《Dungeon Core: Alex : Hiatuss Infinitetum》 Chapter 1: Death and Gods Pain. There was so much pain. Everything hurt and it was cold. Where had that car came from? I had only looked away for a second. What else was a guy to do with a short skirt that little? My lungs burned and I tried to draw in air. Instead of a breath though wet liquid filled my lungs, the taste of blood thick in my mouth. The pain was starting to fade the cold was deeper. I had a moment of panic; was I going to sleep or was I dying? The cold had taken my hands and legs. The relief of pain was nice. I blinked and then didn¡¯t blink again. I felt a rush as if moving down the street going 150 kph on my Harley. There was nothing but blackness for a while. The Sense of movement never stopped though. Suddenly I could see a light off in the distance. It was a Golden white light; the sight of it gave me a deep sense of peace. Calm like a crystal clear lake on a windless autumn night overtook me. With a sense of happiness I flew toward the light. Suddenly I felt a searing pain around my navel. It felt like a white hot poker was stabbed into my stomach. Looking down I saw nothing. My body wasn¡¯t even there! I began to panic. Just blackness where I should have been! What was happening to me! I flailed my arms trying to touch my body. First my face then my chest, my arms, my legs. It was all gone. But I did not scream at least until¡­ ¡°NO! Not the family Jewels!!!¡± Then that pain in my navel twisted and my movement to the golden light altered. I was pulled to the side. That painful force grabbed and pulled me from the light. It pulled me sideways into the dark nothingness. Suddenly a grey fog swelled around me. Then I was standing on cold fog like marble. By standing I mean I was back! My body was there and¡­ Yes! The Jewels were back too! My smile changed to a frown as I became aware of my surroundings. I was in a coliseum like setting. But I wasn¡¯t in the good area; the seats. No I was in the area where people died. Gulping I looked up past a hundred meter tall walls to where the stands should have been. I saw feet there. I did a double take. ¡°What the hell?¡± I muttered quietly. There were hundreds of massive 5 meter tall feet. Most were wearing some kind of footwear. Sandals were the most common, but there was modern shoes too. Tennis shoes and high heels. Even a couple pairs of combats boots. Some were well manicured with well-cut and filed nails. Some had nail polish. There was even some that could not belong to Human feet; like hooves, clawed green scaled talons, spider like legs, and a few snake like. But they all had one thing in common they disappeared into the fog right above the ankles. Or where it should be for those without them. ¡°What the ¡­¡± I repeated, but I shut up suddenly when I heard something. A low deep baritone voice said, ¡°He should be here soon.¡± A high nasally voice that I figured came from a pair of feet in a golden sandal. ¡°Why do we need an outsider?¡¯ The low baritone replied, ¡°Because if he was from our world then he would not be able to break free. A voice that sounded like a high school cheerleader came from my left, ¡°Like, it would be bad; if like these dark guys made it with a soul from here.¡± A fluid feminine voice cut off the other voices, ¡°Shhh it is here.¡± A rustling went through the feet as all around me the feet shifted. Some uncrossed others flattened on the grey marble fog. ¡°Welcome¡­¡± The deep baritone started to say before cutting off and in a not whisper whisper said. ¡°Hey turn that thing on.¡± A new voice from behind me sighed, ¡°Always with the drama.¡± I heard the sound of a mic catching dead air, then. ¡°Welcome mortal!¡± The deep voice boomed out echoing around me shaking the very fog and instantly giving me a head ache.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Congratulations mortal! You have been pulled from your afterlife to our realm to be a hero.¡± A child like voice snickered, ¡°A hero!?!¡± The deep voice did not pay any attention, ¡°You are here to become the spirit of a dungeon. A Dungeon Core.¡± ¡°What do you mean my afterlife? Am I dead? What the hell is a dungeon? Like with whips and chains?¡± ¡°SILENCE MORTAL!¡± the deep voice boomed. ¡°You are speaking to gods not your mortal chums to answer your questions. Shake in fear and pray we do not smite you and choose another.¡± I opened my mouth to say something but a loud telephone sound rang across the coliseum. ¡°Shit is that?¡± The deep voice said without the booming effect. ¡°Like it¡¯s him.¡± A scared voice said, ¡°Shit, I thought you said he wouldn¡¯t notice?¡± The fluid woman¡¯s voice said, ¡°I thought he wouldn¡¯t he has not cared about his souls for almost two thousand years.¡± The ringing kept going for another two or three rings. ¡°Hello?¡± The child like voice said. A pause. ¡°Um, yes the soul is here.¡± A pause. ¡°No, we didn¡¯t ask. but we did not think you would mind.¡± A muffled shouting could be heard. I tried but I couldn¡¯t understand what the voice on the phone was saying. The child started to cry, ¡°I told him not too.¡± The deep voice growled, ¡°Of for my sake! Give me the phone!¡± ¡°Hello? ¡­ Yes, I know taking a soul from your world violates the Divine accords. Yes I know you could demand 1,000,000,000 souls as repayment.¡± The fluid voice sighed, ¡°Really? He doesn¡¯t even know this souls name.¡± The deep voice must have been listening because he asked in a shrewd voice, ¡°What is the soul¡¯s name?¡± A pause that dragged out for a full five minutes ensued. ¡°You say his name is Matthew.¡± There was another not whisper. ¡°Hey, what is this mortal¡¯s name?¡± Whispers went around the gathering as Gods and Goddesses asked if anyone knew my name. Suddenly a voice from behind me made me jump. Unlike the others this one came from right behind me. Spinning I saw a two meter tall pale skinned woman. No looking again, I saw her ears. She was an Elf! She was beautiful, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I tried to understand what made her beautiful, but her appearance kept changing. Everything about her seemed to shift as mist moved around her. On instinct I reached out to touch this beautiful insubstantial being. As I did she also reached out to place a hand on my cheek. My hand touched solid warm flesh. It was absurdly tender and oddly firm at the same time. An unconscious grin spread across my face, until I realized where I was touching this Elf goddess. Her Eyes narrowed as she glanced down to see my hand disappearing into the mist at her chest. As this occurred her hand never stopped on its path to my face. As her soft fingers touched my cheek lightening ran through my body. I screamed in pain and pleasure in equal amounts. It traveled from her fingertips to every muscle, bone, vein and cell. My hand on her chest gave a reflexive squeeze as the energy ran through my fingers and back into her supple mountain. ¡°Oh my!¡± she gasped cheeks flushing. The arc of energy continued through us. What felt like years passed, but some part of me knew it was only a couple seconds. As the lightening shot through my soul¡¯s physical creation images of my entire life flashed through my head; from birth to the moment I died. Even as I collapsed to the ground I thought, ¡°See! That Fucking car came out of nowhere!¡± Laying on the ground with smoke spiraling away from my rapidly cooling soul, I heard the Elf Goddess¡¯s voice from upon high, ¡°His name is not Matthew, its Alex.¡± The deep voice said something, but I didn¡¯t notice because at that moment an odd blue box with yellow writing appeared in front of me. Title Gained: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds. Effect 2: Unknown Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown ¡°What is this?¡± I muttered but as I fully read the message it disappeared. Rubbing my eyes I stood up. The Elf Goddess was gone and I was alone in the coliseum again. ¡°Fine you have a deal!¡± I heard the deep voice say before I heard the sound of a phone being hung up. ¡°Now where was I?¡± Looking around completely confused I heard a deep cough then the sound of a mic being picked up ¡°Now hear me Mortal!¡± The voice boomed around me again. The Fluid female¡¯s voice said, ¡°We do not have time they¡¯re about to complete the ritual.¡± The deep voice sighed, ¡°Oh for the love of all that is holy! Fine¡± With that a hole opened up under my feet and I was falling through a black nothingness. I was picking up speed as I fell, but oddly I wasn¡¯t afraid. The only thing that I was thinking was, ¡°Could those morons really be gods?¡± ¡° Chapter 2: I’m a Dungeon Chapter 2 My long fall stopped suddenly with¡­ nothing. No splash as I hit water, no spat as I hit ground, not even a thud as I softly landed. It just stopped. ¡°Well that was anticlimactic,¡± I said. Or I tried to say, but as I sent the command to my mouth nothing came out. Then I realized with a sense of concern that I could not feel my mouth, or any other part of me for that matter. Concern became panic as I tried to feel around myself. I tried to shout or make any noise. When I realized that I couldn¡¯t see anything either my panic turned to mind chilling terror or I completely freaked the fuck out. But as I did it was all in my head because try as I might nothing happened no matter what I did. Finally as I felt madness sinking in a voice from somewhere commanded, ¡°Stop!¡± Like a command of God I obeyed without even a thought. I was completely still. No attempt to move, to breathe, to even think; absolutely nothing. I have no idea of how long I did nothing, but eventually the voice came back. ¡°Dungeon can you hear me?¡± Automatically I tried to say yes, but again nothing happened. ¡°Dungeon if you can hear me push magic outward to extend your territory.¡± Again automatically I did what the voice told me to. As I did my thoughts came flooding back to me. ¡°What is she talking about? What kind of drugs is she on, talking about magic? Why am I listening to her? ¡­ How am I doing that? I felt a cool sense of release extend outward and as it did I became aware of more. The small dot that was me grew. It didn¡¯t grow much but some. I could now sense a faint beat coming from a small stone hovering 1m 23cm and 82.2342mm above the ground. I could sense an even more precise measurement but my thoughts moved on. ¡°I knew the exact mixture of gases in the air. I knew that what I thought of as a rock was actually a pure diamond. But I could not sense anything further than 5 cm away from the precious stone. Except the ground I knew it was there, but kind of like Humans know the Star named Sol is 92.96million miles from Earth. It¡¯s there, and it does something but it isn¡¯t relevant. But just like Humans on Earth knowing it was there made me want to reach out to it. I reached out with that cool energy and my awareness began to expand again. Stop!¡± The voice commanded and I did again, even my thoughts coming to a complete halt. The air vibrated in my area, but I could not tell what it was at first. Slowly I realized the vibration was sound. The voice was speaking but not to me, so I did not understand the vibrations as sound. Regardless I concentrated and slowly I began to pick up distinct noises. My concentration was shattered when I realized that I was focusing on an individual sound wave as it came into me. My mind was spinning, not only was I able to think faster than sound could travel. I could feel the sound traveling through me. The biggest moment came when I realized that I was the area around the diamond¡­ no the diamond was me too. My human body was gone! I was a few cm globe of air around a floating gemstone. Is that why they were calling me a dungeon? My thoughts stopped when the voice spoke to me again, ¡°Dungeon we will feed you magic so you can absorb it and expand your territory. You are to take this magic and use it to expand as far as you can.¡± This made me very happy, yet I didn¡¯t understand why. I began to think about this but seconds later a hot energy rushed into me. It was warm at first but it quickly became uncomfortable and started to burn me. My thoughts stopped. With complete focus on that hot energy I drew it into the diamond like a deep breath. As the hot energy entered it cooled inside the gemstone and the pulse sped up. At first the pulse was still slow, but as I drew in more and more of this energy it became faster and faster. I still had no idea how to judge time, but after some period that seemed like ages for me, I was able to draw in more energy. The pulse was so fast now that it was almost steady. The heat began to build around me again, but try as I might I couldn¡¯t draw in more of that energy and cool myself off. Then I remembered the second part of the command. I pushed the cool feeling outward. The first time I had done this I thought it was a rapid expansion of myself, but it was nothing compared to what happened now. Instead of me expanding at a rate of nanometers I was expanding in millimeters! Then I hit something that I couldn¡¯t expand past! It felt like I hit a solid wall, but I didn¡¯t feel anything there. Rage filled me as I pushed harder and harder against the solid thing. Later I would understand that I was still expanding up and down just my horizontal expansion had been halted. ¡°Stop!¡± The voice commanded me and again I did. Even the rage and frustration just stopped. Once more though my thoughts started again shortly after, now free of the clouding emotions. I was now a meter wide sphere! Compared to what I was before I was huge. The energy that was coming toward me had stopped too but still some of it floated around me, so I absorbed that. After drawing it all n I felt only half full. Full of what I still did not fully understand. Thinking about being full and what had just happened with the energy I connected the dots. Suddenly I heard a bell sound and a voice echoed in my head. Skill gained: Mana Manipulation Beginner 1 0% This skill measures your ability to sense, and control the flow of mana around you. With higher skill ranks you gain finer control over mana in general. This skill is crucial for any kind of magical activity. Note from Ellinoria: Alex you need mana to survive. It is both food, nourishment, and what you use to do anything with as a dungeon. A more bass ding sounded and the voice again said. Achievement earned: Touched Ellinoria You have touched the Maiden Goddess Ellinoria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Able to speak to Ellinoria ¨C Just because you talk doesn¡¯t mean she will listen. Effect 2: Divine Connection to Ellinoria¡¯s domains ¨C Woodlands and Fae Effect 3: Language granted ¨C Sylvan Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked ¡°Is that like the prompt that I saw before? Except now I hear it? I would rather see them.¡± I thought to myself. A prompt appeared Preference Set: Visual Prompts turned on.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I finished reading it and it disappeared. I would have smiled but I have no face. I didn¡¯t dwell though. Instead I thought, ¡°Is Ellinoria the elf in the coliseum? If so I grabbed a goddess¡¯s boob! ¡°I snickered, ¡°She has a really nice boob too! ¡­ Wait why did I just get that, why not before?¡± A soft giggle sounded in my head, ¡°Thank you. Though if you had done that on purpose I would have to destroy you.¡± I gulped. ¡°You received the achievement now, because you just now learned my name.¡± Ah that made sense, ¡°I was about to start asking her questions but she cut me off before I could even form the thought. ¡°Shh now my love. I am not able to answer most of your questions. The other gods will not allow it.¡± ¡°Then what are you able to do?¡± The goddess giggled, ¡°Oh love, I can talk with you of course!¡± I quickly found out by talk with me she meant she could talk and I would be forced to listen. Somehow I would have thought the day to day problems of a goddess would be interesting but it was not to be. I do not know if she intended to completely avoid any topic that related to being a goddess or if her life really just consisted of drama between herself and the other deities. Oddly enough though I did learn a couple useful bits of information. First the gods of this world were divided into 5 groups. The group I had seen were collectively known as the Creator gods. They were the ones responsible for creating and maintaining the world. Their main opposition was the ¡­ yep you guessed it the Destroyer Gods. Even though I tried to get more information on what they did she wouldn¡¯t say. Nor could I get information on what she meant when she said the gods of this world. She did hint that I was not from this world, but another one. One that only had one deity watching over it. At some point though I realized that I was not actually an active part of the conversation and started to completely block out the goddess. It was really kind of hard though since I had absolutely nothing else to focus on. My small area was my entire world. I had no sense of anything beyond that area. Sighing, I sat back (Figuratively) and listen to the goddess¡¯s story; a story that would have been one of the best soap operas in Earth¡¯s history, If nothing else. Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 1 5% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 1 / 100 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 1cm sphere Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 1 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 1 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: None Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: None Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements Title: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds. Effect 2: Unknown Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown Show: Yes / No Achievement: Touched Ellinoria You have touched the Maiden Goddess Ellinoria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Mindspeak with Ellinoria Effect 2: Connected to Woodlands and Fae Effect 3: Skill Sylvan Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked Skills Mana Control Beginner: 1 5% Language ¨C English Advanced: 97 85% Language ¨C Spanish Beginner: 51 3% Language ¨C Japanese Novice: 3 92% Language ¨C Sylvan God-Like: 100 100% Chapter 3: Skeletons in the Dungeon Chapter 3 After some inane amount of time my brain was fried. Or at least it would have been if I had a brain still. But Elinorra finally ran out of things to talk about and disconnected without so much as a goodbye. With a sigh I mentally stretched, ¡°That folks is why I am single.¡± Grinning I focused on my new body and what I was able to sense, do, or effect. With a rapidly expanding knowledge of magic I began to do more than just breathe the stuff. I found with a certain amount of concentration I could manipulate the energy. I could pull if completely from one area of my body. Or I could gather it all and compress it into a small area. I also learned that slowly very slowly more energy was entering my body and becoming mine. My diamond could be used to store and hold the energy, but I could sense there was a maximum it could hold. Lastly the only use I was able to find for the magic was to expand my area. It seemed like every drop¡­ amount¡­ point¡­ yes point of magic could expand my territory a little. I wasn¡¯t able to really practice with this very much though because I was not gathering very much energy from the outside and I felt I was already dangerously low. Eventually the voice returned, ¡°Dungeon, this is your master.¡± With a start I realized that I still did not understand the words she was saying but I just knew her intent. ¡°Dungeon I am going to give you more magic and then summon a Skeleton. You are going to use the magic and create a skeleton.¡± I had a millisecond where my mind was blown. This whole request seemed like something out of a badly written web novel or something. Then I thought about it. I was already considering this new body as mine. I missed arms, legs, and the rest, but I was not freaking out about it. So why not have a skeleton? I was actually starting to look forward to the idea until I was jarred from my introspections. Something had just entered my body. Focusing on it I cringed. It only took me a second to understand it was a person. A young human male and he was hurt. A gash had been torn across his throat. The jagged tear was done with a rusted iron knife. I could feel the atoms of iron in the wound. The man collapsed on the ground beneath my hovering diamond. His heart was slowing with each weaker pulse of his heart. His blood was pooling around him. I watched¡­ no felt it moving outward until it hit the limit of my small area. That shock made me finally get an idea of my area. With the sudden understanding I knew my total size was only a sphere a meter in diameter. That made me only have a very small area close to the ground. As I watched the blood leave my area I began to panic. I had no idea why at first either. But my new instincts did. I began to draw in energy at a rapid pace. With a start of understanding I knew that the blood and cooling body was just thick with magic. Smiling like a fool I drew in the energy and felt it begin to heat up my diamond. I was so drunk on the energy I didn¡¯t even realize when the man¡¯s heart stopped. Suddenly a massive amount of energy was released. My drunk smiles quickly turned to a scream as the massive amount of energy zoomed into my diamond core. The pain and heat was unbearable. My diamond was no longer pulsing it was a solid glow. Waves of heat rose from it like a mirage over a noontime desert. The heat got so bad that it slowly began to liquefy. I knew that the instant my heart began to drip I was dead. To my utter surprise though it didn¡¯t. The diamond expanded and then slowly began to cool. A ding prompted as a prompt appeared in front of my awareness. Congratulations!! Level Up! You have reached Level 2 Reward 1: 1 Stat Point Reward 2; 10 Dungeon Points Effect 1: Maximum Mana increased by 100 Effect 2: Ability to summon a minion In a second I thought about and came to the conclusion of what had happened. The death and my absorbing of magic without abandon had drawn enough magical energy into my heart to fill its small limits. When it reached its maximum capacity, on instinct I used the energy to level up. If I had legs I would have been doing the happy chicken dance. At least until it finally hit me that I had just seen someone die. That someone¡¯s body was still cooling at my limit of perception below me. Even sad I still drew in the remaining energy, drinking it in like a fine wine. As the last drops of the dead man¡¯s magic became mine the corpse twitched. With a start I felt magic being directed at it. The amount of magic seemed massive to me, but for some reason most of the energy was being wasted. The magic came from the direction the corpse had entered my territory. The massive amount of energy was bleeding off the unknown spell like dry ice in a hot sunny day. Greedily I gobbled up the loose energy. While doing so I focused on the original spell¡­ and paused for a millisecond to consider. ¡°Oh wow. That is a spell! This is real magic being cast and I understand it!