《A Dragon's Dungeon》 Prologue (v2.1) Prologue ¡°So, what''s it like being a dungeon?¡± Dorn''axial asked the blue, lightly glowing rock that was gently spinning a few inches in front of his face, hovering above a marble pedestal. Dorn had just finished a lengthy battle against a light blue water dragon, and now he was talking to a blue rock. It was quite ironic, as Dorn was himself a dragon, and he had plans to transfer his soul and consciousness into a rock in the future. Of course, he wouldn''t use a light blue gem as a dungeon core, as the light blue color was associated with the weak water dragons. They''re not even real dragons, thought Dorn, just large snakes with wings and claws. No, Dorn was a silver wyrm, a proud member of the Space magic dragon lineage. As such, he had decided to transfer himself into a diamond core. But that would come later. Dorn had just finished conquering the most famous dungeon in the powerful Ilsan Empire. The final floor, floor 97, was merely an island floating within a giant sea, all contained in an enormous cavern. On the island laid the remains of the dragon, the final Boss of the dungeon. It was quickly melting into the island, as it was reabsorbed by the dungeon. Instead of taking the teleportation glyph back to the entrance of the dungeon or opening the chest to receive what was most likely legendary loot, Dorn had instead flown to the edge of the cavern, finding the small room that housed the dungeon core. The mana in the air was so thick here that it had condensed and liquified around the edges of the ceiling, where it dripped slowly onto the floor. This was the S-ranked dungeon famous for it''s lush jungles and forests. A system of natural monster ecosystems, rather than the usual boring halls with traps and rooms of monsters. As such, it was one of the few dungeons that had earned Dorn''s respect. It was also the main driver behind Ilsan''s powerful economy and military. Incidentally, Dorn was also the first person to conquer the dungeon since the days of the dungeon''s infancy, 300 years previous. ¡°Please don''t kill me,¡± said the blue rock telepathically, projecting its voice into Dorn''s head. A look of great shock passed across Dorn''s face, before settling back into an arrogant visage. Dorn was currently in his human form. All dragons gained shape-shifting abilities upon becoming an adult at 1,000 years of age. Dorn was a tall human, at 6'' 3¡±, with long silver hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked upon the core with a magnanimous air. ¡°I don''t want to kill you, little dungeon core, I want to be just like you. I will become the greatest dungeon that Sorenia has ever seen. I''ve spent centuries mastering the necessary magics. Death and Soul magic for the transfer to a core, Earth magic to build the dungeon, Air magic to make the dungeon liveable, Nature, Water, and Life magic to populate it, and Light magic for displaying my glory. I''ve picked the perfect location. Deep in the weakling Khal kingdom is a mountain resting within endless plains, deserted for miles around. I wil-¡± ¡°Why?¡± interrupted the curious dungeon core. ¡°Why?¡± Dorn repeated, as if baffled. ¡°For immortality, of course.¡± Dorn gave the lesser of his two life goals as explanation. Dragons had a lifespan measured in millennium, but it wasn''t infinite. ¡°Why don''t you just become a lich?¡± asked the core. ¡°And become an undead? Hated by everyone, hunted by the churches, never to know a moment of peace? I have no need of becoming a sickening, vile creature like that.¡± ¡°But that''s the thing,¡± the core replied. ¡°Dungeons are hated by everyone except the adventurers, frequently destroyed by the churches, and never have any peace whatsoever.¡± Dorn frowned, annoyed that his 3,000-year life''s goal was being dismissed by the dungeon. ¡°That''s not for you to worry about. I''ve already spent the last 1,000 years condensing mana crystals to jump-start building my dungeon, and now I just need to know the specifics of how to build and manage a dungeon.¡± ¡°Well, if that''s true,¡± the dungeon core responded with a mental smirk, ¡°you''ve wasted 1,000 years storing the only waste product dungeons produce; you would have been better off spending 1,000 years collecting animal shit, for at least you could have gotten a few Dungeon Points ou-¡± A furious Dorn smashed the core into the wall, shattering the core and destroying the dungeon. After releasing a furious roar that shook the entire cavern, Dorn heaved a few deep breaths. ¡°Gods-damned core, who the hell are you to talk to me like that?¡±
Back in the Khal kingdom, residing in his lair, Dorn thought over his actions. He had spent his entire life, ever since childhood, making preparations for becoming a dungeon core. It had taken him 500 years just to find a large enough diamond to use as his future body. Carving the 6,000-carat diamond into a perfect regular dodecahedron had been difficult, but far worse was using Earth magic to enhance it, turning it into a single network of carbon atoms, becoming all but indestructible. He then would have enchanted it with durability and strengthening runes as well, but that would have interfered with the soul transfer process. The diamond was resting within his throne room. Dorn turned his head and glanced at it, lying upon a simple crystal pedestal. It always calmed him to see his future body. Carved into the ground around the pedestal was an enormous and complex network of magical runes. The runes formed a large ellipse, with circles at the two focal points: one where the pedestal resided and a much larger circle where his 500-foot body would lie during the transfer. The space surrounding the pedestal was shielded by 11 layers of concentric, hollow, and translucent spheres, each lightly glowing a different color. Only the top half of the spheres were visible, the other half hidden underneath the ground. These were the magical shields Dorn had set up to protect his future, immobile body. The glyphs carved on the stone floor just inside of each sphere produced shields so strong that even Dorn would be unable to break through. It gave him a sense of security. Dorn furrowed his brow in thought, what are Dungeon Points? It bothered him that there was something about dungeons that he didn''t know. What are points anyways? Someone using a finger to indicate a direction? Dots in a graph? The topic of a discussion? A scoring system for games? Dorn was this world''s fore-most expert on dungeons. Or at least, amongst the humans of Sorenia, he was the world''s greatest expert. He was considered a pariah amongst the few of his fellow dragons that he knew, both for his obsession with dungeons (a life-form they considered lesser) and his integration with the humans (a life-form they considered much lesser). He had been consumed with desire to become a dungeon core ever since he was young, when the lessons of mortality were driven into his head through experience. Of course, his need for vengeance was the greater reason for his desire to become a dungeon. As one of the humans of East Lucenia''s few SS-ranked adventurers, Dorn was the only one who believed dungeons were sapient. He would be much happier about finally being proven correct with the nature dungeon, if he hadn''t lost his temper and destroyed one of the few dungeons in the world that Dorn admired. He did not regret his actions, but he did feel some annoyance at being unable to get the answers to a couple of his last-minute questions. The civil war erupting in Ilsan would almost certainly cause his future home of the Khal kingdom to become involved in a continent-wide war. Any loss of human life in the Khal kingdom would be a waste if it were to happen outside his future dungeon. If his guess, that only S-rank dungeon cores and above were sapient, was correct (it wasn''t; A-class cores and below were just afraid of exposing their sapience), that meant he would have to go trudge his way through almost 100 more layers of a dungeon to get some answers to his questions. The only one in East Lucenia, that Dorn knew of, was a slime dungeon, and he was not going to go through the boring monotony of such a dungeon. I guess I''ll just find out tomorrow, when I finally make the transition, Dorn thought. Growling, Dorn decided to check his preparations for making the dungeon one last time. The circular throne room was the first room one could reach after entering Dorn''s lair. Off to the right side was a tunnel which led to a series of rooms that would traditionally hold a dragon''s treasure horde. And in many ways, they were treasure rooms. The first room was a gigantic armory, and it contained far more wealth and knowledge than any ordinary treasure horde. Every kind of weapon imaginable was present, lying on velvet-lined racks. The enormous room contained a large variety of weapons, from swords, axes, and spears, to staves, maces, and bows. The quality of these weapons ranged from non-enchanted trash to dwarven-crafted and elven-enchanted masterpieces. Further, there were all kinds of accessories resting on shelves surrounding the weapons. In various sizes and styles, armors made from multiple kinds of leather and metal were placed next to bracelets, rings, amulets, earrings, cloaks, and boots. There was even a gigantic mound of clothes for men and women of all four sapient races, and in multiple fashions. In one corner of the room was a rather large stack of parchments filled with all the enchantments and alchemy recipes Dorn knew or could find from around the world. In a second corner was a large spatial bag holding his enormous library, including cultivation style and application books for all races, levels, and fighting styles, as well as manuals for every conceivable (to Dorn) form of crafting. The third corner was filled with all the tools used in mining, smithing, enchanting, alchemy, tailoring, goldsmithing, jewellery making, tanning, leather working, dyeing, and the production or assembly of various textiles, like silk, satin, wool, cotton, and glass. The furnaces for smelting, smithing, and glassblowing were rather large. The chemicals used for dyeing and tanning were in containers kept airtight by Space magic.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. In the final corner was a five-chambered vault that contained his most prized possessions: samples of all his non-living crafting materials. Inside the first chamber was an ingot of every normal metal he could discover, and they were carefully stacked. He had the common metals and alloys: iron, steel, copper, brass, aluminum, tin, tungsten, titanium, silver, gold, and platinum. More importantly, in the second chamber, he had the rare magical metals as well, including high steel, black gold, moonstone, fire iron, frozen steel, orichalcum, mithril, and adamantium. Those last two were impossibly hard both to find and to shape into ingots. He had had to kill this generation''s greatest dwarven crafter, after forcing him to make those two ingots, just to keep these two metals a secret. The third compartment of his vault was a pile of both precious and semi-precious jewels. All were useful in enchanting, and each type of jewel generally corresponded to one or more of the magic fields. Rubies for Fire magic, Emeralds for Nature magic, Gray Star Sapphires for soul magic, and so on. In the fourth chamber was just a pile of samples of all the various textiles and leathers dyed in a rainbow of colors. The fifth and final compartment simply contained cubes of different types of stone, from ordinary limestone and basalt to granite, marble, and travertine. After checking that everything was in place behind his Space magic shields, he strode into his nursery. An artificial sun, made of Light magic, shone down onto two glass greenhouses, one clouded and the other clear. His two elven slaves were tending to the mass of herbs and plants he kept in stock. They bowed deeply to Dorn, and Dorn swept by without even acknowledging their existence. He hadn''t even needed to force them into his service, for when they heard about the numerous rare, unique, and legendary herbs he had, they were more than willing to come tend to them. A good thing too, as Dorn would never stoop to growing plants. And getting the elves to be slaves was almost impossible, considering their innate magic resistances. Dorn paused and took a deep breath, savoring the smell of precious herbs mixed with heavy amounts of mana produced by the mana crystals embedded all throughout the walls. The amount of mana required for the growth of some of the herbs was ridiculous. In the other half of the nursery was a variety of all sorts of trees, bushes, flowers, grains, fruits, and vegetables. While Dorn planned on having some floors with large open ecosystems, he did not plan to simply copy the nature dungeon. That would be too simple, and Dorn''s dungeon would be anything but simple. Tunnels and rooms had their place as well, as long as they were decorated well. The second to last chamber stunk. Even with his Air magic enchantments, it stunk. Here, 30 beast-kin soul slaves were dutifully taking care of the ridiculous number of monsters and animals that Dorn kept in stock. A full half of the monsters were reptiles. In half-submerged pens were lizards, snakes, amphibians, and turtles. On land, weakling common kobolds and stronger kobold mages and warriors were housed in cages, and crocodiles were resting in the pond. Many birds of all different colors and sizes were flying around the giant tree that grew in the middle of the chamber. Most didn''t realize how closely related birds were to the other reptiles. The other animals and monsters required for a healthy ecosystem were also present. From nutritious volcanic soil, to pollinator bees, decomposing worms, and prey animals such as rabbits and deer, all were present and ready to form a thriving ecosystem. As an apex predator himself, Dorn had a bit of fascination with other predators and had captured some large cats, bears, foxes, and wolves from the neighboring Kendra Empire as well as eagles and hawks from right here in the Khal kingdom. Finally, he entered the chamber he had been most proud of, until recently. The mana crystal chamber. It was really just a giant pit, filled with tens of thousands of mana crystals, one of the largest deposits of wealth in all of Sorenia. 50 gold coins made one platinum coin, and 10 platinum coins were worth a standard mana crystal. Only S-rank and above cultivators could condense mana crystals. It took an S-ranker about two weeks, or an SS-ranker one week, to condense a single mana crystal. Mana crystals were crucial for alchemy and enchanting, or could be used to speed up cultivation without entering a dungeon. Dorn considered destroying them all with his powerful breath attack, but couldn''t bring himself to do it. He had spent an entire millennium condensing these crystals, and had become the greatest of experts in pure mana manipulation as a result. What a waste, he thought. In hind sight, it made so much sense that mana was useless to dungeons. Why else would they spew so much mana into the world? They must breathe out mana as plants breathe out clean air. But what do they use as an energy source? Is that what Dungeon Points are? Confused, but deciding to temporarily give up his thoughts on Dungeon Points, Dorn returned to his throne room. Across from the treasure rooms were his chambers. He laid down on his bed and looked at the ceiling. Tomorrow¡­ he thought. I''ll finally become a dungeon tomorrow. I''ve prepared everything I can possibly prepare. His thoughts then turned towards the entire reason he was here. Mother, father, I wish you could see me now. I''ll show the other dragons the power of a dungeon, and I''ll train the humans to destroy as you were destroyed. Those things will pay for what they did. The humans'' efforts are weak and misguided. I will shape them into a spear that I wield. They will be forever changed. Tomorrow¡­
The transformation process wouldn''t start. ¡°Ah, why won''t it fucking work,¡± rumbled Dorn. He was sitting in his rune circle in his original dragon form, staring at the diamond, what should be his new body. He scratched his head with a wing while he looked over all the glyphs. Every Death and Soul magic glyph was correct and in place. The connecting and containing glyphs were aligned. The protection from outside magical interference was in place, and he had his energy source (a massive pile of mana crystals stacked to the ceiling) set up correctly. Even the magic capacitors were filled, waiting for an outlet. And even though the magical circuit was closed and should be activating, nothing was happening. A bright silver line about three feet long appeared in the air near Dorn. His massive dragon head turned and looked at it. What the hell is that? Is the process working? Why is it over there, however? As Dorn watched, the line rotated on itself and formed a small portal. Out of it flew a creature about 8 inches tall with two sets of white wings. ¡°So, this is where the new dungeon is about to appear. It looks decent enough for a beginning dungeon. I wonder where in Khal I am. I''d best take a look arou-¡± said Emelia the dungeon pixie before pausing. It was at this point that she noticed the giant eye of Dorn looking and blinking at her. Emelia just stared for a few seconds. ¡°Who the hell are you, and why are you in my lair?¡± Dorn rumbled. Emelia took a deep breath and intelligently responded, ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It''s a huge gods-damned dragon. Why is there a huge gods-damned dragon here?¡± She then took off like a pinball, bouncing around the room at high speeds and screeching. Dorn managed to cover his draconian ears with his wings. ¡°Stop yelling,¡± he shouted. This, ironically, did nothing to calm down the pixie. She actually managed to yell louder. Developing a migraine, Dorn gave an almighty dragon roar, before yelling, ¡°Silence!¡± Emelia finally calmed down somewhat; she at least stopped in place. She was, however, shaking like a vibrating drum skin. She looked down at the dragon from the air and pleaded, ¡°Please don''t kill me.¡± Dorn chuckled and responded, ¡°The last creature that asked me that, I shoved him into a wall and shattered him into pieces.¡± Emelia looked like she was about to start screaming and flying around again, so Dorn quickly spoke up, ¡°I''m not going to kill you; calm down. I swear on my honor as a dragon, as long as you do not attempt to harm me or hinder my plans, I won''t harm you.¡± With that out of the way, Dorn was very intent on asking about something Emelia had said before she saw his body and had her¡­ episode. ¡°Why did you say that this is where a dungeon is about to be born?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°Because the pixie queen told me a new dungeon was about to be born in the Khal kingdom and sent me here through a portal. But there shouldn''t be a dragon here. There must have been a mistake in the portal''s destination; I''ll just go and-¡± It was at this point that Emelia finally noticed the diamond, the massive tower of mana crystals, and the complicated necromantic glyphs on the floor. ¡°Um, what are you doing?¡± she asked. ¡°I''m trying to transfer my soul and consciousness into that diamond over there to finally become a dungeon,¡± Dorn responded. ¡°You want to become a dungeon? Is that even possible? Most dungeons arise naturally. When a rock imbued with enough mana resides in a proper environment, it forms a rudimentary soul and becomes a dungeon,¡± she said. ¡°Trust me, I''ve studied Death and Soul magic, as well as dungeons, my entire life. I assure you that what I''m trying to do is possible. Now, while you''re here, look at these glyphs and tell me what I''m doing wrong,¡± Dorn said. ¡°What? How the hell would I know what you''re doing wrong? I''m supposed to assist beginning dungeons form a consciousness and start carving a dungeon. I bond with a dungeon core and become the dungeon''s assistant for the future. How would I know why your ridiculously complicated magical ritual isn''t working?¡± Dorn was about to respond when Emelia continued on talking, ¡°Although, why do you have no runes to offset the change in entropy?¡± Dorn asked the relevant questions, ¡°What is entropy and why does it have anything to do with becoming a dungeon?¡± Emelia exclaimed, ¡°Entropy is everything to a dungeon! Entropy is a measure of the universe''s disorder and always tends to increase. Why do you have so many mana crystals there? Clearly, it''s to release the bound mana into a free form of gaseous mana, thus powering your ritual with free mana while simultaneously increasing the entropy and coupling it to your magical reaction. This way, the net entropy change is still positive, despite the fact that the reaction by itself is energetically disfavored. ¡°So, as I said, going from a living breathing creature to a highly structured magical crystal is energetically disfavored, especially so if you''re trying to enter that perfect diamond over there. You have enough mana crystals to power the reaction ten times over, but you have none of that energy going towards offsetting the entropy costs.¡± At this point, Emelia hummed and said, ¡°All you''d have to do is add an entropy rune here at one of the capacitors and-¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Dorn cried as Emelia started carving the rune into the ground. He was, however, too late. As soon as Emelia finished the rune, a bright white light lit up from where the mana crystals were powered. Both Emelia and Dorn were temporarily blinded as the light flared. The feeling of magic energy spreading in the air increased, emitting pressure to a level that made them feel as if they were choking. At this point, Dorn and Emelia both passed out.
Dorn slowly blinked his eyes, trying to get rid of his blindness, and looked around. It was at this point that Dorn realized he didn''t have eyes and could see in all directions simultaneously. He could also feel the throne room around himself as if it were a part of his body. Right in front of his crystalline body was a floating blue screen. As Dorn looked around, he realized that the blue screen moved to wherever he was focusing, and therefore must not exist in reality. He took a look at what was written on the screen.
Initializing¡­ Diagnostics running¡­ All systems normal
Congratulations on becoming a new dungeon!
Chapter 1 (v2.1) Chapter 1 ¡°If you want to keep working here, you know what you need to do,¡± the fat farm manager said lasciviously, licking his puckered lips. ¡°Fuck you,¡± replied Kiera. ¡°Exactly,¡± he said, with a giant grin. At this point, the fat field manager waddled towards Kiera threateningly. Kiera just heaved a sigh, stood up, and punched him quickly in the temple. Despite only standing 5'' 6¡± and weighing 120 pounds, when Kiera punched him, the fat field manager went flying across the ramshackle room and smashed his head into the wall. He was out cold. Kiera sighed again and spoke at his unconscious body, ¡°You just had to go and be an asshole.¡± Damn, I liked this job. What with all the refugees from back home, the managers are just getting worse and worse. Kiera was a migrant worker in the Khal kingdom, working her way from farm to farm. The recent civil war in Ilsan had sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing south into Khal, swamping the farms with workers. If the farm owners'' managers couldn''t get what they wanted out of one of the workers, they had plenty of others to pick from. It was a shitty situation all around, as Khal''s entire economy existed on exporting food to Ilsan, whose soldiers and adventurers paid industriously for said food. Or at least, they did, until Ilsan''s nature dungeon was destroyed, sparking the collapse and subsequent civil war. Now, there was too much food and too many refugees in Khal, and no was willing to attempt selling food in a country ripped apart by the violent war. Kiera leaned over the manager''s comatose body and searched his pockets. Nothing. Searching the room, she found his stash carved into a book he kept next to the bed. 8 silvers and 50 coppers, Kiera thought, that should get me a ways. She left the room and hitched a ride on a cart that was traveling between farms, still trying to collect food for selling. She had no belongings that she wasn''t wearing and had no friends to say goodbye to. She was alone and free, the way she liked it. The cart owner was a pragmatic man, for if he couldn''t sell in Ilsan, then the cart would just head east, to Kendra. The prices for food wouldn''t be as high in Kendra, but at least the risk of dying or being swept up into the war wouldn''t be present. The cart ride to the east from southwestern Khal cost her all eight of her silvers. Luckily, the cart driver looked like a kind man, not the type who would expect ''favors'' from her in exchange for the trip. Just all of her money. As the trip started, Kiera reflected back on all the places she had been and her recent time working at the tomato farm. It was a nice job where they were given water and not forced to work 16 hours a day. They got breaks and food at lunch time. She would miss it. Kiera wished she had some sort of interesting story or reason for why she was a migrant worker in Khal. Something that wasn''t clich¨¦, unlike the reality of her situation. Growing up on tales of epic mages and adventurers, she wished that she herself was a traveling adventurer, springing from dungeon to dungeon. Instead, she was just running away again, something she had become increasingly proficient in as life went on, these past 26 years. Kiera had grown up the daughter of a wealthy, middle-class family. Of course, all the money and the tailoring business went to her younger brother when their parents passed away. Despite being better at accounting and sales, no woman would inherit when a man was in the family. So much for Ilsan being an egalitarian country, where women adventurers and soldiers were aplenty. Her brother, with his massive gambling addiction, had run the family business into the ground. Then he had tried to sell her off to some noble in a bid to save the sinking business and to maintain his lifestyle. That was when she had just left, and for the first time, she was free. Having been trained in the art of Chi, prior to the loss of her parents, she had no trouble living on the road, catching her own food. It was when she showed up at a dungeon, looking to make some coin, that she discovered how cruel life could become. Without an adventurer''s guild license, it was impossible to enter the dungeon, and even if she obtained one, everything earned inside the dungeon was taxed at 50% and the price for entering was five silvers. Then, the noble who had wanted to buy her, pissed that she had run away, had placed a bounty for her at 5 gold. That was 50 silver, or 5,000 copper coins, that he was willing to pay just to regain face. Kiera had barely escaped before being captured. (1 mana crystal = 10 platinum coins; 1 platinum coin = 50 gold coins; 1 gold coin = 10 silver coins; 1 silver coin = 100 copper coins; 1 mana crystal = 500,000 copper coins). She ran all the way to the Khal kingdom, where the only work was farming. The landowners were the nobles, the farm heads were the rich, the managers were the middle class, and the farmers were the poor. As long as the food was collected and sold in sufficient quantities, the land owners and farm heads didn''t care at all what the managers did to the farmers. So for eight years, she had bounced from farm to farm, working at picking tomatoes or cotton or whatever other commodity was being grown. She hated picking cotton; it just about destroyed her back. Ever since the invention of the cotton gin, cotton had become a booming industry, and farm owners everywhere were trying to break into the textiles market. And Kiera hated it. It reminded her of her family''s old tailoring business. Those thoughts inevitably led back to her brother, and the rage would start to build. If it wasn''t for her brother, she would have inherited the business, and her life would be completely different. Kiera believed that she had the drive to succeed in life; it''s just that her circumstances had forced her into an 8-year long rut. She kept this fantasy alive by pretending that she was about to succeed in all her dreams, that she was simply in a temporary slump. In the back of her mind, a rebellious voice muttered that maybe, she''d rather just pick apples and tomatoes all day than have to pick another cotton plant.
The trip to eastern Khal was pleasant, surprisingly. The bandits, created by the Ilsan war, hadn''t worked their way south or east yet, and the weather was always pleasant in Spring. The more moderate Khal kingdom was a relief from the heat of northernly Ilsan for Kiera, but the fact that winters existed here was miserable. Kiera hated snow, which she had never seen until she had turned 18. It was especially miserable for migrant farmers, who had to huddle together in makeshift structures with wood-burning fires for warmth. Kiera had spent the trip meditating, finally breaking through from C1 rank to C2. Chi cultivation was widely practiced in Sorenia, at least for the wealthy. Men and women could both cultivate Chi, and this is where the egalitarian attitudes of Ilsan came from, as once women started training in Chi, their physical prowess matched up to any normal man and would even surpass them. Starting physical attributes didn''t matter, only progress in Chi. Unfortunately, as a low D-rank practitioner when she was at one of the dungeons in Ilsan, Kiera was not nearly powerful enough to protect herself from bounty hunting adventurers. Chi was an art simple in theory and difficult in practice. Mana in the air was taken in through acupoints, the name given to miniscule pores in the skin, and circulated through the series of specialized Chi veins and vessels in the body known as meridians, before collecting in the dantian, a sort of magic core located behind the navel. This Chi could then be let out of the body, through the same pathways, and turned into all the forms of magic that existed. Basic, or pure, mana manipulation could be used by everyone to create simple pushes and pulls or by S and SS-rankers to condense mana crystals. It wasn''t very effective or efficient for use in fighting, however. Based on inborn affinities, most people trained in the basic elemental magics, of which there were ten: Light, Dark, Life, Death, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Nature, and Lightning. Rare were the practitioners of the so-called higher elemental magics, like Gravity, Space, Soul, and Healing magic. It was what made healers so valuable to adventurer parties. All that was required to become a mage or fighter was the techniques that allowed one to practice Chi. The style books showed which acupoints and meridians to use in circulating to increase one''s progress in Chi. The application books showed the pathways used for fighting or for magic. Of course, the greatest of these books were kept secret, owned and regulated by the rich. The styles would pass down through the ancient families, and it was how the aristocracy maintained their control over the masses. The letters and numbers were simply designed to quantify how progress in Chi was made. There were ten levels (0-9) in each rank, because the mana in the dantian would expand nine times, to clearly delineated levels, before condensing into the next rank. At D and C ranks, the mana would be present as a gas in the dantian. At B and A ranks, the mana would condense into liquid. Finally at S rank and above, the mana was a solid, hence it was given the letter S. Kiera, as a C2 ranked Chi practitioner, was rare amongst the poor. Her family had been wealthy enough to have a lowly C-rank style book. She didn''t have any knowledge of the magics, but she was able to fight at a level that belied her small stature. With her low quality practice technique, she was bound to forever stay in the low C ranks, unless she could stumble upon a better technique. What she didn''t know, however, was how high her proficiency for Chi really was. Using a C-rank style book to cultivate to C2, and in only 10 years, showed massive proficiency. Only if she had a better quality style book would she be able to flourish.
¡°Emelia¡± ¡°mmm...¡± ¡°EMELIA¡± ¡°What? What''s going on?¡± ¡°That''s what I''m supposed to ask. What''s going on? Also, how the hell am I talking?¡± ¡°Well, from what it looks like, you succeeded. Congratulations, you''re a dungeon. Oh, and you''re speaking telepathically.¡± ¡°So what do I do now?¡± At this question, Emelia''s jaw dropped. She asked, ¡°So you mean you spent 3,000 years preparing to become a dungeon, but didn''t plan anything?¡± Defensively, Dorn replied, ¡°No, I prepared. I know I want around a total of 50 floors. The first floor will be an entrance hall. The second floor will be-¡± ¡°Stop. Just stop. You don''t know anything, do you?¡± Emelia asked. ¡°Well, I was going to find out from that nature dungeon in Ilsan, but I sort of killed him before he mentioned anything, except for something about Dungeon Points.¡± Emelia exclaimed, ¡°Wait, you''re the one responsible for killing Tina? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hated that elitist bitch, always bragging how she was bound to one of the only two S-ranked dungeons in this weak continent. Ha, she can go drown in the underworld.¡± ¡°Emelia, focus. I don''t know how I''m supposed to start building my dungeon.¡± Brought back to topic, Emelia brightly responded, ¡°Right! That means I can still do my job. Ok, ok, I''ve practiced this; let''s do this, Emelia,¡± she said to herself. Clearing her throat, she continued, ¡°Congratulations, you are a dungeon. This means that you are one of the highest life forms on the planet. As such-.¡± ¡°Thanks, I was unaware that I was a dungeon. I thought I had spent 3,000 years trying to become a fairy,¡± Dorn said. Ignoring him, Emelia continued, ¡°As such, to aid in your growth and glorious future filling the world with mana, you have been granted access to the System by the gods.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°What''s the System?¡± Dorn asked. Emelia glared at him, saying, ¡°If you would just shut up, I was about to explain that. The System is set up by the gods to help higher life forms quantify their growth and evolution. This takes the form of blue screens that will appear in front of you from time to time. Using these screens, you will be able to learn how much growth energy you currently have, which will take the form of Dungeon Points. Using these Dungeon Points, you will evolve as a being as well as create and populate your dungeon.¡± Dorn''s question finally answered, he involuntarily started talking, ¡°So that''s what Dungeon Points are. I was right, they are the energy that allows a dungeon to grow and evolve. So how do you get more Dungeon Points? And wait, if the System is just for higher life forms, does that mean that dragons really are lesser life forms compared to dungeons? Do pixies get access to the System?¡± ¡°To answer your last question first, no, pixies do not get access to the System until they bond with a higher life form. In my case, that would be with a dungeon. Speaking of, we need to create the dungeon-pixie bond,¡± Emelia said. Dorn responded, ¡°What is the dungeon-pixie bond? And more importantly, why should I? What do I get out of it? Also, you didn''t answer my question about dragons.¡± Giving him another glare for being difficult, she responded in kind: ¡°Why should I answer your questions? Only if we bond will I answer your questions about the System, Dungeon Points, and the Dungeon Store, as well as show you how to grow and populate your dungeon. You will also get me to stay with you forever to help advise you on growing, maintaining, and improving your dungeon.¡± ¡°Uh huh, so what''s the Dungeon Store? And what do you get out of the deal? Why do you want this bond so badly?¡± Dorn asked shrewdly. Ignoring his first question for the time being, Emelia responded, ¡°Isn''t it enough that I get to fulfill my purpose in life? ¡°No; now, what do you get?¡± Emelia, after a lengthy pause, sighed and finally responded, ¡°I get access to all your mana.¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± screamed Dorn. Emelia winced and pushed her hands out, palms first, in a placating manner. She said, ¡°Relax; you''re a dungeon now; you no longer really need mana like you did in the past, as a dragon. In fact, most dungeon cores don''t even bother cultivating their core form, because a core can''t move on its own, and if it leaves its dungeon space, it will permanently losing connection to everything it has built. Plus, dungeon cores can''t cheat by using Dungeon Points to cultivate as a core, so they require a Chi cultivation style book and large amounts of time and enlightenment, just like every other creature.¡± At this point, she directed a glare at the cheating dungeon, before saying, ¡°Most dungeon cores don''t spring into existence with a fully formed conciousness and thousands of years worth of SS-ranked cultivation. Instead, they wait until they can form a dungeon avatar before sinking all of their efforts and points into cultivating, as a form of defense for their dungeon core. Meanwhile, you can simply use the mana shoved into that rediculous diamond core of yours to blast the shit out of anyone who attempts to take or damage your core. And you STILL have 10 basic elemental shields and 1 higher elemental shield!¡± Considering her own last statement, Emelia suddenly paused her rant, before asking, ¡°Why exactly do you have 11 elemental shields surrounding your core? Are you just stupidly and obnoxiously paranoid?¡± Dorn, thinking about his highly coveted revenge against the Demon and Devil Plane, responded, ¡°They might not know it now, but I have some rather impressively strong enemies, who are going to be incredibly pissed off when they find out about this dungeon. These shields won''t even slow them down if they come themselves; the shields are here to defend against any minions and agents they send, as well as any other greedy assholes who like to steal or destroy dungeons.¡± At this, Emelia gave him an incredibly deadpan look. In the most sarcastic voice she could muster, she responded, ¡°You mean assholes like you? Did you forget destroying Tina''s nature dungeon?¡± Ignoring this, Dorn just further justified himself: ¡°Besides, I didn''t know whether I would be able to keep my cultivation when I transferred to a core, so these shields were made as a contingency.¡± Suddenly realizing something Dorn had said a little while ago, Emelia became rather panicky and asked, ¡°Wait. What the hell kinds of enemies do you have that would not even be slowed down by eleven fucking elemental shields, including a Space magic shield built by an SS-ranked Space magic dragon?¡± All Dorn would explain was, ¡°Heh. They''re pretty strong. And besides, I still have to worry about Soul mages¡­ well¡­ A-ranked Soul savant mages, S-ranked Soul mages with a major affinity, and SS-ranked Soul mages with a minor affinity.¡± Emelia snorted, responding, ¡°Yeah, because those are so fucking common.¡± Dorn, glad that his perseveration had managed to get Emelia''s mind off his future, pissed off, super-strong enemies, brought the conversation back on topic, grumbling, ¡°I still don''t see why all that means you need access to my mana.¡± Emelia huffed, saying, ¡°Consider this: right now you''re a new dungeon. Most new dungeons have the intelligence of a five-year old child. Pixies need some amount of control over their dungeon charges so that they don''t end up creating impossible dungeons or stupidly simple ones. Ugh, I''m thankful I won''t have to explain simple concepts like what traps are and why you can''t just have a straight tunnel from your entrance to your core room.¡± ¡°Stop trying to change the subject. If you get access to my mana, you''ll be able to control everything I do. You''ll even be able control my thoughts,¡± said Dorn. ¡°No, no, that''s not the case. As a pixie, we have small souls, and as a higher life form, you have been granted a powerful soul. The bond will allow me to live, as I need mana to exist, and it will allow us to speak telepathically at any range. It will also give me natural immunity from your dungeon''s monsters and traps. You also won''t be able to spend any of your Dungeon Points until we bond,¡± said Emelia. It was more her last point, rather than any other reason, that convinced Dorn to accept the bond. He responded, ¡°Alright, fine, how do we do this bond thing?¡± Emelia replied, ¡°Yay! First off, open your ridiculous 11 shields.¡± Dorn grumbled and opened a small foot wide hole through all 11 of his magical shields. Emelia flew in and alighted upon his body. ¡°I feel violated,¡± Dorn said. ¡°Oh, hush, this is supposed to be a holy moment. We will be together for the rest of eternity. This is exciting.¡± ¡°I''m not sure I''m going to last five more minutes in your company, let alone eternity.¡±
Congratulations! You have now initiated the dungeon-pixie bond! Gained: Access to the Dungeon Points system Gained: Access to the Status screen Gained: Access to the Dungeon Store +1 level +500 Dungeon Points
Congratulations! You are now level 1 You may now have 1 dungeon floor!
You will now be awarded Dungeon Points based on your core identity and dungeon location Material, analyzing... As a gem based dungeon core, you are awarded 1000 Dungeon Points As a perfect diamond, you are awarded 5000 Dungeon Points Shape, analyzing... As a regular dodecahedron, you are awarded 3000 Dungeon Points Location, analyzing¡­ For starting in a dragon''s lair, you are awarded 1000 Dungeon Points
You have 10,500 Dungeon Points
¡°Wow you gained a lot of points for being a new core,¡± Emelia exclaimed. ¡°Is 10,500 really that many?¡± Dorn questioned. ¡°Of course, that''s enough to level up seven times! Of course, please don''t level up seven times; that would be a complete waste of your points, and you''ll need them for everything else.¡± This, of course, filled Dorn with more questions: ¡°What is leveling up? How do I do it? And why is it a waste to level up seven times?¡± ¡°Gods, you ask more questions for everything I say. We''re going to be at this forever. Let me just try to answer all your questions in one go. First off, you were correct a while ago; dragons are not considered higher beings in the eyes of the gods. Only dungeons, in this plane of existence, are considered higher beings, and as such, only dungeons have access to the System. Of course, this is all relative, and the opinions of the gods are not absolute truths. Or in many cases, even regular truths.¡± At this point, she trailed off and scrunched her face up in thought, before saying, ¡°I guess they''re not really gods in any religious sense at all. So why do they call themsel-¡± Dorn sighed as she continued muttering to herself. Why did I have to get a hyperactive pixie with no ability to concentrate? Eventually, when she didn''t stop muttering for five minutes, he yelled out: ¡°Emelia. Focus.¡± Emelia''s head snapped around as she regained focus. Wow. She actually forgot I was here, thought Dorn. I thought that only happened in badly written novels. Clearing her throat again, Emelia continued, ¡°Right. Now, as for Dungeon Points, they are a measure of your ability to evolve as well as grow and maintain your dungeon. You can gain Dungeon Points by breaking down matter around you as well as killing living beings within yourself. Most of your points will come from the latter, but certain pieces of matter, like rare metals and gems, will give you a somewhat significant number of points as well, but never as much as killing living beings. Also keep in mind that the Dungeon Points required for building something vastly exceeds the number of Dungeon Points you receive from absorbing it. Every living being that dies within you will give you access to its pattern, or their molecular make-up, as well as its mana distribution, and will thus allow you to populate your dungeon with copies of that once living being,¡± Emelia said. Dorn just had to interrupt at this: ¡°Oh, I think you''ll enjoy what I have in my treasure horde, then.¡± ¡°Why? Do you have a lot of gold? That really won''t help you too much, as gold isn''t all that rare of a metal, at least speaking magically. And I just told you that absorbing things isn''t really the greatest way to make DP''s. What you really want to get your hands on are trace amounts of the rare, magical metals like moonstone and high steel, if not mithril and adamantium. Absorbing those will give you their pattern, allowing you to create them in the future, albeit with an enormous, disturbingly large number of DP''s. But finding adamantium in the lower realms here would be ridiculous. There might be some trace amounts in the dirt somewhere, but the chance of it being here is almost zero,¡± Emelia replied. ¡°Why don''t you go take a look?¡± Emelia huffed out a ¡°fine¡± and zoomed off to his treasure rooms. Dorn waited through half an hour of silence, almost to the point where he was getting annoyed, before a crazed-looking Emelia came soaring back into the throne room screaming, ¡°How the hell do you have so many rare metals and gems? And all those weapons? And those herbs, animals, and monsters? This will easily make you one of the most powerful dungeons in Sorenia. It''s basically cheating! You''re supposed to spend centuries, centuries, slowly accumulating that amount of materials and patterns.¡± ¡°I know, isn''t it great?¡± Dorn asked rhetorically. ¡°No, it''s not great. It''s a disaster in the making.¡± Dorn was taken aback, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because,¡± Emelia said, ¡°there''s a natural progression to how a dungeon is supposed to develop. Yes, you''ll get a lot of Dungeon Points and patterns out of your treasure horde, but think about how most dungeons develop. Usually, a new dungeon is founded and the weak D-ranked adventurers come to test their mettle. Occasionally, a C-ranked adventurer will come. Instead, you have all these powerful monster patterns and treasure patterns to use, but you don''t really have the capability to protect any of them.¡± Dorn, not quite understanding her point, replied, ¡°I''m not planning on awarding adamantium on the first floor to every wimpy D-ranked adventurer who makes it through, and I''m not going to be making dragon bosses for the second floor. I just wanted to have their patterns so that in the future, I won''t need to go hunting them or buying them.¡± ¡°Oh, well, that''s ok then. I was just panicking, looking at all the treasure you have here. If you really offered any of that, it would have caused a mad rush by every S and A-ranked adventurer in Sorenia, and you would most likely be destroyed or kidnapped to study or for power. People would wonder about the reason why you are different from every other dungeon they know. Remember, you must never allow anyone to find out you are sapient, or the A and S-ranked mages will definitely capture you and force you to make the materials they need for their magics. Towards that end, you should probably push your old, empty body outside of your former lair. That way, no one will associate you with the dungeon; they''ll just think the silver dragon that lived here died. Only when you have reached the S rank will you probably be powerful enough to be safe communicating with the outside world.¡± Emelia, finally calmed down, was made distraught by what Dorn said next. ¡°Yeah, that''s not exactly how things are going to go.¡± Chapter 2 (v2.1) Chapter 2 is Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
How does a single, giant mountain show up in the middle of unending plains
Jeez, what is it with these farmers and that stupid rumor of a dragon Tomorrow is another day of planting seeds. Eventually, we''ll get to maintain the plants for summer, before harvesting in the fall. So exciting. Is this really all that''s left for me in this world? Maybe I should give adventuring another go. I am a C2 rank Chi cultivator now. Maybe someone would give me an application book and then I could finally use my strength.
No. You''re wrong. I will have a different life; I will not stay here. Maybe I''ll go live with that silver dragon over in the mountain. Chapter 3 (v2.1) Chapter 3 ¡°And so, peasants,¡± sneered Duke Hallowedlash with extreme scorn, ¡°that is why nobles are clearly superior. Mana has chosen us nobles. It is why we have cultivation, because our forefathers fought and died and sacrificed to free humanity from our slavery at the hands of the beast-kin, to create the cultivation styles we have today. And we still protect you ungrateful wretches from the beast-kin scourge. And for what? Cheaters, murderers, filth; that''s all I see when I look out amongst your faces.¡± ¡°Did he really come here to pontificate on why nobles are better than commoners?¡± Kiera asked Therese as the duke rambled on. Continuing with a completely deadpan face and a soft whisper, she asked, ¡°To a crowd of commoners? He really must love the sound of his own voice and the smell of his own sh-¡± ¡°Shhh, if he hears you, he''ll get mad,¡± Therese interrupted sternly. So, Kiera just kept her thoughts to herself. The fat duke continued blathering on about how the nobles led the king''s armies to keep the workers safe, and the commoners were all just unappreciative leeches on society. Kiera sighed. I really hate this prick. I hope he dies of being too fat. Heh, that would be amusing. I wonder if people can actually explode from being too fat. Like a balloon. The mental picture of a popped Duke flying away due to the air he was spewing brought a fleeting smile to Kiera''s face. But when she looked up again and caught another glimpse of the man sitting behind Duke Hallowedlash, it wiped her grin away. The Duke''s son, Earl Anatole Hallowedlash, was sitting behind his father, looking bored. Apparently, when his father wasn''t around, Anatole was a vile, disgusting human being with a notorious reputation. Well, presumably, Kiera thought wryly, he''s still a vile, disgusting human being with his father nearby; he just hides it better. The Earl was responsible for multiple cases of violent rape and sickening torture of farm workers, all across the Duke''s lands. It was why Kiera and Therese were standing in the far back, as hunched over as possible. By this time, a fuming Coyne, face red and hands firmly clenched by his sides, lost a battle with his self-control, and he decided to speak up to the Duke: ¡°We grow everything you nobles eat! Without us, you would all starve. We should have rights too!¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± said Kiera, seconds before Earl Anatole jumped up, rushed off the stage, and swept Coyne''s head right from his shoulders with a single swing of his sword. The poor simple kid who liked to tell Kiera that she was pretty was dead, just like that. ¡°Nooooo,¡± screamed Therese. She started to run forward, before she was restrained by Kiera. ¡°Let me go, let me go, he killed my son,¡± Therese yelled. Kiera knew that nothing good would come of letting Therese go, saying, ¡°You''re still alive, and you have to stay that way if you want to do anything.¡± Anatole Hallowedlash smirked at the crowd, wiping off his blade with the shirt from a headless Coyne, before heading back to the stage. His father just gave a small sigh. He used the incident to make the point that commoners were ungrateful one more time. Then he continued his tirade. Meanwhile, Coyne''s body just laid there, bleeding out, while his head stared at the sky with wide, open eyes.
¡°We have to do something; we have to show them that they don''t own us. That we have power and that there are consequences,¡± said Kiera. Therese just sat there morosely, practically catatonic. Kiera was really worried about her; she hadn''t spoken or eaten or even moved since the incident two days previous. Kiera was worried that Therese was going to sit there, slowly wasting away, until she died of dehydration. It was a thought Kiera herself had had at various farms, whilst thinking back on her life. It was usually what prompted her to up and leave for a new farm. At Kiera''s declaration, Therese finally turned and looked at Kiera with heavily shadowed, dead eyes, and a voice scratchy with disuse: ¡°Do what? We have no strength, no weapons. No magic. We''ll be crushed immediately by the Duke''s troops,¡± Therese said, all without any change in inflection and the same eerie, blank look on her face. ¡°We can''t do anything; we can''t show them that they don''t own us, because they do own us and because we have no power and there are no consequences for their actions. What he did wasn''t even against the law.¡± Kiera sighed; unfortunately, Therese was right. While Ilsan was no shining beacon of morality or equality, compared to the political and social landscape of Khal, it was practically a utopia. Kiera hated being powerless, and she had never felt more powerless than when she watched the earl rush out and casually behead an innocent, fifteen-year old boy, simply for interrupting the duke and asking for basic human rights. Even when she had run away from her brother, and the noble who wanted to own her, to be an adventurer, she had not felt this powerless. She wept herself to sleep that night. In the morning, Kiera found Therese''s dead body, hanging a few feet off the ground. She had somehow found a rope and managed to hang it over the rafters in one of the little enclosures designed for the farm workers to sleep in. To be truthful, Kiera wasn''t all that surprised. Saddened, but not surprised. Therese giving up hope made Kiera feel like giving up as well. The very thought was insidious and deadly, causing Kiera to panic slightly, before coming up with an ill-conceived plan. Kiera was going to burn down this entire okra farm. She ran outside, to the center of the okra farm. She then pushed as much mana as possible out of her body. She didn''t really know what she was doing. It was all instinct, rather than any knowledge, that drove her actions. She pushed and pushed, until it felt like she was about to pass out from mana deprivation. Then, something clicked, and the mana surrounding her flared. Kiera had no idea what, if anything, she had accomplished, for she had passed out at the same time she felt the click. Unaware, a small burst of flames radiated out around her in the shape of a sphere, with her unconscious body lying at the center of the small ring of burning crops. Unfortunately, an untrained mage cannot accomplish much, even when driven by extreme emotions. The flame caught only a small amount of the farm on fire, which was promptly put out by the Water mages there to water the crops. Kiera''s unconscious form was dragged off to a shoddily made jail and locked in a cell.
¡°You tried to burn down a farm on Duke Hallowedlash''s land. If you had displayed your magical talent in any other way, you would be headed to his militia to fight gloriously for the land. But instead, you''ll be executed in the morning,¡± said the farm manager in charge of her, when he noticed Kiera had awoken. Kiera, tired from her earlier exertion, said nothing, simply resting on the ground of her cell. Outside the jail''s open door, Kiera could see that it was already dusk, with the sun setting somewhere behind. It made the inside of the jail rather dark, and it fit her mood well. ¡°Destroying noble property, attempting to cause sedition, treason,¡± continued the farm manager. ¡°A pity, such a beautiful thing will be swinging in the morning. If my inclinations ran that way, you''d be regretting your last hours before dying. You can thank the gods for the small mercy; you''ll be re-united with the hag and the imbecile soon enough.¡± After reading her the crimes for which she had been found guilty and the sentence, the farm manager simply turned around and walked away, leaving Kiera in the silence of her cell. Kiera hadn''t felt anything, hearing the manager insult Theresa and Coyne. She just felt cold. As a frequently traveling migrant farmer, Kiera was fairly accustomed to leaving behind a friend or two. That the two this time were dead really didn''t change much for her. Either way, she would have never seen them again. This reaction made her wonder if slowly, her humanity was being stripped away, and someday, she would simply be an unfeeling automaton. It was a cheery thought for one locked in jail, awaiting execution. As for the farm manager, he wasn''t worried about Kiera escaping. He had been assured by the mages on scene, that the fire she managed to conjure showed clear signs of no knowledge; she definitely had no abilities using mana or any ability with magic spells. At most, she would be able to burn herself alive, along with the tiny jail. Fortunately for Kiera, they didn''t know about her superior strength. While it wasn''t considered even a D-level skill, it was enough for Kiera to bend the bars of her little cell. In the middle of the cloudy, dark night, she quietly sneaked away. It was time to move on, head to another farm, maybe make some new, doomed friends, and mourn the few old ones. Plant and pick another fruit or vegetable. Desperately cling to a meaningless existence. She headed for the forest southeast of the farm. She knew that there would be monsters in the forest that would probably kill her, but better than being executed in public. She might survive the forest, but she definitely wouldn''t survive staying. Better the chance at life, however pathetic, than the cold certainty of death. Walking through the forest at night was a terrifying proposition. She fell and stumbled constantly, ripping her clothes and getting small cuts all over herself. It was truly miserable. After walking for half the night, she just couldn''t go any further. It was a miracle that no monsters had attacked her, so far. She decided to just lay down in the small clearing and go to sleep. In the morning, Kiera looked around in shock. She was still alive. What is going on? Where are all the monsters that must exist in a forest such as this? What Kiera didn''t know was that animals and monsters could clearly sense the presence of the silver dragon, and thus, in a forest this close to its lair, there would be no monsters. Unaware, and somewhat uncaring, of the reason, Kiera simply walked all day through the forest, marveling at the safety. Forests were known nests of monsters, and Kiera simply couldn''t understand what was going on. Unfortunately, Kiera was not exactly an expert trekker. She unknowingly got turned around, and when she reached what she thought was the other side of the forest, all she saw was that mountain in the distance. The mountain made her stop and think about Coyne and Therese, again. Fuck. She avoided the thoughts, turned around, and walked back into the forest. With the daylight, she was able to navigate her way through, this time. When she reached a new farm, she once again signed on as a migrant worker again. She was still working for Duke Hallowedlash, but now she wasn''t about to be executed. It''s the small things in life, I guess. At least I can always leave and move somewhere when things inevitably go wrong. Thank the gods my parents had a cultivation style book, or I would be dead dozens of times over.
¡°Alright, so the first thing we need to do is move you,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Well¡­ shit,¡± replied Dorn. Dorn thought he had the perfect setup. He was a regular-dodecahedron diamond, gently spinning in the air, a few inches above a crystal platform, with 11 elemental, static mana shield spheres surrounding him. Unfortunately, he was also in the first room from the entrance. ¡°I have a better idea,¡± Dorn said. He continued, ¡°Let''s just sink this entire floor into the ground and create a brand new first floor. Then, I can always be a level beneath whatever my ''final'' floor in the dungeon is.¡± ¡°Normally, I would say that that would be a waste of DP''s, but I forgot about the ridiculous number of DP''s waiting for you in the form of creatures, weapons, jewels, herbs, and all the other shit you have back there, so you don''t exactly need to be worried about lacking DP''s for the moment. But remember, with your core floor moved down, when you start a new first floor, there will have to be a connection between the two floors, in the form of either stairs or teleportation glyphs.¡± ¡°What, why?¡± ¡°Rules of the gods. Adventurers must be able to access your core, and your core must be located in the deepest part of your dungeon ''body,'' so that the mana your core releases flows out into the world properly.¡± ¡°I''m really starting to be annoyed by these gods and their stupid rules.¡± Giving him a withering stare, Emelia said, ¡°Whoop-de-do. Just fill out a standard complaint file and I''ll mail it to the Higher Realm for you, addressed to ''whichever god made the rules for mortal access to dungeon cores.'' Meanwhile, why don''t you just purchase your second level, so you are allowed to build a second floor, and then you can move this floor down?¡± ¡°First, I don''t care for your sass. But seeing as I doubt anything I could say or do would change your actions, I won''t mention that¡­ again. Actually, I probably will. Stop acting like a thirteen-year old child, who just discovered what sarcasm is. It''s boring and too easy. I demand well-thought-out and highly intelligent jok-¡± Dorn stopped as he noticed Emelia''s glazed expression. He wished he still had a throat and lungs, so that he could sigh. Instead, he soldiered on: ¡°Moving along, when it comes to levels, why don''t I buy to level five in one go; that way, I''ll get access to the Dungeon Store, and I''ll be able to build my first four floors, thus having my first real dungeon floor.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Sure, go ahead,¡± Emelia shook awake and said, ¡°might as well. You''re rich as hell.¡± ¡°Good. So how do you buy levels?¡± Emelia quickly replied, ¡°Woops, forgot to show you that. First say status.¡± ¡°Status.¡±
+1 for 200 DP''s
Dorn took a look and said, ¡°Well, for something designed by the gods and called the ''System,'' this is astonishingly simple. Although, that Dungeon Rating seems a little too cheerful about the fact that I have no danger.¡± ¡°Are you now accusing the System of being sarcastic?¡± Emelia questioned. Dorn ignored Emelia''s sass once again and instead, mentally clicked on the +1 next to his dungeon level, before taking a look at his new status.
+1 for 300 DP''s
Dorn thought out loud, ¡°So the cost just goes up by 100 for each level? I thought you said I only had enough points to level seven times?¡± Emelia replied, ¡°I did, and I was right. You, on the other hand, are wrong. The price for each level is not plus 100 for each level; it is instead determined by the Fibonacci sequence.¡± ¡°What the hell is a Fibonacci sequence?¡± ¡°Funny you should ask. They made us memorize the name in dungeon pixie school, but I never understood what it actually was, so I couldn''t tell you,¡± Emelia said cheerfully. Dorn looked exasperated. ¡°Has anyone ever told you that you''re incredibly infuriating?¡± Emelia tilted her head and thought for a second. ¡°Yep!¡± she said. Dorn mentally sighed. Then he purchased the next 3 levels for his dungeon. The levels cost 300, 500, and 800 points.
