but trouble. He was too straight forward; acts too close to people. Even now he was sure the bullman would be helping some old lady carry her luggage. Bromwell plodded through this tower they called the nest. It smelled clean. Too clean, even for something brand new. It¡¯s like everything was constantly sterilized and the lack of scent stung his sensitive nose. He was used to the muck and piss and unidentifiable smells of the streets. The real streets, not what those nobles call a neighborhood. His thoughts wandered as he climbed the stairs. There were magic lifts of course, but he never trusted those. It was like letting a stranger place a dagger at your throat and asking them to give you a shave. He took his time reaching the meeting room. If he was lucky, the meeting would be finished and he would be kicked out, or better yet, demoted. With a shake of his head, he pushed open the wooden doors of the meeting room. Enchanted in one way or another no doubt. Several pairs of eyes focused on the newcomer. [ ] Well well. Finally here Bromwell? I¡¯m glad the Chief of Security could grace us with his presence. Bromwell glanced at the crow headed man sitting at the seat closest to the door and growled. [Bromwell] Mitrick Maganti. Careful to keep your feathers on you this time. Wouldn¡¯t want you going bald. Mitrick thoughtfully raised one gnarled and abnormally long claw and lightly caressed the spot above his right eye. Although hidden by his feathers, the scar was still there. His wings ruffled slightly, although his demeanor remained calm. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. [Mitrick] Oh of course chief. I certainly wouldn¡¯t want any trouble. Before Bromwell could respond to the taunting tone, a clap rang out and captured everyone¡¯s attemption. [Lasarim] Sit down Bromwell. We certainly will not be having any more troubles from Mr. Maganti. I¡¯m sure he will find the newest rules much preferable to being consumed by the rats again. A small silence. It did not take much to convince everyone present that the Lasarim could and would throw anyone in the dungeon with hungry rats should he think that it was for the best. Rather, the Sakillen family did not try to hide any history of it. [Mitrick] Of course Lord Lasarim. Bromwell said nothing and simply sat down at his spot, far away from the crow. [Lasarim] Good. Now I¡¯m sure there are some familiar faces amongst us, but I shall introduce everyone anyhow. [Lasarim] First off, I am Lasarim Sakillen, appointed Lord of the lands between the lake and the wasteland, as well as lord mayor of Calchet and its recent expansion towards the dungeon. You will all be reporting to me as well as following any rules that may come. While I am granting the lot of you power, do not forget from whom that authority extends. [Lasarim] Then first, shall we introduce Mitrick Maganti. A high corvid and soon to be in charge of the largest change, the thieves guild. All thefts will be reported to us and the thieves guild shall have a monetary limit as dependent on the number of residents. Any victims of thefts can seek partial reparations from the city. In addition to paying taxes on thefts and handling unauthorized thieves, they shall also provide a protection service to ensure you are not a target, for a small price of course. Mitrick did a small bow with his wings for a little extra flourish. Lasarim then gestured towards an old goblin. [Lasarim] Next we have Gliox, the goblin soon to be in charge of the crafting guild. He was previously the guildmaster of a branch of the alchemist guilds. The crafting guild shall compose of the previously separated guilds such as alchemy, smithing, and carpentry. Their main job will be to distribute and control licenses to each crafter and control their ranks, as well as working closely with the merchant¡¯s guild for pricing and material purchases. The withered looking green goblin gave a wide smile and nodded. Bromwell mentally rolled his eyes at this. Of course it was a goblin in charge of crafting. Greedy and deviously smart and somehow managed to make most things dangerous. The display of discolored and misshapen teeth did nothing to sooth his disaffection. [Lasarim] And the merchant¡¯s guild. The human Nathaniel Golbloom. The link between our crafting guild and the general public. Of course with such power comes the tough task of controlling inventory, merchant taxes, stopping unregistered merchants, prices, and so much more. Not an enviable job I must say. Of course failure to do well will resulting in dire consequences, for everyone involved so do do your best. Nathaniel could only furrow his brow and nod. Despite a well groomed beard and mustache meant to hide his reactions, there wasn¡¯t much point in front of Lasarim. Rather showing that you understood the seriousness of the position was probably the only right move. [Lasarim] Of course there¡¯s the adventurer¡¯s guild, to be led by Gnet the half orc. He was nominated by several adventurer¡¯s guild masters that I know so he should be quite competent. He is also formerly part of an A ranked party. All dungeon related business will go through the adventurers guild. Of course any damage done to the dungeon or by adventurers shall be their responsibility as well. They will also be establishing a series of adventurer classes. As you all know, the dungeon is new and has several levels that are well suited for new blood. I hope you will be able to establish a friendly relationship with the merchant and crafting guilds without me having to step in. Gnet responded with only with a grunt. He was fairly well toned and the weight of his metal boots made sure nobody doubted that he was once part of an A ranked party. [Lasarim] And although the adventurer¡¯s guild will be starting a school, the magician¡¯s guild will also be hosting a school, led by the tiefling Rilxori. Their university will not be as single minded as the adventurer¡¯s school, whose main goal is survival and retrieval of materials. The university will be a place of higher learning and research. I¡¯m sure everyone knows about Tree of Origin, which allows citystate of Yuan to become a neutral superpower. There are suspicions that the dungeon of the Tree of Origin has sentience for sometime and is assisting the government there. Between their adventurers and what is widely acknowledged as the best university that accepts people of all nations, they are impossible to attack without upsetting most of the nations on this continent. We will see if, in time, we can obtain similarly grand results with the help of our dungeon. The pink and purple tiefling grins and winks at Lasarim. Her long thin tail swaying erratically but energetically behind her almost seemed like a happy dance. If a happy dance was done by a high level mage that was casually leaking mana and tracing out complex and sometimes destructive magic circles before just as easily erasing them that is. [Rilxori] Of course my dear. Now that you have granted me enough authority to fight off those old pests and their traditions, I¡¯ll show you just what I can do. Of course I¡¯ll be relying on you to pull some of the more ah well mannered kids from the well to do families. [Lasarim] Then of course we have Bromwell, the wulver newly promoted to Captain. He shall lead the guards who will¡­ deal with all the manmade troubles without our borders. Of course this includes investigations and punishments, should any of your guilds be found absconding our agreements. Bromwell completely ignored the wary looks he got from the rest. He¡¯s got wary looks all his life. His gaze was simply trained on Mitrick. [Lasarim] And last, we have Sylcor the high elf who shall be handling the team dealing with much of the bureaucracy and paperwork formalities. Since he¡¯s someone native to Calchet, he will also help with integrating the old and the new. I¡¯m sure the new temple to Hasaat will do much to ease tensions. And there sat a high elf looking quite out of place, his nervousness and uncertainty stood out like a torch amongst the group of confident and unwavering new leaders. Of course, Bromwell was confident and unwavering in his belief that this was going to be an absolute mess, not that anyone could tell. [Lasarim] Well then. This has been a productive meeting. You all may leave. Chapter 25 : Party Up
The winds of change were blowing. They were blowing so hard in fact that it went beyond just a storm. No, this change was a hurricane. It tore up roofs and homes and lives and planted them just as easily. It poured down on those affected. It flowed and only gathered more and more momentum until it was an unstoppable deluge. It did not stop until all of Calchet, and truthfully much of the surrounding territory, was swept up in it¡¯s change. When the hurricane of change died down to a mere blustery breeze, everything was different. The path the storm took could not have been more apparent. Houses were torn up and in its place were inns and restaurants and shops. The population was swollen and the very city distended to cover the long road between the lake and dungeon.
[ ] Hmmm. The parrot harpy brought his quill to his beak and chewed on it thoughtfully. As he chewed on it, he casually destroys the beautiful red and green feather. Truthfully, they were good quills, but being plucked from himself, he hardly treasures them. [ ] Heeeey. Polly! Quit trying to write that news article for the capital and let¡¯s go! The adventurer¡¯s guild is finally open today! The energetic and loud voice gathered everyone¡¯s attention to the familiar voice. Despite being an original inhabitant of Calchet, she managed to get familiar with most people that moved here. At least, most of the people who walked through these streets anyways. Despite being a young woman, her childish behavior, openness, and willingness to help has won over quite a few people. Despite her body looking frail, the two tentacles longer than she is tall, and lined with numerous suckers, showed otherwise. She could even lift things by herself that would take two or three of most merchant men. [Polly Paul] Oh you¡¯re here already Carolyn. I keep telling you it¡¯s Paul, not Polly. And yeah I¡¯m still writing. Just cause my dad owns the paper doesn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t fire me. I¡¯ve gone through so many drafts that I¡¯m running out of ink though. [Carolyn] E-eh ? You you can¡¯t just ask a lady to make you ink! One of her large tentacles wrapped up most of her body in self defense while the other gave Paul a gentle smack that only pushed him off the bench he was sitting on. [Paul] That¡¯s not what I meant! Ugh nevermind. Look Adis and Vara are here. Carolyn looked around and sure enough she spotted her other two companions. Adis was a human boy, blond hair, and pretty normal all around. He had an open mind and took his job seriously, even if he was a bit slow, so Carolyn was satisfied with picking him as a party member. Vara was following close behind him. She stood out a little in the day as a dark elf, but in darker areas she was good at disappearing. Adis had his sword and shield in place already and Carolyn knew Vara had a variety of daggers and needles on her even during casual events. Of course like Paul and Carolyn herself, they were all wearing standard issue leather armor. They were wearing it because they weren¡¯t idiots. New adventurers aren¡¯t fast enough or strong enough or smart enough or generally good enough to wear cloth or less or to wear metal plates and certainly not rich enough to afford some of the more renowned products. They were allowed to dye their armor, at their own risk and expense of course. Vara dyed hers black, naturally. Paul¡¯s was red and green to match his feathers. Carolyn¡¯s own was pink, because it was cute. Adis dyed his white. After a couple of trainings, nobody could tell. But it was white, and that¡¯s what¡¯s important he had said. [Carolyn] Over here! Hey guys! Carolyn¡¯s voice was raised as high as her waving tentacles. Naturally, she succeeded in getting Adis and Vara¡¯s attention, along with half of the square. They hurried over with wry smiles. Everyone had gotten used to Carolyn¡¯s energy since they partnered up a week ago. [Adis] Morning. Sorry for being late.