《The Freed Dungeon》
1 - Boredom
Why did that idiot have to try something so... IDIOTIC!?
Scratch that, I know why he tried. Thanks to his magic I know everything he knew up until he died on my first floor.
Some time ago, (63 days, 14 hours and 46 minutes ago to be precise) I woke up for the first time. Perhaps you could sayI was born. This happened after one mage decided, in all his vain glory, to try and take over my heart. Instead, his spell ran rampant, drained all of his mana, and then his life, before creating me. The worlds first thinking dungeon.
And I''m BORED!
Turns out dungeons don''t think for a reason, or several. Literally everything that goes on in me seems to happen automatically. Right nowthere isa bunch of zombies harrassing ANOTHER bunch of invading adventurers. Thousands of bugs are breeding, eating, and digging.
A wolf just grew out of one of my walls. This actually fascinated me the first few times I experienced it. Starting inside the wall, it grew from the feet up in a matter of seconds, almost as if being built. Then just as the top of its ears came together, the wolf came alive, the dungeon wall peeled back, and it hopped out quickly before the wall closed up again. Seems no one has ever seen it happen before. Not like i can tell anyone about it anyway...
After the first week of my newfound life, I realised my limitations. Right now I''m just a glowing chunk of solid mana about the size of an adult head. I can''t grow, I can''t move, I can''t even technically "see". I just kind of know exactly what is happening inside my space. In my ample free time ive counted all the monsters within my caverns, and they seem to stay around the same number of each with new ones growing from the walls regularly. At the most I have up to 500 agressive monsters at a time. Mainly zombies and skeletons, with someanimals and skeleton dogs for a bit of variety. My favourite are the small bear-like creatures that hang from the ceiling with their sharp claws, waiting to drop on any adventurers that walk underneath.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
I wish Iwas able to sleep...
Day 95: A young adventurer woman came in alone today, first time someone has tried that. She isn''t fighting anything though, just sneaking past monsters while watching a group of 5, 4 males and one female.
Day 97: The group of 5 are back, but the original woman is gone and the sneaky one has taken her place.
Day 123: The bugs somehow dug a hole into an unexplored cave system today. The walls quickly expanded the hole on their own, until it was large enough to allow zombies and adventurers passage.
Day 155: A group of 3 decided to rest on my second level, with one sitting guard while 2 slept. But the guard also fell asleep, and all 3 members managed to die to a single zombie.
Day 365: My birthday I suppose. Thanks you jerkwad mage.
Day 366: I was watching a pack of wolves surround an adventuring party, when a silent lightning bolt hit the ground in my heart chamber.
"CMON MAN I GAVE YOU A WHOLE YEAR, HOW HAVEN''T YOU FIGURED OUTANYTHING YET?"
The creatures voice shook the walls near me, even the group of adventurers I had been watching looked around for where it came from. It was unlike any creature in my memory, standing about 3 metres tall, with 4 legs spread evenly underneath its rather large frame, and a face only a mother could love. It almost looked like someone had made a living table, then stuck a torso on top of it.
"AH CRAP, VOLume. There we go. Now you, core. Yes I can hear your thoughts, no I''m not here to destroy you."
This guy is giving me the creeps...
"I''m not creepy either! I am disappointed in you though. We had a running bet on how long it would take you to start leveling, and you passed even the longest of guesses!"
Wait, bets? Leveling? What the fuck was going on??
"DAMN you are slow, no wonder you haven''t done anything. Just look at your status!"
What?? Only adventurers getto see their status screens! I haven''t seen one since the death of the mage!
"Aaaaand you don''t have one... Damnit Charlyse this had better not be your fault!!"
Just then -
-Level Up-
-Skill Gained: Homunculus Creation-
2 - Something to do
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??
"Ah yeah, seems it may have been a small mistake by our department regarding your start. Well, you''ve got it now, good luck!"
With no further explanation, and another flash of silent lightning, the strange creature disappeared again, leaving me alone to my thoughts. Where had it come from? Who and why were they watching me?
Did they control our levels?
"GOOD LUCK" ??
With no obvious answers in my memories, nor anyone to ask, I had a look at my new status.
- Level 1 -
-Skill list:Homunculus Creation - Unique -
A unique skill! I had memories of people with those but had never seen someone with one. Have never heard of this skill either...
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Homunculus Creation: User may create a puppet body and is able to take direct control. Puppet status increases with user status.
Puppet may not travel too far from user. Maximum distance increased with user Intelligence at time of creation.
Only one Homunculus may be active at a time. Creating another while one is still active will cause the first to dissolve rapidly.
Cast time: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 48 Hours
-
Well that will certainly give me something to do! I immediately concentrated on creating a body next to my core, using the male mage Eric as my template. I watched with excitement as a body started growing from the feet up like one of the monsters within the walls. It had no equipment or clothing, but that could be fixed using dead adventurers. In the last few seconds of the spell it grew hair... And promptly collapsed like a pile of jelly. In my haste I had not envisioned bones or muscles to support it. 48 hours before I can try again.