¡± The corpse twitched again and then the flesh, organs, and bodily fluids sluffed off in a wet slurping sound. As the new clean bones appeared the newborn skeleton began to stand. My instincts began to scream at me, warning me. A dangerous entity was close to my heart! The voice commanded, ¡°Stay.¡± At the same instant both I and the skeleton stopped moving. ¡°Dungeon analyze it and learn to create them.¡± I did not even think about doing it I was just doing it. Part of me, well the part of me that was ME. Was frankly amazed by the dungeon part of me. My senses surrounded the Skeleton then entered it. I felt the slick rough bone. Then I went deeper and deeper. Past the obvious portions and into the atomic level. Then deeper and deeper. I went past parts that I could even guess at until I reached the most basic level. A level so small that Human¡¯s on Earth had not even thought of guessing at yet. Or at least I think they hadn¡¯t. With a mental shrug I focused on my instinctual half again. It was examining and learning every portion of the things make up. My mind froze on various parts. Like how the magical energy substituted missing atoms everywhere. How the same energy was not only a glue like substance, but a lubricant and fuel. It was the ultimate duct tape! The scan felt like ages to me, but as I drew back I felt the master¡­ ¡°Wait no! I have no master!¡± ¡­ the master breathe only 3 times. Then I was done. I had no way to tell the master, ¡°No!¡± that I was done so I waited. I counted 3626 breaths before the master spoke again. ¡°Dungeon if you¡¯re done. Use the magic you gained from the sacrifices death and create me a skeleton.¡± I began to pull the energy together and form it instantly, but stopped as she continued. ¡°You will not have the skeleton attack anyone. You will have it stay so I may study it.¡± I growled and finished my spell. Skill gained: Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 1 0% Dungeon Racial Skill allows the dungeon to create and control objects with-in its territory. Greater skill allows the creation of more advanced and complex objects. Note from Ellinoria: Alex you will use this to create your dungeon. Practice your new spell as often as you can. It is more advanced than your creation skill. So you will level this one up quickly using it. Skill gained: Death Affinity: Beginner: 1 0% This skill measures the caster¡¯s ability to manipulate magic of the Death type. Note from Ellinoria: Alex you should forget about using this evil and dark affinity. There is nothing good that comes from Death magic¡¯s.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Learned New Spell: Raise Skeleton Duration: Instant. Cast Time: 1 minute Cost: 1 Corpse, 100 Mana Range: 10 meters +0.5 meter per level of caster Description:Allows the caster to raise a corpse into a mindless skeleton who¡¯s completely under the control of its creator. Corpse must be with-in range. Note from Ellinoria: Alex you can use this spell without a corpse. Your Dungeon creation skill will create the bones you need automatically. I had a moment to think, ¡°This goddess is sending me mixed signals here.¡± Before a wave of my magic pushed from me and shifted into an exact copy of the other skeleton. For the first time since arriving in this world I was able to fully see, hear, and feel. Every sense the skeleton had I could use through it. I could not take it over, but I could give it commands and live through it. I snickered, ¡°I¡¯m now the ultimate back seat driver!¡± Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 2 15% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 30 / 200 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 2cm sphere Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 2 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 1 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Dungeon Points : 10 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: Skeleton:1 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Titles / Achievements Title: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds. Effect 2: Unknown Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown Public Title: Yes / No Achievement: Touched Ellinoria You have touched the Maiden Goddess Ellinoria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Mindspeak with Ellinoria Effect 2: Connected to Woodlands and Fae Effect 3: Skill Sylvan Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked Skills List: Yes / No Skills Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 2 5% Mana Control Beginner: 5 82% Show Affinities: Yes / No Death Affinity: Beginner: 1 5% Show Languages: Yes / No Language ¨C English Advanced: 97 85% Language ¨C Spanish Beginner: 51 3% Language ¨C Japanese Novice: 3 92% Language ¨C Sylvan God-Like: 100 100% Chapter 4: Master is not a Master Chapter 4 I used the newborn skeleton to look around my surroundings for the first time. I was in a natural looking cave room. The entrance of which had been blocked off with worked stone and a solid looking wooden door set snuggly into it. The room was lit with a largish brazier a couple meters away from where my heart pulsed. In total I¡¯d say the room was about 12 meters long by 10 meters wide with a natural looking ceiling some 4 meters up. None of which really stood out. What did draw my attention was a bloody diagram around my heart. A nine pointed star had been gouged into the semi flat stone floor. The star was surrounded by a 7cm deep trough in the shape of a circle full of old and drying blood. In one corner of the room a pile of bodies lay haphazardly strewn. In addition to myself, the two skeletons, there were 4 black robed figures, and two bound and gagged humans. I could not see the faces of the robed figures but I instantly knew which one was my master. ¡°Not my master!¡± I took all this in in mere seconds. The one I knew only as master stepped forward, but was careful not to move over the bloody circle. The light in the room left her hooded face completely in shadows, but I got a sense she was smiling. She turned to the other robed figures and said something. Then she pointed at my skeleton and said something else. Two of the robed figures nodded and left out of the room. She turned back to me and said, ¡°Dungeon, give me control of the Skeleton. You will direct it to listen to me and only to me.¡± My instincts screamed that her request was wrong! The skeleton was mine! I could not¡­ no would not give it up! But all the screaming and ranting in the world would not help. Before I could even fully process the issue I had sent the mental command to the skeleton, ¡°You will listen to the master and only the master. You will serve her now.¡± Uttering the mental words sent a shiver through my body. I cringed as the sense of the skeleton was ripped from me. In an instant it went from being mine to being nothing but another instinctual warning of danger. As the world went dark and lonely again I sighed in despair. I was so wrapped up in my new world as a dungeon that I had not realized what I was missing. Now I longed for the familiar senses of sight, sound, touch, and the others. Sure I could kind of hear with the vibrations in my area but it was still lacking. The two skeletons stepped out of my circle and disappeared from my world. Feeling them leave my attention was drawn to the circle. With a low growl I thought, ¡°That is what is keeping me from expanding. I need to figure out a way to break free.¡± My thoughts of rebellion was interrupted. ¡°Dungeon! What did you do to that skeleton! It fell apart! You will absorb the energy of this slave and create me a skeleton that will remain intact!¡± I kind of did a mental shrug, well of course it fell apart nothing was feeding it magic. Now that I considered the issue I knew that there was a difference between the Raise Skeleton spell and my created skeletons. With the spell there was a large amount of magic stored in the creation. That magic was slowly spent to keep the skeleton together and working. My skeletons did not have that battery. They needed a constant supply. Now not much I figured I could have 100 skeletons before it even totaled 1 mana in upkeep, but it was there none the less. Another figure fell into my dungeon area. She had her throat cut just like the last one. I felt really bad for the woman¡­ no she was only a girl maybe 14. But not bad enough not to be sucking her dry of that precious magic energy leaking everywhere! As I took the last of her magical energy I consoled myself that if I could help her I would. Right now though I was stuck in a circle and unable to disobey my master, ¡°I do not have a master!¡± I sighed in resignation at this frustrating trend. Using the abundance of new energy the child¡¯s death gave me I created a new skeleton. Knowing what was coming next I preempted the master¡­ ¡°Nope.¡± And issued the same commands to obey her and only her. Additionally I instructed my newest creation to draw its magic energy from its master. As the sense of this new skeleton disappeared and became the itch of a trespasser, I sighed. It was hard not to look through the skeleton¡¯s senses while I could. I had resisted though knowing it would be a brief and pointless visit into the greater world. A moment later the master necromancer ¡°Yeah that works!¡± gave me the instructions to transfer the skeleton¡¯s control to her. With a wicked grin ¡®if I had a mouth¡¯ I realized that she had not known I already did it. In a mental dialogue I played out the thoughts, ¡°So, if she cannot tell what I tell my minions¡­ Then maybe she has no way of knowing what I am actually doing. Perhaps if she doesn¡¯t give me direct commands or poorly worded ones I can get out of this circular prison.¡± As my mind raced with possibilities part of me noticed the skeleton pick up the corpse and leave my prison. That prompted a new line of thoughts, ¡°Why did she not raise this one as a skeleton too? Is the spell so taxing she couldn¡¯t? Or maybe she really did not need another one? What about all those bodies too? Why keep them if not to use them?¡± I had many questions but no answers. At one point I even tried to send a mental command to the lost skeletons but got nothing. Then in frustration I tried to contact the master¡­ necromancer. Frustrated I gave up on that too when nothing happened. With no access to more familiar senses again I lost track of time as my mind wandered and I attempted to contact anyone. I even tried to talk with the goddess, but she was proving to be very good at ignoring me. Eventually I moved onto other thoughts. If I could not expand outward, maybe I could expand upward and downward? I could feel that even now my territory wasn¡¯t an exact sphere. It was kind of annoying really. Like an itch that I could not scratch. It seems my instincts wanted me to have a perfect sphere of territory. With a mental shrug I started to use the left over energy that I had acquired to expand. It took more concentration to force this expansion but slowly my domain grew. As my hearts pulse grew slow and sluggish I stepped back to see my results. I had expanded to just above the floor. Upward I still had not reached the cavernous ceiling, but I was closer. My territory now resembled a column roughly a meter wide and two meters tall. I could now fully ¡®see¡¯ the etched star and the globs of dead flesh left from the corpse turned skeleton. First I studied the star. It had a thin silver bar laid into the etching. The bar was full of runes and markings that I couldn¡¯t figure out any meaning to, but regardless I spent enough time to commit each and every one to memory. When I was done with that I focused onto the dead man¡¯s flesh. This time I used the same sense I had on the skeleton to get a complete idea of its makeup on a sub-atomic level. With a start I even realized how I could substitute magic for many of the cells normal functions. I was rewarded with a prompt! Learned New Spell: Raise Zombie Duration: Instant. Cast Time: 2 minutes Cost: 1 Corpse, 200 Mana Range: 10 meters +0.5 meter per level of caster Description: Allows the caster to raise a corpse into a new zombie who¡¯s completely under the control of its creator. Corpse must be with-in range. Note from Ellinoria: Alex why would you want to do such a disgusting thing? Forget about this spell! Looking over the new spell I smiled. Then thought about something that caught my attention. Remembering the information on my Raise Skeleton spell I saw the cost listed as 100 mana. That is about what I got from each of the deaths. Not too big of deal there. But, what really had me excited was that I had not needed that much energy ¡°No it is called mana. The spell description says so.¡± to cast the spell. If my count was right and I really did not see how my new anal attentive attention to detail was wrong. Then I only used half the mana listed in the spell description! That means if the ¡­ master necromancer thinks it will take twice the mana that it really takes for me to cast it¡­ then I¡¯ll have spare. My excited thoughts kind of died coming to that lackluster conclusion. ¡°So I will have extra mana. What should I do with it?¡± I began to consider possibilities and wait for the return of the robed figures.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 2 5% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 10 / 200 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 2cm sphere Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 2 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 1 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: None Dungeon Points : 10 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: None Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Titles / Achievements Title: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds. Effect 2: Unknown Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown Public Title: Yes / No Achievement: Touched Ellinoria You have touched the Maiden Goddess Ellinoria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Mindspeak with Ellinoria Effect 2: Connected to Woodlands and Fae Effect 3: Skill Sylvan Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked Skills List: Yes / No Skills Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 3 10% Mana Control Beginner: 8 43% Show Affinities: Yes / No Death Affinity: Beginner: 1 10% Show Languages: Yes / No Language ¨C English Advanced: 97 85% Language ¨C Spanish Beginner: 51 3% Language ¨C Japanese Novice: 3 92% Language ¨C Sylvan God-Like: 100 100% Chapter 5: Honey I shrunk the … Chapter 5 Time passed by as I considered my options. Finally I decided I did not know enough yet. I had to wait and learn while growing stronger. To the latter¡¯s end I came up with a plan. First I was going to use my extra mana in three ways. I had an extra 50 mana per casting that the master necromancer did not know of. So I would save some of it to level up. I figured increasing my overall level was never bad. Second I would save mana to try to summon a minion that no one would know of. This idea still had many flaws; like how would I hide my minion; or what would I do with it. Regardless though I figured I would have time. Lastly I would expand my area. I could only go up and down, but expansion was expansion. For the former, I would spend my time learning how to control mana better. In addition I decided it would be good to learn the patterns of the black robed figures. With my new ability to multitask like a crazy housewife hyped up on speed, I could keep a mental count going while focusing on five other things all at once. Sadly I didn¡¯t have five things to focus on, but I was sure if I had then I could manage the task easily. With plans set I had to wait, and wait and wait. I was pretty sure they had forgotten about me, so eventually I began to count out time. ¡°1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi¡­¡± I was 8 hours, 26 minutes, and 41 Mississippi¡­ erm seconds when I finally felt the vibrations in the air that signaled some kind of movement in the room with me. I felt speech and from the direction the sound waves came from I was thinking it was two different speakers. Another 501 seconds passed before I felt more movement and I finally got the command. ¡°Dungeon, this Light period you will accept my apprentice¡¯s magic and use it to create skeletons. You will not attack with them. You will perform no action at all with them until I return. When I do return you will give complete command of them to me. After that they will follow my and only my orders.¡± Automatically I tried to respond with, ¡°yes Master!¡± but gratefully I had no mouth to speak the words. 157 seconds later I began to feel mana rushing into my territory. Absorbing it I smiled as the warm energy entered into my heart. As soon as I had 50 mana to create a skeleton I automatically began to. With a great effort of will I suppressed the urge. I had to keep telling the dungeon half of myself to wait, quickly I picked up a mantra. ¡°1 skeleton for 100 mana. That is what the spell costs.¡± Repeating it over and over helped me resist the commanded urge. My will cracked at 98 mana and I began to create the skeleton. Straining I drew out the casting until after I received the 100 mana goal. The mana rushed out of my heart and into the creation. With a sigh I felt the monster form. Unable to resist I looked through the skeleton¡¯s eyes right into the face of a startled man. He wore a black rob that had been pulled back to reveal a scarred pock marked face. His left hand was outstretched a few centimeters from my circular cage. I was unable to do anything with the skeleton but I really wanted to have it jump forward and shout ¡°Boo!¡± Slowly the man lowered his hand and a sneer spread across his face. I watched as his demeanor changed from a frightened rabbit to one of superiority. He spoke but I did not understand the words. Finally he spit at the skeleton and turned to leave the room. Opening the door he glanced back and walked out. Another black robed figure walked in a minute later. It walked forward lowered its hood and raised her hand. The woman was as ugly and scarred as the man had been. Unlike the man though her scars looked like burns. At one point in her life she had lived through a terrible fire. However, the scarring did nothing to hide the absolute cruelty I saw in her dark eyes. Mana began to leave her hand into my circle and I began to have to recite my mantra once again. This time as we neared the 100 mana mark I realized something. My heart was almost full of mana. I would not be able to hold another cycle like this one. That called for a slight alteration to my plan. With a mental shrug I decided I would start my plan after I leveled up once more. But first I had to hide my heart from easy view. Summoning the skeleton this time I made sure to place it between my heart and the line of sight of the woman, thusly giving me a little privacy. Once again as soon as the skeleton was formed the shift changed. This time the figure did not lower its hood. I greedily drank in the mana the robed figure began to push toward me. The flow was not nearly as fast nor as smooth. The flow of mana would completely stop every now and then as the figure struggled to perform the task. As my heart neared full I smiled in glee. A level meant more power and more power meant a greater chance of escape¡­ Congratulations!! Level Up! You have reached Level 3 Reward 1: 1 Stat Point Reward 2; 10 Dungeon Points Effect 1: Maximum Mana increased by 100 I examined my larger heart as it cooled after the level up. It made me proud to see its size and how clear it was. Then a thought completely smashed my after level glow. It too 90 mana from this apprentice for me to reach 200 stored mana. That only left 10 more to go and they would be expecting a skeleton¡­ ¡°Uh oh,¡± I thought. ¡°I really wish I would have spent less time watch anime, manga, and porn. Or maybe I shouldn¡¯t have played as many shooters and more strategy games? Then maybe I would have seen this coming and planned accordingly.¡± Panicking I did the only thing I could think of doing. I created the skeleton using the remaining 10 mana I had. I watched in fascination as the bones appeared, grew, twisted, and connected in air to form the things body. Beside the two full sized skeletons who stood 1.75m tall a miniature stood. It was roughly a fifth of the size of the others at only 0.35m. ¡°Ah so cute!¡± I thought before a scream rang out through the room. The robed figure had screamed an ear piercing noise as she saw the miniature figure. Looking through three pairs of eyes I saw the doors fly open and 6 black robed figures storm into the room. A lot of shouting and pointing ensued. I took it that none of them expected this event and the others were somehow blaming the designer breed of skeleton to be the latest apprentice¡¯s fault. I sat there feeling terrible, but unable to keep from smiling at the cuteness every time I looked at the little guy. Eventually the shouting drew others and two more robed figures entered the room followed by the master. How did I know it was her? Well the moment she entered the room I was giving directions to the newborns to follow her. I was barely able to add on my additional instructions about where to get their mana from. The master necromancer rushed forward pushing through the scattering apprentices to look at the skeletons. Seeing the little one she turned back to the apprentice and pointed a long boney figure at her. With a command the others surged forward grabbing the apprentice as she began to struggle and shout. Four of them grabbed her arms and began to pull her out of the chamber. I watched in horror as it happened. Then it struck me. How was I watching this? I had already given command to the master necromancer. I shouldn¡¯t be able to see or hear through the skeletons anymore. But I wasn¡¯t I was seeing through the miniature skeleton¡¯s eyes! Somehow this little version did not classify as a full-fledged skeleton and thus I had not given it the commands to follow like the others. As the master necromancer turned back to me I quickly ordered ¡°Listen to the master necromancer. Do as she says. But you will listen to me above all others!