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. [Vara] Hah you should be. I can¡¯t believe you overslept. Do you know how hard it was to climb in through your window to wake you up? [Adis] Haha come on forgive me already. I was just too excited about today to sleep well last night. [Carolyn] Oh me too me too! Vara and Paul just sighed. [Vara] Kids. [Paul] Right well let¡¯s go. We might have already signed up as adventurers but it¡¯s still good to go early. It¡¯s going to be our first job and all. Besides I want to hurry up and send back some first hand accounts of not only the town but the dungeon. [Party] ¡®Kaaay~ The party strolled through the city. Despite the sun only having just risen, the sounds of the city could be heard all around. Shops were opening, people cooking, adventurers like them heading to the guild, and the distant sound of bells ringing in the religious district. Paul of course had plucked a new feather and was writing down much of what he saw. He had long since made a map of the city during his stay but it was in constant need of updates. Passing from the residential district through the mercantile district, they saw new shops opening and various carts and storefronts being filled with new merchandise. As they neared the adventurer¡¯s guild, the stores changed to those that advertised towards adventurers. Stores dealing with equipment, alchemy, healing centers run by some of the religious groups. There¡¯s even a place that sells boxed lunches that it touts as being sold in a solid and easy to carry box and the insides will be fine even if you shake it around or dunk it under water. The adventurer¡¯s guild was soon visible. It was a large and grand building. Well, all of the major guild buildings were. Although the adventurer¡¯s guild was certainly large, it was by no means tall. A mere 3 stories above ground. However it was sprawling and had several underground levels. It needed the space for the various facilities required of the adventurer¡¯s guild. It had everything important to adventurers from a library to training grounds to the select stores allowed to open within their grounds. Of course a lot of carriage parking space was provided next to the dismantling area. As the group pushed through the front door, light and noise spilled out. [Pyria] What do you mean we gotta do guild work instead of dungeon diving? That¡¯s not what we came to do. [Fravit] Come on now Pyria. You know that we can¡¯t turn down special guild requests. The money¡¯s good too. [ ] You wouldn¡¯t be satisfied with how much it¡¯s developed anyways. The dungeon is too young. [Pyria] You don¡¯t know that. You don¡¯t know her. She¡¯s already sentient and I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a real cool dungeon waiting for us. [Gnet] No. There¡¯s nothing requiring a C ranker yet. Not unless you intend to enter the dungeon¡¯s real defenses and be labeled as an enemy. I believe under the rules of our new governance, the guild would be tasked with hunting you down should you survive. [ ] You know we can¡¯t do that. We might as well retire from adventuring. [Pyria] Ah geez fine I get it ok. We just gotta hang around and help the guild until some harder stuff shows up right? The C ranked party that first entered the dungeon, along with the guild master, were trying to placate their half elfed party member. Successfully this time it seemed. The dwarven priest seemed quite bored of this already and the ice gensai was so still she may as well have been a statue. They were already well known to most of the adventurers that came. Not only for being their only source of information so far, but also for being the highest ranked party in Calchet. C rank was already pretty experienced and a strong party just doesn¡¯t have that much to gain in a new dungeon. As the party bickered between themselves more parties arrived. The receptionists windows were closed and the job board was covered with a cloth so the parties just hung around waiting for something to happen. It took a little while but the guildmaster finally tapped his metal boots on the floor, making a clear sound that caught everyone¡¯s attention. The room fell silent and all eyes gathered on the half orc that towered over the crowd. [Gnet] Good. Well it seems like this should be just about all the people we can expect for now. You lot should know I am the master of the adventurer¡¯s guild, Gnet. This is the C ranked party that will be assisting with this site. They will be teaching some classes soon too and we suggest you take some. Either way, everyone who is registered has been informed of the rules and breaking them will be treated seriously. [Fravit] Yes please adhere to the rules and also keep yourself safe. Remember, just because the first three levels is denoted as rank G zones, does not mean that you can not or will not be attacked and possibly killed. [Gnet] Yes. As you all know, the adventurer¡¯s guild ranks adventurers from S then A and all the way down to F. All of you should be F ranked adventurers who came here to avoid the crowds of the well established dungeon towns. Some of you may even be G ranked, that is to say the general public who is limited to the lowest tier of jobs. Either way, don¡¯t let your guard down or you¡¯ll regret it. [Pyria] Maybe we¡¯ll go diving later and give any party who¡¯s not paying attention a nice big kick to [Fravit] Right. Well most of what you need is covered in the previous information sessions and of course any information you do need from now on can be requested or researched by yourself. Think for yourself and act as an adventurer should and maybe you won¡¯t be stuck in the E and F ranks. Good luck everyone. With a nod from Gnet, the receptionists pull off the cloth from the job boards and open their counters for the day. There isn¡¯t much reason to rush as the quests are pretty much set for the first while, at least until more is discovered. Paul picked up a few gathering quests for herbs and fish. Lacking any people with major earth affinities, they decided to skip the ore gathering quests. Like they said, the first few floors are G ranked so even the general public would fare fine in them and before making any promises for quests on the fourth floor, they should explore it themselves first to see if they can handle it. After all, they weren''t fools. Chapter 26 : Just A Taste The line to enter the dungeon was short. As is, the dungeon doesn¡¯t have enough payoff for anybody but the newer teams and the general public to bother with. However dungeons grow fast and anyone with a nose for gold has already tried to make a claim. Even while waiting to enter the dungeon there were people trying to sell food and potions and other things. Vara sent them away before Carolyn could spend all her money. The group signed in with the guild employees at the entrance of the dungeon and entered. A quick flash of their guild cards and writing their names down was all it took. They looked around curiously but the path from the entrance was a mostly rocky and mossy tunnel leading down. There were spotlights of sunny areas, as if the sun was passing through a broken roof. They noticed several cats sunning themselves and lazing about. The party had been warned not to attack the cats and, although some were evolved to be larger and stronger, they didn¡¯t even seem wary of the intruders. [Carolyn] Do¡­ Do you think I can pet them? [Paul] No Carolyn. They¡¯re still dungeon monsters. Just because they aren¡¯t attacking us doesn¡¯t make them pets. [Vara] I wonder if dungeon monsters carry diseases and ticks and stuff like normal strays... [Carolyn] But the guild said the dungeon said they would only attack out of self defense! [Adis] Hah. Still no Carolyn. There¡¯s plenty of strays running around town. We¡¯ll help you pet some of those after ok? [Carolyn] Ok¡­. Although their eyes were closed, the pile of cats were still keenly observing them with their acute senses. They were certainly not just taking a nap. Even if the sun was pleasantly warm and the light breeze ever so comfortable. Almost as if to prove they weren''t asleep, one even thought that it was paculiar how the intruders seemed to separate those in the tunnel with the cats in town. They were all the same dungeon monsters staying inside the same dungeon after all.
