《Dungeon Island》 Chapter 01 - What am I? Light! There is light! No. There is no light. I can see, but there is no light. There is only darkness, yet I can see through it. I can only see dirt. Dirt all around me, I¡¯m surrounded by dirt and occasional rocks. The dirt is strange, forming a perfect sphere, even the rocks are cut through to complete the shape of this place. Even the dirt seems impossibly smooth. These walls look dull. But is it ¡®walls¡¯ or ¡®wall¡¯? There is only one face on a sphere, so it must be a singular ¡®wall¡¯. Whatever, it¡¯s just an empty, dreary room. Or not so empty. There is a strange, black ball floating in the center of this chamber. I pass some time looking at the ball. It¡¯s completely black. So black, that it seems to absorb any light touching it, but since there is no light here I can¡¯t be sure. Also, it is perfectly circular and looks even smoother than the already perfectly smooth wall. The ball seems rather big, occupying a fourth of the space, but since I have no real comparison, despite the rocks in the wall of dirt, I can¡¯t be sure. Maybe it¡¯s just a small ball in a small place. The fact that the ball is floating mid-air seems quite strange to me, but it could be normal for this kind of ball for all I know. And that¡¯s all there is in the room, nothing more that the empty space between it and the wall.. Wait a second¡­ There is nothing else in here except that ball. So where am I?! Where is my body?! Am I dead? I must be dead. Is this hell?! No¡­ I can¡¯t be in hell! I was a good person! I think¡­ Now that I¡¯m trying to remember how I was in my previous life, I can¡¯t recall any memories. I cannot even remember my own name! I don¡¯t know who I am! I don¡¯t know what I am! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA¡­ - 10 minutes later - ¡­AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!! Stop, something is happening! The black ball is shining! It shines with a strange pink light that gives the dirt a purplish color. And now that I¡¯m starting to calm myself down, it¡¯s shining less and less.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Is it linked to me? It began shining brightly when I started panicking and stopped after I calmed down. Is that black ball my new body in hell? No, that doesn¡¯t feel right. Now that I¡¯m focusing on it I can sense it¡¯s a part of me. Only a part of my body, yes, but a really important part. It¡¯s like my heart or something. A brain? Bones? No. A core? Yes, that¡¯s it, that name feels right, it¡¯s my core. But why do I have a core? And where is the rest of my body? Maybe if I focus I will be able to feel it, like I¡¯m now aware of my core as a part of me. Ok, let¡¯s go. Focus! ¡­... What¡¯s that? All I can feel is my core, the wall and the air filling the room. Is that it? Is that my body? Yes, I can sense it, I feel it¡¯s right. The core is my brain, the air my blood and the wall my skin. It¡¯s not a body made out of flesh and blood, but it¡¯s mine. It is right but it also feels wrong at the same time. I can sense that there is a part of me that doesn¡¯t get comfortable with this body. Something I can¡¯t grasp, just like my memories. Maybe if I focus on it, it will work as it already worked for my body. Ok. Focus! ¡­¡­¡­¡­. Nope, it does not seem to help this time. I can sense there¡¯s something, like I know that I had a life before waking up here. But I can¡¯t recall even one bit and I can¡¯t do anything about my situation. In that case, I¡¯ll let it be for now and I¡¯ll come back to it another time. After all, I have other things to do. Since I have a ¡®skin¡¯ I can feel the earth around it. My wall is rather thin and behind it, I can feel that there is an area of dirt that is a bit different from the others. It is located at the same height level as my core. I¡¯ll try to focus on this. ... Wow. As soon as I start to focus on the part of the wall in front of that strange area, a small hole starts to appear in the dirt. I can dig! And quite easily at that. I start digging in the direction where I can sense something different, I feel I¡¯m getting closer. There are more and more rocks. I¡¯m almost there, but it¡¯s only stone now. Just a liiitle push... aaaand done! So, what¡¯s this? It¡¯s wet, and it¡¯s starting to flow through the hole. It slowly flows into my room. Because the hole is so small, my chamber is not yet overflowed. At least now I can analyze it at will. It¡¯s water. Just plain and clear water. I don¡¯t know what I was expecting, but I feel a little disappointed. I can also sense a big cavity on the other side of the water and that the water is only flowing through this cave into a calm underground river. Well, I think it is calm, I can not see this as it is out of my room, but the swirls are too weak to correspond to anything stronger than a stream. As I¡¯m focusing on the cavern, I feel the riverbed slowly becoming part of me. Same thing for the water flowing into my room. In contrast, the water flowing through the river is sadly going just too fast for me to integrate it. I¡¯m starting to feel tired by these actions. Exhausted even. I think I¡¯m going to take a nap to replenish my energy. But before that, I must still close the hole, as I don¡¯t want my room to be flood while I sleep. I focus on the hole, willing for it to close, and the moment it does I lose the connection with the cave beyond. My connection with the river is severed and the parts that I claimed as my body no longer are mine. I''m beaten. So I¡¯m going to sleep for now. Chapter 02 - Im a dungeon! It¡¯s been a few days since I woke up as a rock. Days? Maybe less, maybe more, maybe even weeks. I have no idea how much time passes between my naps, so I¡¯m calling that a day. I may not remember my past life - at least I think I had a past life, with that ¡®blocked memories¡¯ thing - but I know what days are supposed to be, so until I found a way to efficiently count the time I¡¯m gonna keep calling those ¡®days¡¯. Anyway, during the past few days, I thought a lot about my current situation. I¡¯m still feeling I have memories I am blocked from remembering, but I can¡¯t do a thing about it. So until I can, I¡¯ll try to ignore this feeling, but I swore to myself that one day I will recall them and find out what happened to me. Also, I think I finally know what I am. A dungeon. It is the conclusion of several days of thinking. After I woke up from my first nap, I reopened the hall to the river. Doing so I found that I could reclaim the areas I lost when I closed the gap far more easily than claiming a new zone. My mana soaked into the ground almost instantly. After I made some experiments by closing and opening the gap multiple times to ascertain my theory, I took another nap. On the third day, I decided to enlarge the gap a bit more and hopefully let a creature enter into my room through it, so I could study it. I¡¯m not stupid, so I prepared a second room beneath my own chamber to trap the creature and ensure it could not harm my core. It was a success! I have managed to capture a creature! I studied it for a few days, while trying to infuse my mana into it, but it was far harder than infusing my mana into soil or water. About three days after I began studying it, the creature started to show signs of weakness and I felt like I could almost push my mana into it. It had been bathing in mana infused water and drinking it for three days after all, which might have simplified it. Unfortunately, the creature died during my next nap. Its death woke me up all of a sudden as I felt a powerful surge of mana enter my core. I also felt some knowledge about the animal enter my mind, when I combined it with my observations, I knew the creature was called ''fish'' and that it was relatively small for a fish. Comparing its disappearing body - is it normal for a body to dissipate so fast? - to my core, I concluded that it was quite small too I repeated the experience of opening the hole and trapping a new fish. It took more time than before and I even almost flooded my primary room - enough to decide to widen the trap beneath me. The second fish was a bit larger than the first one, it was also of a brighter color. Instead of the meek and pale brown of the first one, this one was a more vivid brown and even had a patch of black color on his back. I don¡¯t really see the color of the fish, it is more that I can sense it. Anyway, it survived four whole days and died during the fifth. At the moment of its death, I felt many surging from its body to my core and a tiny bit of my memory unlocking itself. It seems I can regain my memories when something dies in me! I also relearned - that¡¯s how I¡¯m calling the fact of remembering simple knowledge - that there are multiples types of fish, but nothing else. Like the first fish, the body of the second disappeared quite fast.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The third fish was a better success in a way. It died far faster than the previous ones. Since the only thing I did differently was to actively pour a lot more mana in it, I concluded that I must have poisoned it. The fact it gave me back far less mana confirmed it. But this time I gained more knowledge instead. And I decided not to poison the creatures I would trap from now on. It was from the third fish¡¯s death I learned back that the energy I had been employing the whole time was called ¡®mana¡¯ and that each time my mana reserves, which was also referred as ¡®mana pool¡¯, was empty I would feel tired and weary. I understand better how the world works now. I even understood that the fish needed to eat to survive and that the fact their bodies completely disappeared in such a short time wasn¡¯t normal. The fourth creature I managed to trap was not a fish. Lucky me, a bit of diversity is always good. I learned it was called a ¡®crab¡¯ when it died. It was far more dangerous than a fish, as it even tried to climb out of my trap and had natural weapons in form of its claws and a natural armor in its shell. Its whole body was a deep red color. After the crab, I decided to try two other experiments, until now I hadn¡¯t let the water touch my core, but the knowledge I regained suggested that it wouldn¡¯t pose a problem. So I tried it and while it really was no problem, it was still uncomfortable. I mean that having my core underwater felt weird. Not long after I felt that I was gathering mana slower than before and after I resurfaced my core and exposed it to the air again, I felt my mana gathering speed recovering, so I decided to remain as dry as possible and pushed the excess water back into the river. I had to dig a tunnel alongside the river up to the cave above it, which made a little fountain in the big cavern. Afterwards, I began my second experiment by trying to trap two fish - or crabs, I¡¯m not discriminating - at the same time. When the first died, I managed not to absorb its body and I saw the second fish eating the corpse. It allowed it to live a few days longer, as I had hoped. After that, I managed to trap several fishes and two crabs at the same time. The crabs killed the fish and ate them, speeding up my mana gathering a lot. I bathed for a time in the sensation of having a lot of mana at my disposal until the amount of mana I was gaining from the fish began to drop. Then I trapped more fish and crabs. Something else caught my interest, the crab with the higher kill count had begun to grow. They were only a bit bigger than before, but they were definitely stronger than the new ones. When I focused on them a little I found that when a crab killed a fish - or another crab, that happened thrice actually - they would gain a bit of the mana escaping the body. At first, I was jealous and decided to poison one of them, and when it died I felt a lot more mana than usual flowing into me, alongside some new knowledge. I also decided to let them gather mana for me, as long as they die in me I will regain the mana. I learned a bit about what a dungeon is, a dangerous being able to control creatures and matter to create monsters and treasures. They lure sapient species inside them with treasures and kill them to feed on their purer mana. Looking at what I am able to do and the fact I had a core, I concluded I am a young dungeon. A month old dungeon. Wow, a month, already, I really took my time with those experiments on fish and crabs. Well, I think a month has passed already. I counted around 30 days, so a bit more than a month, as long as my way of counting proves to be correct. And I¡¯m starting to starve staying here, feeding on some weak fish and restraining myself to absorb their dead body. I have plans to position myself in the cavern above and claim it as my core chamber. There may not be better prey than fish and crabs, but at least their number should be able to satiate my growing hunger for mana. As a dungeon, I¡¯m supposed to expand by absorbing mana from people and creatures. For now, that¡¯s fine by me. Now I¡¯m going to take a nap and kill all my creatures, I¡¯ll need all the mana I can gather to move myself up there. Chapter 03 - Hatching some eggs. So, all my captive creatures are dead and I took a good nap, I¡¯m bulking with energy and ready to move. I open a dry way to the big cavern through the river bed and massively pour my mana through it in an attempt to make the big room mine as fast as possible. I widen the passage to allow more to flow through it and feel that it¡¯s working. My mana infuses itself really fast through the stone and the air of the area and in a few minutes the stone walls are mine and I can feel all of the things in there. The cave is really bigger than my previous room, I graduated from a 1 meter cubic sphere room to a whole different grade. My new room is something like 15 meters long, 7 meters wide at the widest and 2 meters at the narrowest. The room is slightly inclined in the length of it, allowing the river to flow from a side to the other and forming a small pool at the end. There is also a crack in the wall on the left bank side it allows some air to enter the room. Now that the room is mine, first thing first, I need to put some securities in place. I would not like for big creatures to enter my dungeon until I¡¯m ready to take them, but I need small fries to eat mana and perform experiments. So I put some grids on the enter and exit of the river and the airway. Next thing, widen the actual puddle into a pond, it will allow me to raise fishes and crabs in much bigger numbers than previously. I can already sense that they are now in the 2 digit numbers, almost 3. And if the new mana gathering rate is already much better than before, it still can¡¯t replenish my mana pool as fast as I would like. My new fishes and crabs will need a bit of time to grow big enough to satisfy me. There are also some new creatures. There are bugs flying in the air and some furry creatures crawling on the roof or flying and catching the bugs. I mana poison one of them and lean that they are bats. I¡¯m now in possession of fishes, crabs, bugs, and bats, it¡¯s a good thing to diversify a little, especially since the bats give way more mana when dying than the others, but they¡¯re not dying as easily and have no predator in my cave. The bugs give almost no mana when they die, but they are so much more numerous it¡¯s still profitable to keep them, plus they serve as food for the other creatures. I decide to alter the size of the airway grid to allow the bats to go through it, they could eat all the local bugs and starve. I don¡¯t want that, I¡¯m starting to make plans concerning them. I also still need a way to control the creatures and made them truly mine, but I have a theory on the way to do so. I will now be able to test it, I only need some eggs and there is some here. There is a patch of 10 crab eggs. I want to move my core to the new room, but I won¡¯t, not until I manage to claim some of the creatures as mine.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. So I start with one of the egg, I brutally infuse mana into it to see the effect. The crab¡¯s embryo in it starts to grow really fast, faster than anticipated. It grows so much and so fast that the egg explode and the fetus dies. I was expecting it to die, but not in such a gruesome manner, I¡¯m also absorbing the remains faster than I usually absorb dead fishes or crabs and gaining far less mana out of it. I infuse mana into the following egg, but a lesser amount this time. I try to steady the flow of mana, but it seems I poured too much of it as the egg dies. This time it did not explode, I simply feel a bit of mana coming back to me, like with each dead. I try again with the following eggs and fail again, and again, but I¡¯m feeling that I¡¯m nearing my objective. I fail until I have only 3 eggs left. The last one managed to hatch alive, I felt it was connected to me in a way the other creatures weren¡¯t, but it was so deformed it die in less than 5 minutes and wasn¡¯t able to move around. I repeat the process of infusing mana in the 8th egg. Slower and stabler than before and I feel the crab in the egg starting to grow. It¡¯s almost ready to hatch, I feel the excitement getting to me, but I must not rush the last part. And finally the egg hatch. And it¡¯s a success! Almost¡­ The crab is slightly deformed, it has a big left pincer and a small right one. But the most important fact is that I can feel a connection between it and me. I try to make it move, and it does. The little crab is obeying my order! I succeeded in claiming a creature! I would make a little victory dance if I had a proper body to do it. I¡¯m not making the crab dance in my stead, I¡¯m not¡­ ok, I¡¯m completely doing it. I observe the crab a moment, waiting for it to die, like its older brethren. But no, it seems to be able to live a much longer life - not as if it was really hard to beat a 5 minutes lifetime - and I let it do as it wants Ok. Next egg. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow¡­ - 1 hour later - Less flow and more steady mana... Success! This crab is alive! And well-formed! I¡¯m a genius. New victory dance, with 2 crabs. Now I must look after them and ensure their immediate survival. I would be really bothered if they were to be eaten by some other crabs. Mines are still young and weak, I poison a fish and move the body for them to eat safely. I¡¯m starting to feel very tired, I didn¡¯t see how much I was emptying my mana pool with those experiments and I need to sleep. But first, I need to put my crabs in a safe place, I drag them and some dead fishes in my core room and make sure nothing but little and harmless bugs can come in here. And now I¡¯m going to take a nap. The last egg? I¡¯ve moved it in a separate and secured little room next to my core room. I won¡¯t make it hatch myself, I want to see if creatures born naturally in my dungeon are also mine or not. So stop bothering me and let me take my nap, I¡¯m dead tired. Chapter 04 - Claiming frenzy. First thing in the morning is checking my mana pool, it gets big, bigger than the previous days, good. Second thing is to check on my little crabs, the two hatchlings and the last egg are fine, great. Third thing is to look at the current population of my inhabitant creatures. Some bats, lots of crabs, more fishes and an enormous amount of bugs. All that is good. But I need to make sure my creatures have enough to eat in here. The bats are eating some bugs in the cavern, but are mostly taking their meal outside, so no worries. The crabs are eating the fishes, and the fishes eat the bugs and the moss, algae, and corps floating around before being automatically absorbed by me. The bugs are eating the same things as the fishes. For now, the ecosystem can sustain itself, but as the local predators will gain strength in my dungeon, they will need more food. And since the bodies are being absorbed, the creatures can¡¯t eat as much as before on them. I need to improve the base of the food chain, namely moss and algae, that will allow for more fishes and bugs and more food for all the local beings. Before starting experiments with the plants, I make sure to provide my little crabs with fishes to kill and eat. I start to focus my mana on some algae in the river¡¯s water and soon they start to grow faster, I try the same with the moss and they grow faster as well. It seems that the plants only need some mana to grow big and fast, I won¡¯t need to bother myself often with that, I just need to make sure every morning there is enough of it to feed all the creatures. And as the mana concentration in the air of my dungeon grows the plants should grow faster and bigger by themselves. I have an idea. I select a little alga and quickly poor as much mana as I can on it. At first, it grows a lot and then it stops. It¡¯s dead. I can mana poison the plants too, but they are more resistant than the animals to that method. Next, I poor mana into a patch of moss, as expected it grows a lot, but I don¡¯t stop. I continue to infuse more and more mana in it. And as the moss expands in all directions and grows really big I start to feel a slight connection between it and me. I continue, but it doesn¡¯t connect with me in the same manner as the crabs did, the connection is still better than with the dirt, the air or the water. I try to infuse mana only in a part of my moss and even if it grows everywhere, it grows faster where I concentrate. It means I can guide the growth of the plants. After a few more experiments with other plants, I learned that I¡¯m able to really direct the growth path of the plants I claim as part of my dungeon. That¡¯s great, probably someday I¡¯ll play with them to try to make something funny out of those plants. Hold on a second, I just thought of something. If I¡¯m able to infuse mana into crab eggs and plants to make them grow faster allowing me to claim them, maybe I only need to slowly infuse mana into the local adult creature to claim them. Until then I pour so much in them that they always ended up poisoned. I¡¯ll try to infuse mana more slowly. I pick a little fish, a harmed one, it just escaped a pincer from a stray crab. I start infusing my mana into it, but more slowly and more steadily than before. My experience with the eggs allows me to better grasp my mana control. Its injury starts to heal fast, I have seen injured fish and crabs, and they never heal that fast, plus it doesn¡¯t add to the knowledge I gain back until now. Unfortunately, when the wound is completely closed, the flesh continues to grow, it grows too much and forms a deformity on the fish¡¯s side. The fish is really ugly, I continue to use it as a test subject but I don¡¯t want to keep it. I pour more mana in the fish and try to make it flow evenly in it. I want the mana to be equitably spread in the fish, not to go wherever it wants. Through a mental effort, I managed to do it, the mana flow evenly in all the fish, but it is not mine yet. I continue again, and again, and again, and again¡­ Like for the eggs, I must not put too much mana, but I don¡¯t want to wait for hours before seeing the result, so I continue steadily and slowly. ¡®Less mana and more steady flow¡¯, that was my mantra by then. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow. Less mana and more steady flow...Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Victory! I feel a connection with the deformed fish! I managed to claim an already born creature! Victory dance! As a reward for the fish - it was a good test subject after all - I decide to let it live it''s life, I only give him the order to stay in my domain. Wow, I feel tired. Claiming a fully grown being is much more taxing than claiming and hatching some eggs. I also spent a lot of mana on the plants earlier. I¡¯m going to take a nap, but before, I need to resupply the fish reserve for my little crabs. They are growing fast, I think I¡¯ll soon be able to let them free in the river. When I wake up I perform my ¡®morning¡¯ ritual, my mana pool is a little bigger than yesterday, the crabs are fine and the creatures'' population is still as healthy as before. The little fish I managed to claim is dead, well too bad. Like when I make my first experiment with the captured crabs and fishes, some of them started to show signs of growth, that good. And as I forcefully grow some plants I find a good surprise. I can feel a connection to some of the bugs. Not all of them have it, and it¡¯s not a strong connection, but it is there nonetheless. I¡¯m connected to the younger bugs that fly and crawl near the plants I claimed yesterday. Let think a bit about that. Bugs eat my moss, breath my air and drink my water, then they reproduce and lay eggs in my moss or my dirt, or my water, or even some dead fishes, after that the larvae continue to eat my stuff. The bugs are constantly bathed in my ambient mana, it seems I don¡¯t need to force my mana in creatures to claim them, as long as they live inside of me and eat and drink stuff infused by my mana they will automatically be claimed by me? That¡¯s great! The bugs are the smaller, have the shortest life expectancy and faster growth rate, and they are the first to be automatically claimed, it must mean that the bigger the creature, the longer it will take. Ok, I can work with that, but I want it faster. I start frantically claiming all the plants in my dungeon then as many bugs that I can and soon I¡¯m tired. I replenish my crabs¡¯ fish reserve and go to sleep. Tomorrow I will claim more creatures. The following days I claimed all the fishes and crabs in my dungeon, it took me a full week. The bugs were all automatically claimed on the third day. Also, the last crab¡¯s egg finally hatched, it was fully claimed when it came out of its eggshell, that made me very glad. Now my mana pool is a totally different league than before my claiming. For the bats, I only claim one yet, for two reasons. First, those creatures are the biggest in my dungeon, so I need to put a lot more mana in them. Secondly, they pass a lot of time outside of me, it means they take a far smaller part of naturally infused mana in them. That made them really more complicated to claim. But I will prevail. Chapter 05 - A starry night. Like usual, when I wake up I check my mana pool, a bit bigger than the day before, the growth as slow now that only the bats are unclaimed, but it replenishes far faster. Then I check my creatures population, almost all of them have gained in size, and I can note that my first two crabs are doing well, they grow faster than the other crabs. When I want to accelerate the growth of the plants I notice that since I claimed all of those I don¡¯t need to do it as often as at the beginning. After doing my morning routine I go on with my new task, claiming at least one bat a day. Now that I own two bats, I¡¯m ready to do a little experiment. I focus on one of them and try to feel what it can feel, I¡¯ve already managed to do it with fishes and crabs but what I can feel with those isn¡¯t interesting. I infused my mana in the head of the bat, and focus on feeling what it can without trying to control its body. Wow, that was surprisingly easy, I managed to do it on the first try. And what I can see now is strange, the bat has a sense I didn¡¯t get to taste in the fishes or the crabs, is I recall correctly it¡¯s ¡®echolocation¡¯, it grants the bat an ability to ¡®see¡¯ in the dark thanks to sound waves it produces and listen when they come back, allowing it to make a mental map of the place. I focus on the second bat in the same way and manage to link its senses to mine too. Ok, first part of the experiment is completed, I can now proceed to the second part. I send the bats out of my domain, giving one of them the order to come back 5 minutes after exiting my dungeon. The other is ordered to fly around for one hour before coming back. I look at them flying to the limit of my claimed area not knowing yet if I will be able to stay connected to their senses, I feel a bit of stress. When they reach it and pass it I feel joy in my core as I¡¯m still able to feel through them, but as soon as they fly farther than 5 meters from my border I lost the connection. I can still feel they are part of me, but its weak and I can¡¯t see with their eyes or connect with their other sensory organs. I wait a bit for the first bat to come back and when it does I don¡¯t even have to connect to it, it¡¯s done automatically. I decided to try something else and connect to the full brain of the bat, searching for its memory and what it has seen outside. Why didn¡¯t I search in its memory before sending it outside? Well, I tried that yesterday and I couldn¡¯t access its memories from before I claimed it, same for my creatures. It seems they can still access it, but I can¡¯t, one new reason to claim all the bats in the dungeon. Once I connect with the memory I start to review them and I¡¯m a bit disappointed. It only flew in more corridor under the earth, following the other bat until it was time for it to come back. All I learned about my surrounding is that I¡¯m still underground for a 5 minutes bat fly. But at least I could gather information on the outside, I could just not see it for now. I let the bat free to do whatever she wants and as the bats will soon leave the area to hunt outside I don¡¯t have the time to claim a new one. Instead, I decide to do a little house management. I make some stone grow in the middle of the river into a pedestal for my core. The pillar is 1.5 meters high, 50 centimeters wide at the top and bottom and 30 at the middle. On top of it is a spherical receptacle for the small ball that is my core, it is formed by 20 small stone arcs that form a grid around the receptacle and reunite at the top in a small rig that will protect my core from bat poop.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After finishing my pedestal I move my core from its current room to it and let it radiate mana into the air at the same time it absorb it. That¡¯s a thing I noticed, my core emits some refine mana around it at a slower pace than it swallows the rough mana from creatures that die and born in my dungeon. Hopefully, that refined mana will help me to claim faster the bats and made sure that they don¡¯t poop on my pedestal. Bat poop may be a good fertilizer, it¡¯s not a nice looking decoration. Once I finished my new place I wait a little bit more for the second claimed bat to come back so that I can read its memories. The exact moment I sense the bat crossing the limit of my influence I connect myself to it and see a lot of things. The bat saw a lot of things during that little hour. I see through it that the exit to the outdoors is only 10 minutes away through a maze of stone corridors. Once outside the bat made a first circular fly around the exist giving me the information that it¡¯s on the cliff of a small mountain, it then flew right to a forest at the foot of the cliff and pass its time hunting for bugs and drinking juice directly from fruits. Then it comes back to the dungeon and starts eating my bugs while I read its memories. I¡¯ve seen all it has seen, so I let it free to fly outside the dungeon if it wants, and it goes back outside. There is one other thing I saw in the bat memories. The night sky. It was dark, pitch black, like my core. But it was sprinkled with the stars, an infinite amount of little sparkling dot that gave it a peculiar beauty. I want it. I¡¯m not completely stupid, and I know I can¡¯t claim the sky and the stars, at least not yet, but I can make my own in the cavern. For my night sky, I need a way to make some things glow brightly on the roof. I don¡¯t have it in store, so I need to make it. I start by focusing some of my mana on a little bit of stone, I focus more and more and look the stone starting to change. It¡¯s becoming more and more dense and hard, it¡¯s good to know and I reinforce the stone of my pedestal like that, but that¡¯s not my goal now. I try again to gather mana in a stone, but this time I try to make it glow, I know mana can glow, I glowed purple when I nearly lost my mind some weeks ago. I don¡¯t want to relive that experience, but I keep it in mind as I use my mana on the stone. It¡¯s starting to work, I see a little glow starting to appear in the stone, but it¡¯s purple¡­ The stars are glowing white. I go again and focus my mana on a third piece of rock, I focus it the same way, but I keep in mind I want it to glow white. White, not purple. White, not purple. White, not purple. White, not purple. White, not purple. White, not purple. Success! Victory dance with all my creatures! Wow, that¡¯s too much, next time I will only do it with some of my creatures. Maybe I will select a few to do it each time, that¡¯s an idea. Anyway, I need to continue working on the stars of my roof. I put a lot of them all around it and even play with the arrangement forming some fishes swimming around two crabs fighting each other, there are one normal crab and one asymmetrical crab looking at the fighting crabs like judges. I also put some bats flying in the middle of the swimming fishes. I made some other experiments while doing so and managed to make stars shining in all the colors on my roof. I¡¯m going to take my first sleep under my starry roof. Chapter 06 - The first step on creating monsters. I¡¯m walking outside. The night is dark, none of the moons are in the sky, letting the stars shine brighter than usual. There is a weak breeze in the air taking to my nose the flowers¡¯ fragrances. I love this kind of night, they allow to almost forget about my troubles. I¡¯m taking a walk in the palace¡¯s park, enjoying the stars while I¡¯m trying to decide on what to do next to attain my goals. What was that? A dream? That¡¯s the first time I''ve had a dream. It looked like a memory. Was that one of my locked memories? Am I starting to regain those?I had a body with two legs and two arms, none of my creatures are looking like what I was. I was simply walking and thinking about the problems I had at the time. I can¡¯t remember what were those problems. Anyway, this life ended, I have a new one and more urgent things to do than to try solving my previous life problems. One day I¡¯ll find a way to regain all my memories from that time and I¡¯ll be able to understand what happened to me. Maybe if I keep growing as a dungeon I¡¯ll be able to do it. And for that I need to have visitors, some stuff to attract them and other stuff to greet them and keep them away from my core. The ¡®adventurers¡¯, the people that go dungeon diving, must never ever reach my core room and walk away. So, here¡¯s my to-do list:
  1. Make some real monsters, not the slightly overgrown crabs I have.
  2. Make a maze to lure the adventurers away from my core room.
  3. Make something to reward the adventurers and be sure that they still come in my dungeon.
Wait a second. Why do dungeons want adventurers to come in them? If they didn¡¯t want it, they would not make rewards for them. Even if most of the dungeons¡¯ rewards are simply monster parts for a lot of crafts, a lot managed to make some kind of quality ore, gems, and even magical ones. The biggest and riskiest always had wondrous rewards. If dungeons want adventurers they must be a reason, I¡¯ll find out eventually. I¡¯m not planning on staying forever hidden in my hole, one day, someone will find me. And that day, I should be ready. Monsters are the first thing I need to do to prepare for the eventual adventurers, but it''s not an urgent task. First I have to take care of my daily tasks I check my mana pool and remark that it is almost in the same state as the previous days. Same size, but slightly faster regeneration rate. I think the size of it depends on my size of as a dungeon and the number of creatures I claim while the regeneration rate depends a bit on the size and mostly on the activity of the creatures and if they are claimed or not. I will be able to check this theory the next time I make a big expansion. My creatures are fine, slowly growing in size. Maybe they¡¯ll naturally become monsters if they have time and mana. And it¡¯s the same thing for the plants, they even grow more than they were eaten, it means I don¡¯t need to artificially accelerate their growth anymore. Or I could try to make monsters out of them. Plant monsters are a rarity, but they are a thing. Then I claim one new bat, it is surprisingly fast and low on mana consumption. Maybe the ambient mana is starting to make a tangible effect on the claiming process of the bats, it¡¯s actually been a lot of time since I claimed the area. I take advantage of the situation and claim a fourth one. I also examine the memories of the previous two. They only went flying in the outside forest. They are not giving really useful information, but I can slowly map out the immediate surrounding area. That¡¯s good, my mana pool, creatures, and knowledge of the local area are slowly growing. I can now pass on the longer term tasks.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I choose one of the biggest crabs - not one of the two first claimed - and infuse mana in it. First I make sure to evenly pour the mana in the crab to have an idea of how the crabs will evolve as they continue to absorb more and more mana. I don¡¯t need to pay as much attention as before in making sure to not mana poison the creatures I infuse mana in, all that claiming helped me to master that skill. The crab seems to feel that I¡¯m doing something to it, it decides to stay still. That¡¯s new, when I¡¯m claiming a creature, they don¡¯t notice it until I gave it an order, and if I don¡¯t give it order it will continue its life like before. Although for the crabs, I notice they always target the new fishes that manage to swim inside my part of the river before attacking the claimed fishes, like if they were repealing invaders. And my fishes don¡¯t go outside of my waters, but that¡¯s cause I ordered them to. Anyway, the chosen crab continues lay still as it gathers the mana I¡¯m pouring in it. At first, and during a moment, it doesn¡¯t seem like anything is happening outside of the mana concentrating in every part of the crab. Then the crab starts to glow, I don''t falter and keep pouring mana in it, the glow grows brighter with each bit of mana and I can feel something is happening inside the crab. I don¡¯t stop infusing my mana in the creature, and slowly the light starts to diminish. When the light completely vanishes I can¡¯t help but feel a bit of disappointment. It''s a big crab that standing over there. A very big crab indeed, twice as big as before making it the biggest crab in my dungeon, but only that. And it was really consuming in term of mana quantity. I¡¯ve almost emptied my mana pool and I feel very weak right now. I¡¯m more sleepy than ever, and it made the day really short for me. Notes for myself, only push the creatures on the last bit of the way to evolution, it should be a really lower price. I also suppose that if I want to make some special variants I¡¯ll need to use more mana. I¡¯m going to take a nap, I¡¯ll test my new theory tomorrow. In the following days, I continue my daily tasks, the bats became easier to claim each day and my mental map of the local forest grew more and more detailed. I ordered the bats to map out the natural maze of tunnels between my core room and the outside, it seems like there is a lot of natural ways on this mountain. It is also surrounded by the forest on the north, the east, and the south side. Only the west side isn¡¯t bordered by forest, it¡¯s a cliff directly bordered by the ocean, or maybe it¡¯s just a sea, I don¡¯t know. The bats also gave the information that the shore is heading east on the north and the south side. And I learned that my core room is actually above sea level, my river is logically flowing in it, I''ll need to send my fishes to inspect it. Anyway, it seems that there is no habitation near the mountain, that means I may be able to claim it fully along with a part of the forest before being discovered. I also forcefully grow two other of the biggest crabs. The task is still so exhausting that I can¡¯t do more than one every two days. Today is the day I will try the first time to do something different than simply make them bigger. I¡¯m going to try to make a new asymmetrical crab. I choose one of the bigger crabs and start the process of forcefully evolving it. But this time I focus on its left pincer. The crab stop moving during the process, like the other ones before, they may have a spark of intelligence. The mana gathers itself in the crab, I force it to concentrate more in the left pincer, but it keeps trying to leak in the rest of the crab, like if something wanted it to be evenly distributed. I focus on the left pincer and decide to forgo the right one. Then the crab starts to glow and I keep my mind focus on the task to focus the most of the mana in the left pincer. When the light vanishes I see that it is only a partial success. The left pincer is indeed bigger than the left pincer of the other crabs, and the right one smaller, but it is not at the same level as the one that hatched with this asymmetrical trait. Surely it is easier to manipulate the form of the creature while they are still in a fetal form. I have a lot of ideas on how to experiment on the next crabs, but I may let them gather more mana from themselves before. And was right on another part of the experiment. Forcing a way of evolution is more demanding in mana and concentration than simply taking them on the normal path. I¡¯m tired, so tired I may sleep for two days straight. Chapter 07 - Playing with the bugs. That was a good sleep, I slept one day and a half and I¡¯m still groggy from the effort. I won¡¯t do such big and complicated experiments before some days. Today I¡¯m gonna rest a bit. I go through my daily checklist and make sure everything is fine. The creatures and the plants are in good health and slowly growing bigger. The big crabs are doing fine but it seems the density of the mana in them is growing slower than before their evolution. On the bat size, they have found a clearing with a strange source in the forest, the plants around it seem to grow faster and bigger than in the other part they mapped for me. I order one of them to taste the water next time and the rest of my bats to explore the rest of the forest during their time outside. I also found that when my mana pool is completely full my core emits refined mana in bigger quantity than usual. I guess it¡¯s a good thing, it allows my creatures to absorb ambient mana faster and in better quality. Hopefully, they will grow faster and stronger thanks to that. Talking about creatures naturally absorbing my mana, maybe the insects will evolve faster. I didn¡¯t had to manually claim all of those after all. I closely inspect some of them and it seems that they are almost full of mana and already really bigger than when they were unclaimed. I will keep an eye on those and work on them tomorrow. After that I allow my fishes to swim freely in the river, as long as they come back one hour a day to let me pick in their memories and map the waterways. The insects have the task to map the airways of the mountain. On my side, I claim one new bat then start to claim a bigger area. I infuse my mana in the air of the bats¡¯ passageway, in the water of the river and directly in the rock all around me. Slowly but surely I¡¯m expanding my influence area or growing my own body, it¡¯s the same thing anyway. Claiming is easier on the air than on the upstream part of the river or in the stone, but surprisingly at first the fastest and easiest part to claim is the downstream part of the river. After a bit of reflexion, it appears normal, after all this water was part of me before flowing outside, and I already ascertained that previously claimed stuff is easier to claim back. I use one-fourth of my mana in claiming the surrounding part of the mountain, it was only tunnels, air and water ones, and the rock and dirt in between. My new size is almost twice as big as before, it seems that claiming new area is more costly than when I claim my current core room. Too bad, it will slow my expansion¡¯s will but not stop it. Now I¡¯m gonna take a nap and after that, I will start my experiments on the bugs. . .. ¡­ Mmhmm. I can¡¯t fall asleep, and I feel my mana pool slowly filling itself. Can¡¯t I sleep without an empty mana pool? I always go to sleep when I empty it, so maybe. I¡¯m going to need something to entertain myself if I can¡¯t sleep. Is that the reason why dungeons want adventurers? To entertain themselves watching them dive into their domain? Maybe, I¡¯ll see if it is true when I¡¯ll have adventurers diving in. I wanted to wait before making new experiments but screw that. I will start now. I start by examining the kind of bugs I have in my dungeon. So I have flies eating moss and cadaver, fleas and ticks sucking blood from bats, mosquitoes sucking algae sap and bat blood, beetles devouring the moss and the algae, and finally, some spiders eating flying bugs. The bigger are the bloodsucker ones and the spider, probably because their food source is more mana charge than the herbivorous ones. And of course, I have the larvae state for all of those insects. I start by taking one of the biggest flies and pour some mana into it. Almost immediately the fly lands on the roof and starts to glow, pretty soon after that the glow vanishes and a bigger fly is there. I¡¯m surprised, I was expecting it to cost more mana but it only cost me the quantity I gather in the same time. It means I can play as much as want with the bugs, it will almost cost nothing.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I¡¯m going to play with that. First I try the same with the other kind of bugs, and no surprise, the mana cost is dependent on the size and the complexity of the bug, the spiders being the costlier. Then I start the fun part. I start with trying to make a really big fly. I pour as much mana in it as I can without poisoning the fly. And success. Next a fly with really big wings. Then one with twice the number of wings, I need several attempts before succeeding. I go on again and again for the better part of the day. I now have dozens of type of variants for each kind of bugs. Some with disproportionate body parts, bigger or smaller, some with more or less numerous members that normally, some with colors, every kind of color mixing. I even manage to make a two head fly, but its so ugly I kill it immediately. Except for the spiders, I don¡¯t have enough spider to make as many stupid experiments than with the other bugs. As I thought, the mana consumption is bigger when the modification is more complicated. There is still one thing I couldn¡¯t make. Glowing bugs, I didn¡¯t manage to make the bugs glow like my fake stars. But I know that one day I will succeed, I just don¡¯t know how to do it yet. Oh! I have a new idea. I take a fly and a flea and force them to touch one another, then I start to pour mana in them. I focus my mind on making them one. I want to fuse them. The light starts to shine from the two different bugs. I force them to go closer and closer, almost crushing them. Then I sense something changing in the center of the light, there is no more two light, but only one. At the same time, my mana starts to flow out of me at an accelerated pace. The light shine brighter than for all the other bugs or even than for the crabs. My mana pool is emptying itself at a record speed and I start to stop the operation. I feel that my mana pool will soon be empty and I don¡¯t want that. The light is still getting brighter each second it takes mana out of me. If it continues at this pace I will be dry out of mana in 3 minutes. I must find a way to stop it. I order all my present creatures to attack and kill the source of the light while I keep trying to stop the mana from flowing out of me. Unfortunately, when they get too close my creatures are stopped and they can¡¯t hit the light source. I¡¯m afraid that it will continue to suck mana out of me even after emptying my mana pool and that it will kill me. And then, 10 seconds before being completely mana depleted, the light stop in a big flash illuminating the cavern. The thing that appears in the place of the fly and the flea is a monstrosity with 9 unproportioned legs, 3 sets of shattered wings, a twisted body, and one and a half head. The thing looks around take three steps and the drop dead, releasing only a small part of the mana it took from me. This last experience beat me, I¡¯m going to take a good night sleep, I think I use enough mana to do it. It also taught me an important lesson, hybridization is a really complicated thing to do, and even with small and insignificant creatures, it cost a tremendous amount of mana, that I don¡¯t have to succeed at the moment. I will keep that thing for a much later time. I had a good and peaceful sleep. As I go through my daily checklist I confirm that my mana pool is bigger after my expansion, it is still full, but not as much as the last days. I also find out that half of my experiments on bugs died during my sleep, I guess I will need to be more thoughtful about the modification I put into them. After that, I inspect my creatures memories for actualizing my surrounding area map. First the inside of the mountain. It¡¯s a true gruy¨¨re of air and waterway, it seems there is a lot of caverns, but not as big as the one I currently have my core in. My fishes and bugs that have explored those passages crossed path with some creatures that I don¡¯t have in my dungeon, but I don¡¯t know what they are. I will need to claim more of the mountain and then mana poison some to learn the names of their species. On the bats'' side, they went through a far bigger part of the forest they usually go, but they didn¡¯t find the end of it. The one that tasted the water in the clearing brings the information that it is slightly infused with mana. My mana, the water flowing outside from my dungeon must flow there, it¡¯s a good news, this part of the forest will be easier to claim when the time comes. The bats crossed past with a lot of creatures from the woods, like every night, they also show me the three moons in their actual phase, it was beautiful but not as much as my own starry roof. One of them made an interesting discovery, it flew above a strange place, three furry creatures with arms and legs were communicating and eating around a strange thing undulating in the air and producing warmth and light. The creatures used a lot of strange objects to do a lot of things. I don¡¯t know what those objects, things, and creatures are, but it¡¯s really interesting. Could they be adventurers? I don¡¯t know. After making this discovery I claim as many bats as I can and ordered all my creatures to study every being of this kind the next time they found some. I used all my mana to claim the bats then go to sleep. Chapter 08 - Growing plants. In the last few days, I continue to claim all the remaining bats as well as part of the mountain. I¡¯m currently making a new cavern, closer to the forest. When I¡¯m done it will have a big entrance in the high part of the cliff, I want to make it a place that could be a natural shelter for other flying creatures. The bats have crossed with big and tiny feathery creatures, some of those even try to eat the bats. Hopefully, when the feathery creatures will come in this new place and I will be able to claim them, expanding my collection of creatures. I put an airway going from this cave to my core room and discover that if I want a sufficient amount of purified mana to flow to there I would need to make the passage big enough. That could be a hazard, as it is big enough for the big furry creatures I suspect to be adventurers to pass and reach my core room if they manage to climb up to the cavity. So I put a waterway in the middle of it, letting enough air flow upside, and install a big number of crabs in it, with some evolves ones. The crabs are ordered to block everything that comes in the water to go deeper in the passageway. I discovered that this big airway allows for more raw mana to flow from the outside and to me, making my regeneration rate go up a bit. This fact, combined with my extended mana pool, allow me to evolve almost all of my current creatures once, but I don¡¯t do it for all of them, it¡¯s a bother to do it again and again. I, of course, make sure to always have a number of evolved creatures from all the kind I own. I prefer to let the other evolve from themselves and see if I get a nice surprise. I have Three kinds of crabs. Simply bigger ones, asymmetric ones. And there is a new kind of crabs I created, normal sizes ones, but with a reinforced shell. They can take more hit that the other crabs, even from the big pincer ones. For the fishes, I have the bigger ones. But I also have some longer ones, with more fins. They are able to swim faster and farther, making them really good to map the waterway of the mountain. For the moment I forbid them to go in the ocean, I fear they would be eaten and that I would lose the knowledge. On the bats'' side, I have the usual bigger version, and with that, I also have some I make out to feed more on insects and less on fruits than before. I tried to make some modifications on other to make them faster, but the wings structure is so complex they all lost the ability to fly, and are actually crawling on the roof. I don¡¯t think they will survive long. I also make some with stronger fangs and claws, but of normal size. I also make moss and algae grow in every passageway and spread bugs all over. I think I also need to diversify my plant''s collection. But making them evolve seems impossible, I couldn¡¯t make one do it even after putting all of my mana in one, it simply overgrew. I think I need a far greater quantity of mana or something else to do it. Like for the creatures, I want more of them. I give my big bats a new order, bringing back some fruits and small creatures to populate the passageways. Actually, I have bats roaming in the air, fishes swimming in the water and crabs walking with the fishes, I have nothing bigger than the beetles walking on the earth - well the crabs can, but they suck at it - and I need to fill this position to ensure my future security. I also have some worms now, but they¡¯re crawling in the earth, I find them disgusting, little crawling things but I¡¯m certain they can serve as basic food source for bigger creatures, so I let them crawl and gather mana as they want. I have finished making the cavity on the cliff, it¡¯s overhanging on the forest, and I¡¯m currently waiting for the bats to come back with the result of there hunt. I¡¯m hoping for them to bring back to me some interesting stuff. While I¡¯m waiting I concentrate on regenerating my mana, I want to be ready to claim whatever the bats bring back to me. When the first big bat come back, it¡¯s only back a dead creature. The thing is looking like a bat but without the wings. It is also dead, so except absorbing it and converting into mana it is useless. I need to upgrade the order to bring back creatures alive. Hopefully, the next one will be smarter.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The second bat brings back a small fruit. It is a red fruit that is quite round, half of the inside is a stone. That¡¯s interesting, I order the bat to let the red fruit into the cliff cavity and start to pour mana in it. I sense it absorbing the mana as it concentrated mainly in the stone, slowly the fruit is absorbing more and more mana, but it¡¯s ok, I have plenty of mana in reserve. And suddenly as I am pouring mana in the fruit it connects to me, at the same time as it sprouts. I keep infusing mana in it and it¡¯s growing fast, in seconds the sprout consumes the flesh of the fruit and keep growing. It continues to grow, and I feel the connection growing a bit stronger I can feel it¡¯s lacking something for growing like it should. I inspect the memories of the bats at home to find more information on how the location of the growing plant should look like. Dirt, dirt all around the base of it, not compact sand like for algae or simple stone like for mosses, but dirt. So I give it dirt by changing a bit the surrounding rocks and fertilize it by ordering some bats to poop on it. After that the sprout resumes its fast growth, in a few minutes I have a small tree and the third big bat bring backs its load. It¡¯s the same fruit¡­ This time I don¡¯t make it sprout, I already have one, I try to kill it. But the only thing I have to do it is mana, so I need to think a bit. I make the fruit roll in a small hole and strengthen and close the hole. Then I make a little spike of stone grow from the side of the hole, to crush the fruit¡¯s stone. It is working and it breaks with a satisfying cracking sound. But I don¡¯t feel the mana it contained escaping, the fruit is still alive, so I continue to crush it. When it is reduced to simple dust I feel satisfied. I absorb what little mana it had in it and learn that it is called a ¡®cherry¡¯. I resume growing the cherry tree while waiting for the next big bats, I have two of them that should come back in a few minutes. The small tree is growing more slowly now that it is bigger. It is also starting to sprout flowers. Those are nice things, they are white and delicate. I think I will make a lot of cherry three and a really big one. The other bats come back at the same time, each of them is carrying a different fruit. The two fruits are of the same size as the cherry and have many pips in them. One is black and the other pink. I separate and crush some pips from each of the fruits and learn that they are ¡®raspberry¡¯ and ¡®blackberry¡¯. I then make the others sprout, they are really alike but not the same. They grow in bush and each has some thorns, but the raspberry ones aren¡¯t as sharp as the blackberry ones. Anyway, I think I will make some of those things grow at all the big entrances I¡¯ll have to my dungeon, I¡¯ll need to make the thorns more strong and sharp, in time they will be good natural defenses against adventurers and could also serve as camouflage. Now that all the big bats are here, I modify the order. They are to bring back fruits that they have not bring back to me, or living creatures. They can work together to bring back heavier or bigger things. I have plans to make a second cavity on the other side of the mountains, above the sea. So that other kind of creatures can install themselves there. But for now I resume pouring mana in the cherry tree, I want it to make some fruits. But they refuse to do so, I know that fruits come from flowers, but the cherry flowers start to wither and drop on the ground. I need to find out what makes the flowers into fruits except for mana. Maybe I can found more information about the subject in the bats¡¯ memories. When I inspect them I found something else. Some bats have crossed path with more of the furry and bipedal creatures, I still don¡¯t know if they are adventurers or not, I¡¯m gonna call them ¡®hikers¡¯ because they¡¯re hiking in the forest. Anyway, while observing the hikers, the bats found out that they are capable of creating the warm light they gather around by rubbing wood sticks, does that means anyone with hands can do it? Can I do it? I don¡¯t have hands, but I have other things, like moving floor that can grab anything, and mana. The hikers also have tools allowing them to kill creatures from a distance and dismantle them for eating. But before that, they¡¯re putting the meat on the warm light. I want to know more about those creatures, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready yet to take kill them if they enter my dungeon. I¡¯ll need to find a way to ensure their death, then I will find a way to lure them in. Chapter 09 - Im sharing the mountain? I grow the bushes all around the base of the cavity and manage to harden their thorns by pouring more mana in those particular parts. The sharpening part is not yet done, but the thorns will be able to withstand more strength than normal. I also grow more cherry trees in the cavity, to a total of five. Since I can¡¯t make fruits yet, I technically only have one cherry tree, the others are sprouted directly for the roots of the first one, for the blueberry and raspberry bushes I had a few seeds so I could grow more than one bush of each. I also manage to divert a water stream in the bottom of the cavity, I don¡¯t want those plants to dry out. And that made me consider something. The water always flows from the top to the bottom. If water flows from to top, it¡¯s because there is something making it do it. So where does the water in this mountain comes from? I¡¯m curious about this, it can¡¯t possibly appear out of nowhere, can it? Now that I come to this realization, I want to know, I need to know. There is a mystery there and I think that if I manage to clear it I will be able to found out something important about the mountain I was reborn in. It is not big enough to make so much water out of simple condensation. I send half of my fishes swimming up in the streams to find out where does it comes and start to claim more part of the mountain. I¡¯m making my own way to the top while waiting for my fishes to come back. And when they do, I¡¯m puzzled by their memories. They went higher than usual and at a point near the top, something stopped them. Something is blocking my fishes to swim higher but they saw that there is still water. It¡¯s like there is an invisible barrier in the water. I don¡¯t like that. Not being able for me to control or strongly connect to my creatures outside my domain is a thing, but having them blocked by something is against my policies. Do I have policies? Yes, I can do everything I want as long as I have the mana and my creatures can venture wherever they want. I continue claiming more and more of the mountain, following the shorter waterway my fishes find. I want to feel by myself what¡¯s blocking my fishes. At the same time, I order my bats to search for this barrier in the airways. Unfortunately, none of the bats find anything like the barrier. I could also send up the earthworms to see if they find the barrier directly in the earth, but they are traveling slower than I¡¯m claiming my way up. I¡¯m almost where the fishes have found the barrier now, just a few centimeters up. I stop there, I want to have all my mana before going on the last bit of the way. My mana reserves are higher now, but not by much, it seems the more land I claim the less each bit of it is increasing my mana pool size. I also gather my biggest fish near the limit. My mana pool is full, I feel ready now. I claim the last centimeters separating my domain from the barrier and fell it for myself. It¡¯s like nothing I ever felt before - not that I live a long life yet. I send my mana higher but I don¡¯t feel connecting with the barrier or what¡¯s on the other side. I claim the surrounding area, englobing the barrier itself. Its forming an ellipsoidal bubble almost touching the top of the mountain. I take advantage of the situation to claim the mountain¡¯s top. There is water coming out of the bubble from three different paths. The one I use to track it back, a second one my fish found out and a third one going down in a spiraling waterway, the third is unknown to me. I connect the three waterways near the bubble and send fishes down the spiraling one to scout it. In the meantime, I¡¯m still inspecting the barrier, trying to feel all I can. There is some mana slowly escaping out of it, a strange kind of mana. This mana is very thin, I only feel it because I¡¯m englobing the barrier on all the sides, it¡¯s also rather pure. It¡¯s a purer mana than the one escaping from my own core. I¡¯m tasting more and more of this mana and I start to find it has the taste of water, I can¡¯t explain why, but the more mana I¡¯m absorbing from the barrier, the more I think there is something in there that is magically creating the water that flows inside the mountain.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The fishes come back later bringing some strange news that distracts me from my inspection of the barrier. The spiral waterway is going lower than me, passing very near but never through some water or airways I¡¯ve mapped or even claimed, and near the outside forest level, then it goes through another barrier. Another barrier. There is another barrier beneath me¡­ And the two barriers are connected by a perfectly spiraling waterway that I¡¯ve never crossed before. The spiral is so perfectly made, it can¡¯t be natural. Ok, this time I¡¯m going to claim the whole mountain, I want to know if there are another ones of those strange barriers in the area. This operation is going to put my other projects in wait, but it¡¯s no big deal, understanding the barriers is the most important thing to do right now. It¡¯s still going to be long and slow. So I may not completely stop my other plans, at least not the gathering one. I¡¯ve past two days claiming the top of the mountain and examining the barrier, the big bats had brought back some interesting things in the meantime. New fruits, and two small creatures. Destroying part of the fruit to learn about them and then making them sprout a little - just enough for them to live and start to grow on themselves - isn¡¯t costly in mana, so I can do it. I¡¯m now the proud owner of some strawberries and redcurrant bushes, an apple seedling. I also have some mistletoe, but it seems they are feeding on other trees, so I don¡¯t think I¡¯m gonna let it flourish a lot. On the creatures'' side, I had a scally one that tries to run away as soon as possible, I had to order my bats to kill it immediately or it would have climb down the cliff. Turns out it¡¯s called a ¡®lizard¡¯. The thing could become a fine monster, it has claws that could serve as weapons and scales for armor, it can also walk on the roof. The other creature try to make a run too, but this time I was smarter, I manage to capture it myself by raising some stone walls around it. It¡¯s still trying to climb them to regain its freedom. It¡¯s the same furry little thing the bats already bring me back the last time and like the lizard, it has scratches left by the bats¡¯ claws when they grabbed it. Since I¡¯m currently running on low mana for this experiment - I¡¯m still in the process of claiming the whole mountain - I think I¡¯m going to kill it instead of trying to keep it alive long enough to claim it, I¡¯ll do it with the next ones. I order my bats to keep bringing me fruits, but not animals for now. There is also a good surprise, during the day, a little feathery thing came and land on one of my cherry tree branches, but it left soon after. It is a good sign, maybe it will come back and bring some others flying creatures with it. 8 days later I have finally finish claiming the entire mountain, from top to ten meters underneath the surface of the forest. I have not discovered any other barrier. I¡¯m waiting for my bats to come back from there night hunt before trying to break through the top barrier. I want to have all my creatures with me before attempting something so dangerous. On my other projects, the feathery creature came back 5 times, and another one came once. I killed the second one, learning the feathery creatures are ¡®birds¡¯ and the one I killed was a ¡®sparrow¡¯. Thanks to me claiming the whole mountain I also found out that some lizards are living on the surface and in some cracks right under the surface. My bats also encountered the hiker near the clearing. It seems like they were interrogating themselves as to why the local vegetation had a better growth than the rest of the forest. They sampled the water and went away. The bats brought back some other fruits, and even some ¡®vegetables¡¯ they stole from the hikers. I now have pine trees, plane trees, sweet pepper plant - I don¡¯t know why it¡¯s called ¡®sweet¡¯ pepper, I suppose there must be some kind of ¡®normal¡¯ pepper - and cucumbers. Chapter 10 - Its my mountain! I¡¯m ready to take down the barrier. I have created a small cave beside the top barrier and gathered there my evolved crabs, fishes and bats. I even raised their numbers. The plan is to break send a bunch of mana in the barrier through the side, immediately claim the area and dig a passageway with air and water for when it''ll collapse. After that my creatures will rush inside and be ready to kill any creatures on the other side. I¡¯m also ready to make a retreat if necessary. In that case, I would call back my creatures and close the path behind them, retreating my presence from the direct vicinity of the barrier. I¡¯m starting. I gather a big amount of mana in the air in front of the barrier. The mana is forming a luminous ball floating in the air, whenever a bug fly through it fries with a ¡®puf¡¯, my other creatures can¡¯t see the ball, but they¡¯re feeling its presence, the bugs are just too stupid to stay away. I focus on the shade of the ball, making it a cone, this form should be better to focus the strength of the attack on one point and penetrate more easily the barrier. I¡¯m feeling a bit stressed, it¡¯s the first time I¡¯m going to attack something that is not a simple creature. I feel ready, the mana cone charge, I used almost all of my mana to make it, keeping just enough for the rest of the operation, and the cone is just as big as a bat. I launch the attack. The mana construct move in the small cave and my creatures are tensed in anticipation. The cone impacts the barrier without any sound, but I can feel some strange vibration flowing through the barrier. I push the cone stronger and stronger on it, feeling the cone¡¯s point slowly fading away. The barrier shaking more and more on the whole surface. It¡¯s vibrating so much I start to think it¡¯s going to explode. The shaking¡¯s turning into a real quake, but it¡¯s only on a mana level. The earth, air, and water are completely still. It¡¯s kind of a strange feeling, having mana in such a tremor but everything else perfectly calm. Then I sense the tip of the core finally piercing through the barrier. I push it more and the barrier shatters. The cone keeps going in the rock but quickly infused itself in the crock, claiming it for me. I don¡¯t lose a second and start to claim the whole area as I dig a tunnel for my creatures to go through, 3 fast fishes that were waiting in the 3 original waterway also rush up to see what¡¯s in there. The 3 fast fishes are the first to arrive and they immediately turn back, to report what they saw. Light, there is light in there, when all the other waterway in the mountain as darker than the night. And there is no living creature. By the time I get that information from those fishes, I myself finish claiming the area, in the following second the tunnel is finished and my creatures burst out of it. It¡¯s a rather small and perfectly elliptical room. In the middle of it stands a blue rock and some black shards. The rock is embedded in a pedestal and there is a real torrent of water flowing out of it and filling a small pool beneath it. The water is flowing out of the rock as if the rock¡¯s creating the water out of nowhere. There is no apparent danger, but it doesn''t mean there is no danger at all. I claim the entire place and the only thing that is still resisting my claiming powers is the blue rock. Now that I can inspect it closer, it¡¯s more like a crystal. A dimly glowing blue crystal emitting water tasting mana and creating water. I¡¯ve never heard of such thing, not that I¡¯ve really heard of anything anyway. I pour mana into the water crystal for claiming it, but it¡¯s soaking it. Every drop of mana I¡¯m giving the crystal seems to make it glow a bit brighter, and the flow of water grows a bit too. The light it¡¯s emitting must reflect the quantity of mana it has in reserve and the more mana it has in it, the more water it can create. I want to claim this rock, but I can¡¯t for now, so I focus myself on the shards instead. The black shards are also crystals, but there is no mana in it, I claim them with even more ease than I claim air. The shards look like they were forming another crystal put aside the water crystal. If the water crystal is creating water, this crystal was probably the one responsible for the barrier. It¡¯s a safe bet to assume there is another one inside the bottom barrier.