¡± The master Necromancer issued a command to the skeletons and they stepped out of my prison. When they did I lost the ability to look or hear through the little one. ¡°Dungeon, if you did this give me a sigh.¡± My instinct to obey made me try. But I had no mana left. I could not speak, I had no minions in my territory. So I had no way to obey. ¡°Dungeon, you will obey me! I am your master and creator, my word is your gospel. I will be the one to survive this little challenge. The others will beg me before I rip their souls out and devour them. I will present their dungeon cores to the dark gods. Then they will reward me with enough power to destroy this small world. mwahahahaha¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I kept waiting for an actual command but nothing came. ¡°Huh evil monologue?¡± I thought. Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 3 0% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 0 / 300 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 3cm sphere Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 3 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 1 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Dungeon Points : 20 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 1 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Titles / Achievements Title: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds. Effect 2: Unknown Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown Show: Yes / No Achievement: Touched Ellinoria You have touched the Maiden Goddess Ellinoria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Mindspeak with Ellinoria Effect 2: Connected to Woodlands and Fae Effect 3: Skill Sylvan Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked Skills List: Yes / No Skills Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 5 20% Mana Control Beginner: 14 92% Show Affinities: Yes / No Death Affinity: Beginner: 1 20% Show Languages: Yes / No Language ¨C English Advanced: 97 85% Language ¨C Spanish Beginner: 51 3% Language ¨C Japanese Novice: 3 92% Language ¨C Sylvan God-Like: 100 100% Chapter 6: Dungeon Heart Chapter 6 After the master left another apprentice came in and started to transfer their mana to me. I would absorb it then recreate a skeleton as commanded. This process repeated 13 more times. Each apprentice seemed weaker than the last, so each time it would take longer for the mana to be transferred. Indeed the last apprentice was so weak that the figure collapsed right after completing the transfer. Each transfer I would have to fight with my inner self to not create the skeleton as soon as I received 50 mana. The conflict took a fair bit of willpower, but not once did I fail. Actually each time it seemed to get easier. I do not know if my mental willpower was getting stronger or the dungeon instincts were just learning that I would create the skeleton as commanded and not fighting so hard. Regardless of the exact cause, I was able to save 50 mana from each transfer. Using the mana I managed to achieve level 5. I made sure to save enough mana that I could create a full sized skeleton as I was commanded. With the last apprentice on the floor just outside my binding circle, the master necromancer entered my chamber. I immediately transferred the crowd of skeletons to her. The world around me went dark once again as my senses were cut off. I sighed in dejected resignation and waited for the horde to leave my territory. ¡°Dungeon, you will command the skeletons to follow my orders and only my orders. I will be their master.¡± I only half listened to the command having already done so, even including the proper commands to draw their mana needs from her. A short time later they all stepped out of my zone and I was alone once more to begin my count of time. Thus a routine began. I would take 16 apprentice¡¯s mana and create 16 skeletons, which averaged 16 hours to complete. The first apprentice¡¯s wood complete the task quickly while the last would take longer. After the creation of the skeletons the master necromancer would appear and leave me alone for 25 hours. This went on for a mind numbing 75 cycles. I had no idea what anyone would need with 1200 skeletons but I never saw any of them again. During this time I was not totally idle though. It took me a few cycles to remember the old RPGs I had played all had status screens. With the pop ups I knew there must be something similar. It took me a full cycle to come up with the correct command. In the end it was a mental process of focusing on my own abilities. I had tried all the basic ¡°Status¡±, ¡°Info¡±, and ¡°Stats¡± commands I could think of. I was at the point where I was just trying to judge my current IQ versus my old one, when the prompt finally appeared¡­ I just stared at it for a moment, then I grunted in amused disgust and closed it. I focused on the sense of introspection again and it reappeared. This time I took the time to study it. Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 5 50% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 250 / 500 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 5cm Heart Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 5 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 1 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Dungeon Points : 50 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 1 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Titles / Achievements Title: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection You can project your soul into the Astral Plane between worlds. Effect 2: Unknown Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown Show: Yes / No Achievement: Touched Ellinoria You have touched the Maiden Goddess Ellinoria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Mindspeak with Ellinoria Effect 2: Connected to Woodlands and Fae Effect 3: Skill Sylvan Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked Skills List: Yes / No Skills Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 23 91% Mana Control Beginner: 26 12% Show Affinities: Yes / No Earth Affinity: Beginner: 1 5% Death Affinity: Beginner: 5 42% Show Languages: Yes / NoThe narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Language ¨C English Advanced: 97 85% Language ¨C Spanish Beginner: 51 3% Language ¨C Japanese Novice: 3 92% Language ¨C Sylvan God-Like: 100 100% ¡°Holy shit!¡± I thought. ¡°Hey I heard that!¡± the goddess¡¯s voice echoed in my mind. ¡°Oh great this is what she decides to respond to.¡± I thought with an angry shake of my mental head. I guess it wasn¡¯t worth responding to, because after a moment of no response I started to consider the screen before me again. ¡°So the United States education system must be really bad if a college degree only warrants an Advanced level of mastery. Or maybe I¡¯m just not as good at the written rules as I should be? Meh.¡± I mentally shrugged and moved on. The second cycle I had used my spare mana to expand my territory until I was finally beneath the stone floor. Doing that had had the prompt appear saying I got the Earth Affinity, so that wasn¡¯t a surprise. What did surprise me was the title. ¡°With a title and achievement like this I sound like a perv!¡± Sure I had created a skeleton laying down the other day, in hopes that it might be able to see up some black robes. I was disappointed when it did not work¡­ Not because I couldn¡¯t check out any of the women¡­ No it was because I had hoped to see if there was anything I could learn under those thick black robes¡­ If a bra size or two was one of those things then it was all the better. The apprentice had took one look at the prone skeleton and immediately ran off. Shortly afterward the master came in angry as ever. She then proceeded to give me yet another set of commands on what not to do with the skeletons. I hadn¡¯t even thought about creating their heads in odd places, but now I couldn¡¯t even try. Directing my thoughts back to my status I continued to examine it. When I saw the name of the single minion I had I smiled. So it wasn¡¯t a miniature skeleton, it was a skeleton of a Brownie. I must have used my connection to the Fae to somehow create that. ¡°I wonder what else I could do with it.¡± I mused. Although after some experimenting I was unable to come up with anything. Last thing to note was the shape of my Dungeon Heart. At some point it had shifted from a perfect sphere into a heart. Now we are not talking a heart like in Valentine¡¯s Day. No this heart was a perfect copy of a human heart carved from smooth diamond. Also instead of pulsing with an inner light the diamond contracted with a real heartbeat. Although I soon discovered that no one other than myself saw either the light pulsing or the beating of the diamond heart. For other growth I continued to expand my territory vertically. At first I was upset to see that in territory size never changed in my Status window, but I soon came to grips that it must measure a full circular territory. This means I could have a tunnel or hall running from her to the sun and never increase my listed territory. As for increasing the sphere the blasted circle imprisoning me still held. After my territory did reach downward 10 meters though I noticed the apprentices were removing the now extremely rotten corpses. During a break I used my Raise Zombie spell to raise 5 of the corpses. Under my crystal I created a small room and placed them in it for safe keeping. I closed the room up entombing the zombies. Studying the newborn zombies I discovered a few things different between a zombie and a skeleton. First the zombie had a need to consume flesh to stay alive. I was able to place my zombies in a kind of suspended animation but if I wanted to use them I had to feed them. Second I found out a zombie had the ability to learn. I created a newborn that had no memories, skills, or abilities, but they could learn if they lived. Lastly I learned to pull up the Status window of my creatures. Name: Species: Zombie Variant: Human, Dungeon Minion Level: 1 0% Common Statistics Health: 100 / 100 Health Regen: 10 / Day Mana: 30 / 30 Mana Regeneration: 0 / Day Core: None Strength: 10 Dexterity: 05 Constitution: 10 Intelligence: 03 Will: 01 Charisma: 01 Name: Species: Skeleton Variant: Brownie, Dungeon Minion Level: 1 0% Common Statistics Health: 30 / 30 Health Regen: 3 / Day Mana: 10 / 10 Mana Regeneration: 0 / Day Core: None Strength: 03 Dexterity: 15 Constitution: 03 Intelligence: 01 Will: 01 Charisma: 01 The basic human skeleton that I never got to keep had 50 health, 5 STR and CON, with 10 DEX. Everything else was the same as the Brownie version. Over the course of the 75 cycles I was able to create and store a hundred Brownie Skeletons. I was worried that one of the necromancers could sense the undead so I kept my growing force at least 10m from them. The rest of my appropriated mana was used to expand my pillar of influence. On the 75th cycle two things happened. First was a change in the pattern. The apprentices came in and gave me mana as normal. They had all gotten better and instead of a full 16 hours to complete it would only take around 8 now. That left me alone for even longer. But this day they returned and I heard the sounds of picks, chisels, and hammers. The second thing is I reached 80 meters up and down away from my Dungeon Heart. Not that big of a thing it was all just types of stone, sand, soil, and a small bit of tin. But at 80m down I broke through to an opening. The ceiling felt like stone that had been carefully bricked, like a tunnel. Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 10 0% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 0 / 1,000 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 10cm Heart Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 10 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 3 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Dungeon Points : 100 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 100, Human Zombie 5 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Skills List: Yes / No Chapter 7: Skelebro’s Chapter 7 Multitasking I began to work one of my Skeleton Brownies or ¡°Skelebros¡± at I was coming to think of them; in both directions. One I created a small hole, just large enough for it to sink down toward the tunnel opening. The other I started moving upward toward my heart. The former was easy and required me just to move earth and replace it over the Skelebro. I had to do it slowly as to not bury my creation, but even if I slipped p it was unlikely to damage the resilient creature. Moving upward was a more taxing issue. My closest group of Skelebro¡¯s was some 25 meters below my heart. So I had to create a kind of earthen ladder from stone for the small skeleton to climb. Then I had to move the earth around slowly as not to alert the apprentices to my actions. Creating a Skelebro proof ladder also proved to be a challenge. They were not intelligent enough to climb on their own. It was not a matter I had considered when hiding my small army. Going down was easy enough. I finally settled on a typical rung ladder and directly commanding the stupid bone construct. ¡°Raise your left arm and grab the next piece of rock above your head. Hold on to it and do not let go. Good now raise your right leg and place it on the stone above where it is now. Good, now right arm¡­ Etc.¡± It took me nearly 4 hours to get the stupid thing up into the small room I had prepared. Sitting only 50cm beneath the cavern floor was a narrow chamber, 20cm wide and only 4cm tall. The ceiling of the chamber I had created was shaped as an inverted conclave cone. Like a funnel set upside down. I had designed it so that sounds from the cavern would echo down into the small chamber allowing the Skelebro to hear what was being said and thus me to hear through it. I only hoped that they would not detect the undead presence or see the tiny opening under my heart. I had listened in enough to the apprentices and gotten enough commands from the master necromancer to start piecing together some understanding of the languages used. You can only guess at my surprise when I received the blue prompts. Skill gained: Language - Axzeal Beginner 1 0% This skill measures your ability to speak, read, and write the Axzeal language. Greater levels indicate a finer understanding of the nuances of this dialect. Note from Ellinoria: Alex this is the language of the Azxealian Empire. 50 years ago the empire was conquered by an alliance of 4 other local powers. Most of its people were enslaved or absorbed into other nations and have ceased as an independent people. Skill gained: Language - Numark Beginner 1 0% This skill measures your ability to speak, read, and write the Numark language. Greater levels indicate a finer understanding of the nuances of this dialect. Note from Ellinoria: Alex, the Numarkian Alliance is a rogue nation. It is controlled by many petty warlords, pirate kings, and dark mages. It is commonly used across the world for thieves, Assassins, and smugglers. It seemed that most of the time the master necromancer spoke to me in a completely different dialect than what the apprentices used. I was not sure what this meant but it gave me food for thought. Regardless, listening to the Apprentices I understood that they had been told to make a new larger binding circle. I could not understand what they said when they were discussing the reason for the increased circle. I had a moment of concern considering what would cause them to create me a larger circle, but I brushed it away. All I needed to know was that my limited domain had the chance to get bigger soon and I may have a chance to break free. The Skelebro I sent down I had placed upside down and simply created a tiny hole in which I had the creature stick its head through. Commanding it to look around I was less than happy to see¡­ nothing. The damn area was dark and my stupid minions of death couldn¡¯t see in the dark! Growling in frustration I had the Skelebro pull its head back and closed the hole to a tiny opening as well. I instructed the Skelebro to stay there to watch and listen. I hoped that if anything happened I might learn something. I figured at least I would know if there was anything I should be concerned about down there. I actually hoped I might of found an abandoned mine. If so maybe I could use it to store more Skelebros and perhaps even find a different way out. Over the next few cycles the apprentices would still come to transfer their mana to me to create skeletons. Afterward they would leave for a few hours. It ranged from 5 to 13 depending on how long it took them to transfer their mana. Upon returning they would work for eleven hours, then leave again for another 9 hours. After this the whole cycle would repeat. It made me consider the possibility of a 41 hour day in which there was multiple awake and sleep periods. I was never allowed to keep a skeleton in the room while they worked, so I had to study the daily changes during the skeleton creation phase. During this time I was able to watch and learn; through careful placement while creating their skeletons facing different directions I could see the progress on the chamber. Slowly days passed and the new cycle became routine. It Tooke them awhile to create the larger trench that created the outer boarder of the binding circle. Next they started work on runes and magical carvings inside the stone trench itself. Listening in I noticed that only the more advanced apprentices were allowed to work on this part. Indeed every day the master necromancer would come in and review the work done by the apprentices. Flawed work and mistakes were not looked on favorably. A fortnight in one of the apprentices working on eh runes had made a mistake somehow. When the master came in and began to inspect the day¡¯s work she ran across the error. It was one of those moments I would have really liked to be able to see what happened. Without as much as a warning or comment the master cast a spell. I heard the whispered rush of arcane words, then a scream. A second later a fine mist of blood splashed into my circle. While I was still trying to understand the events my instincts were sucking in the mana that came along with that blood. That night I snuck a Skelebro into the chamber and got a close look at the runes inside the trench. Studying each mark carefully I analyzed every part. When the Skelebro came to the portion where the mistake had been created only a portion of smooth stone remained. I assumed some kind of earth magic had been used to smooth out the runic carvings.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Curious I had the Skelebro scratch at some of the stone with the runes. With a grating sound that sent my hair on edge and my teeth clenching bone scratched into the stone leaving a shallow imperfection in the otherwise exact spell work. With a start I heard footsteps rushing toward the door through the Skelebro¡¯s senses. That horrid noise had alerted someone and now they came to investigate. I ordered my minion to return to its hiding place. As the door began to open I was just starting to cover the gap up. ¡°What the fuck is going on in there?¡± Someone called out from eh doorway. A second voice responded. This one located in the chamber. ¡°Not sure, I do not see anything. The master is cheap and refused to bring in more light. That leaves most of this place in shadows.¡± The first voice was now also in the chamber, ¡°You better cut that shit out. She will skin you for such talk.¡± A long pause as footsteps moved around the chamber. ¡°Is it true?¡± ¡°Is what true?¡± ¡°That she skinned Adam alive?¡± Another pause then a subdued and slightly shuddering response, ¡°Yeah. I was in here. She did not even ask who made the error. Just turned and ¡­¡± Nothing else was said for several minutes. Then the first voice spoke, ¡°I do not see anything in here.¡± ¡°Me either, this room gives me the creeps.¡± ¡±Yeah me too. It¡¯s this damn stone. It feels like it is always watching us. Plus what the fuck is up with this odd shape? How did she get it to turn into a heart? ¡°She didn¡¯t. She was not happy with the change. But forget that. Let¡¯s get out of here. ¡°Okay, but what will we tell her?¡± ¡°Nothing, we will not tell her anything. Not if you value your skin.¡± A minute later I heard the sound of the door slamming shut. ¡°Phew, that was close.¡± I thought. Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 10 0% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 0 / 1,000 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 10cm Heart Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 10 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 3 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Dungeon Points : 100 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 100, Human Zombie 5 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Skills List: Yes / No Chapter 8: Andrea’s Story I Chapter 8 After the apprentices fled I contemplated the runeic markings I had seen. Partly because I was worried about damaging them in some way that they would do something foul, like explode. Partly because it was a way for me to learn and maybe find an area I could damage that would assist me to escape. Try as I might though I could not exactly recall every portion of the script. My memory and understanding had gotten better when compared to my human brain, but it still wasn¡¯t perfect. I snorted, ¡°Of course it¡¯s not. I only have an Intelligence of 10! Maybe it is time for me to use those stat points¡­¡± I thought about it, but ultimately decided not to yet. I still did not know exactly what each stat did, so I wasn¡¯t sure which way would be best to allocate my points. Also if the master necromancer could see my stats then it would be best to keep them low until I was ready to make my escape. So I waited, watched, and learned.