The dungeon had finally opened out into what seemed like a series of large fields separated by walls. The path to the next level was clear. It was a straight line and the path down could be seen even from the entrance, although it was quite some distance away. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Paul] Oh. The dungeon isn¡¯t as dark and cold as I¡¯d expected. It¡¯s pretty much the same as being outside. Vara glanced over at the harpy already spreading his feathers to take in the light. [Vara] I would have preferred it to be a little darker though. Hah. So? What¡¯s our job today? [Adis] Oh Paul and I picked some out. Rabbits and snakes are always accepted so we can hunt them if we spot any. The same with most of the common herbs. We also got requests for milk from the milking vines and flowers of jack-in-the-bushes. They should all be on the first floor. [Paul] Rabbits and snakes aren¡¯t worth very much so we might as well focus on the other quests. Food from the third floor ponds are worth more so we can try to hunt there later. I heard there were inkberries in some of the pools and that¡¯s always worth a few copper. [Vara] Well that sounds like a plan. Since there¡¯s not much fighting it shouldn¡¯t be too hard. [Carolyn] Ok lets go! We¡¯ll gather up enough to make the other F rankers jealous. The group took their time exploring and rather enjoying their first dungeon dive. Vara, being an elf, and Paul, being the most well read, lead the way and pointed out a few interesting plants and animals they saw. The fact that the two races had particularly good vision didn''t hurt. [Vara] Oh. There¡¯s quite a few different plants in here huh? I don¡¯t see what we came here for but these are edible and helps with digestion. The dark elf broke off a small pod from a bush and pried it open with her nails. Inside were shiny red balls that looked like candy. As Vara ate one, the other members also popped one into their mouths. [Adis] Ohh. It¡¯s a bit sour but the sweetness and fragrance is there. [Carolyn] I recognize these. When I was a kid I used to explore the forest. I always got caught by Grandma Kanva but she¡¯d always give me one of these before kicking me out. How nostalgic. [Paul] It makes sense for the dungeon to contain all sorts of things from the surroundings. They only get new base materials by absorbing things after all. Although you never know how things will mutate or be changed once a dungeon has it. [Carolyn] Well these are good and nothing¡¯s been done to them. Let¡¯s pick a few more and take them home. Carolyn set her back down and reached out to pick a few more when Vara yelled. [Vara] Watch out! Back! [Carolyn] Eh? A snake had leapt out of the bush, intent on biting the hand that had disturbed it¡¯s rest. Before it¡¯s bite could land, Adis had already grabbed onto one of the tentacles on Carolyn¡¯s back and pulled her back, just far enough for the attack to miss. Vara beheaded the snake with a dagger before it could rise for another try. [Adis] Hah. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a poisonous variety but I¡¯m glad I made it in time anyways. [Vara] Come on now. Even normal snakes would get startled if you just started sticking your hand into random bushes. [Paul] Well luckily it seems the dungeon wasn¡¯t lying about it not being too dangerous for the general public. With a non poisonous snake of this size it¡¯s pretty hard to kill anything human sized. Come on Carolyn don¡¯t you have anything to say to them? [Carolyn] Ah um ¡­.. You shouldn¡¯t touch a lady¡¯s tentacles like that. Hmph. And you know thanks. [Adis] Haha. I¡¯ll be more careful next time. Well then should we keep going? There¡¯s no real deadline on these quests but we won¡¯t get paid until it¡¯s done. [Carolyn] Un. Chapter 27 : Thief Carolyn, the physically strongest of the four, adjusted the party¡¯s loot bag that she was carrying. While it¡¯s common for loot to be spread amongst the party members, they decided to prioritize mobility and stamina. Each member¡¯s pack had the bare necessities. Giving all the extra weight of any loot to the strongest member meant they could still react and move quickly should anything come up. [Adis] Why don¡¯t we leave the mostly bag here and split up? It looks like we can finish some of the quests if we just gather in this corner here. [Paul] Sure. I don¡¯t really want to stain my pockets with herbs and it¡¯s walking a few feet to the collection bag is worth being able to get all of us working on these quests at once. [Vara] Righto. Paul and I will handle the Milking Vines since they¡¯re in the trees and slightly poisonous. Can you two handle the Jack-in-the-bush? Make sure to check for snakes ok? [Carolyn] I - I got it. I won¡¯t make that mistake again. Geez. Come on Adis, I¡¯ll clear out the bush. The Paul and Vara pulled out a few vials and started up the trees. Growing among the higher tree branches were vines with talon shaped bumps. A quick poke with a needle or talon and soon milky while liquid was being squeezed out, slowly filling up their vials. Carolyn made sure to check for snakes this time. While generally snakes could be scared away just by shaking the bush or poking about with a stick, dungeon creatures don¡¯t necessarily behave in the same way. They tend to be smarter and braver than their natural counterparts. She decided to be thorough. She decided to cast a spell. While normally casting a spell just to check for snakes was a huge waste, Carolyn figured it would be fine. They were here to learn and finding hidden enemies was part of it. Besides, they weren¡¯t going very far into the dungeon so wasting a little mana would be ok. She breathed in and focused her hand in front of her. [Carolyn] Oh mother of all life Become quick as a mice and sharp as a knife Seek out those that will bring us strife Aqua Sight Mana and water vapor condensed and bubbled in front of her. Larger and larger bubbles formed until some bubbles failed to pop. Instead, they started forming what appeared to be 3 mice made of bubbles and water. [Carolyn] Phew. Spells always takes me a while. I wish I was as good as Paul. [Adis] Haha you can¡¯t help it. Most of your mana goes into strengthening your body so you don¡¯t have a lot to practice and cast with. Anyways, just point out any creatures or scare them out and I¡¯ll get them. Carolyn nodded and closed her eyes. Normally it would be quite dangerous but Adis knew she was using the mice¡¯s vision. It¡¯s a weak form of divination, one of the specialties of water mages, but Carolyn was more of a brawler than a caster. Watching the mice scatter into the underbrush, Adis kept an eye on the surroundings to make sure nothing would sneak up on her while she was distracted. Luckily it wasn¡¯t too long before the mice returned and the bubbles that comprised them popped. [Carolyn] Hah. Having multiple sources of vision really hurts my head. Well, there doesn¡¯t seem to be anything dangerous near us. There¡¯s a couple of snakes and insects but they aren¡¯t too close to the bushes. There are also a few burrows but it¡¯s only rabbits in there so we shouldn¡¯t be attacked. [Adis] That¡¯s good to hear. Maybe we¡¯ll hunt more rabbits after this. Well either way, let¡¯s get this quest out of the way first. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. There weren¡¯t many dangerous things on the first floor. Besides some poisonous plants, there was very little that could harm even the general public, nevermind adventurers, however green they are. It was truly a blessed environment to train in. However, safety breeds contempt. The four of them failed to assign a lookout. No, rather Vara and Paul who were in the trees could spot any dangers approaching from the flat grassland behind them, but only those. They were certain they could detect anything coming by land or air before it became a problem. Unfortunately, as they made trips filling their pockets and bringing their loot to the open bag, a creature they didn¡¯t detect lay in wait. Thump thump rustle rustle bom bom bom The creature bid it¡¯s time and felt as each member approached the bag and left again. The vibrations were big and ran through it''s body, telling it everything it needed to know. When it was sure that all four members had just walked away from the bag at the same time, it struck. ¡­ Well, in its mind it struck anyways. In the more tangible existence of reality, it in fact dug out the last few inches of its hole and warily poked its head out. Seeing the heavy bag, it tried to pull the entire bag back into the hole with it, but found that the bag was much too big. Frustrated but undaunted, it crept out of the hole. It could only hold a strap of the bag in it¡¯s mouth and quietly drag the bag away. ¡­ Rustle rustle rustle ¡­ Rustle rustle rustle ¡­ Clink [Adis] Hm? Did you hear something? [Carolyn] What do you mean? Are you tired? Don¡¯t worry this should be the last batch for us. Here I¡¯ll go dump your stuff into the bag for you so just - [Adis] Hm what is it? Seeing Carolyn freeze mid sentence Adis also turned around. There, staring right back at the two of them was a rabbit. A very large rabbit. About 3 or 4 foot long and a bluish grey. Normally this wouldn¡¯t have been much of a problem. The problem lay in that it was dragging their loot bag and was in fact several yards away. [Vara] Phew this should be the last of the milking vine sap. It¡¯s always so - HEY What is that thing doing with our bag? The yelling seems to have been the impetus needed to break the staring contest. Carolyn started running but looked back down at all the collected fruits and flowers she was holding. While she hesitated, the rabbit ran away at full speed, with the bag carelessly in tow. Adis and Vara dashed out yet the rabbit was surprisingly quick for being so large. [Adis] I seek thy flames Like the ancient hero By my name Flame Arrow Channeling his mana, 2 flaming arrows appeared by his side. With a swing of his sword they flew towards the escaping thief. The distance was far enough that the quicker rabbit managed to avoid them. However, as the arrows hit the ground and released a burst of flames, it forced the rabbit to quickly change directions, slowing it down significantly. [Vara] You idiot don¡¯t use fire magic. Everything in there is plant based and weak to heat. I swear if the sap goes bad I¡¯ll make you milk all of it yourself. Just wait for our support. As if waiting for that moment they heard Paul yell. [Paul] LIGHTFOOT Since they heard Paul yell the spell, they were prepared for the sudden guts of wind that envoloped them and the lightness it brought. With the reduced burden, Vara speed increased dramatically. Combined with the rabbit¡¯s lost of speed, it was enough to put the rabbit in Vara¡¯s attack range. She pulled out several small throwing knives and like a blur they were suddenly in the rabbit¡¯s foot and side. The next moment, Vara had easily caught up to the now immobile rabbit and ended it¡¯s life. [Vara] Ahhh thank goodness the sap didn¡¯t go bad. Adis caught up a few moments later, more out of breath than Vara who hardly broke a sweat. [Adis] ¡­ You weren¡¯t running at full speed at the start¡­ [Vara] Well no use tiring myself out. I knew I couldn¡¯t catch it at full speed so keeping pace was plenty. We really just had to make sure we didn¡¯t lose it while we wait for Paul¡¯s support. Speed boosts are a wind mage¡¯s specialty after all. [Adis] ¡­ I mean you could have been a little more panicked ¡­ [Vara] Haha well then, should we put you through some special training so you can catch up with it yourself next time? [Adis] Ugh¡­. no I guess we¡¯ll just leave it up to you. We each have things we¡¯re good at... As they were talking, Carolyn and Paul caught up. [Paul] It looks like the thing dug up right underneath the bag and then managed to get into a blind spot to pull it away. I guess we didn¡¯t think of that huh. [Vara] Yeah¡­ As the one with the highest scouting potential on our team that¡¯s my mess up. Sorry. [Carolyn] No! It¡¯s not your fault. If I had acted faster maybe it wouldn¡¯t have gotten so far away. I spotted it first and everything. [Adis] Come on come on. It¡¯s not anybody¡¯s fault and we learned. Even though we tried to be vigilant the dungeon taught us to think harder about how to stay safe. It would have been dangerous if it wanted to attack us but we¡¯re alright. We lived so we¡¯ll get stronger from this right? [Carolyn] Right! [Vara] I suppose you¡¯re right. Bloody thing won¡¯t sneak up on me again. Paul in the meantime was lifting up the rabbit with both arms. It¡¯s ears flopped onto his chest. [Paul] And this is one big rabbit. I think