《The Dungeon King》 Chapter 1 - The Dungeon Fairy ''Is... Is he dead?'' A small voice, it was difficult to make out where it came from. It was dark, as well as cold. Suddenly, a faint light could be seen and a small sprite came into focus. ''He''s alive, thank the gods... But he''s hurt... And very badly. Hey mister, can you hear me? I can''t save you unless we have a contract!'' Contract... Those words, were like a fire. The young man, who was before covered in darkness opened his eyes. The light of the small sprite reflected off his eyes, like stars in the sky. ''... Contract...'' An agonised whisper. It was the most he could do as injured as he was. The sprite replied, ''We have an accord and a contract has been struck. Welcome home, my dungeon master!'' Blue light burst out, showing the entire cave, the greatly injured youth and the small sprite. As the light started to dim, it condensed into a crystal the size of a small stone that was floating about a meter in the air. The light around the sprite condensed as well and it grew. It was about the size of a normal person''s hand, and it was definitely a she. She was pale, with green hair and a blue dress that seemed to be made of petals. Behind her spread two pairs of dragonfly wings that beat slowly keeping her afloat. ''Little fairy... Just who are you?'' The young man was on his last breaths, and was delirious. The fairy replied, ''I am now a dungeon fairy, and you are my new dungeon master! Master, do you wish to heal yourself? Looking at you, it will take a lot of resources... We''ll have to sacrifice a lot but we can just about manage it.'' The young man nodded. A faint light surrounded him and his body slowly faded from view, then the light shot into the crystal that had appeared. ¡®Wait, master, what is your name? What do I call you?¡¯ ¡®Alex¡­ you can call me Alex.¡¯ When I entered the void, a barrier was placed around me and I started accelerating through the pitch black nothingness. And then, the pain started, it wasn¡¯t like being attacked by swords or being shot by a gun. It was pressure, and the force of acceleration beyond what humans are built to endure. When I had been in the void for perhaps an hour, the space twisted, and¡­ without so much as a sound my right arm was mutilated and burst into fragments of flesh, blood and bone. Pure agony, I used whatever magical power I had left to stop the bleeding. Another hour in and another fluctuation within the space and this time my right leg exploded. I was beginning to lose consciousness when the pressure disappeared. It wasn¡¯t a long journey, but I was critically injured and worse I was losing consciousness fast. If I fainted, I would probably never wake again. As I struggled to stay awake, I heard it. ¡®Is¡­ is he dead?¡¯ A small voice, I couldn¡¯t see where it came from, all I saw was a faint light. ''He''s alive, thank the gods... But he''s hurt... And very badly. Hey mister, can you hear me? I can''t save you unless we have a contract!'' Contract! That word was like a fire that coursed through my body, searing the blood vessels, giving me energy. I struggled with all my might to open my eyes. When I opened them, I could see a small sprite, just a wisp of light that strangely looked concerned.
A dungeon spirit has offered you a contract. Do you wish to accept?
My throat was dry however I managed to croak out that word, ¡®¡­Contract¡­¡¯ The sprite seemed elated, ''We have an accord and a contract has been struck. Welcome home, my dungeon master!''
A contract has been formed.
The contract: Dungeon Master has been added to your archives.
The new class: Dungeon Master has been added and assigned.
New abilities and skills available.
I lost sight of the sprite as a bright light enveloped me and a series of messages popped up in front of me. Ha, my first messages in this new world. I was a transmigration traveller from Earth, not a reincarnator like a majority, and therein lay the difference. The word ¡®Contract¡¯ had a special meaning for me. I brought up my status menu.
Name: Alexander
Race Human Titles Void Traveller (Rank ???, ???)
Class Contract Summoner Last Human Survivor (Rank???, ???)
Dungeon Master
Stats
Strength 6 (13 + 3 - 10) Agility 6 (15 + 1 - 10)
Intelligence 15 Stamina 8 (17 + 1 - 10)
Magic power 15
Total Power/Potential 50 (75 + 5 ¨C 30)/500
StateStolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Critically injured after sustaining the pressure from the void. Right arm and right leg were both pulverized. (Strength, Agility and Stamina -10 each)
Skills Contract (Rank A, Active and Passive); Dungeon Master (Rank Unique, Active and Passive); 2 skills sealed due to injury
Skills and Equipment Steel Sword (Rank D, Strength +3); Twin daggers (Rank E, Agility +1); Leather armour (Rank F); Iron Chestplate (Rank E, Stamina +1)
My injuries were extensive, my state showed me that. On earth I hadn¡¯t been the strongest human however I had been the last one to survive. It was all because of my special skill, Contract. Thus when I heard that word again, it was like an electric shock running through my system. I looked closer at the skills section.
Contract (Rank A, Active and Passive) Lv2 Mastery 23.7%
The power of the king, a contract is signed by the king and his subject. An ancient ritual that connects the king to his or her subject that transcends both time and space. There are 5 levels of contract involved and the details of the contract will differ depending on certain circumstances, however there is a commonality to the contracts signed. If special prerequisites are met, this skill can evolve
Create Contract A contract will be made At each level of mastery, signing the contract will assign an extra effect Level 1: The contractor and contracted will be linked by soul and magic. Extra effects of contract depend on the contractor and contracted. 20%: If conditions are right, the contractor will be able to summon the contracted regardless of circumstances. The contracted will be enhanced with 1% of the strongest stat of the contractor
Recent Contracted: Dungeon Fairy (Lv1): Signing this contract allows the contractor to become master of the dungeon, unlocking Dungeon master as a class and allows telepathic communication with the dungeon¡¯s fairy. Other Contracted: Locked
Dungeon Master (Rank Unique, Active and Passive) Lv1 Mastery 0%
Formed from the contract between a dungeon fairy and the dungeon master. This is an ancient bond that forms a unique existence, one that allows for the creation of life, death, new magics and countless possibilities.
Unlocks the dungeon master class Allows access to the dungeon menu Dungeon abilities and skills unlocked Dungeon view unlocked Level 1: Dungeon Abilities (Absorption, Dungeon Map, Dungeon Contract); Mana manipulation (Absorption); Soul manipulation (Absorption) Next ability unlock: Level 2
Contract was the ability I had received when the game first started on Earth. It had absolutely no offensive, defensive or supportive value whatsoever¡­ however it was the key to unlocking such. It was strange that the dungeon had something similar. I could draw contracts with anything and then fight with them in battle. It sounds like an incredible power, until I realized that I had to fight and subdue them first. I had no powerful skills, my physical abilities¡­ well it would be kind if you were saying they were average. What I did have however, were two people that helped me. I owe them everything. One was my best friend, we called him Bird. He unlocked some sword powers and he quickly became unstoppable for the monsters that were attacked. The other was my elder sister, nicknamed Cadet, after she came back from the army. She had trained as an army doctor and that proved to be the backbone of our group as we collected more and more survivors and tried to break free and find sanctuary in a world that was increasingly violent and unpredictable. While I was lost in thought, the dungeon fairy entered the came back into focus. ''Little fairy... Just who are you?'' It was difficult to speak. I didn¡¯t even know if I was going to make it. After coming so far¡­ I felt a slight twist of fear within me. I didn¡¯t want to let everyone down. The fairy replied, ''I am now a dungeon fairy, and you are my new dungeon master! Master, do you wish to heal yourself? Looking at you, it will take a lot of resources... We''ll have to sacrifice a lot but we can just about manage it.'' Heal? She can heal me? I wanted this more than anything. I had so much I had left to do. Everyone was counting on me. I nodded my head and a warmth wrapped around me and I found my body floating towards the dungeon crystal that had formed. ¡®Wait, master, what is your name? What do I call you?¡¯ ¡®Alex¡­ you can call me Alex.¡¯ I entered the dungeon crystal¡­ it was the size of a pebble yet it when I entered, my body was floating suspended in space. ¡®Little Fairy, what do I call you?¡¯ ¡®Master, you will have to give me a name, that is your right.¡¯ ¡®I have to give you a name? Well since I¡¯m Alexander, I¡¯ll call you Roxanne. Do you like it?¡¯ She seemed to be having a look of concentration as she whispered the name Roxanne to herself. Then she smiled¡­ it was like the bloomed of a flower after a spring shower. ¡®I like it! Welcome to your humble abode, my name is Roxanne!¡¯ She seemed quite friendly, I would usually be quite cautious around anyone. Once bitten and twice shy afterall... however I truly was in no condition to be choosy. Then I realized something. There was no pain, and it seemed that I was able to think and talk properly. This had happened when I entered the crystal. ¡®Hey Roxanne, how is the healing gonna work? Does it happen just be being inside here? I seem to feeling better already.¡¯ ¡®Oh you¡¯re smart, you¡¯re completely right. Since this is your crystal and that is your body, I focused the mana being absorbed by the crystal to start fixing your body. Actually¡­ hmm I''m going to get you to let your body rest without moving it.¡¯ She did some strange thing with her hands and poof, suddenly I could see my body floating in space and¡­ I had no idea what was doing the seeing anymore. ¡®I pulled your awareness out of your body and into your dungeon crystal since you are both one entity. This will let you heal faster and you won¡¯t need to be knocked out! Ha, I¡¯m so smart I can¡¯t believe it.¡¯ She was preening, however considering she was on my side I wasn¡¯t going to complain. As she struck a pose, one hand on her hip and the other pointing in some random direction she exclaimed, ¡®Alright! Now let me show you your new dungeon!¡¯ It was such a disappointment. I was in a cave that barely qualified to be a cave. It didn¡¯t take long to tour the whole thing. Actually it only took about 10 minutes. ¡®This is it?¡¯ ¡®Well Alex my chum, we are a new dungeon. Brand new! Most new dungeons have to claw their way out of a hole in the ground! Compared to them we are basically kings and queens! Hahaha!¡¯ ¡®Really?¡¯ ¡®Nope, this is pretty crappy. The mana level isn¡¯t particularly high either, beats me how a dungeon crystal even formed here.¡¯ Ah, she was pranking me. It appears my contracted dungeon fairy was a smartass. It barely took 3 minutes from calling me master to a first name basis. I preferred it like this though. The question was, what to do about this dungeon business. ¡®Yo Alex, pull out the dungeon menu, let¡¯s see what we have to deal with.¡¯ ¡®Alright, alright,¡¯ so saying I opened the dungeon menu for the first time
Dungeon Name: (no name) Titles: None
Rank: 1
Floors: 1
Mana: 4/100
Souls: 0
Dungeon Points: 0
Achievement Points: (locked) N/A
Dungeon Abilities: Absorption
Mana Abilities: Mana Absorption
Soul Abilities: Soul Absorption
Special Abilities: Dungeon Map Dungeon Contract
Inhabitants 0
Creatures: 0
Named Creatures: 0
Boss Creatures: 0
Special Creatures: 0
Plantlife 0
We both looked at the screen. 4 mana? Was this good? ¡®The fuck dude? 4 mana?¡¯ It seems Roxanne had a bit of a shock seeing this. She glared at me obviously blaming me then sighed. ¡®Is it due to healing my body?¡¯ I guessed why the mana value was low. She nodded however it didn¡¯t look like she was blaming me anymore. ¡®It¡¯s not something we can avoid so let¡¯s start. Today is the rise of the best dungeon!¡¯ She was pumped up for sure. So we started the process of getting this dungeon on track. At level 1, the dungeon didn¡¯t have too many abilities so far. It could absorb materials, mana and souls and we could view the dungeon map. Therefore we decided to clean out the cave and basically wait while ambiently getting mana from the atmosphere. In the meantime I was to educate the new dungeon master about not being a complete disappointment. ¡®Are you¡­ having an internal monologue by yourself over there?¡¯ How impetuous! I was obviously making plans to turn our dungeon into greatness! ¡®Never mind that, let this one teach you a bit about dungeons! Our dungeon is brand new, I mean we¡¯re only level 1 so a lot of the functions still haven¡¯t been unlocked. We have 4 different things we need to pay attention to so that we can be effective. Mana is like the basic currency that allows us to summon and create stuff. We absorb it from the air or off whoever comes into the dungeon, they give off mana just by existing within our dungeon, and even more so if they get hurt or killed. Souls are different, they affect the potential of what we summon and allow us to keep the more important creatures so that we can summon them again without losing their memories and skills. We can only increase souls if creatures die in our territory so they¡¯re hard to get in the beginning. The dungeon points you see on the menu are given everytime new things are added to the dungeon. We also get a smaller amount of dungeon points when things die in the dungeon. Achievement points are given when you do something unique or ¡®achievement worthy¡¯ although there isn¡¯t a guide to it¡­ those things also typically give extra rewards like giving a free summon of a strong creature or like a title which would be amazing. Anyway it¡¯s locked so who cares, right now we just have to wait and absorb mana so that we can level up!¡¯ Phew that explanation was long but necessary. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking or feeling¡­ I mean right now he was the dungeon crystal. A very tiny dungeon crystal¡­ heck he was the size of a small pebble! The dungeon pebble! Hahahaha! The absorption skills allow the dungeon to absorb physical materials, mana and souls respectively. The dungeon map allows the dungeon master and fairy to see everything in their territory. Blue dots represent allies, green for neutral and red for enemies. Gold indicates treasure. There are special items that adventurers can use that will temporarily allow them to use the dungeon''s map. The Dungeon contract allows the binding of a creature to the dungeon. They become one of the inhabitants of the dungeon and under the control of the dungeon master. Chapter 2 - The First Kill The dungeon cannot summon creatures until they have died within its territory, this was explained to Alex. If they wanted to summon creatures and plant-life they hadn¡¯t seen before, they had to unlock them using dungeon points after which they could freely summon them with mana. The stronger monsters needed souls in order to be summoned while the weaker ones and most of the undead and all constructs didn¡¯t need souls¡­ the more powerful it was though, the more mana and souls needed to summon them. The problem here though was that there was nothing to do. ¡®Where are all the monsteeeeers!¡¯ Roxanne was in despair. It had already been a week and there was no sign of any life entering the cave, all they could do was absorb the traces of mana in the air¡­ and they weren¡¯t even close to leveling up.
Dungeon Name: (no name) Titles: None
Rank: 1
Floors: 1
Mana: 28/100
Souls: 0
Dungeon Points: 0
Achievement Points: (locked) N/A
Dungeon Abilities: Absorption
Mana Abilities: Mana Absorption
Soul Abilities: Soul Absorption
Special Abilities: Dungeon Map
Inhabitants 0
Creatures: 0
Named Creatures: 0
Boss Creatures: 0
Special Creatures: 0
Plantlife 0
Yes, in a week¡­ all they had managed to absorb was 24 mana. The mana in the air wasn¡¯t very thick and since there wasn¡¯t anything else to do¡­ they waited. ¡®It¡¯s so boriiiing!¡¯ Roxanne was close to crying. There wasn¡¯t even any insects, leaves or anything inside the cave. They hadn¡¯t unlocked the ability to expand their territory or pretty much do anything so they were stuck just sitting and waiting. ¡®Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure something will come about soon!¡¯ Alex, every the optimist, ¡®Like a worm or an ant, maybe we¡¯ll get lucky and get a beetle!¡¯ Ah a sarcastic optimist. Another week went by. Mana was up to 43/100. Another week, mana was up to 57¡­ was it slowly down?! And then finally, finally, something happened. Unfortunately immediately it was something that was quite terrifying. A pack of wolves had arrived and decided to use the cave as their home. After 3 weeks of waiting, finally something had happened but¡­ wolves! We had no monsters, no traps, nothing! If the wolves wanted to, they could probably swallow the dungeon crystal whole. It was a nervous time. However the wolves seemed to not care about the dungeon crystal at all, in fact they hardly seemed to notice the glowy pebble at the back of the cave, which was a good thing although a bit of blow to my ego. The first week they were in the cave, I could take in some of the mana that they brought into the cave so my mana absorption almost doubled! In a week I was already at 81/100 mana! Almost leveling up! The annoying thing perhaps that due to the wolves there didn¡¯t seem any chance of anything else coming into the cave and dying and perhaps unlocking stuff to summon or at the least provide souls and mana to use. This changed a week later when one of the females gave birth to a litter of wolf pups. It was also around this time that I finally reached 100/100 mana needed to level up!
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 2 To reach the next level 200 Mana and 10 souls are needed
The dungeon ability [Expand territory] has been unlocked
Expand Territory (Dungeon Ability) Lv1 Mastery 0% Increases the area that the dungeon has influence over. Within the territory, the dungeon is able to use its skills and abilities and creatures without souls can roam freely. Expand 1cm in one direction: cost 1 mana Subsequent levels increase the rate of expansion Mastery at level 10 allows the dungeon to expand in all directions at once
This was awesome! It took a month but we finally reached the next stage! Of course the next level up was difficult because the wolves obviously wouldn¡¯t let anyone in their pack die.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. So we were back at the waiting game, although this time there was something we could do, with the ability to expand, I started expanding y territory backwards into the wall of the cave, I didn¡¯t absorb anything, thus expanded the territory. Half my mana was getting stored while the other was used to grow my territory. That didn¡¯t change the fact that again it had become boring. ¡®It¡¯s so borriiiiing!¡¯ Roxanne was lounging around inside the crystal space. She couldn¡¯t go outside in case the wolves found her, the leader of the wolves seemed to have demonic blood in him, his eyes would flash red every so often and he seemed a lot more intelligent than the other wolves. Also the fact that he was half again as large as them and the huge spikes sticking out of his back was a big clue. The only entertainment that Rox had at the moment was watching the pups grow up. Probably due to the fact that they were living in the dungeon space, their rate of growth was fast. Within two weeks, they had started play fighting with each other and the older wolves had begun to teach them how to hunt. That¡¯s when things grew for the better for us, the older wolves, and especially the demon wolf started to actively train the new pups. By this I mean they started bringing in small animals for the wolf pups to practice and hunt. First they brought in some squirrels, the demon wolf had cripple the squirrels so they couldn¡¯t escape, and the young pups would try hunting them. The first few days, the squirrels were able to escape and one of the squirrels even managed to scratch one of the pups, however it earned itself a swat from a parent wolf that broke its left arm as it hit the wall of the cave. That didn¡¯t seem to dampen its spirit as it would try to defend the other squirrels by attacking the wolf pups. That proved to be in vain. 6 squirrels had been brought in, and soon only 2 were left. The brave squirrel and another smaller squirrel.
The animal ¡®Squirrel¡¯ has now been unlocked.
The pups by now were already half-grown, no matter how brave this squirrel was, it wasn¡¯t a match. It was attacked by two wolf pups at once which launched it all the way to the back of the cave while the other wolf pups tore the last squirrel to pieces before eating it. I should have been happy that I had unlocked an animal and now had 5 souls to play with but that squirrel¡­ its brave performance was quite moving. ¡®Rox, can we save this little guy? He tried so hard I feel bad letting him die in our dungeon¡­¡¯ ¡®Actually there is a way! We can offer him sanctuary in the dungeon, you can make contracts right? Offer him a contract see what happens.¡¯ This would be the first time in this new world I offered a contract, didn¡¯t think it would be to a squirrel. Can it even accept? So I tried it.
A contract has been offered to ¡®Brave Squirrel¡¯.
Then, the squirrel started glowing¡­ and I could see¡­ the memories of the squirrel. It was the leader of a nest of squirrels about 80 individuals or so spread out widely in the nearby forest. It had been caught by the wolves while it was trying to find some of the fallen nuts around the tree and brought along with the 5 others. There had been 15 or so but the rest had been killed and eaten. I could feel the brief stirrings of hatred as well as fear. As it stayed trapped in the cave, the anger grew and fear shrank, and then its thoughts started to become clearer, quicker, and stronger. It fought with the spawn of his kin¡¯s killers yet couldn¡¯t bridge the gap that was the difference between prey and predator. Then the merciless hunting and toying began. To these cubs, the squirrels were just toys, to the older wolves, teaching tools. To the squirrels, it was a game of life and death. They did alright at first, the brave squirrel was able to fend off the wolf cubs and prevent them from killing his kin. Then one day he saw an opportunity to strike and took it, he scratched at the eye of a careless wolf cub who reeled back with a cry. Unfortunately its parent didn¡¯t like it and struck him, throwing him against the cave wall. There was a snap when his arm broke and the memory of pain was very sharp. After that, it became much harder to defend, every time the wolves came to play, one of the squirrels would end up dying. Then it was just the two. The last squirrel, besides the brave squirrel was a young one, barely reaching adulthood. There were two wolf cubs, now half grown in size tackled him head on. Trying to escape the jaws of one, the other managed to hit him with full force. Then he was flying, and while flying he could hear the sounds of one of his kin being torn apart. It landed in the back near a glowing crystal the size of a small pebble which asked it a question. He said yes
A Contract has been formed
¡®Brave Squirrel¡¯ has been added as a Lv1 Contracted
The power of the contract flows between contractor and contracted Brave Squirrel has unlocked the Skill ¡®Soul of the Brave¡¯ Brave Squirrel¡¯s intelligence has increased by 3 points, strength by 2 points, agility by 2 points, vitality by 1 point and magic power by 1 point
The power of the contract flows between contracted and contractor Contract Summoner Alexander has unlock the skill ¡®Aura¡¯ Contract Summoner Alexander¡¯s agility has increased by 1
The power of Dungeon Contract has been invoked
The creature summon ¡®Brave Squirrel¡¯ has been unlocked. All future squirrel creatures will now be ¡®Brave Squirrels¡¯
Your first Achievement as a dungeon master! A soul that cried out for help has accepted you as his master. Gained 5 achievement points, achievement points unlocked Gained 5 dungeon points, dungeon store unlocked Gained 10 mana Gained 10 souls
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 3 To reach the next level 300 Mana and 20 souls are needed
The dungeon ability [Create Room] has been unlocked
The dungeon mana ability [Create Animal] has been unlocked
The dungeon mana ability [Create Monster] has been unlocked
The dungeon mana ability [Create Undead] has been unlocked
The dungeon mana ability [Create Plantlife] has been unlocked
The dungeon soul ability [Enhance Creature] has been unlocked
Excess mana was used to improve the healing of your body
The healing of your body has reached 20%
The magic formation that allowed the use of the skill [Observe] has been repaired
The skill [Observe] has been unsealed
Observe (Rank D, Active) Lv7 Mastery 12.3%
The power of analysis and observation, this allows information to be shown about a subject. If special prerequisites are met, this skill can evolve (Necessary requirements mastery Lv10 ¨C Max, ???)
Generates information about a subject Intelligent beings will have name, title, job and rank displayed. Non-intelligent beings will have a brief description along with relevant information Higher levels of mastery allow success against higher levels of subjects Currently can observe people with intelligence and magic power 7 points above own
That one act changed so much. The body of the squirrel evaporated into light and he appeared in the space of my dungeon crystal. He didn¡¯t look like he was doing well so I got Roxanne to start treating him. Thus life continued. The wolves came to try and find the squirrel but gave up after they couldn¡¯t find him for a day. The demon wolf was especially terrifying as he stood there staring for a long while before it moved away. If it had a human face it would probably have been one of suspicion. The little squirrel was quite interesting, I mean anything would be interesting if you basically had nothing to entertain yourself at first. A few things were weird though, the contract between squirrel guy and Alex seemed different than normal, for one, squirrel guy seemed to have become stronger due to the contract, and more importantly, more intelligent. I mean, he could talk to us. A talking animal! This was a first. Although he couldn¡¯t speak very well, mostly single words. His intelligence was still growing though, what a wonder. Anyways, while the squirrel was healing itself up inside the dungeon crystal those awful wolves had gone out and got more critters to torment. This time they grabbed a group of giant rats, they were about half the size of the half grown pups and not much weaker than them. I guess the demon wolf had gotten impatient and wanted to get improve their strength faster. This backfired on them though as the rats were too much for the wolf pups to handle and a group of 5 ran to the back of the cave. They then used their teeth to gnaw into the wall creating a hole where they were safe from the wolves. The demon wolf was furious to say the least.
The animal ¡®Giant Rat¡¯ has now been unlocked.
¡®Hahahaha! Look at those stupid wolves! Outsmarted by a rat! Hahaha,¡¯ I couldn¡¯t keep from gloating since it was hilarious! ¡®Hahaha, I know right? The demon wolf, he¡¯s probably embarrassed like hell!¡¯ I¡¯m glad Alex and I share a similar sense of humour. There wasn¡¯t much change after that. The rats would sometimes be caught and eaten thus we had a steady stream of mana and souls coming in. Of course we were still lacking in many parts. Then we had a visitor. It was the first human both of us had ever seen¡­ and she was strong. We first noticed her when with a flash of light, one of the wolves had its head slashed open and its body flung to the side of the cave.
The animal ¡®Wolf¡¯ has now been unlocked.
Chapter 3 – The Swordswoman Chapter 3 ¨C The Swordswoman The howls and growls of wolves echoed in the cave while the blood of those wolves fell on the floor. The sword of the swordswoman was both snake and river, striking quick or seeming to flow through the air. And each strike killed a wolf, this was definitely a strong individual. It was only much later that we would find out that this sword¡¯s woman had been sent because an adventurer¡¯s guild in a nearby city had been getting complaints about the large number of wolves in the area. It seems these wolves would hunt livestock or even people thus they sent this guild member to investigate. It was surprising they only sent one person, but watching how easily she killed these wolves, it wasn¡¯t a surprise. There was also of course a nice side effect to this, with the wolves being killed in the cave.
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 4 To reach the next level 400 Mana and 30 souls are needed
No new skills or abilities were unlocked this time around unfortunately. Level 3 had unlocked a lot though, not every level could unlock so many. The swordswoman had tracked the trail these wolves left behind on one of the hunts to this very cave and now she was leading what can only be described as a slaughter. A one sided-slaughter. Even the demon wolf got bashed mercilessly although he wasn¡¯t killed, just badly hurt. After half of the pack had been killed the demon wolf and 3 other wolves rushed against the swordswoman forcing her to defend, and while she was defending the rest of the wolves escaped. ¡®Tsk, awful things, if my team weren¡¯t so slow we could have gotten all of them,¡¯ her voice echoed in the cave as she looked around. Me and Roxanne looked at each other a bit uneasily. Roxanne whispered, even though the swordswoman couldn¡¯t possibly hear us talking in the dungeon crystal¡¯s space, ¡®This chic needs to get outta here, she creeps me out!¡¯ ¡®I know what you mean, did you see how she killed those wolves? No expression, she¡¯s like a demon!¡¯ I admit I was slightly scared. The swordswoman narrowed her eyes, as if she could hear us insulting her. Then she started walking to the back of the cave. ¡®AAAAHHHH, she¡¯s coming!¡¯ It wasn¡¯t clear who screamed first. Actually it was Roxanne, definitely she screamed first. ¡®What do we do?! We¡¯re the size of a pebble! She could kill us by stepping on us!¡¯ That was definitely Roxanne, panic as well as curved insult to the weight of a woman who was obviously fit and in shape. However she was right about one thing. We needed to get her out of here. We heard her speaking to herself, ¡®The mana feels strange around here. Maybe that¡¯s why those wolves gathered. This isn¡¯t a dungeon right? It doesn¡¯t feel like one¡­ at least not yet.¡¯ Panic, if she thought we were a dungeon she would be coming deeper to find the crystal. It wasn¡¯t a very large cave, and once she reached deep enough she would be able to see the glow of the crystal. This was it, do or die! ¡®Yo squirrel dude!¡¯ I was definitely in dire straits thus I mustered the entirety of my forces, the squirrel. ¡®Go and attack those rats in the wall, hopefully she hates rats.¡¯ Fingers crossed, do crystals have fingers? Our Brave Squirrel emerged from the crystal and jumped into action. He scurried to the hole where the rats had disappear back when the wolves brought them. I was a genius if I said so myself. A series of strange sounds and things came from the wall¡­ I think I heard very distinctly, ¡®Beg for mercy you villains!¡¯ and ¡®I fight for Kin and Glory?¡¯ Was our little squirrel a Braveheart wannabee? I looked at Alex¡­ holy shit, if crystals had eyes, his eyes would be shining! ¡®I shall name him Maximus, named after the glorious gladiator! Maximus the first! He¡¯s perfect!¡¯ I had a sense of foreboding. The sounds from the wall had started getting louder while I was thinking to myself, when did our squirrel learn to say two syllable words? Did he ever even hear the words or am I imagining him speaking¡­ The sound of footsteps could be heard. ¡®Fuck, he¡¯s pulling this too fucking close! Squirrel dude hurry up! The woman ogre is coming!¡¯ ¡®Hey Rox, that isn¡¯t really nice. She may have the strength and violence of a giant but she actually looks pretty good¡­¡¯ yes he realized as soon as he started speaking that he was, frankly, an idiot. So, of course, as I am a very sweet and mild-mannered dungeon fairy, I address him very pleasantly, ¡®What did you just say, oh my dungeon master?¡¯ If crystals had eyes¡­ Then a screech as part of the wall simple¡­ er¡­ exploded. Now I am a magical being that¡¯s very composed in the face of life and death, but some things are horrifying beyond the scope of intelligence. And such things make it perfectly justifiable to scream in terror. Such as this writhing ball of rats that came squirming all over each other all chasing after¡­ a squirrel waving a sword? No it was a dagger. A human sized dagger that he was holding in both hands. The fuck he get a dagger from? ¡®Oh yeah, I lent him that dagger. No worries, he¡¯s a gladiator, knows all about weapons and such,¡¯ said a very self-satisfied lump of stone. He definitely forgot what he said about said walking machine of doom approaching in the distance. And then, a miracle occurred. Or at least something quite close to it. Ms. Swordswoman saw the huge writhing dark mass of rats¡­ and she screamed. Screamed like a pathetic little child that lost their parents in the marketplace after dropping their piece of rockcandy. ¡®Hahahaha, Ms. Toughnuts screamed because of a bunch of rats hahahaha!¡¯ ¡®As I recall Rox, you did the exact same thing less than a minute ago¡¯ ¡®It seems the void injury you received hit your memory centers as well, or did you say something else my dear dungeon master¡­¡¯ The swordswoman who was a hurricane of death scrambled out of the cave followed by the big ball of rats. No idea if there were any rats left in the cave but since that was an incredibly odd experience we had all just gone through, well we¡¯ll just let it slide. To top it off, Squirrel hero man was non-chalently cleaning off the dagger on the corpse of a rat then walked over to us. Kneeling down he said, ¡®My mission is completely, dungeon master.¡¯ ¡®My mission is completely, dungeon master.¡¯ Music to my ears! This, this was a MAN. Well he was a squirrel, but he displayed it all, the chivalry, the honour, that absolute coolness of it all. My inner geek was screaming. ¡®My Brave Squirrel, I hereby dub you Maximus the First! You shall hold the sword the strikes fear into my enemies, lead armies that make the very land quake and be the greatest guardian of my lands!¡¯ ¡®No you idiot! What are you doing?!¡¯ Later on I confessed to Roxanne that this was just a moment of high spirits, I mean he was so cool! I had in my head for him to use quotes from a certain gladiator movie to makes his fights so fucking epic. What I didn¡¯t realize was I had done something that Roxanne said was the actions of a fuckstick. A dildo, she was calling me a dildo.
¡®Brave Squirrel¡¯ has been granted the name ¡®Maximus the First¡¯
Name bestowal has been invoked Brave Squirrel has now been named An evolution has occurred naturally caused by the will of the creature and the power of the dungeon master Maximus has evolved into the race Elite Squirrel Folk warrior Maximus¡¯s strength has increased by 15, agility has increased by 18, intelligence has increased by 13, magic power has increased by 11, stamina has increased by 24 Maximus has unlocked the skill ¡®Brave sword¡¯ Maximus has unlocked the skill ¡®The Great Commander¡¯ Maximus has unlocked the skill ¡®The Great Guardian¡¯
Well that didn¡¯t seem too bad. ¡®See Roxanne, that wasn¡¯t so bad¡­¡¯ I had spoken too soon, because that¡¯s when hell broke lose.
Error error The skill name bestowal was invoked Not enough mana to complete skill, mana has been completely drained, now at 0/400 Not enough souls to complete skill, soul has been drained now at 0 The dungeon crystal will now go into hibernation until enough mana has been absorbed to finish skill Available dungeon points have been automatically used to purchase enough souls to complete skill, dungeon coins left 8
Ooohh, that¡¯s why she was calling me an idiot. Name bestowal. A skill I didn¡¯t have, yet I used it. Well, I wanted to think more about it but the world started darkening. The last things I saw were the concerned eyes of Roxanne as she was rushing towards me. Then everything faded to black.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡®That IDIOT!¡¯ I was looking at, for all intents and purposes was a drunk and passed out piece of rock, albeit glowing in the dark. Basically the appearance of a typical rave party enthusiast. I have absolutely no idea how the hell he had done what he did. Magic skills did not work without nothing behind them yet he used one THAT HE DID NOT KNOW. And to top it off, we were drained of practically everything, no mana, souls, we even lost most our dungeon points! We were sitting in the cave without a single monster or trap defending us, and since his NAMING was the only person under our command and it wasn¡¯t finished until the whole thing ended, Mr. Squirrel Hero was out of action too! ¡®AAAAAARRRRRGH!¡¯ 3 days. 3 days of nerve-biting, finger-wrenching, heart-attack inducing torture before the brotherhood of Bozos woke up. And boy did they get it. I think I screamed my throat dry magically healed it then carried on, carried on until they finally understood how much they had fucked up. Well Alex had, Max had just been caught as collateral damage. Only after I cooled down did I realize that the squirrel hero dude, who I have now nicknamed Max was¡­ very different. He was huge for one thing, about two thirds the height of the ogre lady. Not only that, he looked HUMAN. He still had the squirrel ears and tail and had clawed hands and was generally fuzzy but his face was definitely that of a human. Shit, he had evolved hadn¡¯t he? My ears were still ringing. Roxanne has quite the powerful pair of lungs. I understood the gist of what she was saying, I had done something impossible and had nearly made myself implode. It seemed quite serious so maybe I won¡¯t do that again. Note to myself, don¡¯t piss off Roxanne again. So now where were we? I opened the dungeon menu.
Dungeon Name: (no name) Titles: None
Rank: 4
Floors: 1
Mana: 3/400
Souls: 0
Dungeon Points: 8
Achievement Points: 5
Dungeon Abilities: Absorption Expand Territory Create room
Mana Abilities: Mana Absorption Create animal Create monster Create undead Create plantlife
Soul Abilities: Soul Absorption Enhance creature
Special Abilities: Dungeon Map Dungeon Contract Dungeon Store
Inhabitants 1
Creatures: 0
Named Creatures: 1
Boss Creatures: 0
Special Creatures: 0
Plantlife 0
Dam, Rox had a point, we were running on empty here. Well drastic times call for drastic measures. I would use the remaining power I had to summon an army to rise to the challenge! ¡®Create animal!¡¯
What animal would you like to create? Creatures available
Squirrel 1 mana to summon
Giant rat 3 mana to summon
Wolf 40 mana to summon
Slime Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Goblin Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Roxanne had rushed to my crystal and was shaking me violently at this point. She couldn¡¯t stop a genius at work though. ¡®Summon three squirrels!¡¯ Hahaha, she looked so furious her head was the colour of a tomato! But best to head this off before I mysterious became an ex-dungeon master and indeed ex-living person. ¡®Ok Rox, hear me out here. What we are suffering from is what I would like to call a supply shortage. We lack, er, everything. And to make money we need to use money. What this means is¡­¡¯ I might have droned on a little longer than was strictly ethical. It was about 5 minutes in that the last bit of anger disappeared, if I carried on she might have passed to that beautiful phase called daydreaming, or as students in universities back on earth would have called it ¡®class¡¯. ¡®So basically we have close to nothing so what we need to do is find a way so we can change that. We need to find a way to increase our mana and the only way to do that is with helpers, thus we need to spend money.¡¯ Shit she was listening! And she¡¯s smart! This changes things. This began as me and Rox liked to call it, the Fetch Quest. I was going to call it Looter McLootface quest but a certain fairy just looked at me silently judging. It was simple, the squirrels, who sadly were just the ¡®Giant squirrel¡¯ species and not like Max, would go with Max and procure STUFF from the nearby forest and I would absorb it and it would increase my mana. If they brought in insects and things I could increase my souls as well, unlock things and generally have a great time. A German military strategist once said, ¡®No Battle Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy¡¯. Except the enemy here referred to life itself fucking me slowly with a strap-on.
Creatures that have not been granted souls are not able to leave the territory of the dungeon.
Both of us kinda looked at this message dumbly. In my head one of those tumbleweeds flew by. Three¡­ two¡­ one¡­ ¡®You nitwit! You uncircumsized donkey whale! What ¡®we need a balance of supply and demand¡¯?! You uncultured manure pile of stinking¡­¡¯ I had to admit Rox had a way with words when she was angry. Also did I really say that stuff? Economics 101 for the win yo. Alright so that plan fell through but wasn¡¯t quite ruined. Our intrepid hero Max the First¡­ I really should have gone with Max the Destroyer, but I¡¯m sure I would become a circumsized donkey whale if I tried so let¡¯s leave it¡­ yes our stalwart hero was sent to the nearby forest to grab hold of the key to our hopes, dreams, future prosperity, et cetera et cetera. ¡®Max, bring back as much crap as you can alright, fruit, plants, seeds, bugs and stuff. Oh you can see if your family from before the wolves got you recognize you, you can try bring them back too.¡¯ ¡®I understand,¡¯ oh my loyal honourable Max, I¡¯m definitely going to teach you to quote a certain gladiator movie that I fondly remember. Max had been at work for a week while me and Rox had been bickering¡­ having constructive arguments about what to do next. I was of the opinion we should have more squirrels while Rox wanted to increase the number of rooms we had in the cave. So we compromised and made 3 more rooms. In the meantime Max had done, what can only be described as ¡®A single person did this?¡¯ That unique sense of wonder, bewilderment and awe people have when they realize that an immense work of art or a highly complex task was done with just the efforts of a single person. I have named it the State of Uug, pronounced Oog but I used two U¡¯s to spell it because I¡¯m special.
A remarkable achievement 25 species of plant life have been collected The plant life represent the lungs of the planet itself have found root in your dungeon 10 dungeon points have been rewarded
A remarkable achievement 10 species of insect have been collected Overlooked yet, their importance to the cycle of life is immeasurable, these insects have flittered into your dungeon 5 dungeon points have been rewarded
A remarkable achievement The number of creatures in your dungeon has surpassed 100 All societies are made of individuals, individuals are the basis of civilization 20 dungeon points have been rewarded
Yes Maximus the First, had brought in everything, quite literally everything, fruits and nuts and berries, worms, ants, termites and all sorts of small insects, he even brought different types of rocks and grasses to see if I would like them. He was without a doubt the best of us. And seemingly, the gods agreed because he found his old nest of squirrels and brought all of them back with him. All 400 of them. ¡®Alex, where the hell are we going to keep them all?! Squirrels don¡¯t live in caves!¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m thinking, I¡¯m thinking!¡¯ The concern we had was that uh, wild squirrels would poop onto the floor of the cave and it was building up FAST. So we did the sensible thing, we dug a really deep hole in the side of cave then washed the cave. After that we educated the squirrels what they should not do in a dungeon master¡¯s territory. Either they went outside, or dug a hole and buried it. And before anyone asked, I told them under no circumstances was I going to absorb THAT. Now the problem with both smart ideas and quick fix ideas is that they do not account for the unknown. One unknown would be that the rats that had run off into the forest after the swordswoman wasn¡¯t all the rats living in the hole in the wall. Another unknown would be that we had just basically flushed our toilet into their home. The third unknown was that there was a lot of them. A LOT, a lot, a lot. Thus began our first all-out battle to fight for control of the dungeon.
Create Room (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates a special territory classified as a room. Can unlock special layouts/environments for the rooms. Creatures and treasure chests can only be created in rooms.
Create Animal (Mana Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates an animal out of mana Animals are unlocked for summoning once they have died once within the dungeon¡¯s territory Other species of animal can be unlocked through special requirements or by paying dungeon or achievement points Animals may be enhanced if they have been fused with souls Stronger animals cost more mana to summon
Create Monster (Mana Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates an monster out of mana Monsters are unlocked for summoning once they have died once within the dungeon¡¯s territory Other species of monster can be unlocked through special requirements or by paying dungeon or achievement points Monster may be enhanced if they have been fused with souls Stronger monsters cost more mana to summon Evolution and mutation possible Monsters have magical cores that give them an innate ability to absorb and wield mana ¨C cost of monsters will be higher, cost to enhance monsters will be higher
Create Undead (Mana Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates an undead out of mana Undead are unlocked for summoning once they have been destroyed once within the dungeon¡¯s territory Types of undead can be unlocked through special requirements or by paying dungeon or achievement points Weak undead do not need souls to be summoned are not able to be enhanced Stronger undead cost more mana to summon It is possible to bestow sentience to undead granting the ability to be enhanced
Create Plant Life (Mana Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates an plant life out of mana Plants are unlocked for summoning only if the collected and absorbed by the dungeon Other species of plant life can be unlocked through special requirements or by paying dungeon or achievement points Evolution and mutation possible It is possible to bestow sentience to plants and grant them the ability to become hybrid monsters
Chapter 4 – The Rat Horde The rat horde came rushing out of that stupid hole in the wall like a tsunami of Black Death. Seriously, they quickly took over 1 of the rooms and all the squirrels were with me in the crystal room as I prepared them for the battle ahead. ¡®Kill all those disgusting rats! Seriously! They smell! They stink! And they reek!¡¯ Roxanne may not be the best military mind, but she was definitely one who could get an idea across. Step up Max, ¡®Alright brothers and sisters, we fight now to rid ourselves of the threat of the Giant Rat race! There will be no quarter given! We fight not just for the sake of our safety but also the safety of our loved ones and for the glory of the squirrel race! We will not be downtrodden any longer! For Kin and Glory!¡¯ Those awesome speech making lessons were definitely paying off, I smiled quite smugly at myself. Now the only problem was that they outnumbered each squirrel 5 to one. Thus it was my turn to flex some of my quartz. I made a wall, about half a meter thick in a large semi-circle in the crystal room. I affectionately called it Greywall and it quickly caught on and soon that was its name. I had checked earlier with Roxanne and naming a wall wouldn¡¯t cause me to pass out into a coma so all was in the clear. The Rats were in the room closest to the entrance/exit of the cave so the next room after I turned into a cliff room. Which is fancy talk for I piled up soil and rocks and made one half three meters higher than the other half, then made a ramp connecting the two going up the side of the cliff. Roxanne glared a bit at me when I did this because she said it was close to breaking a rule again but I didn¡¯t trigger anything so I guess it was fine. Although she told me that I shouldn¡¯t risk anymore so I left the third room untouched. For now. What was troubling me was these rats were acting strange. When they burst out of the wall and scared the swordswoman, they were simply running around wildly, nothing strange there. Now though, these rats¡­ they had formed into groups and while one group went out into the forest and brought back food, another had come probing into the cliff room. The more terrifying thing was, they launched an attack that night killing off the sentries on watch in the cliff room. The only reason we were prepared for them at all was the dungeon map which should a huge mass of red flowing into the third room. Man, so much for the defense of the cliff room, how useless was that? Max had so far been tasked to increase the defensive power of the huge stone walls that I had placed. He created teams of squirrels to haul large rocks to place on top of the walls. The squirrels didn¡¯t have weapons so he asked me and Rox for advice. ¡®Squirrels using weapons? Is that legal?¡¯ Oh Rox, you make my world shine brighter. ¡®Regardless of the, uh legal status, it really wouldn¡¯t hurt to get them some pointy things to poke or hard things to bash with. I mean we don¡¯t really have anything apart from the two daggers and sword I came with.¡¯ ¡®Is there anything you can summon out? You didn¡¯t absorb any iron or anything?¡¯ This was a quandary, we looked at the list of things I could summon out but it wasn¡¯t very long. For the animals, it had all the insects Max had brought in. The ¡®Giant Rat¡¯, ¡®Squirrel¡¯ and ¡®Wolf¡¯ creatures were there but I couldn¡¯t afford to create a wolf. It cost 40 mana, and that was for 1! When we arrived at plant life, I finally saw something promising. A thorn bush, it cost 15 mana but fuck it.My heart bleeds mana¡­
Thorn Bush ¨C Firethorn has been summoned
The first plant in our dungeon! Kinda feel bad about it since we only summoned it for parts. Also, contrary to the name, it wasn''t actually made of fire, that was just its name. I got the squirrel brigade to make themselves some thorny weapons, mostly small thorn daggers and thorny clubs, all squirrel sized. The thorns were incredible though, a good two to three inches long. Max was still holding onto my dagger. Then I had an epiphany. Sling shots! I was brilliant! I was the best! We had nothing to make the sling part of the sling shot so it was a useless idea but regardless it was a great idea! ¡®You truly are an idiot aren¡¯t you,¡¯ my muse, my brilliant partner in crime Rox was a double edged poison sword¡­
Our preparations didn¡¯t take long, and the rat horde had moved to the entrance of the 4th and final room. This was it¡­ those rats were definitely not normal, they were separated into two large groups on the left and right and between them in the back was a rat that was twice as big as the rest. This must be the Boss Rat. I was nervous, I was used to fighting but this was playing out like a war. Strategy and not individual skill had the greater impact on the battlefield. Time seemed to slow as I watched the movements of the enemy. I remember my sister arguing with my best friend back on earth¡­ we were outside a military post, just us three. We were trying to figure out how to burst inside. Force or infiltration. My sister Cadet being an ex-army doc told us explicitly that neither option was going to be great, while Bird was arguing that we should have split up and with one person being violent outside to be a distraction, ie Bird the sword maniac, while Cadet would use her past military background to try and bluff our way in. We managed to screw things up royally and had the whole army chasing after us for a while but we managed the mission. However now, I was in front of another enemy. Another army and I couldn¡¯t run this time. I didn¡¯t have two people to bounce ideas off of unless you counted the military noob Rox or gladiator squirrel¡­ neither of whom had gone through any form of big fight before. So there we stood 2000 rats, with their boss before Greywall, 400 squirrels armed with daggers and clubs led by Maximus the First. Our first big fight. The rats made the first move, with a shriek from the Boss Rat, 100 rats from each group, 200 in total rushed towards the walls. The walls were tall, and made or smooth grey stone. They had been built to be taller than a human man, so for these rats, they had to climb quite a ways. The squirrels were pouring water down the sides of the walls to make it more slippery. When the rats had reached halfway, Max gave the signal and a row of rocks was pushed over by teams. It was violently effective, the rocks smashed into the skulls of the rats, knocking them free then continuing on and hitting a few more killing most of the ones that hit. Of the 200, a full, 140 managed to be killed by a single move. Half of the rest had been knocked off and were injured. Although these rats had proven to be more intelligent that other rats, everything was relative. They didn¡¯t have any tools and they weren¡¯t military geniuses, not that I considered myself to be though. Experience had already taught me not to be conceited. ¡®Hahaha! Take that you smelly rats! You¡¯ll think twice the next time you try to attack mwah!¡¯ Of course Rox was under no such restriction. The key was what the rats would do next. ¡®Hey Max, move the next load of rocks in place, in case they try to scale the walls again.¡¯ They hadn¡¯t tried breaking through the gates, probably some instinctual fear or perhaps a sly cunning told the Boss Rat that it would be a bad idea, well he wasn¡¯t wrong, we definitely had a trap waiting for him. Thing is it was a one use trap and we would then have to defend the breach with warm bodies. The next round of attacks the rats moved 400 individuals, it seemed the Boss Rat was losing a bit of patience. He ordered half to scale the walls and the rest to rush the gate. The rats from the previous attack were still trying to scale the wall as well. Frankly, the attack was a mess.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡®Throw the rocks!¡¯ This time the rocks didn¡¯t kill as many but still, not a single rat was able to make the top of the walls. So far this had been going our way, but that¡¯s the way of it, defenders always have the advantage. The group rushing the gate was met with a shocking appearance, Max was decked out with my dagger held by both hands. I had cut up a bit of my leather armour and Max had wrapped it around himself to make a crude set of army for himself as well. And after his evolution he towered over these rats like a god of death. The two sides met with a crash, Max was able to kill a rat with almost every swing. After half the rats had been killed, which was around 100 rats, compared to the 40 squirrels that were lost, the rat group broke and ran. Some of the squirrels followed and managed to kill a few more before being reprimanded by Max to not break the line. It seemed that the last attack had finally enraged the primitive rat commander. He ordered everyone to attack. This was something we had both planned for, as well as dreaded. If our plans and trap worked, we would be able to rout the enemy, but if that didn¡¯t work, it would be a very bitter struggle to win. As the rats came to the front of the gate, the squirrels retreated, after that there was a rumbling sound. A large boulder had been placed at the top of a ramp within the walled off area and it was now rolling down picking up speed. The rats that had entered the gate tried to scatter to the sides but were fended off by the squirrel defenders. Countless rats were smashed by the boulder, the floor was wet and slippery with blood. The rat leader seemed to have lost his reason as a blood lust showed in its eyes. It pounced onto a squirrel defender and grabbed its head then bit into its neck. Some of the surrounding squirrels rushed towards the Boss Rat, it was clear they were fearful of it. The Boss Rat screeched then charged towards the nearest squirrel. It tried haplessly to stab it with his thorn dagger but missed. The squirrel was grabbed by the hands holding the thorn dagger then brought forward into a headbutt, then scratched by the rat¡¯s claws. Another squirrel that came from behind suddenly dropped his dagger as the rat¡¯s long tail wrapped around his neck and slammed him into the ground. The rat then jumped another 2 times leaving 2 or 3 squirrels killed or injured each time. A whirlwind of death flowed towards the squirrels It was then, that Max arrived to face the Boss Rat. He was steady, holding the dagger in front of him in both hands, feet moving in measured steps so as to not lose balance. He stood facing a dark grey rat the same size as him, blood dripping from his fangs and his claws. With a shout, the two rushed towards each other. My hands were trembling, the dagger heavy in my grasp. As I ran towards that insane looking vile beast, I briefly wondered if this would be my last battle. Yet I would be distracted from this battle. Behind me and all around me were my kin, and ahead of me awaited glory. We were outnumbered, but this was a defense of our home. I know we were gambling on just one thing, that these rats are cowards, and that they''ll break if their leader is slain. That is why I had to win at all costs, for my kin and for glory. The rat swung a claw at my face, trying to scratch out my eyes, I parried with the dagger and with a twist tried to slash his hand. The rat was quick, it pulled back its clawed hands and side stepped, his tail came rushing towards me and hit my abdomen. He used it like a flail. I was pushed back, but I didn¡¯t lose my balance. I chopped down with the dagger and when he dodged to the side I step forward and changed my swing to a diagonal. My aim was his tail from earlier. ¡®Scrreeeee¡­!¡¯ With a horrifying scream, the rat¡¯s tail was cleaved but that seemed to spur the rat into a greater frenzy as it charged towards me, bowling me over. This was bad, I landed on my back and rolled swiftly away. Where I had been I heard the sound of claws on rock and soil as he gouged 2 parallel furrows with his claws. Those claws of his were no less weapons than the dungeon master¡¯s dagger I was using as my sword. I rose to my feet. This time I thrust, point first. As it dodged, I turned, bringing my tail and swiping his face. The rat¡¯s tail was more muscular that my own, however mine was large and quite fuzzy, something I could use to my advantage by obscuring his vision. I completed my turn, whipping the dagger around viciously and felt it connect! Success, I had bashed into the side of the rat, the blade cracking one of his ribs and tearing a huge slash along his right side. I didn¡¯t stop there, I retracted my blade, thrust and thrust it towards his abdomen. It fell back away from the point of the dagger, I rolled my shoulder pulled the blade back and went for a powerful overhead chop. This time it was too slow, the loss of blood making it weaker and the blade bit deeply into its shoulder. The ones fighting around me were slowly growing quiet as they were watching us, the two leaders fight. The rat, now heavily injured, yet still consumed with bloodlust, grabbed the dagger and tried to wrench it from my hands. How could I let it do that? So I kicked out while retracting the blade and got it right in the chest sending it sprawling on the ground. This fight, this fight was over. The Boss Rat, bleeding and lying on the ground chest heaving looked at me with¡­ hatred or hunger in its eyes. ¡®For Kin and Glory,¡¯ I stabbed the dagger right into its chest, through the gap in its chest and straight into its heart. Blood spurted up from the wound and staining my blade as its heart tried keeping it alive. 3 beats. 4 beats. Then with a quiver the rat died. I glanced at the other rats, who were shivering while looking at me as I was drenched in blood. Even though there was still more than a thousand of them, they were terrified. Without needing an order they all scramble to retreat out the gate. They didn¡¯t stop until they had left the cave and ran out into the forest. Good riddance to those vile vermin. I then received a message.
