《Dungeon's Ascension (Old Version)》
Prologue - The Last Stand
854 Words
Quin proudly looked at his comrades. They followed him through untold hardships and joys. They cultivated together, fought together, had fun together and later they ascended to godhood together. He would give his life for any of them and they would give theirs for him.
This belief would never really be put to the test, since survival didn''t seem possible anyway. They had offended the guild master of the largest trading guild for divine weapons when they beat up his son, because the little shit had tried to force himself on Petra, the elven healer of their group. One would think that since he had trained to immortality he would have at least that much restraint, but that was apparently not the case. Spoiled little brat.
Surrounding his little group of 20 were the 100 elite mercenaries hired by said guild master. Another inconceivable thing. Why would immortals let themselves be hired for a few weapons and put their lives on the line to fight against other immortals they had no grudges against? He had no idea.
"We should take the pills." Was his only comment. Every one of them put their hands to their mouths and swallowed an inconspicuous little pill. These pills were the reason he and his comrades and friends could stand here so relaxed. They found an ancient pill formula in the depths of an ancestors tomb in some backwater region.
The resources they put in these 20 pills would make anyones heart bleed with sorrow over all the rare ingredients, but the effect was well worth it. was the name of the recipe. And that was all one had to know about it to know how earth shattering this pill was. To be able to control ones own rebirth meant that you would retain all your memories and that you could control which race you would be reborn as. This was a second chance at life like no other.
They spent years to look through all the races that they could find to discover the one race that would bring the absolute best profits for rebirth with full consciousness. And then one day they found it by sheer coincidence. They were short on a few materials to complete the last pills and decided to obtain them in a little dungeon that popped up near the little enclave they build themselves.
As expected they breezed through the dungeon and decided to take out the core in the end since that was a premium resource and they had decided to leave the region in the next few weeks anyway. But just as he was about to grab the core he heard a little girl crying and begging someone not to kill her. Immediately everyone swept out with their divine senses but they could neither find the girl nor her supposed attacker.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.Then the translucent image of a crying little girl emerged from the dungeon core they were about to take. Everyone was stunned as they had completely forgotten that dungeons were sentient beings since most dungeons get a twisted personality over time as the loneliness erodes their mind and most also had the temper of a spoiled, murderous little child when they were young. They then proceeded to pepper her with questions and learned that the dungeon was born on the divine plane and because of the especially calm natural mana she had developed the personality of a timid little girl. That was the eye opener they needed.
After donating half their divine power each as payment for the invaluable information the dungeon had unknowingly delivered they returned to their enclave and collectively decided that this was the most promising candidate for rebirth. Afterwards they proceeded to gather information on dungeons and the optimal paths to take when advancing towards ascension.
"Attack!" The roar of the enemy leader ripped him from his thoughts.
"Let''s meet here again.", was the only thing that came over Quins lips. He didn''t need to say anything else since they wouldn''t part for good. Not this time anyways. They would meet again, that much he was sure of. And then they charged into their enemies. Each in a different direction, trying to take as many enemies down with them. Slowly they felt that their souls tried to leave their bodies as the pill began to take effect. When they reached their breaking point they just let go.
Twenty mushroom clouds consisting of debris and body parts sped through the air. What their enemies didn''t expect was that they had turned all their magitech and precious resources they had left into divine power that they stored in their bodies. With this much energy they had at most 24 hours before their bodies would have exploded anyway or they would have had to release it and loose it all. Thankfully their pursuers didn''t know this.
With this act they became legends in their little backwater part of the divine plane as nobody there had ever heard of anyone being strong enough to take 5 gods with them in death, not to speak of a whole group of 20 with each achieving that miracle.
Announcement - The future of this story and other fun topics (Preemptive Q&A)
Where I want to go and why it is not like that right now
In the beginning there will be chapters of dungeon building. That is unavoidable, but I try to mix it up as best as I can. In the beginning I will write how the dungeon is created in relative detail and then I will go to an invader POV. Later on I plan on more invader POVs or dungeon inhabitant POVs to get to know the dungeon in detail while the general structure will be explained from the MC''s point of view. I also plan on focusing on the outside world for quite a bit of the first book, as the main players of the nearby sect and the general surroundings of the dungeon will get introduced.
The dungeon building will always be part of the story, but since it is happening mostly natural in this story as opposed to the dungeon placing all his new toys on each new floor, it will be not as extensive as in other stories. Another point is, that the cultivation of the dungeon really slows down as he gets more powerful and I want to fill the time gaps with something different then: ''After training for 50 years'', so I''ll have to come up with interesting and engaging stories.
Your writing is shit!
Well thank you for your insightful analysis dear reader.
On a slightly more serious note, this is my first time writing a real story. Even in my mother tongue, german, I haven''t done so and this naturally means that this is a learning process.
If you want to help then please point out any weird sentence structure or grammar that you can spot.
I also tried using <> for important terms to highlight them. Is that helpful or just annoying?
Will there be many POVs?
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Yes. If you have a problem with that I''m sorry, because this story will never be one for you. Better to quit now then to torture yourself. I will say though, that I plan to keep certain characters for frequent POVs while others might only get 1-2 chapters. So at this time the plan is for characters to have many chapters or next to none and not many characters that get 5 chapters and then disappear. There might be some but it won''t be frequent.
Will you take reader input for the story or is it already fixed?
If you have any new races or plot ideas you''d like me to introduce just post them. I have a general idea where the story will end up going but most things are not yet fixed and I''m grateful for any input.
Will you rewrite everything after a few chapters?
No. I don''t plan on rewriting everything. I''m sure there will be changes as I come up with better ways to introduce story elements or badly worded things. I will make a change log post after this where every major change will be catalogued so you don''t have to reread any part of the story.
I have a question! *raises hand*
Ask away and I might answer.
I drew something for you
Send it my way and i''ll be sure to feature it somewhere.
I require your update schedule
Since my chapters are fairly long and I''m not the fastest writer around I promise one chapter per week. Everything else is an extra.
The Change Log
If I change something significant for the story it will be documented here. Let''s hope I don''t forget.
CHANGE IS GOOD
4.8.16
- No change so far but be cautious. It might pop up at any time.
5.8.16
- And there it is! Since I didn''t plan my Q&A post, 2 new and exciting (I promise) theoretical questions have been answered.
- Forgot to add the destination of the and the way down to floor 6 in the fourth chapter.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.- Gonna go to sleep now and then fix the spacing of my chapters. Maybe i''ll even find a few typos.
8.8.16
- added an explanation on the terminology of cultivation for those not familiar with Chinese fantasy in chapter 1
9.8.16
- Rewrote a sentence that didn''t make sense in chapter 6 so that it is now clear that the disciples actually continued to give him Mana for 4 days.
17.8.16
- Had a typo in the title. So embarrassing.
Chapter 1 - A New Beginning
2739 Words
Slowly Quin regained his consciousness. At first he was disoriented and began panicking when he couldn''t move his limbs, but then he slowly regained his memories.
"Open . Self status." was his first mental command. The specific command did not matter as it only was crutch Mana cultivators could use to better direct their Mana to do what they wanted. With enough familiarity with the spells crutches like chants, commands or gestures could be abandoned later on.
The is one of the innate magics that all dungeon cores possess as it helps them manage their dungeon by giving them information on possible creature and environment creations as. It can also provide information and knowledge that the caster originally does not possess like the level of training intruders possess and what they specialize in. The divine sense all cultivators train and use is thought to be inspired through the magic and similar to that divine sense was also limited to cultivators on the same stage of training or lower.
He got information that unfortunately were nothing new to him. There were no cracks in his crystal, he had the basic minimum mana he needed to live and he had 0% Mist-Mana Cultivation. Mist-Mana is the most basic mana that every magical being that cultivates starts with and by cultivating and later transforming it they can progress in their cultivation. Monsters were an exception as they passively absorbed mana but didn''t actively cultivate it.