it, and our quest payouts, will earn us enough for a real good dinner. [Carolyn] Yay! Let¡¯s go back and party! [Adis] I think we¡¯ve earned ourselves a treat! [Vara] We¡¯re¡­ not saving any of that money huh. Hah. Well I can¡¯t say I expected anything else of you guys. We got our quest items so let¡¯s go home guys. Chapter 28 : Soul Searching I was floating on my back in absolute darkness. No light. No wind. No sound apart from my own. Even the water and air were perfectly warm. Their very existence fading from the mind if I didn¡¯t focus on them. The details of the dungeon were much clearer to me here. This isolation chamber isn¡¯t where I do most of the work relating to dungeons, but it is where I can have the greatest sense and control. Normally most things were on a sort of autopilot. Like driving all the way home and being unable to remember any of the scenery. But here in this place that cuts off my human senses, the rest of my world comes into crisp clear focus. I was not the only one floating in the darkness. No there were several around me. Slight presences that would get scattered by a gentle breeze. So fragile that it took a constant drain of mana to keep them here. Yes, this was the real reason why I was here in the darkness. To be with these partial souls, to use all my focus to bind them to this realm a moment longer, lest they get swept away in the cycle of reincarnation. [Eita] You souls are some of the first to die in this dungeon. To die defending this dungeon. For that I thank you. And so I shall offer a choice. A shiver ran through the incorporeal mass that crowded the room. From the lowest plant to the strongest creatures. Those who have passed now gave me their full attention. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Will you free your soul from my dungeon and reenter the cycle of reincarnation proper? Two or three souls flared up, consuming the chains of mana that held them here until it snapped, and their soul remained no more. Will you be reborn, once again, as what you were and serve again? Many more souls flared up. This time, they were absorbed by the chains that bound them to my dungeon and faded, as they once more return to the physical body they were so familiar with. Most of the souls were gone at this point. Will you seek what others have and claim their bloodline as your own? A few more souls burned, their chains changing and twisting into new forms. I hope I don¡¯t have to balance the number of each creature too much after this. And those who are left¡­ Snake. Rabbit. Bird. . . . Cat ? Hm. Well, for the time being, will you choose one of the other rewards? Or Will you assist me in a new test? And the final four souls burned bright. I reached out and grabbed them and placed them in the experiments I had prepared. If I hadn¡¯t expanded my reaches out into the town, it would have taken all the mana that I could have saved many times over. [Eita] Now¡­ I wasn¡¯t expecting a cat. What happened exactly? Interacting with souls was abnormally draining but I was curious. I push my mind against the soul¡¯s. It felt like I was trying to lift weights with just my mind. Eventually however, fragments of it¡¯s memories come to me. And while I wasn¡¯t exactly paying attention to it when it died, I still subconsciously held some information. Combining in my head, a story started to form. Chapter 29 : Peak Behind The Kitten [ ] Look. Kitten. The girl held out her hands and atop them sat a small grey cat. Most female adventurers would want to smile and play with it. This girl however did not. It would perhaps be more accurate to say she could not. She was, after all, partially a golem. It was incredibly rare for anyone to choose to evolve into a golem, and even then their instincts usually prevented a full transformation. This is because golems have all of their emotions and free thinking suppressed. This means most golems that humans evolve into are halves like her. Her fleshy body was encrusted with polished stone and bits of metal. Lines of it ran up and down, and through, her body like metal through a hunk of ore. It would usually take a child experiencing quite a bit of trauma to willingly choose such an evolution. [ ] Look. Kitten. The girl repeated to her companions. It was less enthusiasm and more a simple observation. It had simply jumped onto her, although with a golem¡¯s tough defenses even it¡¯s claws would fail to scratch her. [ ] Oh well it looks like the rumors are true. The dungeon cats aren¡¯t dangerous huh.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. A red goblin finger poked at the cat resting on the rocky hands of the golem. [ ] Quit playing around. Dangerous or not, it¡¯s still a dungeon creature. It still provides the mana to fuel your growth. Fels, just kill the thing already. Icas you should know better than to be so soft on dungeon creatures. [Icas] Always a heartless one eh Kilian. Well, you¡¯re right though. Waste not want not and all that. [Fels] Understood. The cat didn¡¯t stand a chance against Fels¡¯ golem strength and was quickly killed and placed aside. Even if she didn¡¯t, Kilian already killed various dungeon animals that got within striking distance. [Kilian] We¡¯re aiming for the inverted forest. There¡¯s little to hunt between here and there. Unfortunately we¡¯ll need to make a few stops before that. On the first floor, we¡¯ll look for any plants that has a mana regeneration effect. The ones that will work raw will take priority. Icas scratches his cheek and pulls out the two walking staves that were in leather holsters on his back. Both were made of ironwood and enchanted, one with glistening white runes of ice and the other with grey faded runes of protection. The two staves slid together and with a practiced motion connected them together. The new stave was almost twice as tall as he was. [Icas] Raw mana herbs. Disgusting. Well let¡¯s get on with it then. I hope Fels is better at looking for herbs than I am. [Fels] I will do my best. Kilian nodded and walked towards the grassy area, pulling out one of the three one handed longsword on his back, preparing to strike down any creatures that come nearby. Icas followed behind him, using his stave as a walking stick. Fels nodded too and plodded along behind them. Chapter 30 : Like a rock Kilian and his team made their way through the first floor with ease. It was a floor even the general public could safely work in, so it was not a particularly large achievement. However, their team engaged in the largest amount of fighting by far. Icas¡¯ long stave and ice spells more than made up for his naturally short reach. Fels diligently used her overwhelming strength and tough skin to crush any creatures that tried to fight back. Kilian wielded his own longswords with purpose and a well-practiced deftness. Of course his team was engaging in the most amount of fights by design. Any creature that was nearby was quickly crushed or cut open. Any creatures spotted in the distance was immobilized or pierced by spells. Kilian had insisted upon it. Every death of a dungeon creature strengthened their bodies and souls with mana, and therefore power. Even if they were weak, it would be foolish to allow the opportunity to strengthen themselves pass by. [Icas] Gods among us. How do you two manage to keep eating these disgusting things raw? [Kilian] It¡¯s necessary. With that short answer, Icas looked over to Fels for support. [Fels] ¡­ ? Seeing Fels chewing on a handful of herbs while tilting her head at him made him sigh. [Icas] No. It¡¯s fine. It was foolish of me to have expected otherwise. The second floor went quite like the first. Insects and small mammals were slain quickly and without much fanfare. The only difficulty was due to the uneven shape of the terrain. They gathered a few ores, although it wasn¡¯t one of their quests. It would help reduce the amount of food Fels needs to consume and there are always blacksmiths willing the purchase the spare. Although not as sensitive as most other earth aligned evolutions, Fels still managed to find a few clusters that were on the path towards the next floor. With Fels¡¯ enhanced strength, the added weight of the ore and the more valuable creatures barely mattered.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Even with the direct path through the second floor, they gained far more than in the third floor. At first, they tried freezing or electrifying some of the smaller pools of water but found that it was too taxing on their mana. Fels especially was not helpful, with her mana enhanced strength adding no additional reach and a slight aversion to the water to begin with. [Icas] I could¡­ try poison? [Kilian] Don¡¯t. It does us no good if the guild bans us from the only dungeon we have easy access to. [Fels] The guild said. Meant for food supply. Fisherman coming soon. With no easy way to attack the aquatic creatures, they decided to move on. There was no point in staying on this floor when they had trouble hunting and gathering underwater. They saw little other way to proceed than to balance themselves on the thin stretches of land and rock between the pools and streams. [Fels] Ahhh. Sinking. Sinking. Danger. Can not swim. Sinking. I require assistance. Fels was fairly heavy and kept sinking into any muddy or sandy paths they tried to take. She also had a strong aversion to being in the water as her weight made swimming all but impossible. Whenever this happened, It would take both Icas and Kilian to pull her to safety. Icas was forced to consume more mana herbs and create a more frozen path. It was through a winding and narrow path made of ice and stone that they made it across to the entrance of the third floor. [Icas] I swear I''m going to just buy some mana potions for myself if we have to do this every time to get to the deeper floors. I don''t think I can taste anything besides the herbs. Chapter 31 : Dive End [Icas] FINALLY. Finally we are out of that accursed water room. I will ensure the guildmaster installs a few boats and bring in some of those aquatic kinds to get us across. Being shorter than the other two, wading through parts of the previous floor had taken a larger toll on Icas. The goblin took a moment to pour water out of his boots and scrape off the excess mud on the dungeon walls. [Kilian] Fels. Cast some life magic and dry us up. With this much water, I can''t use my electric spells well. [Fels] Understood. Fire without flame Drive out the water Our bodies it cannot claim Dry As her chant finished, all steam started rising from all of them. Starting from their boots, the heated water quickly started to escape from all the nooks and crannies of their clothes. Soon they were dry and quite toasty. [Icas] It''s going to take hours to get all the mud that''s caked on there but at least we''re warm and dry. Thanks. [Fels] Un. [Kilian] Now that we can move on, the next level is the inverted forest. We''ll avoid the tainted snowfall area for now. We are aiming for a few of the infant nymphs. Apparently they can be turned into good fertilizer or something. The rest of the time we''ll be hunting slimes and whatever creatures comes by. Just make sure not to damage your equipment. [Icas] Aye. Might be tough to reach the nymphs but at we won''t get soaked on this level. [Kilian] You can conserve your mana. Just use the weakest mana shields for the slimes. The Fels and I can handle nymphs with magic. We need your ice magic on our way back. [Icas] Ugh. Right right. The party trotted along, back and forth with no particular destination, killing everything in their path. If they were in another world, it would have been called farming. No, rather they were stronger than the creatures so it would have been mere grinding. But they were not in another world and had no idea regarding such often optimized and over analyzed methods. However grinding gets boring, even in such a world. Animals were easy enough once you spotted them, even if they were slightly mana enhanced. Slimes were easier as it just took one good swipe to remove a manastone undamaged, so long as you could coat your weapon in stone like Fels or a mana shield like Icas. [Kilian] Hm. The nymphs sure are hiding well. The most they''re doing is dropping a few slimes or heavy branches as traps huh. Well. I suppose we''ll just have to make them come to us.