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I slowly move the black shards together to reform the original crystal, then I pour mana in it to fuse the shards together and I keep putting my mana in the black crystal in an attempt to reactivate it. Now that I claimed the crystal I suppose the barrier will not block me. But it fails, all the mana I¡¯m putting in the stone stay in there, I can take it back but it doesn¡¯t make a thing. It¡¯s useless now. Wait a sec¡¯. It¡¯s not useless. I can store mana in it, and take it back as soon as I want. It¡¯s like a secondary mana pool. A little supplementary mana pool. I could make it bigger or create some other crystals like this and increase my capacity to store mana in tremendous quantity. That¡¯s a good news, but I currently don''t have enough mana to do it. I also want to claim the water one before. I release the creatures and standby in the top cavity and pour all my remaining mana into the water crystal. I¡¯m not going to move it, I still need it to create water from where it is. It took me three days to claim the water crystal. During that time I discover some new plants thanks to my big bats and that on the sea side of the mountain there are other birds called ¡®seagull¡¯. I also manage to claim some lizards and a sparrow. Thanks to the sparrow and is daytime activities, I learned the that the forest is bigger than I thought and that I¡¯m on an island. It means that when I managed to claim the whole island I¡¯ll have to find something else to aim at, I could go back to search for a way to claim back my memories. The sparrow also informed me that there is a whole village of hikers. It¡¯s on the south side of the island, almost on the other side of it. I¡¯ll come back to it at another time. Like I said, I¡¯ve managed to claim the water crystal. It took me a phenomenal amount of mana to do it but I succeeded. Now I can manage the flow of the water the crystal is creating and flowing in the mountain. I also discovered that it can absorb enough mana from the area to sustain a permanent flow of water, although if it was relying only on this it wouldn¡¯t be able to produce a sufficient amount of water to irrigate the area. This water crystal can also serve as mana reserve, but I think I will no use take back the mana I store in it, except in an emergency, I will simply make sure it has sufficient mana to produce the quantity of water I want at all the time. Now that the matter of the top barrier is settled, I turn my focus to the lower one. This second barrier is encompassing a bigger area than the first. The water flowing inside it from the upper side of the mountain is flowing outside on the other side of the barrier and further underneath the earth, in the direction of the island¡¯s center. There is also the remains of a collapsed tunnel coming from inside the island and entering the barrier. I¡¯m curious about what I will find inside this barrier. I prepare the same strategy for this barrier than I used for the first. I don¡¯t see the interest to change tactic, It¡¯s a bit mana consuming, but I have plenty of time to gather the mana. My bats are waiting in the previously collapsed tunnel that I rebuild, my crabs are walking on the surface of the barrier in the waterway and my fishes are waiting beside them. I launch the new cone on the barrier and there is the same reaction that previously. Although this barrier is much more resilient, the cone falters and dissipates before breaking the barrier. I don¡¯t have enough mana to do another cone right now, so I put the next attack in hold, waiting for my mana to regenerates. When I launch the second attack the barrier shakes even stronger than the first, then it shatters in the same way. My fishes swim down the waterway and my crabs think behind them while I¡¯m claiming the now free area and digging through the collapsed part of the tunnel for my bats. When I finish claiming the area I found a new shattered crystal, but it¡¯s not all. The room is the biggest I found on the mountain, and it was clearly made by someone. There are some columns on the side of the room and a pond at the end of the room. In the middle of the pond stands a big statue of a bipedal creature that holds the shattered crystal in its hands. The statue represents a female of a species I do not know. It has a visage with fine lines and two closed eyes. The statue is clearly representing a wise and motherly figure. I have absolutely no idea of the purpose of such a thing, maybe it¡¯s for impressing some sapient creatures. I think I will find out the true use of this place when I manage to get information out of the hikers. For now, I¡¯ll simply let it like that as a private piece of art. Before going back to my other plans I put the shattered crystal back together and find out it¡¯s the same as the one I found in the upper barrier, just bigger. I can store more mana in this one, but I can¡¯t make it activate the barrier. I must miss something, or I destroyed this function while breaking through the barrier. Chapter 11 - Preparing some stuff. I drink from my flask and then infuse my mana in the small water crystal in to refill it. The instructors in the special forces were adamant on it, always refill your flask, quiver, food and other reserves when you can, you won¡¯t know when you¡¯ll need them and be dead if they¡¯re empty. I crawl in the bushes and look beneath them, the enemy troops are just in front, sleeping in their tent. I wait for my men to send me the signal that they have discarded the enemy¡¯s sentinels. There is an owl¡¯s scream in the night, the pattern corresponds, it¡¯s the signal, the sentinels are dead. I give a quick prayer to Morhick, the God of War. Then I gave the signal for the full attack, another kind of owl scream, on a different pattern. My men and I rush in the camp from all around it, silently and quickly we¡¯re closing in on the untroubled sleepers. Some of my men reach the first tent, they enter it and I know they are silently cutting their throat. I¡¯m heading for the commandant tent. I find it and quickly cut the knot maintaining it closed, I slid inside and rush to the bed. I cut the commandant''s throat, he opened his eyes and I see in it that he understand the situation. He tries to reach for a knife on the nightstand, but I push his hand away and stab him in the heart. He dies with a small gurgling sound. It is done, my mission is accomplished. I stand back up and notice a bunch of blanket at the bed¡¯s foot. I saw it before, but it just moved and that not normal. I pass my dagger from my right to the left and drow my word. Slowly I approach the sword¡¯s tip to the blanket and move it aside. Under it is a small girl shivering in fear. The intel did state that the enemy commandant was used to keep young slaves for his own pleasure, but he was supposed to have already killed the last one. The girl is naked under the blanket and I can see a lot of marks from punches, kicks, and others mean of inflicting pain without killing. She¡¯s also chained to the bedside. She looks at the dead man in the bed, then at me and my bloody dagger. She throws herself to my feet and doesn¡¯t make a noise. It seems she made the link and want me to spare her, she¡¯s kind of smart. ¡°Stand up.¡± She immediately obeys and stands perfectly straight. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± I searched in the desk of the dead commandant looking for documents that could interest my superiors and for the key of the girl¡¯s chain. I found some paper that looks interesting but no key. I found it a bit later, on a small chain around the dead man neck. I open the girl¡¯s chain, her ankle is injured by the constant rubbing of the hard and cold iron, but she¡¯s still standing straight and hasn¡¯t moved at all since I ordered her to. I put a blanket on her shoulders and notice a strange scar on her lower back. It¡¯s perfectly circular and looks like scars left after an amputation, there is something strange about this girl. I look at her head, yes, there is the same kind of scars beneath her hair. She¡¯s a beastgirl, but her tail and her ears had been cut. There is nothing more humiliating and degrading for a beastman. ¡°You¡¯re free now. Do as you want.¡± On those words, I turn away to leave the tent, but I feel a pull on my shirt. I turn back and see the girl looking at me with wet eyes. ¡°What?¡± She holds my shirt tighter in her little hand. ¡°Tell me what you want.¡± She kneels in front of me, putting her forehead on the ground letting go of my shirt but quickly grabbing my trousers¡¯ foot. ¡°You- you want to come with me?¡± She frantically nods her head. ¡°How would you be of use to me?¡± She jumps to her feet and runs to the desk, then she goes beneath it making some sounds as she¡¯s touching some things there. When she comes back she has some papers in her hand and gives them to me. I look at the paper, they are confidential documents of bigger value than those I already took.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Fine. If you manage to follow, me you can stay with me.¡± She nods, I turn back and leave. A memory! I have regained another of my previous life memories! And it was clearer than the previous one, with more details. Ok, I need to analyze it a bit. First I now know that I was some kind of soldier, with elite training. And I was leading an elite force for an army, I was fighting in a war. That¡¯s good, but it would be better if I had get the knowledge of the training back too. I know that I was an elite soldier, but I don¡¯t have the skills associated with it, not that I could use them anyway¡­ I also had a glimpse of my arms and the skin was clear. Like the girl skin, was I a ¡®beastman¡¯ too? Or something else with the same type of skin. Anyway I know that I wasn¡¯t like the hikers, they have fur all over their bodies, and not me. The third thing is the girl. What happened to her after that, did she manage to follow me? I''d like to know. Not that I care, I¡¯m just curious. I think I didn¡¯t have a thing against this ¡®slavery¡¯ concept, whatever it is. Just that I didn¡¯t do it like the man I kill. He too was fur-less, completely fur-less, not a trace of hairs on his head or his arms, while I had some on hairs on my arms. The last thing is that the memory started with me using some tiny-weaky form of water crystal. The thing I used in the memory was just a pebble when I have a big crystal, like hundred times bigger. For my first memory, it was just after seeing the stars and creating mine, and it was about a walk in the night sky. It means that if I continue to experience new things I may get back memories linked to those things. Oh yeah! There is something else I didn¡¯t think directly. The crystal in the flask was a simple one, but it was ¡®enchanted¡¯, is my actual one enchanted too? I¡¯ll need to figure that out. Actually, I can do it right now. I focus my attention on my water crystal looking for something I didn¡¯t notice back then. And I find it, there is something in the way the mana is flowing through the crystal. It¡¯s flowing in a 3-dimensional design, I seem to recall that¡¯s called a ¡®rune¡¯. Did the other crystals have runes too? The ones that produced the barriers have some. Does the reason they can¡¯t do it now is because the runes got erased when the crystals broke? I¡¯ll have to look at this rune stuff if I can make other runes I could make some neat things with the crystals. Ok, enough analyzing. I have stuff to do. I dig the second cliff cavity. The one on the seaside. I want it to be able to welcome seabirds. I will let it without plants, for now, I want to see what kind will grow there by themselves, then I will help them grow. In the other cavity, I claim the fruits that my bats keep bringing me, making them bloom a lot of flowers. I have made a new discovery there. The flowers seem to attract a lot of bugs, and especially ¡®butterflies¡¯ and ¡®bees¡¯, and each time one of those bugs visit the flowers from the same kind of tree the flower changes a bit. The change is intriguing me so I pour mana in some of the changed flowers. And soon after that, they turn into fruits! I¡¯ve found out how to grow fruits! I need bugs to go from flower to flower. They are transporting something along the way, a yellow stuff called ¡®pollen¡¯. I quickly claim all the butterflies and bees I can, but it¡¯s kind of disappointing at first. The butterflies are dying quickly, just after reproducing and laying some eggs, at least my mana is accelerating the rate at which the eggs will hatch and the larvae change into adults and continue the cycle. The bees are something different, they have a ¡®queen¡¯ that is the center of the ¡®hive¡¯, and the queen almost never leaves the hive. By luck, the bees are able to communicate between them, so I order my bees to lure as much bee as they can in my dungeon, so I can claim them. When I¡¯ll have enough bees under my control I¡¯ll order them to bee-nap the queen and as many larvae as they can and to bring them back to me. Since I claimed the mountain¡¯s foot I learned the name of a lot of different kind of bugs living in the dirt there. Especially the ¡®ants¡¯ they are functioning a bit like the bees, so I have a similar plan for them. I want at least one beehive and one anthill under my control. The rest of the bugs can simply fall under it with time by naturally consuming my mana as I expand my influence. Speaking of expanding my influence, it seems that the bigger I want my domain to be, the harder it is to claim new areas. The price is growing more than exponentially. And the refine mana emanating from my core is hardly reaching the end of my domain now. Maybe I need to find a way to improve my refining abilities. But how? When I poured mana into already claimed creatures, they evolved. Can I evolve? I don¡¯t know, but I will try to do the same. However, I¡¯m certain it will need a whole lot of mana to do it, so I start stocking mana into my crystals, storing as much as I can before trying to evolve. And first I want to do a thing I postponed too long. I forcefully evolve three of my crabs into more flexible version and manage to make them of three different colors. One green, one blue and the last a more vivid red than the average crab. You¡¯ll see what is their use soon. Chapter 12 - Evolution. I passed the last six days amassing mana in my crystal, they are full now. During this time I manage to claim a bit more of land, but I can¡¯t do it more, the mana price for one cubic meter is higher than I can generate in two days, even the water that flew out of me and is already attuned to my mana cost an absurd amount of mana to claim. That fact achieved to convince me I had to do evolve myself in some way. I also claimed a bit more of the bees and the ants, but for the other creatures, I¡¯ll wait for after my evolution to claim them. Like for birds called ¡®seagull¡¯ that installed themselves in the seaside cavity. They are eating fishes and crabs they catch by diving in the water, not mine, different fishes, and crabs. My insides are saturated with so much mana that most of the bugs are starting to evolve on their own. Some are strange and I couldn¡¯t have thought about them myself, like this special beetle that spit out acid to its preys, most beetles are herbivorous but this one like to eat other bugs, this is an interesting evolution I think I will keep an eye on it, see if I will help it spreads his peculiarity. Anyway, I¡¯m getting off track. My mana reserves are so full they¡¯re leaking out mana, my colorful crabs are standing in formation in front of me. I can start. I slowly start to focus the mana at my disposition on my core, it¡¯s hard. My core is starting to purify the mana and emitting it faster, I must pour and condense mana faster than my core is purifying it. I slowly increase the amount of mana I¡¯m concentrating on my core, using first the crystals¡¯ stored mana. That way, if I lost the control like for the flea-fly hybrid, the risk of being mana dry is much reduced. Two crystals later I start to feel a bit dizzy. Something¡¯s happening to me, I can feel it. I focus my mind and keep pouring mana into my core as I¡¯m forcing it to stay there. The dizziness is growing stronger with every bit of mana, but I don¡¯t falter and keep on my work. I can¡¯t stop now, it would be a waste of mana. I start to feel pain, it¡¯s taking place of the dizziness I felt before. I¡¯m starting to doubt my decision, none of my creatures seemed to feel pain in the evolution process. But I don¡¯t have the time to pounder going back on my decision, the light is finally there. I start to glow, like my creatures when evolving. But with that glow comes a sharping pain in my core and my mana slips out of my control. Fortunately, the process is not stopping, my core is absorbing ambient mana and sucking it out of my mana pool to sustain my evolution. I see bugs falling. Shit! My core is absorbing mana form my creatures too, it¡¯s going to kill them to satiate is thirst. The pain is still there and growing sharper every second, but I focus my mind on one goal, draining the mana from the water crystal before my creatures. I¡¯m not trying to stop it from draining mana, just leading it to another source of it. Maybe I should have moved the crystals near me before doing that, it would have been easier to make it a target for my mana-thirsty core. I keep my mind on the task. I must ignore the pain. If my creatures die it will take me an absurd amount of time to replace them. I must protect them as long as possible, as long as my life is not in danger. With sheer willpower, I manage to force my core in absorbing the mana from the water crystal in priority. The light coming from my core is glowing more and more, I would be blinded if I still had my previous life¡¯s eyes. I feel that the water crystal mana reserve is almost empty. Unfortunately, my core is still thirsty. Just before it absorbs the last bit of mana from the water crystal I sever the connection, I don¡¯t want to break the runes in the crystal, that would make it lose its abilities. This time I must force my core to firstly use the mana in my mana pool and not yet the mana in my creatures. Fortunately, I have a feeling it will be over soon, but I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll unwillingly kill more of my creatures in the process. My mana pool is almost empty, just a few more seconds. It¡¯s done, I¡¯m completely mana depleted, I see bats and bugs starting to fall and¡­ I¡¯m waking up in my camp bed. I¡¯m in pain. I look around me and see Julia, she¡¯s sleeping on a chair, her head resting on her crossed arms. Did she nurse me? I move my hand to touch her hair and the movement wake her. She¡¯s raising her head and looking half-asleep at my face. Then the realization I¡¯m awake stroke her and she throws herself on my side. ¡°... That¡­ hurts¡­¡± She immediately lets go of me and bow her head. It¡¯s been three years I¡¯ve acquired her from her previous owner now, she¡¯s mute but I¡¯ve learned that when she¡¯s nodding her head this way it¡¯s because she¡¯s sorry and asks for forgiveness, and a pat on her head. I oblige and pat her head, she¡¯s a good girl and has served me faithfully in all her tasks. ¡°How long did I sleep?¡± ¡°3 days.¡± She responds using the hands¡¯ signs I taught her. They are signs used by our military to communicate silently or for distances where words are useless.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I was in such a bad state?¡± She nods. ¡°And you nursed me all this time?¡± Another nod, I can see some tears in her eyes. ¡°Thanks. Now go fetch us something to eat and drink. I¡¯m starving and I suppose you didn¡¯t take the time to look after yourself.¡± She snorts and rubs her eyes then she storms out of the tent. This new war is starting badly for me. I was supposed to have a peaceful retirement after the last one. I did manage to secure some very important documents that allowed us to reach victory. Well, I found some good documents, the best ones were handed to me by Julia. But I was called back to arms in this war, I¡¯m starting to grow tired of war. Wars can be good for gathering mana from your enemies, but you don¡¯t really have the time to focus on evolving yourself. I don¡¯t have the time to plan an evolution, I can¡¯t allow myself to skip several days of commands in a raw. ¡°Sir. A man is here.¡± I open my eyes and look at Julia. Since her evolution, she regains the use of words. Her ears even grow back on her second evolution, maybe she¡¯ll be able to grow her tail back with her third. ¡°I know. Send him away, I¡¯ve just finished my evolution, I need rest.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not alone. He¡¯s wearing the uniform.¡± ¡°They want me to go to war again. I don¡¯t want.¡± ¡°He has a letter, there is the royal seal on it.¡± She hands me the letter in question, it¡¯s indeed the royal seal, I can recognize the shape of it, the unique wax and even the mana used to seal it, it was made by the king himself. I can¡¯t ignore a letter sent directly by the king, regardless of how much I despise him. I open it and read it. ¡®Hello old man. I¡¯m certain you already know we are at war. And I know you won¡¯t take part in it. You¡¯re a coward and a fool. But the bastards from Kueop have kidnap my sister Maria. I¡¯m asking you to save her life as I can¡¯t send my own men to do it. I know you have the ability to do so, you¡¯re a Fourth. You also have the responsibility to save her. Don¡¯t run away from this responsibility. In the hope of never seeing you again. Your king.¡¯ The little shit. He hates me and wants me dead. But he can¡¯t directly act against me, I¡¯m too powerful. He can¡¯t hurt Maria, she¡¯s my niece and his half-sister. I would bet he manages to put her in a dangerous position to force me to act. He must hope that I will die dealing a blow to his enemies, it would be two birds one stone for him. ¡°Julia, prepare our bags. We¡¯re going to travel a bit.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Dead. She¡¯s dead. I¡¯m holding Maria¡¯s body in my arms. I found her yesterday in a Kueop¡¯s fortress. Sha had been raped and tortured countless times by the men, they even used their beasts on her after some time, healing her several time to make sure she would not die. Did they not know I was her uncle? I¡¯ve rescued her and healed her. She saw it was me and fall asleep immediately. But she didn¡¯t wake up, she let go of life during her sleep. I¡¯ve already reduced the fortress to dust, but now it will be the whole country that going to burn. They have only three Fourth in this kingdom and I¡¯m a Fifth, they don¡¯t stand a chance. I woke up in my core room. The first thing I notice is that it¡¯s completely dark, my stars are off. The second thing is the number of missing creatures, not as much as I feared, I access their memories and learned that I was out for sixteen days, the bug population grew back and most of the crabs, fishes, and bats weren¡¯t killed but only knock out. The third thing is my core. It¡¯s twice as big as before, and the mana purifying rate is greater. Same for the mana regeneration, and it¡¯s a good thing cause I¡¯m pretty low on mana for now. After that I notice the slow flow of water, I quickly put some mana in the water crystal to grow its flow to something more like what it was before. It¡¯s time to examine the new memories I recalled. Yes plural, I get back three memories this time. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to recall more in my next evolution. Anyway, I learn that the child I saved manages to survive, she served me for years and is called ¡®Julia¡¯. I wonder if she¡¯s still alive, would she serve me in this form? I also had a family, ¡®Maria¡¯, but she¡¯s dead. And I had bad blood with royalty? I went in a war against a whole country. Is that how I died? Those memories are chronological and they¡¯re easy to replace with the previous one, but I don¡¯t know when the first memory I recalled take place in this story. But the most interesting thing is the knowledge I now have about the evolution process. Any living thing can evolve, and the number of evolution hint at its strength. Each evolution is also really harder to reach than the previous one. Few humans managed to reach the Fourth stage and I was one of the exceedingly rare that managed to reach the Fifth one, meaning I was more powerful than an army by myself. And I was ''human'', I don''t know yet the full implication of that revelation. It¡¯s strange, I seem to recall that some dungeons have more evolved creatures than the ones normally found in the wilderness. That would mean they can be overpowered and that they can¡¯t be beaten, but they can. Is there something else I¡¯m not seeing there? Probably. I¡¯ll have to look into that as well. Now I have a thing to do. I manage to evolve. I call for my three colorful crabs and¡­ Victory dance! I make the crabs dance for me. They are the ''Dancing Crabs'' and are used for celebratory moments. Yes, they are a thing. No, it¡¯s not stupid. They are the Dancing Crabs, they deserve respect. Chapter 13 - Queens. So, now that I¡¯ve managed to evolve, I must inspect the new me. My core is still perfectly spherical. However it is now twice as big as before and the weight is ten times the old weight, I went from a 5 centimeters diameter and 1 kilogram ball to a 10 centimeters and 10 kilograms one. Also, I¡¯m blacker than before. My core was already pitch black but now my stars¡¯ light doesn¡¯t reflect on it, while it did before. What? Turned off? No. They¡¯re not. Lighting them back was the very first thing I did when I woke up. I can sense that my core is now gathering mana faster than before. The speed and quantity of purified mana are now higher than before. I think the quality also went up, I focus on it and.. yes. The quality of the mana that my core emits now is purer than before. My creatures will now be able to absorb more mana and of better quality than before, they should be able to naturally evolve faster. I sent my mana into replenishing my mana crystals¡¯ reserves. I also move them nearer to my core, I want them close to it in case of emergencies. While they¡¯re absorbing my mana I go through my creatures¡¯ memories to see what happened during my evolution. I spent sixteen days knocked out, after all, something probably happened. Humm¡­ Lots of small and insignificant stuff. Like some birds eating my bugs or my lizards on the surface, or some sea fishes swimming in the mountain and being killed by my fishes and crabs. The bees had managed to pollinate all the flowers on the forest¡¯s side cavity and the fruits are starting to develop there. But they are some interesting things to see in there. The acid-spitting beetle started to make ambushes on the other bugs. It perfected its strategy until only the fastest or strongest bugs could escape it, either by running away too fast to be caught by the acid spit or by being to though for the acid to bit through their shells. It even tried its tactic on some bats, but they are too big for it to take them down for now, but it did manage to kill some crabs by spitting its acid directly in their eyes and mouth. Its aim is really good when the target is not moving. I give it a little mana as a reward for its efforts in getting stronger. My bees and ants are now slightly bigger than normal bee or ant, their almost ready to go and abduct their respective queens. Or I could order them to do it together, the ants could lend a hand - or mandible? - to the bees as a distraction, allowing my bees to bee-nap the bee queen. That would give me the bee queen faster, but slow the acquisition of the ant queen as some ants would die and the bees can¡¯t enter the anthill as easily as the ants the beehive. No, I won¡¯t do it, I want the two queens at the same time, and I only have to wait for two more days to launch the queen-nappings. Now the hikers. I see in my bats and birds memories that they come back to the clearing and looked at the plants there. One of them was different, he was taller and looked stronger, he wasn¡¯t wearing clothes on his upper body, letting the air flow through his fur. But he had a lot of trinkets around his neck and used a stick with feathers embed in the top to touch some things. My creatures even saw him use magic. I suspect him to be an evolved hiker and higher in their society than the usual hikers, the others were treating him with respect and obeying his orders. The big hiker also made some weird dance around the fountain while chanting and shaking his stick. I think it was some kind of ritual. Is he some sort of religious figure? And is he glad or not from the changes? I can¡¯t know right now as the hikers left right after, they also gathered some samples from the water and plants in the clearing. Maybe they need more time to decide what to think of it, or some more important people to look at it. There are new creatures that enter my domain to take food. Some small white ball of fur with long ears and teeth that love to eat the plants that now grow in my mountain foot, especially the carrots. They are called ¡®rabbits¡¯. And they¡¯re the favorite food for the other new interesting creature, a four-legged one with orange fur. I don¡¯t know how it¡¯s called yet, there is only one coming in my domain, and I don¡¯t want to kill it until finding another one. I can understand why these creatures love to eat what grows on my domain, it¡¯s always more reach in mana and of better quality. There is a third kind of interesting creature I want to claim, a big kind of bird that my bats flew from every night. Now that I''ve¡¯ finish to looked into my creatures memories, I¡¯m feeling more confident in trying to expand my domain further than before. I infused my mana into the earth all around my previous border and it works fine, better than always even. I only claim three more meters in all directions before stopping and thinking more about the situation. I want to claim the whole island, but I also want to claim the surrounding area. So I start by claiming the sea on my side of the island, the west side. I successfully claim the seafloor, but the water I claimed is slowly being flown away by the waves. That¡¯s a bothersome thing. I can¡¯t claim the sea like I can¡¯t claim the air outside of the mountain, it¡¯s constantly blown away. But I have an idea, I make some rocks grow until they¡¯re reaching the surface of the water and forming an inlet. Then I reclaim the water between the inlet¡¯s border and the island proper soil. It¡¯s working, the claimed water in here stay claimed long enough so that the water that is slowly replaced by outside unclaimed water is naturally claimed. It¡¯s working on the same principle that the air in the mountain¡¯s cliffs cavities. The border of the cove is ten meters in the sea.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. In my new inlet, I find some new kind of fishes, crabs and water bugs, there is also some new type of algae. It¡¯s all good news and I have a sufficient mana pool to claim all the inlet¡¯s creatures in a few hours. As I inspect them I make an interesting discovery. The water here is full of salt. And that salt is a difficulty for some of my fishes and crabs, as well as some of the inlet¡¯s crabs and fishes are bothered by the absence of salt in the mountain¡¯s water. That would explain why some type of fishes I found in the inlet never entered my domain before and why some of mine never quit it, even when they had the authorization. Fortunately, there are some creatures that can live in both types of water. The inlet will serve as a first zone to go through if some intruders come by sea. I will also be warned sooner of their arrival. On the other side of the mountain, I claim more land in the forest but stop myself at a hundred meters from the mountain foot, it¡¯s an expansion of 98 meters, by the way, I claim the land ten meters deep minimum. I claim the forest¡¯s plants growing on it. Before you ask, the clearing is almost one kilometer away, so I¡¯m not claiming it today. The already adult trees are really mana consuming to claim, so I start with the smallest plant and slowly make my way to the trees. It takes me three days to claim all the plant life in this part of my domain. I was so absorbed in it that I completely forgot about the queen-nappings. I should have done it yesterday. I immediately claim all the unclaimed ants and bees present in my domain, they¡¯re mostly in my part of the forest. Then I sent them to abduct their respective queens. One hour after I sense the bees are back. I go through their memories and see how the attack went. My bees flew straight to the hive and rushed inside it. The biggest burst in the queen room and grabbed her. The queen immediately orders them to stop it, but my orders were stronger than hers. The other bees saw that something was strange and they attacked my bees to free their queen, but my other bees moved to protect the carriers. The battle was a fierce one - in bee terms - and a lot of bees died for bringing me the bee queen. I¡¯m proud of the bees tactic, they followed their orders perfectly, I hope the ants will do as good. I started claiming the queen the instant she passed my domain¡¯s border, she¡¯s been the costlier bee so far, it took me a whole five minutes to claim her. But now that she¡¯s mine she can order all the wild bees to cease the attack on my claimed bees. Now that the hive is mine - even the unclaimed bees - I order it to build a new beehive in the first cavity, the bees have to develop a strong hive to defend me, they have poison in their darts and it can be dangerous to big creatures in sufficient quantity. I also send the bees to gather and bring back all the eggs and larvae left in the previous beehive. The hive also has to prioritize the pollinating of the claimed trees before the unclaimed trees. I pour some bonus mana in the bee queen, I want her to recover faster from the shock of her abduction and to be able to lay strong eggs as soon as possible. Two hours after the bees the ants come back. They also manage to bring back their queen, but they suffered more losses. I access their memories while I start to claim the ant queen and give the order to the bees to support the ants against the wild ants. In the ants¡¯ memories I learn that they followed the orders even better than the bees, but the local conditions, namely the tunnels and the walking, made it harder to accomplish the mission. The ants were better soldiers than the bees in groups. But the individuals are slightly weaker than the bees, mostly because of the bees poison, on the other side, the ants don¡¯t die after one big attack. Why didn¡¯t I sent bees to help the ants sooner, or other creatures like the bats to wreck the place before bringing the queens? Because I wanted to test the military capacities of both species. They''re supposed to be able to make tactics and wars, and I¡¯m glad by the result. With time and each generations growing smarter and bigger, they will be able to form a veritable army. An army which will incorporate some specialized units from other species. Once the ant queen''s finally claimed, I give them similars orders than for the bees. They¡¯re to build an anthill at the mountain foot and make it grow strong as a defensive line from intruder searching to enter the mountain by land, the bees and bats are taking care of the airways. And for doing so, they obviously have to bring back the eggs and larvae from the anthill. The ant queen receives the same amount of mana as the bee queen to help her install her new anthill. There are some additional orders, the ants and bees are to work together like allied countries, they¡¯re forbidden to attack individuals from the other group, but are free to do whatever they want to all the other being claimed by me. The queens are also protected by me from all my creatures. If the bees or ants cross pass with another beehive or anthill, they must join forces to abduct the local queen and absorb it in their ranks. Chapter 14 - Islands invasion. Krin is looking at the few fishes in his bucket. His fishing wasn¡¯t good this day. That would not stop him from bringing back home enough fish to feed his family. It¡¯s at the moment he¡¯s launching the line in the water again that he sees the first ship. A big ship, a three-master. At first, he thinks it¡¯s a good sign, merchants rarely come on the island but they always bring news of the continent and some trinket to trade with his people. It¡¯s only when the second ship passes the pier, closely following the first, that Krin sees the black flags on the masts. Black flags with white skulls on it, to far away to make more details on what kind of skulls. He¡¯d never saw them before, but he heard of this flags, they¡¯re pirates. Krin jumps to his feet and runs to alert the villagers of the incoming attack. He lets behind his fishing rod and fish bucket. He doesn¡¯t see the other ships. --- Lo is feeling good. His small fleet is about to raid the untroubled village. His unique flag is fluttering high in the wind. His pirate flag represents a ram¡¯s skull charging. The flags of his ships have only a white skull on a black background, but the one on the main ship has red dots in the eyes sockets. ¡°Tis goin¡¯ t¡¯be a good raid cap¡¯.¡± Says the man at his side. He¡¯s just a pawn, a fucking Goblin that doesn¡¯t know when to stay silent. ¡°Shut up and go prepare yourself.¡± Replies Lo. If he could he would only hire Ramors, like him. But they¡¯re not enough of them working in his field to fill his ships¡¯ crews, and Orcs and Goblins are cheap workers and good fighters, like the majority of his crewmen. At least, he has some Seconds in his ranks. --- After setting the basic orders for my queens, I go back to claim what¡¯s in my new area. I already did the plants, so I claim the air up to one meter above the trees. As expected, the air above the trees is blown away, fortunately, the air flowing underneath the canopy and between the trees¡¯ trunks is refreshed slowly enough for me to passively claim it. It means all the creature living in this part of the forest will eat and breath my mana, to make sure they will also drink it I arrange for a small water stream to flow from the mountain. The local creatures will naturally grow stronger and be passively claimed, but I will still claim some myself. I was in the process of claiming some rats and rabbits when my birds brought me a strange information. A big cloud of black smoke had appeared in the direction of the hikers¡¯ village. I¡¯ve never sent any creature to directly spy on the village, I was afraid of them being spotted. But now is the time. --- Morn grabs his axe. It¡¯s a simple axe he uses to cut wood, but it¡¯s the best weapon-like object he owns. He then runs in the streets of the village, he¡¯s heading to the beach, where all the people who can fight are gathering. He and his brethren won¡¯t let the pirates come closer. Certainly not since they know which pirates they are. They¡¯re the Blood Ram¡¯s pirates, some of the worst and more brutal men on the sea. They have a reputation of rapists, killers, and slavers and tend to let the least amount of survivor possible. The rumor¡¯s telling there captain, the Blood Ram, is closing on becoming a Third. The Marms may be small, but they can put up a bit of a fight. And even if they know they can¡¯t win the fight, they plan to hold the raiders long enough for the elders, the children, the crippled and their caretakers to hide in the forest. --- Gromkar jumps out of the rowing boat and starts running on the beach. He¡¯s one of the first to reach the sand. He¡¯ll be the first to reach the defenders, that¡¯s important for him. To be the first to enter into battle, to claim the first kill. He swings his war-hammer up on the air. The small islander in front of him sees that and raise the big knife he¡¯s holding, preparing to block the hit. Gromkar smiles, this one doesn¡¯t know how to differentiate a feint from a true hit. The Orc quickly moves his arms on the side of his body and make an elliptic move passing his hammer behind his shoulder and striking at the Marm from beneath. The sheer strength of the strike makes the little furry being off the ground and flying behind the defense line, ribs shattered and puncturing the lungs and the heart. --- I sent all my birds to the village to look at what is happening and wait for their reports. I also post some of them on lookout duty at the edge of my domain allowing me to monitor the smoke progression. The smoke cloud is growing bigger every minute and I can see - through the sentinel birds¡¯ eyes - that there is some red light illuminating the cloud from beneath. And there is even some of the orange and hot dancing light growing up just under the smoke. I now recalled it¡¯s called ¡®fire¡¯, and so much fire is a bad sign. Did the hikers lose the control of the fire? When the first birds come back to report I learn that the fire is not the fault of the hikers. There are other people in the village, killing and capturing the hikers, they are the ones that set the village in fire while raiding it. The raiders seem to come from the five big boats that dropped anchor near the village. It¡¯s a really big boat, with three big and high masts while the hikers¡¯ boats only have a small and thin one. The raiders also have better equipment than the hikers, swords, and crossbows against daggers and simple bows. The invaders are from a lot of different species, some have fur, other scales, lots bare skin and even a few with feathers. Some of the hikers are fighting back but they have no chance. They can only buy time for the hikers that run into the forest to keep running away from the fire. Speaking of hikers running away in the forest, where are they running? Do they have a hideout in the forest? Because I don¡¯t think the raiders will leave soon. They are capturing all the hikers they can find and putting them to chain near the sea. I think those raiders are slavers. --- In the forest, some voices can be heard. People are shooting high and angrily at each other.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You can¡¯t go back! You¡¯re going to be slaughtered!¡± ¡°They need our help! If we go back, we can save them!¡± ¡°No, we can¡¯t! We¡¯re no fighters and they are pirates!¡± ¡°You¡¯re just a coward!¡± ¡°Listen, please! Calm down! Whatever we¡¯re deciding, we can¡¯t do it without thinking first.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. we must think of our survival and hide in the forest.¡± ¡°They¡¯re dying for us! We must go back to save them!¡± ¡°Yes! They¡¯re dying for us! If we go back they¡¯ll die for nothing!¡± That last sentence seems to calm the arguing people. ¡°And what are you proposing?¡± ¡°We can go to the old temple and pray the Goddess to send us help.¡± ¡°The Goddess left us a long time ago. But there is a new force of nature in the forest. I¡¯ve sensed it. It¡¯s in a small clearing with a fountain in it, it has the purest water I¡¯ve ever tasted flowing in it. We could try to make a stand there if the pirates are following us this deep in the forest.¡± ¡°You fool, the pirates won¡¯t let us escape. They¡¯re going to chase and kill us, we can¡¯t survive.¡± ¡°Stop being so defeatist, the Goddess is still there! We must pray to her for salvation.¡± The voices continue to resound for a while in the forest. --- The day is ending and the night is starting, so I order my bats to take the place of the birds in the surveillance of the raiders. They¡¯re also to look for the hikers in the forest. When the bats come back to report I get news that aren¡¯t so good. A big group of approximately sixty hikers is actually arguing in the forest. I can¡¯t make out what they''re saying, but they seem to disagree on what to do. A group is pointing at the village, a second one pointing directly at my mountain and a third one pointing in the direction of the clearing. After a bit of time, the three groups move in three different directions. The first is going back to the village, it¡¯s mainly constituted of young men that seem hotheaded. I think they want to try and rescue some of the villagers or take revenge on the raiders. They¡¯re only going to get kill or join the captured ones. The second group is lead by an old woman and regroups most of the elder hikers and some children. They¡¯re walking slowly between the trees and in a straight line to the mountain. The third group is the bigger one, with people of all ages. It¡¯s lead by the hiker that I suspect to be a Second. This group is heading in the direction of the clearing. I leave the bats on guarding duty and call for all my other creatures to be ready for an intrusion. I think I screwed up there, I don¡¯t have any real monster that could push back an invasion of my domain. But maybe I can make some, I quickly pour mana in my two first crabs in the hope of making them evolve before the arrival of any real danger. For the rest, I¡¯ll have to rely on sheer number, after all, I have several hundreds of normal crabs and dozens of evolved ones. When comparing my evolved creatures with the difference of power between the evolution process in my memories I doubt they went through real evolution. During the night I found that I was right. The group of hikers that went back to the village was easily taken down by the raiders. The slavers even sent scouts to locate the runaways, of course, they have found the other groups tracks and have started following them. It means the hikers are leading the raiders to the clearing and to me. I¡¯m certain that if some people with a not bad mana sense enter my domain they¡¯ll notice the different quality of mana here, and everyone can see the constantly blooming trees. I would have liked more time to prepare myself before the first intruders arrived, and for them to be something else than refugees or scumbags. I keep monitoring the hikers'' advancement during the night, they have a big head start on their pursuer, but the raiders will progress faster. When they¡¯ll stop partying in the village¡¯s ruins. At dawn, the third group reach the clearing and drop the few things they own on the ground and rest. They¡¯re exhausted and drinking the water from the fountain should help them to regain their forces faster. The other group had to stop earlier to rest, as they have mostly old people and children amongst them. They have stopped near a small hill covered by bushes. Now that it¡¯s morning they¡¯re resuming they¡¯re walk in direction of the mountain. A few hundred meters before the border of my domain they stop in a clearing with a big hill. I¡¯ve noticed this hill in the bats'' memories before but never paid real attention to it, and now that I¡¯m taking a closer look at it - through the eyes of my creatures, of course - I notice its form is a bit too perfect to be natural. The hill is forming a perfect circle and there is some sort of recess in the side directly opposed to me. The artificial shape is reminding me of the cave where I found the mana crystals. I look at the partially crumbled tunnel going from the bottom cave to an unknown location and make the math, the tunnel looks like it¡¯s going straight under the hill. I¡¯m curious about this so I claim the tunnel all along it and I was right. The tunnel is indeed going under the hill, there is a spiral staircase linking it to the recess on the hillside. Did the hikers use to come down this path to pray to the statue in the cave? In that case, why did they stop doing so? Was it because the tunnel collapsed and they couldn¡¯t dig it again? They should have been able to do it. Ooooh¡­ I have an idea. I rebuild the tunnel under the hill and set the hilltop to be easily open by me if I want to allow the hikers to come inside and save them. As the other hikers, they¡¯re setting some kind of fence around the fountain¡¯s clearing. Are they intending to fight the raiders here? If the invaders come there, they have no chance of victory. Speaking of the slavers, they are finally starting to move from their slumber. Some of them are taking care of the captives, others are still looking for things to plunder and a lot of them are making preparations to enter the forest. The raiders are following orders from a big bald man with lots of scars on his body, he has a lot of muscles and a really big black beard. I would bet he has accomplished an evolution, he may be a Third. I don¡¯t think I could beat a Third, I¡¯m even sure I could beat a Second right now. Some Firsts? Yes, I could, as long as there is not too many of them, and the raiders are too numerous for me. There are some hikers that run alone in the forest, I think they have better chances to escape their pursuers than the two groups. I¡¯ve made my decision. I¡¯m going to rescue the hikers. If the raiders take or kill too many of them, I¡¯ll lose all possibilities of observing them, the remaining few that would survive would not be able to rebuild the village. If I want to use them for whatever dungeons do with sapient beings, I must save them. And if I maneuver right, they could even consider me a blessing and decide to protect me. The first thing to do is to move back in the bottom cave the smallest of my mana crystals, the one I had found near the water crystal. Next, I make some of my stars in the ceiling of the tunnel to lead the hikers to the cave and arrange some of them into constellation in the cave. I also enlarge the room and put down there a big star that shines almost as bright as the sun on a cloudy day. I force some rock to turn into dust and make some trees grow and produce fruits. I install a big area of comfy moss around the already present lake. Finally, I turn the eyes of the statue into reflecting stones, they¡¯ll reflect the light that comes to them and give people the impression the statue is looking at them. I could send some creatures to guide the clearing¡¯s group to the hill and try to save them too, but I need them to gather the attention away from the group I decided to save. I will at least send some birds to try and lead the hikers still hiding in the forest to the hill. When all my preparations are done the raiders are only two hours from the hill. I open the entrance on the hill and look at the hikers'' jaws drop. Chapter 15 - Running underground. There are almost thirty Marms around a hill in the forest. They have run away from an attack on their home and walk for the best part of the night. The lack of sleep and the amount of fear make them quite irritable. especially counting the fact that ten of them are children crying for their parents. Among the nineteen other there are fourteen elder, they have a long experience of life and are trying to calm the children. If they make too much noise, they¡¯ll attract the raiders to their position. Fortunately, there is no real monster that could hear the cries on the island. The rest of them are adults that could not fight and have decided to help take care of the children. All these people are currently resting near the hill, oblivious to the changes under their feet. ¡°What¡¯s that? Is someone feeling this?¡± a young man asks. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± responds another. ¡°There¡¯s a vibration.¡± ¡°You¡¯re dreaming.¡± ¡°No, I feel it too.¡± intervenes a third Marm. This one¡¯s a forty-something years old woman. As times pass, more and more of the Marms feel the vibration. It gains in puissance and as the Marms start thinking about leaving the place to seek shelter elsewhere something none of them were expecting happens. The top of the hill crumbles on itself and reveals a hole. When the dust settles it is possible to see a staircase in the hole, and a faint light coming from the bottom. The Marms look at it and a young one, the first who spoke, approaches the entrance. ¡°Don¡¯t go in.¡± his friend calls for him. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid, I¡¯m not going in. I¡¯m just looking.¡± Another Marm walks to the hole, an old woman, the one who led the group to the hill. She looks down and puts the tip of her walking stick on the first step. She grabs a pendant at her neck and, against the voices behind her, puts her foot in the hole. She climbs down a few steps, turns around and walks out of it. ¡°There is nothing to fear. The Goddess has heard our prayers and is offering us shelter. If we go down there, she will hide and protect us against the pirates.¡± ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± some of the Marms ask her. ¡°I have faith. And I don¡¯t have a lot of other choices.¡± The Marms mumble together. ¡°You¡¯ve trusted me and followed me here. You can change your minds or follow me further. You have to have faith in the Goddess and trust Her.¡± On those words, the old woman grabs the hand of her granddaughter and walks in the hole. ¡°I¡¯m going to fetch the others!¡± cry the most courageous young man as he starts running in the wood. His friend runs after him. --- The hikers took their time before entering, they¡¯re cautious, that¡¯s good for them, but not so for me. Fortunately, the old woman who led them here led them further in. But two of the hikers didn¡¯t come in, they are running in direction of the clearing. Did they change their mind or did they went to alert the others of my actions? I don¡¯t know and it will not change my plans. Anyway, I¡¯m starting to understand why dungeons want sapient beings in their domain. They¡¯re emanating a different kind of mana than monsters. Their mana is tasting good, really good, too good maybe. I¡¯ve never felt something like this before. I want to claim them, but I can¡¯t. There is like a bubble around each one of them that prevents me from using my mana too close from them. The bubbles are bigger around the elder and the healthy. The children and the injured have more small bubbles. The old woman has the biggest bubble. Inside the bubbles, I can still perceive what¡¯s happening, but I can¡¯t use my mana as I want. The bubbles remind me of the barriers I put down in the mountain. Maybe I¡¯ll use the tactic to pass through it. However, I¡¯ll have to be careful about that and wait for the best opportunities. In the meantime, I can still enjoy the taste of their mana. Once the last hiker is inside and the group¡¯s walking in direction of the cave I¡¯ve prepared for them, I resume tunneling. Since the other group of hikers could come this way, I decided to prepare a nasty surprise for the raiders that would still follow them. This time I dig corridors in a maze and design them to be hard to walk inside. They are narrow and the walls and floor are uneven and wet, I also place some low rocks on the roof. I want for the people walking inside to have a hard time progressing, they¡¯ll slip on every rock and hit their heads on the rocks, they won¡¯t be able to use their weapons either. I make those corridors leading further down below the earth and slowly progressing in waterways. I prepare an underground cave under some of the corridors and another at the same level. I start to fill each reservoir with water, crabs, and fishes. The entrance of the maze is at the foot of the staircase, where the tunnel leading to the hikers¡¯ cave is, but the maze is not lighted by little stars. During my preparations, I¡¯ve received reports from my creatures on the activity on the island floor. The two hikers have reached the clearing and are currently talking with the hikers there. They have consolidated the fence, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be able to last more than 5 minutes against the raiders. The raiders are closing on the hikers¡¯ groups. They have separated themselves in several groups too. One stay at the village¡¯s ruins, guarding the prisoners. Another is wandering through the forest, gathering supplies and tracking the lonely hikers. A third group is tracking the clearing group and the last group is tracking the hill group. Back to my hikers. I¡¯m already considering them mine, even if I can¡¯t claim them yet. They¡¯ve just arrived at the cave I¡¯ve prepared for them. --- ¡°See? I¡¯ve told you to have faith.¡± ¡°It¡¯s incredible.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡± ¡°How could something like this be under the island for so long?¡± ¡°Nobody knew of this.¡± ¡°Yes, we knew.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Come again?¡± ¡°Please, calm down. I¡¯ll explain.¡± The old woman, the leader of this group of Marms sits down on the moss near the lake. ¡°It¡¯s part of the stories my grandmother told me when I was young. Long ago we used to come to a cave under the mountain to pray to the Goddess, and she would offer us blessings and take care of us and the forest. But the path crumbled and was closed when my grandmother was a little girl. Since then we slowly lost our faith in the Goddess. But not me, I never stopped praying to her, and others too. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve lead us to the hill, in hope for the Goddess to open the way again and to shelter us under the mountain. And I was right, the Goddess heard our prayers, and she still cares for us. We must pray to her, come.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Then the woman walks and kneels in front of the statue, she holds her hands together and prays. The other hikers marvel in front of the cave. One by one they regain their sense and kneel behind their leader, praying with her. Praying to someone long gone. --- ¡°Chief! Chief!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We found something!¡± ¡°I hope so. If you¡¯re crying so loud for nothing I will kill you. We don¡¯t want the Marms to hear us coming. Idiot.¡± Hruin sighs. She¡¯s one of the nine women in the pirates¡¯ crew. Each one of them is a strong warrior, or else they would be playthings for the men. And each one of them is smart, smarter than the average crew members at least, which is easy to be. Actually, Hruin is leading one of the two group that¡¯s tracking the Marms in the forest. And her scouts just reported an interesting discovery. A hill with a staircase in it. There is no light in the hole, only darkness. ¡°The Marms must have gone down, they¡¯re hoping we¡¯re not going to follow them inside, or they¡¯re preparing some ambushes for us. Prepare lights, we¡¯re going after them. Klop, Dram, you have night visions, you¡¯re going first.¡± ¡°Hrmph.¡± With some grumbles the men are obeying their chief, they would rather not, but she could kill them all. Plus some of them have some respect for that woman. --- The first group of raiders is inside, and they¡¯re starting to wander through the maze. Good. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing, kneeling in front of the statue, but I can feel that the mana emanating from them growing. I can absorb more of their mana, maybe I¡¯ll find a way to encourage them to do more of this activity. I¡¯ve finished the maze just in time and while the water reservoirs are filling themselves I keep infusing mana in my creatures, hoping to make some of them evolve. And I¡¯m glad to see that the first two crabs I ever claimed are ready to evolve. I pour more mana in them and push them over the edge. When they''re glowing, I focus on the strength of their muscles and their shell. I want to make them as strong and sturdy as possible. When the light settles down I admire them, they¡¯re twice as big as before, their previous evolution wasn¡¯t as impressive, now they¡¯re just a bit bigger than the adult foxes in the forest. One of them still has one of its pincer bigger than the other, it¡¯s a really big pincer, as big as itself, its right pincer is just as big as the left before the evolution. I would love to consider those crabs as Second, but it doesn¡¯t felt right, I don¡¯t know why yet. While I was focusing on evolving the crabs, the group of hikers at the clearing as moved to the hill. --- Forty Marms are circling the hill. They¡¯re the group that was ready to make a last stance at the clearing. Now they¡¯re ready to make a run for the tunnels beneath the hill. But the hilltop, where the entrance is, is guarded by some raiders. Unfortunately for the raiders, the Marms holds the numerical advantage. There are more than forty Marms and only five raiders. A Marm walks out of the woods and advances in front of the sentinels. ¡°I am Klopri, shaman and Second of the Marms. Surrender and you¡¯ll have a quick and painless death.¡± ¡°Ha! As if you could anything against us.¡± responds one of the raiders. He reaches for an arrow in his quiver and aims his bow at the Marm. The Marm waits, ready to move and when the pirate shots his arrow he ducks on the ground. Unfortunately, the arrow still touches him, but only in his arms. Seeing this all the Marms hidden in the woods run for the hilltop, screaming and waving clubs, sticks, shovels and other improvised weapons. The fight is bloody and short. and five Marms are lying dead while three more are being taken care of by their friends. ¡°You say they¡¯re down there?¡± ¡°Yes shaman, they went in the hole.¡± ¡°Then, we need to go down too and save them. Be wary, there will be some pirates too.¡± The Marms grab there dead and wounded and walk down the stairs. At the bottom of those, they have a choice to make. Going in the tunnel with light, where they can walk together and carry the weaks, or the dark and narrow one. The choice is easy to make and one-hour latter they are reunited with the other members of their village. ¡°I don¡¯t get it, where are the pirates?¡± asks Klopri. ¡°They never reach here.¡± answers the old woman. ¡°But they entered the tunnels too.¡± ¡°The Goddess protects us, She must have dealt with them.¡± ¡°And what is this place? The Goddess¡¯ cave from the old legends?¡± ¡°Yes, it is.¡± ¡°Amazing, I sense the same pure mana everywhere than in the fountain¡¯s water. Maybe you are right, maybe the Goddess is real.¡± ¡°She is, have faith.¡± ¡°Faith or not, I won¡¯t let this place undefended, I¡¯m going to stand guard with others in front of the tunnel.¡± ¡°That is your right.¡± --- The hikers are standing guard in the cave. They¡¯re expecting the raiders to follow them there, but it¡¯s useless. I¡¯ve closed the path leading there. All the raiders going down are lured in the maze, there are two groups now. The first, which came in between the two groups of hikers, is pretty deep now and walking with water up to their knees. And a second group that just entered. There are still some raiders roaming the forest or guarding the hilltop. But most of them are either in the maze or at the village. I close the access to the maze and open the reservoir, letting it flood the tunnels. --- A grumbling sound resonates in the corridors. All the pirates in Coslo¡¯s group look behind them. They have entered the hill to search for the Marms that killed their comrades at the hilltop. They followed them from a clearing with a beautiful fountain and were surprised to find that the other group had entered an underground maze and were probably hunted by Marms, pitiful. Probably the fault of this female that thinks herself able to lead men. The sound is growing bigger and the air is flowing in their face. ¡°Waaateeeeeer!¡± The men forming the rearguards arrive more stumbling than running and screaming. They stumble on their comrades, unable to cross pass them as the corridors are too narrow. All the pirates are trying to run away from the water flooding the tunnels behind them, but the configuration of the maze slow them so much that the water reaches and blows them away. Crushing the unwelcom intruders against the walls, the floor and the roof of the tunnels. The crabs and fishes in the water arrive closely after the wave and start to finish the pirates that are not already dead. --- ¡°What¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°John, go back with Clid and see what''s this about.¡± ¡°Yes Hruin.¡± The two Humans leave the group and go back in the maze. While the rest of the group is waiting for them, they can¡¯t miss the fact that the level of the water is slowly rising. The cold water is now at their hips. ¡°What¡¯s that!¡± screams a pirate. ¡°Something touched me!¡± screams another. ¡°There''s something in the water!¡± ¡°Shut up guys! You¡¯re pirates and you¡¯re afraid of some fishes?¡± screams Hruin, louder than her men. ¡°But chief, what if there is a monster in this tunnels?¡± ¡°And the Marms would have come here? Wouldn¡¯t they have know?¡± ¡°Maybe there is a secret path they took and we missed.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll just have to search for them.¡± CRRRCK! ¡°What¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°You didn''t hear it?¡± ¡°No.¡± CRRRCK! ¡°What¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know another way of asking that?¡± ¡°Fuck off!¡± ¡°Arg! Something''s pinching my foot!¡± CRRRCK! ¡°What¡¯s thaaaaaa¡­¡± With the third cracking sound the floor beneath the pirates breaks under their weight combined with the rising one of the water. The pirates fall in an underground lake and fishes and crabs start to attack them under the water while bats and bugs harass them from above. All their lights turn off in the water and the only source of light comes from deep under the water. The most observing pirates are flabbergasted to see three colored crabs dancing in the changing lights emitted from different crystals near them. Chapter 16 - Im a Goddess... Aaaaah¡­ so goood. It¡¯s so good. If I wasn¡¯t tasting it just now, I wouldn¡¯t believe it. When the pirates die I receive a rush of mana from them, and it tastes really good. The quality of the mana is something I¡¯ve never tasted before, purer than the mana I¡¯m emanating right now and in such a big amount at each time. Each time a raider die I get a rush of mana. I could become addicted to that thing. That¡¯s probably why dungeons want adventurers diving in them. To get their rush of mana, like a fix for a drug addict. I must make sure to not succumb to the pleasure. I won¡¯t stop consuming it, it¡¯s too good, but I must savor it and make it last and don¡¯t make an overdose. Can I do an overdose? And if I don¡¯t want to run out of the stuff I must ration it, I have the Marms for that. That¡¯s something else. When a sapient being dies in my domain - in addition of the tasty rush of mana - I receive a bunch of knowledge, like for the other creatures or plants, but more. It¡¯s probably because the sapient creatures have a lot more knowledge in them. I think I get a bit of their knowledge while previously it was more a regain of locked knowledge. When a pirate dies, I get a part of his knowledge. That¡¯s how I learn how to speak, or rather how to understand speaking people, write and read. I also learn a lot about the region. The island I¡¯m on is considered part of an archipelago. The Joqua Archipelago is seldom visited by sapients because it¡¯s out of the principals merchant routes. It doesn¡¯t offer natural shelter, so pirates didn¡¯t make a hideout out of it. Plus the Maria Island, the one I¡¯m on, is one of the most secluded in the archipelago, it can¡¯t be seen from any of the other islands. But the archipelago is known amongst seamen to shelter a few villages of poorly civilized islanders. Some merchants decide against the odds to deviate a bit from the major merchant routes and come there, occasionally. This group of pirates, known as the Blood Ram¡¯s crew, decided to come here and enslave some islanders to sell as curiosity and rarity in the slave market of Martok. I only know it¡¯s a big city in the south. I learn unimportant things about each pirate, like their names, age, the names¡¯ of their relatives and friends and other useless stuff like that. There is still some information that can be of use, like the names and relations of the chain of command and the fact that there is seven Second on board and that only their chief is a Third. I wasn¡¯t sure to be able to take them, but it comes out that I¡¯ve already dealt with two of the Seconds. Speaking of which, I didn¡¯t kill all the pirates, some of them are still swimming in the cave underground. I need to finish some preparations before flushing them. And if I kill them all, I will be out of test subjects and out of tasty doses of mana. I start to dig some tun- - I stand in the royal castle of Kueop. I¡¯m not in the throne room, I¡¯m in the royal children bedroom. The children are in front of me, hiding behind their mom. The nanny is lying dead between us. Their grandfather, the king, died three days ago, as well as all their family. When I¡¯ll kill them, I¡¯ll be done with this country royal family. ¡°Please no! Don¡¯t kill my children! Please! I don¡¯t know what my father did to you, but please, please, spare the children, they are innocents! Kill me if you want but not them! I¡¯ll do anything!