¡°Status¡±
+1 for 1,300 DP''s
Dorn paused and thought, before exclaiming, ¡°Oh, I get it. The price for each level is added to the cost of previous level.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Dorn rolled his non-existent eyes and begged the gods for patience, a task he guessed he would be repeating sometime in the near future. After thinking about the cost of levels a bit more, Dorn gasped in shock, saying, ¡°Wait a minute! The price for 100 floors would be ludicrous!¡± Calculating in his mind, he started saying, ¡°It would cost at leas-¡± Emelia interrupted, saying, ¡°Nah, the rules change at level 10. It''s apparently rather arbitrary.¡± Once more annoyed by the rules of the gods, Dorn ignored the fact that Emelia most likely had no idea what ''arbitrary'' meant. Instead, he just asked, ¡°Now what?¡± ¡°Now we name your dungeon. I''ve been giving this a lot of thought. How about ''Dungeon of Mysteries.'' Oooo, I know, how about ''Silver Dungeon?'' Eh? Or, ''Emelia''s Dungeon? Yeah, that''s the ticket; let''s go with ''Emelia''s Dungeon.'' Wait, even better, let''s call it the ''Fuck Tina, that Shit Dungeon Pixie Rotting in the Underworld; Ilsan''s Nature Dungeon is Dorn and Emelia''s Little Bitch¡­ Dungeon.'' ¡± Despite somewhat enjoying the last name she gave, Dorn begged for patience a second time, before saying, ¡°The name of this dungeon will be A Dragon''s Dungeon.¡±
¡°Now can we get to the actual dungeon building?¡± Emelia, sad that her suggestion was not used, pouted and said, ¡°Fine. First extend your influence through the rest of this floor. Once you''ve done that, we''ll move this floor down into the earth by the depth of four floors. And before you even ask, just will your influence outwards with your mana. It''s similar to using mana manipulation.¡± Dorn instantly expanded his influence to include his entire throne room, sleeping chambers, and treasure horde. Then he looked at Emelia and said, ¡°Now what?¡± Emelia, stunned by this development, replied, ¡°How the hell did you do that? That was supposed to take weeks, if not months. Oh right, you''re a 3,000-year old dragon. How silly of me. Actually, once I show you how the dungeon features work, you''re not even going to need me any more, are you?¡± ¡°Emelia, when I first met you, I just thought you were annoying. Now that I''ve gotten to know you, I have instead determined that you are infuriating. Thinking about the day that I can finally boot you out of here has made me happy, so congratulations, you''ve cheered me up!¡± Emelia suddenly sobbed and flew off into his treasure horde, to the tree in the center of the monster room. ¡°Emelia, come back; I was just joking, for gods'' sake¡± Dorn said. ¡°I promise not to boot you out of here. Now come tell me how to move this floor down.¡± Emelia ignored him. Dorn thought to himself, the annoying flying bug can''t even take a joke. Which doesn''t seem to affect her constant sarcasm and sass. Hmmm, last time I asked her how to expand my influence, she just told me to will it with my mana. Let''s see if that works. Instantly, the earth started vibrating, before it moved to full on shaking. Emelia came screaming back into the throne room, yelling ¡°Earthquake! Quick, run!¡± She then zipped right up to his crystal, passing easily through his elemental shields, and then strained with all her might as she tried to lift his core. Without progress. Dorn quickly said, ¡°Emelia, calm down, it''s not an earthquake, I''m just trying to move this floor down to the fifth level. Also, how did you pass through my shields? Emelia glared at him. ¡°Well, you could have told me that you were moving. And of course I can pass through your shields, remember how the dungeon-pixie bond makes me immune to your traps and monsters? It also makes me immune to your magical protections as well.¡± Dorn was simultaneously relieved, that Emelia seemed to have forgotten his joke, and annoyed, that Emelia could come through his shields and bother him from close proximity whenever she felt like it. The earth kept on shaking as his entire floor sunk into the earth. When everything stopped moving, Dorn finally checked his status again:
+1 for 1,300 DP''s
¡°I''m telling you, these Dungeon Ratings are fucking with me. Who''s even in charge of them?¡± ¡°Your subconscious,¡± Emelia said. ¡°...¡± Dorn had a brief moment of silence, before saying, ¡°Well, actually, that explains everything.¡± Dorn then looked at Emelia and said, ¡°Now what?¡± Emelia looked at him for a solid minute, before saying, ¡°If you say ''now what?'' one more time, I''m going to cut you in half.¡± Dorn mentally smirked, before he simply and earnestly replied, ¡°You can''t. I''m a perfect diamond.¡± Emelia begged for patience, a task she guessed she would be repeating sometime in the near future, before saying, ¡°Now, you need to absorb a little of all your weapons, metals, gems, herbs, plants, animals, monsters, and mana crystals to recoup your losses. Oh, and since you didn''t make the air in here breathable yet, your slaves should probably start dying any second now. That should give you a nice infusion of Dungeon Points.¡± Dorn looked alarmed for a second, and was about to take action, when he reconsidered. Actually, what she says makes sense; I am desperately in need of points at the moment, so I might as well take the extra Dungeon Points up front, rather than waiting for their cultivation to slowly fill match their worth. First, he checked his current DP''s and saw that they were 700. After seeing his status, Dorn just about exploded. ¡°It cost eight thousand DP''s to just move a floor four levels into the Earth? Those gods are scumbags; there''s no way that much entropy was lost moving my floor down a little ways.¡± Dorn immediately decided to stop waiting for his slaves to die and extended a massive amount of mana into his treasure horde, before turning it into fire magic. Instantly, the entire treasure horde roared and a massive ball of fire came rushing out into the throne room, before rising to the ceiling and super-heating the earth above him. Some of the earth above him liquified and started melting into long stalactites. Mindful of the classics, Dorn encouraged this process with his mana, and even grew stone stalagmites into the ground. He then created little sources of water that ran down the stalactites and dripped onto the ground. Finally, Dorn actively decided to absorb all the resources that were still in his treasure horde. Noticing this, Emelia said, ¡°Hmm, now I see how you ended up killing Tina (that bitch). You respond to minor irritants with overwhelmingly disproportionate and violent impulses, without waiting to consider the consequences. For example, instead of absorbing just tiny filings of mithril and adamantium to gain their pattern, you absorbed both ingots. For those two metals, you probably received about 600,000 DP''s or so. To re-make the two ingots, you''d need roughly 600 million DP''s.¡± With this bombshell, Dorn would be gaping in open-mouthed astonishment, if he actually had a mouth or jaws. He was completely speechless and unable to blame anyone but himself. Plus, Emelia had been correct, logical, concise, entirely coherent, and used rather large (for her) words correctly. He briefly considered which was more alarming. With nothing better to do, he decided to at least check his dungeon points:
+1 for 1,300 DP''s
¡°Well, I won''t have a use for the mithril and adamantium for a very long time. Huh. Emelia, if the mithril and adamantium only gave 600,000 DP''s, where did the other 250,000 come from?¡± Emelia, who had switched from coherency to watching the dripping stalactites in a trance, just mumbled, ¡°Oh, that''ll mostly be the slaves and the mana crystals.¡± ¡°But, the nature dungeon in Ilsan told me that those mana crystals were worthless.¡± Emelia rolled her eyes and replied, ¡°And do you believe everything strangers tell you? Especially when the stranger happens to be the demented piece of shit bonded to that bitch, Tina?¡± ¡°Well, when you say it like that, I sound stupid, but yeah. Why do they give DP''s then?¡± ¡°Remember, it''s all about entropy. Mana bound up in crystals is low in entropy, and by absorbing it all, you drastically raised its entropy, and the System awarded you your cut of DP''s. That piece of shit dungeon was almost right however; considering just how much time and energy you sunk into making those crystals, and the fact that your slaves probably netted you about 100,000 DP''s, 150,000 is actually astonishingly low. If you had instead spent that time collecting more adamantium, you''d probably have hundreds of billions of DP''s right now. Oh well.¡± ¡°Don''t ''oh well'' me, that''s 1,000 years of life I basically wasted!¡± Dorn raged. ¡°Pssh, don''t be such a whiny little bitch.¡± Dorn, finally out of patience, just started screaming at the top his non-existent lungs. Chapter 4 (v2.1) Chapter 4 Dorn raised his awareness back up to the first floor, at the base of his mountain. All that was left was the cave tunnel that used to lead to his throne room. He started by liberating the earth he had displaced during his move that now occupied the space where his lair used to be, increasing his DP''s by a small amount. He widened the opening of the tunnel to be almost 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide by absorbing part of the mountain, carving backwards about 300 yards. At the entrance, he fashioned two enormous dragons out of stone, standing proudly and looking down upon the ground. From their mouths, he carved the representation of their breath attacks. The one on the left breathed an enormous stream of fire that bathed the earth in carved flames. The second one breathed a stream of ice into the ground, creating a frozen thoroughfare. He colored the fire dragon red and the ice dragon dark blue. Inside the tunnel, he placed orbs of fire on the walls, dimly illuminating the enormous tunnel. 20 feet into the entrance, he raised his first stele, about 10 feet tall. He gave it a simple greeting:
Welcome to A Dragon''s Dungeon
Mentally stepping back, Dorn looked at his creation and realized it was too dark to be read easily. He then attempted to carve a Light mana spell onto the bottom of the stele, but his magic seemed to run into an invisible shield. He turned towards Emelia, ¡°Why can''t I get it to glow?¡± Emelia said back, ¡°Rules of the gods. You''re attempting to circumvent a property from the store, instead of purchasing it. Just go buy Dungeon Lighting in the Dungeon Store.¡± This of course begged the question, ¡°How do I use the Dungeon Store?¡± Emelia responded, ¡°Oh right. Just say Dungeon Store, and follow the words on the screen.¡± ¡°Dungeon Store¡±
Dorn clicked on Properties, which opened an enormous list. He started looking through the list.
Dorn exclaimed, ¡°Why the fuck is everything so expensive?¡± Emelia just sighed and responded, ¡°Now you know why dungeons don''t waste DP''s making Entrance Halls and decorating with giant carved dragons. I would also like to point out that if you plan on becoming a popular dungeon, the Dungeon Store Properties that unlock at level 10 are crucial. With Dungeon Instances and Dungeon Re-spawn Devices, you''ll be able to accommodate large numbers of adventurer parties, without spending all of your time re-spawning individual monsters. They also cost 800,000 DP''s together.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Dorn said, ¡°Well, my dungeon''s not going to look like a piece of shit, a giant hole in the wall. As for the instances and re-spawn devices, we''ll get there eventually. Hopefully this place doesn''t become too popular too quickly.¡± ¡°Well then, let''s hope your ideas for people living in your dungeon works, or else you''re going to need another source of DP''s.¡± Dorn grumbled and bought Dungeon Lighting. After this, he paused, saying, ¡°How come I was allowed to put the fire orbs on the wall?¡± Emelia shrugged, saying, ¡°It''s an inconsistent system.¡± Shaking his diamond head at the laziness and lack of product testing of the gods, he also purchased Teleportation Glyphs, Strengthened Walls, Mining Veins, Treasure Chests, and Dungeon Rules. ¡°Well, there goes nearly half my DP''s,¡± he said sadly. ¡°Status¡±
+1 for 1,300 DP''s
¡°Also, why did the gods make rules against building some of these things in my dungeon without using the Dungeon Store, like the Dungeon Air Ventilation? I am a master Air mage; I shouldn''t have to waste the DP''s buying Dungeon Air Ventilation.¡± Emelia responded, ¡°Just keep in mind that most dungeons have the intellectual level of children for their first few decades. They don''t have the benefit of 3,000 years of being a master dragon mage. Further, any enchantments would eventually run out of mana and have to be renewed, and carving the runes into your dungeon body, something most dungeons wouldn''t even know how to do, would prove you were sapient and knowledgeable about Spell Writing. If you purchase it through the store, it will be permanent and invisible. Regardless, as you''ve already discovered, you''ll find yourself simply barred from doing them without purchasing the property in the store, first, by the gods.¡± ¡°They''re just bleeding me dry, DP by DP.¡± Emelia responded matter-of-factly, ¡°The gods always demand their pound of flesh.¡± ¡°Bastards,¡± Dorn grumbled. ¡°Yeah, yeah, just go finish your entrance hall and build your first housing floor, or else someone is going to show up and be very confused at who built an elaborate, half-finished tunnel into a mountain.¡± Dorn turned back to his entrance chamber. All along the sides of the chamber, he carved stylized dragons, all glowing with different colors, using his Dungeon Lights. Blue, Red, and Green dragons stood opposite the metallic dragons, in Silver, Gold, and Black. As he watched his DP''s start to plummet, he stopped and built another stele, mid-way through the tunnel. This one was a simple list of the floors:
Floor Danger Level
I Entrance Hall 0
II D-Housing 0
III D-Mining 0
IV-X Dungeon D4 ¨C C0
Emelia looked annoyed again, ¡°Do you really need to give them a list of what the floors are? Isn''t it better to keep them guessing, feeling that they are exploring new territory? Shouldn''t they always be wondering what''s around the next corner? Isn''t this too much hand-holding?¡± Dorn shook his head. ¡°No, it''s important that, as an obviously sapient dungeon, I establish trust with the adventurers. The humans put up with the dangerous nature of dungeons because they believe it''s impossible to communicate with them. If they know I am sapient, they will at some point attempt to ''reason'' with or bargain with me. If not simply try to force or destroy me. I will be allowing some concessions to the people that come here; that is why I am offering danger-free housing and mining. The dungeon floors stele is so that people understand the dangers they are being exposed to; then, no one can complain that they were unaware of the dangers they would face.¡± ¡°I think you underestimate the capacity for humans to whine. Maybe the elves, dwarves, and beast-kin will understand you, but the humans are another story. Panicky and conservative, I believe that not only will they whine, their churches will attempt to destroy you at all costs.¡± Dorn simply responded, ¡°We''ll just have to see. I believe that by building the church in the D-level housing, they will be able to understand my intentions. And without Celestial mana from the gods, they won''t stand a chance; all the SS-ranked priests are on Central Fantisa.¡± At the end of the hallway, Dorn placed an enormous teleportation glyph, large enough for 100 people to stand upon at the same time. Immediately before and to the right of the glyph, Dorn raised his last stele. This one simply said:
The Purpose of A Dragon''s Dungeon Is to Train the Masses in the Fighting of Demons and Devils. Only A-Ranked Floors and Higher will Feature These Monsters. No Demon or Devil will Ever Escapethis Dungeon.
Afterward, he checked his DP''s:
+1 for 1,300 DP''s
¡°Well, I guess that''s about it for the first floor. And look, my subconscious is becoming more and more dickish.¡± Emelia snickered, but quickly became bored. ¡°Would you just get to the housing floor, I''m interested in seeing what it will look like. Oooo, can I work at the inn?¡± ¡°Sure, we can offer you as a party favor to the first guests, and I can finally be rid of you.¡± Emelia, remembering his joke, about not needing her from before, zoomed back off to the former monster and animals room and played on the burnt out tree husks. Jeez, what is it with her and trees, anyways? Looking back over his first floor, he felt good, but also that something was lacking. He examined the outside of the entrance hall. The two 100-foot, twin dragons gave an imposing and grandiose feeling to his dungeon. The walls inside the tunnel were filled with relief carvings of glowing dragons. His three steles introduced A Dragon''s Dungeon, explained the meaning behind the safe floors, and presented the dungeon''s ultimate purpose. The teleportation glyph marked the end of the tunnel. All the walls and floors were made out of polished travertine. All that was left untouched was the ceiling. Ah, the ceiling, Dorn thought, the ceiling is lacking. At this point, Dorn became a little bit whimsical and placed little faint lights on the ceiling of the dim hall. From the darkness of the hall, these lights mimicked the stars in the sky. It was commonly thought that each star in the night''s sky represented one of the gods, and that there were more gods than people could ever know. Dorn felt that his dungeon would be watched over and approved by the gods, as they saw his dungeon become something of a base for all people. Good, now I just need to make the next few floors while leaving enough DP''s to buy instances. Dorn got back to work.
Kiera had a problem. The managers from the okra farm kept tracking her. She had moved through a dozen farms in Duke Hallowedlash''s lands. She had spent a few weeks at her latest farm. She knew that soon enough, they would come for her again. Strangely, she found herself missing Coyne and Therese. In her life, Kiera had never made many friends, and now two of that small group were dead. She remembered what they had said about the silver dragon. It made her smile. How amazing would it be if they had been right? This thought, coupled with her innate curiosity, led her to a decision she knew she was going to make a long time ago. It was time to go find out if there really was a silver dragon living in the Khal kingdom. Kiera, watching the trackers from her farm head towards the field manager''s house, she promptly turned around and ran into the forest. She knew that her features were simply too recognizable. Now being wanted in the east of Khal, along with all the other parts, she was in a sticky situation. I guess it''s time to go to Kendra. I will have to finally leave this gods-forsaken nation. Hopefully I can find work there. But first, I''ll stop and check to see if there really is a dragon here in Khal. Chapter 5 (Revised) Chapter 5 Dorn had a problem. No one was coming to his dungeon. After finishing off his first three levels, purchasing to level 10, and buying instances from the dungeon store, he was about out of DP''s, and no one was here to replenish them. ¡°Status¡±
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 10 +1 for 11,000 DP''s Floors: 4/10 Dungeon Points: 10,370 Dungeon Rating: D0 ¨C Seriously? Three levels and no danger? Now I feel like you''re fucking with me.
¡°I don''t understand, didn''t people feel the earthquake from earlier? Why aren''t they investigating?¡± ¡°I don''t know, maybe it has something to do with the fact that a silver dragon used to fucking live here and kill anyone who came near.¡± ¡°I know why they''re not coming; I''m just complaining. I''ve got a perfectly nice inn, an elvish innkeeper and cook, as well as beast-kin to take care of horses. There''s plenty of replenish-able copper and iron. What more could anyone want?¡± ¡°To not die in the fiery anger of a silver dragon?¡± Emelia said. ¡°I can''t even start my first real dungeon level until people show up. No one told me that being a dungeon would be so fucking boring.¡± ¡°Yes well, most dungeons wouldn''t be built in a former dragon''s lair, and they wouldn''t blow 850,000 DP''s on building three non-dangerous levels as well as Dungeon Instances. Why''d you buy that again?¡± ¡°For the boss levels as well as the levels with tunnels and rooms. I don''t want to be building a giant maze of tunnels and rooms so large that multiple parties can be accommodated. I''d rather have an infinite number of branching realities, where each party can conquer a level on their own, without fear of interference or assistance from other parties. It''s why I also purchased Dungeon Rules, stating that the maximum size for parties in the instances and boss levels is five members. That is the ideal party size, as it allows for a tank, a healer, a ranger/scout, and two damage dealers.¡± Dorn replied. ¡°Ah yes, I see, it makes perfect sense to buy instances for your dungeon levels before the levels even exist, thus making them impossible to build because you''re OUT OF DP''s,¡± Emelia ended up screeching. ¡°I am playing the long game, Emelia; you simply can''t understand the brilliance of my plans,¡± Dorn bullshitted. Emelia, curious about something Dorn had said, decided to give up on his idiotic point allocation and asked, ¡°What are tanks and damage dealers?¡± Dorn replied, ¡°Ah, it is common short hand speak for adventurers. The tank is responsible for using a shield and occupying the attention of monsters. The healer is responsible for healing the tank during battle and everyone else in between battles. The ranger or scout is responsible for detecting and disarming traps, as well as luring monsters to the tank. Finally, the fighters and mages, who are weak defensively but skilled offensively, are called damage dealers, and they''re the ones responsible for killing the monsters.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Emelia said, ¡°I''m confused. Don''t they just go in and fight? Why do they have to do all this weird role-playing.¡± Dorn pulled a long face. ¡°It''s called strategy, why can you not understand the simplest con-¡± Dorn paused and suddenly shouted, ¡°Look, there''s a human coming. And she''s a pretty one, red hair and all. Nice, she''ll make a good amount of Dungeon Points.¡± ¡°How exactly are you planning on killing her if your dungeon doesn''t have any fucking danger?¡± Dorn, reminded about his lack of actual dungeon-ness, suddenly turned downtrodden. ¡°Oh yeah,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe she''ll stay here, like it, and then get the word out. The reward for finding new dungeons is 50 gold from the adventurer''s guild.¡± ¡°You mean the adventurer''s guild in the capital city of Khal? The one that''s a two weeks ride on horse away? How exactly is the poor looking woman going to get there without a horse? And where are you going to get the DP''s to build levels for when the adventurers arrive?¡± Emelia asked him. ¡°Fuck it, I''ve got enough DP''s to build a horse. I''ll just give it to her. Everything else will work itself out. Anyways, something happening has to be better than no one ever coming here.¡± Emelia could only shake her head, ¡°Just go make sure your elvish innkeeper is in place. Maybe she''ll stay the night, and you''ll get a few DP''s.¡± ¡°Oh yeah. Hey, Jerry, go to the inn.¡± Jerry, the newly constructed high elf, said, ¡°Right away master. And thanks again for naming me, a high elf, Jerry.¡± Dorn simply gave a crystalline smirk and said, ¡°Gods, dungeon-born creatures are so much better than soul slaves. I should have made the transition thousands of years ago.¡± ¡°You couldn''t, you were busy condensing mana crystals, remember?¡± said Emelia with a shit-eating grin on her face. ¡°I swear, I''m going to kill you some day.¡± *** Kiera couldn''t believe her eyes. She had stood in front of the two statues for the last hour. She simply stared and examined, from a safe distance, the carvings of two dragons and their breath attacks. First, she had been stunned that there were enormous carvings before she realized what the statues meant. Holy shit, the farmers were right, there is a dragon living here. How the fuck did the dragon carve these statues, though? Did he force a group of dwarven crafters to do this? No way, the gossip-mongers at the farm would definitely have known about such an event. More importantly, if a dragon really lives here, why am I not dead yet? And they''re so big, who could even build such large structures? And where is the dragon? Kiera''s thoughts were in turmoil, so she simply stopped thinking and stared at the statues. After admiring at the two larger-than-life dragons for hours, Kiera finally noticed the stele a little ways into the tunnel. Nope, no way am I going into the tunnel to read whatever''s written there. *** ¡°Why the fuck is she just standing there? Get in the dungeon already,¡± Dorn raged. ¡°She''s probably thinking that there''s a dragon who will fry and eat her if she comes into the...oh wait she''s coming.¡± *** Curiosity was going get her killed one day, Kiera knew. She had spent a ludicrous amount of time inching her way towards the stele in the beginning part of the tunnel. When she finally got within distance to see what was written on the stele, she was so shocked, that she sat down. She couldn''t even process what she was seeing. And there were only three, equally unlikely possibilities. First, the dragon living here had grown lazy and decided to try to entice stupid, but somehow literate, people to enter its lair and become its food. Second, someone had discovered a dungeon and then erected a glowing stele that welcomed people to a dungeon. And then told precisely no one that the dungeon existed. Lastly, there was the possibility that she had found an undiscovered dungeon with enough intelligence to erect signs. There''s no way someone discovered this place, erected a stele, and then told no one. The most likely option is a lazy dragon. ¡°Fuck it,¡± Kiera said out loud, ¡°if there''s a dragon, then I''ll go and meet the lazy dragon who puts up steles enticing the zero people who come to this mountain.¡± Kiera started walking into the tunnel, before she stopped and gasped. Looking around, there were lightly glowing carvings of dragons all over the walls. The globes of dim fire and carvings lightly lit the enormous tunnel. Over head, she stared at the fake stars. ¡°Whoever made this place has a great eye for art. This is the most beautiful place I''ve ever been.¡± Kiera walked up to the second stele. What a helpful dungeon. Or dragon with way too much time on its hands. I''m starting to think that this might actually be a dungeon. What dragon would waste this much time on an elaborate prank that almost no one would ever see. When Kiera came to the third stele, she gasped again, and almost turned around and left right then and there. Kiera wasn''t exactly a gods-fearing woman; in fact, she just about abhorred the churches and their draconian views on religion. What she was, however, was a church-fearing woman. If the churches ever got their hands on this dungeon, they would destroy it immediately. Such a good cash cow would not be worth the threat of demons escaping the dungeon into the world, at least in their minds. No matter what this stele said, the churches would simply say it''s an elaborate deception by an infernal dungeon. And the fact of the dungeon''s obvious sentience would lend credence to their arguments. Kiera squared her shoulders and marched right to the middle of the teleportation glyph. As a bright light flared up around her, she shut her eyes tightly. Chapter 6 (Revised) Chapter 6 Kiera opened her eyes and saw that she was in a simple and square room, standing in the middle of a large glyph, almost identical to the one from which she had left in the entrance tunnel. Three of the walls, as well as the ground and ceiling, were made of simple stone, with nothing distinguishing them. The wall directly in front of her had a large arch shaped opening. Cautiously, she walked out through the open arch. To her left, right, and front were three more arches, but the arch on the left had a rippling, window-like substance covering the entire arch. It looked like an invisible cloak had been hung through the arch. Above the doorway was a small sign that read, ¡°The Colosseum.¡± This made Kiera turn around and look at the other signs. Above the arch she had just walked through was a sign that read, ¡°Exit.¡± The arch in front of her corroborated what the second stone stele in the entrance hall said, ¡°D-Housing.¡± Finally, she looked at the sign above the last arch, which read ¡°Dungeon.¡± On the ground was a large letter, ''D''. It was inlaid into the floor in black stone. Kiera stepped up to the Colosseum''s arch and, remembering the stele that stated this level had no danger, pressed her hand against the ripple. Nothing happened. Looking through the barrier, she noticed it was just another room with a big teleportation glyph on the floor. The surface of the barrier felt soft. She pressed harder, but it would not budge. Then she dug her feet into the ground and pressed as hard as she could, but still, nothing happened. Kiera shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to examine the room through the arch that read ¡°Dungeon.¡± It was a room with a much smaller teleportation glyph and another three steles; the one on along the left wall had information on adventurer parties:
The Following Floors are Limited to 5- Member or Fewer Parties: IV V VI X
The second stele was on the right side wall, and it showed what floors were currently open:
The Following Floors are Open: I-IV
Finally, the third stele was behind the teleportation glyph, right up against the back wall. It was a more detailed list of the dungeon''s levels:
I Entrance Hall 0
II D-Housing 0
III D-Mining 0
IV Beginner''s Floor D4
V Base Elements D5
VI Simple Maze D6
VII Forest D7
VIII Jungle D8
IX Dry Canyon D9
X Boss C1
That''s weird; why has it listed rules for floors that don''t exist yet? Does this dungeon have the ability to plan ahead? Kiera was becoming more and more amazed by this dungeon. Finally, Kiera walked out through the arch that was labeled as housing, leaving the room she had tentatively named the arches room. Then she stopped and blinked. If there wasn''t a ceiling fifty feet up, she would swear she was in the middle of a giant forest. To her right was another one of those weird space barriers, except this one went all the way up to the ceiling and continued off into the distance. In a bout of symmetry, there was another arch opening on the other side of the barrier. Kiera briefly wondered what was there. Kiera looked around for a long while, trying to spot anything dangerous. She didn''t fully trust that this dungeon was safe, at least on this floor. Instead, she noticed some amazing things. First was the light. While she couldn''t see a sun, the entire forest was lit up as if there was a sun shining somewhere on the ceiling. I wonder how that works, Kiera thought. Then she listened to the sounds of the forest; she heard the buzzing of insects and the singing calls of birds. All in all, it was an ordinary looking and sounding forest. A bush rattled, and Kiera lowered herself into a fighting stance. Out came a little white bunny. Kiera leaped forward with a chi-enhanced kick, instantly snapping the rabbit''s neck. Picking up the rabbit by the ears, Kiera thought to herself, this really is a danger-free level. She then proceeded to walk along the convenient dirt trail that led somewhere into the forest, holding the dead bunny by its ears. After walking for what must have been two miles at a diagonal from the arches room, she ended her walk at a very large, square clearing in the forest. It must have been 300 yards wide on each side, with only dirt on the ground. She bent down and ran her fingers through the dirt. It just felt like regular soil. On the far side of the square ran a somewhat fast-moving river, about six feet across. The only other feature outside the square that she could see were dirt paths heading off in what she called North, Northeast, and East directions. The dirt path she had entered from, she tentatively called Southeast. The river, incidentally, ran along the North border of the clearing, moving from West to East, following one of the roads. A wide, wooden bridge ran over the river, allowing for one to walk along the road heading North uninterrupted. Kiera thought to herself, this really is the weirdest place I''ve ever been. Beautiful, but weird. While Kiera had never been inside another dungeon, she had talked with people who had, and none of them had anything resembling this. Finally, Kiera turned and looked at the most eye-catching features of the clearing in the forest. There were two wooden buildings on the far West side of the village. Walking towards them, she noticed that the large building on the left was four stories tall, with shuttered openings that she assumed must be windows. It also had a chimney and a stables on its left. This building was obviously an inn. The building on the right clearly a church. Kiera was more interested in the inn. Walking up to the inn, she pushed open the two large doors and entered. She found herself in an empty bar, with around forty tables with chairs. On the right was a forty foot long bar with a tall, male elf polishing a bottle of liquor. ¡°Hello, miss, my name is Jerry, and welcome to the D-Housing inn. Would you care for a drink, or a room for the night?¡± ¡°Alright, this is too fucking weird. Who the fuck are you, and what the fuck is this place?¡± Jerry sighed. ¡°This is the inn built for guests staying in the dungeon. I''m a creature created by said dungeon. I''m here to offer you drinks and a room. I simply do as I''m told. By the way, its two coppers for an ale, fifteen coppers for a room for a night and three meals, and five coppers for a horse, if you happen to have one.¡± ¡°No, this isn''t possibly happening. Let me talk to whoever is telling you to do this.¡± ¡°I can ask, but I''m sure the answer will be no,¡± replied Jerry. ¡°Just do it,¡± said Kiera. Jerry just stood there, tilted his head, and looked away. After a few moments, he looked surprised and said, ¡°A representative of the dungeon will be here momentarily.¡± A moment later, a 3 foot line appeared in mid-air next to Jerry''s head, rotated into a portal, and Emelia the tiny dungeon pixie came through. ¡°Hi there,¡± Emelia said. ¡°Um, hi. What''s going on?¡± replied Kiera. ¡°Well, I''m here to answer any questions you seem to have about this dungeon. My name is Emelia, and I''m a dungeon pixie.¡± ¡°Well, I''m Kiera, and as for questions, okay, how about, what the fuck is this place?¡± ¡°Rude. This place is my master''s dungeon. Very kindly, he has offered adventurers, and therefore you, three entirely safe levels, including the dungeon entrance, this floor for housing, and the floor beneath us for mining and quarrying. If you meant this building in particular, it''s an inn he''s built for adventurers to stay at for a modest price. Any other questions?¡± ¡°Who''s this master you keep referring to? Can I meet him?¡± Kiera asked. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°He''s a bit skittish about meeting visitors, but if you really want to meet him, just head to the teleportation glyph back in the room marked, ''Dungeon,'' and travel to level four.¡± Kiera responded, ¡°No way, that''s a level that has danger, apparently.¡± Emelia gave a strange look and responded, ¡°Well it''s a floor that will have danger, eventually. The dungeon is still very new, and he can''t yet afford to build an actual, functioning level. You being here is actually very helpful for him. He can passively receive energy simply by you being here. The fact that your chi cultivation is at level C2, while shocking, is also very helpful to him receiving energy. If you want to know more about the situation, you''ll just have to speak to him about it. Any other questions?¡± Kiera gave her a shrewd look. Then she asked, ¡°Can I purchase some of the land here?¡± Emelia''s eyes almost bugged out her skull, ¡°What?¡± Kiera responded, ¡°I could see this place eventually becoming very popular, and if possible, I would like to be able to own the land and charge anyone who wants to build and live here, rent.¡± Emelia, about to respond, stopped and tilted her head, just like when Jerry was communicating with the dungeon. ¡°My master says he would like to meet with you to discuss some business negotiations. Please take the teleportation glyph to floor four.¡± With that, Emelia opened another portal and disappeared. Kiera, with an excited look on her face, turned to Jerry and ordered an ale. After drinking the entire thing in one gulp, she said to Jerry, ¡°Wish me luck.¡± Jerry, baffled at all these proceedings, simply said ¡°Good luck, miss.¡± *** Kiera looked around at the enormous hemispherical throne room, and felt intimidated. Then she saw the dead body of the enormous silver dragon and whimpered a little. ¡°Hi again, Kiera, my master is over there, that diamond resting on the crystal pedestal underneath all of those magical shields. If you don''t mind, he can only speak by projecting his voice into your mind. Is that okay?¡± Kiera was still too scared looking at the giant dragon to answer her question. Emelia continued, ¡°I know the dragon''s body is pretty scary, but I assure you he''s dead...or at least, he''s now a harmless diamond stone. You''re actually having a much better reaction than I did, but of course, I met a living, breathing dragon and you''re just seeing its corpse.¡± ¡°Emelia, shut up,¡± rumbled Dorn. Kiera jumped and nearly started shrieking. Calming down, she said out loud, ¡°Are you the master of this dungeon?¡± ¡°That is correct, little human, my name is Dorn''axial; you can call me Your Majesty Dorn''axial or Master or Sir.¡± Emelia giggled and said, ¡°Just call him Dorn, it''s all he deserves.¡± Gathering her bearings, Kiera finally asked the question she asked before, ¡°Can I purchase some land up on the D-Housing floor?¡± Dorn responded, ¡°Hmmm, while it is theoretically possible, what do you have that you can offer me to make me consider selling you part of my body?¡± ¡°I''m probably the only way anyone is ever going to find out that there is a dungeon here. Everyone else is too scared about what I''m guessing is your old body over there to ever come here. Only I can go to the adventurer''s guild and announce the presence of a new dungeon. Something that your pixie let slip is that you''re out of energy and that you need people here.¡± ¡°While your assistance in getting more attention would be useful, what I need at the moment is for some sentient creatures to die within my body, so that I can have enough energy to start building my dungeon. That or some rare, powerful materials that I can absorb for the energy. Or a powerful chi practitioner staying here.¡± Instead of freaking out again at his statement that he needs sentient people to die within him, Kiera focused in on his last two statements. ¡°I have two ideas that could really help you out,¡± Kiera said. Surprised, Dorn said, ¡°Oh? Go ahead little human.¡± ¡°Just promise that you''ll sell me some land up in the D-Housing if my suggestions are helpful,¡± Kiera requested. Dorn simply grunted an affirmative into her head. Kiera, getting the idea, said, ¡°For rare materials, why don''t you just absorb your old body?¡± *** Emelia and Dorn looked at each other, and then quickly looked away. How could they possibly forget his old body? I mean, it''s just sitting there, not rotting due to high magic content, and not doing any good. And Dorn was not the sentimental type, to get choked up over absorbing his old body. Doing so, Dorn was surprised to get a massive influx of 250,000 DP''s. ¡°Status¡±
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 10 +1 for 11,000 DP''s Floors: 4/10 Dungeon Points: 273,000 Dungeon Rating: D0 ¨C Seriously? Three levels and no danger? Now I feel like you''re fucking with me.
¡°Sweet, I''m rich again,¡± Dorn stated, into Emelia''s mind only. To Kiera, he simply said, ¡°Thanks for your suggestion little human, it was very helpful. Go ahead with your other idea.¡± He had some anticipation towards whatever idea this little human might come up with. ¡°If you''re looking for a powerful chi cultivator, simply give me some powerful style and application technique books, and I''ll quickly cultivate up to a powerful,¡± Kiera said shamelessly. Dorn laughed, ¡°Ha! Cheeky. I tell you what, if you go announce my presence to the world and return, I''ll give you your land. As for technique books, if you let me make you a dungeon-born part of this dungeon, I''ll give you the best training in chi and magic that a human could possibly have.¡± Kiera didn''t immediately turn down the idea. The idea of becoming a powerful mage was extremely attractive to her. To have the power to go back to Ilsan and murder her little brother was a dream she had. Kiera asked of the dungeon, ¡°What does becoming dungeon-born mean? Will I still have my freedom?¡± ¡°Simple, little human, I''ll break you down to your most base constituent parts and re-build you back to your original form. From your perspective, it''ll be like taking a quick nap. Then, when you leave here, due to a beast core I will implant in your skull, I''ll still be able to speak into your mind telepathically and see through your eyes, when I so choose.¡± ¡°Would it be permanent?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°Hmm, if you would prefer to be released, you can simply wait until I grow strong enough to have a Dungeon Avatar. At the point in time, I will no longer require a servant who can go out and leave the dungeon. I will remove the beast core and you will be free to go on your way. In the mean time, I might require you to take up a few tasks now and then. Otherwise, your life will remain the same as before. Now do you accept my offer?¡± Kiera nodded her head. Dorn projected into her head, ¡°Excellent, let''s get started.¡± A beam of white light was emitted from the diamond and landed on her body. She instantly vaporized, scattering into a pile of atoms. The light, still shining, analyzed her bodily make-up. Then, he started to put her back together again. He made a few changes, to make her more appealing to his eyes. First he made her taller, at about 5'' 10.¡± Then he smoothed out and cleared her skin, that had been ravaged by the sun of the many farms she had been to. Being lazy, he only bothered to put hair back on her head, her eyebrows, and her eyelashes. And of course, he placed a beast core in her skull, nestled against her brain. Finally, he straightened and whitened her teeth. Then he spun up some comfortable riding clothes for her and created a horse. He then used some Space magic to create a small bag of holding, a bag that had more space on the inside than on the outside. It had a little pocket dimension within it, and it could store 8 cubic meters of space. Inside, he put some gold, silver, and copper coins. It was really cheap to make so much wealth, for Dorn. Kiera blinked a few times and looked around. ¡°Am I taller?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, I made a few changes to your body to make you look better, little human. No need to thank me. Now, what type of weapon do you use?¡± ¡°Um, when did I give you permission to change my body?¡± ¡°When you allowed yourself to become dungeon-born. I thought that was obvious. Remember the beast core? Now, answer the question, what type of weapon do you use?¡± Grumbling, Kiera decided to shelve her complaints. ¡°I don''t use weapons, or at least I''ve never been trained in the use of any weapon.¡± ¡°You really aren''t a very capable human, are you, little Kiera. Congratulations, I''m feeling benevolent today, prepare to become a master of dual-wielding daggers. The perfect choice for a human who looks harmless, like you, to utilize,¡± Dorn said, before shining another light on her body, this time a green light. Through the light, Dorn transmitted the memories he had of learning to be a master dagger wielder in his human form. Then the light turned white again, before modifying the muscles in her arms, wrists, and hands to the state as if she were completely practiced in the art of using the dagger. Finally, he modified her nerves and brain to increase reaction time and hand-eye coordination. By the time he was done, he had spent a little over 70,000 DP''s on creating his little minion. Totally worth it, however, to create my own little minion. And she thinks she''ll someday be free of me. Cute! Dorn then decided to make her a pair of black gold, Dark-enchanted daggers. The daggers were made fine, but when he tried to place an enchantment, he found that he simply couldn''t. A blue screen opened up in front of him:
Warning! You may not create enchantments until unlocking Dungeon Enchantments in the Dungeon Store.
Dorn groaned. These fucking gods are going to be the end of me. In the end, he just placed the un-enchanted daggers in the bag of holding and floated it to Kiera. Kiera caught it and looked inside, before gasping. ¡°Is this a bag of holding, and is it for me?¡± Dorn responded, ¡°Yes, so use it wisely. Now, you will travel to the capital of Khal. You must be careful as a woman alone in this backwards, non-egalitarian Khal kingdom. Hurry back, for as soon as you report me, you will be painting a target on your back. But don''t worry too much, for if you find yourself captured, I can simply blow up your beast core, and when you die, I can simply reconstruct you. Any questions?¡± ¡°So, to be clear, just report your existence to the adventurer''s guild in Khal City and return? Do you mind if I purchase the land your dungeon sits on while I''m there?¡± ¡°Knock yourself out, but don''t get your hopes up. My guess is that the Khal kingdom won''t last much longer before being invaded and destroyed by Ilsan. But whatever floats your boat. Try not to get yourself killed; it costs me energy to remake people.¡± Not exactly feeling relieved, knowing that Dorn could kill her at any moment, she simply nodded and walked the horse towards the glyph on the floor. In a flash of light, she was back at the glyph in the massive entrance hall. This time, however, she had a horse with her to keep her company. ¡°How do you think this trip will go, Saturn?¡± she asked the horse. She had decided to name the horse after the famous god of business. After not responding, Kiera pretended that it had answered. ¡°Yeah, you''re probably right, this trip is going to suck.¡± Chapter 7 (revised) Chapter 7 As Kiera plunged her black gold dagger into the chest of the last bandit, she thought to herself, gods, why did that fucking dungeon in Ilsan have to be destroyed and cause a civil war? It was the civil war that had pushed so many desperate people into Khal, creating bandits like the group she had just killed. As a woman riding alone, she looked like an easy target for the bandits, not a master wielder of dual daggers. That was the sixth time I''ve been attacked, and this time it was during the day and only a few miles from Khal City. Gods-damned nature dungeon. ¡°Ah yes, the nature dungeon, that was my mistake. I accidentally destroyed it in a bout of rage. If it makes you feel better, I did slightly regret doing that afterward,¡± Dorn projected into her mind. Instead of being angry at Dorn reading her thoughts again, she was instead more stunned at what he had said. You''re the reason why the dungeon was destroyed? What the fuck could have possessed you? You basically caused the destruction of one country, possibly two after they invade Khal, and the deaths of thousands. Dorn didn''t seem too apologetic, ¡°Eh. It''ll push more people towards my dungeon, and there will be less competition, so overall, it''s a net positive. As I already said, it was a fit of rage. I had just learned that I had wasted about 1,000 years making hundreds of thousands of somewhat useless mana crystals.¡± You have hundreds of thousands of mana crystals? Couldn''t you have given me a few? ¡°No, I absorbed them all. And what exactly do you need more money for; I already gave you 500 gold coins. You could buy a medium sized village with that much coinage.¡± Kiera just thought back, gah, you have no idea what it''s like to live as a poor human in this world. Dorn said, ¡°Well thank the gods for that. That I didn''t have to live as a human, not the poor part.¡± Kiera just snorted and thought, wow, thanks for the clarification. Go back to building your dungeon; you don''t have much time until adventurers come. Kiera then continued digging a small ditch to bury the dead bandits in. They didn''t even have anything worth taking, only owning some shoddy iron cutlasses and daggers. Finished with burying the bandits, Kiera sat down in front of their small fire pit, warming her hands in the cold spring morning. She looked out at the forest surrounding her. The pine trees helped cover up the smell of blood and dirt that had tainted the air. She looked into the fire and watched as the flames danced left and right. She loved staring into flames and thinking. This time, she was thinking about the fact that in a little while, she would be in a big city for the first time in nearly a decade. She sighed, got up, and walked over to Saturn, her horse. Saturn didn''t seem to mind that they were headed towards the city. But then again, Saturn didn''t grow up in a city before effectively being exiled. Actually, Saturn didn''t grow up at all, he sprang into existence fully formed. *** Dorn felt the earth shake as he moved his core floor down seven more levels, from the fourth to the eleventh floor. This cost him nearly 14,000 DP''s, and he had just bought the eleventh level upgrade for 11,000 DP''s. ¡°Emelia, I thought you said that you only get one floor per level for the first ten levels?¡± Dorn asked. Emelia said, ¡°I did. Starting with level 11, things change. You get a new floor every other level, and the cost of each level no longer follows the Fibonacci sequence.¡± ¡°It makes me wonder why the gods are so arbitrary about these rules.¡± Emelia replied, ¡°They probably just didn''t give it much thought. They aren''t that concerned with the lower realms, so they probably set up the rules for the System quickly, a long time ago, and they''ve never bothered to change it since.¡± ¡°But what about the auction items they have every year?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°That''s taken care of by some lesser god who they offloaded the assignment to. It''s more like the shit job that was foisted upon the weak.¡± Dorn once again shook his non-existent head in annoyance at the lack of, well, giving a shit, by the gods. It did make him understand why they hadn''t done anything about the devil and demon realm. Dorn looked up towards his fourth level. It was time to build his first real dungeon floor. He was nervously excited. First he checked his status page:
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 11 +1 for 12,000 DP''s Floors: 4/11 Dungeon Points: 178,947 Dungeon Rating: D0 ¨C I''m about ready to just give up on you.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the Automated Loot System.
He had just shy of 180,000 DP''s, which was perfect. He was planning on building floors 4-6, including instances. Instancing a floor cost 10,000 DP''s. So at the end of the day, Dorn had 50,000 DP''s to play with on each level. Further, excavating rooms and tunnels was a net positive, even if he lined the walls with stone, as any absorption of matter gave a small chunk of DP''s. Dorn decided to go with a fairly easy fourth floor, as it would be the training floor for adventurers who had never been in a dungeon before. The goal was to slowly introduce new adventurers to the feel of a dungeon. Mostly, it was about acclimatizing to the creepy environment that was a dungeon and to learn to heighten awareness to the highest level. Dorn decided to have a simple layout for the first level. The glyph room, where adventurers entered was a square room made of stone. It was of course a safe room, with no dangers. There would only be one exit and one entrance for each room, and the order of the rooms would snake across the floor, creating a total of nine rooms and ten tunnels. The final room would be the boss room. Only after defeating the boss would the door to the exit teleportation glyph open, allowing adventurers to leave. The tunnels would introduce the simplest of traps. There would be pitfalls and arrow traps with trip wires. In the pits, Dorn would eventually place a few slimes, but he currently didn''t have the pattern for a slime, and slimes would be too dangerous for this floor anyways. The arrows, while sharp, were not poisoned, like they would be in later levels. For the rooms, simple fights with small monsters was what Dorn set up. For this floor, he decided to mostly use lizards. Of course, he would pump up the size of the lizard to be big enough to become a threat. Spawning a lizard in the first room from the glyph room, Dorn looked at it and wondered how to make it larger. ¡°Emelia,¡± he asked, ¡°how do I make it bigger?¡± ¡°That''s what she said,¡± Emelia said ¡°What, who''s she?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°Ugh, never mind, you really were a recluse, weren''t you? No, don''t bother answering. To make the monsters bigger, just pump a few DP''s into them, while focusing on what changes you wish to effect.¡± Dorn looked at the lizard and imagined it being about the size of a large dog, with teeth sharp enough to puncture leather armor and scales strong enough to resist a few sword swings. Then he pumped 50 DP''s into it. It exploded. The entire first room was covered in gore. Dorn received 25 DP''s back from the creature dying.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°Okay, two things. First off, when I said use a few DP''s, I meant around seven to eight. Second, you have to add the DP''s slowly, or else you will have a gore-covered room like you do now.¡± Dorn grumbled that she could have told him earlier, and she just sniffed and said it was common sense. Dorn cleaned up the room by absorbing all the gore (recovering 10 more DP''s) and tried again. He spawned a lizard and slowly pumped eight DP''s into it. It grew to be six feet long and two feet tall. Dorn had to strengthen the bones and muscles of its legs to enable it to walk around, but it was still slow. He decided to just leave it in the first room by itself. As a dungeon-born creature, it had no need of sustenance or other bodily requirements other than the mana that Dorn gave off into his dungeon. It promptly proceeded to take a nap. Dorn decided to place two lizards in the third room (second from the glyph room) and three lizards in the fourth room. Then he switched over to snakes. Luckily, he didn''t have to modify the python he created as it was already about ten feet long and big enough to crush a grown man to death. The fifth, sixth, and seventh rooms got, respectively, one, two, and three pythons. The eighth room would be the boss room, with a closed door to the ninth and final room, with the teleportation glyph. For the boss, Dorn decided to go with the lizard, as a giant snake seemed too dangerous for the D4 floor. He spawned the bearded dragon and began to pump it full of DP''s. This time he added 15 DP''s to the monster slowly, almost twice as many DP''s as the common lizards in the first few rooms. The bearded dragon grew to be a massive twelve feet long and four feet tall. He decided to just leave it alone as a large monster, without any other strengthening. Then, Dorn put the finishing touches on the floor. First up, he placed removable torches on the walls of the entrance glyph room, as well as permanent torches in the rest of the rooms. He placed doors before the boss room that would open simply with a push. Finally, he placed a treasure chest in each room that would only open after slaying the monsters in the room. Dorn set up an automated loot delivery system for each treasure chest. Most often, only a few coppers would spawn in the chests. However, every 100th monster slayed (cumulative with other adventurers) would spawn a piece of trashy leather armor. Dorn stopped and looked over his fourth floor. He was pleased with how it turned out. It seemed like the first floor that many new dungeons built, and he was happy with that. It would be a great way to introduce adventurers to a dungeon. Emelia smiled and said, ¡°Finally, you have an actual dungeon floor. Congrats!¡± Dorn smiled and checked his status:
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 11 +1 for 12,000 DP''s Floors: 4/11 Dungeon Points: 129,362 Dungeon Rating: D4 ¨C The average human toddler would not be able to make it through your dungeon!