For my second attempt I decided to alter the appearance somewhat. Eric was viewed as something of an outcast, but was still recognizable. In my cooldown time I thought about how I wanted my new body to look. Perhaps a young man, given my lack of levels and skills. My memories didn''t include anything related to anatomy so I examined some recent corpses to understand how bones worked and connected to eachother.Playinga bit of mix and match with the features, using adventurers I had seen as examples. Brown eyes set slightly wider apart than normal. A rather petite nose with a slight hook, based off a woman currently fighting off some skeletons. A wide mouth with thin lips and high cheekbones. I chose skin darker than most of the locals, a mix between the average citizen of nearby cities and the dark skinned nomad tribes of the far north. Envisioning my new body at about 160cm tall, I once again started the cast of Homunculus Creation. Thankfully this one was able to stay standing under it''s own power. Inspecting my creation it looked to be a youth of about 17. A little effeminate but that didn''t concern me. After all if it became an issue I could always change it later.
Taking direct control proved to be a little disconcerting. Having spent my whole waking life without true senses like sight and touch, my mind was suddenly loaded withfeelings. I could feel the cold stone beneath my bare feet, smell the slightly stale air of the dungeon, hear the distant sounds of combat. I took a minute to sort through these new sources of information while practicing moving my arms and legs.
-
Level up! You are now level 2.+1 to all attributes
-
I wondered how that happened for a moment, but it appears an adventurer had just succumbed to his wounds as his group was carrying him out of my main entrance. Had that given me a full level? Thinking about it, the average level of adventurers that came to my dungeon was 12-14 so it wasn''t so absurd to think a single death would level me. It wouldn''t be a really viable source of experience later on compared to monster hunting, unless I planned on destroying cities, but a nice bit of extra gain. +1 to all attributes was insane too! Eric had gained 1 Intelligence every 2 levels, and 1 constitution every 5 as a Sorcerer class. I decided to have a look at my status to see just how strong I could get.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
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Attributes:Strength - 11
Constitution - 11
Intelligence - 11
Willpower - 11
-
Everything started at 10 and gained 1 every level... That already put me on par with classless adventurers of about level 15 in terms of base attributes. Normally people can pick a class at level 10, which allows your growth to be focussed on certain attributes.Will I be able to choose a class, or is that exclusive to humans? I had never heard of monsters with classes, but I''ve never heard of one speaking before either, so how would we know. Examining my puppet I decided against re-summoning it. The change in attribute points was nice, but not worth waiting another 2 days. It was time for my first adventure! Picking up a large rock nearby to use as an impromptu weapon I walked out of the small room where my core lived. The closest monster was one of the small bears hidden from sight on the ceiling about 20 metres away, but I knew exactly where it was, as with everything in my dungeon. Walking underneath it I sensed as it dropped, claws out and sharp teeth ready to rip into me. Easily sidestepping the initial drop, I smashed my rock into its head as hard as possible before it could leap at me. Dazed and injured, but still alive, the bear stumbled to the side before I hit it again knocking it unconscious. It needed one more hit before I gained a notification that i had gained experience, and2skills! Dismissing the experience I looked at my new skills.
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Skill gained: Heavy Strike - An attack using great strength with a blunt weapon.
Skill gained: Blunt Weapon Mastery - Increases proficiency and damage when using all forms of blunt weapons. (eg: maces stavesand rocks)
-
Why did it have rocks in there looking like that? Almost as if it was mocking me... Still it was surprising I gained these skills so quickly, I had heard most melee classes needed to spend hours or even days to gain a skill with a new weapon. Not about to complain, even if I had time to as I sensed another bear climbing along the stalactites above me. Slightly larger than the first, I once again stepped to the side, but swung my rock before it even landed connecting with the back of its neck, just at the base of its head. I heard a crack, and the bear fell to the ground twitching pitifully. Another quick blow and I gained experience once more.
I wished momentarily that I didn''t have to resummon my puppet to gain the effect from my higher stats, but I guess things can''t be that easy. Sensing a lone zombie down a corridor, andthe decaying remains of anadventurer just past that, I headed towards it to grab his weapon. He had been using a spiked mace which was perfect for me, unfortunately his armor and clothes had been ripped apart by whatever had killed him. Perhaps I could salvage enough to make a loincloth at least. I tried to sneak as I approached the zombie, but it noticed me somehow anyway. I thought I had been quiet enough, but perhaps they have a sense of their surroundings somehow. Avoiding its arms as it lurched toward me I smashed my rock into its face, breaking several teeth. Without slowing the zombie again reached toward me when I kicked one of its legs, causing it to miss me and stumble a couple of steps to the side. Deciding it would be faster to rush and collect the mace from the dead adventurer I pushed the back of the zombie, unbalancing it further before I ran off. As I approached the corpse my puppet started responding slower to my thoughts, and even stumbled on a rock. A notification appeared, but I willed it to the side before picking up the mace and turning back to the zombie who was some distance behind me. As i walked back towards it my control returned to normal, allowing me to swing my weapon into the side of the zombie''s head. Still not dead but clearly badly injured, I hit it once again with an overhead blow which caved in its skull. With the killing blow I gained experience and another skill. I also had a look at the alert that appeared earlier.