¡± The woman is pleading, kneeling in front of me, her children shivering in fear behind. ¡°Sir.¡± I turn to look at Julia, she¡¯s still with me, but the last months have taken their toll on her. Half her face is burned away, with the left eye and part of her hair. I see something in her right eyes, a shimmering light. ¡°Sir, it¡¯s enough. The children have nothing to do with it.¡± ¡°They''re part of this family, they must pay.¡± ¡°If you really want this Sir, I won¡¯t stop you. But it will lower you to the same level as the king.¡± ¡°Which king? Janu or Dornau?¡± ¡°The one you killed three days ago. If you do that, you¡¯ll be even lower than Dornau. I don¡¯t want that, you¡¯re too precious to me. If you kill the children you¡¯ll never be yourself again and I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡± That last declaration makes me shutter. She¡¯s right. And that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been seeing in her look the last few month. Sadness, not for what happened to Maria, but for me, for what I¡¯m about to become. There is also fear, fear that I became a monster worse than my enemies. I can¡¯t do that to her, she¡¯s been with me for so long, she was nothing but a slave at the beginning, but she¡¯s more now.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. While I was reflecting on myself, the woman, the heir of the crown of Kueop, didn¡¯t stop sobbing at my feet. I kick her. ¡°You¡¯re right. I won¡¯t kill them.¡± I grab the future queen by the collar and hold her face near mine, her feet are padding in the air. ¡°I won¡¯t kill you either, but you need to raise those children to be good persons.¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me, if I heard that they''re becoming bloodthirsty tyrants, I¡¯ll come back and finish the job.¡± ¡°Yes Sir, I¡¯ll raise them good, they¡¯ll be good rulers I swear on my life.¡± ¡°Shut up. I still have something to do here, bring me to your father secret office.¡± ¡°Secret office? He doesn¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me, I know he had one, all kings have one. Don¡¯t force me to look for it, or I¡¯ll have to damage the castle even more.¡± She takes one child in each of her arms and leads the way to a secret passage hidden behind a tapestry in the child room, it is linked to a lot of other secret passages. Well, they¡¯re not so secret anymore, I made holes in enough walls to reveal some of them. When we¡¯re in the secret office I order her to look for documents, Julia is doing it too. The children are crying in a corner of the room. After half an hour Julia hands me a pile of documents, I examine them and one of my worst feelings is almost confirmed. I can see there that Janu was warned by a ¡®third¡¯ party where and when Maria would be at the time of her abduction, and the detail of her escort. Someone made sure Janu would know, so he could plan her kidnapping. - -nels on a low¡­ What¡¯s that! A memory came back to me when I was conscious. That¡¯s the first time. So I took my revenge against Kueop, but there was something more about the situation. My quest for revenge didn¡¯t end there. Did I manage to finish it? I can¡¯t know, none of the pirates I killed had information about this. Either they¡¯re taking enough interest on the matter, or it happened too long ago or too far away for them to know. I can see that the memory took only a few seconds to play in my mind, but it covered almost an hour of my previous life. Anyway, I have other things to do right now. I resume digging the tunnels under the lake where the pirates are drowning and reinstall the trap. It will be ready for the next pirates. As a matter of fact, the pirates at the village are starting to organize a new group. The few pirates that were standing guard on the hilltop entrance went back to the village to report some strange events. It seems that ¡®there was a big strange sound¡¯ and when they went down the stairs to see what was happening they only saw a ¡®fucking close wall and no sound at all¡¯. The cells are ready. I flush the water out of the pirates¡¯ lake. The water flows with pirates in different tunnels and goes through different grids. Once the pirates are in their cells I close the waterway. I¡¯ve put some airway to allow them to breathe, and each of the cells is set with a low stream of water and a blackberry bush. I don¡¯t want my prisoners to die from hunger or thirst, plus that will allow them a bit of hygiene. Except that, it will be all torture, complete darkness, no other sound that the flowing water and each time they want to eat, they¡¯ll sting themselves on the bushes thorns. I will take care of the pollination myself, I learned a trick for doing without the bees, I only need to make the pollen grain flow in the air, it¡¯s just more mana consuming than using the bees. Having those prisoners here will allow me to do experiments on sapient beings without endangering the Marms. Actually, they are discussing if they are trapped here. They found out that I closed the access to their cave, and if some think that I will reopen it after the pirates leave, some are afraid to never see the sun again. For one of them, it will be the case, a Marm is about to die of its wounds shortly after going down in the cave. The mana this Marm releases at the moment of his death is not as tasty as for the pirates. I think it¡¯s due to the fact he isn¡¯t as afraid as the raiders. He dies almost at peace after seeing the statue¡¯s cave. That makes me think that if a sapient creature dies brutaly the mana is tastier. I will do my best to take care of the Marms so that they number grow and more of them die, but I will not care on the maner of their death. At the moment of his death, I put in place a little show. I send a ray of light coming from the middle eye of the statue and hitting the dead body. The Marms are surprised by this and step away a bit, I wait for them to make a little more place around the dead and absorb the corpse. I then make the ray of light flickers and disappear and make all the light stones emit a flash of light before going back to normal. The Marms are kneeling in front of the statue, praying how great the ¡®Goddess¡¯ is. I¡¯m supposed to be the Goddess, I have mixed feelings about that. They are praying me, giving me mana directly, and that¡¯s good, really good. But they are thinking I¡¯m a woman. I should have seen that coming, having a statue of a woman¡­ I can only blame myself on this one, a Goddess. A God yes, but a Goddess... Anyway, I can see they are confused I ¡®took the soul of Voln in my care¡¯ but not the ones of the other dead Marms. They are now praying for the souls of all the Marms on the island. Alright, I comply and put on a little light show and absorb the corpse of the five Marms that died on the hilltop. For the Marms and pirates that died on the hilltop, I didn¡¯t get enough mana to feel a difference with the other creatures that die in open air. I guess that explains further why dungeons are underground, that plus the fact it¡¯s easier to claim the environment. I was reborn directly underground too, that must be part of the explanation. Chapter 17 - Pirates underground. Hruin wakes up in a dark, cold and damp place. First, she panics a little. Where is she? What happened? Where are her men? Then she remembers. She was searching for some Marms in dark tunnels, but she didn¡¯t find them. No, something else happened, she and her men were hit by a big wave, they ended up in an underground lake where they¡¯ve been harassed by some creatures hiding in the dark or in the water. She was lucky to be a Second, most of the attacks on her body were useless. But that didn¡¯t save her from being taken away by the water when it retreat. At this moment she saw something very strange, some colorful crabs that looked like they were mocking her, it was such an unsettling view that she lost her concentration and dropped for a second the layer of mana she permanently keeps right under her skin. Then she hit her head on a rock, it wasn¡¯t the first time in the last fifteen minutes, but without her mana reinforced skin the shock knocked her out. And now she is in a place she doesn¡¯t know a lot about, it¡¯s dark, cold, everything is wet, the only sound comes from her right. She tries to get up on her feet but bumps her head on the roof. The roof of the place is fairly low, add to the fact that neither it nor the floor are even, and it¡¯s a true pain in her ass to walk. Hence she decides to walk on all four, it doesn¡¯t prevent her from slipping on the wet floor, but she won¡¯t bump her head on the roof or her butt on the floor. Hruin walks to the water sound she located earlier. She¡¯s a bit thirsty, so maybe she would be able to drink a little water from a hypothetical trickle of water. She could always lick the water from the rocks around, but the idea doesn¡¯t sit right in her mind, she would rather avoid it if she could. The sound grows a bit then her left hand touch some running water. The water flows slowly and it¡¯s cold, really colder than the air or the rocks of the place. Hruin tastes the water and is surprised by its taste. It is the purest water she ever drank, she drinks some more just for the taste of it. After quenching her thirst, Hruin walks around the place to assess her situation. The room is a perfect square with five meters sides. One of the sides is occupied by the water stream, it¡¯s only ten centimeters wide and flows straight from one side to the other. In a corner of the room, there is a bush, it has a lot of thorns that pierced through her skin and remind her of straightening her skin. The bush produces some blackberries that are full of sugar. At least Hruin have some water to drink and some fruits to eat, she won¡¯t die of starvation or dehydration. But she might lose her mind and become crazy. She can¡¯t afford to lose her sanity, and for that, she needs something to occupy her mind. So she starts to meditate. It¡¯s been a long time since she had the opportunity to do so peacefully, always watching her back for backstabbing traitor or her front for those that would attack her without hiding. And she doesn¡¯t truly fear for her life, the Marms, or whoever¡¯s directing them - they¡¯re not supposed to be civilized enough to put that sort of things in place - wouldn¡¯t have go through so much trouble to arrange a place like that for her if they wanted her dead. With the fear for her life gone, Hruin starts to meditate. She focuses her spirit in her body, on her hara, that part of the stomach where the energy comes from. She forces her mana to flow through all her body, speeding up the recovery of her bruises and scratches. She finds that she has more mana at her disposal than usual, but it¡¯s probably linked to the fact that she didn¡¯t meditate in a long time. After a bit of simple meditation focused on her body, she starts to expand her consciousness out of it. Then it hits her, the actual mana concentration in the place is high, too high for a normal cave. She¡¯d never been good on mana perception, but even she can¡¯t miss it now that she¡¯s focusing on this. There is a formidable amount of mana in the air around her, also in the earth beneath her. That could be useful, she could absorb such amount of mana that she could reinforce herself enough and break a wall, then she would be able to search the exit of this place and maybe rescue some of her men. But first she needs to gather more mana, and she needs to find which one of the walls have the Marms¡¯ tunnels on the other side. And when she¡¯s free, she can take her vengeance on the Marms and destroy them all. But there something else that ticks at her mind, the amount and the quality of the mana here is strange. It¡¯s a good thing, in the way she can use it for her personals goals, but it may hide something else. --- Humm¡­ I¡¯m looking at the pirates I have manage to imprison. I have seven of them, the two Seconds, and five others. There is only one female, she¡¯s a Human and a Second. I guess it¡¯s to be expected, there can¡¯t be a lot of women in pirates crews, and most of them are strong warriors able to defend themselves against their lustful and amoral ¡®comrades¡¯. She¡¯s the only one of the prisoners that takes the situation with calm, she even started to actively absorb mana from me, I let her do, I want to see what will happen. The other Second is still unconscious, he almost drowned in the water. Same for the five other pirates.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Now I¡¯m wondering how to make the Marms realize I¡¯m a man. I could make change the form of the statue to be a man, but I think that would mostly confuse them. No I think I¡¯ll go for another of my ideas and make a second cave with another statue, but a man this time, and the Marms will venerate me as not one Goddess, but as two Gods. I could even make a whole pantheon out of me, I and myself, but that would be too much. A simple couple of deities is better I think. The Goddess that will represent peace, love, and such. And a God for the war, revenge and the likes. Well, it¡¯s just an idea for the moment, I¡¯ll work on it later. Most of the Marms are currently sleeping in their cave, the others are taking care of the wounded, feeding them fruits from my trees and water from my lake. None of the Marms are actively absorbing my mana, like Hruin, but all of them are marveling at the wonderful taste of my produce. They don¡¯t seem to understand it¡¯s only thanks to the high concentration of my mana in those things. On the other side of the island, the pirates have renounced the search for the Marms lost in the forest and have launched a search party to find the missing pirates. Their almost at the hilltop. They will probably be as stupid as the other and go down the stairs and in the maze, I¡¯ll wipe them out as easily as the two first groups. --- Gormkar is part of the search party. He has complicated feelings about that. Searching for lost peoples is a waste of time in his eyes, he would rather let them die and rot on this island, but the captain as ordered him to join the party, so Gormkar obeys. The captain is too strong to be defied. On the other hand, he hopes to find what could have taken away the woman he has is eyes on. Hruin is a powerful warrior and a wise woman, she would make a perfect mother for Gormkar¡¯s children, but first, he had to impress her and convinced her to marry him. It¡¯s a thing to rape weak and defenseless women, it¡¯s only for pleasure, but a woman to share is life with and give birth to children that would carry his name is a serious matter. It must be a worthy female and Hruin looks like one. If only he could prove to her that he is worthy of her. Maybe if he saves her life here, she would take his proposal more seriously than the last time. But if she¡¯s truly in danger, doesn¡¯t that means she¡¯s not worthy of him? Gormkar¡¯s head is hurting him with all those considerations. Love is truly a painful thing, his father did warn him about that. While he was lost in his thought the group he¡¯s part of finally arrives at their destination. The entrance to an underground maze. There is some discussion that annoys Gormkar, so he doesn¡¯t pay attention to it instead, he focuses his mind on the hilltop and the strange feelings he gets there. Gormkar walks to the hilltop and looks down the stairs. He¡¯s feeling something familiar there, something he already felt before. He starts to go down and take a big breath of the air inside, it¡¯s fresh, too fresh for an underground passage. He knows how the air is supposed to feel under the earth, and he also knows what makes the air feel like that. Gormkar walks out of the hilltop and to the officers still discussing on what to do there. ¡°-nside of it and wait for their report.¡± ¡°D¡¯ngeon.¡± Gormkar throws the word in the discussion like a stone in the water. The three officers look at him with all the disdain they have the courage to show him. He could take all of them together and they would barely be able to scratch him. ¡°What?¡± ¡°D¡¯ngeon. Tis a d¡¯ngeon. I feel it. I go to one b¡¯fore.¡± ¡°You¡¯re sure about that?¡± ¡°Sure. Now, I go.¡± ¡°What? No, wait! We need to plan this or else it could be dangerous.¡± ¡°No care. I go. You pussy.¡± And with those wise words, Gormkar dives into the dungeon, like he did a long time ago, letting the other pirates wonder what to do. --- Oh? One of the pirates recognized me as a dungeon? If he wasn¡¯t talking like that and looking so dumb, I would have been impressed, but this one probably been in another dungeon before. In addition, the knowledge I gain from the other pirates show this one as a strong but stupid fighter, it should be easy to take care of it. I wait a bit for the pirates to decide on what to do. They post more guards around the hilltop than the previous group and sent some messengers to the village and the other pirates to warn them about the presence of my dungeon. The rest of the searching party enter the maze after the Orc. Now that the pirates are deep enough in the maze I close the entrance and open the water tank. I then look at them being thrown against the walls and enjoy the taste of their death. It¡¯s good, I want more. Once the water passed through all the corridors and all the pirates are in the second tank, I order my creatures to kill some of them, enjoying the taste. And, at the moment I open the water under it to flush them to their cells I see something that I don¡¯t like. --- At the instant they see the wave most of the pirates react like their comrades from the firsts groups and panic. But one of them doesn¡¯t. An Orc that has seen too many death to panic over such a simple thing as a big wave in an underground tunnel. With a smug look in his eyes, Gormkar stands in front of the empty corridors he arrived from. The air is flowing right in his face and the sound of water running is growing more and more. Gormkar doesn¡¯t want to be blown away by the water coming, but there are no grips to hold here. It¡¯s not a problem for an Orc like himself. With a mighty roar Gormkar punches the walls with his open hands and grab the interior of the walls themselves, he then gives another roar and sticks his feet in the floor. The water is in sight now, but it¡¯s okay, Gormkar has grips to hold and is good at holding his breath. When the water hit him, it¡¯s a big blow, he¡¯s glad to have put his mana in his skin and his muscles, or else he would not have sustained the wave so easily. And he has taken stronger hits before, like the punches his mother launched at him when he was a bad little Orc. Chapter 18 - The end of the invasion. Gormkar raises his head. He¡¯s panting after having kept his breath for so long, the things the water thrown at him didn¡¯t help either. He knows there is something strange with this dungeon, usually, there is more simple traps and monsters, not a big trap and few animals. If he had more knowledge about dungeon Gormkar could make hypotheses, but alas all his knowledge is empirical and from a brutal warrior point of view. The rest is too complicated for him to care about. He pulls his hands and feet out of the rock and starts to walk where the water went. Gormkar reaches for a small stone in his pocket, he channels a bit of mana in it and the stone starts to glow. As an Orc he can see pretty well in the night, but not in a completely dark place, but he¡¯s smart enough to have something to light his way in this sort of situations. His thinking is simple, Hruin isn¡¯t as physically strong as him, so she must have been blown by the water, therefore he needs to go where the water went and he will find her, or at least a track to follow further. He has too much trust in her strength to think she could be dead. But he needs to hurry, he doesn¡¯t know what kind of surprise the dungeon have in reserve. --- Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. That Orc resisted my wave of water! What will he do? How can I kill him? Every time I close the way, he punches his way through the walls. I could completely shut the place down, but that would cut down my ability to track his movements and he would punch his way upwards and reach for help, for now, he¡¯s alone, I should be able to deal with him. And I can¡¯t drown him either, I don''t have enough water in reserve. I send my two biggest crabs, with some other smaller crabs, on his way to try and stop him. They¡¯re hiding under the water in the next corridor. The Orc walks in the corridor, he goes through the water without checking it for traps or monsters, like previously. Once he¡¯s just on the side of the crabs I give the order to attack and kill him. The crabs jump at the Orc and throw their pincers at him, but he moves and dodges them easily despite the water slowing him. He sends his left fist between the eyes of a crab. The crabs¡¯ shells are sturdier than the rock, but it doesn¡¯t prevent this one to explode. In a few second the Orc kills all the crabs and resume his walk without care for the crabs'' bits all over the walls and his upper body. I don¡¯t have a choice, I fill all the tunnels in front of him with stone and hope for the better. --- ¡°A dungeon?¡± ¡°Yes, captain. That what¡¯s Gormkar said.¡± ¡°Interesting, I¡¯ll go see by myself.¡± On those words, Lo - the infamous Blood Ram, captain of his own pirate¡¯s fleet - gives some orders to this men and enters the forest. He has enough trust in his second to take care of the local and calm situation while he himself goes deeper on the island. He doesn¡¯t run, but he infuses his mana in his legs, allowing him to walk faster than most running men. His skin s also hardened enough to breaks all branches that could hit his face. It¡¯s been a long time since Lo has seen a dungeon. He doesn¡¯t know yet what to think of it, but he¡¯s sure it will present him with an opportunity to make a bigger fortune than planned with the slaves. --- Just outside the range of the dungeon¡¯s domain, a green hand gets out of the ground, shortly after, a second hand pierces the ground, and right after two ars, then an Orc¡¯s head. Gormkar finishes climbing out of his hole. The dungeon tried to bury him alive, but he¡¯s too strong to die like that. The Orc has enough wisdom to understand that he can¡¯t take a rogue dungeon like that head on and alone, so he turns himself in direction of the east and start a frantic run through the forest, breaking branches and bushes on his way. One hour later something harder than him takes his ankle and make him roll on the floor. ¡°Slow down Gormkar. What¡¯s happening?¡± The Orc looks in the direction of the voice and sees his captain, a smile on his face. ¡°Cap¡¯! T¡¯is a dungeon. He take Hruin. He rogue. T¡¯is more strong and smart that I, need you. Follow.¡± ¡°A rogue dungeon? And it dealt with Hruin and the others? Then you¡¯re right, you¡¯re not strong enough to take care of it, but I may. Lead the way.¡± The Orc resumes his run through the forest but on the other way, and the Ramor walks just a meter behind, easily keeping the pace. When the two pirates reach the hole in the dirt let by Gormkar two hours before, his captain makes a sign for him to stay silent. Lo looks at the hole, all his senses on alert, searching for traces of mana in the area. His attention is attracted by the grass on the west, it seems more green and fat. The Third walks there and at the exact moment, he crosses the borders the quality of the mana in the air changes. It becomes denser, it¡¯s obvious to him that there is something strange there, the dungeons he went in didn¡¯t have such condensation of mana in the air of their tunnels, so having so much mana os this quality in the open air is remarkable and a proof to him that the dungeon has indeed turned rogue. ¡°You didn¡¯t say the dungeon was so powerful.¡± ¡°Wha¡¯¡±? ¡°Come over here and feel the air.¡± The Orc follows his captain orders and walks into the dungeon area of influence. The air is indeed more charged with mana, but he had felt air like that before. ¡°Do you feel this? the mana in the air?¡± ¡°Ya, I feel. I feel now, I feeled before. What we do? We need save Hruin.¡± ¡°You felt a mana like this before? In a dungeon?¡± The captain his quite surprised by the nonchalance of the Orc about that statement. ¡°It¡¯s surprising to hear that. Where was it?¡± ¡°Home. How we save Hruin?¡± ¡°At home? You¡¯ll have to talk to me about that one day. But you¡¯re right, we have other things to do.¡± Lo doesn¡¯t really think that the woman is still alive, if a rogue dungeon able to infuse so much mana in the open air have taken care of her, she must be dead. In fact, the situation is mostly raising his opinion of Gormkar, the Orc had managed to evade the dungeon.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. But there is still something off in Lo opinion. A dungeon of this power should have powerful monsters. Monsters far stronger than the big crabs it sent against Gormkar. --- Shit, shit, fuck, fuck, shit, shit, fuck, fuck. The Orc escaped and now he¡¯s back with the pirate captain. The moment the Ramor walked into my domain, I could feel that he¡¯s really powerful. The bubble around him looks even more sturdy than for the other sapients or the few Seconds that entered my land. I have nothing to fight the Orc, the crabs are useless and my other creatures are weaker. So now that he¡¯s accompanied by an even stronger presence Whatever I send to them will be more than useless. I have only two choices if I want to survive this. Hiding long enough that they will leave the place. But they are pirates and have smelt the opportunity to make fortune by using me, they could decide to look after me for months. And that leads to the second option, bribing them. I¡¯m a dungeon, I can make treasure and prove that I¡¯m more valuable alive than dead. Maybe I can convince them to let me be in peace here. If I play it right I could even get a profit of the situation. I¡¯m a rogue dungeon like they¡¯re saying, and I¡¯m also a sapient one. --- Lo keeps examining his surrounding and points to the mountain. ¡°I think the dungeon¡¯s core is in this direction, the mana in the air seems to come from that mountain.¡± ¡°We attack.¡± Declares Gormkar. ¡°No my dear, we go cautiously, the dungeon could have some surprises for us.¡± As if those words were a sign the ground starts to shake around the two men. In front of them and in direction of the mountain, a big stone tablet rose from the ground. It¡¯s rectangular, two meters wide and three meters hide and completely black. On its surface are written white words. The pirates are taken aback by this incongruity. A dungeon that wishes to talk... ¡°Greetings mortals. I have ascertained your strength and have decided to spare your lives. I will provide you great wealth in if you leave the island and let go of the slaves you¡¯ve captured willingly. If you refuse I will unleash my wrath upon you.¡± After a necessary time to read the message three times and accept the fact that the dungeon has sprouted a stone tablet to talk the captain asks his first question. ¡°You¡¯re the dungeon?¡± New words appear under the first sentences. ¡°Yes, I am.¡± ¡°And you can write?¡± "Yes, I can.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m sapient.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°It is not of your concern how I¡¯ve come to sentience. Now begone and release the slaves.¡± This situation was so unexpected for the captain that it took those few questions for his brain to start functioning well again. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± ¡°What? Don''t you believe I¡¯m a sapient dungeon? Or you don¡¯t believe that it¡¯s not of your concern how I come to be?¡± ¡°No, I believe you of those points. But I don¡¯t believe you when you say you¡¯ll ¡®unleash your wrath upon us¡¯ if we don¡¯t leave the place. You¡¯re trying to scare and bye us at the same time. Only desperate people do that. I think you¡¯re afraid of us and want us to leave as soon as possible so you can prepare for when we¡¯ll come back, or for who will come after us. Because it¡¯s obvious that if we¡¯re leaving people will come, either us, to capture more islanders, or one church or another for destroying a rogue dungeon like you. No, you¡¯re desperate. And smart. You know we can easily beat whatever you can send at us and that we won¡¯t leave this place before making fortune now that we know there is a dungeon there. You can even guess we¡¯ll come back to scavenge you. So you took a gamble and try to spook us away, but it doesn¡¯t work. Now I want you to know that I don¡¯t want to sell you out to the authorities, I think I could make much more profit by working with you. You could even make profit for yourself. I¡¯m ready to bargain. So what will it be? Will you trade with me? Or will you ¡®unleash your wrath?¡± Silence. There is a deafening silence after the pirate captain¡¯s speech. The dungeon is coming to sense with the fact that his ruse was so easily destroyed and Gormkar is looking strangely at his captain. ¡°You don¡¯t want to kill me?¡± ¡°No, I want to work with you, and to prosper thanks to you.¡± ¡°And you won¡¯t sell me out?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a pirate, I won¡¯t sell you out as long as it more profitable for me to keep you secret.¡± ¡°I can trust that, a pirate thirst for gold. But can I trust your drunken crew into a tavern?¡± ¡°No, you can¡¯t trust them, they won¡¯t be able to shut their mouth about your existence. But you can trust me to take care of that problem.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t truly have a choice now that you know about me. I should have stayed silent.¡± ¡°And I would have look for you inside the mountain, I can make my way through it if I want, I¡¯m a Third.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was fearing.¡± ¡°So here are my terms. You¡¯ll create enough gold, silver and precious stones to fill my ships¡¯ holds each time I visit. You¡¯ll install a hiding creek in the mountain for my fleet, so I¡¯ll be able to hide it there if needed. As long as we¡¯re here you¡¯ll provide us with quality products to eat and drink and refill our stocks. If they are survivors of my crew in your domain, you¡¯ll free them immediately. The Marms will serve us when we¡¯ll be on the island. And you¡¯ll serve as training ground for my men. Oh, and I also reserve the right to add stuff to the list. On my side, I will provide you with some things I want you to be able to replicate.¡± ¡°Some of the things you¡¯re asking are ok, but others are too much from me. - Wealth and food. Ok. - A hiding and resting place. Ok. - Freeing the survivors. Impossible, there are no survivors. - Enslaving the Marms. Not ok. - Adding whatever request you want in the future. Not ok, we''ll have to discuss each addition. And you¡¯re not providing me enough stuff. I want: - All the slaves free, the Marms and those already on your boat. - Keeping my cover with the Marms. - Creatures and plants that I can¡¯t naturally find on the island. - As much secrecy as possible about me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m certain that you have captured some members of my crew, and I¡¯m willing to trade them for the Marms I¡¯ve captured. Bringing you new stuff is a given if I want you to make more of them. But I can¡¯t see why I should free the other slaves or why the Marms could not serve us? And what is that about a cover?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve grown quite fond of the Marms and they think I¡¯m their Goddess, I¡¯ll need you to make them believe that a God - the husband of their Goddess would be a good idea - has trade with you, not a dungeon. If you want servants, give me the other slave, and I¡¯ll make them into servants for you and your crew when you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget to free my men.¡± ¡°I won''t. Leave the village and the Marms there. Take your boats and come to the west side of the island, I¡¯ll open for you a hidden creek, there we¡¯ll exchange your captured crew members and the wealth I promised against the slave you still have on board.¡± ¡°Deal, see you soon.¡± ¡°Stop! Hruin! She alive?¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°One of my crew members, she¡¯s a Human woman and a Second too. She¡¯s one of my most capable officers and Gormkar here has a crush on her. Is she part of your captor?¡± ¡°Ho, her. Yes, she¡¯s alive and well. She¡¯s the smartest of the bunch.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good news.¡± After this impromptu bargain, the two pirates went back to their ships and started to keep their part of the agreement. --- I destroy the stone tablet as I don¡¯t want the Marms to stumble upon it one day. I don¡¯t know if I make good terms on the bargain. I could probably have been smarter, but I was not in a position of power there. I will have to wait what I will get fro it and what I will be able to do with that. I¡¯ll have to pay a tribute to a pirate and arrange a hiding place for him. I don¡¯t really like that, but I think it could provide me with some interesting information on the world¡¯s situation. I also have to give away my test subjects, but I will have some other to take their place, so that¡¯s good. And the Marms will be free, lot of them have died, been raped or tortured, but none of them will be taken out of the island. I sent some birds to spy on the pirates and look as they¡¯re leaving. Chapter 19 - The pirates departure. In the Marms village is a lot of confusion. The pirates are reluctantly gathering the islanders on the beach. ¡°Why are we doing this again?¡± Asks one of the raiders to a comrade. ¡°Because the captain said so.¡± ¡°But why did he gave this order?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Go and ask him if you want to know this much¡± The Marms on their side are fearing for themselves and trying to tend to the wounded among them. ¡°Why are they gathering us here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe they¡¯ll going to kill us.¡± ¡°Why bother gathering us for that? They could do it anywhere.¡± ¡°It seems their captain is the one who ordered this, they don¡¯t seem to know why.¡± ¡°Please¡­ kill me¡­¡± One of the Marms ask the others, she¡¯s a young one that the pirates have used a lot. ¡°Shhh, sleep and rest, I won¡¯t let them take you back. I promise.¡± Answers an old one. Ones all the surviving Marms are on the beach the pirate¡¯s captain approaches and stands between them and the village. His officers behind him. ¡°You are lucky! There is a powerful entity on this island, and he cares for you. He bargained for us to release you and we accepted. I won¡¯t tell you exactly what he offers us to free you, but we accept. You are now free, but be warned, if you raised a finger against us, we will kill you all and I will personally search and destroy him. I have the power to do so.¡± Lo walks to the side of a stone house and give it a simple punch. The stones break and the house crumbles. ¡°I am a Third, and I have the power to kill everything on this island. I could raze the mountain to the ground and kill the entities living there. So don¡¯t provoke me.¡± The Blood Ram turns to his men and talks to them. ¡°Okay guys, we¡¯re leaving! Let¡¯s go!¡± A few minutes later, while the pirates are leaving the village some of them go and ask the officers on their respective ships to explain the decision of their chief. ¡°You know him, he told us almost nothing. He made a deal with the what was reported to be a dungeon to free the Marms and we¡¯re going on the other side to receive whatever we¡¯re getting out of this deal. Go ask Gormskar for more if you want, he was with the captain.¡± ¡°Yeah, no. I don¡¯t want his fist on my face.¡± --- Hruin¡¯s meditation is broken by a sound of moving stone, a rush of fresh air and a ray of light on her closed eyelids. She opens her eyes and looks at the walls. There is an opening on one of them and light and moving air are coming from it. Hruin stands up and stretches out, then she carefully walks to the opening. She can see a long corridor that reaches a staircase on one side and a dead end on the other side. On the corridor are other openings and through them are walking some other forms, she can recognize some of her crewmates. All of them are bruised and scratched and looked tired and beaten. The pirates are looking at each other, each time one of them leave his cell the opening closes itself behind, forcing them to stay in there. ¡°What is that? Where are we?¡± Asks one of them. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but we don¡¯t truly have a choice. We can stay here or go up the stairs.¡± Answers Coslo, one of the two officers in this place. ¡°We should go up.¡± Adds Hruin. Colso nods and starts to walk to the stairs. The six other pirates follow him. ¡°The corridor¡¯s closing behind us.¡± One of the pirates informs the other. ¡°That¡¯s freaky.¡± Hruin annoyingly looks at him. ¡°Shut up and walk in silence. We don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going to encounter up there. So, focus on your senses.¡± Three hours of silent, boring and nerve-wracking stair climbing later the pirates found themselves at the top of the stairs. There is a wooden door. Motioning the men to stay silent Hruin sticks her ear to the door and listens. ¡°I hear nothing.¡± She whispers. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s nothing on the other side. Be wary.¡± She puts her hand on the handle and opens the door. On the other side of it is a gigantic cavern with a lake of at least three hundred meters length and fifty meters wide. They¡¯re in the middle of a side of the lake, near a lot of houselike structures of different sizes. And enough docks to moor at least ten ships. ¡°It looks like a mountain village.¡± ¡°Did you see the opening over there?¡± Asks a pirate while pointing to the right side of the lake where an opening big enough to let pass two galleons is letting enter the light of the sun.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Where are we? Why are we here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. And stop asking stupid questions.¡± ¡°Look at the lights, they¡¯re the same as in the tunnel back there. And there bats sleeping on the roof.¡± ¡°And look in the water, there are a lot of fish. And over there, fruit trees and a river.¡± ¡°Good, I was hungry.¡± PWWOOOOOOOHHH!!!!!!! A foghorn resonates in the cave, making the pirates look back to the entrance of the cave. The arrival of their ships is a great reassurance for them, they¡¯ll be saved. The seven free pirates wave to their crewmates on the ships and run to the docks. All the ships are moored and the pirate captain is standing on his ship¡¯s bow, ready to give his crewmen some explanations. ¡°Alright guys, calm down! We¡¯re here ¡®cause I made a deal with an entity living on this island.¡± ¡°The dungeon?¡± Interrupts one the newest crewmembers. ¡°No, not the dungeon, but the something controlling it.¡± Lo answers with a sigh. ¡° Now don¡¯t interrupt me again. It¡¯s a young dungeon, but a powerful one, I could defeat the dungeon and kill its master. But, like you can guess, I¡¯m the only one who could do that. And this it is smart enough to know that, so it bargained for his life.¡± The crew is mumbling, wondering what the entity had to offer for its life. ¡°We¡¯re going to sell it the slaves we have on board. And it will force the dungeon to produce gold, silver and other stuff for us. Its payment should be ready and waiting for us to pick it up in the warehouses in here. So take the prisoners out of the ships and search for the treasure.¡± --- When the last pirate ship leaves the cave and the cove I quickly raised back the reefs I had put down earlier. I also lower the cave entrance, only allowing water to flow beneath it, with fish and crabs of course. The bats can fly through small cracks in the rock. I have gained a lot of test subjects for my experiments, and even if they are not in individual cells, they¡¯re locked in the cave. I let them alone for now, I have urgent things to do. I open the Marms¡¯ cave and let them free, they can wonder on their island safely now. Then I start to claim the rest of the island, the land under the sea up to one hundred meters so I can raise a reef all around the island and claim the water inside and all the animals and plants on the island or in the water inside the reef. It will take me a few days to do it. I have a few bugs and rats on the pirate ships, some of the bugs already came back and I learned that they¡¯re planning to come back in five months. That¡¯s the time I have to find a way to grow strong enough to beat the captain or at least to fight him on an equal footing. But I don¡¯t lure myself, he will come back with a stronger crew and I won¡¯t be able to deal with them in the same way I did with the others. Another possibility is that my next visitors won¡¯t be as ready to deal with me as the pirates were. I must change the island in a stronghold. That¡¯s why I raise reef all around it and try to summon a fog around it, it¡¯s easy to do but hard to maintain, a simple wind can blow it away. The plan is to hide the island in the fog and wrecked the enemy ships on the reef. Unfortunately, the pirates are too good navigators and sailors and will be able to spot it. Their captain will be able to reach the island no matter what I throw at him, if I want to face him, I¡¯ll have to do it on land, with strong servants. --- Two days after the events, in the Marms¡¯ village. The villagers are working to rebuild some of the destroyed buildings and are taking care of those still under shock. A few of them have come back from the forest after managing to live there on their own. The villagers talk between them and exchange hypothesis. The two new chiefs of the village, the shaman Klopri and Klamtu - the newly appointed Goddess¡¯ priestess - are discussing. ¡°Do you feel it? The Goddess domain is extending through the forest.¡± Said the shaman. ¡°Yes, I feel it. It seems like she wants to expand her area of influence, she must want to protect us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure of her goodwill yet.¡± ¡°She managed to repel the pirates.¡± ¡°No, from what the pirates said to the other, it wasn¡¯t her. It was some masculine entity. And it was through some sort of barter between the life of our brethren and something else. Do you know of a male counterpart of the Goddess?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember, but I¡¯ll search through the village archives and ask the other elder if they know something. It could also be a trick from the pirates.¡± ¡°It would not surprise me.¡± ¡°But we have other things to do than talk about the Goddess. We must take care of the village and rebuild everything. I will continue taking care of the wounded and the traumatized and you will keep taking care of the work.¡± --- Under the mountain, is my new and underground village known by almost no one. It is completely made out of stone and the cubic houses are austerely furnished, with unmovable stone beds, stone tables without chairs and a bit of luxury in the fact that all houses have toilets with flowing water. Even if I don¡¯t want to make the slaves comfy, I don¡¯t want them to dirty my domain too much. There is a river flowing through the village and discharging the waste of the inhabitants in the lake, where it will be useful to the growth of the algae. At the water¡¯s edge are growing a lot of diversified fruit trees pollinated by my bees. Through the river and the lake are swimming all kinds of fishes and walking different kinds of crabs. I can see and understand that the ¡®inhabitants¡¯ of the village are still wondering what will happen to them, they¡¯re numbering just under the hundred - 97 to be precise - and were all slaves, they are mostly young woman, as they would have reached a higher price on the slave market, but there are some men. Some of them have heard that they have been sold to some strange entity living on the island but nothing more. I¡¯m not surprised that they are frightened by the situation. Now that the expansion of my domain through the island have started, I can put back my attention on my new test subjects. Their first test is to free themselves from their shackles. The pirates let them chained to each other¡­ The first thing I need to do with them is to find a way to claim them as my own. The fact that they are eating, breathing and drinking stuff infuse with my mana will probably ease my attempts to do so, like for the animals. I think the harder part will be to break through their bubbles of mana. The former slaves¡¯ ones are even stronger than most of the Marms¡¯, I think it¡¯s due to the fact the Marms were unconsciously weakening it a bit as they were believing to be in their Goddess domain, while the test subjects are wary about their environment. When I¡¯ll succeed in claiming them I¡¯ll be able to see if the fact they are sapient modifies things in how I can access and manipulate their minds. After all, they have much more complicated minds and brains than the animals. If I can control them I will make strong and intelligent fighters out of them and they¡¯ll become my last line of defense against invaders, mostly against the pirates¡¯ captain if I can strengthen them enough before his return. If I can¡¯t control them, I still have ideas about how to use them. Some of them in particular. I already noticed that when a creature gives birth to an offspring, it is already mine and even if the parent wasn¡¯t mine, the child is easier to claim. And some of the former slaves are pregnant. I think that some of the Marms are also with child. The children should be easier to claim, manipulate and shape their bodies and their minds to my likings. Chapter 20 - Lucia. She doesn¡¯t have her tools. With them, she could try to free herself. But she had lost them and now she¡¯s chained with other peoples, in a cave. Two months ago Lucia was a free girl, living a hard life in the street of Chalop, a small city in Drongard. Like most of the orphan girls in this town, she had a choice to make, selling her body or stealing. She chose the latter. But she wasn¡¯t dexterous enough to be a pickpocket. Oh, she could snatch a purse or two from drunkards, but nothing more, each time she tried for better purses, she ended up beaten. After a few beatings, she concluded she wasn¡¯t trying again at it, and she was totally against the idea of selling her charms. Plus the only clients she would find with her young body were of the worst kind. The only people she could try to bully were so young it wasn¡¯t worth the effort, or the occasional beating from an older sibling or other kinds of protector those lucky bastards sometimes had. Fortunately, her small body was able to slip in tiny places and she was handy enough to pick simple locks. So she became a housebreaker. She would look for a house with at least two stories and wait for the owners to go to sleep upstairs. Then she would picked the lock the backdoor and search on the first floor for everything small and valuable she could snatch. It was enough to fill her belly and buy new clothes from time to time. Unfortunately, two months ago she picked the wrong target. She had carefully watched this building, a small leather shop. Each day, the owner would work on his leather, creating shoes, belts, and other leather stuff. Each night he would go to sleep. On the third night of her surveillance, she decided to strike. She picked the backdoor''s lock and start to search for the gold. She also thought it would be a good idea to steal some new shoes and gloves. She was too taken up rummaging in the store¡¯s shoes that she didn¡¯t hear the man approaching her from behind. She only felt the club hitting her on the back of her head. She woke up the next day chained in a dark basement. Immediately she reached for her tools in her tunic, but they were not there, she left them on the table near the back door of the store. It wasn¡¯t that bad, she had a spare set in her boots, boots she removed to try new ones. This was bad, she had no means to free herself. She passed four days in the basement with other street children, chained like her, scared and crying like her. They only had one meal by day, a bit of bread and a little of water. Then the pirates came and took them away. They chained them in the lower deck before aligning every girl and women on the main deck ware a lot of pirates were looking at them, lust in their eyes and wicked smiles on their faces. A woman walked to them and started to examine each one of the captives, she would declare them virgin or not. Each time the woman was declaring a prisoner a virgin the crew whined and the girl would be taken back inside the ship. The ones declared non-virgin were lead to the stern under the cheers of the crewmen. When Lucia¡¯s turn came she was frightened and crying all the tears of her body, but in silence, other prisoners had been beaten for being too loud, one even died and she was smart enough to learn the lesson. She felt the unfriendly fingers of the rude woman finding their way between her legs. She knew she was a virgin, but she was still afraid of not being categorized as one by the pirate woman. Fortunately, she thought, she was indeed recognized and declared as one of the few virgins. When she was lead down, with the other virgins, she felt a bit relieved, she would not be raped by the pirates, a virgin could be sold at a higher price so the crewmen would make do with the non-virgins, and she would probably have better treatment, to not lower her value. But soon after she thought of what kind of men could buy a virgin girl like her. She was not a beauty, but she was rather cute, and her frail and petite body could attract the attention of the most wicked men. Fear came back stronger in her mind. During the two months of travel, other slaves joined her group at irregular intervals. Then came a time when the pirates take back the newest prisoners, some kind of small and fluffy beast-girls they had just brought. Unlike usual, the ships sailed without addition to the cargo. Some hours later, they moored anew. Like all the future slaves Lucia was wondering what was happening, never before the pirates had taken back prisoners out of the virgins¡¯ group or sailed for so little time. Was it the moment they were going to be sold? Lucia started to cry again, she hadn¡¯t cried in the last few days and was starting to believe she was out of tears. The pirates came and took the girls out, they lead them with the other slaves in a troglodyte village and abandoned them there, still chained. Now Lucia is crying. She¡¯s hungry and thirsty. She¡¯s afraid and tired. She¡¯s certain she will die soon. She looks around at the other captives and sees something that could be helpful. ¡°Hey, you.¡± She whispers to a girl next to her. Some of the girls look at Lucia, including the one she¡¯s talking to. ¡°Yes, you, the blondie.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°M¡­ m¡­ me?¡± The blonde girl stutters. ¡°Is that thing a metal hairpin?¡± ¡°W¡­ what?¡± ¡°In your hair. Is that a hairpin?¡± ¡°Y¡­ Yes.¡± ¡°And is it metal?¡± ¡°Y¡­ yes i¡­ it is.¡± ¡°Why are you asking that?¡± Asks one of the few man chained here and following the conversation, like those not to occupy to cry themselves to sleep. ¡°Because, if she can give it to me, I can try to open those shackles.¡± Responds Lucia. ¡°What are you? A burglar?¡± ¡°Yes, I was. So I know how to open a lock without the key, but I need something to do it. And that hairpin could do the trick.¡± Lucia sais to the man. ¡°So give it to me.¡± She adds in direction of the blonde girl. ¡°You think we¡¯re going to trust you? You just admit being an outlaw.¡± Interferes the man. ¡°Now shut up, you dumb fuck. You don¡¯t know her, we don¡¯t know you, nobody knows nobody here. And if you¡¯re afraid of a little girl that can pick a lock, you should be more afraid of me.¡± A tall and heavily bruised woman intervenes a big smile on her face, showing sharps teeth. ¡°Not, sweet pea, please give the little fox over her your hairpin.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me like that! You whore!¡± Responds the man. ¡°Y¡­ yes h¡­ he¡­ here.¡± Says the blonde girl reaching for the hairpin and handing it to Lucia. ¡°No!¡± Screams the man, throwing himself in the way, pulling the slaves chained to him and sending the hairpin away. Everybody look at the man in disbelief, then start to scream at him. ¡°That¡¯s it, you¡¯re dead!¡± Yells the sharp teeth woman throwing herself at him and biting him in his neck. She pulls at it and tears its throat open. The man slowly dies, losing blood and drowning in it. Just a few seconds after that, another man reach for the fallen hairpin and hand it to Lucia. ¡°He was a dick anyway, always lamenting about how it was unfair to be chained with us, that his father would not let this unpunished and all, only shutting up when the pirates were there. My names Jack, and you?¡± ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m Lucia. T¡­ thanks.¡± Lucia¡¯s still a bit shaken by the sudden death of the stupid man, but she starts to work on the lock of her shackles. A few hours later all the ninety-six slaves have their hands and feet free from the chains. And the dead moron is swimming with the fishes. --- I¡¯m rather glad about the outcome. Out of the ninety-seven test subjects I got. One is dead, giving me a bit of pleasure rush, he wasn¡¯t as good as the pirates, but it was still pleasant to feel. Two have made a good impression on me, the young Lucia and Mililaria are resourceful enough, they¡¯re the ones who managed to free all of them. And the last one, the man named Jack, shows some talents at leading the group, he organized some of them to take care of the most wounded, some other to gather food and a last bach to searched the village. Lucia is a young girl, barely adult from what I understand of her conversations with the others, but she looks younger than she is. She¡¯s supposed to be sixteen and looks like a thirteen years old. Her body is pretty small and she has almost no womanly form, but her face is rather cute, with a small nose and freckles on her cheeks. She¡¯s human and has black, moderately long and messy hair and green eyes. She¡¯s resourceful and active, she¡¯s the one who made the first move to free the slaves and who managed to do it. Mililaria on her side is a perfectly formed woman, with curves where men like them. She has a finely shaped face. Her sharp teeth, slit red eyes and pointed ears indicates that she¡¯s not human, but I don¡¯t know yet what she is. I don¡¯t have the information in my reclaim or new knowledge and no one dared to ask her yet. She has a dark tone of skin that emphasized the red of her eyes and hair making her even more beautiful, the numerous bruises and grazes on her skin barely lower her beauty. Looking at her body is making me feel weird, I haven''t felt that sort of thing since a long time, even in my last life, I¡¯m a rock now, I shouldn¡¯t be able to have carnal desires, but I have some for her, it¡¯s disturbing. Jack is a gnoll. He¡¯s tall and has really broad shoulders, he¡¯s pretty muscular. I think the pirates had planned to sell him as a bodyguard or menial slave. His fur is white with black dots. He has falling hears and a short tail. It can be strange to see a gnoll leading a group of mostly human so easily, but as most of them are weak and/or young, they¡¯re not really resistant. In addition, Mililara is supporting him, reinforcing his authority. A fourth slave has caught a bit of my attention, but not in the same way as the others. Stella is the young blond girl that gave her hairpin to Lucia. She¡¯s nineteen years old and follows Lucia everywhere. Her visage could be beautiful, if not for an ugly scare barring it from the left eye to the right shoulder. She has the body of a porcelain doll and I can feel a life developing in her belly. The pirates must have played with her, she has a nice body if you can ignore the scare on her face and the multiple ones on her back. From what I understand she had a painful childhood and starts to see Lucia as a role model. The former slaves have succeeded in their first test, freeing themselves from the shackles. I will now prepare the second test. I start to dig a maze in the walls around the village. It will allow them to reach for places with fruits and vegetable of other kind and better quality than those already in their cave. I also install some treasures, like glowing stones, or tools I create out of steel. Before reaching those places they¡¯ll have to stride through the maze and kill the creatures roaming in it while avoiding simple traps. It will be like the first floor of a proper young dungeon, with weak monsters and easy traps, with time I will make it bigger, with other and more dangerous floors, for training the former slaves and making them in a defense line for me. I will also need to directly make contact with them soon, but before that, I want to single one out and try to claim it. Chapter 21 - First steps in the maze. A week after the pirates left I can see that the Marms are almost finished with the biggest works in their village. I¡¯ve almost claimed the whole island, I just need to claim the village to complete it, I will do it this night when they¡¯ll sleep and in the morning I¡¯ll claim the beds and nightclothes too. Then everything on the island will be mine, safe for the sapient beings. I see that they are preparing some kind of procession. They¡¯re going to come to me - or the statue they think is my representation - and perform some kind of ceremony. I¡¯ll take this opportunity to ¡®reveal¡¯ some ¡®holy scriptures¡¯. In fact, I¡¯ll reveal some bas-reliefs that are showing the power of the Goddess, growing plants, taking care of animals and other life-related things. I¡¯ll also reveal an entrance to a stair leading upside to a second room. The stairs have bas-reliefs showing the love relationship between the Goddess and the God. In the second room, I sculpt a masculine statue with some resemblances with the one in the Goddess temple. It stands high a sword in his right hand and a shield in the left, the statue is wearing an armored kilt and nothing else. On his face, there are three angry eyes looking down at the people in the room. In front of it is a black pedestal with the second mana stone I own and behind it is a closed blood-red door. For now, it doesn¡¯t open, but in the future, it will connect with the former slaves¡¯ dungeon, and another facility I plan to build. The room is light by red glowing stones, in less number than the ones in the Goddess room¡¯s ceiling, they¡¯re casting a faint and gloomy red light on the reflective polished stone floor. On the other side of the island, the group of test subjects is settling in. They are suffering from the lack of tools, clothes and other types of furniture and are only surviving on the few fruits growing in the location and easily fished fish and crabs that they¡¯re eating row. They¡¯re almost ready to have the maze revealed to them. The structure of the maze was quickly done, but I had to wait for some creatures to grow enough to populate it. There are three floors, with traps going from the highest to the one below or in pits, the pits aren¡¯t truly deep, but they have loose and sharps rocks at the bottom, they''re designed to injure and maim, not to kill - even if I could enjoy a death or two, for the taste of it. The entrance is on the maze¡¯s top floor, I consider it as the first floor. The dungeon¡¯s corridors are populated by bats and rats, mostly, there is also some poisonous bugs and different kinds of rodents. And they are some special areas. The first have fruit trees in it. Of course, they are more kinds of rodents and bugs in those rooms, some are here to take care of the plants, and the others for better defense, like the bombardier beetles. I didn¡¯t use this one previously because he couldn¡¯t be really useful against the pirates, with they¡¯re leather armors and fighter habits or in half submerged and sinuous tunnels. Now, against unskilled and unequipped people in wider areas, they¡¯ll be more useful, especially since the first have reproduced and its offsprings are growing bigger and stronger than him. The rewards for reaching this place are better quality food and some tools I¡¯m going to drop. The other special areas are submerged underwater and filled with fish and crabs. There the dungeon divers will be able to loot some weapons and special objects, like glowing stones of various colors. At the ¡®end¡¯ of the dungeon, the former slaves will be allowed to talk to me and ask some questions. Well, those who are able to read, I don¡¯t know how to speak yet. Modulating winds to produce sound is feasible, but making understandable words out of it? I haven¡¯t been able to make it. I will now open the access to the maze for the former slaves. Some of them are already near the fountain square, but I can operate closer to them than before. The bubble of mana they¡¯re emanating is slightly reducing each day, I think it¡¯s thanks to the fact that they are eating, drinking and breathing my mana, and bathing in it every second of their life since one week, it¡¯s starting to affect them. --- Jack wakes up feeling something¡¯s different in the air. The air in this cave is strange, but this time there is something more. He sniffs but can¡¯t smell anything he hadn¡¯t smell in the past few days. Leaving his house he sees that he¡¯s not the only one to have felt it. In the street of the village, other former slaves are walking and looking around. ¡°You¡¯re feeling it too?¡± Asks one of them. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s coming from the fountain¡¯s square direction.¡± Says Melinda. She¡¯s a nice twenty-five-year-old woman. Like for at least twenty other former slaves women, Jack can smell she¡¯s pregnant, but in her case, it¡¯s obvious she was pregnant before being captured by the slaves. She had lost two children and her husband when the pirates took her and she¡¯s now taking care of the youngest pregnant girls. As the major part of the woman, she¡¯s rather good-looking, especially her big breasts, she has the biggest bust of all and Jack loves big boobs. And she smells good and clean. Jack and some others walk to the square where the water flows from the wall and then through a stream to the closed sea. When at the square, Jack can feel that the strange feeling is getting stronger and stronger the more his closing to the fountain and the more people are gathering there. He walks near to Mililara in order to ask her if she knows anything about the situation, but before he can reach her, Lucia and Stella arrive at the place. And at this exact moment, the earth shakes. Some people run away from the square, but not Jack. He has too much courage in him to flee. He moves between the remaining crowd and the fountain as he sees it moving. The Fountain is moving, the source of the water is going down the wall and moving on the floor, the people are moving out of its way. Then it settles in the middle of the square and starts to grow to make a new fountain, one with a deep basin in it, the fish and crabs don¡¯t seem to care about the change as they are still wandering aimlessly in the water. Jack looks at the place of the former fountain and sees a big door there. Two big panels of stone with scriptures on it.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Can someone read that?¡± Asks Jack to the few people still around. ¡°Nope, sorry.¡± Answers Mililara. This woman is a fierce one, she earned Jack¡¯s respect on the first day of their arrival in the cave. There is something spicy in her smell than pleases Jack. ¡°Me neither.¡± Adds Lucia. This little girl is not yet a woman, Jack can smell it. ¡°I¡­ I can.¡± Says Stella. Jack would not have bet on her still being there, but the girl¡¯s following Lucia like her shadow. Unfortunately, this one is a woman, a pregnant one, from the smell and the flatness of her belly, she probably doesn¡¯t know yet that the pirates have left her in this condition. Jack already talked with Melinda about that and she asked him to not tell the girl yet. ¡°Then please do sweaty.¡± Melinda encourages her. ¡°I¡­ it says-¡± ¡°¡®If you¡¯re brave enough. If you¡¯re curious enough. Enter the Maze. Find treasures. Find answers.¡¯ What is it, some kind of weird dungeon?¡± Interrupts a tall man. Jack doesn¡¯t like him, he smells like swamps and his skin looks gritty. And his name¡¯s Grundy, who''s named Grundy? But he is strong and could be reliable in a fight. Everyone looks at him, surprised to hear him read the inscription. ¡°What? I can read too.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it a dungeon, but we need to go in and see.¡± Says Jack. ¡°I agree. But who will go?¡± Asks Mililara. ¡°I volunteer, but we can¡¯t all go in.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, some of us need to stay and take care of those who still need it. But if the ¡®treasures¡¯ it talks about can help us, then we must go in.¡± Says Melinda. ¡°I¡¯ll go too.¡± Intervenes Jack. ¡°Grundy, will you come? You''re big and strong, you could be useful.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll come.¡± --- Two hours later the people composing the exploration team are standing in front of the maze¡¯s entrance. They are ready to enter my maze. I look at them, recalling what I learned about each of them. The leaders of the group are Mililara and Jack. They¡¯re accompanied by Grundy, two other men, and one other woman. Grundy is looking like some sort of rough human, he has a grey and gritty skin. He¡¯s tall, strong and sturdy, I think he has some Trolls in his closed ancestors. From what I¡¯ve heard, he was born in slavery and the pirates had simply bought him. He¡¯s used to following orders but not quick to do so. The other men are brothers, Mickel and Charles, they are short and slander for humans and can move quickly. They seem able to work good in tandem. But I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be able to do really good. The last member of the group is a rarity. A female dwarf. By this simple fact, she would have reached a high price on the slave market. Dwarves rarely go out of their mountains¡¯ tunnels if not for the outcasts or for settling a Grudge. Dwarves are known to hold grudges for generation and to be particularly stubborn and strong-willed. Female ones are almost never seen outside dwarven cities. I don¡¯t know her name, she never speaks, only responding by some grumbling to questions. The other tried to make her talk or not come but when she sent Grundy on his butt by punching him in his manly parts, they accepted her in the group without more complains. She¡¯s wearing her long and pitch black hairs in two tightly braids tied together on her back, her beard his as black as her hair but it is rather short for a dwarf, even for a woman. I think the pirates shaved her, but it could be more complicated if she¡¯s an outcast. All of them are wearing rags and have taken some of the chains they were tied up with to use as weapons. I¡¯m pleasantly surprised to see them use the marks of their captivity like that. --- ¡°Hrmpf.¡± Makes Franziska, raising her closed left fist over her shoulder. ¡°What?¡± Says the big and stupid man. He¡¯s named Grundy, but she doesn¡¯t really care about his name, just about the noise he¡¯s making. Franziska turns around, looks angrily at him and put a finger to her lips. ¡°She means to stay silent.¡± Whispers Mililara. She has a bit a respect for that woman, she can do what is necessary when it¡¯s needed, and she¡¯s smarter than Grundy, she¡¯s not bad for a tall person. The dwarf looks back in front of the tunnel, pointing to a small crack in the wall. The dogman, or whatever the name of his race, walks to it and sniffs it. ¡°Rats, mice, voles, and rabbits. Lots of rats. The hole is empty, but it¡¯s recent.¡± He says, keeping his voice low. Franziska never thought about it, but having someone with such a good nose can be useful under the earth. Particularly when the tunnels under aren¡¯t natural, like those ones, they¡¯ve clearly been dug out for someone with an experienced eye like her. Tunnels with natural lighting on the roof aren¡¯t naturals, everyone could see that part, but there are other clues that the rest of group is missing. When the group decides to move again the rodents make their moves. They jump at the wannabe adventurers, claws and fangs out. The group moves immediately, they were expecting some kind of attack and weren¡¯t surprised. But they are not used to fight with chains as weapons and in tunnels. As they are slashing at the rodents with their chains, they hit each other more often than they hit the beasts, fortunately for them, they are more sturdy and can withstand some blows while each creature dies in one hit. Soon the fight is finished and each of the former slaves look bruised and scratched and is panting heavily. ¡°Huf. We need to take care to not hitting ourselves next time. Mainly you, Grundy, you hit really hard and almost broke my arm.¡± Says the dogman, holding his right arm in his left hand. ¡°Sorry.¡± "Hrm." Makes Franziska, showing to the stupid tall people how she coils her chains around her fist and arms. She punches a wall to shows how it''s more useful and less dangerous for your friend than slashing them around. ¡°Anyway. We need to keep going and take the corps. I don¡¯t fancy rat meat, but in a stew, with the other rodents it would be a good change.¡± Says Mickel. ¡°And how will you cook your stew?¡± Asks him his brother, with a smirk on his face. ¡°Shut up fucker.¡± ¡°No, you, shut up.¡± ¡°Both of you, keep quiet. We¡¯re going. Maybe will find something to make fire further in.¡± Says Mililara, stopping the friendly argument between the two brothers. ¡°I hope we don¡¯t encounter something stronger than rats.¡± Adds Charles before grabbing one of the dead rats and putting it at his belt. ¡°Don¡¯t raise those flags, dumbass!¡± ¡°Seriously, keep quiet you two, or go back!