After seeing the Dungeon Rating, his smile promptly disappeared. Emelia sensed he was about to explode and quickly said, ¡°Come on, don''t focus on it. Just start making your fifth and sixth floors.¡± Dorn knew he was being managed, but decided to turn towards his fifth and sixth floors anyways. *** ¡°Five coppers,¡± said the bored city guard. Kiera just tossed over the coins and rode Saturn into Khal City. After finally returning to a city for the first time in a decade, Kiera''s first thought was, wow, what a shit-hole. And the smell. This is disgusting, don''t they know how to carve a sewer? It was simple for earth mages to make a rudimentary sewers system, like what existed in Ilsan. Khal was a much poorer country, however, and here, people just threw their shit in the streets. Walking through the slum, Kiera saw a huge number of refugees begging in the streets. She continued on and came to the center of the city, where the King''s castle and the rest of the government buildings were located. Dorn''s voice suddenly appeared in her head. ¡°First, head over to an inn in the merchant''s district to stow your horse. Then immediately go to a tailor, followed by the bath house. There is no way anyone would believe you if you were to report a dungeon in your state. When you''re properly dressed, you can go to the government building to find out what noble owns the land I''m in and purchase it from him. Good luck with that. Then head over to the adventurer''s guild in the mercenary''s district.¡± Kiera thought sarcastically, thanks Dorn, I never would have guessed any of that. But Dorn was already gone, focusing on building his dungeon. Kiera was so excited about finally getting to take a bath that she breezed through her appointment at the tailor without even thinking about her family''s old business and her repugnant younger brother. After taking her bath and picking up her new dress at the tailor''s, she returned to the inn she had left her horse at. After changing, she noticed every head in the bar turning to watch her as she departed. Smiling, Kiera left the inn and headed over to the government building. Walking inside, she headed over to one of the desks with a foul looking man standing behind it. ¡°What do you want, wench?¡± asked the man behind the counter. Oh boy, it''s going to be a miracle if I make it through this without shoving a dagger in his eye. ¡°I want to purchase a parcel of land from whoever owns it. It''s to the east of-¡± ¡°Where''s your husband? Women can''t be the owners of land.¡± Don''t murder him, don''t murder him, don''t murder him. ¡°I do not have a husband,¡± Kiera stated. She slapped a gold coin down on the desk. ¡°Now, are you going to tell me who owns the piece of land or not?¡± The old man quickly looked around before taking the coin and hiding it in his pocket. He still looked unhappy, however. ¡°Where is the piece of land?¡± he asked. ¡°To the east, a mountain known as Mount Silver and a mile of land surrounding it on all sides.¡± The old man headed into the back to grab a map. After unfurling the ancient map on the desk, he quickly located the mountain in question. After checking the words written on the map, he told Kiera, ¡°You''re in luck, the land is owned by the king and is therefore available for sale. If you want to purchase the land, you will have to head upstairs to Royal Affairs. The land you want is one mile of land, circular in dimension, centered on coordinate G-4738. Good day.¡± Kiera turned and left, before her anger got the better of her. After bribing another three government employees and dealing with the casual sexism of all of them, Kiera was the proud owner of a writ of ownership for land in the Khal kingdom. She was also 47 gold pieces poorer. Dorn spoke up at this point. ¡°You do know that I''m not going to just give you unlimited amounts of gold, right? After this trip, you''re on your own. Also, keep an eye open, you just spent a large amount of gold.¡± Please, Kiera thought, all I have to do is tell the adventurer''s guild about the dungeon and I''ll have all the money I could want. No problem. Heading back to her inn, she changed once again into riding gear before wandering over to the mercenary''s district, where she was pleasantly surprised to see women in fighting gear in many of the groups. Walking into the adventurer''s guild office, she saw even more women lounging around at the tables near the bar. Well at least some part of this gods-awful kingdom is egalitarian. The receptionist looked up and asked, ¡°Hello, welcome to the adventurer''s guild. How can I help you?¡± Kiera headed in close and whispered, ¡°I''d like to report the location of a new dungeon I have discovered.¡± The receptionist''s eyes went wide, before she ran into the back and up the stairs. A few minutes later, she came back and told Kiera that the head of the adventurer''s guild would like to meet with her. Kiera followed the receptionist up the stairs and into a large office, before the receptionist let herself out. The guild master was a tall man who was younger than Kiera was expecting. Although, she was expecting someone ancient, so almost anyone would be younger than what she expected. He had short-cropped dark hair, pale skin, and a stare that seemed to see inside her and understand everything there was to know about her life. She also felt the pressure of a high-level chi practitioner. The pressure made her shiver. *** Warley looked at the beautiful red-head who stood before him. If he were 70 years younger, he might even consider flirting with her. As it was, he was an old bachelor, and was probably going to spend the rest of his life without a wife. Of course, as an A-ranked chi practitioner, his life span was around 300 years. He still felt that he was too old, at 105, to be dating such a young girl. He was surprised to see such a young, C2-rank adventurer. She must have come from a distinguished family to have a style book good enough to raise her to C rank at her age. ¡°So you''re the one who says you''ve found a dungeon. Do you have any proof?¡± She cocked her head for a second, as if she was listening to something someone else was saying before reaching into her bag and pulling out a black gold dagger. Stunned at the casual display of wealth by the young woman, he was even more stunned when she plopped the dagger down on his desk. Warley lifted the dagger and examined it. It was definitely made of black gold, and it was extremely sharp, but the craftsmanship was only mediocre. He raised an eyebrow and asked, ¡°Are you expecting me to believe that a new dungeon gave out a dagger made of a magical metal? Where would it even get black gold from?¡± ¡°Yes, I am expecting you to believe that because that is what happened. Maybe it swallowed some bandits or adventurers before me and got the design of a dagger. Maybe it''s situated on a black gold deposit and used the only metal it had access to. I don''t know, and I don''t particularly care. Now, can I get my reward?¡± Warley had to laugh at the fire in this young woman. The dagger she had just placed in front of him was worth at least two to three times as much as the reward she would receive from reporting a dungeon. He internally chuckled while keeping his face passive. Finally, he told her, ¡°No. We must first send a team to this dungeon to determine if the dungeon is real. If you are in a rush, you may accompany the team to the dungeon, where, if the dungeon exists, they will hand over your reward. If you decide to go with them, you will procure your own horse. I would also suggest keeping that dagger a secret, until you have left the city.¡± Warley handed back the dagger, before continuing, ¡°It''s standard practice to send a low B-ranked team out to confirm the presence of a new dungeon, just to make sure nothing bad happens on the way to or from the dungeon. It''s overkill for a new dungeon, but that''s the policy. And the B-ranks are the ones with the fewest jobs, as they are too strong for most adventurer tasks, but too weak for the nobles to hire. You can meet your team here tomorrow morning at first light. Was there anything else?¡± Kiera took her dagger and told him that was all, before turning around and leaving. After she left, Warley steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair in thought. Hmm, what team can I send that would not harm the girl, and I would trust to actually hand over her reward? Ah, I know. Warley didn''t even consider that she might be lying; most liars would have cracked when they learned a B-rank team would be accompanying them, but the girl only blinked a little. If she had had no reaction, Warley would start to wonder if she was stronger than her apparent C2 rank and was simply hiding it with a profound application. The kind that assassin organizations utilize. Warley called his secretary in, ordering her to bring the Scarlet War-Mages into his office. Chapter 8 (Revised) Chapter 8 What do I do, Dorn? Do you know why he''s following me? Dorn, what do I do? Dorn, not FUCKING now! before Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Hey Dorn, you sure you''ll be safe when these guys get there? Hey Dorn, what''s with the space shields over the arch marked ¡°The Colosseum¡± and in the forest? that sounds pretty interesting. When are you building it? amazing, that should be a good source of revenue then what about those space barriers in the forest? But what if a race goes to war within their own quadrant? Like if Ilsanians and Khals were living there and their parent countries go to war? Maybe for you, but it''ll suck for me. Plus, I''m assuming you''re only giving me land in the human quadrant, which cuts my profits down by four. One can never have too much money. Just because you don''t use gold, silver, and copper coins doesn''t mean you don''t use money. I''ve heard you mention something about earning DP''s. I don''t know what they are, but it certainly sounds like you''re desperate for money as well. *** The group stared up at the massive statues in awe. Jeromy gave a nervous laughter and asked, ¡°Are you sure this is a dungeon and not a dragon''s lair?¡± Kiera flippantly responded, ¡°Yeah, I already saw the dragon''s dead body in there.¡± Roderick immediately spoke up, ¡°There''s a dragon''s body just sitting there in the dungeon?¡± He seemed like he was ready to rush into the dungeon to acquire the treasure. He was already picturing armors made of dragon scales, clubs made of its bones, and bows made with its tendons. The entire team''s eyes were glowing, and the greed was palpable. At this, Kiera panicked a little, and asked Dorn for some help, Dorn, what do I say now? Dorn sighed and said, ¡°Why can''t you try thinking before you speak out truths that will be hard to explain. Are you going to tell them next that you have a beast core in your skull? Just tell them that you saw the dungeon absorb the dragon''s body as if I was showing you that the dragon was dead.¡± Kiera gave a fake sigh, before saying, ¡°As soon as I saw its body, the dungeon absorbed it. It was almost as if it was trying to tell me that the dragon was dead, and the mountain was now owned by the dungeon.¡± The Scarlet War-Mages looked genuinely upset at the loss of such a potential treasure. Roderick''s face showed an unusual amount of anger, before he spoke up, saying, ¡°Pack it in, guys. We''re here for a mission and we''re about to complete it. Now Kiera, before we hand over your reward, can you tell us the layout of the floor?¡± Kiera responded, ¡°Floor, as in singular?¡± Roderick look surprised, ¡°Do you mean it already has a second floor? Before anyone besides you has conquered it?¡± Kiera said, ¡°When I was there, there was four levels. But there were no monsters or traps. In fact, there was no danger at all. It was like the dungeon wanted to give me a tour.¡± Roderick asked back, ¡°So it was just empty floors?¡± Kiera said, ¡°Not exactly. The dungeon had built this entrance hall with some steles explaining its existence. The first floor down from the hall was, according to the dungeon''s writings, a full floor safe zone, designed for people to build structures and live in.¡± Roderick interrupted, ¡°Who would ever willingly live inside a dungeon? Even if you could get past the fact that you''d be living in a dangerous life form that wants to kill you, you would have to live in the dark most of the day, with only stone surrounding you on all sides.¡± Kiera responded, ¡°I think you should just check out the dungeon, it''ll surprise you.¡± Roderick grumbled and handed over the 50 gold pieces. Kiera gave a big smile and said, ¡°Thank you¡± before throwing the gold into her bag of holding. This action was not lost on the members of the Scarlet War-Mages, who looked at her with a little envy in their eyes. Roderick didn''t bother with his greedy party members and simply led them towards the entrance hall. When they saw the beautiful, glowing relief carvings, they stopped for a moment just to admire the artistry. Jeromy''s head was tilted completely upwards, just staring at the stars. The five member stopped and noticed the first stele that gave the dungeon its name. ¡°Continue,¡± ordered Roderick. When the group got to the second stele, which labeled the levels, Jerome spoke up and said, ¡°Well this is helpful.¡± Mina, one of the two pure fire mages of the War-Mages piped up, ¡°Or incredibly devious. It could be trying to get us to lower our guard and make it easier to ambush us.¡± Roderick said, ¡°Mina''s right. Be at full attention the entire time we are inside this dungeon, even if parts appear safe.¡± When the party arrived before the third stele, a grim silence settled over the group. Roderick turned to Kiera and asked, ¡°Kiera, why did you not mention this before? This needs to be reported to the Churches.¡± At this, the group seemed to disagree with their dour leader. ¡°This dungeon is only the third dungeon in all of Khal. If we want to survive the upcoming war with Ilsan, we''ll need our soldiers to get as strong as possible, and the only way to do that is to have them train in actual combat. Besides, it says it will only have devils starting with the A levels, which the dungeon is clearly not.¡± Roderick barked back, ¡°How many times am I going to have to mention the fact that these signs can''t be trusted, as they have been put up by the dungeon. The very fact that this dungeon is sentient is ample proof that this is an infernal dungeon. When we get back, I''ll be making a report to the Churches.¡± The team seemed angered, but as he was their leader, they had to let it go. Kiera followed the team onto the glyph and into the dungeon proper. *** ¡°Still think it''s a good idea to have demons and devils? Or to announce it before you even have them? You could have kept it all a secret until you created your A levels before announcing it then,¡± scolded Emelia. ¡°I''m not scared of the churches. I''m aware that they destroy many dungeons, but I''m too safe to be scared. Elemental magic is and always will be superior to priestly magic. I''m even more confident in this now, knowing that it was the gods that set up the System. They won''t be endowing their followers with the power to destroy their very own creations.¡± Emelia replied, ¡°You are right in one aspect, the gods are very loathe to interfere in the lower planes, one way or another. I still think announcing to the world your anti-Church intentions is not wise.¡± ¡°How am I anti-Church? If anything, I''m aligned with the churches. My goal is to destroy the devil and demon planes, and that should be the same goal that the Churches have. Doesn''t anyone read the part of the stele that mentions how I''m a practice ground for people to hone their skills in hunting and killing demons?¡± Emelia said, ¡°People have been taught time and time again to associate devils and demons with evil. By the very fact that they exist in your dungeon, it proves you are evil. There is usually very little extra thought that goes into situations concerning demons.¡± Dorn could only shake his non-existent head in dismay. He still wasn''t going to change his mind. He would not cater his dungeon towards the wishes of the humans. His dungeon was for all races, after all. He had to remind himself that just because he had spent millenia disguised as a human, at the end of the day, he was not one of them. Speaking of other races, Jerry''s mission to the elves should be bearing fruit relatively soon. Now he just needed to make overtures to the beast-kin and the dwarves. He wondered how they would respond to being invited to a dungeon, a structure usually monopolized by humans, with the occasional elf being allowed to tag along. Ecstatic is probably an understatement. And boy are the humans going to be pissed. Chapter 9 (Revised) Chapter 9 it''s supposed to build towards more and more lush environments as you progress, goddamn adventurer morons.
StatusUnauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 11 +1 for 12,000 DP''s Floors: 7/11 Dungeon Points: 56,379 Dungeon Rating: D6 ¨C Your dungeon is dangerous enough to kill the average human adolescent! Congratulations!
Floor 6 humans. What the hell is wrong with them? isn''t Floor 2 Chapter 10 (Revised) Chapter 10 ¡°How could you fucking Ravens fail to kill one miserable, lowly, C-ranked woman? What''s the point of us looking the other way, allowing you fucking birds to exist, if you can''t even kill a simple woman? Now, a dungeon has slipped through my fingers, and there''s nothing I can do about it. That dungeon is twenty miles from my land. Twenty fucking miles, Ravenlord. I want my 500 gold coins back,¡± said Duke Doscue Hallowedlash. ¡°You look the other way because we tell you to look away. And if you don''t like that, you''ll be receiving an unpleasant visit from one of us birds. As for the girl, we''ll complete the assignment,¡± replied the Ravenlord. ¡°Even if you kill her now, the crown will simply re-claim the land.¡± ¡°Not if she sells you the writ of ownership before dying. It''ll be on your desk in a few weeks. Now piss off before you anger me, you fat piece of shit.¡± Duke Doscue stomped out of the warehouse, fuming with anger. He hated that there were people more powerful than him. But as only a high B-ranked chi practitioner, he knew better than to respond to the S-ranked Ravenlord''s insults. The duke looked around Khal City''s port and almost vomited. He hated having to come to this dump; he raised a perfumed handkerchief to his nose and swiftly walked away. Returning to his mansion in the noble district, Duke Doscue began to shiver, and it wasn''t due to the cool, Spring night. It was due to the man waiting for him in his bedroom. Walking in, he looked at the cowled man and shivered. He said, ¡°They will finish the mission, and we''ll have the writ within the month,¡± Doscue said. The cowled man just looked at him. ¡°We? We''ll have the writ?¡± Doscue shuddered, ¡°I meant you, my lord.¡± ¡°Good, never forget your place. And you had better be right this time, Doscue. You are on your last chance. Once Ilsan invades, they will attempt to curry favor with the previous lords, looking for stability. They will allow you to keep your land; thus, you will have the dungeon within your lands before that happens, or your head will no longer be too closely associated with your shoulders. Our plans for the dungeon can have no obstructions.¡± The cowled man became indistinct before vanishing altogether. Doscue just stood there, shuddering. *** The Scarlet War-Mages and Kiera were sitting around a table in the D-Housing''s inn. Jerry was currently serving them their third round of ale. Jeromy stood up and spoke to the entire group, ¡°Guys, I think we''re being too morose. Let''s look at all the positives. The dungeon is still here, and it''s an awesome dungeon. This is the last time we''ll be in this inn with peace and quiet, if my guess is correct. Our glorious leader is no longer being Dominated. We''ve accomplished our mission, and everything is good. We should be celebrating!¡± ¡°It''s a little hard to celebrate when you''ve been Dominated for over two weeks,¡± replied Roderick. ¡°There are two important questions. How did someone find out that we were doing a dungeon exploration, and why did they want a dungeon destroyed?¡± said Hendrik. Mina furrowed her brow. ¡°The only reason to want the dungeon destroyed is to harm Khal. From that perspective, it makes the most sense that Ilsan was responsible.¡± Lina said, ¡°But we can''t be sure without proof.¡± Roderick just sighed. ¡°They won''t need proof to start the war. In fact, there''s a 50:50 chance that someone in the monarchy ordered for me to be Dominated. If it wasn''t for the shields that this dungeon had, we would have a destroyed dungeon right now. The monarchy would be furious, and would probably go to war with Ilsan. We might have just screwed up our own country''s plan.¡± Jeromy piped up, ¡°Fuck them. No seriously, if it was our own government who ordered you Dominated, then fuck them. We are adventurers; we owe our allegiance to money, not the crown. If our government just tried to destroy a dungeon for an excuse to go to war, then I say, fuck them.¡± Hendrik said, ¡°It could have been anyone. It could have been Ilsan, and it could have been our own government. It could even have been the Churches or an unknown faction in the adventurer''s guild. The more important question is how anyone found out.¡± Kiera, who was sitting together with the mages, said, ¡°Someone sent an assassin after me, wanting to know why I bought so much land and went to the adventurer''s guild. Could it be the same group?¡± Hendrik said, ¡°Once again, it could be anyone.¡± Lina said, ¡°Well, the only people who knew about the dungeon should have been Kiera, Warley, and us. I didn''t tell anyone about the mission, and I''m assuming none of you did either?¡± A round of head shaking followed Lina''s question. Roderick quickly spoke up, ¡°I see where you''re going, but don''t leap to conclusions so quickly. There''s a high possibility of someone spying on Warley''s office using magic. Any group or organization could have been involved.¡± Mina said, ¡°It comes down to means and motive. We can''t determine the means, as it could be a mole somewhere in the adventurer''s guild, or it could be a highly leveled mage spy from another country or faction. As for motives, all we have to do is head back to report our findings and see who looks suspicious.¡± Hendrik snorted, ¡°We''re not exactly trained in counterintelligence. How are we going to be able to determine who was responsible? And just because someone looks suspicious, it won''t prove anything, one way or another, because we won''t know if the person was working on orders of our government, another country, or a secret faction we don''t know about.¡± Jeremy said, ¡°So, what are you saying? That we''re basically screwed? Is that it?¡± Roderick said, ¡°Yes, that''s what he''s saying, Jeromy. We''re basically screwed. It''s because we don''t have any power, be it chi cultivation or political power. We were just pawns used to attempt to destroy a budding dungeon.¡± Kiera then added another question to the mix, ¡°If someone was powerful enough to Dominate Roderick, why didn''t they just come and destroy the dungeon themselves?¡± Hendrik said, ¡°That''s actually a very good point. This points to the idea of a single, high-leveled individual being a mole in either our government or the adventurer''s guild. This person couldn''t disappear from his or her position for four weeks, to travel to a remote dungeon and destroy it. It would raise suspicions if a person was absent for a month, and the dungeon just happened to be destroyed while this person was away.¡± Roderick said, ¡°So we''ve narrowed it down to two possibilities. First, a mole in our government or the adventurer''s guild working for a foreign entity. Second, a scheme by our own government to drum up an excuse for going to war.¡± ¡°Let''s go back and report our findings to Warley. If it was our government, they will be excited to have a powerful dungeon within the kingdom, and they''ll just have to find another justification for the war. If it was a mole, well, I''m not even certain whether an SS-class adventurer could break through those shields, so we don''t have to worry about this dungeon being destroyed,¡± said Lina. Roderick said, ¡°Very well. We shall return, but we must be extra careful not to be silenced or drawn into any more political plots.¡± ¡°Will you come back the dungeon afterward?¡± asked Kiera, who had come to like the War-Mages. ¡°Not for a long time. This dungeon is simply too low-leveled for us; it offers us no benefits. When it becomes a B-ranked dungeon, we shall return,¡± replied Roderick. ¡°I guess this is goodbye, then,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Good luck building the village,¡± said Mina. ¡°Thanks, I''m sure it will turn out great. I plan on overseeing everything.¡± ¡°Goodbye.¡± The War-Mages got up and left the inn. Kiera looked around and said to Jerry, ¡°I guess it''s just you and me then, Jerry.¡± ¡°Yes, miss.¡± ¡°And you, Dorn.¡± Dorn spoke out, ¡°I was wondering when you would remember I was here. Anyways, enough being sentimental. I''ve been going over your idea for owning land within me, and I''ve realized it''s simply untenable.¡± Kiera furiously responded, ¡°No way, no going back on our deal.¡± Dorn said, ¡°Just wait until I finish. It''s untenable for you to own land because you will be unable to prove to anyone that you own it; further, how will you enforce your ownership? What will you do if someone just ignores you and builds whatever they want on your land?¡± Kiera looked depressed, ¡°Couldn''t you help me enforce it?¡± Dorn gently said, ¡°That would not help you; it would just cast you under great suspicion. And I will not break my promise to have no dungeon-caused danger on this level. Finally, the D-Housing village will be only one of the many towns and cities that will be within me as time goes by. Yes, it will likely always be the most populous area, but the true gems will be the higher leveled housing villages. I''ve decided to alter your compensation, to a level I''m sure you will be fine with. Come to my level,¡± Dorn said.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. *** Dorn watched as the redheaded girl showed up in his throne room. ¡°Kiera, step forward,¡± Dorn ordered. Outside of the shields on an earthen pedestal laid a crystal orb. ¡°This is a chi affinity testing orb. Place your hands on the orb and inject it with some of your mana,¡± Dorn told her. Kiera obediently placed her hands on the orb and injected some mana. It then lit up like a miniature star. A full half of the orb lit up in bright orange-red, the color of flames from burning wood. The other half lit up in three colors, gray, brown, and a pulsing white. Dorn said, ¡°Wow you''re lucky. That''s almost a perfect set of affinities.¡± Kiera curiously asked, ¡°What does each color mean?¡± ¡°Here, take a look at this stele,¡± said Dorn, raising a stele with a table displayed on it. It looked like this:
Color Magic
Brown Earth
Red-Orange Fire
Dark Blue Water
Light Blue Air
White Lightning
Green Nature
Dark Yellow Light
Black Dark
Pure Red Life
Pale Yellow Death
Bright Silver Space
Gray Soul
Pulsing White Healing
Pulsing Black Gravity
¡°You have a major affinity with Fire magic, and minor affinities in Earth, Soul, and Healing. This makes you a one person party. You have Fire for attacking, Earth for defending, and Healing for any wounds you do get. Finally, knowing Soul magic is crucial for any mage, even if he or she doesn''t have an affinity for it. Luckily, you do. Being able to defend yourself from attacks of the soul is crucial. Be wary, however, Soul mages fall under great scrutiny, for most offensive Soul magic is considered illegal in all countries.¡± ¡°So what is my reward for helping you?¡± Kiera asked nervously. ¡°Some books and a piece of advice. You may also choose to forgo this and take 5,000 pieces of gold,¡± Dorn said solemnly. In a rare moment of insight, Kiera took the more valuable reward: ¡°I take the books and advice.¡± Dorn projected a grin. ¡°Your reward is great. For the books, I offer you two B-level application books on fighting, one on movement and one on defense. I offer you one A-level style book on chi cultivation. Finally, I offer you one B-level application book for each of your affinities. And now, for my advice: give up on owning land and taxing everyone who comes to this dungeon. Not only will you end up assassinated, but you will not make as much money as you could. The richest people in this world are not the nobles who own land, it is the SS-ranked adventurers. When I was masquerading as a human adventurer, I had more money than I could ever spend. Remember, strength always comes first. Wealth will follow. As you continue in my dungeon, you may even come across more formidable style and application techniques.¡± Kiera was overwhelmed. ¡°Thank you so much. This is exactly what I need. I''ll be able to get revenge on my brother, finally. I''ll become the richest adventurer in Sorenia.¡± ¡°Now, these books are too dangerous for you to bring outside this dungeon. Luckily, as a C-ranked chi practitioner, you have an eidetic memory. Read these books now. When you finish, I will destroy them.¡± Kiera promptly sat down and started reading the books. It took her eight hours to read through all seven books. When she finished, Dorn shined a light on the books, vaporizing them. He said, ¡°Remember three things. First, strength always comes first. Before you can get rich and get revenge, you must have sufficient strength, and you must be patient. Second, allow no one to ever find out what books you know. Be careful of assassins. You''ve already been targeted once. Find out who targeted you and why. Only then will you be safe. Finally, I will no longer protect you, and that includes in this dungeon. Get yourself a good party who you can trust, like the Scarlet War-Mages have. Good luck.¡± Kiera thanked him once again, before taking the teleportation glyph back to the D-Housing. Emelia flew out of invisibility and said, ¡°You must really have come to like her. I''ve never seen you treat anyone with so much kindness.¡± Dorn said, ¡°Bah, she''s been more trouble than she''s worth. I was constantly having to watch her to make sure she wasn''t killed. With these new books, maybe I won''t have to perpetually be her nanny. Well, regardless, she has already completed her main purpose by announcing my dungeon to the world. Or at least the human world. Now I just need to figure out how to get word to the beast-kin and dwarves.¡± Emelia said, ¡°I think someone''s in denial. Now, you also need a new source of DP''s because you are completely out. You''re going to need a lot of D-level adventurer deaths, just to finish off your D level floors.¡± Dorn grinned. He said, ¡°That''s the good thing about D-level adventurers, ninety percent of them die in dungeons. It''s why the countries with large amounts of dungeons, like Ilsan, don''t have a big poor population. All the poor sign up as adventurers and then die in dungeons.¡± ¡°Status¡±
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 15 +1 for 16,000 DP''s Floors: 7/13 Dungeon Points: 1,213 Dungeon Rating: D6 ¨C Your dungeon is dangerous enough to kill the average human adolescent! Congratulations!
*** Kiera returned to her room in a great moon. First, she just sat down and started training by the method in the A-rank style she had received. It was simply called Dragon Cultivation - Abridged. She thought to herself, if the abridged version is already an A-level technique, I wonder what the original version is, and when I''ll be able to get it. Dorn just scolded her, ¡°You''re not ready for the original version. First master the abridged one, and then when you get past my S-ranked levels in the future, you might acquire it. Anyways, stop whining, I just gave you an A-level style book.¡± Instead of responding, she closed her eyes and felt for the ever-present mana. Grabbing hold of some mana particles, she ordered them to move towards the pores of her body indicated in the book. When the particles of mana entered her body, she started circulating it through a complex path. It followed specific mana veins and vessels in a large cycle, from the dantian to the chest, followed by the arms, through the head, and into the legs. The cycle completed by going to the chest and into the dantian. Kiera instantly broke through to C3 cultivation. Wow, this method is incredible. Let me try it again. Kiera sent some more mana particles through the cycle dictated in Dragon Cultivation. She broke through to C4. Oh my gods, this method is too powerful. It''s a good thing the Scarlet War-Mages aren''t returning soon, as I wouldn''t be able to explain how I advanced in chi cultivation so quickly. After she finished cultivating, she began practicing her fighting techniques. She had already received master training in dual dagger fighting, now she worked on her movement and defense. The movement application book''s name was simply called Evasive Steps. She wondered to herself, why do these incredible books have such simple names? Kiera thought that the great techniques should have long, pretentious names. What Kiera didn''t know was that these were all techniques created by Dorn as he masqueraded as a human. When he named his techniques, he didn''t bother to give them long, complicated names. The humans'' style and application books all had names like Great Sun Martial Cultivation of the Seven Flames or Dancing Steps Swiftly flow through the Nine Currents. Of course this was all nonsense given to raise the feelings of superiority amongst the nobles. Evasive Steps was a method of quick dodging, focusing on releasing mana from specific points in the legs and feet. Learned to completion, the user would instantly vanish from any spot where he was standing. One could even leave after-images by moving so quickly. Her defensive technique was named Defensive Form, and it was a guide to using mana to strengthen the skeleton, the musculature, the organs, and the skin. Strengthening the skin would prevent piercing attacks from penetrating. Strengthening the skeleton, musculature, and organs would protect from crushing attacks. Soon, Kiera''s life entered a simple cycle. She would spend her nights alternating between cultivating and fighting practice. She would spend her days in the dungeon''s levels four through six, using her techniques in real practice. Quickly, she found that even the sixth level was beneath her strength. Kiera''s cultivation had always been above the danger levels listed in Dorn''s floors, but without the techniques to express her strength, her fighting prowess had been stunted. Before she knew it, four weeks had gone by and it was time to meet the city planners and construction workers coming to build a town outside the dungeon. *** Warley, the head of the adventurer''s guild, was leading a large and diverse caravan. Behind his horse were dozens of carts housing construction workers, city planners, miners, lumberjacks, healers, blacksmiths, masons, alchemists, and enchanters. Warley was happy that the dungeon found had been more than expected, and troubled that it had almost been destroyed. Luckily, the dungeon was well protected, so he wouldn''t have to worry about anyone destroying it moving forward. Especially the Churches. The adventurers and the Churches never got along. As the head of the adventurer''s guild, he had to frequently deal with the Churches; their knights and priests were some of the most arrogant people under the sun. They really gave the nobles a run for their money. He was not looking forward to the day the Churches showed up at A Dragon''s Dungeon and started their inevitable holy crusade against the dungeon. Although, he would appreciate the looks on their faces when they inevitably failed. When they arrived at the entrance to the dungeon, everyone was shocked silly. Standing almost 300 feet tall were two incredibly breathtaking sculptures. He had of course spoken with the Scarlet War-Mages about their trip to the dungeon, but seeing it in person was a whole other experience. Standing in between the statues was Kiera, the stunning redhead. She had a grin on her face and ran up to his horse. ¡°Man, am I glad to see you guys. I''ve been going stir-crazy with nothing to do except dive in the dungeon. I''m surprised you came with the trip, Guild Master Warley.¡± About to speak, he reflexively felt her cultivation level and closed his mouth. Holy shit, her cultivation has increased by two levels in six weeks. That''s impossible! And her background is non-existent. I couldn''t find any record of her existing prior to showing up in Khal City. Who is this woman? Warley finally opened his mouth, saying ¡°Congratulations Kiera on your two breakthroughs.¡± Kiera blushed and immediately kicked herself for not wearing the ring she had gotten from the assassin, the one that hid cultivation levels, she said, ¡°Thank you, Guild Master, I merely got lucky. This dungeon is a great place for cultivation.¡± ¡°Yes, so I understand.¡± That was when she heard a characteristic cheeky laugh. Looking over, Kiera was stunned to see that Jeromy Wither was here. Surprised, she asked, ¡°Jeromy? What are you doing here? Did the rest of the War-Mages come with you?¡± ¡°Nope, I decided to leave the War-Mages and come back here by myself. Thought I could maybe show you the ropes, help you train a bit. Although, I gotta say, it looks like you don''t really need any help with cultivation. You''re faster than anyone I''ve ever seen in cultivating, and that includes those hoity-toity nobles.¡± ¡°Yes, having Jeromy along made for a very pleasant trip,¡± Warley deadpanned. ¡°I think I only came close to killing him eight or nine times.¡± ¡°Aw, Guild Master, I''m hurt. Hurt, I tell you. I was going for at least a dozen.¡± Warley just shook his head; he really couldn''t stand being around the man. Turning back to Kiera, he said, ¡°Kiera, we have much to discuss regarding the dungeon and your experiences with the Scarlet War-Mages, but first we should negotiate a rental agreement and location to build the city. It''s a shame that there is no water source nearby. That will make it incredibly difficult to build this city, but not impossible. We will need to construct a long series of aqueducts from the nearby Blue Sea. It will be a monumental undertaking, but for this dungeon, it is worth it.¡± ¡°Actually, Guild Master,¡± Kiera responded, ¡°I had a different idea.¡± ¡°Oh, what were you thinking?¡± ¡°There''s a perfectly good region of land in the dungeon, with an accessible river running right through the middle of it. Let''s just build the village there.¡± Chapter 11 (Revised) Chapter 11 What the hell, Dorn? He''s probably going to check the progress on the building of the D-Housing city. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. floor? This dungeon strange.
Tin Southwest
Iron Southeast
Aluminum Central South
Copper ?
Gems ?
Quarry North
This must be where the copper is located. What a helpful dungeon, it made the stairs to Dwarven specifications. Chapter 12 Chapter 12 I
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 15 +1 for 16,000 DP''s Floors: 11/13 Dungeon Points: 208,381 Dungeon Rating: D7 ¨C Your dungeon is actually progressing, step by step. I''m so proud, I think I''m going to cry.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 15 +1 for 16,000 DP''s Floors: 11/13 Dungeon Points: 529 Dungeon Rating: C1 ¨C Your dungeon has progressed to the level of a nationally recognized dungeon
Dragon Cultivation What the fuck, Dorn? Don''t interrupt me in the middle of meditating. And I''m still pissed you wouldn''t let me build an entrance building to your dungeon. Why do you care? Humble, too. Why should I do anything for you? Yay. I knew you liked me. What do you need me to do? oh yeah, are you safe from those Church knights and priests. And you want me to bring this up to the team, that you''re betting? Ok, you''re on. What do I get if I''m right about three days, however? Chapter 13 Chapter 13 What, why? Fuck, not again. Think they''re here for me? Woops,forgot about pretending to learn the information you give me. verymillion not Strange, that doesn''t make me feel better. wait, this isn''t dangerous, right? tenth floorGods Dorn, what the fuck is up with all these rules? But what about the never returning to this level rule? extremely how do I start? Didn''t I already use one of these? Oh thanks for clarifying, Dorn, I had no idea what you meant. So was that it for the first half of this level?
Hmm, that seems easy enough. Almost too easy, Kiera thought. ¡°Remember, this is just for going to the C levels. And with the threat of death looming over them, many will panic and fail. But you don''t have to worry about that, because I haven''t enabled the death mechanisms yet.¡± Kiera went ahead and pushed the button. Suddenly, a loud version of Dorn''s voice said, ¡°One minute until test begins.¡± Kiera looked annoyed. Really? ¡°Forty-five seconds until test begins.¡± ¡°Thirty seconds until test begins.¡± This has got to be the most annoying thing in the world. Dorn said, ¡°It''s supposed to be intimidating.¡± ¡°Fifteen seconds until test begins.¡± Nope, just annoying. ¡°Well I like it; I''m not getting rid of it. Anyways, stop yapping, go take your test,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Five, four, three, two, one, test start.¡± A giant wolf with a sword wound across its entire side suddenly laid in the middle of the floor, and the small spatial shield covering the center of the room in a column from floor to ceiling disappeared. Kiera walked up to the wolf and started pushing mana into the wolf''s body. After using this to diagnose the wolf''s wound, which was festering, Kiera turned the mana into Healing magic, using it to first wash out all the little pieces of infection within the wolf''s body. Then, she used the magic to push its two ribs that were sticking out back into alignment, before healing them. Then she slowly stitched the skin back together, leaving a bald spot along the right flank of the wolf.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Congratulations, you have passed the first half of the boss floor. Claim your reward,¡± said the disembodied voice. At mention of the reward, Kiera basically skipped towards the treasure chest, opened it, and...nothing. Where''s my fucking reward? ¡°Gods, hold on a second, I need to first buy Dungeon Enchantments...there, got it. Alright, close the lid and re-open it.¡± Kiera opened the lid and gasped. Inside was a full healer''s uniform. Cloth covered boots, cloth cloak, leather pants and shirt, and a belt. All were enchanted. What does each do? asked Kiera. ¡°The boots give you enhanced footwork, allowing you to escape and move about the battlefield a little more agilely. The leather pants and shirt are enchanted for extra defense, they should be able to block the attack of a middle C-ranked adventurer or lower. The cloak will increase the potency of your healing slightly. And the belt has an active enchantment. Go ahead and try to activate it,¡± Dorn said. Kiera put on the belt and pushed some mana into it. Sensing the enchantment, she was able to activate it with mana. Suddenly, one of those spatial shields that Dorn created everywhere surrounded her in a small sphere. Ten seconds later, it winked out and began absorbing environmental mana. That''s awesome. It''s like an emergency lifeline. Too bad it doesn''t last longer. ¡°Don''t be greedy; remember, this is the reward for newly raised C-ranked adventurers. Being invulnerable for ten seconds can make all the difference between life and death. Alright, you ready to be sent back to the housing floor?¡± Wait, Kiera thought, what about the second half of the level? ¡°I''ve set it up as a fight against five kobolds. Why? Do you want to fight them?¡± Dorn asked. Depends, Kiera thought, what''s the reward? ¡°A class-appropriate weapon,¡± said Dorn. Gods, you''re going to put the enchanters, blacksmiths, and armorers out of business. ¡°Just the C-ranked ones. D-ranked adventurers will still need equipment, and B-ranked adventurers and above will too. Besides, the wealthy will want a new set of equipment once they reach the high C ranks. So, are you fighting the kobolds?¡± asked Dorn. You''re gods-damned right. Dorn sighed and said, ¡°Your love of money will be the end of you, one day.¡± Bah, what would a rich dragon turned dungeon know about struggling to make money? *** Watching Kiera teleport back to the housing floor with her new staff (it was capable of holding a small amount of mana to act as a battery), Dorn was pondering over his floor. ¡°So, what do you think, Emelia.¡± ¡°It seemed pretty easy for her, but I guess that makes sense seeing how she''s a C4 ranked practitioner.¡± ¡°Yeah, that''s what I was thinking. Do you think I should increase the time given to healers to do their task?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°Nah, she finished it in half the time, so C1''s should be able to complete it in under three minutes,¡± Emelia responded. ¡°Good point,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Status,¡± Dorn said.
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 15 +1 for 16,000 DP''s Floors: 11/13 Dungeon Points: 1,601,429 Dungeon Rating: C1 ¨C Your dungeon has progressed to the level of a nationally recognized dungeon
ton fucking fuck it''s not that, right? What? Are you two-timing me? I am You jealous, big dungeon? Chapter 14 Chapter 14 An arrow flew out and pierced the wolf in the heart, killing it instantly, and taking the pressure off of Vossan, who promptly let his massive tower shield rest on the ground. ¡°Took you long enough, pointy ears,¡± said Vossan. ¡°I was attempting not to skewer you, midget. An action I now thoroughly regret.¡± Kiera felt a migraine coming on. Why do elves and dwarves hate each other, again? Dorn felt obligated to reply, ¡°Elves are a species that place a high value on manners and politeness, and the dwarves...well, they don''t. Believe it or not, such a simple difference has led to all the conflicts between the two peoples. It''s a shame, since the dwarves are the best smiths and the elves are the best enchanters. Working together would make much more sense.¡± Kiera groaned, I didn''t actually want to know, I was just venting. ¡°Well vent in your own head, then,¡± said Dorn. Kiera rolled her eyes and stopped herself from snapping that she was venting in her own head. Then she spoke to her team, ¡°Alright guys, good work, we''ve finished the seventh level. Everyone look for treasure chests in this room.¡± Finding some rare herbs, they passed all of them to Thalia, the team''s resident alchemist. I wish I knew some alchemy; it looks fun. Dorn said, ¡°Don''t lie; you think it''s lucrative.¡± Can''t it be both? thought Kiera. ¡°Hey Thalia, would you mind teaching me some alchemy after this?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°I would be honored, lady Kiera,¡± replied Thalia. ¡°Thanks,¡± Kiera responded. ¡°Couldn''t your benefactor teach you? What was his name again, Don?¡± Jeromy asked. Dorn quickly replied in his head, ¡°I''m going to kill him. Here I go...¡± A wolf suddenly ran into the room and snapped at Jeromy. With a lazy swing, Jeromy thrust his dagger through the wolf''s eye and into its brain. Watching it get absorbed into the dungeon, Jeromy subsequently picked up the wolf heart that was left behind. ¡°Blechh, can''t believe this goes into things that we drink,¡± he said. Thalia came up and plucked the heart out of his hand, saying, ¡°This heart is a critical component of regeneration potions, and is therefore very valuable. I didn''t notice you complaining when you get to take regeneration potions.¡± ¡°Actually, I do, and very loudly. They taste like wolf offal, surprisingly. Couldn''t you add some mint or something to freshen up the flavor?¡± Jeromy asked. ¡°You will never be an alchemist, master Jeromy. Or a chef. A fact we are all no doubt grateful for,¡± responded Thalia. Suddenly, Vossan called out that he had found a chest, and that it was locked. It was high up on a cliff overlooking the clearing where they had fought two wolves. Jeromy merged into shadow and re-appeared next to Vossan a moment later. With a quick insertion of his trusty lock picks, the chest popped open. Inside was five bottles with a sparkly light blue color. Jeromy placed a drop on his tongue, and suddenly said, ¡°Well what do you know, it''s a regeneration potion. And it tastes great. I think you could learn a thing or two from this dungeon, mistress Thalia.¡± He then tossed the vials at Thalia, who caught them with her off hand. Kiera was amazed at the subtle display of dexterity by the elf. Thalia smelled the potions, and then started muttering, ¡°But how can you use blue snakeweeds to make a regeneration potion...¡± Kiera suddenly thought, you did that on purpose didn''t you? Dorn said, ¡°Maybe. It gets pretty boring watching all the shitty D-level adventurers going around.¡± So why don''t you finish off your D-levels, install your boss floor, and open up C-Housing and C-Mining? Dorn said, ¡°Great art cannot be rushed, Kiera. You must be patient.¡± Can''t figure out what to build? ¡°Gah it''s so frustrating. I thought dungeons had some sort of innate ability to design levels, but nope, it''s all up to the mind, and I have builder''s block. The whole reason I finished the boss level is because I couldn''t figure out what to do with the eighth floor, which I subsequently finished. Now I can''t figure out what to do with the ninth. It''s so frustrating. Oh you should probably pay attention to that weirdo in your party, he''s been trying to get your attention for the last thirty seconds.¡± ¡°Sorenia to Kiera, wake up Kiera,¡± said Jeromy, waving his hand in front of her face. ¡°Ah, sorry Jeromy, I was somewhere else.¡± ¡°Clearly, we''ve been asking you if you want to go on to the eighth floor now.¡± ¡°Sure, let''s check it out.¡± *** Dorn watched as her party teleported into the eighth floor. He was pretty proud of this floor, even though it was an obvious rip-off of the nature dungeon. The teleportation glyph was right in the center of the floor, underneath a massive willow tree. This massive tree would one day provide cover from the perpetual rain Dorn would have falling in the jungle, just as soon as he bought Dungeon Weather. The jungle spread out into one massive cavern. For this floor, Dorn got rid of the central monster room idea and just turned the whole level into a monster floor. Everywhere were snakes and lizards and birds. This level was a bit unique, as it introduced multiple boss monsters. In each of the cardinal directions, Dorn placed a platform on the ground. The platform was in the shape of an arch, but laid down on the ground. The entire platform was made out of stone. On the northern platform resided an enormous python enhanced with Earth magic and a strong paralytic venom. On the eastern platform, he put another of his bearded dragons, this one larger than the previous, and faster too. He enhanced it''s leg muscles to give it quick leaping power. For the other two platforms, he finally added new monsters to his D-level floors. For the western platform, he placed a common kobold enhanced with dark magic. And finally, on the southern platform, he placed a dungeon classic: a giant spider. When he destroyed his previous lair, he had captured the patterns for common spiders. He simply pumped around 50 DP''s into the spider, very slowly, to bring it up to size. He gave it metal-enhanced mandibles (a subset of Earth magic) and he strengthened its web so its adhesiveness would scale to larger enemies. Finally, in a bout of deviousness, he gave it a slow-acting neurotoxic venom. If a person was bit, he or she would need to receive a cure poison spell or purifying potion within the next hour or else die. For each monster''s loot, he magically tied a specific gemstone. The snake got malachite, the bearded dragon got azurite, the kobold received larimar, and the spider dropped a sunstone. Each gem was carved with a symbol of the monster who dropped it. All four gemstones were required to open the small, square room found on the opposite side of the willow tree from the entrance teleportation glyph. The small room just contained a teleportation glyph that would allow one to enter the ninth floor. The room also had a space shield to keep out those who would try to enter without collecting the four gems. To compliment this feature, he simply made it impossible to reach the ninth floor except through the glyph on the eighth floor. It made for a nice detour. Of course, when someone had used the glyph to the ninth floor once, they could then continue to use any glyph in the dungeon to reach the ninth floor and beyond. It wouldn''t do to make people always come to the eighth floor when moving lower. Dorn watched as Kiera''s party moved across the jungle. It was still too easy of a floor for a group of four C and above ranked adventurers. They stopped now and again for Thalia to pick useful herbs as they made their way across. Dorn noticed that one of his large cats was now stalking Kiera''s party across the jungle. He watched it pounce and...Jeromy chucked a knife through its eye. Dorn grumbled; he really needed to finish off his D levels before Kiera''s party simply got bored. Then he was struck with inspiration. But first, he needed to ask something of Kiera, ¡°Hey Kiera, have you given your party a name yet?¡± No, not yet, Kiera thought. ¡°Well, can you come up with one?¡± Dorn asked. What, right now? ¡°Yeah. It''s for a great idea I just came up with.¡± Kiera turned to her party members and said, ¡°Hey guys, I just thought that we should give ourselves a team name.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Jeromy said, ¡°You suddenly had this thought in the middle of a dungeon floor? Pay attention to your surroundings.¡± Ignoring him, Kiera continued, ¡°How do you guys like ''Diverse Dungeon Divers''?¡± Everyone just groaned. Thalia said, ¡°Kiera, honey, that''s not exactly a great name.¡± Vossan suggested Underground Miners to universal disdain. Finally, it was Jeromy, despite being grumpy at having this discussion on a dungeon floor, who came up with a suggestion that everyone liked: Seekers of Capital. It spoke directly to everyone''s motivation for being here. Thalia was here for a celestial tree, Vossan for rare metals, and Kiera for money and power. Kiera asked however, ¡°Jeromy, you''ve never told me what it is you''re here in the dungeon for.¡± Jeromy had a strange look pass across his face, but only very briefly. The entire team missed it. He said, ¡°Oh, I''m here for the same reasons as everyone else, money and power.¡± Kiera then thought in her head, Alright Dorn, we''re the Seekers of Capital. Dorn said, ¡°Great, thanks.¡± So aren''t you going to tell me why you needed our team name? Dorn projected a grin, saying, ¡°You''ll see later.¡± Kiera just grumbled unhappily. *** Dorn looked up towards the inn on the D-floor housing. It was currently full of excited D-rank adventurers, sitting apart from a group of dejected-looking Church knights and paladins. It turned out that Jeromy had won the bet, at guessing five days until the Churches gave up. The priests gathered everyone present and headed over to the church that Dorn had created. They started preaching how Dorn was a gift from the gods to humankind, as he would train their holy warriors in the extermination of devils and demons. Dorn could only snort in extreme derision. With the Church members gone from his core floor, he was now free to enact his brilliant stroke of genius. He raised a stele in the middle of the common room, pushing some tables out of the way. Everyone in the inn quieted as he began to carve the stele. It eventually ended up looking like this:
Current Dungeon Leaders
Party Name Level Completed (Time)
Seekers of Capital 8 (2:47:48)
Voices of Fortune 7 (1:30:52)
Unknown Killers 7 (1:35:26)
Revenant Admirals 7 (2:25:58)
Raincrawlers 7 (4:16:28)
Knights from the Empire 6 (1:15:27)
Lowguards 6 (1:57:52)
Massive Gods 6 (2:37:48)
Shame of the Fortunate 6 (3:38:12)
Stormstand 5 (0:36:28)
A great commotion suddenly broke out in the inn''s common room, as everyone began talking at once. The ten groups were almost completely unknown. People could guess who the Seekers of Capital were, as only one dungeon party had a B-ranked practitioner and three C-ranked practitioners. It caused groups to suddenly rush out to the dungeon, attempting to get on the board. At the end of each floor, next to the exit teleportation glyph, Dorn raised a stele showing the fastest D-ranked teams to complete the respective floor. Any team with a member at or above C1 rank practitioner would not qualify for these newest steles. Dorn could just imagine eventually having every floor''s top ten fastest times taken by the same S-level teams. It was at this point that Kiera''s team finally made it back to the inn. Taking one look at the stele, Jeromy said, ¡°Well, that''s going to get a lot of people killed.¡± I take it this is your idea? asked Kiera. ¡°Yeah isn''t it genius? People will get themselves killed just to earn a spot on a board. It''s the draw of fame.¡± I prefer money, thought Kiera. ¡°Ah good point. Hold on a minute.¡± At this point, a disgruntled-looking Jerry1 spoke up to the room: ¡°The top ten teams will receive free rooms and drinks at the inn.¡± At this pronouncement, the entire inn started cheering. Kiera just rolled her eyes. *** Dorn finally turned to his ninth and final D-level floor. He decided to work through his builder''s block. He lowered the floor into the earth by a couple thousand feet. It cost surprisingly little to do so. ¡°Hey Emelia, how deep can I go?¡± ¡°Seriously? That''s what she said. Come on, you''re making it too easy.¡± ¡°Gah, why do you keep saying that every day? I don''t get what you mean; just answer my damn question.¡± Emelia gave a long and dramatic sigh. ¡°There''s no theoretical limit to how deep your floors can reach, but you need to pay attention to air pressure and temperature the deeper you go. At a certain point, people will die simply entering the floor, so you will need to purchase Dungeon Weather to combat that. ¡°Good to know,¡± said Dorn. Dorn then lowered his floor to have a truly massive height of 7,000 feet. This would make this floor''s canyon have a slightly larger depth than Sorenia''s famous The Large Canyon. Truly a terrible name, thought Dorn. I much prefer The Dry Canyon, it''s got a certain ring to it. Emelia, peeking at his thoughts, said, ¡°If you''re planning on putting a giant river at the bottom of the canyon, why are you calling it The Dry Canyon?¡± ¡°Stay out of my head, Emelia. It''s bad enough having to talk to you all day.¡± Emelia huffed and thought about zooming off to another floor in annoyance, but she managed to contain herself. ¡°Just answer the question.¡± ¡°It''s because it''s a great name, and what would a canyon be without a river?¡± answered Dorn. ¡°Well those are stupid reasons,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Ask stupid questions and you get stupid answers.¡± ¡°That saying doesn''t apply here,¡± Emelia said with great annoyance. ¡°What saying?¡± asked Dorn. Emelia decided to just ignore him and watch as he built the ninth floor. Now that he was deep enough in the crust that he didn''t have to worry about causing earthquakes or cave-ins, Dorn decided to make an enormous level. It would serve as the battling grounds for D-level adventurers to grow into C-levels. They would have a challenge just surviving the long time it would take to cross this floor. Dorn expanded the floor to be a rectangular prism about 100 miles long and 20 miles wide. With 2,000 square miles to play with, Dorn began by carving off the first 200 feet of stone across the top of the floor. Along the ceiling he placed his trusty sky illusions and sun light. He cranked up the intensity of the light, making the land into a true desert landscape. Dorn was finally forced to buy the Dungeon Weather property for his dungeon. First, though, he had to level up his dungeon to level 20, costing him another 90,000 DP''s, and netting him access to another two floors. Emelia then warned him that getting new floors would now only happen every five levels. Dorn grumbled some more at the draconian rules of the gods. Then he snorted at his use of the adjective. Anyways, during the day cycle, temperatures would reach into the high 90''s. At night, it would chill down to the low 20''s. Then he cut a staggered canyon into the ground, and had it wind around in complex patterns. It cut all the way from one side of the floor to the other end, bisecting the floor. He cut some paths down the sides of the canyon that would lead to various caves filled with treasure and monsters. Finally, he came down to the bottom of the canyon. He built a vigorously moving river into the bottom. And filled it with crocodiles. They didn''t really belong in a desert environment, but he didn''t want people just floating their way down river, or walking along the pleasant beach on either side of the river. After that, he populated the massive canyon with all sorts of life. For plants, it was mostly cacti. A few hundred yards away from the canyon, on each side, he built a forest. He simply populated them with the usual prey animals and un-enhanced foxes. For the canyon part, lizards and snakes fit the room perfectly. He finally got to put his eagles and hawks to good use. With all the insects, he decided to buy bats from the store for a few thousand points, before populating some caves with them. After setting up a good ecosystem, he decided to do something rather fun. He purchased goblins, goblin chiefs, and goblin shamans from the store for a total of 100,000 points. Then he inserted various villages of goblins all along the cavern. The goblins, without any natural predators, took easily to the floor. As some of the weakest monsters in existence, goblins were perfect for his D9 difficulty floor. Watching the villages of goblins take shape, he felt kind of bad for what they would be going through on a regular basis. Oh well, as a dragon, his moral quandaries on taking lives weren''t too serious. He looked around the floor with its thriving ecosystem, deep canyon, and felt it was missing something. Emelia finally piped up, ¡°Do you think it''s too big? Won''t it take at least a week for adventurers to cross this floor without Air magic? And they''ll have nothing to do the whole time; they''ll get bored.¡± Dorn thought, ¡°That''s it. It''s missing activities.¡± Emelia snorted, ¡°Activities? What, are they children?¡± Dorn said, ¡°No, but they need something to look forward to, like the steles that mark the top ten highest ranked parties.¡± Dorn and Emelia paused and gave it some thought. In the mean time, Dorn set up a little station at the entrance teleportation glyph that would give out compasses to the adventurers. He just made them point towards the exit glyph instead of North. This way, the adventurers wouldn''t get lost in the enormous cavern he had built. Failing to come up with any ideas, he turned to his favorite human. ¡°Kiera, if you had an enormous floor that would take adventurers about a week to cross, and you wanted to come up with some activities to keep them interested, what would you do?¡± Dorn, what did you do? asked Kiera. ¡°I made a floor. I feel like that was obvious.¡± Big enough to take a week to cross? ¡°Yeah, it''ll be a fun adventure for everyone.¡± I think people are going to be pissed. Don''t you think that it''s too difficult for D-ranked adventurers. ¡°I think I don''t care...let me check...nope, don''t care. It''s their final test before ranking up. It''ll serve as a coming-of-rank trial. Now, any ideas for activities?¡± What''s the floor design? ¡°It''s an enormous canyon with a river at the bottom.¡± Put in a water slide. Dorn snorted at Kiera''s less-than-helpful idea, thinking of a 7,000 foot high water slide. He would just have to keep thinking of activities he could install for the adventurers. He knew he could put something in the caves. ¡°That''s it!¡± Dorn exclaimed. He got to work populating his various caves with his new idea. Chapter 15 Chapter 15 no killing Jeromy! See in him? Are you intimating that I''m falling for Jeromy? Jeremy is so obviously gay. How have you not picked up on that? He''s clearly here because Warley is here. No, so he''s set himself up for disappointment. Different? What''s wrong with being different? Why? The new steles are awesome. I love getting free housing. And is the new floor the enormous canyon level? Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Thank gods the Churches are gone, or this would be awkward, floor 9 floor
Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Dorn''s representative to the beast-kin, a wolf-variant person, had finally made it to the southern Wild Lands, home of the beast-kin in East Lucenia. It was freezing cold here, almost all year long. Trudging through the Spring snow, the representative headed towards the next village he came across. This would be his sixth village, and he was already starting to despair of getting any beast-kin at all to migrate to the dungeon. This village turned out to be a feline-variant tribe. This will be difficult, thought the representative. While the beast-kin could usually unify to fight against human aggression, there was no love lost between the feline and the canine variants of beast-kin. Unfortunately, the beast-kin had no major cities; they were a people of nomadic origin. Only small groups of beast-kin could be found at a time, so the representative had prepared himself for trying to convince multiple tribes to migrate, over and over again. Heading into the camp, the beast-kin stared at him. Well that''s a pleasant change; at least they''re not trying to kill me or swearing up a storm. Maybe this group can be reasoned with. Having been made more intelligent and less aggressive by Dorn, the representative was almost stunned when he had first made it to a beast-kin village. Being yelled at for being a stranger was something he could handle, but when the chief had tried to take his head off, he had been forced to flee. He finally realized why Dorn had insisted that he take weaponry with him. And seeing some disturbing things in the camps, he realized why the humans might not be too fond of his brethren. The idea of a woman''s rights was basically¡­ non-existent. After seeing his first rape within the second tribe he came to, the representative had tried to intervene. This of course caused the entire village to rise up and run him out of town. By this point, he had basically given up on trying to help any of the people here, and he would be secretly okay with all of the beast-kin dying. Anyways, heading into the feline camp, he was pleasantly surprised to see a relatively more civilized people. Fully dressed, looking at him with curiosity instead of hostility, and not trying to kill him. It was basically the best conditions he had seen in any of the camps he had been to. Coming to the largest hut in the center of the village, the representative spoke up, ¡°May I speak to whomever the chieftain of this camp is?¡± ¡°And who be asking?¡± said the large jaguar-man who came out of the hut. He was a gruff looking man with a closely-trimmed beard. ¡°My name is¡­ Beasty, unfortunately. Anyways, I am here as a representative of a dungeon that exists north of here. He is a sentient dungeon who has created me to invite beast-kin tribes to migrate to and live within the dungeon. The dungeon has provided an enormous floor for people to live in. It is separated by strong Spatial magic into four sections, and the beast-kin would have their own land to call home. This land would be far more fertile, and the resources available would be numerous. Your warriors would be able to train themselves in the dungeon floors.¡± ¡°Hmmm, not a bad offer. My name be Michio. You''ve painted a pretty picture of this dungeon; what''s the catch, however?¡± asked the chief after purring in thought for a few seconds. Beasty swallowed, before saying, ¡°The dungeon is within the human kingdom of Khal, and there are members of the other three races living in the dungeon. While you would be safe from them in the housing floor, there are some dungeon floors where you would come into contact with humans, dwarves, and elves.¡± ¡°Hmmm, how would we get to this dungeon if it is within human lands?¡± asked Michio. At this, Beasty became very excited that they were even considering the idea. This was the furthest he had made it with any tribe. ¡°The dungeon has imbued me with some Spatial magic and enchanting abilities, so I can draw a teleportation glyph that will take you directly to the housing floor of the dungeon, which is its second floor. You will be able to return here via the glyph as well. Should I do so?¡± ¡°Hmmm, very well, let me just tell my people what is happening, and then I will go with you to see this dungeon,¡± said Michio. *** ¡°Hmmm, I agree with you, the dungeon be a very favorable place for my tribe to migrate to,¡± Michio said when he had returned with Beasty to his tribe. ¡°If you want to migrate, feel free to take this teleportation glyph to the dungeon at any time. But do quickly, as my powers only allow me to make a glyph strong enough to last for a week. You must be in the dungeon by then if you wish to go at all. ¡°Hmmm, I will discuss this with the members of my tribe. Thank you, wolf-man, for sharing with us this opportunity. Do you go now to invite more tribes?¡± ¡°Yes, I have to do so, as ordered by my maker. You wouldn''t happen to know the locations of some other tribes who are¡­ um¡­¡± Beasty said at a loss for the right words. ¡°Civilized like us?¡± Michio asked with some amusement. ¡°Yes, and also tribes who you wouldn''t mind sharing the dungeon with?¡± ¡°Hmmm, yes I can point you in the direction of some tribes that will be more friendly and who we would not mind living with.¡± *** Dorn showed up in a glamorous hall, dressed in a beautiful black tuxedo. Looking down, he said, ¡°What the fuck am I wearing?¡± Emelia, in a full length black gala dress, said, ¡°It''s called a tuxedo, and it''s a type of formal dress very popular in the higher realms. Now, stop gawking and looking like a noob. Speak only with mind speak.¡± What the fuck is a noob? asked Dorn. Oh, my sweet summer child, responded Emelia. Dorn, resolving to just be confused, took a look around. He was in the lobby of what was clearly a beautiful hall. The floor was polished black and white marble tiles set in diamond shape. Multiple columns of gold were holding up the roof. There were two rough marble stairwells on either side of the room, leading to what must clearly be the auction hall proper. There were thousands of humans looking around and mingling at tall tables, while waiters with bored, white eyes walked around with drinks. Dorn was again a tall human with silver hair, but he had it cut short. He also wore a different face than he had before in his adventurer days. He was worried that he would be recognized by some of the dungeons he had trained within if he wore his ''old'' body. What is all this? Why aren''t we having the auction? asked Dorn. Dungeons only get to meet with their own kind this one day a year. It''s a great time to mingle and negotiate private deals. Go and mingle, said Emelia. I am a dragon. I do not mingle, Dorn stated. Killjoy. Well I''m going to go greet some of my dungeon pixie friends from school. Don''t do anything stupid, Emelia said before zooming off and rapidly talking to her old friends. Dorn just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with his hands. An older looking human came over and invaded his personal space, making him feel uncomfortable. The man shook his hand and said, ¡°Hi there, you must be new to these auctions; I don''t think I''ve seen you before. A brand new dungeon?¡± he asked. ¡°Uh, yes, that''s right. Anything I should watch out for?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°Don''t accept gifts. If you accept a gift instead of a trade, you will owe the other party a favor, which can be exceedingly difficult to fulfill. The name''s Bob, by the way.¡± Dorn gave a fake cough to stop himself from laughing at the idea of a dungeon named Bob, then said, ¡°Thanks for the information; I would never have known. And my name is Dorn.¡± Bob said, ¡°Yes, some of these older dungeons are incredibly vicious and will look to take advantage of new dungeons any way they can. So, selling anything in the auction?¡± ¡°Yes, I''m selling a few rare herbs and weapons crafted by dwarves,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°Good for you; that''s really impressive for a new dungeon. I''ll let you in on a little secret that''s been making the rounds. There''s talk that the featured item tonight is an extremely rare item that will make everyone go nuts,¡± said Bob.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Dorn looked curious, ¡°Any idea what it is?¡± ¡°Nope, your guess is as good as mine. Well anyways, have fun tonight,¡± Bob said before walking off to meet other guests. A few minutes later, an older looking woman came up and greeted Dorn in almost an eerily-similar manner to Bob. ¡°Hi there, you must be new to these auctions; I don''t think I''ve seen you before. A brand new dungeon?¡± she asked kindly. Dorn replied, ¡°Uh yes, I''m Dorn. Nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Likewise; I''m Marhe. I feel so bad for new dungeons in these trying times, here let me give you a gift of a few thousand DP''s,¡± she said, holding out her hand with a fake smile. ¡°No thank you,¡± Dorn said with a frown. ¡°Ah, I see Bob has already gotten to you. Listen here, you little piece of shit, take my gift or I''ll see to it that you regret it. No new dungeon escapes my grasp,¡± Marhe said. Dorn looked back and, before his dragon''s temper erupted, said, ¡°Well, looks like there''s a first time for everything.¡± ¡°You''ll regret this. Mark my words,¡± Marhe said before storming off. ¡°Gods, could you have a more cliched line,¡± Dorn muttered, watching her leave. By the time a fifth guest came up to say pretty much the same words as Marhe and offer a gift, Dorn was feeling pretty pissed. He headed into the room to find Emelia. Finding her in a big group of pixies laughing together, he projected into her mind, come back here before I kill one of these other dungeons. Emelia came zipping up. I was having fun with the other pixies; they were so excited to know that there''s a new dungeon in East Lucenia. At this, Dorn''s rage boiled over. You fucking idiot. What happened to not telling anyone where we are located? Emelia winced, before thinking, oh it''s okay, they were very friendly. Dorn''s jaw dropped, not believing how incredibly naive his dungeon pixie was. Finally, he said, stay next to me for the rest of the day, or I swear I''ll send you back to the pixie world. Before Emelia could huff out an angry response, there was finally an announcement put out to all the dungeons:
Attention Dungeon! The auction is about to begin. At this time please make your way to your seat. Your seat is #3,194 in row E on the main floor
Making his way up the stairs and into the hall, Dorn was struck by just how many people were around. There are really this many dungeons in Sorenia? There must be thousands of dungeons here. Emelia, over her fit, just thought back, besides the massive Central Fantisa continent, there are lots of little continents like East Lucenia all over the place. Some are stronger or weaker. One thing is in common, whenever mana accumulates in a place for long enough, a dungeon arises. At this point, the night''s auctioneer came out from the side of the stage and walked to the center. It was another white-eyed god, but this one was surprisingly boisterous and not bored-looking. ¡°Hello everyone, are you ready for the 8,756th annual Dungeon Auction?¡± he asked. Ignoring the fact that only silence met him, he continued on undaunted. ¡°I''m your host, Jarerre, and I''ll be kicking off tonight''s auction with something special for you younger dungeons.¡± A cart covered with a cloth was wheeled onto the stage by a bored-looking assistant god. Jarerre whipped the cloth off the cart, and everyone stared at what was there. What, is it a chunk of metal? thought Dorn. Dorn, however, was wrong. Jarerre introduced the item, ¡°This here is a piece of solid alchemy, also known as a medicinal pill. Called the Calm Ocean Pill, it is very useful for helping reach a tranquil state of mind and meditating during chi practice. It is also very useful for overcoming the barriers between each rank, allowing the user to ponder without distraction on the nature of chi itself. Starting at 50,000 DP''s, every bid must increase by at least 1,000 DP''s.¡± People on the main floor of the hall started vigorously bidding, quickly raising the price to 100,000 DP''s. Dorn turned and looked at Emelia, thinking, what is this? There are alchemy products that aid in training chi? Emelia responded, yes, I''ve noticed that these are conspicuously absent from East Lucenia. It''s a widely practiced art in Central Fantisa. You should try to acquire a few and introduce it to your continent. It would be a major success in your dungeon. Keep an eye out for pills that directly increase strength in chi, especially at the lower levels as they won''t have a sky-high price. Any pill that can increase the strength of an A or higher ranked adventurer will be incredibly rare and jealously guarded, so it won''t appear in an auction like this. Dorn, stunned that there was a whole subset of alchemy that he had no knowledge of, bid 125,000 DP''s. ¡°I hear 125,000 DP''s, can I get 126? Anyone, 126?¡± asked Jarerre. At this point, the first bid from the balcony, which was above and behind the main floor, was announced. ¡°150¡± said Marhe, who was giving Dorn a vicious grin. ¡°175,¡± said Dorn, resolving to give up on the pill if she raised the price again. He could only shake his head at the infantile behavior of the older dungeon. Marhe thought about increasing again, but seeing the looks of scorn from the other dungeons sitting in the balcony, she promptly sat back in her seat, allowing Dorn to win. ¡°175,000 DP''s for the Calm Ocean Pill. Going once, going twice, sold to the dungeon in seat 3,194. Congratulations,¡± said Jarerre. Thus began an almost endless parade of items being auctioned off. There were rare herbs, enchanted weapons, various strange creatures, and fixtures for dungeons being auctioned off left and right. Dorn, intrigued by the new field of alchemy, resolved to buy a number of pills. For 80,000 DP''s, he acquired a pill that allowed D-level practitioners to increase one level. It was creatively called the D-Advancement Pill. It turned out that these pills could only be taken once in each rank of chi, before losing efficacy. Most wealthy people in Central Fantisa would wait until reaching the eighth level of each rank before taking the pill, as the later levels were more difficult to raise. If the pills could be used multiple time, the demand for pills would have been much greater. For 260,000 DP''s, he acquired the same kind of pill for C-rank adventurers, called the C-Advancement Pill (Dorn really hated the naming sense of whoever these solid alchemists were). Finally, he bought a few other types of pills, one for increasing concentration and attention during battle as well as a pill that assisted in breaking through barriers. As the Dungeon Auction continued on, the items continued to increase in rarity and therefore price. Finally, there were some items that Dorn would love to have acquired for his dungeon, but he simply didn''t have the money for. ¡°Lot number 3,765, an A5-level sphinx from the region of Kemet. This is a well-known creature that has the head of a man and the body of a lion. These creatures have an innate love of riddles, and will make for a great path-blocking creature in a labyrinth. Adventurers must solve the riddle correctly or be swallowed alive. Price starts at five million, and bids must increase by at least 100,000 DP''s.¡± I want one, said Dorn. They''re pretty common creatures in Dungeon Auctions; you can just wait for next year, replied Emelia. Dorn was a little depressed that he couldn''t afford the sphinx, watching it raise in price to its final selling price of 8,700,000 DP''s. This one was acquired by Marhe, who had a wide grin on her face, this time of a non-vicious nature. Dorn sighed and continued to watch the parade of items he could never afford, wondering when his silver dragon pattern was going to show up. Finally, near the end of the day, the tension in the room started building. The experienced dungeons knew that the most exquisite items would be auctioned off near the end. ¡°Tonight''s final items are all special and legendary items. Please keep in mind that if you pass on these items, you may never have the chance to acquire them again,¡± Jarerre said, feeling excited from the palpable tension in the room. ¡°First up, a rare pattern. This is the pattern for a legendary silver Space dragon. This creature is adept at making spatial shields and is widely known for its fighting style involving constant teleports. This creature makes for the perfect final boss of any dungeon. As only the pattern is here, and not a functional unit, whoever buys the pattern will have to make the dragon followed by raising its chi. Despite this, it is still a very rare and powerful creature. As such, the price will begin at the low price of ten million DP''s, and bids must increase by at least 500,000 DP''s.¡± Dorn''s jaw dropped. Emelia did you hear that? It''s starting at ten million fucking Dungeon Points. Emelia, looking extremely excited, said, I know; just keep your calm, and don''t let anyone see you be happy when the price goes up and finally sells. Bids came in fast and furious. Dorn watched while the price quickly surged past twenty million, and came to a rest around twenty-seven million DP''s. ¡°Any last bids? This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a real, silver dragon. Perfect for defending you dungeon in the yearly raids. You can''t use your DP''s when you''re dead.¡± ¡°29 million,¡± yelled Bob, the dungeon who had earlier given Dorn such good advice. Wow, I really like that Bob; he''s a great guy, said Dorn. ¡°29 million going once, 29 million going twice, SOLD to the lucky customer in seat number 27.¡± Dorn was in ecstasy. He couldn''t believe how many DP''s he had just acquired. He almost wished he had ignored Emelia and sold some mithril and adamantium as well. He couldn''t even imagine how much they would be worth. ¡°Our next item of the night is a rare chance even for these auctions. Ladies and gentlemen, please look closely, for this might be the last time some of you ever see this item. He whipped the cloak off the cart, showing a small vial containing a clear liquid. Everyone in the hall began to murmur. ¡°The Tears of a God. This legendary potion is incredible. As long as someone who still has a breath left in their body takes a single drop, he or she will be restored to full health instantly. All curses, injuries, and diseases gone. This is an insanely powerful potion, and tonight, we are auctioning off five drops of this miracle potion together. Price starts at 150 million DP''s, and each bid must raise the price by one million DP''s.¡± Dorn stared in fascination at the unfathomable number of DP''s being spent on a tiny vial of liquid. When it eventually sold for nearly half a billion points, Dorn thought forlornly, hell, I could probably finish my dungeon all the way to its S-level housing with that many points. Emelia consoled him by saying, don''t worry, we''ll get there eventually. And how can you be upset after receiving 29 million points?¡± Dorn said, yeah, you''re right, this is a great day, and I shouldn''t let envy get in the way of that. Finally, the third and last item was revealed. And Dorn was both stunned and pissed. Chapter 17 Chapter 17 First Minister Lonnell walked rapidly down the hall. He was a bit nervous about having to meet with the Emperor to deliver bad news. Calming himself down, he thought, at least it wasn''t my idea to destroy the dungeon. Of course, he won''t accept the blame, so I''m most likely to be the one who falls on his sword. As his feet clicked down the marble hallway, he realized that his heart was racing. The news about what had happened in neighboring Khal was incredible. I have to spin this into a positive light, or the emperor will have another fit, killing everyone nearby. He walked up to the double doors that entered the court, sweat slowly beading down his cheeks, staining the powder that decorated his face. He nodded to the announcer, who opened the doors and rapped his staff against the floor twice, before saying, ¡°The First Minister Lonnell comes before his majesty, the Emperor, defender of Kendra, master of the nine seas; may his holiness live forever.¡± As Lonnell walked in, he kneeled, and repeated with the entire room, ¡°May his holiness live forever.¡± Lonnell didn''t look to the left or right, at all the officials of the empire. But he could feel their stares. They were hoping he would die by the anger of the Emperor, so that they might have the chance to fill his role. ¡°Rise,¡± came the powerful voice of the Emperor. Lonnell stood and looked at his liege, praying that he would be able to spin this properly. ¡°What are the results of the mission in Khal?¡± asked the Emperor. Lonnell managed not to stammer, saying, ¡°My liege, I''m afraid the news is both good and bad. While our agent was able to dominate the adventurer leading an expedition to explore the dungeon, the adventurer was unable to destroy the core of the dungeon. Apparently, the core is encased within magical shields so powerful, that even S-level master mages would be unable to break through. The good news is how powerful this new dungeon is.¡± At this point, the Kendran Emperor interrupted, saying, ¡°How can this possibly be good fucking news. The Ilsanians will gain another powerful dungeon, denying us our opportunity to finally destroy them. East Lucenia must belong to Kendra.¡± ¡°Yes, my liege. While it is true that Ilsan will invade, it is also true that their forces are weakened from the civil war, and that they will weaken even further against the pitiful armies of Khal. Khal has always been the border nation between the two empires, and invading was tantamount to declaring war on Ilsan. There is no rule, however, that we cannot simultaneously invade Khal and take the dungeon for ourselves, before the Ilsanians manage to do so.¡± ¡°Hmm, this idea has merit and sounds beneficial to us. How do we prevent Khal''s forces from being directed at us?¡± asked the Emperor. ¡°If we invade immediately following the invasion of Khal by Ilsan, they will simply be unable to re-route their soldiers in time to deal with us. Especially if we stop at simply expanding Kendra''s borders slightly. Nothing will be able to stop our armies. After the Ilsanians have finished fighting two wars, they will be unable to fight a third. Then, with this dungeon in our control, our armies will flourish. This is the good news.¡± ¡°How can a new dungeon be powerful enough to train our armies?¡± asked the Emperor. ¡°This is news that just came from our agent within Khal, my liege,¡± Lonnell said, proffering the parchment he had received via pigeon. The Emperor''s eunuch went and received the missive, before bowing to the Emperor and delivering it. The Emperor read the message, with absolutely no expression showing on his face. Lonnell sweated some more, waiting for the Emperor to finish the letter, and to think.¡± Finally, the Emperor pronounced, ¡°We are happy that this mission has failed to destroy the dungeon, as this powerful and sentient dungeon will now belong to us. Prepare the armies of Kendra to make war on Khal. We will invade immediately following Ilsan''s invasion. This dungeon will belong to Kendra. Lonnell, see me in my office.¡± After speaking, the Emperor stood and walked out of the room. After this pronouncement, the nobles standing on either side of the throne room started walking out. They would each be going to raise their militias to follow their liege in waging war on neighboring Khal. Lonnell hurried to join the Emperor in his study. When he entered, the Emperor was sitting behind his desk, studying the letter that had been sent by their agent in Khal. Looking up at his First Minister, he said, ¡°Have you read this report, Lonnell?¡± ¡°Yes, my liege.¡± ¡°And your thoughts on the dungeon itself?¡± ¡°My liege, I believe this to be one of the world''s most incredible dungeons, if the report is accurate. It looks like the beginnings of a super-dungeon, like the sort only seen in Central Fantisa. If true, this could raise Kendra''s power to the level of a Fantisan powerhouse.¡± ¡°I agree, which is why we must capture this dungeon. Send a report back to the agent, telling him to guard the dungeon with his life, and to ensure that nobility from Khal stay out. Those fucking Ilsanians will grant the local nobles the land they already hold. We cannot allow the greedy nobles of Khal to keep the dungeon. Be ready to fight whatever noble who owns the land of the dungeon, for he will certainly move his troops back from the war with Ilsan once we invade. We must prepare for a siege of the dungeon. Also, ensure that no feelings of patriotic pride or love for the crown flourish within the dungeon. Tell him to sow discord.¡± *** Kiera activated the space shield around herself as the goblin shaman''s curse came flying at her. She watched in fascination as the spell hit the shield and harmlessly splashed off. While she was enclosed, Thalia launched an arrow right through its heart. After the final goblin in the small cave was killed, they all hurried in to the end of the cave, where the puzzle device was located. ¡°This time, it''s my turn,¡± said Jeromy, carefully walking up to the device. He read the metal carving that was underneath the machine:
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
¡°Don''t help me,¡± Jeremy warned his team. Then he started muttering words under his breath, mostly saying words like run and mouth. ¡°Ah ha,¡± he said, ¡°a bunny!¡± The next second, a splash of acid was launched at Jeromy who carefully phased into shadows to avoid it. The rest of the team just started laughing hysterically. Jeromy looked aggravated and said, ¡°Well then, you solve it if it''s so easy.¡± Kiera, who''s turn was next, winked and walked up to the statue. ¡°A river,¡± she said. A small high steel coin popped out. Looking at it, she said, ¡°Sweet, that''s a second ring coin. Only need one more.¡± Each riddle device had the rules of the level written on it. They knew that they needed three copies of the same coin to receive an item, and that each device could only be used (correctly) by a person once. After being guessed correctly, the machine would shut down for 24 hours to absorb mana and switch to a new riddle.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Walking back out of the cave, the group looked around. They were on the beach off the river running down the middle of the canyon. They would soon have to start making their way up towards the exit teleportation glyph. They had already been on this floor for six days, and they were going a lot slower than they needed to. This was mostly due to the team''s wanderlust and sense of adventure. They loved finding the riddles, and had turned it into a team competition, to see who could answer more correctly. So far, Thalia was easily beating the rest of the team, and poor Vossan was lagging behind, with only a total of two tokens. ¡°I''ll never get tired of looking at this place,¡± Jeromy said, heading towards the river. A crocodile came out and waddled towards Jeromy, who killed it with a lazy swing of the hand and a flash of fire. ¡°Looks like cooked alligator is on the menu for tonight.¡± Thalia said, ¡°You ruined its hide, which is very valuable to tailors.¡± ¡°Whatever; we already have dozens of their hides in our bags as it is.¡± Jeromy stooped down and filled his water bag with the water. After collecting the sediment-laden water, Jeromy waved another hand over his bag, muttering a water-purifying spell. He offered the bag around, allowing people to drink the crystal clear and chilled water. ¡°Thanks,¡± Vossan said. They then just sat down on the beach, enjoying the smell of being in the canyon. They watched as a bald eagle swooped down on a snake, grabbing it with its claws, and flew off to somewhere unknown. ¡°You know, this dungeon is even more amazing than the nature dungeon was in Ilsan,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Agreed,¡± said Vossan. ¡°I had never been to it; what was it like?¡± asked Kiera. Vossan replied, ¡°It was considered to be one of the most amazing dungeons ever, since it was unlike most others. The first floor was just like a gigantic rainforest that sprouted inside some walls. It was the most profitable place around, and there were even some wars between the empire and the mage guilds over who would control it. And then one day, it simply ended. No one knows what happened. Some were still foolishly hoping for the dungeon to come back, but it''s dead and gone forever.¡± Kiera, who knew what really happened, said, ¡°Sad, the way such an amazing place was just gone in an instant. I hope that never happens here.¡± Thalia said, ¡°I will not allow the same to happen here!¡± Jeromy said, ¡°Don''t worry, with those shields it had erected around itself, I really don''t see anyone being able to destroy this dungeon.¡± The team settled into an amiable silence, staring at the stratified rock cliffs and the river that disappeared around a bend. *** The next day marked the long trek back up to the top of the floor. It was a much more arduous task then climbing down had been. It was marked by battles with goblin forces. They also stopped in a few more caves, trying to complete their triplet coins to receive items at the end of the floor. Kiera managed to trade coins with Thalia to receive her third ring coin. She was excited to find out what magical ring she would be able to add to her collection. She already had the ring from the assassin in Khal City that hid her cultivation levels from prying eyes. ¡°Don''t expect too much out of D-level enchanted equipment,¡± warned Jeromy. ¡°It most likely will be useless junk.¡± Kiera snorted, ¡°Does this seem like a dungeon that would accept giving out useless junk? After going to all the trouble of setting up these puzzles?¡± The party quieted as they came up to another rock outcropping on the cliff''s face, infested with goblins. The team waited while Jeromy disappeared into the shadows, checking out the danger. After waiting a few minutes, Jeromy returned. ¡°A little over fifteen regular goblins, three shamans, and one chief. This is the most we''ve seen yet,¡± said Jeromy. Vossan sneered, saying, ¡°They''re only goblins. What are we waiting for? Let''s take them down the same as all the rest.¡± ¡°Just be careful of the chief, he''s a big one,¡± said Jeromy. Vossan then gave a war cry, running out onto the rock outcropping. The fifteen goblins turned as one to look at Vossan. The goblins were ugly-looking green monsters. They looked like someone had mashed together body parts from different animals in order to make a vaguely humanoid-looking creature. They were dressed in rags, even the chief and shamans. The little goblins raised their clubs and started running towards Vossan. As they ran, Kiera tossed a fireball into the group, killing three goblins and setting another two on fire, who went running around in a panic. These two ultimately ran off the cliff and fell into the distance. Meanwhile, Thalia was firing her arrows as fast as she could, killing two in the time it took for them to reach Vossan. When they did reach him, Kiera switched from damage dealer to healer. She started healing Vossan for all the club hits he was taking. ¡°Any time now, Jeromy,¡± snarled Vossan. ¡°Just thought you guys should get some practice in,¡± said Jeromy, right after appearing from shadows and slitting the chief''s throat. ¡°Well, that was anticlimactic, being a big chief and all, still just as easy to cut through his throat.¡± Roaring in anger, the three shamans simultaneously cast curses at Jeromy, who promptly disappeared into the shadows once again. By this time, the rest of the party had managed to take down all but three of the goblins. At this point, Vossan gave a giant shield bash to the three goblins, causing them to stumble back and fall on the ground. Thalia then put an arrow through each one''s throat, causing them to drown in their own blood. ¡°Right,¡± Kiera said. ¡°Let''s kill the shamans.¡± Without the goblin fighters keeping them occupied, the shamans were doomed. This was the problem with mages in general: they were very weak in defense. Kiera had managed to offset this with her Defensive Form manual and her Earth mastery. The last shaman was apparently a soul mage. It launched a final desperate attack on Kiera''s soul, but it was like throwing an egg at a rock. Kiera had taken Dorn''s advice about protecting her soul seriously. Soul magic was a dangerous and mostly illegal art, but it was necessary to protect one''s self properly. Walking into the cave, they came upon a treasure chest. Jeromy walked up to it, keeping his eyes open. ¡°Careful,¡± he said. ¡°This one''s trapped.¡± ¡°How can you know what''s on the inside of the chest, without even really inspecting it?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Skill and dedication,¡± he replied flippantly. Kiera just rolled her eyes. Disarming the trap, Jeromy flipped open the lid of the treasure chest. Looking at the loot, he said, ¡°And we have, 2 silvers, 230 coppers, some bracers for a fighter, and a crudely made dagger. Gods, I can''t wait until the dungeon creates its C-leveled floors; I''m so sick of all this crap.¡± Kiera disagreed. ¡°This would be a really good haul for a D-ranked party.¡± ¡°Yes, but we''re not a D-ranked party, now are we?¡± said Jeromy. Thalia just snorted, saying, ¡°You''re in the most amazing floor of any dungeon ever, and you''re bitching about there not being better loot in a D-ranked floor?¡± Jeromy, not chastened at all, simply said, ¡°Go get your token from the machine.¡± As it was her turn, Thalia walked up to the puzzle mechanism. It was simply a relief carving of a dragon in the middle of the wall at the back of the cave. It was glowing green this time. Underneath the dragon was a plaque made of simple steel, with letters carved into it. Thalia read the riddle that was written:
I have both a head and a tail, but I am no snake. What am I?
After thinking for just a moment, Thalia answered with, ¡°a coin.¡± At the dragon''s mouth was a small hole that spat out a coin when Thalia answered. It had a stylized picture of an arrow printed on the coin. Thalia grinned at receiving her third arrow coin. With this, she should get a small batch of enchanted arrows to go along with her new melee weapon she would receive, for she had three short sword coins as well. After finishing with the machine, the letters on the plaque disappeared, and the dragon stopped glowing. In 24 hours, it would start glowing again, filled with a new riddle. Kiera said, ¡°I wonder how many riddles there actually are on this entire floor. Do you think that there''s a new one for each statue and each iteration, or do you think it''ll just cycle the riddles?¡± Thalia answered, ¡°I imagine it just cycles between a rather large number of riddles. It might be interesting to make a compendium of all the riddles offered by the dungeon, along with the answers.¡± Vossan''s eyes gleamed, ¡°Aye, that would make things much easier. Plus, I bet the book would sell really well.¡± Kiera liked the idea too, as she liked any plan to make money. Collecting their loot, the team walked back out of the cave and started climbing the wall again. Finally cresting the cliff, they turned around and looked backwards. ¡°This was an incredible floor,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Aye, agreed. It makes me wonder what it will have in store for the C-ranked floors,¡± answered Vossan. Jeromy said, ¡°I wonder when this dungeon will connect its tenth floor; I''m excited to see what it means by a boss floor.¡± Thalia said, ¡°It''ll probably just be a room with a large monster to fight.¡± Kiera, having already been through the floor, said, ¡°I don''t know; this dungeon is full of surprises. It makes me think it''ll be a really cool floor. Just look at this floor leading up to the boss level.¡± At that, they all stared out at the ninth floor. Thalia just said, ¡°I still can''t believe this is a dungeon floor. It''s more amazing than the Large Canyon. I think the Dry Canyon is going to become even more famous.¡± Vossan, ¡°If only it wasn''t infested by goblins.¡± At this time, they walked over towards the building that housed the exit teleportation and the machine for receiving tokens. Putting her three ring tokens into the machine, out spat both a ring and the three coins, each now having a small hole in the top. Looking at the ring, Thalia said, ¡°Ah, that''s a Danger Sense ring, but not a very strong one. It''ll help you see low level traps.¡± Sweet, Kiera thought, putting on the ring. She didn''t care that it was low-leveled; she always enjoyed getting loot. After the team got their items from the machine, they all stepped into the exit teleportation glyph, leaving behind the massive canyon floor. Chapter 18 Chapter 18 his son murdered a friend of mine, causing his mother, another friend of mine, to commit suicide. What, Dorn, are you watching me bathe? Where? fucker has an enchanted shield Defensive FormEvasive Steps Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. son my Dragon Cultivation two you said we couldn''t sell this. Are you sure? Who would know that it was us, if there was already mithril in the auction? it''s probably an item from the gods and not from the dungeons. If a pattern of the metal showed up, however, they would all know that a dungeon had it. Every dungeon in Sorenia would come hunting the dungeon that owned it. I was still correct. Until you''re at least an S-level dungeon, you should not sell your mithril pattern. If you really want the DP''s, spend the DP''s needed to grow the actual metal and sell units of it next auction. You can pretend that it was another item presented by the gods. fine, you''re probably right. Why would they spend so much on a piece of metal? duh, it''s to equip their Dungeon Avatar to fight in the virtual wars they are forced to participate in. Wouldn''t they be better off spending the DP''s upgrading to SS class? Anyone who buys this metal will have already reached the SS level, and they will be desperately looking for any edge they can get over the enemies they will be fighting at their same level. yeah, it turned out okay. Can you let me know if that Duke or Earl ever enter the dungeon again?
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 20 +1 for 21,000 DP''s Floors: 11/15 Dungeon Points: 26,558,237 Dungeon Rating: C1 ¨C Your dungeon has progressed to the level of a nationally recognized dungeon
Dorn just laughed, loudly. I''m rich, he screamed in his head. Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Dorn was busy rubbing his non-existent hands together in glee. It had been two days since he had received his massive 26.5 million DP''s, but he was still basking in the gloriousness that was being so rich. It was time to build a Colosseum. First, he checked his status to see how many points he had to work with:
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 20 +1 for 21,000 DP''s Floors: 11/15 Dungeon Points: 26,560,497 Dungeon Rating: C1 ¨C Your dungeon has progressed to the level of a nationally recognized dungeon
Dorn was about to start laughing again, before Emelia told him to ¡°cut that shit out.¡± Emelia further reminded him, ¡°Remember to leave enough points for your avatar. You''ll need a lot just to rank it up to a B rank chi practitioner as well.¡± He started by moving his core floor down to the lowest possible position, making it the fifteenth floor. This would give him space for a housing floor, a mining floor, and two dungeon floors. Time to start the housing floor. He began by creating the four arches rooms. He created all the same steles that were located on the D-ranked housing floor, including the ones that would show what each floor was and its difficulty rating. From there, he cleared out the entire cavern and split it into four sections using his Space magic. For this housing floor, he decided against a forest; that would be too much of the same. Instead, he was going to take the idea he had in his dungeon maze in floor six, the meadow, and expand it to encompass the entire floor. It was quite pretty, the fields of green hills that stretched out across the expansive floor. Then, he cut a number of rivers to meander across the space. Right where the four Space magic shields intersected, Dorn plotted a large circle, about 1,000 feet in diameter. This marked the location for where his Colosseum would reside. He began by peeling back the four shields until they were at the edge of his circle, then wrapped the entire circle in shield, raised from floor to ceiling. He turned the land inside the circle to stone, then he began to build. The first level was to be the fighting floor surrounded by arches of stone. He continued building upwards, with with each level offsetting arches of the previous level. Finally, when the height reached 200 feet, he stopped. In some ways, it was a very simple structure. A center stage surrounded by rows and rows of tiered seating. He then split the seating areas into five sections. Each section of seating could only be entered by the corresponding teleportation glyph. This would segregate the spectators by which floors they entered the Colosseum from. He then began to make the seating areas progressively nicer, as you moved to the higher-ranked ones. The D-level section was just long stone benches, and the S-level section had individual, private booths with areas to keep chilled food and beverages. Specialized Spacial magic barriers would allow light and sound to enter, but not exit. This would give anonymity to the box users; further, each box had its own teleportation glyph that would one day connect to the private homes on the S-ranked housing floor. Looking at his great Colosseum, he was happy. Checking his DP''s, he saw that he had spent two million points building this floor and structure. Oh well, easy come, easy go. *** His next task was to create a village in each of his four sections of the housing floor. He first pondered which buildings to build. He wanted this floor to eventually become the place to be for elite crafters, smiths, alchemists, and enchanters. This floor would focus on these four crafts. So, in each village, after creating a massive inn complete with tavern and stables, he turned towards building shops. The smithies got enormous smelters and furnaces built from black gold, with enchantments that could provide stable and variable levels of heat. The alchemists got all new and modern glassware, with self-cleaning enchantments. Of course, to prevent theft, he had to make a space shield surround alchemist shops that would let people come through, but not glassware. The alchemists were also given vented hoods made of Space magic that could ventilate dangerous concoctions. Enchanters were given labs filled with dense levels of mana and shields that could prevent explosions due to failure from propagating. One thing he knew that Kiera would enjoy was the baths. He decided to create large structures that were filled by the rivers, and could flow in and out of the buildings. He of course placed these downriver from where drinking water would be collected and upriver from where laundry would be done. This was a current sanitation problem that D-Housing was facing. Last, he built what would be his second, dungeon-controlled building on the floor (besides the inn). It was a bank. This bank would become one of the most secure places in the world to store gold, and the money would conveniently travel from one housing floor to the next. That is, as long as you could make it to the C-Housing floor or better. Looking around, he decided that the floor was done. Moving down a floor, he decided to be boring. He built an identical mine to the one ten floors above, but populated it with slightly more valuable metals and gems. Moonstone and high steel were now available to be mined. Before connecting the new housing floor, mining floor, and the tenth floor boss level to the dungeon proper, he decided he would show it to Kiera and see if she had any ideas on things to change. But first, he wanted a Dungeon Avatar. *** Checking his DP''s, Dorn saw that he was down a total of five million points from building his two new floors. Dorn took some deep breaths at how much things were costing him, and decided to just move on. Dorn was sick of being immobile and unable to interact with the world. To gain his avatar, he needed to be level 25. So he purchased the next five levels for his dungeon, costing a total of 115,000 DP''s. Then, he finally purchased his Dungeon Avatar through the store:
Dungeon Properties
Dungeon Avatar (locked to level 25) 1,000,000 DP''s
After selecting it, he felt his consciousness drawn into a new location. It was a blank white space. In front of him rotated a nude, male, human body, with skin so pale it was almost albino. This was not an unfamiliar place or setting for Dorn. This was where he had gone prior to the Dungeon Auction, when he had designed his body. Here, every little detail and feature of the body could be modified to fit Dorn''s taste. Emelia said, ¡°Be careful, as you will no longer be able to change your body once the process is finished. Some dungeons have ended up stuck in truly horrific bodies, because they were too young mentally to choose wisely.¡± Dorn snorted, ¡°I spent nearly two thousand years living amongst the humans; I think I''ll be fine.¡± He first darkened the color of the virtual body until it matched his former body''s healthy tan. He made the body his usual 6'' 2¡± and gave it long, silver hair and blue eyes. He fiddled a little with the facial muscles, giving him a completely different look from either his adventurer days as ''Dorn'' or at the Dungeon Auction. Anyone truly familiar with him, however, would recognize him from his eyes and hair. But these features were something Dorn was unwilling to give up. He could always dye his hair in the future, if he truly needed to hide. Of course, he also gave his body a ripped appearance. Dorn, as a proud dragon, wasn''t above a little vanity. A few perks for the male body''s ideal form was not lost on him. He would be spending eternity in this body, after all. Especially considering what he would be using this body for, leading his monsters into combat against other dungeons, he needed to always be in peek physical form. When he was happy with everything, his vision switched back to his core room. He had a brief bout of vertigo from suddenly seeing things from two different locations. His core body looked at his new, human body, and it looked back. This is weird, both bodies thought. Unhappy with the current situation, Dorn took steps to separate his body from his core. His consciousness was drawn more fully into his human body, leaving the core to run on autopilot most of the time. Dorn would still be aware of what was going on in his dungeon, but only when he focused on it. Major changes would still go through him; however, the little minutiae of day-to-day operations would be taken care of by an almost autonomous core.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Dorn spent a few DP''s to whip himself up a set of common cotton trousers. Getting dressed for the first time in about four months was a strange experience. He looked around, feeling almost normal. He sent his senses delving into the rest of his dungeon, just making sure that things were running as normal. His monsters were still fighting and adventurers were still dying. Perfect, thought Dorn. ¡°Now, you said something about being the final defender for you core. Does that mean you''re going to stay in this core room all day every day?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°No, my shields and offensive capabilities as a dungeon core are more protection than my new human body could possibly offer,¡± said Dorn a little forlornly. Looking at his new C5 cultivation, Dorn said, ¡°I spent nearly 3,000 years becoming an SS-ranked chi practitioner, and now I''m going to have to do it all over again.¡± ¡°It''ll be a little different, however; you should take a look at the screen open in your core''s field of vision,¡± said Emelia. Dorn focused in on his core body''s vision, seeing the following:
Congratulations! You are now in possession of a Dungeon Avatar, the final protection for your dungeon. You are now a C5- ranked chi practitioner. Like all normal creatures, you will need to practice the art of chi in order to grow stronger. As a dungeon, however, your jumps from rank to rank will be much easier! Instead of self- enlightenment through the study of chi itself, you will simply pay a cost in Dungeon Points! Please note that in the event of the death of your avatar, you will need to re-make your body at the C5 rank for the same cost of initially buying an avatar. All cultivation in chi will be lost as a consequence, so be careful with your new body!
¡°Well, that doesn''t sound too bad,¡± said Dorn. ¡°It''s lying. It is most definitely harder to rank up as a dungeon. The cost just to go from C to B ranked adventurer is five million DP''s. And the higher ranks are even more astronomical. It''s an exponential growth,¡± said Emelia. Dorn, while depressed at hearing the news on how much this avatar was going to cost, was just impressed that his idiot pixie knew the phrase, exponential growth. ¡°So, what are you going to do now?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°First, can you always notify me when my core gets a message? I don''t want to miss anything important.¡± ¡°Sure, that''s easy enough,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Well then, next, I need to carve something onto my back,¡± replied Dorn cryptically. ¡°Whaaa?¡± asked Emelia. Instead of answering, a silver light shot out of his core and started burning the flesh on his back. A complicated teleportation glyph was carved out onto his skin. Then, a pure red light flew out of the core, healing his back, but leaving the black lines of the glyph behind. ¡°Cool tattoo. What does it do?¡± asked Emelia curiously. ¡°It allows me to teleport back to this floor at any time and in any place, as long as I''m not locked down by anti-teleportation magic,¡± said Dorn. ¡°I know I''m currently too weak to really give any protection to my core, but I do want to be able to show up in case something happens. And eventually, I will be an SS-ranked chi practitioner once again.¡± ¡°Alright, that makes sense,¡± said Emelia. The next thing on Dorn''s list was to test his new affinities. As every body had different affinities, his would have changed from when he was a dragon. Creating a chi affinity testing orb took only a few DP''s. He grabbed the orb and watched as it started glowing in multiple colors. The left hemisphere of the orb glowed bright silver, which caused him to take a deep sigh of relief. He still had a major Space affinity. He was intrigued by the other three colors, however. Before, he had had minor affinities in Nature, Healing, and Soul magics. He still had Soul magic, but now he had Gravity and Lightning magics. ¡°Wow, I have three of the higher magics. Is that normal for a dungeon?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°I have no idea,¡± said Emelia helpfully. Finally, Dorn made preparations for entering the human adventurer culture once again. He spun up some C-grade armor and items, outfitting himself in nice, but not flashy equipment. Finally, he made a bag of holding large enough to hold everything he would need, and then filled it with gold, clothes, alchemy products, and sundry items. He thought for a while; luckily, as a dragon planning on becoming a dungeon, he had collected application books for every type of magic. His fighting style would still involve a lot of teleporting around, but he would no longer be forced to fight with a melee weapon. Lightning was the most offensive oriented magic, and Gravity made for a nice complement. He could bog an enemy down with Gravity and kill with Lightning. He would also have Soul magic and Space magic for defense. ¡°Alright, guess I''ll become a mage-type damage dealer,¡± said Dorn. With that pronouncement, Dorn created himself a mage''s staff out of moonstone and enchanted it with lightning and gravity runes. There, he thought, all ready. Time to go meet Kiera and bring her on a tour of the new floors. He felt oddly nervous. He teleported himself to outside his dungeon and headed into the human settlement for the first time. *** Waking up to pounding on her door with a massive hangover was not the idea of Kiera''s ideal morning. She had celebrated her level up a little too hard with her party. Kiera eventually managed to work up the energy to moan, ¡°Go away!¡± This, unfortunately, did not stop the pounding. Standing up, her head started spinning, and she rushed over to the chamber pot to vomit. ¡°Uggh.¡± ¡°Rough night?¡± asked Dorn in her head. Oh fuck off, I deserved a day of kicking back and enjoying life after the shit I had to put up with yesterday. Now I have to go kill whoever the fuck is knocking on my door. Flinging the door open, Kiera was ready to tell off whatever dimwit kept knocking on her door. She and Dorn just stared at each other. Holy fuck, who the hell is he? What''s with the silver hair? ¡°Um, should you maybe put some more clothes on?¡± asked Dorn. Kiera looked down at her half-dressed state and flung the door closed. Getting dressed, she said to herself,smooth, Kiera, smooth. Then she wondered why she was so flustered by being awkward in front of a complete stranger. Dorn interjected, ¡°Don''t worry, it didn''t bother me too much.¡± Not helping, Dorn. Now go away while I deal with this really hot guy who seems to be looking for me for some reason. ¡°I guess I''ll take that as a compliment,¡± Dorn replied with a projected smirk. This just confused Kiera, but in her hungover state, she decided not to think about it any further. Opening the door again, Kiera said, ¡°Hi. I''m Kiera. Why were you banging on my door this morning?¡± Then, in Dorn''s unmistakable deep voice, the man said, ¡°Well first of all, it''s around 2:00 in the afternoon. As for why, it''s so I could show you my new floors.¡± Kiera just stared at him with her mouth hanging wide open. ¡°Dorn?¡± she managed to ask in an incredulous voice. Dorn smirked and said, ¡°The great and mighty, here in the flesh.¡± Kiera''s face just paled, before she stammered, ¡°Oh my gods, I can''t believe I called you hot. You''re never going to let me live that down, are you?¡± Dorn''s smile just grew wider. Instead of answering, he said, ¡°Come on, let me show you my new floors.¡± Kiera just trailed behind him as he headed down towards the tavern. As he started heading for the door, Kiera managed to say, ¡°Hold up; let me get some breakfast first, while I try to wrap my head around what the fuck is going on. I''m still not certain I''m both awake and not hallucinating.¡± Dorn looked annoyed. After tilting his head back and forth for a while, as if he was having an internal argument, he sighed and said, ¡°Okay,¡± before sitting down at a table and calling for Jerry to bring two meals. Kiera sat down and just stared at him. The guy was insanely attractive. That would be incredibly annoying. Every time she looked at him, she had to remind herself that on the inside, this person was Dorn. A murderous silver dragon turned dungeon who now partially controlled her. Dorn looked at her before saying, ¡°Okay, ask your questions.¡± Kiera began immediately. ¡°Are you real?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I was able to gain a large amount of energy through an auction with other beings like myself, and I used the energy to build myself a new body to walk around in,¡± Dorn said. Kiera looked more hungover than ever. ¡°How the fuck does a -¡± ¡°Please don''t blow my identity in public. As you told your team, I''m just Dorn, your benefactor. As for when they ask why my cultivation is so weak, answer that I received a nearly-fatal injury to my dantian and lost years of cultivation.¡± Kiera was still stuck on a previous issue, saying, ¡°How does a you-know-what have an auction with other you-know-whats?¡± ¡°Through a system set up by the gods.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, really. Now, hurry up and eat so I can show you my new floors.¡± Kiera finally smirked, saying, ¡°You seem really proud about these new floors. I bet they suck.¡± Dorn just scowled the rest of the time, while Kiera finished her breakfast. Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Warley groaned. He looked down at the letter again, seeing if it had maybe changed since the last time he read it. But no, it still remained a missive informing Warley of the impending visit to the dungeon by the King of Khal. Of all the things a burgeoning town did not need, it did not need the intrigues surrounding the current monarch of Khal the most. Warley could not figure out why, on the eve of an Ilsanian invasion, the King had decided to come visit a dungeon on nearly the opposite side of the country from the border with Ilsan. Even worse was who he was bringing. It seemed Duke Hallowedlash and his son, Anatole, would be returning to the dungeon. It was going to fall to him to inform Kiera. Sighing, he walked out of the guild hall and over to the tavern to see if Kiera''s party was still there, or if they had left to dive in the dungeon. Walking into the tavern, Warley nodded at the elven innkeeper. He still wasn''t used to an intelligent, dungeon-created sentient. It was just strange. So was the person sitting with Kiera. He must be someone new to the dungeon, as Warley would have remembered meeting someone this distinctive before. Walking over, Warley greeted Kiera. Then he turned to Dorn, saying, ¡°Hello, I''m Warley, head of Khal''s adventuring guild. Are you new to the dungeon?¡± ¡°Yes, but I''ve heard a lot about it from Kiera. I''m Dorn,¡± he responded. ¡°Ah, so you''re this mysterious benefactor who''s been giving Kiera her fancy equipment and cultivation techniques. Pardon me for asking, but you have the presence of a high-rank chi cultivator, but I can''t help but notice that you''re only a C5 rank practitioner.¡± Dorn replied, ¡°That is correct. I was injured greatly in a battle a while ago, and recently lost most of my chi. I am quickly regaining strength, however. I am a wandering migrant from the Central Fantisan continent.¡± ¡°Oh, you''ve come a long ways to end up here in our little dungeon. Quite the coincidence.¡± ¡°By that logic, anywhere I go is a coincidence. And calling this a little dungeon is not exactly apt. Anyways, was there anything I can do to help you?¡± Warley said, ¡°Oh right, I almost forgot why I came over here in the first place. Kiera, I needed to tell you that the King is coming to visit the dungeon, and he''s bringing Duke Hallowedlash and his son along with him. I thought you might want to take a trip to the Dry Canyon while they''re here.¡± Kiera looked annoyed all of a sudden. And Dorn looked pissed. That''s strange, but I guess if he''s her benefactor, she might have told him about the Earl. ¡°So I have to leave, just to make it more comfortable for that fucking Duke?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°I thought it would be more comfortable for you, not being around the Earl,¡± said Warley. Dorn finally spoke, saying, ¡°Come, Kiera, let''s go to the canyon floor and just wait for the king and company to leave.¡± To Warley, he asked, ¡°Do you know when the king is arriving and how long he''ll be staying?¡± ¡°He''ll be arriving in three days, and I have no idea how long he''ll be staying. I''m sorry that there''s nothing I can do. Stay safe,¡± said Warley, before turning and leaving the inn. Returning to the adventurer''s guild, he asked one of his spies to try to keep an eye on this Dorn. Warley didn''t know how this benefactor fit into Kiera''s secrets, but he knew Dorn played a part. Warley had never met anyone who had been injured seriously enough to lose cultivation levels who also happened to look completely fine, with no paralysis or disfigurement. *** As Dorn and Kiera were walking towards the entrance to the dungeon proper, he started laughing. Kiera said, ¡°What''s funny about this situation? I basically have to run away because of those noble assholes. Why are you laughing?¡± Dorn said, ¡°Oh no, I''m not laughing about that. I''m laughing at the B-ranked adventurer who''s following us.¡± ¡°What?¡± Kiera asked, looking around. ¡°Clearly, Warley didn''t completely believe our story, and he''s sent someone to snoop around.¡± ¡°What a dick,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Indeed; anyways, don''t worry about him; he''ll be hopelessly confused when we disappear from all the floors that are currently accessible to adventurers.¡± ¡°Heh, okay, that is a little funny. Think he''s going to go running around the canyon looking for us?¡± ¡°One can always hope,¡± replied Dorn They stepped up to the teleportation glyph and thought, Floor 11. They showed up in the large meadow of the C-Housing floor. Wow, it''s beautiful, thought Kiera. To Dorn, however, she said, ¡°It''s alright.¡± ¡°You know, I can hear your thoughts, right?¡± Dorn said with a smirk. ¡°Gah, stay out of my head you asshole,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Here, considering I''m your ''benefactor'', let me teach you an exercise in Soul magic.¡± Sitting down cross-legged in the meadow, Dorn looked up expectantly at Kiera. Kiera, looking doubtful, sat down and asked, ¡°Why are you being so nice?¡± ¡°He''s in loooove,¡± piped up an invisible Emelia. Dorn waved his hand and smacked the pixie into view, who continued laughing in mid-air. Right, I''ll believe that when my shit turns purple and smells like mana crystals. Gods, I need to thank Roderick for that turn of phrase. Meanwhile, Dorn said, ¡°Just ignore the idiot pixie flying around. I''m being ''nice'' because I want my minions to at least have a basic level of mental defenses, so they don''t go spilling my secrets to the first Soul mage that shows up here.¡± ¡°Alright, fine, what''s the exercise?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Close your eyes,¡± said Dorn. Kiera looked at him suspiciously, before closing her eyes. Then she began imagining things as Dorn spoke. Suddenly, Dorn''s voice cut off, before he started coughing. He then said, ¡°Well, that''s some image of me you have in your head.¡± Kiera was mortified, her cheeks blushing bright red. ¡°Quick, teach me how to shield my thoughts,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Alright, imagine that your head is a hollow sphere. This shouldn''t be too much of a stretch,¡± said Dorn with his usual smirk. Ass, she thought at Dorn. Becoming more serious, Dorn said, ¡°Push all your thoughts, emotions, and senses inside this sphere. Outside the sphere, let there only be empty void, black like space. Now imagine lining the inner surface of this sphere with a thin layer of mithril. Use your Soul magic to apply this layer of mithril. Yes, use actual Soul magic. Good, now you may open your eyes.¡± Kiera looked up, saying, ¡°So, now my thoughts are shielded from you?¡± ¡°That''s right; it''s that simple. Well, at least, it''s sort of simple,¡± Dorn equivocated. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°You are now shielded from the casual observation of Soul mages. However, if determined, a Soul mage could easily pierce your new mental shield. Like this.¡± Kiera suddenly gave a cry. ¡°There''s a big hole in my new shield, you jerk.¡± ¡°Just patch it up with some more mithril. Now, I''m already gone, but if I were an evil Soul mage, I could have left behind instructions that you would be forced to carry out. This is known as domination. I could have also pillaged all your thoughts and memories. As I said, it''s important for every mage to be able to protect their minds; you just happen to have an advantage in the form of a minor affinity for Soul magic. Furthermore, you must learn to keep this shield up all day, every day, even while you sleep. Especially while you sleep, for that is when you are most vulnerable to Soul magic. And you need to make the shield harder and more resilient, so that it''s not so easy to pierce.¡± Kiera groaned, saying, ¡°That sounds difficult. And besides, you''ve had 3,000 years of experience in Soul magic, so of course you could pierce my shield.¡± ¡°Remember that I''m now a C5-ranked adventurer. Any novice Soul mage could breach your shield as easily as I did. No one said becoming a mage was easy. You do wish to get vengeance, correct? If you want to become strong enough to march into the heart of Ilsan and kill both your brother and the noble who tried to buy you, then you must become strong. If you wish to become rich, then you must become strong. No excuses, no whining, no quitting. You must practice diligently.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Yes, yes, I will, I promise.¡± It was now Dorn''s turn to look at her suspiciously. Then he shrugged his shoulders. It was her problem, not his. Standing up, Dorn said, ¡°Let me show you my Colosseum.¡± Standing up, Kiera gave a cheeky grin, saying, ¡°Is that what they call it nowadays?¡± Emelia burst out laughing while Dorn just sighed and shook his head back and forth, as if wondering why he was even bothering. *** ¡°It''s certainly large,¡± said Kiera. ¡°That''s what she said,¡± said Emelia. Kiera and Emelia both laughed and high fived. Dorn just stared confused at them both. ¡°Seriously, what does that mean, ''that''s what she said''?¡± Kiera just laughed harder, before saying, ¡°No, I think it''s funnier that you don''t get it.¡± Dorn just sighed and brought Kiera into the interior of the Colosseum, right in the middle of the stage. ¡°What do you think? It''d be exciting to fight here, wouldn''t it?¡± he asked. ¡°Depends. What''s the reward for fighting? Also, who or what am I fighting?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Good questions. I waffled back and forth between having sentients fight each other or just having sentients fight monsters. I decided to go with the latter; while encouraging people to kill each other would be immediately beneficial for me, it might lead to people hating me, instead of the mutually beneficial relationship we currently have. So, the way it will work is, a person or a party can sign up to compete in the arena. When a person or a party signs up to fight, they will have to make a choice: monster or devil. If they choose to fight a monster, and win, they will receive money as a reward. If they fight a devil, they will receive both money and something I am calling Devil Points.¡± Kiera said, ¡°Okay, two questions. How do you determine the strength of the monster each group will fight? And what are Devil Points?¡± ¡°I struggled with the first question before finding the answer. When each group signs up, they will choose a difficulty level, from one through three. One will be slightly below the person or party''s strength and three will be slightly above. The payouts will leap precipitously at difficulty level three,¡± answered Dorn. ¡°So you''re molding the monsters to the standards of each person or party? Isn''t that difficult?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Not really; if it''s just a single person, I''ll use chi level and gear as an indicator. As for groups, well, I have a pretty good eye for what a group can manage based on composition, chi levels, and gear. It''s all stuff I''ve shunted over into my subconscious.¡± ¡°Okay, so explain Devil Points,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Ah, glad you asked,¡± said Dorn, before handing her a book. ¡°Seriously? It''s this complicated?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°No, you dimwit, this is a list of how many points various monsters are worth, as well as the rewards that you can get with varying amounts of Devil Points, as well as explanations of said rewards,¡± Dorn said with some scorn. Kiera feverishly opened the book, starting to look through the possible rewards. ¡°Holy shit,¡± she muttered upon seeing the first page.