Requirements have been met to Evolve. A special achievement: overcoming a strong enemy using skills and tactics instead of brawn and brute strength The power of the intelligent races lies in their endless adaptability and their capacity to solve problems You are now able to evolve in a new species ¨C Beastman species: Squirrel Folk Do you wish to evolve?
I smiled. ¡®Yes.¡¯ A question that I had never asked Alex was where he came from, or what he did before he arrived in this world. It didn¡¯t really matter to me who or what he was. When I found him, lying on the cave floor all those months ago, I could see¡­ that he was an amazing individual. What a lot of people don¡¯t realize is that the actions and decisions you make colour you, change you in subtle ways no matter what. You, as a person are what you have done, the beliefs you hold and act upon as it accumulates through your life. I could see¡­ he had this aura about him. I¡¯m not talking about the skill he unlocked that I¡¯m pretty sure he forgot about the dullard. No I mean I can feel, almost tangibly that he has lived through so much. Sometimes I catch Alex staring off into the distance, lost in thought. He sometimes speaks of a great mission that he has to do but he says he doesn¡¯t even know how to start. He is such a strange dungeon crystal. I know he is human first but the dungeon crystal is a part of him now. Even without a face, without a body, I can tell what his emotions are, and it¡¯s not through our connection as dungeon and fairy. When he speaks of his mission, I can sense a fire and a mountain. Like a volcano, yet the two elements are separate. A driving passion to finish his mission and a firm rock like resolve to not fail. He is so interesting¡­ He sometimes tells me stories about him and his friends, and I can hear the sadness from it. There seems to be a big story behind all of that. He mentions his best friend Bird and his sister a lot to me. I don¡¯t think he knows where they are but at the same time, he says he knows they¡¯re alive but I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s just being optimistic. What I do know is I would hate to be the person that stands in his way of trying to find them. Strength ¨C this determines pure strength and is a measure of the power that can be brought to bear, the amount of weight they can carry, etc Agility ¨C a combination of speed, reflexes and reaction time Intelligence ¨C improves computing ability, increases acquisition of skills and skill mastery Magic power ¨C a measure of how much mana and other magic reserves they can hold within their body as well as utilize. I won¡¯t be using numerical values for health and mana but in general principles, magic points will be 5 times the magic power value before modifiers Stamina ¨C indicates how long someone can keep going as well as healing rate/vitality. Health points will be 10 times the stamina value before modifiers A note on total power ¨C it is written as total points out of a maximum potential. The potential is indicated by species, with 100 being the limit for humans; that is 20 in each category. In fact, before magic became available on Earth, the limit was only 80. Breaking the limit means exceeding what is thought of naturally as the human boundary. There were a number of humans, even before magic that were able to break the boundaries in certain stats, e.g. elite athletes breaking strength or agility, scholars and intellectuals breaking intelligence. Chapter 5 – The Hare in the Hunter’s Trap
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 5 To reach the next level 500 Mana and 50 souls are needed
The dungeon ability [Create Special Rooms] has been unlocked
The dungeon ability [Create Structures] has been unlocked
The mana ability [Create Mana Stones] has been unlocked
The mana ability [Create Elemental Stones] has been unlocked
The soul ability [Name Bestowal] has been unlocked
The fate of a dungeon lies in the hands of the dungeon master and is shaped by his or her will The great achievements by contracted creature Maximus the First has led to the discovery of the purpose of the dungeon owned by dungeon master Alexander Due to the title ¡®Void Traveller¡¯ the Crystal of Knowledge has been awarded as a special award. The dungeon has been granted the name: ¡®Cave of the Apprentice¡¯
One message after another filled my vision. They had started once the Boss Rat had been killed by Maximus. There was so much information it was difficult to take it all in¡­ so I just ignored it. I had stuff to take care of! I said that but Max was making sure the rats were leaving the cave. After the rats had left the cave Max stopped moving. He stood frozen at the cave entrance as if he was transfixed. The reason for that was immediately obvious because all the surrounding air was suddenly stripped of mana and a halo of light surrounded him.
One of the dungeon inhabitant is undergoing a natural evolution due to meeting special requirements ¡®Maximus the First¡¯ has evolved into the new species: Beastman species: Squirrel Folk
A great achievement! A new species that has never been seen has emerged from your dungeon As the creator this species, the dungeon will be heralded as the origin of the new species and the species will always have a special affinity to the dungeon The Title: ¡®Cave of Origin¡¯ has been attained The skill ¡®Aura¡¯ has been upgraded to ¡®Essence Aura¡¯ All ¡®squirrels¡¯ in the dungeon will naturally evolve into the new species over time All squirrels in the dungeon will evolve immediately into ¡®Elite Giant Squirrels¡¯ All new squirrels summoned will be ¡®Elite Giant Squirrels¡¯ at no extra mana cost 50 Achievement points have been awarded 100 Dungeon points have been awarded
Holy dung beetle! Maximus is the best! He was now the size of a human, not as tall as the swordswoman was but definitely much bigger than he was. This is great! The rise of my squirrel empire was eminent! The situation in the dungeon wasn¡¯t really in tune with my optimism. After the rat horde left, we took a tally of the damages and things looked grim. There was virtually no squirrel left uninjured, and we had lost more than half the group. Simply summoning more felt insulting to Max¡­ I mean they were his family. They were considered inhabitants of the dungeon but they weren¡¯t like Max who had given part of his soul to me. When they died, that¡¯s it, they were gone. The ones I summoned, I don¡¯t know what he would think if I summoned them. So I¡¯ll hold off for now, at least let him have this period of time to perhaps mourn or something. One thing I do know however is that we are woefully unprepared if those rats came back. I doubt they would as they are leaderless and all but regardless we were pretty vulnerable. Even if I summoned more squirrel folk to defend the cave, I don¡¯t have enough mana to summon enough. So harsh as it sounds I gave Max and his most fit squirrel fighters a task. It was one he was familiar with, finding plants and life forms in the forest to bring back to the cave. This way I¡¯ll build up my mana and souls faster and hopefully we¡¯ll have recovered to a decent fighting strength to handle what may come in the future. The squirrel expedition started in full swing. After making things clear with Max, he said it would be great if I summoned more squirrels as his original group was down to less than 50 total. He set off with 20 of his kin into the forest with my sword strapped across his back and the dagger he used previously tucked in his belt. I had given him the clothes that I had been wearing when I came through the void. So he was now decking out in full gear. Now was time to take care of everything that I didn¡¯t have to time to address while we had a slight rodent problem. First up, I started summoning my new squirrel army. ¡®RISE MY MINIONS! HAHAHA¡¯ he went cray-cray. If dungeon¡¯s had eyes, he would probably be showing a crazed hungry look, probably as he fantasizes about taking over the world. I wonder if I should tell him that a squirrel army probably won¡¯t be able to take down¡­ well almost any monster. Even a slime could take out a dozen squirrels¡­ but Alex taught me something that was shocking to me. As a dungeon fairy, we are taught the basics of dungeon management, so the way he¡¯s doing it is¡­ well it sounds subpar, but get the genius of this man. He sends his creatures out to collect stuff, seriously, and he sends them out and brings back more creatures that become a part of the dungeon! Pure genius! No mana spent, no we gain mana from all the good stuff that keeps being brought in! Would other dungeons do this? Sure, when they¡¯re much higher leveled, they¡¯ll start sending monsters out as waves to raid and kidnap humans and others of the intelligent races. After that, it¡¯s a race against time for those dungeons, to become strong enough to fight off then absorb the retribution from those races or to perish beneath their blades¡­ of the ones I know, only the 72 dungeons owned by the demon lords are able to operate without fear from those races. Instead the armies of humans, elves and dwarves built huge fortresses up to defend against the monster waves. Thinking about those elite dungeon makes me sigh, it¡¯s such a far off goal. I mean, my dungeon master is literally training a bunch of squirrels. They¡¯re the evolved elite giant squirrels sure, but at the same time, they¡¯re also just SQUIRRELS¡­ Now Maximus, I don¡¯t know what to say anymore. I was sooo mad at Alex for naming him, and now? He is the most brilliant subordinate that I have ever heard about. Just through his collecting alone, he¡¯s managed to raise our mana by hundreds! Even now, a few squirrels come in and drop stuff off at the entrance and Alex sucks it all up, I swear he¡¯s purring. About half the new squirrels were put on collecting duty while the others have been tasked with building houses and to fix up the wall in the last dungeon room around the crystal. Can¡¯t be too careful. That reminds me, ¡®Hey Alex! What was that skill you got called Aura? And what is the crystal of knowledge? I¡¯ve never heard of them before.¡¯ Right, you can never be too careful but before we face more enemies we need to know ourselves. Alex brought up the two screens and showed them to me.
Essence Aura (Rank B, Passive Ability) Lv 1 Mastery 3.1% When a soul was crying out, a voice was heard, and when the voice spoke a powerful force could be felt, enveloping and sheltering the crying soul. The very mana in the air itself shook and traced its way into the soul with the will of the voice. If special requirements are met, this skill can evolve
The mana around the skill¡¯s master will contain a trace of the owner¡¯s will Allies of the skill¡¯s master will receive a boost to stat increases
Crystal of Knowledge (Very Rare Unique) Permanent use equipment ¨C once used, this crystal will become a part of the user and will disappear upon death of the owner Intelligence permanently increases by 5, crystal of knowledge also increases intelligence by 5 Gain +1 intelligence for each passive skill Crystal of knowledge may have different effects in combination with other skills or equipment
The power of the Crystal of Knowledge has evolved ¡®Essence Aura¡¯ to ¡®Aura of Knowledge¡¯
Aura of Knowledge (Rank A, Passive Ability) Lv 1 Mastery 0.0% When a soul was crying out, a voice answered, and as it spoke, the words of truth filled the minds of the crying soul. The will of learning permeates the very mana itself.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. If special requirements are met, this skill can evolve
The mana around the skill¡¯s master will contain a trace of the owner¡¯s will Allies of the skill¡¯s master will receive a boost to stat increases A boost to intelligence will be received by any who spends long periods of time in the Aura of Knowledge
Beating up that rat horde really was a gift that keeps on giving! Maybe we should bring them back¡­ HAHAHAHA, no ways, rats smell and wriggle and are absolutely disgusting, so no. While we were checking out all the goodies that we got, Max had returned, his first batch of plants were mostly healing plants so that he could help to heal the injured squirrels. He truly is the best of us isn¡¯t he? I¡¯m gonna have to think of a way to bring his noble and honourable ass down a notch or two, he¡¯s making us look bad. To prove my point, without even resting he marched out with even more squirrels to scour the forest for stuff. ¡®Hey Max, don¡¯t forget berries and fruit trees!¡¯ while dungeon crystals can¡¯t eat, I for one certainly can and when the mighty dungeon master finally heals that body of his he¡¯ll be starving like a trio of wise-cracking hyenas. Mana healing always makes you hungry enough to eat a hippo. Wait, the fuck is a hippo? Must be some of Alex¡¯s memories leeching into me¡­ ¡®Hey Max, don¡¯t forget berries and fruit trees!¡¯ the lady of the dungeon seems to want sweet things to eat. Those are found a bit further away, perhaps a 3 hour march. There are also more traces of humans, or at least one of the intelligent races out that way. Well, she is co-master of the dungeon so what she says goes. Has a bit more of a temper and a much more vulgar tongue when she¡¯s angry compared to Alex but who am I to complain? They saved my life, saved my family and gave me a home. It¡¯d be poor form to think ill of them. I brought a troop of 6 squirrels with me to help with the harvest. I am slightly impatient for them to evolve all the way to beast folk, they can¡¯t manage human speech in their current forms even though their intelligence seems to be adapting at a vigorous pace. The forest here was more sparse than around the around our dungeon. The trees were slender and there were a lot of bushes around. Most of these seemed like new plants so the harvest promised to be good. We had been harvesting for weeks now, our nest of squirrels was up to 400 strong and the injured had all recovered. About a third had evolved into beast folk as well, Alex had them building a dwelling area in the cave, and I think he¡¯s starting to expand the number of rooms. That apparently needs a lot of mana which is why our mission was important. ¡®Ok troop, we¡¯re going to set up camp here, let¡¯s split into pairs, one group remains here to build us a camp and the others start fanning out and getting fruits and seeds. These bushes are a bit too large for transport so far so we¡¯ll have to leave this time.¡¯ Unfortunately, with all the higher evolved folks at home, I didn¡¯t really have anyone to help me out with commanding people. The 6 paired off and got about their tasks while I started exploring the perimeter to make sure there weren¡¯t any surprises. I had a pleasant surprise when I came across of small plants that looked like different kinds of healing herbs, I collected as many as I could. On my way back to camp is when I heard it. A sort of, strange keening noise. It honestly sounded like one of those rats had jumped into a thorn bush and was stuck crying or something. Ever since I had evolved, my capacity to make decisions had both increased as well as proved infinitely more difficult. Alex trusted me leading the troop outside the cave and far away because he said I had awakened autonomy, his special word for meaning I can make my own decisions based on thought and reason instead of instinct. The others were improving but as I was first I had the advantage. So now I had to make the decision, investigate or return to camp. I settled on investigating, it would be bad news if it was an enemy which will attack us later, it wasn¡¯t because of simple curiosity, truly! It came from behind a thorn bush a few meters away. As I crept closer cautiously, the sounds got softer and I could hear the sounds of struggling. Then a very strange sight came into view. It was¡­ an upside down rabbit? No it was too big to be a rabbit. Way too big, I had already grown to the size of a small sized human yet this thing was a third of my size. What the hell? I could see why it was struggling and crying out though, one of its feet seemed to have been caught in a noose from a hunter¡¯s trap. What to do¡­ oh crap, it saw me¡­ no no no those eyes! Those accusing helpless eyes! I decided that for the good of the dungeon, it was a good thing to bring in another species of animal. Perhaps they will be able to evolve like my folk have. ¡®Hey little guy, I¡¯m going to free you ok? Stop struggling,¡¯ I reached over and slowly loosened the knot. I feel bad for the hunter but he¡¯s not going to be eating this rabbit. ¡®I don¡¯t know if you can understand me but I want to take you with me to a dungeon, it¡¯ll be safe for you there,¡¯ most animals have an instinctual knowledge of dungeons as safe havens but I wasn¡¯t sure if this rabbit understood me. Well, it didn¡¯t seem to be running away so I motioned to it and it followed me back to camp. It was nervous at first but when it saw the squirrels, it seemed to calm down. It¡¯s probably because even though I smell like a squirrel, I looked quite similar to a small human. Completely understandable, my feelings were not hurt in any way. I realized its leg seemed to be hurt as it was limping. I found some healing herbs but I didn¡¯t really know how to use them. Back at the dungeon, the other squirrels were directed by Rox as to how to use them. Even the all-mighty Alex was clueless when it came to plants and healing. As I looked helplessly at the herbs one of the other squirrels came over and using a rock ground up some of the leaves then rubbed it into the rabbit¡¯s injured foot. It looked like it worked because its ears started moving in a comical way then¡­ it raised one finger and gave us¡­ was that a thumbs up? Rabbits can¡¯t do that can they? This is a weirdo rabbit. I need to bring it back to the dungeon. What else am I going to find? Sentient bees? A vegetarian zombie? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m evolved enough to handle all this yet¡­ This was one weirdo rabbit¡­ er, actually my [Observe] skill tells me it¡¯s a species called March Hare.
Name: (March Hare)
Race March Hare
Rank D - Holy Beast
Description Holy Beast March Hare, known for its luxurious fur that contains essence of the moon, this hare is wildly prized by hunters. There is supposedly a curse to any who hunt this animal as it is the Goddess of the Moon¡¯s favourite animal.
My observe skills is pretty bare when I try to peek at things that aren¡¯t under my control, but anyway, holy beast? This was the first time I¡¯m seeing this. ¡®Rox, what¡¯s a holy beast?¡¯ ¡®Well this hare is one¡­¡¯ ¡®¡­¡¯ ¡®Oi, take a joke you rock head. Anyway, you know how mana can be turned elemental right? And that there are such things as mana beasts? Well this is a special mana beast whose mana is of the holy affinity, that¡¯s all.¡¯ Hmm, interesting¡­ but what to do with him. According to Max, he came from a hunter¡¯s trap which means that side has humans or beast folk. Elves wouldn¡¯t hunt a holy beast and I didn¡¯t know what the other intelligent species are, they didn¡¯t seem common in this region, at least that''s what Rox told me. It was mighty convenient to have a walking encyclopedia. ¡®Rox, I think I¡¯m going to start calling you Wikiphedia! Or Roxipedia¡­ na that doesn¡¯t work. How about when I say Wiki Rox, you explain stuff?¡¯ ¡®¡­¡¯ Bewilderment and a trace of annoyance, yes that is similar to her normal face but her normal face usually also has a hint of distain to it. ¡®Anyway, Rox, Max, what do you think we should do for this little Hare dude?¡¯ ¡®I like bunnies,¡¯ Rox is a bastion of reason and intellect. ¡®Master, I think we should offer this hare sanctuary,¡¯ oh Max, such eloquence! This is why you are the best of us! ¡®I¡¯ll admit though master that I also like bunnies,¡¯ CORRUPTION, Rox is corrupting Max! How could I let this happen?! Ugh demo-crazy rules although I chose to adopt bunny boy as well.
A contract has been offered to ¡®March Hare¡¯.
I would have been nice if we could talk to the hare. The hare looked confused at first then started to glow. Then, the memories of the hare came rushing into me. It was the youngest of its litter of three and lived with its family in a field of thorn bushes deep in the forest. The older hares were always on the lookout for humans as they were highly prized for their fur and a few of their family had been caught and taken. It seemed a normal day when a hunter chanced upon one of his brothers entering the thorn bushes. The hunter had seen it, the elders were frantic. They got everyone to scramble and we started running in all directions. The hunter managed to nab three, including the hare¡¯s brother, everyone else scattered in all directions. He also ran as fast as he could, not knowing where he was going¡­ And then, while running the world suddenly jolted and then everything turned upside down. I could feel the hare¡¯s pain in his foot. He remained upside down for almost a full day before he saw¡­ it smelled like a squirrel but it had a human face, but squirrel ears, squirrel tail. I realize this was the hare¡¯s view of Max. Max freed the hare and brought him back to the dungeon, where a glowing pebble asked him a question. He said yes
A Contract has been formed
¡®March Hare¡¯ has been added as a Lv1 Contracted
The power of the contract flows between contractor and contracted March Hare has unlocked the Skill ¡®Loyalty¡¯ March Hare¡¯s intelligence has increased by 3 points, strength by 1 points, agility by 4 points, vitality by 1 point and magic power by 4 point
The power of the contract flows between contracted and contractor Contract Summoner Alexander has unlock the ability to feel holy magic Contract Summoner Alexander¡¯s agility has increased by 2
The power of Dungeon Contract has been invoked
The creature summon ¡®March Hare¡¯ has been unlocked.
¡®Thank you dungeon master,¡¯ unexpectedly, the March Hare spoke! How? He hadn¡¯t evolved yet! What a weirdo! ¡®You won¡¯t regret contracting me sir! Ummmm, can I go bring my family? Also, do you have anything to eat? Being hunted by a hunter, losing my family and my poor brother who¡¯s probably a pair of gloves now *sob* makes me want to swallow my self whole, if fact I¡­¡¯ I switched off. What the hell. Turns out the new addition to the dungeon was shameless and overly talkative. Things are getting lively...
Create Special Rooms (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered An upgrade of [Create Room] allows the user to create a specialized room that serves a different purpose than the general room Current special rooms available: Secret Room, Puzzle Room, Boss Room
Create Structures (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered Allows the creation of specialize structures that serve either functional or decorative purposes E.g. Walls, fence, pillars, blocks, water pond, stalactite, stalagmite, etc
Create Mana Stones (Mana Ability) Lv Max Mastered Through the condensation of mana, the formation of a mana stone can be achieved Mana stones increase the ambient mana by attracting more mana Increased mana stones is one of the primary ways to increase the mana that can be absorbed by a dungeon
Create Elemental Stone (Mana Ability) Lv Max Mastered Through condensation of mana imbued with an element, the formation of an elemental stone can be achieved Elemental stones change the surrounding environment slightly and give off ambient elemental energy Certain types of creatures, monsters and plant life are not able to survive and grow over long periods unless the environment they are situated in has a proper balance of elemental energy
Name Bestowal (Soul Ability) Lv Max Mastered Allows an animal, monster, undead or plant to acquire a name. Said creature must have adequate achievements to qualify for a name or face obliteration if forced The reasons for the name, and the task given to the named must be stated to shape the named A name is an identity, and all those named enter onto the path of destiny
When there is a horizontal line in the text, its usually to depict a change of scene but also denotes that some time has passed. Ex - Immortal/chaos SSS - God SS - Epic S - Legendary A - Phantysmal B - Very Rare C - Rare D - Enchanted/Magical E - uncommon F ¨C common Each rank of equipment can have 3 different modifiers, a minus (-) modifier is for an equipment of that rank that has a negative trait, while a plus (+) is one that has a positive trait, e.g. agile iron sword (common +) (+1 strength, +1 agility) The third modifier is the term unique, it stands for one-of-a-kind items that are a class above those of the same level and have a wide range of effects Chapter 6 – Expand the Dungeon The wide scale renovation of our home and dungeon is taking place. Along with all the mana Max managed to bring in, we are going to start expanding! Max and the March Hare are setting out to try find the March Hare¡¯s family to bring back to the dungeon. Although the squirrels are more highly evolved and thus much stronger at the moment, there¡¯s no telling how the Hares will develop so calling them will only help us, besides if they¡¯re willing to become inhabitants of my dungeon, I¡¯m not going to say no. So the plan for the dungeon was to have ten rooms before you get to the dungeon crystal room. According to Rox, ten was ideal for the first floor, like a rite of passage for dungeons and one of the requirements if I want to add another floor when I eventually get that ability unlocked. I didn¡¯t make too many changes to the room by the entrance, just making it big enough for 50 people or so to fit in at once comfortably. Each room will be connected to the next with a corridor that can only fit 2 people abreast at once just in case we get attacked by a mob again. The squirrels may be evolving to become human sized slowly but we still need to make the place defendable. Apart from the cliff room as the second room, I added secret rooms to the second to last and last rooms. I made them massive as well, more caverns than rooms, and that¡¯s where the squirrels could make homes for themselves. It didn¡¯t take long for them to increase the size into a small warren like structure that could hold all 400 of them. I was starting to be quite proud of the dungeon. Several days had gone by before Max and the March Hare returned. They brought with them 40 other hares as well as, surprisingly a host of vegetables. Is it¡­ racist to find it amusing that hares would think to bring carrots with them? Well they did, as well as a huge selection of things that I had no clue as to the identity. They were apparently edible and even delicious judging by the glazed look on Rox¡¯s face. When they brought everything in, I got a new message
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 6 To reach the next level 1000 Mana and 100 souls are needed
What the fuck? The requirements for the next level up are insane! Shit ¡®Roooxxxxx, why did the requirements for the next level jump so high?!¡¯ ¡®What did you think would happen? Stronger monsters and beasts give hundreds if not thousands of mana when they die. Besides dungeons grow qualitatively, not just quantitatively.¡¯ ¡®So in English, they become better as well as bigger. *sigh* I guess that means we have to ramp up our work. Also no skills at level 6? What cheap skates.¡¯ ¡®Dungeons can grow to the hundreds, you think there are an infinite amount of skills? The skills learnt are only those you have an affinity with, you know. For instance, neither your dungeon abilities nor your human body are suited for physical skills like sword skills.¡¯ ¡®Don¡¯t I know it. The fact that I don¡¯t have affinity for those types of active skills is almost insulting since even the most common animal can learn them, but noooo not me. As we were chatting, the March Hare brought his family and suddenly kneeled down in front of me. ¡®Oh great dungeon master! I have brought my kin to seek sanctuary in your dungeon, please accept us as inhabitants¡­¡¯ This guy¡­ perhaps he¡­ ¡®Also, since you already have a named squirrel leading your squirrel group, it stands to reason to have a named lead the hares. I volunteer for this arduous task, and I vow to always fight valiantly against all your mighty foes, why I shall prove my valour and¡­¡¯ ¡®¡­ And strike fear into the hearts of those who dare¡­¡¯ This was an art form I had never seen before. I looked at Alex, wow if crystals had eyes, his would be glazed over. None of the enemies we had could faze him but this shameless hare had made him powerless! The hare was actually asking for a name! How brazen¡­ his whole family looks like they want to bury themselves! ¡®¡­ I am the bravest of my kin, I hold the heart of a lion¡­¡¯ This came from the guy who bolted when his family was attacked¡­ ¡®Ok, ok enough,¡¯ even Alex had a breaking point. I helplessly giggled, I think having this Hare around would make him more grounded in reality instead of thinking all serious things. ¡®Rox what do you think?¡¯ Alarm bells! He¡¯s trying to foist the decision to me! I can already see that infernal hare preparing to start talking to me, no no no. ¡®Of course we should name him! Such a brave, uh silent warrior would be appreciated as one of the vanguard of our forces,¡¯ oh I do have a silver tongue if I do say so myself. Alex is looking at me accusingly, well excuse me rock head, I¡¯m not going to stand around and get talked at for half an hour like you. It¡¯s funny when it happens to Alex but not if I have to suffer too. If crystals had eyes, Alex would be rolling his at me heh. I could tell he liked this hare though, for all his faults. His tongue was sharp which meant his mind was sharp as well, we could always use more quick witted allies. Alex shared the screens with me as he invoked [Name Bestowal] on the March Hare. ¡®March Hare, I grant you the name Levine the Brave. Through the best and worst of times, you will be the anchor for those around you to keep them, and us all, striving for something greater.¡¯
¡®March Hare¡¯ has been granted the name ¡®Levine the Brave¡¯
Name bestowal has been invoked March Hare has now been named An evolution has occurred naturally caused by the will of the creature and the power of the dungeon master Levine has evolved into the race Holy Hare Folk Warrior Levine¡¯s strength has increased by 12, agility has increased by 16, intelligence has increased by 18, magic power has increased by 19, stamina has increased by 19 Levine has unlocked the skill ¡®Holy Warrior¡¯ Levine has unlocked the skill ¡®Moon¡¯s Blessing¡¯ Levine has unlocked the skill ¡®Silver Tongue¡¯
Magic light surrounded the newly named Levine. The mana around him had a slightly pearly tinge to it, probably the holy essence acting up. I wonder if he¡¯ll become even more talkative, that skill Silver Tongue worries me. I¡¯m almost tempted to ask him what it is, but it¡¯s bad manners to ask people what their skill descriptions are¡­ As the glow of magic faded we could see that he was like a half beastman, not quite as tall as Max but obviously on the way to evolve to full beastman too. With that, plans were made to expand some more rooms to as a home for the new additions to the dungeon. ¡®Hey Alex, show me the dungeon summary, how are we doing for mana and souls? ¡®Honestly, we¡¯re almost dry, we need to send some more people for collection.¡¯
Dungeon Name: Cave of the Apprentice Titles: Cave of Origin (the birthplace of the squirrel folk species, +affinity to squirrel folk, all squirrel folk in this dungeon get a bonus +2 to all stats, stat increase rate up)
Rank: 6
Floors: 1
Mana: 157/1000
Souls: 46
Dungeon Points: 143
Achievement Points: 55
Dungeon Abilities: Absorption Expand Territory Create Room Create Special Room Create Structures
Mana Abilities: Mana Absorption Create animal Create monster Create undead Create plantlife Create Mana Stones Create Elemental Stones
Soul Abilities: Soul Absorption Enhance creature Name Bestowal
Special Abilities: Dungeon Map Dungeon Contract Dungeon Shore
Inhabitants 442
Creatures: 440This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Named Creatures: 2
Boss Creatures: 0
Special Creatures: 0
Plant-life 0
¡®We have a quite a few dungeon points now, why don¡¯t we unlock some monsters? We have to unlock the earlier ones for the more advanced monsters to be unlocked anyway.¡¯ Alex agreed.
The Monster ¡®Slime¡¯ has now been unlocked.
The Monster ¡®Goblin¡¯ has now been unlocked.
We spent 100 dungeon points and unlocked the two beginning monsters. ¡®You want to summon a slime or a goblin? Slime is 50 mana, goblin is 100 mana.¡¯ Alex wondered about it for a bit, then decided, ¡®Let¡¯s go slime first and see what we¡¯re working with.¡¯ ¡®Create monster!¡¯
What monster would you like to create? Creatures available
Squirrel (animal) 1 mana to summon
Giant rat (animal) 3 mana to summon
Hare (animal) 4 mana to summon
Wolf (animal) 40 mana to summon
Slime The lowest cost monster that can be summoned by a dungeon Under control of the dungeon Mutation and evolution possible Offensive ability lowest, defensive ability low Has high resistance to physical attacks Intelligence rating Negligible Magic ability - minor magic absorption only Soul increases ability and allows monster to leave dungeon Weak to offensive magic 50 mana to summon
Goblin The lowest cost tribe monster that can be summoned by a dungeon Under control of the dungeon Mutation and evolution possible Offensive ability low, defensive ability low Intelligence rating Low ¨C increases with a goblin leader Magic ability - magical perception only Soul increases ability and allows monster to leave dungeon Weak to mind magic 100 mana to summon
Kobold Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Orc Locked ¨C unlock with 100 dungeon points
Skeleton Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Zombie Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Imp Locked ¨C unlock with 100 dungeon points
¡®Wow! We opened up a lot more options! Let¡¯s summon up a slime first, since it¡¯s cheap and all. Summon one slime!¡¯ After the blob of jello came out, came something unexpected.
A new achievement! The first monster has been summoned to your dungeon The creatures that live in a dungeon are the blood that keeps the heart of the dungeon from faltering The dungeon ability [Special Summon] has been unlocked
¡®Special summon? Rox, what is in special summon?¡¯ Honestly I didn¡¯t know, but I had some idea of at least WHY I didn¡¯t know. ¡®Well Al, it goes like this, every dungeon has a flavour or a unique fragrance about it and according to the dungeon and the dungeon master, they will sometimes unlock special features that have a high affinity with the dungeon or its master¡­ but first you have to fulfill a specific set of requirements that we don¡¯t know about like maybe we had to be rank 5 and have summoned one monster, or have 1000 inhabitants in the dungeon and it¡¯ll unlock. Basically the better you perform as a dungeon, not just pure on masses of monsters, I¡¯m talking about the nitty gritty making things efficient and work smoothly kind of dungeon keeping, will make it easier to unlock stuff.¡¯ ¡®That basically means, the better I work, not just as a dungeon master but also by doing things my own way, the more special things I can unlock?¡¯ ¡®Why do you think I haven¡¯t stopped you from doing weird and crazy things? I think you¡¯re onto something, heck you may be a genius! What do I know, dungeon fairies only get one dungeon so everything is new to me.¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s look at that special summons page while we¡¯re at it¡¯
Special Summons Certain individuals, leave a mark on history, or in the souls of those around them. This permanent mark leaves their essence and their soul drifting in the world. Those with special summoning ability such as dungeon masters can tap into and summon those they have great affinity towards, for a price. Special summons are vastly more powerful than most normal summons and thus have a much greater price. If special conditions are fulfilled related to the souls in question, they can be summoned for a cheaper price or perhaps without any price paid by the dungeon master. Select rank
Rank Ex None
Rank SSS None
Rank SS 24 Available
Rank S 100+ Available
Rank A 100+ Available
Rank B 100+ Available
Rank C 100+ Available
Rank D 100+ Available
Rank E 100+ Available
Rank F 100+ Available
Rank G 100+ Available
¡®Holy cantaloupe, is this legal? This is insane... Alright, let''s check out rank G.¡¯ Even I was astounded when I saw the list that popped up after. Monster after monster, animals, demons, undead. They were all listed, though they had two things in common, they were ridiculously expensive, even for rank G, on average about 800 mana, and they were also¡­ all named creatures. ¡®Alex¡­ what¡­ what are these? They¡¯re all named creatures, this is impossible!¡¯ ¡®I recognize some of the names! Oh my god¡­ they¡¯re all the creatures I fought with back on Earth. You remember Rox? I told you how the planet I lived on used to be without magic, but then one day a huge war broke out and due to the effects of the war huge rifts opened up all over the world. Out of these rifts came monsters and creatures but also most importantly, came magic. When humans got hit with magic we were drawn into the system and we started being able to level up. These creatures, these are the ones I¡¯ve fought with before!¡¯ I looked at Alex in shock, he killed with so many? The screen clearly showed rank SS, Rank S and Rank A as well¡­ ¡®Alex¡­ you fought with Rank SS creatures?¡¯ my voice may have trembled a bit. Rank SS, that was the rank of dragons and titans, heroes and devils. ¡®No, I definitely wasn¡¯t strong enough for that. Ok let¡¯s check it out, Rank SS special summons.¡¯ Then he went silent. It felt like his dungeon crystal was going to crack. If crystals had eyes, his would be showing anguish, horror, shock? What¡¯s going on? ¡®Alex, Alex! What¡¯s wrong? Alex?¡¯ He didn¡¯t say a word. He couldn''t. ¡®Alex, Alex! What¡¯s wrong? Alex?¡¯ I could hear Rox¡¯s concerned voice echoing in my head. I wanted to answer, I wanted to move¡­ but how could I? I was transfixed, I couldn¡¯t compute. I felt like lightning had struck me. I just couldn¡¯t think, I couldn¡¯t process what was going on. Memories flooded me. I was only 14 when world war 3 broke back on earth. How did it start? Well¡­ The year was 2058 and the Allied Axis Federation, made up of old allies from the Second World War, had declared war on the Blood of the Brothers, a faction that had arisen from a collection of groups that had allied together made up of mostly terrorist groups that were prominent in unstable and war-torn areas across the globe, as well as a few extremist and supremist groups. How the racial supremist groups justified working with others not of the same race was purely political, they were mutual in their hatred of established governments... and thus they fought together. The conflict started due to the assination of a political figure somewhere in the Eastern Europe, and then to all intents and purposes ended, with the invention of a new weapon, codenamed the Star Cluster Bomb. A new weapon that disintegrated matter and would theoretically create ablack hole with the resultant destructive forces estimated around the size of a medium sized country. The problem was that the new weapon had been stolen away by the Blood Brothers, who promptly launched it, right there in Eastern Europe. The aftermath was where everything changed, a new level of energy tore open the very foundation of the universe, splitting matter and releasing power equivalent to compare to the energy of a supernova. The destruction ignited the ozone layer around earth, changed all the weather patterns around the globe, spewed radiation into every particle, destroyed a third of the world''s landmass but worse of all... The theoretical blackhole did indeed pop up, except it wasn''t exactly temporary. Instead the blackhole absorbed continuosly for 3 years before it transformed into a dimensional rift... And through this rift came a message. [We are waiting for you] Everyone got this message that whispered in their minds at the same time. Lights shot out from the dimensional rift and electricity started to fail. It took a long time for us to realize why, that is mana and electrical circuits don¡¯t mix. Mana agitates electrical current and the electrical circuits melt¡­ of course all we knew was that it felt like the world was ending. We don¡¯t know who the first to enter the system was. It was abrupt, when that first status screen appeared in front of you. We didn¡¯t know how to unlock it, but soon everyone had this odd ability to measure their stats. About a year after the rift open was when the next ¡®event¡¯ happened. We called it Monster Fall, because¡­ well monsters fell. From the sky. Literally, these monsters were ejected from the rift and started falling from the sky, and those that survived the fall started attacking anyone and anything around them. Those who could, took up arms, with so many trials and tribulations. In the beginning, we were trying to reclaim earth, then we were just trying to survive, lastly we were trying to escape. I was the key to escaping, with my special ability, I could tie someone¡¯s soul to mine, so if I escaped? Everyone tied to me could escape. That¡¯s why I was chosen for the mission, and that¡¯s why all the others underwent such hardship just to keep me alive. Why even Bird and Cadet, the strongest humans on earth, my best friend and my sister did everything to keep me from the end. We managed to survive for 15 years. But slowly, our numbers were being whittled away. At that point, everyone had made a contract with me, and with it, I could tell that everyone was alive. It was like a life insurance, as long as I didn¡¯t die, no one else could. The secret to our success, and the reason we could hold out so long on a dying earth. Eventually though, we started losing too many important players. They weren¡¯t dead, that isn¡¯t how the system was working. No, the reason everything was so fucked up was more complex than that. Basically put, Earth was collapsing. And some higher powers didn¡¯t like that, they valued earth and humanity. And this wasn''t higher powers like governments, I''m talking about Gods and divinity. Not the ones we worshiped in our religions, but strange and sometimes crazy gods. They weren''t all powerful or all-knowing... but they were much more powerful than us, and definitely knew more than us too. Some of them liked humanity. Thus they were going to save earth, and they would save humanity but not all of us. We were given a task. We had to enter the system, and fulfill a minimum number of missions. Then, they would transport us to a new world. Some of us did more than the minimum needed missions, that was me and my group. There was more than a few hundred of us, however in the last mission, there was only 3. Me, Bird and Cadet. And when that mission ended, there was only me. I was the very last human on earth¡­ and apparently there is a privilege being the last one, I met god, or at least A god. This one liked us humans so he struck a deal with me. I would perform one last mission for him. And he would make it so I could keep my contracts, while he kept everyone alive but unsummoned in the new world, and thus I could potentially find a way to bring my group to the new world with me, instead of scattering us throughout an entire strange world. He said the new world has 5 times the size of Earth and didn''t have global transportation, but if I took him at his word, although I don''t know what conditions would be needed summon everyone, that possibility still exists. What a deal right? The problem was that I had to travel through the void, just me. With my mediocre physical stats and non-existent protective skills. Sure the god would help me but it was a gamble. Long story short, I woke up to the sound of Rox, and everything else is history. So I had two missions, gather everyone, and fulfill that god¡¯s mission. So right now I was godsmacked. I was shocked. I was speechless. The reason for that? A simple table, Rank SS summons.
What Special Rank SS would you like to summon? Summons available
¡®Sword Saint Bird¡¯ 5 000 000 Mana and 5 000 Souls to summon
¡®Life Reaper Cadet¡¯ 4 000 000 Mana and 7 000 Souls to summon
Locked Spent 100 Achievement points to unlock more
I finally found out some of what had happened so he fell into the cave with an arm and leg missing on the cusp of death. It was¡­ well an amazing story. I can¡¯t believe he had gone through all of that. I¡¯ve also never heard of some of the vulgar language he used after he finally started talking again. Well, I can¡¯t blame him really, he finally found out how to find his friends and get them all together again¡­ but even if we saved mana for the rest of the year, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible to save that much. So we¡¯re right back where we started, expect this time we have a really focused dungeon crystal. If crystals had eyes, his would like the gaze of an eagle, glaring. I feel both happy and sad at his reaction. It¡¯s childish of me to be a little jealous at the loyalty and dedication he gives to his friends and sister. I mean they fought through fifteen years and had to go through a lot of tragedy. And they gambled everything on him. On his ability, both his ¡®contract¡¯ ability and his own personal ability to survive. I won¡¯t be jealous, instead, I want to join in this happy group. We¡¯ll do it, we¡¯ll make this the most powerful dungeon in the world. We¡¯ll grow, we¡¯ll become as powerful as one of the intelligent nations and carve out a space for him and his friends. And I will be there every step of the way Alex is going to step onto the path of a dungeon king, guided by the light of his loyal dungeon fairy. Red eyes. The sign of a demonic presence, these red eyes were on the eyes of a wolf. After having been chased out of their new cave home by an adventuring swordswoman, after that humiliation, a demonic presence had taken root in the soul of the leader of the pack of wolves. His pack looked at him in devotion and fear. When he evolved into a demonic wolf, he had grown to twice their size, dark grey fur adorned his body. There bony protrusions resembling spines along his back that shivered as the wolf prowled around. A dark predator¡¯s intellect could be seen in its eyes. It felt a desire, to take revenge, to mutilate that swordswoman, and take back control of the cave. There was something special about the cave, the wolf had sensed the dungeon. All animals have a natural instinct towards dungeons, and this wolf wanted to own the dungeon. The demon wolf raised its muzzle and howled, gathering its pack. A pack of wolves thirty strong started making their way towards the cave they had been driven out from. Chapter 7 - The Swordswoman and the Wolf It was some time before Alex got over the shock of seeing the special summons, heck even I was shocked, WE HAD RANK SS warriors as possible summons! I say possible in a very theoretical sense since I¡¯ll have evolve into an old turtle by the time we have enough resources to summon them. There was one effect to this though, Alex had increased the pace of the dungeon, now everyone in the dungeon was working full-time. We even leveled up!