Andrea Andrea was on her hands and knees cleaning the troughs they used for their daily business. Her black wavy hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail to keep it out of the foul muck. She had been demucking the cave ever since the day when she had been instructed to practice her magic control and send mana to the stupid dungeon core. She had done what she had been told. It took her nearly 3 hours and some change, but she had finally transferred the required mana. Near the end something had happened to the core. It had grown brighter and heat had washed from it, but it was just a brief instant. So she hadn¡¯t thought too much about it. Then when it created the skeleton it was wrong. The stupid thing was short and looked odd! Its head was slightly more oval than the others. Its arms and legs were also slightly longer with shorter fingers that had an extra joint on each digit. Andrea ran to get the master immediately. Upon seeing the skeleton the master spoke to the core in her native language. A language none of the apprentices understood. Then she had gave Andrea the task of demucking the troughs. Andrea could have sworn she saw a smile on the master¡¯s face when she saw the new skeleton, so she did not understand why she was in trouble. But, if you wanted to live you did not speak to the master without being told too, so she dare not ask. Andrea stopped cleaning for a moment and scratched at the copper collar around her neck. Her skin underneath it had long since became red and sore. Now though the blisters were beginning to fester and she often woke with pus and dried blood on her chest. She knew the master did not care. If she died of some kind of infection the master would just raise her as a zombie. Or perhaps if she could stay alive long enough to learn more magic, maybe a vampire or lich! Andrea shook her head clearing it of her dreams as dark as they were. She focused back on the task at hand, but her thoughts drifted away from the shitty task soon enough. Her thought traveled back to what had gotten her into this dark pit of death to begin with. It was the anniversary of her birth. Her village was small and poor but they had planned a small celebration feast. The hunters had returned with wild Nurrak. The beasts had a soft tan furry body. Stood 23cm tall, on six spindly legs. Their deer like head were topped with the spring¡¯s growth of horn. By the late fall those horns would be nearly a meter in length, showing the young bucks fertility to any prospective mates. ¡°Are you crying over their deaths again dear sister? A deep voice called from behind her. Andrea did not need to turn to know it was her older brother Tomas. She quickly wiped at her wet cheeks, ¡°No>¡± Two strong arms wrapped around her and picked her up making her squeal and playfully fight to get loose. After a few minutes of the rough housing Tomas put the younger girl down. ¡°Come now sister. Your 14 cycles old now. Your celebration into womanhood is tonight and you choose your path in life tomorrow. You can¡¯t be crying over the beasts that will be your celebration dinner!¡± Andrea playfully hit her brother¡¯s arm. Like her he had pale skin, dark hair, and slate grey eyes. Unlike her he had a muscular frame and was nearly 2 meters tall. Andrea was skinny, almost too skinny. The other girls had started to develop womanly curves, but not Andrea. Her chest was nearly as flat as it was when she was 8. Worse yet her hips were not widening to show she could be a fertile mother. Scraping up a particularly runny pile of muck Andrea snorted. Back then she had been so sad about her lack of curves, but now it was a saving grace. The other apprentices did not pay her a second glance. While those same girls whom Andrea had envied got more attention than they wanted. Shuddering she briefly felt sorry for those girls whom were weak and unable to protect themselves¡­ She did not want to think about it and let her thoughts travel back again.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Do you know what you want to do, yet?¡± Her brother asked her as they walked through the dirt pad that served as her village¡¯s central through fare. She shook her head with a wide smile, ¡°I want to try out for Trewise¡¯s apprentice!¡± Tomas snorted, ¡°You? A spellcaster? Come now sister be serious!¡± Andrea¡¯s smile vanished and in a sulky gloom she said, ¡°I am serious.¡± Thomas glanced at his pouting sister, ¡°Master Trewise hasn¡¯t chosen a new apprentice in nearly 5 years and you think you can get him to choose you? I think the old man is bonkers. I¡¯m nearly 20 cycles and I¡¯ve never seen the old man do any kind of magic.¡± Andrea thrust her chin upward, ¡°The village elders say he can, so I believe them! Even if he can¡¯t I¡¯ll apply for the Royal College¡± Her brother snorted and shook his head. He didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her that the Royal College would not even consider a lesser noble much less a village bumpkin. If Trewise had not retired to their small village before he was born, then she would never have the chance to learn magic at all. If she could even now. That night the celebration was held in the village square. The entire village had come out. Some 200 people milled around, eating fresh roasted Nurrak, a variety of local grown roasted vegetables and the ale was flowing. Villagers sat at long tables with family and friends enjoying the cool night. Old Bart was playing a lively tune on his Banjo. His sons beat out a rhythm on various pots, pans and cleaning utensils. All of which made a lively folk music that many were dancing too. When the song came to a conclusion Elder Loveheart moved up upon the small central stage. See the elder¡¯s bent back and grew hair upon the stage the town grew silent. In a raspy voice that spoke of strength forged in years the elder spoke, ¡°We celebrate tonight the coming of age of our very own Andrea Blumquest.¡± The crowd cheered. ¡°Come up here young lady.¡± Andrea looked around nervously as she stepped up next to the elder. ¡°Now Andrea, this night marks your turning from child to a woman, with a woman¡¯s duties. Your paths are many and as our tradition states the choices is yours. Do you know what you want to be as you take your first steps forward into adulthood?¡± Andrea gulped and glanced among the crowd. Her three brothers and two sisters were scattered around the crowd but they each met her eyes and smiled. Her parents had died two cycles ago during the bad winter. Her eldest brother was taking care of the family now. She nodded nervously, ¡°I do.¡± The elder smiled not expecting any other answer, than the traditional ones. ¡°Good, the village has need of famers, hunters, a baker and even a tailor. What skills will you learn?¡± The tradition stated that the elder should name the professions the community most needed, but all knew there was no requirement for anyone to choose them. Andrea took a dep breath before saying, ¡°I want to become a spellcaster.¡± The mummer of low conversations that always occurred in any large group died instantly as everyone hear the strange request. Elder Loveheart smiled being aware already of Andrea¡¯s choice. ¡°Very well let us see if Master Trewise needs an apprentice. Master Trewise will you please come up to the stage?¡± An ancient looking man poked a bald head covered with liver spots out of a tiny house at the edge of the square, ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that? Someone call?¡± Elder Loveheart¡¯s smiled flickered then was instantly back, ¡°Yes, Master Trewise this young lady would like to become your apprentice. Would you please come to the stage and inform her of your decision?¡± The old man toddled out of the house bent almost at a right angle. An old gnarly cane was all that kept him from falling over. Fully exiting the house he squinted in the direction of the stage, ¡®Huh what¡¯s that? These old ears of mine don¡¯t hear so well anymore? Some lady wants a piece?¡± The younger and less mature in the crowd snickered, but the old man did not seem to catch the double meaning. Elder Loveheart sighed and repeated her statement. ¡°Oh! No need! No need for me to come all that way!¡± The old man squinted at the stage, ¡°Young lady if you want to be a magic user then show me why you think you can be one.¡± Andrea stood as stiff as a board. It was time. For three years now she had spent every chance she could talking to travelers about magic. A year ago a caravan had a hedge wizard with them. The man was all too happy to talk shop with her. After using her life savings buying the man ale he had finally relented and showed her a simple spell. Andrea had spent every free moment alone in the last year practicing it, and now it was time to show it off. Scrunching her face up in concentration she began her spell. Andrea¡¯s brow broke out in sweat and her stomach clenched as she forced her limited mana to do what she wanted with words and gestures. With a final syllable that sounded almost like a low throaty growl a 2cm sphere of light appeared above the girl¡¯s dark mane of hair. The crowd froze in amazement. For most this was the first time they had seen any kind of magic at all; even in spite of having a so called retired wizard in the village. Andrea ignored them all her eyes never leaving Master Trewise¡¯s face. The old man¡¯s perpetually dull eyes cleared instantly and a spark flickered in them. Unfortunately it was not the old master who spoke first. At the back of the village a lone voice sounded. All eyes turned looking in to the shadows as a black robed figure stepped out. A purring foreigner woman¡¯s voice slid across the square like a caress of death, ¡°Very good girl. It seems like my trip here will get me more than just components.¡± No sooner than she said that than other black robed figures stepped out all around the central square as if emerging from the very darkness itself. Behind them came the dead. A bloodcurdling scream cut through the night¡¯s air. Chapter 9: Andreas Story II Chapter 9 One of the young girls began to scream as the Undead materialized out of the darkness. Their small village was poor so the only lights currently lit were those that were being used in the town square and the odd candle in an open window. Thus most of the town¡¯s streets were dark. A darkness that the black robed figures and their Undead minions had used to sneak up to the unsuspecting villagers. With an unspoken command the Undead rushed forward. People began to scream and flee away from the Undead they could see. Often this meant they fled across the square hoping that way was not blocked too. Since people all ran into the middle of the square pushing and fighting instantly broke out. Neighbors for years suddenly began to beat on each other as they fought to flee for their lives. Andrea stood there watching the people she knew her entire life fight. When someone got through the crowd they realized that the new way was just as blocked as the way they had just fled from. A few had instead ran directly at the undead screaming a sort of battle cry. Those few were hit by some kind of black wavy beam shot from the robed figures hands. When hit their charges stopped as their limp forms collapsed to the ground in small puffs of dust. A tiny few whom had spent time in the kingdom¡¯s military before it fell banded together forming a circle; with their families in the center. But unarmed or armed with small knives Andrea could already see they would not last long. Half panicked people broke and fled outward causing a rush as people ran as a herd for the town¡¯s outskirts. Andrea to terrified to do anything more than watch saw as the Undead killed without remorse. Looking around she saw the Village elders along with the few guards had vanished, leaving the Undead completely free to do as their Black robed masters commanded. Andrea screamed as cold dead hands grabbed her from behind. Her numb instincts which had previously been subdued by shock flared to life. She began to kick and scream, fighting to escape and flee. No matter what she did the hands did not release. The dead do not feel pain and she lacked the means to do anything more than hurt a normal person. She was drug off the small stage and thrown into the square with others whom had been caught. Andrea hit the hard packed earth with a whoof. The wind was knocked from her chest. Sitting up trying to breath she fought back her panic. As she took in her first ragged breathe she rolled to the side as another villager was thrown into eh mix of bodes. Standing Andrea rushed at the Undead fingers outstretched in claws. Her nails bit deep into eh rotting flesh of the zombie. Her middle finger sunk deep into a rancid eye with a gut clenching slurp sound. The undead did not even react t the pain. It simply shoved Andrea back forcefully, knocking her off her feet again, the dead man¡¯s eye still stuck on her finger. Andrea hit the ground and felt bile rise in her Throat. When another flying villager landed on her, the contents of her stomach exploded forth into the air covering herself and everyone around her. The sobbing woman who landed on her rolled off and threw up as well. Fear mixed with the fresh sounds and smells of vomit created a chain of people losing their dinner. Andrea now covered in her own and others vomit stood again. With shaking legs she looked out, searching for a way past the Undead circle around the villagers. Not seeing one she ran at the Undead again but slid to a stop. Mr. Fletcher her neighbor stood there. His throat had been ripped out by sharp skeletal fingers. Cold lifeless eyes stared at Andrea as blood stained teeth gnashed. Andrea knew that without the black robed figures control Mr. Fletcher would be trying to kill and eat Andrea even now¡­If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. An explosion of fire hit three black robed figures on the east side of the town square. If Andrea hadn¡¯t been succumbing to shock she would have seen the towns few guards along with the village elders rushing into the square. Weapons were raised and shouts of battle were met with the noiseless movement of undead. Fire balls, ice spikes, and hurling stones were conjured and hurled toward the shocked Necromancers. A dozen half robed figures fell along with a score of Undead as the villager¡¯s combatants surprise lasted. Within seconds though the Undead surged forward, curses were hurled, and death magics retaliated. Death magic has very few protective elements, but it makes up for that weakness with an absurd amount of power. As a result on both sides when a spell was cast someone died. For a short time it looked like the hero¡¯s charge may win the day. But every time one of them fell mortally wounded they would stand again to attack their former comrades. When the Village protectors reached their second set of encircled villagers they could see the way the battle would go. Instead of fighting to the last, they directed their rescued people and made for the cover of darkness. Some necromancers began to follow along with their undead horde, but the first one whom had spoken called out, ¡°Let them go. We have plenty of new creations and even more new slaves.¡± The Necromancers did not utter a single word as they returned at their master¡¯s command. There was no looting or plundering of the village other than that of its inhabitants that night. In one quick raid the Necromancers had taken or killed 3/4 of the village. The captured villagers were pushed, shoved and beaten to the south away from the fallen capital of Axeal and toward the Newmark kingdom. Andrea was forced to march with the other through the entire night. As she stumbled on a loose rock she fought to recover. If she fell she may not get up again. Those whom were not able to keep up with the pace, due to age, injury, or lack of will were killed on site. Their bodies would appear among the walking dead a short time later. A part of Andrea¡¯s mind broke over the course of the next three days. They would walk until the Master Necromancer would call a halt. The villagers would collapse into nightmare filled sleep where they had stood. The Necromancers would pull out food and eat. Before also finding a place to sleep. The dead would watch their living charges not caring or needing the rest. The only one who would eat warm cooked food or not sleep directly under the stars was the Master Necromancer. She would have one of her underlings prepare her food and set up a tent. When morning came Andrea noticed that the groups of prisoners had grown over night. It was a sign of how emotionally shocked she was that: She did not even consider where they came from or why, only if it would cause her more suffering. Overnight two more groups of Necromancers had arrived and joined the group. Out of the 150 or so villagers captured only 70 had remained when eh sun went down. Now though there was nearly 300 captured prisoners. Surrounding them was nearly four times that many dead. As the sun rose Andrea was surprised to see black robed figures leading a group of zombies from one group of survivors to another. They would first count the living, then give them water and toss a few loafs of dried bread and a couple hunks of jerky on the group before walking off. Andrea found herself in a pile of bodies fighting for the scrapes of food. The villagers had not eaten since they were kidnapped and now they acted like ravenous beasts. Andrea was able to grab a loaf of bread long enough to take a huge bite, before it was stolen from her. Chewing her feast she crawled out of the mass of bodies struggling for the food. As she exited the melee she saw a fist sized piece of jerky tumble out from between legs. The combatants were so focused on the battle for food that they did not even notice the meat was now gone. Scrambling over she quickly grabbed the meat and looked around to see if she was seen. No one had. With sheer will she resisted not gnawing onto the meat and instead tucked it under her skirt into her undergarments to keep it safe. Chapter 10: Andreas Story III Chapter 10 As sun set that night the villagers were forced into new groups. Each one consisting of nearly 100 captives. They were arranged like a triangle, in the center of which was three black tents. As the moon rose the tents opened and a figure emerged from each. Other black robed Necromancers swarmed the now empty tents breaking down the campsite rapidly. When it was cleared away one of the three gestured and a horde of the dead rushed forward. They fell on hands and knees on the ground or on one another creating a three tiered platform of death. The three master Necromancers stepped upon the platform. One on each tier. Andrea watched as the one on the top tier pulled back its hood. A gaunt face with dried skin clinging to a nearly skeletal face emerged. Pinpricks of red light lowed where eyes should have been and what little hair still remained upon the crumbling scalp was dry and thin. A lipless mouth opened twice before the Lich spoke. Andrea listened to the speech but she quickly realized the creature was not speaking to the villagers but to the other Necromancers gathered around. ¡°Welcome my fellow masters of death. Many of you have asked why after so long we are coming out of hiding. Why we are working together and most of all why we need an army.¡± Murmurs went through the black robed figures, but the Lich did not paused. ¡°The answer is such, the three Master Necromancers you see before you have been given a quest by the gods of destruction our patrons. The three most powerful practitioners of death Magic on the content along with the three strongest users of Dark Magic were told to discover who is the most powerful. The one to come out as the winner will be granted godhood and immortality, thus ascending into the halls of the god¡¯s themselves!¡± The Lich paused to let the importance of the statement sink in before continuing, ¡°We can achieve this victory in three ways. First we can kill our competition. Next we can steal their power. Or last we can steal their core. The first is simple enough. The second and third methods the god¡¯s have given us each a spell and a ritual. The spell will allow us to take the power from a defeated foe, drawing power into our self and becoming stronger by feeding on their very soul. The Ritual is to create a Dungeon Core. This core will be trapped in a binding circle, or set loose. We can use the dungeon slave as we place. But, if our core is captured, destroyed, or stolen, then the gods will eliminate the weakling who is unable to protect their belongings. Think of it as a kind of capture the flag.¡± The murmuring of the black robed figures increased some in excitement, others in confusion. The Lich went on ignoring them. ¡°Now you ask what this has to do with you. It is simple. You can join us. Those who side with the victor early on will be closely tied to a newborn god or goddess.¡± The Lich paused then added as if an afterthought, ¡°Oh and the blundering fools of the creation pantheon have also chosen insignificant buffoons to champion their cause. Since champions are mostly unaware of the others chosen that means every practitioner of any note is a possible contender and thus must be destroyed.¡± The crowd of black robed figures began to talk wildly, but the three masters ignored them stepping off the stage of death. No sooner than the stage of death was dismantled than fights began to break out. The strongest Necromancers attacked the three masters who were granted the quest. Andrea did not understand why they were fighting, but she looked around wildly both in fear and hope. Fear that somehow the fighting dark robed figures would hurt or kill her. In hope that she may find a way to escape. Alas neither concern was warranted. The Death mages used spells and hexes upon one another avoiding damage to the Undead and living all of whom was considered a valuable prize. In her fruitless search for a method of escape though Andrea did see Thomas in another gathering. She had not seen any of her family since the attack on the village, so seeing even him so far away helped to stem the breaking of her mind. Giving her a little hope that others of her family may yet live.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Some short minutes later the fighting drew to a close. One of the masters had been attacked by three Necromancers at once and was killed. The victors instantly turned on one another until only one remained. The new Master Necromancer claimed the group of undead guarding the mass of villagers Thomas was in and beat a hasty retreat before anyone else could focus on him. The Lich and the woman who attacked Andrea¡¯s village fared better. The Lich laughed at all but the most powerful of spells. Simply ignoring them or even turning them back on their caster. With an outstretched finger it would point and simply say ¡°Die¡± the target¡¯s lifeless body would crumple to the ground seconds later. The woman wielded a black sword to deadly effect. Her sword and spellwork created a gruesome kind of dance that left those foolish enough to challenger her dead or dying. Without preamble she approached Andrea¡¯s collection and issued a silent command to the Undead. They turned forcing the panicking common folk to the south. Some 10 out of the original 100 or so Necromancers followed her lead. They traveled during the sleeping phases for three weeks. Always heading southward. Sometimes it was More southeast, sometimes southwest, but always in the general southern direction. Andrea was used to the normal schedule of a period of business at sunrise followed by the daytime rest, then the nighttime personal time followed by the long sleep. This type of schedule worked out well since each day consisted of 41 hours. She was not used to reversing it though. To conceal their movement as best as they could the Master Necromancer had them moving when the rest of the world would be sleeping or at least resting. Days would pass without the peasants getting food or water. When they did come across a river many would gorge themselves on so much water as to make themselves sick. And as time passed the fights for food grew fiercer. When one of the villagers died though the Necromancers stepped in punishing them all. Andrea tried to pay attention to where they were but her knowledge of geography was limited to a small village¡¯s education. She knew they had left the plains she called home a week before. Now they were in the middle of the Razorfen mountains. She did not know though if they were closer to the Durkal swamps to the east or the Azure Ocean of the west. They had been crossing a wide valley created by two groups of peaks nearly a 100km apart when a massive flat topped hill suddenly appeared out of the trees. The heavily wooded hill was oddly shaped closely resembling a ziggurat or stepped pyramid. It had four distinct layers. Each one looking like some Titan had created large roughly carved stone disks and placed them upon one another. Each tier seemed to be closely 2/3 the size of the layer below it. The sides were all sheer stone faces except for the west facing bluff. That side had a steep slope that lead up to the flat top of the second disk like bluffs. They were marched up the steep slope and onto the top of the second tier of the mountain. Andrea was amazed to see a small lake fed by a rivers they were marched passed one bank. As they crossed the massive nearly flat section towards the center the sounds of a water fall grew louder. Set into the vertical Ascent of the next stone face was a natural looking cave mouth. The villagers were forced to wait outside the cave for a full day guarded only by their ever present Undead guards. At dusk of the second day the Master Necromancer and 8 other black robed Necromancers exited the cave. With short terse commands each Necromancer would order a Skeleton or Zombie to grab one of the tired, hungry and half dead villagers. They would push or often drag the hapless soul over to them where they would perform a simple test to detect the ability to use magic. Those who passed, even with the slightest ability had a copper slave collar slapped upon their necks. Then they were hauled into the cave. If the test proved negative which occurred more often than not, then a collar was not placed upon the villager before they were also drug into the cave. When Andrea was grabbed by rough bone fingers she stumbled over to the Apprentice for her test. The blue gemstone the dark skinned man placed upon Andrea¡¯s forehead flashed brightly briefly ruining both Andrea¡¯s and the apprentice¡¯s night vision. The collar slammed into her throat was forced upon her with more force than necessary as a way to show the apprentices displeasure. She was then drug into the cave and thrown into a large bare room with the others who wore slave collars. Andrea never saw alive the ones who failed the test, but over the next three days the sounds of screams would drowned out the almost constant drone of chanting echoing through the caves. On the fourth day the new apprentice necromancers were led into a large cave deep in the cave complex where a small glowing diamond was floating. They were all told that they would begin their training by giving mana to the stone and if they could not do that they would feed the stone with their blood instead. Chapter 11: Virtuoso Chapter 11 Andrea shuddered and stood. Tears had been leaking down her face with the memories. Looking around the room she ensured her shitty task was completed. Picking up her pail and shovel she went to the door. Before opening it and heading out to take her turn at charging the dungeon core she dried her tears and pulled dup her hood to conceal her face. It would not due to let the others see her weakness. Weakness was never rewarded with anything but pain in her life now. Opening the door Andrea shivered as she heard the howling winds echoing through the chambers and caves that composed the Necromancer¡¯s cavernous complex. The rains had started a week ago and not let up. During that whole time the wind had been getting worse. Now it was bad enough that even this far into the ground the gale force winds outside could be heard.