Rewards
Chi Styles Page 2
Martial Applications Page 5
Affinity Applications Page 10
Weapons Page 15
Armor Page 30
Accessories Page 40
Enchanted Items Page 50
Alchemy Page 55
Resources Page 60
Rules of the Colosseum Page 75
Demons & Devils Glossary Page 80
She feverishly turned through the first few pages, looking immediately at the bottom of the list. There it was, the unabridged version of Dragon Cultivation, an SS-ranked cultivation method costing¡­ ¡°Is 1,000,000 Devil Points a lot?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Heh, let''s just say that you would have to kill 1,000,000 lesser imps. Or a single Prince of Hell.¡± ¡°Fuck. You made it too difficult,¡± Kiera whined and looked at him with puppy eyes. ¡°Yeah, you can whine all you want, I won''t be giving you anything for free,¡± Dorn said with a stern face. ¡°Can I keep the book?¡± she asked. ¡°Of course; when I connect up this floor and the Colosseum, I will be dropping off hundreds of copies at the inns, so that every person can take one,¡± said Dorn. ¡°You''re going to get a massive amount of traffic, especially on day one,¡± Kiera said. ¡°Yeah, it will be awesome. All the money I''ve made from the inns and all the money I''ll make from charging admission to the Colosseum will determine the payouts to the champions who fight. Plus, I''ll be setting up a large betting station, for people to waste even more money.¡± ¡°So, who are you putting in charge?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Ah, your best question yet. Say hello to Jerry5,¡± said Dorn An elf who looked identical to all the other Jerrys came out and said, ¡°Hello miss.¡± ¡°Okay, it''s kind of creepy that all your elf slaves look the same, and that they are all called Jerry,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Just a fun joke on my part. Anyways, now that you''ve seen everything, let''s go look at the town,¡± Dorn said before teleporting them over to the human''s village. Dorn proceeded to lead her on a tour of the village. She was particularly excited when they arrived at the bath houses, demanding to use it immediately. Thirty minutes later, she came out shivering, asking why the water was so cold. Dorn just told her to wait for the B-level floors, when the baths would be heated. She looked angry, saying, ¡°Put in a place where people can manually heat it.¡± She looked so angry, that Dorn just gave into her demand, creating a place where wood could be burned to heat the baths. Other than that, she seemed to like the village a lot. Dorn said, ¡°Okay, I''m going to connect the boss floor, the C-Housing, and the C-Mining floors now. Go collect your team and pretend to go through the boss floor for the first time.¡± He escorted Kiera back to the teleportation glyph, sending her on her way. He then turned around, talking to Emelia, saying, ¡°Alright, it''s time to implement the plan I had for the first of my C-ranked floors so long ago.¡± *** ¡°Finally, we''re here,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°And why does it look like the first floor of the dungeon proper again? I swear, this dungeon is bipolar.¡± Thalia was busy reading the rules, of course. She said, ¡°Hey guys, look at this stele. The rules here are pretty strict.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, no enchantments, no alchemy, and you can forfeit five times. Seems simple enough to me,¡± said Vossan. ¡°That''s because you have a simple mind, sir Dwarf,¡± Thalia responded. ¡°Thanks,¡± said Vossan. Jeromy bumped his elbow into Vossan, saying, ¡°Hey, that wasn''t a compliment.¡± Vossan then scowled. He headed over to the ''tank'' door and walked through. Thalia said, ¡°I suggest we all do as the dwarf has done, and take our own respective tests.¡± Stepping through, Kiera ended up at the second entrance teleportation glyph, the one right before the boss room. Damn, I was hoping he would let me go through that part twice, since he''s letting me come to this floor at all. ¡°I already gave you the standard healer''s outfit to sell,¡± said Dorn. I thought you couldn''t hear my thoughts if I didn''t project them towards you. ¡°I didn''t hear your thoughts; I just read your face,¡± he said. Ignoring Dorn, she just waited quietly until Vossan came out. He was decked in new gear. ¡°Check out my awesome new armor,¡± said Vossan. Kiera made proper amazed sounds, boosting Vossan''s pride. A minute later, both Jeromy and Thalia made it through. ¡°Well, that wasn''t very difficult. A bit skimpy on the rewards though,¡± Jeromy said. ¡°That''s because you''re a B-ranked adventurer, you idiot,¡± Kiera said. ¡°Oh well, let''s just go take care of the second half of the floor. I wonder what monster we''ll be facing.¡± ¡°I bet it''s kobolds,¡± Kiera muttered. *** Standing over the dead kobolds, Jeromy said, ¡°Well, your guess was right, Kiera. What made you think kobolds? I would have guessed goblins, due to the ninth floor.¡± Panicking slightly, Kiera said, ¡°Oh it was just that odd kobold in the jungle floor that seemed so out of place. Made me think that more might be coming later.¡± They then checked the treasure chest, finding a weapon for each of them. Vossan and Thalia were happy with their shield and bow, respectively. Jeromy already had better daggers than what he received, and Kiera preferred her mana battery staff over the new healing staff she received (it would slightly increase the potency of her heals). She already had a cloak which gave the same function. Both Jeromy and Kiera decided to just sell all their new equipment the next time they were in D-Housing. ¡°Alright guys, let''s go check out the C-Housing floor. Should be a step nicer than D-Housing. At least there will be fewer D-ranked adventurers getting under foot there,¡± said Jeromy. Thalia rolled her eyes, saying, ¡°There won''t be any D-ranked adventurers on the floor, ever.¡± Thinking about the children running around on the D-Housing floor, Kiera said, ¡°I wonder what the policy is for children being able to live with their parents?¡± Dorn suddenly spoke in her head, ¡°Children under eighteen can live with their parents on whatever floor. After their 18th birthday, however, they are ejected back to D-Housing and must work their way down.¡± Thalia said, ¡°That''s a good question. Maybe families with children will simply have to live on the D-Housing floor, even though they are qualified to live on the nicer floors.¡± Kiera, not knowing how to ''guess'' what the answer really was, just said, ¡°Uh huh, that makes sense. Anyways, let''s go see what the housing floor looks like.¡± Vossan said, ¡°Screw that, I''m going straight to the mining floor. I''ll meet you guys later in the inn, if there is one.¡± He then teleported off without saying goodbye, with that same manic look in his eye. Rolling his eyes at Vossan''s antics, Jeromy said, ¡°Alright, let''s go see what''s in store for us.¡± They stepped into the teleportation glyph, thinking floor eleven, before a flash of white light surrounded them. Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Two cowled men sat at a table surrounded by darkness. It was an area remarkably similar to the virtual areas that Dorn had been to when making his avatar. Only black, instead of white. ¡°Progress?¡± asked one of the two men. ¡°The puppet and I will be there within a few days; I will dominate the core when I arrive.¡± ¡°And the contingency plan?¡± ¡°There''s no need for a contingency plan; I could not possibly fail.¡± ¡°Silence! That is not your decision to make, as you well know. All must be perfect for the family. Now answer the fucking question.¡± ¡°The dark elves have been notified; they will come for the tree, if nothing else.¡± ¡°Good. See to it that your hubris does not interfere with the plan. The family will be arriving in a month, and all must be ready.¡± Then, the man asking questions disappeared. ¡°Asshole,¡± muttered the one who was still there, before continuing, ¡°When I succeed, we''ll see who has the higher position in the family.¡± *** ¡°Well, this is nice,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Looks like the meadow up on floor six, only bigger,¡± said Thalia. The team, minus Vossan who was mining, had just met up on the eleventh floor, after going through the gatehouses separating the races. Kiera asked Thalia, ¡°Have you seen the village area yet, or did you just come straight here?¡± ¡°No, I figured there was no point in seeing an empty plot of land, so I came over to meet with you,¡± answered Thalia. Kiera, knowing better, said, ¡°Well, let''s go look at the humans'' area anyways; might as well go to the inn and see if there''s another Jerry.¡± ¡°Yeah, what is it with this dungeon and its naming sense?¡± asked Jeromy. Suddenly, Dorn''s voice came into Kiera''s head, ¡°Seriously, can I please just kill him? It would make me feel so much better.¡± Kiera just grinned, saying back to Jeromy, ¡°I don''t know. Why are all the elves identical-looking and named Jerry?¡± ¡°Why does he use only elves as his slaves, is the better question,¡± said Thalia with a frown. ¡°Eh, it probably just means the dungeon looks more favorably upon elves than the rest of the races. I wouldn''t read too much into it,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Actually, it''s because the only patterns I had when I built this place was for elves or beast-kin. And we all know how humans here react to beast-kin,¡± said Dorn into Kiera''s head. Kiera suddenly asked Dorn, what is it with the people in Khal and their attitudes towards beast-kin. Are they really that awful? I''ve never even met one, and the people here seem to hate them. Dorn answered, ¡°There''s been many wars between the two, leading to bad blood. But, for once, the humans do have some reason on their side. The beast-kin are not a very civilized people, albeit with some exceptions. As for meeting them, well, some have just settled in the D-floor, so you might be meeting some sooner than you think. Also, Jeromy''s waving his hand in front of your face, again.¡± ¡°Gods Kiera, would you stop daydreaming in the middle of conversations? It''s really annoying,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Sorry,¡± said Kiera, somewhat abashed. ¡°I was just wondering about the beast-kin, and if they will ever end up here, in their quadrant. Jeromy suddenly got a dark look on his face. ¡°Let''s hope not, because those animals cannot be allowed to live here.¡± ¡°Is that really fair? I''ve never met one, but supposedly, they are sentients, like us,¡± asked Kiera. Jeromy glowered, before saying, ¡°They are nothing like us. And you two had best hope you don''t meet any, as women. They have a great liking for human and elvish women.¡± At this statement, Kiera shivered. She knew all too well what Jeromy was talking about, having dealt with Earl Hallowedlash, as well as farm managers for a decade. Thalia gave another frown, saying, ¡°I don''t like stereotyping based on race, so I will reserve judgment until and if I ever meet any.¡± ¡°You''ll see. Animals is what they are,¡± was all Jeromy would say. ¡°Alright, enough on that topic, I''m sorry for bringing it up. Let''s go see the town and get something to drink,¡± said Kiera in a happy tone of voice. While they were walking towards town, Kiera projected her thoughts towards Dorn. Are the beast-kin really like that? As Jeromy says? Dorn answered, ¡°Unfortunately, many are. Not the ones I''ve invited here, so you needn''t be too worried. In fact, I''m more concerned that when the humans find out there are beast-kin here, they''ll be all killed off.¡± That''s a relief, and well, as long as they are safe in their quadrant, they can''t be killed off, right? asked Kiera. Dorn stayed silent for a while, before finally saying, ¡°The Space shields in the housing floors are not permanent fixtures. They will eventually come down, in all but the highest ranked housing floor.¡± What!? Dorn, no, you can''t do that. There are children up on those floors. If you bring those shields down, there''ll be riots and war. You can''t do that to them. Dorn hummed while thinking. ¡°It won''t be for a long while, so it''s not something that you need to worry about quite yet. I will give ample preparation time for the people, before I do so.¡± But you didn''t even let us build walls, Kiera complained. ¡°Ah, no, I didn''t let you build walls for taxing reasons. Humans can feel free to build walls for defensive purposes. Actually, you might want to mention to Warley to try again to build walls.¡± Gah, we''ll talk more about this later, Kiera thought, as they were rapidly getting close to town. As they reached the town, Thalia and Jeromy were flabbergasted. ¡°Did the dungeon build all this? This is incredible,¡± said Thalia, checking out one of the alchemy rooms. ¡°Wow, the crafters are going to die and go to the gods'' realm when they find out what is down here for them. This is amazing,¡± said Jeromy. Kiera said, ¡°Let''s go check out what buildings the dungeon has erected throughout this town, so we can give Warley a report when we get back.¡± Jeromy suddenly brightened, ¡°Good idea.¡± Kiera just looked at him sadly, knowing what a hopeless battle he was fighting. The team then traversed through the cobblestone streets, looking into each of the buildings. Finally, they returned to the inn, to sit, drink, and think. ¡°So, we have smithies, alchemy shops, enchanting shops, crafting shops, and even tailoring houses,¡± recounted Jeromy. ¡°Don''t forget the bank,¡± added Thalia. ¡°Plus the bath houses. Definitely can''t forget the two bath houses,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Right, as well as this far and away better inn. The rooms even have attached bathrooms, and the beds are soft. This place is as nice as any human-made inn I''ve ever been in,¡± said Jeromy. They were all contemplating the wonderful town that the dungeon had built for them, when Vossan came running into the inn. ¡°Did you see it?¡± shouted Vossan. ¡°Yes, obviously we''ve seen the town. We''re in it,¡± answered Jeromy. ¡°No, not the town. The giant fucking Colosseum!¡± ¡°What?¡± Kiera asked, trying to sound surprised. ¡°There''s a huge Colosseum in the middle of the floor, with shields surrounding it from all sides, floor to ceiling,¡± said Vossan. ¡°There was a stele outside it, saying it would open in five days'' time!¡± ¡°Well, that''s cool and all, but what do we do with a giant Colosseum?¡± asked Jeromy. At this, Jerry5 came over to the table with Vossan''s drink and said, ¡°Yes, dear guests. The dungeon would like for me to give you four these books. Please enjoy.¡± They all took a book and started flipping through it.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°No. Fucking. Way,¡± said Jeromy, one word at a time. For once, even Thalia joined in on the excitement, saying ¡°This dungeon is giving out style books?¡± ¡°This is incredible,¡± said Kiera, still just as excited as when she had first gotten the book. Reading the rules in the back of the book, Jeromy said, ¡°A lot of people are going to die. But these rewards, it''s completely worth it.¡± Thalia had finally turned to the alchemy rewards section, and suddenly gasped. ¡°What is solid alchemy?¡± ¡°Solid alchemy?¡± asked Kiera. Jeromy said, ¡°I have never heard of solid alchemy.¡± Kiera and Vossan agreed. They all turned to the alchemy section and just stared at the five available solid alchemy products and three available recipes. ¡°C-Advancement Pill,¡± Thalia read out. ¡°I wonder what that is?¡± At this question, Jerry once again came over to the table. He told them, ¡°The dungeon would like me to inform the four of you, that solid alchemy is popular in the Central Fantisa continent. It is the art of making medicinal pills from herbs, turning them into training assistants for chi cultivation. The C-Advancement Pill you mentioned, can only be taken once while in the C ranks. It will allow a person to raise one level immediately.¡± It was like a bomb went off. Thalia got a manic look on her face, suddenly shoving her nose in the rewards book to see how she could get enough points for the recipes. Jeromy just kept his jaw open, in disbelief. Vossan just started shouting loud noises, as if happy. And Kiera just thought towards Dorn, What the hell, Dorn? Why didn''t you tell me about this? ¡°I wanted to see everyone''s look on their faces when they found out. And let me tell you, it was worth it,¡± Dorn replied. ¡°Someone needs to go tell Warley about this,¡± Kiera said. ¡°I''ll go,¡± said Jeromy, with a happy look on his face. ¡°Okay,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Bring him a copy of this book, while you are at it.¡± ¡°I need to go tell my people,¡± said both Thalia and Vossan. ¡°Kiera, you should stay here, as it''s too dangerous with the King of Khal coming with that Earl,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Okay, I understand,¡± said Kiera, a little sadly. As they were just about to leave, Dorn entered into the inn. ¡°Well, this place is nice,¡± he said. ¡°Who are you? You must be new to the dungeon. Did you get to this floor alone?¡± asked Jeromy. He was wondering how such a strange-looking C-ranked practitioner managed to make it to the eleventh floor alone, almost at the same time as them. ¡°Ah, my name is Dorn, an adventurer from the Central Fantisa continent.¡± Thalia said, ¡°Oh, so you''re Kiera''s mysterious benefactor. It makes sense that you would be from Central Fantisa. Why are you so weak, though?¡± ¡°Yes, I was once much more powerful, but I suffered a near-fatal injury to my dantian, causing me to drop all the way back to a C-level practitioner,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Can you give the rest of us gear like Kiera''s?¡± asked Vossan. Dorn responded, ¡°No.¡± Kiera grinned, saying, ¡°He''s not exactly the most talkative person around.¡± Dorn slightly frowned at Kiera. ¡°Hey, Dorn, you''re from Central Fantisa, right?¡± asked Jeromy. ¡°Yes, I just said that.¡± ¡°Have you heard of solid alchemy?¡± ¡°Of course, what made you think of it?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Here, check out this book,¡± said Thalia, handing him a book. Opening it, Dorn of course pretended to be stunned, saying, ¡°This is incredible; I can''t believe a dungeon would be able to give such amazing rewards, and at such a low level too. Although, I wonder how it plans to transmit the style books.¡± ¡°Yeah, it''s pretty incredible. Anyways, the three of us have to go inform our people, do you mind staying here with Kiera for a little while. We should be back soon,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Of course, no problem. This book should give us plenty to talk about.¡± After they left, Dorn and Kiera just looked at each other, before Kiera started giggling. ¡°Nice acting,¡± she said. ¡°Thanks, yours wasn''t too bad either.¡± As they sat with drinks, they made some small talk. Suddenly, in the middle of the conversation, Dorn whipped his head upwards towards the ceiling. Kiera asked, ¡°What is it?¡± Dorn frowned, saying, ¡°The King just arrived.¡± Kiera said, ¡°Oh, well, you were expecting that, right?¡± Dorn just answered, ¡°I didn''t expect him to come with an S-ranked Soul mage.¡± ¡°Gods. Is that dangerous for you?¡± asked Kiera with concern. ¡°No. Only an SS-ranked Soul mage with a major affinity in Soul magic could defeat me...but,¡± he said, trailing off. ¡°But what?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°There''s no way anyone would know that. And I''ve never, ever, heard of there being an S-ranked Soul mage in all of East Lucenia. Especially not in Khal. I wonder why he''s here.¡± Suddenly alarmed by a thought, Kiera said, ¡°Is Emelia safe from him? Could he get to you through the link between the two of you?¡± Dorn, suddenly looking panicked, immediately called Emelia over. When she arrived at the inn, she too had a scared face. Dorn said to her, ¡°Until this mage leaves or is killed, you are to remain with my core at all times, staying invisible. Is that understood?¡± ¡°Yes, I won''t be going anywhere,¡± Emelia said nervously. Emelia then disappeared through a small portal to the core floor. Suddenly curious about this Soul mage, Kiera asked, ¡°What does he look like?¡± ¡°I can''t tell; he''s wearing an enchanted cloak, with his face hidden behind a cowl.¡± *** The King of Khal''s procession moved solemnly towards the D-Housing village. As they neared the entrance, a large crowd of people could be seen on either side of the main road. In the middle of the road was Warley, with the adventurer''s guild members lined up behind him. He led the people in kneeling, saying, ¡°We greet his highness, the King. Long may he live, and long may he rule.¡± The King asked everyone to rise, before talking to Warley, ¡°Warley, it is good to see you again. I see that the dungeon village is coming along nicely. Congratulations. This is due to the efforts of all of you fine adventurers. I''m sure you''ve met Duke Doscue Hallowedlash and his son, Earl Anatole Hallowedlash. They now own the land surrounding this dungeon, with a mana-bound contract. And this here is my new adviser, Friedrich,¡± said the King, gesturing towards the cowled man. Warley frowned, saying, ¡°It''s a pleasure to meet you, Friedrich. That is a foreign name, is it not? May I ask where you are from and if you have been in Khal long?¡± Warley was displeased with whoever this new adviser was, for an adviser should be telling the King to ready his forces for the invasion from Ilsan. Furthermore, there was something that just seemed off about this cowled man. Strangely, Friedrich didn''t even reply. In fact, his head never even turned to look at Warley. The King simply laughed, saying, ¡°He''s a man of few words, Friedrich, but his advice has been invaluable. I never would have realized how loyal and valuable the Duke and Earl are without his information gathering.¡± At this, Warley looked strangely troubled. As he was about to speak again, the King cut him off, saying ¡°We can discuss more in the adventurer''s guild hall.¡± After saying this, the King''s procession continued to move into the village, with all the pomp and circumstance involved in an event such as this. Warley simply continued to watch the procession, frowning all the while. It was at this time that Jeromy came running from the teleportation glyph entrance to this floor. ¡°Guild master, guild master,¡± called Jeromy. ¡°Not now, Jeromy, I must make haste to meet with the King,¡± answered Warley. ¡°Trust me, you''ll want to see this,¡± said Jeromy, handing over the book. Looking through the book, Warley became more and more amazed. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± he asked. ¡°From the Jerry in the C-Housing inn,¡± answered Jeromy. ¡°I will meet with you later; in the meantime, do not show this to anyone. Especially not anyone in the king''s procession. Meet me tonight, in my office.¡± Jeromy gulped, saying, ¡°Yes, guild master.¡± *** ¡°Warley, you''ve done an admirable job of getting this village started,¡± said the King. ¡°Now that the village is on the right path, I believe that your talents are better suited elsewhere. Leading the adventurer''s guild is enough of a task for any man.¡± Warley, his frown deepening, said, ¡°Respectfully, my King, I disagree. I believe that helping grow the village is my most important task, at this moment.¡± ¡°No, no,¡± dismissed the King. ¡°Now, you''ve simply been having too much work. As Friedrich has pointed out, and I must say that I agree, it would be much better to put the task of governing the village in the capable, and experienced, hands of the Duke, here.¡± Duke Hallowedlash gave Warley a large and sinister grin at this statement. Friedrich still had his face cowled by his coat. He was simply staring down at the ground, as if trying to pierce the floors with his vision. With no other choice, Warley said, ¡°Yes, my King. I will return to managing the adventurer''s guild.¡± ¡°Good, good. Thank you Warley, for your service to this dungeon and to the kingdom. You may withdraw,¡± said the King. ¡°My King,¡± Warley protested. ¡°I believe I still have valuable information about the construction and progress of this village, that could assist you and the Duke greatly.¡± The King finally frowned, and repeated what he said, ¡°You may withdraw.¡± Warley kneeled, saying, ¡°Yes, my King,¡± before rising and leaving. Something is wrong. Something is dreadfully wrong. *** Dorn watched as all this happened. He let Kiera view it with a crystal orb. ¡°Hmmm, what do you think, Kiera?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°I think that soul mage has an undue influence over the King, and that his advice is mostly bad. Why would he exclude Warley from both his position and the meeting about the future of the D-Housing village?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°Hmmm, why indeed?¡± repeated Dorn. After a brief silence, Dorn said, ¡°Would it help you to realize his intentions if you knew that the King was completely dominated by this Friedrich, with the Duke and Earl clearly acting as his stooges?¡± Kiera gasped. ¡°Are you serious?¡± she asked. ¡°Indeed. It looks like there are four people from the King''s procession here, including the King, but all the actions are directed by that one cowled man.¡± ¡°What is he really doing here, then?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Well, let''s look at it step by step. Putting the Duke and Earl in charge of the village is a disaster in the making, and Friedrich clearly knows this. No one can become an S-ranked Soul mage without understanding people, a great deal of intelligence, and a powerful force behind them. Creating a disaster is the best situation for a power grab. He either wants to seize control of this dungeon, or he works for some entity that wishes to seize control of the dungeon. I''m leaning more towards the latter.¡± ¡°So does that mean he''s working for Ilsan?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°If the Ilsanians had an S-ranked Soul mage at their disposal, I would be willing to eat my hat. Not that I wear one. The point is, this mage is clearly not from East Lucenia. I would know if this continent had such a powerful Soul mage. And until the last few months, it clearly did not.¡± Kiera frowned, thinking out loud, ¡°So, a foreign power has sent an S-ranked Soul mage to infiltrate the weakling Khal kingdom and usurp the power of its King in taking over a dungeon? This really makes no sense. If a power has the ability to create an S-ranked soul mage, why bother? Why not just come in force and take over the dungeon?¡± Dorn decided to help her out, saying, ¡°What''s the only true way to control this dungeon?¡± A look of horror passed through her face, ¡°To control you. And so...¡± ¡°And so, the power sends out an S-ranked soul mage to come and dominate the newly formed core of a dungeon, something that is easily within the powers of such a mage. The family later arrives in force, re-instates order, gains the favor of the people, easily replaces the king, and secretly controls a dungeon.¡± ¡°But why, what''s the ultimate goal?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Only really two possibilities, as I see it. They are a declining power that wishes to regrow their strength by controlling a dungeon, before victoriously returning to their homeland. Or, a family has sold out to the devils and demons, and is working to create another infernal dungeon. Doing this in secret and slowly converting the people within would be well within the plans of the devil and demon plane,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh my gods. Dorn, isn''t that what you hate the most?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Why aren''t you more upset?¡± ¡°Because I don''t know for sure, yet, and I am waiting to find out. For all I know, this mage'' family could have a completely different reason for doing what they are doing. And most of all, they picked the wrong dungeon. Any other new dungeon besides mine, and this plan would work. But their plan is going to fail, and fail spectacularly. As long as they don''t get at Emelia, who is now protected by being near my core. All I need to do is sit back and watch, while waiting for Friedrich to inevitably rush through the dungeon to get to my core.¡± ¡°And what are you going to do to him?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Just wait and see, little Kiera, wait and see,¡± answered Dorn. ¡°Don''t call me little Kiera, it sounds like I''m your kid,¡± muttered Kiera. Dorn just chuckled, saying, ¡°Well we wouldn''t want that.¡± Then they both continued to watch the crystal orb, as it showed the actions of the cowled man, who was still staring into the ground. He slowly looked up and stared directly into the screen, as if he could see Dorn and Kiera. The orb abruptly went black. Dorn chuckled some more, saying, ¡°I guess he didn''t appreciate us spying on him.¡± Kiera said, ¡°Dorn, how can you be so calm? This is a serious situation.¡± Dorn responded, ¡°Because it''s like watching an ant trapped in a glass. No matter how the ant struggles, it''s never going to be able to escape the glass.¡± Dorn finally turned serious, turning to Kiera. ¡°Come, let us continue our exercises in protecting both mind and soul with magic.¡± Kiera groaned. Chapter 22 Chapter 22 ¡°Do you mind if I join you guys?¡± asked Warley Jeromy was quick to say, ¡°Not at all, guild master, please have a seat.¡± Kiera''s team was sitting in the C-Housing inn. Dorn and Warley were now added to the mix. Dorn, pretending to be ignorant of the matters between Warley and the King, asked, ¡°So, Warley, what are you doing down here? I thought you were in charge of the bustling city upstairs?¡± Warley looked angry. ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°not anymore. The King has decided that the good Duke Hallowedlash would be much more capable at building a village. All thanks to the advice of his new minion, this Friedrich character.¡± ¡°Oh, I''m sorry, guild master, that''s tough. I do have to wonder what the King''s even doing here on the eve of the invasion by Ilsan,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°More advice from that creepy Friedrich. Something fishy must be going on there; why would the King suddenly have a new adviser who''s giving such bad advice?¡± asked Warley. ¡°Maybe he''s a spy from Ilsan?¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Wouldn''t surprise me,¡± answered Warley. ¡°If our King is stupid enough to listen to his advice, then maybe this country deserves to be swallowed by Ilsan.¡± ¡°Humans and their bizarre politics; this is why we always stay so separated from you,¡± said Thalia. ¡°Oh?¡± said Dorn. ¡°And what about the drow?¡± Thalia suddenly looked extremely angry, saying, ¡°The drow are traitors to our entire race. There is only one thing to do with them, and that is to kill them all. We don''t play stupid political games like the humans.¡± Vossan had to agree with her, saying, ¡°Aye. One of the reasons we dwarves prefer our homes under the mountain is the lack of conflicts with the humans. You guys really know how to screw up a continent.¡± Kiera hung her head sadly, saying, ¡°I know I''m from Ilsan, but I don''t really have any patriotic feelings for the country. Actually, I don''t feel much for Khal either. Would it really make a difference to us adventurers who''s in charge of this dungeon?¡± ¡°Well, as long as it''s Khal or Ilsan, that Duke Hallowedlash and his son, Earl Anatole, will be running things. I suppose it''s possible that Ilsan might install a more capable administrator, though,¡± said Warley. Jeromy looked angry, ¡°You should be the one in charge, Warley. Look at the construction of D-village. That is all thanks to your hard work.¡± ¡°While I appreciate your support, Jeromy, it doesn''t seem very likely that I will be back in charge of anything besides the guild, in the future,¡± said Warley. ¡°Why is it that the nobles of this country are so adept at screwing things up?¡± asked Kiera. Jeromy said, ¡°Maybe we should stage a mutiny. Throw off the shackles of the government and declare self-governance.¡± Everyone just rolled their eyes while Warley groaned, rubbing his eyes. Dorn suddenly said, ¡°It''s an idea that''s worth exploring.¡± Kiera looked at Dorn with a warning glance. Which Dorn of course chose to ignore. Continuing, he said, ¡°This dungeon is clearly a special place. Any entity that controls it, will be able to form a large power. There''s no reason why any country that already exists, such as Khan or Ilsan, needs to be the power in charge. If you control this dungeon, especially considering the popularity it will develop with the Colosseum, you could form a brand new power in East Lucenia.¡± ¡°See?¡± said Jeromy. ¡°The six of us could start a new, coalition government. Warley could be the new emperor, with the five of us as nobles under him. We could jointly administer all the races that come to this dungeon.¡± Warley shook his head, saying, ¡°It would never work. The reason being we have no support. Who even knows that we exist? Come, it would never make sense to try to start from a place of no power. What we need is a neutral power to come, one that would agree to better terms for this dungeon.¡± ¡°What about Kendra?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°What about it?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Well, Kendra''s nearby. Why don''t we invite them to take over this part of Khal, enticing them with the profitable dungeon. They have long been foes of Ilsan. They''re only a few dozen miles away. They could even say that they are simply annexing land that isn''t really part of Khal.¡± Vossan dryly said, ¡°Something tells me your King wouldn''t see it that way.¡± ¡°Let''s be honest,¡± Warley said. ¡°The King isn''t going to remain King for much longer. Whether it''s Ilsan or Kendra, one is going to soon control this dungeon. We all know of Ilsan''s methods of controlling dungeons, cutting off all access to most people besides the military and charging adventurers an outrageous amount of tax. Perhaps, if we invite Kendra, we might be able to negotiate favorable terms.¡± ¡°I like that idea,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Who should we send to invite them?¡± ¡°I could go,¡± said Warley, continuing, ¡°I''ve at least been to their capital city before.¡± ¡°Who else could go? You''re the one who could most obviously work out terms for the adventurers,¡± said Jeromy. After seeing everyone agree, Warley finally said, ¡°Very well. I guess I will commit treason against my country, and go invite Kendra to arrive. I''ll sneak out soon, leaving my deputy in charge of the guild.¡± With this, Warley got up and left for the D-Housing floor. Vossan said, ¡°Well, I guess I''m going to go mining,¡± before he left. Thalia too left, to go see her people and cultivate near the celestial tree. With Warley soon to leave the dungeon, Jeromy seemed a bit down, and decided to retire to his room to cultivate. Finally, Dorn looked at Kiera. He said, ¡°I have some business to go take care of. You should continue working on your mental defenses, especially with the cowled man in the dungeon.¡± ¡°Are you going to make another floor?¡± ¡°Indeed, why do you ask?¡± said Dorn. ¡°Do you mind if I come and watch? I might have some good ideas,¡± Kiera said. ¡°Very well, you can become my second assistant, like Emelia. But maybe actually helpful. Go run up and tell Jeromy that we''re going out to the dungeon to practice your magical skills.¡± *** ¡°So how does this work, if you don''t mind answering,¡± said Kiera. ¡°It''s all about exchanging energy with the gods. Every time we liberate energy, in the form of killing lives or absorbing matter, we are in return given something called Dungeon Points. We can use these Dungeon Points to craft the floors that you see.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. So it all comes down to your imagination, then?¡± asked Kiera.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Exactly. And I have long had an idea for the first C-level floor. I think people will enjoy the novelty of it,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Well, what is it?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°An underwater floor,¡± Dorn said with a grin. ¡°How the hell would that work, Dorn? Don''t we need to breathe?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Ah, that''s why it was so helpful purchasing Dungeon Alchemy, this means-¡± ¡°Wait, what do you mean purchase?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Oh, we''re given a list of goods and services that we can purchase for the dungeon from the gods,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°Okay, that''s weird. Why are the gods so involved with dungeons, anyway? They never seem to do anything for anyone else,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Uh, I know the answer, but it would probably just needlessly frighten you, and it''s something you don''t have to worry about happening in your life time,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh you can''t leave me with just that. Come on, tell me!¡± said Kiera. When this didn''t work, she ran up and gave him a big hug and looked at him with puppy eyes. Dorn looked down at her, before quickly glancing away, gulping. He said, ¡°Alright, alright, just move back a little.¡± When an excited Kiera stepped back, Dorn said, ¡°Remember, this isn''t something that will happen in your lifetime. Or the lifetime of anyone''s children, grandchildren, and so on. But, we dungeons will eventually destroy the universe, by absorbing all matter.¡± Kiera recoiled. ¡°You''re going to destroy the universe?¡± ¡°Not for billions of years. Now, can you help me design this floor?¡± Dorn desperately tried to change the subject. ¡°No, you just said you''ll be responsible for the ending of the universe; we cannot just move past it and talk about your next floor.¡± Dorn said, ¡°Once again, you''ll be long dead before it even comes close to affecting anything in this world. It''s not something you need to worry about. It''s like waiting for the sun to go out. We know it''ll happen one day, but it''s so far in the future, that worrying about it is pointless.¡± Looking pensive, Kiera finally acquiesced, saying ¡°Okay, I guess I''ll let that one go, while I think about it some more. You said something about Dungeon Alchemy? I assume you''re going to give out underwater breathing potions?¡± ¡°Yes. Here''s where my idea has gone to so far. I create a hemisphere of a cave, then add in some rock formations to make it look irregular. The front half of the cave, the part connected to the entrance glyph is a nice sandy beach. Like this,¡± said Dorn while carving out stone. ¡°That''s nice; it gives a really cozy feel. I assume the other half of the cave is where the water will come in. Oh, please make it fresh water; I hate getting saltwater in my hair and eyes,¡± said Kiera. ¡°When were you ever in sea water?¡± asked Dorn, a vivid picture suddenly popping into his head. He realized he might like this floor more than he realized. ¡°I grew up in northern Ilsan, Dorn, we would go to the beaches and play in the ocean all the time. Not like here in land-locked Khal. Anyways, where will people go once they dive under?¡± ¡°Ah, let me first finish off this beginning chamber,¡± said Dorn. He then added some torches on the wall, as well as a large, warm towel-dispensing machine in the cave. Then, he added three fountains. One was an underwater breathing potion fountain, the second was the amphibian conversion potion, and the final was an oil potion that protects equipment from water damage. ¡°Alright, I''ll make fresh water, which means I''ll have to keep the water circulating and cleaned, as well as kill all the tiny life forms that grow in water,¡± Dorn grumbled. Kiera said, ¡°People will love it, so stop grumbling. So how many openings to the floor proper will there be under there? Also, are you planning on adding a lot of underwater lighting? Because it seems like this floor could get really dark, really quickly.¡± ¡°Yes, I will be adding a strip of my sun light along the ceiling of the entire floor. As for openings, I was planning one, but are you suggesting I make this sort of a maze floor?¡± ¡°Yeah, isn''t that what you were planning?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°To be honest, I didn''t get much further beyond the making an underwater floor idea,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Well, you can''t possibly have too many monsters to fight underwater, or these wouldn''t be C-level difficulty floors,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Good point. I might make a high B-level floor have lots of underwater monsters to fight. Okay, so I''ll carve four entrances at the bottom of the lake. Can''t make it too deep, or people will get the bends when they surface. I think that a simple maze with some tight spots will be good enough for a C3 level floor. Most people don''t know how to swim, so just being under water, having to get used to breathing in water, and tight spaces will be enough of a challenge for C3 ranked adventurers.¡± ¡°C3? Are you going for ten floors per rank?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Yeah, I wasn''t going to, originally, but as I see how popular this dungeon will become, I want there to be a nice clear separation between the ranked housing floors. This way, the B ranked and A ranked housing floors won''t be as overcrowded as the C and D ranked housing floors will become.¡± ¡°Do you already have the B and A ranked housing floors planned? After seeing the C-ranked housing floor, I''m pretty stoked about seeing the higher ones,¡± said Kiera. ¡°No, I don''t, and you had best keep cultivating hard if you ever wish to see them,¡± said Dorn. ¡°So had you,¡± Kiera said cheekily. ¡°Oh right, I had forgotten,¡± said Dorn, suddenly remembering his massive drop in cultivation. *** Dorn was satisfied with his first C-ranked floor. It didn''t have any monsters or traps, but that was okay for a C3 floor. He now had his first official labyrinth floor, and it was underwater, to boot. This made him feel like he was unique again. He modified the underwater breathing potion to work for twenty four hours. Hopefully, this would give people enough time to get between the entrance chamber and the exit chamber, a cave he made very similar to the other one. The only difference was, the exit chamber cave had a teleportation glyph instead of three fountains, as well as a pillar that would shoot the floor-skipping enchantments at any adventurers that made it there for the first time. Of course, the idiots would drown. But that was something both Dorn and society would be thankful for. He had finally gotten the Dungeon Path Randomizer and installed it for this floor. This way, each day, a new path through his floor would have to be discovered. Nothing was more boring than a static maze, with a solved path. The final addition to his floor was made after he discovered Kiera bottling some of his potions. ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°I''m going to sell these potions, and make a small fortune,¡± said Kiera. Dorn felt a headache, before he added a Space shield to the floor that would allow everything through except for the three types of potions, which would be vaporized upon coming into contact. He was looking forward to Kiera''s look of outrage when he suddenly noticed the S-ranked Soul mage suddenly enter his dungeon. Quickly hooking up his first C-ranked floor to the rest of the dungeon and updating his steles, he hurriedly teleported Kiera and himself back to the C-housing inn. ¡°Why''d you suddenly teleport us back?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°That Friedrich finally made his move. He''s in the dungeon. Through the fourth floor, through the fifth, wow, he''s moving fast.¡± ¡°You sure you''re safe, big guy?¡± asked Kiera, looking a little worried. ¡°It''s fine; I''ll finally be able to figure out why he''s here, and whether it means I''ll have an enemy coming that I need to prepare for.¡± ¡°Do you think he works for the devils and demons?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°It''s possible, but something tells me he''s here for a family. Guess we''ll find out.¡± Dorn brought out an orb for Kiera to watch with, and they both sat down in Dorn''s room in the inn. Dorn took a chair, and Kiera took the bed. Dorn, who wasn''t really all that scared, instead watched Kiera look at the orb with a nervous expression on her face. He decided to take this chance to sort out his feelings for her. ¡°Really, you''re doing that now?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Don''t you think you''ve got your priorities mixed up?¡± ¡°Not you too. Do try to have a little faith in me; I was an SS-class master Soul mage with a minor affinity. Anyways, there''s really not much I can do until he shows up on the core floor. Even if I needed to prepare, which I don''t. And something strange is going on between me and Kiera,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Yes, there is something fucking strange about a 3,000 years old dragon turned dungeon falling for a 26 year old human. Seriously, what''s going on?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°That''s exactly it. I spent two millenia around humans and never felt anything for a single one. Now, I''m suddenly attracted to a random girl who just happens to show up in my dungeon? It doesn''t make any sense.¡± ¡°Blech, I don''t want to hear about what or whom you are attracted to; especially considering she''s no different from any other-¡± said Emelia, before suddenly stopping mid-sentence. ¡°Why''d you stop talking? That''s not like you,¡± Dorn said to Emelia with a smirk. ¡°Alright, first, fuck you. Second, do you think it''s because you made her dungeon-born?¡± Dorn was silent. Then he was silent for five more minutes. ¡°Doesn''t that mean I should be attracted to Jerry or Beasty as well?,¡± said Dorn. ¡°How do we find out? And what do I do if it''s the case?¡± ¡°It has to be the case. There''s no way you spent 2,000 years amongst humans without ever feeling anything for any one of them. Maybe it''s different because you made Jerry and Beasty, and Kiera''s the only being who has become dungeon-born. There''s a difference. To be sure, however, you could try removing her core,¡± said Emelia. ¡°No, I don''t want to do that to her,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh, get a grip you big fucking idiot. You could always put it back afterward. Just tell her that you need to modify it a bit, and to come down to your core room later. Anyways, your enemy who wants to enslave your soul is almost here, and it''s time to focus up.¡± *** Friedrich suddenly appeared on the teleportation glyph entrance to the core room. He looked around at the hemispherical throne room made of smooth, polished stone. Looking at the diamond sitting on its crystal pedestal, he finally felt a sense of anticipation. This core would help his family make a comeback in Central Fantisa, as well as advance their cause by a thousand years. They would finally have the last solution for disgusting sentients. This world belongs to the humans. The elves, dwarves, and beast-kin are no different from the goblins and the orcs. And with this dungeon, the Hartjenstein family will rise to supremacy. We will dominate the world and institute the final solution, he thought to himself. Whatever he thought of his direct superior in the family''s rigid militarized structure, he was a die-hard supporter of their beliefs. Looking at the core, he could see his family''s future. He slowly walked over to the elemental shields, and looked down at them. Out loud, he said, ¡°Congratulations, dungeon. You are now the property of the Hartjenstein family. Whoever built you these shields, dungeon, will not be able to protect you from me. You will become the stepping stone for the Hartjenstein family to rise to power.¡± Then, towards the air, he spoke, ¡°I don''t know where you are, dungeon pixie, but soon, you will be assisting me in fixing this dungeon.¡± Reaching deep into his dantian, he sent out a thick dull gray line of Soul magic and pushed it towards the core. The mana passed easily through the elemental shields and touched the core. The link was formed. Chapter 23 Chapter 23 How could a new dungeon already know how to shield its thoughts with Soul magic? Oh well, better just push through. both I really need to figure out why I''m feeling this way. I was never this sentimental in the past, and I still currently don''t care about the life and death of any other sentient. We need to do this test now. Hartjenstein family, so I''ll just read the rest of his memories before sending him...¡± Dorn said, while once again trailing off. ¡°What is it this time?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°Fuck. He had a contingency plan,¡± Dorn said. ¡°Which was?¡± Kiera prompted. ¡°He told the drow that there''s a celestial tree here in this dungeon. They will be coming for sure.¡± ¡°Is that bad?¡± Kiera asked. ¡°Yes, Kiera, it''s very bad. We''re going to have a war on our hands, soon, and I don''t know how much I''ll be able to help.¡± *** After telling her that they would discuss this more in the morning, Dorn had sent Kiera back to her room to sleep for the night. Emelia came flying out of invisibility. She said, ¡°Which do you want to talk about first?¡± ¡°What do you mean,¡± asked Dorn. ¡°The test with Kiera, the plans for the Hartjenstein family, or the drow,¡± answered Emelia. ¡°Uggh, when did life become so complicated. Let''s discuss the drow first,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Okay, so a bunch of infernal-worshiping dark elves are coming to this dungeon to destroy a celestial tree, and will most likely kill off everyone else who lives here while they are at it. Plans?¡± ¡°I really can''t do all that much, since the fighting will have to be done outside my dungeon. I suppose I could try to create a large number of Jerrys to assist the fight. But that''ll bleed me of a lot of DP''s that I won''t recoup in the war. And then I''ll have a bunch of Jerrys with no purpose.¡± ¡°Two things. First, you have control of the King of Khal through your link with Friedrich, right?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Yes, I do,¡± answered Dorn. ¡°So, use the King to rally troops and adventurers to fight the drow when they arrive. That''s more useful than releasing the King so he can go fight a hopeless war against Ilsan,¡± said Emelia. Dorn responded, ¡°That''s a good idea. Plus, the Kendran army should be arriving before or during the fight, which should help. They will want to clear out any forces impeding their path towards ownership of the dungeon.¡± ¡°That''s true. And my second idea is, you''re currently sitting on a massive influx of DP''s in the form of your new soul-bound mage. Which leads nicely into asking what you plan on doing about the Hartjenstein family.¡± ¡°Simple, I''ll use Friedrich to lure the rest of the family here, before soul-bonding all of them. I''ll then use them as slaves or kill them off for the DP''s. I haven''t decided yet,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Well that''s pleasantly ruthless of you, good thinking,¡± praised Emelia. ¡°Yes, I thought so myself,¡± Dorn said proudly. ¡°Well then, what about the subject you''re avoiding?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°I''m not avoiding it; I''m just giving it some more thought,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Well, what happened when you dissolved the beast core in her?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°My¡­ urges went away. It didn''t change how I feel about her, though,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh gods, I can''t believe I''m giving a dungeon advice about women. Don''t you think these, ugh, urges, are why you started liking her in the first place?¡± said Emelia.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Probably. But what am I supposed to do now?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Well you should have left her without a core and tried to get over it. You''re a dungeon for fuck''s sake.¡± ¡°Well, no, fuck that. I''m a dungeon now, so I''m going to do whatever feels good. If I want to do something, then I''ll do it,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh that''s a great plan,¡± Emelia said sarcastically. ¡°What if tomorrow, it feels good to stop killing adventurers? Or to have a monster break?¡± ¡°Well that''s stupid. Those things would have negative consequences on my dungeon. How will being with Kiera change anything,¡± Dorn asked. ¡°How can you be so blind? Let''s see, what happens if she runs into trouble on a floor? Are you going to save her?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Well, I''d probably...um...¡± Dorn articulated, thinking about the problem. ¡°And if she''s around other people? And they see a dungeon giving preferential treatment to a human? Is this really a can of worms you want to open?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°How about this. I''ll join her party as another adventurer. I''m only a C6 rank adventurer now, so technically I''m weaker than she is. I can bring my expertise and knowledge to the party, and with just that, I''ll be able to guide her safely through the dungeon,¡± reasoned Dorn. ¡°Alright, then turn over complete control of the dungeon to your unconscious core, so you don''t have an unfair advantage,¡± said Emelia. ¡°No, that''s ridiculous. What if something drastic happens in the dungeon, like the Earl comes to the same floor that we''re on or the dark elves show up?¡± said Dorn. ¡°So you do plan on providing an unfair advantage to her team!¡± Emelia accused. ¡°There''s nothing wrong with providing an unfair advantage. As long as no one knows that I''m a dungeon. It''ll be the same advantage that an experienced dungeon diver who has lost his cultivation can provide.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Emelia said, ¡°we''ll do it your way, as you''re the dungeon; after all, you''re in charge. I just hope you don''t regret it. If you''re going to do this, you''ll need to learn to split your mind. That way, if a crisis arrives, you won''t have to tell your team in the middle of a floor that you need to leave for ''something important''.¡± ¡°Alright, how do I do that?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°You''re a dungeon; you are already very good at multitasking. That''s how you are able to track so much of what is going on in your dungeon at the same time. You''ve even shown the mental exercises to Kiera that allow you to protect the mind. Instead of imagining one hollow sphere, however, you need to imagine there are two,¡± instructed Emelia. ¡°Alright, I''ve done as you said. There are two spheres in my mind. But nothing''s happening,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Now, you must imagine your consciousness as a formless gas, floating around inside and outside your two spheres,¡± Emelia said. This took Dorn a bit longer, but as a previous master Soul mage, it wasn''t anything too difficult. When he said, ¡°I''ve got it,¡± Emelia responded with ¡°Of course you have; how silly of me to think it might take you the same amount of time as a normal being.¡± ¡°Stop being facetious. What''s next?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Condense the consciousness gas into a liquid and pour half into each sphere. Then your work will be complete,¡± said Emelia. Doing as she said, Dorn suddenly had the same sense of vertigo he had gotten when he had first awoken his Dungeon Avatar. He said, ¡°Well, I can focus on two things at once, but neither very well. And I feel like I''m drunk.¡± ¡°You need to get good enough at this that you can have one body fool others into thinking you''re normal, while your second body can lead a fight against another dungeon. For this is what you might have to do at some point, if you join an adventurer party,¡± instructed Emelia. At this point, Dorn started to practice. Luckily, with his consciousness split, he was able to do two things at once. He instructed one of his minds to start practicing the unabridged form of Dragon Cultivation. His other mind started using his body to practice sword fighting, as a simple attempt at training his mind to do two things at once. It was always incredibly difficult to cultivate without meditating, but at last, Dorn found it slightly easier with his mind separated. ¡°Can any being split their mind like this?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Yes, but none can do so as successfully as dungeons. And certainly, none can cultivate without meditating like a dungeon can. And so, it doesn''t really serve a purpose for other beings,¡± answered Emelia. Strangely enough, the next few days were a peaceful time. Like the calm before a storm. Dorn spent the time practicing splitting his mind. Warley had left to invite the Kendrans. Dorn had Friedrich invite his family to come to the dungeon, and he had the King rally the adventurers and troops to defend from dark elves. How the King knew that the drow were coming to attack the dungeon was a bit of a mystery for his troops and the adventurers, but no one questioned too intensely. Luckily, there was still some time before all of these forces would converge on the dungeon. Kiera and her team alternated their time between exploring the underwater 13th floor and cultivating. Kiera would switch between cultivating and practicing mental and soul defenses. Occasionally, she would spar with Jeromy. Eventually, one night when she got bored, she went and knocked on Dorn''s door, to his room in the inn. When he answered, he asked, ¡°What''s up?¡± She replied, ¡°Can you build some more floors? We''re getting bored of doing the same floor over and over again. He answered, ¡°Oh right, sorry about that. I''ve been really busy these last few days.¡± Kiera was genuinely curious, asking, ¡°Doing what?¡± Dorn said, ¡°I''ve been practicing splitting my mind, so that I can do two different things simultaneously.¡± ¡°What for?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°I''ve been thinking about joining your adventuring party as a mage-type damage dealer. But I can only do that if I''m capable of running the dungeon smoothly at the same time,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°You''re going to join our party? That''s awesome,¡± Kiera said, before running up and giving Dorn another big hug. This time, when she looked up, Dorn didn''t look away. He couldn''t control himself; he lowered his head and kissed her. *** Kiera woke up with her head on Dorn''s chest. She smiled and stretched. Then her face paled, before she thought, what the fuck did I do? I never thought my first time would be with a 3,000 year old dragon turned dungeon. Wow that sounds weird, even in my head. ¡°Dorn, wake up,¡± she said, pushing on his chest. Gods he''s got a nice chest. No, bad Kiera! ¡°Mmm. Good morning,¡± said a sleepy Dorn, with a small grin on his face, looking up at her. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Dorn responded, ¡°Um, could you be a little bit more specific?¡± ¡°We just slept together, and you''re a dungeon, and I''m a human. Why?¡± ¡°Can''t we just stop at it felt good?¡± Oh gods did it ever. No, focus. ¡°No. Now answer me.¡± ¡°I don''t know exactly what you want me to say, Kiera. I just did what felt right when I kissed you last night, and things kind of spiraled from there.¡± ¡°Well what now? Are we in a relationship now? Am I dating a dungeon?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Do you want to?¡± asked Dorn. She thought about it for a while. And then she thought some more. Finally, she said, ¡°Yes. But there''s so many problems. We''re not even the same species, and why would you like me? You''ve been alive for so long, and you''ve probably been with so many other people. What makes you like some mortal human like me?¡± She looked incredibly vulnerable, so Dorn sighed, and then chose his words carefully. ¡°To be honest, I''ve been wondering the same thing for a while now, and believe it or not, you''re the first being I''ve ever been with myself. I figured out that something happened when I turned you into a dungeon-born. To test it, I called you down to my core room the other day and removed your beast core, just to see what would happen. It took the edge off the burning desire I had, but it didn''t change my feelings. I put the core back, by the way. Then, yesterday, you came up and hugged me, and I couldn''t control myself.¡± Kiera was silent for a while. Dorn, somewhat nervous, asked, ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Kiera looked up at him with a blank look on her face. Then, she said, ¡°You still didn''t build any new floors yet, like I asked yesterday.¡± Then she gave Dorn her usual cheeky grin. Dorn laughed, before kissing her again. It was some time before they came down from their room. *** ¡°Alright Emelia, I''m ready to build some more floors,¡± said Dorn. Emelia just gave him a waspish look, saying, ¡°Well I hope you''re proud of yourself; there''s no turning back now.¡± ¡°Oh give it a rest Emelia; the sooner you get over it, the happier both you and I will be.¡± ¡°Fine, fine, it''s your funeral. I''ll just be yanked back to the pixie world, to be given out to a new and inept dungeon who doesn''t go around fucking humans,¡± she ended up screaming. ¡°Gods, go watch D-level adventurers die until your mood has calmed down, and don''t come back unless there''s an emergency. That''s an order,¡± Dorn said. Dorn shook his head, before getting to work building his 14th floor. Hmm, what should I build? First, he checked his status:
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 25 +1 for 26,000 DP''s Floors: 14/16 Dungeon Points: 20,632,187 Dungeon Rating: C3 ¨C Your dungeon sucks ass.