The term ''cultivating'' formed, because progressing ones Mana capacity was often compared to growing a plant. If you cultivate, you grow your effective Mana pool and the growth progress you are currently at and the whole process was creatively named ''cultivation''. Ancient Mana users could be dubbed geniuses when it came to this so called cultivation and its techniques but their naming sense was truly unoriginal. But since there was no use in fighting the established terminology he just went with it like the rest and now no one even questions them anymore.
Slightly dejected at the loss of all his painstaking cultivation he began scanning his surroundings and found himself to be encased in solid stone. Slowly he then began using his Mana to dig a room around him. A few hours later he finally dug a 5x5x5 room with himself at the center. That he managed to dig this room in only a few hours and not a few days was all thanks to an advanced mana gathering technique for dungeons that he had traded for a considerable amount of divine power with a dungeon that had just ascended for a few days and was in desperate need for energy to rebuild his defenses.
That was one of the main ways he and his friends had gathered information on dungeons. They split into groups of 4 people and sniffed out new dungeons through various means and then friendly reminded them that the trade was very favorable for the dungeon, which it was, and that dungeon crystals were awfully fragile, which they were.
New dungeons almost always had the instinct to dig until they reached the surface and leave 2 puppet monsters in even intervals in the tunnel. Only when they were done with that did they begin to draw in Mana to cultivate.
Quin however knew that it was better to first train oneself and build a healthy ecosystem with non-puppet monsters so that the time he would have to spend waiting for cultivators could be used by the monsters to reproduce and establish their nests. Although puppet-monsters only cost 1/10th of the Mana of regular monsters they have no real mind of their own, only stay in their designated areas and attack anything that attacks them or that isn''t native to the dungeon.
A big boon that dungeons received was that all inhabitants had an extremely short maturation period while leaving their original lifespan as it was in the wild. This leads to dungeons being filled with all kinds of creatures constantly at war for territory and naturally attacking everyone that knowingly (other monsters) ors unknowingly (intruders) encroaches on it. Another side effect is that no one in the dungeon ever suffers from hunger as they either manage to hunt prey or get preyed on very quickly.
Slowly he began to draw in mana and started cultivating according to his cultivation technique. When he reached 10% Mist-Mana he finally surpassed the first hurdle as a new dungeon. A dungeon with 10% Mist-Mana can dig and control one moderately sized floor since that is all his Mana can support. He then began to dig his tunnel until he almost reached the surface.
Afterwards he began to widen his tunnel at regular intervals and slowly more and more rooms cropped up. After creating a good number of rooms began to branch out and create secondary tunnels and he also started collapsing his original tunnel at a few points so that intruders wouldn''t be able to just waltz through to him. When he was done with that he began expanding behind his original room.
After one week he was finally done with digging. He had dug immortal caves for himself, but this was a whole different dimension. In the beginning there wasn''t much one had to pay attention to other then not keeping the first straight corridor one had dug. When he had regained his expended Mana he started the next phase of his plan for new start. Monsters.
At first he would have access to a limited selection of random basic creature that existed on the world he reincarnated in. This selection would expand step by step as he progressed along with his cultivation. This was one function of the Magic that was unique to dungeons. Most of the time the magic was used for strictly administrative tasks or explorations of unchartered territory.
"Open . Creature list." Once the command was given a very long list popped into his mind. First he selected basic . These were basically normal animals that could absorb minuscule amounts of Mana and very rarely also evolved into with . They could basically be seen as Rank 0 .
First he selected various insects and worms that would be at the bottom of his dungeons food chain. He then spread them evenly across the rooms and added Basic like mosses, fungi and grass for them to feed on. After a bit of contemplation he added plants that looked just like the others but had special effects like inducing sleep through pollen or paralyzing through ingestion. The inhabitants of his dungeon would be immune to that but it would discourage overzealous cultivators from picking his dungeon clean as these plants could be used for pill-concoction.
As the dungeon was too dark for the other creatures he wanted to put there he began placing . These crystals were a type of life form that glowed in a light blue tone and sprouted little crystalline roots into the stone walls. Through these roots they would regrow with the ambient Mana when cultivators harvested them.
Then he began adding rats, mice, bats, lizards, amphibians and snakes. They would feed on the smallest creatures or plants and be food to the slightly bigger animals or monsters who couldn''t really be bothered to go hunting for insects. Afterwards he created a tunnel system which was just the right size for the little critters and their nests as he didn''t want them to be wiped out by their predators and he also added little streams of infinite water that would flow out of cracks in the ceiling.
These little streams would feed the many small and medium sized depressions he created in the ground and form ponds for the amphibians and fish he added and then flow into a hole in the ground back into the nothingness they came from. He pondered for a few moments where these streams came from and went to but in the end he couldn''t come up with a satisfactory solution and wrote it off as one of the illogical quirks that would occasionally pop up when magic was involved.
After waiting for two days in which all the added animals were done setting up their nests and producing the first offspring he added the first to the dungeon. He was unfortunately limited to beasts at Rank 1 and Stage 1, the equivalent of his 10% Mist-Mana cultivation as anything below that would just constitute as a and anything stronger would be at risk to slip his control and exit the dungeon as soon as he opened the entrance. That would just be a big waste of Mana.
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And so he added and as swarm creatures that were weak individually but bested their foes with superior numbers, and that lived in small groups that were hard to kill because they were either very quick or just had the best defense, and as hard to deal with individualist as they used acid and poison and and that would form small communities and were relatively harmless as they would only attack if provoked.
Apart from the last two species the rest of them were pretty self explanatory. are a type of golem that could reproduce and have an exceptional camouflage capability in the mountains or in caves. They only feed on stones and Mana which makes them perfect for this environment. Furthermore their feces can be eaten by the other inhabitants of the dungeon to harden their skins and maybe trigger an evolution for some and the longer a lives the more ores they generate in their body, making them a popular prey for many aspiring blacksmiths.
The are Mushrooms with little stubby arms and feet and also eyes and a mouth. They have very good regenerative abilities for such weak monsters since they can just sit on the ground, stretch out their mycelium and absorb the nutrients and ambient Mana faster. Another upside of them is that they can reproduce easily by just spreading their pollen on existing fungi, causing some of them to evolve. Unfortunately their only way to attack is by running up to their enemies and trying to ram them with their surprisingly hard caps.
Their bodies are a treasure trove of grade 1 crafting materials. Many budding cultivators craft their caps into shields, use their mycelium as the base for regenerative pills and potions and collect their pollen to start farms.
When Quin was finally satisfied with his dungeon he began designing a . The is always the most powerful being that currently resides on a floor and the designation as has a special relevance, because it is a .
<Titles> not only exist in dungeons, but can be earned all over the world. They always grant their holders greater power and sometimes even special abilities, but along with their power also comes their rarity. The <Title> <Ruler> for example can be earned by getting the power to rule in a sufficiently big community and grants the <Ruler> more loyalty from his or her subjects.
The <Title> <Boss> on the other hand is dungeon specific and will be granted for every 10 floors. It ensures that the <Boss> is always the strongest creature native to the 10 Floors the <Title> is assigned to and bestows the cultivation of one extra stage to it.
First off he began making the <Boss Room> double the size of his previously largest cavern that was situated at the center of his first floor and contained a fairly large pond housing the majority of the <Horned Tortoises> population. He then lowered the floor by half a meter, added a gentle slope to the entrance and then flooded it until the water was just about to leak out of the room into the dungeon.
Afterwards he raised several small islands and many rocks as stepping stones so that no matter which race the <Boss> was he would be able to live there. After adding several slightly poisonous algae, paralysis inducing lily pads and covering the walls in plants he placed 20 <Horned Tortoises> there and provided them with ample fish as food sources.
To make the <Boss Room> especially attractive, so that the <Boss> would stay there, he placed a basic <Mana Gathering Array> under the floor that would raise the Mana concentration in the room and make it easier to regenerate the Mana expended in fights and increased the passive Mana absorption rate of the rooms residents.
Since the <Horned Tortoises> already lived in the room it was very likely that one of them would grow enough to become the first <Boss> but that didn''t really matter since as soon as the boss was defeated another one would be assigned and the control of the room could shift over to another race.