Alex I was lost in thought when something new happened. My attention was pulled down below where my territory had entered into the tunnel. Focusing I entered into the mind of the Skelebro positioned to listen for anything. The sound of a large crash echoed from somewhere in the tunnels depths. Excited I listened for a while hoping I may hear something else occur. Or at least get an idea of what had happened. After a few minutes of nothing though I grew annoyed and began to pull my attention back. Before I withdrew completely a new sensation pushed on my senses in those lower depths Whatever had crashed in the tunnel had opened it into the outside. Now wind was blowing through the tunnel. Sometimes at great speeds and other times slowly. I felt a smile stretch over my phantom face. Then I frowned, I had no face to smile¡­ or frown. ¡°Stupid flesh memories. I miss my body.¡± I muttered. Shaking off the sensation I smiled again, I had found a way out! Excited I pulled my Skelebro back and began to slowly open up the hole I had created to listen in to the tunnel. I had thoughts of dropping that Skelebro into the tunnel as a scout. I paused when something interesting happened. The wind gusted through the tunnel and as it did it rushed past the hole I was working on expanding. As it blew past the narrow opening a sharp whistle sounded out. I had loved music in my other life. Going as far as playing three classical instruments and being the bass guitar in a band. The tiny note sent shivers through my soul. Music! I could hear music again! Using my new amazing control to shape and alter my territory, I began to make stone pipes in the top of the tunnel. I was frustrated with the lack of room and the variety of openings I could create almost instantly. But every time a gust of wind came through and hit the opening of my pipes and notes sounded my soul would sing. Even the most shrill and grating noises were welcome. After I created a few pipes and then listening to the results; I began to understand the sounds each pipe made as the air rushed through it. Using mana I began to shave and alter the pipes to a finer detail. I would pause when the wind blew so I could listen, then start to work again correcting a pipe here or moving it there. I was so focused on my work that I didn¡¯t even notice when the Skelebro dropped through a hole I was creating to make a deep bass sound. I was expanding the small room and needed more area for my pipes, so I had already told the small minion to move numerous times. If I had I may have heard a small splash and the sounds of bones breaking.
Andrea Andrea pushed open the heavy door that guarded the master¡¯s dungeon core chamber. The other apprentice had already finished with his transfer of mana and left. She ignored the hateful glare of the next apprentice whom was already waiting in the hall for her turn after Andrea was done. Each apprentice had a set time to complete their turn, but after they were done if they got done early they had some time to themselves. In this miserable existence eve a few minutes of time where you could do as you pleased was a blessing. Andrea had ran late doing her demucking and had just gotten to the core chamber on time. That meant that all eh apprentices after her would have less free time and she could tell they were not pleased.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Slamming the door shut behind her she let out a long sorrowful sigh. ¡°Nothing I can do about it. If they were so worried about their free time they could offer to help me clean up their shit!¡± Her exclamation was weak and lacked any real conviction. She knew that the first rule to this dark world was focus on yourself first and so none of the others would help, but they would be eager to blame her for any misery they could even slightly lay at her feet. Walking to the binding circle she reached her hand out and began to push her Mana toward the dungeon¡¯s core. She focused on her breathing in and out. With each out breath she would push her Mana out as well. This method was not the fastest way she had learned but it kept her from feeling as weak afterward. With a Mana pool of only 120 giving up most of her Mana could drain her. She had just gotten into the rhythm when she heard a noise. Quickly opening her eyes she spun around searching for the source of the noise. Her eyes were not good at penetrating the dark corners of the chamber so she was not completely sure she was alone. When the noise came again she spun toward the noise. It was coming from the dungeon¡¯s core! No¡­ Listening closely and looking she could see a tiny hole below the floating heart shaped diamond. The noises were coming from there. As she listened the noises began to change, first from a shrill whistle to a deep hook. Amazed she thought about getting her master. Thinking of her master she pictured in her head the conversation, ¡°You dared to disturb me because you heard a noise! Did you even finish your transfer of mana first, before running off like the world was ending because you heard a noise?!?¡± Andrea did not want to be at the displeasure of her master again. He figures idly touched the iron collar on her throat before she put her hand back up as she focused on the transfer again. This time though she gave mana to the rhythm of music. A remarkably short time later she put her had down the transfer complete. She listened and smiled. The sound coming from eh small hole was like nothing she had ever heard before. One of the villagers had a flute and she had heard tales from traveling traders of large collections of pipes called organs, but she had never seen one. The music was not exact. It was halting and slightly off beat as each note hit at a slightly different time, but to Andrea it was the best thing she had ever heard! Its rhythms and pitches were alluring, sad but somehow hopeful. They called out to her very soul. She began to hum, then sing. She had never heard the song before. She did not even know the language she sung in, but it came from deep inside. Inside her heart, her very soul. As the words flowed she began to dance letting the music and song flow around her directing her movements. Slowly magical energy began to gather around Andrea causing her hair to float as if in a breeze. As the energy coalesced condensed it became a dim soft light which moved in swirls and eddies across her moving form. At first it was dim but soon the glow illuminated the chamber bringing the first light this chamber of death had ever seen. As the pure light of soul music touched the dark stains of blood, rotting chucking of flesh and the dark insects feeding upon them the sizzled and burned into nothingness. The purity of the soul music cleansed everything it touched. Even inside the binding circle. Dried blood and gore vanished. The dark music washed over the skeletons summoned by previous apprentices and they shifted, changed. It was nothing obvious, but a lifting of darkness that clung to the animated bones. All this was lost by those whom were lost in the music. With a twist, flourish and leap Andrea landed. Her eyes flew open as a bell like ding sounded and Andrea saw a prompt appear! She had heard of the messages of the god¡¯s the boxes that the gods sent. She had never seen one though. Most never would. You had to be an adventurer, or important in some way to catch the eye of a god or goddess. Now one had appeared in front of her! Class Unlocked: Virtuoso of Ellinoria. A Virtuoso creates music that is magic and magic that is music. To preform either is to do both. Doing both comes from the composer¡¯s very soul, creating a powerful and unique magical style. Benefits:
  1. +1/2 Class Level to Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma
  2. Virtuoso Magic ¨C Able to cast spells hidden in songs
  3. Able to speak and understand all languages with Novice 1 skill.
  4. Able to play any instrument with Novice 1 skill.
  5. Divine Connection based upon patron deity.
Accept Class? Yes / No Andrea was stunned when she read the message. A class! She was being offered a class! Classes were even rarer than the divine messages! A class could only be gained if given directly by a god. Even the master was not given a true class! Without pause or hesitation she accepted. This opportunity was something that would only happen once in her life. She did not know what it would mean for her future, but she knew with it she could reach for her dreams again. The smile that had spread across her face and went all the way to her very soul froze as every instinct she had warned her of eminent peril. A shiver went up her spine as her animal brain started to cry out, warning of something hunting her. Glancing around all blood left her face and she felt her knees grow weak when she realized she had crossed the binding circle. She was now standing inside the dungeons territory. She turned to leave but hands burst up from the ground at her feet grabbing her in cold dead fingers. Chapter 12: A Time to Feed Chapter 12 The music I was creating spoke to my soul. Part of me told me the door to the room containing my heart had opened and closed. Another portion rejoiced when song joined my music. Yet, another portion created a skeleton when I was directed enough mana to do so. Yet none of those parts of me mattered. It took a large amount of attention to feel the air in the tunnel, then adjust the solid rock into the correct pipes in the correct order. They had to be properly sized, the holes had to be the perfect shape with the correct fipple. All of which had to be adjusted as soon as the sound was made. I was completely lost in the music. At least until¡­ Every thought stopped, every action ceased, every consideration vanished. Someone had entered into my territory and they were close to my heart! Instinct took over with an overriding rush. I had to destroy the intruder. I had to protect my heart. I had no friends, I had no allies. That meant anyone close was a foe. I directed the created skeletons to attack the intruder. Nothing happened since I was bound and still forced to listen to the Master. She had told me that I could not have the skeletons attack anyone. With red rage filling my mind I realized they were not my only option. I had others. With a command my zombies awoke and reach through the ground as I turned it into soft dirt. Their hunger was great and I urged them to feed, to devour, and to consume. Dead hands reached forth and grabbed onto warm flesh! I cheered as they began to pull themselves from the ground mouths gnashing searching for the flesh of the living. I briefly noted that my zombie¡¯s dinner did not scream. She did struggle but her attempts were weak and ineffective. ¡°Stop!¡± The voice was not my master¡¯s and I did not have to listen! ¡°Alex stop!¡± My name¡­ Yes I am Alex, I am not a mindless dungeon with no reaction but instinct! ¡°Good. Now Alex you must stop them. I have marked her. She is mine!¡± ¡°Ellinoria?¡± I asked confused. I got the impression of a sigh, ¡°yes it is me, whom else speaks to you via a divine connection?¡± I did not answer, instead I commanded my zombies to stop. They froze for a second then their hunger surged. Zombies must feed to stay alive. They were capable to forming personalities and retaining memories. They had their own wills as my minion they would listen to me but they could resist. Since I created them they had never been allowed to feed. I had kept them asleep to extend the time before thy had to feed, but now I had awoken them. They were awake and they had fresh meat literally in their hands! They fought me! They fought my will! Their urge to consume and stay alive gave them strength. There was also five of them and only one of me. Slowly the continued to climb out of the ground moving ever closer to sinking their rotting teeth into the girl. I fought back! I commanded them over and over to cease. I had never had one of my creations resist me before, so I did not know the best way to impose my will upon them. I knew they were mine I could feel the connection, but they were clamping closed on that connection like a tunicate over an arm or leg. With a grunt I broke into the psyche of one and it let go. The others just fought me harder. The panicked fighting of the girl adding the natural instinct of the hunter into their strengths. As I fought I searched for another option. I knew even if I got them to let go then they would still have to feed. They could not just go back to sleep now. If I made them do so they would never awaken again. I could sacrifice one of them to feed the others, but my human mind recoiled at that. Oddly it did not bother me letting them eat a living Human, but the idea of a zombie eating another zombie seemed¡­. Wrong. I also knew the flesh of the dead would not help sate their hunger very much. They consumed the life-force of that flesh as much as the flesh itself and the life force of a newborn zombie was weak as could be. As my will shattered another zombie psyche forcing the second to let go I found a hope. High above in the ground I sensed life. It was outside my current territory, but I might be able to fix that! I could sense multiple lifeforms there, it was still underground so it had to be some kind of burrowing animal. An animal meant that I could surprise it! I destroyed a meter high segment of dirt and stone at the very edge of my territory. The sudden vacuum of matter caused a shift in the soil on both sides and in the ground above the new hole. That shift resulted in the ground collapsing to fill in the area. As it collapsed the critters were suddenly falling with the floor of its den! If it had been something with more than a basic animal level of intelligence it could have understood and probably avoided being buried. As it was the creatures were trapped. And it was creatures. Quickly using mana to create soil again I filled in the holes before more collapses occurred. Then more slowly I moved the ground around the creatures buried forms. There was 7 of the creatures and from what I could sense it was some kind of fox. A vixen and six kits. They were larger than foxes on earth probably some 20 pounds and their teeth and claws were longer, better weapons in a more hostile world. I could not tell their fur coloration or anything similar but that really did not matter to me right now. My attention was split four ways; I was working on moving the foxes deeper into he ground closer toward my heart room. I was striving to break the will of my rebellious zombies; I was still listening to the noises the air made in my pipes; lastly I was watching the intruder into my territory, the one whom Ellinoria said she claimed. It took me less than 30 seconds to drop the foxes into my heart room. Just a little off center so they would not easily fall onto my heart. By that time I had imposed my will upon another of the zombies and had at least restrained the remaining two from biting the girl. As the foxes fell I commanded the zombies to attack and devour the hapless creatures. I knew that two of the kits had died during the brief burial and the remaining did not survive the 3m fall from the ceiling, but the zombies would not care. As my minions began to feed I absorbed the life energy from the fox¡¯s deaths and turned back toward the girl. She had frozen, after the zombies let her go she had stopped fighting and did not flee. She currently had her head tilted at an odd angle as if listening to a voice only she could hear. ¡°Ellinoria are you speaking with her?¡± I asked the goddess. ¡°Yes.¡± I waited for some kind of explanation or something, when one was not forthcoming I snorted. ¡°Typical woman. Giving orders, but never explaining anything.¡± A feminine snort was my only response, so I focused onto prompts that had been trying to gain my attention for a while. Skill gained: Air Affinity: Beginner: 1 0% This skill measures the caster¡¯s ability to manipulate magic of the Air type. Note from Ellinoria: Alex this is one of the four basic elements. One of my Favorites too. It will be hard to use this skill so deep underground but never forget that air is everywhere. As the Foxes had died in my territory I gained more than just mana, I gained new abilities. Skill gained: Summoning (Dungeon): Beginner: 1 0% Dungeon Racial Skill allows the dungeon to summon and control creatures with-in its territory. Greater skill allows the summoning of stronger creatures. Note from Ellinoria: Alex you will use this to populate your dungeon. Practice your new spell as often as you can. It is more advanced than your summoning skill. So you will level this skill up quickly using it. Learned New Spell: Summon Sly FoxThis narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Duration: Instant. Cast Time: Instant Cost: 25 Mana Range: 10 meters +0.5 meter per level of caster Description: Summons a Sly fox minion. This creature is a permanent summon. Once brought into being the creature will need to eat, drink and breathe as all life forms do. The minion will be completely under the control of the summoner. Note from Ellinoria: Alex they are SOOOO cute! Don¡¯t you just want to bury your face in their fur! Skill gained: Life Affinity: Beginner: 1 0% This skill measures the caster¡¯s ability to manipulate magic of the Life type. Note from Ellinoria: Alex this is my favorite type of magic. When you reach level 15 I¡¯ll grant you the ability to Summon a Wisp using life magic. Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 10 63% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 637 / 1,000 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 10cm Heart Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Stat Points: 10 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 3 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Dungeon Points : 100 Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: None Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 99, Human Zombie 5 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements List: Yes / No Skills List: Yes / No Skills Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 96 41% Summoning (Dungeon) Beginner: 1 0% Mana Control Novice: 6 74% Show Affinities: Yes / No Earth Affinity: Beginner: 16 41% Air Affinity: 0 Beginner: 1 0% Death Affinity: Beginner: 95 50% Life Affinity: Beginner: 1 0% Show Languages: Yes / No Chapter 13: Once a Slave always a Slave Chapter 13 If I had a mouth I¡¯m sure I would have been smiling like a fool after reading the prompts. Two new affinities and a new summon. ¡°I wonder if this means that if something dies in my territory I can either create or summon them after that.¡± I mused to myself. The Human girl was still standing in my territory and I was tempted¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t you even dare?¡± Ellinoria said in my head. ¡°Not fair! No mind reading!¡± ¡°You do not even have a mouth you¡¯re all just a big mind.¡± Well shit she had me there. With a mental shrug I noticed my zombies had eaten the small meal of fox. Judging by their energy I guess that would keep them nourished for a couple days or a month if I put them back to sleep. With a glance at the girl I made a decision; with a sigh, I commanded the zombies back into their holes. As They lay back down I closed the stone floor, once again concealing them. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a naughty dungeon!¡± The girl said. She tilted her head again and then nodded, ¡°I¡¯m either insane or ¡­¡± she trailed off then laughed a soft little chuckle. ¡°No, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m just insane. Anyway the voice in my head tells me you hear her too.¡± I did not pay her much attention as she rambled. I cleaned up the loose dirt and bits of blood and gore. Then I repaired the markings that had shaped the star inside the binding circle. Once completed I looked over everything once more to make sure there was nothing out of place. As I worked I considered how easily I was dealing with things. I went from wanting to kill this intruder to simply adjusting plans and insuring no one else noticed things. I didn¡¯t know if it had something to do with being a Dungeon or if somehow I trusted the goddess. She was kind of my only ally after all¡­ Deciding it really didn¡¯t matter I considered the girl. She was still rambling, something about if her brother was here¡­ I began to examine her closely. I went passed the basic ¡®glance¡¯ and looked deeper. First thing I noticed was that other than the black robe and a copper collar she was nude. With my supernatural awareness of my territory I could feel her skin under her robes. I mentally slapped myself after a few heartbeats of ogling. I could tell the girl was young at least judging by my culture. It was just so odd to feel someone the way I could now. I consoled myself saying, ¡°I do not have eyes, hands, or the family jewels. How else am I supposed to do this¡­ It felt kind of shallow even to me so I focused on the collar instead. ¡°This collar looks simple enough. Rough smithed copper, but ah¡­ Yes underneath next to her skin there are some kind of runic markings. I am not sure what it is supposed to do, but it can¡¯t be good.¡± I thought to myself in an internal monologue. Continuing the monologue I kept examining the collar, ¡°No can¡¯t be good, she has sores and blisters all over her throat where the collar has rubbed and chaffed. Let¡¯s see¡­ No way to open the collar either. It looks to be one solid piece of copper. No signs of a latch or lock¡­ Hmm¡­ How was it placed on her if there is no opening? Magic? Yeah it has to be.¡± When I sent a little mana into the collar the girl stopped rambling and screamed. To my surprise the runic markings absorbed the mana and began to burn the girl¡¯s throat. Apparently there was some kind of enchantment to prevent someone from removing the collar. As I watched the collar continued to rapidly heat up burning the girl. ¡°What did you do?¡± Ellinoria demanded. I was studying the runic markings as they worked to kill the girl and was rather annoyed by the interruption but replied off handedly, ¡°I was curious to see what the collar was for. I only sent a little mana into it.¡± Ellinoria screamed at me, ¡°It¡¯s a slave collar! What else could it be!?!¡± I mentally shrugged. The girl was starting to rasp. The outer layer of her throat had melted and I could sense the bare muscles, and bones underneath. ¡°Do something!