¡± Barks in the big dog, making even more noise than the two brothers together, but managing to make them stop talking. Chapter 22 - First loot. I¡¯m looking at the ¡®adventurers¡¯ as they¡¯re entering the first room of the maze. It is not one of the special areas I¡¯ve prepared for them, just a widening of the corridor. Here they¡¯ll get their first rewards if you don¡¯t take into account the corpses they gather and the mana they absorb when killing a creature. The creatures here won¡¯t be stronger, but there will be more of them. The people wandering the maze are beginning to grasp how to use their weapon, there are less and less friendly-fire and each of their strikes deal more damage to the small critters living in the maze. Here they are, getting in the room, they stop and look at the place. It¡¯s the first time they have a choice of direction, going right or left. As they¡¯re starting to discuss the options I send the rats at them. Each time they suffer a cut I receive some mana escaping their bodies, the taste is making me tempted to send too many creatures for them to handle and kill them. But I force my mind to satisfy itself with this little as I think of how it is a better taste to have them die peacefully. Anyway, they made a quick job getting rid of the rats. Maybe too easy, I¡¯ll maybe have to make the next floors harder. The first must stay easy, to help the weak get stronger and allow them to get some loot. Speaking of loot, I drop it on the ground, there is not much and it¡¯s of the lowest quality, but it will still be helpful for my future people. I give them one object by creatures they killed in this room and look with amusement at their puzzled faces as they¡¯re gathering the loot. ¡°What is that? A fork?¡± Asks Jack. ¡°And here, a spoon. Dwarf, it is iron, right?¡± Adds Grundy. ¡°Hrumpf.¡± She makes. ¡°Plain and simple iron, yes. Did you see the knives? They¡¯re so small you can¡¯t seriously use them as weapons. And the tip is round, I¡¯ve never seen a rounded tip knife before.¡± Answers the Gnoll instead of the dwarf. ¡°It¡¯s because they¡¯re not supposed to serve as weapons, those are table knives.¡± Explains Mililara to her comrades. ¡°It¡¯s used by the nobility and the wealthy. But what is really surprising me is the fact that those objects appeared out of thin air, just like that.¡± ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve heard of that.¡± Starts to explain Charles. ¡°Dungeons do that to lure people in, it¡¯s the loot.¡± ¡°Usually, it¡¯s better than that, at least if we¡¯re to believe the stories our grand-da¡¯ told us.¡± Completes his brother. Hey, if you want better loot, you¡¯ll have to go deeper. It may be easy for me to make it - I had plenty of practice creating the pirates¡¯ treasure - but I won¡¯t hand it over easily anymore. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ve made the count.¡± Says Jack after a bit. ¡°We have four forks, three knives, five spoons, five nails and seven copper coins. It¡¯s not much, but it¡¯s a start.¡° ¡°Grumph.¡± Makes the dwarf, I feel like I¡¯m being insulted there. After a few remarks from the other members of the party about how I¡¯m a cheap tightwad - just go deeper in the maze you ungrateful little brats - the group chooses to go further in the left tunnel. Two hours later, and after some more ironware, the group is ready to enter the first special area they encounter. It¡¯s a big room with grass and flowers growing on the ground and an apple tree in the middle, beside the tree is a small pond and between its roots is a chest. I¡¯ve also put a big stone that procures a clear light. When the former slaves enter the room they¡¯re startled to see it, after all, they haven''t seen grass, or flowers since numerous weeks. They are also surprised to hear the sound of bugs buzzing around. After some time looking around and exchanging exclamations about the place they walk further in, and I unleash the creatures waiting there. The group is attacked by a number of rats and other rodents, but also by birds, bats, and two bombardier beetles. It¡¯s a hard fight for them, they¡¯re not completely used to their weapons yet and it¡¯s the first time they''re attacked by flying creatures. I could be coordinating the rats¡¯ attacks with the bats¡¯ ones to have greater chances to pass the peoples¡¯ guards, but I restrain myself, this will be done on other floors. The fight goes on for five minutes before the ¡®adventurers¡¯ finish the last creature and I deliver the loot. It¡¯s the same kind as previously, but I had some bowls and plates this time. When they open the chest, they find an empty backpack, some blankets a small hammer and a hunting knife. It¡¯s the first real weapon I gave them and the hammer can be used as one, even if it¡¯s not a big one.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. --- Melinda didn¡¯t wait for Jack¡¯s group to come out of the dungeon, she had to take care of the few people still unable to do it by themselves. It was no easy task to do with nothing else than her bare hands to prepare the food and a few rags for the rest. And only three people to help her. She was taking a break when she heard the news, they were back. She ran in the streets, along with other former slaves, to see them, feeling stress growing in her belly at the idea they may not have all come back. But she was relieved to see they were all alive. Jack¡¯s group had been absent for seven hours in total. They come back with goods news, and not so good ones. First, the creatures on the first floor of the maze are weak, but they are numerous. So there is no real danger unless your careless and other groups can enter it without too much worry. Second, there are some places where the rodents are stronger or more numerous. But at those places, the dungeon gives away some kind of rewards. That¡¯s what interests Melinda, the wares and the blankets, with that she will be able to take better care of the needy. The weapons are good too, but it is not really interesting for her. Third, there are resources in the dungeon. Fruits, herbs, and vegetables to be harvest in some areas. The creatures¡¯ corpses can be used too, to produce meat, leather and bone tools or jewels. Fourth, the dungeon gives away money. Not much, only copper coins, but Melinda and others are wondering what kind of economy they can build over here. Does it count on the ones who are diving in the maze to pay for the other for services? And them to pay back the divers for materials and tools only found in it? Fifth, Jack¡¯s group hadn¡¯t explored all of the floors. They wander in it but didn¡¯t manage to find a way down. It means the maze is too big to be explored in one day and the explorers will need to prepare for long journeys. A lot of people want to dive in the dungeon, but right now all of them are pretty tired after waiting all the ¡®day¡¯ for Jack¡¯s group to do so. And their return should call for celebration, but unfortunately, they have nothing to prepare a feast, so they just cheer loudly and eat fruits and row fishes. --- I must admit it¡¯s nice to see the former slaves rejoice like that. But it¡¯s a bit sad they have almost no diversity on the tables. Well, as they¡¯ll go deeper in the maze they¡¯ll be able to better furnish their tables and homes. On the other side of the island, the Marms seem to have noticed the change in the air after I claimed the whole island. For most of them, it doesn¡¯t change a thing, but I can see that the ¡®priestess¡¯ is happy with the situation, if only she knew the truth about me, she wouldn¡¯t believe it. Klopri, on his side, doesn¡¯t say much about his appreciation or not of the situation, but I can see he¡¯s using the denser mana in the air at his advantage. The procession is almost ready to leave, in fact, it will start its journey tomorrow. I¡¯m eager to see it arrive in front of the ¡®Goddess¡¯¡¯ statue. Actually, they don¡¯t need to come all the way to do their offerings, but they don¡¯t know it or are pleased by the idea of going there. During the night I make the count of the creatures the group of ¡®adventurers¡¯ killed. They killed a lot of them, I was expecting this, but it means I need to find a way to speed up their reproduction. For that purpose, I choose a couple of rats copulating and infuse my mana in their sexual parts. The action accelerates and is soon over. After that, I keep focusing mana in the female rat, particularly in the uterus and in the male sperm. When the fertilization takes place and I feel the life appearing in the womb I push a bit more mana in. Some of the feeble life signs grow, starting to absorb my mana. Suddenly part of the life disappears, I suppose it¡¯s to be expected, they are so weak right now, but others start to grow, and that¡¯s more pleasing. After a few seconds of growing I remark something I wasn¡¯t expecting, some of the life signs are dividing, there is now more living little rats in the female womb than at the beginning, I stop infusing mana but take an eye on the mother. After the first one, I start experimenting with other pregnant rodents. I infuse mana in the future children and remark some things. The unborn are really more sensitive to the change in mana, it¡¯s easier to kill them if I don¡¯t take care than for the adults. But on the other side, they are absorbing my mana like dry sponges absorbing water, I have a feeling I could make a lot more changes in the appearance of my creatures if I do it before birth, particularly in the first stages of pregnancy. I already did it a bit with the crabs at the debut of my life as a dungeon. Oh! I just had an idea. I take control of a female squirrel in heat and a male bat and force them to copulate. I infuse mana in a steady way in both of them, focusing mainly on the sexual organs and wait for the miracle to happen. Victory! It worked! The squirrel is pregnant with the bat pup. I need to keep a particularly keen eye on this one. It cost me a big deal of mana, but it was nothing compared to the last time. It is far cheaper to mix mammals during the fertilization than fully grown bugs, in the future, I will only create hybrids with this method. I will also start doing more experiments on pregnant females and unborn creatures. I will also do some on the sapient ones, once I manage to claim some of them. That makes me think of something I have to test right now. I find one of the pregnant former slaves and feel for the baby, I try to push my mana gently in it, but like I thought, the mana bubble of the mother is preventing me to influence the child. I will have to wait for them to be claimed. In the waiting, I will practice on my manipulation of the babies to be born. I need to master it with the small mammals, the birds, bugs, and fishes of all kinds before starting it on bigger creatures and especially on the sapient creatures. I¡¯m starting to have plans for the Marms and the former slaves. Especially the former slaves, they are supposed to become my people and my protectors, they need to become strong, and their descendant even more as I have plans that the world will not like. Chapter 23 - Safe room. Early in the morning, the Marms¡¯ procession starts. It¡¯s composed of 54 of them, mostly young and old ones. At the head of the group is Klaatu, she looks happy to see so many of her compatriots following her. They have 3 small carts full of fruits, sea products, and small game. Klopri stays at the village, he oversees the final steps of the village reconstruction with the rest of the new council. There is only a little more than one hundred Marms staying in the village. All the survivors now have a place to live and most of the orphans are taken care of by remaining family or old Marms willing to do it. There is still a small group of 5 children that wander in the street ¡®stealing¡¯ food and blankets and sleeping in ruins. They are not really stealing as the others survivors leave food and stuff without surveillance for them. I count that among the Marms there are 3 women that are with children because of the pirates, the others pregnant ones were already like that before the raid. I will keep an eye on the ones the pirates knocked up, I have to prevent any abortion attempt as I¡¯m curious to see the results. Anyway, at its current pace, the procession won¡¯t arrive at the cave until a week, that gives me time to work on the former slaves. There are three groups of wannabe adventurers that are readying themselves to enter the maze. Jack¡¯s group and two others. The first new group is composed of 4 slim human women and one dumb looking man. I think he¡¯s only in there to gain the favor of the women of his group by protecting them with his body. The last group only have men in it. It¡¯s a bit strange when you consider that more than two third of the former slaves are women. Like the previous group, they¡¯re only planning to explore the maze for a few hours before exiting it. Jack¡¯s group on his side is planning to stay the whole day in the maze. Once inside of it, they go quickly at the start, focusing their exploration on parts of the floor they have not been yet. While they are in the maze I perform a new experiment. I roll an apple seed and a cheery one in the same hole, a tight one, then I force them to sprout. As they are growing they quickly fill the place and start to entangle themselves. I force them to grow more and use my mana to weaken the forming barks and weaken them. I keep in mind the image of the two plants merging into one and after a few minutes, it¡¯s a success. With a flash and a dent in my mana reserves, the two sprouts finally become one. Merging two plants cost me a lot less than forcing the fertilization of a squirrel by a bat. I keep pouring mana into the plant and make it grows into a flowering tree, I can see three kinds of flowers on the tree, cherries, and apples blossom, but most of the flowers are a merge of the two. I use some bees to pollinate the flowers and speed the growth of the fruits. The result is a tree bearing some apples, some cherries and a lot of fruits in between. I make some of those fruits grow into new trees and I now have a small orchard of this new kind of tree. I make some birds go into the forest to plant some of those and make them grow. I have created a new kind of plant, soon I¡¯ll have a new kind of animal. That¡¯s a start, but I need to create stronger monsters to train my future people and to defend myself. What I have now is good against untrained people. I can easily breed some of my creatures like foxes and owls to make better challenges, with a bit of work I can make dangerous opponents out of cats, rodents, bats, birds, and bugs. But I have nothing to deal with any Second that could come in, except traps. And I can¡¯t affront a Third yet. It¡¯s been almost two weeks since the pirates¡¯ raid, I still have a few months before they come back. I¡¯m in no rush, but I don¡¯t have time to lose. I must make a defense corp out of the former slaves. Speaking of which, while the two new groups advance slowly in the first floor Jack¡¯s group is nearing the room where I placed the stairs to the second floor. --- Grundy is walking with his new friends. He trusts them. They are not like his previous friends. They don¡¯t yell at him for being clumsy. They don¡¯t ask for his help without helping him in return. They may not be nice, but they respect him. He¡¯s strong, and he has a good nose, not as good as Jack¡¯s, but better than most. That¡¯s why he walks at the front of the group, to protect his friends. So when he smells something in the air he stops and warns his friends. ¡°Danger.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Asks the beautiful woman, the one with fire in her smell. ¡°Strong smell, stronger beasts in front.¡± ¡°I smell it too, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s really stronger that what we already encountered.¡± Adds Jack to this. ¡°But we should still be more careful.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Answers the two brothers. ¡°Grumpf.¡± Makes the little woman that smells like dirt. Grundy and his friends resume walking, soon they come to the entrance of a bigger room than usual. They enter the room on their guards and thanks to that and the little experience they gathered in the maze, they are not completely surprised by the attack. A bunch of the usual rodents and bugs. But this time there is a fox that tags along. This beast is using the others to hide and shield it from the adventurers'' strikes and is attacking them from behind and biting at their calves and ankles. Grundy tries to grab the fox with his big hands, but he fails each time. After his fourth tries, the fox grapes at his right arm with his maw and Grundy manages to catch the little canine with his left hand. He then hugs it tight on its chest squeezing harder and harder. Soon the fox starts to suffocate and dies just after passing out. While Grundy was hugging the fox to death his friends were finishing off the other beasts.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Search for the loot.¡± Says Jack. ¡°Grundy, come here, I¡¯ll clean your arm.¡± Calls Mililara. ¡°Good for you big guy.¡± Cheers Mickel. ¡°Enjoy it.¡± Says Charles with a wink. After the bit of time needed to gather the loot, the group gathers itself in front of the chest. ¡°It¡¯s better than usual.¡± Starts Charles. ¡°Did you see the door in the back?¡± Asks Mickel. ¡°Yes, we saw it. We¡¯ll look at it after the chest.¡± Answers Jack. Klong! Makes the bearded woman, hitting the side of the chest with her small hammer. ¡°Let me do it dear.¡± Says Mililara lowering herself in front of the chest and opening it. ¡° Let¡¯s see what we got here. A new backpack, always useful. Oh! A chainmail! What¡¯s this made off? Coper? Can it be useful? Who will get it?¡± The little bulky woman catches the chainmail from the tall woman hands and inspects it. After a few seconds, she nods her head and hands it over to the group. ¡°So? Is it good?¡± Asks Jack. The dwarf woman wiggles her hand, making Grundy¡¯s friends understand that it¡¯s not a good protection but that it¡¯s still better than nothing. ¡°The one who¡¯ll fit the best in it should have it.¡± Intervenes Charles. ¡°I agree.¡± Says his brother. ¡°What else?¡± ¡°Humm, a new hunting knife, and another hammer. Some knew blankets and a few silver coins.¡± Resumes the beautiful woman. ¡°Silver? Really? That¡¯s good, better than copper ones.¡± Comments Mickel. ¡°And this thing here.¡± Ends Mililara, showing a small and round bit of wood, it¡¯s just a bit bigger than normal pieces and it''s marked on one side with a blue sign representing a drop of water and the other the same symbol as all the pieces of money. ¡°I can feel it¡¯s kind of warm in my hand.¡± ¡°An idea of what it is?¡± Inquires Jack. ¡°A wooden piece? Something else? I don¡¯t know.¡± --- After wondering what the wooden piece is I see the group heading for the door. They inspect it and try to understand why I put a door here. After a bit of hypothesis-making, they decide to finally open it. What¡¯s behind is a simple spiral staircase leading down to the second floor. They¡¯re not sure if they should go down or exit the maze. They make the decision to go down and peek in the first room of the second floor without entering it, then leave the maze for the day. They walk slowly, wary of the environment, ready to fight back whatever could jump at them. When they reach the bottom of the stairs then found a new door and after opening it they are in front of a new kind of room. This is a safe room, a room where no monsters will attack them, a room where they can rest peacefully, a room where they can talk with me. --- Mililara and the other member of the group stand behind the door. She doesn¡¯t know what is on the other side of it, but she can feel the mana in the air is denser here than on the first floor. This mana has the same feel that everywhere in the dungeon. She always knew she was in a dungeon, it¡¯s not her first run in one, but she¡¯s wary of her companions. She thinks she can trust them on some points, like fighting at her side, or not enslaving her, but she won¡¯t tell them what and who she is. No, it¡¯s too big a secret, her lineage is dangerous. She is lucky to be here, hidden from the outside world and her family by the dungeon. She knows the dungeon musts have made a deal with the pirates for leaving them here, and she¡¯s persuaded that they will be back one day. So she¡¯s hiding to her new comrades her ability to sense mana like she did for the pirates. This capacity had always brought her pain and sorrow and she doesn¡¯t want the knowledge of her potential to spread. So, when the group is questioning if they should open the door or not, she takes the time to feel the mana on the other side. She knows there is a room, and that this room is empty of danger, but there is something strange in it. Moreover, the feeling of someone or something looking at her is back, she thinks it¡¯s the dungeon itself focusing its attention on them, but she can¡¯t be sure of it. ¡°I say we open the door and look.¡± ¡°And I say we don¡¯t.¡± When Mililara starts to follow her teammates¡¯ conversation she finds the brothers arguing while the others are still examining the door. ¡°I can smell there are living creatures on the other side, but I can¡¯t tell if they¡¯re aggressive or not.¡± ¡°I smell no danger. Only fluffy creatures.¡± ¡°Really? Neither of your noses can smell it¡¯s dangerous?¡± Asks Charles ¡°Because you have a better nose than them maybe?¡± ¡°No, but I¡¯m not stupid enough to pass that door!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t say we should pass the door, I say we should open it!¡± ¡°I think we should do it.¡± Says Mililara, stopping the arguing brothers. On those words, the dwarf put her hand on the knob and open the door, taking care of not walking through it. ¡°Hrumpf.¡± She makes. ¡°Well, now that it¡¯s done, let¡¯s take a look.¡± Through the door frame, the group can see a beautiful and bigger place than the ones they have seen upstairs. In this room are several fruit-bearing trees around a bigger pond, there are also lots of bushes with berries on them, grass growth everywhere in the room. There seem to be little wood constructions on one side of the room. And near the biggest tree is a big stone tablet with some words on it. They¡¯re looking like those at the entrance of the maze. ¡°You see that stone over there? Can someone read this from here?¡± Asks Jack. ¡°No, too far.¡± Answers Grundy. ¡°I have a good eyesight.¡± Intervenes Mickel. ¡°It says: ¡®Welcome to the first safe room. Here no harm will come to you from me. You can rest peacefully before resuming your exploration or leaving the maze.¡¯.¡± ¡°As if. It¡¯s a trap.¡± Says Charles. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like one bro. But It¡¯s too strange for me, I won¡¯t go in there.¡± ¡°Neither will I.¡± Says Jack. ¡°I don¡¯t like the smell of the situation.¡± ¡°There is a lot of place beneath the text on the stone, and the dungeon says we can have answers to our questions on its front door. I think it¡¯s the place where we will have those.¡± ¡°But what if it¡¯s a trap?¡± Asks Mickel. ¡°I have questions to ask, and I need someone to read the answers to me.¡± ¡°Me too, but we could come back tomorrow.¡± Says Jack. ¡°I¡¯ll read.¡± Says Grundi. ¡°Then come.¡± And on those words Mililara walks in the room, quickly followed by Grundy and the dwarf. ¡°Shit!¡± Barks Jack as he follows the movement. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t leave us here!¡± Exclaim the two brothers as their running behind the Gnoll. Chapter 24 - Conversation with a dungeon. The ¡®adventurers¡¯ are in the safe room, in front of my stone tablet, ready to ask me questions. I have to be careful, the outcome of this conversation is what will determine my future relationship with the former slaves. If I don¡¯t play it right, I fear I¡¯ll need to crush their will to make them mine, I¡¯ll be some kind of monster overmind and they will be nothing more than puppets. I¡¯d rather avoid this if possible. But if it goes right, I¡¯ll have a group of people willing to work for me and with me to protect myself and themselves. It could be a kind of symbiotic relationship, with mutual protection and help to grow. The people in Jack¡¯s group are looking at the stone tablet, facing the side with words on it.
Welcome to the first safe room. Here no harm will come to you from me. You can rest peacefully before resuming your exploration or leaving the maze.
They are discussing what kind of question to ask me. I¡¯m tired of listening to their discussion on the matter, so I take matters into my own hands. I carve new words on the tablet.
Stop discussing and start asking questions already. I¡¯m tired of waiting.
¡°What are you?¡± Grundy bluntly asks me.
I¡¯m a sapient rogue dungeon. I have my own free will, wishes, and aspirations.
That statement seems to make a bit of an impression on them. I know they already know I¡¯m a special dungeon, but having revealed that information is proof that I¡¯m able to discuss with them and that I want something else than killing them. ¡°How is it possible?¡± Asks Jack.
That is a secret I¡¯m not willing to share, yet.
¡°Will you kill us?¡± Carefully asks Mickel.
It depends on you. In the safe room, you are safe. In the maze, your lives will constantly be in danger. In the rest of my domain, it will depend on your actions and if you break my rules.
¡°What rules?¡± Inquires Charles.
Simple rules you need to follow.
Dungeon¡¯s Laws:
  • It is forbidden to act against the dungeon.
  • It is forbidden to kill or maim a citizen of the dungeon.
  • It is forbidden to make an abortion.
Any infractions of those rules will lead to a fate worse than death.
¡°A fate worse than death? What is it?¡± Asks Jack.
Pray that you never find about.
¡°Are those the only Laws? Who are the dungeon¡¯s citizens? Us? Can we make our own laws? And what is that about abortion?¡± Mililara asks more questions than the other. It¡¯s good, if she¡¯s as smart as she¡¯s beautiful, then it¡¯s all the better.
They are the only Laws for the moment. But more could be added in the future. They are no citizens in my dungeon yet. But you could indeed become the first ones. The citizens are allowed to make every rules or laws they which to. They can apply any sentences they see fit. As long as those don¡¯t conflict with my Laws. The point about abortion is because I want to give every child a chance at life. If a person doesn¡¯t want to care for their child I will.
¡°Isn¡¯t it the right of a woman to refuse to bear a child if she doesn¡¯t want to? Like after a rape, so many of us have been raped by the pirates, there are a lot of pregnant women among us.¡± Insists Mililara.
Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you. But here I need the children to be born, as I need all of you. If I want to ensure my security, in the long run, I need you. And I can swear that I will provide protection to those that became my citizens.
¡°It isn¡¯t right to force us like that, you¡¯re threatening us. We will never become your citizens if you force us like that.¡± Declares Mililara.
Fine. I will give you a week to act. After that delay, it will be forbidden to have an abortion. Until the security of the island is secured.
¡°I can do with that. But I still don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll become one of your ¡®citizens¡¯.¡± She says. ¡°You said you need us, you want us to become your citizens. What¡¯s in it for us?¡± Asks Jack.
I can help my citizens grow fast, really fast. With my help, I think I can make someone become strong enough to take on a Second in a few months, maybe even become one. But it will only be for those that choose to become citizens of my domain.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. But even then it will not be handed freely. You¡¯ll need to earn my help in your growth. Plus, I plan to ensure the security of the island and all its inhabitants for as long as I live, and as a Dungeon, I can live far longer than any sapient species.
¡°How can we earn your help?¡± He keeps asking.
It¡¯s simple, you need to venture into the maze. Simply doing killing the creatures there will help you grow faster than outside. But my citizens will always have better or exclusive loot.
¡°Speaking of loot, what is it?¡± Says Mililara showing me the small piece of wood they found earlier.
It is a water token. Something of my invention. If you break it while you''re in a house on my domain, I will install a waterway in it, allowing you to have running water in this house. There will be more tokens of this kind, but with other effects.
¡°How, that¡¯s great.¡± She adds. ¡°And if we refuse to become your citizens?¡± Asks Charles.
It is my wish that all of you accept to become my citizens, but I don¡¯t want to force it upon you. If at least one of you chose to become a citizen I will respect the will of the others. As long as you respect my Laws. But, I¡¯m afraid that if all of you refuse, I will have to use force. I would rather work with you for our mutual benefices, but I¡¯m ready to be a monster, like the usual dungeons.
¡°Are you threatening us?¡± He inquires.
Yes.
¡°If I get it right, you want at least one of us to become one of your citizens and to fight to protect you. In exchange, you¡¯ll give us protection, a better life, and help us to become more powerful. Strong enough to take on people of a higher tier than us? But if we refuse you will use us against our will anyway?¡± Grundy was silent since the begging, but when he asks his questions they are spot on. He¡¯s smarter than he looks like.
You get it right.
¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± He announces. ¡°What? No!¡± Exclaims Mililara. ¡°If no one does it, it will be hell for us all. I will protect my friends. I will do it. Nothing will change my mind.¡± They start to argue, Jack, Mililara, Charles, and Mickel are trying to make Grundy reconsiders, but he seems determined to become my first citizen. While they are arguing I see the dwarf moving around the stone and coming to the other side. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± She asks with a voice so thin I would be unable to hear it if I wasn¡¯t present in the air all around her.
Yes.
I write it smaller than usual, right in front of her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want the others to know I can speak, I don¡¯t trust them yet. I have special circumstances. I want to make a deal with you.¡±
I hear you.
¡°Can you help me get revenge?¡± She asks that with a strange light in her eyes. It reminds me of the few memories I have gained back from my previous life. The same kind of look I had at the time.
Against the pirates, yes. Against others, not yet. First, you¡¯ll need to help me secure the island. After that, you¡¯ll be able to leave the island and enact your revenge. Swear yourself to me, become my citizen, and I¡¯ll train you, I¡¯ll even give you comrades to accompany you in your revenge.
¡°Then I¡¯ll do it. I swear to protect you from all dangers until I¡¯m strong enough to leave the island and get my revenge against those that wronged me. After that, I¡¯ll come back and protect you for the rest of my life.¡± I can see she¡¯s thinking every word she¡¯s saying.
I¡¯m glad to hear it. What kind of weapon do you want? I¡¯ll drop it for you in your next loot.
¡°I want a bec de corbin, one with a small handle, and a shield. I¡¯ll also need a complete set of armor.¡±
You will get all that, but not at the same time. Now, go back on the other side, you¡¯re comrades are finishing their dispute. I¡¯ll contact you in your house to lead you on the citizen path.
¡°Thanks.¡± She mutters as she goes back on the other side of the stone tablet. ¡°So, we really can¡¯t change your mind about this?¡± Is still asking Jack to Gundry. ¡°I¡¯ve made up my mind.¡± Answers the big man. ¡°Dungeon. If I become one of your citizens, I won¡¯t be your mindless slave, right?¡±
As long as I have at least one citizen I won¡¯t need to enslave you or your friends.
¡°Then, what do I need to do?¡± Great! I have two of this group that want to become my citizens. Well, for different reasons, but still. If they can serve to show the others that they can benefit greatly by becoming my citizens it will be good. I don¡¯t need all of them right now. And for now, I need to give out instructions for Grundy, and the dwarf woman, to follow. I¡¯ve never done it before, so I¡¯m not sure if it will work as easily as I hope.
First, you need to feel the mana flowing inside you. Then you need to feel the mana outside you, the one in the air, in the water, in everything surrounding you in my domain. After that, you need to invite my mana in you. And the last step is too attuned your mana to mine.
That¡¯s all the advice I can give them. By doing that they will absorb more of my mana in their body than usually and lessen their resistance to it. On my side, I gather more mana around Grundy and push it carefully on its bubble. I¡¯m not doing it for the dwarf, as I respect her decision to keep secret about becoming one of my citizens. Eventually, she will tell the others, but not now. Anyway, I can see that there are both following my instruction as it seems their bubbles¡¯ densities are decreasing. I resume pushing on Grundy¡¯s bubble from everywhere. It doesn¡¯t seem to work, the bubble is condensing again as I push on it. I change my strategy and focus it on his head and the areas around his heart and his hara. It¡¯s more effective, I see the bubble changes form, like a balloon being squeezed too hard. The bubble is distorting itself and seems like it will explode, I slow down and wait a bite for Grundy to weaken the bubble more. But it doesn¡¯t change anymore. I think Grundy lacks mana control to do more right now. On her side the dwarf¡¯s bubble is really thin and close to her body, she shows a better control of her own mana. I could force my mana through his bubble, but I don¡¯t want to make him uncomfortable and look uselessly rude.
Grundy, stop. You¡¯re on a good track, but not good enough to do it now. Keep practicing and soon you¡¯ll succeed.
¡°Hey, big man. The dungeon said you can stop. Open your eyes and look at the stone.¡± Mickel informs Grundy. After a few more seconds of empty blabbering, Jack¡¯s group leave the safe room and go back to the village. When they exit the maze, I make a stone tablet come out of the ground in the center in front of the maze¡¯s entrance, on it I inscribe the Laws.
Dungeon¡¯s Laws:
  • It is forbidden to act against the dungeon.
  • It is forbidden to kill or maim a citizen of the dungeon.
  • It is forbidden to make an abortion. (One week before implementation.)
The group exiting the maze and the rest of the former slaves discuss the latest developments and revelations I made to them. Most of the women don¡¯t like the fact that I¡¯m forbidding abortion. Even if a good number of them think that the children should have a chance at life they don¡¯t like the fact that I¡¯m forcing them to keep the children until birth. The one week delay before that is buffering their anger on this subject. As well as the announcement of Melinda, she¡¯s completely willing to take care of all the children the mothers can¡¯t take care of for various reasons. The two other Laws are a lot more easily accepted by the former slaves. Some of them even look interested in the possibility of becoming my citizens. Grundy explains to them what the process of lowering the bubble density. It pleases me to see that, whatever their reasons, I will accept everybody among my citizens, as long as they can abide by my Laws. On the other side of the island, the Marms are still progressing peacefully. Chapter 25 - Discussion about childbirth. I¡¯m looking at half of the former slaves women are gathered in what is starting to be known as the Maze Square, in front of my maze¡¯s entrance. They are discussing the third of my Laws, the one about the abortion¡¯s interdiction. In truth, only a few of them are really talking and the others are mostly listening. The few men who come to listen in on them are looked with such silent and heavy looks that they quit the place in a minute or two for the most tenacious. ¡°Yes Melinda, we get it, you¡¯ll take care of the children of any woman who doesn¡¯t want to keep hers. But you can¡¯t force us to carry them if we don¡¯t want.¡± States Felicia, a blond woman standing with dignity in the center of the crowd. She¡¯s the head of the group of women that go in my maze with a sole man. ¡°Would you kill those poor children without even a chance at life? You are monsters.¡± Argues Clara, another blond woman. She¡¯s very tall, measuring 1.86 meters she¡¯s the tallest of all the women on the island and taller than most men. She¡¯s also slimmer than the majority of the other women and has a big and ugly scar on her left cheek, I understood she got it by an angry pirate when she laughed at his small dick. ¡°It is we who decide what we do with our bodies. Not you, and even less that fucking dungeon.¡± Answers one of Felicia teammates. ¡°I don¡¯t say you can¡¯t decide for yourselves.¡± Says Melinda with a calm voice. ¡°I¡¯m just saying that if you don¡¯t want to kill the children neither to have them I will take care of them. I understand you don¡¯t want to raise a child born from a rape with a pirate as a father.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lucky, your belly¡¯s big enough to be sure you were pregnant before being captured, you must know the child¡¯s father.¡± Says Felicia. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s my dead husband¡¯s child. He died trying to defend me and my two sons from the pirates. I know what it¡¯s like to have children and to lose them, and despite the pain I feel every day, I know that the joy this child will bring me will surpass it.¡± ¡°What I would like to add.¡± Intervenes a fifth woman. This one is not Human, she has pale skin and blue hair and is very small, she¡¯s the smallest of the three Gnomes in my Dungeon being only one meter tall. Her face is really cute but she has a strange light in her eyes, making her face a bit scary. ¡°It¡¯s that you don¡¯t have an easy way to proceed. You want to abort? It¡¯s fine by me, I don¡¯t care. But how will you do that? I highly doubt the Dungeon will give you some plants to make a decoction and have an easy sleep on it. No, if you truly want to do it, then you¡¯ll have to put a stick between your legs or hit your belly with enough strength. Those are dangerous methods who can fail. But if you''re brave enough to do it, come to me, I¡¯ll be happy to help you. First I¡¯ll put the stick between your legs, then I¡¯ll make it move up and up until I reached the end of the womb, after that I¡¯ll make it move in all the direction, making sure to kill the child, but I could ravage your insides by doing so, and you could become sterile or bleed to death. The other method is less risky for you, but they are fewer chances of success, and if your body doesn¡¯t expulse the dead child on its own, it could start to rot inside. You need a decoction to do it safely. And remember that you only have a week to do so, after that the Dungeon will take this as an infraction against its Laws.¡± Her name is Helgyra, and she says all that with a maniac grin on her face, widening it at the end of her statement. The other women look at her with varied shocked expressions. ¡°Now let me pass, I need to eat if I want my child to grow strong.¡± The little Gnome says. The other women hurry out of her path and after an awkward moment of silence, the discussion resumes. But it is not the same with Helgyra¡¯s explanations of the processes in her minds. Those gross process could be the best arguments for my case, as I will obviously not provide them with the plants to make their decoctions. I keep an hear on the discussion but change my focus point. There is another thing I want to do. I find Franziska in her house, the Dwarf woman is not attending the women meeting. She¡¯s meditating, trying to attune her mana to mine. I can see she¡¯s really better at this than Grundy. From her position and the way she¡¯s controlling the flow of mana in her body, I think she already has some training in meditation. Anyway, I start to gather more mana around her head, like I did with Grundy in the safe room. With a start she opens her eyes and takes a look around. ¡°Dungeon, is that you?¡± She whispers.
Yes, it¡¯s me. Keep meditating like that, I will help you. Take my mana in you, breath it by your nose, make it flow in all of your body and mix it with your own. Try to attune your mana to mine and then gather my mana in your hara.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Ones you have gathered enough of my mana in your hara make it flow once more in your body and expulse it by your mouth. Repeat until it¡¯s done, you¡¯ll know it at the moment.
I write on the wall in front of her and resume on focusing a small bubble of my purest mana over her head, slowly but surely infusing it in her respiratory tracts and in her body. I see her mana bubble slowly reducing itself as she¡¯s absorbing mine bit by bit. --- She feels a bit awkward doing that. It¡¯s been a long time since she last meditated. She used to do that with her father. Her father¡­ He had been banished from his clan because of his ideas. He had ideas about how to produce new kinds of alloy, using methods of infusing the blacksmith own mana in the process that were against traditions. When the heads of the clan Ironknuckles, asked him to forget his ideas he refused. He was a Dwarf, and like all the Dwarves he loved traditions and his clan, but he preferred his studies on blacksmithing. Not bothering himself with his clan demands he kept working on his theories and when his clan proceeded to take the matter on trial in front of a council of his pairs he made a scene. In front of the heads of his clan, he declared that he would not bother himself with traditions if those would stop his work. Like a lot of Dwarves, he was too stubborn for his own good and prefer exile over repentance. With his wife and his only child, he left his clan and the mountains to live among the human and keep on working. Being only 27 at the time Franziska was only a child and didn¡¯t remember all of the events. A few decades later, while Franziska was starting to learn blacksmithing and metallurgy from her father and fighting from her mother, a dwarven delegation come to their house. This group of Dwarves, led by her mother¡¯s brother, tried to convince her father to drop his work, but it was useless. They then tried to convince Franziska''s mother to quit her husband and rejoin the clan with her own daughter, but she was as stubborn as her husband and too in love with him, she refused her brother proposition. In front of their refusal the dwarven delegation challenge Franziska''s parents in a fight. And they accepted, it was that or an assassination. Franziska had been forbidden to participate by her parents, and a Human friend of the family was there to prevent her from interfering. The fight was fierce at two against five. But even if Franziska¡¯s father was a Second and her mother a Third, four of their opponents were Second too and their leader was also a Third. The confrontation last from dawn to twilight and at the end it was thanks to her father works and her mother''s talent for fighting that they could take on five Dwarves warrior. Unfortunately, even if they were stronger than their opponents, they were still two against five, and Franziska¡¯s dad died during the fight. Her mother won it but was too severely wounded to hope survived the night. Knowing her daughter was as stubborn as her parents, Franziska¡¯s mother made her daughter promised to not seek vengeance if she could not be sure of her victory. Since it was her mother dying wish, she refrained herself from attacking her former clan head-on and dying uselessly there, so she trained for all her life. Then some decades later, as she was mentally preparing herself to join a war between Humans as a mercenary, she was tricked. She was planning to gain experience there and hoping to become a Second in this war. She had time, as a Dwarf she had centuries to enact her revenge. She was having a drink in a cheap tavern and the fucking innkeeper had drugged her. She woke up the day after that chained in the basement with other prisoners. Then she lived the same events as the other women on pirates ships. But luckily for her, as a Dwarf, a Virgin, and a trained fighter she was treated with more care than the other slaves since she would have reached a higher price. Unluckily for her, as she never obeyed the orders, she was often on a fasting diet, suffering from hunger all the travel. Then destiny changed. She was released in a strange place where she could hope to grow stronger than all Dwarves and finally take her revenge. If only she renounced to her free will. She had understood that becoming a ¡®Civilian of the Dungeon¡¯ was becoming one of its monsters, but she had quickly weighed it over the chance to get vengeance and had decided to do it. The Dungeon had sworn to her that it would help her in this. And even if she wasn¡¯t completely trusting it, it was offering her free will or having it eventually taken away. All that had led her here and now, meditating with the help of a Dungeon. She¡¯s feeling its mana flowing through her and she leads it in all her body, slowly permeating in all of her organs. She¡¯s amassing the Dungeon¡¯s mana in her hara, this place in the abdomen where the mana of each living being is naturally generated. She can feel it, little by little the Dungeon¡¯s mana is replacing her own. She doesn¡¯t care, she can feel it¡¯s purer than her own and stronger too. Slowly, she feels her senses growing outside of her body, she can perceive her surrounding more and more clearly than with every previous meditation. At the same time, her hara is growing in her. Her mana is almost depleted and the Dungeon¡¯s mana is not the same in her. Her senses may grow sharper, her body seems weaker with each minutes passing by, her mind his heavier, it¡¯s harder to think clearly, those are the signs of mana exhaustion. She knows them, she¡¯s used to depleting all of her mana when fighting or working in the smithy. Then the connexion establishes itself. And it¡¯s a whole new world that opens itself to her. Chapter 26 - Discussion with the first Citizen. So proud. I¡¯m so proud of her. Julia is on the verge of becoming a Second. Her meditation is in its fifth hour and I can feel that she¡¯s nearing completion of the process. If I put a bit of mana in my eyes I can see her hara glowing from the concentration of her own mana. She¡¯s such a good child, almost listening to my teachings and doing whatever she can to please me. Since I¡¯ve taken her in, she doesn¡¯t need to fear death all the time and can be much happier. She¡¯s working hard to repay me allowing me to rest, sometimes a bit too much for her own good. The mana in her hara is glowing brighter every second. It is time now. I see the mana suddenly leaving her hara and flowing through all her body at once, like a confined explosion. I can see some of the mana concentrating in her throat, and doing something to her. I don¡¯t fear this. When the mana gathers somewhere during an Evolution, it¡¯s always a sign that something will change in the body, almost always for the better. After half a minute the glow starts to fade and she opens her eyes. She¡¯s looking at me and I look back with all the pride I feel thinking of her as my student. ¡°You did very well. Congratulations.¡± I said to her. ¡°Thanks.¡± She signs with her hands. ¡°Tell me, do you feel something different in your throat?¡± She nods. ¡°Then try to use your voice.¡± She looks at me like I¡¯m kidding her. ¡°Go on, try it. I think you get your voice back.¡± ¡°...¡± She opens her mouth and tries to talk. ¡°...a¡­!¡± She makes a small sound and looks surprised by it. ¡°...an¡­¡± I can see she¡¯s trying to say something. ¡°...an...u¡­¡± ¡°Stop. Don¡¯t force on it. You¡¯ll have to learn how to talk anew. Take your time.¡± She signs a ¡°Thank you.¡± and jumps at me, putting her tiny arms around my neck and giving me a big hug. I can feel her tears of joy soaking my shirt. - When I come back from the sudden memory, I see the Dwarf Franziska is still in the aftershock of the experiment. I feel proud of her too. Why? I suppose it¡¯s a mix between the fact that she followed my bits of advice on how to become my ¡®citizen¡¯ and the feelings the memory brought back to me. She¡¯s the first sapient being I manage to claim, my first citizen. Whatever will happen to her in the future, she will always have a special significance for me. It¡¯s a good idea to claim sapient beings. The mana she provides me is so tasteful and of such a better quality and bigger quantity than all of the other creatures, plants or materials I ever claimed. Why didn¡¯t I ever heard of dungeon¡¯s doing this before? Is it because I don¡¯t have all of my memories and knowledge back yet? Is it because it¡¯s so complicated to claim sapient beings? Or maybe, it has been done but also kept it secret? I¡¯ll have to make experiments to further advances my theories on the subject and see what more I can do. But, if I can avoid it, I don¡¯t want to make them on my citizens, I¡¯ll make them on those who break my rules. Speaking of rules, I think I need to rephrase them to make people accept them more easily. But not now, I have to focus on my Dwarf. --- With her eyes still closed she¡¯s able to feel the walls, the floor, the roof and the few pieces of furniture in the room. She moves her arms and feels the air running on her shirt sleeves as if it was running on her bare skin, she can tell where and how all of her clothing are touching each other and herself, it¡¯s like if they were part of her. When she opens her eyes she can see with so many details, if she focuses a bit she can see the different fibers of her clothes, and her slightly improved eyesight lets her note that the walls are even smoother than she taught before. And the energy. Oh, yes, the energy. There is so much of it. She can feel the Dungeon¡¯s mana flowing inside her and filling her mana pool. In a few seconds, her mana reserve is fuller than it has ever been. She tries to make it move under her skin, like her mother taught her to, and it¡¯s easy, so easy. She never managed to master this technique of strengthening one own skin before, but now she feels like she could do it in her sleep. She also feels like she could use the Dungeon¡¯s mana outside of her body and become some kind of mage, one of the almost non-existent and so powerful Dwarves mages. But the Dungeon¡¯s energy flow makes her think she could keep at fighting days and nights without feeling tired as it¡¯s refilling her mana pool quicker than she had ever been able to empty it and make an even greater fighter than a mage. She grabs her small hammer and makes a few swings in the air. First, she¡¯s surprised by the lack of weight, then the swiftness of her movements is taking all of her attention, she¡¯s moving with more ease than ever. And she¡¯s also capable of feeling the hammer like she¡¯s feeling her clothes, discerning with precision where and how the wooden handle is connected to the iron head. She¡¯s vibrating at the anticipation of practicing and fighting with a true armor and her weapon of predilection. With those, she thinks she could beat a Second while not being one herself. ¡°So? How are you finding it?¡± She hears a voice directly in her head. It startles her, but she¡¯s quick to realize it must be the Dungeon itself talking directly in her mind. That fact brings her back a little to reality. ¡°It¡¯s fantastic... I feel so much power. I¡¯ve never felt this good in all my life. I have so much energy, I think I could never sleep again.¡± She responds, emotions filling her voice.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Yes. I can see that. It¡¯s feeling quite good for me too, you''re providing me with so much mana than my other creatures.¡± ¡°What? How can I provide you with mana when you¡¯re the one filling my mana pool?¡± What the Dungeon¡¯s saying doesn¡¯t make a lot of sense. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I have theories, but I¡¯ll need to study the phenomenon to understand it. Anyway, I want to make some tests, are you willing?¡± It doesn¡¯t know? That¡¯s not reassuring. And ¡®tests¡¯? Why? What kind of tests? Will they hurt? ¡°No, I don¡¯t know everything, I¡¯m still a young Dungeon after all, barely a few months old. And the first test is conclusive. If I focus on you, I can hear your thoughts. I don¡¯t think it will be hurtful.¡± ¡°You can read my mind?! Stop that!¡± She shouts out cursing at the Dungeon in her mind. If it is going to monitor all her thoughts it¡¯s going to have a bad surprise as she can consistently swear for a long time. ¡°If I focus on you I can, yes. And please, stop swearing like that. I hear you even if I¡¯m not listening when you¡¯re shouting out like that in your mind!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yes, it seems that you can shout your thoughts out and I will hear them, even if I¡¯m not listening directly to your mind. That makes me think you can learn to do the opposite and think at a quieter level, one that will prevent me from reading your mind. There, happy? It¡¯s up to you to train your mind now.¡± Franziska finds some resentment in the Dungeon¡¯s voice, maybe calling it a ¡®fucking piece of mind-fucker retard only able to eat the shit of its monster while looking at them fucking each other like a big and purulent and stinking pervert¡¯ and other names like that, was not such a good idea. But if she can indeed train herself to think in a way the Dungeon can¡¯t hear her, even if it wants too, that can prove itself useful. ¡°Okay, but please, don¡¯t read my mind. And, what are your other test?¡± ¡°I want to test if I can control your body.¡± ¡°What?! No way!¡± ¡°Rest your mind, you are my first Citizen. As such you¡¯ll have some privileges. And you were willing to become one, it means I won¡¯t force my will upon yours if it is not a matter of imminent death.¡± ¡°Hrm. I still don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°It is just a test, I want to see if I can do it. I won¡¯t force you to do it, if you don¡¯t want.¡± ¡°What will I have in return?¡± ¡°I already promised you equipment and power. What do you want?¡± ¡°I want to continue my father works. I need a smithy.¡± ¡°Hmpf, fine. I¡¯ll build a smithy for you. But you¡¯ll have to find your materials yourself in the Maze.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I have those already?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m trying to establish a meritocracy here. It would be too big of a reward for just that.¡± As the chat continues Franziska starts to find the Dungeon¡¯s voice has weird sound in it, it makes her think of that Human traveler her parents invited to dinner once. It has an accent almost like him, for what she remembers he was from a far away country that had suffered a terrible calamity so many years ago. It also sounds kind of masculine. ¡°Okay then. Go on and do your thing.¡± ¡°Thanks. Now please, relax, I¡¯ll try to move your arm.¡± Franziska right arm becomes dull and her first reflex is to move it, but she stops herself from doing so. She can also feel that something is entering into it and spreading in all the member. Then she sees it moving on its own, her hand turns a bit and her fingers folds and unfolds themselves. The sensation of dullness and the foreign presence leave her arm as it returns to dangle on her side. ¡°Harder than I thought. How does it feel?¡± ¡°Strange and scary, like when you¡¯re sleeping on it all night and can¡¯t have a good feeling of it in the morning, then you have the impression to have pins and needles in it.¡± ¡°Okay, this time I want you to try and resist it.¡± When the dullness starts to enter her arm again, Franziska resists to it by moving it around. Then the dullness grows and starts to itch at her. She keeps on moving her arm but it is harder and harder to have it move like she wants it to do. After thirty seconds she starts to feel pain in it, like an ache, and focus all her will on moving her arm like she wants to, but with a strike and a cry of pain she completely loses her control over it and falls down on the ground. The Dungeon¡¯s strong presence removes itself quickly, returning to its usual constant and faint presence. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t expect it to be this painful, I¡¯ve felt it too. Here, let me heal you. If you want to know, it was particularly hard for me to do it. I don¡¯t think I could control your whole body if I wanted too. I¡¯m telling all that to you in a show of good faith.¡± As the Dungeon¡¯s talking to her Franziska feels a warm sensation enveloping her and soothing the pain and fear away. It reminds her of her father embraces and it bites at her heart, making her remember the good days with her parents and that makes her sadder than she felt in the past years. ¡°Shhh. Don¡¯t be sad. I¡¯ll make you strong. I will make you powerful enough to affront whatever you want. And you¡¯ll have your revenge.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I can deal with my sadness alone. Any other tests?¡± ¡°Yes, see that box on the table?¡± Franziska looks at the table and sees a box slowly growing out of it. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I want you to open it.¡± That¡¯s an easy demand, in comparison to the previous ones. Franziska walks to the box, grabs it and pulls the lid to open it. But the box doesn¡¯t comply and stay closed. She forces on it to no avail and increases again the strength she¡¯s using on it. ¡°Stop forcing on the box. The first part of the test is a success. I¡¯ve made this box to be impossible to open with simple strength. You need to use mana to unlock it. I see you can already make the mana flow as you want in your body, but you need to be able to make it flow in your weapons too. This exercise consists of you opening then closing the box with your own mana. You can use mine if you manage to do it, but the exercise will only be completed if you can do it with your own.¡± ¡°Wait, what? What are you talking about? Exercise?¡± Franziska doesn¡¯t get what¡¯s the Dungeon is talking about. ¡°Yes, to become a powerful warrior you need to be able to make your mana circulated in your equipment as easily as in your body, it¡¯s the next step after being able to concentrate your mana under your skin. And the first step on this path is to open and close this box.¡± ¡°I know that, my mother explained it to me. I just don¡¯t get why I need a box.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a practice¡¯s tool. And it¡¯s also the first step in some of the next arrangements I¡¯ll put into my domain. Try to take your mana to your fingertips and then out of it and in the box.¡± ¡°What kind of arrangements?¡± ¡°Restricted areas reserved for Citizens.¡± ¡°And how is opening a box related to that?¡± ¡°Because the accessing system will be based on the same principle that the opening and closing system of the box.¡± ¡°That¡¯s interesting, but what kind of restricted areas?¡± ¡°Comfier houses, public hot baths, gymnasium, your smithy, stuff like that.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good. I think it will encourage the others to become Citizens.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point. Now I have other stuff to focus on, keep on training your mana manipulation.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m going to practice on this thing. And don¡¯t take over my body ever again.¡± Chapter 27 - Helgyra. She had always been interested in how the body works. Little girl, she had a habit of capturing and dismembering bugs and small critters to see their inner workings. Growing up she slowly learned to keep her subjects alive for the first part of her experiments, it allowed her to see how they worked longer. As she was using bigger and bigger animals the inhabitants of her small village started to notice the disappearances of their pets and small livestock. Having always been a strange girl, she was automatically suspected by the villagers. But they had no proof of her guilt, she was smart enough to always perform her experiments in secret places and when no one was around, and since the mayor was a former town guard, he would not let the villagers go after the girl without evidence. So, at the age of 11, Helgyra Joanasbin left her large family and her village. She travelled fast, by night and out of the roads for the first week before taking a more normal pace. She wasn¡¯t really worried for her safety on the road, as her former village was located in the country of Haulnma. This particular country, ruled by Gnomes and Hobbits, was a safe place surrounded by the Iron Ring, a chain of mountains populated by Dwarves, therefore they were almost no bandits or monsters on the road. It took her three years to reach and cross the mountains. During this period she continued to make experiments. One event, in particular, had made an impact on her. One night, as she was 12 and secretly sleeping in a barn, the farmer came in and found her. He was a nice Gnome that invited her to the house to eat with him and his wife and to sleep in a real bed. She stayed there for three night, then the farmer¡¯s son came back and proposed to take her with him when he would return to town. Still a bit na?ve and trusting the farmer¡¯s son on the behalf of his parents, she accepted. On the way to the town, Helgyra was betrayed by the farmer¡¯s son as he tried to rape her. With luck, she managed to grab the small knife she used to open her subjects and stabbed the man in his stomach. He screamed and felt on his knee, she looked at him fall on the ground in fear. Then she realized he wasn¡¯t that different than the animals she had studied before. A bag of flesh screaming in pain and flowing blood out of its body when stabbed. With the farmer¡¯s son, she performed her first experiment on a sapient being. And while it should have traumatized her at least a bit, it only reinforced her curiosity of how the body works. What was the difference between a sapient being, a simple animal, and a monster? At the age of 16, she arrived in a human port town. During her travel she had learned to be more wary of every people, but that some of them were truly nice and could be manipulated. She had also learned to apply her mother¡¯s sewing lesson on flesh. Still wanting to make experiments, she managed to get in touch with the local underground society by stitching back some underlings after bar fights, and slowly but surely installed herself as an independent doctor. Capable of working on the most gruesome wounds without a flinch, although not always with success, and never asking questions she managed to practice her experiments relatively in peace for four years. Then she was betrayed, again. She hadn¡¯t been able to save a life. It was not the first time, especially with her experiments¡¯ subjects, and it was part of the job. But this time, it was not the life of a complete nobody. It was the life of a minor slaver¡¯s son, he was not rich enough to buy a potion or a better doctor or healer so he settled for her services. For revenge, the slaver had captured her and sold her to a colleague of him to be taken overseas. She didn¡¯t know what happened to the slaver after he had sold her, she hoped the different mobs and independent criminals she worked with had made him pay, but if not, that would not stop her from having peaceful dreams. On the slavers¡¯ boat, she learned quickly they doubled as pirates, she was badly treated. Having learned about the ¡®pleasure of the flesh¡¯, she had made some small experiment with her own body and had lost her virginity a long time ago. And now she would experiment first-hand the events that led some of her female customers to require her services. She was not an expert on the matter of reproduction but knew enough to know that it was highly unlikely that one of the pirates could impregnate her. But, countless and various amounts of semen poured into her female parts over three of her ovulation¡¯s periods had finished to beat the odds. She became pregnant roughly three weeks before reaching the dungeon but was aware of the situation only one week earlier, when she noticed she failed to have her periods. Since her arrival in the dungeon¡¯s village she had made herself a bit useful by helping Melinda care for the ill, it allowed her to study their conditions even if she couldn¡¯t cut them open. She could also try to sew clothes in exchange for other services with the former slaves, but there were better seamstresses there and only a few needles, plus the threads were taken out of the rags serving as clothes, so they were not of the best quality. When the dungeon had let them know it was sapient and that it was against abortion, Helgyra had found this very interesting. Why was it against abortion? Was it planning something with the children? Or was it only some form of moral it was imposing on its inhabitants? But more important in her eyes, how could it be sapient? Dungeons weren¡¯t supposed to be. Could that mean she could bargain with it? Offering her expertise and knowledge for the possibility to take her studies to a whole new level?If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. She was also pregnant, and that made her wonder. She had heard that pregnancy was the best thing a woman could experience, and that caring for one own child was enlightening. She was curious about those statements and of the so-called ¡®maternal instinct¡¯. Would she develop some kind of unconditional love for her offspring? She wanted an answer to those questions, and the possibility of having a permanent and willing subject for some of her hypothetical and future experiments was endearing, therefore she had decided to keep the child. Also, she wasn¡¯t ready to perform the medical procedure on herself, she cared too much for her own life to risk it like that. Now, she¡¯s in the house she considers as her new home thinking about what she just said to the other women. She can help them make the abortions, she has experience in the act. But, like she says, without proper equipment and plants it is a very hazardous procedure for the mother and the result is not guaranteed. If they want to try it, she can help, she¡¯s not judging them for not wanting the child. But they need to know the risks, if she can avoid it, Helgyra doesn¡¯t make ¡®legal¡¯ procedures on people that don¡¯t know what they''re asking for, the experiments are another matter. She¡¯s certain some of the women will come to her, so she¡¯s preparing whatever instruments she can. She has some clear water washed clothes, it would be better to have some boiled ones, she doesn¡¯t know why, but she had observed that boiled instruments provoked fewer infections in wounds. But, unfortunately, they don¡¯t have fire in the dungeon, not enough wood to burn. Fortunately, she has some wood sticks she can work on to give them the desired form. A few hours later, when the lights in the cavern lose intensity and what the former slaves name the ¡®night¡¯ settles, she hears a soft knock on her door. --- I¡¯m a bit sad. A woman is currently undergoing the abortion process. I can¡¯t blame her, I heard how she became pregnant, like most of the women here, raped by the pirates. But I would like it better if she kept the child. Anyway, I have to keep my promise and let her do as she wants. But that doesn¡¯t prevent me to look at it and to study it. It starts easily with Helgyra, the Gnome, inviting in the young woman, offering her a chair and talking to her about the procedure, as she calls it. The woman is a Human with brown hair and is not particularly good-looking, she would be average in a normal society, making her rather below average here, her name is Emilia and she¡¯s at least three months pregnant. After a bit of talking the Gnome installs the resolute Human on her table, helps her to remove her lower garments and motion her to open her legs, she also puts a cloth over her own mouth and her nose. Helgyra inserts her wooden sticks into the vagina and womb of Emilia and moves them around. The human lets out a cry of pain and tears flow down her cheeks, she¡¯s visibly in pain. This pain makes her let out some burst of mana that I can absorb. And, hmmm, it¡¯s some tasty mana¡­ I could enjoy this mana some more, but Emilia faints when blood starts to flow out, and it cuts the tasty mana flow of pain, just letting some bland mana pouring out of her. Helgyra on her side doesn¡¯t stop working. She moves again the sticks in her patient and takes them out. But it¡¯s not finished, after that, she moves her hand up the tights of the unconscious woman. Then much to my surprise, she inserts her own hands in Emilia and pushes her arms deeper in, up to the elbows. I don¡¯t think she could do so so easily if she wasn¡¯t a Gnome and her patient a Human. Helgyra rummages for at least thirty seconds before pulling her arms out. I can see that she¡¯s holding a gruesome pack of flesh in her hands. It looks a bit humanoid if you don¡¯t stop yourself at the big head and the tiny arms and legs, or at the partially translucent skin letting see some of the blood vessels. It¡¯s really small and fits inside Helgyra small hands. It is also covered by wounds, probably the hits from the sticks. Helgyra puts the unborn child on a cloth on the chair and folds the cloth around it, making a small package out of it. Contrary to what I thought, the procedure isn¡¯t finished. Helgyra put her hands back in Emilia and starts to work again. After a bit of thinking it is not so surprising, I often see it with animals and it is only natural for the humans to have it. It¡¯s a bag of flesh that is expelled after the children, from what I learned from the discussion between the two women, it¡¯s called a placenta. The Gnome works on extracting the placenta. During this part of the procedure I feel a big surge of tasty pain mana and notice that Emilia has regained consciousness. But it doesn¡¯t last long and she quickly faints again. After ten more minutes of work with her hands and her sticks, it is done. Helgyra starts to wash the Human with the clothes laying on the second chair of the room. She then retrieves the placenta and throws it in the waste disposal. She then put the package containing the unborn child in the other room and comes back to tend to the woman still unconscious on the table. When the morning comes and Emilia wakes up, Helgyra talks to her a bit then led her to the river crossing the village. Helgyra¡¯s house is located close to it so it¡¯s a quick walk. There she washes the Human and herself. The last thing the Gnomes does with the now non-pregnant woman is leading her to the house where Melinda takes care of all the needy. After that, she goes back to her house and goes to sleep. Chapter 28 - Hot baths. Finally, having one of the women commit abortion was maybe a good thing. As the other pregnant women see the state of fatigue the one who had done it is in, they tend to reconsider the action. I have no doubt that some will still do it, but some others won¡¯t be able to gather the courage to do it. And in my view, that¡¯s good. Also, it turns out that the discarded fetus isn¡¯t really differentiable from the occasional animals¡¯ ones I can see in my burrows. It¡¯s interesting and future examination on the subject may bring information on what makes the difference between sapient species and animals. But that is something that needs to wait for me to remove the interdiction on abortion, and it won¡¯t happen soon. And that Gnome, she can perform such a gruesome operation with a face showing an expression somewhere between focus and boredom. The way she¡¯s talking to the other member women about the procedure, it¡¯s hardly believable the lack of emotion in her voice, only bored professionalism. On the other side, what she can do with the fetus before discarding it. ¡®Foetus¡¯, it¡¯s a word I learned thanks to her, and her habit to think aloud when working on something she finds interesting. Yes, she finds the abortions boring, but what she does after is interesting for her, and fascinating for me. She dissects the fetus. From what I understand she¡¯s interested in what makes the sapient beings sapient, like me. Maybe I can strike some kind of deal with her, to help her in her studies so I can use them for myself. Anyway, I¡¯ll keep an eye on her. In a house on the other side of the small town, I feel a small surge of mana. It¡¯s the water token that Mililara found in the Maze and asked me about in the safe zone. I found her standing in her room with fragments of the water token in her hands. It means I have a promise to keep. I gather a bit of mana and start the arrangements. I dig a small waterway in the walls of the house and pad it with a layer of metal, I don¡¯t want this water to be sullied with dirt from the walls or to damage the structure. Plus it needs to be some metal that can¡¯t rust and is cheaper than the coins I provide my inhabitants, so I guess my choice goes to lead. I also install a sink with a faucet in the corner of her main room and another in her restroom. It¡¯s not much for now, but she has running water in her house now and doesn¡¯t need to go to the river to get some. And she can use other water tokens to improve it or the better quality ones I plan to implement in lower levels of the Maze. There¡¯s something else about that particular woman. It¡¯s not the first time I notice this, but when I look at her I feel something weird, some kind of need to make her mine. I don¡¯t know from where comes that sensation. She¡¯s beautiful and the more I look at her the more I want to claim her by force. But I know that I can¡¯t forcefully claim her without risking to kill or maim her, yet. So I force myself to apply some restraint and for now I only make sure to put a bit more of my mana in some of her food, hopefully, that will allow me to claim her faster. Speaking of claiming sapient beings, the big Grundy is still trying to meditate. He¡¯s following my instructions to the best of his capacities. I give him my help and I push my mana on him, allowing him to take more of a purer mana in than he could do with only the ambient one. Unfortunately, he¡¯s lacking the talent and the experience that Franziska can display, it will take him a lot more time to manage lowering his resistance enough for me to claim him. But I think it can be done in one or two more days, with my help. Without it, he would need at least a month to succeed, if not more. I also take a look at my Dwarf, she¡¯s doing some exercises to feel how her body is different now that she¡¯s mine and to better seize her new abilities, she¡¯s also working on the box I gave her to help her focus her mana. That reminds me I have a promise to fulfil for her. I have a smithy to build. But I don¡¯t know how to do a good one, so I contact my Dwarf and ask her to draw the plans for me. She seems glad to be able to design her own smithy. In the meantime, I will work on the other Citizens only facilities.