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Kilian pointed one of his swords towards the tall inverted tree a small distance away and started chanting. Condense and flow Light that spark Go where you will go Arc A bright line of lightning arced out of his sword and landed among the trees hanging overhead. Soon smoke and smoldering leaves could be seen. It didn''t take long until Killian saw what he had been waiting for. A group of entwined branches and roots in the shape that could only be described as some effigy of humans appeared running towards the fire. Panicked squeaking filled the air as some tried to put the smoldering fire out. [Kilian] Fels. Now. Shoot them down. [Fels] Understood. Stones Gather Do what you couldn''t Fly Stone Shot Slowly, a handful of pebbles floating up from the floor and shot towards the panicking nymphs. A few managed to hit and knock one down. As it hit the floor, Kilian ended it with a quick stab to the center of it''s body. [Kilian] Good. Keep it up Fels. Icas, collect the bodies and keep an eye out for the surroundings. Like this they steadily collected the nymphs one by one. As time went on, the fire spread and so did the smoke and ash. [Kilian] It''s getting difficult to see them. Let''s call it here and head out. [Icas] Wait. Something''s coming! Sure enough as Icas said something came. A large antelope with horns perfectly angled for goring was running towards them. [Kilian] Tsk. Fels, in front. Icas support her. Dont worry about your mana. I''ll cut it down. Cut through flesh and bone alike Lightning Blade [Icas] I think it''s gathering mana. I guess I have no choice huh. Protect her Mana Shield Fels stood in front of the party, ready to intercept the antelope. With her strength and weight it should be possible, so long as her gauntlets took the brunt of the damage. Icas too reinforced her body with a layer of protective mana. Kilian stood behind her with his sword electrified and arcing here and there, ready to cut through the beast once it had been slowed. Although, both spells had their power and mana efficiency was compromised to increase the cast speed since it was only a moment away from collision. Right before the antelope collided with her, it quickly veered to one side and - Crshk The mana that it had gathered was suddenly released and it flashed forwards. The golem girl was unable to adapt to such a quick change in direction and failed to intercept the attack with her gauntlets. One of the antelope''s horns caught her side and gouged out flesh and stone and reinforced mana alike. Kilian saw the flash and acted mostly on instinct and moved his sword. The sword made contact with the horn and flashed white hot. The horn, weakened by the charge hitting stone and the heat of the lightning blade shattered, allowing the sword to follow through and slice into the antelope''s side. The sound of sizzling flesh resounded in their ears but it was clear it was not their victory. Fels, although resistant to pain and damage was staunching the flow of blood from her side and looking a bit pale. The antelope on the other hand had a broken horn and a large but not fatal wound down it''s side. The animal''s muscles twitched as a result of the electricity and the pain but the electricity also cauterized the wound, preventing blood loss. Kilian moved to stand between Icas and the antelope. Fels might be able to take a hit but Icas certainly would not fare so well. With his sword at the ready, he stared at the antelope. Time felt slow and sluggish as it stared back. The seconds ticked by. Killian was considering having Icas break the standstill when the antelope turned and trotted away, quickly becoming hidden behind the uneven ground and underbrush. Icas let out a sigh of relief and moved to examine Fels. [Icas] Hah. We made it huh. Well. Come on. Let go of the wound. Let''s see. It looks worse than it is I think. Mostly stone but it still gouged out some flesh so it''s bleeding quite a bit. I''m going to freeze it so you stop bleeding. It''ll hurt but bear with it. [Fels] Un. As ice sealed up her wound, it was obvious to the other two just how uncomfortable it was for her as the normally straight faced girl showed a slightly pained expression. Without saying anything, Kilian placed his shoulder under one of her arms to support her and Icas lent his staff to her. [Fels] It is fine. Can still walk. Will heal. [Icas] Don''t worry about it. We''ll be doing a lot more walking I''m sure after we get you healed up. [Kilian] We''ll get stronger. I''ll get stronger. That won''t happen again. [Fels] ... Un. Chapter 32 : Hard Earned Pay Gnet sat at the head of the table, flipping through reports. He dwarfed the other people sitting at the table both in stature and prestige. The members of Fravit¡¯s party was working through their stacks of papers as well. Gnet glanced over. Fravit, a 30 some year old human. The party¡¯s tank and leader. Pyria, a half elf. Generally the mood maker but her intuition¡¯s sharp as a knife. Harhuin is a dwarven priest. There¡¯s practically a library in his head already. Aki the ice gensai was the calmest, being heavily influenced by her race, but also quite a powerful ice mage. Gnet wasn¡¯t sure what he would do without the assistance of a responsible and reliable party. He earned his guild master seat through accomplishments he piled up as an adventurer and as a participant in one of the demonic wars that pop up every few hundred years. He was good at fighting and leading, but as his growth slowed to near stagnation, even fighting and growing can become tiresome. Now he spends his retirement guiding adventurers and trying to ensure society doesn¡¯t collapse while he¡¯s still around. He was good at adventuring and leading but bureaucracy was never his specialty. The reports, though seemingly small in his hands, was a thick stack of reports regarding how every team¡¯s dive went. Dungeons changed quick and these sorts of things were tedious but necessary. [Gnet] Well. Looks like nobody died, although we had a few injuries. That¡¯s more than can be said for some places. [Fravit] Sounds like we can allow rank Gs to enter soon. The first three floors are safe enough as promised, even if they aren¡¯t as prepared as we¡¯d like. [Aki] Not safe. Only not deadly. [Pyria] Ah who cares about that. Not deadly is more than anyone else can promise. If they¡¯re idiots then no amount of warning or babying is going to save them from a dungeon. [Harhuin] Well, I don¡¯t think the general public will be happy waiting for much longer. If we don¡¯t clear this process up soon, you will need more guards to prevent people from sneaking in. Rank Gs represented the general public. Those not quite accustomed to fighting. Most rank G quests amounted to things like cleaning houses or running errands. Allowing them into the dungeon means more jobs like fishing and mining that currently require the F rank adventurers. [Gnet] It would free up a lot of hands. Some of the requests require a specialist and we¡¯ll offer guarding quests too. Still, I suppose this adds to the argument that the dungeon is sentient and it¡¯s not just the higher ups messing with us. [Harhuin] Un. This is mostly conjecture but everyone agrees a sentient dungeon is a completely different beast to one that isn¡¯t. Monsters get stronger bods to the dungeon and become smarter and use strategies. It¡¯s like they are absorbing some of that sentience. Either way this rabbit creature for one is a sign of a sentient dungeon for sure. That magical beast is suspect as well. [Pyria] Oh that charging antelope huh. It would be fun to fight that. Well, in actual close range combat anyways. You give any scout or thief ten minutes and it¡¯s easy enough to use it¡¯s charge against it. [Fravit] Let¡¯s not go putting your life in danger just yet ok. Besides, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll start setting the forest on fire if you can¡¯t find it. [Pyria] I wouldn¡¯t do that. Probably. Is that even banned? [Gnet] Well we¡¯ve been told it¡¯s sentient and it¡¯s passing messages to some of the higher ups. So unless we get word otherwise, I say it¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll have to talk to that party about their methods though. If the fires spread faster it would be possible to interfere with everyone¡¯s quests. [Aki] No laws in the dungeon. Only the strong. Bad behavior will disappear, one way or another. [Gnet] Hah. That¡¯s true. It¡¯s for their own good that they behave. Well, I¡¯ll start with the paperwork to allow the rank Gs in. You guys go inform the various guilds. One troublesome team is bad enough, let¡¯s not have any of the other guild¡¯s members disappearing in the dungeon.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