¡± Ellinoria shouted. ¡°Hmm okay¡­¡± I had sent a single point of mana into the collar to test it. From watching the runes I understood that was why it was killing her slowly. Anyone who actually tried to tamper with the collar would never do so with such a minor amount. Normally the collar would have exploded completely removing the girl from her head. As it was I could trace the markings and follow the magic coursing through them. I carefully watched the flow of the mana. I spent a moment considering how easy it was for me to understand once I actually saw the runic markings work. Seeing them work made all the difference apparently. I could see the reason for each rune, its purpose, and function. I could tell how each rune either set a rule for the mana or set up a slight alteration that was then further adjusted by the next rune. Moreover I understood how the runes were meant to be shaped and how each of these was flawed in some small way. The girl¡¯s heart was beginning to slow as blood pooled around her. She had not taken a breath for close to a minute now.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°She is about to die Alex! I chose her and you will do something Alex!¡± Miffed now I stubbornly snarled, ¡°Will I? Why should I?¡± I was annoyed at the goddess for everything. I had so much built up anger and resentment for what was going on to me. I had been locked in a gem for months unable to talk to anyone. Unable to do anything. Worse yet the only one who I could talk to only talked to me when she chose to. I knew it was childish and misplaced but Ellinoria was here right now. She could be the target of my rage. As part of me began to berate the goddess for every slight, real or perceived another part of me studied the collar. I knew my emotions were getting better of me. I also knew that yelling at a literal goddess was damn stupid. Also this girl was a slave that maybe I could use to help myself. I found one of the flaws that looked promising. Using a single point of Mana I pushed at the imperfection. I made sure the energy went into the rune entirely into the poorly carved portion of the rune. I also pushed the mana reverse of the intended flow. To my satisfaction the magic gurgled and popped then the building cascade stopped. Ellinoria was yelling back at me now, but she stopped suddenly when the buildup of magic stopped. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°Shh,¡± I muttered. With another press of mana another set of runic commands broke. I mentally nodded understanding what I had just broke. Another point of Mana into another weak point and the collar popped open falling to the ground. I winced as chunks of the girls neck sloughed off along with the collar. Her heart was struggling to beat. Unable to find enough blood left to push through her veins. Briefly I considered letting the girl die. I could use another zombie, but before the mind reading goddess could say anything I began to fix the girl. First I used Earth magic to create ripples in the cave flor. The ripples pushed the blood back underneath the girl¡¯s body. Then using air magic I began to pick the blood back up and shove it back into the veins. I had to use a little air mana to keep the veins open and not collapse anything. I¡¯m sure to anyone who could have watched this it would have looked like her body was somehow sucking the blood back into her damaged neck. As I worked the pool beneath her began to shrink. Her heart also began to beat again. Cursing I remembered that many compounds in basic air are toxic to the human body. Before the heart pumped the blood to far in I pulled out all traces of the air except oxygen. I knew leaving too much of that could be bad too but her body was oxygen deprived so I hoped it would balance out. Pulling the blood from her robes I pushed the last of it back into her. Next I drew minerals from the ground. I could feel what each cell was made from and how they worked together to form working parts. I did not have any water, but earth I had. Slowly I stitched her throat back together. I broke down damaged flesh for its base parts and then rebuilt it. I even collected bio matter from a few insects higher up in my pillar of territory. After what felt like ages, but was only three beats of the girls heart I closed the last cells of her neck. With the completion of my task I looked at her neck. Her neck was fully healed and looked better now than it had when the collar was on it. ¡°Good, you fixed her. She is mine and you will not hurt her.¡± Ellinoria said in a happy contrite tone that dug under my skin. With a sadistic smile I pulled more Mana together before drawing trace bits of silver from the ground. Weaving the silver into an atom thick fiber I began to sew it into the girls flesh at a rapid pace. ¡°What are you doing to her? Stop it Alex!¡± I ignored the annoying goddess. Four more heartbeats later a prompt flashed in front of me. New Slave Contract Are you sure you wish to make Andrea Bloomquist you slave? Yes / No I mentally said ¡°yes.¡± A rush of mana flowed from me and Ellinoria groaned. ¡°Now she is mine too.¡± I thought in a childish manner. Andrea¡¯s eyes blinked open. Looking her over I did a double take. Her childish body had aged. Instead of looking 14 the girl now resembled a woman at the prime of her life. Additionally her slate grey eyes shifted and flowed into a glowing silver hue. As Andrea lay there she slowly reached up to feel her neck. With a surprised gasp she sat upright looking around wildly. Her gaze landed on the copper slave collar laying on the ground and froze. Watching her I considered the change. I must have been drawing from her life force to make up the portions of material I didn¡¯t have on hand. Maybe later when I was more experienced I could heal without aging my target but this was useful information too. ¡°I¡¯m older?¡± Andrea asked confused. Her gaze never left the collar on the ground. ¡°I¡¯m not a slave anymore?¡± I mentally shrugged actually feeling a little bad now. Slavery was illegal in my world after all. If it wasn¡¯t for my temper and Ellinoria I would never have considered making her my slave. ¡°Oh I see. I¡¯m not free¡­ I¡¯m just your slave now.¡± Andrea¡¯s eyes began to tear up as her brief flash of hope died. I heard her words and it took me a second to connect the dots. ¡°Wait can you hear me?¡± I asked. The girl nodded tears and silent sobs shaking her frame. I was struck dumb for two whole heartbeats then I went through a mental shutdown. With the reboot my attention split into various points again. I was annoyingly entranced by the extreme tightness of Andrea¡¯s now to small robes on her much larger frame. I was trying to figure out a way to console her. I was running through ways this could be used to free me. Lastly I noticed the vibrations of footsteps approaching the door into my heart room. ¡°Andrea,¡± I gently thought catching her attention. ¡°Someone is coming. They cannot find out about this. If they do they will not be pleased. I am not sure what they will do exactly, but I¡¯m sure it will not be good for us. Also please come back when you can, we have much to discuss.¡± Andrea nodded and stood pulling her hood over her head. I grimaced noting how much smaller her robe was now. Between heartbeats I made a decision. Using my knowledge of the fox fur I created threads. Weaving the threads I began at Andrea¡¯s head and dissolved the old robe as I wove her a new one. Once the new robe was complete I dyed the robed black. I also created a thin layer of fur inside the copper collar. Andrea shivered as the new robe seemed to materialize upon her. The fabric was much thicker keeping the cold cave air off her. It was also much softer and flowed like it was made for her. ¡°Pick up the collar and put it on. There is now a latch on the inside.¡± Andrea frowned at the collar but quickly bent over as the door swung open. She slipped the hidden latch holding the collar shut around her neck as the next apprentice walked in. With one last look toward me she turned and rushed from the room. I smiled thinking what I saw in her eyes. She was not excited to have a new master but there was curiosity in her eyes¡­ That I could work with. Chapter 14: Shopping for a Dungeon Andrea I partially ran from the room. As the door closed behind me I stopped breathing heavy. I could not let the others see me in such a panic they would at best know something was wrong and try to take advantage of it. At worst they would see that I¡¯m no longer the little girl they expect me to be. Moving my hands down my body I shivered I was a woman now. Full breasts, wide hips and a full head taller than I was! ¡°What did the dungeon do to me?¡± I whispered. With a shake of my head I slowly began to walk down the long cave tunnel toward the other rooms. Since I was done giving my Mana to the dungeon I was free until after the short sleep. That gave me time to think. I began walking to the cave where the apprentices slept, but as I neared the opening I thought better of it. The sounds of a fight and someone crying made me decide it was best not to intrude right now. Plus I did not want to chance anyone seeing my changes yet. I passed a split in the tunnel where two armored zombies glared at me. Since I did not near the tunnel into the Master¡¯s chambers they just watched though. Moving on I came to one of the two largest caves. This one was used to store the Skeleton army. A couple weeks ago it had been full of the white boned minions, now though it only had a little over a hundred. One thousand two hundred skeletons, three hundred Zombies, 24 Spirits, and 6 of the more experienced apprentices were sent out to search for the Other Ascenders¡¯. They were equally divided into 6 groups and sent to likely areas. They were also told to gather more ¡°volunteers¡± for the cause. As of yet none had returned and I secretly hoped none would. In the far back of the cave there was a small niche I had found a few weeks passed. It was near the back far away from any of the torches and covered in deep shadows. It was a perfect place for me to hide. It was my safe place in this dark place. Squeezing into the niche I began to cry. This larger body did not fit anymore! Try as I might but I could not fully hide myself. With tears leaking down my face I sat with my legs poking out. I sat there crying with giant silent sobs. Eventually I fell asleep. Waking stiffly some time later I guess it was still an hour before supper and the start of The Dark, where I would be expected to help prepare the army. Not feeling like moving yet I sat there and thought. ¡°Plus: I¡¯m free from the evil Necromancer. I¡¯m no longer her slave. Minus: I¡¯m the slave of an evil dungeon. Plus: I was given a much nicer robe and the collar no longer hurts me. Minus: I have no idea what the dungeon wants of me. Plus: The Dungeon ordered me to return, but never said when. Minus¡± I have nowhere else to go. Plus: If the dungeon kills me it is not likely to raise me as an undead. Minus: I¡¯ll be dead. Plus: Since I am no longer under the necromancer¡¯s control I am no longer bound by her rules. Plus: Maybe the dungeon is stupid and will keep giving me orders I can work around. Plus: It seems to know that we are both in danger and being used. Maybe it can help me get revenge on the necromancer. Plus, I spoke to a goddess and got a class. The longer I can stay alive and practice the longer I have to learn my new skills.¡± Feeling better about my situation I got up and went to get some of the gruel we were fed for meals. Then I steeled myself. I had to act like nothing had changed, like I was still the quiet little slave. I had to wait and learn. Alex Watching Andrea go I smiled, I now had one more tool in my arsenal. A Human slave could do things my other minions could not. I just had to ensure I treated her fairly and protected my investment. The next apprentice had begun to shove mana at me as I thought. Placing part of my attention on the routine I revised my plans. As apprentices came and went I considered, eventually the Master Necromancer came collected the day¡¯s skeletons and left. My mind raced as I thought through ideas and then threw them out. One was too risky. The next would take years. This one would hinge on a certain event that I could not count upon. As apprentices entered my chamber and began to work on the larger binding circle I was no further along than I had been hours before. As they left many hours later I finally came to two conclusions. First I had to do something to interfere with eh function of the new circle. It was a chance for me to break my bonds. Better yet I had a brand new slave who was smart enough to help me with this. Second I could not yet face the Master Necromancer. I did not know how strong she was, but even with the small force I was hiding I could not hope to stand against her in an even fight. I had to build up my forces, work on my skills and play the meek dungeon. I had one big advantage there. She was arrogant and assumed I was the normal common young dungeon who would still be driven solely on instinct and unable to think independently. Knowing this I pulled up my Dungeon statistics sheet to look over it carefully. Spoiler: Spoiler Dungeon Statistics Sheet Name: Alex Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave Level: 10 23% Common Statistics Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None Mana: 230 / 1,000 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day Core: Diamond / 10cm Heart Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10 Will: 10 Charisma: 10 Unspent Stat Points: 10 Dungeon Points: 100 Dungeon Statistics Type: Undecided Territory: 1m Rooms: 3 Floors: 1 Dungeon Species: Undead Population Statistics Family: None Slaves: Andrea Bloomquest Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 99, Human Zombie 5 Inhabitants: None Pets: None Titles / Achievements Title: Touched by Divinity Achievement: Touched Ellinoria Expand: Yes / No Skills Expand: Yes / No Skills Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 98 3% Summoning (Dungeon) Beginner: 1 0% Mana Control Novice: 14 47% Show Affinities: Yes / No Earth Affinity: Beginner: 23 67% Air Affinity: Beginner: 3 31% Death Affinity: Beginner: 96 10% Life Affinity: Beginner: 1 0% Show Languages: Yes / No Language ¨C English Advanced: 97 85% Language ¨C Spanish Beginner: 51 3% Language ¨C Japanese Novice: 3 92% Language ¨C Sylvan God-Like: 100 100% Language ¨C Axzeal Beginner: 42 21% Language ¨C Numark Beginner: 12 91% ¡°Well I see I¡¯ve improved with my affinities whatever that does. I also have not used any of that free stat points yet, but I really do not know what they do for me. Unlike my minions where they seem to have a direct correlation to Health or Mana mine seem almost frivolous. Then how about these dungeon points? If I recall from stories I got bored and read on Earth dungeons could access some kind of store or something to spend them. Do I have something like that?¡± This lead me to another series of guessing at commands to access the system. This one though actually wasn¡¯t too bad. On my third try I thought, ¡°Spend Dungeon Points¡± and a ding with a new prompt appeared in my mind¡¯s eye. Spoiler: Spoiler Message from the Gods: Welcome Dungeon to our catalogue. Here you can choose to spend your hard won dungeon points on evolutions, monsters, abilities, upgrades, or much more. If you¡¯re here on instinct alone then a patron deity will pick up your message shortly and spend your points as they see fit. If your here on your own then please say ¡°catalogue¡± Connecting to next free deity in: 10 9 8 7 6 I was stunned not only did it work but they had some kind of automatic system in place for dungeons who were not able to make choices on their own! 5 4 3 ¡°Catalogue!¡± I mentally shouted. ¡°Command not recognized. Did you say Peaches?¡± 2 ¡°No! Catalogue damn you!¡± ¡°Command not recognized. Did you say mushrooms?¡± 1 ¡°Oh for god¡¯s sake! I fucking hate you.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Command recognized. Accessing Catalogue. Please stand by.¡± ¡°You have to be kidding me! Why do all automated systems never work right?¡± The prompt in front of me expanded. Divine Dungeon Catalogue The best and the worst of what the mind¡¯s upstairs could come up with. Basic / Info / Titles ¨C Achievements SAS / Population / Structural Items / Upgrades / Misc. ¡°Okaaaay,¡± I thought ¡°let¡¯s start at the beginning as see what we have.¡± Basics Name / Variant / Type The name section allowed a dungeon to choose a name. Or change it for the cost of 25 dungeon points. Variant allows the dungeon to forcibly change its current classification. Sadly for me the option was greyed out. The last tab Type was interesting though. It allowed a dungeon to choose a speciality. There were common types like, Animal, Bug, Slime, Undead, and Goblin. Then there was more exotic ones like, Celestial, Bandit, Demonic, Universal, Draconic, and Giant. Sadly there was information on what choosing one did exactly so I refrained from picking something for now. Moving on I selected the Information tab. A massive list appeared. A mind numbing of things came up. It appeared that anything I wanted to know about being a dungeon, monsters, creatures, structures, abilities, spells. Pretty much anything I could think of was here and I could learn about it¡­ for a price. Curious I looked up information on Ellinoria and found a Biography, Religious Books, List of most powerful followers, Temple locations, Secret temple locations, even her Stat sheet. To my utter amazement though the cheapest was a whopping 1500 dungeon points with her stat sheet being a cool million. With a mental shake of my head I moved on and opened up the Titles and Achievements section. Here it appeared that I could buy some titles like, Humanbane, or Elfbane; which allowed my minions to deal more damage to that selected type. I briefly considered picking up Undeadbane but paused thinking I would see what else there was before I bought anything. Achievements allowed me to buy Achievements that I could qualify for. Right now the only thing on the list was Slave and to my embarrassment pervert. Yet again though no information was given on what they actually did. I suppose I could buy the info from the info tab, but seeing as neither was exactly what I could consider good I passed. Opening up the SAS tab I was again hit by lists upon lists of items. SAS Skills / Abilities / Spells The sheer number of options blew my mind. Just skimming I saw things ranging from Ambidextrous, to Mace Mastery, to Rage and so many more. The prices ranged from a mere 5 DP to a whooping one and half million for something called Summon Primordia. I was really getting frustrated with the lack of information though. Not a single item listed had more than just the name and price listed. To get an idea I searched for my Create Skeleton spell to give me a basis. Finding it I discovered that the entry was a drop down menu. After focusing on it a drop don of types of variant appeared. Gritting my teeth I began to search the list until I found Human. Raise Skeleton (Human) 5 DP On a whim I searched for all my current spells. I was disappointed to see that the spell for my SkeleBros were listed; I had really thought I had made something new. Create Skeleton (Brownie) 7 DP Raise Zombie 7 DP Summon Fox (Sly) 10 DP Having a little idea what I was looking for in comparison now I revisited the list with a more discerning eye. A couple things stood out on my second pass through. Alchemy (Beginner) 10 DP Chemistry (Beginner) 10 DP Fireball (Minor) 10 DP Grease 5 DP Holy Affinity (Beginner) 10 DP Lip Reading (Beginner) 5 DP Magic Mouth 10 DP Raise Bone Dragon 500 DP Raise Vampire 100 DP Read Magic 5 DP Shield (Minor) 5 DP Sleep (Minor) 10 DP Summon Nymph (Wood) 100 DP Unholy Affinity (Beginner) 10 DP Some stood out for obvious reasons like Fireball. Who wouldn¡¯t want to be able to throw Fireballs all whilly Nilly like. Others like Magic Mouth were more utilitarian. Perhaps with it I could talk to someone. I was about to buy that one then paused. As it was now if I was ordered to tell the Master Necromancer something I had limited ways of doing that. If I had this spell then I could be ordered to give up all my secrets. Perhaps I should wait and suffer in silence. Glumly I moved to the Population tab. Population Plants / Insects / Animal Magical Beasts / Constructs / Guardians Sapients / Extra Planer / Misc. Soooo many options I complained. It was Exciting really. All the different options and creatures. It was just a bit overwhelming. It was really striking home that I was completely stuck in a world of high Fantasy. Token would chew off his left arm seeing all the options in front of me. Again I hesitated before buying anything. This time for a couple reasons. First I had no rooms to populate. Second I did not understand the difference between a creature I Summoned or Created with a spell and one bought in the catalogue. For example I could cast the Summon Fox (Sly) spell and get me a fox or I could buy one in the catalogue for 2 DP. I really wanted to experiment and see, but I still had the issue of being a slave to contend with. Grinding my nonexistent teeth I moved to the next tab Structural Halls / Rooms / Doors Decoration / Themes / Traps Barriers / Enchantments / Misc. To my further frustration and a little relief everything here was greyed out. If I had to guess I simply did not have the territory to buy any of these things. Although I also had another question arise; did I have to buy things from the shop? My status sheet clearly showed I had three rooms, and I know I never bought any of them from the catalogue. So maybe these were extra? Or in addition to what I built on my own. This may also be a way for non-intelligent dungeons to expand. Now that made sense. The items list was exactly what I predicted. Lists upon lists of stuff. They were divided into nifty categories anyone whom had ever looked at Amazon could easily navigate. Everything from weapons, armors, books, potted plants, to yep even the kitchen sink¡­ well a stone basin at least. Seems indoor plumbing was something I may need to bring to this world. Shaking my head I growled in frustration. ¡°I am a dungeon! Why do I need indoor plumbing?¡± The familiar feeling of the themes and the catalogue in general had made me slip into habits and thoughts of my old life. Although having some of these things here did make me consider there may be more options than just an adventurer eating monster for my future. Opening Upgrades I smiled. Upgrades Attributes / Species / Core Offense / Defense / Misc. I clicked on each tab in turn Attributes Increase Health Points 50 DP Increase HP Regeneration 50 DP Increase Mana Points 50 DP Increase Mana Regeneration 50 DP Unlock Strength 100 DP Unlock Constitution 100 DP Unlock Dexterity 100 DP Increase Intelligence 20 DP Increase Wisdom 20DP Increase Charisma 20DP Increase Attribute Gain 100 DP Increase Dungeon Point Gain 100 DP ¡°Huh, these actually seem straight forward.¡± I thought to myself, before moving on. Species Dungeon Current Dungeon Master 500 DP Dungeon Overlord 1,000 DP Overlord 5,000 DP Divine Overlord 1,000,000 DP ¡°Well I wonder what this would do. I mean what is the difference between each one? Especially the Divine Overlord¡­ I mean come on a million points?