Wait, what? That''s not even dickish, that''s jus- ¡°Emelia, when you told me that my subconscious is what writes the Dungeon Ratings, you didn''t happen to be lying did you?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°Human fucker,¡± was all the response he got. I swear I''m going to kill that fucking dungeon pixie one of these days. Chapter 24 Chapter 24 Warley strolled through the gates into Kendra Imperial City in high spirits. He was finally back home, and he was home a successful hero. While he hadn''t been able to keep the Khalian nobles out of the dungeon, he had convinced the adventurers and soldiers that he was the best choice of leader for the dungeon. He even got them to bring up the idea of inviting Kendra; Warley had been shocked when Kiera, of all people, was the person to suggest Kendra. Of course, he had had multiple conversations with different groups of adventurers, making sure they were all on the same page, about inviting Kendra. He had successfully spread mistrust of both the governments of Khal and Ilsan. With Khal, he simply mentioned the inept King who was visiting a dungeon instead of preparing for an invasion, as well as his selection of the reviled Duke Hallowedlash to run the place. With Ilsan, all he had to do was point out their draconian rules involving dungeons. The adventurers in A Dragon''s Dungeon were all set to welcome Kendra as the liberating heroes. When Warley showed up at the imperial palace, a runner was sent in to announce his arrival. Warley was quickly standing before the Emperor''s office. When the Emperor called for him, he entered the Emperor''s study, went down on one knee, and said, ¡°May his holiness live forever.¡± When the Emperor called for him to rise, he stood and looked at his liege. What he saw was a man who looked severely angry. ¡°What the fuck are you doing here? You are supposed to be in the dungeon, preparing the people to accept Kendran rule, sowing discord, and preventing nobles from entering. Explain yourself,¡± spat the Emperor. Warley, taken aback at the Emperor''s anger, quickly said, ¡°My Liege, I''ve already convinced the majority of the adventurer''s at A Dragon''s Dungeon to mistrust both the Khalian and Ilsanian governments. As long as we come and offer more favorable conditions than the Ilsanians offer in terms of dungeon taxes, we''ll be celebrated as heroes.¡± ¡°You have left your post, without command, to come tell me that you have succeeded by making us lower our taxes on adventurers? Our main source of income? And you call this success? Ha, you''re lucky your position is so vital, or I would have your fucking head. And who''s in charge of the dungeon while you are away? The fucking King of Khal and the Duke who owns the dungeon.¡± ¡°My liege, I had no ability to stop the King from arriving, and when he did, he relieved me of my position as leader of the dungeon''s village. But I managed to use this to stir discontent amongst the adventurers, and it was the adventurers themselves who suggested sending me to Kendra to invite you to annex part of Khal. I turned this into a success!¡± argued Warley. ¡°Excuses! That''s all I hear, excuses for your failures,¡± the Emperor shouted, standing from his seat. ¡°Get the fuck out, and get back to your post. Prepare for the Kendran armies to arrive immediately following the Ilsanian invasion. There will be no relaxing of conditions for adventurers; the taxes will remain. And you will prepare to no longer have any responsibility in this matter at all. Leave.¡± Warley bowed and left in bewilderment, wondering how things could have gone so wrong. He had entered full of jubilation, ready for the Emperor to sing his praises. Now, he was essentially being kicked to the curb. This was his first time coming home in nearly a century. He had been deep undercover in Khal this whole time, and he had managed to work his way up to head of the Khalian adventurer''s guild. And this is how he treats me? Warley began to simmer with rage. He had dedicated a hundred years to the service of the Emperor of Kendra, and he was now told that his successes were failures and that he would lose his position in the government following the greatest success of his career? When he went to his ancient and mostly unused home, he decided to cultivate, in an attempt to cool his rage. It had been twenty years since he had last leveled up, rising to A9, and he had been pondering the nature of chi this whole time. Only when he had a mental breakthrough, would his cultivation follow and raise him to the S rank. The only thoughts in his mind were rage and a sudden desire for vengeance. That Dorn character was right. There should be a nation for adventurers. A nation created by adventurers and for adventurers. No dungeon diver should be charged two silvers to enter a death trap, and then taxed fifty percent of their hard-earned loot. That''s what this continent needs: a new nation. Rebellious thoughts and desires for freedom stirred in his heart. And unknowingly, his chi cultivation suddenly broke through to S rank. Chi was at heart, freedom. Freedom from the laws of time, as it expanded a person''s life. Freedom from control, as it gives the power to fight. Freedom from the mundane. It was an expression of pure will, and only with a completely unshackled heart, could someone finally break through to the S rank. Warley watched in bewilderment as his liquid form mana slowly began to crystallize. When ten percent of his mana reached solid form, the process slowly stopped. Warley stood up and grinned. This is a sign that my ideas are right. We must form a new nation, separate from Kendra, Ilsan, and Khal. A new nation, of adventurers. We will have our capital city within A Dragon''s Dungeon. And we will be called The Dragon Kingdom. *** Dorn walked up to Kiera and her team, as they sat in the ready room underneath the stands of the Colosseum. All around them was the sound of cheering, as various adventurers fought against monsters and devils on the stage. The Colosseum was already a massive hit, and nearly everyone in the dungeon was there. The crowd loved watching the fighting, as they had never been able to see adventurers in action, before. Dorn smiled at the group. ¡°Hey you guys, are you feeling ready for your individual matches?¡± Vossan slammed his shield, saying ¡°We were born ready. I can''t wait to buy some mithril.¡± Dorn just laughed, saying, ¡°It''s going to take you a long time to accumulate enough Devil Points to purchase mithril.¡± Vossan said, ¡°And I won''t spend a single one until I get there. Of course, after I buy a new shield.¡± Dorn smiled. He then asked, ¡°So what are the rest of you saving up for?¡± Thalia answered, ¡°Solid alchemy recipes,¡± Kiera said, ¡°Dragon Cultivation,¡± and Jeromy answered, ¡°Methods of the Shadow, the S-rank Dark application book.¡± ¡°Nice, those are all very worthy goals,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°What about you, Dorn?¡± asked Jeromy. ¡°What are you going to buy?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Dorn asked. He pulled out his enchanted moonstone staff, saying, ¡°I''m saving up for some of those Lightning and Gravity magic enchantments in the resources section, to create an even better staff.¡± Thalia looked impressed, ¡°You made that staff yourself?¡± Dorn replied, ¡°No, no, I just enchanted it. I had some famous Central Fantisan dwarves craft the staff for me from moonstone and a giant pearl.¡± Pearls were known for their ability to channel Lightning magic, being white like lightning. ¡°Anyways, I wanted to ask you guys, would it be okay to join your team for the group battles? I notice that you lack a second damage dealer to round out your party, and well, I''m now a C7-ranked practitioner and a mage-type damage dealer. I feel I could add some expertise.¡± Kiera immediately said, ¡°Of course you can join our team, big guy. We''d love to have you.¡± Dorn replied, ¡°Great. You''d better watch out Jeromy, or I''ll knock you off your position as the top Devil Point earner.¡± Jeromy merely snorted, saying, ¡°Yeah, right. Get back to me when you''re a B-ranked practitioner. Which, if you continue at your current rate, should be around some time next week?¡± Dorn laughed and said, ¡°Not quite, but yes, my progress is much faster my second time around, something I''m abundantly thankful for.¡± Jeremy and Dorn were talking about the stele Dorn had erected next to the betting center that showed the top earners of Devil Points. It would not be affected by spending any points; it only showed the amounts earned. It was already a crowd favorite, and people were betting on who would be the top earner by the end of the week. Most bets were placed on Jeromy, as he was the only B-ranked cultivator in the dungeon (excluding the Duke, who followed the commands of Friedrich and therefore Dorn). Jeromy was therefore the strongest person in the dungeon, now that Warley was gone. Dorn then sat down next to Kiera and grabbed her hand, squeezing it for comfort, and not letting go. Kiera looked down and blushed.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Ah, I get the whole benefactor thing now,¡± said Vossan. Kiera reddened even further, before she kicked him in the shins and said, ¡°Shut it.¡± *** Kiera walked out and looked at the C7-ranked Greater Imp. The imps were the weakest of the devil race, and they were separated into two types: Greater and Lesser. The only real difference between the two was their chi cultivation. Greaters could only be C-ranked, while Lessers could only be D-ranked. She looked at the Imp''s ugly squat body, with its two non-functional wings flapping behind it. When she reached within fifty feet of the devil, it started running towards her, and the crowd roared with anticipation of the fight. Kiera quickly launched a small fireball at the Imp, which quickly dodged to the right, before it continued running towards her. She raised an earth wall in front of it, but it just jumped over. Finally, Kiera pulled out her trusty black gold daggers and prepared for a melee fight. ¡°Just use healing magic on it, you idiot,¡± Dorn projected into her mind. Kiera dodged back, with her Evasive Steps. She projected back, ¡°Why the fuck would I do that? And could you bother me later? I''m fighting here.¡± ¡°Healing magic is anathema to Imps; it''ll kill them,¡± Dorn projected, rolling his eyes. ¡°Don''t you know anything about magical creatures?¡± Finally, trying Dorn''s advice, she extended some mana into the Imp''s body and turned it into healing magic. She was expecting it to do nothing, or to even heal the stupid creature, but instead, the Imp burst apart in a shower of gore, little chunks falling all over the stage. The crowd, of course, went nuts, cheering her name. Returning off stage, Jeromy clapped her on her back and Vossan said, ¡°Nice one, Kiera.¡± Thalia asked, ¡°Why didn''t you just do that thing with Healing magic from the beginning?¡± Offhandedly, Kiera said, ¡°Oh, I wanted to test my other abilities, first.¡± Dorn grinned knowingly and gave her a quick hug. Vossan said to Dorn, ¡°It''s funny; you didn''t strike me as the cuddly type.¡± ¡°I''m not, shorty,¡± Dorn replied to Vossan. Vossan looked pissed. Before he could get himself worked up, his name was called to go out on stage. He said, ¡°This isn''t over,¡± and hefted his new one-handed ax that he had purchased from a dwarven blacksmith, before heading out on stage. ¡°Can you try to be nicer to my friends?¡± asked Kiera. Dorn looked at her with a stony face and said, ¡°No.¡± *** Dorn and the rest of the team watched the party, Voices of Fortune, battle a group of three dark elves from their lonely seats in the C section of the Colosseum. Dorn had been handing out lots of battles against dark elves, to prepare the adventurers for the impending war. As the team finished off the last elf, Jeromy said, ¡°You know, for a D-ranked party, they''re surprisingly not bad. And the crowd seems to love them.¡± The crowd was chanting their name. Dorn said, ¡°Agreed. They just need that final push to make it to C1 practitioners. I bet the ninth floor could do it for them.¡± Kiera and her team headed down from the C-ranked seats and headed to the ready room. They passed by the Seekers of Fortune as they came off stage. Their leader, Thornley Shurman, came up to them and shook their hands. ¡°It''s so cool to meet the Seekers of Capital here; are you about to go fight?¡± ¡°Yeah, it''s our turn next,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Well, we''ll see you later then, we''re off to go get some rewards from the dungeon''s dwarf salesman, Agrand Dwarfy.¡± Vossan winced at the dwarf''s name, before crying out, saying, ¡°You guys should save your points for the big stuff. Don''t go cashing out now.¡± Thornley grimaced, saying, ¡°We need some final help making it through the ninth floor, so we have to buy something now.¡± Thalia said, ¡°But you guys are almost at the C1 rank; you should save up for one of the barrier breaking pills.¡± Thornley shrugged, saying, ¡°What else can we do?¡± Kiera said, ¡°We could help you through the last floor, if you needed.¡± Dorn just groaned, and Kiera punched him in the arm. ¡°Really, you''d be willing to do that with us?¡± asked Thornley. Before Dorn could say no, Kiera gave him another punch to the arm. ¡°We''d love to. How about tomorrow morning?¡± Thornley looked really excited, saying, ¡°Yeah, that''d be great. See you tomorrow.¡± The team then began to change into their gear. Dorn pulled off his shirt, to prepare to put on his armor. Kiera and Jeromy unabashedly ogled him. ¡°Sweet tattoo,¡± said Jeromy. He continued, ¡°It looks like a teleportation glyph.¡± ¡°It is a teleportation glyph,¡± answered Dorn. Vossan asked, ¡°Is it functional?¡± Dorn said, ¡°No, it''s just a decoration.¡± When the team was ready, they headed out onto the stage. As the strongest group, the crowd went nuts, for the Seekers of Capital were the crowd''s favorite. Jeromy and Vossan waved to the crowd. When the team reached the starting position on the stage, a flare of light went up directly across from them, on the other side of the stage. Out came a cambion. The cambion was tall and stocky, with his red wings flapping slowly behind him. He held a long halberd. Cambions were the result of breeding between devils and mortals, usually due to the entrapment of succubi or incubi. They were intrepid fighters and had significant regenerative abilities. A cambion was selected due to the team picking the level three difficulty, as well as Jeromy''s B-level strength. It would be a tough fight for the team, which was only a high-ranked C level party. Luckily, Dorn had joined them, bringing the party to full fighting capacity. The team stood to gain five thousand Devil Points, or one thousand a piece, by defeating this cambion. That would be enough for Thalia to buy a single recipe, for the D-Advancement pill. And Vossan could finally get a B-ranked enchanted shield. Everyone else would just be saving their points. Jeromy quickly started calling out instructions. ¡°Dorn, slow it with gravity. Thalia, don''t save your enchanted arrows; we''ll need them for this fight. Vossan, you have to give this more strength than you''ve ever given before. And Kiera, keep your healing on Vossan, don''t let him go down. I''ll harass him from the shadows. Move.¡± Vossan went running out, holding his shield, and started taunting the cambion. ¡°Here, you big, ugly, red fuck. Come and get some,¡± he said, while banging his shield with his ax. By lowering his body, Vossan got ready to take the first blow. The cambion, under the effects of a Gravity spell cast by Dorn (that would only affect the cambion and not other party members), lumbered towards Vossan, winding up his halberd for a large blow. Thalia launched a few fire arrows at the cambion''s neck, but it just shrugged them off. The cambion swung down, smashing into Vossan''s shield. Amazingly, although Vossan slid back about three feet, he managed to stay upright. There was now a huge dent in his shield. His injuries from the impact were quickly healed by Kiera. Jeromy phased out of the shadows behind the cambion, giving it a number of slices around its neck and back, but the wounds started healing almost instantly. As the devil turned towards Jeromy, Dorn launched a bolt of lightning that locked it into place, momentarily, allowing Jeromy to escape back into shadows. Thalia brought out her precious, blessed arrow she had purchased from the Churches, and shot it right through the creature''s neck. The cambion stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, under the effects of Dorn''s spell. ¡°Quick, everyone attack,¡± shouted Jeromy. Dorn moved to attack with lightning, Thalia rapidly shot some more of her arrows, and Kiera covered the devil in fire. Jeromy rapidly slit the demon''s throat and then cut into its chest on the lower right side, where it kept its heart. Before he could reach it, however, the cambion backhanded Jeromy with his claws, leaving deep gouges on his side, raking his ribs. Kiera quickly switched to healing his injuries, but she was beginning to run low on mana. Seeing the team have trouble, Dorn twisted his moonstone staff, and a high-steel spear head popped out. He then flash stepped to the cambion and jammed it straight into the devil''s heart. Finally, he coursed a massive amount of Lightning magic through its body, turning it crispy. As the cambion finally died, the crowd, which had nervously been watching the fight, stood and started cheering. Kiera finished healing up Jeromy, and the team stood together, severely winded. Jeromy said, ¡°Wow, Dorn, that was amazing. You must have been a really high-leveled practitioner before your injury.¡± Dorn looked forlorn, saying, ¡°Yeah, but in the past, I wouldn''t have had to use up all my mana fighting a low B-ranked cambion.¡± Vossan, waving at the crowd, said, ¡°Hey guys, you''re forgetting the best part: we just got a thousand Devil Points a piece. We''re rich.¡± Thalia suddenly got a manic look in her eye, before running off to the rewards room to get the D-Advancement pill''s recipe from Agrand Dwarfy. The team, battered and bruised, laughed at seeing stoic Thalia so excited about something. They walked off stage, to the adulation of the crowd, and headed towards their teleportation glyph, to go back to the C-level housing. Without Warley, the team had the floor to themselves. They hurried into town, to relax in the chilling waters of the bath houses. For once, Kiera wasn''t upset that Dorn hadn''t made them self-heating. They all needed to cool down after their battle. Vossan was currently giggling in the cold waters with glee over his new enchanted, moonstone shield. ¡°I finally have a B-rank shield; I finally have a B-rank shield,¡± he repeated. Jeromy said, ¡°Now you just have to upgrade to B rank, Vossan. You''re already at C9; when are you going to rank up?¡± Vossan said, ¡°Any day now, I can feel it.¡± Dorn laughed, saying, ¡°It''s not so easy to change ranks. Maybe you should have bought a couple Breaking Barriers pills instead of that shield.¡± Vossan looked affronted, saying, ¡°Nonsense. Don''t talk about my beautiful baby that way.¡± Dorn and Jeromy just laughed. Jeromy said to Dorn, ¡°Wanna take bets on who in our party is going to make B-rank first? Excluding you, of course.¡± Dorn said, ¡°Sure, my money''s on Kiera.¡± Jeromy waved his hand and said, ¡°Bah, you have to say that. I''m going with our very own Thalia. Don''t let her obsession with alchemy fool you; with the celestial tree they have access to here in the dungeon, I bet she''ll make it first.¡± ¡°Alright, what do you want to wager?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°If I win, you have to tell me how you and Kiera came to be,¡± said Jeromy with a huge grin on his face. ¡°Okay, and if I win, you have to entertain the idea of finding someone other than Warley,¡± Dorn said. Jeromy looked upset, saying, ¡°Hey, man, don''t go there.¡± Dorn held his hands up, and said, ¡°Fine, fine, if I win, you have to tell all of us what you see in Warley that has you so enamored.¡± Jeromy finally grinned again, saying, ¡°You''re on.¡± Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Dorn woke up the next morning, looking at the beautiful red-head who was still in his arms. He thought to himself, gods I''m lucky. She says she can''t believe I would be willing to be with her, but who would ever believe a human would be willing to give up prejudices and essentially be with a monster? He kissed her gently on the forehead, to which she mumbled happily in her sleep, and slowly got off the bed. After carefully disentangling himself from Kiera, he got dressed and headed down to the tavern, to grab some breakfast. He sat down at the only occupied table, with Jeromy and Vossan. ¡°Morning,¡± said Vossan. ¡°Morning,¡± answered Dorn. ¡°You guys ready for a week of hand-holding?¡± ¡°Ugh, don''t remind me. Can''t believe Kiera volunteered us for this task. And we''re not even getting paid,¡± said Jeromy. Vossan said, ¡°It''s not that bad; at least we get to go through that beautiful canyon again. And this time, we don''t have to do any work; we''ll just make the Voices of Fortune do everything, while we take a relaxing stroll through the Dry Canyon. Plus, we''ll finally have some company in this desolate housing floor.¡± Dorn had plans for the week. He would take this time to master the art of splitting of his mind. While one part would join the Seekers'' party in assisting the Voices of Fortune on their trip through the ninth floor, his other half would be designing and building the next three floors of his dungeon. Now that he had had breakfast, he split his mind and sent one of his selves to the core room. Emelia had finally gotten over him being with Kiera, and was now ready to help him fill out his dungeon. Dorn appeared as an apparition in the core room. He said to Emelia, ¡°Are you ready to build the next three floors of this dungeon?¡± ¡°Three?¡± Emelia said with excitement. ¡°You''re buying five more levels?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± said Dorn. He opened up his status:
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 25 +1 for 26,000 DP''s Floors: 14/16 Dungeon Points: 20,749,210 Dungeon Rating: C3 ¨C Your dungeon does not suck ass.
¡°I still can''t believe that all those Dungeon Ratings were your doing, and that I fell for your line about it being my subconscious,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Ha, I got you good. Yeah, the Dungeon Ratings are our way of letting the dungeon know if they are on the right track.¡± To build three more floors, Dorn had to buy five levels. This cost him a total of 140,000 DP''s. Then he moved his core room down to become floor 17. Emelia asked, ¡°I know I mentioned it before, but keep in mind that upgrading to B rank will cost you five million DP''s. Think about how far you want to stretch the remaining fifteen million points. Are you planning on using all of them in these next three floors? Or do you want to finish off all the C rank floors in one go?¡± ¡°Yes, it''s a good question. I feel that I will just build what ideas come to mind, and see how the points go. I will stop building a floor if it reaches five million or more points. We also need to remember that at some point, I can sacrifice Friedrich to receive a large number of points. How much are S-ranked practitioners worth again?¡± ¡°Depends on the rank. Since he''s only an S1 rank, he''ll be worth around twenty five million,¡± said Emelia. Dorn started choking. He said, ¡°What the fuck? He''s worth almost the same as my silver dragon pattern?¡± ¡°I told you, killing lives is the best way to make dungeon points, period. And I also told you that A and S level practitioners, with their powerful danger senses, almost never die in dungeons. You have a unique opportunity to kill an S-ranked adventurer and gain a huge number of DP''s,¡± said Emelia. ¡°So why don''t most dungeons go out and try to collect S ranked adventurers to kill in their dungeon?¡± Dorn asked excitedly. ¡°Did you seriously just ask that stupid of a question?¡± said Emelia. ¡°Oh right, it''s hard for Dungeon Avatars to rank up. But for me, I can just use Soul magic to capture them,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Just when I think you can''t sink to a new level of stupidity, I''m proved wrong. If a person starts using Soul magic to capture famous S-ranked adventurers, what do you think will happen?¡± Dorn had the grace to look embarrassed. He had let his greed get before his thoughts. He had forgotten about the Churches and the powerful SS rank adventurers in the world, both of whom monitored for exactly those kind of activities. ¡°Well, anyways, I can at least capture the Hartjenstein family.¡± ¡°Yes, no one will miss that group of bigots. Alright, enough talk, go build your floors,¡± said Emelia. He turned his attention to his 14th floor. Then he thought about all the floors that he had already built in his dungeon to date. In his D-ranked floors, he had three instanced floors (Introduction, Element Hallways, and Maze) followed by three open floors (Forest, Jungle, and Dry Canyon) before his D-ranked boss floor. He had already built an underwater labyrinth in his first C-ranked floor (floor 13). He liked the idea of continuing to explore the four base elements. Since he already had an open water-type floor, his next floor would be related to air, while still being open. He had just the perfect idea. He started by expanding the 14th floor to be incredibly large. Then, he built a series of floating, upside-down mountains. He basically created an archipelago of floating surfaces. Each surface would have challenges, puzzles, and monsters. To get from one end of the floor to the other, one would have to walk across perfectly clear and somewhat narrow glass pathways. While walking between mountains, he would have adventurers be attacked by modified eagle and hawk monsters. The floating islands zig-zagged across the floor. The first and last island, with their teleportation glyphs, were very small. As soon as one teleported to the floor, they would be able to look down and see the abyss. For the ground, he played with some dark magic. All light that hit the floor was sucked into the enchantment. It made the ground look like a deep abyss that fell forever. To complement this, he painted a beautiful sky illusion on the ceiling, making the floor feel like one was stranded on the little bits of land that floated between the sky and the abyss. All in all, it made for a terrifying floor for people afraid of heights. Emelia said, ¡°What about people who can fly? Or those with flying pets?¡± Dorn frowned. He could create an anti-flight magical shield to cover the entire floor, effectively ending the use of Air magic on the floor. ¡°Do you think it would be too difficult for C-level floors to ban flying?¡± ¡°No, and here''s why. The only ones who can fly are the B-ranked adventurers in the first place. And let''s face it, how many C-ranked adventurers can afford flying pets or flying enchanted items? So, you''d only be closing off the ability to fly for those who are already above the difficulty level of this floor.¡± ¡°Good point,¡± Dorn said, before coating the entire floor in an anti-Air magic shield, with exeptions for dungeon creatures. It wouldn''t do to have his own creatures be bound to the ground. ¡°Good, now what are you going to put on the islands themselves?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°First, let me build my flying predator monsters,¡± said Dorn. He pumped his predator birds full of DP''s, until their wing spans were around twelve feet across. He upgraded their beaks and claws with metal, creating razor sharp talons. He had to give them inherent air magic, just to fly, for their new mass and volume sizes didn''t scale well with the necessary forces for flight. With the Air enchantments in place, he was then able to fill in their bones to make the birds even denser, and thus allowing for the potential of bashing into adventurers as they scaled the glass pathways.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Alright, for the floating islands, I created six of them, besides the entrance and exit islands, and I did this on purpose. My idea is to do a mini-version of my D-ranked floors on each island. So, for example, the first island from the entrance will have an entrance to a simple tunnel full of rooms, monsters, and traps. Only, the monsters will be upgraded. Then I''ll continue on, until I create a small canyon on the last floating island before the exit. What do you think?¡± ¡°I think it''ll cost a mint, but it''s a fun way to remind the adventurers of where they came from, and how far they have progressed,¡± replied Emelia. Dorn then starting fleshing out the floor to these specifications. *** After managing to wake Kiera, who was a surprisingly heavy sleeper, Dorn and the team went to D-Housing to meet with their new trainees. The Seekers met up with the Voices and headed out towards the Dry Canyon. Jeromy asked, ¡°Did you guys bring tents and rope and everything?¡± Thornley said, ¡°Yep, we''re all good to go.¡± Dorn just looked over this team with some suspicion. They would, after all, be spending around a week together with this team. And he''d have to be looking out for them, instead of allowing them to die to his dungeon. It just seemed wrong. All of this while he was building his fourteenth through sixteenth floors. It was going to be a long week. He looked over at Kiera, who seemed happy to be making new friends, and sighed, resolving to just suck it up. They stepped into the dungeon''s teleportation glyph and entered the ninth floor. A few minutes after they left, a sinisterly grinning Anatole Hallowedlash walked out and entered the dungeon as well. *** ¡°Nice, I think this floor looks just about done. Anything you think it''s missing?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Are you sure you don''t want to introduce some new monsters or traps? Don''t you think snakes, giant lizards, and goblins are getting a little old?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Ah, that''s the plan for floor 16. It''ll be another floor like my fourth floor, introducing adventurers to all the new monsters and traps,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°Alright, then what''s your brilliant plan for the 15th floor?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Hell,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Hehe, I like the sound of that. Could you elaborate on what will be hellish?¡± Just as he was about to respond, Dorn suddenly paused. ¡°Huh, I guess that asshole never gives up.¡± ¡°What?¡± asked a confused Emelia. ¡°Earl Anatole Hallowedlash has just followed us onto the ninth floor,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Why haven''t you controlled him through Friedrich?¡± ¡°I have; he was ordered not to leave the floor. Guess he''s more worried about Kiera,¡± Dorn said with a dark face. Emelia looked a little concerned, saying, ¡°Don''t do anything too obvious. In fact, it would be best to take care of him in your human form.¡± ¡°Good point. I''ll tell Kiera though.¡± *** The Seekers watched as Thornley''s team finished off a small group of goblins within a cave. Kiera said, ¡°See, that wasn''t too bad. I think you guys were making this floor seem more difficult in your heads than it is in reality.¡± Brook, the team''s healer, said, ¡°Thanks, Kiera. Yeah, this floor isn''t too bad.¡± Buoyed by the Seekers'' support, the team headed towards the puzzle at the end of the cave. Unlike the Seekers, the Voices worked on puzzles together, and divvied out the tokens to those who most fit with the piece of gear. Personally, the Seekers thought it ruined a good bit of fun, but they kept their ideas to themselves. It was at this moment that Dorn noticed the Earl sneaking onto the floor. Dorn telepathically spoke to Kiera. ¡°Don''t freak out. Earl Anatole just came to this floor; he''s clearly out for revenge and to finish what he started.¡± Kiera started looking panicky, thinking, I thought you said that he was under control, because of that Friedrich. Dorn soothed her, saying, ¡°Don''t worry, he''ll be dead for coming to this floor. I just want to test something first.¡± What? thought Kiera. Dorn said, ¡°Just want to make sure the Voices aren''t in cahoots with him. Wait for tonight; I''ll take watch and see exactly what happens. At the moment, he''s just hiding near our camp in the forest.¡± Okay, but you had better stay close to me! ¡°Always,¡± answered Dorn, to which Kiera smiled beatifically. The Voices started discussing the riddle:
I have four fingers and a thumb, but I am not alive. What am I?
When the team gave up, Thalia headed over and suggested that they try ''glove''. The team was happy to get their gauntlet high steel coin. They headed out of the cave and looked at the position of the sun. They had about two hours until sunset. Thornley said, ¡°I think that should be good enough for today; we should head back to camp and cultivate until nighttime.¡± Back at the camp, they started a fire and grilled up some rabbits and foxes. They all shared the meal, without noticing Dorn casually observing the Voices. Dorn decided to bring up some conversation, to try to suss out any hints. ¡°So, have you guys heard about Warley?¡± asked Dorn. One of the Voices'' two damage dealers, Davon, said, ¡°Yeah, he''s headed to Kendra to invite the empire to come take over the dungeon. Is that what you mean?¡± ¡°Yes. What are your group''s thoughts on this? Do you think it''ll work out?¡± Dorn asked. ¡°I doubt it,¡± replied Thornley. ¡°I can''t see why Kendra would be any better than Ilsan when it comes to adventurer taxes.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± said Davon. ¡°We''re better off with our current leadership. I think the King and the Duke have things well in hand.¡± Well, that''s suspicious. Davon''s brother, Quinton, the team''s scout, made eye contact with Davon, grinned a little, and looked away. It was so quick, that even Dorn missed it. Brook, the healer, said, ¡°I disagree. I trust Warley; he''s always been a good guild head. I think he''ll be able to work out a favorable deal with Kendra.¡± Jeromy jumped in, saying, ¡°Yes, Warley is very capable. We should find out relatively soon, as he should be on his way back from Kendra at this point. Hopefully he makes it back before the dark elves come. We could use the help of an A-ranked practitioner in that fight.¡± ¡°Are we even sure that there are dark elves coming to attack this dungeon?¡± asked Kinnard, the team''s other damage dealer asked. ¡°Yes, I believe it,¡± said Thalia curtly. Thornley asked, ¡°Do you mind if we ask why?¡± Thalia thought for a minute, before saying, ¡°The dungeon has a celestial tree growing in the elves'' quarter, which is very important to all elves. Many elves have come to this dungeon because of it, and the drow will come to try to destroy it. They will kill everyone in this dungeon while they are at it, however, so it is the duty of all of us to stop them.¡± Everyone contemplated the impending arrival of the drow. Thornley tried to pump them up, saying, ¡°We defeated the dark elves in the Colosseum yesterday, and we''ll defeat the drow whenever they do show up.¡± After that, they all sat down to cultivate for the remainder of the daylight, before heading to bed. Dorn sat next to Kiera and kept his dungeon vision on the Earl Anatole, who hadn''t moved since the team had returned to camp. He seemed content to wait for nightfall. *** When they finished cultivating, Dorn offered to take watch. Both Davon and Quinton, the two brothers, protested, saying, ¡°You guys had to babysit us all day; let us at least take watch.¡± Dorn thought, nailed you suckers. Now to see if anyone besides you two is in on this plot. Dorn smiled, saying, ¡°That''s alright. You guys worked hard; you should get a good night''s sleep, so let me take the watch.¡± Without being able to argue any more without seeming suspicious, Davon and Quinton just bedded down with everyone else. As night fell, Dorn just sat in a meditating position next to his and Kiera''s tent. He closed his eyes and focused on his dungeon vision. It was a little difficult to keep track of Anatole, Davon, and Quinton, as well as the remaining three members of the Voices. At around four in the morning, Davon and Quinton quietly rose from their tents. Davon sneaked out into the bushes. Quinton headed into camp, and said he was just going out to relieve himself. Dorn just nodded and returned to meditating. He watched as Quinton walked towards him. Davon procured a dart gun with poisoned darts from somewhere, pointing it at Dorn. Just as Quinton was about to walk past him, Davon blew his dart gun at Dorn. Clearly the plan was for Dorn to be focused on the dart while Quinton quietly snapped his neck. Then they would knock out Kiera and carry her to Anatole. Quinton and Davon both stopped and stared, stunned and dismayed. Dorn had caught the dart between the index and middle fingers of his left hand. He had his eyes open and was staring at Quinton with a smile on his face. ¡°Oops,¡± he said. Then he blurred into motion, smashing his fist into Quinton''s windpipe, instantly silencing him. Quinton fell, desperately trying to draw air through his crushed throat. The next second, Dorn had flash-stepped over to Davon''s position. He grabbed his head and twisted in a single motion, instantly snapping his neck. Then, he turned towards where Anatole was calmly waiting with a huge grin on his face. He used what he knew of shape-shifting magic to turn himself into a clone of Davon. When he walked into the little clearing where Anatole was waiting, the prick''s sadistic smile disappeared, saying, ¡°Where''s the fucking bitch? Go get her. Now.¡± ¡°Oh boss, I just thought you should know.¡± ¡°Know what, you stupid fucking piece of shit?¡± responded Anatole. ¡°That you really should have listened to Friedrich,¡± answered Dorn. Anatole had a moment of sheer panic flash across his face, before Dorn flash stepped and punched him in the temple. He then tied up the good Earl with rope and put a restriction on his dantian, preventing him from being able to use magic. It was time to go back, inform the Voices of the traitors in their midst, and let Kiera get some revenge. Dorn had managed to build his 14th floor and get rid of the Earl all in one day, so all in all, Dorn was quite pleased. Chapter 26 Chapter 26 is I knew I loved her for a reason. Wait. What did I just think? Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Alright, then what''s your brilliant plan for the 15th floor?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Hell,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Hehe, I like the sound of that. Could you elaborate on what will be hellish?¡± This was when his two minds had become distracted by dealing with Anatole. When he was sure that his mind following the Seekers around was taking care of the situation, he turned back to Emelia. ¡°The previous floors were about water and earth. This next floor will be all about fire,¡± Dorn said. Emelia said, ¡°What, you going to have them trudge through a bunch of flames? They''ll all die, right?¡± Dorn answered, ¡°No, that would be ugly and boring. They will be crawling around and within an active volcano. The idea is, that the volcano will erupt every 24 hours, utterly destroying everything in the entire floor. There will be warning signs that lead up to the event, as well as a stele that explains this. It''s still too early to put something so dangerous in place without a warning.¡± ¡°But I''m confused; if you have them working through a volcano, where will you put the entrance and teleportation glyphs?¡± Dorn answered, ¡°Very simple; the entrance to the floor will be at the bottom of the volcano. Parties will have to climb up, avoiding rivers of lava, and make it all the way to the top. Along the way, there will be fire elementals, as well as fire ravens flying in the sky. Sometimes, they will have to take tunnels that head into the volcano itself to avoid powerful monsters. The exit teleportation glyph will be on the inside lip of the crater, near the throat''s vent.¡± ¡°I don''t know, Dorn, that sounds a little harsh for C-ranked adventurers,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Don''t worry, Emelia, I know what I''m doing.¡± *** Dorn smiled at the memory of building his giant volcano. It had cost him the full five million points, but he now had an active volcano in his dungeon. Talk about an ultimate defense. If any people ever had malicious intentions in his dungeon again, like Friedrich had had, he could simply immolate them with an exploding volcano. Not much could survive that. ¡°What are you smiling about, big guy?¡± asked Kiera. Dorn leaned against her and projected his thoughts into her head. ¡°I''m just remembering building my 15th floor.¡± Kiera thought back, what did you build? He projected back, ¡°It''s a surprise. You''ll probably hate it!¡± Kiera scowled. She thought back, well, as long as it''s not a place where we''ll get all dirty. He winced, and then said back, ¡°Well, that''s what the baths are for.¡± Kiera just scowled more. Dorn chuckled a little nervously, then surreptitiously gave her a C-Advancement pill. She smiled prettily, thinking, okay, all is forgiven. Dorn breathed in relief, and then he went back to thinking about his newest floors. *** Emelia said, ¡°Well I''m impressed. You definitely built a functioning volcano floor, and it''s only a C5 level difficulty. Adventurers are going to hate it, you know.¡± ¡°They''re not going to hate the nice treasure chests I placed on the interior of the dungeon,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°They''ll hate getting to them, however,¡± replied Emelia. ¡°Meh, they''ll live¡­ or hopefully not, actually,¡± said Dorn. ¡°I agree; I can''t wait to see people melt into the lava rivers,¡± said Emelia. She then continued, ¡°Alright, how many points do you now have left?¡±
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 30 +1 for 31,000 DP''s Floors: 16/17 Dungeon Points: 10,125,239 Dungeon Rating: C5 ¨C Your dungeon poses a significant danger, even to the wary
¡°Alright, I have five million saved for ranking up, which should happen some time within the next week, and that leaves five million for the floor.¡± Dorn designed a nice and simple dungeon floor, that mimicked his fourth, introductory floor. It was refreshing to build such a cheap structure. The main difference between his 4th floor and his 16th floor was the quality of monsters and traps. Instead of simple tripwires and pitfalls, he now had pressure plates. He lined the ground in tiles of different colors and shapes. Since this floor was instanced, it allowed him to have random colors or shapes be the safe path through the floor. The majority of his DP''s went to buying new monsters for his rooms. Like the fourth floor, he only had nine rooms of monsters. The first four rooms had the four elemental types, respectively. After placing air, water, earth, and fire elementals, he turned to his remaining five rooms. He placed a dozen common kobolds with three kobold shamans and one kobold chief in the fifth room. He purchased golems and placed three enormous golems made from stone in the sixth room. The seventh and eighth room were devoted to beholders and orcs, respectively. And in his final, boss room, he placed his most exciting monster yet: a single, weakened, illithid. The illithid monster had cost him a full half of the points he had spent on this floor, or 2,500,000 DP''s. The reason the illithid were so expensive, and the reason why Dorn was so excited, was because of the nature of the monster. Unlike all the monsters currently residing in his dungeon, the illithid were unique in not using physical or magical attacks at all. Their danger lied in their race-specific psionic powers. They would attack at one''s mind, and the only defense was to have strong mental shields. Emelia asked, ¡°Are you sure you want an illithid this early in your dungeon? I think you''re making things way too difficult in your C ranks.¡± ¡°Hey, I weakened it quite a bit; it''s no longer capable of doing their trademark brain drain ability,¡± said Dorn. Dorn was referring to their desire to physically consume adventurer''s brains by implanting parasites through the ear canal. Emelia shivered, saying, ¡°Illithid give me the creeps.¡± Dorn snorted, saying, ¡°That''s the whole point. I''m a dungeon; I''m supposed to be scary, not cuddly and fun.¡± ¡°Anyways,¡± Dorn continued, ¡°I think that should be about it for the floor.¡± Emelia said, ¡°Well if you''re putting in illithid, you might as well go the whole distance and put in some mimics.¡± Dorn''s face brightened, saying, ¡°Ah, yes, what dungeon would be complete without some fake, attacking treasure chests.¡± Dorn quickly purchased and placed the mimics on his 16th floor. ¡°There,¡± he said, ¡°now I''m done. Status.¡±
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 30 +1 for 31,000 DP''s Floors: 17/17 Dungeon Points: 5,237,937 Dungeon Rating: C6 ¨C Your dungeon is scary
¡°And look, I still have a quarter million points to spare,¡± said Dorn. He sighed, before saying, ¡°I remember the days when that was a lot of points. It seems like just yesterday.¡± Emelia got all into the act, saying, ¡°They grow up so fast nowadays.¡± *** When the three new C-rank adventurers showed up back in the D-Housing floor along with the Seekers, Kiera pretended to look at the sign, saying, ¡°Hey look, new floors have opened up.¡± ¡°Finally,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°I was about to go crazy doing that underwater maze floor over and over again.¡± Thornley said, ¡°We should quickly get another damage dealer and a scout, so we can get through the boss floor.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± said Kiera, ¡°you should be able to make it through the D boss floor by yourselves; it''s definitely something each of you can complete.¡± ¡°Can''t you come with us to help, then?¡± asked Brook. ¡°Unfortunately, it can only be completed one time by each adventurer,¡± said Vossan. ¡°I would love to give it another go, but we''re already banned from returning. The rewards are amazing.¡± ¡°Yeah, go through tomorrow,¡± said Kiera. ¡°We''ll wait to explore the new floors with you guys, since it looks like floors 14 and 15 are both open and non-instanced floors. We can be the pioneers exploring. We''ll take you to floor 13 the day after tomorrow.¡± ¡°I''m a bit nervous,¡± said Kinnard. ¡°We have only just upgraded to C1; are you sure we''ll be fine on the boss floor?¡± Dorn said, ¡°Yes, you should make it through easily.¡± Coming from Dorn, this was a huge relief to the Voices. When they found out that Dorn used to be a high A-ranked adventurer (according to Dorn), they had become almost enamored with him. They trusted every word he said. Thornley said, ¡°Alright, we''ll join you in C-Housing tomorrow, and we''ll go with you to the new floors the day after. We''ll just select our new teammates from the people who make it through to C-Housing. What are you guys going to do in the mean time?¡± The Seekers looked at each other, to see if everyone was thinking the same thing. Then they laughed, before Vossan said, ¡°We''re going to go earn some more Devil Points.¡± Chapter 27 Chapter 27 ¡°Holy shit, nope, this isn''t happening,¡± said Vossan. The Seekers and Voices had just finished floor 13. They had spent a few hours resting on the exit beach, before toweling off, re-gearing up, and teleporting to the 14th floor. Before they had left, however, Dorn had been forced to answer an uncomfortable question. ¡°Hey Dorn, you lost the bet, time to pay up,¡± said Jeromy. Dorn just looked grumpy and uncomfortable. ¡°What bet?¡± asked Kiera, curious. ¡°We bet on who in our team would be the first to rank up to a B-level practitioner, and since Thalia has ranked up, it''s time for Dorn to pay up,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Does it have to be here? Around all these people?¡± said Dorn. Jeromy just plastered a huge grin on his face, saying, ¡°Yep.¡± Dorn sighed. ¡°Kiera had come to my room, asking what I had been busy with, and because she was bored. When I told her I was thinking about joining the Seekers, she ran up and gave me a huge hug, and things sort of took off from there.¡± Kiera suddenly blushed bright red. ¡°What the fuck did you wager, Dorn?¡± Jeromy laughed, saying, ¡°He promised that he''d tell us how the two of you came to be together.¡± Kiera suddenly punched him in the arm, face still red. Dorn just said, ¡°Well if you had just ranked up before Thalia, this wouldn''t have been a problem.¡± Kiera looked up at him, ¡°You bet on me?¡± Dorn said, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Okay, okay, get a room you two,¡± said Vossan, before Dorn and Kiera could get started. The Voices were just watching all of this, bemused. Kinnard asked, ¡°What did Jeromy wager, by the way?¡± ¡°Well at first, I was going to get him to consider other people besides Warley, but that was apparently over the line. So I was going to make him tell us what he saw in the guy,¡± said Dorn. Kiera projected her thoughts over to Dorn, thinking, that was nice of you. Dorn responded back, telepathically, ¡°Meh. And did you see Kinnard''s face when I answered his question?¡± Kiera said, no, I didn''t. You don''t think he''s prejudiced, do you? Dorn responded, dryly, ¡°No, he looked interested.¡± Kiera suddenly looked excited, ¡°Ooo, we could try to set them up.¡± Dorn put his foot down. ¡°No, we will not be that annoying kind of couple that''s always trying to set their gay friend up with other guys we know. Just let things happen naturally.¡± ¡°Sorenia to Dorn and Kiera. Wake up you two. Seriously, that''s so freaking annoying,¡± said Jeromy. Dorn looked over at Jeromy, and said, ¡°Alright, alright, let''s get to the 14th floor already.¡± When the team finally teleported to the 14th floor, the Voices and Seekers found out that Vossan had a thing about heights. The teleportation glyph was located on a tiny island, floating in the middle of the sky. ¡°Come on shorty, you can''t be holding us all back because you''re afraid of heights,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Don''t fucking call me shorty, you prick, and I''m not afraid of heights, I''m just¡­ nervous,¡± replied Vossan. ¡°Well, get your nervous ass onto the glass bridge, or we''re leaving you behind,¡± said Dorn. They finally managed to coax Vossan into moving onto the bridge, when Dorn finally broke down and promised to retrieve Vossan with Gravity magic if he fell off. Still, Vossan had to be in the center of the group of people moving forward. When they were attacked by a metal-enhanced eagle, Vossan may or may not have made a high-pitched scream. The eagle, incidentally, was hit by the dual combination of Thalia''s arrow and Kiera''s fireball. The two teams made it safely to the first island. ¡°Well, this looks just like the first floor of the dungeon proper,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°That''s weird, I wonder what he''s going for?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°He?¡± several people asked. Vossan answered for her, ¡°Yeah, she calls the dungeon he. She''s just weird like that.¡± ¡°Maybe it''s run out of ideas, and has just fallen back on the old rooms and tunnels look,¡± said Thalia. Dorn looked visibly annoyed. He said, ¡°Maybe, he''s quoting his previous floors. Like this is the fourth floor island. Let''s see what''s on the other islands first.¡± Kiera grinned at him, knowing how much pride he took in his floors, and how annoyed he was having to keep it to himself, as he was pretending to be human. When they reached the second island, after a few more episodes involving Vossan not wanting to go on the glass platform, Jeromy said, ¡°Looks like you were right again, Dorn. Seems you''re pretty good at guessing what this dungeon is thinking.¡± Dorn, a little chagrined, said, ¡°I just thought that this dungeon was too amazing to suddenly become boring on the floor.¡± Kiera snorted, and Dorn elbowed her. ¡°Well, whatever, let''s continue on,¡± said Jeromy. *** As they were progressing through the dungeon floors, Dorn was also keeping Emelia company and checking out the rest of his dungeon. Currently, many adventurers were enjoying the fights in the Colosseum, and some had begun dying due to overestimation, by picking the level three difficulty. Much to his happiness, the cheering of the crowd was even higher when the warriors were killed, showing a nice streak of blood-thirst running through his residents. The Duke was starting to look concerned about his missing son, so Dorn had Friedrich go talk to him. Mostly, Friedrich told him to shut the fuck up and stop worrying, or he was going to regret it. ¡°Oh look, Warley''s back,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Indeed, and he''s finally upgraded to a rank S1 warrior. That''s good news for the adventurers; he should be able to easily handle whatever the dark elves throw at him. I wonder if he got Kendra to agree to the plans for annexing the dungeon. I''ll have Friedrich go talk to him, and I guess my body will ''find out'' later. Just need for the Hartjenstein family to show up, and I''ll have a full complement of fighters.¡± ¡°Have you figured out any more of your plan for them, by the way? They might have children,¡± Emelia said. At this thought, Dorn suddenly frowned. Despite being a mostly heartless being (except when it came to Kiera), he still had a soft spot for children, due to what had happened to his parents when he was younger. ¡°I suppose I''ll just enslave the parents of any children and tell them to raise their children in a bigotry-free way. Maybe I can even help the older children overcome any beginnings of racism by introducing them to some elves their own age,¡± said Dorn. Emelia, who also loved children, said, ¡°That''s nice. Anyways, I have three things I''ve thought of that I think need some attention.¡± ¡°Alright, I''m listening,¡± answered Dorn.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°First, are you planning on moving the celestial tree down to C-Housing? The further down in the dungeon it is, the more it will benefit the entire dungeon''s mana ecosystem,¡± said Emelia. ¡°I was planning on it, but I wanted to wait until more Elves had made it to the C-rank, or else how would they get to the tree?¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh you don''t need to worry about that, as the celestial mana will percolate up through your floors, allowing them to cultivate as long as they are in your dungeon. You can even filter some of the celestial mana and dump it into their housing quarter, if you''re worried,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Alright, what''s your second idea?¡± ¡°What are you go going to do about the children in the D-Housing units when you bring down the shields. I know Kiera already asked you this, but you sort of deflected answering at the time.¡± Dorn sighed, ¡°Segregation of the races will ultimately harm everyone. How can there be an effective nation where all races are kept apart? The people will have to learn to get along, or, they will have to become strong enough to remain in segregated housing. Only the S-level housing will always remain segregated. Anyways, that is not my problem. It is a matter for the people to decide themselves, and I hope they choose wisely.¡± ¡°Okay, I guess. Hopefully, the children will somehow be spared,¡± said Emelia, but not quite believing her own words. ¡°My final thought is, what do you know about flesh magic and soul transference?¡± *** Warley walked into the dungeon, glad to be back. He headed towards the king''s chambers, determined to get him to leave and prepare for the war with Ilsan. He was stopped on the way by Friedrich, who surprisingly had his cowl down. He was a greasy, blond-haired and blue-eyed man, with a large potbelly and some stubble. His eyes looked somewhat vacant. Now that Warley was the same rank and level as him, he could tell that this Friedrich was a powerful Soul mage, and yet was dominated as a soul slave. It made for a very frightened Warley, as this meant there must be an SS-level soul mage involved. Friedrich said, ¡°Come, Warley, let us speak in private.¡± Warley looked somewhat scared, and mentally started strengthening the shields around his soul and mind. He said, ¡°Whatever you have to say, you can say it right here.¡± Friedrich grinned, saying, ¡°Warley, if I was going to enslave you, would being around any of the pathetic weaklings here help you? I promise not to use my powers on you. I just want to speak in private about my benefactor.¡± Warley nervously accepted his invitation. When they were seated in Friedrich''s office (which used to be Warley''s office), Friedrich said, I know that you are curious about who the holder of my bond is.¡± Warley said, ¡°Indeed, it has definitely aroused my curiosity, as well as my fear.¡± ¡°Not to worry; the dungeon itself is the holder of my bond,¡± said Friedrich. Warley leaned back and considered the two possibilities. One, that he was telling the truth, and he would now have a way to liaise with the dungeon. Or two, that he had been instructed to lie, and this was a simple obfuscation. ¡°How do I know you are telling the truth?¡± Warley asked directly. ¡°With the gods and the pantheon as my witness, my previous statement was completely true,¡± said Friedrich. A white cloud opened up over his head, shone a light down on his body, and withdrew. If he had been lying, he would have been cursed with a severe, and usually permanent, weakness and loss of cultivation. The gods really did not like being bothered with the concerns of mortals. Warley''s eyes widened, both at the invocation of the gods'' oath, and the knowledge that he was looking at a sentient who had been controlled by a dungeon. ¡°May I ask why you have enslaved this human?¡± Warley asked of the dungeon. Dorn answered through Friedrich''s mouth: ¡°He was sent by a Central Fantisan family to enslave me and offer me to the infernal realm.¡± Warley paused at this latest revelation. He leaned back and groaned, saying, ¡°So now, we don''t just have to worry about Kendra and Ilsan invading, we need to worry about an infernal-worshiping Central Fantisan family as well?¡± ¡°Ah, and the dark elves, who are coming to destroy my celestial tree.¡± ¡°Gods, what do we do?¡± asked Warley, no longer able to react to new surprises. ¡°One thing at a time. First, how did your meeting with Kendra go?¡± asked Friedrich. ¡°Not well; the Emperor was completely unreceptive to the idea of lowering taxes on the adventurers. He plans to invade immediately after Ilsan does, and to impose the same tax rates that Ilsan would.¡± Friedrich frowned in thought. Warley just paused, letting him come up with the decisions. While he wanted to create The Dragon''s Kingdom, he knew that the chances of success would be determined by the words of this soul-bound man sitting in front of him. ¡°Alright, the King of Khal will abandon the northern border with Ilsan, allowing a straight path to this dungeon; meanwhile, he will gather his troops and attempt to harass and slow the forces of Kendra.¡± Warley asked, ¡°To what end?¡± ¡°We will attempt to make the Ilsanians and Kendrans fight it out outside the dungeon, without a chance to dig in and cause a siege. This will take a precise information network and strong control of the military. Hopefully, the King can pull it off.¡± ¡°Is he under your control?¡± asked Warley. ¡°What do you think?¡± asked Friedrich wryly. ¡°What about the Central Fantisan family you mentioned? And the dark elves?¡± ¡°Hopefully, the family arrives before any of the other three forces, and I will use this body to slowly enslave all but the children. The children will still have a chance for redemption,¡± said Friedrich. ¡°Well that''s nice of you,¡± said Warley sarcastically, not enjoying the idea of a dungeon enslaving the souls of a large group of humans. ¡°Would you prefer that I allow them to take over this dungeon and sacrifice everyone in it to the infernal realm?¡± asked Friedrich. ¡°No, I guess not,¡± said Warley, after frowning. ¡°I will use the enslaved family to attack the dark elves, and you will coordinate the adventurers to attack along side them. We will then coordinate a second time to deal with whichever human force wins, be it Ilsan or Kendra,¡± said Friedrich. ¡°Alright, assuming that everything goes to plan, which I seriously doubt, what do we do afterward?¡± asked Warley. ¡°Did you entertain the idea that I heard the human adventurer Dorn mention? About starting a new nation?¡± asked Friedrich. Warley finally smiled, saying, ¡°Yes, I did. Are you suggesting that I go ahead and become the king of this new nation?¡± Friedrich nodded his head, saying, ¡°Indeed, that was my idea exactly. Now we just need a name.¡± Warley said, ¡°I already thought of the name. We shall become The Dragon''s Kingdom.¡± *** ¡°I know that Flesh magic and Soul transference are taboo subjects and considered both evil and extremely dangerous. Why do you ask?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°I wanted to mention this while you still hadn''t gotten too far in your chi cultivation. Unfortunately, you upgraded to B-rank faster than expected¡­ and I sort of forgot,¡± said Emelia meekly. ¡°Forgot what?¡± Dorn growled, getting his hackles up. He hated not knowing things about being a dungeon. This was something that hadn''t changed since his days as an actual dragon. ¡°As a Dungeon Avatar, you are more free to play around with Flesh magic and Soul transference than other beings, as any accidents will only result in the destruction of your corporeal body and a need to re-purchase the Avatar.¡± Dorn frowned in thought. ¡°Well, it would be problematic if ''Dorn'' disappeared and suddenly came back at C-rank. Or if he grew wings. I don''t know how much we can hope for, when it comes to Flesh magic. But if I''m understanding you correctly, are you saying that I can become a dragon again? Finally, I would no longer be stuck in this pathetic human body?¡± ¡°Indeed, that is what I was referencing,¡± said Emelia. ¡°Well, it would have been nice knowing this before I upgraded to B rank,¡± he said angrily. ¡°Well, you don''t really have the points for it quite yet, anyways. You''ll need to create a silver dragon, cultivate it up to B rank, destroy its soul, and then transfer in your own. Then you''ll need to shape-shift back to the human form you currently have, all without anyone noticing.¡± ¡°Hmm, I''ll have to consider this carefully. I''ll ask Kiera what she thinks,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Oh you pussy, would you really consider giving up a dragon body because your girlfriend might say so?¡± ¡°Yes, so fuck off.¡± *** ¡°Never. Again,¡± panted Vossan, as they reached the exit teleportation glyph. ¡°Oh that wasn''t too bad,¡± said Thalia, enjoying the dwarf''s misery. ¡°Dwarves were not meant to be in the air. That is for dragons and birds, not dwarves.