He took a last glance at his dungeon to ensure that everything was in order and then took the last preparatory step and opened the entrance to the world, finally becoming a real dungeon. When he opened the entrance he felt himself getting ripped out of the ground and crammed into another space. The experience wasn''t all that comfortable and he was glad that he had informed himself about this step and wasn''t totally disoriented and clueless as to what had happened.
When a dungeon reaches the surface it becomes an independent world and gets rejected by the world it is currently in. Since the dungeon has to go somewhere it will get transported into its own little dimension that will grow along with the dungeon but a dungeon never gets completely removed from a world.
The <Dungeon Entrance> becomes an anchor and a gateway into the dungeons dimension. The reason for the rejection is that the dungeons just before ascension can be as large or larger then the world they were born in. If the dungeon then ascends the whole world would be ripped apart as every tunnel is part of the body of the dungeon and ascends together with it.
So when a new dungeon reaches the surface it gets removed directly so that no problems can crop up in the future. The cave system that is left behind the entrance when a dungeon gets removed is commonly referred to as a ''dungeon corpse''.
Unfortunately cultivators can first visit the cave system that is left behind and can completely map out newly born dungeons without any risk and with all secret rooms where the dungeon core might hide. So to avoid getting killed right at the beginning, dungeon cores are very valuable after all, Quins first action was to move his core to a new and secure location. A dungeon getting ripped out of the world is never a quiet event and he was sure to have visitors in at least a month. And that was calculating that he could have been born in extremely hazardous terrain where neither cultivators nor wild monsters lived.
Now two question one might have are, first why bother creating life inside the dungeon and secondly why would you let in cultivators? Both questions have the same answer. Because it helps the cultivating speed. Every monster passively radiates Mana, especially in fights, and so do cultivators. When they refill their Mana they don''t draw it from the dungeon but they draw it from the dimension the dungeon is in. So in essence they are one big Mana factory.
But to get to this new dimension the dungeon has to open itself to the outside world and since everything it contains is valuable it will never be left alone. Another reason is that cultivators often times have valuable magic treasures and materials on their body and the dungeon can analyze them, recreate them with Mana and give them to to the creatures inside.
After cultivating for just two hours he noticed two youths about 12 years old youths carefully entering. They were clad in light leather armor often used by hunters with one having a shield strapped to his back and a sheath with a short sword at his side and the other one bearing no apparent weapons but wearing a big bag that was likely enchanted with additional space.
Apparently he was born in a world that used Mana cultivation like himself. The lack of <Magitech> i.e. a magic pistol or rifle of some sort on the two that seemed like hunters was concerning but maybe he was just situated in some backwater place. At least they knew of enchantments. In the divine plane had such backwater regions too and he had settled there to live a few quiet millenia before their involuntary voyage through the wilderness and subsequent death.
After using the <Archive> analysis on them he knew that they were named Grom and Cog and that they had the respective cultivations of 45 and 49% <Mist-Mana> cultivation.
Chapter 2 - The Discovery
5058 Words
<hr />
Grom and Cog rushed through the lush green forest.
Cog could feel the scattered rays of the morning sun on his skin when they broke through the thick roof of leaves. If he wasn''t covered in sweat and feeling the exhaustion of not sleeping for at least 24 hours it could have been quite enjoyable.
Grom began silently cursing his damn sect for the what felt like 100th time because it forced its outer disciples to go out into the world and ''temper'' themselves and then taking half of whatever spoils the disciples managed to rake together.
Not collecting resources wasn''t an option either since they had to gather a certain amount of contribution points to stay in the sect. At least they had joined the <Hunters division> and they would get more points out of hunting but it wasn''t pleasant either way.
And so they had set out hunting Monsters and Mana Animals in the woods controlled by their sect for the last two months.
They were currently on the trail of an <Iron Horned Stag> they had managed to surprise. Cog had wounded it with a spear throw to the thigh but unfortunately even Rank 1 Monsters were much tougher to kill or incapacitate then Mana Animals. He had originally planned to end it with the first throw but the rustling of the bushes leaves they had hid in when he took his throwing stance had alerted the stag and he had been lucky to hit it anyway.
Tracking the damn thing was another challenge and if it weren''t for the occasional broken twig because the forest was so dense they would have lost it hours ago. Then they suddenly broke through the thicket into a clearing with a small pond just on the other side. The exhaustion had apparently also begun wearing at the stag as it stood with its back to them and greedily gorged itself on the cool water without noticing that its pursuers had caught up with it.
Cog as the older and more experienced hunter, if only by one year, motioned Grom to flank from the left while he himself ran to the right. For once the forest floor covered in moss and this grass worked in their favor as it absorbed almost all sounds of their advance. When he felt he was in a throwing distance where he had a good possibility to hit while not alerting his prey he signaled Grom to stop.
If all went well he would kill it with one hit but he learned not to put all his eggs into one basket the hard way. If he failed to kill it it would at least try to get away from him and that would lead it straight into Grom''s arms as the pond was a natural obstacle it couldn''t pass without trapping itself.
When he was just about to throw his spear an ear shattering bang rang through the forest, startling the wildlife and causing swathes of birds to rush into the sky. Among the startled wildlife was also the stag that in its panic rushed straight in Cog''s direction. Readying his spear he intercepted the disoriented monster and tore straight through its throat with a well timed spear thrust.
The stag ignored the wound and continued running, but just when he began fearing that he had underestimated it somehow the lack of oxygen and the blood loss forced its tribute and the stag lifelessly fell to the ground. After processing the carcass and cleaning their tools and gear at the pond they decided to investigate what had caused the bang as they roughly remembered where it came from.
After walking for roughly two hours they arrived at the foot of <Mt. Thai>. It was the highest mountain in their country by a large margin and marked the beginning of the <Trult Mountain Range> which separated <Trult Province> from the rest of <Veskia> but also shielded them from the reach of the big sects that controlled large parts of the rest of the country. <Trult Province> had always been low on higher ranked natural resources and hard to reach with caravans, resulting in no big sect really being interested in controlling it as they would most likely loose money in the process.
Apparently there was a cave in that was followed by a minor landslide. When they approached the rubble to explore what could have caused this sudden cave in they spotted an ark of stone leading down into a cave where once a cliff was. But the strange thing was, that there was no cliff anymore and the ark stood suspended 2 meters into the air without any rock behind it.
An ominous feeling settled in their stomachs and they were unsure wether to approach the arch or to run as fast as they could. In the end their curiosity won over their rationality (and survival instinct some may say). They grabbed a few stones and stacked them until they could jump and grab the ledge of a platform before the ark and pulled themselves up and enter the cave.
When they entered the density of the Mana made their breathing harder, like when someone suddenly walks into an area where it is very hot and moist. After they recovered their bearings the two young hunters began to get used to the Mana density and took slow and careful steps deeper into the cave down the entrance tunnel.
In the tunnel grew a few patches of Grade 1 <Magic Moss>. Grade 1 materials were just barely considered as valuables for cultivators and especially such a low ranked material as <Magic Moss> would be ignored by almost anyone who had at least entered 60-80% Mist-Mana cultivation. But to youngsters who had just begun cultivating this was a treasure trove they had never imagined finding. As hunters they learned to maintain balance with nature and so unlike other, greedier people, would have done they only harvested a few of the patches of moss so it could regrow in a short period of time.
If the entrance had made them excited then the first room left them gobsmacked. The cave was littered with grade 1 plants and also a few grade 1 light stones.
An ear piercing scream ripped them out of their stupor as 4 <Bloodsucking Bats> dived down on them from the ceiling. In that moment of crisis their honed hunter instincts took over and they threw themselves on the ground dodging the bats'' charge by a hairs breadth.
While the bats turned around to charge at them again Grom unsheathed his short sword and unstrapped his buckler from his back and Cog took out his dismantled spear out of his space bag. When the bats charged again Grom positioned himself in front of Cog to give him time to prepare his spear for combat.
On the first charge Grom managed to clip a wing from an overeager bat that charged ahead of the other three and bash away another two with the buckler. The last bat on the other hand managed to dodge and bite down on his shoulder.