[Paul] Hey. Now that we¡¯ve gotten our pay, let¡¯s visit the entertainment district. [Vera] Uwah. I expect that sort of desire from Adis but you too huh Polly. I mean I guess you are still a guy. [Paul] What no! The entertainment district just opened up an aquatic arena. Teams should be practicing for now so it¡¯s free to enter. I mean, the God of Many Faces is the patron to that sort of thing as well, but he''s also the patron to all sorts of entertainment, stories, and stories. Anywhere his followers gather there''s bound to be a good subject for a news article. [Adis] Hey. Um. What did you mean you expected that sort of ¨C [Carolyn] Oh! An aquatic arena sounds so so fun! I bet we¡¯re going to have a sea volley team! Lets go! [Vera] Sea volley? What¡¯s that? [Carolyn] It¡¯s like, this ball game we used to play underwater. It¡¯s physically and magically pretty tough so I think it¡¯s the reason why I got my adventurer¡¯s license so fast. [Paul] Interesting. It should make for a nice article. I don¡¯t think the capital has anything quite like this. [Adis] Hey. Hey guys? The party weaved their way through the crowded streets, picking up various stall foods with their newly earned pay. The entertainment district was on the other side of the residential district and contained a large variety of entertainers and performers and lots of bars. Unlike the residential district where houses were packed together, large empty spaces were left in the residential district for various groups to perform on and set up tents and stages. This made the aquatic arena visible from anywhere in the district. The aquatic arena is a large colosseum styled building, with over 10 acres of land in the middle. Instead of a sandy pit, it had a tall oval glass structure, pushing right up against the closest seats. It must have been a challenge to create so many yards of smooth clear glass. As they entered, they could see a game already underway. Surely enough, it was a game of sea volley. [Carolyn] See? See? Sea volley is super fun. You can move any which way and you can even use a bunch of approved spells and stuff to get the ball to the other goal. [Adis] Wow. That¡¯s amazing. Are they constantly enhancing their bodies with magic AND casting two or three spells to move the ball? [Vera] My. This IS interesting. They really are using the water to its full effect. And everything is magnified and displayed on those giant magic rune plates too. I can¡¯t imagine how much this took to set up. Vera looked over at Paul to see his thoughts, but clearly he was already lost in writing his article and drawing a depiction. He didn¡¯t even need to exaggerate his art this time. The ball bobbed and weaved through the water, spells were cast, the various aquatic races put their physical speed and strength to the test. At one point one of the players even cancelled the spell on the ball and it¡¯s buoyancy shot the ball straight up, whizzing past a member of the opposite team and right into the hands of his teammate waiting above. Truly it made most sports seem simple, with its extensive use of magic and its three-dimensional maneuvers. [ ] Get yer food here. We got skewers. We got hot dogs. We got bread. We got drinks. You¡¯ve never had food like this I swear on me name. [Adis] Oh food. I could use a little more. The merchant¡¯s pointy ears twitched and he whipped around to reveal a man about half the height of Adis, floating through the air with sharp pointy teeth peaking out from his large smile. [ ] Good! Good good. What¡¯ll it be? Every choice is just *mwah* you can trust me. I swear on me good name. And I¡¯m a full fae. Couldn¡¯t tell a lie to save me life. By the way may I have your name sir? [Adis] Of co- Adis tried to respond but found Vera¡¯s hand covering his mouth and glaring daggers at the fae. [Vera] Oh no you don¡¯t. You try to take his name and I¡¯ll loot it off your corpse. [ ] Now now girly. There¡¯s no need for that. Don¡¯t you see that I¡¯m a simple merchant with simple desires? I think all I¡¯d like right now is to get quite a lot of currency, see? Vera reluctantly lets go of Adis along with a glare to warn him not to do anything stupid again. [Adis] I. Um. I suppose I¡¯ll have a hot dog. [ ] Excellent. Here¡¯s your hot dog. I¡¯ll what¡¯s due. Now then. Tootleoo. The small floating man raced off with distant sounds of his slogan echoing behind him. [ ] Hot dogs. Skewers. Bread. Drinks. Swear on me own name and I¡¯m a Fae so you know I can¡¯t lie to ye. [Vera] Hah. Oldest trick in the book. Don¡¯t you know anything about true Fae? They bind with words as easily as a high lich binds undead. They¡¯d be useful if they were trustworthy enough to be employed. [Adis] Ah. Yeah. Sorry my bad. Hm. Speaking of which, I guess we never found out his name huh? Adis pondered the strange fae as he took a bite of his hot dog. He certainly never had food like this before. He wasn''t certain he would ever have food like this again, if he could help it. Chapter 32.5 : An Eye In The Sky An exerpt from the major newspaper, EYE IN THE SKY: Sea Volley! The sport taking the new dungeon town of Calchet by storm. Many of our readers in the capital may not have heard of it but it''s THE sport of the aquatically inclined. I promise it will be the newest craze throughout the land, lead by the esteemed Lasarim Sakillen himself. Our magnanimous ruler must have invested thousands of gold coins on the new aquatic center that the locals call The Dive. For good reason too. It''s a enhanced glass tower the size of a Blitzsmash field and as tall as it is long filled to the brim with water. With it''s giant rune enchanted screens, you won''t miss a moment of the action. Much like Blitzsmash, it''s absolutely action packed. While you don''t get the heavy earth aligned head smashing bone crunching physical action, you get so much more magical prowess and dextrous feats. The goal of course, remains as simple as Blitzsmash. Get the ball to the opponent''s goal. Easier said than done with both might and magic standing in your way. Instead of the brute strength of Blitzsmash, you get wonderous dextrous feats as each player weaves their way through the water, often dodging and deflecting spells by a hair''s breadth while darting through the water at breakneck speeds. It''ll make even a harpy break out a cold sweat.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. And for you gambling folks, you ought to see the payouts flying around. The more diverse tactics means even an underdog can make a big comeback. That''s right, I said The Dive is a tower of water and they use ever last inch of it. Incredible tactics making use of the three dimensional space puts Blitzsmash to shame. There''s no running out of bounds here. The water, the air, the floor, and even rebounding off the glass walls are fair game. Rumors are, our very own marine forces have heard the news and will put together a team to compete. That''s right, Sea Volley is so fantastic even the marine force is thinking about using it as training. You wouldn''t want to be left out of this folks. Ask your city officials when Sea Volley is coming to a city near you and as always, keep an eye on EYE IN THE SKY. We will keep you updated with the latest and greatest news. Chapter 33 : A long rest Chains rattled, and she felt her mind startle awake. Several other children were also chained up and were pulled off the wagon. She looked down at her own chained ankles and when she looked up she was trudging along with the others. [ ] Hey! Get back to work. What do you think yer doing? Crack The crack of the whip sent shivers down her small body. With the echo of the whip her mind is thrown into disarray. She finds that she¡¯s holding a pickaxe and she hurriedly starts hitting the cavern wall with it. Crack Crack Every so often she feels her body shudder at as the whips strike her back. Her mind starts disassociating, desperate to escape the yelling and the pain that was sure to come. No more. No more. It hurts. I don¡¯t want it to hurt. I just want the pain to go away. When she found herself focusing again she was no longer in the cavern but rather at the door of a wide circular room, although the ceiling was very low. Several men surrounded the room with their spears. A runic circle was at the center of the room and a boy was in the middle of that. [ ] Oi. Come on now. We¡¯re telling you to evolve into a golem. You know what a golem is right? If you mess with us and get it wrong we¡¯ll activate the runes and blow you to pieces ok? As the boy in the center focused, a large amount of mana was drawn towards him. He grew a minor amount and as pieces of his skin peeled away, the smooth rock that now lay underneath was revealed. [ ] Hm. We¡¯ve been getting a lot of these small ones. Oh well at least they¡¯re good at tunneling. Oi you. Go out that way and line up with the others. The boy nodded, devoid of emotion. As he walked out the other door in the room, she was pushed in. [ ] Come on. You too. We¡¯re telling you to evolve into a golem. You¡¯re of the right age so it should come naturally right? You want to become a golem too right? That way you won¡¯t get tired from work and you won¡¯t be hurt so easily. You¡¯ll stop being hungry too. She nodded and sat in the middle of the circle like the boy before her. She willed the mana into herself, starting the evolution process. It felt like the air was thick and heavy, pressing down on her chest. Stinging pain ran through her body as she began to grow.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. If I wasn¡¯t captured, what would mommy want me to evolve as. Pain. It hurts. But mommy and the rest are dead now. Or captured. I don¡¯t have a choice. The pain will go away. I just want the pain to go away. I don¡¯t want to hurt. There¡¯s no choice. I have no choice. I don¡¯t want to hurt anymore. Everywhere hurts. Everything hurts. I don¡¯t want to hurt. I just want it to stop. The next thing she knew, a loud noise from the room woke her up. She was standing in the next room with the ones that came before her. People were yelling from the room she was in earlier. [ ] Hey! What do you think you¡¯re doing. Damnit you¡¯re going to regret this. [ ] Activate the runes. Hurry! [ ] ROAR [ ] Damn kid can¡¯t even think. There¡¯s no room for this in here. BOOM ROAR [ ] Shit he¡¯s evolving too fast. [ ] He¡¯s damaging the roof. We gotta get out of here. [ ] Hold him back The booming noises rang out for some time. And then the sound of rocks collapsing. And then darkness and silence. How much time has passed? An hour? A day? A year? She didn''t know. They simply stood there. Empty. There was no more pain or yelling. Only the silence and the dark. Until one day when they heard the rocks that had collapsed the door being moved and they were bathed in light once more. The girl opened her bleary eyes. The booming noise seemed to return along with her senses, although much more distant now. As her eyes slowly focused, she saw a dark-haired man with several swords resting by his side. She stared at him for a while. He seemed engrossed in his book. [ ] Lord? The man finally looked up from his book and frowned at her. [Kilian] How many times must I tell you it¡¯s just Kilian. I did not inherit such a title. [Fels] Kilian. [Kilian] That¡¯s better. You¡¯ve been out for about a week now. We¡¯ve been ensured that this is more normal for a golem but Icas still insists on purchasing good metals. Luckily this smithy deals with repairing golems, albeit of the manmade kind, and gave us a good deal. Fels looked down at her body. Where there should have been a wound there was only her body, lined with the veins of metal and rock that ran through her flesh. The side of her abdomen seemed to have much finer veins of a silvery white metal. She gave her body an experimental twist and found that her movement had hardly changed despite the additional metals. [Kilian] Titanium. Icas insisted, although we couldn¡¯t afford anything better anyways. Buying iron or low quality steel would have come back to bite us though, what with having the pass through the water room every time. [Fels] Thank you. [Kilian] Don¡¯t thank me. It was all Icas¡¯s ideas. We need to get you back in fighting order anyways. Thank Icas when he comes back from shopping. Fels stared at Kilian for a little while. She noticed several new bandages on his hands and the additional wear on his boots and bag, both now permanently stained with mud. [Fels] Thank you. [Kilian] Ah whatever. Look. If you¡¯re all better then we¡¯ll need to get back to training soon. It¡¯s about time for my training. I¡¯ll get the head smith to examine you on my way out and Icas will be here soon with some healing items. Get some rest or what have you so we can catch up with the others. Kilian threw his book back into his bag and grabbed his swords and went out the door. Fels could hear him yelling over the sound of hammers for the head smith. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she listened to the commotion, the booming noises no longer disturbing her. [Fels] Thank you. Chapter 34 : Preparation [Adis] Looks like the g rankers have adapted to the dungeon pretty well huh? Today, Adis and his party wasdiving deeper into the dungeon, collecting some spare materials as they went. They passed a good number of g rankers, considering how they were only let in a week ago. [Paul] News got out pretty quickly that it''s pretty safe, all things considered. Honestly it''s probably safer than actually going into a forest to try to harvert herbs. [Carolyn] Not to mention there were already a good amount of people that have water affinity races already living here, so the pond levels are practically easy picking. [Vara] It''s certainly good for adventurers at any rate. The a good number of these groups hire a couple of adventurers to be guards whenever they dive. It''s easy money, even if it doesn''t pay that well. [Adis] I''m surprised that they are that eager, given the incident that happened just before they were let in. [Vara] Well, it''s a different floor after all. Nothing that dangerous is supposed to be on these floors, and so far nothing has gone wrong. [Carolyn] By the way, did you guys hear? Fels is all better and stronger than ever. Sounds like Kilian''s team will be diving again soon. [Vara] Kilian''s group huh. Fels and Icas seem alright but Kilian is too... single minded I guess? [Adis] He seems alright to me? There''s nothing wrong with being dedicated and wanting to get stronger right? [Vara] Ha. You would think being so single minded is a good thing.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. [Adis] Hey what''s that supposed to mean? [Vara] I''m a dark elf. You know that I can see you training out back no matter how dark it gets at night right? [Paul] Not to mention I''m up at the break of dawn and will run into you more often than not. [Adis] Hey. What''s wrong with practicing? I''m not talented like you guys ok? [Vara] We''re just evolved and using our race''s advantages. You''d catch up and probably start surpass us in some years. Humans absorb mana faster and even if they didn''t, you''d catch up purely by practice alone. [Carolyn] It''s kinda boring to just practice though. Everyone should come play sea volley sometimes! It''s good practice and it''s fun. [Adis] Haha we''re not all as good at manipulating water as you. It wouldn''t be bad to spend a day or two taking a break though. [Carolyn] We could head to the lake instead of the aquatic center too. I bet it''s less crowded. [Vara] Oh that sounds fun. I haven''t been on a beach in quite a few years. It''s always been busy this and that. [Paul] Hm. A day or two off would be nice. I could catch up on reviewing a few articles I''m writing. [Adis] Alright. It''s decided then. Let''s take a few days off after this, success or not. [Carolyn] Hey! Don''t say that. Of course it''s going to be a success. [Vara] I usually don''t like to be too optimistic but we are fairly well prepared. At the least we shouldn''t get too injured. [Paul] The other teams have reported running into it too, although most of them retreated soon after. [Adis] Un. Well then. Final equipment checks everybody. Let''s see if we can''t find him, the king of the inverted forest floor.
Fuuu Equipment, check. Potions, check. Landscape.... I look around and despite some shrubs, the landscape was mostly plains and small hills. Nothing we could use to for a trap. We knew this of course, since we''ve scouted out the area. Most of the serious parties have. That doesn''t mean we don''t have plans though. Lucky for us Vara has a hell of a mind for things like this. [Paul] Hey! I''ve found him. He''s grazing a bit past the border of the grassy and the snowy area. [Vara] Hm. If it''s choosing to be in the snow then it can probably move pretty well in it. Better than us at least. It''s best if we go with the original plan and lure him out here where we wont be hindered by the snow. [Adis] Got it. Let''s start preparing. Make sure to keep your mana topped off after we''re done. Chapter 35 : Execute Snowblossoms are delicious. Grazing all day is wonderful. It''s a shame there have been more nuisances recently. As I tilt my head and lean forward to pluck another flower from it''s stem, [ ] Air Cutter a wind blade cut through the air and into my side. Well, between the distance it was cast at and the scales under my fur, it didn''t accomplish anything besides knocking the snow off my back. I let out a snort and shook off the rest of the snow from my body. It seems like it''s time for work again. I stared up at the parrot harpy that cast the spell. It was flying. I can''t do much about flying. Well, the roof is more or less one big trap anyways. I''m sure they''ll get him if I just chase him around. I do wish it would stop casting those bothersome spells though. Keeping my eyes on him, my slow steps turning into agile bounding as the terrain starts becoming more complicated and less flat. Nothing that would hinder my kind though. [Harpy] Gah. What? Shit. Stranglevine. And dryads. This might be trouble. Just as the harpy seemed to turn around and start circling back, it happened. About time. The new addition that was added to our home, the stranglevine, has shown itself. A large and thick vine that strikes with all the ferocity and speed of a snake. It''s ability to blend in and resistance to bleeding makes up for the inability to bite I''d say. It''s a shame it can''t really move around without the help of the dryads. I watch as it coils and binds one of the harpy''s wings. It should be crushed soon enough. I ought to get underneath it so I can finishthe nuisance when the stranglevineis done. As I enter the valley underneath I notice a stench.A swordsman and some sort of octopus girl was also making a lot of noise in the area. It looks like if I want to get rid of the nuisance, I''ll have to get rid of them too before they help out the harpy. The stench doesn''t seem to be coming from them, but from this substance smear all on the hills next to us. I cautiously prod it with my hoof, even if I dont want it on me. Nothing seems to happen so I confidently step on it.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Woah. The smear suddenly expanded pushing me back. I was so surprised I let out a honk. It would... be troubling to step on these. I guess it''s lucky that these guys are standing where this goop isn''t.I rush forward, intending to gouge them with my horns. [Swordsman] It''s coming, get ready. [Octopus] Vara, we''ll leave Paul to you. I ignore all the noise and charge. My charge was deflected by the swordsman''s shield. He was too busy defending to use his sword by the Octopus managed to land a hit with a tentacle. It was strong and heavy, but not exactly life threatening. It was enough to push me back though. [Swordsman] Gah. Even with the buffs this is heavy. [Octopus] It seems like I can''t do too much damage like this. Well, let''s get this over with them. I get in charging position and start gather the mana in my body. It seems they''re scrambling and yelling but I can''t focus on what they say. My conciousness narrows and I focus solely on my target. And I burst foward, my body moving with the might of mana. I almost have them. The shield wont save them from this. And [Swordsman] Here it comes. Now! [Octopus] Got it. Marsh''s Embrace. I stumbled. I stumbled? I stumbled. That''s weird. Why would I stumble? Strange. It seems my path deviated when I stumbled, allowing them to redirect my charge again. Redirect my charge... towards the hills smeared with that strange substance. I tried to stop, but in my confusion and panic I slipped. I slipped? I slipped. No. I was made to slip? The ground. The ground. The ground in this area was muddy and wet. Was it always muddy and wet? No it couldn''t have been. Doesn''t matter. Not right now. I slipped. Towards the hill with all of that strange goop. I landed on my side in it. Unlike when I merely stepped on it, it exploded outwards. I flew up into the air and something crashed into me. The harpy. It had somehow gotten out. No it''s not alone. A dark elf too. The three of us came crashing back down to the floor. Pain runs through me. Broken bones probably. Lying on my side, I start sinking into the mud as if the very earth was pulling me down. I don''t think I can get up. Not with the harpy and dark elf lying on me. I feel asharp objectpierce through my eye and the world goes dark. It seems like I won''t be able to eat any more snowblossoms today. Chapter 36 : The Other Side [Carolyn] Vara, we''ll leave Paul to you! I nod and dash away. It was dangerous to leavethe two of them alone with the antelope but it''s also the least dangerous way to make sure none of the group dies. Save Paul and assist Carolyn and Adis as soon as possible. I hate this sort of thing. There''s no time to waste so I''m rushing in blind, more or less. The only way for me to get up is... a tall ironbark tree, who''s tip comes down almost to the surface. Even though I have an elf''s dexterity, it''s still quite tall and taking me a while. It''s a good thing I was sent. The other two would have taken far too long. As I nimbly climbed the tree, a thought kept running through my head. My plan caused this. My plan failed. I should have scouted more. No. Noone had found a stranglevine here before. We couldn''t have expected it. No, it was our fault. We failed to spot it. I failed to spot it. I had climbed high enough to reach the longer branches, branches that crossed over to other, shorter, trees. I leapt and caught the branch. As I hung there swinging to get enough momentum to pull myself up, sharp pain ran up my hand and I let go. I crashed into the branch below, although not hard enough to cause any real damage. Catching onto this branch, I glanced over my hand and the branch above. Not poison, thankfully, but a cat. Sleek with a coat of shades of black. Not exactly a jaguar, but large enough to be very clearly a predator. And very clearly a threat. It kept it''s eyes on me, unmoving even as I regained my footing on this lower branch. [Vara] Shoo. I haven''t got the time for you cat. The words only seemed to provoke it though. It''s muscles tensed and it leaned forward, clearly about to leap. It seems it wont give up. I sigh and start muttering a spell. Mother of Darkness, Mother of Shade I beseech you, Come to my aid The monsters of the dark shall not give me fright For I am the hunter on this night Shadow Cloaked Shadows in this tree darken and gather around me. My form begins to grow hazy at the edges. My weapons too covered themselves a purple black ichor. I put power into my legs and jumped towards another branch. The cat saw my movements and jumped to catch me but caught only the shadows trailing behind. I threw some needles towards it as it fell. A howl rang out as it hit but I spared no time for it. With my abilities, the poison will be painful at worse. It won''t stay down.