¡± Dorn just snorted. Thornley then asked, ¡°So are we done for the day?¡± Kiera glanced at Dorn, remembering his statement that the next floor would make them all dirty, and said, ¡°Let''s just check out what the next floor is, before calling it a day.¡± Everyone seemed to like this idea, so they all stood on the glyph and thought, Floor 15. When they arrived at an active volcano, with a stele in front of them, they all just stared at the volcano. Kinnard and Jeromy both groaned, saying, ¡°This is a C-level floor?¡± Vossan just grinned, saying, ¡°Ah, now this is much better.¡± Thalia, the ever-curious elf, was busy reading the stele. She then suddenly spoke up, ¡°Hey guys, does it seem like the ground is rumbling?¡± Dorn, knowing what she was talking about, just smiled greatly. He loved it when a plan came together. ¡°Why do you ask?¡± said Kiera. ¡°Because apparently, this volcano here erupts daily, destroying everything on the floor. And the sign that it''s about to erupt, is the ground shaking violently,¡± said Thalia. Just as this started to sink into the minds of the Seekers and the Voices, a giant red beam flew out of the top of the volcano. A sound like a bomb going off deafened all the adventurers there, as a wave of air pressure pushed them backwards. The adventurers hurriedly rushed back onto the glyph, thinking, Floor 10, in a mad panic. They managed to escape back to housing just before the flying debris struck them, which would have killed them instantly. After Kiera and Brook managed to heal everyone''s burst ear drums, Kiera grabbed hold of Dorn and started stalking off towards the housing. ¡°Hey, don''t take it out on Dorn,¡± Jeromy shouted. ¡°Shut it,¡± was all she said back, storming off with Dorn in tow. *** ¡°Are you out of your fucking mind?¡± screamed Kiera, once they were out of earshot of their parties. ¡°A fucking volcano? That explodes daily?¡± ¡°Oh come on, we just happened to pick a bad time to explore the floor. It was bad luck is all,¡± said Dorn. Dorn then listened to a massive haranguing about being irresponsible and endangering their lives, and how humans couldn''t just come back like a Dungeon Avatar. Finally, Dorn remembered that Warley had returned, and said desperately, ¡°I know something that will cheer you up. Warley''s back.¡± Kiera knew that Dorn was just trying to change the subject, so she narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°Fine,¡± she said, ¡°let''s go say hi to Warley. We''ll talk more about this later.¡± Dorn then handed over three barrier breaking pills, and Kiera said, ¡°Actually, I think I said everything I needed.¡± Kiera finally smiled, and Dorn breathed out a breath of relief. Gods, there are parts that suck to being in a relationship. At least it''s easy to distract her with gifts. He then realized that maybe, their relationship wasn''t so different from other people''s. Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Dorn rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. ¡°Hey Kiera, there was something I''ve been meaning to talk to you about.¡± ¡°Uhhhh,¡± said Kiera. She was still a bit out of it. Dorn grinned. ¡°Kiera,¡± ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°I wanted to talk to you about something.¡± ¡°So talk, gods, you sure know how to ruin a good moment,¡± said Kiera. ¡°There''s an opportunity available for me, and I don''t know if I should take it. I might be able to become a dragon again,¡± said Dorn At this, Kiera sat bolt upright. Dorn thought, damn, that really is a good angle to see her from. ¡°Dorn, how?¡± ¡°Apparently, it''s much easier for Dungeon Avatars to do soul transfers. All I''d have to do is grow an empty dragon body and transfer in,¡± said Dorn. Kiera laid down on his chest, drawing lines around his muscles. She was thinking. ¡°Would anything change between us?¡± ¡°I don''t think so,¡± replied Dorn. ¡°I''d just use the natural shape-shifting magic of dragons to look exactly the same as I do now.¡± After thinking about it, Kiera said, ¡°I guess it wouldn''t be too different from now, as your real body is a diamond and this body is a fake. It''ll just be one more layer of fake.¡± ¡°Exactly; so, do you think I should try?¡± ¡°It''ll make you more powerful, right?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°Definitely, but it''s a little risky. If I screw it up, I''ll have to re-create my avatar and think of an excuse for why I''m suddenly a C5 rank practitioner again,¡± said Dorn. Kiera said, ¡°I think you should go for it; it would be good protection for when you have to do those dungeon duels. They probably shifted out of human bodies as well, or at least, the top ones probably did. And I don''t want to lose you.¡± At this, Dorn just wrapped his arms around her. ¡°Alright, when I have the DP''s to do it, I''ll try transferring back to a silver dragon''s body. You won''t have to worry about losing me.¡± ¡°Good.¡± *** Coming down to the tavern, Dorn and Kiera sat with the remaining members of their team. ¡°Where''s the Voices?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°They''ve decided to try to get two new members, so they can go back to being a full party, for the Colosseum. So, we''re all on our own for today,¡± said Vossan. ¡°We could also go to the Colosseum and get more Devil Points. I''ve been wanting to get the recipe for those C-Advancement pills,¡± said Thalia. Dorn disagreed, saying, ¡°Since Jeromy, you, and I are B-ranked adventurers, and Kiera and Vossan are both C9 rank, that pill won''t be of too much use to us. Too bad the dungeon doesn''t have the B-Advancement pill recipe or pill. That would be useful.¡± Thalia said, ¡°If I had the C-Advancement pill recipe, I might be able to extrapolate the B-Advancement pill recipe, but it would be a long shot.¡± ¡°Really? That would be awesome,¡± said Kiera. ¡°As I said, it would be a real long shot. Won''t know until I''ve gotten the recipe, however,¡± said Thalia. ¡°Kiera and I could use the barrier breaking pills, as well,¡± said Vossan. Kiera, who had already weaseled a few out of Dorn, just kept silent. Dorn then spoke up, saying, ¡°I think today is a great opportunity to attempt the volcano floor. I really like the challenge; and there must be some great treasure in there that will help us in the Colosseum.¡± Jeromy said, ¡°I agree with Dorn; I''m still curious what''s on the 16th floor, past the volcano floor.¡± Vossan said, ¡°We can always go to the Colosseum tomorrow, or later today, if we finish quickly. I agree, let''s attempt it.¡± The team headed out of the inn and headed towards the dungeon proper. They stepped on the teleportation glyph, thinking, floor 15, and disappeared in a flash of light. *** As his team headed to the volcano, Dorn was simultaneously instructing Friedrich. He had him order the King to take his troops and leave the dungeon. The King would marshal all his forces in Khal and head east, to stop Kendra''s forces from reaching the dungeon too quickly. They would also try to bloody the troops as much as they could with guerrilla warfare tactics, to try to lower their fighting ability to match Ilsan''s troops. Of course, Friedrich had to remain behind, to welcome his family when they arrived. Which should be happening soon. Dorn wished he had a better spy network, to find out where the various forces arranged against him were and when they would arrive at the dungeon. Friedrich, he projected his thoughts, ask where your family is, and how much longer they will be. After Friedrich used his voice communication talisman, he reported to Dorn, thinking, they say they have landed in the Northeast part of the continent, so they must be over the dwarves'' kingdom, Under the Mount. They have a number of air mages, making travel easy. They should arrive within the next week. Dorn sat and pondered. Everything was coming together quite nicely. Signs pointed to Ilsan invading after about a week. The King''s information network, which Dorn had co-opted, had shown that Ilsan was still marshaling forces, and they would need about another week to be ready to invade. Kendra, of course, was waiting until immediately after Ilsan invaded. They had no idea that the King of Khal would be waiting for them. This means that the Hartjensteins will be here prior to the invasions. The King will make sure Kendra doesn''t get here until the Ilsanians have made their way from the north. The only remaining variable is the dark elves, and we have no idea when they will arrive. The drow were the real wild cards. Dorn knew about the strengths of all the other forces, either from the King''s information network or from Friedrich. He had no idea, however, how strong the forces the drow would send would be. He would have the adventurers, the Hartjensteins, Warley, and Friedrich together to deal with them. Hopefully, it would be enough. Emelia threw some cold water on his thinking, saying, ¡°Friedrich won''t be much help in the fight against the drow. Elves have all their natural magical resistances, and they are therefore intrinsically safe from mental and soul attacks. It''s how they have come to dominate the Underdark, despite the large populations of githyanki and illithid.¡± Dorn frowned. He knew that he could recycle Friedrich into a large number of points, but he currently needed him to lure the Hartjensteins to the dungeon. What a mess. There wasn''t much Dorn could do for now, other than wait. And hope the drow didn''t show up too soon. Hopefully, their matriarchs weren''t too excited about being able to destroy a celestial tree. It all depended on what their spider gods demanded, however.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. In the meantime, he decided he would focus on his Dungeon Avatar and its trip to the volcano. *** ¡°Alright, remember to be on the lookout for little rumbles. If we feel them, we have to get to the nearest teleportation glyph as quickly as possible. Dorn, can you help with that?¡± asked Vossan. ¡°Now that I''m B-ranked again, I should be able to blink all of us to one of the glyphs. But it''ll take all of my mana, so if I''m running low in the floor, and we feel the rumbles, we''ll be screwed,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Alright, that means that Dorn, you must not participate in the conquering of this floor,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Actually, I''m pretty handy with my spear. I''ll just avoid using mana, in case we need an emergency blink.¡± ¡°Oh good, that should make things easier,¡± said Thalia, who hadn''t been looking forwards to being the sole damage dealer in the party. It was hard for a ranged damage dealer to provide the sole attacking force in a party, as there were times when ranged weapons were not very functional, such as in the narrow tunnels of a volcano. The team set out by walking one time around the entire volcano, trying to plot paths around the rivers of magma. ¡°Are we sure that the exit teleportation glyph is at the top of the volcano? That''d be a fun surprise, to reach the top and find out the teleportation glyph is somewhere within the network of tunnels,¡± said Thalia. Dorn suddenly thought, damn, that''s a good idea. I wish I had thought of it. ¡°Only one way to find out,¡± said Kiera. They began their ascent. After only a few hundred feet, they were attacked by a small pack of fire-enhanced ravens. Thalia took out about half of them with her arrows; she really was quite deadly with a bow. Vossan just held up his shield, getting pelted by diving birds. Jeromy chucked a few daggers at the birds, killing around three. Dorn took care of the rest with a remarkable bit of spearkwork. ¡°That''s some level of skill for a mage, Dorn. Why''d you get so good at using the spear?¡± asked Jeromy. Dorn sighed, saying, ¡°I always wanted to be a fighter, not a mage. When it turned out my affinities were perfect for being a mage, I was actually disappointed. So I started practicing the spear, as if to prove I could do both. Comes in handy when I''m restricted from using magic. I believe everyone should have some skill with at least one weapon.¡± Vossan nodded his head in agreement, saying, ¡°Aye, magic restrictions are very common. Frequently, it comes down to who''s better at the sword.¡± The team collected some alchemical remains of the birds, at Thalia''s directions, and continued walking up the mountain. Jeromy continued to scout ahead. He came back, and told the team, ¡°We''re going to have enter the mountain up ahead. That, or circle back to the beginning and try a different path.¡± ¡°Why, are we boxed in by lava?¡± asked Kiera. ¡°No, there''s a middle B-ranked fire gorilla up ahead, just past the entrance to a volcano tunnel. Hope you guys are ready to get sweaty, as the tunnel is really hot,¡± said Jeromy. Kiera just glared at Dorn, like this was all his fault. Of course, it was, but that was beside the point, at least in Dorn''s mind. ¡°Just think of the cold baths back in C-Housing that we''ll be in as soon as we finish this floor,¡± said Dorn. ¡°It''s too bad none of us know ice magic. I miss having Hendrik in the party; he was good at cooling things down,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°You''re a water mage, Jeromy; why did you never learn any ice magic?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°Never had an application book for ice magic,¡± Jeromy replied with a shrug. ¡°Alright, we all are pitching in to buy Jeromy an application book at the Colosseum. This is simply ridiculous,¡± said Kiera, sweating up a storm. ¡°Tomorrow. Let''s try to finish this floor first,¡± encouraged Vossan. They headed up the mountain and inside of a tunnel. The tunnel was rectangular in shape, with big chunks of wall fallen on the floor. Vossan walked up to the wall, and picked at some of the stone. Then he gasped. ¡°What is it?¡± asked Jeromy. ¡°This is fire iron,¡± he replied excitedly. ¡°Is fire iron worth a lot?¡± asked Kiera, picking up a bit of his excitement. ¡°It''s one of the two rarest metals, underneath mithril and adamantium. It and its partner, frozen steel, make some of the best weapons in the world. But the conditions in which to find them are extreme, like say, in a volcano, or the middle of a tundra. Hell, we could make a fortune just by mining this floor,¡± said Vossan. ¡°As long as we all don''t die in a fiery explosion,¡± said Thalia, with an eye roll. ¡°Aye, there do be that. But with Dorn here, it shouldn''t be a problem,¡± said Vossan. ¡°Yes, yes, I''m just your guys'' personal teleport machine. I''ll just sit here while you guys mine all day, waiting for a fiery explosion that could kill all of us if I''m not quick enough. Can''t imagine anything more fun,¡± said Dorn. ¡°Could you elbow him for me, Kiera?¡± asked Vossan. Kiera obliged. ¡°Don''t whine,¡± she said. Dorn just muttered angrily. After the team spent an hour mining, Dorn decided that they should finish the floor, before coming back to mine later. They continued on in the tunnel, climbed some stairs, and entered a room with three fire elementals. ¡°Too bad my shield isn''t made of frozen steel, or this floor would be a cakewalk,¡± said Vossan. Thalia just whipped out three of the ice-enchanted arrows she had purchased before coming to this floor and quickly put them through the neck of each fire elemental. They collected the hot core of each elemental and threw it in their bags of holding. They were highly valued by blacksmiths. When they finally emerged from the tunnel, they heard an ominous growl. ¡°Run,¡± shouted Jeromy. As the team was running, Vossan panted and asked, ¡°What are we running from?¡± ¡°The fire gorilla from before somehow wandered over to the exit of the tunnel, really shitty luck,¡± said Jeromy. ¡°Now would be a great time to point out, that we should have gone to the Colosseum and gotten Jeromy an ice application book, instead of coming to this hell of a floor,¡± said Kiera. Jeromy just looked at her, and said, ¡°I wouldn''t have been able to learn ice magic in a day. So quit whining.¡± Kiera finally packed it in, remembering that even though Dorn was the dungeon maker and her boyfriend, it was his job to make the dungeon as difficult as possible. I''m sorry I''ve been bitchy, these last few days, she projected her thoughts at Dorn. No worries, he thought back, I know to expect it about once a month. Kiera grit her teeth, but didn''t argue back, since she knew he was right. At least he wasn''t like a lot of other guys, who liked to pretend it didn''t happen. When they finally lost the gorilla, they were about half way up the mountain. Thalia said, ¡°I see a clear path to the summit; we''ll just have to deal with some more birds, and we''ll be there.¡± By the time the team made it to the top of the volcano, they had started to feel the shaking in the ground. ¡°Dorn,¡± yelled Jeromy, ¡°get ready to teleport us back to the entrance glyph if we don''t see the exit glyph over the lip. And get ready to teleport us to the exit glyph if it''s there. Everyone, up the mountain. Now.¡± They crested the hill and saw the exit teleportation glyph. Dorn quickly blinked the entire team to the glyph. They all quickly thought, Floor 10, merely seconds before the volcano erupted, showering the entire area in a mass of magma. The team appeared back in the C-Housing meadow. ¡°Oh, thank the gods, we finished that floor, and we never have to go back,¡± said Kiera. Vossan cried out, ¡°Never go back? As soon as Jeromy learns some ice magic, I''m heading back with him and Dorn to mine every last piece of fire iron I can find.¡± Thalia said, ¡°I hate to agree with the dwarf, but he''s right. We should get enough fire iron to make all of us new weapons. We can have Vossan''s blacksmith friends craft them and have Dorn enchant them. We''ll all have extremely powerful B-level enchanted weapons made from fire-iron. And the way this dungeon loves to play with environments, we might just end up in a tundra in floor 16, fighting abominable snowmen.¡± Kiera quirked an eyebrow towards Dorn, who just thought into her head, no, I didn''t. But I now have a great idea for floor 17! Kiera groaned a little, and everyone else thought it was just from the thought of having to return to the volcano. They then dragged themselves towards the baths. When they got there, they ran into the Voices, and met their two new teammates. Thornley was quick to the point: ¡°You guys look like sweaty shit. And smell like it, too. You go through the volcano floor?¡± Kiera snapped, ¡°Yes, and if you don''t mind, I need a cold bath more than I''ve ever needed anything.¡± She excused herself to the woman¡¯s bath, disappearing quickly. Thornley said, ¡°She always like that?¡± Dorn said, ¡°No, only on occasion.¡± All the men nodded their heads in understanding. Brook just shook her head, saying, ¡°Men. You don''t get it at all.¡± She left to go join Kiera. *** ¡°Emelia, I know what to build for the 17th floor,¡± Dorn said excitedly. ¡°Did you forget you were out of points?¡± asked Emelia. Dorn drooped, saying, ¡°Oh yeah. I''ve had so many points for so long now, that I forgot you can run out. At least there are now more C-level adventurers showing up in the dungeon. My passive regeneration has been soaring.¡± ¡°Do keep in mind that you have 25 million points walking around in the form of Friedrich, as well as his entire family coming to the dungeon. There should be a few A levels and probably another S level in his family, since they are from Central Fantisa. This is the case even despite being a merchant family and not a militaristic family. You still won''t have to worry too much about DP''s until you reach your B floors. And that''s when you get the B adventurers to show up, massively increasing your regeneration and your points from adventurer deaths,¡± said Emelia. ¡°That''s true, I guess. I was just hoping to finish off my C-level floors before the drow show up,¡± said Dorn. ¡°I guess that depends on what you spend your points on, and how much earlier the Hartjensteins make it to the dungeon than the dark elves.¡± ¡°Oh well, since there''s nothing we can do, I''ll head back and focus on our party.¡± ¡°See ya, big guy,¡± said Emelia cheekily. ¡°Ugh, don''t call me that, it sounds wrong coming from you,¡± said Dorn. Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Damn
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 30 +1 for 31,000 DP''s Floors: 17/17 Dungeon Points: 25,375,291 Dungeon Rating: C6 ¨C Your dungeon is scary
He sighed, wistful, wishing he could spend the points on his dungeon, instead of what he knew he needed to do. His avatar begged off from the rest of his team, leaving them in C-Housing. He merely told them that he needed to meditate, to calm his mind for whatever danger was at the dungeon, and that they should go meet with Warley in D-Housing. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He said to Kiera, ¡°Wish me luck.¡± ¡°Good luck, big guy. Come back to me,¡± said Kiera. ¡°Always,¡± answered Dorn, before activating the glyph on his back, teleporting directly to the core room. A sense of great anticipation filled him, and a feeling of nostalgia. This wasn''t the first time he had fought against the drow; they, along with the rest of the denizens of the underdark, were at the very least neutral in relations with the Demon and Devil Plane. *** Kiera and the rest of her party teleported to the D-floor, and found a state of panic surrounding most of the human adventurers. Warley was at the center, saying, ¡°Everyone who wants to fight, come to the seventh floor with me. Everyone who is scared, can simply remain here, safe behind the spatial shields.¡± Strangely, this did not seem to calm down the crowd. Jerry, standing next to Warley, said into his ear, ¡°Maybe you shouldn''t have mentioned that two matriarchs were here.¡± Jerry spoke up to the crowd; he said, ¡°The drow are here now. They have already killed everything and everyone in the surroundings. With the perimeter secured, in a few minutes, they''ll be entering the elven quarter. Stay here and trust in the shields, or follow Warley to the seventh floor and fight. If neither of these work for you, feel free to try your chances breaking through the perimeter they are leaving behind.¡± As Jerry finished speaking, gasps were heard. Everyone turned their head to look towards the space shields separating the elven quadrant. A large black cloud of potent Dark magic was flowing from the center. Quickly, the cloud pressed up against the space shields. A sudden silence went up in the crowd, as the pressure from the clash between darkness and space magic caused the air to become peculiarly heavy. Slowly, a minute went by. Then another. After waiting for around half an hour, the pressure from the clash slowly dissipated. However, the cloud still remained at the edge of the shields. People cheered. Warley said, ¡°See? The drow are strong, but they are no match for this dungeon. Now, those of you fighting, come with me to the seventh floor.¡± Warley watched as most of the people looked at each other. Other than the Seekers of Capital, minus Dorn, and the remaining members of the Voices of Fortune, no one stood forward. Warley looked shocked at the people. ¡°If we don''t stop the drow, this entire dungeon will be at risk!¡± Warley yelled. Someone in the crowd yelled back, ¡°The dungeon seems to be safe enough. Let the elves take care of their own problems! It''s their fault that the celestial tree brought the drow!¡± As the crowd started murmuring their agreement, Jerry turned to Warley with a wry smile, saying, ¡°You were the head of the human''s adventurer''s guild in the Khal Kingdom for thirty years, and you still don''t understand how the minds of adventurers work? If you really want to start a new kingdom made for the adventurers and by the adventurers, pay attention.¡± Suddenly, Jerry raised his voice above the crowd, ¡°Every D-ranked drow killed is worth 100 Devil Points. Every C-ranked is worth 500. B''s are 1000, and A''s are 10,000.¡± Suddenly, a huge roar of support went through the crowd, and almost all of the adventurers sprinted towards the second floor''s teleportation glyph. Jerry and Warley were left looking over the small number of family members of adventurers left in the town. ¡°See?¡± asked Jerry. ¡°Piece of cake.¡± Warley, tinged with embarrassment for his people, gave a wry grin, before saying, ¡°Well, I better get down to the seventh floor myself, before the matriarchs show up.¡± He then hurried off. Jerry grinned and headed back to the inn. *** Down in the core room, Emelia and Dorn watched as the drow pressed their darkness magic against the D-housing level''s shields. Emelia curiously asked, ¡°Any chance they break through the shields?¡± Dorn gave her an annoyed look, saying, ¡°I was a silver Space dragon at the SS level with a major affinity for Space. What do you think?¡± Ignoring his rhetorical question, Emelia said, ¡°But this would be the perfect excuse to drop the shields on that floor and blame it on the drow.¡± Dorn said, ¡°Uh huh. And how would I explain that the shields are still in place in the C-housing level?¡± Emelia grinned, ¡°Woops. Didn''t think of that. Oh well, will you now tell me your secret plan for the 25 million points you gained from killing your pet Soul mage? It better be good, because now that your plan of luring the Hartjenstein is gone, you''ll soon be having another fight just as difficult as this one. Plus, it needs to be able to stop or kill an S-ranked matriarch.¡± Dorn responded, ¡°I''m going to buy my new dragon body, cultivate it to B1, do the soul transference, then cultivate up to at least A9, if not S1¡± Emelia looked at him with her lower jaw literally hanging down, before slowly closing it. After pausing for a second, she opened her mouth like she was about to say something, before slowly closing it once again. Dorn gave her a questioning look, saying, ¡°What?¡± Emelia blinked, the began to laugh hysterically, literally falling to the ground and rolling around, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Dorn, used to her eccentric behavior, still felt that this was rather extreme. Once again, he questioned, ¡°What?¡± In between laughing, Emelia managed to force out: ¡°You don''t even have enough points to create a newborn silver dragon, and you want to do all that?¡± Dorn frowned in confusion, ¡°I know you said it was expensive, but shouldn''t 25 million be enough?¡± Emelia finally managed to get her laughter under control, before looking up. She said, ¡°Dorn, we sold the pattern for the dragon for 29 million points. Do you honestly think it would take less to create the actual, living, breathing dragon? Did you not listen when I told you that Dungeon Avatars are a bottomless pit of DP''s? Your plan would require at least a billion DP''s, and that''s the conservative estimate. Why else would the gods be able to sell the Tears of a God for nearly 500 million points? It''s so the dungeon core can save their avatar from dying and having to spend all the points to re-cultivate one.¡± In dawning realization, Dorn was starting to get seriously pissed. Remembering what happened to the Nature dragon last time he was this angry, he started taking deep breaths. When he had calmed down, he said, ¡°Let me get this straight. I killed my mole in the Hartjenstein family, precipitating another fight in the next few days. For this, I received an amount of Dungeon Points insufficient to either raise my cultivation to A-rank or even create a dragon.¡± Emelia sing-songed, ¡°Don''t forget the two S-ranked drow matriarchs coming down to destroy your celestial tree. And you only have Warley to stop them.¡± Dorn replied, ¡°Then, what the hell are you so happy for?¡± Emelia sighed, before responding, ¡°Seriously, I think you have brain damage or something. That would at least explain why you''re with a human.¡± Dorn angrily retorted, ¡°I thought you were ove-¡± Emelia interrupted, ¡°I am. Now shut up and listen. Remember how dungeons get DP''s for creating entropy? Remember how the celestial tree both granted and cost 25 million to absorb and grow, respectively? What do you think will happen when the drow burn it to the ground? It''s not like they can get at your core. The S1-ranked Soul mage that you vaporized already tried and failed. If they failed, what can the drow matriarchs do?¡± For a second, Dorn looked elated. Then his expression fell, before saying, ¡°Well, it turns out you don''t know everything. Two matriarchs will be able to summon an S-ranked demon. Despite how impressive my ten shields are, they are not capable of standing up to either infernal or holy mana. The only reason we could laugh at the churches and their moronic followers was because the Gods don''t give a damn about the lower realms, so they obviously don''t supply their ''followers'' with their own, personal, holy mana.¡± Emelia quietly responded, ¡°Oh. That''s bad.¡± Dorn didn''t respond. Emelia and Dorn looked through the dungeon orb as the matriarchs gave up trying to breach the C-housing level''s shields and finally proceeded into the dungeon. Dorn narrated out loud, ¡°Well, the elves'' quarter is completely gone, but that''ll be cheap to fix. Or, at least it would, if we weren''t so totally screwed. Luckily, all of their fighters are already in the seventh floor and their non-combatants in the sixth. Looks like we''ve already got the humans, elves, and dwarves waiting.¡± Emelia perked up a little, saying, ¡°Did you have to bribe the dwarves like you did the humans?¡± ¡°No, to them, drow and high elves are both elves. The chance to kill as many as possible was all the incentive they needed. That being said, don''t tell any of them that we''re giving the humans Devil Points, or they''ll demand some too.¡± ¡°What about the beast-men?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°We''ve only received about five clans, totaling about 100 fighters and 150 non-combatants. Their highest ranked cultivators are only in the upper B-levels, and they would only antagonize the humans and split their focus.¡± Emelia said, ¡°Well, at least the light elves and dwarves all started to migrate here. Not to mention the enormous amount of C-ranked humans. Too bad the elves and dwarves haven''t sent their truly powerful forces here yet.¡± Morosely, Dorn said, ¡°The B-ranked and above humans won''t come until they hear that this dungeon has reached such a level. Despite the rumors of the dungeon causing a massive influx of adventurers, the higher ranked ones will simply assume that no new dungeon could possibly have good enough rewards yet, for them to come.¡± ¡°And the dwarves and elves?¡± asked Emelia. ¡°Luckily, each race has an A-level: Stroggean Oakmantle of the dwarves and Ailmer Enfina of the elves,¡± Dorn said. ¡°How many A-levels did the drow send?¡± Dorn said, ¡°Six priestesses, but they left four outside to kill anything that escapes.¡± Emelia pondered this for a second, ¡°Well, our two A-levels and one S-level can stop their two priestesses and one of the matriarchs. Hopefully, one of the matriarchs will continue through the dungeon in an effort to get to the tree, instead of teaming up to kill Warley, followed by everyone else.¡± Dorn quirked an eyebrow, saying ¡°Drow clans work together? Keep dreaming.¡± Emelia nodded, saying, ¡°We need something to tilt the balance on the seventh floor. And we need something that can either stop, kill, or turn a matriarch. Can a single matriarch summon an S-level demon?¡± Dorn stroked his chin. ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°After burning the tree and trying futilely to destroy my core, she will be forced to acknowledge the need to return to the drow stuck on the seventh floor to recover the second matriarch so they can together summon a demon.¡± ¡°Well, your avatar is enough to tilt the balance on the seventh floor. Speaking of, they''ve just entered the sixth floor, so you should probably get moving,¡± Emelia said. ¡°What about the matriarch?¡± asked Dorn. ¡°We can figure that out while you go. It''s best not to allow the drow or anyone else to realize that you''re a dungeon avatar. Split your mind evenly between the core and yourself. Now go.¡± Thankfully, Dorn had spent these past couple of weeks practicing this skill. As his body disappeared up to the seventh floor to join the rest of the fighters, Dorn''s core and Emelia got into a discussion about the second matriarch. ¡°I''m really not seeing anything that can trap or kill the second matriarch,¡± said Dorn. ¡°We can''t build or summon any S-level creatures. And the drow are protected from soul magic, at least somewhat. In the time I would need to Dominate her, she''d have already burned the tree, figured out that she needs to summon a devil, and left to return to the upper floors. It''s too bad I can''t just trap her with Space magic. Stupid gods, making rules about allowing allowing everyone to be able to reach the core and any teleportation glyphs.¡± ¡°That''s it!¡± shouted Emelia. Before Dorn could ask what she had realized, his dungeon senses picked up five airships in the distance, flying towards the mountain. The Hartjenstein family had arrived. *** Silence reigned in the forest of the seventh floor, as the three sentient races'' fighters stood in formations, watching the teleportation glyph''s entrance. Warley, Ailmer, and Stronggean, as the nominal leaders of the races, stood in front, waiting. The teleportation glyph glowed, and a black cloud of gas appeared. Glossary and Plot Summary of Chapters 0-29 + UPDATE + Poll Results/Fleshed-out Content Warnings Glossary and Plot Summary (Chapters 0-29) Table of Contents Section Topic I. Geography II. Species/Creatures III. Currency IV. Adventurers V. Chi Cultivation & Magic Spells VI. Elements & Affinities VII. Runes/Glyphs VIII. Mana Manipulation/Non-Elemental Magic IX. Enchanting & Alchemy X. Dungeon Floors XI. Dungeon Mechanics XII. Named or Titled Characters/Groups XIII. Plot Summary
(I) Geography Higher Plane = location of the gods Demon and Devil Plane = location of demons and devils Lower Plane = location of everyone else Plot takes place on the planet of Sorenia, in the Lower Plane Strongest continent is Central Fantisa, located on equator Continent of plot is East Lucenia East Lucenia is east of Central Fantisa, and entirely below equator East Lucenia is shaped like a large "L" North part of East Lucenia = Ilsan Empire Central part of East Lucenia = Khal kingdom East part of East Lucenia = Kendra Empire Dwarven underground kingdom = Under the Mount Barren beast-kin lands = the Wild Lands Underground area full of magical creatures and monsters = Underdark
(II) Species/Creatures Overview Sorenia is home to many species of magical and non-magical plants and animals Magical plants and animals require mana (see the Chi Cultivation & Magic Spells section) for growth and survival Nomenclature Magical plants are generally known as herbs (not to be confused with leaves of non-magical plants used to flavor food, also called herbs) Magical animals without sapience are known as creatures or beasts Magical animals with sapience that do not exist in the absence of mana are known as monsters, and are extremely abundant and diverse. Some of the common ones are goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, slimes, giants, mimics, vampires, werewolves, githyanki, liches, demiliches, orcs, dragons, illithid (mind flayers), beholders, drow, duergar, and dungeons For depictions and descriptions of the above monsters, use Google Race Relations Four sapient races dominate the surface of Sorenia: humans, dwarves, (light) elves, andbeast-kin Humans have mostly friendly relations with elves, mostly mercantile relationships with dwarves, and entirely hostile relations with beast-kin Elves have tense relations with the Dwarves and very few relations with beast-kin Dwarves have very few relations with beast-kin Four Sapient Races Humans are the most versatile of the four sapient races, having neither predilection nor handicap towards any of the magic affinities (see the Elements & Affinities section). Humans have no natural magic or damage resistances. All adventurer positions are seen in equal amounts. Humans can be adept at any of the multiple crafting arts, but the greatest alchemists on Sorenia tend to be human (see the Enchanting & Alchemy section). Personalities, morals, and wealth range the entire spectrum (Light) elves have the greatest connection with nature and conseuently, a high percentage have affinities with Water, Air, Nature, Light, Life, and Healing magics, and relatively fewer have Fire, Earth, Lightning, Dark, Death, Space, Soul, and Gravity magics. Elves also have a natural resistance to magic, especially Soul magic. There are many more mages, healers, and rangers/scouts than fighters, tanks, and rogues amongst the (light) elves (see the Adventurers section). (Light) elves are known as the greatest masters of enchanting (see the Enchanting & Alchemy section). Personalities tend towards more polite and intelligent, and wealth is more shared than in other races. Elves have long lifespans and low rates of fertility. Their fertility, as well as cultivation, depend on presence of the incredibly rare and expensive, celestial trees. These trees produce celestial mana, a special type of mana, for which elves have no resistance; therefore, they can absorb this mana for personal use (see the Elements & Affinities section) Dwarves have the greatest connection with the earth, and consequently, great percentages of Dwarves have affinities with Fire, Earth, Space, and Gravity magics, and few have affinities amongst the other ten. Dwarves have a natural resistance to damage, both physical and magical, and can naturally see in the dark. There are many more fighters, especially defensive shieldbearers (tanks), than mages amongst the dwarves. Dwarves are known as the greatest masters of mining and smithing. Personalities tend towards tough love and excessive "manliness" in men, women, children, and the elderly. A great fondness for ale, rare metals, wealth, and bargaining has been noted amongst a surprisingly large part of the population Not much is currently known about the beast-kin. Beast-kin are humanoid creatures that share certain physical traits and characteristics with different non-magical animals. Tribes amongst the beast-kin are formed by the animal that they resemble. Spoiler:Beast-kin Strength and Origins
The beast-kin have two known strengths: their great fertility and their propensity for Soul magic. It is well documented that the beast-kin once dominated the entire surface of Sorenia. It is believed by scholars, that at the time, elves remained safe in their forest homes with their Soul magic resistance and the dwarves built their hidden, underground strongholds to keep themselves safe. At least amongst the humans, it is widely accepted that the humans were mostly, or entirely, enslaved by the beast-kin, and they only escaped their imprisonment when small groups of free humans trained within dungeons, until there were enough SS-ranked members to launch a bloody and violent revolution against the beast-kin masters. Due to millenia of genocide and persecution, the beast-kin have devolved to small enclaves in some of the most inhospitable lands. Rumors of different beginnings can occasionally be found, especially amongst the longest-living species in Sorenia, but these rumors are violently disputed and suppressed by human governments, churches, and highest-level adventurerers of Central Fantisa. To this day, all forms of slavery, as well as most kinds of Soul magic, are banned everywhere on the surface, but more strictly enforced in Central Fantisa. If those who break these restrictions are discovered, then no matter the race, they are ruthlessly exterminated by the combined forces of human governments, churches, and S and SS-ranked adventurers of Central Fantisa. In a related, curious, coincidence, the very existence and knowledge of both Flesh magic and soul transference (see the Mana Manipulation/Non-Elemental Magic section) have been utterly eliminated and repressed by the exact same forces...
(III) Currency The following exchanges are estimates that flucuate The following exchanges are based on set, standardized sizes and weights 1 mana crystal is worth 10 platinum coins 1 platinum coin is worth 50 gold coins 1 gold coin is worth 10 silver coins 1 silver coin is worth 100 copper coins 1 mana crystal = 10 platinum = 500 gold = 5,000 silver = 500,000 copper
(IV) Adventurers Overview Most countries on Sorenia have an organized, national adventurer''s guild They are very similar to mercenary guilds Anyone who has a Chi cultivation of D1 or higher can join, for a small fee (see Chi Cultivation & Magic Spells section) Members who pay the annual dues are given a license, allowing them to take missions as well as enter dungeons in that country People who need the services of mercenaries can submit missions to the local guild hall, along with requirements, pay, and a fee to the guild. After a review process, the leader of the guild, or the leader of the specific guild hall, will either select a team or individuals to assign the mission, or he/she will post the mission in the hall for anyone interested to take Teams and Positions Teams are formed and named by people who are friends or who work well together Every adventurer is categorized by the position he or she would take in a team. There are six possible positions: Tank ¨C in charge of blocking enemies using heavy armor and shield Ranger/Scout ¨C in charge of finding/disarming traps, detecting/grading enemies, and luring enemies to the tank, usually with a bow, crossbow, or other ranged weapon Healer ¨C in charge of healing the tank during battle and other members in between battle Damage Dealer (Mage) ¨C commonly referred to simply as Mages, they are in charge of using magic to attack enemies blocked by the tank Damage Dealer (Fighter) ¨C commonly referred to simply as Fighters or Warriors, they are in charge of using weapons or body to attack enemies blocked by the tank Rogue/Scout ¨C in charge of setting, finding & disarming traps, assassinations, spying, unlocking doors, windows, and treasure boxes, stealing or general thieving, detecting/grading enemies, and luring enemies to the tank Standard teams have five people with only one scout, either a ranger or a rogue Non-standard teams can have any number of members in any positions Grading The adventurer''s guild is in charge of standardizing and grading the difficulty level of missions, the strength of members/teams, and the strength of enemies Most guilds quantify these three elements with the use of letters, very similar to the realm letters for Chi cultivation (see Chi Cultivation & Magic Spells section) Missions and enemies are assigned values based on guessing, previous knowledge, espionage, public records, and other factors Members and teams are assigned grades based on Chi cultivation and tests, created by the guild For example, a C-ranked adventurer who reaches at least a cultivation level of B0 can apply (and pay a fee) to the guild to take a test for advancement to B-ranked adventurer Teams are generally given the grade of the lowest member of the team, following a group test. So, when a C-ranked team''s members all become B-ranked, the team can take a group test to upgrade the team to B-rank
(V) Chi Cultivation & Magic Spells Cultivation Overview All magic in Lower Plane is based on Chi cultivation (pronounced ''key'') In the air floats free particles of magic, called mana To cultivate (or increase) Chi, mana is absorbed through specific points in the body, called acupoints, channeled (or moved) through various specialized veins, called meridians, and stored in a magical core, known as the dantian Levels and Realms Mana stored in the dantian increases in distinct levels Mana stored in the dantian increases in level nine times, before condensing into a new realm Realms are given the letters D, C, B, A, S, SS (order of increasing strength) Levels are given numbers that immediately following the realm rating, from 0 ¨C 9 Mana in the dantian is gaseous for D and C-ranked creatures, liquid for B and A-ranked creatures, and crystalline solid in S and SS-rankers creatures All creatures without magic are considered to be at the D0 rank What, if anything, happens after the SS9 level is currently unknown Cultivation Methods and Magic Spells To cultivate Chi, one must know and utilize a method of cultivation, which is either recorded in style books or passed on orally, that explains which accupoints to use, the amounts of mana to bring in through each accupoint, and the pathway of mana veins to use to cycle the mana correctly throughout the body, before storage in the dantian To use magic, one must know and utilize a magic spell, which is either recorded in application books or passed on orally, that explains the pathways and acupoints used to convert one''s personal mana from the dantian into the right magical element and shape to properly form the spell. NOTE: magical abilities are still referred to as magic spells Both cultivation methods and magic spells are graded, using the same letters as the cultivation realms All complete cultivation methods must explain how to train from D0 to the 0 level of the method''s grade. For example, a complete B-ranked cultivation method would allow someone to train from D0 all the way to B0 How to cultivate after reaching the SS0 level is currently unknown A magical spell is graded by its ability to be effectively utilized by a 0 level creature in the same realm as the spell. For example, C-ranked creatures of any level will be unable to complete or effectively use a B-ranked spell, but even a C0-ranked creature can effectively utilize any C-ranked spell Cultivators at a higher realm will still be able to use lower-ranked magical spells. Depending on the amount of mana used, the spell will simply be more powerful
(VI) Elements & Affinities Elements Mana in dantians (personal), mana crystals, and mana released by dungeons into the world (free) is pure, non-elemental mana Pure mana (either personal or free) can be converted into elemental mana via the use of a magic spell or an enchantment There are three types of elements: basic, higher, and greater There are ten basic elements, four higher elements, and two greater elements The ten basic elements are organized in five pairs of opposites: Earth-Air, Fire-Water, Lightning-Nature, Light-Dark, and Life-Death. Opposing elements tend to conflict more with each other, and combination spells involving a pair of opposites are more difficult to form, but are more powerful than other combination spells The ten basic elements and four higher elements are each associated with a color:
Color Magic
Brown Earth
Red-Orange Fire
Dark Blue Water
Light Blue Air
White Lightning
Green Nature
Dark Yellow Light
Black Dark
Pure Red Life
Pale Yellow Death
Bright Silver Space
Gray Soul
Pulsing White Healing
Pulsing Black Gravity
The bottom four elements are the higher elements (Space, Soul, Healing, and Gravity) The two Greater elements are Infernal and Holy/Celestial Infernal mana is generated by demons and devils, of the Demon and Devil Plane, and used by themselves while in the Lower Plane. It is unknown if they can gift Infernal mana or the ability to convert/generate Infernal mana to those from the Lower Plane Holy/Celestial mana is generated by celestial trees or by gods, of the Higer Plane. Currently, no one in the Lower Plane is gifted with the ability to manipulate or generate Holy/Celestial mana. (Light) elves need the Holy/Celestial mana generated by celestial trees to increase their fertility and cultivation, due to natural elven mana resistance Common and Advanced Uses of the Elements Spoiler: Common and Advanced Uses of the Elements
Magic Common Uses Advanced Uses
Earth Defense, Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Endurance, Enhanced Durability, Heavier Weight (self), Building Fortifications, Construction, Altering Landscape, Used in Farming & Mining Travelling Underground
Fire Offense, Light, Heat, Smithing, Smelting, Glassblowing, Alchemy, Enchanting
Water Create/Purify Water, Create Rain, Travel through Water, Ice for Offense and Defense Reduce or Eliminate Pain (Useful in Healing), Heal Poisoning, Control Blood in Enemies
Air Create/Purify Air, Circulate Air, Flying, Breathe under Water, Silence or Intensify Sounds, Eavesdropping Create Vaccuums to Attack or Block Fire & Lightning, Alter Gasses to Intensify Fires or Explosions, Increase and Decrease Air Pressures
Lightning Offense, Active Lightning Rods, (Electrical) Shielding Generate and Channel Electricity, Defibrillate Heart, Block Neural Pathways, Destroy Memories
Nature Nourish and Grow Plants, Increase Yield in Farming, Fertilize Soil, Heal Plants, Refresh Soil Nutrients, Block Pests and Disease
Light Create Visible Light, Create Illusions, Grow Plants Indoors or Underground Transmit and Recieve Sound, Detect and Transmit Heat, Heat Food or Liquid, Tan or Burn Skin, Detect or Create Radioactivity
Dark Hide and Travel in Shadows, Avoid Magical and Non-Magical Detection, Shield from Harmful Light Create Invisibility by Allowing Light to Pass Through Objects or Creatures, Create Mirrors, Physical Intangibility
Life Heal and Prevent Disease, Heal Chronic Conditions, Exercise Muscles Slow or Halt Aging, Alter Genetics*, Heal Genetic Conditions*
Death Create, Animate, and Control Undead Creatures Place Creatures in Stasis (Incredibly Useful in Healing)
Space Create Pocket Dimensions, Separate Spaces, Selectively Block Gasses, Liquids, Solids, and Mana, Teleportation, Block Teleportation, Preservation Manipulate Time, Create and Contain Vaccuums of Specific Gasses, Shield Black Holes**
SoulYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Create Soulslaves, Dominate, Shield Mind and Soul, Create Links for Telepathic Communication Influence or Alter Thoughts, Subtly Manipulate Actions, Read Mind, Heal Psychological Conditions***
Healing Heal Physical Wounds
Gravity Increase or Decrease Gravity Generate Black Holes**, Awkward Flying
*Easily and frequently causes catastrophic consequences, especially if used on germ cells **Theorized, never successfully achieved ***Incredibly finicky and possibility easily addictive A Note about Healing Mmany different elements are useful in healing animals and creatures. In fact, all mana types except Earth, Nature, and Dark can be useful in healing (and Nature magic is the only way to heal plants). Therefore, there are many different types of specialized healers, who focus on the medical uses of different elements. Many times, healing will require a specialized healer or a combination effort of specialized healers. While city healing centers will look to have a combination of every type of specialized healer, adventurer parties tend to choose those that can heal wounds (Healing mana), those that can heal poison (Water mana), those that can place people in stasis (Death mana), or those that can transport people through teleportation (Space mana). The perfect healer for adventurers would be able to do all four Affinities Any sapient creature born on Sorenia can generate any of the fourteen, non-greater elements. For every individual, the mana of certain elements are far easier to generate and require much less personal mana due to being born with an affinity for these elements It is currently believed that all creatures born on Sorenia are born with at least one affinity, for one or more of the fourteen, basic or higher elements All creatures have an equal amount of net (or total) affinity which is always completely filled at birth Most people have one major affinity, which represents about fifty percent of a person''s net affinities, and two or three minor affinities, which make up the remainder A person born with only one affinity is known as a savant, and will always be stronger with that element than anyone else at the same cultivation level A person born with two major affinities is known as a hybrid, and cannot have any other affinities A person may be born with no major affinity; he or she must have at least three minor affinities It is unknown what the maximum number of affinities a creature may have is, but the highest on record was a person with six minor affinities and no major affinity
(VII) Runes/Glyphs Magical spells can be cast in an alternate method, utlizing a complicated symbol based language to form a magical circuit and power it with personal mana, mana crystals, or ambient mana The symbols of this language are called runes or glyphs The benefits of using a written spell, as opposed to an active spell as described above, are fourfold: 1) the ability to create permanent or repeated effects, 2) to allow anyone, even a D0-ranked creature, to make and use a spell, 3) the ability to use a spell instantly, at any time, in any environment (hence the teleportation glyph Dorn burned onto the back of his avatar), and 4) require no skill or knowledge to use, once written The downsides of written spells are also fourfold: 1) ambient mana powered spells are either weak or easily depleted, 2) mana crystals are extremely expensive, as well as finite, and 3) written spells actually cost more mana than the active spell equivalent, so it''s generally not useful for writing on weapons, armor, or accessories, and 4) experimental spells or miswritten spells tend to be explosive... Most commonly, written spells are used as part of another process, like enchanting or tattooing
(VIII) Mana Manipulation/Non-Elemental Magic Little is known about pure mana manipulation, also known as non-elemental magic Element-free, or pure, mana is far more difficult to manipulate than elemental mana, and it is not possible to shape within the body. As such, pure mana cannot be used in structured spells, as it can only be shaped once ejected from the body There are only three uses of mana manipulation commonly known amongst the people of Sorenia: 1) to condense mana crystals, which can only be done by S or SS-ranked cultivators, 2) to increase the efficiency of mana use in elemental magic (becoming adept at manipulating pure mana externally makes it exponentially easier to manipulate elemental mana internally), and 3) to create simple forces, like pushes and pulls Dorn has mentioned that both Flesh magic and soul transference/merging depend on one''s ability to manipulate pure mana extremely accurately, and that mistakes tend to lead to catastrophic results
(IX) Enchanting & Alchemy Enchanting Enchanting is the art of using a combination of written magic (see Runes/Glyphs section), mana crystals, and magical substrates (primarily magical metals and precious or semi-precious gems) to enhance weapons, shields, armors, clothes, and accessories All enchantments require a recipe, either written or memorized, and precision. As stated in the Runes/Glyphs section, incorrectly drawn runes/glyphs or circuits lead to explosive results. The same is true for misformed or experimental enchantments The central, most essential aspect of enchanting is the conversion of mana crystals into much smaller, but easily rechargable, ''batteries.'' Mana crystals can only be condensed by S and SS-ranked cultivators, but the converted ''batteries'' used in enchanting can easily be replenished by ambient mana and/or personal, pure mana Enchantments that require a large amount of elemental mana use various substrates to help conduct and alter pure mana, fed by a combination of ''batteries,'' charged by ambient mana, and a person''s personal, pure mana. These are considered ''active'' enchantments, and the so-called cool-down time is due to the need to re-charge the batteries with ambient mana. Unknown to most non-enchanters is that this cool-down time can be eliminated in an emergency by feeding the enchantment more personal mana, to cover the complete cost needed by the spell Some simple enchantments, like increased durability, permanent sharpness, and self-cleaning, can be made solely with runes and mana ''batteries.'' These enchantments are considered to be ''permanent,'' as they 1) do not use very much mana, 2) there is no need to convert pure mana into elemental mana, 3) there is no need to form mana into a spell shape, and 4) are easily charged for long periods of time with ambient mana. However, even ''permanent'' enchantments can run out of energy if left in mana-free environments for long periods of time Metals such as adamantium, mithril, fire iron, and frozen steel are so prized both because of their ability to conduct enormous amounts of mana quickly and because they do so efficiently. Fire iron and frozen steel, however, only show these traits when conducting Fire mana and Water mana respectively. Mithril and adamantium show these traits when conducting anything, even pure, higher elemental, or greater elemental mana. Mithril is further prized for its light weight and high strength (like titanium), making for excellent armors, shields, and arrowheads. Adamantium is even more prized for 1) its ability to passively increase the draw of ambient mana, recharging mana ''batteries'' more quickly, 2) its 100% efficient conduction of mana, something unseen in any other substance in existence, and 3) its ability to store ambient mana itself, as if it was made out of mana ''batteries'' Alchemy Alchemy is the combination, usually fuelled by fire, of magic herbs, powdered (or ground) mana crystals, and various other substrates with fire to create useful potions or pills Alchemy pills tend to be more beneficial towards cultivating and curing/preventing negative mental status effects, allowing for more peaceful and productive meditation and cultivation Alchemy potions tend to be more beneficial towards fighting, healing, and exploring extreme environments
(X) Dungeon Floors
Floor # Danger Level Brief Description
1 N/A Entrance Hall
2 N/A D-Housing
3 N/A D-Mining
4 D4 (I) Standard; Introduction
5 D5 (I) Element Hallways
6 D6 (I) Maze
7 D7 Forest
8 D8 Jungle
9 D9 Dry Canyon
10* D9/C0** (I) C-Rank Individual and Group Tests
11 N/A C-Housing
12 N/A C-Mining
13 C3 Underwater Maze
14 C4 Floating Islands
15 C5 Volcanoe
16 C6 (I) Standard; New Monsters
17 ? Core Room
*May only be completed once **Boss Floor (I) Instanced
(XI) Dungeon Mechanics Purpose of Dungeons, The System, Entropy, & Dungeon Points Spoiler:Purpose of Dungeons
The gods of the Higher Plane created the life-form known as the dungeon in the Lower Plane for three purposes: 1) release large amounts of mana into the worlds of the Lower Plane, 2) ensure that net entropy for the entire Lower Plane is always positive, and 3) create a system of both symbiosis and predation between dungeons and sapient species of the Lower Plane such that both entities as a population grow stronger As of yet, it is unknown why the gods have these three goals and why they believed that a sapient life-form in the shape of a glorified underground training facility was the best method to accomplish these goals The gods bestowed the System upon dungeons to give each dungeon the ability to measure its actions by the resultant change in entropy. The System is a series of blue "screens" viewable only to dungeons and their pixies. These screens provide information on the difficulty level (or rank) of a dungeon, as well as the accumulated positive entropy created by a dungeon Instead of measuring the changes in entropy with Joules per Kelvin, as is standard, the gods arbitrarily invented and named a new unit, called Dungeon Points. The conversion between Joules per Kelvin and Dungeon Points is unknown, but it is known that dungeons are only bestowed 70% of the entropy the create as Dungeon Points. Or in other words, for every 1.0 Dungeon Point a dungeon creates, it recieves 0.7 Dungeon Points in return. Levels, Floors, & Restrictions of the Gods Dungeons are built in floors that are stacked one above another, creating very deep and complex underground facilities The number of floors a dungeon may build is dependent on a statistic created by the gods called levels. Levels are simply numbered (1,2,3,4...). Increasing the level of the dungeon can be done voluntarily at any time by paying the required number of points. Dungeons are not required to purchase any level, there is no time limit for which a level must be acquired, and there is no limit on how many levels may be purchased or how often. Each level requires different amount of points, and every floor requires a certain amount of levels The costs for each level and the number of levels required for each floor are somewhat arbitrary. Such a system looks remarkably similar to a system designed by an idiot that initially makes sense, but once implemented, quickly became untenable as it continued, so the idiot simply created a new system at various intervals to maintain a logical balance ;D Due to restrictions by the gods, every floor must be capable of being successfully completed by a single individual, every floor must be easily accessible after completing the previous floor, every floor must be conquered in numerical order (i.e the 1st floor leads to the 2nd floor, which leads to the 3rd floor, and so on), and the dungeon core must be on the lowest floor and easily accessible Abilities of the Dungeon The basic, inborn abilities of a dungeon are threefold: 1) the ability to absorb any and all non- living matter within its range of influence, otherwise known as its ''body,'' 2) the ability to re-create, re-shape, and re-purpose anything it absorbs within its ''body,'' primarily to create and maintain an underground training facility filled with deadly traps, dangerous creatures, and many varieties of treasure (more commonly known as ''loot'') to act as bait for luring sapient creatures to and into the facility, and 3) perform maintenance and upkeep on the underground facility (i.e keeping the air breathable, keeping the facility lit, absorbing and re-creating dead creatures, re-setting traps, and re-creating treasure bait To aid dungeons in performing these tasks, the gods have given dungeons access to two unique systems. First, dungeons have access to a ''store,'' where various items and abilities may be purchased. The abilities and items that can be purchased, the abilities and items that can even be seen, and the ability to view the store itself are dependent on the level of the dungeon. The second system is a yearly virtual auction, where a copy of the dungeon''s conciousness will be uploaded to a large auction hall along with the conciousness of all other dungeons (at or above level 10). Here, dungeons can offer up items for bidding, bid on the items of other dungeons, and bid on items put forth by the gods. Supposedly, all purchases and sales are anonymous, but Emelia has demonstrated suspicion that this is indeed the case Dungeon-born creatures, who were born outside of the dungeon, can freely enter and leave the dungeon, just like the dungeon avatar or dungeon-born sapients with the race of one of the four sapient races and no cultivation. If the dungeon avatar leaves the dungeon, it will be cut off from the mana of the core, if the core has any. If any creature with cultivation that was born inside the dungeon (except the avatar) exits the area of the dungeon''s body, it will trigger a dungeon break (see next sub-section) due to the rules of the gods Inter-Dungeon Battles and Dungeon Breaks Spoiler: Inter-Dungeon Battles and Dungeon Breaks