Just as he began to panic a spear came from behind and accurately penetrated the bat''s head and thew it off before it managed to separate itself from them. Now in a 2 versus 2 with the two of them having their weapons out the remaining bats decided that their prey didn''t seem that tasty anymore and hurriedly left into a small shaft in the ceiling. Weather they would stay away or return with reinforcements the two of them could not determine.
After the adrenaline wore off the Grom registered the pain in his shoulder and quickly treated it with a blood hemming salve he had bought on his last trip to Tarth, the only city between the mountains and their sect that was big enough to trade wares for cultivators. He could of course buy the same salve in his sect but the demand for such resources was very high there and the prices did their best to keep with that. In conclusion if you weren''t rich or desperate you were better off procuring the materials yourself and paying just for the production or you wait until you get to one of the cities surrounding the sect.
After calming down for a few moments Grom began harvesting the teeth of the bats and few of the plants and crystals while Cog was in deep contemplation.
"Thats it!"
The loud shout startled Grom and his hand nervously twitched to his sword.
"Hey man you can''t scare me like that. Why do you have to be so loud?"
Cog ignored Grom''s annoyed response and began to explain.
"I was just thinking that this scenery was very familiar but I couldn''t place my finger on it. But then it hit me. We found a new dungeon Grom."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Absolutely. The description matches 100%. Natural <Light Crystals>, high Mana density, many different Mana plants and small groups of monsters. Just think about it. normally <Bloodsucking Bats> live in groups of a few hundred in complete darkness since they are so weak. If they hadn''t ambushed us we wouldn''t have had any problems defeating them even when they had superior numbers."
"I really hope you are right about that. I really don''t want them to bring back any friends."
"Can''t guarantee that, so we should grab what we can and leave quickly. If this turns out to be true we are set for life. The sect will reward us each greatly. Maybe we''ll even get a personal master."
"Well you won''t get any of that if you are dead so hurry up."
The two quickly left the cave and only took a break to recover when they arrived back at the forest.
"Wow man I broke through!"
The loud exclamation startled Grom.
"Broke through what?"
"The 50% bottleneck. The Mana pressure inside the dungeon plus the pressure from the ambush must have helped me."
Wow thats great. We should definitely come back here when I need help in a breakthrough. I know you have been at 49% for two months now."
"Ok but lets mark the location and run back. The sect has to know this!"
They then marked the location on their maps and began the long journey back.
<hr />
1 month later
"Finally back."
"I really want to take a nice bath."
"Yeah, let''s do that. We have to report to the division head and I don''t want to make a bad first impression."
With that decided they took one last breath of fresh air before they entered through the massive stone gate that separated them from the noise and scent of thousands of young cultivators that roamed the sect headquarters'' streets. It would be more more accurate to to call the headquarter a little city, complete with swathes of people busily roaming the narrow streets.
Originally the headquarter wasn''t planned to be this packed but over time more and more people had flocked to and settled near it to make a living off all the rich cultivators living there. Rich was of course relative. To the core disciples the inner disciples had moderate income and outer disciples were as poor as people from the slums, slightly better then beggars.
To the average mortals who couldn''t gather any of the precious grade 1 resources the outer disciples were well off and the inner disciples were filthy rich. The core disciples were as distant as royalty to them and they mostly couldn''t even imagine their wealth.
The disciples of the sect on the other hand always had menial tasks that they couldn''t be bothered to do so they hired mortals for cheap labour. Just like that the two sides depended on each other and that prevented the cultivators from going rampant and killing mortals for fun or cutting them off from the mortal world completely.
There were of course also even cheaper slave workforces, but those had to be put to work constantly and also cared for with food and shelter. Oftentimes that was just too much of a hassle if you just needed help once a month so most cultivators didn''t bother with that.
That only inconvenience and not morality ensured the freedom of the mortal population was all the indication needed for the status of mortals in the sect disciples eyes. The only reason they even payed their workers was that the mortals would flee otherwise and they would have to expend resources to collect them regularly and the workers would then have to be newly instructed every time.
Another consequence of the gradual growth of the city was patchwork skyline. Buildings were crammed into every possible space, resulting in many narrow and dark alleys, and when every free place was built-up the people started stacking houses on existing ones.
If you had the money and wanted to have more living space you could just buy a few apartments and connect them with bridges over the streets if need be and build on them. Later on a second system of streets was built just for the upper city that had formed. Since you would dodge most of the foul smell and noise if you lived in the upper city those houses were very coveted and were priced accordingly.
Since people built an upper city there was of course also an under city, connected with the over world by regular official entrances and myriads of unofficial ones for those who didn''t want to be seen entering. In the under city every vice you could imagine could imagine would be satisfied and a flourishing black market allowed everyone access to things that were normally out of reach
As official disciples Cog and Grom of course lived in the upper city and were very familiar with all the fun places in the under city. And so they weaved confidently through the city over the cobblestone roads, moving up and down through dark stairwells and over many bridges until they finally arrived at their quarters close to the inner city wall. Thanks to magic fresh water and heat for a bath were easily accessible if you had the money.
When the two were all cleaned up they went through the inner gate to arrive at the heart of the sect where only official disciples were allowed to go and inner disciples allowed to live.
The sect building was mirror of the city. It started out as a big building but generations of sect masters and elders had made their own additions to immortalize themselves at least in the sect building as they realized that true immortality was out of their reach. Since the founding master no one from the Blackwood Sect had ever ascended. To remember this one special man that was even worshipped by some obscure cults in the under city the sect named itself after him in the hope of getting some of his good karma or luck to help creating another genius disciple that would lead the sect back to glory.
In the end the sect building became a giant leviathan of wood and stone that only stood tall because the sect had expended many precious resources to stabilize it. Since the it was also built above a giant <Mana Well>, the only one in the kingdom that was situated behind the <Trult Mountain Range>, the constant exposure to the natural Mana had also strengthened and refined the building until it was neigh indestructible.
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Cog and Grom crossed the small cobblestone plaza in front of the sects main entrance with the living fountain in the middle and passed by the giant oaken gates with intricate designs made of <Magic Iron>into the entrance hall.
The living fountain was a gift by a now extinct clan from the capital for the sects founder and trapped a gargoyle that had a Grade 7 <Infinite Water Stone> embedded in its mouth.
This fountain was also the only reason that the plaza still existed and hadn''t fallen prey to the construction mania of the late sect elders.
When they first entered the sect they were completely in awe of the spacious and ornamented entrance hall, but after seeing it regularly the awe transformed into apathy as they didn''t even turn their heads to look while walking straight to the corridor that would lead them to the hunters division. While walking on the stone tiles that had been smoothed out by generations of disciples they passed numerous smaller corridors and doors leading to scholar offices, cultivation rooms and smaller subdivisions of the big 9 divisions that made up the sect.
After wandering the building for almost an hour they finally arrived . The entrance of the hunters division was decorated with the antlers of an unnamed grade 5 <Mana Beast> that hung just above the gate that was depicting a scene of several men hunting a giant hairy beast with two tusks and an elongated nose. Cog had once asked Barth, their supervisor, if the depicted beast was real but he had just snorted and told him to shut up and continue cultivating and he had never brought up that topic again.
Their first stop before informing Barth about the dungeon was the collection office. There they had to trade in half the spoils from their hunting trip to the sect. After getting relieved of their spoils for contribution points they went to the internal market of the division where they sold everything except the materials they got from the dungeon for currency that had value outside of their sect. The dungeon materials would be used as proof that they had indeed found one and for the preliminary evaluation of how profitable it would be.
Soon they arrived at a corridor with only a single sturdy wooden door that had the name ''Barth'' inscribed. They simultaneously took one last deep breath and as if on cue they both knocked on the door.
"Come in." A bored voice called out.
Cog took the lead and opened the door. They both shuffled in quickly and quietly and closed the door so that the warmth of the office wouldn''t escape. It would of course be easy for Barth to just cast a heating spell, but he always got grumpy if he had to do unnecessary things and that would never be good if you had a request to make.