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 7 To reach the next level 2000 Mana and 200 souls are needed
No skills this level either but like I said, we can¡¯t get stuff every level, that¡¯s just being greedy. We also summoned out 2 slimes and 2 goblins. I went about trying to educate the goblins but they were so dense¡­ I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll be useful to us considering the squirrels were almost as strong now and vastly more intelligent. I don¡¯t know when I started changing my mind. Traditionally, dungeons would start summoning slimes and goblins and use treasure to bait adventurers to come to the dungeon. I guess since we seem to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, and because Alex is weird, we did things differently. I think this way is better, and it¡¯s not because Max brings me berries and fruits. It¡¯s because I feel this way is like building a better foundation. After some time had passed, we got an unexpected and definitely unwanted visitor. One of the squirrel folk on his way back saw a human woman. My blood ran cold. We knew only one human, and if she¡¯s back, it means she¡¯s suspicious¡­ and there¡¯s no way to hide that we were a dungeon, what with the whole expansion and everything. ¡®Squirrel troop, inform everyone to hide in the secret rooms! Not a peep out of you! Goblins and slimes, spread out one to a room and look harmless! AAAAHH! Alex, it¡¯s the Ogre Chic! She¡¯s back!¡¯ If she finds one of the hares or squirrels evolved here we¡¯re finished! I know they¡¯ll either send people to enslave them or something, this was a nightmare, and we weren¡¯t ready for this yet! So the plan is to pretend to be a young dungeon that will do nothing but summon a few monsters. Harmless really, no treasures, nothing yet. The 2 goblins and 2 slimes are to be decoy. Hopefully she¡¯s just curious and won¡¯t kill them all¡­ That¡¯s basically a huge investment for us, and she could set us back a whole week of mana. We had barely got everyone hidden when she appeared at the entrance to the dungeon. Darn, I was right, it really was her. As she stepped in, it seemed she felt the mana fluctuations of the dungeon around her. She smiled and said, ¡®I was right, it¡¯s a young dungeon.¡¯ She started walking deeper. She frowned after going past the second room, the rooms were large, a bit larger than a young dungeon should have¡­ but well, we technically were a young dungeon, but we had grown faster than other dungeons because we were collecting things from outside. She made into the 4th room before she found anything¡­ a very mysterious slime that was¡­ just sitting in the middle of the room¡­ I slapped my forehead. These monsters are going to be the death of me. This was the slime ¡®looking harmless¡¯, I swear charades with these folks is going to be a nightmare. ¡®Pst Alex, should we release a rat or something to chase the ogre chic away?¡¯ ¡®Stop calling her an Ogre, she doesn¡¯t have green skin, and she doesn¡¯t smell of onions¡­ and she doesn¡¯t have a pet donkey hahaha,¡¯ Alex was laughing at his own jokes. I wonder if he knows that none of us understand his humour. ¡®Anyway, we needed to get rid of this homewrecker! Do something!¡¯ ¡®Ah Rox, do you know what a homewrecker is? Ah never mind¡­¡¯ The curious swordswoman moped around for another 2 hours. TWO HOURS. Then, quick as you know it, she called it quits and headed back out. We heard her whispering, ¡®Gotta get the guild out here.¡¯ That was a troublesome sentence if there ever was one¡­ The swordswoman had stayed for a couple hours before she left. The great thing is that the mana that surrounded her was rich so our mana collection was great, but it¡¯s terrifying watching someone that can crush you beneath her heel just wandering around in your home while you¡¯re hiding from her. That evening, we had a council of war, I say we, I mean Rox and Max came over to talk. We needed more forces, although we had 10 rooms in the dungeon now, along with 5 secret rooms used to house everyone, I didn¡¯t feel like we had enough monsters. While building up mana using outside resources was fast, I wanted to build mana faster. One way was attracting adventurers to come and dungeon hunt, but without more floors and a few stronger monsters to defend us, we were sitting ducks if they decided they wanted to take the dungeon crystal as well. The dungeon crystal is after all, a highly condensed mana soulstone, a very valuable commodity I expect. Thus that wasn¡¯t a good idea. Another way was to invest in mana stones that will start increasing the mana of the area ambiently thus allowing greater absorption but that would cost a lot to set up and I didn¡¯t want to set it up on the first floor. Anyone that came and found them would take them away and we would suffer a loss. So the only choice we had was to get everyone to carry on collecting until we had unlocked the ability to make a second floor, no matter how far away that was. As Max was heading out¡­ the squirrel folk started screaming out an alarm! This wasn¡¯t like when the swordswoman came, this time things were serious. Outside the dungeon entrance, the wolf pack, 30 strong was moving towards the fleeing squirrels. In comparison to size, the squirrels were larger now, all of them were at least ¡®Elite Giant Squirrels¡¯ with a good 50 or so evolved all the way to squirrel folk. The problem was we had no weapons, we had no traps, no preparation. As they got near the entrance of the dungeon they broke into a run. The retreating squirrels and hares were too slow¡­ as the lead wolves hit the back of the retreating group, squirrels and hares were torn apart by their powerful jaws. They had been peacefully gathering materials before, so they were caught completely unaware¡­ It was a disaster. The wolves had obviously grown or some such thing, they were the height of a full grown squirrel folk but twice as strong and three times as fast. Another dozen squirrels got torn to shreds before everyone managed to make the dungeon entrance. The wolves didn¡¯t stop, the wolf leader growled at them and they started pushing towards the dungeon. I admit I was panicking. ¡®Max, make a defensive line with the goblins and slimes, get the squirrels and hares to prepare rocks to throw!¡¯ The situation wasn¡¯t good. We had grown complacent, sure we had more than 400 individuals, but I completely overlooked the fact that the thorn weapons we had now were both too small for the squirrel folk and simply wouldn¡¯t be effective on these larger creatures. ¡®Shit, this is bad¡­ at this rate we¡¯re going to lose everyone! Levine! Max! You¡¯ve lived in this forest a while, do you know anything that will work against these guys? Max spoke first, ¡®Master, apart from when you rescued me, I hadn¡¯t had any wolf contact since we¡¯re mostly up in the trees. From what I can see though is that the most deadly thing about the wolves is their speed. If we can break that, we can surround them with our greater numbers. We¡¯ll beat them up with rocks and sticks in our hands if we have to.¡¯ ¡®Master, I have an idea,¡¯ Levine spoke slowly like he was thinking if it would work, ¡®My hare family lived quite a bit aways from here, closer to the humans. I think I remember hearing that humans chase away wolves using fire before¡­ someone in my troop must know, but if we can make fire we could probably chase them away for a while.¡¯ Fire. Fire is a good idea¡­ but how, the wolves were literally in the first cave, beyond being on our doorstep, they were already intruders. ¡®Alex, we can summon fire elemental stones. If we can find someone who can use some of the power within the stones, we could light some branches¡­¡¯ Rox trailed off as she realized something, ¡®The only problem is that the cost for summoning something doubles when intruders are leeching mana from the dungeon¡­¡¯ It¡¯s a two way street, ambient mana absorption increases from the intruders but summoning stuff increases in price. It would be a different story if I had more floors¡­ Damn, but that¡¯s the only way right? So fuck it, let¡¯s do it! ¡®Create elemental stone!¡¯
What elemental stone would you like to create? Elements available
FireUnauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. 100 mana Due to intruders, mana cost is 200 mana
Water 100 mana Due to intruders, mana cost is 200 mana
Holy 150 mana Due to intruders, mana cost is 300 mana
Locked To unlock, affinity to the element has to be created within the dungeon
¡®200 Mana?! We don¡¯t have enough, shit, ok I¡¯m going to absorb everything not essential, goodbye fruits and veges, goodbye to everything¡­ and¡­ that just gives us enough¡­ ah my heart bleeds mana, this better fucking work!¡¯ I was so mad, I¡¯m going to DESTROY these wolves! They set us back so much freaking mana! ¡®Create fire elemental stone!¡¯ An orb the size of a fist appeared floating in the air then was caught by Levine. ¡®Alright, Levine, go find someone who can use this thing¡­ Max go help out with defense, the wolves are having a standoff with the goblins and slimes but that won¡¯t last long¡­ I really hope this works.¡¯ Max whispered something to Levine before he left, then both left for their missions. ¡®Alex, we messed up didn¡¯t we?¡¯ A small voice, Rox looked so sad, even though she wasn¡¯t to blame. ¡®Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll get through this, I just don¡¯t want to lose too many¡­ Max and Levine have lost enough of their family as is¡­ but we¡¯ll pull through this. You are the one who knows the most out of all of us, so we need you with us, ok Rox?¡¯ It¡¯s true, she knew stuff from before she was a dungeon fairy and that was way beyond the knowledge the rest of us had. Well, time to see what was going to happen. I am so fucking scared, wolves! The first thing that happens when we find a new home is it gets attacked by wolves! We¡¯ve barely been here a month! AAhhh, I think Alex was being sarcastic when he named me ¡®the Brave¡¯. Worse is I know, I know I can think more clearly now in the dungeon¡­ but all I can think about is imminent death. To top it off, I¡¯ve been given such a strange job. ¡®Alright, Levine, go find someone who can use this thing¡­¡¯ I was stupid enough to reach out and grab this thing. I thought it was going to hit the floor, that¡¯s why. They said it was a fire elemental stone, and true it felt warm but I have no idea how they would even use it. Max came up to me and whispered to me, ¡®Go ask for the squirrels that know about medical herbs, probably your best bet for someone who is mana sensitive.¡¯ Well, Alex is the boss but Max is my bro. I know it¡¯s corny and all but he saved me, and well debts have to be repaid. Especially because I don¡¯t know if I would have done the same thing¡­ Anyway, dark thoughts aside, I should look for this group of planty squirrels. When I found them, they were being directed by Lady Rox to make medicinal paste. ¡®Hey Miss Rox, can we get these squirrels to test out the fire stone?¡¯ ¡®Oh hey Levine, sure I think this one here is your best bet, she¡¯s a lot quicker than the rest at making healing paste. Maybe she¡¯ll be able to use the stone, hey good thinking, I didn¡¯t even know you knew these squirrels.¡¯ ¡®I didn¡¯t! Max was the one who¡­¡¯ Right! It was Max! I looked at the squirrel in question¡­ well, well, well¡­ what have we here. A female squirrel that caught my brother Max¡¯s eye hey? Ahahaha, oh this is going to be good. Rox was quick, when she heard what I said she put two and two together. ¡®Ahahaha, well well well, Max and little miss lady squirrel hey? Who would have thought that ball of honour and duty would have it in him?¡¯ You know, listening to us, it¡¯s almost as if we weren¡¯t being sieged¡­ Of course I had to think it. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, a message was passed down from the defense line. ¡®One of the slimes has fallen, the defence line is retreating to the second room!¡¯ I looked at the squirrel that came to deliver the message, then I quickly turned to the herby squirrel. ¡®Look I know this is sudden but can you use this stone to make a fire? I don¡¯t know how but it has fire mana inside, it¡¯s serious¡­ Max is at the defence line and needs this pronto.¡¯ Shame, I feel shame¡­ when I mentioned Max, the little Lady squirrel¡¯s eyes lit on fire and she snatched the fire elemental stone from me. Lady Rox looked at me with one eyebrow raised¡­ nooo don¡¯t look at me like that, the shame the shame¡­ ¡®My dear, try to feel the mana in your body, it should feel like a bit of heat or energy and it beats at the same time your heart does¡­ if you can feel it, try and will it to push into the stone in your hands¡¯ Lady Rox obviously knew a bit more than I did, thus was able to give better instructions. She was still looking at me accusingly though¡­ A minute went by, then two. The poor little squirrel was clutching the stone so tightly, ah I feel so much shame. Then, a spark, just a small one, then two, and then suddenly a small flame could be seen dancing on the elemental stone! ¡®Quick Levine! Bring a branches! We¡¯re going to chase those fucking wolves back to hell!¡¯ Lady Rox really had a way with words, I couldn¡¯t have put it better myself. The wolves, they seemed to be acting smarter. Especially that leader of theirs. Contrary to what most people think, wolf packs aren¡¯t ruled by an Alpha, no, they actually are more tribal¡­ but this group was abnormal. The leader ruled with strength. I could see his eyes flashing red as we stood facing each other in the cliff room. We had lost one of the slimes in the first room. The wolves were down below the cliff, while at the top of the cliff on our side, I had gotten the slime and goblins to line up beside me. They were individually a bit stronger, at least defense wise, than the normal wolves, but definitely not as strong as that Demon Wolf leader. Our tactics lay in scaring them away using fire, which should give us time to prepare¡­ but that itself was a gamble, would they run? That Demon Wolf worried me. It could think, and it was looking at us calculating. If it charged our defensive line and broke through, it would open the way for the rest of the wolves. We just had to hold out till we could break out the fire. The demon wolf growled, and two wolves trotted closer. It seems he was testing us. I can understand why, I was decked out in armour and sword, while the slime were probably not something they came across often so they didn¡¯t know how to deal with them. We only lost the first one due to that Demon Wolf. Now, do I stay defensive or should I give a show of strength? As the 2 wolf scouts came closer, I made my decision. One wolf killed now is one wolf less to worry about. Besides, I needed a little bit of revenge for them killing my family and attacking my home. I lunged from my position towards the nearest one, stabbing straight towards its head with full force. It wasn¡¯t expecting it and yelped, falling back and knocking into the other wolf. I smirked, perfect. With a few steps, and a diagonal chop, I hit the wolf over the head. The sword cleaved into its head, blood spurting. It gave a dying whimper as I pulled the sword out. These normals weren¡¯t my match. I looked warily at the lead wolf. It was staring at me. It was smarter than the rest of its pack, it knew I was the biggest threat. Well, two can play a game of smarts. I pulled back to the defensive line, a goblin on either side of me, with the slime behind. The Demon Wolf gave another signal, this time 5 wolves joined the wolf from earlier. Before they got close enough for the goblins to attack, the two wolves in front rushed and tackled the goblins. Unfortunately, we could only get the goblins some wooden clubs, no powerful weapons. They slammed their clubs down on the wolves¡¯ backs but as they were being pushed back, they didn¡¯t have a firm enough stance to put power behind their blows. At the same time they started rushing, the Demon Wolf made its move. Using its superior strength and agility, it started a sprint and ran along the cliff wall before jumping behind the defensive line. I hurriedly turned to face it, bringing the slime with me. Some of the squirrels and hares had started pelting rocks at the remaining wolves, but honestly the wolves looked lazy as they dodged. I looked that Demon Wolf straight in the eyes, my sword out in front of me. We were testing each other¡­ and I was not liking what I was seeing. It outdid me in strength and agility, while my strengths lay in intelligence and stamina, but that meant this wolf could over power me. As if to prove a point, the Demon wolf, approached quickly, moving by darting from side to side, keeping the point of the sword further away. As it got close enough for a lunge, it jumped to one side and aimed straight for the slime. The bastard, after killing the first slime, it knew these slimes had great physical resistance so it was trying to take the last one out. I couldn¡¯t let it do whatever it wanted so I moved to intercept. I aimed a horizontal slash at it, but bastard moved his body away. The tip of the sword barely reached its body, drawing a faint bloody line across its ribs. This wasn¡¯t enough to stop it though, it used its strength to tear apart bits of the slime in a frenzy, even as caught up to it and delivered another slash. This one bit deeper, making a gash appear along its back. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough. The Demon Wolf had finally found the monster¡¯s core of the slime, and although it was injured it wasn¡¯t enough to slow it down. It jumped down from the cliff and the rest of the wolves retreated as well. The goblins and other slime didn¡¯t do much better. All three were moderately injured but they had greviously injured one of the wolves in return. With a glint in my eye I quickly charged out and stabbed right into the back of that injured wolf as it was trying to get away. It collapsed to the ground, whimpering. The Demon Wolf saw what I was doing and howled in anger, charging at me, but he was too far. With another stab I finally got through its ribs and into its heart, as I stared straight at the Demon Wolf¡¯s red eyes. There was a simmering hatred there, as well as a tinge of madness. When things finally came to a head, I knew that it was going to be a fight to the death. ¡®Max! Brroooo! We have fire! Quick, everyone grab branches and throw them at the wolves!¡¯ Levine charged from the back of the cave gasping for air, in his hands he held dozens of burning branches. Behind him charged half of our cave¡¯s inhabitants waving burning branches which they started throwing down the cliff towards the wolves. As one of them got struck it yelped from the heat and scramble back. As the branches started heating up the Demon Wolf gazed at us¡­ then with a sharp bark, the wolves retreated. Honestly, I don¡¯t know if I should be happy. That wolf didn¡¯t look like it was retreating from fear. It was either leaving so they could treat their wounds or because they needed to hunt. And we weren¡¯t an easy target¡­ Things were definitely grim. I don¡¯t know when they would be back, but we need to be ready. The wolves retreated a bit a ways into the forest. I was under no false illusion that they were gone for good, that leader of theirs was too cunning. I have a suspicion that the wounds he got from Max were more painful than he let on to be. So to round out the fight, we lost more than 34 squirrels, all from being caught while gathering materials outside, we also lost three hares, since they were faster, they weren¡¯t caught after the initial rush. Both slimes were killed by the demon wolf as well. In return we managed to injure the leader, although it didn¡¯t look heavy, and we managed to inflict light injuries on most the other wolves with fire¡­ that wouldn¡¯t work a second time though. We had managed to kill two wolves, both taken down by Max. ¡®Well done Max, you managed to take down two of their number and you weren¡¯t injured at all.¡¯ I had to give congratulations when they¡¯re due, no one else could do what Max did. Also, that squirrel who helped make fire, she had a talent and we needed that. I asked her to come forward, ¡®When this battle is done, I will offer you a contract and give you a name. Is that alright?¡¯ The fire squirrel seemed a bit timid but she nodded her head. Hmmm Max¡­? Well, that¡¯s none of my business¡­ well it sort of is but I wasn¡¯t raised to be rude. Just because I am a glowy pebble right now doesn¡¯t mean I can forget my manners. ¡®Ok, team talk. We need to prepare for those damn wolves. They¡¯re out there waiting for us. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would think they¡¯re sieging us, trying to starve us and exhaust us, before attacking again.¡¯ ¡®Sir, when I was fighting with that wolf leader, he seemed too intelligent. I wouldn¡¯t put it beyond him to have cunning like that,¡¯ Since Max was at the forefront we could only rely on him for the assessment of the enemy. ¡®Master, I have an idea,¡¯ Levine piped up, ¡®I say we arrange some special ways to greet those wolves when they come in. I have a couple ideas.¡¯ Then Levine started putting some ideas forward. As soon as he started talking, Rox¡¯s face lit up and she started putting her own suggestions and improving on Levine¡¯s. Between her intelligence and Levine¡¯s cunning, we suddenly had a fairly elaborate defensive plan. ¡®Alright everyone, get started! We need to be ready as soon as possible!¡¯ This time we would be ready for them. This time, those wolves would be coming to die. ¡®Concentrate on the flame, find your focus¡­ the centre. When you breath in, the air feeds the fire, allowing it to grow, when you breath out, keep the fire burning high. Let it grow.¡¯ In front of me is a small squirrel, her eyes filled with light reflected off a small flame in her hands. Ever since she used the fire elemental stone, she had been trying to summon a flame again. And she succeeded. Slowly in front of me, the flames were growing¡­ I watched intensely as a soft glow surrounded her. Yes, she was evolving. I finally understood, that is the requirements for evolution. I couldn¡¯t see it directly but I knew, when two of their inherent stats broke through a limit, they evolved. Max probably broke through stamina and intelligence, while this young squirrel was breaking through intelligence and magic power. I smiled, once we drive away these wolves, I had the key to getting everyone evolved to full beast-folk. But before the, since I didn¡¯t have a role in this battle, I would train this young squirrel. I had a feeling, a nagging suspicion that I was close to something and I didn¡¯t want to let this feeling go. ¡®Breath in, breath out. The fire is your centre¡­ let all your thoughts enter the fire¡­¡¯ Chapter 8 - Fight for the cave A pair of red eyes shone in the night as the sound of tearing meat and crunching bones filled the atmosphere. The wolves had hunted down a deer to fill their hunger. If Alex and his friends had seen the scene, they would have been shocked. Not because of the hunting scene¡­ but because there were more than 40 wolves. The wolf pack had come out and gathered reinforcements! As the Demon Wolf ate its fill, the slash on its side and the deep gash along its back healed visible to the naked eye. As the wound finally closed up, the wolf shivered slightly. Then gave a growl. Healed from its injury, it only had one thing on its mind¡­ revenge. Every single able bodied individual was out in full force. We weren¡¯t sure when those wolves would be back but I bet my rock that they were going to be back before morning. With the mana from the two dead wolves, I summoned two slimes. The two goblins were healing up fast using the medicinal paste the squirrels had made. As for the rest of the troop, they were preparing traps, as many things as we could think of to our advantage. From what we saw earlier, we were at a complete disadvantage when we clashed earlier. Each wolf could take out dozens of squirrels, and although we have 400, they were not all fighters, we had the foragers, and the ones who specialized in herbs. Only 100 had been especially trained by Max to fight. The hares were a different story, they all came from the same troop which relied on each individual. So they could all fight, but they were lacking in tactics. That¡¯s were I come in. ¡®Ok Levine, we need 15 of the strongest of your family to ambush them from outside, and another 15 to ambush them in the cliff room,¡¯ I told Levine the plan. He paled a bit, I know it was risky but it had a good chance of working. ¡®Yes sir, ummm, will I be given a specific task?¡¯ I smiled at Levine when he asked. I liked this little guy, even though he is scared, I knew I could count on him. I didn¡¯t call him ¡®the Brave¡¯ because of what I saw, but of what I felt he could become. ¡®You¡¯re going to be holding the line along with Max at each defense line. Now Max, you¡¯re the only one who can keep that Demon Wolf from tearing open our defense. The goblins and slimes can keep up defenses but they just aren¡¯t fast enough to do any damage.¡¯ ¡®Yes sir, understood.¡¯ ¡®Ok, get everyone ready, let¡¯s give these sons of bitches a hell of a good time.¡¯ The wolf pack came a few hours before dawn, blood dripping from their muzzles. They had obviously gone hunting. They drew to the entrance at a moderate pace. Unknown to them, 15 hares were waiting silently above the entrance. They were helping prepare a special present for the wolves. Meeting the wolves at the entrance was a line of defenders with Max and Levine in the middle. Levine was now armed with the two daggers while Max was wielding the sword. The goblins were with them as well as the fastest squirrels and hares. They only had one purpose, delay. The wolves seemed rabid, when they caught sight of the dungeon defense team, some of them quivered as if they were barely controlling themselves from charging ahead. Max was frowning. I couldn¡¯t see what has going on since the wolves were outside my territory. Max whispered to me, ¡®Sir, there¡¯s more of them than the last attack. I count a total of 40 wolves.¡¯ Damn, we couldn¡¯t change the defensive plan now, but more wolves meant we were going to get hit with casualties no matter how skillfully we played this, they simply had too great an advantage in pure physical ability. It was going to be the 100 strong squirrel fighters, the 40 hares, two goblins, two slimes, Max and Levine up against 40 wolves and their Demon Wolf leader. At some unknown signal, the entire wolf pack charged forward. A slight grin could be seen on Max¡¯s face, though Levine looked like he was muttering a prayer under his breath. The reason for that was soon apparent. As the charging wolves drew nearer, the lead wolves all suddenly tripped and fell. There were a few cracks as the sound of breaking bones filled the air. This was one of Levine¡¯s ideas, potholes traps! So when these wolves charged, they would topple over, breaking their advantage in speed at least momentarily. It had a much better effect than I thought, Max was telling me everything that happened as he kept a sharp watch over it all. ¡®Two wolves seemed to have broken their legs in that charge, a few others look injured but not overly so.¡¯ The important thing was they broke the charge. The rest of the wolves would now have to be more careful and thus for us, more vulnerable. The wolves had slowed down but they soon reached the defence. The defence was based around Max and Levine, Max as the centre and Levine as support who would run around and shore up whichever part of the defence looked to be faltering. What we had for weapons now were make-shift stakes long sticks that had the ends sharpened. They were far from deadly weapons but they served to keep the wolves back. When about half the wolves had engaged, the hares above the entrance started moving. They had found large boulders early, and with the help of everyone had placed them above the entrance. There were 3 boulders total, and 5 hares per boulder pushed with all their might, bracing their back and pushing with their powerful hind legs. The boulders toppled over, then gathered speed and momentum as it roll then fell onto the pack of wolves. The hares didn¡¯t stop there, kicking one rock after another down at the wolves being held by the defence. The effect? It was beautiful. Two wolves were smashed flat by boulders while the last boulder grazed a few wolves, the other rocks being rolled down were causing no amount of trouble for the wolves. ¡®Ok Max, order the withdrawal to the next line. Things are picking up.¡¯Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Watching a good plan work well is in itself a pleasure. The boulder crushing trap was Lady Rox¡¯s idea, she said if we can use a small group of hares to kill even one wolf, without any casualties on our side, then it¡¯s a good trade. Indeed, we were without a single casualty while the wolves had been injured and lost 2 members, the ambush was a success! ¡®Ok Max, order the withdrawal to the next line. Things are picking up.¡¯ As some of the dust from the boulders filled the air and the wolves were filled with confusion, this was of course the best time to retreat to the next defensive line. The first room of the dungeon didn¡¯t have any special features. It was large, able to fit 50 humans comfortably but it narrowed down to a corridor that only two could go through at a time. This was where we set the next defense. In formation in front of the line was the two slimes and behind them are the two goblins, armed with sharpened poles, spear-like but not as strong. They were after all, make-shift weapons. This was where we planned the second ambush as well. The wolves were more cautious this time so although we made pothole traps in this room as well, they didn¡¯t trip themselves up like at the entrance. The entire wolf pack gathered into the room. I grimaced, there really were a lot. The two wolves with broken legs were trailing behind, dragging themselves forward. They were pretty much out of the fight. ¡®Ok troop! Pelt them! Confuse them!¡¯ On my command, rocks were thrown by the fighters. This wasn¡¯t intended to really cause injury, I wasn¡¯t so optimistic. No the reason was to be a distraction. The ambush we had planned for this room needed precision, and that required diversion tactics. When I gave the signal to start bombarding the wolves with rocks, twenty squirrels that had been clinging to the roof of the cave launched themselves down. They had a long thorn dagger in each hand. While these thorns weren¡¯t long enough to pierce through the hide of the wolves, no animal can take a thorn piercing into their eyes. These heroic squirrel fighters aimed to try drop onto wolf heads, not all were successful, less than even half. But it was enough. The 2 wolves with broken legs were easy targets, the squirrels that landed on them quickly scampered to the heads and with full force jabbed the long thorns into the wolves¡¯ eyes. There was a howl from the wolves as the thorns pierced them. Apart from the two lamed wolves, the squirrels landed on a further five wolves. Of those, on three of them, two squirrels had landed on the same wolves. Working together, they plunged their thorns into one eye each, while those where there was only one squirrel only managed to blind one eye. It was a vicious attack on our part but this was Alex¡¯s decision. ¡®Max, an enemy is an enemy. Do not give sympathy and do not let things like fairness cloud you from your duty. Your task is to defend your home, protect your kin. It is not to worry about anything else. The enemy will not spare you for being honourable. If you can¡¯t kill them, main them. If you can¡¯t main them, injure them. If you can¡¯t do that, scare them so they make mistakes¡­ THEN kill them. So you WILL order your squirrels to use their thorns and plunge them into the eyes of these wolves. These wolves killed your family, and they are here to finish the job. Be vicious and decisive. Don¡¯t leave a single wolf leave here alive.¡¯ Alex¡¯s words echoed in my head. He was wise and his words had a ring of experience in them. So I watched my squirrels blind those wolves then with a charge I ran towards them. ¡®Goblins follow me! Squirrels retreat!¡¯ I attacked to allow the ambushing squirrels time to run to our line. These were brave warriors, I didn¡¯t just command them to take on this dangerous mission, they volunteered for it. So I wanted to save them. They were in the middle of the wolf pack, darting back and forth to get back to us. Of the 20, only 13 made it. Although they were fast, the wolves were fast as well, once they lost the element of surprise, they were in for a tough struggle. When I, Levine and the goblins hit the front wolves, the thirteen remaining squirrels managed to clamber to us, they had been hit mostly by the claws so they were battered and bleeding. The other seven had met the jaws of the wolves, and were torn in half. It was a brutal scene. Alex was right, we need to be vicious and decisive. ¡®Full scale retreat! Goblins, at the rear, guard everyone else!¡¯ The two ambushes went well but there were still more than 30 able wolves. During our quick retreat, the last goblin was bowled over completely by one of the wolves. It was the leader, the Demon Wolf. I have never felt so much anger, ¡®YOU! It¡¯s always you! Why?!¡¯ I nearly lost my reason, red seemed to fill my vision. I even almost started to run back but Levine grabbed me. ¡®Bro, I know you¡¯re angry but we need to set up the next line! Stick to the plan, you can¡¯t kill all thirty of them just by yourself!¡¯ My head cleared up and I turned to Levine and nodded. Right, we had a job to do. Of the forty wolves that attacked so far, two were killed outside, two were lamed and blinded, another three were blind in both eyes leaving them out of the fight, while another three were blinded in one eye. They were growling and howling in pain but they didn¡¯t seem to be out of the fight. That means we were up against 33 wolves, three of which were blinded in one eye. And that leader was uninjured. I couldn¡¯t even see the wounds I had given him earlier. We especially couldn¡¯t let this one leave alive. The remaining goblin and the two slimes were drawing up the rear but the gap between us and the wolves was only barely growing. They were being more cautious as they had fallen into two of our traps now. The next room was the cliff room, to let everyone run up the cliff in time me and Levine had to stall the wolves again, the slimes were invaluable here as they prevented the wolves from encircling us. While they got battered and bitten, the wolves couldn¡¯t do actual damage as they couldn¡¯t find the monster core. The last goblin also held off wolves using his spear-like wooden pole. We fought for barely a minute before the goblin let a wolf get too close. The wolf bit onto the goblin¡¯s arm. Levine moved to stab the wolf, but another wolf came in through the gap in the defense and his claws raked along Levine¡¯s left arm. I turned to help as well, the wolves dashed out of my reach. They had seen my sword kill two of theirs before so they weren¡¯t willing to come close to it. Levine grabbed one side of the goblin while I grabbed the other as we ran at a sprint. The slimes followed as closely behind as they could, while being attacked by the wolves. They probably couldn¡¯t take too much more. The squirrels and hares started dropping heavy rocks over the side of the cliff to scare off the wolves chasing the slimes, giving us just enough time to make it to the top. But it wasn¡¯t over, not by a long shot. We prepared our next defensive line, while the wolves gathered into the room. And that Demon Wolf¡¯s red eyes glowed in the dim light of the dungeon. My arm felt like it was burning. There were three long gashes, and the blood dripping down my arm made my hands slick. It was difficult to keep hold of my dagger. One of the herby squirrels came and tried to get me to pull back. ¡®Just wrap up my arm so it stops bleeding!¡¯ How could I leave the front line? My bro was there. He was so amazing but he was alone. The others didn¡¯t have good weapons, who would have his back? The squirrel wrapped my arm in some type of plant wrap. Wow, that medical paste felt pretty good. I was right back at the defensive line in about two minutes, these herby squirrels were great! I looked at those hungry wolf eyes down below the cliff. It was still scary. No it was terrifying. I knew in my heart, that I was on par with them in terms of strength¡­ but it¡¯s tough to forget that I was once just prey to these things. I gritted my teeth. Yes I was scared. Yes, it occurred to me that I could tell everyone that I was too injured and they would let me leave the front lines¡­ but how could I do that? How could I leave Max by himself? I saw with my own two eyes, brave squirrels jump from a ceiling right into the middle of a pack of wolves. THAT was bravery. In terms of strength and speed, these wolves had the squirrels beaten¡­ yet still they did it. And boy did they cause havoc. So how could I justify leaving these people? My friends¡­ my FAMILY! How could I leave them to fight alone?! I would fight these fucking bastards that dared to enter my home! That killed people in my family! That DARE to glare at me. I glared back at these predators prowling below us. ¡®Come on you worthless bastards! I want to see you bleed! I want to make you suffer!¡¯ I shouted at those wolves in anger. Those wolves started coming up the cliff side ramp. I snarled as I got ready meet them once again, daggers glinting in the dim light of the dungeon. Chapter 9 – Dance of the March Hare ¡®Ok, I think you¡¯ve practiced enough to be able to go. Remember, you¡¯ve only been doing this for half a day, and all that power comes from that stone in your hand so once it runs out, you¡¯re finished.¡¯ ¡®Yes ma¡¯am, I understand.¡¯ A squirrel holding a red orb that seemed to flicker with energy stood in front of me. The squirrel got up and started running towards the second room of the dungeon. She had been training with me non-stop ever since she first ignited flames. And that hard work had paid off in many ways. I smiled at the screen in front of me, my hard work paid off too. After I left the room where I had been training the squirrel, I went to find the group of squirrels in charge of making the medical paste. I knew that before the battle was over, there would be a lot of injuries. This medical paste was made using three plants we had collected from outside. One caused a cooling sensation, one numbed the pain and the other one was supposed to prevent the wound from drying out which would help the healing. I had a grim look on my face, there was a lot of the paste made but I had a sinking feeling that it wouldn¡¯t be enough. It was a close escape getting everyone to the top of the cliff. The wolves were making their way up the cliff-side ramp. It was narrow, so only two wolves were coming up beside each other. At the top of the ramp, me, Levine and the last goblin make our stand. We sent the slimes further back since they were hurt. They were up if the last goblin fell¡­ unfortunately that seemed likely. This would be the scene of our last ambush, after this, ambushes just wouldn¡¯t work anymore. The wolves aren¡¯t stupid, but each ambush had been different which is why it had worked so far. So now came to put our plan into action. ¡®Ok everyone, throw!¡¯ What we threw this time wasn¡¯t rocks, but thorns. Thorns stuck together into a cluster, made in such a way that no matter which side it landed on, there would be a thorn sticking up. That¡¯s right, Rox had devised a way for us to make caltrops. At least that¡¯s what they¡¯re apparently called. Now we weren¡¯t thinking that this would kill any of the wolves of course, but slowing them down was the aim. Next, ¡®Rock team, go!¡¯ The wolves had reached us three by now. The goblin wasn¡¯t doing well, one of its arms was hanging uselessly by its side and the spear-like pole wasn¡¯t meant to be used with just one arm. There wasn¡¯t enough force in the goblin¡¯s movements to keep the wolves back. That was when the rock team made their appearance. We called them the rock team because¡­ well they were going to attack with heavy rocks. Basically 15 hares were hugging huge rocks, more than half their weight. They then jumped off the side of the cliff right onto the wolves. Basically we were making a hare-rock avalanche. As far as tactics go¡­ it was one of the odder looking ones. The hares didn¡¯t aim or anything, thus just jumped off the cliff with these heavy rocks¡­ I glanced at Levine. Levine shrugged, even though it was his idea. Well, the rocks didn¡¯t kill any wolves but it definitely hurt them, a couple wolves looked dazed and a few actually fell done. It wasn¡¯t all a success though. Having learnt the due to the previous attacks, the Demon Wolf barked out at his pack and a few of them saw the Hares coming and moved out the way. Those hares that missed were in for a tragic time, the two hares nearest to the Demon Wolf were ravaged as soon as they landed. The rest had to struggle frantically to escape. They had jumped off very close to us, so me and Levine launched an attack at the lead wolves to add to the confusion. I was worried, we were so ineffective! The quick hares managed to struggle towards us. Another three had been killed by the other wolves and just less than half had been injured. After that we had to retreat, the wolves were relentless. It was a rout, the ambush wasn¡¯t strong enough to force the wolves back. With the injured goblin and two injured slimes left behind to give us time, all of us ran as fast as we could to the next room. It wasn¡¯t looking good, the goblins and slimes were quickly surrounded by wolves and even the slimes, with their physical resistance barely made them pause. The Demon wolf killed off one of the slimes then started following after us at a sprint. As we reached the narrower corridor, Levine stopped and whipped around, I didn¡¯t even notice until I was a few steps past him. I was in shock! Levine had whipped around and charged towards the oncoming group of wolves. I quickly made my way back but wolves had reached the entrance of the corridor and Levine had already rushed to meet them. ¡®LEVINE!¡¯ Shit shit, this is bad, it was Levine against the Demon wolf and a normal wolf! Then I saw something that made me¡­ flabbergasted. Levine was glowing like¡­ the moon? Forget the glowing, Levine was twirling in the air, on the ground, off the wall. I couldn¡¯t track him! He was so incredibly fast. What was he doing? As soon as I thought that, suddenly a ribbon of red came gushing out of the wolf next to the Demon Wolf. Wait, what just happened?! Holy shit, right at that moment Levine twirled closer to the Demon wolf and his leg kicked out whipping across the face of the Demon wolf. A heavy sound came from that hit as the demon wolf was stagger a step back. Levine then darted back to the other wolf and two more ribbons of red floated through the air. Levine was dancing through the air, glowing like a small moon¡­ Then Rox¡¯s voice came screaming in my ear, ¡®Max! Stop him! At this rate he¡¯s going to die! He¡¯s doing something he shouldn¡¯t! Quick, quick!¡¯ Fuck, I had frozen for a few seconds but I snapped out of it and raced the last few steps to come before Levine. He had stopped moving now¡­ but the wolves were looking warily at him. Even the Demon Wolf had moved back a few steps. I grabbed Levine and carried him over my shoulder, running back to the rest¡­ god why is so heavy¡­ Levine, what the fuck did you do?! Damn it!Were you trying to save me?! Just to save me?! Damn it Levine, don¡¯t you die on me! Don¡¯t dare fucking die! Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It was when we were racing through the corridor and when we heard the last goblin die that I realized that¡­ it didn¡¯t look like we were going to make it. We were a few metres ahead of the wolves but they were just so much faster in pure speed when charging. Time seemed to slow. I was afraid of dying. Truly afraid. Alex says the contract means our souls will stay with him but he doesn¡¯t know if our memories will. Doesn¡¯t that mean we¡¯ll die anyway? I didn¡¯t want to die. The pain, and that awful terrifying darkness that would come after¡­ But this¡­ Max was in front of me. The one who saved me from a hunter¡¯s trap, was it weeks ago? Months ago now? Knowing that bloody honourable bastard he¡¯d try to hold off the wolves all by himself and die. What a joke, without him the rest of the defence is nothing. So what should I do? Little old me. I guess I should ¡­ give it a bit of a try. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to take one of those wolves with me. Did you see this about me Alex? If I was honest with myself, I would put me in amongst the cowards. I know myself, I wouldn¡¯t need an excuse to run away. But¡­ there are some times when I can¡¯t run. I think even cowards have a line that can''t be crossed. This was one of those times. No, I couldn¡¯t run away and even if I could¡­ leave my bro? Leave Max?! Fuck you universe. I may be a coward but don¡¯t you fucking dare take away those I care about! That was it. That was all it took. I had it, I knew it. Levine the Brave. I¡¯ll tell Alex that he¡¯s kind of a smartass. I stopped and whipped around to face the wolves, Max hadn¡¯t seen me yet. This was perfect. I started running back. I had to do something¡­ I only had one skill and it wasn¡¯t an attacking skill¡­ What was it Rox said? ¡®Concentrate? Find my focus¡­ my centre¡­¡¯ Those words didn¡¯t make sense when I first heard it¡­ but I think I could grasp it now. How to sense mana, that was it¡­ a warmness in my chest. Beating like a second heart. I didn¡¯t need fire¡­ what did I need? I needed to be faster. I needed to be stronger. I willed that heat in my chest to flow into my arms and legs. Time seemed to move ever so slowly as I was racing back towards the wolves. And slowly, so so slowly. I could feel the heat move. I saw my body start to glow, and with that glow I suddenly felt¡­ strong. Incredible power seemed to flow into my limbs. The speed at which I was racing towards the wolves doubled, no tripled.
Warning! Warning! You have invoked [MANA BURNING] You will lose 4 mana every second, once mana reaches zero, your body will disperse and you will die Strength has doubled, stamina has doubled, agility has tripled Estimated time remaining before death: 40 seconds
Who the fuck cares about that? I jumped through the air, twisting as I approached closer to the normal wolf. It was moving so slowly¡­ I could see each individual hair on its head. As I twisted, I tried stabbing it with my dagger¡­ I misjudged it striking way too soon and my body spun in the air as it headed towards the side wall. I pushed off the wall with one foot and tried again. This time I timed it right, and managed to make a slash from its nose up to its eye, bursting it before the force of the strike pushed it back and my dagger shot into the air. The blood sprayed into the air in a beautiful ribbon¡­ The Demon Wolf was faster than the normal one and it was turning towards me. Think you can catch me you fucking bastard? I kicked out with one leg and whacked it across the face. I watched a bit astonished as it was thrown back from my kick and looked dazed. Shit I should have hit it with my dagger. The kick pushed back towards the normal wolf, I wouldn¡¯t make a mistake of not killing this one! I used both daggers and aimed for its throat, both daggers drawing lines of blood through the air. My limbs were starting to feel a terrible pain now. They weren¡¯t built to move so fast, nor to have so much power flowing through them. Man, I had only been moving for 10 seconds¡­ With everything I had, I threw one of my daggers at the Demon Wolf''s eyes. It was a gamble. I tried to will my body forward again but my muscles were trembling¡­ most of them were tearing themselves apart. I guessed this was it. I glared at the Demon Wolf, as the tearing muscles ripped open my skin along my arms and legs. Covered in my own blood, I glared at that bastard who was attacking my home and trying to kill my friends and family. In those demonic eyes¡­ I could faintly see a trace of fear. Wait no, not eyes, eye. The dagger had ripped into its right eye and it was bleeding and shut. At that point, if I could have smiled I would have. If I could laugh, I would laugh the happiest laugh in the world. But then the world went black. Mana burning. I had never seen it before¡­ it was when someone started burning their mana in their body without a skill being used. Skills are basically special mana formations that transform mana into a desired effect. Mana burning was releasing pure chaotic energy into your body¡­ ¡®Fuck Levine, why did you have to go so far!¡¯ It had been 20 seconds since he started burning¡­ his body was still glowing as Max carried him back to our line. ¡®Rox, what do we do?! I have no idea what¡¯s happening to Levine.¡¯ Alex was deathly worried. We all liked Levine. I bit my lip. I had an idea¡­ but it went against everything I knew about being a dungeon fairy. Dungeons shouldn¡¯t care about the creatures they summoned. This was something undeniable, because when intruders came, they would kill off everything inside the dungeon. So caring about them was useless¡­ they were slaves to do our bidding. And yet, our dungeon was not like that¡­ ¡®Alex¡­ I think I have an idea, but it¡¯ll take all the mana we¡¯ve gained so far from killing the wolves¡­¡¯ ¡®Tell me Rox, we don¡¯t have any time left¡­!¡¯ ¡®Ok! Summon a holy elemental stone!¡¯ ¡®Summon holy elemental stone!¡¯ I grabbed the white pearl orb that appeared in the air in front of me. I flew to Levine¡¯s side and grabbed his remaining dagger and without any hesitation I stabbed into his abdomen. Max gasped. With all the force I had, I pushed the holy elemental orb into the abdomen. ¡®Fire squirrel girl! Get over here!¡¯ The squirrel was with me, right behind me. She was smart, she knew what she had to do. She stuck her hands into the Levine¡¯s bloody abdomen and started trying to pour as much mana as she could into him, while the blood covered her hands. ¡®Max¡­ I know you want to stay but you have to go defend us. We can¡¯t move Levine right now so you have to hold this line. You have to hold it¡­¡¯ It was a difficult request. But this was Levine¡­ The wolves still hadn¡¯t recovered from Levine¡¯s attack but it wasn¡¯t going to take long. The glow around Levine was still there¡­ seconds went by¡­ soon a minute was up. Only after two minutes had gone by did the glow start to fade. The muscles that had been twisting in his limbs started settle down and the blood flowing from his wounds slowed to a trickle¡­ fuck fuck, did he die?! The poor fire squirrel was sweating and looked exhausted. She had been saving up her mana to try launch some attacks at the wolves, who knew this would happen? It would take a few hours before she would be ready to try attacking again. I looked at Levine. The orb inside the wound in his abdomen was still glowing faintly while the glow from his body had dimmed. I had no idea if he would be alright, but as of right now? The fucker was breathing! He was alive¡­ he was alive. I called out to a few of the squirrels around me, ¡®Tell Max we can move Levine now, we¡¯re taking him back to the crystal room and behind Greywall to safety, so he can start his retreat as well. With that, I ordered more of the squirrels to carry Levine and the exhausted Fire Squirrel back to Alex. Levine had saved Max. Levine the Brave... now we had to survive so that when he wakes up he¡¯ll see us all alive and well. Treating Levine took barely 3 minutes¡­ but that was a very harsh three minutes. It took the wolves only a few seconds to recover before they started attacking again. The only thing saving us was the narrowness of the corridor. Damn, this sense of powerlessness as I had to watch my friends fight while all I could do was watch¡­ I thought that was finished after I left earth and yet here again, I was the immortal spectator. Fuck! Rox was getting Levine moved back to my crystal room. Max was holding a fighting retreat. He was absolutely amazing. We hadn¡¯t lost anyone during that tense three minute defense, but I could tell that Max was losing a lot of his stamina. 4th room, 5th room, 6th room. It was when the retreat was at the 7th room that the echoes of a wolf¡¯s howl came crashing towards us. The pursuing wolves stopped and looked around in confusion. They couldn¡¯t figure out who was being attacked or where. But I knew. The hares that had launched the first ambush had re-entered the dungeon. Imagine their surprise when they found two lame and blinded, and 3 blinded wolves resting in the first room? So they attacked. The wolves were defenseless. But before they could silently kill off all of them, the sudden scent of blood was picked up by the blinded wolves and they started thrashing about. And when the hares went to kill them, it took a lot more effort. They had killed the two lame and blind wolves by tying vines around their necks then strangling them. The tried to do the same for the third but it started struggling too much so they started bashing its head with rocks. It took a long time for it to die, and one of the hares even got hurt when he wasn¡¯t fast enough to dodge the trashing. The next wolf was the same and also the one that started howling as the vine couldn¡¯t be looped around its neck. That didn¡¯t stop them from going about their grizzly task. Back at the 7th room, the Demon Wolf looked like it was torn between wanting to go see what was happening and chasing after the retreating enemy right in front of it. Its few seconds of indecision were all Max and the rest needed to beat a hasty retreat and make it back to the final room. There, we had built our final defense. The walled compound and city that we had made in the past was stronger and bigger than it had been. Greywall was a real walled area. The last room was a massive room, you could plunk down 500 people in it. We had used two thirds of it as our base and the walls itself were a metre thick. This was where everyone retreated to. The rest of the plans we had for the other rooms were lost. We had underestimated our foe. There was still just under thirty of them left and around twenty of them were barely injured. The final fight, right at the gates before my crystal room was about to begin. Chapter 10 – Soul of Fire It was a full scale retreat back to Greywall, the fortification defense we built during the rat horde invasion was going to see another hostile force again. We had thickened the walls and made them higher in the meantime. Who knew they would be so important? The wolves were dogging the steps of the group rushing back. The squirrel group weren¡¯t able to move fast enough carrying all the injured while the wolves were a lot more wary when they first started attacking. Levine had scared them. Thinking about Levine made me frown, well if crystals could frown. With the mana I got from the wolves killed by the hares in the first room, I summoned another two slimes. I sighed, those slimes would barely slow the Demon Wolf down if it decided to fight them. I sent them to the corridor leading to the last wall. ¡®Max, I¡¯m sending another two slimes to help you defend the corridor to the last room while we get everyone inside the walls. Just hold for a bit, then get back in the walls yourself.¡¯ ¡®Yes sir, I¡¯m almost there¡­ um¡­ how is Levine?¡¯ ¡®Levine¡¯s alive¡­ Rox said he did something called Mana Burning and honestly I don¡¯t think he¡¯s coming out this as he was before.¡¯ I could see Max give a troubled face as he finally reached the rendezvous point with the slimes. It was a pretty pathetic defense. It couldn¡¯t be helped, we had get all the injured into Greywall and organize a defense there. Damn, we weren¡¯t doing well. Of the 40 wolves, 8 had fallen. Of the 32 left, there were 3 blind and 11 of them were injured¡­ that still left 18 uninjured wolves. On our side, of the 100 squirrels, we had lost 7 in our die-hard ambush. In the rout to retreat back to the last rooms, we didn¡¯t lose any but 33 of them had gotten injured. 15 of them were out of the fight¡­ So we were down to 60 fighting squirrels The hares weren¡¯t doing much better. The 15 that ambushed the wolves outside were killing off the injured wolves as they headed back towards us, of the 25 left inside, 5 had been killed while 10 had been wounded. So only had 10 hares with fighting strength. And apart from the two new slimes I had summoned, all the goblins and slimes were done. The hares from outside had finally finished off the wounded wolves in the first room and were headed towards the defence party but they probably weren¡¯t going to be able to break past the wolf pack¡­ The wolf pack was stronger, I completely underestimated them. I didn¡¯t think they were canny enough to not bring in their entire pack in the first attack! If I planned better, may be Levine wouldn¡¯t have had to use that strange ability. I still don¡¯t know what it was but it looked serious. Then the wolves approached Max and the slimes. Damn, the injured needed a few more minutes to get into the walls. ¡®Rox, can you get a team of uninjured to go and help Max? He won¡¯t last a minute where he is.¡¯ ¡®I can only get squirrels right now, I¡¯ll send a team of 30 to Max.¡¯ As she went about pulling fighters off the defence to go support Max. I looked around thinking¡­ thinking¡­ but there were no more wild ideas that I had. We knew ambushes were our best bet and the success of the ones we had pulled off so far was a testament to that. But now? We were fighting a war of attrition. This Demon Wolf leading the pack wasn¡¯t acting like an animal, running away to lick its wounds after being wounded. It had developed cunning and a vague strategic intellect. Was I going to be outsmarted by a fucking wolf? So angry¡­ I went about preparing just one more present to these bastards. Pulling people off defence to send to reinforce Max was tricky. I selected 30 or so fast squirrels and got them dashing. Everyone else I got into position to prepare for a big clash. Alex had one more trap that he wanted to make so I had to get some to help with that as well. Levine was breathing but he still wasn¡¯t doing well. The mana in the air around him was acting wild and every so often there were sparks in the air¡­ I had some of the non-fighters keep watch over him. Fuck¡­ I am going to need such a long vacation after all this crap. Seriously¡­ Yep, I¡¯m going to get Max to go get me a huge mountain of berries then I¡¯m going to relax for a month¡­ And that fucking Demon Wolf is going to turn into a nice wolf fur rug from which I will derive no small amount of pleasure every time I stomp on it. Everyone had a few seconds to breath in defence and we finally got everyone behind the fortifications. I looked around for that fire squirrel but¡­ Oh shit, where is she? Oh no oh nooo, I had a bad feeling¡­ Where is she??? I was holding but barely. The slimes that were stopping the wolves from getting past me to Greywall were getting battered. I guessed maybe half a minute more before I couldn¡¯t hold anymore. Even I, with my higher stats in stamina was being outdone by these stupid wolves. There were just too many of them. I just had to wait until they could shut the wooden gates and then we would be able to be safe behind the thick fortified walls protecting the crystal room. I¡¯m not sure when we started calling it Greywall. Alex said it reminded him of a story he had once read. ¡®Max, 30 squirrels are headed your way to help you retreat. Everyone¡¯s made it back. We¡¯ve left some vines on the western wall for all of you to be pulled up.¡¯Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Alex¡¯s voice was like a soothing rain atop a forest fire. Even if we were trapped behind those walls, at least we¡¯ll get to rest just for a bit. My arms were shaking as I weaved my sword fending off the wolves. They were deliberately tiring me out, the wolf hunting tactics coming through. It was perhaps my exhaustion or maybe it was simply inevitable but one of the slimes went down in the jaws of a wolf. That was when the tiredness that I had been fighting for last few minutes was truly made to show. When I turned and moved, whipping my sword around to cover that area the slime was at, one of the wolves hammered me in the side with its whole body. Not good! I staggered, my sword arm going out wide. I knew this was a mistake, and sure enough the slight distance that opened up between me and the last slime, was fatal for the slime. It was surrounded and torn to pieces, the monster core cracking as the powerful teeth of the Demon Wolf bit into it. The Demon Wolf stared at me. I wasn¡¯t in a good position. There were two wolves flanking me, blocking my retreat to safety as well as keeping the other squirrels away from me¡­ Shit! The squirrel reinforcements were had just arrived but they had to contend with the two wolves, blocking their way. Was this it? Was I now to face the wolf pack leader separated from my friends and allies, with Levine barely breathing¡­ why did it turn out like this? My sword felt increasingly heavy. I swung it around to fend off them off¡­ but I knew I couldn¡¯t keep this up. That Demon Wolf was looking at me in triumph. Levine¡¯s attack that hit its eye giving me no small amount of satisfaction. I think my small smirk at its injury angered it because it came charging at me. I know it was petty but if I¡¯m going down I¡¯m definitely not going down without giving any insults to this fucker. As it drew near, I whipped my sword at its nose, trying to get a lucky hit¡­ but my stamina was almost gone now. The sword moved so slowly. Then I felt pain, awful searing pain. The Demon Wolf had bitten into my arm! My hand gripping my sword felt weak, I grabbed the sword with my left arm¡­ the bastard wasn¡¯t letting go, and the other wolves seeing my weakness were getting ready to lunge at me as well. Then I heard a piercing cry, ¡®GET AWAY FROM HIM!¡¯ I couldn¡¯t find that fire squirrel. In my heart I knew what this meant as I flew as fast as I could to the top of Greywall¡¯s battlements. All of us heard that cry, so full of anger. She had run after the squirrel troop that were supposed to help out Max. I saw that they had arrived but weren¡¯t able to break through. I gasped, I held my breath when I saw Max¡¯s arm bitten by the Demon Wolf. His sword started to slide out of his arm so he grabbed it with his left. He didn¡¯t look like he had the power to strike his hated enemy, even though it was right there, latched to his arm, trying its best to bring him down. That was when all of us heard that cry. That¡¯s also when we saw something absolutely terrifying. That fire squirrel had come up to the wolves keeping the others from Max. She held the fire orb above her head and wisps of flame were flying out. Then, she started gathering the wisps into a ball. I had taught her that, how to make a fireball and then throw it. With her current mana she could maybe throw out three at the most¡­ but she didn¡¯t stop at with the fireball, she gathered and gathered. The amount of fire rushing out of the orb¡­ And the mana in the very air seemed to form a vortex as it hurtled towards her. All this took barely a few seconds. Then, she was holding a ball of fire that was twice as big as she was, the other squirrels had taken a dozen steps back to get away from the heat. The floor was starting to glow red¡­ the squirrel, her hands were blistering and the fur on her arms was melting. What are you doing girl? Fuck that''s got to hurt! She flung that huge fireball at the Demon Wolf. BOOOM! There was a powerful explosion and a long shriek of pain could be heard from the Demon Wolf as the fireball crashed into its side and sent it flying across the room. The fireball shot away from the Demon Wolf and fell upon the wolf pack. Howls of misery were heard as 3 of the wolves ignited and clawed at themselves to try and get rid of the flames. To no avail. That fire squirrel looked powerless as she started falling to the ground. ¡®Alex, this girl gets a name. And I want to choose her name. She''s getting a fucking awesome name, I don''t care how much mana it costs.¡¯ ¡®... Alright,'' I could hear a note of wonder in Alex''s voice. Max caught the fire squirrel in his blood covered arm as he stumbled back in retreat. He looked like he was going to collapse. The other squirrels quickly caught him and brought him back along with the fire squirrel right up to the walls as they were chased by the wolves. They were tied to the vines then lifted to safety. The siege has begun. I gazed at that young squirrel, lying on a bed of moss. First it was Levine and now her. ¡®Why¡­? Why for me¡­ please not for me¡­¡¯ I whispered but she couldn¡¯t hear me. I saw the extent of her injuries and they were like icicles jabbing into my heart. Her hands were burnt and all the fur on her arms had been burnt of melted off leaving an angry redness. Her tail, the bushy tail of a squirrel folk, half of it had burnt as well. It would take a long time to recover from all those injuries. Why for me? Levine was lying not too far away. Even now I could see, wisps of light trailed across his body and when they did his body would jerk and his face would grimace as if in pain. ¡®Max, you cannot blame yourself for what has happened.¡¯ Alex¡¯s voice came to my ear. ¡®Alex, sir. These two, they are¡­ strong.¡¯ ¡®In some ways Max, they are stronger than even you.¡¯ I was silent. I think I couldn¡¯t understand a bit of what he meant, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. ¡®Max, you are the strongest of all the fighters here in this dungeon. You can fight with that demonic monstrosity out there. So you must be wondering, why do I say these two are stronger yes?'' I nodded. ¡®Levine¡¯s brilliance isn¡¯t in his skill with daggers. It is his ability to think, his cunning and¡­ his loyalty and bravery. He saw that if he didn¡¯t turn back, both he and you would have fallen. There is no defense without you as the vanguard. This young fire squirrel she is stronger because of her resolution, her determination. Can you imagine holding onto something that is burning you? They are stronger than you Max. They managed to break through the confines of the system. They did something that wasn''t determined by their stats or their skills. They showed that they were more, that they were greater. This is something you have not done yet. It is something special, and requires an unprecedented amount of willpower.¡¯ I could feel some tears coming to my eyes. It was because of me? Was I not strong enough? ¡®Do you know why they did all of this?¡¯ I wiped the tears from my eyes as I shook my head. ¡®Because they know that everyone needs you. And because they need you.¡¯ I was on my knees on the floor. I don¡¯t know when I had fallen down. I felt weak. ¡®What you need to see, is that it is not just you against the world from now on. I will do my best to treat these two. But when they awake, they will not just be your friends, they will be your comrades. It is a precious thing to fight beside someone who is willing to fight to the death alongside you. It is an even more precious thing when they would willingly give their lives to save yours. That my young squirrel is honour. That is duty. So fight. Fight hard and long. Be worthy of your comrades, because they are definitely worthy of you.¡¯ I grit my teeth. That¡¯s right. They sacrificed for me and I had never truly fought alongside them. I didn¡¯t understand what it meant to trust my back to them¡­ I was foolish, trying to fight just by myself. Not retreating when I should have, fighting longer than I should have. For honour? Duty? Rubbish, Alex had told me that was just foolish. My arm throbbed. The healing herbs couldn¡¯t take away the sting of the bite I had gotten. It was deep, and it will affect my fighting until it healed. But I was not going to turn away from the fight. And this time I knew that I had all the squirrels and hares of the dungeon beside me. So come Demon wolf. I want you to taste the pain you have given my friends and my comrades. If I cannot hit you with my sword, I¡¯ll punch you with my fists. If I can¡¯t punch you with my fist, I¡¯ll kick you with my feet. I¡¯ll bite you. I¡¯ll tear every single part of your body to pieces with everything I have. The siege may have just begun, but for you this siege is the end. Chapter 11 - The Siege of Greywall We were all watching a grizzly scene. All the squirrel and hare defenders were looking slightly sick. It was the Demon Wolf. After having its eye taken out as well as having a huge hole burnt into its side, we were hoping it was taken out of the fight. But instead what happened left us in shock. It had walked painfully over and gathered its pack. Then without any warning it had bitten into the throat of one of the injured. Blood dribbling over its muzzle it started to tear open the now dead wolf and feast on its meat. Wolves are not a species known for cannibalism. When the Demon Wolf attacked one of its pack, the rest of the wolves scattered as far as they could. All the injured wolves seeing themselves in danger ran haphazardly back to the previous room with their heads down and tails between their legs. As the wolf leader ate, the injuries it had started to twitch and squirm. New muscle could be seen to develop and the charred remains of the old flesh started to fall to the ground. It didn¡¯t seem just one wolf was enough because it went into the previous room and soon we could hear some yowls and yelps. Looking through my dungeon eyes, another three wolves had been torn apart before it came back into the last room. The flesh on its side was an angry welted mess, the fur hadn¡¯t regrown and neither had its eye. But with the blood of its own packing matting the front of its body and its one remaining eye shining red in the dimness of the dungeon¡­ this truly was a Demon Wolf. As we assessed our forces, we didn¡¯t lose any squirrels in the rescue but most out of them had gotten injured. We were now down to just over 40 fighting squirrels while the hares were holding at 10. Levine and the fire squirrel were out but they had already done enough. Max¡¯s arm was wrapped up but nothing could stop him from fighting. The wolf pack now was only a dozen strong with their leader almost rabid. The problem was that we couldn¡¯t stay locked up indefinitely. The squirrel and hares weren¡¯t dungeon monsters. They all had souls or had been granted them, meaning they needed to have food and water. Likewise, the Demon Wolf looked deranged now, and it wasn¡¯t likely to stay still. Fuck you dude, I¡¯ve had it with you fouling up my dungeon! I had been blind! I was fighting alongside these squirrels and hares and didn¡¯t see. They naturally weren¡¯t as strong as the wolves in pure physicality but they made up for it in a different way. Squirrels are built to scamper up trees, their strength lay in their ability to go at the same speeds both across a horizontal surface, and up a vertical one. Hares boast an unparalleled maneuverability. Even with their evolution into humanoid bodies, they still exhibited the traits our species evolved from. Which led to the first tactic that would have Levine rolling his eyes. I call it operation ¡®Up Vine¡¯. A wholely unoriginal and uncreative name. What remains is its effectiveness. The operation was simply. Loop strong vines, throw them and try to catch them around the neck of a wolf. If caught, all the squirrels in that troop would grab hold of the other ends and jump off the other side of the wall dragging the caught wolf into the air with a noose around its neck. Brutal yet effective. Alex approved although when he saw us do it on the first wolf he seemed disturbed and said, ¡®Fuck you guys are lynching wolves? That¡¯s so creepy¡­¡¯ We managed to kill 3 wolves this way although it wasn¡¯t perfectly smooth. One of the wolves, when it felt the loop across its neck went wild and charged away from the walls. The group weren¡¯t fast enough and were shot right off the wall down to the wolves below. We lost a good team of squirrels. That didn¡¯t stop us though, every wolf we killed this way was good for us. And that was because the demon wolf was trying to bring down the gate. The walls were strong, made of heavy stone but the gates were made of wood and weren¡¯t very thick. It was still beyond our abilities to make a sturdy wooden gate thus the gate after just a few hours of being battered by the wolf leader and a few of his pack was already showing signs of falling apart. We weren¡¯t letting them batter on the gate without any repercussion of course. One of the herb squirrels found some strange plant that let off a dust that was soul scratchingly itchy. They had found out the unfortunate way when one of their members had unwittingly touched it in their medical paste preparations. So, yes, we threw itching powder onto those wolves. Call me petty, but it was glorious seeing them running around clawing at themselves. There was even one that must have breathed in the dust because it ran around in circles hacking as hard as it could before running full tilt into the wall knocking itself out. Yes, I saw it clearly. If we played to our strengths, then victory is possible. That isn¡¯t to say it is easy, the wolf pack had a dozen members left while our defending troop was exhausted. But it was definitely better than fighting directly right now. *creak* *groan* The gate door was on its last legs. I gathered the team meant to deliver our ¡®gift¡¯ for the wolves and got them into position. Then I gathered those not busy harassing the wolves from atop the wall to gather in the courtyard behind the gate as we prepared our defense. The hares above had just released another round of caltrops to slow the wolves¡¯ movements when with a bang, the gate fell inwards along with the body of the wolf that tackle it. ¡®Ok steady, steady, wait for at least 4 wolves to start coming towards us¡­¡¯ I gave the nervous group some instructions. The group that I was talking to weren¡¯t fighters, they were in charge of one thing and one thing only. That was releasing a trap. I don¡¯t think ill thoughts of my dungeon master but looking at what he prepared really made me raise an eyebrow at him. *cough* ¡®It¡¯s a perfectly good idea for a trap ok! And it¡¯s not like they¡¯re smart enough to know how to deal with it¡­¡¯ Regardless of his mumblings, the trap was¡­Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Well it was a boulder. On a very, very steep ramp. And it was a large boulder. The size was just enough to roll through the gateway, of course. I rolled my eyes, ¡®Ok guys, there¡¯s enough wolves there, release the big rock.¡¯ ¡®Oi, it¡¯s a boulder ok? This is a boulder trap! Very famous where I¡¯m from, any witting dungeon should have one.¡¯ If dungeons could sweat, I would say Alex was nervously sweating while explaining this to me. Gosh Alex was right, Rox is rubbing off on me. The boulder, once freed rumbled as it slowly start moving down the ramp. Then it picked up speed as it started to hurtle towards the unsuspecting wolves. The wolves in the gateway were in no way prepared for this. I almost felt sorry for them at this point. They did not have a calculating intellect thus they had had to suffer every single trap we had laid out for them. Obviously higher beings won¡¯t fall for this, case in point the semi-intelligent demonic wolf leader that was giving us so much trouble. There were about three wolves that had made it into the courtyard itself and those ones scattered to the sides where the defenders met them. The ones caught in the gateway were not as lucky. The sound of howls and breaking bones mixed together into a cacophony as the boulder crashed into them. The Demon Wolf was in the back looking on when they had opened the gate and even it yipped before it had to leap to the side. For such a strange trap, it was devastatingly effective. 5 wolves that were caught inside the doorway were killed or injured to such an extent that recovery wouldn¡¯t be possible for the rest of this fight. As for the wolves inside the courtyard, we had an unpleasant surprise waiting for them as well. Teams of squirrels and hares gathered around and looped them completely with vines before nailing them to the ground, all while a few of them beat off the attacks using a stick. It seemed cruel somehow¡­ but without being able to run around and without the support of their pack, they were completely defenseless. When they were beaten a bit senseless then tied down to the floor momentarily, some of the herb squirrels ran out and continuously threw a powder at them. Apparently this was from a plant they called Nightmare Branch, that had the terrifying ability to cause whoever inhaled the shavings of the bark to fall asleep then be plagued by nightmares, hence the name. This was also found out in an unfortunate way by these herb squirrels. These wolves were definitely out of the fight. This left the Demon Wolf and the 4 wolves left outside as the last of the wolf pack that we had to fight off. We could play it two ways, defend and risk them running although with that crazed demon, that that it didn¡¯t seem likely¡­ or we could attack and finally end this. I had a bit of an evil smile on, ¡®You guys want to teach those wolves a lesson?¡¯ It happened while I was watching Max lead the troop out to fight the last of the wolves. For the 4 normal wolves it was a massacre. With each one having to fight a couple dozen or so foes, there was no need to calculate what would happen. The defenders and quite a few of the non-fighters were there, fighting for their home and fighting filled with anger. But I lost my attention to that. For a very simple, yet to me earth-shattering reason.