Every dungeon at or above the A-rank must participate in an annual battle against another A- rank or above dungeon. Matchings and battle dates are supposedly chosen at random. Each dungeon is notified 24 hours prior to the beginning of the battle Dungeons are given handicaps if matched with a higher-ranked dungeon. The System determines and implements the handicaps such that both dungeons are evenly matched This battle is fought by creating a virtual copy of each dungeon, dungeon''s traps, and dungeon''s monsters. A virtual version of each dungeon avatar will lead a small number of copies of fellow dungeon monsters through the virtual copy of the enemy''s dungeon Each entering dungeon avatar and dungeon monster is given fifty lives to attempt conquering. Whoever destroys the enemy''s dungeon core first is declared the winner. If both teams fail to conquer each other''s dungeon, the System makes a judgement call as to who the victor is. Any team that refuses to participate is automatically declared the loser, even if both teams refuse to participate The winning dungeon recieves half of the Dungeon Points owned by the losing dungeon at the time of battle combined with half the Dungeon Points that the dungeon has spent in the previous month. The losing team loses ALL of its Dungeon Points and everything it purchased in the previous month When high-ranked dungeons lose all Dungeon Points, even for a brief period of time, a dungeon break is usually caused. Without any points, a dungeon''s beast-core containing creatures will enter a form of insanity and rage, desperately trying to escape from the confines of the dungeon and madly attacking any nearby or interfering sapients. Once a creature with cultivation that was born in the dungeon escapes, the dungeon-pixie bond is severed, the pixie summoned back to the pixie world, and the dungeon is cut off from the System and cannot spend points. Destruction at this point is inevitable. Thus, losing an annual inter-dungeon battle frequently results in the destruction of the dungeon If the physical boundaries of any dungeon touch the physical boundaries of another, an inter- dungeon battle identical to the annual ones will take place 24 hours later, regardless of the level of the two dungeons. This battle will not replace the annual battle If a dungeon''s avatar enters the another dungeon, a voluntary inter-dungeon battle may be initiated and battle will begin 24 hours later. In such a case, the two dungeons may be of any level, and the dungeon who initiates the battle will be considered one realm higher when the handicap is determined. If the initiator wins, it receives a compensation of half the DP''s its opponent has and half the DP''s spent by the loser in the last 24 hours (before battle). The loser loses half his DP''s and anything purchased in the previous 24 hours. If the initiator loses, the winner receives a compensation of half the DP''s its opponent has and half the DP''s spent in the previous month. The loser loses half its DP''s and everything purchased in the previous month
(XII) Named or Titled Characters/Groups Dungeons and Pixies Dorn''Axial, commonly known as Dorn, was a male, 3,000-year old, silver Space dragon, who transferred his soul and conciousness into a perfect, regular dodecahedron-shaped, 6,000-carat diamond, becoming a dungeon core in Khal kingdom of East Lucenia, on the planet, Sorenia, located in the Lower Plane. Currently, he is using his male, human- looking dungeon avatar to secretly join the Seekers of Capital as a B-ranked, mage-type damage dealer and team enchanter from Central Fantisa. He is pretending to be a former, high-ranked cultivator who lost his accumulated mana due to an injury to his dantian and Kiera Stanton''s patron, gifting her with equiptment, style books, and application books. He is in a romantic relationship with the formerly human and now dungeon-born female, Kiera Stanton, who is also the only individual born outside the dungeon to know Dorn''s secret status as the dungeon (besides Emelia). Core retained SS-ranked cultivation and his human avatar is a low B-ranked cultivator Emelia is the excitable, forgetful, and neurotic female dungeon pixie bound to Dorn. She hated Tina, a dungeon pixie, and was glad that Dorn was responsible for her death. She is responsible for guiding Dorn''s growth, helping him maintain and upkeep the dungeon, acting as a sounding board for Dorn''s ideas, assisting him in brain-storming, and explaining features of the System, Dungeon Store, Auction, and Inter-dungeon Battles. Age unknown and negligible power Bob was a friendly male dungeon who gave Dorn advice at Dorn''s first annual auction, age and power unknown Marhe was a vicious female dungeon, who tried to force Dorn into her control via a gift at Dorn''s first annual auction. Age and power unknown Tina was the female dungeon pixie bound to the nature dungeon is Ilsan, before the dungeon (along with Tina) was killed by an angry Dorn. Age and power at time of death is unknown Beings from the Higher Realm Jarerre was the male auctioneer at Dorn''s first annual auction; race, age, and power unknown Elves, Dwarves, and Beast-kin Ailmer Enfina, female chief of the elven grove which posessed a cutting of a celestial golden pine tree, before sacrificing the cutting to Dorn''s dungeon in return for a new, growing, celestial golden pine tree. She led her grove of elves to migrate to Dorn''s dungeon. Age unknown and A-ranked cultivation Thalia, formerly C-ranked, currently B-ranked, female elf ranger and scout, member of the Seekers of Capital, and team alchemist and herbalist. Shares a friendly but antagonistic relationship with the team''s dwarven tank, Vossan Graygranite. Age unkown King under the Mountain, king of all dwarves in East Lucenia, sent Vossan Graygranite to negotiate trade agreements with Khal and sent Stroggean Oakmantle to lead a small settlement''s worth of buidlers and settlers to create a village in Dorn''s dungeon. Age, name, and strength unknown Stroggean Oakmantle, dwarven lieutenant in charge of all dwarves and the dwarven village in Dorn''s dungeon. Age and strength unknown Vossan Graygranite, B-ranked, male dwarf tank, member of the Seekers of Capital, and team miner, shares a friendly but antagonistic relationship with the team''s elvish ranger, Thalia. Age unknown Michio, male beast-kin chieftan of a feline tribe, who led his members to migrate to Dorn''s dungeon. Age and strength unknown Dungeon-born Sapients Agrand Dwarfy, a male dwarf sapient created by the dungeon to man the exchange center at the colosseum, exchanging Devil Points earned by adventurers for style books, application books, weapons, armor, accessories, alchemy products, alchemy recipes, enchantment recipes, and basic resources, like metals, gems, herbs, other alchemy resources, tools for various crafts, and books on various crafts. Age irrelevant and no power Beasty, male wolf-variant beast-kin with absolutely no cultivation whatsoever. Age irrelevant and no power Jerry(#), a series of identical and functionally indistinguishable elves created by the dungeon to run the inns and serve as bartenders. The number following a Jerry''s name is random, meaningless, and changes whenever Dorn feels like. Ages irrelevant and no power Kiera Stanton was a former female human from a wealthy, middle-class family in the Ilsan Empire. When her parents both passed away, her brother inherited the business and gambled away all the money. Desperate, he attempted to sell Kiera to a noble, but Kiera ran away before her brother could. Hunted by bounty hunting adventurers of Ilsan, Kiera ran all the way to Khal kingdom. She worked as a migrant farmer on many farms, always leaving after a few months. Eventually she ended up as the first sapient to enter Dorn''s dungeon. She made a deal with the dungeon where Dorn would kill and re-create her instantly as a dungeon-born version of herself, and Dorn would subsequently be able to speak telepathically with her at any range and have access to her five senses. In exchange, Dorn gave her clothes, a horse, gold, two moderately good non-enchanted daggers, and altered her body and mind to be able to use the daggers well. Kiera travelled to Khal City, announced the dungeon to the world, returned with a group of B- ranked adventurers, and began living in the dungeon. As reward for completing her task, Dorn gives her a style book and a few application books, after testing her affinities and finding out she has the affinities for a strong healer. She eventually brings a group of adventurers and Dorn''s avatar together, forming the Seekers of Capital, the highest ranked team in the dungeon. At C9-rank, she is the only member of the Seekers currently not B-ranked. She is in a romantic relationship with Dorn. She is 27 years old. Humans of East Lucenia & Adventurer Groups Therese, dead, formerly a human, female, D0-ranked farmer at the okra farmer and mother of Coyne. A few days after Coyne was killed by Earl Anatole Hallowedlash, she hanged herself. Age at time of death unknown Coyne, dead, formerly a human, male,15-year old, D0-ranked farmer at the okra farm, son of Therese, and friend of Kiera. Killed by Earl Anatole Hallowedlash for interrupting the earl''s father during a speech and demanding basic rights for the farmers Duke Doscue Hallowedlash, a human, male, duke of the Khal kingdom and owner of the okra farm which Kiera tried to burn down prior to arriving at the dungeon. Paid for Kiera to be assassinated by the Ravens, a mysterious group of assassins led by a powerful man known as Ravenlord, after she purchased the land containing the dungeon. The duke had either been turned into a slave by, or had become a traitor for, Friedrich Hartjenstein, who had ordered the duke to have Kiera assassinated. Eventually, he arrived in the dungeon and purchased the land from Kiera. Later, he is put in charge of the dungeon by the king of Khal, a soulslave of Friedrich Hartjenstein. His son is Earl Anatole, who killed Coyne, attempted to rape Kiera, attempted to kill Kiera, and colluded with Davon and Quinton of the Voices of Fortune to kidnap Kiera. Age and cultivation unknown Earl Anatole Hallowedlash, dead, formerly a human, male, C2-ranked earl of the Khal kingdom and son of Duke Doscue Hallowedlash. He was notorious in Khal for raping, torturing, and murdering farm workers on a regular basis. He killed Kiera''s friend, Coyne, at the okra farm. Later, when his father brought him to the dungeon so the duke could purchase the land containing the dungeon from Kiera, he attempted to rape Kiera while she was bathing. When she fought back, he tried to kill her, before being injured and run off. Later, he colluded with Quinton and Davon of the Voices of Fortune to have Kiera kidnapped while the Seekers of Capital and the Voices of Fortune were in the ninth floor of the dungeon, the Dry Canyon. Dorn took him prisoner, made him a soulslave, forced him to reveal his plans, released him as a slave, and allowed Kiera to kill him. Age at time of death unknown Warley, a human, male, S1-ranked, adventurer. He was formerly an agent of Kendra, formerly the leader of the adventurer''s guild in Khal City, and formerly the leader of the humans in the dungeon. He is now working to become the head of a new government made by and for adventurers, and centered in the dungeon. He is over a century old, but specific age unknown Ravens, a mysterious group of assassins based in Khal City and led by the Ravenlord. Highly trained, they can be identified by a small tattoo of a raven between the index and middle fingers of the dominant hand. One failed to kill Kiera, when he was distracted by Jeromy Wither, sent by Warley to protect Kiera. The Raven was then paralyzed and killed by Kiera Ravenlord, a human, male, assassin, and leader of the Ravens, a mysterious group of assassins based in Khal City. Paid by Duke Doscue Hallowedlash to assassinate Kiera. The first Raven sent failed. Age and cultivation unknown Scarlet War-Mages, the B-ranked group of Adventurers from Khal City, assigned to confirm the existance of Dorn''s dungeon, as well as examine, first-conquer, and report on the dungeon. Leader is Roderick (tank). Members include Hendrik (healer), Lina (mage damage dealer), and Mina (mage damage dealer). Formerly included Jeromy Wither (rogue/scout) Jeromy Wither, a human, male, B-ranked rogue/scout, adventurer from Khal City, and former member of the Scarlet War-Mages. After leaving the Scarlet War-Mages to follow Warley to the dungeon, he agreed to join and lead the party put together by Kiera, later joined by Dorn, and finally named the Seekers of Capital. Age unknown Roderick, human, male, B-ranked tank, adventurer from Khal City, and leader of the Scarlet War-Mages. He was dominated by Warley, an agent of Kendra, and attempted to destroy the dungeon core, before he was freed by Dorn. Age unknown Hendrik, a human, male, B-ranked healer, adventurer from Khal City, and member of the Scarlet War-Mages. Age unknown Lina, a human, female, mage damage dealer, adventurer from Khal City, twin of Mina, and member of the Scarlet War-Mages. Age unknown Mina, a human, female, mage damage dealer, adventurer from Khal City, twin of Lina, and member of the Scarlet War-Mages. Age unknown Seekers of Capital is the mostly B-ranked (excluding Kiera who remains C9) group of adventurers put together by Kiera. Jeromy Wither, the team''s leader, left the Scarlet War-Mages to come to the dungeon, and he agreed to join and lead the group. Dorn''s human avatar later decided to join the group as well. Leader is Jeromy Wither (rogue/scout). Members include Kiera Stanton (healer), Thalia (ranger/scout), Vossan Graygranite (tank), and Dorn (mage damage dealer) Voices of Fortune, the currently C-ranked group of adventurers in the dungeon who were helped by the Seekers of Capital through level 9, the Dry Canyon. During the two groups'' time together, the two brothers, Quinton and Davon, attempted to assassinate Dorn as well as knock out and deliver Kiera to Earl Anatole Hallowedlash. Dorn incapacitated Quinton and killed Davon, before disguising himself as Davon and capturing the earl. After questioning, Thornley executed Quinton and Kiera executed Earl Anatole. The three surviving members have made it to the C-Housing floor and are searching for a new scout and damage dealer. Leader is Thornley Shurman (tank). Members include Brook Ward (healer), Davon (damage dealer, DEAD), Quinton (rogue/scout, DEAD), Kinnard (damage dealer) Thornley Shurman, a human, male, C1-ranked tank, adventurer, and leader of the Voices of Fortune. Age unknown Brook Ward, a human, female, C-ranked healer, adventurer, and member of the Voices of Fortune. Age unknown Kinnard, a human, male, fighter damage dealer, adventurer, and member of the Voices of Fortune. Age unknown Davon, dead, formerly a human, male, damage dealer, adventurer, and member of the Voices of Fortune along with his brother, Quinton. Killed by Dorn for colluding with Earl Anatole Hallowedlash to kidnap Kiera. Age and cultivation at time of death is unknown, but the cultivation can be estimated as D9, C0, or C1 Quinton, dead, formerly a human, male, rogue/scout, adventurer, and member of the Voices of Fortune along with his brother, Davon. Killed by Thornley for colluding with Earl Anatole Hallowedlash to kidnap Kiera. Age and cultivation at time of death is unknown, but the cultivation can be estimated as D9, C0, or C1 Humans of Central Fantisa Hartjenstein Family, a family from the Central Fantisa continent, was once a financial powerhouse due to their ownership of a large mercantile organisation. They discovered, to their misfortune, that without real-world cultivation power as a backing, the power of their money was illusory. With their business slowly being swallowed by the more militaristic families, they decided to abandon Central Fantisa and work on switching the family to becoming a cultivation-focused family. Further, the family shows a notable strain of extreme hatred and bigotry towards the three, non-human sapient races of beast- kin, elves, and dwarves. So extreme is this hate, that they have contracted with the Demon and Devil Plane, as a means of empowerment. They believed that their path back towards power was to discover a new dungeon in a continent outside Central Fantisa, conquer or control the country in which the dungeon is located, and use it to train their family. The Demon and Devil Plane inform them of A Dragon''s Dungeon in the Khal kingdom on the East Lucenia continent, so they sent Friedrich, their most powerful, S- ranked Soul-mage to enslave the king and the dungeon, for the family. Meanwhile, the family packed and left in five enormous airships, migrating to Khal. As payment for the help, the Demon and Devil Plane also demand that the Hartjensteins notify the drow elves that the dungeon contains a celestial tree. Despite hating all non-humans and worrying that the drow will destroy the dungeon, the Hartjensteins have no choice but to agree. When Friedrich attempts to enslave Dorn, Dorn uses the link to reverse the magic, enslaving Friedrich, and learns of the plans of the Hartjenstein family, as well as the knowledge of the coming drow. Friedrich Hartjenstein (cowled man), a human, male, S-ranked Soul mage, and member of the Hartjenstein family. He was sent by the family to Khal to enslave both the king and the dungeon core. When he attempts to enslave Dorn, Dorn reverses the magic, enslaving Friedrich, and discovers the plans and actions of the family. Later, Dorn uses Friedrich to control the king of Khal and to communicate with Warley, as a representitive from the dungeon. Later, during the invasion of the drow, Dorn kills Friedrich in the mistaken belief that he would receive enough Dungeon Points to allow him to re-construct his dragon body to use as an avatar and fight off the drow. Immediately following Friedrich''s death, and during the drow invasion, the Hartjenstein family in their airships appear in the distance, soon to reach the dungeon Koenraad Hartjenstein, a human, male, and head of the Hartjenstein family. Age and cultivation unknown Adalwen Hartjenstein, a human, male, member of the Hartjenstein family, and the contact for Friedrich, the familly''s strongest S-ranked Soul mage. Adalwen passes on the family''s orders to Friedrich and brings the information and news from Friedrich to the family. Age and cultivation unknown
(XIII) Plot Summary Dorn''axial, better known as Dorn, is a 3,000-year old, male, silver Space dragon with an SS-ranked cultivation, proficiency with all 10 lower and all 4 higher elements as well as pure mana manipulation. He has two goals in life, and he has had these goals for a very long time. First, he wants to gain immortality by transforming into a dungeon, or more specifically, a dungeon core. Second, he wants to use the dungeon to train and equip sapients who come to his dungeon to become stronger, especially against demons and devils. Due to the death of his parents three millenia ago at the hands of devils and demons, Dorn wants to use the trained sapients from his dungeon to completely obliterate and destroy the Demon and Devil Plane. He prepares as many materials and creatures as possible, then transfers his soul and consciousness into a 6,000-carat, perfect, regular dodecahedron-shaped diamond hidden behind 11 magic shields formed by runes carved into the ground and powered by all the mana his core passively releases into the dungeon. There is one shield for every basic element and the one higher element capable of forming a shield. He manages to keep his SS-ranked cultivation as a dungeon core. Thus, the only risks to his life are twofold: 1) particularly strong Soul mages and 2) any being capable of wielding infernal or celestial mana. Luckily, only gods can wield celestial mana, and they seem to be uninterested in granting this ability to any of their followers in churches, let alone anyone else in the Lower Realms. As for infernal mana, this can only be wielded by demons and devils. At this moment, no mortal in the Lower Realms has been granted the ability to wield infernal mana, and whether such a thing is possible is unknown. What is possible, however, is for an SS-ranked minion or two S-ranked minions to summon a powerful demon or devil within his body, leading to his destruction. And of course, an SS-ranked Soul mage with a major affinity or an S-ranked Soul mage savant would be able to turn Dorn into a slave. The third risk to Dorn''s life comes in the form of his sanity, sorely tested by his personal dungeon pixie, Emelia. Emelia is hyperactive, neurotic, flippant, and somewhat dimwitted, but she has a bright personality that contrasts nicely with Dorn. She helps explain the System (blue screens), Dungeon Points (positive entropy change that Dorn receives for absorbing matter, killing sapients, and passively having sapients within his body), the Dungeon Store (a virtual store where dungeons can spend Dungeon Points to buy resources, items, creatures, and traits specific to dungeons), and levels (a system where the dungeon must purchase more and more levels, to unlock the ability to create more floors and purchase different items in the Dungeon Store). She also explains the annual auction put on for all dungeons in the Lower Plane as well as the system for virtual inter-dungeon battles, including the mandatory annual battles between all A-rank and higher dungeons, as well as the potential benefits/consequences. Kiera Stanton was a former female human from a wealthy, middle-class family in the Ilsan Empire. When her parents both passed away, her brother inherited the business and gambled away all the money. Desperate, he attempted to sell Kiera to a noble, but Kiera ran away before her brother could. Hunted by bounty hunting adventurers of Ilsan, Kiera ran all the way to Khal kingdom. She worked as a migrant farmer on many farms, always leaving after a few months. Eventually she ended up as the first sapient to enter Dorn''s dungeon. She made a deal with the dungeon where Dorn would kill and re-create her instantly as a dungeon-born version of herself, and Dorn would subsequently be able to speak telepathically with her at any range and have access to her five senses. In exchange, Dorn gave her clothes, a horse, gold, two moderately good non-enchanted daggers, and altered her body and mind to be able to use the daggers well. Kiera traveled to Khal City, announced the dungeon to the world, returned with a group of B-ranked adventurers, and began living in the dungeon. As reward for completing her task, Dorn gives her a style book and a few application books, after testing her affinities and finding out she has the affinities of a strong healer. She eventually brings a group of adventurers and Dorn''s avatar together, forming the Seekers of Capital, the highest ranked team in the dungeon. At C9-rank, she is the only member of the Seekers currently not B-ranked. She is in a romantic relationship with Dorn. Dorn has completed sixteen floors of his dungeon, and his core room occupies the seventeenth. His danger rating has reached C6. He has created two danger-free floors for housing and two danger-free floors for mining, plus a beautiful entrance hall. His lowest housing floor also contains a Colosseum, where individuals or teams can fight demons and devils and gain Devil Points, which can then be exchanged with Dorn for all sorts of rewards. His Space magic shields divide the two housing floors into four quadrants, one each for the four sapient races. He has talked about eventually bringing the shields down, in an attempt to force the two races to work together. He seems to still be considering this. Unfortunately, enemies have started knocking on Dorn''s door. The Hartjenstein is a racist, pro-human, former merchant family from the strong continent of Central Fantisa. This family will do anything to gain power, including working with the Demon and Devil Plane. They sent their strongest, S-rank Soul mage, Friedrich, to enslave the king of Khal. Upon learning about the new dungeon in the country they are planning to conquer, the Hartjenstein order Friedrich to head to the dungeon and enslave the core. When they tell this to the Demon and Devil plane, they are forced to also inform the drow that the dungeon has a celestial tree, an object which they would love to destroy. Two S1-ranked drow matriarchs, along with six A-ranked priestesses. The dungeon only has a single S-ranked mage to attempt to stop them. Although Dorn''s core is still SS-ranked, the core can''t move, and once the two matriarchs realize this, they will surely work together to summon a powerful demon or devil. Emelia, though, comes up with an idea to fix this, but before she can tell Dorn, he notices the airships carrying the Hartjenstein family approaching the dungeon. Not to mention, Dorn had only minutes previously killed Friedrich Hartjenstein, the family''s Soul mage who was instead enslaved by Dorn. And they probably already know it, and will be out for blood. And if all that wasn''t enough, the civil war in Ilsan caused by Dorn destroying their S-ranked dungeon in a fit of rage, only days before becoming a dungeon, has ended and they are primed to invade Khal. And meanwhile, Kendra in the east is eying both Khal and Ilsan as two plump pieces of meat. They too, will soon invade. Meanwhile, with the Khal king enslaved by Dorn, the adventurers in A Dragon''s Dungeon want to form their own country, built by and for adventurers (mostly, they just don''t want to pay the fees and taxes that both Ilsan and Kendra would impose). Dorn must first worry about the drow and the Hartjensteins, for they are the only ones with the ability to summon a demon or devil that could destroy his core. As for Ilsan, Kendra, and Khal, that is a problem he is only too happy to foist off onto the adventurers. He honestly, couldn''t care less. SPECIAL - Central Questions and some Universe History Central Questions 1. What are the nature and history of the three planes, mana, elements, gods, demons, and devils? 2. What do gods/demons/devils do? Want? Why? Restrictions? Rules? Limits? 3. Why did gods build dungeons and form the System? 4. Why do gods allow or design dungeon fights? 5. Who killed Dorn''s parents and why? How? 6. What did Dorn do for his first 2,000 years of life? 7. What does Dorn know about the Demon and Devil Plane, demons, and devils? 8. What does he plan to do? What does his ultimate goal look like? 9. What''s the history behind the dwarves, elves, humans, beast-kin, and other monsters/beasts? 10. What''re the details of Kiera''s story, involving her parents, her younger brother, and the noble? 11. How did Kiera''s parents get a cultivation style book? 12. What''s Emelia''s story? 13. What''s Ravenlord''s story? 14. What''s the Hartjenstein family''s story? How did they become so bigoted? 15. What''s the drow''s story?
Partial Answer for Questions 1-5 Before there was the Universe of Three Planes, there was nothing. No planes, no space, no time, no energy, no matter, no mana. Nothing. An interesting interaction can be ovserved with the combination of matter and anti-matter (matter existing with the opposite polarity, where electrons are + and protons are ¨C). When the two types of matter interact, they violently explode, completely annihilating both, and releasing vast amounts of energy. Interestingly, this process can also happen in reverse. A vast amount of energy inputted into nothingness can give rise to both matter and anti-matter. Similarly, a vast amount of energy injected into nothingness (known as origin energy) can create two types, or poles, of mana, that exist in complete and eternal opposition. This pair of mana types can be called mana and anti-mana, + and ¨C, A and B, 0 and 1, or even Celestial and Infernal. As for the presence of the origin energy, it can be attributed to an old universe obliterating via natural processes or some type of supernatural, immortal existence ending itself. The way is unimportant; all that matters is that nothingness and vast energy, from somewhere, combined to form these two types of mana in the region of reality now known as the Universe of Three Planes. Due to the input of energy into the existence of such a system, both mana types are physically attracted to each other, like the bonds of gravity between matter or the electrostatic attraction of + and ¨C charges; this mana attraction is a form of potential energy. Reality ''wishes'' for the two types of mana to reunite, releasing the potential energy held in between and relieving the stress that their existence and separation gives rise to. Without the intervention of other forces in such a system, a reuniting is exactly what would occur, leading to the complete destruction of both types of mana and a return to nothingness, possibly even the resurrection of the old universe or the supernatural being. In the face of impending destruction, both mana types gave rise to primitive intelligences. These two ''primordial'' manas, despite instinctually wishing to converge and destroy each other, instead used their energy to move further and further apart, their intelligence driving them towards survival. However, no matter how far they separated, with only nothingness in between and no new outside forces, they were simply delaying an ending, fighting a losing battle. In the end, both manas would expend themselves, another way of returning to nothingness.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. In a remarkable bout of symmetry, both manas decided to stop moving apart from each other, and instead, they built a plane of existence to surround themselves, like a fortress. The two primordial manas separated small parts of their own energy to create new lifeforms and bestow intelligence, giving rise to the first gods and demons (devils are different and came later). Both of these new beings were creatures of pure mana, given intelligence. They were created in the image of their makers. With the two fortresses built and the suboordinates created, what remained of the primordial manas became the kings of the two planes of existence. Each king still represented more than 99% of the total mana present in each plane, however. And then the kings sent the forces to war, attempting to destroy each other''s new plane and forces. Predictably, equal losses on both sides mounted up quickly, achieving nothing. With identical pasts, strengths, homes, and forces, it was impossible for one side to gain an advantage. After this second stalemate, the two kings finally came together (but always with a small distance, for obvious reasons) to form a peace treaty, hoping to begin enjoying their own existence instead of fighting for it. As for the gods and demons they had created, it was decided that the two kings would co-create a different, unique, and new means of competition, one that wouldn''t be damaging to themselves. The demon king and god king believed that with such a method, the war could end, and instead of focusing on destroying each other, they too could become invested in and amused by a new, competitive pastime. It was seen as an ideal way of passing eternity for immortal and un-changing beings of pure mana. Together, the demon king and god king each separated another small part of their energy (still <0.01%). By combining the two in a controlled way, a plane of matter and a plane of anti-matter were formed. They decided to collectively name these two planes, the Lower Planes. They observed these new, matter and anti-matter based planes. There were trillions and trillions of planets and stars in each, but now, they were stumped on how to form a competition. Knowing that only life was capable of competition, they decided to see if they could form a new, matter or anti-matter based form of life through experimentation. Still, they believed that even a new matter or anti-matter based life would require mana, for mana was all that they knew. Working together in the interest of a fair competition, they eventually managed to find a way to mix their two manas together in a homogenous fashion, creating a new, pure mana. But it was unstable. Thinking of how to fix this, the god king tried binding an infinitesimal piece of this pure mana to a small piece of matter, a rock, from the matter plane. Thus was born the first dungeon core, an intelligent being made of rock. After creating it, the god king noticed that it was physically attracted towards the anti-matter plane. After consulting with the demon king, the god king tried chucking the rock onto a planet in the anti-matter plane. They watched, enthralled, as the dungeon core began absorbing anti-matter and emitting pure mana into the planet, propegating pure mana on its own. And it was expanding quickly! Noticing an extraordinarily minute imbalance between the two planes forming, the devil king quickly bound a tiny piece of pure mana to a rock made of anti-matter, before tossing it onto a planet in the matter plane. It acted exactly in the same way, emitting pure mana into the matter plane. The two kings grinned at each other, in discovery. They didn''t know what would happen, exactly, but they started creating more and more dungeon cores, tossing them on tons and tons of different planets. But always in equal amounts between both planes. The Lower Planes began filling up with mana. Matter interacted with pure mana as well as the forces of gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces, and new lifeforms started being created. Quickly, even intelligent matter or anti-matter based lifeforms appeared. Then, these creatures started absorbing tiny amounts of pure mana, storing it in their matter or anti-matter bodies. The two kings watched, amazed, as the beings used this absorbed mana to form all sorts of different elemental magics, doing many different magical things, and they grew excited watching how the fights and wars between races became more and more fantastical. The stage was finally set. Quickly, the two kings agreed upon a set of rules for their new competition. The gods would take control over the matter plane, including the matter dungeons residing in the anti-matter plane. Likewise, the demons would take control over the anti-matter plane, including the anti-matter dungeons in the matter plane. The goal was to try to destroy the other''s plane, using only the dungeons. Next, they hammered out a system for the competing dungeons to grow more powerful and destroy more matter or anti-matter, more quickly. They called it the System. The gods and demons would reward and limit their dungeons with growth abilities for liberating matter/anti-matter and killing matter/anti-matter based lifeforms. Once a year, each dungeon at or above a certain power ranking in the matter plane would fight to the death against dungeons at or above the same power ranking in the anti-matter plane, in a series of 1v1 matches. Quickly, demons and gods got favorite dungeons that they began cheering and betting on. Finally, whichever side managed to destroy the other plane first, would win a round. Then they''d just set up two more planes filled with new dungeons, before continuing. Each round would last hundreds of billions of years, but they were immortal creatures. Why would they care about time? Bragging rights would go to the side that had more wins. Neither side was allowed to directly control the dungeons. Instead, at the beginning of every round, each side would be required to come together and negotiate a set of guidelines for the dungeons of both planes to follow. After a few rounds played out, both sides decided that wherever possible, both sides should cheat creatively, to make the games more interesting! The gods managed to sneak some celestial tree seeds down into the anti-matter plane, giving themselves more influence there. So, the demons set up some religious zealots in the same plane, fed them infernal mana, and controlled them to destroy both dungeons and celestial trees. Playfully incensed, the gods created the most powerful and mana-based apex predator they could possibly form in their matter plane, known as dragons, to hopefully destroy demons'' dungeons. In retaliation, the demons found some creatures, pathalogically hell-bent on wholesale slaughter and destruction, in the anti-matter plane, known as devils, and started feeding them some infernal mana to strengthen and control them, destroying gods'' dungeons. Eventually, both sides stole each other''s new creature(s) to make guardians for their own dungeons. Quickly, devils and dragons could be found in both planes. At this point, feeling about even, both sides agreed to cool it a bit on the cheating, at least for this round. Spoiler: History Spoiler Hints
But the gods secretly had one last play: a secret-ops black mission known only by the very, very few participating members. It was even hidden from the god king. After losing the previous two rounds, these gods were determined to ensure things went their way. Chapter 30 (v1.1) Chapter 30 Koenraad Hartjenstein stood on the bow of the ship, resting against the gunwale, as he stared into the distance. The cold wind ripped past his face, blowing his shoulder-length hair behind him. He didn''t even seem to perceive the cold or the wind blowing across his eyes. On the very edge of the horizon, he could just see the lone mountain, resting in the endless plains. With his S8-ranked cultivation, he could easily perceive the thick mana swirling around and out of the mountain. He quickly channeled mana to his eyes, activating his Mana Sight. The mountain glowed like a bonfire in the midst of a dark night. As this first magical view of the future for his family, Koenraad frowned deeply. That mountain is spewing far too much mana for a new dungeon, he thought. Ever since arriving in the airspace above Central Fantisa, Koenraad had been disappointed and discomfited with the land that was to be his family''s new home. The mana in the atmosphere was so much thinner here. Despite finally finding a region with enough saturation of mana in this desolate place, Koenraad remained unhappy. So, why is a new dungeon able to throw off as much as a high C-ranked dungeon would in Fantisa? Have the demons and devils led us here for another purpose? He was beginning to have some misgivings over this venture, for which he had moved his entire family. He had picked up all 200 members of the family, including the staff, and all the wealth they could carry, coming all the way to a new continent, with only the word of the demons and the family''s only other S-ranked cultivator, Friedrich. He is an arrogant and pompous moron, though. Still, there''s no one and nothing in this entire continent that should be able to overcome an S-ranked major affinity Soul mage, he mused. And he has written back, saying the dungeon is under his control. So, why is my danger sense going off so strongly? As he pondered this, Adalwen burst out onto the deck with a panicked expression on his face. Quickly hurrying to the family head, he threw up a quick air shield for privacy, before saying, ¡°Sir! Friedrich''s life slip has just shattered.¡± Turning sharply, Koenraad asked, ¡°Are you sure? You checked the slip itself? It is definitely his?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. When the guard of the life slip vault contacted me, I immediately went and personally confirmed that the shattered pieces of jade were broken naturally and contained the exact mana signature of Friedrich. After contacting him by mana relay for so many months, there''s no way I could mistake it.¡± ¡°And did he manage to send a last-minute transmission? Any clue as to the cause?¡± Adalwen shook his head grimly. ¡°No, sir. From the amount of shattering and the large number of pieces, it appears that he died extremely quickly, without panic or even knowledge of an attacker.¡± Koenraad''s misgivings suddenly jumped much higher, as he began yelling questions aloud: ¡°What the fuck is going on? Who could possibly do this? In order to overcome Friedrich''s danger sense, it would have to be a higher cultivation S-ranked Soul mage or an SS-rank. There''s no one in this continent capable of either. We checked, multiple times. The only SS-rank we ever heard about was that Ravenlord character, and he''s just a rogue, for gods'' sake.¡± ¡°And those rumors of a silver dragon,¡± added Adalwen. Koenraad just gave him a withering glare, saying, ¡°If there''s a dragon of any kind on this continent, I''d be willing to eat my hat. And a silver one, at that. There hasn''t been a sighting of a Space dragon or any higher-element dragon in over two millenia! And that''s on Fantisa.¡± As Adalwen visibly cowered, Koenraad continued ranting, with a wry tone conveying extreme sarcasm, ¡°But even if it there was a Space dragon, are you expecting me to believe that Friedrich, though stupid and arrogant, was idiotic enough to engage a silver dragon, with SS-ranked cultivation, in a Soul link, without feeling any danger whatsoever? And he had no knowledge of what killed him? And between now and when he wrote back to us only hours ago, he engaged a gods-damned DRAGON? Look around, Adalwen, where''s the fucking dragon? Maybe it''s a dungeon monster!¡± Wisely, Adalwen kept quiet in the face of the usually stoic family leader, who had lost all control. Pulling out his mana-enhanced spyglass, Koenraad stared at the mountain that was growing closer in the distance. Noticing a blockade surrounding the large entrance tunnel into the mountain, Koenraad took a closer look at the individuals standing guard. Next second, Koenraad grew deadly still and quiet. Through clenched teeth, Koenraad said only a single word: ¡°Drow.¡± Adalwen slowly backed away from his leader, as the S-ranked mage started leaking mana with a visible aura, due to his tremendous fury. Koenraad then stepped up onto the railing and leaped off the deck of the airship, before hurtling himself through the air towards the drow guarding the dungeon''s entrance like a meteor. For a moment, Adalwen almost felt bad for the drow, before remembering their vileness as sub-humans.
Dorn, for the first time in at least the last millennium, suddenly became a little panicked. He yelled out, ¡°Shit! The Hartjensteins have arrived. Quick, tell me what you figured out before I have even more S-ranked, demon-allied cultivators in the dungeon. The drow are already fighting on floor 7!¡± Emelia, realizing the seriousness of the situation, quickly said, ¡°Quick! Purchase up to level 50.¡± Dorn mentally gaped at Emelia, saying, ¡°Emelia, four more floors really isn''t going to fucking help at the moment!¡± Screaming at the top of her tiny little lungs, she replied, ¡°It''s not for the gods-damned floors. Just DO IT!¡± As Dorn pulled up his status screen, Emelia seemed to remember something as she zipped through his shields, landed on his crystal, and turned herself invisible. She quickly yelled out, ¡°As soon as you reach level fifty, I''ll be sent into a temporary state of hibernation, as the gods release the locks on my memories. Once you reach it, go to the dungeon store and look through the new options for custom-made traps. You''ll be able to instantly use your knowledge of Space magic and SS-ranked cultivation to create an impossibly strong trap design, and the dungeon store will allow you to build it just as quickly; remember to completely surround the glyph and the tree.¡± In too much of a hurry to ask about the sudden existence of memory locks, hibernation, or why the dungeon store previously showed locked future properties but didn''t show them now, Dorn repeatedly slammed his finger onto the plus sign next to his level, twenty times.
Status Name: Dorn''axial Dungeon Name: A Dragon''s Dungeon Dungeon Level: 50????????+1 for 110,000 DP''s Floors: 17/21 Dungeon Points: 24,583,271 Dungeon Rating: C6 ¨C Hope you survive!
Snorting at Emelia taking the time to write him a note in the middle of a potentially dungeon-ending crisis, Dorn was annoyed that once his dungeon level hit 50, the cost of the next level doubled in price. Glancing up at the seventh floor, he watched as his dungeon avatar was getting its ass handed to it by some A-ranked drow. Gods, that''s embarrassing, thought Dorn. Looking closely, he watched as the empty region containing the stand-off between the two S-ranked matriarchs and Warley suddenly erupted. The shock-waves were enough to cause most of the other battles on the floor to temporarily halt as everyone tried to protect themselves from becoming collateral damage of the high level mage battle. In the middle of everyone''s shock, the other matriarch immediately took off through the rest of the floor, bypassing all the fighters. Within a minute, she had already reached the eighth floor. Dorn gave a quick sigh of relief for the most desired outcome occurring. Despite this, he was still working under a massive deadline, literally, so he quickly called up the dungeon store, clicked on Properties, and looked for new options. He was about to get really annoyed with Emelia when he noticed there was only four properties, including the old Dungeon Traps, Dungeon Puzzles, and Dungeon Stairs. When he saw the last box, however, his metaphorical eyes widened. Curiosity blazing, he clicked on ¡°Advanced Dungeon Properties.¡± An absolutely enormous list popped up, coupled with bizarre comments and absolutely outrageous prices.
Advanced Dungeon Properties
Ask the Gods! Variable Can''t find the answers to life''s mysteries anywhere else? Send a question to the gods and receive a price quote within 24 hours! Limited to one question a month.
Beast Cores 10,000,000 DP''s Lacking meaningful conversations with non-sapient dungeon monsters? Sick of being a no-friends loser with only a pixie to talk with? Purchase Beast Cores today!
Beast Modifications 15,000,000 DP''s Want to try shoving wings into the back of your bear beast? Adding water mana to your fire elementals? The sky''s your limit with Beast Modifications!
Beast Re-Spawn Devices 100,000,000 DP''s Want your hard-cultivated dungeon beasts to learn from fights to the death? Want your bosses to learn strategy? Beast Re-Spawn Devices are a must!
Book Creation 1,000,000 DP''s If you want to write your own books, you better build yourself a printing press! Or just buy Book Creation and instantly create books from you knowledge for free!
Book Reading 5,000,000 DP''s Want to learn stuff from books but hate reading? Wish you could learn through osmosis? No idea what osmosis is? Buy Book Reading and get instant reading and knowledge of any book absorbed!
Change Avatar Affinities Variable Your new avatar got shitty affinities? Finding cultivation at SS simply too difficult? Simple; just swap out your affinities with anything you want, with Change Avatar Affinities!
Change Beast Affinities Variable Give your wind elementals Earth affinities and watch the fun and craziness unfold! (No Refunds Allowed)
Change Core Affinities Variable You cultivate your core? Wow, good for you! How about changing your affinities?
Dungeon Avatar Modifications 20,000,000 DP''s Your avatar a bit on the, ahem, small size? Wish you had some wings or some other way of compensating? Try Dungeon Avatar Modifications today!
Dungeon Forum 1,000,000 DP''sThe story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Talk to, sell to, and buy information from all the other dungeons out there in the Lower Plane!
Dungeon Point Insurance 10 DP''s per 1 DP stored Worried about hitting zero points and having a dungeon break? Afraid of losing all your points in an inter-dungeon battle? Nothing can give you peace of mind like Dungeon Point Insurance!
Custom Dungeon Puzzles 500,000 DP''s You genius, you! I bet you can come up with some great puzzles, if only you were allowed to. Make your own with Custom Dungeon Puzzles (All New Puzzles Copyrighted and Trademarked by the Gods)
Custom Dungeon Traps 500,000 DP''s You genius, you! I bet you can come up with some great traps, if only you were allowed to. Make your own with Custom Dungeon Traps (All New Traps Copyrighted and Trademarked by the Gods)
Enhanced Dungeon Rules 1 500,000 DP''s Force up to C-ranked cultivators to follow the Dungeon Rules.
Enhanced Wall Durability 1 500,000 DP''s Make dungeon walls un-breakable by cultivators up to C-ranked.
Extra Avatar 1 1 billion DP''s We''ve had one yes, but what about second avatar? Ever wish you were in three places at once? Now you can with Extra Avatar 1! Suck at cultivating and stuck in the SS rank? Just get another avatar!
Flying Dungeon 5 billion DP''s Look! Up in the sky! It''s a bird! It''s a plane! It''s a¡­ giant flying magical underground training facility and mana production factory called a dungeon?
Infernal Detectors 1,000 DP''s Worried about those no-good, evil demons and devils sneaking into your dungeon? No more, with Infernal Detectors!
Interstellar Flight 100 billion DP''s Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. MURRPPHHHH! *BRAAAM*
Mini-Instances 300,000 DP''s Yes, you''ve instanced your floors. But what about your huts, buildings, roads, and whatever weird, dungeon-y stuff you spend your time building?
''Skip'' Floors 50,000,000 DP''s Ever wish you had a floor that adventurers would skip by, and you could use as a private reservation for farming, experimenting, strip poker, or orgi- We apologize for the fault in the comments. Those responsible have been sacked.
Virtual Abilities 10,000,000 DP''s Want to build virtual playgrounds? What kind of sick, perverted acts of a twisted mind are you trying to arran- We apologize again for the fault in the comments. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.
Despite the seriousness of his current situation, as well as the small amount of time before the arrival of the drow matriarch, Dorn simply had to marvel at some of the abilities available and the prices of certain abilities, not to mention the incomprehensible and astoundingly moronic comments. Oh my gods, oh my gods, I can change affinities. I''m not dreaming, am I? He was so shocked and excited, that if he still had a mouth, he''d be drooling. Until now, the rules of elemental affinities were immutable, constant, and fully understood. If he wasn''t in such a time crunch, he''d probably spend the next few days or weeks simply looking through the options and prices for changing his affinities. This changes everything, Dorn thought. Shit, even cultivating in the SS rank will be easier with the ability to change affinities. If they''re affordable, that is. And if they can be used more than once... The next thing that snagged Dorn''s attention was the prices for extra avatars, flying dungeons, and interstellar flight. He started giggling, somewhat creepily and in a not-entirely-sane manner, when he saw the 100 billion price tag for interstellar flight. Heh. Heh. It''s only 100 billion Dungeon Points. That''s nothing. That would only cost the deaths of forty Perfect Core cultivators. Hehe, totally doable; easy! It''s not like they''re the strongest SS9-ranked beings in the entire Three Planes Universe, just a single step from ascension. Hehehe¡­ Getting a little alarmed at his deteriorating state of mind, he started reading through some of the descriptions. What the hell? Who did the gods get to write these? Is this another stunt by Emelia? He was puzzled, because while the descriptions matched her level of stupidity, the whole sales pitch feeling was not her style. It sounded like the owner of a stall in a bazaar trying to ''advertise'' or over-state the usefulness of his or her wares. Although, the Ask the Gods feature, this so-called Dungeon Forum, and Virtual Abilities will come in really handy. Trillions of dungeons on billions of planets; I might find some really interesting cultivation methods or abilities and spells in the forum. And Virtual Abilities, I''ve got an idea for my first dungeon floor following B-housing and B-mining. Plus it''ll be a great addition to the Colosseum. And I''ll finally be able to ask the gods about the Demon and Devil Plane. Realizing he was wasting time, he hurried down and purchased the Custom Dungeon Traps property for 500,000 DP''s. Noticing the addendum to the ability, Dorn started grumbling, I guess that explains why the ability is so cheap. The gods shamelessly steal our trap designs before turning around and selling them to all the other dungeons. No wonder there are such a ludicrous number of trap designs available for purchase. Realizing he really didn''t have much of a choice, he hurriedly opened up the newly available screen for designing traps, called the Dungeon Designer. After selecting the floor of his core room, a 3D-rendered image of the floor popped up. Dorn was able to zoom in and out, spin the room in any three directions, and look through walls. The whole manipulation was surprisingly intuitive and easy to use. He was given the direction to highlight the surfaces and area that his trap should cover. He carefully covered the entirety of the floor, with holes only for the teleportation glyph, his core and shields, and the celestial tree. He quickly selected the option for the trap to activate in three dimensions, so that even flying over the trap would trigger it. He was asked to think a description of the nature of the trap. A screen in the Dungeon Designer explained:
First think of the type of trap: teleportation, imprison, summoning, killing, mechanical, etc¡­
Next think of a trigger mechanism: proximity, mana detection, life detection, sound detection, mechanical, etc¡­
Next choose either a magical or mechanical based effect. Poison and acid traps require patterns to be used. Mechanical traps require the resources and patterns of objects used (such as stakes or giant, rolling, stone spheres)
Next, for long-lasting traps, choose a means of de-activating the trap: time, defeating creature, solving puzzle, finding a well-hidden de-activation switch, etc¡­ If no de-activation method is chosen, price will increase precipitously.
Finally, think of any additional features or requirements: activates slowly, immediately instances those within, walls start shrinking, etc¡­
You will be prompted to use the mana and element of any magical features prior to ranking and price calculation.
After calculation, you will be given the rank, price, and price break-down of creating the trap.
Dorn decided to think of the best, most complicated trap he could think of. He would then get rid of the things that make it too expensive. Immediately, Dorn thought of an imprisoning trap with a proximity trigger, Space magic shields surrounding the trap area, and no de-activation method. For additional features, Dorn thought of banning teleportation, the loss of any magic/racial resistances, and immunity from the danger sense of A-ranked and higher cultivators. When prompted, Dorn built a Space magic shield with his SS-rank cultivation, followed by the spell for a proximity trigger, teleportation restriction, magic/enchantment restriction, and racial magic/damage resistances de-buff. After a nerve-wracking, 10-second-long calculation, the following screen was displayed:
Price Break-Down: Imprisoning Trap Base Price: 10,000 DP''s Trap Size Price: 500,000 DP''s Proximity Trigger Price: 1,000,000 DP''s SS-rank Space Shields Price: 10,000,000 DP''s Banning Teleportation: 10,000,000 DP''s Racial Magic/Damage Resistances Removal Price: 200,000,000 DP''s Danger Sense Immunity: 1.37 Billion DP''s No De-Activation Method Multiplier: X10.0
Total Cost: 15.9151 billion DP''s
Build? Yes/No
Damn, Dorn thought, I''d have really liked the danger sense immunity. Guess I''ll have to hope she''s too fixated on the tree to notice her danger sense. Plus, the trap''s not exactly dangerous per se, so it should cause a weaker reaction than a killing trap. Carefully selecting No, as he was unsure what would happen if he accidentally hit Yes, Dorn quickly began to refine his trap designs to make it cheaper. After getting rid of the danger sense immunity, he eliminated the magic resistances removal, figuring that for an S0-ranked cultivator, it really wasn''t necessary. Plus, I can''t afford it anyway, he thought wryly. Then he started testing various de-activation methods to determine the effect on the multiplier. He was able to get a X1.0 multiplier for a pedestal with a button on it, resting in the middle of the room. Snorting, Dorn thought, It''s such a terrible idea, it would probably convince her it was also trapped, and she might be wary of pressing it. Any type of puzzle he tried came created at least a X2.0, including a X5.0 multiplier for a decryption puzzle. Well-hidden switches were out, in Dorn''s mind, as they would be easily noticed by a drow matriarch; the drow were masters of creating, setting, and disarming traps. A creature offered the same problem as creating an S-ranked defender. After pausing for a bit in thought, Dorn remembered the examples that the Price Break-Down offered. Hmm, I''ve never seen or heard of an imprisoning trap that has no danger and simply vanishes after time¡­ unless it''s a 10-year or longer trap, and that length of time would probably have a X10.0 multiplier or higher. Hesitantly, he started calculating how long it would take him enslave the S0-ranked matriarch. He looked into his dungeon to check the matriarch''s progress and affinities. Oh shit, she''s only two floors away, Dorn thought a bit panicky. But thankfully, she doesn''t even have a minor affinity in Soul magic. The elves'' natural Soul magic resistance plus the drow''s extra resistance, she''s the equivalent of an S0-ranked human mage with a major affinity for Soul magic¡­ Shit, I''ll need three minutes at a bare minimum, but I would prefer five to feel safe. Trying both three and five minutes, he got multipliers of X1.1 and X1.3, respectively. Three minutes would cost 23,661,000 DP''s and five would cost 27,963,000. With only about 24,000,000 DP''s, it looked like he would have to take the three minutes and work fast. Despite his large age and grand plans, he was desperately hoping for a solution. He watched as the matriarch made it to the end of his 15th floor. His DP''s were going up too slowly from cultivators being in his dungeon, and it wouldn''t take the drow very long to make it through the simplistic 16th floor. Gods, I wish I had continued the elemental theme and made an Earth floor for the 16th, instead of trying to get new underdark creatures so quickly. Sighing in resignation, Dorn hovered a metaphorical finger over the Yes button in the Dungeon Designer screen, to build the three minutes Space trap on his core room floor. He decided to wait until the matriarch was two rooms away, while he kept a non-existent eye on his DP''s. As the matriarch reached the third-to-last room, Dorn was stupidly shocked when his DP''s suddenly spiked four times in just a brief two seconds, jumping 10 million DP''s to reach 34,000,000? What the hell just happened? Without time to search or figure out what had just happened, he simply ignored his curiosity, changed the time for the trap de-activation to 7 minutes, causing a 1.5X multiplier, costing 32,265,000 DP''s, and jammed the Yes button. The System placed the trap, which glowed a re-assuring silver, before disappearing. Literally a split-second later, the matriarch showed up on the floor''s teleportation glyph.
The matriarch stood on the teleportation glyph and slowly looked around the room. She grinned and started talking at the core she could see through the 11 elemental shields. ¡°Well, hello, little dungeon core. How unique you and this dungeon are,¡± the matriarch said. Dorn simply remained silent, giving the matriarch what she expected. With an obviously-fake, saccharine smile, the matriarch lamented, ¡°It''s too bad you went and made a celestial tree, or I would have enjoyed taking this dungeon as my own, dominating it and raising myself and my clan above the other drow and even above the surfacers.¡± ¡°Hmm, but for some reason, my danger sense is going off for the first time since I''ve entered this dungeon.¡± Dorn cursed internally, Fuck. She gave a bone-chilling chuckle, and asked, ¡°Did you do something naughty down here, little dungeon core? Walking to the edge of the teleportation glyph, she looked out at the floor as well as the tree in the distance. She turned her head towards Dorn''s shields and strained to sense their power. ¡°There''s nothing I can do about your shields. Looks like I''ll have to go collect that bitch to help summon a devil for you,¡± she concluded. ¡°But there''s nothing surrounding the tree. Let''s take care of that before I, unfortunately, must briefly leave you.¡± Dorn simply watched as she started extending some fire mana in the direction of the tree. As the mana reached the space above the edge of the teleportation glyph, the mana simply vanished. Both Dorn and the matriarch were shocked. ¡°What?¡± asked the matriarch. Swinging her head towards the dungeon core, ¡°You clearly didn''t do anything. Was this a trap? But even then, you shouldn''t be able to make the mana vanish.¡± The matriarch pondered. Finally, she said, ¡°I suppose this must be a restriction by the gods. Can''t attack until I leave the glyph. Hmmm, should I test the trap or get the bitch? The trap doesn''t feel very dangerous, but the fact that I can''t see it or feel what it does is alarming.¡± Dorn finally lost his patience and decided that he needed to act. He slowly reached out some SS-ranked mana and began to do one of the more difficult magics available to Soul mage users. While not as difficult as curing psychological conditions, it was possible to use Soul mana to subtly influence thoughts and actions. Ever so gently, he slightly suppressed her fear, slightly increased her greed, and released a very minor calming sensation. With her Soul resistance and cautious intelligence battling against the manipulations and her greed, she was visibly wavering. Finally, Dorn drove the nail home, whispering a thought into her mind with her voice, as softly as he could, ¡°I should at least take the tree; it has no defenses. My danger sense says the trap is not very dangerous, and I''m an S0-ranked cultivator. I shouldn''t share the benefits of burning a celestial tree with her.¡± Finally, the matriarch took a shaky step off the glyph. She raised her second foot, looked at the tree, and placed it beyond the glyph. As she left the space above the glyph, Dorn''s trap immediately activated, throwing up silver shields. She immediately looked around and down. Seeing that she was beyond the glyph, she immediately turned towards the dungeon core shouted, ¡°What the hell did you do?¡± She suddenly discovered the manipulations of the Soul magic in her head. ¡°You better pray that this trap kills me, or you will regret this for a very, very long time,¡± she threatened. Ignoring her bluster, and without hesitating or monologuing, Dorn struck out with the full force of his Soul magic.