They lined up before an unnecessarily large desk filled with papers that didn''t need to be there. But since it was always better to look busy to avoid additional work. The office was also lined with filled bookshelves making the originally spacious office feel cramped and generating an oppressive atmosphere so that no one would stay longer just to chat with its occupant. That was at least what they had theorized on one particularly boring hunt.
"Juniors Cog and Grom reporting back to senior Barth."
Cog had once again taken the initiative since he knew that Grom would never open his mouth unless specifically asked to.
"Well thats fine. You are dismissed if nothing interesting happened. I don''t have anything to do for you."
"Actually, Sir, we have something important to report."
"Really? Well thats new. Then don''t waste my time and make a short, comprehensive report."
"Yes Sir. One month ago when we reached the outskirts of the <Trult Mountain Range> near <Mt. Thai> we were alerted by a very loud explosion. When we followed the direction of the sound we found an ark of stone standing on a platform suspended 1 approximately meter into the air above a hill of rubble."
At that part of the story Barth''s bored look vanished, he straightened in his chair and looked at the two with renewed interest.
"When we tried to investigate the ark and climbed up on the platform we discovered that it lead to another space that had a cave like appearance. Inside we found various Grade 1 herbs and mosses as well as a few light stones growing all over the walls, ceiling and floor."
Garth leaned forwards stroking his beard absentmindedly with his gaze fixed on Cog.
"We then were ambushed by four <Bloodsucking Bats> that had hidden themselves on the ceiling. After defeating two the rest fled and we were forced to grab what we can and make our way out to not risk getting killed when the two returned with the rest of their swarm. In conclusion we theorized with all the evidence we have that we witnessed the birth of a new dungeon."
When he was done reporting he took off his bag and began lining the table with a selection of every kind of material they found.
"Good. Very good." Was the first response.
"I trust that you haven''t told anyone else?"
"No Sir. We traded in our gains from the hunting trip so that no one would get suspicious and them came straight here to make our report."
"Well done. If you continue to keep your mouths shut I can guarantee you that you will be handsomely rewarded by the division head and be promoted to inner disciples."
While making that statement he stood up and motioned them to follow him.
"Lets make a trip to the head."
On their way through the division they couldn''t help but look at each other and seeing the same bright smile on their face mirrored by the other. A few curious looks followed them but many just couldn''t be bothered to care about two outer disciples running around with their supervisor.
When they reached the upper floors the scenery gradually changed from stone and wood to marble and <Magic Iron>. The corridors also got wider again like they were on the ground level and the doors got bigger and more ornamented until they had to be rather described as gates. Instead of flat walls there were now decorative arks, intricate carvings, extravagant paintings and delicate statues. The people that often clogged the narrow tunnels below began to vanish until the many halls and corridors they traversed seemed deserted and cold.
When they reached the highest tower of the hunters division they were barred entrance by two guard posted in front of a gate made of mithril with golden inlays. This tower doubled as residence and office of the <Division Head> of the <Hunter Division>, but since that was such a mouth full most just called him <Head Hunter>.
"We have made a very important discovery. Please notify the <Division Head> that we wish to speak with him as soon as possible." Barth''s voice cut through the thick silence that had made the previous atmosphere so depressing.
"Wait here." Was the only response they got as one guard knocked and then entered the gate.
After a few agonizing minutes the guard finally emerged again and motioned them to enter. Inside they were welcomed by a man with a snake-like face, short black hair, clean shaven and a lean but muscular build. His clothes were held in dark green and brown tones seemingly ready to enter the forests at a moments notice, but that was no surprise as you didn''t get to be <Head Hunter> as a desk jokey.
He also exuded the pressure of a man that was in charge and used to being a figure of authority. In conjunction with his cultivation at the peak of the <Core Solidification> realm he was so imposing that even the normally very brusk Barth appeared intimidated and meek. Cog and Grom on the other hand didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly as to not stand out in any way.
The head sat behind his desk that would have better been placed in a royal dining hall. On the desk there were even more papers then on Garths'' with the distinction that these seemed to all be important and work in progress. The walls were lined with the heads <Mana Beasts>, no doubt that all of them had been personally slain by the <Head Hunter> himself, only interrupted by the occasional carpet on the wall and the big windows that overlooked the sect and the city.
When they were positioned in a triangle before the desk with Barth taking the lead they all simultaneously bowed in a 90¡ã angle before Garth started explaining the whole situation.
After a long while of contemplation he opened his mouth and started speaking.
"You have done well coming to me so quickly. We will have to share the dungeon with the other divisions but since it was our division that discovered it we can expect to get a large cut of the profit the sect makes from it. I planned to make a trip to the <Sect Master> anyway and now it seems that I just have to go a bit sooner then anticipated. I will then decide your rewards."
After the three left the office he allowed his expressionless face to relax and a small smile crept up on his face. For people who didn''t know him the whole scene would have appeared quite sinister, but his friends and close colleagues knew of the fierce loyalty he felt for the sect.
He was genuinely happy that the sect would gain such an asset as dungeons were incredibly rare, but he was also a man of ambition and knew that his chances of becoming the next <Sect Master> just rose astronomically, as he was the youngest <Division Head> in the last few millennia with the greatest talent and subsequently the greatest chance to also reach the <Core Breaker> realm the current head was in.
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Later that evening in the <Sect Master''s> office
"Thats great news Torian." The <Sect Master> that looked like a kind, old man smiled gently while sitting in his favorite armchair in front of the blazing fireplace. He didn''t need it to keep him or his office warm but looking into the flickering flames always had a strangely calming effect on him.
"Have you made plans on how to proceed?"
Torian knew that this was a test. The <Sect Master> wanted to know wether he had the necessary foresight on how to best exploit the dungeon to bring the biggest benefits for the sect as a whole. He had no doubt that the other man now strongly considered him as his successor and he now had to prove his character and management ability. He had already proved his martial strength and and basic management ability when he had been selected as the head of the hunters division 50 years ago.
The fact that each completed realm approximately added another 100 years to his age limit made such investigations very important as just one leader could either completely ruin a sect or take it to new heights.
"I have." Now was the moment of truth. He felt a feint sheen of sweat form on his palms. The last time that had happened right before he got his current position.
"I believe we should send two separate groups of hunters as the vanguard. The first would ben elite group of inner disciples lead by the two disciples who discovered the dungeon for reconnaissance. They would explore the dungeon ''till the end and map it out.
The second group would consist of outer as well as inner disciples and would receive a map with the exact position of the dungeon and transport a few needed materials there. The reason for the split is that it is unlikely that the outer disciples could keep up with the inner disciples. By the time they arrive the basic layout of the dungeon should be known. Since every hunter has to be able to build a basic shelter out of wood and hunt they can build a temporary camp and not worry about food.
While these two groups move we could then organize a caravan consisting of people of the natural crafting, martial, scholar and construction division. Those could then organize a dungeon village while we gather mortal workers and disciples from the farming division to secure a permanent food source and flow of workforce and disciples from the formation division to raise our defenses as well as the living standard with the necessary enchantments.
I do believe that the <Iron Fist Sect> as well as the <Skulldigger Clan> are situated nearby so we should deploy at least 1/4 of our elders for protection and later subjugation. I will personally go with the first scouting party to ensure that there will be no mistakes.
As soon as the village is established we will post an announcement in the entrance hall and the rest of the divisions will flock there naturally and since they can''t do much in the beginning anyway it is better to not disrupt the normal workings of the sect if possible. The other division heads will of course be informed so that they can plan ahead accordingly and move as soon as the village is ready."
After he stopped speaking the room lapsed into silence. The <Sect Master> looked into the flames lost into his thoughts. After a long while he answered.
"I think you covered almost all of my main concerns."
"Almost?" The question came immediately. He cursed himself for his impatience but he had spent hours on his plan and was now told it wasn''t perfect. He wasn''t used to imperfection. At least not from himself.
"Yes. But the last point can be attributed to your inexperience.You see, dungeons are living things. They have personalities and you can communicate with them as soon as they reach the second stage after they formed the first 10 floors. You should find someone who is loyal to the sect and who is willing to enslave himself or herself to the dungeon. We need to build a basis of trust and if the dungeon stays alone for too long it can grow up to become very twisted. We will proceed with your plan."