The healing of your body has reached 80%
The magic formation that allowed the use of the skill [Troll¡¯s Blood] has been repaired
The skill [Troll¡¯s Blood] has been unsealed
Troll¡¯s Blood (Rank D, Passive Ability) Lv 9 Mastery 47.4% An evolution from [Bad Blood], this skill employs the marvelous regeneration of Trolls and infuses it into blood. If special requirements are met, this skill can evolve
Every time your heart beats, blood will recover 0.9% and injuries will recover 0.9% This will only occur up to 20% of the body being injured, once injuries progress past 20% the effectiveness of this skill will halve.
I felt it. That familiar hot pulsing flow of blood that rushed into my arms and legs. It had been so long since I felt anything from my original body after becoming used to being a dungeon crystal. I looked at my body floating in the dungeon crystal¡¯s space. My arm and leg had regrown, they were a slightly different colour than the rest of my body. It was paler, and had a slight tinge of blue to it which was very strange. But the most important thing¡­ I opened my eyes. Not the sight I used as a dungeon crystal, but my eyes, the eyes I was born with. I could see the blue glow that was the dungeon crystal space. I felt like laughing, how long had it been? Months and months of waiting for this healing to finally reach this point. I tried out my new grown arm. It felt strange, like it wasn¡¯t my own and it trembled a bit as I willed it to move. I guess I would have to get used to it again before I was able to run around perfectly. ¡®Status¡¯ Something I hadn¡¯t looked at in quite a while.
Name: Alexander
Race Human Titles Void Traveller (Rank ???, ???)
Class Contract Summoner Last Human Survivor (Rank???, ???)
Dungeon Master
Stats
Strength 13 Agility 15
Intelligence 28 (23+5) Stamina 17
Magic power 20
Total Power/Potential 93/500
State In recovery from a huge injury but mostly healed. The healing occurred in a high mana environment which helped to increase magic power.
Skills Contract (Rank A, Active and Passive); Dungeon Master (Rank Unique, Active and Passive); Observe(Rank D, Active); Troll¡¯s Blood (Rank D, Passive); Aura (Aura of Knowledge, Rank A, Passive)
Skills and Equipment Crystal of Knowledge (Very Rare ¨C Unique, Intelligence +5)
My intelligence and magic power had grown. Magic power was due to the mana I was constantly absorbing and using as a dungeon crystal which affected the dungeon space. My intelligence had grown due to [Aura of Knowledge] as well as the [Crystal of Knowledge]. I stretched my body¡­ oh man that felt amazing! Shit right wolves! I tried to figure out how to get out of the space, and just by thinking it, my body was suddenly outside in the crystal room. Wow that was a strange feeling. I could feel the dungeon, just like I could when I was just the dungeon crystal while at the same time I was seeing using my human eyes¡­ fucking trippy this. ¡®Alex! You¡¯re you¡¯re you¡¯re,¡¯ Rox was stuttering. Ha she¡¯s adorable! ¡®Yep, my body¡¯s at 80% healing, and I can move around without affecting the healing. Anyway, let¡¯s check up on Max!¡¯ So saying I looked towards where Max was facing the Demon Wolf. ¡®Fuck, I hate this fucking wolf more than I could ever hate before, I swear! And I¡¯ve hated a lot of things let me tell you,¡¯ Rox nodded agreeing with me, still a littled stunned to speak it seemed. I grinned, this wolf was finally going down! Chapter 12 - Final Fight Only the Demon Wolf was left now. This fucker, so much pain and misery because of this rabid little shit. It was backed into a corner and surrounded by all of us, the rest of the wolves were either dead or bound up with vines. ¡®You¡¯re finished!¡¯ I told it as I swung my sword at him. *slash* A bloody gash opened on its muzzle. Those red eyes glared at me uncompromising. The front of its body was covered in the dried blood of the wolves it had eaten just to heal. I was being careful, so I had sent the rest of the troop back a few paces in case it tried to attack them. I didn¡¯t know if its healing ability worked if it ate other species apart from wolves but I wasn¡¯t going to risk it. I went in low, sword gripped in both arms, my injured arm was still hurting me so my movements were slower than I would have liked. That didn¡¯t matter though, this wolf pack leader wasn¡¯t doing too hot either. With a sharp cut, I lopped off an ear as it tried to dodge away from me. It growled at me, while still glaring malevolently. The air started to feel thicker, a dark fog seemed to start to rise from the Demon Wolf. It seemed like it was finally going to use everything it had left. This meant it was going to finish soon. The dark fog surrounded the wolf leader, blurring its features. I was on guard, sword straight and aimed at the Demon Wolf. I didn¡¯t know what skill or ability it had saved for its last moments but it wasn¡¯t going down without a fight. As the fog cleared, some of the non-fighter squirrels let out gasps. ¡®All non-fighter squirrels back behind the walls!¡¯ Before us stood a monstrosity. The disappearing fog revealed the Demon Wolf¡­ but with large spikes coming from its back, its fur looking more sleek. Its eyes were now shining a dark red, the colour of the blood that covered its muzzle and dripped from its jaws. It was slightly taller and the musculature seemed larger, yet more condensed. I had a grim smile as I edged closer to meet it. Its first attack came as a charge and as it got close to me, it reared up and tried to claw at me. I tried to parry with my sword which turned out to be a terrible idea. *Whoosh* The air left my body as its clawed leg hit my sword. I didn¡¯t lose my sword but the force of the blow lifted me to my feet and sent me flying a couple meters away. It seems with its transformation, although its speed was the same if not a little slower, its strength had increased. Picking myself up, I charge, ducking under another swiping set of claws and jab into the wolf¡¯s chest. The blade tip sank in only partway before I had to retreat to avoid the snapping jaws. I wasn¡¯t able to complete a big blow to the wolf but likewise it wasn¡¯t agile enough to get me¡­ except all it would take is one big bite for a pretty nasty wound. But he was slower in such close combat. The madness in its eyes¡­ it seemed possessed. As it lunged and bit down again, I was already at its side chopping down onto its side. This time I opened a long cut along its ribs that started bleeding heavily. I had this. As it whipped its head around, it took a swipe at me which I had to jump backwards to avoid. Seeing me jump back, it ran forward in a charge then went low trying to surprise me with a different angle of attack. I had to jump over its head. I stepped down on its head and pointing my sword point down and prepared to ram it into the back of its head. Sensing the crisis, it rolled over onto the ground, throwing me away from it. I clattered to the floor in an undignified heap but quickly rolled and got up facing the wolf again. Man this was getting tiring! The wolf was panting while looking at me. Suddenly there was a commotion among the squirrels and hares further back. I didn¡¯t want to get distracted but I wondered what it was. I heard footsteps that started to approach me. I was startled, which squirrel or hare was coming out? That was suicide! Suddenly laughter¡­ then a voice I usually heard only in my head sounded out¡­ ¡®Max, you still aren¡¯t done with this guy? Haha, why don¡¯t I give you a hand?¡¯ Shit! Holy shit! It was Alex! How is he here? Is he healed? ¡®Max bro, party up with me, I don¡¯t wanna kill steal.¡¯ ¡®Kill steal my ass! How are you up? Fuck, I¡¯m in the middle of killing this wolf and it¡¯s not a joke you know!¡¯ Then in front of me.
Contract Summoner and Dungeon Master Alexander wishes to form a party with you. Do you wish to accept?
Of course I said yes, this wolf was tricky and I would take all the help I could get but¡­ this dude, didn¡¯t he lose an arm and a leg? The fuck is he doing? ¡®Max, don¡¯t worry about me. I was last human on earth, I travelled through the void, I made pacts with gods. A tiny wolf like this is no problem.¡¯ Finally I turned to him. He was taller than me, with darkish hair and a pale complexion. He didn¡¯t look like a warrior, heck he hardly looked healthy as his one arm and leg were trembling slightly as he stood there. He moved closer to me and took the sword from my hands. ¡®Watch and learn bud.¡¯ ¡®Watch and learn bud.¡¯ ¡®I invoke the power of the contract, all contractees, lend me your power.¡¯ The secret to my power, my strength didn¡¯t lie in me, no my strength lay in those around me. I could never lose surrounded by my allies and here, well, didn¡¯t I have just hundreds of allies?
The power of [Contract] has been invoked. The power flows between contractor and contractee. 374 current contractees can be found Calculating stats Your agility has increased by 28 Your strength has increased by 11 Your intelligence has increased by 14Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Your magic power has increased by 8 Your stamina has increased by 6 This effect will last for 24 hours or until this skill is cancelled Cooldown will be for 72 hours
I sighed, the contracts I had with everyone back on Earth didn¡¯t activate. I guess it would only work when I finally unlocked them¡­ I clenched my teeth, I¡¯ll do it, just wait for me. But a 67 point stats increase! This was the power of a Rank A skill. Contract! The power to make contracts that benefits both contracter and contractee. I looked at my status screen with the changes.
Name: Alexander
Race Human Titles Void Traveller (Rank ???, ???)
Class Contract Summoner Last Human Survivor (Rank???, ???)
Dungeon Master
Stats
Strength 27 (13 + 11 + 3) Agility 43(15 + 28)
Intelligence 42 (23 + 5 + 14) Stamina 23 (17 + 6)
Magic power 28 (20 + 8)
Total Power/Potential 161/500
State In recovery from a huge injury but mostly healed. The healing occurred in a high mana environment which helped to increase magic power.
Skills Contract (Rank A, Active and Passive); Dungeon Master (Rank Unique, Active and Passive); Observe(Rank D, Active); Troll¡¯s Blood (Rank D, Passive); Aura (Aura of Knowledge, Rank A, Passive)
Skills and Equipment Steel Sword (Rank D, Strength +3); Crystal of Knowledge (Very Rare ¨C Unique, Intelligence +5)
That was a little better. I was very much agility and intelligence driven but after all, the dungeon was filled with squirrel and hare folk who are known for their agility above all else. The intelligence was there too but I guess it was my aura¡¯s effect coming through. I needed to grow my personal stats beyond the power of the contracts this time round. The important thing was that my total stat points went above 100. I looked at the wolf. ¡®Observe¡¯
Name: (Demon Wolf)
Race Demon Wolf
Rank D - Demonic Beast
Description A mutation of the normal forest wolf, this wolf in a rage of madness ate the flesh of its own kin. It fell into its rage that summoned a Demon of Rage that infused its demonic power into it raising its rank by 2 whole levels when it blessed it with a special ability. This wolf possesses an unparalleled healing ability, by eating the flesh of those it personally kills, it can heal its wounds. Due to the nature of how it gained its powers, it gains bonus healing if it kills and eats another wolf.
Even its description was foul. Now that I was outside the crystal, I could use observe on everything my eyes fell upon. The wolf didn¡¯t see it coming. My speed was double that of the wolf. With a quick run, I used the blade to slice through its front leg¡­ the leg went flying into the air as the wolf crashed to the floor. Max just stared in shock. ¡®You see Max, there are stages of growth when it comes to stats. You cannot keep fighting limited by what you already are, you need to strive to become stronger.¡¯ With those words I cut off the hind leg of the wolf as it howled at me. ¡®When your total stats are greater than 100, that is what we refer to as the first step. It is a qualitative change in your power across the board. This wolf here is classed as a rank D beast. But is it strong enough to rank this high? The answer is no. The system grades its players and beasts and monsters with two criteria.¡¯ By now I had placed my foot on top of the wolf¡¯s back as I looked down at it. The air left its body in a whoosh as I pressed down on it. The anger in its eyes was being replaced by a look of abject horror. It lay there petrified as it felt a sense of inevitable doom. ¡®You¡¯re not strong enough to play with the big boys, you fucker,¡¯ then I plunged the sword deep into its skull, the sound of the bone cracking open loud in the silence of the dungeon. ¡®This wolf isn¡¯t strong. When a beast, monster or person has a very powerful skill, the system counts them as a higher rank due to that skill. But that doesn¡¯t make them powerful if it is a high-ranked skill that can¡¯t be used properly, or if it¡¯s not combat oriented, or even if they simple can¡¯t use it.¡¯ I wiped the sword on the wolf¡¯s fur.
The Demon ¡®Demon Wolf has now been unlocked.
A remarkable achievement! The first demonic monster has been slain in your dungeon 5 Achievement points have been awarded 10 Dungeon points have been awarded
Message after message was displayed in front of me. I was about to call Rox so we could sit down and go through it when Max finally said something. ¡®Sir, I got a strange message¡­ sir I think I can choose a class¡­?¡¯ Max shared his messages with me. By this time Rox had also managed to make her way to us.
An amazing achievement! Using your cunning and intelligence, relying on the power of your allies and using your skill, you have defeated a monster that was stronger than you by 2 ranks The ability to choose a path has been granted to you. Paths available:
Path of Asura The killing path Choosing this path will allow for mutation depending on those who you have killed Strong in Strength
Path of the Soul The path of enlightenment Choosing this path will allow for you to grow into an aptitude which will manifest as a class Versatile
Path of the Demon The demonic path Choosing this path allows you to evolve to become more intuned with your inner demons Current possible: Rage Strong in Vitality
The path! Max had opened up the first step! That means his stat totals must have reached over 100. ¡®Max, this is on you. These three paths show how you will grow in the future, through mutation, evolution or by class advancement. So you get to choose.¡¯ Rox was looking intently at Max then said, ¡®Max, I know this is presumptious, but choose the Path of the Soul. It allows you to get a class and get stronger through training.¡¯ Max looked troubled and asked me, ¡®Sir¡­ what did you pick?¡¯ Hearing his question, I remembered when I first saw this. The very first time I used my power I had taken the first step and that consolidated my power and became my class ¡®Contract Summoner¡¯¡­ and then I went on to become one of three of the last humans on earth¡­ and then eventually the very last human on earth. ¡®I chose the Path of the Soul.¡¯ That¡¯s right, our group chose the Path of the Soul. Those fuckers from the military chose the Path of the Demon, while those militant bastards chose the Path of Asura. Just remembering it made me angry. Leaving behind their humanity, and for what? I didn¡¯t want Max to choose those paths because I remember the ones who choose that path and they turned into worse monsters than those that rained down from the sky. Max smiled, then bright light shone from his eyes like rays of the sun, this was the Path of Soul, it was destroying all traces of other influences within him. ¡®I can choose a job now! Help me pick one!¡¯ Max had reached the point where he could pick a job. I grinned, this was perfect! I had a good surprise in store for Alex and Max that I wanted to share. With this our dungeon was finally cleared of enemies¡­ fuck how many days has it been since we¡¯ve had some bloody peace and quiet? Max went to check up on Levine and the fire squirrel then finally rest as well. He wasn¡¯t going to pick a job yet which suited me perfectly fine. ¡®Hey Rox, check it out.¡¯ Alex showed me all the different messages that he was still busy with. I smiled even brighter. Our dungeon was doing really well, we could expand like nobody¡¯s business! And yes, we had levelled up, oh boy did we ever! Chapter 13 - Rewards, Power Ups and New Equipment (1) After all of us had rested, I carried on my explanation to Max. ¡®See, how it works for us is that we have total power and we have potential power right? When you were first named your potential was probably what? 50? 80? Maybe even less. That is a limitation placed on us by the system based on our species. Sure it may deviate a few more or less but that¡¯s about it. True power is when you finally break that first constraint. You saw Levine and the fire squirrel right? Levine seemed to have broken the constraint with his agility and maybe some other stats as well. Although right now he¡¯s badly injured but once broken, always broken, his potential has grown. And now it¡¯s the same for you, your potential limit must have broken and your total stats rose above 100, that is why the choice of paths opened up to you.¡¯ I could see that it was a lot to take in for Max. ¡®Well think about, also Rox said to talk to her about choosing a job, she¡¯s directing the healing team with Levine and the fire squirrel so go find her there.¡¯ As he walked away I started to look through some of the messages that had popped up. I first looked at the ones Rox wouldn¡¯t be too interested in as they weren¡¯t dungeon related.
The Demonic Power of the Demon Wolf was absorbed Due to the difference in your rank, the power had limited effect Absorb another 3447 Rank D creatures to gain an unassigned stat point
Fucker! My rank according to the system was Rank B because of my Rank A skills. So fighting and killing lower rank creatures weren¡¯t a good way of raising my abilities at all. Next I looked at the carcass of the wolf. It was a grizzly duty but I think the materials from the body would be good to make a few pieces of equipment. Boy did I feel bad for the squirrels and hares that got that job! ¡®Ok troop, some of you have to separate out the claws and the jaws of this beast¡­ get the pelt out too. Leave the rest.¡¯ Leaving the troop I made my way to find Rox as well. I considered, it was probably time for me to cancel the skill er¡­ Rox is not going to be too happy with me.
The power of contract has been stopped Total duration of use: 1hr 21mins Rebound will be twice total duration of use Contractor will be in a weakened state for 2hr 42mins All stats halved
The big downside to the skill. It had phenomenal power but for a limited time, so I always had to use it as a last resort. Which is also why I always traveled with Bird and Cadet. I headed inside to find Rox. I¡­ well I found Rox. I also found Max¡­ ¡®Max, the fuck are you doing?¡¯ Max was currently dashing from one side of the room to the other. In his way was a box and he was jumping over the box as he was ran each time. He cleared the box with, near as I can tell, only the slightest of margins. ¡®Don¡¯t disturb him, can¡¯t you see how busy he is?¡¯ Rox was watching Max do his crazy dashing about with folded arms. ¡®Is that all you¡¯ve got Max? Pathetic! A newborn mewling runs better than you!¡¯ The figure of Max moved slightly faster¡­ ¡®Rox¡­ what¡¯s going on¡­?¡¯ ¡®Well you see Alex, Max is going to be choosing his class soon, which is a very big decision. And well, the choices he has for classes I¡¯m not satisfied with so I¡¯ll make him train until he unlocks something good!¡¯ I became speechless¡­ ¡®Wait¡­ what?¡¯ Rox looked at me with a very smug look, ¡®During the battle, while I was training that fire squirrel, I gained an ability!¡¯ She brought up a screen then showed it to me.
Teacher (Rank B, Active and Passive) Lv1 Mastery 13.4%
Behind all great figures in history lie great teachers that showed them the path Due to great merits in teaching this skill has been granted If special prerequisites are met, this skill can evolve
Lv1: Class bestowal There is a bonus to stat acquisition for anyone under the tutelage of this skill¡¯s owner
¡®Holy shit that¡¯s insane! You can give folks classes?!¡¯ This was something really and truly incredible. When you get to the point where a class has to be picked, usually it¡¯s a complicated process. And you don¡¯t get to choose from a list, you have to navigate a series of yes or no questions and then a class is bestowed upon you. This was huge! ¡®Rox, you have upgraded to a class changer!¡¯ ¡®That somehow feels really insulting¡­¡¯ By this point Max was lying on the group panting for breath. Rox tilted her head while looking at me, ¡®Wait, why are you so weak right now.¡¯ What the¡­ could she see my stats? No I think she can feel the aura. I shrugged as I told her, ¡®It¡¯s the rebound from using my skill. I¡¯m weakened for a time after I use the skill. I¡¯m as weak as Max is right now.¡¯ ¡®¡­ Sir! I¡¯m right here¡­¡¯ ''... little dickwad, you used your power right after coming out and leaves you like this?!'' I could sense a small bit of fire igniting in her eyes... ''Actually the increased stamina was good, helped me heal faster! I was going to leave it on for the day to finish off healing but I don''t want to risk being weakened for 2 days... just in case.'' Maybe I had gained Levine''s [Silver Tongue] ability somehow because Rox seemed to be accept my answer... now to divert attention away! ¡®Anyway, if you can take a break we can go through all the different messages we¡¯ve been putting off.¡¯ ¡®... Sure sounds like fun.¡¯ Of course the first thing we looked at was the level up message. That message sure does send a warm feeling throughout my body.
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 8 To reach the next level 4000 Mana and 400 souls are needed
The dungeon ability [Create Trap] has been unlocked
The dungeon ability [Create Treasure Chest] has been unlocked
The dungeon ability [Create Item] has been unlocked
The mana ability [Create Magic Trap] has been unlocked
The mana ability [Create Magic Item] has been unlocked
The soul ability [Skill Bestowal] has been unlocked
Create Trap (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates a trap out of mana Traps are an integral part of dungeons Used to lure unsuspecting adventurers to harm or death, these traps serve as both an easy and convenient way to harvest mana as well as defence against those hostile to the dungeon Current traps available: Pitfall, Ceiling collapse, Arrow Trap, Spear Trap Unlock more types of traps in the dungeon store
Create Treasure Chest (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered Treasure chests one purpose, they are the lure for adventurers to enter a dungeonThis story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Without an incentive, adventurers will not likely enter the dungeon Current treasure chests available: wooden, wooden (locked, random monster will hold key) Currently the contents of the treasure chest will be selected from a random selection of 5 items designated by the dungeon master Only items possible to create with [Create Item] can be selected Unlock more types of treasure chests in the dungeon store
Create Item (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered One of the most miraculous abilities of a dungeon Dungeons possess the innate ability to create items they have absorbed before as long as they have enough mana Only items that have been directly analyzed can be create Materials for making the magic item must be available Unlock more types of items in the dungeon store
Create Magic Trap (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered Creates a trap out of mana Traps are an integral part of dungeons Used to lure unsuspecting adventurers to harm or death, these traps serve as both an easy and convenient way to harvest mana as well as defence against those hostile to the dungeon Magic traps require the use of mana stones or elemental stones to be used as well Current traps available: Magic Bolt Trap, Fireball Trap, Drench Trap, Holy Light Trap Unlock more types of traps in the dungeon store Elemental traps will only unlock if the dungeon possesses affinity to that element
Create Magic Item (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered One of the most miraculous abilities of a dungeon Dungeons possess the innate ability to create magic items they have absorbed before as long as they have enough mana Only magic items that have been directly analyzed can be create Materials for making the magic item must be available Magic items require mana stones or elemental stones to be used as well Unlock more types of items in the dungeon store
Skill Bestowal (Soul Ability) Lv Max Mastered A unique ability of [The Cave of the Apprentice] This ability allows skills gathered from foes that have been vanquished in the dungeon to be saved in the dungeon codex With the appropriate amount of souls, skills can be bestowed on any creature Currently available skills: Rank C: 1 Rank E: 2 Rank F: 2 Rank G: 5 Unlock more skills by vanquishing foes with skills within the dungeon
¡®Treasure room¡¯ and ¡®Trap room¡¯ have been added to[Create Special Room]
¡®Skill bestowal?!¡¯ Rox exclaimed in shock, this was a godly ability! It meant if we had the skills, everyone could be insanely outfitted. I was looking at the screen with my mouth open in shock! I almost wanted to cry! On earth, how much trouble did we go through? Skills were like fragments of heaven that we chased after in our quest for survival¡­ and here I can be like... POW! Here¡¯s a skill?! There¡¯s got to be a catch. ¡®Show me all the skills!¡¯
Which Skill would you like to select? Skills available
Demonic Restoration (Rank C) Acquired from ¡®Demon Wolf¡¯ Allows rapid healing when consuming meat Same species bonus 4000 souls required Restriction: Must have a demonic presence (Rage)
Wolf Pack Rank E Acquired from ¡®Wolf¡¯ Increases abilities when in a wolf pack 250 souls required Restriction: Must be part of the wolf species
Tribe Rank E Acquired from ¡®Goblin¡¯ Increases stamina when moving as a tribe 250 souls required Restriction: Must be a tribe species
Minor physical resistance Rank F Acquired from ¡®slime¡¯ Increases resistance to physical attacks 150 souls required Restriction: Must have a physical body
Rat Horde Rank F Acquired from ¡®Giant Rat¡¯ Increases attack speed when in a horde 100 souls required Restrictions: must be part of rat species
Growth (Slime Innate) Rank G Acquired from ¡®slime¡¯ Allows the body to increase in size by absorbing ambient mana 50 souls required Restriction: Must be a slime species
Split (Slime Innate) Rank G Acquired from ¡®slime¡¯ When the slime reaches a certain size, it can split in two 50 souls required Restriction: Must be a slime species
Absorb (Slime Innate) Rank G Acquired from ¡®slime¡¯ Moving the entire body around an object, the object can be taken into the body and absorbed 50 souls required Restriction: Must be a slime species
Minor Heightened Hearing Rank G Acquired from ¡®Hare¡¯ Increases hearing ability slightly 50 souls required Restriction: must have ears
Minor Sense of danger Rank G Acquired from ¡®Squirrel¡¯ Can sometimes feel when a hostile presence is near 50 souls required Restriction: None
¡®Most of these are fucking useless aren¡¯t they? And that disgusting wolf¡¯s ability shows up again! Who wants the ability of a regenerating cannibal?¡¯ Of course there was a catch, the abilities were expensive, 50 souls even for the lowest rank skills. Most the other skills were also useless. I changed the option in the dungeon menu to hide the useless skills that I didn¡¯t want to look at again. That left me¡­ with 3. The slime skills [Minor physical resistance], the hare skill [Minor heightened hearing] and the squirrel skill [Minor sense of danger]. These were the only good ones. Of course the insane cost meant not everyone could have it¡­ this troubled me. I was going to have to think of a way to resolve this. ¡®Right Alex, we¡¯re naming the fire squirrel right? She definitely proved herself!¡¯ She had most definitely proved herself. Of everyone who fought, she had dealt the most damage to the Demon Wolf, even at great cost to herself. Hell, without that cannibal ability, she would have outright killed it. ¡®You said you wanted to name her right? Actually I was wondering about that. In her case it¡¯s clear that she deserves it but what about the others? We can just play favourites but I think we need to figure out a way to reward those that do well¡­¡¯ ¡®How about a merit system? With merit points, they¡¯ll get points for contribution in battles, how much mana they bring in etc and they can exchange it for equipment, skills and of course the grand prize, being bestowed a name!¡¯ ¡®Rox¡­ you¡¯re a genius! That¡¯s a great way to split resources as well as motivate everyone to work!¡¯ With that, everything settled down. The wounded were being treated and soon only Levine was left recuperating as he had a particular problem. The problem Levine had was he was [Manaburnt] and we didn¡¯t know how to treat it. So Rox kept him in inside and kept studying him to try and figure out what the problem was. As for the rest? Well we started collecting from outside the dungeon again. There was a new vigor to the movements of everyone. We had announced the merit point system and when we revealed that if they collected enough merit points they would be getting named, there were screams of excitement. Some tried to run out as soon as the announcement was over to try and get started on getting points! It was after a while that Rox dropped another bombshell on me. ¡®You¡­ you know how to get these guys to evolve?!¡¯ That¡¯s right, Rox had figured this out! The fuck dude, what have I been doing for this past year? ¡®I noticed it because the fire squirrel evolved right in front of me. It¡¯s simple if you think about it. She had a high intelligence and when I taught her mana control her magic power must have increased. Now I¡¯m not perfectly sure but I believe this means that if you have two stats that break the species limit, then they will evolve. I mean if you can evolve, I know most intelligent species aren¡¯t supposed to evolve¡­¡¯ Well call me a monkey¡¯s uncle¡­ In my defense, I was really only knowledgeable about growth by humans¡­ but both Rox and I had been watching these guys all this while! Yet she noticed it¡­ well I admit when I am outclassed in something. ¡®Alex will you stop sulking? It¡¯s been two days!¡¯ I was NOT sulking, I was brooding! There is a difference! Anyways, Rox had gotten Levine, the fire squirrel and Max to start training together. She was thinking hard about the name I could tell. We decided that in a week¡¯s time we would be holding the naming ceremony for the fire squirrel held in the dungeon crystal room. It was going to be our first big celebration thing, so I was fairly excited¡­ so I guess I had to stop brooding. So, mana was steadily and quickly pouring in, Max and co were being trained by Rox to unlock better classes before picking and we were preparing for a naming ceremony. I looked through the dungeon menu at the special skills category. Two names burned into my eyes¡­ soon guys, I¡¯m trying my best so just wait for me. I had woken up to the strangest sight you can imagine¡­ Max and that fire squirrel were hanging from the roof¡­ doing situps? ¡®Come on, put your backs into it! You need to find strength to fight, even through exhaustion. To feel focus in times of stress! I won¡¯t have you slacking one bit!¡¯ Lady Rox was standing on the side arms crossed while she watched them do such an odd looking exercise. I covered my mouth with my hand as I tried not to laugh. ¡®Levine I know you¡¯re up. You¡¯re going to be joining them tomorrow!¡¯ My blood ran cold¡­ I was going to be doing that? But¡­ Well, I seemed alright¡­ fuck wasn¡¯t I injured? What happened? There were a couple of messages from the system so I looked at them¡­ and the first ones had me trembling.
The Goddess of the Moon has taken an interest in you
You are [Manaburnt] Your Magic power has decreased by 10 You are not able to use any active skills Any active skills learnt will be sealed In areas of high mana concentration, if the mana is incompatible with you, it will cause you pain Your movements have been effected, fine movements of the hand have been effected Your sense of balance has been effected
¡®Lady Rox? Can you look at this???¡¯ Lady Rox came over and saw the message without any surprise. ¡®What did you expect? Mana is more violent than fire of lightning and you set it off inside your body! If it wasn¡¯t for Alex summoning a holy elemental stone and the fire squirrel channeling her own mana into you until it ran out, you would have just burnt into nothingness!¡¯ My heart sank¡­ Lady Rox looked at me without a change in expression and said, ¡®Don¡¯t feel down about this, there is always a path¡­ all that¡¯s happening is now you¡¯re walking a different one alright? You didn¡¯t have any active skills before, so what¡¯s the big deal? Also, have you looked at your other messages?¡¯ I hadn¡¯t, the shock of the first two had made me pause. When I did look, I could only draw in some breath¡­ I was slightly confused but I also knew that it was significant. Lady Rox smiled at me, ¡®Like I said, there is always a path! Congrats Levine, you have taken the first step just like Max! You can choose a class!¡¯ A female swordswoman, covered in dirt and sweat walked through the gates of a city. If the dungeon crew had seen her, they would have recognized her. She was the one who had come to scout out the dungeon. The female swordswoman walked her way to a building. On top of the building¡¯s entrance could be seen the words ¡®Adventurer¡¯s Guild.'' She drew up to the counter and said, ¡®I¡¯d like to report the appearance of a new dungeon.¡¯ Chapter 14 - Rewards, Power Ups and New Equipment (2) While Rox was sorting out Max and Levine¡¯s stuff I had some business to take care of. Harvesting the Demon Wolf¡¯s body and turning it into equipment had been a good idea. We were sorely lacking good weapons and armour. Which led me to think, is there any metal in the earth around the dungeon? So instead of just using mana to make rooms, I started getting teams together to start digging out new rooms. I figured that way we might find traces of metals and mine it. The non-fighters had been turning the wolf materials into items we can use and had presented 4 items to me. One was a wolf pelt armour, rank E, but no special options. The other 3 were talismans created with the wolf¡¯s tooth, wolf claw and a combination. The first two were rank G and did nothing but the 3rd¡­ it was Rank E and raised stamina by 1. This could be considered to be the first successful creation of equipment in the dungeon! Equipment that improved stats, the first one has been made! And at least for the talismans we could create quite a few.
Wolf Pelt Armour (Rank E) Made from the pelt of a Demon Wolf, this armour provides additional protection from cold
Wolf Talisman (Rank E, Stamina +1) Made from the tooth and claw of the Demon Wolf, imbued with the Demon Wolf¡¯s essence
The first step towards getting better equipment! Anyways, now we had teams bringing in stuff from outside, which was going incredibly well, although no one was close to having enough merit points for naming yet¡­ but of course we were holding a naming ceremony this week for our fire squirrel. We also had mining teams digging into the walls trying to find metal which I had good hopes for. And lastly we had Rox training up Max and Levine to get them good classes. Everything was settling down finally, I felt like I could take it a bit easier for a while. Lady Rox told me that choosing a path was to choose how I would grow and develop in the future. Of course I would listen to what she told me but I also knew that this choice, well I had already made my decision.
A great achievement! Your dedication and perseverance allowed you to break through all your confines and limitations. The ability to choose a path has been granted to you. The Goddess of the Moon has a special interest in you, opening up a new path. Paths available:
Path of Asura The killing path Choosing this path will allow for mutation depending on those who you have killed Strong in Strength
Path of the Soul The path of enlightenment Choosing this path will allow for you to grow into an aptitude which will manifest as a class Versatile
Path of Divinity The path of the holy Choosing this path allows for you to grow in accordance with your chosen divinity Your growth will be determined by your divinity Versatile ¨C Dependant
Lady Rox said that I didn¡¯t have the exact same paths as Max, maybe because I didn¡¯t help kill the demon? Anyway Alex said I had an affinity to the holy element so I naturally have little compatibility with the demon path¡­ but the Path of Divinity? Then something incredibly shocking happened. It was so shocking even Alex and Rox who were with me lost the ability to speak¡­ hell even I didn¡¯t know what to say! While we were looking at the Paths¡­ two of them just¡­ disappeared! Then the message changed¡­
The Goddess of the Moon has a special interest in you, opening up a new path. The Goddess of the Moon has chosen you. Being a chosen of a God leads to great personal power however that power must always be used in accordance with the God¡¯s will Paths available:
Path of Divinity The path of the holy Choosing this path allows for you to grow in accordance with your chosen divinity Your growth will be determined by your divinity Versatile ¨C Dependant You have been Chosen by the Goddess of the Moon
¡®You mother of all that is unholy! Where¡¯s my choice?! I wanted to be like my bro Max, you took that away from you evil cow! Who asked you to take away my choices?!¡¯ I was livid! Giving me just one choice, didn¡¯t that mean I had no choice? Bloody hell! This is so unfair! Alex was shaking his head, ¡®Another God is interfering again. Damn, well go ahead and ¡®choose¡¯ your Path¡­¡¯ he even emphasized the word choose¡­ I want to cry! Why is it always me? Shaking my head sadly, I took my ¡®choice¡¯¡­ A warm feeling enveloped my entire being and I could see a white light covering my body¡­ something inside me felt different but I couldn¡¯t tell what¡­ also I felt myself becoming stronger¡­
You are a chosen of the Goddess of the Moon Floating in the night sky, the Goddess of the Moon blesses travellers, minstrels and musicians The Goddess of the Moon prizes loyalty and bravery above all other traits Your act of saving your friend emphasized both traits prized by the Goddess of the Moon She has blessed you with the class ¡®Warrior of the Wick¡¯ Henceforth, you will be the representative of the Goddess within the Five Worlds
The new class: Warrior of the Wick has been assigned
New Abilities and Skills available
All old magic formations were purged All old skills have been replaced
A new sub stat has been generated: You have gained the sub-stat ¡®Holy Power¡¯
Wait a minute! I don¡¯t even get to choose a class? Nooo wait this is not fair! Rox looked at me, ¡®Look at your new abilities before you complain. This is an amazing class, especially for you since you¡¯re manaburnt¡­ I think the Goddess especially tailored this class for you.¡¯ Ok¡­ that shut me up. Praise the Goddess of the Moon! You actually tailored this class for me? I shall worship you as my new Goddess! I¡¯ll be loyal! I¡¯ll be dedicated! I looked at all the changes¡­ I had grown stronger and I had gained 3 skills ¡®Holy Light¡¯, ¡®Flame of the Wick¡¯ and ¡®Light of the Wick¡¯ but¡­ they were all sealed? Then I got another message.
You have been given a task by the Goddess of the Moon Establish a temple to the Goddess of the Moon Completing this task will unlock one of your skills
I had just been praising this Goddess! Fuck me, damn¡­ well guess what? I¡¯m going to take on your task and I¡¯ll make the best temple you could ever think about alright?! Fuck! Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Me and Alex had a conference as to what we were going to do next. One thing we agreed had to happen first was expanding the number of rooms we had. So while mining was happening, they had excavated about two rooms worth now, Alex made another 18 rooms to bring our total to 30. It expended a lot of mana but I think it was worth it. Besides, the newly motivated squirrels and hares were bringing in mana so fast that we were not short whatsoever! Which brought me to my next point, ¡®Alex, we should branch out and get another species in the dungeon.¡¯ We had a terribly great advantage. My theory of evolution so far¡­ well I was confident in it but obviously it was best to try and test it. ¡®I want to test my theory of evolution!¡¯ ¡®Sure, that¡¯s hitting two birds with one stone since we can get another force for the dungeon. Hmm¡­ well¡­ the creatures we can summon so far¡­ um¡­ Summoning menu.¡¯
What creature would you like to create? Creatures available
Squirrel (animal) Giant Elite Squirrel Intelligent and fast 15 mana to summon
Giant rat (animal) 3 mana to summon
Hare (animal) Giant Elite Hare Intelligent and fast 40 mana to summon
Wolf (animal) 40 mana to summon
Slime (monster) The lowest cost monster that can be summoned by a dungeon Under control of the dungeon Mutation and evolution possible Offensive ability lowest, defensive ability low Has high resistance to physical attacks Intelligence rating Negligible Magic ability - minor magic absorption only Soul increases ability and allows monster to leave dungeon Weak to offensive magic 50 mana to summon
Goblin (monster) The lowest cost tribe monster that can be summoned by a dungeon Under control of the dungeon Mutation and evolution possible Offensive ability low, defensive ability low Intelligence rating Low ¨C increases with a goblin leader Magic ability - magical perception only Soul increases ability and allows monster to leave dungeon Weak to mind magic 100 mana to summon
Demon Wolf (demon monster) Possesses the Essence of Rage Has Demonic Restoration ability Moderate offensive and defensive ability High stamina If enraged, will lose control of all sanity 400 mana to summon
Kobold Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Orc Locked ¨C unlock with 100 dungeon points
Skeleton Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Zombie Locked ¨C unlock with 50 dungeon points
Imp Locked ¨C unlock with 100 dungeon points
¡®What do you want to start your experiment with? Rats, slimes, goblins, wolves... er... rats?¡¯ We looked at each other. ''No.'' ''No.'' I looked at each one carefully¡­ then snuck a glance at Max and Levine doing their training regime. I wanted to pick the wolves, they were strong and fast¡­ not to mention fairly cheap to summon. The problem was that the guys had just finished fighting them so we¡¯ll give it a few weeks before we try summoning wolves. ¡®I think for now wolves are out of a question¡­ so goblins!¡¯ So with that we summoned 5 goblins. So now my training included Max and Levine as well as 5 goblins. It was a very strange sight, even I¡¯ll admit that. Anyway, we also expanded the floor to have 15 secret rooms and we selected some rooms for the new goblins and they were settling down. Unfortunately it was way too early for them to get close to evolving but one can hope. Then finally, the day of the naming ceremony came! The naming ceremony! We had cleared out the area around Greywall and we had made a small platform out of wood. That¡¯s right, we had started harvesting wood from the forest, although it wasn¡¯t exactly a smooth process, we had nothing to cut down trees with, but dungeon masters can cheat, all they need is the material itself! Even twigs and branches could be called wood! Thus I made a platform. Rox was going to be holding the ceremony this time, I never really understood¡­ she had access to all the powers of the dungeon like me since well she was its custodian but she said that wasn¡¯t how it worked. Basically, she said that if dungeon fairies operated the dungeon, they could only operate in the way they were taught never leaving an opportunity to grow. Some dungeon fairies did that to be sure but Rox said those dungeons took forever to develop, taking as long as a decade just to reach the point we had reached within one year. Ah, the naming ceremony started. Rox, in all her splendor was wearing a more formal looking petal dress, dark purple along with dark green forming a gown. ¡®Everyone, during the Battle for the Dungeon against the Wolf Pack, there were many who lost their lives¡­ and we should honour them for the sacrifices they have made. And among the living there are many who proved their bravery. This young squirrel is a great example of what we cherish here in this dungeon, loyalty, duty and bravery. She single handedly led a decisive attack against the leader of the wolf pack, the Demon Wolf, at the risk of her own life. From her contributions during the attack we have decided to award her with the highest honour we have in the dungeon. Ms fire squirrel, please step forward.¡¯ The young squirrel walked forward in front of the entire dungeon¡¯s inhabitants. The idea of this ceremony was two-fold. One to reward contributions during the wolf attack, the others had been given merit points for their actions. Two was to build something¡­ a sense of community, a team, a spirit of belonging and the urge to become better, to strive towards becoming¡­ something more. ¡®I name you Eva, Soul of Fire. In the darkness you are our light, in the cold you are our warmth. May the passion you have in life burn forever more, and each time you face adversity, may you rise from the ashes like a phoenix reborn.¡¯ Then it was my part of the ceremony. This was the first time I was going to attempt to contract someone created from my dungeon, so I was wondering if it worked¡­ because the contract with the dungeon was already in place. I didn¡¯t need to worry.
A contract has been offered to ¡®Fire Squirrel¡¯.
A Contract has been formed
¡®Fire Squirrel¡¯ has been added as a Lv1 Contracted
The power of the contract flows between contractor and contracted Fire Squirrel is already a contractee of the dungeon The contract has been enhanced Fire Squirrel has unlocked the Skill ¡®Soul of Fire Fire Squirrel¡¯s intelligence has increased by 3 points, strength by 1 points, agility by 1 points, vitality by 1 point and magic power by 4 point
The power of the contract flows between contracted and contractor Contract Summoner Alexander¡¯s Intelligence has increased by 1 Contract Summoner Alexander¡¯s Magic Power has increased by 1
¡®Fire Squirrel¡¯ has been granted the name ¡®Eva, Soul of Fire¡¯
Name bestowal has been invoked Fire Squirrel has now been named Eva¡¯s strength has increased by 9, agility has increased by 11, intelligence has increased by 21, magic power has increased by 24, stamina has increased by 11 Eva has unlocked the skill ¡®Soul of Fire¡¯
A huge series of lights shot up around the newly named Eva. These lights were like flame, red, yellow and orange particles and were dancing around our new heroine. All the dungeon inhabitants were cheering, even the goblins which made me grin. I was still grinning four days later when the dungeon leveled up again. It took 6 weeks of training with Lady Rox before she finally told me that I had unlocked a new class and that it was a good one. Thinking back, Levine had already chosen his class¡­ well ¡®chosen¡¯. His predicament made me want to laugh at his misfortune. Alex would say Lady Rox is rubbing off on me again. ¡®What is the new class, Ms Rox?¡¯ So far she said I had the choice between 3 classes, warrior, guardian and ranger. But she wasn¡¯t satisfied, her special skill allowed her to see further, into what each class led to and their individual power and she said it wasn¡¯t enough. It seems this new class had satisfied her¡­ I almost shuddered¡­ the training I had gone through was¡­ brutal¡­ She would wake us up early in the morning, then we had to carry rocks on our shoulders as we ran from one end of the dungeon to the other. I almost cursed, with a total of 45 rooms now, each the size of a massive cavern, running across them was easier said than done! After that, we had to climb walls continuously then hang from the ceiling and do situps and a whole bunch of strange contortion acts. Lastly¡­ I don¡¯t know where she got this idea but she had gotten Alex to make a large pond in one of the rooms. Then she made us swim! If that wasn¡¯t bad enough with it being winter outside, she made us swim while strapped with rocks! By the time we were done, it was already dark out and exhausted we would just crawl to sleep. And nothing was to her satisfaction, nothing was ever enough! She said we weren¡¯t putting enough effort into it! So who¡¯s we? It was me, Levine, Eva, the 5 goblins, a troop of squirrels and all the hares. She had gotten everyone with fighting potential to do this training. And not a single one of us could make her happy with the training¡­ So yes, if Lady Rox was satisfied with a class? I will jump through hell fire and off a cliff to choose it! ¡®It is a class called Crimson Warrior, and it is powerful. The previous class you had called warrior was replaced by this, the other classes are the same. Do you want to pick this?¡¯ ¡®Definitely!¡¯
You have chosen the class ''Crimson Warrior''.