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. I start by raising the roof of the cavern and by digging a new area on a higher level than the current village, it¡¯s on this level that I plan to build most of the Citizens¡¯ only place of the town. I choose a part on the side where I grow a big building. For the walls, the floor, and the roof I try to make it out of a better quality stone than usual. I have a faint impression there is some kind of stone that would be ideal for what I want to do, but I don¡¯t know how to make it. So, for now, my public hot bath will have to be satisfied with mana fortified smooth stone. I dig a total of six big bathes, three in the front of the building that are purposely of a lesser quality that I fill with barely warm water, one for women, one for men and one mixed. In the back of the building I put the other three bathes, they are built in the same arrangement but I give some extra care to them and add some decorations, mainly some kind of abstract engravings on the walls. Those bathes are filled with hot water and I also put some other smaller bathes near them that I fill with cold water. For warming the water I have to install a fireplace under the baths, I don¡¯t know how to magically warm the water, but I think it is possible. After all, if there are water stones, there should also be fire ones. The two parts of the building are separated by a wall with a big double door that can only be opened by Citizens, I carve on and upon it the inscription ¡®Citizens¡¯ Area¡¯. The front part can be accessed by everyone and mainly serves as advertising for the inner part. On the front wall I install another double door but this time I carve the words ¡®Hot Baths¡¯. I know my buildings aren¡¯t of the finest architecture, I¡¯m not an artist and never had been, even in my previous life. But it¡¯s not that bad, one day, when I have some artists in my Domain, I¡¯m going to reshape the village into a big city, one of international importance. The construction of this building attracts the attention of the locals, and by the time it is finished, a quarter of the former slaves are standing in front of it, waiting to see what I¡¯m doing. At the moment I finish carving the inscription upon the front door the mumblings of the small crowd change from wondering to anticipation. I look at some of them that are quite wary and don¡¯t dare to approach while some others look pleased by what they can read and advance towards the new building. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s a good idea to go in? It could be a trap.¡± Says one of them. Come on, if I wanted to kill you I could do it with far fewer efforts. I think looking at him. ¡°Really? You really think the dungeon would put on this kind of trap? After all, it had already done to keep us alive? Plus, it has clearly stated that it wants us to be his ¡®citizens¡¯ not his ¡®dead bodies rotting away¡¯.¡± Responds another one. Yes, that¡¯s it, this one¡¯s smarter. I think of this one better than the other one. ¡°Hrmff. I still don¡¯t trust it.¡± Makes the first man. ¡°Whatever dude, I¡¯m going to take a bath in hot water. I¡¯m tired of washing myself with cold water.¡± After a bit of time and relaxation, I can see that the people here are kind of disappointed by the hot baths, they would rather have really hot water instead of just warm one. But they can see there is a full part of the building they can¡¯t access and they speculate wildly on what is on the other side. The main theory is that there are really hot baths, of course, they¡¯re right. Chapter 29 - Stella. When Lucia steps out of her home, she finds people waiting for her. She¡¯s used to find Stella waiting outside of her home, but this time she¡¯s accompanied by two other persons. Melinda and Jack. The first is the nice lady that cares for everyone here. Lucia is a bit intimidated by the woman, particularly by her big breast, she doesn¡¯t have big boobs, she has really big boobs, like watermelons, the kind of things that should be obliged by some cosmic law to give her back pain at the end of each day, the kind that can make men dumber than they already are. The kind of boobs Lucia will never have. The other one is the spotted Gnoll. She¡¯s wary of him. Lucia does not really discriminate against Gnolls, it¡¯s just that in her former line of work they are quite dangerous. Gnolls, like a lot of beastmen, have really good noses and their ears are not that bad either, which makes it really hard to sneak up on them and the best of them can even follow your tracks and scent and beat you to a pulp. She learned that the hard way. When Lucia notices the serious look on their faces, she can already tell it will not be an easy day, not that any day is particularly good down here anyway. ¡°Hi, Lucia. Can we please come in and talk for a little bit?¡± Asks Melinda in a serious tone. ¡°What do you want?¡± The woman comes closer to her and whispers in her ear. ¡°It¡¯s about Stella, we have bad news for her. And since you¡¯re friends, we thought it would be better if you were there to support her.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not really my friend. But she¡¯s sweet and kind with me, alright come on in.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Says the woman with a small smile, then she turns to Jack and Stella and motions them to follow. Once inside the small house, Lucia motions for Stella to sit down on one of the two available chairs and sits down on the other one, leaving the two other people standing in the room. The atmosphere is a little tense as no one wants to start talking first. ¡°W¡­what is this all about?¡± Finally, Stella asks. ¡°I can see there is something on your minds. Did the Dungeon do something?¡± ¡°It looks like it¡¯s doing something at the moment, yes. But that¡¯s not why we are here.¡± Answers the only man in the room. ¡°We are here for you, sweety.¡± Adds the big-breasted woman, walking near Stella. ¡°Yes. We have an important information for you.¡± ¡°I...information? I...is it...something bad?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Slow down, Jack. Whether it¡¯s good or bad news is up to you, child.¡± ¡°Y¡­you¡¯re starting t¡­to scare me.¡± ¡°Shhh, don¡¯t be scared, sweetheart. We are here to support you, especially Lucia. She¡¯s your friend, right? That¡¯s why we¡¯re doing it here.¡± ¡°Y...yes, I...I believe she is.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m tired of you beating around the bush. Come out with it and tell us what this is all about.¡± ¡°Calm down, pup.¡± Barks the Gnoll, almost snapping at Lucia. ¡°Sweetheart. You... You¡¯re bearing life.¡± A bit of time passes before Stella pulls enough of herself together to ask. ¡°W...w...what?¡± ¡°There is a child growing inside of you.¡± ¡°N...no. That¡­ That can¡¯t be! I...I would k...know it if I w...was p...pre...pregnant.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sweetheart, but it is too soon for you to know by yourself.¡± ¡°Then how can you know?¡± Intervenes the youngest person in the room. ¡°I can smell it.¡± Answers Jack. ¡°B...but. N...no. That can¡¯t be true.¡± Lucia can see that Stella is starting to shake on her chair, it seems like the older girl is having a hard time accepting this. ¡°I¡¯m sure of it, girl, you¡¯re pregnant. There is nothing wrong with you, but you need to understand that the father is a pirate.¡± Explains Jack with an almost apologetic tone. ¡°How do you know that, can you smell it too? Or are you just too stupid to keep your mouth shut?¡± ¡°Shut up, pup! Let the adults do the talking.¡± ¡°Adults? I¡¯m an adult too, you dumb fuck. Now get out of my house!¡± ¡°Jack, we should leave. We still have others to see and are no more welcome here.¡± ¡°Hrmf, ungrateful little brat.¡± Says the man as he walks out of the house. ¡°Melinda, you should think more about letting that idiot go with you if you¡¯re going to break the same news to more women.¡± Lucia angrily says in a calm, but furious voice, slamming the door shut behind them. She then turns to look at Stella. The other woman looks grim and completely overwhelmed by the news, tears flowing down her cheeks. Lucia walks to the bed and grabs her blanket, she then tosses it across her guest¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, they told it to you like that. It¡¯s hard news. And I want you to know, however you choose, I¡¯m going to support you.¡± As Lucia takes a seat near Stella, the blonde throws herself into the chest of the brunette and starts to cry, drenching the brunette¡¯s shirt with tears and snot. The younger girl starts to pat the older¡¯s head while making soothing motions. ¡°Shhh, I¡¯m here, I¡¯m not going to leave you alone.¡± ¡°P...please, d..don¡¯t beat me.¡± Whispers the crying girl with a frail voice. ¡°Beat you? What are you talking about? I would never hit you. You¡¯re the closest person I have now. I have nobody closer to a friend than you are, not here, not where I come from, nowhere. I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡± ¡°N...no. I...I¡¯m b...begging you. D...don¡¯t beat me. I¡¯ll b...be g...good. P...please Mistress. I¡¯ll do it, I¡¯ll do it with whoever you tell me to. I...I¡¯ll obey. P...please!¡± *Snirfl!* Lucia reaches down and grabs the chin of the whining girl, pulling it up. She tries to look into her eyes, but only finds emptiness in them, as if the girl with the big scar on her face is lost in her own mind. It is not the first time the former burglar has seen an expression like this, mostly on people so afraid of something in their past that it can sometimes come back to the present and break their minds. She hugs and cradles the crying girl for three hours before Stella starts to calm down. When Stella is calm enough to understand her, Lucia explains to her that she¡¯s going to fetch both of them something to eat, but before she leaves, she lays the blonde girl down onto the only bed in the house. An hour later, Lucia comes back with some fruits in her arms and news of the Dungeon¡¯s activity. She sits down on the bed next to the drowsy girl and offers her an apple to eat. ¡°Hey, you know what I heard just now? The Dungeon has built something new. Apparently, it built a bathhouse. I was thinking that maybe you would like to go there with me? Later when we can be alone inside.¡± ¡°Y...you came back. I was afraid you¡¯d abandon me too.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve told you that I wasn¡¯t going to do that. I promise that I¡¯ll always come back.¡± ¡°T...thanks¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± The two young women eat in silence for a while, before Lucia decides to ask Stella about what has been bothering her since earlier.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So. Care to explain to me why you thought I was going to beat you?¡± ¡°I...I don¡¯t know if I can. I want to, but I¡¯m so afraid.¡± ¡°It¡¯s up to you. You can trust me on this, I will always come back and never leave you for long. But if your past is too painful, if you don¡¯t think you can trust me with it, then you don¡¯t need to. I know how painful memories can be, I have my own share of those. I won¡¯t force you to reveal yours to me.¡± ¡°Thanks. I...it makes me think I can trust you about it.¡± ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s up to you. I do think it can be helpful to let it out, but you shouldn¡¯t force yourself.¡± ¡°I...I have to t...take my life into my own two hands, m...make my own choices. I... I will tell you.¡± Lucia reaches out for Stella and holds her in her arms. ¡°W...when I was a little girl, I was li...living on a farm with my parents, my sisters and my br...brothers and for the few memories I have of this period of my life, it was heaven. But one morning, when I was eleven, men came to the farm. They were b...bandits. They killed my father and my brothers. They raped my mother to death in front of us. Sometimes I still have nightmares of that night, and of the following days. The fire, the smoke, the smell of blood, especially the cries of my family and the screams of those beasts.¡± At this point of the account, Lucia notices that Stella¡¯s speech is growing more stable and more distant, she is stuttering less and less but seems to distance herself from reality and her past, as if she is talking about a stranger instead of herself. The former burglar hugs the apathetic girl tighter. ¡°Then they droved two of my sisters and me together and locked us in the barn. They kept my oldest sister to play with her for the night as they feasted on our slaughtered livestock. The day after that, they came back to the barn to take one of my sisters away and locked it up again. We heard her scream and cry throughout the day and when night came she already had stopped screaming, her voice broken. At that moment I knew my turn would come next and I had to protect my little sister, it was already too late for the rest of my family. I don¡¯t know why I believed it would succeed, but, when they came back just after sunset, I jumped at them, ready to fight to the death and screaming at my lil¡¯ sis¡¯ to run away.¡± Around this part of her story, tears resume to flow down Stella¡¯s cheeks, but she keeps on telling her story. Now that she has told so much, she can¡¯t stop at this point. ¡°They subdued me and caught her. Then, to punish me, their chief tied me up and forced me to watch as they raped my little sister. At the end of the day, when she couldn¡¯t even cry anymore, he took my hand, gave me a knife and forced me to slice my own sisters¡¯ throat. I was eleven at the time. After that, contrary to what I was expecting and almost hoping for, they didn¡¯t kill me. They fed my family members to their dogs and loaded everything they could take onto their carriages, then lastly they burned the rest of the farm.¡± At this point of her story, Stella pauses a second, not sure if she should keep going. But Lucia¡¯s gentle warmth helps her carry on with her hard story. ¡°For years, the chief of the bandits kept me as his pet, at the beginning my arms were tied behind my back, a leash around my neck to prevent me from running away. I was only allowed to eat scraps from the floor or whatever he gave me. He trained me like a dog with treats and beatings. I only have a few clear memories of that time, it¡¯s mainly a long and painful blur. After some weeks he found I was obedient enough to untie my arms, I remember feeling joy then. Same when he later removed the leash, even if I still had to wear a dog collar. During this time I became pregnant several times, despite the herbs their ¡®doctor¡¯ was giving me. Each and every time he would beat me until I lost the child. Eventually, I grew older and started looking more adult and my Master grew bored of me. After he lost his last bit of interest in me, he sold me out to a brothel run by a couple of Drows. They didn¡¯t have to pay much for me, I had been used so much and my skin had so many scars. But at least I was completely obedient and willing to do everything to please my Masters. I worked for four years in that brothel. Little by little, I was recovering my sanity and becoming Human again. At the same time, and to my own damnation, I was becoming more and more beautiful as my scars were fading away and I was growing quite popular with some of the most expensive clients, the kind that loved to be able to do everything they wanted with a willing girl like me. After some time I even started to catch up with the head girl and she didn¡¯t like that. One night, while Master and Mistress were out - she was in charge of the brothel on those nights - she sent me to one of her usual clients, and he did things to me which were even forbidden in this brothel. He may not have inflicted more pain than I was able to endure, but he slashed at my face and not only at my body. When the head girl came by later, she acted all nice and sweet, she even gave me a poultice that she claimed was supposed to help me heal faster and prevent the formation of scars. She told me she was sorry that he had done this to me and that I should endure the pain, that it was normal to feel pain with this poultice and that it would help me recover when in truth it was to ensure that a scar would form on my face. I knew she was lying, but I didn¡¯t know the full extent of the lie. Anyway, I would have obeyed her even if I had known the whole truth, I was too obedient and the Masters had told me to obey her while they were away. So I endured the pain of the poultice, and when the Masters came back, they found me lying on my bed. They told another slave to take care of me and had me tell them what had happened. Of course, the head girl told them it was a mistake, that she was innocent and all those shenanigans, but they were too smart for that and called her lies out. She was tortured and killed in front of all the slaves of the brothel to serve as an example. Meanwhile, with my new and big scar on the face, I started losing clients. One day, the Master came to my room and explained to me that I was no longer worth keeping, that they had found a new owner for me, a new Master to serve. One of their cousins liked scarred girls, the more gruesome the scars the better. Oh, they could have bought some medicine to make my scar disappear, but I wasn¡¯t worth the price in their eyes. Then, the pirates that were supposed to take me to my new owner abandoned us here in this Dungeon. I was lost and didn¡¯t have a Master to tell me what to do. I was free, free to do whatever I wanted. But still in locks.¡± While she tells this part of her more recent past, Stella is no longer crying, but Lucia is doing it in her stead. Silently, she¡¯s clinging to her and listening to the horrific story of her life, glad it is finally ending. ¡°At that moment, you gave me an order, or rather, you asked me to do something, to give you my metal hairpin. You freed me from my physical shackles, and from my mental ones at the same time. You made me a free person again. You didn¡¯t know, but if you had wanted, you could have easily made me your slave, you still can. I don¡¯t know how to live outside of slavery anymore. I¡¯m constantly afraid, wondering where I¡¯m supposed to go and what to do. But more importantly, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed to be now. So, please help me. Tell me where to go, tell me what to do, tell me who and what I am. If you tell me, you can become my new Mistress.¡± Lucia can¡¯t answer yet, she¡¯s too shocked by what Stella just told her. She takes a bit of time to think about it, while the other girl is slowly growing more and more agitated in her arms. Finally, she found what she wants to express. ¡°Do you remember your full name? How old are you? Where was your parents¡¯ farm?¡± ¡°My full name is Stella Maria Bran. It¡¯s one of the few memories from before my enslavement. I¡¯m nineteen years old, I remember my birthdate, it¡¯s thanks to that that I am able to calculate how long I was a slave, eight years. But I don¡¯t remember the name of the country I grew up in, only that we were speaking Nodasian, but that¡¯s the most commonly spoken tongue.¡± ¡°Well, then you are Stella Maria Bran. You are a free, nineteen years old woman. You are free to go wherever you want to and free to do whatever you want. You are your own Mistress and only you can decide what you want to be in the future. You are the Mistress of your own Destiny. No one can force you to do anything against your own will. Never forget that. Never forget that you are free. As for me, I¡¯m Lucia, I¡¯m sixteen years old and I¡¯m your friend.¡± Hearing those words Stella buries her face in Lucia''s small chest and resumes crying. But this time they are tears of joy and relief that are soaking her friend''s shirt. ¡°Thanks. Thank you so much for what you just said. I love you. I love you so much for those words.¡± ¡°Here, easy, easy. I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°A...and for the child?¡± ¡°It is your choice to keep it or not. You can choose to raise it, I¡¯ll stay by your side and help you take care of it so that it becomes a good person. Or you can choose to go see the Gnome, and in that case, I¡¯ll stay by your side. It is your choice and I¡¯ll support you, whatever you do.¡± ¡°How can I repay you? What can I do for you?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do anything, that¡¯s what friends are for.¡± ¡°I still want to do something for you. That is what I want.¡± ¡°Well, then, you can come with me to the baths, so we can clean ourselves and try to relax a bit.¡± Says Lucia with a smile on her face. Stella withdraws her faces from the younger woman''s breasts and looks at it. ¡°Oh! I¡¯m so sorry, your shirt is a mess because of me.¡± Engaging in small talk the two young women leave the house and go to the new upper level of the cave and to the bathhouse. Inside they follow the indications and enter the women''s bath. They find the place empty, all the other women having already left the building after a bath in the lukewarm water. The water is not really hot, but it is at least warm enough to help them relax in it and unload a big part of the burden weighing on their minds. They wash themselves while thoroughly rubbing their own skins with water and each other back, meanwhile Lucia notices how many scars are on Stella¡¯s body, there are some all over her body, most of them are small and rather shallow, but there are some clearly newer ones which are bigger and more gruesome, although none are as repulsive as the one on her face. They manage to relax and feel good. At one point Stella offers Lucia to massage her back and the former reluctantly accepts, not wanting to take advantage of her friend and the skills she got during her slavery. During the massage, Lucia hears a strange noise, it seems like someone is trying to move stealthily but has such a lack of skill in the art, that it makes it even more noticeable to her trained ears. She motions Stella to stay quiet and to stop the delightful massage. Under the curious gaze of her friend, Lucia grabs her shirt to cover her nudity and walks silently down the corridor. She hears a sound and looks in its direction. It comes from the direction of the door to the Citizens¡¯ area. At first, she believes it¡¯s someone that is here to observe the door, and maybe to unsuccessfully try to open it. She knows it can¡¯t be opened, all of those that try fail. Stella and she tried too, of course. But to her surprise, she hears a sound corresponding to the opening of a door. Curiosity wins the battle against prudence, and Lucia rushes to the door, but she can only catch a glimpse of a silhouette on the other side of the closing doors. She goes back to the puzzled Stella and whispers to her. ¡°Someone¡¯s in the Citizens¡¯ area.¡± ¡°I heard Grundy was trying to become a Citizen, he must have done it.¡± ¡°No, it was not Grundy, he is tall and big. This one was shorter and broader than me. I think it¡¯s a Dwarf.¡± - On the other side of the door, completely oblivious to the fact that her secret could be revealed soon, Franziska Kon Ironknuckles is taking a bath in some pleasantly hot water. She is taking a well-earned rest after a day full of testing her new abilities in the secrecy of her house. Chapter 30 - A new building. While I am listening to Stella talking about her previous life to Lucia, I go and check the development of my future monsters. First, the squirrel. It is still pregnant and resting in its den, good. I have made it so sufficient amounts of food sources are available near its den and all the predators are forbidden to go after it, I don¡¯t want to risk losing my experiment to such a trivial thing as a hungry owl, after all, it would be such a waste of efforts. The life sign growing inside its belly is feeling a little different than normal squirrel pregnancies. It looks a bit like a bat''s pregnancy. Since the father is a bat, I think it is something to be expected. Secondly, the rats. They are very pregnant and all of them are resting too. The security measures for these ones are weaker than for the squirrel and to my surprise, it seems that the other rats are taking a lot of care of these females. I have seen rats taking care of each other. It doesn¡¯t happen quite often, but it is more frequent than for most of the other kinds of rodents I own. Except for the females I am using for my experiments, the other rats act with some kind of deference, which is quite a strange sight to see. I think that since the rats I¡¯m using have been passively living in my domain for a few generations now, they may have gotten a feeble grasp of my intentions, without a need for me to intervene. I have only put a few security measures here, nothing about bringing food to the pregnant rats and even less about washing their fur once a day, each day, as the other rats are doing. Anyway, those pregnant rats are farther into their pregnancy than they should be. It''s only been three days since I¡¯ve meddled in their pregnancies, but they are looking like they are going to give birth tomorrow. Usually, it takes three weeks for a mother rat to bear children, but it seems to only take four days for the manipulated rats. It¡¯s good, if the baby rats are in good health, it will mean I¡¯ll never run out of rats to populate my Domain. It also means I¡¯ll be able to apply the same changes to all the other mammals in my Domain to speed their population growth too. Thirdly, I select a batch of just fertilized eggs from different kinds of birds, bugs, reptiles, fishes and crabs living in my Domain and I infuse my mana into them. I want them to grow faster and get stronger than their normal counterparts. It¡¯s easy, it¡¯s one of the first manipulations I have ever done. After that, while the girls are in their bath, I take a look at the Marms. The procession coming to pray in front of the ¡®Goddess¡¯ statue is still several days from its destination and is actually making a stop for the night. I see they have put two of their own on guard duty. It is useless since there are no more pirates on the island and the biggest predator roaming the forest is an old fox. The Marms may be small compared to most other sapient species, but they have nothing to fear inside the forest. Even then, it is still a good idea to have sentries looking for danger. In their village, I can see that the group of wandering and traumatized children is slowly opening itself to the adults. They still sleep by themselves and spend the day away from the adults, but they no longer actively avoid them, like they have been doing since just after the attack. The reparations of the village will soon be finished and actually, everyone can already sleep with a roof over their head. I notice that one of the women is ready to give birth and will do so in the next days. I am eager to see if the child will be passively claimed by me through the ambient mana or if I will have to do it myself. No matter what, I will claim the child before it is able to resist and I will mold its mind to my liking. I also peep at a young couple taking a bath together. It is not out of perversion, but rather more out of curiosity. They are putting some plants in the water and are using soap to rub each other''s fur. It makes me realize I didn¡¯t put soap in the bathhouse. But since it is not a raw material and I don¡¯t yet know how to make it, I can¡¯t do it anyway. But I at least could have added some plants to the baths. I quickly add the soapweed to the Citizen''s part of the building and leave some false privacy to the couple, I am always present in all areas I have claimed, but I don¡¯t need to actively peep. Furthermore, the explosion of raw mana when a sapient being experiences climax is the second tastiest kind of mana, the first being a violent death. After growing the small addition to the bathhouse, I see the only current user of the facility, Franziska, reaching for one of the freshly grown herbs. She sniffs at it and starts rubbing her skin with it. It may not be soap, but it is at least better than just plain water and she seems to relax even more thanks to the flowers. On the following morning, I see Jack¡¯s team gathering in front of the Maze entrance. They didn¡¯t dive for the last two days, but none of the other teams of wannabe adventurers managed to reach the second floor till now. Although they are getting closer. Soon they encounter the first group of rats and they quickly dispose of it. I take a look at Franziska, who is looking at her arms and her legs, amazed by the effortlessness and the fluidity of her moves. The others have not yet noticed that she has changed, but they will at some point, most likely even before the end of the day. As the group of aspiring adventurers travel around the first floor and fight more and more of the creatures wandering there. The group is handling the floor with more ease each time they come in. This time they quickly go to the stairs to the second floor and enter the safe room at the bottom of the stairs. There they take a break and tend to the small injuries they received on the first floor.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Show me your injuries, I will bandage them.¡± Says Charles to Franziska. While I look at their exchange, I don¡¯t think she will be able to hide the fact that she is my Citizen much longer. She looks at him and shakes her head. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be shy.¡± He insists. ¡°Hrmf.¡± She makes, moving her arms and trying to shoo him away. ¡°I can see the blood on your clothes.¡± ¡°Hrmf.¡± She shrugs. ¡°So, all the blood I¡¯m seeing on your sleeves is from rats or what do you want to say?¡± He raises an eyebrow. ¡°Humpf.¡± She nods. ¡°If you say so. But don¡¯t complain about it later, if an infection settles in.¡± He shrugs and turns away, leaving her. ¡°You should tell them that you¡¯ve become my Citizen.¡± I tell her directly in her mind. ¡°I¡¯ll do it when I¡¯ll do it.¡± She thinks louder than her usual thoughts, allowing me to easily hear it. ¡°If that is your wish, but don¡¯t wait too much. You¡¯ve been seen entering the Citizen part of the bathhouse.¡± ¡°What?¡± She suddenly raises her head. ¡°And you¡¯re only telling me now?¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t see you directly, but they know it¡¯s someone small and strong, and since you¡¯re the only Dwarf here it¡¯s pretty easy to make the link.¡± ¡°Shit.¡± ¡°Did you really think no one would notice the changes in your body? You¡¯re not as tired compared to the previous you, furthermore you have almost no injuries from the first floor and those you have are healing faster.¡± ¡°Hrmpf.¡± ¡°And, it¡¯s the same for your stuff. Do you honestly think no one will notice you¡¯re receiving better quality loot? Especially when I¡¯ll give you your weapons and armors.¡± ¡°I thought I would have more time.¡± ¡°Since your first weapon is in a chest on this floor, as well as a small helmet fitting your head, you should talk to the rest of the group as soon as possible. Imagine their reaction if they learn it from someone else.¡± ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll do it later. Stop pestering me already.¡± During this small exchange, Grundy started meditating in front of the stone tablet. As the general instructions on meditation are still written on it, anyone who reaches this room can follow them and become one of my Citizen, if they can implement my directions. I listen to the conversation of the others and understand that they are still wary of the implications of being a Citizen, I need to make it more appealing. While Franziska starts to meditate too, I focus my attention on Grundy and raise the quantity and the quality of the mana in the air around him. After an hour of meditation from Grundy, there is a faint modulation in his mana that starts to resemble my own. He is almost ready, but the last part of the process is the hardest. It was far easier with Franziska, since she already knew how to meditate. It took her only a few hours, while he has already been trying it for three days. Half an hour later the group is gathered in front of the door leading to the rest of the second floor, ready to go. I move my attention to the upper part of my town. It is time for me to make the second of my facilities. The gymnasium. It is placed quite far away from the bathhouses. I raise walls in an ovoid fashion. It is a wide area that I already prepared for this construction. The perimeter is a running track with five lanes enabling five persons to run side by side, it is bordered by multiple rows of seats so that people can rest on them or simply watch what is happening on the field of the gymnasium. Inside the track I install a bunch racks with different kind of weapons, ranging from classical swords over halberds to warhammers, tonfas, and khukuri. All the blades are dulled as to prevent severe cuts, but they still leave bruises, with whom I can¡¯t help them. I also install a large number of wooden dummies for practice. Joined to the main building I raise a secondary one, which is specialized for throwing and other ranged weapons. I put all kinds of bows I know in there, different sizes of javelins, throwing knives, throwing stars and other weapons used to fight in the distance. I install several kinds of targets, some in the form of animals and other in humanoid forms, on each of them I highlight the vital areas. The building has enough room to allow up to twenty people to practice at the same time. Those places are only made to train, they are not some kind of armory for the people to take weapons from. Also, I plan to systematically destroy any weapon that is taken out of the gymnasium. Hey, I am willing to let everybody train, but I won¡¯t arm people for free. If they want weapons, they have to buy them, make them or earn them in the Maze. Also, I didn¡¯t know I had so much knowledge about weapons until I started making them. I am guessing part of the knowledge is from me and part of it comes from the pirates I drowned during their invasion. I raise the third building, adjoined to the other two. This one is for another kind of training, mental training to be exact. Simply put, I increase the quantity and quality of the mana in this particular building and cover the ground with smooth stones. I put an octogonal pillar in the middle of the circular room, and on each side of it, I write the instructions for meditation in order to become a Citizen. The ambient mana in this room may be of better quality than around the town, but it is still lacking when compared to the safe room at the beginning of the Maze¡¯s second floor. The space between the three buildings is a cloakroom. The lockers can¡¯t be completely locked unless you are a Citizen, so if you want to keep your possessions for yourself, you either have to keep an eye on them, or you have to become a Citizen. The second part of the cloakroom is the showers where you can wash away the sweat one accumulated working out. The trick in the showers is that if you are not a Citizen, you only have cold water, if you want a warmer shower, you need to either walk all the way to the bathhouses or be a Citizen. I know that the Citizens¡¯ advantages here are not really impressive, but it is an accumulation of small things to convince people to become Citizens. Chapter 31 - Grundy. Grundy is happy. He is exploring the second floor of the Maze with his friends. Plus, he is about to succeed in becoming a Citizen. He doesn¡¯t understand the full extent of what he will gain. Or what he will lose. There is always something to lose after all. But he knows that he needs to do this, for his friends. He is strong and sturdy, so he always puts himself on the front line. Today, the little woman - she¡¯s a Dwarf, he recalls - is fighting at his side. She¡¯s always at his side, but today she¡¯s different, there is something in the way she fights. Grundy is not smart enough to understand everything, but he can see that she¡¯s putting herself in more dangerous situations than usual. Is it because the little monsters here are stronger? Did something happen to her in the last two days? He doesn¡¯t know, but he will protect her, like he is protecting all of his friends. Standing on the front line, thinning the flow of small monsters, so that the others can take out the rest more easily. Jack and Mililara stand behind him on one side and the brothers on the other side of the Dwarf. It¡¯s with those thoughts in his head that Grundy takes the left side in the corridor¡¯s corner and stops. In front of him is an entrance to a small room, the kind of room with treasure chests and fiercer creatures protecting it than those commonly found inside the dungeon. Grundy silently signals his friends of what is in front and they tap on his shoulder, letting him know he can advance. The group enters the room and Grundy immediately locates a chest, it is resting on one side of the small room, waiting for them to draw closer and open it. But Grundy and his friends know better than to go straight to the chest, they look around for monsters to come out and attack them. And after a few seconds, the creatures do what the team expects and rush at them. Grundy¡¯s friends assume the position they worked out to confront the enemies in the same kind of room on the previous floor. The fight starts and as usual Grundy does his best to stomp and kick at the animals going for his friends. Sometimes one of the critters jumps at him, then he can throw a punch at it. It takes only three minutes for Grundy and his friends to kill all the little monsters, but they are all panting heavily after the fight. ¡°Huff¡­ There were more than usual.¡± ¡°And they were bigger too.¡± Say the brothers. ¡°But, look at the chest. It must have better loot than on the first floor too.¡± ¡°Yep bro, it must.¡± The group gathers itself around the chest and Jack opens it. Grundy likes Jack, he is a good Dogman. No, a Gnoll! He doesn¡¯t like to be called a Dogman, he says it¡¯s rude. But Jack can be rude too sometimes, especially with women. Once the chest is open the group inspects its contents. Grundy looks at this with mild curiosity, the loot process is not really interesting for him, he really prefers the adventure with his friends. So he doesn¡¯t pay a lot of attention to the chest¡¯s contents, it¡¯s the two brothers that go through it, as they really like such looting. ¡°The usual rags and other small stuff.¡± ¡°Some coins, as usual, but a few more. Oh look, this one is bigger, and it has a five on it. Does that mean the Dungeon deems this one as being worth five times the other ones?¡± ¡°Hey, there is three of those water tokens in it, great.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s all of the small stuff, here¡¯s the bigger ones.¡± ¡°A sword and a helm.¡± ¡°Who wants the sword? Seeing the size of it, it will be of no use to Grundy, neither does it fit his fighting style.¡± ¡°Plus, the charming Dwarf lady already has her little hammer, Jack got one of those too.¡± ¡°That leaves the beautiful Mililara, my stupid brother and me.¡± ¡°I think the smarter of us should get it, and our father always said ¡®ladies first¡¯. So Milady, do you want this sword?¡± Asks one of the brothers to Mililara. Grundy is always impressed by the ability those two men have to talk so much about almost everything. It is mesmerizing. ¡°Well, while I do appreciate the attention, I must refuse. I wouldn¡¯t hope to know how to use it, so keep it, you will be able to use it to a better extend than I ever could.¡± Grundy is also amazed by the way Millilara can respond in kind to them, getting in their little game of wording and beating them at it. ¡°Thanks a lot, Milady. Brother, the usual?¡± ¡°The usual.¡± Grundy looks at the two brothers as they are looking intently at each other and throw a hand in front of them at the time. One of them has his hand open and the other shows a closed fist. ¡°Paper beats rock. The sword is mine.¡± ¡°Then that only leaves the helm. How does it suit me?¡± He asks putting the helm on his head. ¡°You¡¯re ugly as fuck.¡± ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s too small for me.¡± After a bit of time testing, it turns out that it only fits the Dwarf. Something to do with the shape of her head, if Grundy understands it right. ¡°I think we should head out, we¡¯ve been down there long enough.¡± Announces Jack. ¡°Anyone wants to keep going?¡± Nobody objects and the team starts to retrace their steps back to the entrance of the Maze. When Grundy and his friends are almost at the exit, the small woman suddenly walks in front of the group and motions them to stop. ¡°What is it?¡± Asks Jack. ¡°We¡¯re almost out and I can¡¯t smell anything between us and the exit door.¡± The Dwarf opens her mouth, as if she was about to speak. But she can¡¯t speak, at least Grundy thinks so, she never said a word. She takes a deep breath and looks at the group with a serious expression on her face. ¡°I¡­ I have something to say.¡± The group stays silent at the announcement, looking shocked at her. ¡°My name is Franziska Kon Ironknuckles¡­¡± After taking a deep breath she continues ¡°and I¡¯m already a Citizen of the Dungeon.¡± ¡°She can talk!¡± Exclaims one of the two brothers, Grundy doesn¡¯t know which one, he is too focused on what the little woman is saying. ¡°Shut up dumbass! Don¡¯t you see she has something important to say?¡± Reprimands his brother. ¡°Yes, I can talk. I¡¯ve always been able to. I just don¡¯t like to do it. But now I have too. I have made a deal with the Dungeon. It will help me become a strong warrior and take my revenge. In return, I have to be one of its Citizens and protect it. The pirates will come back and at this time either we can fend them off or we will become slaves, again.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°For revenge? What kind of revenge? Do you plan to take revenge on the pirates?¡± Asks Jack. ¡°I do plan to take revenge on them, but they are not my main target.¡± ¡°Then who is it?¡± ¡°None of your business.¡± She responds in a voice that does not leave place for contestation, even Grundy can see this. ¡°How does it feel to be a Citizen?¡± Inquires Charles. ¡°It feels good. I¡¯m stronger, sturdier, even my senses are sharper. I have more endurance and strength and I¡¯m healing faster too. I almost feel like I became a Second.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you refused to let my brother treat your wounds.¡± Asks Mickel. The only answer, she gives this time, is a nod. ¡°Did you test the hot baths in the bathhouse?¡± Asks Mililara. Another nod. ¡°Are they good?¡± This time the nod is accompanied by a smile. ¡°What did you trade for it?¡± Jack asks a difficult question there. An obvious one, but a difficult one, according to Grundy. ¡°Nothing, I wouldn¡¯t throw away for my vengeance.¡± ¡°So, the Dungeon has his Citizen. Does Grundy still need to become one or can he stop trying?¡± Asks Mililara. ¡°He can do whatever he wants. But the more Citizens there are, the more chances we have to win against the pirates.¡± ¡°That does make sense.¡± Says the tall woman. ¡°Now I have one last question, I know a bit about dwarven customs and from what I understand the ¡®Kon¡¯ in your name is a mark of great dishonor. Why should we trust you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s right, I¡¯m banished from dwarven lands. My clan betrayed my parents. I won¡¯t tell anything more. Trust me or don¡¯t trust me, I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m strong enough to reach the second floor of the Maze by myself if I want.¡± ¡°Fine, I won¡¯t force you.¡± replies Mililara. She turns to the big and silent man in the corridor and resumes talking. ¡°Did you hear that Grundy? You don¡¯t have to do it anymore, you can stay yourself and do not have to pledge yourself to the Dungeon.¡± ¡°Yes man, you don¡¯t have to force yourself anymore.¡± ¡°You¡¯re free to do as you want.¡± echo the two brothers. ¡°I will still do it.¡± Insists Grundy. ¡°But why? You want to take a bath in hot water?¡± Asks Jack mockingly. ¡°Yes, I want hot water.¡± ¡°Haha seriously?!¡± Exclaims Charles. ¡°Also, I want to become stronger. To beat the pirates. I need to be stronger, so I can protect you all. You are my friends.¡± Explains Grundy. ¡°Makes more sense.¡± Says Mickel, throwing a light punch against his brother¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Anything more that you can gain by becoming a Citizen?¡± Asks Jack. Franziska takes off her helm, and taps on it, showing it to the others. Then she puts it back on her head. ¡°You¡¯re saying the Dungeon gives better loot to its Citizens?¡± Asks Mickel. A simple nod is his answer. ¡°Neat. You¡¯ll get personalize stuff.¡± happily says Charles, patting Grundy¡¯s back. While the group exits the Maze and goes to the bathhouse to wash themselves from the sweat and the blood covering them, Grundy thinks. He thinks hard. He is a bit sad that his Dwarf friend did not trust them enough to speak before now and that she still refuses to speak about her life from before the Dungeon - a lot of people don¡¯t want to speak about their life before the Dungeon. The fact that she wants vengeance is the saddest in his eyes, he thinks that nothing good ever comes from vengeance. But it is her choice and Grundy will not stop her, on the contrary, if she needs his help, he will help her. She is his friend and he is also glad that she finally talked to them and that she is not mute as he feared. Grundy also thinks about his other friends. The two brothers are nice and fun, even if they sometimes seem a little bit too focused on the loot and the money they can get from the Maze. But he likes them, like he likes all of his friends. Jack on the other side is a slight concern for Grundy. Grundy does not care that Jack is not a Human. Hey, he is not one either. No Grundy is more concerned by the way Jack is talking to people. He talks to them as if he is the boss, which may be partially true, as Jack is kind of the chief of their group and of the all the former slaves. But he has a tendency to give orders without taking in account the emotions of the others. Grundy has known a lot a people like that and sometimes this attitude leads to resentment and could mean bad news for Jack. If he doesn¡¯t learn to give more attention to other people emotions. The last member of its group is Mililara. She is nice to Grundy and always has a smile on her face when someone is looking at her. But sometimes Grundy catches a different look on her face, one that is full of sadness and fear. Grundy only sees those faces when she thinks nobody is looking at her in the Maze. Grundy does not know what makes her so sad or afraid, but she is his friend, so he will not force her to talk. If she wants to keep this a secret, he will respect her will, but he will always be there for her if she needs help. That is what friends are for, after all. Taking care of each other is what real friends do, his sister taught him that. But Grundy has to keep in mind that not everybody is his friend, which can be hard. Particularly nice strangers paying him drinks in taverns. Grundy¡¯s thoughts are interrupted by a conversation he¡¯s hearing in the baths. There is still talks about his body and how life favors some more than others, but he usually tunes those conversations down in his mind. What is getting his attention is the talk about a new facility build by the Dungeon, some kind of training ground. It seems like it is encouraging peoples to train to fight and offering new advantages to Citizen in this new facility. They are talking about the quality of the stuff in there, and how if you take the weapons or furniture out the facility they start to weaken and the moment you stop touching them they disappear and reappear back at their original place. Grundy thinks he should go and take a look at it after his bath. There is another topic that people are talking a lot about in the bath. It¡¯s Franziska. Charles and Mickel told every man in the bath of the fact that she is a Citizen. And most of the men are considering meeting her and questioning her about her new condition. Maybe Grundy will not go look at this ¡®gymnasium¡¯ now, maybe he will help his friend deal with the crowd for the moment. --- Franziska is relaxing in the warm water of the Citizens¡¯ baths when she hears a voice in her head. ¡°Well played. You told your group about being a Citizen so they could tell everyone about it and shield you from the blunt force of the questions everybody is asking about you.¡± She does not answer, reaching for some of the good smelling plants and starts rubbing her skin with them. She notices, once again, that she has almost no injuries from the fights in the Maze and that the few she suffered are already healing. ¡°You do know that the news is spreading like wildfire, right? It¡¯s the talk of the town, even more popular than the gymnasium.¡± Still no answer. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me, are you satisfied with your last dive in the Maze?¡± ¡°Yeah, it was nice.¡± She answers out loud. She finds it easier to convey her thoughts to the Dungeon if she speaks them than if she only thinks them, the only downside is that she can not do it in public. ¡°But I was wondering...¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me that I had to master how to open and close your little box, before being able to open the doors to the Citizens¡¯ area?¡± ¡°I think I did, but I changed my mind on that. For the moment you are my only Citizen and my best advertisement. I¡¯m taking care of you.¡± ¡°Like the healing?¡± ¡°No, that is your normal healing speed now. Judging by the animals I possess, you will heal quicker than normal. You will also live longer and catch a lot fewer diseases. And, if you ever decide to, you won¡¯t need to bear your children as long as you should.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t intend to have children. Not before taking my revenge, I refuse to curse them with this inheritance.¡± ¡°It is your choice. And look, this is what it looks like when I heal those I choose to help.¡± A sweet warmth starts to spread in Franziska body, which intensifies on the few scratches left on her skin. She looks at them and sees them healing at an amazing speed, in a few seconds they are completely healed, not even leaving the faintest scar behind. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s fast. And speaking of advertisements, I think that at least one of the women must have worked in some kind of bathhouse before, you should ask her for advice in how to improve the place.¡± ¡°And you think she will just tell me like that?¡± Franziska can ¡®hear¡¯ some kind of incredulity in the Dungeon voice. ¡°Offer her a good position in your future town, it could bring you more Citizens.¡± ¡°I have previously thought about offering positions in a way to entice more people to become Citizens, but maybe not enough.¡± ¡°Good. Now, let me enjoy my bath in peace.¡± Chapter 32 - Dave. Dave is a young man, who has short, brown hair and the beginning of a beard. He had passed a lot of time examining the practice weapons and furniture in the gymnasium, and what he saw was quite strange. He may not be a masterful craftsman, but he is quite good when working with wood. In fact, before he was captured by the pirates and arrived in the Dungeon, he had been amongst the best apprentices of a renowned cabinetmaker. To be fair, except the master and his two journeymen - his son and step-son - he was the best. If he hadn''t been so young, he could have left the workshop to practice and better his craftsmanship with other masters and eventually founded his own workshop. Or if he could slow down his drinking habits a bit, he could perhaps seduce one of the master¡¯s granddaughters and become one of his journeymen. But nooo. He had to drink away his salary every night. And that led to him being captured by those fucking slavers as a good craftsman. The way he had been captured was not too much different than most of the people in the Dungeon¡¯s cave. He drank more than usual that night and was kidnaped while exiting a pub after drinking too much. Anyway, what is attracting his attention right now is the craftsmanship of the wooden objects made by the Dungeon. He cannot see any traces of it being processed with a chisel, a saw or any other tool. In fact, the more he examines the dungeon made stuff, the more the strange idea grows in his mind that it¡¯s as if the Dungeon grew the wooden parts directly into their intended form. He could also add what the women said about the clothes to his observations. Every ¡®day¡¯, the few groups diving into the maze bring back all kind of fabric, simple blankets or real pieces of clothing to wear. From what Dave heard, the quality of that stuff is strange, they are obviously of pretty bad quality, but the way they are weaved together puzzles the seamstress present amongst the former slaves. Like the wooden tools, the fabric seems like its fibers were directly grown woven together and that no hands were used in their fabrication process. Like everything else that can be found in the Dungeon. The more Dave looks at them, the more he thinks the Dungeon can simply reproduce objects and even create new ones, but that it is incapable of any real craftsmanship. He also wonders why there is absolutely no leather in all of the dungeon made objects. And that makes him think, that he has to find a way to use those facts to his advantage. All of those thoughts, plus a natural curiosity, are the reasons why he decided to join the crowd surrounding the Dwarf home this morning. The rumor says that she is a Citizen now and he wants to learn more about that. ¡°What do you think it feels like?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯m not sure I want to do the same.¡± ¡°I want to know if the Citizens¡¯ areas are that interesting.¡± ¡°I¡¯m wondering what¡¯s the catch.¡± ¡°Why her?¡± ¡°Yeah, I thought Grundy was supposed to be the first to try.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to take a bath in hot water.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe there is no price for becoming a citizen either.¡± ¡°Yeah, but maybe it¡¯s still worth it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. But I want to know more.¡± ¡°There are almost no areas reserved for Citizen.¡± ¡°The Dungeon will build more of them. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± It seems like the crowd is as curious as Dave about the whole affair. Multiple conversations are taking place, making it hard to make some sense out of it. None of the groups are trying to be discreet about their talks, making Dave certain that the Dwarf knows the crowd is here. Dave also notices the presence of several persons of interest in the crowd. Especially the members of the groups regularly diving into the maze are gathered on one side of the crowd, talking to each other. Only those from the Dwarf¡¯s own group are missing. Dave can also see a Gnome in the crowd. It¡¯s not the first time he notices this woman in particular, as it seems the other women are quite wary of her. He cannot figure out why she is being treated like that, despite his questions on the matter. He knows it¡¯s not because she¡¯s a Gnome, there are other Gnomes in the cave and none of them are avoided by the women. The last person of interest is Lucia. The young girl that managed to open their restraints on the first day inside the Dungeon. He actually remembers her name, despite his bad memory for those kinds of details, as he feels like he owes her for removing his shackles. She is standing on the other side of the crowd from the adventurers. Next to her stands the young woman that Dave always sees with her. While he can¡¯t remember her name, her magnificent body, marred by the scar below her left eye, makes her stand out a lot in the crowd. After a bit of time, the crowd starts to grow quiet. Dave looks around in search of the reason for the sudden change and spots the group of adventurers, who usually dive with the Dwarf, on the end of the street. They are accompanied by Melinda and her monstrous breasts. Usually, Dave enjoys a woman with a big chest, but this one has it too big for his liking. They almost hypnotize him each time he sees her. When the group reaches the crowd, everyone moves back to let them pass, walking on each others'' feet in the process. Grundy, Mililara, the Gnoll - John? - and the two brothers whose names elude Dave¡¯s memories knock on the door, then enter the Dwarf¡¯s house while the big breasted woman joins Lucia and her friend on the side of the crowd. After the passage of the group the talk of the crowd resumes even louder than before and most of the questions are aimed at Melinda. ¡°What do you know about the situation?¡± ¡°What was the price she paid?¡± ¡°Did she talk to you about the Citizens¡¯ bath? Is the water really hot there?¡± ¡°Please calm down!¡± After rebuking them in this way, she starts to answer the questions of the crowd¡¯s interest. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about all of this. I know that she''s named Franziska and that she struck a deal with the Dungeon. Something about finding better stuff in the maze. Also, it seems like she can talk, she just doesn¡¯t seem to like doing it. But I¡¯ve been told that she agreed to talk to everyone in a few moments. You just need to be patient.¡± After this small declaration, the crowd resumes making theories about the situation. Dave keeps on listening to the crowd as he slowly moves closer to Melinda, in an attempt to eavesdrop on her conversation with Lucia and the golden blond woman. His attempt is cut short by the door brutally opening and slamming against the wall with a loud crash. Walking out comes the Dwarf woman that the crowd has been waiting to see. Following her is the group she¡¯s used to exploring the maze with. The Gnoll doesn¡¯t seem that happy about the situation, while the brothers are visibly enjoying themselves. Mililara and Grundy are just silently waiting with bored expressions. ¡°So, you lot have questions? Go on, I don¡¯t have all day!¡± Those are the first words that the first Citizen angrily spits out to address the crowd in front of her house. Dave doesn¡¯t know exactly what he should have expected, but something a bit more formal obviously.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The rest of the crowd seems as puzzled as him, but one of the women regains her senses faster than the others, whom Dave recognizes as the leader of one of the adventurer groups, and asks the first question. ¡°I¡¯ve heard you¡¯ll get better stuff in the Dungeon¡¯s maze. Is that true?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Once again, the informality of the Dwarf¡¯s way of speaking strikes the crowd as odd. ¡°Care to elaborate?¡± The other woman asks. ¡°I¡¯d like not to, I don¡¯t like to talk. But you lot deserve it, so here I am, talking to you.¡± The Dwarf addresses the crowd before turning her head to look at the questioning woman. ¡°The maze is like the village, there are parts reserved for Citizens, some treasure chests or shortcuts that only us can open or access. Additionally, the Dungeon will give us better quality loot, even from normal creatures.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Asks an anonymous voice in the crowd. ¡°Why? You¡¯re seriously asking this? It¡¯s to encourage more people to become Citizens, you dumb fuck.¡± ¡°Hey! No need to be mean.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t ask stupid questions.¡± The crowd seems a little taken aback by the Dwarf¡¯s words, but Dave is not as surprised, that¡¯s more like how she talked to them since the beginning of the conversation. ¡°Is it true that the water is hot in the Citizens¡¯ part of the bathhouse?¡± ¡°Yes, it is. It feels really good. There are even some plants to scrub your skin with. They¡¯re not as good as soap, but they smell quite nice.¡± ¡°What does it looks like?¡± ¡°The decorations seem a bit lacking, but I think the Dungeon will improve those in time. Particularly if someone has a good idea on how to do it.¡± ¡°Are you saying that the Dungeon is willing to listen to our demands?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s willing to do a lot of things for its Citizens.¡± ¡°Why does it want us to become its Citizen?¡± ¡°It sounds weird, but if I got it right, it has to do with how dungeons feed.¡± ¡°What?!¡± A good part of the crowd starts to exclaim their worries at this declaration. ¡°Yes, it seems a Dungeon feeds on the energy living beings extrude at any time and absorbs it as its own. As far as I understand, the most energy is released at the time of death for sapient beings and that¡¯s why dungeons usually try to kill people. But this Dungeon is special, it is sapient itself and doesn¡¯t want to kill us. It believes that being sapient will make it a target for powerful people and it needs us to defend itself.¡± ¡°Defend itself? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°For now, I¡¯m talking about the pirates, stupid. It is not strong enough to take them on only with its creatures, so it needs our help. In exchange, it offers us a whole bunch of advantages for the future.¡± ¡°Is it planning something special for the future?¡± ¡°I think it planned to build a whole country that could take on any army so that it can live in peace.¡± ¡°And what would be the role of the Citizens?¡± ¡°They would be something like a last line of defense in time of need, and the first few of us will be its nobility.¡± ¡°Will we need to fight?¡± ¡°Only as a last resort, if the enemy comes too close to the core. Of course, being a Citizen means it will try its best to keep us alive. Citizens are more powerful than normal people, not quite as strong as Seconds, but I can still beat Grundy here at arm wrestling without breaking a sweat. And look at this.¡± Franziska jumps, surprising the crowd at how high she can jump, as she reaches higher than Grundy is tall with a single jump, then she begins to descend again and lands on the ground. Dave can see her left foot does not touch the ground properly making the Dwarf crash face first in front of the puzzled crowd. Dave is as surprised as the rest of the crowd by the Dwarf¡¯s jump, but he is more surprised by the way she gets back up to her feet with a laugh, just shortly dusting herself off, before she turns her attention back to the people in front of her with a smile and a bleeding nose. ¡°Ha! I still need to practice the landing part, didn¡¯t expect to jump that high.¡± She mutters, before addressing the crowd again. ¡°And now a final demonstration.¡± She takes out a knife and in a swift move cuts deeply into her own arm. The crowd gasps at this and some even look at her as if she was crazy. But she simply raises her arm into the air in response and everyone can see the cut healing rapidly before their own eyes. ¡°See? The Dungeon can heal its Citizens¡¯ wounds this fast.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it heal the few people still in a coma?¡± ¡°¡®Cause they¡¯re not it¡¯s Citizens, moron, so it can¡¯t heal them.¡± ¡°Why did you became a Citizen?¡± ¡°For power.¡± ¡°Power for what?¡± ¡°Power for beating your sorry ass, if you keep pestering me with such personal questions. I¡¯m willing to answer questions about the Dungeon, not about me.¡± ¡°Are we trapped here?¡± ¡°For the moment yes. At least until the pirates are defeated.¡± ¡°Defeating the pirates? Why they¡¯re not here.¡± ¡°You¡¯re stupid or what?¡± Someone else in the crowd answers instead: ¡°They¡¯ll come back for sure.¡± ¡°Yes, they¡¯ll come back, expecting to find a bunch of docile slaves willing to obey every order, and if you don¡¯t want that to happen, you¡¯ll need to fight them. The Dungeon is willing to train and arm us. After the pirates are beaten, we will be allowed to leave its Domain.¡± ¡°When will that be?¡± ¡°In several months, maybe a year.¡± ¡°How can we become strong enough to beat them? There are several Seconds in their crew and the captain is even a Third. A fucking Third!¡± ¡°Well, the Dungeon thinks, that with its guidance, I can become a Second in a few months. And with his help, I should be able to take on a Third.¡± ¡°You¡¯re sure it can be done?¡± ¡°If enough of us are willing to train and fight, then yes.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t being a ¡®Citizen¡¯ like being a slave to the Dungeon? You became one of its creatures, like a monster.¡± ¡°No, I still have my own free will. I¡¯m not a slave.¡± ¡°Seems to me like you sold your soul.¡± Retorts another man in the crowd. ¡°Think what you want about it. The Dungeon treats us better than the pirates and that¡¯s enough for me. I had it quite easy on their ships, but even I would rather stay here. I would rather be a powerful creature of this Dungeon than a powerless slave again. At least, here I can choose my master and it¡¯s a good one, after all, it allows me to keep my free will. I see this more as pledging myself to a king instead of being enslaved and sold to an owner.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still selling your soul.¡± Repeats the man, attracting the attention of the crowd to himself. After noticing the attention he is drawing, he haughtily smiles and defiantly rubs his short, blonde hair ¡°Better that than being the fucktoy of a crazy collector that wants a Dwarf in his harem.