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Skill gained: Brawling - Increases proficiency and damage when fighting without weapons.
You are nearing the limit of available range for control of your Homunculus. If you move it any further you will lose control, and it will disolve back into mana.
-
Well that was just great, the range limit was almost pathetic! Barely more than 100 metres from my core and I lose control. It would grow as I level but guessing by my current attribute points I would need to be level 50 before I can even reach the stairs back to the first floor! Something would have to change if I ever wanted to leave my dungeon again.
3 - Growth
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Level 9
Attributes: Strength - 19
Constitution - 19
Intelligence - 19
Willpower - 19
Homunculus Skill List: Heavy Strike - attack
Pinpoint Blow - attack
Blunt Weapon Mastery - passive
Brawling - passive
Improved Evasion - passive
Throwing Mastery - passive
-
3 weeks afterfirst discovering I could level, I finally hit level 9! Even though it had slowedsubstantiallyafter level 5, it was still incredibly quick compared to what common sense dictated. Spending my time hunting dungeon monsters, and occasionally adventurers that had been separated from their party, I now had a set of average quality equipment for my "body" as I had come to consider my Homunculus.
I had widened my shoulders to comfortably fit an iron scalemail shirt, and lengthened my legs a little for leggings made of some sort of hardened leather. Along with soft leather shoes and an open-faced helmet, I now looked the part of a bonafide dungeon delving adventurer! Now all I needed was someone to impress. Unfortunately, adventurers coming into my dungeon alone were extremely rare, and any party I spent time with would inevitably leave the range of my core, which along with revealing that I''m not human, would also drop my hard-earned equipment. So for the moment, I''m still stuck alone.
Stepping to the side, and using my small shield to deflect its leap,I shattered the spine of a wolf just behind its front legs with a Pinpoint Blowas it sailed past me. Not wanting to let it suffer, even if made of mana, I finished it off before returning to my core chamber to create a new body with my increased stats. Giving my new face a little stubble, and squaring the jawline slightly, I looked closer to a young man in his early twenties instead of my previous teenage appearance. Now that I had a suitable pair of pants, I gave up on being... Anatomically correct, in favour of extra freedom of movement.
As my new body finished building, I heard my helm clatter as my previous one started melting back into mana. It looked like it would leave my equipment wet, but I had found it would dry and dissipate within a few seconds leaving my armor laying in a pile on the ground. As I unconsciously started re-equiping my armor, I had a quick scan of my dungeon. I had noticed over the past weeks that while concentrating on my puppet my sense of what happened in the dungeon was lowered, apart from in my core chamber and nearby my body. 2 males had just stopped for a rest in a small dead-end corridor and were chatting while looking over their equipment for damage.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
"So whats the deal with that ring you got hanging round your neck Max? I know you ain''t married"
"Ah, this... This was enchanted once, by this priest in my group I was sweet on. She said it gave me a few extra points of health, to hopefully keep me safe if things are dire. She lost her life when we were fighting some wolves, one snuck up behind and damn near tore her head off before we could kill it. That''s when I got this scar." Max lifted his shirt to show a faded line of teethmarks on his side. "I guess it worked, since I lived. Enchanter told me couple years back it had lost its use, but I keep it round. Feels like I''m carrying part of her with me. Something of a good luck charm, and a reminder."
"Reminder of what? Don''t fuck with wolves?"
"HAH, yeah something like that"
Ironically a wolf rounded the corner of the corridor they were waiting in as I decided to ignore them. Obtaining some enchanted equipment would be a great boon, but that wasn''t my main focus right now, what if I could carry... myself? My core was stuck in the stone, but what if I was able to remove it? What would happen to the dungeon, or me? I had nothing in my memories of a dungeon core being completely removed, but there was something about enchanters using core fragments to create permanent enchants.
With some calculations I figured with 1 intelligence per level, if my core couldn''t move, I would need toattain level 53 just to reach the pathway up in floors, and over level 100 to get to the dungeon entrance. Even the guard captain in Laraville was only level 43 after 35 years of guarding the walls from monsters and bandits. I really dont want to spend the next 50 years in this cave, I''m not sure I will even continue to level once thesecreatures become too weak compared to me.
A dungeon core is able to process a near infinite supply of mana, drawing from the land and animals nearby and concentrating it into the dungeon to create monsters. The size of a dungeon core is affected by the quality and quantity of nearby mana sources, as well as the size of dungeon it inhabits. Shards of a dungeon core could be used in enchanting and alchemy. Wow Alex really didn''t know much about dungeons before he killed himself in one. I was going to need more information before I attempted anything, in case I followed his example.
Guess it''s time to talk to some adventurers.