Warrior¡¯s Honour, Warrior¡¯s Blood The Crimson Blade, the Dragon¡¯s Might Warrior¡¯s Cry, Warrior¡¯s Duty Enemies Beware Within My Sight
The new class: Crimson Warrior has been assigned
New Abilities and Skills available
All old magic formations were purged All old skills have been replaced
You have gained the skill ¡®Crimson Blade¡¯ You have gained the skill ¡®Red Guardian¡¯ You have gained the skill ¡®Warrior¡¯s Cry¡¯
This section is only for those interested in the technicalities and not needed for enjoying the story Spoiler: Spoiler The idea for the skills is also leads to discussion about mana. Mana is a source of energy, it is visible to the naked eye when it touches air as it gives off light. Humans gained control of mana after it appeared on earth, but the younger you were the better off you were. Why? Because in humans, the organ that helped with mana storage and control is the thymus, an organ that humans lose in adulthood as it lost its purpose. With the advent of mana, this vestigial organ had another purpose. Now to the theory of skills, skills are specific magical formations embedded within the human body that force mana to move and flow in specific ways. Mana has laws of its own. Making it move in specific ways makes different effects happen. These specific skill structures are called formations and they are found throughout the body¡­ thus if you lose that part of the body or that part of the body gets damaged, the skill becomes sealed or lost. Ie. If you have a sword skill [Cross Slash] that concentrates mana into a blade that can be launched from a weapon, it might be found in the right or left arm. If that arm gets cut off, they lose the ability to use that skill. Skill formations/structures are found usually in which ever region they are supposed to take effect, like resistance skills being found on the skin. A skill like [Contract] would be found in the Brain. One of the problems or should I say limitations of this way of making the skills is that compatibility between skills must exist. Thus you can have both fire and ice magic skills, but if your right arm has the skill to make a [fireball], then that arm can¡¯t hold the skill formation for [ice shard] at the same time because they aren¡¯t compatible. However if you have [Electric shock] on that arm, as well as [Water beam], the electricity and water are compatible and they might even combine/evolve into a new skill. I haven¡¯t hatched out the skill system perfectly how I want it yet, but it¡¯s ahem evolving haha Chapter 15 – Racing to Get the Next Floor
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 9 To reach the next level 6000 Mana and 600 souls are needed
I smiled at this message. We had unlocked a bunch of skills at level 8 so I didn¡¯t expect more at level 9. I had a gleam in my eye as I looked at the skills I now had. Traps! And Items! I had used the create item to make the platform for the Naming Ceremony. I looked at the [Create Treasure Chest] skill¡­ I frowned, why on earth would I want those hooligans inside my dungeon? Lure adventurers, fuck why not invite a dragon or an elder lich? At least they will come right to your face and tell you¡¯re they¡¯re here to kill you. Putting that aside, traps! ¡®Hey Rox! Let¡¯s make a crap ton of traps! We can even make a trap room! The whole first floor can be a trap floor, that way we won¡¯t lose mana if people come and try to kill off our dungeon folk.¡¯ Rox grinned and had a slightly wicked smile. When she smiled like that, all the folks she was training shuddered and doubled their effort in their training¡­ er¡­ they were building stone walls? They were running to where the mining was happening, grabbing rocks and bringing it here to make meter high walls. I looked around, this was the third room. ¡®Rox, why are you building walls inside the third room?¡¯ ¡®Never mind that, it¡¯s only for training. Let¡¯s get started on making traps!¡¯ Making traps was FUN! We started making traps from the fourth room onwards, first only pitfall traps, but then from the sixth room we added ceiling fall traps. At the eighth room we added the arrow and at the tenth room the spear traps. After that it was all of them, plus we were going to add some slimes to the mix. It was glorious. ¡®Alex let¡¯s do this, we¡¯ll make a branching trap room, and after inside the trap room will be a secret room¡­ that is ALSO a trap room! But only through that way is the true path to the dungeon crystal room! We¡¯ll be much safer!¡¯ Like the voice of an angel! Those were good words, so we did it. The path without the secret rooms, led all the way through over 30 trap and monster filled rooms and reached¡­ a dead end! I couldn¡¯t wait to see someone¡¯s face when they thought they got to the end and there¡¯s nothing! ¡®Alex if we gain another level, I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯ll be able to open up another floor. I think that should be our priority for the next month of so.¡¯ True to her word, she even got those doing the training to join the collecting process. The fighters were stronger than the non-fighters not to mention all the squirrels and hares in this group had evolved to full beastman now. So sending them out to collect materials, plants and creatures more than tripled our mana collection speed. While the insane collection fest was going on, we finally hit a vein of metal! At last! It was in a secret room off the 4 room coming in which surprised me. So close to the entrance? We had mostly been concentrating on the deeper rooms. The best part? The metal they found was iron! Iron ore! So with create item, I could copy out the daggers and sword that Max and Levine used. They weren''t as good, they didn''t have the options for stat increases but we finally had some half decent weapons. They would be put up as prizes for merit points as well! I also wanted to make some other types of weapons. Thinking back on how Max divided up the troops and used them during the Siege, he played to the strength of the species, squirrels with their great climbing ability while the hares with their powerful hind legs. These traits were still true in the evolved beastfolk, the squirrels would scurry up trees to look for stuff to bring back while the hares were dashing about without even breaking a sweat. I would have to think harder about this¡­ also I¡¯m totally going to have to see Eva about trying to heat up the iron and mixing with other stuff. I knew steel was iron and carbon but I didn¡¯t really know how to make it so I would have to experiment. Talking about experimenting, Rox¡¯s experiment on the Goblins wasn¡¯t going too well. ¡®So no evolution yet? It hasn¡¯t been very long you know, you don¡¯t have to be frustrated.¡¯ ¡®You don¡¯t understand Alex! If my Theory of Evolution is true, then we can evolve every single cheap summon animal, saving massive amounts of mana and have great achievements and I would be known as the best dungeon fairy in the world!¡¯ She sighed, ¡®Although I have to say, it¡¯s only in your dungeon this could be possible. Most dungeons will specialize in something specific like undead, which will make all undead cheaper and make undead spontaneously arise from dead bodies or something. But your specialty seems to lie in making those under you stronger, case in point your aura ability! Even though it¡¯s an ability from your human body, it leaks out into the whole dungeon because you are both human and dungeon master. It¡¯s incredible!¡¯ I didn¡¯t know what to say at this outburst¡­ Leaking dungeon crystal didn''t sound flattering... So to resolve her issue with the slow evolving goblins, we summoned out more squirrels and hares. The dungeon didn¡¯t let us summon out full beastman, it appeared there was some restriction to doing that. Perhaps being considered one of the members of the intelligent races gave immunity to manipulation from a dungeon¡­ or perhaps we just hadn¡¯t unlocked the ability yet. We summoned enough that we had a total of 500 squirrels and 400 hares counting the ones before. The new summons were put into training to see if they would evolve. Time would tell if Rox¡¯s experiment worked. In the meantime, I was working on making or at least designing weapons. For the hares, I designed a new type of weapon. It was a special kind of reinforced shoe¡­ with a metal spike protruding from it. I had first gotten some of the hares practice different kind of kicks in front of me then tried to make the shoe so that it could increase the damage. It didn¡¯t come with any options on it but well I¡¯m not a blacksmith.
Reinforced Spiked Shoes (Rank E) Made from the iron, this equipment is designed to maximize damage when kicking
As for the squirrels, I was trying to make them clawed weapons but I wasn¡¯t having much luck. I had to get Eva¡¯s help to try and mold light but sturdy metal claws that could be wrapped around the forearms of squirrels and not get in the way when they¡¯re climbing. Eva¡¯s a quiet girl but she¡¯s smart, must have gotten the smarts from Rox¡­ hope she doesn¡¯t get the sass too. It took a while before I got something decent. It was a blade that was attached to a band that wrapped around the forearm. It stuck straight to the side of the forearm so it would take a bit of training from the squirrels to get used to it.
Metal Side Claw (Rank E) Made from the iron, this equipment is light yet durable while sustaining a good attack power
It took a few more weeks before Rox¡¯s training was starting to show some results. In that while, I had started noticing a different issue. ¡®Why is the food so bland!¡¯ The food we had was¡­ just vegetables and fruits! Nothing substantial, nothing to sink my teeth into! Max and Levine looked at me¡­ well right those two are by default vegetarian right? Oh crap they might even be vegans¡­ I looked around for support¡­ Fuck the ones who were nodding along with me were the goblins??? Well fuck it, we¡¯re together in misery so we¡¯ll fight together! ¡®Ok guys, we¡¯re alone in this¡­ I want you to go into the forest and find¡­ more interesting food¡­ um¡­ if you¡¯re going to hunt to try for something big only¡­¡¯ So began the secret mission to find more types of food. Not necessarily meat, but definitely meat... without offending the dungeon folk. A bit tricky. Then when Rox was almost about to give up her experiment¡­ it worked. The hares and squirrels, day by day some would evolve into full beastman. This brilliant dungeon fairy had cracked the Theory of Evolution in this world. She didn¡¯t stop there, straight from the evolution, she kept them working and training, with their increased power, they were trained differently, and more intensely. Some of the hares started showing aptitude for mana control as did some of the squirrels so Rox expanded their training to include mana control classes since we had Eva as a precedent. Although Eva seemed a special talent, the others were definitely on the path to mana control. I could start sensing some specialization here. Some of the squirrels were better at speed and mobility work, some at strength and manual dexterity and there was the group with mana control. The same with the hares, there was the speed based, strength based and mana control. In both groups, the speed groups were the largest, mana control second and strength last. The goblins on the other hand seemed to have gotten stronger¡­ but that was basically it. I had a suspicion. ¡®Rox, for your Theory of Evolution, I have an idea. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just any two stats that need to break the limit¡­ I think that for each species, there might be a specific combo of stats that need to break the limit. These goblins are stronger and faster¡­ but¡­ anyway I want you to try teaching them mana control.¡¯ My suspicion was proved right. After the first goblin learned mana control, it was surrounded in a bright light.
One of the dungeon inhabitant is undergoing a natural evolution due to meeting special requirements ¡®Gobin¡¯ has evolved into the new species: Hobgoblin
The monster ¡®Hobgoblin¡¯ has now been unlocked
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Awesome! This was great! If we can solve the evolution criteria like this, then we could have a huge evolved army! The good news didn¡¯t end there. The hares that were talented in mana control, their mana started being tinged white. Rox said they had found an aptitude to the holy element. It seems we¡¯re either getting paladins or priests out of these guys. I couldn¡¯t stop from grinning non-stop! It was quite a few weeks later before I got the message I had been waiting for. All our future plans had been based on this, so now, finally finally we could start putting them into action.
Requirements have been met to reach the next level. Dungeon level has increased to level 10 To reach the next level 10000 Mana and 1000 Souls are needed To reach the next level the dungeon must have more than 1 Floor
The dungeon ability [Create Floor] has been unlocked
The soul ability [Bestow Sentience] has been unlocked
¡®Boss Room¡¯ has been added to [Create Special Room]
Create Floor (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered Allows the creation of a new floor Mana will now be able to flow through multiple floors, allowing for the creation of new floors as well as the creation of staircases and paths to the new floors To consolidate the flow of mana, a ¡®Boss Room¡¯ must be included at the top of every entrance to the new floor Every 10 floors a ¡®Overboss Room¡¯ must be created ¡®Overboss Room¡¯ will be unlocked when the number of rooms reaches 10 Greater number of floors will require other rooms to consolidate the flow of mana
Bestow Sentience (Soul Ability) Lv Max Mastered Sentience is the dividing line between man and monster, sage and animal This is an ability unique to your dungeon Can only be used on subjects not already bestowed with sentience Greatly enhances intelligence when used The further away the subject is from sentience, the greater the amount of mana and souls needed Can be used multiple times on a subject if sentience is not awoken in one attempt
This was it, the milestone. We were now level 10! I knew I was getting the ability to create a new floor but that second skill looked very interesting. I brought up the dungeon menu.
Dungeon Name: Cave of the Apprentice Titles: Cave of Origin (the birthplace of the squirrel folk species, +affinity to squirrel folk, all squirrel folk in this dungeon get a bonus +2 to all stats, stat increase rate up)
Rank: 10
Floors: 1
Mana: 1/10000
Souls: 33
Dungeon Points: 53
Achievement Points: 60
Dungeon Abilities: Absorption Expand Territory Create Room Create Special Room Create Structures Create Trap Create Treasure Chest Create Item Create Floor
Mana Abilities: Mana Absorption Create animal Create monster Create undead Create plantlife Create Mana Stones Create Elemental Stones
Soul Abilities: Soul Absorption Enhance creature Name Bestowal Bestow Sentience
Special Abilities: Dungeon Map Dungeon Contract Dungeon Store Special Summon
Inhabitants 905
Creatures: 902
Named Creatures: 3
Boss Creatures: 0
Special Creatures: 0
Plant-life 0
The dungeon menu was starting to look like a behemoth. I exchanged smiles with Rox. ¡®Create new floor!¡¯ ¡®Are you sure this is the way? We¡¯ve been trying to find this place for a week now!¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re going to doubt the strongest adventurer in our guild? Are you crazy? She¡¯s Rank B man, she could kill us with a sneeze!¡¯ ¡®What I want to know is what she was doing all the way out here. This is the middle of nowhere! There aren¡¯t even any monsters to hunt! If the Guild wasn¡¯t paying a nice reward for this, I wouldn¡¯t have picked this stupid mission.¡¯ ¡®Hey its easy work right? New dungeon, guild report said wolves the first time and a few slimes the second time. We just need to see what the dungeon specializes in and we¡¯re out.¡¯ ¡®I hope it specializes in precious gems like that dungeon near Salt Creak City.¡¯ ¡®Or maybe it¡¯ll give magic items like that one near Red Goblin Ridge.¡¯ ¡®Shut up, dungeons like those are rare. Probably it¡¯ll be a dungeon focused on undead or goblins or something.¡¯ ¡®Fuck I hope it isn¡¯t undead. I visited the one in Korin City once. Why they keep that disgusting undead dungeon inside the city is beyond me.¡¯ ¡®Well regardless of what, we¡¯re getting paid 50 silvers each for this job. The dungeon was discovered a few months ago and the report said there was nothing special about it so far. Just slimes and wolves, so probably too early to tell if its useful.¡¯ ¡®Do you think the Guild would care if we destroyed the dungeon and grabbed its core? Those cores fetch a very good price.¡¯ ¡®Yeah? And what will you do if SHE finds out that the dungeon she wanted evaluated was destroyed by us huh? We¡¯re on commission by the adventurer¡¯s guild. Not some noble, the GUILD. If we cross them, then we¡¯re done.¡¯ ¡®I was just saying, I didn¡¯t mean it¡­¡¯ ¡®Look lively chaps, we¡¯re about 3 days away judging from this map.¡¯ ¡®Alright, just because it¡¯s a new dungeon doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t dangerous.¡¯ There was soft laughter all around at this statement. A team of adventurers, sent from the city by the adventurer¡¯s guild. Average Rank: E Known as: The Fuller Brigade Named after their captain: Jerimiah Fuller, an Ox beastman, who claimed he had some Ogre blood in his ancestry. Number of members: 6 And they were on their way to a new dungeon that the adventurer¡¯s guild had posted a mission for. The mission was a reconnaissance and evaluation mission. They were to find this dungeon and explore up to the dungeon room and see if there was anything useful for the adventurer¡¯s guild to take advantage of. Most dungeons would start developing treasure chests or mana stones in various quantities. It was their duty to figure out how much worth the treasures were. Finally in the evening of the third day, they reached the outside of the dungeon. The team captain looked at his group, ¡®Ok we¡¯ll camp out here tonight and tackle the dungeon in the morning. Probably won¡¯t take too long, but it¡¯s possible it might take more than a day so we¡¯ll set up a camp here. Stick, you and Jon are lookouts for tonight.¡¯ The two members he pointed out grumbled. Everyone set up tents from their bags and started collecting firewood before starting to cook. They weren¡¯t aware of the eyes that were watching them from high up in the trees. This section is not needed to enjoy the story, only for those who, like me, are interested in the technicalities Spoiler: Spoiler This time I¡¯ll cover how skills develop/evolve etc The idea behind skills and their formations is inspired in part by the concept of formations from wuxia/xianxia type novels but the better inspiration is from the formation of proteins. The way proteins form is from small units, folded in specific ways (waves, spiral, helix, etc) to create something that has a specific task (a folded protein). Multiple of these bigger units can join to become another even bigger unit (multiple sub-unit proteins) and so on. I applied that to magic and skills. Mana, moved and folded in certain ways creates an infinite number of effects. And to ¡®grow¡¯ bigger skills, you need more sub-units in some way. So what¡¯s that word waffle mean? How skills change and interact: Skills and magic spells form from a certain structure imbued on bodily structures that forces mana to move/flow/compress/expand/etc in specific ways. Skills can ¡®grow¡¯ naturally overtime with use because they expand on the structure that is already in place however there might be a limit to that growth Ie a skill like [Cross Slash] will have a max lv of 10 because that¡¯s the limit for the growth of that specific skill Skills can ¡®mutate¡¯ either because there is a special event while they are growing and they will turn into a skill of the same rank but with a different effect or if perhaps another skill is added to the same part of the body and they interact Ie a skill like [Cross Slash] gains an element such as fire and becomes [Flame Slash] Skills can ¡®evolve¡¯ again through a special event or interaction with another skill, the difference this time is that the skill ranks up and if two skills were interacting, they will disappear Ie a skill like [Cross Slash] interacts with a skill like [Burst] and becomes [Explosion Slash] Skills can also ¡®devolve¡¯ or in the worst case ¡®cancel¡¯ each other out. If they are opposing elements, or if they very bad compatibility, they will both become worse or disappear Ie a skill like [Cross Slash] is a blade specialized skill meant for attacking, it will not react well with a defensive magical ability in the same arm, so if you added [Water Shield] to that arm, instead of them complimenting each other, now you have both a defensive and offensive ability in the same arm. Thus [Cross Slash] would turn into [Water Slash] which is a rank lower vs [Wave Slash] which would be same rank or [Pressure Slash] which is a rank up. If you had two opposing abilities like [Firebolt] and [Icebolt], then they would interact and disappear. Now this isn¡¯t to say abilities can¡¯t have a bit of overlap in the body. They can as long as they are not opposing elements or purpose, then they can share. A lot of mental abilities share this property, as do a lot of resistances. e.g. [Fire Resistance] can be in the skin alongside [Lightning Resistance]; but to have both both [Fire Resistance] and [Ice Resistance] is not possible unless you have something tying them together like a [Elemental Harmony] How skills are acquire: Tare two ways to gain skills, naturally or artificially. Naturally is through the system, achievements or when evolving/classing up. Some species are born with specific skills like the slimes with their innate abilities because those are needed by them to survive. These types of skills you won¡¯t have much control over where these skills are on the body but there is a general rule Resistance skills appear in the skin, active offensive skills in which ever body part does that attack, mental skills in the brain, recovery skills in blood producing organs, etc there has to be a bit of logic for the skill being there, there isn¡¯t a point to having the skill [Minor Heightened Hearing] on your feet because your feet can¡¯t hear (and no the skill won¡¯t turn into new ears on your feet, maybe if the skill was something like [Vibroacoustic Sense]¡­ maaaybe) Artificial skill acquisition is also possible, such as through [Skill Bestowal] that Alex has, or how the Demon Wolf was given a skill by a Demon of Rage A few other words I¡¯d love to hear what you guys think of for skills and skill combos One point for combining skills, Rank matters. If you have a Rank D fire skill [Greater FireBall] and try to add a Rank F wind skill [Wind Cutter] nothing will happen because they are too separate in effect but add a Rank E [Fierce Wind] and the skills combine to become the Rank C [Firestorm] but if you add a Rank D or higher wind skill like Rank D [Whirlwind] or the Rank C [Tornado] then the fire is suppressed by the wind and doesn¡¯t grow. There¡¯s also a special rule for Rank B upward. Starting at Rank B, the skills, instead of becoming just stronger, they also become more varied in ability. So say a fire mage has collected [Fireball], [Fire Resistance], [Combustion] and a lot of other fire related skills. They can all combine overtime to create the Rank B skills [Fire Arts] Chapter 16 - Humans? Chapter 16 Humans? The five of us were looking at the newly formed second floor. That''s me, Rox, Max, Levine and Eva. Eva was the latest addition to our decision making duo. She was placed right under Rox and helped out with mana training and supervising the squirrels that worked with herbs. And now we were looking at the second floor coming up with plans on how we would develop it. We were looking at a massive cavern, easily twice the size of one of the rooms on the second floor. It was also shrouded in darkness. Right now there wasn¡¯t any mana flowing here because we hadn¡¯t made the Boss Room in the floor above. Thus there wasn''t the fierce glow of mana lighting the dungeon like it did the floor above. Thankfully we had a squirrel that could work fire with us. Eva was holding an orb of fire in her hand and we were using it to look around. I had some ideas as to what to do from the second floor on. Rox said that traditionally, dungeons are pretty much just caves with monsters for the first 10 floors or so¡­ but well, caves with monsters as defense doesn¡¯t really sound safe for me. So I figured I would do something different. I had done so many things that were different from what a traditional dungeon did that it was basically a tradition itself. Rox shrugged and said she didn''t mind. In fact she said that she had a feeling all the best dungeons probably broke from the norm, thus why not us as well? She drives a good point. So far, we had created two ¡®New Floors¡¯. This was my idea. From what used to be the dead end, we placed a stairway down, but also from the crystal room hidden behind the secret rooms and trap rooms we placed one as well. My idea was that we would have two parallel dungeons, one to keep us safe, the other as a decoy. So we create two seperate second floors with their own entrances. Now, we had to create a boss room and figure out what to keep as the boss. The boss creature is special in that it is tied to the room. The room will absorb and summon the monster back automatically, so there is no need for summoning again and again. The main reason for this seems to be as a communication between floors. I didn¡¯t want to use just any creature as the Boss because they will forever be unable to leave the Boss Room. I had two ideas in mind for the Boss. The first idea that came to mind was to use the Demon Wolf. The problem with that was that although it was only a Skill Ranker, a name we used when a monster/creature/person was ranked high in the system due to a skill, it was still Rank D which was too high for the first floor of a dungeon. Having such a strong monster as the first floor boss might alarm any adventurers so we would have to play it safe. When the Demon Wolf had attacked the dungeon, it alone was responsible for killing off more than half the casualties. So even though it was a Skill Ranker, it still posed a danger to adventurers beyond what they would expect. I myself was considered a Skill-Ranker due to my high rank skills while my stats were nowhere near the Rank B given to me by the system. I smiled grimly, the system''s evaluation was far from perfect. The second idea I had¡­ was to use one of the special summons from the lower ranks. Maybe Rank F or even a Rank G. So our next task was to make a boss room, pick a boss and then move everyone and the dungeon crystal to the second floor. After that we''ll change up the floor a little to make it better to live. If only things worked out smoothly. Perhaps because we had been going quite some time without any problems, I was actually stunned when one of the squirrel folk ran in and announced we had ¡®guests¡¯. A team of 6 adventurers were headed to the dungeon. They were camped outside the dungeon right under the watchful eyes of some sharp-eyed squirrel folk. As part of the regular training for the squirrels, the teams also practiced climbing up and down trees. This particular group had been caught up in the trees so they had stayed in order to observe while sending one of their members back to the dungeon as quietly as possible. It seems the guild had finally responded. It had been months since that swordswoman had come through last¡­ hopefully they had friendly intentions... They didn''t seem like they were here to conquer the dungeon and take the dungeon crystal. Right now, I didn''t want to clash with an adventurer group. The only problem was that it seemed we were stuck while these adventurers were here. I ordered everyone into the secret rooms. I was a bit annoyed. I didn¡¯t have enough mana for both the Boss Room and for a Boss, and with these adventurers here I couldn¡¯t keep the dungeon folk collecting. So annoying¡­ I couldn''t move down to the second floor yet and these adventurers had come. So now I¡¯m waiting for ambient mana collection¡­ damn, how do regular dungeons deal with such low mana collecting speeds? There were adventurers¡­ it was bad enough when the Ogre Lady came through, now this time there was 6 of them! They didn¡¯t feel as powerful though. When they came into the dungeon we got Alex to spy on them using the dungeon''s abilities to figure them out. Actually, as long as they don¡¯t discover the secret room leading to the dungeon, we could pretty much ignore them. The adventurers came entered the dungeon at day break. There was basically no way we could hide the fact that we were a dungeon¡­ dungeons have a different feeling in terms of mana and basically every adventurer will be able to feel the difference. ¡®Oh man, I forgot about this!¡¯ Alex was whispering in my ear, although since we were watching through the dungeon¡¯s sight I¡¯m not sure why he was whispering. ¡®The amount of mana we¡¯re collecting just started speeding up like crazy! I forgot they would do this to my mana, no wonder dungeons would consider adventurers as prey.¡¯ Right¡­ Why do dungeons and the sentient races have such a strange relationship, the answer is that the intelligent races are simply the best source of mana, they even give off wisps of soul power that can be absorbed by the dungeons. This is dungeon 101 and why dungeons have the ability to create treasure chests, simply for the purpose of luring in the adventurers. For adventurers, dungeons are a source of treasure as well as training and experience. The problem is if a dungeon was regarded as dangerous¡­ or useless. Two extremes. A dangerous dungeon was one considered as a dungeon that will pose a threat to a nearby city or civilization¡­ while a useless dungeon is one that has no worth to adventurers and they will destroy it to harvest the dungeon crystal. To find that fine line between the two¡­ or simply be too powerful for the adventurers to ever take down. ¡®Alex, how do you want to handle this? Everyone is hidden in the secret areas. All we have left in the rooms are some slimes.¡¯ ¡®We¡¯ll just watch¡­ as for everyone else¡­ get them back into training, have the fighters standby in teams just in case.¡¯ And so we watched. And¡­ it was soooo boring. What on earth are these adventurers doing? Well I can¡¯t blame them I guess, after the first pitfall trap they became very paranoid. No one died though, they seemed to have a mage in the group. He used some spell that pulled the unlucky one back before he fell into the pit. After that, they inched forward. I swear I could hear their sweat drip onto the dungeon floor as they probed every single step as they went forward. They were going to be here forever! It was already afternoon and they were only in the fifth room. Hell I swear they would run after meeting with the ceiling fall traps we had set up in the next room.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. That said, each room was pretty large. We made them huge because well, why not? With the amount of folks living in the dungeon, we needed a lot of space for them to run around. Sigh¡­ bored bored¡­ I was just waiting for something to happen at this point. ¡®Captain! What the fuck is this dungeon! Little Tim nearly died in that pit! And this is the first floor!¡¯ ¡®Relax, Mark got him out right? Though I got to say, this dungeon is really weird¡­ traps on the first floor. And we haven¡¯t run into a single monster either. You think it¡¯s a trap specialized dungeon? I think I¡¯ve heard of one but I ain¡¯t sure.¡¯ ¡®We also haven¡¯t found a single treasure chest. Doesn¡¯t this make the dungeon useless?¡¯ ''What treasures can you get on a first floor? Stop being greedy, they usually show up at the end of the dungeon!'' ¡®Ah look lively fellas, we found ourselves our first monster. A slime too, looks like Ms Rank B wasn¡¯t lying, it¡¯s slimes first floor. The wolves she saw before must have come from outside and she chased them away. Good for us!¡¯ A single slime barely moved before being sliced to pieces by two swords. ¡®I don¡¯t think this is a trap specialized dungeon either¡­ they¡¯re there sure but there aren¡¯t that many. What do you guys think?¡¯ ¡®Donno captain.¡¯ ¡®This dungeon is weird.¡¯ They got to the 6throom, it had already become evening. One of the forward scouts triggered the first ceiling trap. ¡®Fucking shit man! That trap almost killed me! Fuck! I lost my sword under there! Why is there another type of trap! This is the fucking first floor! I¡¯m sick of this shit! Boss, let¡¯s get out of here!¡¯ The scout had to roll to the side, not hesitating in the slightest, showing that he was an experienced adventurer. Unfortunately he had lost his sword under the falling debris. The other adventurers helped him up then retreated back a bit. ¡®Ceiling traps now? Damn, that¡¯s a fast change¡­ ok, we¡¯re going to be spending the night in the dungeon it seems fellas so let¡¯s stop here for tonight.¡¯ ''Boss, I''m sick of these traps...'' Grumbling could be heard amongst the group as they set up a small camp, eating dry foods and stopping for the day. I looked at this group with dull eyes¡­ they really didn¡¯t do much did they? I had swept my observe skill across them and they were on average Rank E, 2 scouts, 2 warriors, one mage and a priest. A fairly standard group. Their leader was a rank higher at Rank D. ¡®Rox, I don¡¯t think I want these guys here anymore. Let¡¯s chase them out using the goblins tomorrow.¡¯ ¡®Oh thank the gods, they¡¯re so boring! And since everyone¡¯s trapped here I can¡¯t get fresh berries¡­ let¡¯s scare them tomorrow, we can shroud Eva up in a coat and pretend she¡¯s a special goblin shaman way in the back, almost out of sight. She can fling some fireballs at em and scare them away.¡¯ ¡®Yeah that¡¯s not a bad idea. Since these guys took so long getting here, the nearest city¡¯s probably quite a long way away. If they want to come again we¡¯ll have enough time to make the second floor at the very least. Also I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be interested in the dungeon either, I didn¡¯t leave a single treasure chest heh.¡¯ So the plan was set, we were going to get the 5 goblins and a disguised Eva to attack them tomorrow and drive them out. We¡¯d wait until they got to the eighth room and found the arrow traps, then send the attack. That way they might just retreat and hopefully write us off to the adventurer¡¯s dungeon as both a useless dungeon but also one that would be difficult to conquer. That would be ideal, getting them to leave us alone. One thing I learnt the hard way, it¡¯s not monsters that show their faces that you have to fear, it¡¯s the ones behind a smiling mask. I¡¯m much more scared of humans or one of the other intelligent species attacking us than I am of a monster horde.
It happened the next day. The turning point, something we didn¡¯t consider. We made a mistake. A big mistake. I had overlooked something¡­ or maybe I wouldn¡¯t have thought about it until it happened. We had gotten Eva and the five goblins set up at the end of the eighth room to wait for the adventurers. Then Rox and me went to go spy on them, we could listen in to what they were saying. They were packing up their small camp while eating rations for breakfast, and that¡¯s when it happened. ¡®Boss! Boss! Guess what? My intelligence gained a stat point! Haha it¡¯s been months before I gained anything and now I finally gained a stat point!¡¯ ¡®Ha, I knew bringing you on this mission was a good idea! It probably went up because of the new experience of doing your first big mission haha!¡¯ The adventurer group gathered around the youngest scout congratulating him. They then returned back to packing when another of the group, this time the young warrior, who, with a strange look on his face said, ¡®Uh¡­ guys? I¡­ I also gained a stat... in intelligence.¡¯ Wait¡­ what? I felt my heart beating faster in my chest. A faint sense of forboding. I could feel the sweat on my back increase. A sudden chill was running down my spine. I heard a murmur from Rox, ¡®Oh no no no.¡¯ This time, the adventurers had paused. Two people gaining stat points? And the same stat? That was strange. Most of the adventurers said their congratulations to the young warrior¡­ but the mage¡¯s face had changed. ¡®Boss, I want the group to move back to the first room,¡¯ the mage said to the captain of the team. The captain, seeing the look on the mage¡¯s face quickly agreed and they moved rapidly back towards the entrance. This had barely taken 5 minutes. ¡®Rox¡­ what¡­ what¡¯s going on?¡¯ ¡®Alex¡­ we can¡¯t let them escape! Alex this is a disaster! Fuck, gather everyone! Goddamn it we have to kill them!¡¯ ¡®Rox, what¡¯s going on? What the hell happened??¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s your Aura skill! Alex! Your Aura of Knowledge skill! It works on them too!¡¯ This section is not needed to enjoy the story, only for those who, like me, are interested in the technicalities. Spoiler: Spoiler What structures form the basis of skill formations? Macro-system: the mana system is overlaid as an evolution of the lymph network in the human body, the lymph nodes being natural collecting points for mana ¨C plus they are spread through the body quite uniformly. The mana system is needed to both absorb mana from outside as well as deliver mana to skill formations and activate skills Micro-system: the skills themselves will be formed of what every matter is there, and it will sometimes require more special substances such as a higher concentration of metals etc to form the structure. Special ribosomes helping form the structures is not a bad way to think about it. <- (in response to one of the reader¡¯s, a great way to think) Would having more body parts/being bigger/etc give an advantage in skills? Yes and no. For multiple body parts, there is both benefit and repercussions. An issue is that having many skills does not necessarily make you stronger. Say a 4-armed beast has skills. His two upper arms have [Cross Slash], while his bottom two arms have [Fireball]. It sounds very strong, but if this beast doesn''t have the mana to use his skills effectively, then its useless. Another point, if a beast has multiple body parts, this doesn''t necessarily mean they have the aptitude to gain a lot of skills. Skills need support to form, there is a requirement or foundation needed before skills will develop. Just because a beast has 4 arms doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll necessarily develop a skill in each arm and become a 4-armed destruction machine. What¡¯s better, stats or skills? How powerful individuals are can be divided into 3 broad categories: those that have high stats, those that have good skills and lastly those with good battle prowess. Of the three in terms of fighting ability: Battle Prowess > stats > skills. Battle prowess is essential because if you have good stats and good skills but can¡¯t use them to good effect? Then it¡¯s a waste. Any of you read The King¡¯s Avatar? Great novel series. The stats would be like the build of a character, skills are self-evident but the ability to make the most out of that combination is what determines how powerful a person is. (I actually ended up adding this next bit into the story, I left it here so that it could be included in the Theory of Skills section too) Which brings me to a good point. The system in this world can measure skills and it can measure stats, but it cannot measure battle prowess. A person with a high level skill will be ranked a rank lower than their highest ranked skill. Thus Alex is actually Rank B due to his Rank A skills. When he was talking to Max about the Demon Wolf being weak, it¡¯s because the wolf is a Skill-based Rank D beast not a stat based one. There is a bit of prejudice against Skill Rankers vs Stat Rankers, these terms will come up again later. Chapter 17 – All Actions Have Consequences Shit! Fuck! This was a disaster! ¡®Goblins front and centre, squirrel squad march!¡¯ Rox was frantically getting everyone to start moving. Meanwhile the adventurer group had reached the entrance. The mage was looking around suspiciously summoning mana around himself¡­ fuck if this fucker¡¯s intelligence suddenly goes up too, we¡¯re finished! The cat will be out the bag, have turned into a demonic beast and eaten the house. The goblin troop were far ahead of everyone else as they marched to the entrance. Since they had been lying in ambush in the eighth room they were ahead of the rest who were way in the back of the dungeon¡­ more than 30 rooms away. Fuck. A small troop of goblins to scare the adventurers back? Sure. To kill them off? All they needed was a single survivor¡­ I paused. Would I really kill a group of innocents because of my own mistake? What is it that separates men from demons? ¡®Rox, stop.¡¯ A vision, a memory. A field of corpses and men in uniforms. Monsters in human skin. My body felt cold. ¡®What do you mean stop? We can¡­¡¯ ¡®I said stop! As the dungeon master I order all inhabitants back into the secret rooms!¡¯ My voice echoed in the minds of everyone rushing towards the adventurers, making them pause confused. I think this is the first time me and Rox had ever given opposing commands. ¡®This is not how I do things Rox. This is not how the dungeon will grow.¡¯ Rox looked at me. Her lips were drawn in a thin line on her face¡­ but I guess she saw something on my face, because she whispered softly, ¡®Alright Alex¡­¡¯ I could tell she didn¡¯t agree with me but she was smart, she could see the same thing I could¡­ that we wouldn¡¯t be able to kill the entire adventurer group without one escaping¡­ and hopefully because she too didn¡¯t want to simply massacre a group of innocents. Dungeons had instincts. This I knew, they felt a hunger for mana and could absorb it, they were born with mana absorption skills. But I was born human. I become a dungeon master later¡­ would I be affected by the instincts too? What about other dungeon masters? Were there other human dungeon masters that willfully ate up innocents? In my mind, uniformed men, transformed by darkness paraded in front of me. Yes, humans are definitely capable of that. All the dungeon folk slowly crept back inside the secret rooms. Max, Levine and Eva joined Rox and I in the crystal room. I sighed, ¡®I¡¯m sorry guys¡­ I just can¡¯t kill them like this. They didn¡¯t do anything against us right?¡¯ Rox sighed and said, ¡®And we can¡¯t stop them in any case¡­ they¡¯re already by the entrance so them escaping is just a fact. If we attack, we would actually make it worse, they¡¯ll scour the entire dungeon for the threat when they come back¡­¡¯ I nodded, ¡®So we¡¯re going to hide. We fucked up basically. I fucked up. Our cover¡¯s blown and¡­ well for them, it¡¯s huge. Especially that mage. Imagine being a mage for a few years, you know that every say 3 months your magic power and your intelligence go up by one. Suddenly, you come to this cave and bam! Your intelligence goes up? This will be huge. So we have to prepare¡­¡¯ ¡®We have to prepare for war.¡¯ It was just like Alex said. The adventurer group stayed at the entrance way for half the day. Then that mage, who had been concentrating on a certain talisman got a shocked look on his face, then a smile and then finally an extremely excited look. I knew what that meant. He had been suspicious when the two on his team gained an intelligence stat randomly. So he got them to retreat and waited. It seemed he was quite an important member of the group. Another reason not to fight this group¡­ a talented mage, no matter what Rank¡­ if he had a single spell that could help him escape, then it¡¯s over. Little fucker, what I wouldn¡¯t give to see you die. We watched as the mage walked over to each of the members and each of them become shocked then excited although a bit confused. All the while, the mage would be smiling brighter and brighter. Yes, he had figured it out. The cave¡¯s mana, no Alex¡¯s Aura that was mixed in the dungeon¡¯s mana was causing their stat points to rise. And the rise was quick, for them it had only been over a day¡­ of course after the initial rise the increase slows down or else everyone in our dungeon would be Rank A in intelligence stat alone. That group seemed to be discussing something. It looked like they were arguing over whether to finish exploring the dungeon or to go back and report it¡­ A brief hope welled up in me, if the group decided to explore again, we would have a chance to wipe them out! That hope was dashed pretty quickly as the mage took over and seemed to convince them to leave. Fuck, I hate him already. Then¡­ they left. Just like that. And all of us in the dungeon could only stare dumbly. We had a lot of work to do now to prepare¡­ Fuck, Alex was right, we have to prepare for war. A group of adventurers walked up to the gates of the city before being let in. The dungeon folk would have recognized them instantly, this was the dungeon invading group. It had taken them 3 weeks to get back to the city, but they had finally arrived back and they were excited. They expected a lot of money as a reward for this. They entered the Adventurer¡¯s Guild to make a report. They were in there for a very long time. In fact, night had fallen before they left again, laden with gold and bright smiles on their faces. Indeed, the reward for this information was more than 100 times higher than the reward for the dungeon evaluation. The mage had been precise in his statement. All 6 adventurers, when they spent more than a day within the dungeon, had their intelligence rise by 1. If it was just one or two of them, then it could be coincidence, but all 6? The guild was skeptical at first, but when they checked the status record of the group and compared it, the stats had indeed gone up. All dungeons had a specialty, this was common knowledge... but... if this dungeon''s specialty was... What convinced them wasn¡¯t just this. This group had a good reputation amongst the adventurer¡¯s group¡­ but what they found the most shocking was that the mage of the group, who would specialize in magic power and intelligence¡­ his stat rose too. What did this mean? Some of the mages in the city hadn¡¯t had any changes in their stats for weeks or months! In some of the older ones, it hadn¡¯t changed in a year or two! If this cave could give even just a single point rise¡­ that was equivalent to the progress of several weeks or months! No guild can be free of spies, and the Adventurer¡¯s Guild understood this well so they didn¡¯t try to hide it whatsoever. Instead they would make money by selling the location of the dungeon. The speed of rumour spreads faster than a wildfire. It was barely an hour before some of the prominent mage groups heard of this. It wasn¡¯t even a day before the entire city knew¡­ that there was a dungeon in the forest wilderness that rose your inherent intelligence stat. Not a temporary enhancement, a permanent rise. In the Guild of Magic Artificers, ¡®What?! Is this rumour true?! Send someone to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and get the information! I don¡¯t care how much it costs!¡¯ In the Magia Historica, ¡®This is unique! We need to go there at once! Prepare our fastest team! Get some bodyguards from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild¡¯ The information spread far and wide, not just throughout the city from mage guild to mage guild, it went beyond. And not just to the mages that worked in the light, also to those in the shadows. The Shadow Brotherhood, ¡®Brother¡¯s we need to capture this dungeon as our own. With this as the base of our power, we will be praised by our kin back home!¡¯ Outside the city, in a pub, a non-descript man overheard this. Smiling he left towards some of the smaller towns in the region. He too wanted to prepare for this event. Reaching a small town, he went to the town¡¯s graveyard¡­ as he stood there, a dark fog seemed to seep out of him and spread slowly into the ground of the graveyard. Anyone who came to that town even a day later didn¡¯t find a single person remaining alive. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. We were on full schedule. Rox didn¡¯t carry on with the training, instead every available hand was bringing in plants and bugs, stones and ores, fruits and vegetables, seeds. In fact every single thing they could find within 20 kilometers of the dungeon was being brought in. Max had even gathered a group to trek further and bring back a huge amount of material in one go. Mana was rolling in... but also just as quickly rolling out. We had a lot to prepare. Meanwhile, since we had to prepare quickly we had chosen the [Demon Wolf] as the first floor boss. I wasn¡¯t too happy about this actually, but we were rushed for time. We moved the crystal room to the hidden second floor. The Boss guarding the entrance to the secret second floor was another matter. ¡®Special Summon.¡¯
Special Summons Certain individuals, leave a mark on history, or in the souls of those around them. This permanent mark leaves their essence and their soul drifting in the world. Those with special summoning ability such as dungeon masters can tap into and summon those they have great affinity towards, for a price. Special summons are vastly more powerful than most normal summons and thus have a much greater price. If special conditions are fulfilled related to the souls in question, they can be summoned for a cheaper price or perhaps without any price paid by the dungeon master. Select rank
Rank Ex None
Rank SSS None
Rank SS 24 Available
Rank S 100+ Available
Rank A 100+ Available
Rank B 100+ Available
Rank C 100+ Available
Rank D 100+ Available
Rank E 100+ Available
Rank F 100+ Available
Rank G 100+ Available
¡®Rank E.¡¯
What Special Rank E would you like to summon? Summons available
Orc Fighter ¡®Masher¡¯ 1 000 Mana and 100 Souls to summon
Imp ¡®Tresher¡¯ 900 Mana and 120 Souls to summon
Hobgoblin ¡®Gashul¡¯ 1100 Mana and 100 Souls to summon
Giant Slime ¡®Dearth¡¯ 1200 Mana and 90 Souls to summon
Ghoul ¡®Pyre¡¯ 1000 Mana and 120 Souls to summon
Drakin ¡®Drango¡¯ 1200 Mana and 110 Souls to summon
Skeleton Mage ¡®Fys¡¯ 1400 Mana and 90 Souls to summon
Panther ¡®Shade¡¯ 1300 Mana and 100 Souls to summon
Corrupted Pixie ¡®Nix¡¯ 1100 Mana and 110 Souls to summon
Orc Shaman ¡®Sightless¡¯ 900 Mana and 150 Souls to summon
Please purchase current available to unlock more
The main problem with the special summons was their high cost, in both mana and souls¡­ but in return, I received vastly powerful creatures. ¡®Summon Masher, Shade and Sightless.¡¯ For the defenders of the true, hidden second floor, well let¡¯s say I was not going to give anyone a good time. These monsters were ones I had helped defeat back on earth. Masher had been head of a orc tribe on the outskirts of the city. We ran into him as we were escaping the city. With Shade¡­ well she stole our lunch after we hunted down a deer. Sightless was a lone shaman living in a cave¡­ we hadn¡¯t killed him so this special summons page has to have a different criteria than those simply killed by me¡­ I hadn¡¯t offered them contracts either¡­ So I wasn¡¯t sure how they came to be in my special summons¡­ Also, none of the Rank E humans I had made a contract with were on the list but then again it was only a list of 10. As the three appeared in the new boss room, I smiled.
Preparation of the second floor was rapid as well. My previous plan for the second floor was put into action. First was expanding both sets of the second floor to 10 rooms each. Then, incurring a massive mana cost, I embedded mana stones in the ceiling of the cave. This made the entire second floor washed by the light of mana from above so that it could be mistaken for an overcast day while inside. To protect these mana stones I made the height of the rooms incredible, more than 30 meters high, much too high for them to harvest the stones, at least I hoped. The next phase of my preparation, was to plant trees and bushes. Yes that¡¯s right, I was making this floor a forest. I had realized that the greatest fighting power that the squirrels could bring out, was in an environment with lots of vertical scaling areas¡­ such as a forest. So instead of creating a room full of stone pillars, I figured I would make the home environment of the squirrels within the dungeon itself. Of course not everyone was happy. ¡®Blasphemy! Pure blasphemy! You¡¯re doing it again! With your oh this is a good idea look at me so smart ho ho ho but you¡¯re breaking the rules! Again!¡¯ Rox was having a moment. But from what she said, what I¡¯m doing is similar to what a dungeon skill I would unlock later, like when I made that cliff room and then later unlock [Create Special Room]¡­ but hey since I haven¡¯t seen any problems, I must be still within the rules. I had used the [Create Plantlife] dungeon skill while referencing my huge repertoire that had been collected by the dungeon folk. Really, more than a 100 different species! I did this rather than plant the seeds myself so that I could have pretty much full grown trees and plants. They were a lot more expensive though. First was large trees that I planted in as random and haphazard a way as I could to mimic a natural forest. Next came the bushes underneath to create an overall dense foliage no matter where. Then I added all the other smaller plants. To finish it off I create a few of the smaller bugs and worms and things that I figured were good for the trees. That was for the decoy side. For the hidden side, I created a forest as well but this was to create a place for the squirrels and hares to make villages. The squirrels immediately began to build treehouses in the last 5 rooms while the hares built warrens. I had to change the soil in both second floors to be that loam, soft earth that could be found in forests. I had also moved the walls of Greywall but this time the area behind Greywall was much larger. It was to be used by Rox to train the various troops we had. In fact, she had some breakthroughs in the training. More than half the hares had shown a great aptitude for the Holy element. Rox placed them under Levine saying they were close to picking a path the unlocking a class, they just needed to have one more key requirement¡­ well whatever she says. The squirrels on the other hand, apart from Eva, there were a few showing aptitudes towards magic as well. They were split between fire and plant based magic which I found surprising. Of course this was just aptitude, they hadn¡¯t actually shown anything beyond that yet. All in all, our preparations had been mostly complete, now we were waiting for those pesky adventurers¡­ of course our strategy was to try and fool them or chase them away. Or¡­ if they posed a danger to us, we would kill them all. This section is not needed to enjoy the story, only for those who, like me, are interested in the technicalities. Spoiler: Spoiler Today I¡¯m going over elements and skill alignments Skill Alignments: Skills belong to one of 4 broad categories
Magic Physical
Mental Law
Magic represents the use of mana to create an effect ¨C It represents Chaos, using chaos for your own means Law represents changing the mana around you to create an effect ¨C it represents order, creating order in the chaos Magic and Law oppose each other. That isn¡¯t to say you can¡¯t have skills in both, simply that you can¡¯t be top tier in both at the same time. However, there are some that will, instead of opposing each other, will benefit each other if used in specific combinations. As long as the skill acquisition and utilization is smart, you can do anything. For example: [Aura of Fire] which is one of the [Laws of Fire] will turn the ambient mana surrounding the skill user to become more saturated in fire elemental mana. This will have a natural effect of increasing the power of fire spells, the downside is that with the [Law of Fire] skill formation, it will be more difficult to have a spell formation at the same time. That is because the flow of mana needed to power [Law] skills and to power [Magic] skills are different, so although the combination reaches a synergy, the potential for that specific power to grow is blunted. What do I mean the flow is different? [Magic] skills operate like alternating current, needing that back and forth flow of mana, without the flow, the transformation of the mana into the effect needed for the skill won¡¯t exist. [Law] skills operate like direct current, they need the constant supply of mana to function and don¡¯t work with alternating current. The main problem is that [Magic] skills create more chaos and are opposite in alignment with [Law] skills which embodies order.Magic needs chaos, Law needs order. Combining their incompatibility in alignment with the different mana flow needed make them difficult to use together. Mental represents an internal focus of power Physical represents an external focus of power Mental and physical oppose one another; like [Magic] and [Law] skills, [Physical] skills need the alternating mana flow while mental need the constant mana flow (This is actually true in real life, the brain needs a fairly constant inflow of glucose, approx. 30% of the needs of the body, to function while muscle needs for glucose vary with exertion.) Like [Magic] vs [Law], these two lie on opposite spectrums making them less compatible with each other. Next Laws and Mental skills are more passive skills dominant, while magic and physical are more active skills dominant. In the story, you might have noticed that Alex has no physical attack skills. This is the reason, his [Contract] skill belongs in the [Mental] type, making it more difficult for him to learn physical skills. And then he learnt the [Aura] skill which belongs in the [Law] group. Of course there is more to that story. On the other hand, Mental and Magic skills are quite complimentary ¨C they usually have quite a synergy How is it possible if they need different flows of mana though? The skill structures for Mental and Magic are usually in completely different areas. If you are skilled enough at mana flow to have constant flow in to the head while having alternating flow in the limbs (where the magic skills are) then it works out. More importantly, there is no incompatibility between them. Magic is chaos and mental is internal focus. The synergy mostly comes from the fact that the stats needed to be good at Mental and Magic skills overlap a bit, ie Intelligence or Magic Power although that isn¡¯t always true And Physical and Law skills usually also have synergy, this isn¡¯t due to stats but because Law skills, consuming barely any mana, change the fighting environment around the skill-user, making it an ideal fighting arena for Physical skills Swapping partners though, there is no synergy. These are a weird one: When the two passive dominants Mental and Law are in the same body, that means the whole body only needs to have one type of mana flow. One disadvantage of this combination though would be that without enough active skills, there are no ways to truly utilize mana which is a bit of a waste. The opposite is true for a [Magic] and [Physical] combination, where it¡¯s mostly just active skills. The depletion of mana from using many skills back to back limit the effectiveness of having that many skills. To summarize:
Magic Physical
Mental Law
Diagonals oppose each other Columns complement each other Rows no special relationship with each other, though some disadvantages exist Top row ¨C active skills dominant Bottom row ¨C passive skills dominant Now to Elements: There is a lot of elements, and some elements are determined by the Path you walk when you take the First Step, breaking your species limit. I¡¯ll go over a few of them though because they¡¯re interesting (this isn¡¯t a full list, I haven¡¯t finished making that yet) Your classic elements first Fire, Water/Ice, Earth, Air/wind The last one being Heart so you can summon Captain Planet I joke, there are a few others in this category as well such as wood/plant, poison, acid etc but they are more rare Then your slightly more complex elements Metal, Lightning, Light, Dark, Yin, Yang Then your special categories Blood, Solar, Lunar, Holy, Shadow I haven''t written up any elemental interactions yet because I haven''t made that yet, although intuitively some of the interactions will be there such as fire and ice being opposing elements. Chapter 18 - Arrival of the mages We were in full preparation mode. A week had gone by since the adventurers had left. Everyone was out in full force, I had one of the teams of warriors as lookouts in the trees almost a day out in the forest to give us advanced warning. During the week of preparation, one thing of note did occur. One which left him a bit flabbergasted. The goblins¡­ the ones he had sent out to collect¡­ food¡­ meat¡­ had failed miserably. To begin with, they weren¡¯t too intelligent, but the degree to which they had failed was incredible. They had brought in first a huge brown log saying it looked like meat, which was wrong! Then they brought in a flower that smelt like rotting meat¡­ because it smelt like rotting meat¡­ And then! They brought in a rotten carcass of a deer! For all the good that is in the world. Then they brought in¡­ with the curious help of Eva and a team of squirrels and hares¡­ a massive hive. They brought in a beehive almost as large as the dungeon entrance, dragging it along. Eva was slowly burning branches at the hive entrance as well to keep all the bees knocked out. Yes, there were still bees inside the beehive. A total of 481 bees came with the hive. And they became part of the dungeon. In fact, I even offered the queen bee a [Contract], while the rest of the bees just got the dungeon [Contract].
A contract has been offered to ¡®Queen Bee¡¯.