¡± Says the Dwarf with the approval of a big part of the crowd judging by the approving murmurs, downing a bit the arrogance of the blonde man. ¡°Hrmpf.¡± Dave can see that the Dwarf, Frances - what a strange name for a Dwarf - believes every word that she¡¯s saying. It makes quite some sense to him. He too would rather pledge himself to this Dungeon than being reduced to a slave for a cruel master. Fortunately, as a man and a good craftsman, he would take far fewer risks in refusing the Dungeon¡¯s proposition than the women. And he could see that some of them were already thinking of accepting the Dungeon¡¯s offer if it means that they could be strong enough to fight back against the pirates. ¡°Will it really protect us if we become its Citizens?¡± ¡°It needs us to protect itself, so it will protect us, while it can.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t it grow monsters to do that?¡± Wants to know the blond man. ¡°Not fast enough, no.¡± ¡°Why does the Dungeon want to forbid abortion?¡± Shyly asks a pregnant woman. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± replies the Dwarf, while she shakes her head helplessly. ¡°What will happen to our children?¡± ¡°I have no idea, but I know it¡¯s going to treat them well.¡± ¡°And what is that fate worse than death it talks about in its law?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± ¡°Does it know what makes the difference between animals, monsters and sapient beings?¡± This strange question comes from the lonely Gnome, who is intently looking at the Dwarf while awaiting her answer. ¡°I think it does, at least it knows more than me on this subject. Now if you want to know more, you¡¯ll have to ask it some other way. I¡¯m going to train in the maze.¡± After those words Frances starts to walk in direction of the maze¡¯s entrance, shoving the crowd aside and ignoring any further questions, her adventuring group following her hastily. Chapter 33 - Future monsters. Bertrand is furious. After all that had happened, he cannot hold back his outrage and is grumbling on his own. He may not be a slave anymore, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that he is still trapped. Trapped inside this dungeon, with heretics no less. As everyone should know, dungeons are the work of Gods, and that would be acceptable if they were not usually made by Dark Gods. And this particular dungeon is clearly the work of an evil God. It is tempting people with false promises about power, safety, and wealth, while it clearly covets their souls, just like a demon. A sapient dungeon? As if! Just an elaborate trap created by a demon. Bertrand knows that there are all kinds of faiths across the world and that some people don¡¯t worship the almighty Jezabel, Goddess of Light, or one of the Gods on her side, but that can still be forgiven, as long as they are at least not worshiping an evil deity. Unfortunately, it seems like most of the people in this Jezabel forsaken place seem to be too weak-minded to resist the evil dungeon¡¯s temptations and promises. The worst of them is that Dwarf. Bertrand has a lot of respect for Dwarves, they are strong-willed and full of honor, as well as masterful craftsmen. And, even if they are not following Jezabel¡¯s words, they are always on the side of the Light when war strikes. But this Dwarf, she has thrown away her honor and sold her soul to a Dark God, merely for the ability to jump higher and to heal faster, or for the leisure of taking a hot bath. She¡¯s despicable. She could have gotten most of those things by becoming a Second, no need to sell her soul for that, especially if she was as close to it as she pretended to be. Becoming a ¡®citizen¡¯ of this dungeon is treason to all that is sacred. And it is the sacred duty for any of Jezabel¡¯s legitimate followers to right this kind of wrong. - I¡¯m happy with the early results of Franziska addressing the people living in my small city. From listening to a lot of the following conversations, I can see that some people are still wary of becoming Citizens, but more and more of them are seriously considering it. I already have two men and one pregnant woman trying to follow the instructions in the meditation room of the gymnasium. The main concern people have is the point that the blond man brought forward. The part about selling their soul to me. I honestly don¡¯t know if this is what they are doing when becoming Citizens. Do I steal the souls of the creatures I claim? That¡¯s a heavy philosophical question for later. Right now I¡¯m focusing on that blond man¡¯s activities - Bertrand if I recall correctly from his earlier conversations with the others. He is rambling in his house, something about how I¡¯m evil and how Franziska is a traitor to all the creatures of the ¡®Light¡¯. If I recall correctly from those few bits of memory I regained, the ¡®Light¡¯ with capital L, is a term used to refer to a part of the principal pantheon of Gods worshiped on Aropia and Jarnio, the two main continents of the known world. From the tiny of knowledge I obtained by killing the pirates, I also know they are mainly following Dark or neutral Gods. This pantheon is believed to be primarily a gathering of two groups of Gods, the Gods on the Light side are gathered behind Jezabel, Goddess of Light and those on the Dark side are following Gronal, God of Darkness. I found this pantheon quite unoriginal, with its Manichean view of the world. I know I have seen more religions with different pantheons, some really more complicated, but I cannot recall the specifics, and there is the one I am creating for the Marms, too. At least there are some ¡®neutral¡¯ Gods that are supposed to refuse to completely align themselves with one side or another, like Morhick, the God of War. I remember primarily worshiping Morhick in my previous life, as well as a few Gods from the Light side. I also remember that I cast away all of my respect for them when I was enacting my revenge on Maria¡¯s murderers, during this time I was closer to the followers of Gronal than those of Jezabel. But, from the moment I awoke as a Dungeon, I have lost absolutely all faith in every kind of deity. I do not know if the Gods are real or not and if one or several of them are responsible for my state. In my previous life, I was like most other people, believing in Gods and following the rites, but not really caring much about them. In my actual life as a Dungeon, I¡¯m more of an agnostic, I don¡¯t know if they are real or not and for the moment the answer to that question is of no relevance to me. And even if I find the answer to that question one day, I will never worship a God again, not anymore. But that does not matter now. What matters now is that the blond man is plotting something. I am almost certain he is going to attempt something against Franziska. Well, maybe not against her, if he is at least a bit smart, he can see that she would beat him easily, but maybe against one of my other future Citizens, like the ones currently meditating in the gymnasium. While I¡¯m watching Bertrand, I notice something happening elsewhere in my Domain. I focus my attention on what is happening over there and look at the pregnant rats from my experiments, they are about to enter labor. They emit a short, high cry, to which all the other rats around them start to move frantically. Some of them rush out to fetch food - small pieces of meat and juicy berries - or pieces of clothing they managed to steal from the people in the Dungeon village, some of these rags are wet, while others are as dry as possible. I didn¡¯t tell them to do that, they acted by themselves and it is quite surprising to see them acting with so much intelligence.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A few minutes later the pregnant rats start to push and baby rats come to the world. As for usual rats¡¯ birth, I don¡¯t have to claim them, they are already mine, but this time I can see that there are some differences from the habitual process. The ¡®servant¡¯ rats grab the youngs and start to rub them with the wet clothes, then with the dry ones, while others proceed in the same manner with the mothers before placing them near their mothers¡¯ mammaries. The youngs immediately start to suckle milk. I must admit that I¡¯m amazed by the behavior of the rats, I know that rats are quite smart rodents and are able to take care of each other, but to do it to that extent? To wash the newborns and the mothers? I wouldn¡¯t have bet on this ever happening without me telling them to do it, unfortunately, that doesn¡¯t spare me the need to heal some of the mothers with my mana. I take a more attentive look at their offspring and that as expected, some of the mothers gave birth to more numerous litters than usual. While a normal rat¡¯s litter is composed of around seven babies, for my rats a normal litter is closer to ten rats, but these special litters are composed of fifteen to twenty youngs. The first part of my experiments is a success, allowing me to force my creatures to give birth to more children, therefore repopulating my Domain more quickly. But that is not all. There are two kinds of litters in this rat nest. The first is the numerous one, the other is the big one. Amongst the young actually suckling on their mother there are some that are much bigger, they are thrice as large as the other infants, unfortunately, not all the mothers of those big younglings survived the birth of their progeny and the litters only contain three or four individuals each. This marks the success for the second part of my experiments, the first step in creating real monsters. I know now that I am able to successfully modify mammals in the belly of their mother. I already knew I could do so with the crabs, but being able to do it with mammals is a first, I need to be able to freely manipulate all kinds of living beings - fish, mammals, reptiles, birds, bugs, crustaceans and whatever else may exist - to fulfill my plans for the future. Speaking of which, the batches of eggs I infused with mana in order to speed up their growth are growing just fine. Most of the bugs have already hatched and the larvae are already bigger than the normals ones. Well, larger than even the passively mana infused ones, which are already bigger than the natural ones. The other kinds of eggs still need a bit of time to hatch. On the other side of the monster experimentations, the squirrel I impregnated with a bat is not ready to give birth yet. But the hybrid in it seems to be developing quite fine, for the moment. I hope it will keep growing like that. Looking at all those little creatures made me realize that a whole bunch of them were ready to have a small evolution. It has been a long time since I did that, distracted by the pirates and the village as I was, but I should do it now. I focus on those creatures who can evolve and infuse them with mana to make them grow. For almost all of them, it is a simple matter of becoming a bit bigger and stronger, but some are manifesting some interesting abilities. Mostly the bugs, of whom plenty are developing a kind of resistance to acid, I think it is a natural evolution to resist the growing number of the acid spitting beetles that are preying on them. Actually, one of those beetles is now already big enough to hunt small lizards, even if it can¡¯t beat rodents yet, but if it keeps on going like that, it may be able to do so after its next spurt of growth, or at least to strengthen its bloodline. In truth, it would be hunting them if it could aim its acid directly at their eyes, but it can¡¯t aim that well. There also are some crabs that I take special care of. I miss my old dancing crabs, so I made some new ones. Well, it is still a work in progress, but I now have crabs of all the rainbow¡¯s colors. The next step is for me to manage to make them glow. Doing some of my old activities made me realize I have not done any of them for quite some time. Some of them could be really useful for fighting the pirates or other invading forces in the future. That lead me to start claiming the bottom of the sea around my island. The plan is to go as far as I can before the mana needed to claim any more land starts to grow faster and faster. Then I will raise some reefs around my Domain and claim all the water between the new reef and the old one, claiming all the creatures living inside in the process. I also plan to raise some rocks and install some bird nests on the border of my Domain to serve as watchtowers and warn me as soon as possible when a boat is coming. That will allow me to raise the alarm and move my creatures and Citizens in place to defend my core before any invasion into my territory starts. Of course, I could completely block the access to my island by raising the reef enough to block any ship, but that would be useless against any enemy worth their salt. I think claiming all that area will take me two or three days, maybe more, but that is fine. I have enough time to do it peacefully. Furthermore, I also plan on claiming as much territory underground as possible, so I can expand the maze, ideally with several hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, but that¡¯s for a far-off future. Right now I¡¯m increasing the amount of mana infused eggs of all kinds in my Domain, as well as infusing mana in the pregnant mammals. I am reproducing the rat experiment with different kinds of rodents and other mammals. In a few weeks, I should have a much higher amount of creatures living on the island. I make sure to not do so to all the individuals of the same species, I want to keep some ¡®normal¡¯ specimens partially for diversity¡¯s sake and to allow them to develop ¡®naturally¡¯, but mainly to keep a basis for future experiments. During all this time, I kept a bit of attention on Bertrand. I am not completely taking my attention off of him, not until he decides to act on his ramblings. I am certain that he will attempt something stupid. After that, I¡¯ll have a new subject for my experiments. I had to postpone some experiments, after I released the pirates I held in captivity, after all. Experiments that would add more grist to Bertrand¡¯s mill and anger a lot of the other followers of the Light. Chapter 34 - Laura. Since Franziska addressed the crowd a few days ago, I am glad to observe that the number of people meditating in the gymnasium reaches twenty-three. Not all of them are meditating at the same time and some only meditate for short periods, but there is always someone meditating during the day. The amount of women in meditation here is greatly superior to the number of men, especially the pregnant women. It can maybe partly be explained by the fact that more women live in my town than men do, but not to such proportions. Unfortunately, none of the adventurers - safe for Grundy - have started meditating. I think they are more wary of becoming a citizen, because they fight daily against my creatures, but based on what I hear of their conservations this situation should change soon. I think the brothers, Charles and Mickel, and the men from the all-men party will be the first, even if only for the loot. However, of the twenty-three people working to become Citizens, eighteen of them are women, including ten of the pregnant women, that¡¯s half of those with child. I think the fact that I promise security for them and for their children works wonders in convincing pregnant women to join my Citizenship. Amongst those women, there is one I find quite interesting. She has blond hair and green eyes. While her skin looks quite soft, her undeniable beauty is hidden by the scar on her left cheek and her intimidating height. She is the tallest woman in the whole town and even if she is rather slim, she still has some muscles that cannot be denied. From what I understand, she got her scar by resisting the pirates that wanted to rape her and, even if they got it their way in the end, she at least made them pay for it. The reason, she gives to everybody asking her why she doesn¡¯t join one of the adventuring group, is not that she wants to make sure that her child is safe - she is only something like four weeks pregnant, I think - by avoiding activities too straining on the body, which is an excuse other women use. No, she went into the maze once and punched or kicked all the rodents she found to death with ease, proving that she is one of the best warriors inside my Domain. Instead, she claims my maze is too boring for her. So boring that she didn¡¯t even try the second level. I can believe her, the creatures I put in my maze are no match for her and, while I do have some that could give her a good challenge, I prefer to keep them safely outside the maze for now or use them for other tasks. Her name is Clara Hilltop and I remember her being strongly opposed to abortion, when the women were arguing on the subject a few days ago, after I announced my Laws. I think I can make her a powerful protector of mine in time. For that purpose, I want to help her to become a Citizen as fast as possible, which leads to me improving the quality and quantity of mana permeating everything around her to increase her passive absorption of it. But she is not the one I focus most of my attention on. No, my main focus is on another of the pregnant Citizen prospects. A little and feeble one. She seldom speaks to anyone, but always looms around the crowd. She is quite gloomy, with long and black hairs hiding her brown eyes. Her petite stature helps her hide in the shadows, allowing her to follow groups of people while staying mainly out of sight. And, just like Clara, I think she could become quite useful, at least if she survives her encounter with Bertrand. He is ready to act on his plans. His stupid plan to ¡®cleanse the world of a follower of the Dark Gods¡¯. As if I couldn¡¯t see it coming and prepare a counterplan. - Laura had a painful and sad childhood, but in a typical way, and she knew it. Her parents died when she was young. Afterward, she was taken in by her uncle and his family. They did not take her in because of kind-heartedness, instead, they mistreated her. They despoiled her of her inheritance and forced her to do the most menial tasks in their home. Her uncle and her two cousins not only physically abused her, they also raped her numerous times, when her aunt wasn¡¯t there obviously. The only bright things in her life were the few occasions, in which she could read books. Indeed, on some occasions, when she accompanied her aunt going to do some grocery shopping, Laura managed to snatch a book or two during some of these excursions. One of them was a storybook full of fables, one of them, in particular, moved her. A story about a young woman with a background similar to her - if one was able to overlook the sexual abuse - that was bullied by her step-mother and her three step-sisters. She read this story again and again, until she knew it by heart, dreaming of the days she herself would be freed of her ordeal, just like in the story. But unlike the character in the story, no fairy godmother or prince charming ever came to her rescue. No, what freed her of her despicable family was just another simple consequence of her torments. She was with child. When her aunt noticed and learned that its father was either her own husband or one of her own two sons, she decided it was too much. But the cold bitch would not let her anger take the better of her. She had Laura drink a potion to kill the unborn child in her belly and then she sold her into slavery, she sold her to the most despicable men she could find in a short time amount of time, before she lost control of her anger and a potential profit. At last, she found some pirates that would be able to take her niece far away, which was all the better. On the pirates¡¯ boat, Laura was raped again and again, like the other female prisoners for days and days. But one day, the pirates disembarked their slaves in a troglodyte village. Without food or anything else to support themselves, they were left behind, while the pirates sailed away. Fortunately, a young girl freed her of her shackles, one called Lucia, no family name. A few days later, Laura learned that she had been freed from the pirates thanks to a sapient dungeon and that all the sweet fruits growing on the numerous trees are also his doing.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Since her release, Laura has a great deal of respect for Lucia, she is a model for her, just like some kind of fairy godmother or at least the notion Laura has of what a godmother is. And adding to the great part the Dungeon played in her newly acquired freedom, he even promised to protect her, as long as she becomes one of his Citizen. She knows the Dungeon is not a Human, so he can¡¯t be her prince charming. She also knows that becoming a Citizen is nothing like a wedding. But he had liberated her, and he is even promising to protect her. No one ever promised to protect her before. This is why she had decided to do it, to become a Citizen. Right now, Laura is exiting the gymnasium after a long period of meditation. She walks in the direction of the habitations district while reciting in her head the story that she took refuge in when everything was going bad in her life and enjoying the dim light of the fake stars in the cave roof. Now that things are better, the story she built her mind around is still at the first place of her mind, but she does not focus her mind on the same part of the story, she previously did. Instead of living out the suffering and dreaming of the rescue, she is now living the rescue and can dream of the next step, the happy ending. So lost in her dreams as she is, she does not see the shadow following her, while she starts walking between the houses, nor does she notice the diminishing fake stars¡¯ glow. She passes in front of two unoccupied houses before making a turn into a dark alley, completely oblivious to the danger she is in. After all, everybody here is the same situation, right? There are only friends in the Dungeon. What should she be afraid of? She walks into another obscure alley, happily humming to herself the words of her story. Happiness slowly building in her heart at the realization, that it has been two whole weeks since she last was abused in any way. Her growing happiness is suddenly halted by the sound of fast footsteps. Bewildered, she looks behind her, just in time to see a shadow running at her. But just before the shadow reaches her, another form jumps from the side and collides with the assailant, throwing it out of its way and on the wall behind Laura. ¡°Kya!¡± A small cry escapes from the woman¡¯s throat as the shadows pass by beside her. Startled by the sudden, attempted attack against herself, Laura turns and looks at her assailant. She sees the blond hair of the man that rises to his feet as his poorly made hood has slipped off his head. She recognizes Bertrand, the man who was accusing the Dungeon to be after their souls. She thinks he is a fool for thinking that, the Dungeon is clearly a good entity that wants to protect his friends. And Laura wants to be his friend. Before being able to think any further, her remembrance is interrupted by his voice. ¡°You have betrayed all that is sacred. You¡¯re going to die.¡± The man says in a low voice oozing with hatred. A dark form appears between the two Humans, a form that looks similar to a dog. Out of the shadow appear two more of these creatures. They growl at Bertrand, and Laura can see fear starting to appear on his face, while he positions the pointy stick he is holding between himself and the creatures ¡°Demons!¡± Bertrand screams as he throws himself at the forms, who are obviously protecting the woman against his attack. He tries to stab them, but it is evident that he has no clue how to fight, while the canine creatures work in tandem, dodging his attacks and biting his arms and legs, pushing away the fool. After a few bites, the man turns away and runs into another poorly illuminated street. He disappears into the night, hounded by two of the creatures. The third one turns to look at Laura. Her first instinct is to take a step backward, away from the creature. But before she can react, it walks in an out of place small ray of light, she had not noticed before and she sees the red fur of the beast. She knows what kind of fur it is, as she has seen her aunt wear a lot of them. It is a fox. Not some kind of shadow monster. The incongruity of this animal¡¯s presence here, makes her hesitate, as the fox reaches her and sits down in front of her, tilting its head to the side in a curious manner. Seeing this, Laura helplessly waits, not sure how she should react. While the fox and the woman are looking at each other, a scream can be heard in the now even darker night. A few seconds later the two other foxes come back, one sits down next to the first one, while the other walks a step closer to Laura and drops a wooden stick in front of her. Her flabbergasted mind recognizes the stick as being the one Bertrand intended to use to hurt her. Finally understanding that the foxes really acted to protect her and that it was not just a dream, she makes a step in their direction and bows her head to them. ¡°Thank you for saving my life.¡± She says in a soft voice. The foxes bow their heads in response and then run away, disappearing quickly into the night, leaving the woman alone with her mind. A mind that quickly starts to wander, ignoring the fact that the night is not as dark as during the attack. She was almost killed by a Human, while animals came and saved her, not another Human or someone else living in the Dungeon, animals. But all the animals here are supposedly controlled by the Dungeon himself. Does that mean that the Dungeon protected her? Why? Why would he protect someone like her? She could not understand. She was no lost princess, waiting to be saved by a prince charming, just a simple girl. She had just been of the lowest nobility, the only daughter of a small Baron, a title her uncle had claimed after the death of her father, and she already had been saved once due to the Dungeon. But is it not the duty of a hero to protect the damsels in distress? She may no longer be a proper damsel, being twenty-seven years old and pregnant, but she is clearly in distress. Well, her hero is not a conventional one either, as he is a Dungeon. He saved her. He protects her. He cares about her. She resumes her walk, going to her home under the bright fake stars of the roof. The pointy stick still in her hand. And while she walks, her mind keeps repeating the same few thoughts, solidifying her conclusions. The Dungeon saved her. The Dungeon cares about her. She will become one of his Citizens. She will do whatever she can to help him. He saved her. He cares about her. He is her hero. He saved her. She would be his wife. He is her prince charming. Chapter 35 - Birth. I must admit I¡¯m a bit puzzled by the reaction of the girl I just saved. Before, she was always gloomy and hiding her face behind her long and dark hair. These last few days, she was acting a bit more cheerful when no one was around. And after I saved her, she was humming and skipping all the way back to her home instead of just walking. I was hoping for some kind of gratefulness for saving her, that is why I had waited for Bertrand to take action before stopping him, after all. But I didn¡¯t expect her to be that cheered up. Me saving her should not have been so impactful on her. Speaking of Bertrand, he is not dead, instead he is recuperating in the cell I had originally made for the pirates. That place is rich in my mana, has a water stream and a thorny blackberry bush. I¡¯m planning on forcibly claiming him, but that will have to wait a bit, as I have to focus my attention on something else for now. It is finally happening. The Marm woman who was on the verge of giving birth is having her first contractions. The woman, who was keeping the future mother company, rushes out of the house to wake up other women, so they can help. I am very excited to see the results, as it is the first time a sapient being is being born in my Domain. The Marms are obviously used to assist parturient women. Two women take care of the soon to be mother in her bed, while some others run around fetching buckets of fresh water, others boil water with cloth in it. An old woman is also present, who seems to be the chief of the midwives, as she¡¯s the one ordering all the others women around. While they are rushing to prepare for the birth, the woman in labor is having a painful time, as, even if she has a lot of moral support from the other women, she is still the one that has to push. This is visibly a painful action as she¡¯s screaming and swearing a lot while also releasing waves of tasty mana with each contraction. Hmmm, that¡¯s gooood. I enjoy the flow of tasty pain mana for several minutes before it runs out. At the same time there is a big wave of mana surging through the room. The taste of it is incredible. It tastes better than regular pain or even than an orgasm. For now, I class the tastiness of mana in several categories. Growing in tastiness they are: simple pain like cuts and bruises, simple pleasure like massages, great pain like bones breaking, great pleasure like orgasms and finally death. But now, I can add the birth of the sapient being to the list, just between death and orgasm. The child is born. The midwives wash him and the exhausted mother carefully with warm and wet pieces of cloth. After the cleaning, they give the baby to the mother to allow her to breastfeed the little Marm. I can now see it¡¯s a boy. And unfortunately, it is not automatically mine. Maybe it is because the mother is not mine either. But at least the bubble of mana around the newborn child is thinner than around any other Marm. It¡¯s almost as thin as the animals¡¯. They have a bubble of mana around them too, but it is thinner than their skin and I have to focus on it just to see it. For the little Marm here, I think I can claim him pretty easily. Like I¡¯m used to do with the animals now, I gather my mana around the little boy. It is rather hard to do, as he is so close to his mother that her bubble interferes. Strangely enough, his bubble is slowly getting thicker by the second. I stop my actions and think back on the strange tastiness of mana. The mana released when a sapient being dies in my Domain is so tasty that I¡¯m sometimes tempted to just kill everyone. I understand better now, how some dungeons can turn rogue and attack everything outside their boundaries. Usually, they are young dungeons and are quickly subjugated by the local Seconds. But sometimes, when they are located in more secluded places, they require a Third to join the expedition. I fear that when the world learns about my existence and particularly about my sapience, they will send more than just one or two Thirds to deal with me. But, If I can build up enough strength to fend off the pirates with their Third captain and the Seconds in his crew, I think I will be able to resist the following attacks. I also have the feeble hope that they will rather send diplomats to try to negotiate with me. Unfortunately, it is more likely that the diplomats come after the warriors. It also raises another question. How do the usual dungeons not lose themselves in a spur of destruction? Why do they not simply send creatures out to bring back sapient beings and kill them where they can taste their pain and death? There must be something preventing them from doing so. Is there some kind of organization controlling them? Will they come for me too? A few minutes after, the baby is taken from its mother and put in a separate bed. Now that he is away, his mother¡¯s bubble is not disturbing me anymore and I can see that the child¡¯s bubble has stopped reinforcing itself. Is it linked to the breastfeeding? Or is it simply due to the physical closeness of his mother? Fortunately, it is not as thick as other sapient beings, it is just a bit thicker than previously. Anyway, I can resume claiming the baby Marm. Once again I gather my mana around the child and start to pour it into him. I do it slowly with a lot of care, since I do not wish to poison him. I focus my mind on this task and as I feel myself getting closer to success, the baby starts to cry. That makes one of the midwives still present in the room reach for him, disturbing my work on the child. She hands the baby to the mother that holds him in her arms. The little Marm stops crying and falls asleep there. Like earlier, the task of claiming him is made harder by the presence of the mother, but this time his bubble is not growing stronger. So, does it mean that when the baby is drinking his mother¡¯s milk he is also absorbing part of her mana? Is that what makes his bubble thicker? It is quite logical when I think about the fact that when someone or something eats or drinks something infused with my mana, its bubble grows thinner. I stop trying to actively pour my mana into the little boy. I¡¯m waiting for him to be put aside again. And twenty minutes later my patience is rewarded. One midwife takes the baby away to let the mother sleep in peace. Once the baby is in his bed again, I immediately resume pouring my mana into him. But, this time I go even slower and gentler than before. The operation takes one hour, but I finally manage to claim the child. He is my second claimed sapient being! His mother named him Maklin, like his dead father, and he is my first Marm. More importantly, it means I can claim sapient beings with relative ease if they are still babies. Maybe I could try my luck on the children in the village? The mind of my new Citizen is somewhat different than all of the minds I have seen until now. It is not filled with the instincts and simple thoughts of the animals, even a newborn one¡¯s. It is not like Franziska¡¯s mind either, which is strong and hard to see through. For example, I can easily take control of the animals, but for Franziska it is much more difficult and all the sensations I can obtain through her are blurry. When I visit her in her mind, she always feels my presence and can also resist it a bit. Well, if I truly wanted to invade her mind and take over her body, I could, but it would be uncomfortable.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. But for the child, the way the sensations are blurry seems normal, like for any newborn. But his mind is almost completely blank. There are no thoughts except for the wellbeing and warmness of the bed he is in. If I had a moral compass, it would bother me a bit to have the following thoughts. But, since I have no morality, I gladly see the fact that I can completely mold his mind the way I want. With my constant presence at the back of his mind, I will make him my loyal protector, at least if I survive the upcoming years. On the subject of birth, in a few hours I will put an end to the waiting period before the third of my laws becomes effective. The one about forbidding abortion that I postponed a week as to spare the sensibilities of the former slaves. This explains why there are two women currently speaking with the Gnome Helgyra about undergoing the procedure this very day. Fortunately, most of the women seem to prefer keeping their children or waiting to see how the future Citizens are doing, before making their final decisions on the question. Whatever they are doing, as long as they do not kill their children it means I will be able to claim them soon after birth. But there is something else that bothers me. When Bertrand screamed last night, people heard him. And now that it is morning, some are looking for clues about what happened. To be precise, Clara, the tall woman, is trying to understand. She is going everywhere in the town and speaks to everybody with the help of a few other people. Of course, no one has seen anything. At most, they heard the scream and two people have a memory of hearing someone calling after ¡®demons¡¯ a bit before the scream. The only person they have not talked to yet are the ones in the maze and the ones meditating, that include the only witness, Laura, and the only one who could ask me, Franziska. That only allows them to guess that one person is missing. Bertrand is nowhere to be found. While the group of investigators waits to ask the last few people, their members are speculating on what happened. Unfortunately, the most favored theory is that he angered me too much and that I killed him. In the middle of the afternoon, when Laura exits the meditation room to go pick up some fruit to eat, Clara walks up to her and starts to talk with her. ¡°Excuse me. Can I talk to you for a bit?¡± The tall woman asks. ¡°Yes?¡± Answers the small one with surprise obvious in her voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you know about it, but someone has probably disappeared last night.¡± ¡°... What makes you think that?¡± Asks Laura. ¡°Several people have heard a scream in the night, as if someone was being chased.¡± ¡°Really? What else are they saying?¡± ¡°Some say that they heard a girl screaming and a man calling something about demons before.¡± ¡°And you say someone is missing? Is it the man or the woman?¡± I am surprised by the apparent calm of Laura. She asks the other woman questions, obtaining a lot more information than she is letting out. ¡°As far as we know, it is the man. We suspect Bertrand to be missing.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Bertrand. The blond man that claims the Dungeon is after our souls.¡± ¡°Oh, him.¡± Laura says with an evident lack of respect in her voice. ¡°Why do you think he disappeared?¡± ¡°Because we talked to almost everyone. Some are meditating, but we can see who is in the room without perturbing them, and Bertrand was not there. Actually, we could not find him anywhere.¡± ¡°And the others?¡± ¡°The others?¡± ¡°You said that some of the people that you haven''t talked to yet are meditating. Who are the others?¡± ¡°Oh. Those are the ones in the maze.¡± ¡°Do you think they could know something?¡± The two women have reached the town¡¯s orchard and continue talking while they are eating fruits. ¡°I don¡¯t really think they would know more, but the Dwarf could ask the Dungeon for us.¡± ¡°It is true that she could ask it. At least, if she agrees to talk to you and if the Dungeon agrees to tell her. In that case, she will tell you the whole truth and not just the part others have heard that night.¡± At this words, Clara finally looks like she understands that she is not leading the interrogation and that the other woman probably already knows more about the case than her. ¡°So, did you hear something last night?¡± Laura looks pensively at the apple in her hand. She takes a bite and swallows it before answering. ¡°Indeed, I heard it all. The woman¡¯s exclamation of surprise, the man insulting and threatening her before running away and screaming. I also heard the growling. Did anyone tell you about the growling?¡± ¡°No, no one has talked about that. Did you hear anything else?¡± ¡°Before I answer you, tell me one thing. What do you and the others believe happened to Bertrand?¡± ¡°We think that he made the Dungeon really mad at him and that it decided to get rid of him.¡± Laura clenches her tiny fists before angrily speaking. ¡°This is only the partial truth. Bertrand is not the victim. I was.¡± ¡°What?! What happened?¡± ¡°Yes, Bertrand attacked me last night. He insulted me and told he was going to kill me, but the Dungeon saved me. He sent his foxes to protect me from Bertrand.¡± She says the name of Bertrand like it is an insult. ¡°Bertrand attacked you?¡± ¡°Yes, he did. He is- was nothing more than a piece of stupid trash.¡± ¡°And the Dungeon protected you?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not really sure why. I¡¯m not worthy of him and I¡¯m not a Citizen yet, so he did not have to save me.¡± ¡°Would you mind staying with me until we can ask Franziska about that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind. I am certain that if Franziska talks, she will be able to corroborate my story. I am in no danger with you, if the Dungeon saved me from Bertrand, I am positive he can save me from you if you try to harm me. Even if I don¡¯t quite understand why he cares about someone like me. Also, when I will ascend to Citizenship, you will not be able to hold me against my will.¡± ¡°Well¡­ In that case, come with me please.¡± ¡°Just a minute, I still want to grab some fruits to eat. I have started meditating before dawn and am still hungry. And by the way, if the Dungeon was taking care of people infuriating him, don¡¯t you think accusing him would anger him too?¡± Clara looks at Laura with a strange look on her face. In theory, she is in control of the situation; But it looks more like Laura is allowing her to take control and that if she ever wants it, she can take it back in an instant. I am pleasantly surprised by the way Laura handled the situation. I had some plans for her, like I have for almost everyone here if they ever become Citizen, but I now think she can become something much more than what I thought. It will depend on how she handles Clara talking with Franziska, but mostly on our first conversation together when she finally becomes a Citizen. Chapter 36 - Clara. Clara knows she is not like her big brother. He was a watchman, just like their father before him, and she was only a young adventurer. For years she had taken care of their father and her little sister. When she could she would practice swordplay under her father¡¯s advice. Until he died, just like her mother, who had already been taken ten years earlier, he was taken away from them by an illness. At sixteen years old she was considered a young adult and was the only one left to care daily for her twelve years old sister, as her brother was either sleeping in the watch dormitory or at his wife¡¯s family house. Fortunately, her father had at least left them with enough money to sustain them for a few years, even without the help of their brother. For the following years, she did small jobs to make their savings last longer. At the age of fifteen her little sister started to work too. She had found a job in a seamstress¡¯ workshop. One year later Clara¡¯s little sister announced her engagement with a young tailor specialized on leather in a close building. Clara was happy for her sister, but also a bit jealous. When men came to her, they were more interested in the opportunity of having their way with a taller woman than a romantic relationship. Leading her to despise men¡¯s lust, while her sister and brother had already started their own families. Anyway, she was released from her family obligations. If it wasn¡¯t forbidden for a woman to do so, she would have enrolled in the watch. Instead she joined one of the few local adventurer guilds that allowed women to register and started working as an adventurer. She was nineteen, a bit late to start an adventuring career, but not that rare either. No, the problem was that even if it was allowed, it was frowned upon for a woman to be an adventurer. The fact that she was taller than most of the men wasn¡¯t helping either and she was a better fighter than the other beginner adventurers too. For three years she only went on small missions close to her home by herself, earning just enough to live without using too much of her father¡¯s savings, until she finally managed to find a team willing to take her in. She went on adventures with this group for a year and it was a happy time for her. She was gaining respect among other adventurers and her family members were doing good. But one day, her group took on a request that was underestimating the threat. Her group was composed of ten adventures and well balanced. They were originally supposed to just take care of a small bandit group. To ensure the success of the request they even teamed up with another group of adventurers. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough. When they attacked the bandits, they were unlucky enough to do it just half an hour before another group of bandits arrived. As twenty-one adventurers against sixteen bandits became twenty-one against thirty-four, they lost. This is how her life of slavery began. Now she is living in an almost empty town in the depths of a Dungeon. At first, she was lost, not knowing what to do as the Dungeon is not acting like normal dungeons. It is more acting like a noble owning the land and letting the commoners take care of everything, just taking his - or in this case its - levy from time to time. And for this Dungeon the levy was mana and it was able to collect it without even bothering people. She is not sure what to think about its Citizenship proposition. Is it really what it seems to be? Some kind of nobility under the Dungeon? Those are the questions usually on her mind. She could go into the maze and start her adventurer life anew, taking her mind away from those questions, but the monsters in here are boring and can''t even properly distract her, they are not even real monsters. Fortunately, or maybe not so much, something happened last night. A man disappeared. It is the kind of work a watchman does, but there is no watch here. So she seized her chance and took it upon herself to solve this case. Maybe she can even institute a watch here, one which would not discriminate between men and women. But for that, she would need to resolve the case and talk with the Dungeon. And for now, it doesn¡¯t go as well as she planned. While she did manage to find out who is missing, she only has several earwitnesses - if that is even a thing - and one eyewitness, Laura, that claims to be the victim, that the missing person was an assailant and the Dungeon just saved her. What is the most unsettling, is that when she asks the young woman anything - Clara still has a really hard time believing the other woman when she tells her she¡¯s already twenty-seven - it is Laura that seems to be leading the interrogation. It is like this throughout the whole afternoon, each and every time Clara tries to talk to Laura, she ends up telling more about herself than learning about the other woman. That is infuriating, but she reigns her emotions in. She is the one that is initiating a watch, she should not be the one telling stuff about herself, she should be the one asking the questions! At the end of the day, relief comes in the form of the group of adventurers coming back from the maze. As expected, Bertrand is not amongst them and none of them has seen him since the last day. Finally, she has the opportunity to talk to Franziska. When the female Dwarf comes out of the maze, Clara walks up to her not caring of the other adventurers¡¯ looks. It is obvious they think she will be rebuffed. ¡°Um. Miss Franziska, can I talk to you?¡± She asks a bit intimidated by the Dwarf. ¡°Yes, you can.¡± Is the answer that surprises the other adventurers. ¡°I would like to question you about something that happened last night.¡± ¡°No, I personally didn¡¯t hear anything. The Dungeon had bothered me all afternoon, wanting me to explain the situation. To put it short, Laura told you the truth about the events. The Dungeon saved her ¡®cause she wants to become a Citizen, and it seems that it sees something special in her. Don¡¯t ask me what the Dungeon sees in her, it didn¡¯t tell me and I don¡¯t care. And as of Bertrand, he is alive, but he broke the first of the Dungeon¡¯s laws, so he will suffer a ¡®fate worse than death¡¯. Don¡¯t ask me what it is either. Now I¡¯m going to take a bath, I need it.¡± After this small torrent of words left her mouth, Franziska leaves the perimeter and quickly walks in the direction of the bathhouse.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°B¡­ but¡­ but¡­¡± Clara has answers to her primary question, but the way she obtained them is even worse than with Laura. She feels stupid. And the pat on her shoulders and nice words from the rest of Franziska¡¯s group do nothing to lessen this feeling. When she takes a look at Laura, she sees her looking at Franziska¡¯s back with eyes wide open and a stupid grin on her blushed face, when she approaches the woman she hears her whispering to herself. ¡°The Dungeon says I¡¯m special. I¡¯m special to him. He really cares about me...¡± Clara shakes her head. This girl has nothing more interesting to say. Suddenly it hits her, she still had something to ask Franziska. ¡°W¡­ wait! I still have something I want to discuss with you!¡± Clara rushes after the adventurer group and starts to walk alongside the Dwarf. ¡°So, can I talk to you about the Dungeon?¡± ¡°You can. Maybe I¡¯ll answer, maybe not.¡± Says the Dwarf with a strange smile on her face. ¡°I won¡¯t complain about Bertrand¡¯s disappearance and I think no one will really miss him either. But do you really believe what the Dungeon told you?¡± ¡°Mhmm.¡± Makes the nodding Dwarf. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it could be a lie?¡± ¡°Course it could, but why?¡± ¡°Why? I don¡¯t know, maybe Bertrand is right and the Dungeon got rid of him.¡± Franziska abruptly stops, while Clara takes two more step, before she notices, and turns to look at the Dwarf. ¡°Look, you¡¯re a nice girl and I can see you just want to do what is correct. But the world is not just. And I¡¯m not stupid, I can see that you want something else. You want to know if you can trust the Dungeon. Well, I think that as long as you follow its three big rules you¡¯re good. I¡¯m doing you a favor here, talking to you for the Dungeon. But if you want to have a real talk with it, you¡¯ll have to be a Citizen or ask another one. When there will be another one, of course. Now, tell me what you want.¡± Once again, Clara is surprised by the long lecture the usually quiet Dwarf is giving her. The members of her adventuring group are just as surprised as her. As Franziska resumes walking, Clara gulps and goes back to the conversation. ¡°I was wondering what the Dungeon will do to ensure the safety of the non-Citizen. Will it institutes a watch or something?¡± ¡°Honestly? For now, it wants a maximum of non-Citizens to become Citizens. But in the long run, it doesn¡¯t give a fuck about them.¡± ¡°What?! Does that means it will do nothing against criminals and bandits? I thought it hated pirates.¡± ¡°¡®Till they break its three laws, it doesn¡¯t care.¡± ¡°But if people were to put up something to fend for themselves, would it stop it?¡± ¡°Ok, girl. You want to do that? To make a watch and be a guard? And all that shit? Be my guest. The Dungeon¡¯s telling me it¡¯s ok with that. It will even make an official building for you, with desks, interrogation rooms, cells and all that sort of stuff. But only if you become a Citizen.¡± Says the Dwarf as she enters the bathhouse. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, really.¡± ¡°You sure it said that?¡± ¡°Yes, but I think you¡¯ll have to work on your interrogation skills. From what I heard and saw, it is nothing to write home about.¡± ¡°W¡­ what¡­¡± Clara tries to reply but is interrupted by Franziska entering the Citizen only area and slamming the door in her face. Clara doesn¡¯t really know what to think. Her dream could become a reality, she could be part of the watch. Well not the same watch as her father and brother, but a watch nonetheless. And she could even be the captain of this watch, but only if she becomes a Citizen. But, just like the Dwarf said, she needs to improve her skills as a watchwoman. She can¡¯t let other people take control of the conversation when she works on a case. Especially not Laura, the way this woman can turn a conversation around is frightening Clara. ¡°Aaaaargh!¡± The tall and blond woman shouts in exasperation. ¡°Didn¡¯t really go as planned, huh?¡± Clara turns and sees one of the two brothers, she can¡¯t tell which one it is. Maybe the older one? ¡°You saw that?¡± ¡°Yeah, I saw all of it. Don¡¯t take what the little lady told you too personally, she¡¯s acting like that with everyone. In fact, I even think she likes you.¡± ¡°Really? Didn¡¯t look like that way to me.¡± ¡°Nah, she doesn¡¯t usually talk that much. As for me, I¡¯m all for a watch in this town. You have my support for that.¡± Says the man with a smile. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°My advice is to not put too much pressure on your shoulders or else you¡¯ll go crazy.¡± ¡°Ok¡­¡± ¡°And now I need to go wash myself, I stink of sweat and rat¡¯s blood. Good luck.¡± - ¡°You could have been nicer to her.¡± I say to Franziska. ¡°And you could let me enjoy my bath in peace.¡± ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be this cold.¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired of being your only representative. When will you finally have another Citizen?¡± ¡°It should be soon, I think either Laura or Grundy will soon become one. Laura is working really hard to do so, she sits all day long in the meditation room and even meditates in her bed before falling asleep. While Grundy is slower, he started long before Laura. And that Clara should be able to do it quickly, if she ever decides to try.¡± ¡°Good. Also, tell me. What about Bertrand? What are you doing to him?¡± ¡°For the moment, nothing. But in the future, I will do things to him that you really don¡¯t want to know about.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes. I will use him for my experiments. Maybe he¡¯ll die, maybe not.¡± ¡°Fine. Now, go elsewhere and stop peeping on me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re frustrating, you know that?¡± She does not answer me, but I can feel she¡¯s enjoying that. As for me, I think I would rather have a watch in my Domain. That would make it safer, meaning that more people would agree to live in my town. And I would not have to bother myself with taking care of street security, I have other things to do, after all. Things like taking care of Bertrand... Chapter 37 - Arrival of the procession. He had a good life, an administrative job working for his town. He also worked for years to be allowed to wed one of his supervisor¡¯s daughters, he had previously met them countless time, whenever he was invited to eat at his superior¡¯s place. Finally, he succeeded. He was now engaged to his boss¡¯ older daughter. On his spare time, he would pray to the Light Gods, mainly Jezabel. Being such a strong follower of Her faith, he would not miss any serving at Her church, no matter what. One day, on a coworkers¡¯ drinking night he could not decline for the sake of his work. He always hated those kinds of gathering, but he had no choice but to participate from time to time. What he has taken to be his good luck, revealed itself to be bad in reality. Exiting the pub early he crossed path with his fianc¨¦e. When he asked her what she was doing there so late in the night she told him she was visiting a friend and lost track of time. She also asked him to accompany her back to her home. Somewhere on the road she claimed to know a shortcut and led him through a dark alley. There he was attacked and knocked out. He didn¡¯t know it, but if he had been a little less successful in his search for a fianc¨¦e and his work, he would have been engaged to the second daughter of his supervisor. Contrary to her older sister, this woman was also a fervent follower of Jezabel and knowing the faith of Bertrand, she would have been happy to be engaged to him. But he didn¡¯t know that and never would. When he awoke, he was shackled in the lower deck of a pirate ship. His new destiny was to become a slave of all things. For weeks he lamented his fate. Until one-day things changed. He ended up in a dungeon and the other people here were willing to sell their souls to the demon controlling it. Suddenly, everything became clear. Jezabel had sent him there to bring Her judgment to these heretics and demon lovers. He would be doing Jezabel¡¯s will, protecting the world from this demon. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t ready to take on the worst of his opponents, so he would have to start with one of the most devious, but also weakest one. But, once again, fate was not on his side. When he attacked the girl, he fell into a trap instead. She was merely baiting him, so that vile dungeon could attack him. If he knew more about dungeons, Bertrand would know it would have no need for such tactics and could have dealt with him far more easily, if it had wanted to. Now he is in a dark room, hurt from the dungeon¡¯s monsters¡¯ bites and his fall through the hole leading there. He could wash his injuries in the stream of cold water he hears flowing in this completely dark place, but he fears another trap too much. He is in so much fright that he doesn''t even notice the blackberry bush and its sharp thorns. He is greatly afraid by the situation he is in, but he still has faith that Jezabel will send help to rescue him from this fiendish place. Afterall, he was right about the vile nature of the dungeon. - Most of the people in my Domain are sleeping more or less peacefully, but it is not what is on my mind right now. Tomorrow the Marms will arrive at the statue of their ¡®Goddess¡¯ and have their little celebration, I¡¯m looking forward to it, but I¡¯m beginning to wonder, how I¡¯ll be able to factor them in my protection from the pirates. I have an idea, but I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll be able to carry it out in the time I have. Anyway, right now I¡¯m focusing my attention on Bertrand. That pesky Human is currently shaking in fear in his cell. I can hear him muttering prayers again and again. It is of no use, his fate is mine now, no God or Goddess - if they are even real - will come and save him. I start to gather mana around him, I know it won¡¯t go like Franziska¡¯s or even Maklin¡¯s claiming, the Marm newborn, but I do it anyway, focusing on his head. His mana bubble is deforming itself like a normal bubble would when something presses against it. But there is no sign of weakening from within, in contrast to those who are actively trying to become my Citizens. And since it is far stronger than those of newborns and animals, I think it will take a lot more time to forcefully overcome his passive protection than theirs. As I focus my attention on his bubble, I notice something. Around the part of Bertrand¡¯s body that has been injured the bubble seems different. I shift my focus to his legs, as this is where he has the most bite marks. I slowly force a bit of mana against these part of his bubble and I¡¯m pleased to see that the bubble is indeed thinner here, it even feels like I could force my way through there. Keeping up with the process, I gather mana all around the curled Human and apply force on the bubble¡¯s section around his legs. I keep in mind not to put too much power into my attack, as I don¡¯t want to kill him. Three hours later, near midnight there is still no progress. The only change in the room is that Bertrand had started to swing back and forth while clenching his legs as he is still murmuring prayers. It seems I won¡¯t be able to claim him just like that. I have two other ideas of how I could force my way through. The first is to inflict an even bigger injury to my prisoner, weakening the bubble protecting him even further. But I¡¯m reticent to go along that path, as there is a large risk of killing him before I am able to claim him. Of course, I could heal him as soon as I have claimed him, but if he is dead by that time, it would still be useless. The second is to create a type of concentrated mana drill to break down the bubble. It is the same method I used a while back, when I broke through the barrier around the mana crystals. This method would certainly allow me to break through the mana bubble surrounding Bertrand, as it already did so with the mana shield at the top and bottom of my mountain awhile back. Unfortunately, at that time, it broke the crystals holding the enchantments enabling those shields to be raised. Based on my current knowledge that makes it likely that this method could kill Bertrand and once again that is not what I want. At least, for now.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. There is always a third option. I can also wait for the bubble to thin itself as Bertrand¡¯s health continues to diminish. But, even if I feel impatient, I force myself to wait. I do not know how long it will take to forcefully claim Bertrand, so I will wait a bit. Then I will attempt to mix the first two ideas, waiting a bit will hopefully ease the process. In a few hours, the Marms will reach the Goddess¡¯ statue. Before their arrival, I check the rooms a final time. The first room is still as I left it, grass growing on the ground, trees bearing fruits for the comfort of the Marms and a fake sun and numerous stars on the roof to light their path. The water inside the pool laying in front of the statue is as calm as possible, reflecting the peaceful image of the sitting Goddess. The bas-reliefs I created for this room are still in good condition. They are depicting the Goddess while she is sowing seeds, harvesting crops, taking care of animals and looking at a small village with a loving expression. I add some glowing stones to the sculptures to highlight some of the parts the of the scenes and emphasize the love aspect of the Goddess. Right behind the Goddess¡¯ statue, there is still the door leading to the stairs. On the walls of this stairs, I highlight the bas-reliefs showing the love relationship between the Goddess and her male counterpart. I also make it so that the light in the stairs are slowly turning red as you go up. At the top of this passage is the door leading to the room of the God I created out of nowhere. It is a room lit by dim red crystals and decorated by bas-reliefs showing the God destroying his enemies. Some of those are showing pirates attacking the same village that the Goddess looks at with love, the bas-reliefs then show the God destroying and burning the pirates'' ships. My hope is that it will make the Marms relate to this, increasing their faith in the God and that it will help me have them fight off the real pirates when they¡¯ll ultimately come back. Other bas-reliefs are showing the God in different postures, and other people mimicking him in a series of a few katas. Hopefully, some of the Marms will learn them, so they¡¯ll be better at handling weapons and defending themselves. The statue of the God is still there too, with his sword, his shield, his kilt and his angry glare. The middle eye is made of a bright red glowing stone while the two others are made out of mirrors, as to give the impression that they are looking at an eventual person. The Goddess ones are made in the same manner but in a blue shade of light. In front of each of the statues are installed pedestals. On those are locked the mana crystals I acquired some time ago. I hope that when the Marms will pray to the statues, they will help me gather more of the extra mana. I don¡¯t really need the additional mana, as I have plenty of it in reserve, but more mana is always welcome. When the last additions are finished, I look at the fifty-something Marms. They are in the tunnel leading to the Goddess room. At the moment they enter the room, I can see the look on their faces. Those who hadn¡¯t come here the first time are mesmerized by the sight of it. The others are greatly surprised by the apparition of the bas-reliefs. I can hear them discussing it as they read them. Of course, it doesn''t take long for the Marms to notice the new door, and as curious and excited as the children are to explore the other side of it, they are stopped by the much more careful adults. After a bit of time exploring the main room, the Marms gather in front of the Goddess statue. The priestess stands in front of them and starts what I can only call a religious serving. She preaches for half an hour on how caring, loving, forgiving and all that the Goddess - therefore I - is. At the end, she incites her flock to pray. During the mass prayer, I am receiving a greater amount of mana than I am used to. I can handle it, but it still surprises me how non-claimed sapient can willingly send me their mana when they choose to do so. I also notice that the Marms¡¯ bubbles are a bit fainter than usual. Maybe I should ask the former slaves to do so, it would greatly improve my mana generation, but prayer does not weaken the bubble as much as active meditation. Or, instead of real prayer, I could put in place some sort of trade. If they give me enough mana, I could reward them with objects needing less mana to create. That would allow those not willing to become Citizens to participate more actively in my mana regeneration. After the mass prayer session, the priestess talks to several Marms. Then, with some of them, she walks up to the door and carefully opens it. What she sees on the other side seems to mesmerize her as her eyes are fully open. Slowly she walks up the stairs, examining the murals I put there. ¡°What is that. I¡¯ve never heard of this. There is another God?¡± She mutters low as she¡¯s continuing to read the bas-reliefs. ¡°They¡¯re in love? Is the other God up the stairs? I don¡¯t understand why I had never heard of this before.¡± One hour of slow stair climbings later the first Marms reach the top of the passage and open the door. Once again they are taken aback by what stands in front of them. Very slowly and carefully they step into the God room, the priestess first. Once again they examine the inscriptions on the walls, but this time I can see that they are not as confident as before. In fact, they are feeling a bit of fear. It is understandable as this is something they believed didn¡¯t exist and that it is designed to impress people. ¡°So that¡¯s Him? Is He the one the Goddess chose to mary? A warrior? Someone who brings death upon others? Why? Why choose an incarnation of violence? She¡¯s the incarnation of love. Is Her love so strong that it reached Him? I have to study the scriptures more, the answer must be there somewhere.¡± When they find the red door behind the God statue, they obviously try to open it. With even more care than for the previous ones. But this door is closed, no Marms can open it for now. In time, it will lead to the Maze and what¡¯s beyond, but only the claimed Marms will be allowed to pass it. While the priestess and her acolytes study the bas-reliefs in the three rooms, I focus my attention on the other Marms in the room. Most of those who are muttering their prayers ask for the Goddess to grant peace for their dead loved ones¡¯ souls or to help them in a way or another. As if I could really do anything. Well, there is one thing I¡¯m already doing, and one I can try. I¡¯m already providing them with better crops and stuff like that, my very presence on the island do it alone by improving the quality and quantity of the ambient mana. The other is to protect them against anything bad that could happen to them. At this point, I intend to protect them as a people, as potential resources, not as individuals. Chapter 38 - Bertrand. During the day after their arrival at what can only be called a temple now, the Marms continued to pray or to study the murals. While the few children able to play around, wander and explore the rooms, trying again and again to open the closed door. Others are installing camp for the night and preparing offerings. To my pleasure, some of the youngs arm themselves with sticks and make their best to reproduce the katas on the walls. Unfortunately, it does not last long as the priestess needs silence to study. After almost a full day, she finally comes to the conclusion that either the love between the Goddess and the God is a question of balance between two antagonistic emotions, that the love of the Goddess was so strong that it reached through the violent nature of the God and touched him. I think she will still need a bit of time to develop a convincing explanation and link it to her few sacred texts. To be frank, I don¡¯t really care, in a few generations - if I¡¯m still alive - all of them will be mine. At the end of the day, the Marms gather once more for an evening service. During this service, they bring gifts and deposit them around the foot of the pedestal holding the mana crystal. Food in the form of fruits and trinkets made of wood, bones or metal. Nothing interesting to me in there. But since I am a benevolent Goddess I accept the offerings and, hiding it behind a bright glow, I absorb them. The Marms are obviously pleased by my acceptance of their gifts and are cheering. If I keep accepting their offerings, maybe one day they¡¯ll be find a way to make an interesting one. I¡¯ll have to guide them to what I want. Throughout the day, on the other side of my island, the inhabitants of the town have continued their usual activities. Nothing particularly interesting there. No one will attain Citizenship overnight. The same thing is true for my experiment on hybridization, the result will appear soon, but not tonight. Therefore I turn my attention to my prisoner. It is time to proceed with my plan to forcefully claim him. The first step is to injure Bertrand more as to decrease furthermore his already weak protective bubble of mana. I could use animals for that, but I want to try something else. Something that would spare my creatures the risk and be more effective. I prepare an iron barbed spear under Bertrand¡¯s actual position. I may not be able to directly alter or create things too close to him, because of the mana bubble¡¯s interferences, but I can throw things at him and that will do. I guess that¡¯s an hint on how dungeons¡¯ traps work. When the iron spear is ready to be launched, I push it through the stone floor right into Bertrand¡¯s right foot. The spear impales it, nailing him to the ground. ¡°AAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!