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I looked ahead at where paul was still struggling. The stranglevine still had a strong grip on his wing, and the nymphs nearby only strengthen it''s grip with their magic. The pain must be interfering with his magic casting as he''s only stabbing into the vine with his dagger. I need to hurry. The shadow cloaking increased by speed a little, with how much shade there is in these trees, but it seems the cat isn''t much slower. It''s caught up to me in no time and if I keep going, all I''ll do is lead it right to Paul who can''t defend himself. [Vara] Tsk. You really dont know when to give up. I hate to do this, but this is the fastest way I suppose. I quickly changed directions and dashed towards the cat. It did not seem to expect that as it was in a position to leap towards me and couldn''t quickly get out of the way. The only choice it had was to be hit by my sudden dash. It leapt towards me as I was in the air and we collided. I got close to it and stuffed my leather armored arm into it''s mouth. I felt the claws come out, scratching at the armor on my back, sometimes piercing through and cutting into my shoulder and sides. [Vara] Sorry but I''m in a hurry I ignore the damage it''s causing and pierce my dagger into it''s soft underside. The scratching and biting intensified for a moment but started to fade after a few more stabs. I managed to push it off and started to head back towards Paul. The nymphs themselves seemed to have little combat power since they ran away from me as I approached. The stranglevine was a little more difficult but I threw a bottle of acid at it''s base while dodging it''s attacks. The attacks were straightforward but quick, easily dodged by me as long as I know they''re coming. Soon I had Paul in my arms and we were hurrying back towards the fight. [Paul] You''re pretty bloodied and beaten up. You should get some heals back in town. [Vara] You know that''s pricey. I''ll get Carolyn to heal me up once we rest. Besides, I dont want to hear that from you. [Paul] I guess you''re right. It looks like the fight''s about to end. Want to give the finishing blow? [Vara] You bet. Speed us up if you can. [Paul] Of course I can. Come winds, show us your might We seek not the joys of flight But make us fast and true Like an arrow to pierce our enemies through Accel And we sped up. Faster and faster until the beast finally hit our trap and flew up into the air. We pushed off from the branches and dove towards it. Even if Paul says this isnt flight, we flew. We slammed into the beast with our shoulders and my daggers found purchase between the scales under it''s fur. The three of us landed with a crash, shaking the world around us. The leaves and dust settled and we saw that the momentum from the impact had allowed my dagger to pierce it deep, deep enough to wound it''s heart. But to make extra sure I send another dagger through it''s eye and into it''s skull. We can''t have this thing getting up when we dont expect it. [Carolyn] I knew you''d get him out Vara [Vara] Of course. Are you guys injured ? [Adis] Nothing serious. The plan worked out pretty well. [Carolyn] I''m pretty drained of mana though. Wide area terrain changing magic is hard. Paul you ok? You''ll last till we get back to town? [Paul] Yeah. I''m just feeling a little hot right now. I''ll be ok. [Adis] That''s good. Don''t push yourself. We''ll be on our way. I expect there''s a few G rankers that would help us carry this thing out for free so we just have to make it that far. [Vara] Free or a drink and a story at any rate. Well it''ll be worth it. Even with the healing I suspect we''ll have a good deal of income left over. [Paul] Yeah. I can make it. Although as he says that, Paul collapses on us. I manage to catch him but his body is starting to burn up. [Vara] He''s burning up! We need to go, now. [Adis] Vara! Go on ahead. See if you can get some G rankers or their guards to come meet us part way to help with the antelope. Carolyn, you''re the strongest so Im sorry but you''ll have to drag it along yourself until help comes. Ill carry Paul and enchant you with some magic. [Vara/Carolyn] On it. Chapter 37 : Music To My Ears Thanks to the assistance of some other adventurers, it didn''t take long to pull Paul from the dungeon back to the guild. The others caught up too and the carcass of the antelope monster we killed was unceremoniously dumped at the front counter. Bratum, the dwarven priest took one look, scoffed, and told us to bring him to the resting room in the back of the guild. He was Fravit and Pyria''s companion, that is to say part of the lead adventurer party in this city so we decided to comply. [Bratum] What are ye looking so worried for? Right. Just toss him on the bed newbies. [Adis] Right. Right. Uh maybe we should call for a healer? Escalate to the guildmaster? We have to make our report anyways. [Bratum] Calm down will ye. I''m a healer ain''t I? And with the rucus the body you dumped out front is causin, he''ll come find us. Gnet''s havin a spar with Fravit and Pyria anyhow. [Vara] Should.... Should Guildmaster Gnet be having spars? And a 2 on 1 at that? Isn''t it bad if he accidentally gets hurt? [Alba] He is a rank above them. A small silence filled the room. Partly because besides Bratum, they had not noticed the ice gensai. But also partly because they had no idea how reassuring that statement was supposed to be. [Bratum] Hah. You lot really no nothing eh. A rule of thumb is that the strength of someone one rank above is at least 10 times those a rank below. On top of that, Gnet''s not exactly bottom of the B rank pack. It would take at least 3 full teams of our power to have a chance. [Carolyn] Um I dont really care about that though. How''s Paulie? [Bratum] That''s why I''m saying you brats don''t know anything. He''ll be fine even if we leave him alone. He''s gathered enough mana to evolve. It''s not uncommon for newbies to gather much too much mana and collapse the first time since it''s so different from the coming of age ritual. [Carolyn] That''s a relief. He''s evolving huh. Um can you fix his wing anyways? It looks painful? [Bratum] It''ll fix itself during the evolution but if it''ll get you off my back. By the Goddess of the Sun and Light Allow me to make this right Let not your flock meet their doom Cure Wounds And before their eyes strings of light seem to erupt from the dwarf''s hand and wound its way through Paul''s wing. Everywhere the strings of light touched seemed to straighten and correct itself. Wounds mending and closing. Feathers were even regrowing. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. At least, the ones on his wings were. The ones near his eyes fell off, as well as a long strip down his throat and chest. [Carolyn] Hey! Why are his feathers falling out? What did you do? [Vara] Calm down. Look. [Adis] His other feathers are... growing larger? [Carolyn] You''re right. Pretty.... Sure enough his remaining feathers were growing longer and bigger. The already colorful parrotlike feathers were also becoming more vibrant and shiny. Although in truth the changes were small, the improvement in quality in fact made Paul look overall quite a bit more stunning. [Bratum] Hm. Looks like he''s done. His mana feels more stable now too. OI. YER DONE YET. WAKE UP. And wake up he did. With a start. A start and a yell. Vara and Adis glanced at each other as they noticed a wave wash across them, accompanied by what was clearly Paul''s voice, but with an oddly melodic undertone they couldn''t quite pick out. [Paul] AH. What ... in the gods? Now, confusion is normally to be expected when just waking up from an evolution, but this was not the case with Paul. His confusion was rather with the scene before him, the scene of two of Carolyn''s tentacles hardened and stretching across the bed where he lay to Bratum''s throat. [Paul] C... Carolyn? [Adis] Hey Carolyn? What happened. [Vara] ... That was... Strange. [Carolyn] I.... I don''t know? [Bratum] Ho. How interesting. Well then, why don''t you put your tentacles away before you get hurt eh? Slowly Carolyn nodded and withdrew her tentacles, although looking unsure and confused the whole time. [Bratum] Well then boy. I think you ought to be careful when you''re surprised. New sirens can''t control their powers very well, especially when their emotions aren''t steady. [Paul] Ah. Yes right. I''m sorry. [Carolyn] Siren? [Adis] Hm. Aren''t sirens supposed to be merfolk ? He''s very clearly not a merfolk. [Paul] Ah. Um. Sirens are originally birdfolk. The merfolk took siren as somewhat of a title later on. So yes he''s right I did go down the path of a siren somewhat. It''s only a small step though. [Vara] Hm. Carolyn, you felt a sense of panic and the need to protect him right? I think I felt it too. I mean, Adis and I definitely have more mental resistance than you but.... I don''t think he would have had that much power to make you almost attack someone much stronger than you... [Bratum] Ah don''t worry about that. How effective mental attacks like a siren''s voice is varies from person to person. All sorts of factors go into it like what you''re doing right now, how strong your resistance is, how unexpected it was. Even hidden subconcious feelings like wanting to protect them or being in love with them would change how effective it is on you. Even behind his large bushy beard it was very clear Bratum was grinning. The others looked over at Carolyn with what could be said to be a very extreme reaction to a weak power of suggestion. [Carolyn] I I I was just surprised and I''m not any good at thinking and mental resistances and stuff. Before any of the others said anything, the door to the room slammed open. [Pyria] Hey! The monster that was giving people trouble''s been killed! That means we get to have a go at it right? [Bratum] Hah. Well that''s certainly the case. [Pyria] Music to my ears. [Fravit] I''ll never know how you have so much energy after being beaten up by Gnet for so long. Well, I do want to give it a shot too though. We are getting rusty with nothing but sparring. [Alba] Little ones. Watch? [Carolyn] Yes! Let''s go guys! ... You''re feeling good enough to go right Paul? [Paul] Yeah. The evolution fixed me up pretty good. [Carolyn] Great well let''s go then!