A Contract has been formed
¡®Queen Bee¡¯ has been added as a Lv1 Contracted
The power of the contract flows between contractor and contracted Queen Bee has unlocked the Skill ¡®Hive Sense¡¯ Queen Bee¡¯s intelligence has increased by 4 points, strength by 1 points, agility by 4 points, vitality by 1 point and magic power by 3 point
The power of the contract flows between contracted and contractor Contract Summoner Alexander has unlock the ability to feel wind magic Contract Summoner Alexander¡¯s agility has increased by 2
The power of Dungeon Contract has been invoked
The creature summon ¡®Queen Bee¡¯ has been unlocked.
The creature summon ¡®Wind Bee¡¯ has been unlocked.
The elemental affinity ¡®Wind¡¯ has been unlocked.
I looked at the slightly bed-draggled goblin crew¡­ there was a story there. I know it. Well regardless, as members of the dungeon, they were included in the merit system¡­ actually this was probably the first big merit they had. They literally brought in a brand new species and 481 of them¡­ all by mistake. Sure they needed help to do it but that didn¡¯t change the fact that they had unwittingly did something impressive. I shook my head. Some of the squirrels and hares were working their asses off to get better rewards and these 5 stumbled into it. They even had enough to get the grand prize. Sure enough, they weren¡¯t the smartest but they didn¡¯t disappoint. ¡®Master, please give us a name¡­ we need a leader.¡¯ The thought from them was, with Max leading the squirrels and Levine leading the Hares, they needed someone to lead them as well. So far, of the 3 factions in the dungeon, the goblins were the weakest, by a large margin. Firstly there were only 5, and basically any squirrel or hare could do better than them right now. ¡®Alright, you have enough for naming but only for one of you. So pick amongst yourselves to see who is going to become your new leader.¡¯ Surprisingly they didn¡¯t fight about this¡­ hey [Aura of Knowledge] really does work. The nominated goblin looked quite confused but came forward. I had absolutely no idea how differentiate between any of them¡­ seriously, they all looked like green mini-me¡¯s with long pointed ears. ¡®I name you Tolk the Wise, with your wisdom you will lead your tribe. With your wisdom you will discover secrets and create a dynasty that will last through the ages.¡¯ Maybe calling him wise will help him out a little bit...
¡®Errant Goblin¡¯ has been granted the name ¡®Tolk the Wise¡¯
Name bestowal has been invoked Errant Goblin has now been named An mutation has occurred naturally caused by the will of the creature and the power of the dungeon master Tolk has mutated into ''Noble Hobgoblin'' Tolk¡¯s strength has increased by 19, agility has increased by 13, intelligence has increased by 15, magic power has increased by 11, stamina has increased by 14 Tolk has unlocked the skill ¡®Goblin Leader¡¯ Tolk has unlocked the skill ¡®Voice of the Tribe¡¯ Tolk has unlocked the skill ¡¯Noble Hobgoblin¡¯
Well that was a surprise. I have a feeling Rox is going to be mad at me for ruining her evolution experiment¡­ ¡®Master, I live to serve.¡¯ Heeey, the newly mutated hobgoblin could speak fluently! This would make life easier. ¡®Master, I have a request¡­ we the goblins are the least numerous of the races in your dungeon. With your grace, could you summon us more brethren for our tribe?¡¯ I looked at him suspiciously. I wonder how much time this guy spent around Levine¡­ Anyways, I didn¡¯t see the harm in it and with the mana rolling again I decided it was time to add another group to my growing dungeon. This time I summoned 200 goblins, and they were to build a goblin village in the secret second floor. I also sent them to get trained by Rox and Max¡­ ¡®You fucker! You know I was experimenting with the goblins! How will I know what makes them evolve if you can¡¯t keep your grimy hands off of them?!¡¯ Yeah Rox wasn¡¯t happy. To be fair, she had been experimenting with them for weeks now with no results. ¡®Come on Rox, they got the merit points, they played by the rules. What was I supposed to do? Not let them get their request? Besides¡­¡¯ I grinned, ¡®They brought in a beehive. A beehive! Which means you get as much honey as you can eat! Alright?¡¯ Bribery works, plain and simple. We had installed the beehive in the second floor as well, the non-hidden side this time. Hell, they floated through the entire second floor, which was why I had to keep them separated from the others.I had to plant a series of flowering plants to keep them happy.
It took a lot longer for the adventurers to return than I thought. It was roughly 7 weeks after that first group had left before our lookouts announced that they saw people headed towards the dungeon. By that time, we had developed a lot more than I thought we would. As a precaution, I had increased the size of the rooms in the second floor to absolutely massive proportions. Once inside, they would feel like they were lost inside an actual forest. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The squirrel folk had their treetop village, the hare folk their warren village and the goblins their village too. The training of the troops had gone well enough that I had confidence in handling the adventurers whether they turned out to be friendly or hostile. I sent Max and a scouting team to go spy on them from the rooftops. These scouts had taken the skill [Minor Heightened Hearing] from their merit points so they were ideal for this task. And so I waited. We heard them long before we saw them, noisy as they were and seemingly unafraid of anything within the forest. Truth be told, none of the dungeon folk were scared of anything around the dungeon either. We hadn¡¯t run into any monsters, not even a single slime. Knowing Alex, if we had, he would have made us kidnap any monsters we found and then put them to work in our dungeon. I don¡¯t quite know what to describe this behaviour as. (Author¡¯s note: hoarder, definitely a hoarder, definitely a x99 potion at final boss type character) We kept up above in the trees. We had on mostly leather equipment with leaves sown on to help us with camouflage as we hid with the foliage. These adventurers were really obtruse. When they arrive in the clearing before the dungeon entrance, they started setting up their camp, talking loudly. Damn¡­ there were more than 50 of them and I couldn¡¯t assess their strength. That wasn¡¯t the end of it, a few hours later, a second group arrived. I could see that both groups were mostly mages. There were some with swords and armour, but most of them wore robes and held staves as they walked around. When the second group arrived, the tension in the area rocketed up until it was almost palpable. It seems they were not all friendly with one another. I already didn¡¯t like the first group. Before the second group had arrived, they first group had sent about a dozen of their number into the dungeon. My body froze as they came out with one of the dungeon''s goblins. It must have been caught before it could retreat into the secret caves and then go to the second floor. Rescue was not an option at the moment¡­ the reason? Because they tied the poor goblin up to a tree trunk then used a bunch of strange items that shone with the light of mana. They seemed to be experimenting on the goblin. On one of our dungeon folk. Anger unbidden rose within me. There must be a reckoning with this group. The second group was definitely not friends with the first group. I snuck closer to listen to what they seemed to be arguing about. ¡®¡­ dungeon is for us to use however we so want! Who are you to restrict us Magister?! This isn¡¯t back in the city where you are head mage. This is in the wilderness!¡¯ ¡®So because we aren¡¯t in the city you can break the law? You know the rules! This territory falls within the Domain of the City of Polux, you cannot claim it as your own! It is a young dungeon, if we interfere with it now, we could lose out on this dungeon¡¯s potential! Listen! This is a dungeon, that, while young allows for a mage, yes a Rank E mage to gain a stat in intelligence after spending one day inside. This is unimaginable!¡¯ The voices grew louder and louder. Mana started getting thicker in the air. It seems the two groups were themselves made of smaller groups. One of the smaller groups started a fight with that of another while everyone just watched on. It looked fairly serious, although it hadn¡¯t descended past a verbal conflict just yet. The main divisive point seems to be on who owns the dungeon, and what they will do with the dungeon¡­ These bastards, talking about my home as if it¡¯s a trophy. I smiled grimly, we were prepared for them. Let''s see if it''s such an easy prize to win. The second group seemed like they could be negotiated with, but the first? By taking one of the dungeon folk they had already declared themselves our enemy. Even if they didn¡¯t know it yet. Things were starting to spiral out of control when yet ANOTHER group arrived. Fucking hell! Forgive my cursing but this makes more than 100 adventurers at our gates! This group was larger than both earlier groups put together. As they arrived, the fighting stopped. It seemed this new group was quite important huh. Then I saw a familiar face. It was the swordswoman?? What¡¯s she doing back here?! I crept even closer to listen carefully to what she announced. ¡®This is a missive from the King of Polux City. This dungeon falls within the territory of the Kretian Kingdom and by Royal Decree this dungeon is now under the ownership and protection of the Royal Family.¡¯ Those words came from the swordswoman as she held up what she said was the royal decree showing everyone. I looked closely at the leaders of the two groups. The first group¡¯s leader seemed angry but kept silent while the second looked relieved. This swordswoman¡­ she isn¡¯t simple. Suddenly, I felt someone¡¯s eyes on me, my [Minor Sense of Danger] was suddenly screaming at me. It was the swordswoman! She was looking right at my position, with her hand idly resting on her sword handle. Without making a sound I crept away as fast as I could. Once out of range of that terrifying woman I jump from tree to tree further into the forest. Alex had opened a secret passage into the second floor in the depth of the forest hidden under the roots of a tree covered with dense bushes. It would be close to impossible to discover unless you knew exactly where to look. That was terrifying¡­ But I had enough information to make my report. I was also the only one left outside, I had gotten the scouts to go back after the first group had arrived. I don¡¯t know if the information I brought is a good or bad thing for Alex and Rox. Regardless, I was ready for them. Listening to Max¡¯s report, I again felt conflicted. Should we have risked it and tried to kill off the adventurer group? I understand Alex¡¯s reasoning but my instincts were screaming at me at how dangerous our predicament was. ¡®Alex, are you sure this is the right thing to do?¡¯ I must have asked this 100 times. ¡®Rox, you must have asked this 100 times¡­¡¯ Well shit, we¡¯re even thinking alike now. ¡®Well, what do you expect? We have 100 of those beasts outside our doors and to make it worse, the ogre lady is back!¡¯ ¡®How many times must I tell you, she isn¡¯t an ogre¡­ anyway, you know my reasons.¡¯ Yes, I knew his reasons. Hell, I agreed with his reasons. Doesn¡¯t make it any better though. Alex¡¯s reasons were very¡­ precise is the best way to describe it. We were basically stuck within the middle of what sounds like three not so very nice groups. Sigh¡­ Alex¡¯s reasonings were thus. We are not strong enough to take down a strong team of adventurers. Hell, he admitted that we had nothing that could take down that ogre chic. Also, we have been discovered. Which leads to our current predicament. They know we are a dungeon that apparently specializes in raising inherent stats. Mages are not powerless with dungeons. Some of them would have ways of enslaving a dungeon, there are stories of this happening to other dungeons. There are also stories of dungeons becoming partners with guilds or kingdoms, that too is something that has happened¡­ Sigh these are all stories passed on by dungeon fairies to their children and kin but who knows how true it is? So what does Alex want to do? He wants to trick them. TRICK them. Fool them into thinking this is just a random young dungeon, so that they don¡¯t send anyone too strong and so that they think they hold the advantage while we work around them. This is not a great plan! ¡®Alex, this is not a great plan!¡¯ ¡®What do you think we should have done? Kill off that first adventurer group? Should we have attacked and killed off the swordswoman? Rox, I hate to say this but we are not strong enough¡­ even if I used everything I had to attack her, I would have failed. When we are faced with someone stronger than us, we have to bide our time and survive. Nothing else matters, we need to survive.¡¯ When Alex said those words, he had that face again. The reason I agreed with him before. Yes survival¡­ Why would I ever argue about Alex about what it takes to survive? By his own admission, he is a Rank B in skills but with only stats? He¡¯s only as strong as Max¡­ ¡®So¡­ we just wait?¡¯ ¡®No, we have work to do. We¡¯re going to send out teams into the forest to carry on harvesting by using the secret entrance. We need to make a third floor as soon as possible and to summon some more powerful monsters.¡¯ So we got to work. I organized the squirrels and hares into shifts, they would work through the night as well as the day now. Regardless of Alex¡¯s reasoning, it was a gamble. A gamble between the greed of the adventurer¡¯s against their wisdom. I grit my teeth, we were betting on wisdom but we were preparing for greed to win. This section is not needed to enjoy the story, only for those who, like me, are interested in the technicalities. Spoiler: Spoiler Last time I went over Skill alignments, I am just going to expand on that a little (btw I really like explaining this stuff. I made this system at the middle of 2016 and I¡¯m pretty sure I spent more time on it than writing the story¡­ Don¡¯t know what that says of me¡­) So here¡¯s a question: Why can¡¯t I have my katana blade master psionic who can make kinetic shields wield inferno magic spells inside a domain of awesomeness? Because it doesn¡¯t make sense for a character to specialize into all the fields¡­ much as I like MCs who are good at everything, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a skilled enough writer to have an overwhelmingly powerful character AND still make the story interesting. I digress, I¡¯m bringing back the table
Magic Physical
Mental Law
Magic ¨C the use of spell/skill formations that make mana flow in such a way as to create spells. These spells usually have specific effects, and of the 4 branches, is the most destructive. Magic is also special in that it can change the quality of the mana itself when it goes through the skill structures The properties of magic skills lie in their higher utilization of mana to create specific effects outside the body. There are also magical specializations or types Examples of types of magic - arcane, divine, eldritch, elemental, nature/druidic, summoner/contracter, Qi, special categories (blood, lunar, solar, beast, demonic) The most destructive type is magical - eldritch but they are not able to have much versatility, there is really no way to make Hellfire into a healing fire The magic types oppose each other as well, Eldritch versus Holy beyond the obvious elemental incompatibilities, etc Physical skills are the personification of the use of strength/agility/precision to deal damage/enhance bodily functions The skill structures for this effect the constitution/function of the physical body Examples would be physical attack skills where mana is channeled into the skill formations that briefly increase strength allowing for [Heavy Blow] Weapons, once used like a part of the body are a natural extension of these skills allowing skills like [Wind Blade], [Blade Ki], etc The main difference between magic and physical is that magic does not channel through any other part of the body except for the skill formation while physical does. Magical also relies on Magic Power and Intelligence to determine its power and effect while Physical is mostly on Strength, Agility and Stamina driven. Laws are the special effects and powers - they deal with a concept but they have to stay within the concept ¨C these usually manifest as a domain ¨C they change the mana around the skill user to conform to a specific rule Laws are incredibly powerful but also very restrictive E.g. Law of fire - Augmentation - can only increase the power of fire Unlike magic, Laws are mostly passives Laws are limited in active skills as they would be considered too overpowered (at least from my own bias, I love passives in rpgs but they can make your characters truly monstrous) In the story Alex¡¯s Aura of Knowledge that gives him so much trouble is an example of a skill of Law ¨C anyone within Alex¡¯s field of mana is effected with a boost to intelligence stat increases, himself included Mental encompasses mostly internal abilities The usually increase the function/ability of the brain itself, and there is a wide range of abilities here, I won¡¯t explore it in this small area. Chapter 19 – Where Shadows Lurk I sat cross-legged within the crystal room. I was practicing mana control, trying to see if I could decrease the mana concentration on the first floor through my dungeon abilities. We had realized late that my [Aura] worked through my dungeon¡¯s mana field as well, and worse of all, it affected everyone not just dungeon folk, thus if I could control it, it would reduce the benefit for those adventurers that had come. At least that was the plan. ¡®The mana in this world is so thick¡­ comparing the mana here to back on earth is like comparing a swimming pool to an ocean¡­¡¯ Earth had originally been without mana, until the huge blackhole vortex was ripped open bringing both mana and monsters into the world. Then humans slowly started gaining the ability to use mana to transform their bodies entering the system. ¡®It¡¯s actually unfortunate that I got such an advanced skill so early,¡¯ with my acquisition of my [Contract] skill, it was close to impossible for me to empower my stats by killing monsters. And on earth that truly was the only way to gain stats. But it was different here. Instead of wasting my time trying to kill a large amount of monsters and creatures, hell or humans and beastman to loot them for their mana and power up my own body, I could train the old fashioned way. The way the 5 stats gained power was through the use of mana. Mana is the manifestation of a supreme source of energy. And by condensing it and applying it for use in the body, stats will rise. At least this was the theory. By condensing mana into muscles, strength and agility will rise. By condensing it in the brain, intelligence rises. The heart, lungs, abdominal organs and skin lead to stamina. And the centre of the chest is where magic power rises, there an organ exists for the processing of mana, beating like a second heart. However knowing all this and practicing to actually gain stats this way are two worlds apart. But for me, this would be the easier of the two paths. Seriously, to gain a single free point, I would have to kill over 3000 monsters. If I killed some the same rank as me then sure I¡¯d get more benefit¡­ but I¡¯m a Skill Ranker, not a Stat Ranker. Got to know my limits. Right now, I was breathing in and swirling mana throughout my body. I had gotten this idea when Levine used mana burning¡­ if Rox knew I got this idea from that she would curse me. I wasn¡¯t crazy though. My idea was thus, move the mana through the different organs, ie muscle and try to concentrate it there for a few seconds before moving it back to the centre of the chest. That way I would move it back to my centre before it burned or worse... exploded. (Author''s Note: ... or worse... expelled! Hahahahaha, this will never not be funny.) I was convinced that if I did this enough, it would lead to a rise in my stats. Although I didn¡¯t pick the best of times to start my experiments seeing as how there were enemies outside¡­ but they weren¡¯t doing anything. I had originally been watching with Max and Levine but I got so bored I just left. Which led to this. There was a saying about something like this right? Idle hands breeding disaster? Or something similar. It happened about 3 hours after I started moving mana in my body. Before, I was just moving my mana back and forth within my body, trying to find the right combination to try and strengthen my body. Then I noticed it, a tiny miniscule amount of mana would condense, like a crystal and enter some of the cells and structures of my body. It was extremely difficult to notice if I hadn¡¯t been focusing with all my might to see if I could find a way. Perhaps, I was motivated from the abundance of mana in this new world. But I think I was more motivated from my lack of ability to power myself up on Earth. Always having to rely on Bird and my sister. Well now they¡¯re relying on me so I need to get stronger quickly! My experiments for trying to find shortcuts to summon them out had all failed... so this was the only way! Power! I needed power! I focused and controlled the mana within my body and tried to copy what I had seen. Focusing, condensing mana¡­ that purest of energies within my body in small crystals¡­ like small dungeon crystals flowing through my bloodstream, entering my muscle cells, my bone and tendons, ligaments, diffusing through my skin my organs, flowing through my brain. I felt like I was in a trance¡­ like a state of¡­ enlightenment.
The power of mana swirls through your body at your command Through enlightenment, pristine mana control, and pure willpower a skill unique to the path of purity has been created You have gained the skill [Mana Empowerment]
Mana Empowerment (Rank B - Unique, Active Ability) Lv 1 Mastery 0.0% The Path of Purity, the path of enlightenment This skill encompasses the essence of diligence and perception through enlightenment This skill is unique to the Path of Purity If special requirements are met, this skill can evolve
The skill user can actively use mana to permanently increase their ownpower The rate of this increase and the effectiveness of this skill depend on the user
The skill [Troll¡¯s Blood] has reached Lv10 ¨C Max Special conditions for evolution of the skill have been met Due to interactions with the skill [Mana Empowerment], this skill has evolved [Troll¡¯s Blood] has evolved into [Lesser Troll¡¯s Regeneration]
Lesser Troll¡¯s Regeneration (Rank C, Passive Ability) Lv 1 Mastery 0.0% An evolution from [Troll''s Bood], this skill employs the marvelous regeneration of Trolls and infuses it into whole body. If special requirements are met, this skill can evolve
Every time your heart beats, blood will recover 1.0% and injuries will recover 1.0% This will only occur up to 30% of the body¡¯s injuries, once injuries progress past 30% the effectiveness of this skill will halve. You can accelerate your healing by circulating mana in any injured site, no restriction on level of injury
This¡­ was an amazing result. My experiment worked! I was fairly confident about the principle but I was also terrified the mana would all start burning as well. The skill [Bad Blood] before it evolved into [Troll''s Blood] was one of the banes of my existence back then. But now? Perserverance truly is key... and... Maybe¡­ maybe I could even cure Levine! Me and Levine were hiding in a hidey hole up above the first room watching the dungeon entrance. Sigh, it was so boring but it is our duty. At least I had Levine with me, things are rarely boring with him. Although everything he said was a whisper¡­ I thought he said he lost the ability [Silver Tongue] when he got his class, why is he still able to talk for hours? I listened in on what he was saying. ¡®¡­ and then the Queen bee says that the honey is only to be given with the permission of her majesty Rox and I was like, her majesty? She¡¯s royalty now? And the queen says that she is of the highest royalty¡­¡¯ Right¡­ rarely boring but somehow mind numbing. The adventurers had set up a rotating guard of sorts in the first room. It seems they didn¡¯t trust that some of the mages would want to break into the dungeon¡¯s core and try to capture the dungeon crystal. At least from what I have been eavesdropping in on. Throughout the day those adventurers would let in mages who would sit down cross-legged in the first dungeon room. Of course, they must have known that just a few hours were not enough. They needed at least a day inside to have any benefit, didn''t they ask the first group of adventurers? They also didn¡¯t know that the effect was even weaker now since Alex had moved the dungeon crystal room down a floor. Well, he said it should be weaker but we don¡¯t know by exactly how much¡­ I mean if the difference is only a few hours there isn¡¯t much of a difference. So I was left on watch with Levine. Our shift was almost over though, with Eva and Tolk coming to take over. ¡®Hey Max! We¡¯re here to take over watch. Anything interesting happen?¡¯ I would know that voice anywhere. ¡®Oi, Eva, I¡¯m here to you know? I¡¯m not so egotistical that I can¡¯t stand being ignored and all but a fair maiden such as yourself should definitely pay respect to your elders such as me and furthermore¡­¡¯ ¡®Oh shut it hare brains,¡¯ Tolk was here too. The strange newly mutated Tolk was a lot smarter than he used to be. And now one of his favourite activities was baiting Levine. I understand exactly why Alex and Rox didn¡¯t pair those two together for a watch. They would have started arguing loud enough to alert the adventurers down in the cavern below us! Though it¡¯s a pity since that means I couldn¡¯t pair watch with Eva¡­This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡®I know you¡¯re there Levine,¡¯ Eva was rolling her eyes at him. Maybe she was spending too much time with Rox too¡­ she looked straight at me with those eyes of hers... like two bright fire orbs glowing in the dark. Was there a whisper? She asked me, ¡®So did anything happen during your watch?¡¯ ¡®N¡­ no nothing,¡¯ damn it all, am I a mewling? Did I just fucking stutter?! I cleared my throat, pointedly NOT looking at Levine who I KNOW will have that stupid knowing smirk on his face. Well if I told him that Tolk will have the exact same smirk on his face too. Those two could be twins I swear. ¡®No, the watch was pretty uneventful. Well, we¡¯ll go and have a rest, see you in a few hours!¡¯ A good thing my fur was originally red, I could feel heat on my face... and my heart was beating a little too fast. ¡®Alright Max my boy, let us go get some grub and some rest,¡¯ Levine to the rescue, thank you thank you. ¡®Sooooo¡­¡¯ ¡®Shut up Levine¡¯ ¡®Yes boss!¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s just get some food then sleep a bit alright? Our next shift is after the covert ops team one have their shift.¡¯ ¡®Alex came up with that name for the squirrel squad didn¡¯t he?¡¯ ¡®Yes.¡¯ We walked off to the resting areas to find some food. It¡¯s no wonder Levine got the name Brave and not me, I didn¡¯t have the courage to look back at her as I left.
After resting, we came back to the lookout position. We had night shift, and even through the night the mages would come and sit within that first room. I didn¡¯t understand how much of a draw Alex¡¯s [Aura] could be but here it is. The incident happened late at night. The adventurer group on guard was a group of 6, although it was hard to make out their professions exactly, it looked like a standard 3 close quarters combat, 1 ranged, one healing and one mage, judging from their equipment. The mage group that had come in this time was a group of 13. They wore black robes and strangely, they weren''t using staves, actually they didn¡¯t hold any weapons. And surprisingly, the adventurer group looked terrified facing this group. Using my [Minor Heightened Hearing] I tried to pick up what they were saying, they seemed to be having a small argument. ¡®¡­ sir there is a limit to how many mages can come in at once. A limit of 6 per group.¡¯ ¡®Oh? But we are 13. It would be so¡­ cruel of us¡­ to let just one of our members come by themselves later on would it not? So let us through¡­ or do you intend to obstruct our Brotherhood?¡¯ There was a deep raspy voice that came from the depths of one of those dark robes¡­ of all of them, this one had its hood drawn up and it was difficult to make out his features. There was a sound as the one I had identified as a ranged fighter, the archer suddenly collapsed to the ground. The adventurers looked in shock, but showing their aptitude, their priest instantly used holy magic and set up a barrier around them, pushing the mages away. ¡®Y¡­ YOU! You dare attack us?! We¡¯re representing the Adventurer¡¯s Guild!¡¯ ¡®Oh? Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡¯ That dark hooded mage leaned closer towards the holy barrier, his body almost touching it. He gazed at them and said, ¡®And we¡­ we are the Shadow Brotherhood,¡¯ and touched his finger to the barrier. The barrier that was shining white rapidly darkened around where his finger had touched it then as if it was a corrosive acid, the darkness ate away the rest of the shield, leaving the adventurers looking dumbly. Then the priest slumped to the ground. ¡®Quick run! We¡¯re too close to them! We need to make distance! Starla run! Protect Starla!¡¯ Starla seemed to be the mage as the warriors quickly got into a line blocking the path of the mages towards her. She seemed torn but started running. While she was running away, the warriors slumped to the ground one by one. She could hear them, each one falling to the ground. After she had run almost to the next room she whipped around shouting, ¡®Eat ice you bastards!¡¯ A frenzied blue glow surrounded her, and around her small bird shaped glows of light shot our icicles that flew towards the mages. One of them was pierced in the eye, dying, before they could react. ¡®Shit, she¡¯s a witch! Not a mage! Use a crossbow!¡¯ The mages ducked to the sides, dodging the icicles. It seemed to have taken a lot out of the adventurer mage¡­ or is that witch... because she was panting even as she started running again. A few of the mages of this Shadow Brotherhood brought out small crossbows from within their robes, struggling to fit crossbow bolts then firing in her direction. Maybe because of bad luck, two of them managed to hit her, one in her left calf and another in her upper back. She collapsed to the ground, all that could be heard was her sobbing. I looked at Levine, then said, ¡®Alex, can you hear us? We have a situation.¡¯ As the dungeon master, if we said his name within the dungeon, he would hear us. ¡®Yes, I have already sent Tolk with his goblins to back you up. One of the squirrel troop will be hiding in the secret caves as well, Eva''s leading them.¡¯ Then... A voice could be heard. Coming from the fallen witch ¡®... Fallen gods hear my prayer, I give unto you all of my being. Please deliver me from damnation, please rescue me from this evil. Oh dungeon master, please hear my prayer, I give unto you all of my being¡­¡¯ Like a mantra she kept repeating her words over and over¡­ but a bright light had started swirling around her¡­ and those words became louder and louder¡­ the third time she said it the light was so bright that the pursuing mages had to shield their eyes and fall back and it was so loud that the entire dungeon was shaking. Her voice, previously so soft now seemed to have an ancient quality to it. The shaking of the dungeon must have alerted those adventurers outside but how long before they responded was up for debate. The bright light had filled the entire first room now. This wasn¡¯t just mana anymore, she was offering up her soul, her very existence¡­ ''Stop her! Fuck she''s calling out to the dungeon itself! Fucking witch!'' As the bright light began to fade, the mages came out from behind cover blinking, trying to see. What they saw was¡­ a hobgoblin. A strange hobgoblin holding the fallen witch almost tenderly in his arms. It was Tolk, he must have raced here as fast as he could. An echo could be heard throughout the dungeon then¡­ and a wind blew from the back of the dungeon outwards, as if the voice was born from within the wind. ¡®I accept.¡¯ I had been meditating, concentrating my mana when messages started to pour in, in front of me.
A ¡®Forest Archer¡¯ has died within your dungeon This individual was of the Fox Beastman species Your dungeon does not currently have the ability to summon this species, once the capacity is unlocked in the future, this species will automatically be unlocked The skill ¡®Aim¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Quick Fire¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] It is now easier for inhabitants of your dungeon to unlock the archer class
Then a short while later.
A ¡®Priest of the Stoic God¡¯ has died within your dungeon This individual was of the Ox-head Beastman species Your dungeon does not currently have the ability to summon this species, once the capacity is unlocked in the future, this species will automatically be unlocked This individual was on the Path of Divinity, no penalty as you are on the Path of Purity Some of the skills may be restricted for use The skill ¡®Holy Shield¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Stoicism¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Healing Light¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] It is now easier for inhabitants of your dungeon to unlock the priest class
A ¡®City Guardian¡¯ has died within your dungeon This individual was of the Ox-head Beastman species Your dungeon does not currently have the ability to summon this species, once the capacity is unlocked in the future, this species will automatically be unlocked The skill ¡®Strengthen Shield¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Lesser Physical Resistance¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] It is now easier for inhabitants of your dungeon to unlock the guardian class
A ¡®Ox Warrior¡¯ has died within your dungeon This individual was of the Ox-head Beastman species Your dungeon does not currently have the ability to summon this species, once the capacity is unlocked in the future, this species will automatically be unlocked The skill ¡®Shout¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Heavy Hit¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] It is now easier for inhabitants of your dungeon to unlock the warrior class
The ¡®Ox Warrior¡¯ message came up twice. An achievement message had come up as well but I ignored it needing to see what was going on. Where Max and Levine were keeping watch, there were indicators on the map that showed enemies. 13 of them. ¡®Tolk, take a group of goblins and go back up Max and Levine. Eva, prepare some of your squirrels to wait in the secret rooms. Along the path for when the guys need to retreat. I turned back to watch the dungeon map, seeing it on a map was easier to keep track of all the individuals. While I was watching, one of the neutrals was running to the next room. As the indicator stopped, one of the enemy indicators disappeared while the others spread out to the sides. The neutral one must have attacked.
A ¡®Shadowmancer¡¯ has died within your dungeon This individual was of the Shadow-serpent Lizardman species Your dungeon does not currently have the ability to summon this species, once the capacity is unlocked in the future, this species will automatically be unlocked This individual is of the Path of Corruption, there will be a penalty applied when trying to summon or utilize any of the individual¡¯s traits or skills Some of the skills are unable to be used as they oppose the Path of Purity The skill ¡®Summon Shadow¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Shadow Capture¡¯ is now available for [Skill Bestowal] The skill ¡®Shadow Possession is now available for [Skill Bestowal] It is now easier for inhabitants of your dungeon to unlock the Shadowmancer class If your inhabitants choose the Path of Corruption, there is a chance they will infect the dungeon making that part of the dungeon uncontrollable for the dungeon master
Shadowmancer? Then I got a message in from Max, ¡®Alex, can you hear us? We have a situation.¡¯ ¡®Yes, I have already sent Tolk with his goblins to back you up. One of the squirrel troop will be hiding in the secret caves as well.¡¯ Not even a few minutes later¡­ I felt my soul tremble¡­ A heat like I have never felt before filled me. And not just my human body. I could feel the heat in my other body, the dungeon crystal too. This was the first time it had happened. Then I heard it, no I felt it. A voice crying out to my soul¡­ it was a soul crying out to me and my own soul was replying. ¡®Fallen gods hear my prayer, I give unto you all of my being. Please deliver me from damnation, please rescue me from this evil. Oh dungeon master, please hear my prayer, I give unto you all of my being¡­¡¯ A soul, a crying soul calling out to me in yearning. I could feel the anguish, the pain the soul was going through¡­ ¡®¡­ all of my being?¡¯ Then I whispered into the wind. ¡®I accept.¡¯ Chapter 20 – The Lying Shadows The young witch in my arms was breathing only faintly. From where I stood, I saw those mages that had attacked her. Filthy creatures, they had used crossbows to attack someone fleeing. ¡®Goblins, prepare for retreat.¡¯ My duty was clear, it wasn¡¯t to attack these things. I could feel the itch of evil coming off of them as they gathered and marched towards me. I heard a ragged whisper. My eyes widened as I realized it was the young witch, ¡®Don¡¯t get too close to them¡­ touching shadow¡­ worse¡­ death¡­¡¯ The lady had passed out¡­ what was that about? She was trying to warn me. By this point I had already moved a significant distance away. These were mages, thus couldn¡¯t compare in the slightest to my movement speed. However¡­ ¡®Kreeuk!¡¯ I looked back to see¡­ one of my goblins attacking the rest of the group? This wasn¡¯t right! What had happened? ¡®Fall back! Full retreat! Run!¡¯ I bellowed as loud as I could at them. We didn¡¯t know the situation and they had some strange power¡­ so we ran. The mages were slow, they didn¡¯t run after us but they hurried along into the dungeon. Finally, when I had them out of sight I ducked to the side and ran under the cover of one of the secret rooms. They were hidden with a combination of tricky scenery and magic making them difficult to discover. What about my goblins? ¡®Master, something is wrong, I saw one of the goblins attacking the others.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t understand it. My goblins, being attacked by one of your own is tough. The goblins I took with me this time hadn¡¯t yet evolved into hobgoblins. The other hobgoblins were preparing the defenses. ¡®Tolk, bring the girl down to the crystal room quickly, she needs treatment.¡¯ I was hurrying quite fast already but I grit my teeth and tried to move a little faster. The girl in my arms wasn¡¯t bleeding heavily but she wasn¡¯t waking up yet either. ¡®Tolk, that group of goblins that went with you. I¡¯m afraid they¡¯re all dead. Those mages, they call themselves shadowmancers, well not a single goblin escape. As soon as they got close, they¡­ got possessed? We need to know more about them, so that adventurer in your arms is the key.¡¯ Five goblins, lost instantly? Were they dead? Damn it! I told them to run! I knew my duty, I had to bring the girl to Alex, what we needed was information.
¡®They¡¯re called¡­ the Shadow Brotherhood. They are a medium sized group in the city¡­¡¯ When we got to Alex, the little water witch was stirring. Some of the squirrels had come by and helped take out the crossbow bolts and applied herbs as a poultice. One of the hares was watching over her using [Healing Light]. As she woke up, Alex started asking questions. She handled it all surprisingly well, she looked around scared at first as anyone would be surrounded by a group of strangers. Not to mention Max and Levine a bit further in the distance who were fully decked out in equipment and looking at her grimly. ¡®The shadowmancers¡­ what they practice is a type of eldritch mind magic¡­¡¯ She stuttered nervously while she spoke. Shadowmancers were a class of mages from the Path of Corruption. They¡­ were related to necromancers but didn¡¯t have the public revulsion apparently. I couldn¡¯t understand why, their powers were similar, and equally vile. From what I could understand, they would use their magics to capture the shadow of a person. And basically if they caught your shadow, you were a goner. They paralyzed you once they had your shadow, then extracted your soul, trapping it inside the shadow. The remaining body becomes a puppet while the shadow becomes a shadow wraith¡­ and both were under the complete control of the shadowmancer. This was an absolutely terrifying way of combat. ¡®They¡­ they told us that those they used their mind magic on were only temporarily under their mind magic. Everyone was fooled but we at the adventurer¡¯s guild know better!¡¯ The shadow and the puppet can recombine, becoming something called the ¡®Shadowspawn¡¯ or ¡®Shadowless¡¯ even though they have a shadow¡­ they were so named because their shadows moved in a different way compared to the body. When they are like this, they regain some of the memories and personality¡­ but they were just more advanced puppets, dancing on a string moved by the shadows. ¡®They do have one weak point though. They aren¡¯t good at physical combat. To attack me they had to use crossbow bolts and even then most of them missed.¡¯ Unfortunately we couldn¡¯t allow her to rest even when she was injured but we tried to question her as quickly as possible. ¡®Little water witch, you have signed a contract with the dungeon. Do you know what this means?¡¯ ¡®Yes sir, I offered all of my being to the dungeon¡­ and the dungeon saved my life. I will be loyal.¡¯ ¡®What is your name? Your rank?¡¯ ¡®My name is Starla, I am a Rank E Water Witch¡­ um I am from the Water Sparrow Birdman tribe.¡¯ ¡®Welcome to the dungeon Starla. My name is Alexander, the dungeon master.¡¯ I watched as Tolk helped the healing team carry Starla away so she could rest. The questioning had been quick, but even then the mages had made it to the 6th room. After the first group of goblins were attacked, I ordered everyone into the secret rooms. Shit, I never imagined something like this. These bastards were practically invincible in close quarters because if your shadow got too close to them, they could capture it! Who needs close quarters fighting ability with such an insane power like that? I needed to focus! To think! There is no absolute power, even the gods that played around with us had their weaknesses.
I was watching the progress of the shadowmancers. They had turned the group of goblins into puppets and brought their group along with them as they moved deeper. Formidable. These were a tough group to fight. And they were smart, they had possessed the adventurers in the first cave and made it so look like nothing had happened. They might be able to fool the adventurers¡­ Expect the best but prepare for the worst. A motto I live by and force the dungeon folk to live by. I went to closer to observe them using my dungeon¡¯s sight. The dungeon map was an incredible ability that gave me an absolute oversight in my dungeon, acting as an unparalleled scouting ability, but somethings are better in person. So I went to observe them so that I could figure out their weaknesses. This dark mage group was hurrying along. Apart from the leader, the others were all gasping for breath. Obviously they weren¡¯t in good physical condition. First weakness, poor physical ability. Must be skill-dominant. As they moved through the rooms, the leader would pull out a dark reddish purple orb. He would inject mana into it and the orb would disintegrate¡­ after which there was a dark red light that shot out into the room. The purpose of that light seemed to be to reveal traps, as the leader would then walk swiftly in a certain pattern to cross the room with the others stumbling behind him. That isn¡¯t to say they got away clean, one of them set off a pit fall trap and would have fallen if two of his compatriots didn¡¯t grab hold of him to pull him back. Another set off an arrow trap getting an arrow in his arm. A third collapsed a ceiling fall trap which crushed his legs. The leader was strict and cruel¡­ he straight up abandoned the third one who couldn¡¯t keep up.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Weakness number 2, poor defensive ability, no healing ability. I observed the one that had been abandoned by the others. He looked around fearfully as he pulled out potions from his robes. I gave a quick message to Eva¡¯s squirrel team. These guys had gone through some¡­ special training. As the mage was about to drink, there was a blur as something moved behind him. Then quick as a flash, a glint shone briefly, appearing by the mage¡¯s throat¡­ then red started to spurt out¡­ his heart beating itself to its own death. I had a grim smile. There is no mercy for those I deem my absolute enemies. Third weakness, no preparation for surprise attacks.
A ¡®Shadowmancer¡¯ has been killed by an inhabitant of dungeon You have gained 5 dungeon points
Oh, a different message? Shit, I can earn dungeon points this way? I¡¯ll have to look at it later. I got an achievement message as well but I put it away so that I could focus. I went back to observing the whole group. They had reached the area where the slimes were thickest. Slimes are the weakest of the monsters that I could summon, so it was surprising to me that they actually got a held up a bit by the slimes. I could see some of them doing strange motions with their hands in front of the slimes¡­ was their power not working? They eventually got their puppet goblins to attack the slimes. Meanwhile I felt like laughing. These fuckers! This was hilarious. Their ability to instantly kill anyone they got close to by extracting their soul was incredible, they could beat pretty much anyone the same rank as them or maybe even a rank higher if their opponent didn¡¯t have any soul protective equipment or skills. But¡­ do you know something about dungeon monsters? They are born without souls, tied to the life and death of a dungeon! Unless I give them souls, they remain soulless, like the slimes that populated the first floor. The dungeon creatures are their natural enemies! Weakness number 4, their abilities don¡¯t work on those without souls They were still more than a dozen rooms away from the boss room¡­ but I think I had observed them enough. These fuckers want to capture me? Take over my dungeon? The other adventurers were nice compared to you mate, you guys are just right bastards! You even abandoned your friend in the middle of a dungeon. I went to prepare. There were two big preparations that I needed to do. I also thought of another weakness they would probably have¡­ it was obvious really. What were my chances of victory? Victory is inevitable, but a flawless victory without any casualties? Tricky¡­ but when had that ever stopped me? What is the fifth weakness? Easy. Weakness number 5, Shadowmancers need shadows in order for their ability to work. After Alex called away Max to help prepare, I got stuck on watch duty with Levine¡­ gods above this boy could talk. ¡®¡­ and then the queen bee said, no honey for you, only for the lovely beautiful miss lady Rox will I offer this honey¡­¡¯ I thought he lost his [Silver Tongue] ability when he classed up? Anyway, we were watching the possessed adventurers. Evidently, they were to prevent the adventurer¡¯s guild from entering while keeping off suspicions. It also worked. It seems when the shadows and bodies recombined into one of the ¡®Shadowspawn¡¯ or ¡®Shadowless¡¯, they could pull off a very passable imitation of themselves when they were alive¡­ this ability¡­ it seemed worse than necromancy. After the dungeon calmed down from shaking, some of the adventurers had come to inquire what had happened. The shadows answered saying they didn¡¯t know but that it happened deeper within the dungeon. The performance was uncanny, they talked and joked, the expressions on their faces looked absolutely genuine. I felt a shiver, they were the ultimate spies and assassins because they could be your best friend, your family member even your lover and you wouldn¡¯t know. You wouldn¡¯t know that this laughing joking smiling person was a symbiotic fusion of a monstrous soul-attached shadow creature with a body puppet. My body froze. There were sounds of clacking footsteps as a very familiar armoured woman stepped into the cave. The Ogre Lady! The strongest person me or Alex had ever seen! Fuuucck, what is she doing here? The ogre chic stood in front of the shadowed adventurers group and said something. I couldn¡¯t hear what it was so I crept closer straining to hear. ¡®¡­ I asked something very simple. Where. Is. Starla.¡¯ The water witch? Were they friends? One of the group laughed and said, ¡®Ma¡¯am Starla wanted to go exploring a bit and we didn¡¯t have the heart to stop her. It¡¯s pretty safe for th¡­¡¯ ¡®I can smell her mana.¡¯ Now all the adventurers fell silent listening. ¡®A sharp smell of ice mana, not the soothing smell of water mana. Ice for attack, water for healing. Explain why Starla was fighting within this very room and is now nowhere to be found.¡¯ Silence¡­ Then the light of a skill being used started shining around the shadowed archer, shit, the shadowspawn can use skills?! As if there was an explosion, there was an eruption of movement. The other adventurers in the cavern dove for cover or ran as quickly as they could outside. The shadowed warriors rushed the swordswoman, swords raised covered in mana. The priest on the other hand seemed useless, trying to hit one of the adventurers with his staff. It seemed abilities from the Path of Divinity weren¡¯t able to be used¡­ well what God would allow some corrupted corpse to use their follower¡¯s abilities? Most of the true adventurers were diving under cover but some stood their ground to defend, one warrior received the arrow fired by the archer on his shield. The shadowed warriors surrounded him and attacked together. Suddenly there was a growl¡­ a fierce guttural sound that seemed to make the entire hall tremble¡­ and then the head of the archer was flying into the air. A harsh sounding gravelly voice, ¡®Shadowspawn! This is the work of the Shadow Brotherhood!¡¯ The voice came from¡­ there was dark red mana floating around the body¡­ was¡­ was that the swordswoman? I couldn¡¯t get a good look at her, because then she flashed again¡­ this time the shadowed guardian was lifted up into the air with her sword struck through his chest, through his heart and out the other side. The swordswoman held his corpse in the air with just one hand, his body impaled on the sword. Then with a swing of her sword she flung the body crashing into a wall the far end of the cavern. Holy shit! ¡®Assemble a team! We will go after them! They want to capture the dungeon crystal! No forgiveness to them for killing a team of our adventurers!¡¯ Half the adventurers ran outside to follow her commands while the other half hesitated. One of them started speaking, ¡®Ma¡¯am what about these¡­¡¯ As he spoke, the rest of the shadowed adventurers fell to the ground, their bodies falling in two pieces cut apart at the waist. The remaining adventurers gulped. The swordswoman looked at them, ¡®Two teams will enter, I will lead one. Nominate someone to lead the other.¡¯ And then she started moving towards the entrance to the next room without giving them the chance to respond as they scrambled to follow her orders. Alex had one said he would stand no chance against this swordswoman. He said there was an inherent difference between a Skill-Ranker and a Stat-Ranker. Now I finally understood why. Because when she cut up all adventurers¡­ she wasn¡¯t using any skills. Rox had sent me away from watch duty, saying something about [Silver Tongue] skill, but I lost that when I classed up, why does everyone keep asking me if I still have it? What¡¯s worse is that I was put into prep duty with Max. Now I love Max but prep duty with Max right now also meant working with Tolk and Eva. Thus me and Tolk were relegated to the third and fourth wheels respectively. Me as third, because seniority rules. The water witch was asleep in one of the squirrel tree houses under the care of the herby squirrels, I had sent along one of my hares, the one who had the highest holy mana. Alex had granted him the skill [Healing Light]. It turns out that mana cost for stuff only goes up if enemies are on that specific floor. Alex said it¡¯s because enemies, different from allies and neutrals stir up the mana on the floor. So mana has to be consumed to stabilize the mana first before being able to use it to summon anything¡­ Well whatever, not like it bothers me¡­ Right now, we were preparing for the attack on the second floor and I was trying to make Tolk feel a bit better. ¡®Tolk man, it wasn¡¯t your fault. We didn¡¯t know what they were capable of.¡¯ ¡®Those goblins were under my command Lev, we goblins are a tribe! They trust me as their leader. Now? Their corpses are running around under the command of those lunatics!¡¯ ¡®Tolk, listen to me. Don¡¯t beat yourself up about it ok? They died helping you escape, ask anyone of your tribe, they would be honoured if this was how they went.¡¯ Goblins. They are a very tribal race¡­ the strangest thing was they are known for being cruel and primitive¡­ but¡­ Tolk the Wise, the Noble Hobgoblin. When Tolk mutated, the entire goblin tribe¡­ changed. They are a tribal race in the very essence of their being, thus Tolk was, as the leader, also the role model. We were in for some interesting times. ¡®By the way Lev¡­ what in the dungeon¡¯s name are we doing?¡¯ I paused¡­ it was a good question¡­ and one I didn¡¯t really understand. Can¡¯t tell that to Tolk now can I? Gotta keep the rankings straight, Max is first, um I am tied with Eva *cough* and Tolk is third. Especially if the water witch girl is joining us¡­ ¡®We¡¯re uh, preparing a¡­ surprise for the shadow bastards,¡¯ I wiggled my eyebrows at him. I figured doing so he may be tempted to pretend he knew what I was talking about. My hopes were dashed. ¡®I don¡¯t truly understand, but I am sure I will soon enough.¡¯ Sigh, I thought Max was bad but this noble attitude has to go. I¡¯ll slowly erode it away over time. Anyway it wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t have any clue what we were doing. ¡®Traps Tolk, we¡¯re preparing a lot of traps,¡¯ even if I didn¡¯t know how they were traps, I knew a few of them definitely were. They were in for quite a surprise. Before me stood 3 familiar faces¡­ well familiar enough even though I hadn¡¯t seen them in over a decade. ¡®Your task is to kill as many of them as possible, delay them if you can¡¯t.¡¯ They were the Orc Fighter Masher, the Orc Shaman Sightless and the Panther Shade. I smiled. This is section is needed to enjoy the story, it''s only for those interested in technicalities and might impact your enjoyment of the story Spoiler: Spoiler There are three primary mechanisms by which creatures can increase their power substantially, there are a few derivatives of these as well The first is choosing a Class What does choosing a class do? Choosing a class is like choosing a preset skill package¡­ it sets up skill formations throughout the body that powers the body up in specific ways as well as making it possible for certain skills that need a specific environment to develop, to be created. Classes tend to create a balance between improving stats and gaining skills For example, one of the Ox-head beastman chooses the ¡®Warrior¡¯ Class. Choosing the class forms specific concentrations of mana to pool in his muscles and makes those areas suitable for the formation of physical combat skills while also increasing his Strength and Agility stats, also Stamina The second is Mutations Mutations cause specific body parts to change so that they can accommodate different skills. Different from classes, there doesn¡¯t need to be a unifying framework for the skills, the body parts can form their own skills framework thus the versatility in skills can be endless. Mutations are best for utilizing skills One of the readers asked me if having larger bodies/more body parts allows more skills etc. Well as long as you have enough Magic Power and mana to utilize the skills, there is no limit. Of course, powering say 100 active skills at the same time would rapidly drain most creatures of mana within seconds thus unless they have a gargantuan amount of mana or have some transcendent mana regeneration, there is definitely a limit. The third is Evolution Evolution is kind of a mix between Classes and Mutations¡­ the entire body changes into a different one, thus changing the background skill framework and opening up the possibility for other skills. The difference between evolution and the other two though, is that there is no endless possibility to accommodate new skills like with mutation. Instead evolution relies more on improving stats rather than skills. I''ll expand on this else I might miss posting today hahaha Chapter 21 – Five Step Elimination Plan I sat in the dungeon room circulating my mana. All the preparations to greet our guests were ready so I was waiting for them. It would take two or so more hours before they managed to break through to the boss room. I breathed in, feeling the swirl of thick mana that permeated the entire dungeon enter into my lungs. I absorbed it as much as I could drawing it into my mana centre within my chest. I held my breath for 2 heart beats as I felt the swirl of mana flow through my body, slowing down at certain sites bidden by my willpower. Then, I breathed out, the breath feeling like fire as it left my body. I was drenched in sweat, the skill [Mana Empowerment] didn¡¯t seem to make using it any easier. But perseverance is key. I felt mana trying to form tiny crystals of energy in my muscles, this is what I believed is the path I need to take. Not a path of killing creatures, not one of empowering demonic influences¡­ a path all of my own. My body trembled, my muscles twitching, the mana that was trying to crystallize starting to look volatile, almost looking like it was going to start burning¡­ Then¡­ A single small crystal form and without any resistance entered one of my muscle cells. And then it was like a dam had burst, all the hundreds of tiny crystals that had been trying to form entered into my muscle cells. I felt sharp stabbing pains as the muscles then twisted and contracted before settling down again.
[Mana Empowerment] has been activated
Strength has permanently increased by 1
I felt like laughing. All of that effort, for hours, just for a single stat point? But this was the key to forging myself into a Stat Ranker. I knew this. On Earth, how long did I search for a way to make myself more powerful? Sure there were other ways to gaining stats but they were all restrictive. [Contract] was good but I only got points if I found contractees with stronger stat points than me. Equipment had their own limitation, especially on earth with no one having the talent to make good equipment until years after the advent of mana. And I hadn¡¯t explored this world so finding permanent stat increase potions and materials was not feasible yet. Rox came into the room. ¡®They¡¯ve made it to the Boss room.¡¯ Finally, we¡¯re going to start our plan.