¡± He screams in pain, which is a pretty normal reaction when your feet is suddenly stabbed by a foreign object from underground. I take a bit of time enjoying the tasty waves of mana Bertrand is emitting before going back to my work. While Bertrand is trying in panic to remove the spear from his foot the barbs are preventing him from doing so, they are even inflicting more damage to his foot, providing me with more tasty mana, I focus my mind on looking at his bubble. I can¡¯t let my mind enjoy the pain mana for too long, or Bertrand could bleed to death. It would certainly be a tasty feeling, but would ruin the experiment. Fortunately, as I hoped, the bubble is visibly weakened, particularly around his right foot, but not enough for me to easily pour my mana through it. I start the second part of the claiming process. I gather a great amount of mana in a single point of Bertrand¡¯s cell and shape it in a small arrowhead. I then make it rotate to create a drill. The thing is emanating a bit of light and when Bertrand sees it, his screams of pain and fear grow even worse. Making this drill reminds me of the time I pushed through the barrier in my mountain allowing me to claim some mana crystals. When the mana drill is ready I slowly press it against Bertrand¡¯s bubble. He tries to flee, but his foot is still nailed to the ground, giving me an immobile target. Slowly the passive protection of Bertrand is deforming around his foot, as I continuously press the drill against the bubble, a spiral pattern appears on the bubble¡¯s surface and thinning and deforming it more and more. Bertrand may not understand what I¡¯m doing to him, but one way or another he is trying to resist. It is probably an unconscious reaction provoked by fear and pain, but he is strengthening his bubble¡¯s membrane. Unfortunately for him, he is not able to do it fast enough. After two hours of this, during which Bertrand has grown weaker and weaker due to physical and mental exhaustion as well as simple blood loss, I can see that the bubble is barely thicker than those of an animal. I give the mana drill one last push to shatter Bertrand''s mana bubble. There is a last scream coming out of his throat as his body relaxes and just lays unmoving on the ground.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I focus my mind on him and find that I effectively claimed him. But I can¡¯t find the presence of his mind. Unlike Franziska who can ¡®talk¡¯ with me in her mind or the Marm baby and his rudimentary mind, Bertrand¡¯s mind is completely blank. It is not even at the level of a simple bug. His heart is still beating and his respiratory system seems to work automatically, but that¡¯s all. I think that forcibly claiming him has destroyed his mind, only the autonomous bodily functions seem to remain. I wanted to claim another sapient being to use as an experimental subject for the several experiments I have in mind. I was also expecting to have to fight against his will, again and again, to force him to participate in each of my experiments and have to suffer his constant presence in the back of my mind. But now I have a mindless drone. This might even be better. He may not have an independent will anymore, allowing him to serve me to the best of his capacity like I would have preferred. But since he would have never been a loyal and devoted servant and would have remained a liability if I didn¡¯t take care of him, I am glad to have him like this. His body is the part I¡¯m most interested in after all. For my future experiments and for other uses I can easily take control of his mindless body. A body that is not yet powerful enough for all of my needs. I have to prepare it to come to my defence in time of need. The first thing I do, after I¡¯m certain that the body is fully mine, is to heal it and to dissipate the spear holding it down. It is better to have it in good health rather than having it badly injured. After that, I leave the body laying on the ground and circulate my mana through it, as if it was meditating. It is a strange feeling to have control over a body that has no mind inside, not even the barest hints of instinct. Usually, when I take control of an animal, I don¡¯t need to consciously move every part of the body as its mind is taking care of making it move flawlessly. But here, with Bertrand¡¯s former body, I have to take attention to contract each and every muscle when I want the body to move. I have to learn how to make it move, just like children have to learn how to walk. While the body is meditating, I start to build a new facility. It is a simple one and its goal is to serve as the living quarters for the body. I install a rudimentary bed for it to sleep on, a place to cook and eat and a place for it to clean itself. I think I could make the body live only from absorbing my mana, but I don¡¯t want to take the risk of it losing strength, so I will have it eat heavily mana charged meat and fruits from my Domain to provide the body with physical sustenance. Also, having it cook its own meals will serve as a good exercise for me to sharpen my control over the body. Next to the living quarters for the body, I create a training ground where I will have it practice the use of weapons, while also making it gain more and better muscles. I create a full body armor out of the strongest alloy of metal I can make, as well as a bunch of weapons. The alloy is not perfect as I am quite lacking in blacksmithing knowledge, I know a lot of different weapons, but I do not know how to really forge them. I can only make them grow out of nowhere, directly in their final form, but this production method is not as good as the work of a good blacksmith. Maybe it is time to give Franziska the smithy I promised her? The daily schedule of the body is quite simple. I make it practice with the weapons and the armor to get use to them in every condition and to keep it fit. When the body is tired, it washes itself, cooks, and eats its meal, then it meditates. Bertrand only had an average potential for meditation, but I will sublime the inherent abilities of his body and make it a powerful tool for my needs. Of course, the schedule of the body will sometimes be perturbed by my needs to have it participate in one experiment or another. But the first of them will have to wait, as I want to see the result of the hybridization between the squirrel and the bat, before I start new experiments. Speaking of which, something is happening there. The mother squirrel bearing the child of a bat is not at the best of her health. It is normal for a pregnant mammal to be more tired than usual, but here I can sense that there is more. I closely inspect the squirrel to see what is happening. I can¡¯t find anything wrong, except for the fact that the child is drawing more energy from its mother than in normal squirrel or bat pregnancies. But that does not mean there is nothing else. For precaution, I at least directly infuse some mana into the mother to heal her and support her during the time of my experimentation. After that, I go on infusing mana into animals who are on the verge of the small evolution they can do. I also claim the several flying and swimming creatures that entered my Domain. It is something I do regularly as it is common that new birds or fishes enter my claimed area. After claiming those animals I usually let them leave the area with an order to come back once a week. This way I can map the area around my island outside of the boundaries of my Domain. It also allows me to learn about the habits of the boats passing through the region, not that there are a lot of them. The closest land to the Maria island in the Joqua archipelago is at half a day for a flying seagull, counting the time the bird stops to eat fish. If the seagull flies straight to the other island, it would only need one hour to reach it. And the few boats I have ever seen have never ventured farther than that island. The passing of my birds over the archipelago as allowed me to determine that those islands are also inhabited by Marms communities. It seems that those communities were not attacked by the pirates as they are more often visited by merchants, even if it¡¯s not interesting enough for them to do so frequently. Anyway, it means that I have the place to grow and that I can do so without fearing to be discovered soon by someone else than the pirates who already came and whoever they will leak the information about me to. This place allows me to make a formidable amount of natural defences, if I have the time do so before the pirates come back. And it will also allow me to go on with some of my plans in the far future because I do not intend to stay secluded on my tiny island. I have big ambitions for my corner of the world. Chapter 39 - Smithy. Franziska is about to go to sleep when I contact her. ¡°Hey, Franziska. I have good news for you.¡± ¡°Hrm?¡± She mutters, turning inside her bed. ¡°I¡¯m going to build your smithy tonight.¡± ¡°What?¡± She exclaims, sitting up straight and jumping out of her bed perfectly awake in less than a second. ¡°Where are you building it? I want to be there.¡± ¡°You¡¯re sure? I don¡¯t mind, but why?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t want you to mess it up.¡± She says while putting clothes on. ¡°Of course¡­¡± ¡°So, where is it?¡± She asks excitedly. ¡°Fine, follow my lead.¡± I agree to her demand. I purposefully told her that I¡¯m building her smithy this night to get her help in designing it after all. Having a craftsman help to design their own workshop is always a good thing for improving relationship as they are the one who knows best about how it should ideally look like, especially when they had time to think about it. And it also allows for a workshop best suited for the craftsman¡¯s specificities. I intend to do that for other craftsmen in the future as well, when any of them become a Citizen, of course. The smithy will be located in a new part of the upper city. A place where I intend to build the craftsmen quarter. Near the gymnasium, but far away from the bathhouse to not bother the users with the noises and smells from the craftsmen. I¡¯ll let the people plan further city arrangements, but I have to at least place the first buildings so that they can develop the city from there. When Franziska reaches the location I chose for her smithy, I start by raising the walls of it. I build three rooms. The first is supposed to be for storing the raw materials, so I grow lots of shelves, boxes and barrels in it. A simple room for a simple purpose. The second room is the front part, it''s designed to be the shop part. There I grow some more shelves, boxes and barrels, but they are designed to display finished works as well as storing more of them. I also instal a counter behind which Franziska, or any clerks she hired, will be able to store and display the costlier pieces of her work and deposit the money she will gain. From what I understand, Franziska doesn¡¯t really plan on selling her works herself, she¡¯s planning to hire someone to do that for her. There is also the door allowing access to the back of the building. In truth, a lot of what she will be making at first can also be obtained in the Maze, but the quality of her work is supposed to be better than the things I make. Moreover, people will not have to enter the Maze to acquire them, hence they will not need to risk their lives. The third and last part of the building is installed in the back. It is the place where the physical work will be done. The place is open to the air as the roof is not completely covering the room, it¡¯s supposed to allow the heat to flow out of the place. Furthermore, a roof is hardly needed to protect against the rain or sun in a cave. There I grow a furnace and an anvil near it. I also make a crucible as to allow for some alloys to be melted. Following Franziska instructions, I make a bunch of tools for her, and shelves to store them. In time she will have to make them anew to have better quality ones, but for now, she will be able to use the swages, punches, hammers and other stuff I make for her. In the open part of the room, I install a well, at whose bottom is flowing clear water. There is one thing I can¡¯t really make for Franziska¡¯s smithy that she would have loved to have. It is the bellows. I can make one, but the leather part has to be swapped with fabric, which greatly lower its efficiency. To get around that, I also make pipes to allow Franziska to directly blow into the fire. In a not so far away future she should be able to acquire a piece of leather to make her own and more efficient bellows. At last, when someone starts to do some leatherworking. Once the building is finished and the tools are put on the shelves. I fill her storage room with a lot of iron, copper, lead and whatever Franziska asks me for that I can do. They are a gift to help her start her work. In the future she will have to buy her materials herself, same thing applies for the coal. Unfortunately for the both of us, I can only make some common metals and lower quality alloys for now as I only found some of them in my Domain or in the Marms¡¯ town or pirates¡¯ possessions. For special metals such as mithril or adamantium and the alloys made from those, we will have to wait for me to first put my metaphorical hands on those. The finishing touch for this building is the lock. I install it on the front door. It is a copy of the complicated lock which was on the pirate captain¡¯s private room on his boat. It is the most complicated lock I have ever seen, not that I have seen a lot, so I use it to make Franziska¡¯s workshop more secure. Of course, I change it up a bit as to ensure it cannot be opened with the same key as the pirate captain¡¯s. I, of course, instal a similar lock to the door of the back part of the smithy, it would not be good to have a thief enter by there. In the end, I gave Franziska the key to her new workshop. ¡°Again, can¡¯t you make a second floor with living quarters? I would rather live there than at the other house.¡± She asks me for the fourth time since I started building her smithy. ¡°As I said, I will build it for you, but not now. I want something in return.¡± ¡°Oh? And what could that be?¡± She inquires sceptically. ¡°I need you to make me a full-body armor, a sword and a shield. They have to be tailored and stay a secret for as long as possible.¡± ¡°Placing an order before the store is even open, eh? And making secret plans about it. That¡¯s so like you.¡± She says mocking me. ¡°You know I can make those myself. But isn¡¯t your work supposed to be better than mine? And, if you want your second floor, you¡¯ll have to make my order or build it yourself.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯m ok with working for you, after all, you just delivered on one of your previous promises. And I will be paid for it, sort of at least.¡± She starts to talk business, good. ¡°So who am I making this armor for? I need to see the man to make measurements. I assume you¡¯ll provide the necessary materials for your order?¡± Wow, she¡¯s far more chatty when talking about work. ¡°I don¡¯t want to use the small stock you provided me with.¡± Small stock? She has hundreds of kilograms of metals in storage. ¡°Same thing for the coal needed for the furnace.¡± ¡°Yes, of course. I will provide you with every material needed to make what I want.¡± ¡°Good, good, that¡¯s good. When do you need it? And who will wear it?¡± ¡°It is not urgent, but the sooner, the better. It has to be done before the pirates come back.¡± ¡°Ok, so first I¡¯ll rework some tools and make some works. I need to get used to this place and practice a bit. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve worked at a forge. And you didn¡¯t answer me, for who do you need those weapons and armor?¡± ¡°For Bertrand. Or rather, for what is left of him.¡± I reluctantly confess. ¡°Bertrand?! Why do you need to arm him?¡± She has a hard time believing what I just said. Who can blame her? ¡°And what do you mean by ¡®what is left of him¡¯?¡± ¡°Yes, Bertrand. I¡¯ve done¡­ things to him. Changed him. And now he¡­ obeys me.¡± I say, searching for the proper words. ¡°That¡¯s what you mean by ¡®a fate worse than death¡¯ that awaits those who break your laws?¡± ¡°Yes, part of it.¡± She gulps before talking again. ¡°And you promise you won¡¯t do whatever you did to him to me?¡± There is a rush of fear that can be felt in her thought streams. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t break any of my three laws, I¡¯ll stick to our original deal.¡± ¡°Th... thanks.¡± The fear emanating from her is slowly diminishing. She may be brave and trust me when I tell her I won¡¯t do her any arm, but she also knows I can do whatever I want with my Citizens. ¡°Now, excuse me, but I have other things to do.¡± With that, I leave Franziska alone in front of her smithy in the growing light of a new, artificial morning. In my underground town, people don¡¯t have a lot of occupations at the moment. Previously, they could only dive into the maze, train or meditate in the gymnasium, take care of the few still in comas or gather food for those who work elsewhere, as well as the sempiternel chatting. Now, some can assist Franziska in her blacksmithing work, if she accepts them. But a lot of them are still laying around, doing nothing more than walking, talking, eating and/or bathing. I want to offer those more possible occupations. Of course, it is something that will have two levels. The first for everyone to enjoy, while the second for Citizens only. First, I carve a big cave into the mountain, I make it really large, bigger than even the town area. In the middle of it, I make a big and slow river flow between small hills. The river goes into the city bay through a large opening, allowing people to know quickly that I¡¯m working on something, but not on what yet. I have several groups of birds and bats shit on the ground to deposit guano there, so that I can then mix it with the earth to make more fertile soil than simply mana infused earth, and spread it around the whole area. On the roof I grow one big glowing rock acting as a sun and several smaller ones which look like stars, it results in the same kind of luminous ceiling that shines upon the town, able to emulate a sunny day as well as a starry night. The important part is that the fake sun can shine its light on every part of the cave and nurture the future crops. Now that the structure of the place is finally finished I get to the next step. I make grass grow on all of the hills and grow a few fruit trees to provide shadows at the top of several of the hills. On several other hills, I grow wheat, hop, rye and other cereals, I don¡¯t have the widest variety but I do have a nice selection. This cave will serve as a farming area. Now, to encourage people to become Citizens I grow fences around many of the hills, not all of them, but those with the most fertile soil that are also the widest. Only Citizens will be allowed to open the fences¡¯ gates, they will be able to hire people to work their field, but only Citizens will be allowed to claim a piece of my land. I also make some farming tools such as manual ploughs, scythes and hand-carts. They are waiting in the Citizens¡¯ fields, but everyone can see them from the outside. Against the fences I grow some blueberries bushes with sweet fruits and sharp thorns as to allow people a to gather them and farmer Citizens a better protection of their crops. Next, I build a total of five mills on the riverbank. They are powered by big waterwheels which turn big grinding stones and provide the users with a way to make flour from their cereals. As I am benevolent, I make one of the five watermills accessible to everyone. Of course, it is the furthest from the way to the town and the smallest. The other four watermills are obviously reserved for Citizens. With this new area, I hope to have more people doing something else than just idling around in the underground part of my Domain. Once again I¡¯ve built something which will provide everyone with something, but more for the Citizens. I think it will be another thing to encourage people to become my Citizens. The last thing I do in this cave is to open some airways in the ceiling and walls to allow for birds, bats and whatever else wants to enter the area to do so and fly or crawl around. This way, it will make it a bit more lively. It will also allow for rain to enter the area and better irrigate the crops. Fishes, mollusks and crustaceans have already began swimming in the river. Once the area is finalized, I open a big hallway linking it to the town area. As it is late afternoon a lot of people are still up and without a lot of activities to do they gather in front of the hallway and, once confident in their number, they go in. Soon I learn that my new additions to the town are earning me points through the people¡¯s chit-chatting. Being able to have your own personalized workshop or owning a small piece of land to farm without taxes is interesting to a lot of people. ¡°Really? The Dungeon wants us to farm?¡± ¡°I was a farmer, I think I could do it. The problem is that I don¡¯t think we could produce a lot of crops with such small fields.¡± ¡°You¡¯re stupid or what? If the Dungeon can make it that there are already crops ready to be harvested, I think the crops will grow faster than you¡¯ve ever seen with your own eyes.¡± ¡°And there are always ripe fruits on the trees in town.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. And I think it will grow even faster in the Citizens¡¯ areas.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the kind of things the Dungeon would do. Always better stuff for the Citizens.¡± ¡°Kind of want to be one now, eh?¡± ¡°Yeah, but not sure yet about the whole deal.¡± ¡°Dunno, but I think I will give it a try.¡± I think that tomorrow there will be more people in the meditation room than before. Chapter 40 - Batrel? Squibat? After finishing the fields I brought my attention to the expansion of my Domain. The seabed area I had claimed in the last few days was quite big, but I feel I can still claim more before the mana cost gets too high for me. Afterall, with all the people living in me, I have astronomical amounts of mana. The plan here is to grow a reef able to stop any ship from reaching my island without my sayso. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think that sinking their ships would stop the pirates from reaching land. I may be able to take care of the normal crew with simple water manipulation and marine creatures. But the Seconds and more importantly the Third will not simply succumb in front of such a small obstacle. One should also not forget the fact that drowning the crew would deprive me of numerous precious test subjects and that the pirates are supposed to come back with a shipment of slaves and other life forms, such as animals or plants, foreign to my remote island and that my birds can¡¯t bring back. And I don¡¯t want to pass the chance to acquire such valuable goods. So, maybe I¡¯ll leave a way in through the reef. But I can¡¯t elaborate more on this plan. There is something I must focus my attention on immediately. The squirrel is about to give birth to its part-bat child. I was expecting this to happen in the next days, but not today. Therefore, I have to put my whole focus on this event. It seems the process is quite painful to the mother, as I¡¯m receiving a stream of tasty mana. The animal¡¯s pain is tasty by itself, but it is quite bland when compared to the pain of a sapient being that I am used to by now. It is like eating something sweet, it is good, but you can also do without it. Anyway, this is the birth of the creature I expect to be able to become my first real monster. I summon the rats near the squirrel¡¯s nest. They had made an exemplary job of taking care of the mothers from my last experiment on rats¡¯ pregnancy and I want them to take care of the squirrel and its child. At least for the first hours of its life, after that, the mother will have to take care of its progeny alone. Of course, I will still look after it. As long as I only have one. The rats arrive quickly, having kept the cloths they used last time, they are able to respond fast to my summons. The moment they get there they start their work, taking good care of the squirrel. On its side, the future mother starts to panic seeing a dozen of rats coming its way. I send it waves of soothing mana to calm it down. As for me, I¡¯m pretty excited to see the result of my experiment coming to life. I can look at it inside its mother¡¯s womb, of course. But it is not the same as seeing it in the open. After a few minutes in the process, I notice that there is a lot more blood than for a normal squirrel or bat birth. I don¡¯t want the mother to die of blood loss before she can give birth to the child, so I infuse mana in the squirrel to heal it and keep it alive. About ten minutes later the hybrid is born. It¡¯s hairless as expected, just like newborn bats, squirrel and lots of other mammals actually. The parts that interest me more are the head, the legs and its tail. The head of the hybrid - I need to find a name for this new race - looks mainly like a squirrel with sharper teeth and more convoluted ears, maybe it will be able to use the bat¡¯s ability to locate stuff and navigate by sound. I also hope that it will be able to develop a more powerful and perforating bite. Next are the legs and the body, once again it looks more like a squirrel than a bat based on its body proportions. But there is one major difference there. Like a bat, it has a skin membrane linking its front and back legs together. In time, it should hopefully be able to fly or at least to glide. It also possesses a tail, which is thinner than its mother¡¯s. Bats don¡¯t have such big tails and they are usually linked to the wings, I wonder how having one like that will affect its flight abilities. Will it obstruct its movements or will it allow it to have better control over its trajectory, like a rudder? While looking at the first of its kind I notice something strange. While the exterior of its body seems fine, at least as far as I can tell with its heavily wrinkled skin, the interior does not seem as good. Focusing my attention on its internal organs I notice that almost all of them have some problems. It has a lot of malformations. I can say that this is the case and that they are not just simply somewhere between bat and squirrel organs, as some of them have protrusions or cracks that should not be here in any of the two parent species. Or in any species at all. The severity of those malformations varies between organs. I can¡¯t find anything wrong with its brain, but I don¡¯t have the faintest idea of how the brains of other creatures I own really work. The liver and kidneys are in an especially bad shape and the heart also looks really bad. It¡¯s going to die soon if I don¡¯t do something, I quickly channel mana in the newborn in the hope of healing it. I can see that some of the malformations are rectifying themselves, but not all. And they¡¯re doing so at an alarmingly slow pace. Life is exiting the hybrid faster than I¡¯m able to heal it. I try to counter this fact by infusing even more mana into it and for a time it seems that it is enough. I fight for my creation''s life with all the finesse and power that I have, but after half an hour of battle, I fail. It is dead. It¡¯s a failure. I must admit, the fact that my last experiments were so successful and that more and more of the former slaves are willing to become Citizens, may have led me to overestimate my abilities. Everything was going my way and I thought this was going to be a success too. But no. I miserably failed. The failure sends me back to my early days as a Dungeon. When I killed dozens of creatures, learning how to claim them. At that time I tried, again and again, refining the process until success. This time I will have to do the same.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Trial and error. That¡¯s the way to success. But I don¡¯t want to wait so long until I see the results of the next experiment. Unfortunately, I¡¯m not strong enough to bend the natural laws of nature past a certain point. At least, not yet. I have to wait for a pregnancy to reach its end, I can somewhat accelerate it, but I don¡¯t want to take the risk. Plus, even if I don¡¯t want to wait, I should still have a lot of time to accomplish this goal. The solution to speed up the road to success is in numbers. Instead of only having two mammals of different species cross-breed in an attempt to create one hybrid, I will make a lot of different cross-breeding experiments. But before that, I release the midwife rats and the traumatized female squirrel and they go back to their previous activities. All around my Domain I force different species of animals to cross-breed. I still have to take personal care of the fertilization part making the process quite slow but at least I will soon have a large number of subjects to analyze. Furthermore, they will be a more varied bunch, as I¡¯m also making hybridization attempt outside of the mammal species. For now, I keep on cross-breeding creatures in their own animal orders. Mammals with mammals, reptiles with reptiles, birds with birds. The same also applies to fishes, crustaceans and bugs. I think I will see the results sooner for the last ones, especially the smallest ones, based on their fast live cycles. Finally, I summon some female foxes in heat to Bertrand¡¯s body¡¯s living space. There I force it to cross-breed with the biggest non-sapient mammals in my Domain. Taking time to enjoy the feeling of Bertrand cumming in the hot furry females¡¯ wombs, I find that it is a pleasant feeling, stronger than pain, but not as death from my claimed creatures. I end up with five foxes impregnated by a Human. I do not know what will be the result there. Will I finally have monsters? Will the union bring about sapient creatures? Sapient foxes? A new branch of Beastkin? Will I create Gnolls? That leads to so many questions on the origin of species. Did some dungeons make hybridizations like that in the past? Or could they even have created new species out of nothing? I kind of want to try that now, but it will be a slow and costly process. That made me recall the question the Gnome called Helgyra asked when I bothered Franziska enough to address the crowd. She was asking about the difference between animals, monsters and sapient beings. More precisely, she was asking if I knew what the difference is between them. I may soon have an element of answer to give her. Also, I saw her examine some of the fetuses after helping their mothers to abort them. It was a gruesome task, but just like the abortion themselves, she carried those out without batting an eyelid. I think I may be able to interest her in some of my experiments. Who knows, in time she could perform those experiments for me? But I¡¯m going to wait before talking to her about that. For now, she hasn¡¯t shown the slightest intent in becoming one of my Citizens. I may be able to tempt her in the future, but I need to learn what she is like first. Speaking of Citizens. It is now early morning and I can see that Laura is already meditating in the gymnasium. Since I saved her life she¡¯s using every second of her free time to meditate in order to become a Citizen, and she has a lot of free time. In fact, she even tries to do it when she¡¯s doing other things like eating mana-infused fruits or bathing in mana-infused water, raising, again and again, the amount of my mana inside of her body and lowering the strength of her mana bubble. She may not have the training Franziska had or the head-start of Grundy, but she is so dedicated in becoming a Citizen that she already is ready to be claimed. Like Franziska before her, I gather a big amount of my purest mana around her whole body, focusing on her head, then slowly and delicately I push it into her. With my high sensibility to mana, I can see that it is continuously entering her and steadily concentrates in her hara. I keep on pushing mana onto and into her as she¡¯s taking it in and makes it circulate in her body. Two hours into her meditation session, the link has established itself and I manage to claim my second adult sapient being. ¡°Hello, Laura.¡± I say in her mind. Suddenly I¡¯m assaulted by a big amount of sensations coming from her. The new capacities of her senses are overwhelming her mind, throwing her on the ground as her brain needs to adjust to the new flow of information. Having her own natural mana being finally attuned to mine is quite a shock to her body too, it is not painful, on the contrary, I can sense through our connection that it is quite a pleasant situation. Actually, it reminds me of the time I become a Second as a Dungeon. Last time, I hadn¡¯t been able to see it as I was overcome by a memory from my previous life. But this time that is not the case. I wonder when I¡¯ll have my next memory given back to me, I¡¯d like to know what happened to me back then. Being overwhelmed by the claiming has almost made her faint. She¡¯s lying on the ground, while other people look worried at her after being interrupted in their meditation. I hear them muttering that I may have harmed her. Fortunately, she regains full control of her body and sits up. She looks around clear awe written on her face. She takes two minutes to regain more of her bearings, oblivious to the worried looks of the people around her. ¡°I did it!¡± She exclaims with all the strength of her lungs, making the small crowd take a step back. ¡°I did it.¡± She repeats at a normal volume and, after noticing the people looking at her, furiously blush. Hiding her face behind her hands, she starts to explain the situation to the people in the room. ¡°I managed to become a Citizen! Me! It¡¯s the best day of my life! And it felt so good I almost fainted right then and there!¡± The ecstasy on her face and voice clearly reveals her happiness, as she explains to the people around her that she¡¯s more than fine, and serve as the best proof for her words. I can see the other Citizen candidates being relieved by Laura¡¯s antics. On my side, I can hear her shooting her joy about finally becoming a Citizen in her mind. She has absolutely no control over the strength of thought-stream yet, so it¡¯s terribly deafening. ¡°Laura, I need you to calm down a little. Please.¡± I project my thoughts into her mind. ¡°Ah, yes. Sorry.¡± She meekly says out loud. ¡°You¡¯re sure you¡¯re fine?¡± Asks one of the women near Laura. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just¡­ The Dungeon! He talked to me!¡± Laura excitedly squeals not fully realizing yet how her current behaviour is at odds with her usual quiet and discreet self. ¡°Really? How does it feel?¡± ¡°Laura, I would like to talk to you in private. Can you go somewhere else, please?¡± ¡°Yes! Sorry, I have to go. He wants to talk to me in private!¡± Laura jumps to her feet and runs out of the room. ¡°It feels really good! But it will be even better with a nice hot bath!¡± She calls back to the perplexed people still sitting inside the room, just before she crosses through the door. After seeing her leave, the other people talk for a bit, some of them a bit frightened by what they saw and some others envious of Laura¡¯s evident bliss. Chapter 41 - Discussion with Laura. ¡°I¡¯ve done it! I¡¯m linked with him! He wants to speak to me in private! It¡¯s the best day of my life! I¡¯ve done it! I will do all I can for him! He will probably tell me how much he loves me! I can¡¯t wait to see what kind of gift he has for me! I¡¯ve done it! I¡¯m one of his Citizens! I hope I can be of use to him! I want to help him however I can! KYAAAAH!!! I am his! I don¡¯t need anything more in life! But I want to be even closer to him! Is that even possible? Ah! I don¡¯t care! I¡¯ve done it.¡± Arrh, she¡¯s insufferable. Laura has no control over the strength of her thoughts and she projects them on me at full volume. Her mind is basically looping the same three thoughts in an erratic manner again and again. The first is how happy she is to finally be one of my Citizens. I must admit I seriously underestimated her affection for me. It is not just simple thankfulness or anything like that, which could at least be easily explained by the fact that I saved her life from Bertrand and played a key role in the event that led to her freedom. Instead, it looks more like she¡¯s obsessed with me, worshipping me even more than the Marms do. In religious terms, she¡¯s a fanatic. The second kind of sentiment in her mind is strongly intertwined with the first one. It is her will to help me. Clearly, she wants to do all she can to be of use to me. If I play this right, she will be even more useful than I expected. The third type of thought is more about what I can do for her. She saw all I did for Franziska and is wondering what I will do for her. I can understand that. I did promise that I was going to reward the Citizens, after all. But from what I can sort out from her bubbling thoughts, it is not the expectation of an adult wondering what he or she can obtain. No, it is more akin to a little child opening its presents on its birthday. Well, in that case, I can easily prepare some nice gifts while speaking with her. ¡°Laura, please. Calm your mind. When you¡¯re thinking this loud, I can hear your thoughts.¡± I directly say in her mind hoping that she will be capable of lowering the volume of her thoughts if she tries. ¡°Whaa! Sorry!¡± She answers me. ¡°Whaaaa! How am I supposed to do that? I¡¯m bothering him! I don¡¯t want to bother him! Is gonna be mad at me!¡± I¡¯m not really surprised by the fact that her thoughts move in such a direction. ¡°You¡¯re bothering me yes. But I won¡¯t be mad, it is not your fault. You do not know how to control your thoughts yet, but I will help you with that. First I want you to put your mind in a meditation state.¡± First things first, I need her to stop screaming her thoughts into my mind, I can¡¯t do anything with such a disruptive distraction. ¡°Yes! I do that!¡± ¡°Meditation state¡­ He¡¯s not mad at me. He¡¯s teaching me. That¡¯s so cool! Ah! Focus Laura, focus. Meditation state¡­ meditation state¡­¡± ¡°Good, just keep doing that.¡± Her thoughts are already a bit easier to handle, I can still hear everything she thinks, but at least she¡¯s not screaming them anymore. ¡°Now I want you to clear your mind, you need to take control of it. Do not let your thoughts wander uncontrolled.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Meditation¡­ I¡¯m doing good he said. I¡¯m glad. Calm breaths¡­ meditating state¡­ focus my mind¡­ control my thoughts¡­ I can do it. For him, I can do it¡­¡± I keep on guiding her in the way of controlling her thoughts. This is the first time I have to do it, Franziska already knew how to do it. In contrast, the animals, as well as the baby Marms, don¡¯t have complicated enough thoughts to bother me. By the time Laura reaches the bathhouse she¡¯s almost capable of suppressing her thoughts. There are still sometimes when she lets some out loud enough for me to hear clearly and if I focus even just a little, I can perfectly read her mind. And see how much she values me. Honestly, there are some moments where the strength of her devotion is a bit frightening. When she enters the bathhouse she heads directly for the Citizens¡¯ part and stands in front of the door. I open it for her but she doesn¡¯t walk inside. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I ask her. ¡°I have never taken a hot bath alone.¡± She says in a low voice. ¡°You are not alone, I am here with you. You have nothing to fear.¡± I try to calm her as I sense fear growing inside of her mind. ¡°Yes, you''re right. I¡¯m fine. Just bad memories from my previous life.¡± ¡°My life before here. They can¡¯t hurt me any longer, not here.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to you before. But you are here now, with me. And, as long as you¡¯re staying with me, you have nothing to fear. I will protect you. If you want to talk and release the burden of your memories, I will listen, but I will not force you to talk.¡± I would rather not hear her story, but on the other hand, she may give me pieces of information on how to manipulate her more effectively. So I use the same tactic that Lucia used to make Stella talk and promise to protect her and to never leave her alone. Obviously, I can¡¯t hug her, but I can send soothing waves of mana into her body. Thanks to that, not only her tense muscles relax, her mind does so, too. I can tell it¡¯s working just as well as a warm hug while patting her back would. Maybe I could directly make her sense and/or feel other things with my mana, I¡¯ve never tested this before. ¡°I¡­ Thanks. I can go in and take a bath.¡± She says while crossing through the doorway. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s here to protect me and they are not here. I have nothing to fear. I can do this.¡± It seems like her fear is disturbing her ability to keep a hold of her thoughts as she¡¯s projecting them into my mind once again. At least, she¡¯s not screaming this time. While she¡¯s taking a hot bath and relaxing, I listen to her story and prepare some presents for her at the same time. It seems like she was the only daughter of a lesser noble and that, after the death of her parents, she ended up living with her uncle¡¯s family. He stole her noble title and she was forced to work as a slave for his family. That¡¯s where she got her fear of hot baths, as she was only allowed cold ones, while she had to sexually serve the men in their own hot baths. She ended up pregnant three times before her aunt found out what was happening and sold her into slavery to get rid of her. During her twenty years of family slavery, the only thing that allowed her mind to rest was a book. A book that she had read thousands of times during those cruel years. I ask her to tell me more about the book and she starts to recite it from the beginning to the end. She knows it by heart. I understand her a bit better now. She sees me as the prince charming that rescued the main character of her book. She thinks she¡¯s in love with me and that this love could be reciprocated by me. Well, it means that I can manipulate her more easily than anticipated, as long as I play my role of prince charming. And that tells me what my first gift for her should be. I start on preparing it for her, while I continue telling her about my plans for her. ¡°Wow, that was a great story. I¡¯m happy that she was able to live happily ever after with her prince charming.¡± I lie. ¡°But unfortunately, real life is not like that. We cannot simply close the book. The story keeps going on and more dangers will just keep coming.¡± ¡°Yes, I know that. And I want to help. But what can I do?¡± She asks. She¡¯s more relaxed now and has more control over her emotions. And is even more ready to help me now, that she was able to share her burdens with me. ¡°I have several things I need your help with. First I need you to be my voice and to talk in my stead to the people here. You will be the link between me and the non-Citizen. In time, when there will be much more Citizens, I will stop talking to each of them individually and at that time you will also serve as an intermediary between them and me. I may also have to send you out of my Domain as an emissary to meet foreign representatives.¡± ¡°Whaa? Are you sure I can do all that? I''m not trained to do it.¡± She says becoming distressed in front of the future duties I planned for her. ¡°Of course you can. Maybe not now, but in time you will be able to. For the moment I just need you to serve as my representative for everyone in the cave. You¡¯ll have time to learn before I¡¯ll need you to handle more important functions.¡± I reassure her and once again emphasize the need I have for her. ¡°Phew. You had me worried for a moment there.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry. I would never ask you for more than you can do, even if it may seem so. If I ask you to do something, it¡¯s because I trust you to do it, even if you don¡¯t think you can do it yourself.¡± I lie. ¡°Th¡­ thanks.¡± She answers, buying my lie and blushing a little. ¡°Also, I want you to be able to defend yourself.¡± ¡°Whaa?¡± Her manner of speech is much more childish, when she¡¯s alone with me than when she was talking with Clara. I assume it is because of her robbed childhood that she sometimes acts like a mature adult, but acts more like a child with me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will never send you to the frontline. But I know that we are going to have to fight to survive. At the barest minimum, we will have to fight the pirates when they¡¯ll come back and I¡¯m afraid my animals won¡¯t be able to deal with them alone. I have prepared many tricks to fight them and still have some more ideas I want to implement, but I don¡¯t know if even that will be enough against them. Therefore I want the people in my Domain to be able to defend themselves if I can¡¯t protect them.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Also, when the time comes for you to go on diplomatic missions, I want you to be able to defend yourself. I will, of course, provide you with an escort, but better be safe than sorry.¡± ¡°You really think I can become a diplomat?¡± ¡°Easily, and probably more. Seeing how you handled Clara¡¯s questioning after the affair with Bertrand, I¡¯m convinced you will make a great one.¡± ¡°Thanks¡­¡± She says while blushing even more. ¡°Plus, physical exercise will help you a lot in Evolving.¡± ¡°You think I can Evolve?!¡± She exclaims straightening her sitting position. ¡°Seeing the speed at which you were able to become a Citizen I think you can easily become a Second. I picture you becoming at least a Third, maybe even a Fourth with my help. And remember that being a Citizen means you will always be a bit more powerful than someone at the same Stage as you. But first, we will have to find what kind of weapon suits you best. What do you think about daggers?¡± She doesn¡¯t answer this time, she¡¯s too occupied gaping, her mind blank from what I am telling her. ¡°Laura? Dear? Are you alright?¡± ¡°Yes! Yes, I am. I just never thought of being able to become a Second, so being told so casually that I have a chance to become a Fourth was a bit¡­¡± She doesn¡¯t finish her sentence as she¡¯s starting to space out again.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Shocking? Mind-blowing?¡± ¡°Yes. That. Mind-blowing. That¡¯s the right word.¡± ¡°Then, will you give your best to achieve that and follow my instructions?¡± ¡°Yes! I will do everything you ask me to do.¡± She says with a big nod of her head making the water splash a bit around her. ¡°Being a Fourth. It means I could live for centuries by his side. Yes!¡± ¡°I can hear you, when you think this loudly.¡± I say, teasing her a little. ¡°Whaaaaaaaa!¡± She screams and dives to hide her head, which is flushing red due to her mortification, beneath the water. ¡°He heard it! It¡¯s so embarrassing! I want to die! Whaaaa! No! He can still hear me! Meditative state! Meditative state!¡± She¡¯s kind of cute when reacting like that. If I can¡¯t manage to turn her into what I need, I, at least, will have a little toy to play with. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about that. It also pleases me to think we could be together for centuries. I don¡¯t intend to let death do us part as long as I can hold you alive and in health by my side.¡± Her face is turning even redder than before, reaching a shade of red nearing the ones of some of my darker crabs. Her blush is so fierce it almost seems to warm the water around her head. ¡°Whaaaaaaa!¡± I can hear scream internally. ¡°You should get your head out of the water, before you run out of air.¡± Still, she waits six minutes, before she breaks through the surface and gasps for air. ¡°Haaa.¡± She loudly inhales, filling her lungs with much needed fresh air. ¡°I have to admit that I¡¯m impressed. You can hold your breath for a pretty long time.¡± ¡°I¡­ had practice.¡± She says, her face returning to a normal color fast. I can hear the pain in her voice, the practice she had is obviously related to her time at her uncle¡¯s family. ¡°Sorry.¡± I lie. ¡°Now, if you would get out of the bath, I prepared some gifts for you.¡± ¡°Gifts?¡± She asks excitedly, returning to her previous mental state. ¡°Yes. Go back to your changing room, they are waiting for you there.¡± ¡°Kyaaaa!¡± I can hear in her mind as she rushes out of the bath like a little kid. Not taking the time to dry herself nor looking where she puts her feet, she slips on the wet floor and ends up laying on the ground. Providing me with tasty mana from her hurt knee. ¡°Careful there. My presents are not going to disappear.¡± ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s just that it was so long since someone nice gave me a gift, I got carried away.¡± She explains with a blushed face as she slowly gets back on her feet. She then heads at a slower pace for the towels near the bath, completely disregarding the pain of her bleeding knee. ¡°You hurt yourself. Let me heal you.¡± I say sending healing mana into her leg. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m used to the pain, but it is still better without it.¡± Once again I can feel a bit of pain in her voice as she¡¯s reminded of her past. ¡°I can not let my pretty Voice get injured.¡± I say, emphasizing her new position. ¡°Thanks.¡± She blushes. I¡¯m making her blush easily, I guess it means I¡¯m doing well at making her fall even more for me. ¡°You said ¡®voice¡¯ like it was special.¡± She notices while using one of the towels to dry herself. ¡°Yes, that is your title. You are my Voice, capital V. You are the one that speaks for me. Consider this the highest title one can gain in my care. It makes you more important than every other being in my Domain.¡± ¡°But, what about Miss Franziska? She¡¯s the First Citizen, isn¡¯t she? Doesn¡¯t that mean she¡¯s more important?¡± ¡°First Citizen is a title, which people came up with on their own. For me, it simply means she was the first to become a Citizen. And I wouldn¡¯t think about her for the position I¡¯m appointing you to.¡± ¡°Really? Why?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen her talk to people, you¡¯re smart enough to reach the conclusion.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°And she would probably have refused either way. Anyway, you are far better suited for the job than she will ever be. Or than everyone else in my Domain, inside or outside of the cave.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± She said, blushing again and reaching for the handle to the changing room. ¡°Wait. You said ¡®outside of the cave¡¯. Have you people on the outside?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit more complicated than that, but yes. They are the natives of this island, who think of me as some kind of incarnation of their gods that came back just in time to save them from the pirates.¡± ¡°And you let them believe that? You lie to them?¡± She asks not entirely believing my words. ¡°I¡¯m lying to them for now. They are not as civilised as you, so if I would tell them the truth, they would not believe me and might even react with violence. And maybe I would have to hurt them to protect you and myself. Of course, I do not want to hurt them, since they are as innocent and unknowing as children in need of education. In time I will tell them the truth, but I need to be subtle about it and to teach them.¡± I partially lie. ¡°Oh. In that case, I get it. You¡¯re protecting them from themselves. It is easy for them to see you as a god with your powers.¡± It is so easy to lie to her, she wants to believe me so much that she¡¯s even filling the gaps in my lies on her own. ¡°I do care about others. But he comes first, and me second.¡± I hear when peeking in her mind, maybe I don¡¯t have to lie so much to her. ¡°Now, open the door and see your gifts!¡± I say to change the subject. ¡°Yes! The gifts!¡± And it works so easily. She opens the door and enters the changing room in the same motion. Once inside she stops and looks in awe at the black outfit resting on a mannequin. She slowly steps closer to it and reaches for it with shaking hands. She grabs one of the sleeves and lets it go just one second after. ¡°It is not a gown, but it is so beautiful¡­ and so soft¡­ and it¡¯s for me¡­ I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡± Her mind works in slow motion as she¡¯s taking in the fact that I¡¯ve made clothes especially for her. ¡°Is this really for me? Is it alright for someone like me to own something like this? I¡¯m not worthy of it.¡± She says stepping back from the dress, overwhelmed by the luxurious outfit in front of her. ¡°What are you talking about? You are no mere slave owned by her traitorous family, not anymore. You are not something as simple as a mere little princess wearing some impractical dress. You are someone important. Important to me. Important to the people here. You will be even more important as time passes. You will be important for the whole known world. Royalty will bow in front of you. You are my Voice! The most important person in my eyes! I forbid you to ever again think that you are unworthy of anything I gift you. I can not let you wander around in some rags anymore, you deserve the best I can offer. For now what I can give you is limited, but in time it will be even more beautiful than those clothes.¡± I lie with all of my conviction. Or maybe not. If she¡¯s to survive the pirates¡¯ attack and to really become my representative, she has to look the part. ¡°Whaaaaa¡­¡± ¡°Whaaaa¡­¡± Did I break her mind? I give her a bit of time before talking to her anew. ¡°Laura? ...Laura?! Laura!¡± I have to raise my mental voice for her to react. ¡°Yes! Yes. Sorry, I spaced out there.¡± She says, her face completely red with embarrassment. ¡°All right, then put it on. I have some adjustments to do. There are undergarments on the bench right there.¡± She starts by putting on the panties, a plain and simple piece of cloth designed to protect her intimate parts from friction. Just after that, she slips inside the brassi¨¨re, once again a plain band of black cloth designed to nullify friction as she doesn¡¯t have big enough breasts to justify something to hold it in place. There is also a pair of black, small socks. She¡¯s clearly afraid of damaging the thin fabric used in all of the clothes and dresses up really carefully. Over it she puts on the soft black lace shirt which covers her upper arms with short sleeves and falling fully over her stomach, reaching her mid-tights and covering her flat bosom. The next pieces of clothing are a jacket sturdier than the shirt, which also covers her arms till the wrists and a hood that she can pull over her head to hide her face. There is also a pair of tight trousers that she slips in easily. The jacket, as well as the pants, have some pockets woven into them, which she fills with the few possessions she has with her. The finishing touches are the knee-high boots, the fingerless gloves and a belt with a pair of knives, as well as a pouch of coins. The clothes are made of linen, as I can¡¯t work with leather yet, and are colored black by small particles of coal woven tightly into the fibres. The result is a soft, completely black fabric allowing the girl to hide even more easily in the shadows than before. There are also some thin threads of blackened iron woven in the fabric as to provide some protection. When she is done clothing herself, I take a good look at her. She¡¯s rather cute in her completely black outfit. It even perfectly matches her hair color. Not that I personally care for physical beauty, but as my representative she has to have some physical presence and cuteness is one of the ways to do. With better food and exercise she should hopefully put on some more weight in the right places, making her more conventionally beautiful. While this outfit is completely black, I also made her some spare ones in different colors. Those colors, I created from flower petals grinded into dust and encrusted in the linen. I have installed the other ones directly in a large trunk inside her house. ¡°It¡¯s a perfect fit. How?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Dungeon. A being of magic and many wonders. I can take measurements for a dress.¡± I jokingly answer her. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re stunningly beautiful in it. Now move a bit so that I can adjust it to better fit your movements¡±. ¡°Thanks.¡± She blushes a lot and starts to turn and walk around. She puts on the hood to hide her blush, as if I couldn¡¯t see beneath it. While taking it in, I make some small adjustments to ease Laura¡¯s movements and now it is an even better fit than it already was. ¡°You¡¯re really magnificent.¡± I tell her, exaggerating somewhat. ¡°Th¡­ thanks.¡± she says, pulling harder on her hood to hide her red face and brown eyes behind the cloth and her dark hair. ¡°Now, look inside of the purse.¡± She reaches into it and finds some copper and silver coins of different sizes. ¡°The daggers, I can understand. But why the money? I don¡¯t need it. There is plenty of food growing on the trees, the bathhouse is free to use and I have my own house.¡± ¡°Indeed, you don¡¯t need it for yourself. It¡¯s for the others. It will appeal to their greed and motivate more of them to become Citizens. But more importantly, it will allow you to buy goods and services and inject money in the town¡¯s market. Not that there is a market to talk about yet.¡± ¡°You¡¯re providing us with enough food and fresh water to live. As well as some facilities to accommodate us. But you made it abundantly clear that the Citizens get more. Like yesterday, with the fields and the mills. I know that most people are doing it for the benefits. Not that I have decided to become a Citizen for that, I did it for you...¡± If her face wasn¡¯t already red from my earlier compliments she would start blushing now at her own statement. ¡°But I also guess that some people have already started working the fields in hope of trading their products for something else. And money serves as a universal barter object, so it makes sense, especially since you are also providing the adventurers in the Maze with some. And Franziska will want remuneration for her work, so people will have to pay her with something.¡± ¡°You understand it pretty well. I¡¯m glad to have chosen you.¡± I make her blush once again. ¡°Any ideas on what to offer as an incentive to become Citizens?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking that the next addition could be some cattle or a bakery, people would love to be able to diversify their meals. Not a lot of us are willing to eat the meat from the monsters in the Maze. The first could also provide us with some more leather, while the second would allow us to bake some food other than fruits, roasted rats and the occasional rabbit from the maze.¡± ¡°For the bakery, I will provide it to a new Citizen who wants to be a baker. Like Franziska¡¯s smithy. Or like many other facilities, you can announce to people that the first Citizen that claims a workshop for any particular activity can have it, the others will have to work for their workshops or find another activity. As for the cattle, I¡¯m impeded by the lack of any on this island. I could provide you with some chickens and maybe non-Maze rabbits instead, but even those only in rather small numbers as I will have to breed them. You¡¯ll have to wait a bit more if you want something more than that. I can¡¯t make them appear out of nowhere.¡± ¡°I believe you. I think making some of those rabbits and chickens appear in the town or field area would please most people, that way they would be more willing to join your Citizenship.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think about that. Now go and show everyone how beautiful you are.¡± Chapter 42 - The Voice. Like a good amount of the former slaves, Dave is waiting in front of the bathhouse. He heard the news just like everyone else that Laura is now a Citizen of the Dungeon. And, not unlike almost all of them, he¡¯s impatient to see her and to hear what she has to say. He believes she will have more things to say than Franziska. The young Human woman may be shy and discreet, but she¡¯s not as asocial as that Dwarf. Dave wants to ask Laura about the opportunity of having his own workshop in which he could perfect his art and become an even better cabinetmaker. The fact that Franziska got her own smithy is proof that he could have his own place to work, too. As he¡¯s lost in thought, on what he could do if he had the help of the Dungeon, the building¡¯s door finally opens and Laura walks out and blinks when she sees the crowd waiting for her. Part of the people gasps when they see the girl exit the bathhouse. She¡¯s dressed in a strange outfit, of a kind he has never seen before. He has already seen jackets, pants and the rest, obviously, but never things cut quite like that. It is also obvious to everyone that the quality of the outfit is much higher than everything else around. They can also see from their positions that it is something that even nobles wouldn¡¯t frown upon. The only problem with the outfit is the fact that a woman is wearing such high-quality trousers. Usually, when a woman can wear such fine clothing in society, she is either rich and wears dresses, gowns or at least skirts or she is a strong adventurer that doesn¡¯t fear rumors about her lack of femininity. Other women who wear pants are the ones who may need them for work, but in such cases, they wouldn¡¯t have the money to buy such nice ones. But the rumors say that in some far away countries, women wear pants just like men. Hey, he even heard that in some places wearing a skirt is a sign of great masculinity! So if the Dungeon - as it is obvious that it is it that has provided Laura with her new outfit - wants to dress her like that, it is its choice. Dave cannot go against it, he will just need a bit of time to get used to the sight of it. Unfortunately, some people in the crowd are not as open-minded as the woodworker and Dave can already hear some disapproving voices. He ignores them for now and focuses on what¡¯s happening at the front of the crowd. Laura is standing on top of the few stairs in front of the bathhouse entrance. Her eyes are focused on the crowd and her head is tilted a bit to the side as if she is listening to something. After a few seconds of staring, she raises her head and starts to address the crowd in a strong voice that no one here has heard from her before. ¡°People! I am pleased to tell you that I am now the Dungeon¡¯s Voice. It is a title he has given me. It means I will talk for him whenever he has an announcement to make.¡± She makes a pause letting the crowd take in what she just said, but resumes talking after a moment. ¡°Know that the Dungeon is always with us in his Domain. But he has some other things to do and cannot always listen to us. Therefore I will act as his representative, that is the purpose of the Voice. If you want to talk to him about something, please come to me.¡± She takes another deliberate breath, looking at the people listening to her. ¡°I know there are a lot of craftsmen among you. Those of you, who want a private workshop like Franziska¡¯s smithy, will be offered a deal. The first craftsman of a trade to become a Citizen will have his or her own workshop built by the Dungeon according to their likings and will be considered the official representative of their trade in the Domain. The Dungeon will help them improve by allowing them to use parts of his mana in their works and will also provide them with a fair amount of raw materials to start working, he will also occasionally pass orders to them. Orders that will be well priced.¡± Once again, Laura waits for the crowd to take in what she¡¯s saying. Dave is particularly interested, being the official woodworker of the Dungeon? Damn, that would be great! The Dungeon itself - or himself, Laura is referring to it as a him - probably doesn¡¯t need anything, but Laura and the other people here will probably want some wooden furniture. ¡°Of course the position of official craftsman can be lost if the Dungeon is not pleased by the results.¡± This declaration stops David thoughts. The position can be lost? He doesn¡¯t fear for the quality of his own work, he is good with wood. But what if someone else is better? Could he lose the position to someone else? David already sees himself as a world-renowned crafter. An artist that nobility and royalty would beg to own his work. Thinking of what he could do with the help of the Dungeon, his old dreams of grandeur, the ones he had discarded when he was enslaved, are coming back stronger than ever before. He does not think about the fact that the Dungeon¡¯s own existence is at risk, so focused is he on his old dreams. ¡°The same can be done for any profession a new Citizen wants to choose. Be it a gardener, a seamstress, a stonemason or even a prostitute.¡± David hears a few gasps in the crowd. ¡°That¡¯s right. The Dungeon does not care what profession people choose to follow, as long they do not go against his Laws. You could become a murderer and he would not stop you as long as you do not attempt to take the life of a Citizen or any normal people he took a special liking in.¡± This time the gasps are more numerous. ¡°That¡¯s what happened to Bertrand. If you remember him, he was a stupid man and tried to kill me. I¡¯ve been told he is not dead but is suffering a fate worse than death itself.¡± She said that with such a big smile on her face and pleased tone in her voice that the crowd grows completely silent, David is even feeling cold shivers run down his back. ¡°On a much brighter note, the work of the Citizens should bring better living conditions for everyone living inside the Domain. As well as the next things the Dungeon will build for all of us. I know that he is ready to bring in some small farm animals for the first Citizen that wants to work on a farm. As much as I like to eat the Dungeon¡¯s fruits and the occasional fish, I would also love to eat some eggs and chicken. Or, if we could have a baker, we could eat hot bread and other freshly baked goods¡­¡± She lets her voice trail off to let the other people picture the food she¡¯s talking about. ¡°The Dungeon shared his vision of the future with me. He sees this place becoming an economic and cultural hub for the known world. Of course, all the people helping him in this task would greatly benefit from this as well.¡± At those words, David once again starts to dream about his future celebrity status. ¡°Unfortunately.¡± She resumes, sadness in her voice. ¡°All of that will never happen if the Dungeon falls when the pirates come back.¡± And once again, she brings fear to the hearts of the people gathered here. ¡°The Dungeon struck a deal with them as a way to free us. But he does not want to work with them in the future, as they will be a liability for his plans. For the moment he cannot repel them and if they were to return in the next few days they would probably crush his core and enslave all of us anew.¡± A feeling of hopelessness surrounds the crowd of former slaves at the thought of the pirates coming back to reclaim them. ¡°But do not worry.¡± Laura cheerfully says. ¡°The Dungeon has a plan to save us all. And we all have a place in it. Everyone willing to participate in the defence of our lives will be granted weapons, armor and training. The Citizens will be guided on the path of Evolution, the Dungeon believes that a fair amount of us could become Second in a few months of training under his guidance.¡± The mutters David is hearing this time are a mix of excitement at the prospect of being Seconds and fear of the pirates. ¡°It will take our enemies several months to come back, they are travelling by sea and won¡¯t come back before having spent a fair amount of the gold the Dungeon gave them in exchange of our freedom. And during this time he will prepare a lot of defences. We will not fight alone. The animals from the maze and all of his Domain will be there too. And this way we will be able to repeal the pirates and pay back our debt to the Dungeon.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Now, if you have questions, it will be a pleasure for me to answer them.¡± Laura finishes her long speech with a nice smile on her face, her hands crossed in front of her in a distinguished manner. In the following hours David and the other former slaves ask Laura a lot of questions about the Dungeon, while she explains as best as she could. With some occasional breaks as to listen to an explanation from the Dungeon itself, always tilting her head to the side on those moments. She explains that once the Citizens are numerous enough, they should form some sort of council and establish the laws that the people in the Dungeon¡¯s Domain would have to follow and enforce by themselves. At the apparent pleasure of Clara, the Dungeon does not care if the law enforcers¡¯ chief is male or female. In its opinion males and females are equal at least in mind if not in bodies, and even there Evolution tends to erase those differences. Pleasing more women than just Clara it is declared that it does not care if women get any positions which would be reserved for men in most societies. Or the other way around. During this exchange, lots of people talk about their old jobs, allowing David to learn he is the only real craftsman specialized in wood. Other crafters may work with wood sometimes, but he is the most suited for the position of woodworkers¡¯ representative. Other things, Laura explains, concern the Dungeon¡¯s defence system. How there will be an enormous amount of traps and how the animals will fight to defend the Citizens and the core. She adds, that the Dungeon has not yet established its final defence strategy, but she at least knows some things about it. For example, the fact that the Citizens lives are more important than those of non-Citizens and that the Dungeon will not try as hard to save the last ones. The last thing Laura is asked is what the Dungeon can be doing all day that it needs a representative. She explains that for the moment it can take care of everything by itself but that in time, when its tasks will be more numerous and the town will have grown, it will not be bothered with it anymore. Laura explains that, for now, the Dungeon is conducting experiments with the goal of improving its defences, before the pirates return. After the long talk, David comes back to his house and thinks back on all the revelations of the day. He has finally made his decision. He will become a Citizen. --- Laura walks into her home. She¡¯s so exhausted from the long talk and all the energy she had to use to look good and in control. She now understands why Franziska is so rude to the people when they bother her with questions. It¡¯s tiring for the body and the mind. Half asleep already, she stumbles to her bed, not noticing the new furniture in the room, and throws herself on her bed. Half across her fall, she remembers that her bed is far from comfortable with its rocky base and that there are only a few itchy blankets thrown on top of it to make it bearable. Knowing that she¡¯s in for a painful landing, she is surprised to find that her bed is much more comfy than usual. She sits back up and looks at it in more detail. She finds that there is a comfortable mattress made of grass and flowers underneath new and soft blankets and that the bed base is now wound instead of stone. ¡°I see that you have found another one of my gifts.