"I understand Sir."
"Don''t be too hard on yourself. You planned as good as you could with the information at hand. But oftentimes that is not enough. I think you should visit the scholar division more often and broaden your horizon. Luckily you have very much time left to do that. You are still young."
"Thank you Sir. I think I will go and borrow a few books to study tonight before I set out tomorrow morning."
The <Sect Master> just smiled at him and then proceeded to watch the flames. Torian took that as a cue and silently left.
Chapter 3 - Growth
2036 Words
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In the last one and a half months since the two boys left Quin had finally reached 40% <Mist-Mana> cultivation mark. Human cultivators had to break through a barrier for every 10% cultivation, but he was different now. Dungeons didn''t need to exert themselves or comprehend something to advance. The only thing they had to do once they had reached the appropriate level was to design a new floor and increase the size of all existing floors by 10%.
In the beginning that increase only amounted to an extra room at best but over time the space even on the first floor would be so enormous that even low level <Mana Beasts> could become a problem as they would form giant communities and with the increase in numbers the chance of an evolution or a beast with above average cultivation speed occurring increased as well.
More <Mana Beasts> was of course something Quin desired as every single one of them would increase his cultivation speed by a bit and the more beasts there are the more fights occur that would strengthen the overall fighting strength of his dungeon, making him also a bit safer.
Another change was that the <Boss> <Title> had already switched owners several times. As he had predicted the first <Boss> really did emerge from the <Horned Tortoises> living in the first <Boss Room>. It happened when he hit 20% and after he created the second floor. A huge rush of higher concentrated Mana that occurred when he connected the first and the second floor via a tunnel to the boss room and the closest tortoise managed to use the sudden increase in Mana pressure to break the hurdle to the second stage.
The second floor looked basically the same as the first one, but this time instead of many relatively small rooms he created bigger caverns and deeper ponds as well as stalagmites and stalactites to have just a bit of differentiation from the first floor.
When the wave of Mana rushed through the dungeon the <Mana Beasts> went into a frenzy to reach the second floor and secure a good base. Before, the caves were cramped and the individual populations small with the <Ironfur Rats> having the highest population at 50. And that was only possible because they had begun digging themselves a base and with that expanded the useable living space. Having the dungeon inhabitants dig out space was the only possible method to expand the dungeon besides cultivating.
Securing a base as far down the dungeon as possible was the highest priority, because the longer you can absorb the concentrated Mana the higher were your chances of reaching the second stage.
In the end the dungeon ended up with the following distribution of beasts.
The <Horned Tortoises> had once again claimed the lowest room as they had the support of the first <Boss> of the dungeon. The <Bloodsucking Bats> had used the opportunity the higher ceilings had provided and taken hold of the second highest room after the new <Boss Room>.
Each of the 10 <Toxic Centipedes> had claimed a smaller cave near the rooms where <Shroomlings> planted themselves as they were the centipedes main source of food. The <Boulderlings> and <Acidic Oozes> on the other hand had spread themselves through the whole floor unimpeded as they had no natural predators yet because no beast could digest them.
The <Ironfur Rats> on the other hand were down to 20 now and had been pressured back to the first floor where they were now the unchallenged overlords. The <Frost Frogs> didn''t even try to move down as they were the weakest species to begin with and begun occupying every pond on the first floor, but to give them a chance in the future and not be bound to one entrance Quin began to make several entrances to the second layer and decided to do that to each subsequent floor so that the <Boss> didn''t have an automatic claim on the new <Boss Room> since he started first from the only entrance.
Another side effect of the Mana wave was that the first <Mana Animals> began evolving. That was the original purpose for their existence and being a food source early on had just been a neat side effect. It was critical for the development of the dungeon that evolution occurred since the only <Mana Beasts> that could be created from scratch were the ones with the lowest aptitudes where reaching stage 3 would be a miracle and reaching stage 2 was relatively rare. They only existed to get the dungeon through the early development safely before it started producing the real monsters.
Natural evolution on the other hand could produce <Mana Beasts> with better aptitudes and a great variety with the beasts even having the option to evolve further in future generations. Of course not all evolutions were good and some of the <Mana Animals> would end up either disfigured or with useless abilities. But evolution through Mana is never random.
The actions and habits of the animal or beast dictated how it could evolve further. For example a <Cave Spider> that hid itself in the ground while having its net spanned above it to catch prey would certainly evolve into a <Trap Spider> or <Ground Spider> while a spider that jumps out of dark corners to attack its prey would become a <Shadow Spider> or <Leaping Spider>.
At the moment Quin had no means to influence the spiders and nudge them to a specific evolution, but that would change later on. It was a good thing that evolved beasts could reproduce with the beast species it originated from as it was either impossible to find another one of its kind or the later generations would weaken due to inbreeding.
The inbred beasts wouldn''t be weak by themselves, but due to a lack in gene variety later generations would find it impossible to evolve further unless they found beasts of the same species with different ancestors to revitalize the gene pool. So for every new species that popped up he gave them the same chance and added another 9 of them so that there were 5 males and 5 females. Wether they would succeed or go extinct didn''t matter to him as some day new ones would pop up anyway and the process would begin anew.
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When he opened the third floor the title of <Boss> shifted for the first time. A few of the <Toxic Centepedes> had banded together and soon turned the <Boss Room> into a toxic wasteland. When the <Horned Tortoises> then assaulted the room they were at a severe disadvantage and the <Boss> was slain.
While most of the centipedes pursued the retreating tortoises one stayed behind and devoured previous <Boss''> carcass. Since the body was very Mana-rich, it made a spontaneous happen in which the <Toxic Centipede> evolved into an <Armored Toxic Centipede> and made him break through to the 3rd stage.
As the now uncontested ruler of the floor he promptly gained the <Boss> title.
The centipedes were very territorial beasts and so only the mates and young of the <Boss were allowed into the <Boss Room>. Having a safe room for their young, the other centipedes subsequently spread throughout the floor slowly turning it toxic. On previous floors that was not possible since their numbers were low due to smaller predators feeding on their most of their offspring.
In conclusion the other beasts were forced to either develop a mild poison resistance since the poison wasn''t as potent as in the <Boss Room> with the centipedes so spread out, or stay in their territories. When Quin reached 39% in cultivation the first <Mana Beasts> that evolved from <Mana Animals> had made their way through to the third floor, many poisonous plants and fungi had popped up and and most species living on the 3rd floor had developed a poison resistance and had a leader at the peak of the 3rd stage.
Then he created the 4th floor and the power balance began to shift once again. Instead of the centipedes it was this time the <Webspinners> that arrived first by abandoning all their offspring unlike the other species. Under the lead of a 3rd stage evolved <Acidic Webspinner>. Since the caves and tunnels were even bigger this time around they could hide themselves under the ceiling and and ambush intruders from above.
Since the <Armored Toxic Centipede> lead the centipedes he was the first to charge into the nets of the spiders until he was trapped and couldn''t move backwards or forwards anymore. The <Acidic Webspinner> then just let his acid drip on the centipedes head until his carapace was burned through and finished him off. That prompted those centipedes that could into a hurried escape. Since it had killed the previous <Boss> it was then accepted as the strongest beast in the dungeon and became the new <Boss>.
Then instead of taking the whole carcass for himself he distributed it evenly so that the strongest <Webspinners> had a chance to also make the breakthrough to the 3rd stage, making them collectively stronger so that they could secure the <Boss Room> the next time too. With that act one could see that <Mana Beasts> differ greatly from normal animals and show that they can be cunning and act with foresight, securing their future.
Meanwhile on the first floor all the <Mana Animals> and newly evolved <Mana Beasts> fought a never ending war against swathes of different rat species. There were some that had denser muscles for digging but worse eyes because they weren''t needed in dark tunnels, that were named <Mole Rats>, then there were some with sharper claws, teeth or better sensory organs and some were just bigger like the <Bloated Rats>.