¡± Core Increase Mass 10 DP Decrease Mass 15 DP Change Shape 20 DP Change Material 100 DP Create Core 100 DP Copy Core 100 DP Create inactive Core 50 DP Create Pedestal FREE Create Dungeon Alter FREE Align Affinity FREE Beseech Patron FREE Turn Glow On / Off Off ¡±All¡¯ll righty then, so this would alter my core¡­¡± Before I could hesitate I selected the free ¡°Create Pedestal.¡± A rush of light filled the room and suddenly my core that had been floating above the ground was now comfortably nested in a soft looking pillow atop a meter tall blood red marble column. The column was carved in a manner that would fit in with any of ancient Rome. The marble had darker red swirls with some gold and silver veins flowing through it. ¡°Ugh yeah there is no way this won¡¯t be recognized. I may want to wait on any of the other freebies. No pint in alarming the Necromancers even more¡­¡± Offense Unlock Core Offense Abilities 250 DP Defense Unlock Core Defense Abilities 250 DP ¡°Well I guess I¡¯ll have to wait to see what I can do with these two.¡± I muttered frowning. The last tab was Misc. and it was currently greyed out as was the Misc. tab on the main selection. With a sigh I metaphorically sat back and considered my new options. One thing was for sure. This expanded the possibilities immensely. Both for freeing myself and for my future afterward. Chapter 15: Twin Peaks Chapter 15 Alex I spent the rest of the night considering my options. It was after all an important decision and I figured right now it did not seem to be that I had to rush. When the first apprentice entered my heart room to transfer his mana, I had come to one conclusion. I did not have nearly enough information. As much as it galled me I found three purchases in the information tab. Idiot¡¯s guide to the Attributes for Dungeons. 10 DP Idiot¡¯s Guide to the Dungeon Catalogue 10 DP Idiot¡¯s Guide to Deities 5 DP The first one I figured would help me discover exactly what I should use my free stat points on and what each stat really did. The second would give me a greater understanding of the catalogue. I know it kind of seemed like a waste of a full level worth of DP but I knew I was missing something important and I hoped this would help me discover what. The last one¡­ Well the more interaction I had with Ellinoria and the more I heard of the other gods the less I thought about them. It was starting to seem to me that the gods of this world were a bunch of childish high schoolers with a lot of power and free time. I really hoped this guide would prove me wrong. With a reluctant sigh I confirmed my purchase. I felt something in me leave. Not sure what exactly but something and then¡­ Information flooded me. It was like someone turned on a light switch connected to my brain and let electricity shoot through me. It hurt and it hurt a lot! I was screaming and if I had hands I would be ripping out my hair. The process lasted for¡­ well I have no idea how long, but when it stopped I had my first complete loss of conscience ¡°Dungeon! You will obey me!¡± The Master Necromancer was screaming at me. For the life of me though I could not figure out why. Everything was foggy and unclear. ¡°Dungeon respond!¡± She was right outside the binding circle with two nervous looking apprentices a short distance behind her. She had been ranting for a bit evidently because the anger and magic she was channeling had made her eyes glow a sullen red. Spittle lined her lips and chin. The hood of her dark black robe had fallen off exposing her full face and the utterly insane look warping her gaunt features. I felt the compulsion to obey to respond to her, even though I had no idea how I was meant to respond. As my instinctual self-began to turn toward my hidden minions I realized I had to do something. The binding circle forced me to do something and if I didn¡¯t choose a way to respond then my baser self would for me. Thinking quickly I realized I had never created the Skeleton for the apprentice and judging by my current mana I was behind two Skeletons. The instant I realized that and decided that could be a response my instinctual self acted. Mana rushed from me. It began to alter the world building the two Skeletons. The process seemed to happen at a leisurely pace to me, but I knew from the point that I started the construction to the end less than a minute passed. To the outside world the Skeletons appeared to rise from the ground like they were pulling themselves from it. ¡°Huh,¡± I thought. ¡°This is kind of new.¡± Normally when I created the skeletons they just formed fully standing. It seems that the effects were different if I let my dungeon instincts handle them. I had to truly admit this way of creation looked a lot cooler and could be used to scare the unobservant. If someone paid close attention though they would notice that the ground itself was never disturbed. The apprentices were not observant. The woman¡¯s eyes narrowed in suspicion and the man visible blanch and swayed precariously. In contrast the Master Necromancer just watched with eyes full of rage. Once the Skeletons were fully formed she shouted at me, ¡°Give me full control of them!¡± I was about to issue my normal set of commands but paused. She said full command¡­ She did not say¡­ ¡°Skeletons, you will obey her commands and follower her orders, except when they contradict my own or my slaves.¡± I had barely issued the command before the Master Necromancer shouted, ¡°Skeletons come out of the circle.¡± Since this command did not pose any issue to any command they already had the Skeletons began to leave the circle. I shot another command to them before they stepped out of my territory, ¡°You will obey my slave except when it contradicts my own commands. You will obey my orders above all others.¡± It was a close thing. The thought had barely flowed with power as their feet passed over the damned binding circle. ¡°Dungeon, I do not know what game you are playing or what you think you are doing, but you are my slave. You will serve and obey me!¡± I held my metaphorical breath. With the right set of wording she could completely ruin all my plans. She could give me such rigid commands that I would have no wiggle room to attempt to free myself. ¡°Dungeon when you receive enough mana from my apprentices you will Cast Raise Skeleton immediately. You will not wait. You will then give me complete control over the Skeleton.¡± ¡°Oh please let that be all.¡± ¡°You will not continue these games of making the Skeletons appear in unusual ways. You will not alter the Skeletons in any way. You will ensure they do not fall apart.¡± She paused, then smiled cruelly, ¡°And you will no longer have them take mana from me, you will have them draw the mana from my apprentices.¡± She smile turned dark, ¡°You did not think your attempts to weaken me would go unnoticed did you? If you had a body I would flay you for attempting something so devious. But you do not, so I will consider other ways to punish you.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. She turned and pushed between the apprentices shoving them to the side roughly. At the door she turned, ¡°Oh and in three days I will be expanding your circle. You will grow your domain to the larger circle and then we will begin working on stronger minions.¡± I felt the door slam closed. Then the rapid footfalls of the two apprentices and the door closed a second time. The Air moving ever so slightly was the only noticeable indication that another apprentice had entered as the first two left. A moment later more mana began to be pushed into my circle and I let out my held breath. ¡°Can she really be that stupid? How can she not be sure to give me more crucial commands?¡± I thought. To my surprise Ellinoria responded, ¡°She thinks that since the gods gave her the knowledge to create you that you are designed to obey. So she is not as paranoid as she should be. Oh and she is distracted.¡± My curiosity was stoke, ¡°Distracted by?¡± I had a moment of worry that Andrea may have been discovered. ¡°No the girl is fine. The Necromancer is distracted because her plans are not going as she designed.¡± ¡°What do you mean? What happened?¡± But I got no response. Once again the goddess paid attention and spoke to me only when it was convened for her. Growling in frustration I began to mentally sort through the information I had gained. The information that had caused this whole mess to begin with. First I focused on the annoying Gods. Most of the information was put together like a badly written infomercial. Lots of hype and very little content of substance. Apparently there is six divine courts that rule over this universe. A court of Orderly Light. A Court of Chaotic Darkness. A Court of Good and Life. A court of Evil and Death. And a court of Neutrality and Command. Each of these courts contained hundreds of gods and goddesses vying for power between themselves and the other courts. The last court had only three siblings. It was these three that created this Universe. They created 3 gods for each of the lesser courts and told them to go forth upon the realm. The lesser courts were given a simple edict; Do as you wish upon this reality, but only one court can survive and ascend to become Elder Gods. Thus strife was driven between the courts. The Elder gods retreated from reality to watch what became of their little game. As if on an afterthought they departed leaving a set of rules and regulations that the lesser gods, their mortal creations and the worlds created must follow. Nothing was mentioned how the courts went from 3 deities per court to hundreds. Nor what the Rules and Regulations were. After reviewing the information I was rather disappointed in the lack of useful material. Nothing was mentioned about gods names, what they wanted, or even really explaining what the courts each really valued. ¡°So now you know.¡± Ellinoria spoke in a sullen tone. ¡°What do I know?¡± I asked confused. Suddenly there was a jerking sensation like someone grabbed me behind my belly button and pulled. Then I was standing back in my body in a richly appointed house. It was kind of smallish. With only two doors leading from a 3m x 4m large living space. The door behind me appeared to lead outside and judging by the view out of the windows next to it the house was set high up in a tree. To my left was a series of bookshelves; but there was not a single book upon them. Instead there sprawled all manner of animals. Most watched me with curious eyes, but others napped lazily. A Large neon blue bird sat atop what I swear was a leopard atop the closest bookshelf. To my right was a large fireplace with a cauldron bubbling happily. Directly in front of me was a dark wooden table with four lavishly decorated chairs. In one of those chairs sat a sullen looking Ellinoria. ¡°You know that we¡­ the gods are nothing but directors interpreting the script someone else made. You know we are bound by what we can and cannot do. You even know that we are not truly immortal.¡± I nodded slowly as if agreeing. Most of what she said I could guess from what I read, but here she was confirming it. ¡°Mortals think the pantheon is a great all knowing all powerful thing. But we are not. We are nothing more than puppet masters pulling at strings and hoping to get the results we desire.¡± A low deep melodic voice purred from behind me, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her, little Dungeon. She is a goddess of Fae and there is nothing the Fae love more than feeling sorry for themselves.¡± Both Ellinoria turned to see the new arrival. When I saw the woman standing there I did a double take, then looked at Ellinoria and back again. This new woman looked exactly like Ellinoria but yet still different. Wait! I could actually see Ellinoria now! She was not covered in mist anymore. Ellinoria had a dark sun kissed complexion. Long golden blonde hair that fell down her back. Her heart shaped face held amazingly deep blue almond shaped eyes, rose colored lips, and a cute button nose. From what I could see she had a tall athletic form with ample curves in the right places and she was proportioned just as I had imagined from my brief touch. This new woman was an exact copy with a few notable exceptions. First instead of sun touched skin, the new woman¡¯s¡­ goddess I corrected myself there was no doubt about that little fact. Her skin was snow white like it had never seen a speck of light. Her hair likewise was pure white. Not the grey of age. No this was fresh snow white. Her eyes were dark red, the color of dried blood. Her lips a pale blue like they had never known warmth. Where Ellinoria wore an elegant looking white toga. The new Goddess wore a black one. ¡°Noria why are you here!¡± Ellinoria hissed sounding alarmingly cat like. ¡°Shh sister¡­ I felt you go fishing into the mortal realm and I wanted to see what you caught.¡± Noria was looking at me appraisingly up and down. I could not tell if she was judging me to fuck or eat, but either way it gave me the shivers. ¡°This is no concern of yours. He is my love.¡± ¡°Of Course it is my concern when my twin sister pulls the soul of a dungeon to her home. Especially when it is one you call love.¡± Noria said the last word with more scorn than I thought any one word could hold. ¡°Wait, how is it that this soul is here? How come it is looking at us and not dissolving into little bloody bits. Tasty meaty bits¡­¡± Alarmed at the turn in conversation I stepped away from the dark goddess. Her eyes never left me though. Nora¡¯s gaze shifted from looking at me to looking through me. I felt an energy flow through me and my mind. Before I even fully understood that something was moving inside of me, it was gone. ¡°Oh how delicious darling sister! To think your little Court of Life would stoop so low as to pull a soul from another reality. Then you managed to sneak that soul into one of our Dungeon Cores.¡± Ellinoria was suddenly beside me gripping tightly to my arm. ¡°You cannot tell your court! If the others found out that the Death Court discovered it and I was the leak¡­¡± She trailed off shivering. I opened my mouth to say something. Maybe to defend Ellinoria, or threaten this other goddess. Really I had no ideas; I¡¯m so far out of my comfort zone here that anything I did would have consequences that I did not understand. I was saved from finding out by a single delicate cold finger placed lightly upon my lips. ¡°Shh mortal let the Gods speak. Now sister, I have no intention of running your little secret.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t? Oh thank you Nor¡­¡± ¡°Of course not. If I told how would I blackmail you with it, silly.¡± Ellinoria¡¯s inane babble cut off and the goddess stiffened upon my arm again. In a hard voice far removed from any I had ever heard the bubbly goddess use before she asked, ¡®And what pray tell do you want, sister.¡± Noria stepped back moving her hand from my lips but grabbing my hand in the process. ¡°Oh and the claws come out finally!¡± She giggled. The sound of which sent shivers down my spine and brought me to full mast at the same moment. ¡°I do not want much, we are twins after all.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Ellinoria started to respond but Noria cut her off. ¡°¡±We are twins and twins share everything!¡± With a wickedly beautiful smile and a quick jerk Noria placed my hand upon her supple mountain peak. Ellinoria snarled and jumped at her sister claws extending from previously perfectly manicured nails. I never noticed though; I was screaming as cold washed all over my body at once tingling and numbing. Both of my lives flashed before my eyes then I began to fall. Chapter 16: Spirit Batteries Chapter 16 I kept falling until I smashed through what felt like a spider web. The sticky threads held arresting my descent for a fraction of a moment then snapped and I went through the gossamer like fabric. All at once the sensation was gone and I was back in my Dungeon Heart. It¡¯s normally regular pulse of soft illumination was gone. But as I steadied myself and focused it returned once more. Weak at first but with each passing Nano second my thoughts became clearer and the pulse became stronger; until both were normal. They were normal like I had not just been the object in a fight between gods. Mentally muttering to myself I examined my small domain. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure neither of them actually even care about me. I¡¯m just a toy to fight over. Like 5 year olds they will quickly get bored and forget about me.¡± ¡°I will never forget about you my love! You are special to me and my sister will not have you!¡± ¡°Oh, Babe, do not listen to the primadonna. Kick the prude to the curb. Sure I may get bored with you in time, but our time together you will never forget.¡± I tried to ignore the arguing Goddesses whom were currently using my head as an arena. Thankfully a Ping and the appearance of a prompt assisted in this. Achievement earned: Touched Noria You have touched the harlot Goddess Noria in an intimate way. Effect 1: Able to speak to Noria ¨C Just because you talk doesn¡¯t mean she will listen. Actually you can count on the fact that she won¡¯t. Effect 2: Divine Connection to Noria¡¯s domains ¨C Frost and Spirits Effect 3: Language granted ¨C Deathspeak Effect 4: Locked Effect 5: Locked Reading the prompt I ground my teeth, ¡°Oh geez not what I needed.¡± Another prompt appeared. Title Improved. You have unlocked a new aspect of one of your titles. Title: Touched by Divinity Your soul has been touched by a God or Goddess forever altering you. Effect 1: Astral Projection Effect 2: Ethereal Effect 3: Unknown Effect 4: Unknown Effect5: Unknown Clearing this prompt away I realized how much mana was free in my domain. The apprentice transferring mana to me had never ceased in his duty. I had just ceased in absorbing the loose mana. With a thought I grabbed the mana and pulled it toward my heart. The familiar rush of mana was comforting. I mentally smiled realizing the goddesses had also stopped arguing in my head. My peace was sort lived. An odd presence was suddenly in my small domain. ¡°Oh this is quaint.¡± I groaned, ¡°Hello Noria what can I do for you?¡± ¡°Well first off babe you can come out and give me a proper greeting.¡± I felt a tug and I was suddenly standing next to Noria beside my Dungeon Heart. ¡°What the¡­¡± I exclaimed in surprise. Then seeing the apprentice just outside the binding circle had still outstretched I gasped. ¡°Shit!¡± Looking around quickly I realized there was nowhere to hide. Bahahahahaha Noria broke into a fit of laughter seeing my panic, ¡°Oh babe! You should have seen your face!¡± I pointed at the apprentice whom had not reacted to the appearance of two people just a fraction of a meter away. ¡°What about him? Wait what is this?¡± I went from pointing at the apprentice to gesturing at myself. Another presence appeared behind me and Ellinoria¡¯s angry voice responded, ¡°Mortals can¡¯t perceive gods in our natural form. It would shatter them; body, mind, and soul.¡± I wanted to look at Ellinoria but my domain was too small to move back I did not feel that turning my back on Noria would been wise, so I just asked. ¡°And me, can¡¯t they see¡­ whatever I am.¡± Noria smiled, ¡°You¡¯re a spirit right now babe. Don¡¯t your read your messages. I know a number of completely worthless gods and goddesses whom would be utterly crushed to find out that you thought so little of all their hard work.¡± ¡°Ethereal?¡± I asked. ¡°Not just a face after all! There is a brain in there!¡± Noria said walking over the binding circle and looking around the room. Did she just call me ugly? Turning to glance over my shoulder at Ellinoria the Elf Maiden smiled then glanced back at her twin and frowned. ¡°He is not your babe! My love is very smart, and kind of not so bad looking.¡± Now that was an insult! Sure maybe I don¡¯t have the unnatural good looks of an elf, but for humans I wasn¡¯t bad! ¡°So anyway babe, as nice as this little cage of yours is I came by to give you a gift.¡± Noria waved her hand and two dark things appeared floating around my heart. Each one looked like someone had freed a person¡¯s shadow and allowed it to wonder off. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± ¡°No need to thank me babe. Just a couple Shades to liven up the place. Well I¡¯m off, see you in a couple weeks.¡± And she was suddenly gone. Not to be outdone Ellinoria waved her hand and two golf ball sized orbs of pale green light appeared near the ceiling: They immediately began a slow lazy circuit around the inner edge of my binding circle. ¡°Wisps.¡± She said before vanishing. ¡°Wait! What am I supposed to do with these things! And won¡¯t someone notice them!¡± I cried out. All four entities paused in their flights for a second before continuing and starting to make noises. The Shades began to let out low mournful groans and the Wisps tingled like wind chimes in a soft breeze. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry love. Mortals can¡¯t sense anything inside a Dungeons territory unless they are in it too. So no one will even know they are there.¡± ¡°No one except me.¡± I grumbled as a particularly loud set of moans and jingles echoed around the room. I retreated to the quiet of my Dungeon Heart. The irony was not lost on me. For months now I had wanted a way to see and hear what was going on outside my heart. I wanted a familiar way to see the world. Now I had one and I was running back to the quiet solace of my heart. I envied the Apprentice whom all this time had not so much as twitched a muscle in reaction to events happening around him. Hiding in my heart I waited for the four new additions to wonder out of my little slice of hell. To my surprise they continued their little circles through the remainder of this apprentices mana transfer and three more. As the fifth apprentice of the day neared the half way mark I attempted to examine them like I could my own creations. Name: Sara Species: Death Spirit Variant: Shade Level: 10 78% Common Statistics Health: 150 / 150 Health Regen: 15 / Hour Mana: 50 / 50 Mana Regeneration: 5 / HourEnjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Core: None Strength: 05 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 15 Intelligence: 05 Will: 05 Charisma: 05 Name: Pip Species: Life Spirit Variant: Wisp Level: 10 21% Common Statistics Health: 100 / 100 Health Regen: 10 / Day Mana: 100 / 100 Mana Regeneration: 5 / Hour Core: None Strength: 01 Dexterity: 20 Constitution: 10 Intelligence: 05 Will: 05 Charisma: 05 Astounded that it worked I projected my spirit from my Heart with a gasp. ¡°ECK!!¡± I screamed appearing half way inside a Skeleton waiting for the Master Necromancer. Stepping to the side I shivered. ¡°Oh that is going to take some time getting used to.¡± Shaking my head I looked at the two sets of creatures. ¡°Umm¡­ Sara are you able to understand me?¡± One of the shades moaned louder. ¡°Umm I¡¯ll take that as a yes. How about you Azriel?