¡± She hears the Dungeon voice in her head. He seems pleased. ¡°Yes, thanks. I will sleep much better with this new bed.¡± Laura says, laying down on the bed and rolling herself in the blankets. ¡°It smells so good and it¡¯s so soft. I love it! Thank you very much.¡± She buries her head in the new pillows and instantly starts to fall asleep. ¡°Hold on a bit, I have a special reward for you.¡± At those words, Laura rolls on her side, curious about the mischievous tone of the Dungeon. ¡°A special reward? Why?¡± ¡°Because you performed admirably on your first task. Even better than I had anticipated, I¡¯m extremely proud of you.¡± ¡°Thanks, but it is my duty. I don''t need any rewards.¡± Laura says, her face red in embarrassment. ¡°But I want to reward you. Won¡¯t you let me do it?¡± ¡°Yes? What is it?¡± She asks a bit excited. ¡°This.¡± Laura feels a warm sensation coursing through her body. The warmth slowly flows into her muscles, helping them relax and feeling like a warm hug. ¡°That¡¯s good, thanks.¡± She says gratefully. ¡°I¡¯m only warming up, wait for it to really start.¡± The warm feeling slowly starts to concentrate on certain particular areas and Laura throws her eyes wide open. ¡°What are you doing!?¡± Laura asks, starting to worry a bit. ¡°Do not worry. You can trust me, I will never harm you.¡± The Dungeon does not stop focusing his energy on Laura¡¯s special parts. ¡°It¡¯s not that. It¡¯s just the memories this is bringing back.¡± The woman says, covering herself with the blankets remembering part of the abuses of her previous life. ¡°The memories will never fully go away, but I do hope that you and I can make new ones. New memories that are stronger and better than your old ones. Memories for us to share. For just you and me, together.¡± Laura can hear something in the Dungeon¡¯s voice, something she feels sounds like love or at least what she thinks it should sound like. ¡°New memories? You and me. Together¡­¡± She feels her heart bumping louder in her chest, not knowing if it is just her body reacting to the Dungeon¡¯s mana flowing through her or if it is the effect of his words. Probably both. ¡°Yes. I know you''re afraid. Just focus on us. There is only you and me. But if you want me to stop, I¡¯ll stop. I don¡¯t want to force you. I just want to help you build new and better memories. With me.¡± ¡°With you? I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Her hearts keep on beating faster and louder with the Dungeon¡¯s words and actions. ¡°Don¡¯t you trust me?¡± He asks her, pain in his voice. ¡°Yes, I trust you.¡± She says, giving in to the growing sensations in her body. Slowly and continuously the Dungeon focuses his mana inside of her body, making higher concentrations of it in all of her erogenous zones. She lets out some low moaning sounds. As the night goes one, the Dungeon perfects his technique, making the mana flow in different patterns, even managing to make it vibrate. On her side, Laura gives in more and more to the sensations, allowing herself to feel a pleasure the strength she had never been able to feel before. Her voice goes higher and higher as she climaxes several times, clenching the bedsheets in her hands and screaming in sexual delight. At the end, she lays on her back, heavily panting and staring at the ceiling. The bed is drenched in sweat and cyprine. Traces of saliva and tears of pleasure can be seen on her cheeks and pillows, one of them even has some rips showing the markings of tightly clenched teeth. Her throat is still warmed by the Dungeon as he¡¯s healing her broken vocal cords. There is also a big puddle of cyprine in the middle of the bed. ¡°Th¡­ thanks. Thank you so much¡­¡± Laura says after a few moments, still panting. ¡°That was¡­ amazing. I didn¡¯t know you could feel something like this.¡± She wipes her face with the torn pillow. ¡°I¡­ I love you.¡± ¡°I love you too, darling.¡± And with these sweet words from her lover, Laura falls asleep without knowing what the Dungeon really thinks of her. Chapter 43 - Evaluating the situation a bit. The days after Laura became my Voice went by peacefully in my town. A certain routine even settled in. In the Morning, Laura meditates and trains her combat skills under my guidance and in the afternoon she either talks to people, answering their questions on different subjects or tries to help those who want to become Citizens. Afterwards, she passes the evening by talking with even more people, particularly with those aiming to become important Citizens. Since Laura¡¯s big speech in front of the crowd, the number of people wanting to join my Citizenship is growing each day. I must admit that I¡¯m very pleased with the current situation. The more Citizens there are, the more pawns I will have to use in my defence or for my experiments. And they are more than willing to become my playthings. There are a few people in the process of becoming Citizen that I am particularly interested in. First being Grundy, the big man is almost ready and will be a particularly powerful defender of mine, at least after a bit of training. For now, his usual fighting method is to overpower his enemies with sheer force and absolutely no technique. I plan to teach him how to use his big muscles in a better way, allowing him to fight without exerting his whole energy on movements that are too wide and too powerful to be fully effective. Another future Citizen I¡¯m eager to have is Clara. The tall and blond woman wants to become the head of the city¡¯s watch. Before that, she will have to establish one though, but with my help, she should be able to do it. Like the other Citizens, she will gain a place to work and establish her dream. I am quite interested in the prospect of having a watch in my town. It means I¡¯ll have a group of people dedicated to my Citizens¡¯ security and well-being and especially mines. Well, they¡¯ll also be assuring the security of normal people, for which I don¡¯t really care that much, but it means I¡¯ll at least have more prospective Citizens and subjects for my experimentations. If nothing else a safe city attracts more people than an unsafe one lures away. Also, Clara is pregnant and I¡¯m rather impatient to have her in my care. She should be the first pregnant sapient being in my possession, assuming none of the other pregnant women here achieve Citizenship before her. I¡¯m curious to see the effects, my mana flowing through a pregnant woman will have on the child she¡¯s bearing. I can at least guarantee some effects as they are mammals, but sapience is an unknown quantity there. Unfortunately, there are also people that don¡¯t seem to be willing to become Citizens. While I don¡¯t really care about most of them, there are some I would really like to own. Starting with all the adventurers. I¡¯d like to have all of them under my influence, since they are a kind of people willing to risk their lives and who know how to fight, meaning they can either become a liability or a big asset, depending on if they are handled properly or not. But I am pleased to see that most of the reluctant adventurers are mainly just discussing the subject, with only a handful of them that are openly stating that they won¡¯t ever become Citizens. Namely, they are the group of female adventurers led by a certain Felicia Garth, who also leads the pregnant women who refuse to be Citizens. There is also the duo Lucia and Stella. While I don¡¯t really care about the decision of the broken baby doll, I¡¯d really like to claim the childlike one. As the one who took initiative first and opened the shackles when the pirates left. Proving due to this to have a certain cunning and the willingness to act. All that lead to her having some influence in town. Although her childlike appearance and her temper limit it. Speaking of people with influence, I¡¯d also like to claim Helgyra and Melinda. They are the only people with a semblance of medical skill. The first is a doctor, according to herself, and I think I could strike a deal with her, as she seems more interested in her studies than in the wellbeing of her patients. The latter is the complete opposite, with visibly less medical knowledge she cares more deeply about the people in her care than about herself. The amount of time she passes taking care of the few people still in coma or in shock is proof of that. In her case, I could try to steer her onto my side by proposing to teach her some of my healing skills. However, it will take a lot of time to teach someone how I do it, if that even is a possibility. In any case, both the Gnome doctor and the big breasted Human have some weight in the debates happening in my town. The last being I would like to see become a Citizen is Mililara. Not only because she is one of the adventurers lurking around in my maze or because she¡¯s one of the best fighters in town, or even her visibly superior intellect when compared to the rest of the people here. No, I want her to be mine, simply because there is something strangely appealing about her. I can¡¯t explain it, but when I¡¯m looking at her I feel a strange pulse inside me, something almost sexual. It¡¯s in the slight quantity of mana I can feel escaping from her body. There is something there that I can¡¯t quite define, but it¡¯s making me feel weirdly aroused when I focus on her. Therefore I try not to put too much attention on her, but I¡¯d really like to claim her and finally be able to understand what is happening. To keep going on about what I would like to have, but cannot have for now. There are issues with my hybridization attempts. For the bugs ones, in fact, the other ones are too early to have any real results yet. But, as the bugs have a rapid growth speed, I can already see some results after the first few days. As such most of the bugs¡¯ hybridizations have already failed, something around three-fourths of the fertilized eggs are already dead or will never hatch. And among the last fourth, I can already spot some heavy malformations that I think will again prevent at least half of the rest to live through their larvae stage. It does not bode well for my experiments on this subject, but I will not abandon them and keep on experimenting. Classic dungeons are able to produce monsters to defend themselves, so there must be a more efficient way to do it that I haven¡¯t tried yet. Or else, how would those mindless pieces of shiny rock manage to create such fearsome creatures? Simply by infusing their mana in them, as I did with my crabs at the beginning? That could explain the simple monsters that are simply bigger or sturdier variants or the likes of that, but not those showing traits from other creatures. Although, it is a fact that those kinds of monsters are a rare sight and that usually there are no more than two or three of the same kind, even in vastly renowned dungeons. However, that is a matter to think about later. Now I¡¯m focusing my attention on the reef I¡¯m growing at the edge of my influence. I¡¯ve been growing it steadily for the past few days and now I¡¯m completing the last finishing touches. For the underwater part, it is mainly just a big wall with numerous holes in it to let water and fish through. I¡¯ve also made a lot of corals grow on it. It allows me to permanently claim all the water between the island and the rift as well as all the creatures that manage to go through there. Of course, I don¡¯t force them to stay inside what can now be considered an atoll, they are only required to come back once a week to provide me with pieces of information from around the surrounding islands, just like the birds I have claimed.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The top of the rift is just one meter under the water level for most of its length with some rocks sprouting out of the water at some places. The idea is to allow small boats, like the fishing boats of the Marms, to pass over the rift easily while blocking bigger boats. Of course, I don¡¯t want to block potential merchant ships from coming to the shore and I know that sort of thing will not be able to block the pirates. Well, it could block most of them, but not the Seconds or higher tiered ones, who are the real threat. So I also installed a total of four entryways through the reef, one at each of the cardinal directions. Those entries are marked by two pillars, larger boats are supposed to go between those pillars to enter my waters, I even put some glowing crystal on the pillars to allow ships to see them even at night. This will prevent too many big ships from entering my waters at once and at the same time still allow them entrance. I only want to regulate their passage, make sure they can¡¯t easily rush my shores and thus reduce the dangers of a frontal assault against me. Of course, I¡¯ll have to build a better maze to lure the assailants into after they boarded the coast to weaken and ultimately kill them. Unfortunately, mazes such as the ones I can make for now is useless against opponents that can easily destroy their walls, jump across big holes and swim underwater for dozens of minutes unscathed, allowing him or her to go straight to my core. I have to find a way to strengthen my walls. How do other Dungeons do it? Do they simply put metal in them? Is it a special kind of stone that I do not know of? Or is just permeating the walls long enough with an adequate amount of mana enough? I¡¯ll have to experiment on the subject and luckily I have the perfect help for that. Bertrand¡¯s body. With the daily training I¡¯m doing with this body, it¡¯s now almost ready to undergo the strange half Evolution that my creatures can have. Speaking of creatures, I have three new noteworthy ones that I claimed in the depths of my waters. They are the biggest creatures I have seen there until now. The first is some kind of sea tortoise, I believe it is called a turtle. The second one is a shark. While it is not a big one, a fish armed with sharp teeth is a potential weapon of great efficiency in water. And lastly, I have an octopus. Unlike the other two, who aimlessly wandered into my waters, I found this one living in a hole in my seabed. Those three animals could become a great line of defence once grown or even turned into proper monsters. Unfortunately, I have no way of making them reproduce for now, as I only have one of each and wasn''t able to successfully hybridize creatures of this size yet, though not for a lack of trying. Anyway, I return my focus to other topics, ones I can work on at the moment. Like making more powerful animals out of the ones I have. --- In a faraway land, several beings are talking among themselves. They are discussing a matter of utmost importance for their people and for the whole world at large, even if the later does not know anything about it. ¡°It is too dangerous.¡± Says a feminine voice. ¡°But we still have to do it, it is our duty.¡± Answers another one. ¡°We can¡¯t risk the life of a young one for this.¡± ¡°We have always done it, Tina. That is the mission the Mother and the Father gave us. We have to send someone. And the youngs know what they are risking on those missions.¡± ¡°But look at this!¡± Melan points to a crystalline ball settled on a pedestal in the center of the group. ¡°Do you see the colours, Melan? It has never shown as many of them and with such brightness.¡± ¡°Yes, I see it! And it does not change our duty.¡± ¡°Only.¡± A third and crooked voice interjects. ¡°It is not the first time such a thing has happened.¡± ¡°Really? You¡¯re the oldest of us, Dorni. Will you explain what is happening?¡± ¡°It was when I was younger, barely ten years after entering the Council. The crystal shined with the same brightness as now, but not quite the same colours. Although it did have all the colours of magic in it, red and purple were clearly more dominant. The other members of the Council argued about sending someone or not, they were afraid of the reaction of the core.¡± ¡°It is known that purple or red dominated cores tend to react more poorly than others to our actions.¡± This voice comes from a fourth individual and causes a few to roll their eyes. ¡°Yes, but the decision that was made at that time was to send two of our best students to it.¡± ¡°Two?! We never send two young. Why did you do that?¡± Asks Tina. ¡°Because it was not the first time either. It was actually the second time.¡± The old one makes a pause to look at all the Council¡¯s members. ¡°The first time was another fifteen millenniums earlier.¡± ¡°Wait! You¡¯re in the Council since fifteen thousand years. Does it mean the first time the Crystal reacted so strongly the Mother and the Father were still awake?¡± Exclaims the one who stated well-known facts earlier. ¡°Yes Kirya, and they went asleep a few centuries after this event. Long before I hatched.¡± She lets her voice trail off. ¡°So? What happened?¡± Asks Melan. ¡°Alf?. It was her that was sent to take care of the first one. You know the rest of this story. As for the second one, the two young that were sent were the very best of our students, but we never heard of them afterwards and the Dungeon was destroyed just a few decades later.¡± A long and dreadful silence engulfs the Council room. ¡°That settles it, we cannot send anyone.¡± Says the careful Tina. ¡°You are right, we cannot allow a new event like Alf?. The risks are too high.¡± Agrees on Melan, the other Council members murmuring their consent. ¡°We have to send someone.¡± Resumes Dorni. ¡°Before going to sleep the Mother and the Father specifically told the Council members of that time to carry on the mission they chose for our people, especially in this sort of cases. That is the exact reason, despite the possibility of a corruption like for Alf?, we send someone fifteen thousand years ago. And that is why we will also send someone to this core.¡± ¡°But how can we send our youngs on such a perilous mission? It is not the same as just risking their lives, they are risking far more there.¡± ¡°That is why we will only send volunteers, who know of the dangers of this particular mission.¡± ¡°Are you sure this is the right thing to do?¡± ¡°The right thing? No, I¡¯m not. But I¡¯m certain that it is necessary. Now sisters, go fetch your best students and meet me at the archivist¡¯s study, we will choose those we should send with his help.¡± Bonus chapter 01 - The first Dungeon. On this world, there are all kinds of different islands and continents. Some of which are widely populated by different kinds of sapient species, maybe living in a peaceful and sophisticated society like the Elves or constantly waging wars against their neighbors like Humans or even among themselves like some violent Orcs. The distance between some of those continents makes it so that some sapient species don¡¯t even know about the existence of some of the others. For example, even if the Humans, the Dwarves, the Orcs and most of the Beastkins know of each other, they have never heard anything of the Nires, the Manods and the Raptors. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are also pieces of dry land that are only populated by animals and still undiscovered by any sapient species. Truth be told, these lands are even more numerous than those the sapient species populate and contain creatures of every size and color imaginable. There is also a very special island, lost in the middle of an ocean. It is not special because of its size or its location. It is instead special because of its mysterious inhabitants. Nobody, except for them, has ever put a foot on this land, while they have travelled all around the world. Here lives a special kind of people. Small and happy, they play all day long, flying with their insectoid wings between never withering flowers, while leaving bright rays of light in every color of the rainbow behind them to slowly dissipate. One of their primary topics of discussion is to compare the tastiness of the fruits growing all year round on this island, even though they don¡¯t need to eat. If needed, they could sustain themselves only on the abundant and particularly pure mana permeating their tropical forest. Mages from any of the known civilizations would sell their whole families just for the opportunity to study one of these beings or even just a simple corpse. Just for an attempt to understand their faceted eyes, which have the ability to see mana flow in the air, or one of their other strange body parts. That is if they had known about their existence and powers. Humans would probably call them Fairies, based on their tales, and find them amazingly beautiful, Nires would not be fooled that easily and Raptors would just look at them like annoying glowing flies. They call themselves Pixies and would conversely find any other sapient species quite ugly and stupid. Stupid yes, because since all the millenniums the Pixies have been around, nobody has ever been able to discover them and even less made the link between them and the Dungeons. With the exception of the Elves, but this is a story for another time. On this island, Pixies are living in peace with their Dungeon friend. They exchange mana with it and have a symbiotic relationship with this old being. After all, one of them is the one who brought it to sapience. There is a special place in the forest where young Pixies go to listen to stories of the old ones. Some Pixies a bit older than these younglings are also here to hear the stories and to study, those particular Pixies are waiting for the news of a new Dungeon being born in the world, because it means that one of them will have the chance to leave this island to bound with the Dungeon and help it find the balance between defending itself against the sapient species and luring them inside its Domain. And today¡¯s story is an old one, one of the oldest stories told on this island. It is the story of what is believed to be the first Dungeon and the story of how the first Pixy came to life. All the Pixies gathered in the clearing are sitting in front of the old and wrinkled Pixy telling it. This old Pixy would be treated with great respect, even if he had not also been considered a sage and an erudite, as he is one of the few males of this almost exclusively female species. ¡°This story takes place a long time ago, thousands of thousands of years in the past in fact. When the world had yet to unravel its might and wonders for people to see. It was a time where Humans, Dwarves, and Orcs were closer to apes than to what they are now. It was a time where Elves, Gnolls, Kitsunes, and other Beastkins did not exist yet. It was a time when even us Pixies were nonexistent. ¡°The ancestors of the Dwarves were living high in the mountains, not yet able to dig deep into them. The beings that would become the Orcs were living in small forests which lay between swamps and savannas. And the ones, we will see in this story, the cavemen, ancestors of the Humans, were living in the plains and at the foot of the mountains. Hunting and gathering for sustenance and sleeping in natural caverns. Sometimes, they had to chase bears out from their own caves. ¡°But one day, in a small mountain not so far away from where one cavemen tribe was living appeared a strange stone, in a flash of light it came to existence right in the middle of the hard stone of the mountain¡¯s foot. - Raw amounts of mana gather on a small particle of stone in a small mountain¡¯s base. A few minutes after, the mana starts to crystallize around the stone particle, dirt and rocks around it aggregating on the mana construct. The mixing of pure mana and simple dirt and rock results in the appearance of a perfectly round and black stone floating in an empty space as spherical as the stone. It starts absorbing the mana around it, like a dry sponge in water. For several days nothing else happens, as the stone is absorbing all the mana it can absorb. But on the eleventh day, something finally changes. An earthworm digs inside the space around the stone. The stone is surprised, it has never sensed something else other than the air in its room and the room¡¯s wall. Focusing its attention on the intruder, the stone does not notice it¡¯s shining in a pink light. The worm brings with it two things. The first thing is itself. The earthworm is wriggling around a bit before it starts digging again and exits the place. The only existence of this simple and yet so complex creature is shattering everything the stone knows. The world is not only a space a few times bigger than itself and life can be more than just absorbing energy from the environment and floating around in it. Life can also be about moving from one place to another!This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. That leads to the second thing. The worm has left behind it two holes in the wall, one above the stone, the other beneath it. And from those holes, particularly the one on the upside, comes a higher amount of mana than can simply permeate through the dirt. The stone absorbs the new amount of energy making it feels as if it was starving before and is now at last able to properly eat till satiety. With this new amount of energy the stone wills to go into the hole above it. But the result is not what it was expecting. The stone itself does not move, instead, it senses its perception widen through the hole and past it. Surprised and pleased by this development, the stone sends its energy in all directions around it. Being the first time it does such a thing, the sentient stone does not notice the mana consumption and quickly exhausts its complete energy reserve. That makes it pass out as its consciousness sinks into darkness. A few hours of passive mana absorption later the stone comes back to consciousness. The stone is shining pink as it is surprised by what just happened to it, there are also some flashes of a darker, more purple light, marking that the stone is experiencing its first taste of fear. It fears the state it was in, it was completely dark. It resolves itself to never, ever again fall into the darkness again. And for that, it needs more energy, much more energy. The bigger amount of energy coming to the stone is arriving through the holes the worm left behind. So the stone expands its perception only in the direction of the holes, and not in all directions anymore. It also makes sure to monitor its mana pool to not lose consciousness once again. The process is slow, the stone does not use more mana expanding its domain than it is absorbing, keeping the balance between its mana regeneration and consumption. Sometimes, it comes across other small tunnels in the dirt, on those occasions, it infuses its mana into those passages too. For almost a day the stone keeps on expanding its domain. When it has covered a volume of around twenty-five cubic meters of worms¡¯ and bugs¡¯ tunnels around it, something new happens. It has already come across different creatures than the worm it first saw, but not yet two at the same time and at the same location. The stone looks on curiously as a bug with eight legs and eight eyes faces another one with only six legs and two eyes. The two bugs are studying each other and suddenly the first one jumps at the other. It plants its mandibles in its powerless prey and injects a small amount of venom in it, it then proceeds to wrap it in its silk and waits on the side. The stone is greatly surprised by what just happened. It remembers how, at the moment the beetle was injured, it felt a powerful surge of mana flowing to it. It is the greatest feeling it had ever felt. It wants more. Fortunately, the bug is still alive, and as it continues to suffer it releases more tasty mana for the stone to absorb. The stone¡¯s room is bathed in pink and orange light. A few hours later, the beetle dies, releasing a new surge of delicious mana and putting an end to the sweet mana flow of pain. The stone is bathing in the good feeling of the mana the bug released at the moment of its death, but the instant it realizes that no more mana is coming from the dead beetle it is overflow by a feeling of anger and envy. Why did it have to stop? The stone wants more. It needs more. And it wants it now! Completely oblivious of the red and orange flashes of light it emits, the stone pushes its mana into all of its tunnels, and all of the creatures it comes across. It wants them hurt, so they can provide it with the sweet mana they produce when suffering. Soon after this outburst, the stone has exhausted its mana pool once again, sliding out of consciousness for the second time of its existence. Sooner than the first time, but not knowing that, the stone comes back to consciousness. This time was both worse and better than the first time. Worse, because it failed by letting the darkness come to it again. And better, because it had already experienced it and the second time was not as frightening as the first. After a bit of thinking, the stone concludes that if it wants more of the mana coming from the suffering of the creatures crawling around, it needs to expand its domain even more. The wider it will be, the bigger the number of creatures able to suffer will be. Therefore the stone resumes its expansion, noticing in passing that some of the smaller bugs are dead in its tunnels, while the bigger ones look perfectly fine. For a few days, the stone keeps on expanding its domain, absorbing with delight the mana coming from each of the injured creatures it comes across. Life is good for it, and nothing unexpected happens anymore. On the seventh day, something unexpected eventually happens. A batch of squishy little white balls that were lying in its domain explode and let out a great number of tiny bugs. The stone is mesmerized by this event, as it can sense the little bugs like it senses the dirt and stones of its domain. Those tiny bugs are part of it. The stone focus on one of the bugs and wills it to move around and the bug complies. It can control them! The stone then simply orders two of them to hurt a third one, while that one is ordered to stay still. Once again it¡¯s a success! The bugs are following its orders. And there are those, now familiar, pulses of tasty mana coming from the injuries and the death of the victim. Unfortunately, the stone does not find this mana as tasty as the one coming out of the creatures it does not own. The stone then gives the order to its bugs to hunt, maim and then kill other creatures in its domain. It is not stupid, it has seen that small bugs are almost always defeated by bigger ones, and its bugs are the tiniest of all, so it orders them to hunt in groups. The little bugs scatter in several tunnels, searching for prey to satisfy the greed of their master. They go in groups of four or five individuals and only targets bugs that are not more than twice their own size. As days become weeks, and weeks become months - not that there is anybody to measure the passage of time in something more complicated than days, moons, seasons, and strange blood loss from the females - the stone widens and diversifies its amount of creatures. As there are no more unclaimed beings roaming around its domain and the stone is unable to claim a bigger area, its creatures are ordered to go out and bring back victims before killing them. It had also widened the path to its core to allow its creatures to bring back their prey in front of it before dealing the finishing blow. It tastes better. Way better... Bonus chapter 02 - The first dungeon divers. The Tribe¡¯s situation is worsening. For as many moons as he has fingers it has been good, the tribesmen were happy with their Chief¡¯s decisions. The Tribe settled in this place between the mountains at the end of the Hot and had managed to pass the Wind and the Cold sheltered in the caves of the valley, gathering enough food from roots, mushrooms, fish, and small game to stay in good health. At the Flower, when the animals outside started to mate and the flowers to bloom, the situation, already quite good, even improved. And, when the Hot started, it was a really good place to be, with lots of fruits on the trees and bushes, fish in the river and more than enough prey to hunt. But one moon after the start of the Hot, things started to change. Strange creatures appeared in the valley. At the start the Tribe simply killed and ate them. At first they considered themselves fortunate, as more and more came, bigger ones, with tastier meat on their bones, but unfortunately, they also started to get smarter and smarter, laying traps or attacking at night. One morning the Tribe¡¯s chief was called to a small cavern. What he found there, was dreadful. The strange creatures had raided the cavern, killed the adults and abducted the children. The Chief, the Huntsman and the nearby hunters went after the monsters and fortunately caught them a few kilometers outside the valley. They butchered the creatures and brought the children back. But the Chief could not let such an awful act of aggression slide. The Tribe was starting to grow irate. So the Chief took actions. He went to find the other persons of importance in the Tribe. With the Father, the Mother, the Sister, the Huntsman, the Gatherer and the Chief himself, the Council was complete. They talked a lot, arguing what to do, they talked the whole night and at the dawn of the next morning a decision was finally made. They would raid the monsters¡¯ lair and exterminate them. While the Huntsman and the Gatherer would gather all the hunters and the people willing to come, the Chief, the Sister, the Father and the Mother would appoint the Son and the Daughter. Those would be the ones taking on the responsibility of Chief and Sister while they were away, they would also have to keep the responsibility in the eventuality of the Council members not coming back. The decision had been made five days ago. The Chief is looking at what is left of his tribesmen. A lot of people followed him and the other members of the Council, something around the number of fingers of as many persons as the Huntsman has fingers, meaning one less than a normal tribesman. Now there is only half this number. But now only the stronger ones are left. Thankfully, all of the members of the Council are still alive. All the usual weapons of their tribe are in too bad a shape to be of use, so they have traded them for parts of monsters that can be used as weapons. Now they¡¯re using spears made out of big and sharp claws, fangs or mandibles tied to bones stronger than burned wood with monsters¡¯ sinews. Some of them are also wearing the hide or carapaces of the dead creatures as protection. One thing the Chief is not sure what to feel about is how some of the tribesmen and tribeswomen are changing. Most of them were hunters that used to feed on the monsters¡¯ corpses in the valley. Now that they are in this strange place, they have started to build muscles at a frightening pace. It is good for the Tribe to have strong hunters, but the speed at which they are getting those muscles is abnormal in the Chief¡¯s eyes. A similar thing is happening to the Sister and her followers, as many as the fingers on one hand, their healing powers are growing stronger and stronger. But the Chief is not as wary of them as he is of the other tribesmen. After all, it is them that informed him that the air around here is different, more filled with Nature¡¯s energy, but also that this energy was noticeably different than usual, stronger, but also with an uneasy feeling. The fact that the Sister was the only mate the Chief had chosen, despite his right to have several of them - and respectively for the Sister choosing him - had nothing to do with this. Nothing at all. Anyway, the Chief does not have the time to look at his tribesmen anymore. The Huntsman is back and tells the Chief that he has found the lair of the monsters. There is a big hole on the side of the mountain, and all the monsters¡¯ tracks are leading to it. The Chief calls and the tribesmen start to move. Soon they are in front of the entrance to a large cavern in the mountainside. The Sister confirms that the origin of the corrupted Nature¡¯s energy is indeed in this cavern. The air is tensed, it has been at least half a day since they have last seen a monster, this is abnormal, the monsters would attack them with a really high frequency at the start. Can it be that the Tribe is actually succeeding and that there are almost no monsters left? The Chief hopes so, but he is smart enough not to go back before checking the cavern before them. And he needs to destroy the origin of the corruption, or else it could come back at any time. They gather some sticks and light them on fire to provide light. The Sister and her followers raise their hands, they are able to make light out of them, but not enough to light the path for all of the tribesmen, hence the fires on a stick. The exact moment the Huntsman - as the best fighter he is always walking in front of the group - sets foot in the cavern, the tribesmen hear a powerful roar coming from the inside. This a roar that the tribesmen know, it is the roar of a bear. But, if it is like all the other creatures around here, the tribesmen know it¡¯s going to be a fierce fight. The dogs in this valley were as big and strong as normal bears. So how big and strong would an actual bear be, after mutating in the same way? The answer comes soon, a giant bear walks out of the shadow of the cave, it is twice as big as any bear the tribesmen have ever seen and is closely followed by two others bears only smaller by a head. Fear flows through the ranks of the tribesmen, but they are not cowards and they are here for a reason. Plus they are far more stronger than at the beginning. They straighten their grips on their weapons and wait for the Chief¡¯s or the Huntsman¡¯s signal.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The bears are looking at them, taking the measure of the treat those snacks represent. Their master has ordered them to slay them all, so they will do it, even if they must die in the process. Tension rises up in the air between the two groups, but neither of them wants to make the first move. Three minutes into the staring contest, one of the tribesman gives way to the pressure and throws one of its two spears. That action puts everything in motion. The bears let out deafening roars and charge at the tribesmen. All of the tribesmen, safe for the Sister and her followers, scream their battle cries and run at the mighty beasts. The fight is long and costly. The bears kill with each strike managing to land, not leaving a lot of work to the Sister to work her magic and saves lives. Each time a tribesman manages to inflict an injury to the beasts, despite their thick hides, they can see them healing as if they had their own Sister healing them. Thankfully, the tribesmen are numerous enough to overpower the two smaller bears, and after a ten minutes fight they finally manage to kill them. But the bigger bear¡¯s hide is too tough to be punctured by the tribesmen crude weapons. The tribesmen are falling in front of this beast. They are only as numerous as all the fingers and toes of the Chief. There are only the four Council members and a few hunters left. The Gatherer sees that they are losing. They can¡¯t inflict a strong enough injury to the bear. He has an idea, but it is an idea that would most certainly kill him. He may not be the best fighter in the Tribe, but fortunately, he is the strongest man. Even more since he started to eat monster flesh. His plan may not allow him to kill the beast, but, with a bit of luck, it may allow someone else to deal a decisive blow. The Chief keeps on fighting the bear, he is starting to lose his hopes of defeating it when he sees the Gatherer throw away his weapons and jump at the bear¡¯s back with a powerful cry. The Chief looks on in puzzlement as the Gatherer grabs at the beast¡¯s fur and arcs back with all of his muscles. In front of the Chief¡¯s eyes the gatherer manages to forcefully impede the bear¡¯s movements. Understanding the Gatherer¡¯s plan, the Chief calls to the men and jumps at the beast¡¯s belly, grabbing with all of his own muscles to disturb even more the beast¡¯s movements. From the corner of its eyes, he can see the hunters doing the same. The Huntsman understood the plan of the Gatherer the same moment the Chief did, so he waited a bit for the hunters to grab the bear. And now that the other tribesmen are holding the bear¡¯s movements, he can finally strike. He launches himself and hits with all of its expertise striking its spear right in the mouth of the screaming bear. The bear closes its jaws around the spear, breaking it in half, jamming it further into its own throat and tearing the right hand of the Huntsman apart as well. The bear is overwhelmed with pain, its master¡¯s healing can¡¯t close the wound in his throat as long as the broken spear is still stuck in it. It doesn¡¯t know it, but its master can¡¯t make the foreign object disappear with all the Humans so close to it, it is barely able to heal the beast when it is harmed, moreover, it is running low on mana. In its fury the bear strike all around it and deals a massive blow on the Chief¡¯s side, sending him crashing into a wall and breaking his skull and ribs. The Sister jumps at his side and starts to use her magic to try to heal her mate. The Gatherer and the hunters keep their distances from the raging beast. Only the Huntsman is still trying to inflict more injuries to the bear, despite the pain and his own serious injury. Keeping the bear in the center of the room, away from the few people laying on the ground, but who are still alive. After a few minutes of agony, the bear crumbles on the ground and drowns in its own blood. The tribesmen scream in joy and pain. The fight is finished and they won it, but the price to pay was higher than they ever expected. The Sister is crying over the dead body of her mate. The Huntsman lost his hand, the one who still had five fingers. The Gatherer and the hunters are walking amongst the injured on the ground, trying to save those that can still be saved. A few minutes later, the Sister raises on her feet, pain and anger visible in her eyes. She calls for the tribesmen and the only other tribeswoman and announces to them that there is still something to do in the cavern. She can sense that there is a malevolent presence further in the cave. The monsters¡¯ master is still alive. Almost not believing her, but trusting her words on things about Nature, the tribesmen gather and proceed deeper into the cavern. She is barely able to walk and can¡¯t light her hand, so the hunters make some fires on a stick. After a small walk, the group is forced to spot, the Sister cannot walk any further, she has used all of her magic in vain trying to save the Chief. One of the hunters volunteers himself to carry her on his back and she lets him proceed, too tired to oppose him. Lulled by the movements of her carrier, the Sister quickly falls asleep. A bit deeper into the cavern, the group can see a light starting to appear. A red and purple flashing light. The tribesmen carefully near the light, guessing it is the end of their quest. At the end of the corridor, they find a strange stone. It is the origin of the red and purple light. Too tired to put his mind before his instinct and a life of habit, the Gatherer grabs the stone whose flashes of lights are turning less and less red and more and more purple and pink. Still in auto-pilot, the Gatherer looks closely at the stone, shaking it and squeezing it. The only thing the stone does is turn even more purple and pink and is a little too warm in his hand for a normal stone. But it is not a normal stone, no? The next step of the Gatherer¡¯s testing is to shake it again and putting it close to his ear to listen to it, then he sniffs the stone, no sound and no odor. One could think that the testing would stop there but, to the horror of the stone, it is not the end. After giving a second good sniff, the Gatherer brings it closer to its mouth, then gives it a quick lick. The stone glows brighter and brighter and fully pink as the Gatherer opens his mouth for a second lick. He must find the stone¡¯s taste quite to his liking as he licks it a third and a fourth time before, at last, putting it in his mouth and making it roll on his tongue. The other tribesmen look at the Gatherer¡¯s doing, too tired and abashed to react as he tests the resistance of the stone with his teeth. While they can see the glow through his skin, he bites the stone again and again with more and more strength with each bite, until a small crack can be heard. Only the Huntsman reacts quickly enough and sprints to the hunter carrying the Sister on his back, he drives them both to the ground and uses his body as a shield to protect them. The other hunters can see the stone¡¯s glow disappear and suddenly there is an explosion of white light that consumes the head of the Gatherer. The energy flows through the cave, burning through the monsters¡¯ hides the hunters and the Huntsman are wearing as well as their skin, turning them to cinder. Thankfully, the core was mana dry so the blast of the explosion quickly loses its strength, but it is still able to burn deeply into the flesh of the hunter who was carrying the Sister despite the Huntsman shielding him. Bonus chapter 03 - The first Pixy. The Sister, thanks to her training in the absorption of Nature¡¯s energy, is able to passively absorb a part of the energy flowing through her. This wakes her up immediately. When she opens her eyes, she sees the dying hunter laying on top of her, she quickly uses her just refilled mana pool to heal him, but is too shaken by her sudden awakening to notice the ease with which she healed the hunter. She pushes the hunter to the side and looks around. Every other members of the Tribe present when the stone exploded are no more than skeletons with only bits of burned flesh left on them. Save for the hunter lying on top of her, protected enough by the Huntsman¡¯s body to at least survive the direct blast, he would still die in the following seconds without her help, the bones of his back open to the air. She barely registers that she¡¯s performing a small miracle by saving his life as injured as he is. She notices a strange shadow on the ground where the explosion seems to have originated. Perfectly in the center of the shadowy area, there are a few strange fragments of stone. Still off and not fully understanding the situation, the Sister does not notice the impossibility of the situation. However she senses that those stone¡¯s shards hold power in them and that they are actually absorbing Nature¡¯s energy from the air. She grabs the bits and stores them in the purse she has on her waist. Sensing that the ominous presence is gone and that they have succeeded in clearing the monsters¡¯ nest, she drags the last hunter back to where they fought the bears. There she easily heals the few tribesmen still alive. This time she notices how easy it is for her to heal people now. This makes her want to try something different. She goes near the Chief¡¯s body and tries to heal him. Deep down she knows it is hopeless, the injuries are too severe, and he has been dead since far too long, nonetheless she tries, pouring her mana again and again into the dead corpse. Then comes a time when she can sense the shards in her purse emanating mana, she reaches for them and brings them closer to her face. She looks attentively at them and senses a strange compulsion in her stomach. Coming from where she stores the Nature¡¯s energy in her body she feels a craving for those shards. Not knowing and even less understanding what happened to her earlier, she lets her new instincts and the growing craving and hunger in her take control of her body. She brings the shards to her mouth and, unlike the Gatherer earlier, she does not bite at them, instead she swallows them whole ignoring the sharp edges. At this moment a burning sensation runs through her whole body. A feeling of overflowing energy comes from the shards the Sister just swallowed and power rushes through her body, it collides with the energy stored in her stomach and results in powerful waves of energy flowing through her entire body, ravaging and reconstructing it in an endless cycle of unfathomable suffering. The Sister is experiencing a feeling of pain like she never ever felt before, breaking down and rebuilding, again and again, her spirit, as well as her body. The sole thing she can hang on to, to save part of her mind, is the love she feels for the Chief. So she focuses all of her will on her wish to save him, to bring him back to life, despite the fact that he is already beyond saving and that she herself is actually dying. But when her body and her mind are about to disappear for good in the whirl of energy her body contains, something else changes in her. The raging flow of energies starts to settle down. Slowly, little by little, the whirl loses its speed and the Sister begins to regain part of her lost consciousness. But an idea reigns in her mind. The idea that she has to save her mate. She needs to do it. It is the only purpose of her existence. This idea is the only thing that¡¯s allowing her to survive and following this obsessive thought, she resumes pouring her mana into the Chief¡¯s lifeless body. She pours it into him again and again. Defying the common sense she uses quantities of energy unheard of till this moment, amounts of mana that will not be seen again for several more millennia. The unique combination of the Sister¡¯s unwavering will to save her mate, her raw yet great talent for mana manipulation and of the shards of the first dungeon core to ever exist on this world creates an unpredictable result. In a big flash of greenish light a not insignificant amount of her considerable mana leaves her body and enters the corpse of the Chief. The dead body reacts violently to the sudden influx of this strange and foreign energy. All his muscles are shaking, making the body look like it is struggling against invisible restraints. Seeing the body of her love moving again, even if incoherently, only serves to strengthen the will of the Sister and encourages her to pour even more mana into the process. If the body moves it means it is not dead, right? Soon the body stops moving and settles peacefully on the ground. It suddenly opens its eyes. But, contrary to what the Sister expects, there is a strange light in the eyes of her mate. A light that was not there before, a light the same greenish color of the unnatural energy she used to bring him back to life. What seems to be the Chief raises its upper body and sits up in a straight and stiff movement. The Sister stretches her arm and touches the cold shoulder of the result of her actions. It turns its head in a slow movement to look at her and then she can see what she has truly done. The Sister understands what her beloved mate is now, because of her foolishness.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Tears start to flow on her cheek as she raises herself back to her feet. She holds out her hand to the thing and, when it grabs it, she leads it out of the cave and walks in the opposite direction from the Tribe¡¯s valley. She walks in unending sorrow with the thing that was her love. No members of the Tribe would ever see them again. The handful of Tribesmen witnessing this event go back home instead of following their previous leaders. After having checked the inside of the cave, of course. They report to the rest of the Tribe¡¯s Council that the monsters¡¯ nest is destroyed and that the other tribesmen will never come back. They will seldom talk about what they saw the Sister do, and only with great sadness in their voices and tears in their eyes. Thousands of years later, when the Tribe would no longer be and its descendants would be called Humans, the story of the Sister being long forgotten to them, she would still walk the world, crying and holding the hand of her dead mate as its lifeless body would walk by her side. They would travel all kinds of lands, leaving behind them a trail of death and corruption that nature would need decades to overcome. And despite the danger that they would represent, they would wander in peace as nothing would be able to block their path. No great army, no mighty warriors, no powerful mages would be able to lay a finger on those forsaken beings. They would be known as The Crying Death and as her Cursed Love and everybody would learn to flee at the news of their approach. - ¡°But there is something else that happened. Something that nobody saw.¡± The old Pixy is starting to feel the fatigue of telling this story to the Pixies of every age gathered in front of him. Countless of them already know the story, but they still come to listen to him when he tells it, making lights magically dance in his hands to reproduce the scene he is describing. ¡°If we go back to the moment where the Sister¡¯s body was torn to pieces and reconstructed again and again and if we look closely at the right spot we can see it. There is a small bubble of flesh being expelled, it is just as big as a bird head. But this little piece of flesh is of capital importance as it contains the unborn child of the woman. Indeed, the woman was pregnant and her mate was the father of the child. ¡°The child is too young to survive and is changed by the mana that flew through it. It should not have survived, but it still ultimately managed to do so, sustained by the mana. It is unable to grow as parts of the information contained in every living being are lost to it or too heavily corrupted to be of use, only the smaller splinters of the core are sustaining it. ¡°A few days later a bug comes near the child. An injured princess bee having lost the fight for its hive and fleeing for its life. Anyway, this bug is the first living being to approach the child in its flesh bubble and as it comes near it, probably in hope of sustenance, the bug succumbs to its injuries on top of the child. This allows the child to absorb the information from the bug and to incorporate them into its broken pattern. Still sustained by the mana from the shattered dungeon core this child is now able to finish its twisted development and to come out of the bubble of flesh protecting, but also entrapping it. ¡°This new being is the first of her kind, for it is a she. She has the memories and the knowledge of all her parents, all of them. The woman that bore her for a few weeks, the man that provided the seed, the dungeon that changed her and lastly the bee that provided her with what she was lacking to be born. Hence she knows that her strange allure makes her unique in the world. ¡°She leaves the cursed place of her birth and wanders the world in search of a place to live. Living in the solitude of her condition and she spies on the slowly developing cultures of sapient beings and learns from them. She craves for companionship, but is unable to find one. Until one day, five hundred years after her birth, flying in the direction of a strange burst of mana, she finds another being like the stone that started all of this story. Knowing the nature of this strange being of energy and innate matter she quickly understands that she is extremely lucky, for she just found a newborn Dungeon. ¡°This Pixy, for she is a Pixy, the first of us to be precise, ancestor to us all, managed to form the first bond between a Pixy and a Dungeon. She raised it to be a loving and caring creature and guided it to build this island where we are living now. Then, together, they managed to bring to life new generations of Pixies. ¡°They put in place the duty that falls to us all. We are to find newborn Dungeons and help them grow. Our sacred duty to our Mother and our Father is to ensure that those Dungeons do not act like the first of their kind. We are to protect them against themselves and help them in all the ways we can. ¡°Almost thirty thousands years ago, our Mother and the Dungeon, our Father, went to sleep, and we are still waiting for them to awake. You can all feel for yourself that they are still alive and still loving us.¡± When the old Pixy ends his story he flies away to rest and leaves the other elders with the annoying task of answering the youngs¡¯ unending questions. Chapter 44 - Sleepers. Today is the day most of the Marms who came with the religious processions are leaving the cave of the statue of their supposed Goddess to return to their village. A large amount of them is going back to help the reconstruction of their homes. Only the most fervent ones are staying to pray more or to study what they¡¯re thinking are holy scriptures in more depth. The priestess is, of course, staying behind. And that¡¯s bad as I have a plan involving her to help out the village¡¯s reconstruction. As a way to invite her to leave this place, I send a bird down the cave to land on her shoulder. To ensure she makes the link between the bird and the Goddess¡¯ will, I wait until the end of the morning prayer. ¡°Look, everyone! The Goddess is sending us a sign. What is it, little robin? What do you want?¡± She proclaims and then asks, fervour causing her voice to shake a little. I made the bird fly around the place, landing on the stuff not yet packed for departure and chirp then making it go to the entrance of the cave and letting it sings there as it perches beside the exit way. ¡°Do you want us to leave the cave?¡± The bird chirps more then flies through the passageway. ¡°My people! Our Goddess wants us to leave the cave and we will do so! Pack everything! We¡¯re leaving in an hour!¡± Following her words, the Marms gather all their stuff and everybody leaves the cave. Good, I¡¯ll be able to make a few modifications here and more importantly, they¡¯ll be able to witness my next divine miracle. Ah! I¡¯m such a benevolent Goddess. With this matter settled, I send a message to Laura as I have a job for her. --- Melinda Mill is a kind and caring woman. She wants to be able to trust people. This is why she¡¯s taking care of the few people still in coma or shocked states as well as the three girls that come to give her a hand occasionally. After what she went through, the death of her husband and two sons at the hand of the pirates that enslaved her and the numerous rapes on their ship, one could understand that she would have lost faith in people, like many of the other ex-slaves, but not her. She has faith in the Gods and primarily worships Hortina, Goddess of Health and Fertility, one of Jezabel¡¯s, Goddess of Light, followers. Being faithful to her Goddess, Melinda has taken it upon herself to look after anyone in need, especially the children, every day the Gods make. And, with her twenty-five years of life, she is one of the oldest people around, therefore she had to make sure that most people could have a motherly figure to look at. Also, if she manages to stir the former slaves in a good direction and to make their new living place a nice one, she can hope to raise the child in her belly in a loving neighbourhood as a result. It is the child of her late husband after all and she wants a better chance for it than its two older brothers. She is certain of who¡¯s the father as she already had missed two of her periods and her stomach was showing the first signs of growing when the slavers came for her. This is the kind of thing she is thinking of when Laura, the newly appointed Dungeon¡¯s Voice, cames to see her. ¡°Hello Melinda, I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯re doing well this morning.¡± Says the girl while entering Melinda¡¯s ¡®care-center¡¯. ¡°Hello Laura, it¡¯s always a pleasure to have visitors here.¡± Responds the woman. Melinda knows that Laura is supposed to be older than her by two years but she can¡¯t stop thinking of her as a child due to her petite stature and her childish face. Even if her new clothes and posture give her a much more adult air, it is still not enough to make the bustier woman change her way of thinking, at least not yet. ¡°I hope I¡¯m not bothering you. I am here in an official manner for the Dungeon.¡± Announces the Voice. ¡°Well, as long as I don¡¯t have to stop what I¡¯m doing right now it¡¯s fine to talk. Lucile just brought me a bucket of water from the river, so I¡¯m about to bath my patients.¡± Explains the caretaker. ¡°I can give you a hand if you like.¡± Offers the black haired girl. ¡°I accept every help with pleasure, dearie.¡± For a few minutes, the two women make small-talks as they wash the bodies of the sleepers with wet cloths. Melinda is used to this and she can easily recognize the little signs on Laura¡¯s face telling her that she is a bit disgusted by the act. It happens to more people than it doesn¡¯t, as cleaning somebody else is a messy occupation in itself. Oh, passing a cloth or a sponge over the legs, torso or arms to wipe off sweat is easy, the hard part is when you need to remove the piss, shit and monthly blood. It is a thing to do it for family or loved ones, but not everybody is able to overcome their repulsion to help total strangers. Anyway, while the two women wash their hands and the cloths in a second bucket of water Melinda finally asks Laura what is it she wants to talk about. ¡°So, Laura, you said you had something official to tell me about?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. It is about the women we just helped there.¡± Laura looks a bit hesitant to address the subject. ¡°Yes? What about them?¡± Melinda encourages her to speak. ¡°The Dungeon thinks he could help them.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯d be great!¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­¡± There is clearly something bothering the brunette. ¡°Go on. If the Dungeon can help, tell me how.¡± The brown-haired woman asks excitedly. ¡°He could try to make them Citizens.¡± ¡°What?! Why? I thought it told it wouldn¡¯t force anyone to do it.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t understand the technicalities, but the fact is that he can¡¯t use his healing magic on someone who is not linked to him.¡± ¡°Why¡¯s that? I¡¯ve seen magical healing before coming here and the mage didn¡¯t need a link such as you¡¯re talking about.¡± Melinda questions. ¡°Like I told you, I don¡¯t understand the technicalities. He¡¯s telling me it has something to do with synchronising mana and whatnot. But I can assure you that he is thinking about their wellbeing and, if he could use the classical way of magical healing, he would do it. Unfortunately, there are some things he cannot do despise being as strong and powerful as he is.¡± Says Laura with a serious face. ¡°Ok, but why ask me then?¡± Inquires the nurse. ¡°Because you¡¯re the caretaker of those poor girls. He sees you as the one responsible for their wellbeing. And since he¡¯s not the monster some think he is, he respects your position as their nurse and wants your approval before making them Citizens as they clearly can¡¯t give it themselves.¡± Melinda is forced to admit that Laura gives off a feeling of confidence when acting in her capacity as the Dungeon¡¯s Voice. ¡°He¡¯s also offering to try his best to teach you how to use mana in healing and other uses if you become one of his Citizens. He thinks that you could manage to learn quite a bit of magic.¡± ¡°I must say I¡¯m flattered that it, he¡¯s¡­ What am I supposed to say? You¡¯re saying he, but Franziska¡¯s saying it. Anyway, I¡¯m flattered to be seen as being the person responsible for them.¡± Melinda finishes her sentence looking at the comatose women, she also makes a small subject change as to get more time to think about the conversation. ¡°It is up to each one to choose how to address him, he¡¯s a kind soul that won¡¯t take offence, but he is obviously a he.¡± It is obvious that Laura sees the Dungeon as a he and would be offended by people referring to him as a she. ¡°Then why does he want to help them? I must ask if he just wants more Citizens to use for his defence or if he¡¯s really worried about them.¡± ¡°Of course he cares about them! He¡¯s a good person! And even if it would be good to have more people ready for when the pirates come back what¡¯s on his mind is the wellbeing of everyone here!¡± The Voice starts to raise her own voice. ¡°And you know how much he cares about the Citizens!¡± ¡°Alright, I understand your point. Sorry for saying that, I just have to take care of them.¡± Melinda says to Laura to calm her down. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m also sorry. All of this is still so new to me, I tend to get worked up too easily when someone¡¯s telling bad things about the Dungeon.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, sweetie. That¡¯s a normal reaction, I understand. Just be careful alright? I can¡¯t yet answer what you¡¯re asking about. I need some time to think.¡± ¡°Thanks for considering it at least.¡± Laura says before showing a curious expression on her face. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re telling me to be careful and that you understand, you¡¯re not talking about my job right?¡± ¡°No honey, I¡¯m talking about your feelings.¡± The widow says with a caring smile on her face. ¡°M-my feelings? What¡­ What are talking about?¡± Laura¡¯s starting to blush. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s obvious to everyone. You¡¯re in love with the Dungeon.¡± ¡°Wawawa¡­ How do you know?!¡± The previous calm facade that the woman was putting on is starting to crumble in front of the amused eyes of the younger yet more experienced about the hearth¡¯s affairs Melinda. ¡°Oh, sweetie, it¡¯s in the way you talk about him. Your voice is full of love. And the way he seems to treat you indicates that your feelings might be reciprocated.¡± ¡°Y-you think so? Really?¡± Asks Laura blushing more with each passing second. ¡°Oh yeah, at least if the moans and screams coming out of your home each night are any indications for this.¡± With those few words, Melinda sees the other woman¡¯s face turn a deeper shade of red than she has ever seen on a human face before. ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I¡­¡± ¡°No need to be ashamed of this honey, it is perfectly normal to enjoy some sweet time with your lover.¡± Melinda winks with a mischievous smile. ¡°D-does every-everyone know?¡± ¡°Oh sweetie, I know for a fact that a few of the women trying to become Citizens are doing it for that exact reason. To get a taste of what you¡¯re getting each night.¡± It is kind of amusing to see new and even deeper shades of red on the other girls face after each of her sentences. ¡°What?!¡± Is there a new tone in Laura¡¯s voice? ¡°They can¡¯t! He¡¯s mine!¡± Yes, now there is also anger. ¡°I won¡¯t let them steal him from me!¡± ¡°Slow down girl. If you love him, if you trust him, and if he¡¯s worthy of your love you have nothing to fear. And if you can¡¯t trust him, then he may not be the right one for you. Just remember to be careful and to not let yourself be too much involved if you¡¯re the only one going.¡± She says in a caring voice. --- Uhm. I may need to work on Laura a bit more. She loves me and that is quite easy to maintain or even improve on for now. But I need her to fully trust me. Usually, she does, buying all of my lies sight unseen. But if she¡¯s going to be jealous of my relationships with other Citizens, it may be a problem in the future. I tend to other matters like helping the meditating people or looking after my hybridization experiments while I wait for Laura to finish her conversation with Melinda. ¡°D? Can I talk to you?¡± I hear Laura sending her thoughts to me. D is the way she¡¯s calling me in private because she can¡¯t call me Dungeon or you all the time. Also because I don¡¯t really have a name. I used to have one in my previous life just like everybody else, but I don¡¯t remember it anymore. Also, she doesn¡¯t know that when she screams ¡®Yes D, I love you! Give me more!¡¯ at night people around her house blush. ¡°Of course Love, I¡¯m always there to talk to you.¡± I answer here. ¡°Did you listen to my conversation with Melinda?¡± She tentatively asks while walking back to her home for a noon meal. ¡°Yes, I did. And I¡¯m proud of you.¡± I know what she wants to talk about, but I¡¯m playing dumb here. ¡°Thanks, but I wanted to talk to you about something else.¡± She continues meekly. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the other women. Those who want to become Citizens.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You won¡¯t discard me for them? Right?¡± ¡°Of course not. That¡¯s a silly idea. You¡¯re the one I choose to represent me, not them.¡± ¡°Yes, I know, but I¡¯ve heard that some harlots want to become Citizens just to¡­ to¡­¡± She manages to stutter in her mind. ¡°Oh, I get it. Love, you have nothing to fear. Whatever happens, you will be my favourite, my number one. The only one who really matters to me.¡± I lie to her. ¡°Really? You really mean what you¡¯re saying?¡± ¡°Actually, to be completely honest. I hope that one day I¡¯ll have someone else as important for me as you are.¡± I tell her, an idea to make her forget about her anxiety in my mind. ¡°What! B-but you just said!¡± She starts yelling in her mind, stopping in her walks. ¡°Yes.¡± I interrupt her. ¡°And that other person will call you Mom.¡± And with those words Laura¡¯s mind completely blacks out, I walk her back to her home and lie her down on her bed. I¡¯m fairly confident she won¡¯t bother me with her jealousy about other female Citizens for a while. I wasn¡¯t even lying there. In time I should be able to give her children, but that¡¯s an experiment for later.