It was really fortunate for the struggling species that the strongest rats were migrating further down under the lead of a <Giant Winged Rat> that had just reached the 3rd stage on the 3rd floor under the pressure of constant battle. But there the descent of the rats came to a screeching halt as every race that had conquered a part of the fourth floor had at least one evolved leader at the peak of the third stage and a few on the beginning and middle of the third stage.
Since the rat leader knew that constant fighting was the way to make its horde of rats stronger it began assaulting every other faction on the floor. Under the constant pressure of the rats many made the breakthrough to the third stage and the organization of the species on the third floor soon surpassed that of most species on the fourth floor.
The second floor in contrast saw barely any fighting except for food since most of the beasts incurred heavy losses when the rats swept over them like a tide, but the ones remaining were the elite of their race with most of the races ending up with a 3rd stage leader and many evolutions like the <Mush Guardian> and <Spore Host>.
Even the <Boulderlings> were prey to some of the tunnel digging rats and the survivors had formed a synthesis with the <Shroomlings> by living in the safety of their primitively dug villages and in return providing valuable minerals for their continued growth. From this union the <Mush Guardians> were created, having a high physical resistance and a nigh impenetrable cap.
All in all Quin was very pleased with the progress of his dungeon. The inhabitants were ferocious, probably able to take on a human 1-3 Stages above itself and in sufficiently vast numbers with good teamwork.When one combines that with the ridiculous maturation time in his dungeon it was almost invincible at the Mist-Mana stage.
He had furthermore begun carving different formations on good nesting spots to make them better defendable like giving someone who stayed for at least two days inside a 2 hour defense buff, enhanced regeneration or better fertility and many more. The best formations he could do at the moment were of course reserved for the <Boss Room> and for more enhanced or bigger formations he would need to reach the <Liquid-Mana> stage.
When all was settled down and the rats reached a stalemate with the other races on the first and third floor the next group of hunters entered. This time though, they weren''t human.
Chapter 4 - First Blood
3064 Words
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Grishnak was confused. For the first time in his admittedly rather short life nature didn''t make sense to him. His long green claws gripped his bone sword harder. He wasn''t sure wether to advance and explore the unknown or retreat and inform his clan.
In the end his curiosity won and he signaled his group of 30 hunters to follow him. Carefully balancing on the small rocks strewn all over the field, still wet from the morning rain, they made their way to the floating anomaly. Underneath a few rocks were balanced on top of each other making it rather easy to reach the ark. That indicated either human children or other <Goblins> finding it beforehand and at least entering it.
He motioned for the other hunters to follow him before he made his way up. If you wanted the respect of your subordinates you had to lead by example. He never understood why the human generals from the stories hid themselves in the back and fled the battlefield if they lost. No <Goblin> general would ever be so much as allowed to come back home if he shamed himself and his clan that way. Grunting, he heaved himself up on the unnaturally smooth stone platform. This definitely did not feel right. An then he laid his eyes on what was inside the ark. It was a treasure trove. He could clearly differentiate 10 different magic plants and 3 types of <Mana Animal> bugs that could be used for magic pastes and salves.
He made a few careful steps inside and then promptly turned and ran out. It worked. He was delighted that he wasn''t trapped or died. Either of the two would have been very real possibilities if you had asked him before he went inside.
Since the platform soon got crowded he decided to lead the first batch inside to explore what lay behind the initial tunnel. What opened itself to him was his personal little paradise. An abundance of herbs, glowing crystals like in the sacred clan cave and weak <Mana Beasts>. He had spotted the little <Tunnel Rats> hidden in hidden holes that littered the walls at the first glimpse. The little pests were abundant in the mountains and main source of food for most of the predatory races that lived there. Including the <Goblins>. Soon the holes were deserted. As expected of the little cowards.
In the pond on the far end of the room he spotted a pair of <Frost Frogs>. Those were very rare and he had only seen them in one of the beast almanachs he had to memorize before he was allowed to become a hunter for the village. the sketch was a bit of but the description matched. Roughly the size of his head, light blue skin and frozen rat corpses on the shore of the pond. They slowly neared the pond until the archers had a clean shot and then pelted them with arrows. They then went to recover their prey and their arrows along with 3 rat corpses that were still frozen and apparently still untouched. He filled the bags of his two fastest hunters with the corpses and a variety of plants. Then he ordered them to report to the village. No matter wether the cave ended around the next corner of the tunnel, they found a rank 2 <Mana Beast> or dozens of treasure rooms, the clan would at least know that there was something here. That was standard hunter practice.
The next few rooms were not much of a challenge either as they tried to travel in a straight beeline through the labyrinth of tunnels and caves that were riddled with streams of water and little ponds and the only difficulty was not to slip on the wet stone or plants on the ground. That ended when they entered a room that was roughly twice as big as the largest room so far with a small lake in in the middle that was fed by many streams running through the tunnels and it was teeming with frogs. If he had to guess it would have been close to 70 or 80 of them and as soon as they entered they drew the attention of every last of them. A loud croak from a large grey frog that was sitting in the middle of the lake on a small island cut through the silence. Then hell broke loose as every frog began jumping in their direction. The startled hunters quickly went into formation with the guards with sword or tomahawk and shield in the front, behind them the spearmen and the archers in the backline.
"Fire at will and retreat while shooting." Was the only command Grishnak needed to give. Then the first frogs reached them and their tongues rattled against the shields. He knew that his own shield held minor enchantments and would last through the battering of acidic or freezing cold tongues but the other hunters wouldn''t be so lucky. Their shields weren''t made to withstand such a barrage as they had to be light for extended hunting trips. Then the first hunter slipped. It was one of the shield bearers, so he was directly in the front lines and promptly assaulted by several tongues. One of them belonged to the large grey frog that started this whole mess. But instead of aiming to batter the poor sod with his tongue like all the others it gripped him and dragged him away from his allies. Now that a screaming and squirming target was in their midst all the frogs naturally focused on on him, making him soon the first victim of these strange caves.
Accompanied by the agonized screams of their comrade the rest of the group helplessly retreated. They had been careless and that had cost one of them their lives.
Grishnak theorized that the large grey frog was a <Big Leaper> at the second stage. Normally something like that would be nothing for his own 7th stage cultivation, but the sheer number of foes had made it impossible to fight back. The Mist-Mana stage was all about strengthening the body and the leap between stages wasn''t that big. Sure, he could win 1v1 vs second stage Beasts and even 1v10 if he was very careful. But anything more then that would be very troublesome. If it was him that had been singled out by the frogs he could have fought against the pull of the tongue, but Kramgar hadn''t been that strong. He was a fresh recruit at the fourth stage and almost no battle experience in addition to lying on his back on the slippery ground. Oh well. That was the way of nature. The strong survived and the weak got eaten.
The goblins used the next hour to carefully circle around the big room, encountering many different beasts and animals on the way that had hidden themselves in the smaller rooms to the side. After a few easy battles and the subsequent gain of valuable materials the hunting squad slowly began to find their rhythm battle. That was when they heard the first squeaks and the tapping of countless little feet.
"Rat horde. Retreat to the tunnel. Now!" After Grishnak''s bellow the <Goblins> began to turn and ran back the way they came from.
"Block both sides. Archers in the middle. Focus on the critters on the walls and ceiling." He didn''t get to say much more detailed instructions as the first rats came into sight from both the room they were in a few moments ago and the room they had already traversed. There were about 100 rats on each side with the majority being <Ironfur Rats> and <Tunnel Rats>. Thankfully the ground was dry this time and no one had any real reason to slip. Then began the onslaught of the rats. Thankfully they were mostly confined to the ground and small wall jumps that were easily parried. Their hides also lent next to no protection against the hunter''s weapons as those were made to penetrate much stronger defenses as opposed to the shields that the hunters only carried for just-in-case situations such as this one. When the rats were mostly defeated after an hour of arduous battle the remaining ones fled back into the small tunnel system they emerged from. This time though nobody had died, which should really be expected when facing such low tiered beasts.
The exhausted <Goblins> decided for a rest before they would continue their exploration. They used this rest period to skin the rats or cut off their teeth or claws, depending on what was valuable, while snacking on the fresh meat.