When the dark mages first entered the room, they were greeted with the sight of Masher waiting for them in the middle of the room. One of the foolhardy mages ran straight towards the orc fighter. ¡®Stop you fool!¡¯ The leader barked out, but it was too late. The shadowmancer caught Masher¡¯s shadow and the glow of mana surrounded him. He looked up with a smirk at Masher but then his expression changed to one of shock. It was the last look he would have. Masher¡¯s Hammer descended down cracking open the mage¡¯s skull. Weakness number 4: Their abilities don¡¯t work on those without souls. As a dungeon boss, his soul is tied to the room, not to his body. So who cares if his shadow is stolen? Without a stolen soul as well, the shadowmancer couldn¡¯t control him. ¡®Idiot! Useless morons the lot of you! Who told you to move forward?! Do you think your puny abilities can control the soul of a dungeon?! This is a special room and that is a special creature!¡¯ The leader seemed to have expected this, he drew out another of his orbs. This one was purple in colour. When he crushed it, an overwhelming power of lightning surged around him. Masher on seeing this started charging towards the mage group. The leader mage sneered, fighters at a distance against a mage with a prepared spell? The outcome was obvious. That was when an orb of blinding light exploded near the group of mages. The orc shaman Sightless had been preparing his spell as Masher was occupying their attention. With his vision gone, the leader couldn¡¯t find a target so he started firing were he remembered Masher last. Of course Masher hadn¡¯t stayed still. Shade had burst out from the side where the panther had been hiding, bowling over the mages while the orc fighter hopped on. Then they attacked the remaining goblin Shadowspawn, killing them off easily. When the shadowmancers regained their sight, they were faced with the sight of an orc armed with a 2-handed hammer sitting astride a pitch black panther, with muscles that rippled alarmingly. Behind was the vision of an orc shaman that was even then preparing another spell whose effects were unknown. ¡®Fuck, what¡¯s with this first floor boss? This is far too powerful! 3 fucking bosses?!¡¯ As the mages backed away from the three first floor bosses, the leader of the group cursed. He brought out a 7 different orbs, all of them disintegrating into dust. 7 different sparks of mana exploded out. From within the light a shape emerged, two long arms reaching to the ground. The thing that emerged from the light was gargantuan¡­ towering over double the height of Masher astride Shade. One hand would be as large as the body of a goblin! It opened its eyes, but there was no intelligence in there. It rumbled as its body moved according to whose will, I didn¡¯t know. Watching it though, I concluded that it was likely to be a mana construct of some kind. Maybe a puppet¡­ or a golem. When the golem came out, the game changed. It was a monstrous entity, with a resounding whistling roar its fist descended down upon the trio. Shade being the fastest of the 3 jumped to the side but Sightless wasn¡¯t so lucky. He shot off one more spell towards the mage group, another blinding light spell before his body was crushed by the golem. His body dispersed into mana particles, he would only be summoned again once the room absorbed enough mana to summon him again. The golem straightened up then focused on the panther and orc.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Behind the golem, the shadowmancers had been hit by light spell yet again causing most of them to grab their eyes in pain. A few of them were not caught in surprise again and had shielded their eyes, these of course included the experienced leader. The leader withdrew a yellow orb from his robes. When he crushed it, yellow mana flew around him. He cast this mana towards the punching golem and dodging floor bosses. The effect of the mana became apparent, it made the air thicker, causing the movement speed of the two remaining bosses to plummet. With a roar, Shade threw Masher to the side as the golem¡¯s fist descended and destroyed his body. Now only Masher was left facing the vastly superior mage and his golem. This shadowmancer leader seemed to have prepared an incredible amount for this. With nowhere left to run, Masher dashed ducking between the legs of the golem, fighting against that yellow aura. The golem was a bit slow to turn, thus by the time it had, Masher had broken through the area of the yellow mana and was almost upon the mage group. The golem¡¯s fist descended once again but so too did Masher¡¯s hammer. Both ended up crushing the life that was underneath. The group of 13 mages that had entered the dungeon had two more of their number crushed, they were now 9.
As the mage group descended the stairs to the decoy half of the second floor, I switched the two boss rooms again. The adventurers were rapidly entering the dungeon by now, I didn¡¯t want them to run into the floor boss trio. I wondered how they would be summoned again though. Would it draw on my own mana? If so then that is truly bad for business. The boss room, now with the Demon Wolf waiting in the centre would greet the adventurers. If I truly had to pay a mana cost for the floor bosses each time then the Demon Wolf was much cheaper. I followed the shadowmancers to the second floor with my dungeon senses. They had paused at the landing at the bottom of the stairs. And no wonder. They had lit up some torches and were holding them aloft. What greeted them was a dark floor, and the only things that were immediately visible was the dense foliage and tree trunks of the forest of the second floor. I had gotten the Max and his squirrels to remove all the mana stones I had embedded in the roof to maintain bright light in this floor and then focused on saturating the floor with water elemental mana while draining out the fire elemental. The denser water elemental mana caused the dim glow of the dungeon to become even weaker and not enough for the dark mages to see. I had also move the bees to the latter half of the floor, they would wait along with the rest of the troops for a final confrontation. As the mages entered into the forest, they looked around fearfully, the light of the torches wasn''t able to penetrate far. The denseness of the forest blocked the light quite effectively. Apart from the leader, the rest of this group was pitiful. I gave a signal to Max and his troop. As squirrels, their natural inclination is in the upper treeline, which is where they were waiting at this moment. With a synchronized movement, a dozen squirrels moved swiftly. Their target were the torches. Weakness number 5, Shadowmancers need shadows in order for their ability to work. Instantly the entire group was covered in darkness. The leader of the group was cursing. He probably had a countermeasure for this but he wasn¡¯t expecting it. Weakness number 3, no preparation for surprise attacks. I gave a signal to Levine¡¯s group. They dashed in from two sides, swords at the ready, plunging into the chests of 3 of the dark mages. Only 6 left now. Levine led his group to retreat. The next phase was led by Tolk who had a bit of a grudge with this group. His team wielded spears, not for stabbing but for throwing. Although they were amateurs at this, they still managed to show some competence. Besides, their foe didn¡¯t have armour or surprisingly for a mage group, defensive magic skills. I spoke a bit too soon, the light of mana started shining from an orb in the leader¡¯s hands. The spears had already been cast though. They plunged into the remaining half dozen mages wounding 3 of them. Weakness number 2, poor defensive ability, no healing ability. There was the sound of sparks as one of the spears, impacted some mana creation around the lead shadowmancer making him hiss with anger. He started to withdraw more orbs putting mana into them making more light. I sent the last signal to Max and his crew. Vines tied up into lassos dropped down around the necks of the 5 mages, I didn¡¯t order one for the lead mage, he was too canny for a trick like this. The wounded mages didn¡¯t even notice until the vines had already fallen in place. By then it was too late. With the concerted effort of a few dozen squirrel folk, the mages shot up into the air struggling against the vine. They didn¡¯t have the strength to tear the vines or even the daggers or knives that could have cut the vines apart. Hidden in the darkness up in the trees, they were easy prey for squirrel warriors. Weakness number 1, poor physical ability. They were now only 3. The remaining two uninjured had noticed the vines dropping down and had tried to dodge. The slight delay was enough for the mage leader to send a wave of mana shooting out from one of his hands. I narrowed my eyes, this was the first time he wasn¡¯t relying on orbs. This person wasn¡¯t simple¡­ He didn¡¯t belong with this group. No he was using this group as cannon fodder. The 5 phases of the plan were complete. Our preparations had whittled the group from a strong 13 to a small 3. But that leader, he was probably stronger than the rest combined. And right now he was roaring in anger. Then he did something very unexpected. He clamped his hands down on the heads of the two remaining mages. The fierce flow of a sickly dark mana shot out around him. The two mages suddenly showed looks of extreme terror and started screaming. ¡®Please no! Please!¡¯ ¡®Don¡¯t, I beg you!¡¯ The reason became obvious, as their bodies soon slumped into lifelessness. The sole remaining shadowmancer held two faintly glowing orbs in his hands. The orbs gave off a sickly glow similar to the glow of his mana. He them pushed them back towards the lifeless bodies. The orbs entered into the shadow below the bodies¡­ then the bodies as if alive once again stood up. Not just cannon fodder it seems. With a growl the remaining dark mage leader walked deeper into the forest flanked by his two newly created shadowspawn. While Alex was dealing with the shadowmancers, I was keeping watch on the adventurers coming in. There were a lot of them¡­ That swordswoman was in the lead almost 2 rooms ahead of the rest. Another 2 dozen adventurers had come in as well, split into two teams it seemed. It didn¡¯t take them long to find the corpse of the shadowmancer that died after his legs were crushed from the ceiling fall. The swordswoman had ignored it and move even faster while it made the others pause a bit. They became even more careful about following precisely in the footsteps the swordswoman had left. The swordswoman had brought out a pouch of some strange powder then used it as a marker for those following her. I think she was following them using that strange mana smelling ability. The powder glowed faintly allowing the rest of the adventurers to follow her safely. I frowned, this method would invalidate the traps quickly, we¡¯ll have to deal with this in the future. It didn¡¯t take long for the swordswoman to reach the boss room, just a couple hours behind the shadowmancer group. Was she going to go in by herself? Yep, she went in by herself¡­ fuck, what was her Rank? She didn¡¯t even pause, the head of the Demon Wolf flew into the air as its body dispersed into light. Shit, that thing cost 400 mana you know? Fuck you Ogre Lady! She carried on barreling down the stairs to the second floor. An hour later the rest of the adventurers, looking a bit ragged, joined her. Some of them looked like they were going to question why she had stopped so suddenly. It surely wasn¡¯t to wait for them... They hadn¡¯t even opened their mouths when the sound of an explosion sounded out. After that there was the unmistakable hum of magic skills being used echoing in the dungeon. The floor didn¡¯t seem to have any lighting but in the distance a crackling glow could be seen. Part of the forest was burning. I heard the swordswoman muttering loudly, ¡®What in devil¡¯s name? Is there someone else down here? Who can fight against that shadowmancer prick?¡¯ She turned to the adventurers and said more loudly, ¡®We are going to go observe this battle. Those shadowmancers are our enemy however they have come to blows with another entity¡­ it doesn¡¯t sound like they¡¯re having an easy time either so I doubt it¡¯s monsters from the second floor of a dungeon¡­ I suspect there is someone else down here. We will find if they be friend or foe.¡¯ After saying that she took charge of one of the two adventurer groups while cursing. I sent an urgent message to Alex. The adventurers were coming! Chapter 22 – The Path of Corruption It was overwhelming. This man¡­ this¡­ monster. He stood in a clearing within the forest. One he had created himself. Those blasted orbs of his. What were they?! I had believed we had prepared an adequate defense, the fire aligned squirrels preparing their fireballs directed by Eva, Levine leading the holy-aligned hares while Tolk stood in front with his goblins torches lit to keep our shadows away from that mage. Except the mage didn¡¯t play fair. He used those orbs to devastating effect. Before he even came into range, as soon as he saw us, he sent one of those blasted shadowspawn carry half a dozen glowing orbs running in our direction. What happen next was light, extreme heat and a feeling of force as the defensive line was blasted away from a massive explosion. Gone were the bumbling moronic antics of those other 12 shadowmancers. They were clearly novices, the one standing before us surrounded by a sea of flames was the true master. The traps placed in the trees were no use. Arrow traps, destroyed, spears traps, destroyed. Pitfall traps useless, ceiling falls useless. Surprise attacks didn¡¯t work, he had some blasted shield around him at all times. It was like Alex had always said, beyond stats, beyond skills, there lies true battle power, true prowess. This mage borrowed power from a countless multitude of orbs, how can the system quantify that into a ranking? Can the system quantify the ruthlessness and cruelty needed to use one of your subordinates as an explosive weapon? Regardless of what the rank of this mage in front of us, there is no doubt he was formidable. From the depths of his robes came an amused laugh, ¡®Evolved rodents and puny goblins? You think you can stop me?¡¯ He then drew out more than a dozen orbs. I held my breath¡­ what new weapon is this? But instead of attacking, when mana shone from these orbs, a shimmering shield shone around him. I looked on confused. Then he drew out one more orb¡­ but this time, when it came out, the sound seemed to quieten. The crackle of the fire around us seemed to dull and its light seemed to dim. The faint sound¡­ of people screaming seemed to be echoing yet just faintly like they were just out of reach. There were dark shadows that leaked out from the strange orb. The shadowmancer started glowing with a dark aura of mana making all of it flow into the orb. The dark shadows started coming out faster and the sounds of screaming and wails of terror seemed to become stronger and louder. ¡®Fuck! Stop him! Everyone attack! We can¡¯t let him finish what he¡¯s doing!¡¯ Rox shouted out an order to everyone. Everyone started pouring attacks towards that shimmering shield. Fireballs, spears, swords, holy light, the hum of skills being used filled the air. But nothing worked. The shimmering shield didn¡¯t even tremble. Then the sounds stopped. I paused¡­ dread filling me. The shadowmancer leader was looking at all of us with a look of derision as he crushed the orb. ¡­ What happened? The dark mage took another look at us as this time he raised a bracelet on his arm. Below his feet a strange shining glyph appeared. With a bright flash, he disappeared¡­ he was gone. Suddenly, an even more urgent Rox shouted at all of us, this time there was fear in her voice, ¡®Out! Everybody out of the dungeon! Bees out through the secret entrance to the forests! Goblins, squirrels, hares charge to the first floor and out! Hurry! Hurry!¡¯ The dungeon started to tremble¡­ Pain, I felt a pain stabbing my head and then the mana around the dungeon started to become chaotic. What the fuck happened? ¡®You heard Lady Rox! RUN!¡¯ It happened when that mage took out that awful orb.
An [Orb of Corruption] has activated within your dungeon
The power of corruption gains a bonus against those of the Path of Purity
Due to the distance from the dungeon crystal room, the power of corruption is 80% of total
Corruption of the dungeon: 1%
Pain shot through me, like a burning hot lance. It wasn¡¯t my human body but my dungeon crystal¡­ we were one and the same. On the surface of the crystal a small dot of darkness had appeared¡­ this was the source of the pain, beyond anything I had experienced in this world. I couldn¡¯t help it, I started screaming in agony¡­ Rox fluttered nearby, worry evident on her face, ¡®A.. Alex? What¡¯s wrong?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t think¡­ I couldn¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t let them stay within the dungeon. Within the fires attacking my mind, I realized this fact. ¡®Out! Get everyone out of the dungeon! I don¡¯t know if I can control it!¡¯
Corruption of the dungeon: 2%
A fresh wave of agony pierced into me. My human body was writhing from the shared pain. I could feel a corrosion in my mind. I couldn¡¯t speak anymore, I used whatever willpower I had left to show Rox all the screens that had appeared. Then my vision started to dim.
Corruption of the dungeon: 3%
Corruption of the dungeon: 35%
All around me was a pitch blackness. I could feel the darkness gnawing on my soul. ¡®Why did you abandon us?¡¯ A small child appeared in front of me¡­ what was her name? I remember her... ¡®I didn¡¯t abandon you!¡¯ I couldn¡¯t think properly, the pain eating away at me. ¡®But you let us all die¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s not my fault! We were all betrayed!¡¯ ¡®You said you¡¯d save us¡­¡¯ Another voice echoed in the darkness, the small child disappearing from view. ¡®You said to trust you.¡¯ ¡®Why did you not save us?¡¯ ¡®Why¡¯ ¡®Why did you abandon us?¡¯ So many voices all around me.
Corruption of the dungeon: 40%
The darkness around me disappeared and then shifted to a familiar scene¡­ one I dreamt about, had nightmares about.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! In front of me was the body of Nautilus, a Rank S monster that our group had fought in that last year¡­ that last year when all sorts of incredibly powerful monsters started appearing. ¡®Well Al, it¡¯s time for this bird to fly. I¡¯ll see you when you manage to figure out how to summon us again.¡¯ No¡­ I remember this scene all too well, I knew every detail of it. Nautilus was a young dragon that came flying out of the blackhole vortex. It attack our group and¡­ and we fought it but Bird was gravely injured. Too injured. Not even my sister could heal him. So he did what he had to, accepted the offer from that blasted god to go wait for me to summon him in the next world. I remember this scene all to fucking well. Then¡­ the familiar scene distorted¡­ twisted and some tendrils of darkness, like a fog crept into the scene. The familiar face of Bird twisted as he turned around and asked me, ¡®Why did you abandon us?¡¯ ¡®NOOOOO, how fucking dare you!¡¯ I tried to move, to struggle!
Corruption of the dungeon: 50%
In front of me was the signs of another massive battle. Fire lay everywhere, crackling and eating away at the body of a massive monster. Its name Pambria, a huge cyclops that wielded two incredibly powerful hammers. ¡®Well little brother, it seems its time I joined Bird hey?¡¯ Another scene that I knew very well¡­ ¡®You¡¯re the last one bro. I know you can do it!¡¯ I remember thinking she was so jolly, sitting there with her back leaning on a building¡­ one of arms was missing, lost during the fight and she was bleeding out. So she transferred as well, accepting the offer to wait for me to succeed. Again¡­ shadows started creeping around me¡­ and her smiling face twisted. ¡®You said to trust you?¡¯ No fuck! Not her too!
Corruption of the dungeon: 55%
I watched so many scenes. So many people. Duke, King, Skipper¡­ all the codenames we gave each other flooded through my memories as I saw their faces once again¡­ always in the last moments before their death. Before they left waiting for me to call them once again... Duke as he held the gates of the city alone against a horde of monsters, their horns and spikes piercing into him.
Corruption of the dungeon: 70%
King as he led his team against the traitors, sent flying from an explosion that destroyed the entire west wall of the city.
Corruption of the dungeon: 71%
The twins Judge and Justice, fighting back to back, laughing in the face of death.
Corruption of the dungeon: 73%
Valkyrie shooting herself as fast as she could into the air and using her own mana to explode taking the attacking thunderbird with her.
Corruption of the dungeon: 75%
Scene after scene. One after another, all the people I fought alongside. I had made contracts with all of them. With the simple promise and the guarantees of a god, that I would summon everyone and create a safe haven for humanity on the other side.
Corruption of the dungeon: 80%
I felt¡­ sluggish. As if I was stuck within some marsh¡­ my thoughts were as dark as the scene around me¡­
Corruption of the dungeon: 81%
Maybe they were right? I hadn¡¯t made any progress on summoning them this side now had I?
Corruption of the dungeon: 82%
But how come I trust the humans this side? They would be children of betrayers.
Corruption of the dungeon: 83%
We were supposed to fight together, all of the last of humanity together. But instead they ran. They abandoned us.
Corruption of the dungeon: 84%
We were powerless to watch as those who didn¡¯t have the power to move to the next world were crushed, killed, destroyed¡­ we could do nothing but watch as we fled into the night as well¡­ our ragged group.
Corruption of the dungeon: 85%
Why did we abandon them? Because we were betrayed¡­
Corruption of the dungeon: 86%
Perhaps we could have tried fighting when the army attacked us and truly won. But millions of people fled that very night. The buzz of transference was unmistakable throughout our city.
Corruption of the dungeon: 87%
After almost a decade of fighting, completing missions and improving the strength of our team, we had decided we would hold a city. One that would be a safe place for all of humanity left to gather. Our team was strong and we were confident in our ability to defend the city. The city lasted for almost 4 years. Then we were attacked, by the army. They who chose the Path of the Demon felt we were an eyesore, we of the Path of Purity. Our existence a thorn that proved their Path was not the strongest Path. We rallied the people, our city had grown to encompass 5 million people, truly amazing in a world filled with monsters. And then when the army attack, we were betrayed. 3 and a half million people who lived in the city had the ability to move to the next world, but they had stayed¡­ until the army arrived. As the army began its attack, all of them abandoned us and left for the next world. Those remaining were weaker, or hadn¡¯t finished the missions so they couldn¡¯t travel yet. Our team defended as much as we could but even we had to flee. Flee with as many people as possible¡­ which was a pitiful 1500 people out of the 1 and a half million left. We had to leave more than a million people to die.
Corruption of the dungeon: 95%
I knew what was happening¡­ at least on some level. That orb that the shadowmancer had used was corrupting my dungeon crystal. But knowing is not overcoming. I had no idea how to fight against it. Dark thoughts continued to swirl within my mind... The clock was ticking as seconds went by. We had been stopped at the stairway up to the first floor. Two dozen adventurers were looking at us, some in surprise, others in shock, a few in anger. Around us the dungeon was still trembling. The swordswoman was in front of me¡­ it was the first time any of the dungeon denizens had ever been so close to her. Even Alex said he wasn¡¯t a match¡­ I could feel the power coming off her in waves. She was surrounded by some aura as well, it was reddish in colour, she definitely could kill hundreds of us if she so chose¡­ The dozen adventurers behind her had their hands on the weapons, ready to unsheathe them at a moments notice. The other group were not so polite, they already had weapons in hand pointed in our direction. Rox whispered into my mind, ¡®Max, I¡¯m going to get Tolk to be the one to talk to them. They haven¡¯t ever seen your species before so they might not think you¡¯re capable of talking.¡¯ Rox had also made sure none of the squirrels or hares spoke a word as Tolk drew up. The adventurers tensed up, a hobgoblin variant. This they had definitely seen before. ¡®Can I ask you adventurers why you are blocking our way? We are trying to leave the dungeon quickly.¡¯ A tremor ran through the group as Tolk spoke. Tolk was more eloquent than the other 4 hobgoblins that had evolved with him, so I could understand their surprise at this. The swordswoman looked at him and said, ¡®I am going to use an appraisal device on you, do not be alarmed.¡¯ Using [Appraisal] or other observation skills was considered quite rude, even Alex and Rox had never tried it on me, even though I wouldn¡¯t mind. Since high rank observation skills can show stat points as well as skills and their description, it¡¯s no wonder its considered taboo. Which made it all the more surprising that the swordswoman told us before using it. But how could we resist? We didn¡¯t know her rank but it outclassed everyone in the dungeon. Perhaps we could barely defeat her if everyone attacked together¡­ Thinking back on us hammering futilely at the shadowmancer¡¯s shimmering shield¡­ well perhaps even all of us attacking together would be nothing more than creating more casualties. The swordswoman pointed the hand which wasn¡¯t on her weapon at Tolk, a bracelet shone with the light of mana. I was surprised. The swordswoman was heavily armoured, with a full faced helmet complete with two jutting horns, which is probably why Rox kept referring to her as an Ogre. Yet this bracelet shone right through the armour as if it was nothing¡­ definitely a high rank equipment. ¡®Noble Hobgoblin? Not Hobgoblin Noble?? I have never heard of such a thing¡­¡¯ she murmured loud enough for the adventurers behind her as well as myself to hear. I frowned, there are some secrets we as dungeon denizens wanted to keep but if that device she had was high in rank¡­ She turned away from Tolk¡­ and then looked right at me. I froze, being stared at by someone leagues above you in strength is not a comfortable experience. Especially if you don¡¯t know if they are friendly or not. ¡®I want to know why you are all leaving the dungeon¡­ also what you are doing in the dungeon in the first place.¡¯ She was still looking at me as she spoke. Tolk began to speak, ¡®Well it¡¯s because¡­¡¯ ¡®Not you, your leader. That squirrel there. You cannot fool me, you understand every word we are speaking and all your companions look for your lead, even the ones hiding in the trees and shadows.¡¯ Damn¡­ we were powerless against this¡­ this¡­ monster. So I walked forward to stand besides Tolk. ¡®Lady Swordswoman, we live in this dungeon. I myself was a squirrel caught by wolves that brought me back to the dungeon. Within the dungeon I evolved to what I am now. In fact, those were the same wolves you killed months ago so I thank you, those wolves had killed most of my squirrel kin.¡¯ When you want to fool someone, you need 9 parts truth and 1 part lie. I didn¡¯t want her to know that almost everyone was summoned by the dungeon itself then granted souls to become their own entities. In fact, apart from myself, Levine, a few of the hares and squirrels and the bees, everyone was summoned by the dungeon. But of course this was something to hide from them. They must assume we came into the dungeon from outside to live. ¡®We found safety in the dungeon after the wolves left, and after finding the second floor to be a forest, we settled here¡­ but now we must escape.¡¯ The swordswoman did not react in any way to my words. Of course she was probably suspicious. Things were at a stalemate when one of the adventurers from the other group came forward and said angrily, ¡®Why are we even talking to these bastards? Let¡¯s just kill them and find those shadowmancer pricks!¡¯ Another of the second group ran to grab him and drag him back, fear shining in his eyes. I narrowed my eyes. The mood of the adventurer group seemed to lower after those words. Things were not looking good. Then finally the swordswoman reacted. However it wasn¡¯t an attack, instead the hand dropped from her weapon as if in shock. ¡®Starla?! Is that you??¡¯ The group of squirrels and goblins transporting the folk in the healing centre had caught up with us. Among them was the mana drained water witch Starla lying tiredly on a stretcher. When she caught sight of the adventurers, she tried to rise up causing one of the squirrel healers to bark at her to lie back down. ¡®Tetiana! What are you doing in here? We need to get out of the dungeon!¡¯ So the swordswoman¡¯s name was Tetiana? All of the adventurers had become unguarded, some open-mouthed in shock. I assume they thought Starla was dead. ''Tetiana! Get everyone out! That... that shadowmancer! He used an Orb of Corruption in the dungeon!'' Around us, the dungeon¡¯s trembling was growing louder. Chapter 23 – A Tense Situation It didn¡¯t take long for all of us to leave the dungeon. Unfortunately, to facilitate our evacuation, we had to show some of the secret paths through the dungeon to the adventurers. Some of their eyes had widened when we showed those paths to them, no doubt wondering what else the dungeon hid. Outside the dungeon, our group fell into an uncomfortable silence. An uneasy truce was made after Starla came out, it was obvious to them that we were not in league with the Shadowmancers¡­ however they didn¡¯t know what to do with us. It made me grit my teeth. For them to assume that the dungeon was their property simply because they knew about it. What arrogance! Well it was a moot point. ¡®An orb of corruption? Damn¡­¡¯ Some of the mages could be heard to sigh. I was hesitant to speak, wanting to know the details of the orb that had been used, but I was not ready to engage this group just yet. I started sending most of the squirrels and hares deeper into the forest. Obviously this couldn¡¯t go unnoticed by the adventurers and mages but they didn¡¯t move to stop us. Why would they? We didn¡¯t have anything obviously rare or precious that they would be willing to fight us over. Well most of them. One of the adventurers seeing my squirrels, hares and goblins start moving out quickly and disappearing into the forest started making a fuss. I recognized him, it was that same adventurer that spoke out against the swordswoman, Tetiana. ¡®Why are we letting them get away?! They obvious have treasures from the dungeon! You there, go kill them!¡¯ One of the mages said he was a noble. I didn¡¯t like what ever group this represented already. If they could raise such an arrogant idiot like this¡­ better to have stupid enemies rather than stupid allies. Two swordsman started making their way towards us. I had truly never relaxed my guard anyway, keeping my hand on my sword. ¡®Stay your hand!¡¯ Tetiana roared out at the two who were moving glaring at them. I sent a quiet signal to the warriors around me. There were about 100 armed squirrels that were still with me and 80 hares. The goblins had already moved out, leaving only Tolk with us. They were slower thus I got them moving first. I wondered who among the humans had the greater authority. If it was the weaker noble who had more authority than the swordswoman, then it would turn into a brawl. The two swordsman had stopped, looking hesitant. I waited, my entire arm like a spring, ready to whip out my sword at the slightest motion. ¡®What are you doing? You are my bodyguards! You will do as I say!¡¯ This fool! Truly an imbecile! This is our terrain, and we have the greater number. Surrounded and outnumbered yet he threatens us? The only true worry we have is the swordswoman, but she doesn¡¯t seem to be keen on increasing hostilities with us. ¡®If either of you move a single step, I will cut open your stomachs and strangle you with your own guts. You and your noble master.¡¯ This declaration made clear once and for all who had the higher power. The angry noble glared at Tetiana but perhaps he wasn¡¯t completely lacking in wisdom since he kept his mouth shut. Tetiana turned to us and said, ¡®I want to talk to your leader. And Starla as well.¡¯ I nodded my head to Tolk who went to bring a tired Starla over. As we sat down, Starla started to explain what had happened. She had been cautioned not to tell this adventurer group about signing a dungeon contract or meeting Alex. It wasn¡¯t clear if they caught on to that. A few minutes after we had started, a mage came to talk to Tetiana. He looked apologetic as he said, ¡®The young noble of House Torne wishes to join the discussion.¡¯ His face was also familiar. He had been the leader of the second group of adventurers that came to the second group. That fiery noble was in his group. It seemed the relationship was not so clear cut. The sound of clenched teeth could be heard from Tetiana, she hadn¡¯t removed her helmet the entire time we were speaking however I imagined a look of frustration must be on her face. ¡®Tell the young noble that this is guild business. Not any of his concern!¡¯ ¡®What do you mean none of my concern?!¡¯ He had walked to where he had been speaking, bursting into the conversation. ¡®This is our dungeon and these animals have no right to it. Why are you even speaking to them? Why not just kill them? Or are you, the great Rank B swordswoman scared of these rodents?¡¯ He smirked at Tolk, ¡®And monsters.¡¯ There was the sound of three swords leaving their sheaths. Levine and Tolk had heard what had been said, even Starla had a look of fury on her face. The third sword wasn¡¯t mine. It was surprisingly Tetiana who had drawn it. ¡®These people saved Starla¡¯s life. One of the adventurer guild¡¯s own. Others in town may abide your intolerance but I will not.¡¯ She raised the sword until it rested a finger¡¯s breadth away from his nose. ¡®Lady Tetiana! Please stay your sword! Although you will escape retribution the rest of us will not be so lucky!¡¯ The unfortunate mage cried out in alarm. Things were not shaping up well. There were three different groups that came to the dungeon from where ever this town or city was¡­ excluding the shadowmancers that had infiltrated their ranks. Of the 3, the adventurer¡¯s guild were the most friendly with us. Our act of rescuing Starla made them see us favourably. The other two factions, one was led by the noble, the other by the city mages. The noble¡¯s group seemed intent on controlling the dungeon through force. I didn¡¯t know which side the mages were on. A full blown argument had blown out. The noble, anger evident on his face backed away but regained some of his courage when his two bodyguards joined him.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡®Even if we won¡¯t kill them, we can¡¯t let them go free! I want whatever items those shadowmancers were carrying!¡¯ I had had enough. ¡®You are a fool,¡¯ I was angry, so angry. Why did we have to endure the insults and belittlement of this man? ¡®And I have had enough.¡¯ At my words the 100 armed squirrels and 80 hares behind me drew their swords. What made the more astute mages and adventurers present narrow their brow was that the sound of swords being unsheathed could be heard from all around us, hidden in the forest as well. The mages felt a shift in the mana as the fire squirrels started preparing their fire spells, while the hares started preparing to use holy power. The display made the adventurers pause but the only person¡¯s reaction I was watching was the swordswoman. No one else mattered, no matter what, we could destroy the rest even with heavy casualties but the swordswoman was an expert! Not someone we can crush with just pure numbers. If she stood against us, we would have no option but to fight a retreat. Even if she simply stood neutral, she wouldn¡¯t allow us to kill the mages freely. Only if she sided with us¡­ I looked towards Starla. She had recovered a bit from her mana drain, enough for spells but the mental and physical exhaustion of the ordeal cannot be erased so simply. But she returned my gaze then struggled up to stand next to Tolk. Around her the light of mana started to condense into small sparks of blue light. Seeing this finally drew Tetiana to action. ¡®ENOUGH! These dungeon folk have rescued one of mine! Sheathe your swords!¡¯ Some of the warriors started lowering their weapons however I didn¡¯t give the signal to lower ours. I didn¡¯t trust them¡­ moreover they had not given me reason to assume they were trustworthy. I had become less na?ve. Less idealistic. Trained by Rox and tutored by Alex, I was not going to leave such an opening for any treachery. And my suspicions were proven correct. The light of mana suddenly surrounded the nobleman who then shot forward right towards me. Seeing this, the swordswoman flew forward as well. Seeing their charge attacking, his bodyguards cursed as light shone around them as well, with them activating their skills. They were even faster than the nobleman, obviously a higher rank than him. They were only aiming for halting the swordswoman from instantly killing the young noble. There was a clang of metal as both swordsmen were blown into the air, their swords flying out of their hands. Their task was complete though, since with the delay, the nobleman had flown towards me. I was calm. This nobleman seemed to be using a fairly high ranked skill. Good in speed and attack. But¡­ he was so awful. Obvious in his movements and intentions. His attack too was simply a straight path that shot right towards me. Did he think I was going to wait calmly as his sword rushed towards me? So I pivoted my feet and turned my body to the side, and as he reached me, I stepped back while my sword, still sheathed whipped out and hit the back of his knees. He obviously hadn¡¯t been in any proper fights, he crumbled to the floor in pain. I waved back all my squirrel and hare troops,and they made a half circle as they opened up a space for my confrontation with the noble. Even the swordswoman had stopped and the mages and adventurers made the other half circle. In my head I was in slight turmoil. I hadn¡¯t been sure how to handle this. Alex was fighting whatever the Orb of Corruption did and Rox had stopped answering to our calls a while ago. Thus as the most senior member of the dungeon, leadership fell on me. And the decision that befell me at this moment was¡­ what do I do about this moron that was trying to kill me? It was obvious he was from an important family, just as it was obvious that the adventurers held contempt for him. However that didn¡¯t mean I could willfully just kill him in front of all of them. What would Alex and Rox want me to do? What did Alex and Rox want for our dungeon? What was Alex making the dungeon into? Safety. That word floated in my mind. All the changes that had happened to the dungeon had emphasized safety. The traps, the secret caves, the false second floor. Greywall. Defense, misdirection. But above all, it was to provide safety. Myself, Levine, Tolk and Eva, as the upper circle directly reporting to Alex and Rox knew that Alex was trying to perform a great magic summoning, one that he lacked mana for which resulted in our efforts to gather it for him. Yet always, he prioritized making the dungeon safe for us to try and live in. That¡¯s when I realized it, he¡¯s making a Haven. A sanctuary, one for us to live in¡­ The awful noble swordsman had struggled up. He was pressing some small orb to his knees. How pitiful, a small injury and he is willing to use an item to heal? ¡®Give up. You are not enough to beat me.¡¯ With a roar the swordsman rushed to attack me once again, a different light shining around him. So obvious. This time I wasn¡¯t going to play easy. With a small dash to the side, I pushed off the ground hard, leaping high into the air and landing on the side of a tree. Using my free hand I grabbed the tree. Then leaping again I jumped to another tree. By the time I had jumped another 2 times, the swordsman had lost track of me while I had moved to flank him. Then, as quietly as I could, I jumped out and landed behind him and smashed the back of his head. I didn¡¯t hit too hard, only wanting to knock him out but I¡¯ll admit I hit a little harder than I absolutely needed to. It was quite satisfying. From the corner of my eye, I could see that the swordswoman had been arguing with the mage in charge of the other group, holding him in the air by the front of his robes. The mage was so agitated he missed the sight of his charge falling unconscious onto the ground. I looked at the adventurers and mages around me. ¡®I will make a few things clear to all of you. I do not want to fight with you. However if you are like this miscreant on the floor here, I will fight to the death. I have spared him his death as a sign of good faith,¡¯ I know Rox would smack me for letting him live however this wasn¡¯t a situation where I can kill of them. Especially that swordswoman¡­ damn it. I narrowed my eyebrows in anger as I looked down at the unconscious noble. I truly wanted to end his life before he brought any trouble to us. But I could feel the tension in the air, if I acted, a battle would break out. I had to let him live. I cursed before walking back to my troop. One of the nobleman¡¯s group finally moved forward carrying him back to a waiting healer to wake him up. As he woke up an angry shout could be heard as he tried to scramble and grab at his sword again. I prepared myself. This time he would die. ¡®He cheated! He ran away! He didn¡¯t face me head on like a true warrior!¡¯ It was obvious to all that he had suffered a miserable defeat. I looked over at him and said, ¡®You are very foolish Mr Nobleman to think that simply because you have stronger stats or a higher ranked skillthat you would be stronger than me. Remember, we are fighting on MY land, and the very trees around us are my sword and shield. So don''t be cocky with me, or next time I won''t give you a warning. Only death will await you.¡¯ It was true. How could he beat me here? In the forest outside the dungeon entrance, I had walked here thousands of times. My win over him was complete, a dominating achievement. ¡®How dare you! Wait till I go back to the city and bring back everyone¡­¡¯ ¡®SHUT UP!¡¯ He was interrupted by the swordswoman. It seemed she too had finally had enough. She whipped around sword in hand and placed it level with the tip of the nobleman''s nose She kept her blade there and said ¡®You have disgraced us all enough for today, every word you say from now until we return to the city, I''ll move my sword an inch closer to the back of your head.¡¯ The nobleman finally shut up. Tetiana then glared at the mage, ¡®And you! How incompetent can you be that you cannot even control your own charge?!¡¯ The mage looked with a despairing face, ''He is the son of a noble milady, although you have the power to be free from the consequences of what happened today, the rest of us¡­ we¡¯ll be lucky if we simply get fired after this.'' Tetiana had her eyes narrowed at this. She turned to us and said, ¡®I believe it would be best if we parted ways for a day or two. To let... tempers cool down. Let us meet again in a few days¡¯ time.¡¯ ¡®I agree. However I have two conditions. I do not want that nobleman there when next we speak.¡¯ Tetiana nodded at my request and asked, ¡®That¡¯s fine, what is your second request?¡¯ I narrowed my eyes, ¡®I do not want anyone to follow or track us.¡¯ She paused as she looked at me before nodding, ¡®What about Starla? I do not believe she is being kept hostage by you¡­¡¯ ¡®She will remain with us for now. She has stated that she does not know if there are more shadowmancers within your ranks.¡¯ My words sent a chill through some of the surrounding mages. ¡®Very well. We will meet in 3 days in front of the dungeon.¡¯ With no more words, I signaled to the troop. We no longer hid our abilities with the squirrels leaping into the trees and the hares dashing with their strong legs, the adventurers disappeared behind us rapidly. We would see them again in 3 days. Chapter 24 – The Contract Summoner
Corruption of the dungeon: 98%
I was sitting cross-legged in the space of the dungeon. Instead of pain now, all I felt was an emptiness. ¡®Hahaha, why don¡¯t you give up? Can¡¯t even move can you? Hahaha you and your rodents.¡¯ This fucking bastard. It was completely brilliant. I¡¯ll give him that. Every step was planned meticulously. Obviously this wasn¡¯t the first time he had done this.
Corruption of the dungeon: 99%
I was barely hanging on. I didn¡¯t know how to fight this, it felt like it was invading my soul. But I couldn¡¯t give up, I would fight for what is mine!
Corruption of the dungeon: 98%
¡®You¡¯re still struggling? Just give me your dungeon crystal. Hell I won¡¯t even kill you, just give in to it.¡¯
Corruption of the dungeon: 99%
I grit my teeth, ¡®I won¡¯t give in to you! And I won¡¯t give up on Rox!¡¯
Corruption of the dungeon: 98%
¡®Alex!¡¯ ¡®Rox! Get Back outside! It isn¡¯t safe in here!¡¯ ¡®What¡¯s going on?!¡¯ ¡®The shadowmancer! He didn¡¯t leave! He invaded the dungeon crystal! He¡­ he¡¯s also a dungeon master!¡¯ ¡®Hahaha, is this your dungeon fairy?¡¯ A voice was laughing from the corrupted corners of my dungeon space.
Corruption of the dungeon: 99%
¡®Alex!¡¯ ¡®Rox I can barely hang on¡­ I don¡¯t know how to fight him. He knows a lot more about dungeons and their abilities than I do.¡¯ It was true, he used some strange dungeon skill to enter my dungeon crystal. Except he couldn¡¯t enter the uncorrupted parts of the crystal¡­ not that there was much left. ¡®Alex listen to me. He¡¯s trying to take over your crystal. But you are only allowed to do that during a dungeon duel¡­ so he¡¯s trying to weaken you before he initiates the duel so that he can win without any effort.¡¯ ¡®Oh listen to the little fairy. So smart. So wise.¡¯ A figure emerged slowly from the darkness around me. In this space there is no equipment, yet this person was shrouded by a cloak of darkness around him. In his hand he held up a small crystal and a cage. The crystal was giving off a sickly glow¡­ as if it was diseased. I looked closely¡­ within the cage could be seen¡­ a dungeon fairy¡­ but¡­ The dungeon fairy was staring with dead eyes out at nothing¡­ the wings on his back had been ripped out and only scars remained there now. Fucking monster! Who could do that to another?! Especially your dungeon fairy! I won¡¯t let him get his grimy claws touch a single hair on Rox¡¯s body!
Corruption of the dungeon: 98%
¡®Boy, you sure do struggle. I think it¡¯s time to end this don¡¯t you?¡¯ The shadowmancer looked at me with a significant look.
Shadowmancer and Dungeon Master Tarkis has initiated a dungeon master¡¯s duel
All available forces will be summoned
The Rank 22 Dungeon: Dungeon of Shadowfell is attacking your dungeon.
Failure to fight off the invasion will result in death of yourself and all the dungeon inhabitants
The dungeon attacking you is more than 10 Ranks above you. You will be given a bonus of -50% cost of summoning The dungeon attacking you is using a Rank 30 skill before reaching the required Rank You will be given a bonus of -25% cost of summoning Due to the corruption in your dungeon, no additional monsters may be unlocked from the [Create animal], [Create monster] and [Create undead] during the duel. Due to the corruption in your dungeon, dungeon senses are not available during the course of the duel Due to the corruption in your dungeon, an additional cost of 25% must be paid for any creatures summoned
The Duel will commence in 1 hour, make your final preperations.
This fucker¡­ it was a brilliant plan. This was the target the entire time, to take over my dungeon. Not only that, all his actions, all his plans. The orb to erode my abilities, imagine a young dungeon facing him while only being able to summon basic creatures? ¡®Alex!¡¯ Max had been summoned. ¡®Sir? What¡¯s going on?¡¯ Levine. ¡®Ma¡¯am why are we inside the dungeon crystal?¡¯ Eva. ¡®Sir!¡¯ Tolk. ¡®Masher!¡¯ ¡­ uh¡­ Masher, Sightless and Shade were summoned from the Boss Room. Even the Demon Wolf was here. One by one, the denizens of the dungeon were arriving. There were 1500 dungeon folk, including all the bees, squirrels, hares and goblins. The shadowmancer looked at me, ¡®Well don¡¯t you have some skills? You have more creatures than any dungeon I¡¯ve ever fought before¡­ hahaha not that it will help you.¡¯ Just like my side, his side had creatures appearing as well¡­ only in much greater numbers. ¡®Observe.¡¯
Name: Lesser Troll (Shadowspawn)
Race Lesser Troll
Rank D
Description Trolls are known for their incredibly regenerative abilities and powerful destructive bodies The blood of a troll is known to be both a great poison but if distill by a master alchemist, it can become a powerful elixir This troll has had its soul captured by shadow magic, decreasing its body¡¯s abilities
Name: Wraith
Race Shadow Wraith
Rank E
Description Spawned from the fusion between the shadow of a creature and its soul Immune to physical attacks Speed is doubled when moving through shadows
Monster after monster appeared. I don¡¯t know what the dungeon¡¯s specialty was¡­ but¡­ More than 10 000 creatures were waiting in the distance. ¡®Observe.¡¯
Name: Tarkis
Race Shadow Serpent - Lizardman
Rank C
Description Shadowmancer and dungeon masterThis content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The description for him was sparse. He probably had something that blocked anything else about him being found out. ¡®Rox¡­ we don¡¯t have enough¡­ that entire army is Rank E and D monsters.¡¯ 1500 against 10 000. No matter how you look at it, this was not a good situation. Worse when you consider that the ranks of these monsters¡­ I glanced at the troop around me. Only determination could be seen in their eyes¡­ not a single one trembled or had a look of fear on their face. Even Levine, his hands gripped tightly on a sword even though his manaburning had made it difficult for him. Then I saw someone I didn¡¯t expect. ¡®Starla? Fuck I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be dragging you into this too.¡¯ The water witch was with the goblin troop. Small motes of mana light shone around her and condensed into tiny blue birds that fluttered around her. She looked at me and smiled, ¡®Sir, you are the dungeon master! We all got a message saying the dungeon master needs our help. You saved us, why should we hesitate when we can help save you?¡¯
Corruption of the dungeon: 97%
She was right. It wasn¡¯t just my own battle, 1500 creatures from my dungeon. They were standing together with me.
Corruption of the dungeon: 96%
I had forgotten what it meant to defend something important to you.
Corruption of the dungeon: 95%
The loyalty they showed to me. Beyond that of the contract between a dungeon and its creatures. I had lived with these people, trained with them. And when I needed them, they answered without hesitation.
Corruption of the dungeon: 93%
I will find a way to win. ¡®Rox, what can we do to increase mana, as much as possible. Nothing else matters in this situation.¡¯ ¡®You can absorb everything in the dungeon¡­ we got a lot of mana from the adventurers and shadowmancers that died¡­¡¯ She looked hesitant. ¡®Rox we only have half an hour left before the duel begins. What is it?¡¯ ¡®You can absorb¡­ everything¡­¡¯ ¡®Everything?¡¯ ¡®Yes, the trees we grew, even though we won¡¯t get much mana from them since they¡¯re dungeon plants. We can absorb the mana stones we summoned out, we can absorb the rooms, we can absorb even both the second floors¡­ it¡¯s just¡­ no dungeon would do that¡­¡¯ Give up everything we¡¯ve built so far? I need to win this fight. I survived so far, was this going to be the end of me?!
Corruption of the dungeon: 92%
The Title ¡®Last Human Survivor¡¯ has been activated.
Last Human Survivor (Rank S ¨C Unique, cost of summoning decreased)
The last remaining human on earth, you hold the hope of all humanity within your soul and all of earth fights alongside you
Cost of summoning humans from earth decreased by 50% Cost of summoning humans whose ancestry was from earth decreased by 30% Cost of summoning creatures from earth decreased 25% Cost of summoning creatures whose ancestry was from earth decreased by 10% You will always be able to sense someone who was from earth or whose ancestry was from earth.
¡®We¡¯ll do it. Absorb everything!¡¯ And it happened¡­ within the blink of an eye. The twin second floors were absorbed, the plantlife, the mana stones, the boss rooms, all the secret rooms. We were left with just two rooms, the entrance room and the dungeon crystal room. If anyone outside the dungeon attack now? Well we were finished. I checked the mana¡­ 103 456/10 000. The number was decreasing before my eyes, that much mana wasn¡¯t stable. ¡®Alex, what are you going to summon¡­? We can¡¯t unlock anything strong enough to beat those lesser trolls, and there¡¯s got to be 100 of them there.¡¯ ¡®Rox, the Shadowmancer has made one grave, dare I say fatal miscalculation in his so very well thought out plan. Before I became a dungeon master¡­ I was first a Contract Summoner.¡¯ ¡®Special Summon.¡¯
Special Summons Certain individuals, leave a mark on history, or in the souls of those around them. This permanent mark leaves their essence and their soul drifting in the world. Those with special summoning ability such as dungeon masters can tap into and summon those they have great affinity towards, for a price. Special summons are vastly more powerful than most normal summons and thus have a much greater price. If special conditions are fulfilled related to the souls in question, they can be summoned for a cheaper price or perhaps without any price paid by the dungeon master. Select rank
Rank Ex None
Rank SSS None
Rank SS 24 Available
Rank S 100+ Available
Rank A 100+ Available
Rank B 100+ Available
Rank C 100+ Available
Rank D 100+ Available
Rank E 100+ Available
Rank F 100+ Available
Rank G 100+ Available
The shadowmancer brought a horde of Rank D monsters did he? Well, two can play at that game. ¡®Rank C.¡¯ ¡­ No too expensive, I won¡¯t be able to control the battlefield. ¡®Rank D.¡¯
What Special Rank E would you like to summon? Summons available Mana Cost is currently -75% during the duel (-50%), (-25%), (-25%), (+25%) Maximum mana cost reduction will be capped at -90% if the reduction exceeds this
Fire Wolf ¡®Ceres¡¯ 500 Mana and 25 Souls to summon
Imp Noble ¡®Tome¡¯ 450 Mana and 30 Souls to summon
Wrathful Ogre ¡®Gatan¡¯ 525 Mana and 25 Souls to summon
Green Dryad ¡®Serby¡¯ 6000 Mana and 20 Souls to summon
Undead Sorcerer ¡®Golp¡¯ 5000 Mana and 20 Souls to summon
Torrent Saimen ¡®Garp¡¯ 600 Mana and 20 Souls to summon
Lizardfolk Warrior ¡®Jamis¡¯ 650 Mana and 20 Souls to summon
Lesser Fire Elemental ¡®Firis¡¯ 750 Mana and 25 Souls to summon
Lesser Cyclops ¡®Pandorus¡¯ 700 Mana and 20 Souls to summon
Lesser Giant ¡®Palop¡¯ 900 Mana and 30 Souls to summon
Please purchase current available to unlock more
¡®Summon¡­¡¯ ¡®Summon¡­¡¯ I was overflowing with mana, enough to level up perhaps 3 levels¡­ but I had to use it now to summon a proper defense. That said, I only summoned 100 from Rank D. That left me with just 50 000 mana, enough to summon perhaps 100 more but¡­ ¡®Summon everyone from Rank E.¡¯ More than 2500 creatures were summoned in front of me. In the distance the shadowmancer was making his own preperations. Another of those golems from when he was tackling the boss room had been summoned and a dark fog had enshrouded all of his creatures¡­ probably something to make them stronger. ¡®Summon everyone from Rank F.¡¯ Another 5000 creatures were summoned in front of me. And then I was out of mana¡­ not a single bit more mana could be squeezed out from absorbing the dungeon. A year¡¯s worth of mana collection, spent in an instant. Even with our absurd mana collection mission, with hundreds of troop arriving with material to be absorbed for mana¡­ My army of 9100 was looking at the shadowmancer¡¯s army of 10 000. That even up the odds a little bit now didn¡¯t it? The shadowmancer had an ugly expression on his face. ¡®What are you?! How can you summon so many different creatures?! You can¡¯t have unlocked them!¡¯ I looked at his eyes. He was angry, and nervous. This was obviously not included in his plans. Of course, no new dungeon can summon so many creatures¡­ but a dungeon with a Contract Summoner as dungeon master? Well¡­ A weakness! Weakness number 1: he prepares well, but can¡¯t adapt to things outside his expectations. I smirked at him. He had calmed down, no doubt he analyzed some of the creatures and realized they were on average lower in rank than his own¡­ Weakness number 2: underestimates his enemy. His analyze skill didn¡¯t show him that all the new creatures I summoned were all Named Creatures, vastly outstripping their brethren of the same rank. Weakness number 3: Relies on the system. I gazed at that dead looking dungeon fairy. Weakness number 4: he is alone, no smart subordinates He was obviously intending to wade through hundreds of thousands of slimes and goblins with his army. That¡¯s probably why he went through the dungeon first, to make sure there were no monsters or creatures too powerful for him. Too bad he ran into me.