¡± nothing happened for a moment then one of the Wisps dipped slightly in its orbit akin to a nod. ¡°Huh.¡± I muttered trying to wrap my mind around the situation. With a smile I tried to use the Wisp¡¯s senses like I did the creatures I created. To my annoyance nothing happened. Shifting I tried the same to a Shade. Again the attempt failed. ¡°Huh, so you¡¯re not my minions I take it.¡± None of the noisy creatures daned to respond so I continued to muse. ¡°So are you something else? A slave perhaps?¡± One of the shades whizzed past me agitated. Before I understood the threat it struck me like a linebacker. I flew off my feet and into the air. I smashed into the magical barrier holding me captive like it was a solid wall and crumpled to the ground like an old sack of potatoes. After assaulting me, the shade resumed its slow spiral around my heart. Standing up quickly I began to snarl in anger, then paused. Looking down at myself I was not hurt. In fact my clothes had not even gotten dirty from the thick layer of dust on the floor. ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°Well even if that did not hurt, it was not very nice. Maybe I should destroy you and take your mana.¡± The shade moaned. ¡°I guess that does answer my question about you being my slave though. So not a slave, nor a minion. I am pretty sure we are not family¡­. That leaves¡­¡± I thought for a moment then snapped my fingers, or tried to but nothing happened. My fingers made the movement but there was no sound. Frowning I shook my head. ¡°The other options is Inhabitant. So does that mean you want to live in my dungeon? I briefly considered that they may not fit into any of those categories but I did not get the sense of an intruder so I dismissed the thought. Somehow the goddesses had given me creatures that my inner self recognized as mine somehow. I waited for a response from the spirit but never got one. Frowning I shrugged that must be the situation. They were not leaving my territory even though I¡¯m pretty sure they could¡­ right? Shrugging I continued my thought process. ¡°What if I do not want you to live in my dungeon? It is not like I have much room for you. And what are you going to do the whole time float around in circles? The Shades moaned and the Wisps jingled uninterrupted. Frowning I shook my head, ¡°No this won¡¯t do! You¡¯re not welcome!¡± The moment I put the thought through my head my instincts told me of intruders close to my heart! Gritting my teeth I ignored the reflex to attack and devour the interlopers. The shades screeched and clung tighter to my Heart. The wisps shot upward into the ceiling, but stayed in my claimed territory. Before I could do anything else I felt myself spin and start creating a Skeleton. My instinctual self-had detected the completion of the Mana transfer and taken over to complete the Master Necromancers commands. Rolling my eyes I stopped fighting the odd impulse and completed the creation. The apprentice seeing nothing odd about the new Skeleton turned and left the room. The next apprentice entered and two things struck me at once. First the next apprentice was my Andrea. Second I was still pulling mana from somewhere! Watching Andrea approach I detected a slight hesitation in her step. She was evidently unsure of what to expect with this meeting. Truth be told so was I. This girl was a key tool in any plan I had come up with to free myself, but she was still an unknown asset. Would she be a willing slave? Or would she fight me every chance she had? Another part of me felt for the other source of mana. I found it quickly! I was pulling small amounts of mana from each of the four spirits! The amount was small but it appeared the spirits did not EVEN notice the lost mana. So if I kept them around it would increase my mana regeneration like living batteries. With a shrug I turned toward Andrea as she finished the short walk to my binding circle. I noticed the closer she got the slower and less sure she became. She had entered the world sure and confident the vision of someone with purpose and a do not fuck with me attitude, now just a few short steps away she was nearly huddled in on herself as if she was expecting a beating. I had torn reactions should I try to reassure her? Or should I reinforce this response and train her to fear her new dungeon overload. She paused at the edge of my circle, ¡°Dungeon may I come in?¡± Not sure if she could hear a response I just waited to see what she would do. After a minutes hesitation she stepped over the border and frozen; eyes flying wide. First she focused onto the dark Shades moving around my heart like dark oily living shadows. Then they flew up to the jingling wisps as they chased one another around. Finally her eyes settled on me. The whites of her eyes were so large that her eyes had nothing but pupil showing. She took a half step back out before I raised my hand and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t go.¡± She paused unsure still prepared to flee. Trying to reassure her I gestured around my little area. ¡°Welcome to my humble abode. A few things have changed since your last visit.¡± I kept a wide smile on my face the whole time. Contrary to my desired reaction though the broad smile seemed to unnerve her even more. Stopping the absurd grin I shook my head, even in this life I could creep out girls¡­ Returning to my heart I spoke to Andrea. ¡°These are my new inhabitants. They will not harm you since you are mine. So we need to talk.¡± Andrea hesitated before carefully turning to my heart, ¡°Talk about what?¡± ¡°Our future of course.¡± I saw a tinkle of hope like a brief spark in her eyes; just for an instant then it was gone. ¡°Do you not mean your future? I am just your slave.¡± ¡°You are a salve for now perhaps, but that might be able to change in the future. For now though my future is your future. Regardless of how you feel about me,¡± I made an educated guess. ¡°Even though you¡¯re my slave now, you were not any better as a slave of the Necromancer, correct?¡± Andrea made a hesitant noncommittal shrug. I push on, ¡°But as a slave for me you have something going for you that you did not have before.¡± This time Andrea took the bait, in a self-mocking tone she asked, ¡°I do? What is that exactly?¡± Got her I thought. ¡°With me, your situation improves. Mainly because I need you; your old master had many slaves and you were one of many. Now you¡¯re my only. That makes you a lot more important and valuable.¡± Andrea shrugged. ¡°So? What would you have me do?¡± ¡°Tell me about yourself.¡± For the next hour and half Andrea did just that. After she finished with her story of what brought her here and how she became my first slave, a quiet pause settled over my domain. Even the spirits seemed to enjoy a good story. Finally I broke the silence. ¡°Well that sucks. Andrea frowned, then slowly smiled and finally began to laugh. ¡°Yes, yes it certainly does suck.¡± Smiling myself I issued her a command. ¡°Okay well time enough has passed. I need to plan. Stay safe, and return to me on your normal schedule tomorrow.¡± Andrea nodded a brief curt nod and spun to leave. A few steps out of my circle she paused, ¡°What about the Skeleton I was supposed to¡­¡± She broke off when a new Skeleton formed besides the others. I had used some of the spare mana I gathered from the other apprentices to cover the mana transfer Andrea was supposed to do. Seeing the Skeleton appear I watched through dead eyes as she smiled and left. Another apprentice entered the room a few moments later and began the transfer process none the wiser. Chapter 17: Planning for the Future Chapter 17 When Andrea came in the next day she nearly ran to the binding circle as soon as the door had closed behind the departing apprentice. Running into my territory she shouted, ¡°I¡¯m fucked!¡± She seemed to realize what she said and gasped bringing her hands to her mouth in astonishment. A little off put I couldn¡¯t keep the smile out of my voice as I forced concern into it and asked, ¡°What is wrong?¡± Andrea breathed in a couple rapid breaths before blurting out in a rush, ¡°You changed me¡­ I mean umm I became older and bigger. I had been sleeping in the gathering chamber to avoid the other apprentices notice. But that bitch Silvia came looking for me! She found me and grew suspicious when I wouldn¡¯t come out of the shadows. She finally cast some kind of spell at me. A black oily rope of smoke wrapped around me and pulled me toward her. When she saw I was taller she threw my hood off.¡± Materializing my spirit I looked at the girl. Her robe was different the new fox fur robe was gone it was replaced by a ratty faded black robe that had more holes then area it covered. Through the holes I saw numerous bruises and cuts covering her frame. Reaching out I used my dungeon senses and felt for life threatening injury. Andrea continued her explosive tirade, ¡°I refused to tell her what had changed me and why I had not told anyone. She assumed it was some kind of spell that I had developed and she wanted me to show her. When I refused she drug me back into the sleeping chambers with her black tendrils. There she stole my robe and threw me into a group of the men¡­¡± Andrea shuddered violently. Not sure if I cared, or should care, but sure I needed to I asked, ¡°Did they rape you?¡± Andrea¡¯s eyes flared and her jaw firmed, ¡°They tried. But I fought the weak bottom feeders off. If the stronger apprentices were not off doing something for the master I may not have been able too, but these were the weakest of the apprentices. Even as a group I am stronger.¡± Looking at the bruises and cuts I thought, ¡°Maybe but not by much.¡± I kept the thought to myself though. ¡°As I fought off the fuckers, Silvia left to go inform the Master about my changes. Once she learns she will order me to tell her. Then if I refuse she will know I am no longer her slave. I¡¯m fucked.¡± Andrea realized her language again and half raised her hand to her face in shame, then paused and shrugged before lowering her hand and setting her shoulders defiantly, daring me to say something. Frankly the cussing didn¡¯t bother me, but the defiant look in her eyes did. I had to do something about this willful child before she ruined my plans. In a calm and cold voice I issued her a command, ¡°You did well not just rushing to me. Instead you waited until your normal turn to report to me.¡± A smile spread across Andrea¡¯s face at my praise but it vanished as I continued. ¡°As I commanded you to. Now I see no cause to worry yet.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Nothing to worry about yet,¡± I spoke over her protests. ¡°This Silvia has to be one of the weaker apprentices too. As you said if she was one of the stronger she would have been with the others and not searching for you.¡± Andrea slowly nodded, ¡°So?¡± ¡°So, does the Master just listen to the stories of any apprentice? Does she have an open door policy where anyone can rush to her with their little problems?¡± Andrea shook her head. I thought not. Now this Silvia may try to gain some attention and she may succeed but right now it is very unlikely the Master will take notice. If others start to notice your changes though it may still cause some issue; eventually bring the Master¡¯s eyes upon you. Then Through you that attention will fall on me. So my plans must accelerate.¡± Andrea frowned, eyes narrowing, ¡°You plans must accelerate! What about me!?! You say I shouldn¡¯t worry yet, just because the Master may not notice yet, but others will! They will make me tell them what happened.¡± I nodded, ¡°Yes this is true. I cannot expect you to withstand continuous beatings without slipping. Really I should be proud you did not tell this time.¡± Andrea studied me as I spoke. As I continued to speak her face flushed even redder and her eyes nearly sparked with outrage. ¡°I commando you not to tell anyone about what occurred to you in this chamber. You are forbidden to tell anyone about me.¡± Andrea opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off again, ¡°You will also not object to this command in any way.¡± Andrea¡¯s mouth slammed shut not of her accord. After a minute passed as I considered the situation, Andrea said, ¡°They will kill me. You will lose your only slave.¡± Inwardly I smiled, she had figured out a way to make a statement without really objecting. Her comment was after all more of a probable fact. I nodded, ¡°They might try. How much mana do you have?¡± Andrea seemed taken aback by the question but was forced to answer quickly, ¡°110, I have an Intelligence of 11.¡± I nodded rubbing my chin, ¡°And what spells do you know?¡± ¡°None, the master is teaching s control over our mana first. Only the top 5 have achieved the control for her to teach them a spell. And my attempts at magic before all this never resulted in a real spell¡­ more of a cantrip really.¡± ¡°Ok let me think, for now go over to the new circle and make some changes for me.¡± Using my mental connection I showed her a set of images containing runes. ¡°Find every instance of this combo of runes. When you find them alter them into this.¡± I sent her another image this one containing the same runes except one of the runes was now slightly altered. Having spent some time studying the runes I had come up with this alteration. This new change would not cause the circle to explode or anything else so violent. From the outside perspective nothing would be different once the circle was active. For me though I would no longer be enslaved. The circle would still limit my domain, but I would not be forced to obey anymore. Better yet with this slight change the Master Necromancer would not know the difference either. Every test I had sensed her use would show that I was still a thrall under her control. I had considered breaking the circle entirely, but I threw out the idea when I could not find another way to change the runes so as not to be detected. I knew she was underestimating me, but I didn¡¯t think she would be so rash as to lower the smaller circle until she was sure the larger worked correctly. After I was no longer bound by her commands I could work on complete freedom.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Andrea shivered as my mental presence left her and then hurried to obey my command. The larger circle was about 90% complete now and I estimated that it would be about 7 more days before it was finished. Watching the girl work I considered her. She did need something to protect her from the others. A spell or weapon. Sadly I had no weapons and only knew a couple spells. Creating a Skeleton or Zombie required a corpse and the cast time was too long to really be helpful in an emergency. That left summoning a Sly Fox. The mana cost was low and the cast time was instant. It was perfect for her. Well except it was a Life spell and she is currently being trained as a Necromancer. I guess I¡¯ll find out if that matters. If she can¡¯t learn a spell of the Life Affinity then I¡¯d have to figure out something else. I have hope though Ellinoria did choose her after all. As she worked I created a plan. I didn¡¯t think I could just download the spell into her head like I did the images of the runes. That meant a more traditional teaching method. Half an hour later Andrea completed the small change on every copy of the runes around the circle and came back into my domain. Without preamble she spoke, ¡°Can you at least heal me and fix my robes? I feel so exposed like this.¡± As she spoke she gestured at herself. I watched her hands and caught a glimpse of nipple as a rip moved across her chest. She saw me staring and blushed a dark red. Even as her expression hardened. Catching her eye I shrugged, ¡°No I won¡¯t. If I heal you or fix your robes it will just draw more attention to you.¡± Before she could say anything I continued, ¡°I have already checked you for anything life threatening and all I found was superficial wounds. They may hurt but you will not suffer long as they will heal quickly. As for the robes. You may be able to come up with an explanation of one set of robes like that, but how would you explain two??¡± I let the thought settle for a pregnant second, ¡°No we are both better served if you gain a new robe in some other fashion. Perhaps take your old one back from this Silva¡­¡± Andrea nodded reluctantly, ¡°I would but with her spell I do not stand much chance at a fair fight.¡± I smiled, ¡°Who said you should fight fair? Attack the bitch while she sleeps for all I care. Plus I think it is time you learned a spell.¡± Andrea froze at the announcement as if expecting me to say I was kidding. A full minute passed in silence before I shrugged, ¡°Well if you do not want to learn one then¡­¡± ¡°I do! I do! What are you going to teach me? Can I throw lightning bolts? Or maybe Fireballs? Oh oh how about flying!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at her excitement, ¡°No no little necromancer nothing so ¡­ ambitious.¡± ¡°Then what? I do not want to be a necromancer!¡± The demanding tone in her voice was almost to the point that it needed a response, but I let it pass knowing she was young and I had just offered her something she had dreamed of her whole life. ¡°You saw those foxes the other day?¡± Slowly she nodded, ¡°Yes the ones you¡¯re ¡­ your zombies ate.¡± ¡°Yes those. I am going to teach you how to summon one of those.¡± I expected her to be upset or at least disappointed, I had not expected her to rush passed the standing Skeletons and lunged at me attempting to give me a full body hug. ¡°Oh thank you! They are so cute!¡± She completely threw herself at me in her excitement and when she passed right through my ethereal form she squeaked in surprise as she fell headlong into the marble pillar holding my heart. With a WHACK her head hit the marble and she went slack, falling the few remaining inches to the ground. Moving over to her unconscious form I muttered, ¡°What is with women and these foxes?¡± Reaching out I put the index finger of my right hand into her forehead feeling if she was okay. She would have a huge bruise but she would be fine. ¡°Since she is out I might as well take advantage of it.¡± I said to myself. Then paused, ¡°Huh talking to myself in my heart seems to have made some bad habits.¡± Shrugging I continued. I had decided that even though I did not believe I could just shove the knowledge of how to cast the spell into Andrea¡¯s mind, I figured I could lay the ground work. Using the full extent of my mental link with her I pressed the memories of the sensations and emotions of the casting. I imposed upon her mind what it felt like to successfully channel the mana in the correct pattern. I pushed the emotional state one needed for this specific casting. I paused for a Nano second to consider that one. It had come as a surprise to me to learn that emotion played a big role in spell casting. If you did not feel and endorse the right emotions in the correct combination at the right time then your spells would not work. Emotion played as big of a role as say the words, gestures, and even the mana. For example to create a skeleton one had to hold a loathing and hatred of the world. To force a body to reform and work passed the departure of the soul required an amazing amount of hatred. A zombie required hatred too, but you also had to add a fair bit of defiance. Defiance in the face of death. Defiance to refuse to let the soul properly depart and to shackle it to the dead body. The foxes need a sense of freedom and curiosity. This knowledge and more I placed into the girls mind as she stirred then awoke. I stepped back through my heart and watched her from eh other side. Rubbing her head she groaned. ¡°Ugh, ouch.¡± Then she paused her eyes losing what little focus they had regained. ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I understand. I had never realized that¡­ I see.¡± She turned to me, ¡°Can you teach me the rest? I can tell there are parts missing.¡± I nodded as I said, ¡°Yes but the rest you must learn the normal way.¡± Setting down next to her I began to instruct her in the summoning of a sly fox. An hour and half later Andrea screamed in glee as a small form materialized in front of her. It had taken slightly longer than her normal transfer time to learn the spell: but I still expected she had learned it quickly. To my surprise and delight. Each failed casting caused the entire amount of mana needed to cast the spell to fizzle into the air. Andrea never seemed to notice, but I devoured the free mana like a delectable morsel. If I could get more people in my domain living and learning magic¡­ An idea was beginning to form in my mind of a possible future. Shaking my head I focused on the girl turned woman before me. She was holding the small fluff ball in her arms petting it wildly. Considering I thought it prudent to lay a few more commands on my slave¡­ just in case. ¡°You will not through action or inaction do anything to cause harm to me. Nor will you allow others to do so. This includes creatures you may be in control of or had control of at some previous point. You will also not teach others any spell you learn from me without getting my approval first.¡± Pausing to consider I nodded content with my foresight. Andrea¡¯s face clouded in confusion then realization before her eyes narrowed; angry at the additional command. I was happy to see though that the thought had not yet crossed her mind. Perhaps it never would have, but now I did not have to worry about her summoning something in my domain and letting it lose to kill me. ¡°You should go now. You do not want the others to grow angry with you.¡± Andrea stood watching me. Her fox close by her side. I pointed at it, ¡°You will have to leave that here.¡± Andrea¡¯s eyes flew wide, ¡°Why! Oh please don¡¯t make me leave foxxie!¡± It already had a name? Shaking my head I sighed, ¡°No, you cannot go around with it following you. You can summon more if you absolutely need. But you should only do so in an emergency. Otherwise you will draw even more attention and you do not want that do you?¡± Andrea paused looking at the fox, then slowly shook her head with tears streaming down her face. ¡°No¡­ I do not want that. Stay foxxie be a good kit and stay.¡± Turning she began to walk out of my domain. Before she crossed the barrier I did two things. I opened up a hole beneath the fox into the cave where my zombies slept. Second I sent her one more command. ¡°You will return to me tomorrow at your normal time; unless your life is in danger. Then you will return post haste.¡± She did not even look back as she left. Before the door fully opened I closed up the hole and returned to my hart, then created another Skeleton for the Master Necromancer. With an evil grin I thought to myself as the next apprentice walked toward my prison. ¡°I will create a nice zombie from your corpse soon my Master.¡±