10 seconds left before commencement of the Dungeon Master¡¯s Duel
I looked at my army. ¡®Rox, Max, take charge of the army. I can¡¯t move properly with this corruption eating at me so I¡¯m going to fight it off.¡¯ ¡®Yessir!¡¯ ¡®Alright troop! Today our dungeon has been attacked! Our home destroyed! And the one who is responsible for all this is standing before us! No mercy!¡¯ ¡®Brothers! On my signal, unleash hell! For Kin and Glory!¡¯
Begin the Dungeon Master¡¯s Duel
As the countdown struck zero, both armies started to move. I had divided the troop into 6 squads with 4 of the squads having 2000 each and the last one with 1000 to guard Alex as he fights that poisonous corruption. I was quite shocked at all the ones he had summoned¡­ there were even some humans in there! Summoning an intelligent species? Do you know how much that¡¯s supposed to cost?! And not only did he summon them out, he also used his contract power on all of them, draining mana stones that he had saved just for this purpose. Just to give them an edge. One of the new summons was a Rank D priest who was blessing Alex with holy light, it seemed to help judging by how the darkness around the dungeon crystal was so agitated and in some parts fading. Team 1 was the strength users, they were led by Tolk. They would be responsible for smashing into the enemy. In the front were three incredible rank D creatures. A lesser Giant, a lesser cyclops and a minotaur. They were charging out as the left wing. Team 2 was the speed users, led by Levine. They were to flank the enemy. Levine was sitting astride a fiery feline creature, already leading the charge out to as the right wing. The centre was team 3, led by Max. The Stamina users, strong and resilient, they would hold the shadow army and hold them in place. Team 3 was the magic users with Eva leading and Starla had joined her. They were behind max, already loading up their skills for the big clash. The 4th team was kept back to provide reinforcements where ever they were needed. The 5th team was led by myself, responsible for defending Alex. The last team¡­ they were all the Rank D summons. They were had a special mission. They were to attack the group of trolls as well as that massive golem. The golem seemed to be the shadowmancer¡¯s strongest power¡­ A Rank C power. We would take it down with numbers. The wraiths were the first of the shadowmancer¡¯s army to rush towards us. Foolish! Max directed his team to plant themselves down and fortify. Eva then brought the magic users into the protected area and started casting the spells they had prepared beforehand. The fire squirrels only had one specialty for spells so far, fireballs. So from their section, a group of 100 fireballs lit up as they tore towards the wraiths. The holy hares in this group blessed Max¡¯s group making a shining aura envelope them. And when the wraiths clashed into Max¡¯s group, the holy light flashed and a dozen of them exploded into balls of darkness. We weren¡¯t without casualties though, some of the wraiths managed to fight off the holy aura and attacked the group. When a wraith entered, one of the squirrels dropped his weapons and started screaming. A few more collapsed without even a sound. I frowned, it was some sort of mind or soul attack like what Alex was fighting off. I also realized Alex had summoned out some incredible creatures. In fact the squirrels were probably the weakest, and not even by a small margin. ¡®Max, send your squirrels closer to the mages as a last line of defense.¡¯ I transmitted to Max¡¯s mind directly. The trolls were lumbering closer as well, while the stronger Rank D creatures moved to intercept them. The rest of the shadowmancer¡¯s army was wraiths and shadowspawn. After the wraiths attacked, there was a clash as the shadowspawn hit the centre where Max was leader his troop. Max had remained with the front group, as he was much stronger than the rest of the squirrels, he could hold his own there. Levine¡¯s team had moved to the flank and were tearing off slices of creatures and killing them, using their superior mobility to keep the foes from attacking them. Tolk was holding back for a charge while Eva had her team start raining down spells as fast as they could. With the huge variety of named creatures that Alex had summoned, many different spells flittered across the sky as they crashed down on the opposing army. ¡®Curse you! How can a new dungeon have so much power?! What are these creatures?!¡¯ The shadowmancer was shocked at the power of the army Alex had summoned. I had a grim smile. We had to sacrifice everything for this fight, it would take so long to gather all that mana again, build up all the homes for the squirrels and hares again. All the previous areas are gone. Even the bees would have to rebuild their hive, not to mention the squirrel treehouses, hare warrens and goblin village. The 5th team had met the trolls¡­ good, they could hold them. Unfortunately the trolls specialized in defense and regeneration so killing one would be close to impossible. The big problem was that golem. It was slow, ponderous, but both its defense and attack power were immense. It lacked any intelligence or magic power¡­ but with just its fists it would be threatening us. I had to find a way to somehow stop it. It was thankful that this shadowmancer didn¡¯t have more people to help him command. His army had lost a few hundred now. I gave the signal to Tolk. With a roar they charged into the side of the shadowspawn. There really were too many. Although we were taking casualties, it wasn¡¯t as bad as the enemy army. We had lost around 150 troops, equally among Max, Tolk and Levine¡¯s troops. Eva¡¯s troop were being protected. She was going the greatest among of damage, followed by Levine. The wraiths were particularly vulnerable to holy magic, so the hares in her team with offensive holy magic were proving devastating. They had lost more than 400. I looked at Alex, he had shared permission for me to see all his messages to see how he was doing. With the support of a few more holy aligned healers, the corruption had started to be cleared¡­ but only if Alex was able to keep a clear mind. Alex was certain of this, the corruption was feeding off the dark thoughts in his mind¡­ so he had to keep back and get rid of it. I didn¡¯t know what would happen if the corruption reached 100%. I had reservations when Alex had proposed a decoy second floor when designing the dungeon but that may now be the only thing that is saving us. Since the orb of corruption was used in the decoy half, some of the corruptive force dissipated into the surrounding dungeon. Tolk¡¯s charge led them to the centre of the shadow spawn. They were swiftly followed by Max who kept the wedge open, increasing the chaos and allowing a retreat for the charging fighters. We lost more than 50 during that charge¡­ but they killed more than 3 each, killing off 200 shadowspawn. The creatures that had been turned into shadowspawn were not high level. Mostly kobolds, imps and a few goblins¡­ the dungeon crystal in the shadowmancer¡¯s hands was a traditional dungeon, not an anomaly like Alex. Which meant that it had normal distribution of creatures, even then, with it more than 10 ranks above us, it had a daunting number for us to face. Now the only worry was the battle between our Rank D fighters and theirs. This section is not needed to enjoy the story, only for those who, like me, are interested in the technicalities. Spoiler: Spoiler Why can a person be a one man army? This is something you¡¯ll see in a lot of the stories here on RRL, but there is a reason for this. I¡¯ll illustrate using an analogy. Say a person, like a caveman who can only fight with his fists, he will be Rank G Now another caveman thinks to use a rock to fight, he then defeats 10 Rank G cavemen because the rock makes him more powerful Then someone comes along with a knife or a sword, he can easily kill dozens of rock wielding cavemen, maybe even a hundred. Then another comes along, this time with a gun Then another with a tank Then another with an Apache Helicopter Gunship Then another with a nuclear bomb In the stories, the skills and stats are representations of power and are weapons distilled and overlaid on the characters bodies. There is a logic to it, it takes time and effort to raise your stats, it takes time and effort to raise your skills. Thus to become more powerful is the result. What about your rankings? My rankings are divided on a few levels. There is first the difference between someone who is high ranked based only on stats, and those only on skills. Whichever is the highest is the one held. For skills, your rank is 1 rank lower than the highest ranking skill you own. For stats there is a formula for it, ie if you go over 100 total stat points but also, all stats have to be above 20 each, then you are Rank D The ranking for stats is stricter than for skills, thus the disparity in strength between the two. But on average: 1 Rank F can beat 10 Rank G 1 Rank E can beat 10 Rank F Rank D is special because the Path opens up, allowing classes, etc Thus 1 rank D can beat 100 Rank E 1 Rank C can beat 10 Rank D Rank B is also special but I won¡¯t go into why So 1 Rank B can defeat 100 Rank C Etc This is the system I¡¯m using to rank the characters and creatures. Chapter 25 – The Contract Summoner II
Corruption of the dungeon: 40%
Holy light was surrounding me, comforting me. ¡®Why did you abandon us?¡¯ The voices in my head caused by that damned orb were still there but they were getting weaker with each passing second. I was sitting cross-legged surrounded by 3 healers who were pouring their [Holy Healing Light] into me. I felt the darkness of corruption within my body¡­ breathe in, grab hold of that darkness¡­ breathe out. I coughed¡­ a dark smoke came out of my mouth.
Corruption of the dungeon: 37%
As the corruption cleared, it started getting easier to clear it as well. I could think¡­ I ignored the memories and visions that tried to swim into focus. Rox was keeping me updated on the battle. Things were not perfect, but we were definitely winning. Levine¡¯s team had been pulled into attacking the golem¡­ I say attacking, the 200 fastest were responsible for distracting it by running around it while striking. It was too slow to attack them properly but any attack would give them in one hit so they were running around furiously. It was simply to stall the golem from wrecking the lines we had. Max¡¯s team was firmly defending against the wraiths and shadowspawn. The continuous light of holy magic shone throughout the troop as it was needed to fend off the wraiths. Which was troublesome because they would falter once the mana ran out. Thus the holy attribute hares and other summons were taking doing a rotation, taking turns. This unfortunately meant that the speed at which the wraiths were being destroyed was minimal.
Corruption of the dungeon: 35%
I could feel a rising heat within my body. As if it was starting to recognize the foreign intrusion and had started to fight against it.
Corruption of the dungeon: 33%
By now the golem had finally reached the defensive line which¡­ was a disaster. A single strike broke through the ranks, killing 2 defenders and sending those around them tumbling into the air. Max started moving the defenders out of range in an organized retreat. The Rank D army from our side was still busy tying down the trolls, yet at the same time, they tied us down as well. Eva and Starla were really showing their worth as they were responsible for more than half the casualties inflicted upon both wraith and shadowspawn.
Corruption of the dungeon: 31%
With the tactical retreat, the shadowspawn managed to find a gap and charged into our ranks. They killed off more than 3 dozen troops only losing a dozen of their own.
Corruption of the dungeon: 30%
Too bad the corruption wasn¡¯t an injury that could be healed with my regeneration skill. Perhaps when it evolves further it¡¯ll also work for something like this¡­ an attack on the soul. The voices were quiet now. I could feel my body coming back under control¡­ I breathed deeply. I could feel the holy light around me. I breathed in as much holy mana around me as I could then pushed it everywhere throughout my body. Then using my connection I sent it into the corruption in the dungeon crystal.
Corruption of the dungeon: 25%
Black smoke started to leak out from my body. My body was finally starting to reject such an awful poison to it. The dungeon crystal too started to rumble and shine with light. The light started piercing the into the darkness of corruption around me.
Corruption of the dungeon: 12%
The voices¡­ I would hear them again soon enough, but not these corrupted poisonous voices, but the true voices of my friends. It was funny, out of the special summons I had summoned out, almost all of them were creatures¡­ all the humans seemed to be locked away till after the creatures were summoned. Perhaps one of the Gods idea of a joke. That wasn¡¯t to say there weren¡¯t any. There was a bandit team following Levine around and a group or swordsman following Tolk. There were even a dozen mages with Eva and Starla. It had turned out that we were in the beastman continent, hence why all the adventurers we had seen till now were all beastfolk or birdfolk¡­ or a lizardfolk like this shadowmancer attacking our dungeon. So this would actually be the first time humans were summoned to this part of the world in quite a while.
Corruption of the dungeon: 1%
Full clearance of corruption impossible until Shadowmancer and Dungeon Master ¡®Tarkis¡¯ is defeated and all his monsters expelled from your dungeon crystal.
I could focus again. I opened my eyes, gazing out at the battle field. It was a strange sight¡­ the floor was uneven, make of blue crystal like material, yet it was sharp like a cut gem. The sky was filled with motes of light that was the mana that was being used in the battle shooting and floating in the sky. The golem had reached the defensive line again¡­ This time Max showed off his brilliant leadership as well as how much he has progressed as a fighter. He got the defensive line to part, although one such fighter wasn¡¯t fast enough and got smashed from the golem¡¯s fist. But when that fist descended Max led a 10 of his squirrel troops running, scampering up the arm of that massive construct. This confused the golem and it passed before carrying on with its previous order. This allowed Max and his team to start attacking the golem¡¯s head.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Levine¡¯s team had started to try and attack the shadowmancer himself, splitting the agility team into several smaller mobile groups that continually attack the flanks. The shadowmancer¡¯s weakness was starting to show. Weakness number 4: he is alone, no smart subordinates, while I have a great team ready to adapt at their own discretion. He is probably in the same position as me, out of mana to summon more troops to the battle. Except I summon better quality troops. Weakness number 2: Relies on the system. Yes he relied too much on simple numbers from the system, but one Rank E is not worth another Rank E. There are differences between them. Thus although our army make up was similar, hell he had an edge with that damn golem of his, he lost out due to the edge I had with my better same class Rankers. Mistakes in his judgement were starting to show through. Instead of drawing his defensive shadowspawn together and sending the wraiths after Levine to harass him, he brought in a few of the Rank D trolls to defend his flank. I guess he felt threatened enough to bring his strongest troops back to defend him. Although unfortunately he still sent his golem forward. That is the wrong move though¡­ now the trolls which had stalemated my own Rank D troop was starting to be pushed back. All it would take was for a single one to fall and it would be like a domino effect. Max¡¯s attacks had confused the golem, he kept some of the squirrels in front of the golem¡¯s head to block its sight. With the slowness of its attacks and the reduced accuracy, the rest of the troops could easily outmaneuver it. The shadowmancer may have outranked us, but he couldn¡¯t use the power properly, didn¡¯t optimize the strength of his subordinates. And how could he? They were all puppets under control of his shadows. His advantage was lost when he lost his numbers advantage. My only fear was if he still had more of those explosive orbs. He had used hundreds already, some outside the dungeon crystal¡¯s battlefield and even more inside using them to strengthen his troop and to summon the golem. The golem inside the dungeon battlefield was even larger than the one that had beaten the First Floor Boss Room trio. I stood up. The troops responsible for defending me looked at me. ¡®I think it¡¯s time I went to go greet this fucker, don¡¯t you guys agree?¡¯ Even though these were new summons, they seemed to understand the stakes for this fight. I didn¡¯t make eye contact with the dozen humans standing with the group¡­ I wasn¡¯t ready for that yet. That could come after the fight. ¡®I invoke the power of the contract. All contractees, lend me your power.¡¯ A Rank C mage. I will test your power.
The power of [Contract] has been invoked. The power flows between contractor and contractee. 7989 current contractees can be found Calculating stats Highest contractee Rank is Rank D Stats overflow - stat increase will be capped Empowering to the limit of Rank D class ¨C total stats raised to 250 Your agility has increased by 50 Your strength has increased by 50 Your intelligence has increased by 50 Your magic power has increased by 50 Your stamina has increased by 50 This effect will last for 24 hours or until this skill is cancelled Cooldown will be for 72 hours
I felt the power of everyone coursing through me. ¡®Everyone! 500 of you, go help take down that golem! The others follow me! We¡¯re heading straight for the shadowmancer!¡¯ As we charged, Part of Max¡¯s group linked up with us. The shadowmancer seemed to have changed to a defensive tactic, only using wraiths to attack with sneaking attacks. This meant his casualties went down and his counterattacks were effective, whittling away at our numbers. However, the change in tactic meant we now controlled the battlefield. The 500 strong group rushed towards the golem and I left them under Max¡¯s command who was still attacking the golem while scrambling across the body. It had appeared the shadowmancer didn¡¯t know how to save the golem so had given it orders to attack regardless of those attacking it. But that reduced its effectiveness by a large margin. It wasn¡¯t a threat right now, dealing with it using agility was the right way but its high defense meant we couldn¡¯t destroy it either. We ran around the defending shadowspawn. ¡®Tolk, launch an attack from the other side, we¡¯ll go in for a pincer attack.¡¯ ¡®Eva, aim your magic attacks on the two sides we¡¯re about to be charging towards, afterwards, help Max neutralize the golem.¡¯ ¡®Levine, start attacking the flank again, strip off as much of the shadowmancer¡¯s protection as you can.¡¯ ¡®Rox, take charge of Max¡¯s defensive line and keep the wraiths occupied!¡¯ Things were coming to a head. The sudden changes in all of my army caught the shadowmancer by surprise. He hurriedly tried to move his defenses in responses to Levine¡¯s actions, then noticed the impending pincer attack so tried to retreat while moving his defenses to respond to that as well. Weakness number 1: he prepares well, but can¡¯t adapt to things outside his expectations. He couldn¡¯t adapt to our movements, couldn¡¯t move his troops as fast as I moved ours. So with the sound of metal striking and the hum of skills, Tolk¡¯s team and my group both crashed into the sides of the defending shadowspawn. The shadowspawn had two major advantages when fighting, they didn¡¯t fear death, nor did they feel pain being puppets. They were slightly weakened physically but gained magical defenses from the shadows. Their weakness was they needed to be commanded. And thus the skills of the one commanding them were paramount. As my team bit into the side of the defending shadowspawn, the shadowmancer caught a glimpse of me headed in his direction. His eyes widen in shock. He didn¡¯t expect me to be able to heal from the corruption. A novice dungeon with powerful holy healing spells? Not likely without specializing in it. Weakness number 2: underestimates his enemy. I don¡¯t think things would have carried on going our way if once the mana on our side¡¯s magic team Of course he didn¡¯t remain still, bringing forth even more of those blasted orbs. I don¡¯t know what he was going to summon. By now my group had pierced into the side while the shadowmancer was performing some new skill. I smiled grimly, with his focus now on my approach his army had lost some effectiveness in control. I was separated from him by 2 rows of shadowspawn and a troll¡­ ¡®Charge! Heavy hitters, break the defense line ahead of us! Fire skills on the troll, burn it!¡¯ I knew it was not a good gamble but I wanted to reach the shadowmancer before he finished his lengthy spell. It was in vain, fuck! He was summoning another one of those golems! This one looked like the one that he used to attack the boss trio from the first floor. It was weaker than the one occupied by Max¡¯s team but it was not to be taken lightly. Our group had blasted the defense lines and that left us to deal with the troll. This troll was dangerous, it wasn¡¯t as strong as the golem, nor were its defenses as stellar, its rank was lower as well¡­ but it was faster, and that made a world of difference. I made a decision¡­ And ordered the team with me. ¡¯Those on the left, attack the troll! Those on the right, prepare to distract that golem. Everyone in the middle, follow me! We¡¯re charging towards the shadowmancer!¡¯ It was a rush, we charged into the depths. It was do or die, if our momentum fell, we would be surrounded and crushed without our allies being able to come rescue us. But ee had to take that chance. The shadowmancer was having difficulty summoning the golem. I smiled grimly, his mana was draining fast. And then¡­ I was through. I stood facing the lizardman mage before me as I ran towards him, sword ready to slash. I heard a growl as he had to halt his summon as he made a motion in the air and a staff appeared in his hands with a burst of darkness. Atop that staff was a black orb that seemed to draw in the light around it. He lifted the staff in my direction. I felt a moment of crisis as I dove to the side. A bolt of dark energy shot from the staff hitting one of my group as well as one of the shadowspawn fighting behind me. Filthy bastard, he used all his creatures and summons like tools. I needed to get closer to him. Only 2 fighters had made it with me close enough to threaten the shadowmancer. I signaled and all 3 of us charged from 3 different directions. I was waiting for a chance. He was a Rank C, but I had a feeling he wasn¡¯t a stat ranker. His battle powers revolved around those orbs he carries in a seemingly infinite amount. But a mage in close quarters with a melee fighter is in trouble unless his reaction time is good. I wasn¡¯t classed as a melee fighter¡­ but he didn¡¯t know that. Know thy enemy shadowmancer! Know thy enemy! One of my group reached him from behind on the right, swinging a shortsword with a dark red light of a skill on its surface. In response the shadowmancer struck his staff on the ground a briefly a ball of shadow appeared around him. Once the sword struck, the ball disappeared but the swordsman was blown away by the recoil. I narrowed my eyes at this. The second fighter held an axe. He lept into the air striking down as hard as he could, again the orb of darkness surrounded the shadowmancer¡­ This time I waited. I held a dagger in my hand. As soon as the axe hit the orb, the axeman was blown away¡­ and I struck! I threw the dagger as fast as I could. It flew through the air. The shadowmancer frantically raised his staff to try and deflect it. There was a time latency between skill uses! And it probably used a decent amount of mana. I had one more dagger. This time I got close enough to strike out, so I whipped my sword in an overhand arc. He wasn¡¯t good at melee fighting being a mage¡­ The orb of darkness left around him as my sword struck but¡­ I had let go of the blade. The recoil sent it flying far away. Too far away for me to reach it if this didn¡¯t work. ¡®You¡­ you¡­ bastard¡­¡¯ My face was close to his. As I stared at him, I watched his eyes lose the spark of life, slowly fade from the world of the living. The sound of fighting slowly stopped as the controller of the army died. In his chest was my dagger, plunged right into his heart. I sat down. Only now did I notice how tired and painful I felt. I looked across my body. I had a cut alongside my ribs from a goblin shadowspawn. My left arm had the remains of frost on it, looking a little bitten¡­ from some skill I don¡¯t even remember. Cuts and tears all over me. I breathed out deeply. We¡­ had won! Chapter 26 - Aftermath I was surrounded by fools. The only reason I came to this dungeon was because I owe the Adventurer¡¯s guild a favour. Having to suffer the infantile antics of that nobleman set my teeth on edge. If I could make it look like an accident, he wouldn¡¯t be going back to the city¡­ And what were they arguing about? This argument had raged on for the greater part of a day. Do they not understand what an orb of corruption does? These mages¡­ the strongest amongst them was only Rank D. Most were Rank E or even F. Of course the big mage guilds didn¡¯t send their strongest, they wanted to check whether the rumour was right. As if they should ever doubt the adventurer¡¯s guild. I reported back to the adventurer¡¯s guild using a magic mirror tool that was linked through resonance with one the guild leader held. I told him about the shadowmancers, as well as the discovery of the 3 different tribes that lived there¡­ then with a more guilty tone I told him that an orb of corruption had been used. ¡®An orb of corruption? They really spared no expense did they? *sigh* What can we do now? That dungeon is as good as lost. Why don¡¯t you head back to the city?¡¯ ¡®I will, but during the course of the events, one of our adventurers was saved by the tribes that had been living in the dungeon. She went with them because we can¡¯t tell if any of the remaining mages are shadowmancers as well¡­¡¯ Starla was with them, and the meeting was going to be tomorrow. They haven¡¯t taken her hostage¡­ she went with them voluntarily. I frowned. I¡¯ll see again when I meet them. I don¡¯t believe she would leave the city to live with dungeon folk, as long as we can guarantee her safety she¡¯d be willing to come back with us¡­ the problem was¡­ how? Shadowmancers can hide their puppets in plain view. They are the pinnacle of deception, using their puppets memories and mannerisms to fool those closest to them while the puppets had been living. Only inexperienced shadowmancers would be caught, and usually because their shadows moved a little differently than the bodies. It took a keen observation to see this¡­ And they were notorious for not forgiving those who crossed them. The mages outside my tent were still arguing. After the matter of the corruption hitting the dungeon, the mages had split into 3 groups. One group wanted to go capture the corrupted dungeon crystal. What utter fools, did they think an Orb of Corruption would be given to a novice? That was a high ranking shadowmancer. Besides, what use was a corrupted dungeon crystal? They probably fooled themselves into thinking they can purify it. Another group wanted to track down the dungeon folk that had disappeared into the forest. That or lay an ambush for them when they showed up for the meeting. I narrowed my brow. My guess was that group was led by the nobleman. Gods above I hated all those nobles. Crooked, vapid, idiotic and a danger to their allies more so than their foes. The last group¡­ they were already leaving back to the city. A 3 week long trek here and another 3 week long trek back, they had bitter smiles on their faces as they made their way back. They were the smarter of the three groups, they were cutting their losses and leaving. Unlike the other two groups. I sighed. This mission was a failure. I was supposed to secure the dungeon as a training ground for the adventurer¡¯s guild, while also letting the mages use it for a small fee. It was a treasure trove for us¡­ but to think they sent a high ranking shadowmancer. In fact, I had posted a guard in from of the dungeon and didn¡¯t allow anyone inside. Only two fates became of a corrupted dungeon crystal. Either the crystal would shatter, or all the creatures inside it would go mad and charge outside and attack anything around the dungeon. Orbs of Corruption were rare and expensive¡­ they weren¡¯t just used to attack dungeons of course. Their main usage was to power those who were aligned with corruption. Their second usage was to attack mana sources. So¡­ why did they use one of a new dungeon? Regardless of the specialty of the dungeon, using an orb of corruption was killing a rat with a greatsword. I recognized that itch at the back of my mind. Why did they use an expensive artifact like this? I was missing something¡­ They¡­ weren¡¯t trying to destroy the dungeon? That didn''t make sense... That''s the only thing that would happen once it was used. I went cold. What were they trying to do then? I thought furiously. What did they accomplish here¡­ More than 100 mages and adventurers left the city to come here. I came here. Something... to draw people away from the city? I stilled my anxiety. It just paranoia. It¡¯s true that I am the strongest adventurer in the city but there were many others that were strong. And the king had his personal guard as well. I just couldn¡¯t shake the uneasy feeling that I was being led around like a puppet¡­ controlled by the shadows. ¡®Well fuck.¡¯ This was the general consensus among all of us¡­ the fuck are we supposed to do with a dungeon that only had 2 rooms?! They aren¡¯t even big rooms! You could sneeze from the entrance and your snot would hit the dungeon crystal! AAHHHH I was so mad! ¡®That piece of shit really did a number on us didn¡¯t he?¡¯ The inside of the dungeon crystal was over flowing with people right now¡­ I could feel a bit of strain keeping them inside. I would have to release them out soon¡­ but where the hell are they going to go? Outside the dungeon are the adventurers and mages. I don¡¯t even want to think about how they¡¯ll react if more than 8000 dungeon folk came bursting out of the dungeon.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Oh 8000? Did I mention that? All the shadowspawn¡­ and the golems¡­ they were in a dungeon contract with the dungeon crystal the shadowmancer was using right¡­ and it turns out that after a dungeon master¡¯s duel, when he dies, everything he owns now belongs to the one who defeated him, that turns out to be me. And all the special abilities of his dungeon also get transferred to me as well.
The mana ability [Create Corrupted Creature] has been unlocked This ability will disappear if corruption reaches 0% The corruption of your dungeon will increase
The soul ability [Corrupt Creature] has been unlocked This ability will disappear if corruption reaches 0% The corruption of your dungeon will increase
There was three, the first two were useless. But the third¡­
The unique dungeon ability [Wanderer] has been unlocked This ability will disappear if corruption reaches 0%
Wanderer (Dungeon Ability) Lv Max Mastered
After corruption, the binding that ties a dungeon crystal to its dungeon crystal room weakens
You are now able to take the dungeon crystal outside the dungeon However you lose connection with everything that was within the dungeon Once the dungeon crystal leaves the dungeon, everything in the dungeon will be destroyed All dependent creatures will be destroyed
This was¡­ how the shadowmancer could move his dungeon crystal around! Every dungeon will have unique abilities, although this one was quite strange. The problem was the corruption.
Corruption of the dungeon: 1%
I didn¡¯t know how to get rid of it. At first I thought it would be healed like the rest of the corruption had been through holy spells but this last 1% refused to leave¡­ Of course the dungeon abilities required that corruption and would disappear if it was removed. The other problem was all the corrupted shadowspawn that fell under my control. I could feel their presence¡­ maybe that¡¯s why the corruption wouldn¡¯t clear. I needed to get rid of all the corrupted beings now in my dungeon¡­ This was a problem for another day. I had more pressing issues at hand. First, the skill [Wanderer]. It allowed the dungeon crystal to leave a dungeon, although the dungeon would die behind it. But¡­ well, for me? What dungeon? It was destroyed, completely and utterly. All the hundreds of thousands of mana I had put into it were used up to fight. And now I had more than 8000 inhabitants, more than 8000 shadowspawn. Actually that brought its own problem¡­ But the skill also opened up an option, the ability to basically¡­ flee. This was vastly important¡­ especially right now with the mages camped outside. The beginnings of an idea started growing in my head. ¡®Everyone gather round. We need to figure out what we¡¯re going to do¡­¡¯ The upper circle came to gather around me. Max, Levine, Tolk and Eva were in charge of the groups from the dungeon. From the huge group of summons crowding out the dungeon crystal, a mage, a warrior and a priestess had been selected as their representatives. The mage looked human, but he was an elemental. If you looked in his eyes, you could see brief flashes, as if a fire had was burning inside them. He was quite interested in Eva, as a being who has such an aptitude for the fire elements, he could of course sense it coming from her. The warrior was a Drakin, one of the races that claimed to be descended from Dragons. Which dragon group he belong to wasn¡¯t easy to figure out, his body was covered in scales that were a dark green in colour but with no indication of what tribe he was from. Lastly, the priest was a sprite¡­ she looked more druid than priestess but she was of the following of Gaia, who was of the Pantheon of Purity so she had no problems with us. There was one more in our group. Starla¡­ what do we do with Starla? She had fought with us inside the dungeon battlefield, despite her injuries. She had signed a contract with me. On the other hand, she knew secrets about the dungeon that I wasn¡¯t willing to divulge¡­ and I would like her to join us properly in the dungeon but I couldn¡¯t force her. That would be counterproductive. ¡®Ok guys, we have a few issues to deal with here.¡¯ I looked around. Everyone was sitting in a circle¡­ on the floor¡­ *sigh* we didn¡¯t even have tables or chairs! I had absorbed everything I was capable of¡­ this was so sad. ¡®Our dungeon¡­ is now only 2 rooms¡­ I had to absorb everything in the last fight. I¡¯ll be honest with you, we were lucky in winning that. That shadowmancer underestimated us¡­ and even then he brought an army of 10 000. He knew a lot more about dungeons than we did! During the battle, he blocked us from unlocking stronger monsters. He attacked me the dungeon master with a soul attack first to keep me out of the fight¡­ he did everything almost perfectly.¡¯ ¡®This is the enemy that we are dealing with¡­ and I am confident in saying this. By killing him¡­ it¡¯s like a declaration.¡¯ ¡®Whoever is behind him will be suspicious at his death.¡¯ I didn''t believe he was working alone. All the preperation that would have been needed just to gather all the orbs he use in the fight was proof enough for me. ¡®So we have to figure out what to do.¡¯ In my mind I had three plans. One, we use Starla to negotiate with the adventurers to become allies. Two, we flee. We could find another place that to set up the dungeon again. In fact this would be the ideal time to do so since we basically had nothing to lose for moving. Three? We wipe out the adventurer group. We had more than enough people to kill them all. ¡®I have 3 plans for us. I want to know what you guys think, because this will concern all of us.¡¯ ¡®Starla was part of the adventurers that are currently guarding our dungeon as we speak. She fought alongside us in the dungeon battle. My first plan involves asking her to help us negotiate with the adventurers. The mages seem hostile to us, thus this is a risky plan. And we risk exposing the nature of this dungeon.¡¯ Rox answered me, ¡®I don¡¯t like this plan. Those mages obviously want to take our dungeon and our dungeon crystal away from us. If they discover that the Orb of Corruption failed, they¡¯ll attack in droves. Anything that increases that risk, I don¡¯t favour.¡¯ I knew this would be Rox''s opinion and in fact I agreed with her. I looked towards Starla to see what she would say. Starla looked down before quietly speaking, ¡®I can¡¯t speak for the mages¡­ I am myself a witch, a spirit magic user, not a traditional magic spell user. I am part of the adventurer¡¯s guild. There is no witches guild in the city, and there is a reason for that. The mages hold a lot of power in the city and that is due to their skills and abilities. However, mages don¡¯t like us witches. When they use their skills, they need some time to concentrate their mana before launching their spells¡­ however as a witch, I keep mana spirits around me at all times. So for me launching a skill using them takes no preparation time.¡¯ To demonstrate she looked up. A mote of light dancing around her enlarged to become a small bird shaped sprite¡­ which rapidly formed into an icicle. She made the icicle dance around in the air in front of her before making it dissipate. ¡®The reason I tell you that, is because they do not tolerate other magics well¡­ they don¡¯t even tolerate each other well. And¡­ Eva¡­ Eva¡¯s group already showed themselves capable of magic in front of them. I don¡¯t¡­ I think¡­¡¯ She took a deep breath. ¡®Even if we ally with the adventurer¡¯s guild¡­ I¡­ I think I agree with miss Rox¡­¡¯ We. She was putting herself together with the dungeon folk now. I looked thoughtfully at her. She was not welcomed by the other magic users in the city. An outcast¡­ ¡®Well, I guess that plan will have to be at the back of the list. Max I know you said you would meet up with them tomorrow. We will still do that¡­ but we need to make some contingencies¡­ I don¡¯t trust them at all.¡¯ ¡®Right, the second plan¡­ is to¡­ run away.¡¯ The dungeon folk looked at me confused. How can a dungeon¡­ run away? ¡®Yes I didn¡¯t misspeak, did you guys not wonder why the shadowmancer could move around with a dungeon crystal while not being in his own dungeon? He had a special ability to move the dungeon crystal outside the crystal room! So what does this mean? We can leave! We can run and set up the dungeon somewhere else. We lost everything in the attack anyway so leaving it all behind isn¡¯t a problem.¡¯ ¡®Before you guys talk let me bring up the last plan.¡¯ I turned to look at Starla. ¡®Starla, I know you are one of the adventurers¡­ but what I will say might not be pleasant for you to hear.¡¯ ¡®The last plan I have is to wipe out the adventurers. After that? We¡¯ll probably have to flee as well.¡¯ ¡®So the decision remains¡­ do we flee, trying to sneak by the adventurers and mages outside our dungeon entrance? Or do we kill them all before running.¡¯ Starla looked stricken. I didn¡¯t want to do this to her but this matter concerned the survival of the dungeon as a whole. If we killed the mages, we could pretend it was the effects of the corruption and that we had died in mutual destruction. Not even the Rank B swordswoman can fight off an army by herself. However the risk was that they would send teams to investigate and they might accidently discover our new dungeon location. Also... if one of them escapes... If we snuck away, we risked being tracked by them¡­ but they wouldn¡¯t think that the dungeon was moving. Later on when they explore the cave again, they would discover us gone, hopefully coming to the conclusion that the dungeon had perished. Two plans. We discussed what to do all through the night. We still hadn¡¯t reached a consensus by the next morning. Starla was of course against killing the adventurers, although she really couldn¡¯t care less about the mages. Rox wanted to wipe them out, but she was willing to admit that could increase the danger to us. Especially if the adventurer¡¯s guild suspected some strong entity in the forest killing everyone and sent in an elite team to investigate. It had almost reached the time when negotiations were to start. Chapter 27 – Aftermath II The negotiations were going to be starting in a few hours. We had some preparations to finish before it began¡­ So what did we decide to do? It was obvious really, we couldn¡¯t hide, what with the dungeon imploded around us. Also, we couldn¡¯t stay put simply because the shadowmancers would eventually return to try and figure out what happened. Thus regardless of what we did, we would have to leave the area. We all agreed on this. Thus our actions now were based on whether we were negotiating with the adventurers, sneaking past them or wiping them out. It was a tensely divided decision. Starla of course was against killing everyone, although if I said to let the adventurers flee she might have come around¡­ Rox wanted to kill them all, we would be able to plunder their equipment and also decrease the chance of us being tracked¡­ but we might suffer from their retribution and we didn¡¯t know how strong the city was. Starla didn¡¯t know enough about the governance of the city, nothing about the army thus I assumed the worst so as not be taken by surprise. Caution and vigilance. Never be taken by surprise. Prepare for every eventuality. And always make plans for the unexpected because it will always happen. The survivor¡¯s code. The mantra we used, taught to every person that ever joined us. Preparation, caution, vigilance. And that means, we must use the safest path. This was a new world, filled with things I had no clue about. With strange monsters and beings, many cities and nations. And I knew nothing about any of them. There was no international communication here, the mana in the air interfered with anything long distance. Back on earth, mana had destroyed almost all the technology we had¡­ something about mana seemed to mix with fire and electricity. Cars exploded and wires shorted as soon as the mana in the area built up to any amount. And the mana on earth was thin, not like here. Here I could feel it entering into me, being absorbed by me¡­ you could see the spark of mana when skills are being used. One of the things that gave me hope was that the mana here might allow me to grow much stronger than I was on earth. The sparse mana on earth meant we couldn¡¯t endlessly grow stronger under its influence. No we had to be like scavengers, stealing mana from monsters. Hunting down the weak monsters, cutting out their monster hearts and absorbing the monstrous mana within. We had to ration it to the strongest. We made a team of elites¡­ and of them all, I was the weakest, yet the most important. Because with my ability, I could give every new person who joined us a 5-10% increase in their fighting ability¡­ permanently. But here? No more rationing, I could absorb the mana from the very air around us. It was giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty. To while away the time till the meeting I looked over the last of the spoils from the fight. All of the shadowmancers had died, thus all their equipment came to me¡­ though it was obvious they were weak amateurs, they only had Rank E robes and staves. I sent them to Eva¡¯s magic team. They were better than nothing.
Black Robes (Rank E, Magic Power +1) Made from cotton, these robes offer little to no protection from physical attacks They were made to be used by magic users, thus they are inscribed with some magical formations Effects 1) Magic Power +1 2) Magical protection 2% (dissipates 2% of the power of magical attacks against the user)
Apprentice Mage¡¯s Staff (Rank E, Magic Power +2) Made from yew and covered with a paste made from a mana dense green and yellow beetle These are the simplest type of magical staff, the paste from the beetle allows extra power in magical skills Effects: 1) Magic Power +2 2) Increased accuracy of magic skills +10%
Seeing as how I didn¡¯t have any equipment for the magic users whatsoever this wasn¡¯t a bad result. My only gripe is that I couldn¡¯t absorb the equipment from the adventurers that these guys killed at the entrance to the dungeon¡­ the other adventurers had pulled them outside probably to be buried¡­ I shook my head, I wasn¡¯t going to resent people who had respect for the dead. I frowned, I hope that was the corruption or the dungeon instincts talking and not my own self. Now to the main prize. The leader of the Shadowmancers was well equipped, the scene of him pulling orb after orb out to do battle was entrenched in my mind. I pulled out everything that was equipped on his body, his body having been absorbed by me already. I paused, I was still basically empty of mana which was a pity. I looked at the pile that was in front of me. I saw a robe, two rings, a necklace and of course that amazing staff of his. And of course the darkened dungeon crystal¡­ even though I had absorbed its abilities, the dungeon crystal remained. I was¡­ suspicious of absorbing it. I figured there¡¯s probably a lot of mana in there¡­ but what about corruption? I sighed when I looked at it and then put it away. I then picked up the robes.
Dark Mage Robes (Rank D, Magic Power +10) Made from the wings of a Dark Winged Bat, these robes provide both magical power as well as great defence for magic users, both magical and physical Effects: 1) Magic Power +10 2) Physical Defense 10% 3) Magical Defense 15%
I had a bit of shock¡­ I am lucky I managed to pierce into his heart how I did¡­ fuck, he was split seconds away from pulling out another orb when he finally died too¡­ I¡¯m so lucky I managed to pierce through these robes damn. Sweat beaded on my forehead at the thought of how close I had been to death¡­ if I had lacked even a bit of power, would the robes have defended against my attack? I didn¡¯t know. So much for fucking caution, I tried to be prepared but fuck, who the fuck sends a Rank C mage with a 10 000 monster army against a newly born dungeon?! ¡­ and the city threw a Rank B warrior at us too. Fucking hell. Shaking my head I brought the two rings and necklace closer.
Shadow Ring (Rank E) The essence of a wraith was trapped and then forged into this ring. Effect: 1) Shadowspawn within 100 metres gain 5% boost in abilities
Wow¡­ this was a low rank ring but the skill attached was from the Law group which was a bit rarer back on earth. I looked at the next one.
Magic Ring (Rank E, Magic Power +3) The stone in this ring is from a refined manastone embedded in a ring of silver. Effect: 1) Magic Power +3If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The lead shadowmancer¡¯s ring was better than the staves his underlings were using¡­ I held the necklace and checked it¡­ and my eyes widened in shock.
Dimensional Storage Ring(Rank C) Through the interactions with mana, the elements can condense, just like mana does into stones. What people do not realize is that space can be a form of energy as well¡­ and it also interacts with mana. Thus, rarely, it can be condensed into a stone. These stones contain within them a small sub-space that can be used to store with but a thought, and brought out again in the same fashion. Living things cannot be stored, nor can other dimensional objects. Time is slow within the dimensional storage. A small injection of mana is needed to both store and to summon objects. Effects: 1) Dimensional Storage (15 cubic metres) Active Effects (requires mana): 1) [Store] Adds objects into dimensional space 2) [Summon] Brings out stored object 3) [Observe] Through a mind link, allows user to see everything inside the dimensional space
A Rank C equipment! This was a Rare rank Equipment! I immediately used one of the active effects, injecting some of my mana into the necklace to see inside the space¡­ And I saw orbs. Mountains of orbs¡­ holy fuck, this was where he kept all those fucking orbs he was using! I looked at them¡­ orbs of lightning, Rank E, orbs of fire, Rank E, orbs of Light, Rank E¡­ the list went on and on¡­ How many were in here? Even with how many he used in the battle against us, the space was still half filled up¡­ I didn¡¯t have time to look through all the different types of orbs. Putting the necklace around my neck I picked up the staff.
Dark Cloud Staff (Rank C, Magic Power +35, Intelligence +10) This is a staff made of a magical wood called the Dark Evergreen Pine. Afterwards, it was coated with the blood of a Dark Cloud Wolf¡¯s blood. The monster heart of the beast was placed into the tip of the staff. Within the heart lies a skill formation that was the signature skill of the beast when it was alive Effects: 1) Magic Power +35 2) Intelligence +10 Active: 1) [Dark Cloud Reflection Shield] With an injection of mana, if struck against a surface, a Dark Cloud Shield will surround the user protecting the user from both magic and physical attacks momentarily ¨C all attacks will be reflected back with the exact same force
Another Rank C equipment¡­ damn¡­ It was then that Max came up to me. ¡®Sir, we should start heading out, we¡¯ve dug another little exit so that we won¡¯t stumble on the guards outside the cave¡­¡¯ I looked at Max. He seemed to be troubling over something. ¡®What is it Max? Speak your mind.¡¯ He looked at me still with a troubled face. ¡®Well sir, I know we can¡¯t stay here because this whole place has been compromised but¡­ well why don¡¯t we just skip the meeting altogether? We can run away and be long gone before they realize we aren¡¯t coming¡­¡¯ Right, our decision¡­ we had decided to flee. Without killing them. Rox truly wasn¡¯t happy but I overruled her. ¡®Max, you know my reasons, I explained to everyone. We have 3 objectives that we have to fulfill in this meeting. First we must meet with them and Starla must tell them herself that she is coming with us. Else we could have an angry Adventurer¡¯s Guild after our hides. Second, we need to gain some measure of trust with the adventurer¡¯s guild so that they will block any motions from the mages to come hunt us down. That armoured swordswoman Tetiana is Starla¡¯s friend and our best bet.And lastly, we must appear peaceful yet powerful. Peaceful so they are not afraid of us, yet powerful so that they know we aren¡¯t afraid of them.¡¯ He nodded since I had already explained this before. ¡®Look Max¡­ if the meeting doesn¡¯t go well, you know what our backup is right?¡¯ Of course he knew, if we failed to have a peaceful talk and wasn¡¯t able to leave peacefully¡­ and flee¡­ then we would revert to plan B. Plan B was kill everyone. The [Wanderer] skill was amazing as it allowed us to move the dungeon¡­ but of course it had limitations. One of them was that all dependent dungeon creatures were going to be stuck inside the dungeon crystal or else when I left the dungeon¡­ well everything would be destroyed. That was why the shadowmancer could only summon his monsters during the dungeon master¡¯s duel. Thus pretty much everyone would be stuck inside when I move around. The only exceptions were those that originated from outside¡­ so Max, Levine, the bees, Starla¡­ some of the squirrels and hares but a depressingly low number of them. I wondered if because they were bestowed souls, whether I could leave them out¡­ but I didn¡¯t have time, nor did I have a volunteer to test it. If it came to an emergency¡­ well I could summon out a few and see if they died¡­ that seemed like a truly inhumane way to do things though. ¡®Alright Max, get the group together. We are going to have this meeting and then leave.¡¯ We were ready. Everyone was ready to move out and all the beasts, creatures, animals and even humans I could absorb into the dungeon crystal¡¯s space had been taken in. The slimes were not given souls and I couldn¡¯t absorb them for some reason¡­ they would die when I left. I looked around. My party was a dozen fully armed squirrels, 10 armed hares, Max, Levine and Starla. This was everyone who was going to be moving. ¡®Remember everyone, we could end up fighting¡­ but keep all weapons sheathed.¡¯ The plan was to have Max and Starla along with most of the squirrels and hares to go to the meeting while the rest of us start moving out. How the meeting went was going to be up to those two. But regardless we were slipping away. I felt a bit bad putting so much risk on Max but he was the most capable of my underlings so I had no choice. Readying ourselves one last time, we moved out of the new secret exit and split up. The pair moved out into the forest before they would head back to the adventurers and mages while the rest of us started moving deeper into the forest, our eyes constantly on the lookout for danger. I made half of the squirrels act as messengers up in the trees looking over Max. I¡­ I was actually happy. This was the first time I had left the dungeon and felt the sun on my skin¡­ A dungeon master that leaves his dungeon haha, actually a dungeon master that took his dungeon with him! I was going on a journey! While Alex was looking over the spoils of war and Max was organizing everyone to leave¡­ I was left with a duty only I would be able to do. I front of me sat an opened cage. Yet the one within¡­ didn¡¯t move. Almost as if he couldn¡¯t. I knew¡­ that he was alive, but it was¡­ It was heart-wrenching to see him. A dungeon fairy without his wings, without his dungeon crystal¡­ he would have no power. And it turns out, he didn¡¯t have much longer to live. Life is cruel sometimes. To defeat the shadowmancer meant to defeat him during the dungeon master¡¯s duel¡­ but that also meant the destruction of the dungeon crystal. I know Alex still had the dungeon crystal with him. He probably wouldn¡¯t absorb it until we found a new place to make our dungeon. Sigh¡­ I didn¡¯t know what to do with this broken dungeon fairy. I flew closer to the cage. I didn¡¯t want to touch that vile thing but I wanted to bring the fairy out of it. As I got closer, the fairy looked up at me. Dead eyes¡­ such dead looking eyes. ¡®Hey little guy¡­ um¡­ how about we get you out of there?¡¯ Well, talking with one of my own kind definitely wasn¡¯t a strong point of mine it seemed¡­ fucking hell, look at this shitshow. Caged and wingless¡­ I shudder at that horrible treatment. A whisper¡­ he was replying! ¡®Leave me¡­ without¡­ my wings¡­ and my crystal¡­ I¡¯ll die within a few days¡­ if not a few hours.¡¯ He wasn¡¯t wrong. Dungeon crystal, dungeon master and dungeon fairy. The trinity. Yet the key was always the crystal and the fairy. They couldn¡¯t survive without each other¡­ because the crystal was a focus of our power. Without it we couldn¡¯t use mana. And in this world, someone who couldn¡¯t use mana would instead be poisoned by it¡­ dying within a few days. And without his wings he didn¡¯t have the ability to fly and find another soul stone to nurture into another dungeon crystal. A fake dungeon crystal sure, since the ones we used are created as part of our life-cycle¡­ but a fake was better than nothing. At least it¡¯ll allow him to live. ¡®Why don¡¯t you come out of that cage? Ah, I have something you might like! It¡¯s called honey and it¡¯s delicious!¡¯ He just looked at me. When I thought he was just going to carry on being silent, he slowly got up and started walking out! Finally he was out of that blasted cage! With a thought I used a bit of the dungeon crystal¡¯s power to absorb the cage. I didn¡¯t have to tell Alex I was allowed to do that. It was sort of against the rules but rules can be bent a little. Hell Alex had bent so many¡­ I think he¡¯s rubbing off on me. ¡®So what brings¡­ er¡­ a dungeon fairy around these parts¡­¡¯ What do you say to a dying man? Fucking hell. I knew how he was going to go too. As the mana left his body, he wouldn¡¯t be able to protect himself¡­ and his body would age, hour by hour. As if decades were flashing by. A dungeon fairy lived as long as his or her dungeon crystal¡­ which could mean forever¡­ or a very short life. ¡®What¡¯s your name?¡¯ Fuck, why did I ask him that? Maybe that fucking shadowmancer didn¡¯t even let him have a fucking name! I mean he kept his dungeon fairy in a cage! And ripped off his wings! ¡®I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t have a name.¡¯ I was slapping myself inside my head. Stupid! Stupid! Shit, think of something else to say! Before I said anything else that was stupid, the dungeon fairy started speaking. When I first saw him, he looked like a young teenage boy¡­ but now, he looked like a young middle aged man¡­ fuck¡­ wasn¡¯t this too fast? Was it because his wings were ripped out as well? He started speaking¡­ about his life¡­ ¡®¡­ born into a clan hundreds of thousands of miles away from here¡­¡¯ He was born into a family of dungeon fairies that had an affinity with beasts from plains¡­ ¡®¡­ I was happy, even without a dungeon master for decades¡­¡¯ The clan lived far away from any of the intelligent races. Thus for them, finding a dungeon master was difficult. So they did what they could, they became one themselves. Obviously not as good since you can¡¯t expand your power as well, but the dungeon creating instinct couldn¡¯t be ignored. ¡®Things changed after the shadows fell onto the land. My brethren were enslaved, chained into servitude. The shadow lands? A land of monsters, demons dressed in dark robes and telling those that are enslaved to feel thankful for the grace they were shown.¡¯ The Shadow Empire¡­ was the Shadow Empire going to become a future enemy? ¡®I wasn¡¯t captured with the rest of my family. While I was fleeing my family¡¯s massacre, I ran into a young wood elf¡­ and I offered to make him a dungeon master. He was on the path of freedom, so rare these days, yet somehow seemingly the workings of fate. At least so I believed. We ran, fled into the wilderness. We were on the run and hiding for more than a decade as the country fell into ruin around us. We had to avoid cities because we couldn¡¯t tell if the humans were shadowspawn or not¡­¡¯ As I listened, I couldn¡¯t help but imagine the image of a young wood elf and his dungeon fairy hiding and living in the wilderness while all around a looming shadow crept ever closer. But even as I listened I felt my heart tighten¡­ there was only one reason he was talking so much to me right now. It was to tell his story¡­ ¡®It was in the 11th year that we were caught. I watched as the shadows took over my dungeon master. I¡­ I barely felt the pain as the wings were ripped from my body. I had lived so long with him, he was a brother, a friend and the one I trusted most in the whole world. And then they had stolen his face, his soul. My dead friend ripped the dungeon contract within his own soul and his body followed him into death¡­ and then the shadows corrupted my dungeon crystal. They forced a new master on me, stripped me of my name, stripped me of my power, stripped me of my friend. I don¡¯t have a name because I am already among the dead¡­¡¯ He looked so aged now. His face looked lined, his arms trembled as he lifted his hands to look at them, as if they would answer him. As if they would explain to him why this could have happened. ¡®Little one, leave me here. Those adventurers will find my body within this chamber and it should help to spread some misunderstanding¡­¡¯ I felt a wetness in my eyes. I had never seen one of my kind die before¡­ captured? Yes, but not die¡­ not like this¡­ and still he wanted to use his own death to help out another. ¡®Mr. is there nothing we can do to help you?¡¯ ¡®Little miss. I¡¯ve lived long enough. We dungeon fairies can be immortal but what¡¯s the use of immortality if I can¡¯t share it with someone I care about? With him I saw so much of this world¡­ I¡¯ve seen things you wouldn¡¯t believe. I saw colossal ships collapse from fairy fire off the coast of Garanth. I¡¯ve watched the mana falls flow into the sky at the edge of Soren¡¯s Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.¡¯ He looked so peaceful sitting there. Leaning up against a rock as if he had just drifted off to sleep. My thoughts were heavy as I flew to join the rest as we left the dungeon.