When they were done with collecting their spoils and putting them into basic space bags they went on their way. After an hour of wandering they reached one of the entrances to the second floor. After a brief contemplation they decided to head further down since the higher density of Mana also meant slightly more valuable plants and probably also beasts.
Coincidentally they had used the same entrance the rats had used before them to invade the second floor and they also naturally followed the obvious trail further down. After three hours they had reached the third floor with barely any obstacles.
There however the living conditions rapidly declined as the whole floor was still polluted by the toxins of the <Toxic Centipedes>. As they wandered deeper they saw scarred rats constantly skirmishing with other creatures and they ran into <Venomous Cave Spider> nests more and more frequently. Apparently their main territory was nearby. Then a loud scream broke their concentration. A hunter in the backline was bitten by a spider that had concealed itself in the webs on the ceiling, but shortly after injecting its venom it disappeared again. Luckily this time there was something Grishnak could do to save his comrade and he pulled out an antidote. The panicking hunter quickly downed the liquid and a short rest was decided so that the it could begin to work. In that time three scouts were sent out together to find out in which direction the spider nets were receding so that similar cases such as this ambush could be avoided. There was only limited supply of antidote after all.
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When the scouts returned they led the group away from the spiders, but also straight into the part of the floor that was firmly under the control of the undisputed rulers of the third floor. That was the second time they would clash with the rats, but this time they unknowingly charged straight into their home and subsequently alerted the whole population and not just one swarm of the rats. These evolved rats were naturally smarter then their first floor brethren and let the <Goblins> enter deep into their territory. The <Goblins> were naturally delighted that the third floor was apparently as vacant as the second and confidently marched straight through a a relatively spacious cavern when the first squeaks were heard. They instantly turned on their heels, but it was already too late. This cavern had 4 entrances that were big enough for <Goblins> and every one of them was blocked.
Grishak estimated that there were 400 rats blocking the four tunnels and another 100 peeking out of the little holes in the wall. They had probably dug their own tunnel system for safe transport and that was the reason no one had spotted them beforehand.
Then the rat leader trotted through his tide of minions. It was roughly half the height of a <Goblin>, had big leathery wings at its back and a whole slew of scars all over its body.
"In circular formation. Archers, take out your close combat gear. You''ll need it." He began preparing for a last stand. The rats were more dangerous and numerous and his position abysmal to defend. His only hope was to defeat the rat''s leader and thus scare them away.
Then the <Giant Winged Rat> began charging at them and its subordinates followed behind. When it reached the halfway point the wings spread out and it took flight. There it accelerated with a flap of its wings that should normally never allow flight as they were just not big enough. Mana was funny that way, but none of the <Goblins> felt like admiring that right now. The archers tried to fire their arrows, but the rat agilely dodged them all. Grishnak faintly remembered a group of <Venomous Dart Frogs> they had fought on the second floor, so it sadly already had experience with projectiles. Another advantage down the drain. Then the first rats reached them and all they could focus on were the foes right in front of them. unlike the rats on the first floor these were very well coordinated and left each other enough space to dodge and retreat after an attack. That made it impossible to effectively decimate their numbers as wounded rats would just vanish into their own backlines and no one was ever exhausted from fighting. The <Goblins> on the other hand felt more and more despair. They were trapped and nothing they did seemed to have an effect.
The <Giant Winged Rat> used that situation to sweep down and and claw at a warriors head from behind. He didn''t even scream and was directly nocked unconscious and then torn to shreds. with one shield less the strain on the whole circular formation was increased and it was only a matter of time until the first mistakes began to appear. At first they just sustained small wounds but when one swordsman lashed out too far he left a wide opening that was promptly abused by a <Stonebiter Rat> that teared out a huge chunk of his flesh an then swiped a claw at his chest leaving a nasty scratch before it fell back again. He then began screaming and clutching his side. That sealed the deal for him as a <Rat Glider>, a rat with a membrane between his front legs and back legs, began to glide down and tear out his throat. As if on cue another 20 <Rat Gliders> began swiping down on the <Goblins> followed directly by a certain winged rat. With the invaders distracted like that the whole formation collapsed.
Grishnak was the only one who had a sizable amount of dead rats strewn around him and was thus the target of the rat leader''s ire. When he noticed the big rat that swooped down on him he decided to meet it head on. At first he could fend it off with the superior range of his bone sword but when he missed it once because he had to defend against another rat they went down in a ball of claws and teeth. The sword lost in the scuffle he only had his natural weapons to rely on. When they finally separated near one of the entrances a quick look behind told him that none of his comrades would survive.
With a massive leap he catapulted himself over the rats separating him from freedom and then broke into a mad sprint with roughly a 100 rats at his heels. Stumbling from exhaustion, he made his way through the second floor. He had lost the rats by going straight through the spider''s territory on the third floor, but he had to lose those afterwards as well. In fear that the rats would try to circle around and cut off his path of retreat he hadn''t made any pause. When he finally reached the first floor he took a brief rest to catch his breath, but he never allowed himself to relax. He then spotted a group of 20 rats passing by and nearly had a heart attack until he remembered that there also lived rats on the first floor. Not taking any chances he nonetheless concealed himself until they were gone.
A maniacal grin crept up on his face when he finally reached the exit. Then a mad cackle escaped his throat as he relished in the feeling of surviving a calamity.
The grin was still on his face when suddenly the whole world spun as his head separated from his neck.
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Quin was very pleased. The dungeon had survived its first stress test and the constant fighting had the combatants restoring their energy with mana the whole time, giving him very much to absorb. The quality was also higher then normal as the <Goblins> had reached the 5th stage on average. With this boost he currently sat at 48% and would break through in about 3 days. He already had special plans for the fifth floor.
When he shifted his vision to the rats he was amused to see that they had placed the bone sword of the <Goblin> leader in the middle of their nest as a sort of trophy.
The fight had also helped 3 rats including the <Giant Winged Rat> to break through the fourth stage. The higher Mana density on the fourth floor had the inhabitants there helped with that little problem.
Three days later he finally reached 50% cultivation. That meant that every floor was now 1.5 times as big as in the beginning and he could design the fifth floor. He decided that the normal cave labyrinth was pretty boring and wanted to mix things up. And so he made one giant room, dug a huge 5 meter deep ring in the middle and filled it with water, plants and plenty of <Mana Fish>. With the 10% increase in size he designed an under water tunnel system that connected every pond from the first to the fifth floor, so that aquatic beasts and fish especially could have a chance at descending into more favorable environments too.
On the island he placed earth instead of stone and planted a few trees, fungi and fluorescent plants. Plant type Mana beasts needed <Liquid-Mana> so that was regrettably not an option yet. In the middle of the island he placed a pillar that reached into the ceiling and added four entrances that aligned with four stone bridges that connected the outer ring and the island and were submerged a few centimeters into the water, just enough to be sufficiently slippery and easily attacked from the water to make reaching the island not just a formality. The four entrances then lead to a boss room that with a very high ceiling since the pillar was hollowed out and a hole with a ramp spiraling down. In the future this would be the entrance to the sixth floor.
When he was satisfied with his work he noticed that the next group had already invaded the first floor.
Chapter 5 - Camping
Hey, I decided to include a word count for every chapter so you can gauge how long it will be beforehand. Enjoy :)
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Cog began to hate the rain. As if it wasn''t enough that he had to travel again just the day after he had finally returned, the weather also turned to the worse. It was supposed to be close to summer now but somehow nothing could be felt of that. He was also aware that he dragged the others speed down because of his weak cultivation, but that was not his fault. Everyone started weak some time. Another minus was that Grom would travel with the second group. In a dry wagon. Lucky bastard.
But there was also hope to be had. He was now an inner disciple and they were just a few hours away from finally arriving at the dungeon. He was also traveling with the <Head Hunter> and a few seniors and elders.
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When they finally arrived Torian was relieved and worried all at once. There was no sign of a camp. That was a relief as it meant that the other factions nearby either weren''t aware of the dungeon or not aware for long as it only took a few days to reach them from here. What worried him though, were the footprints and claw marks that clearly belonged to a <Goblin> hunting group. That was until a clearly exhausted goblin emerged from the ark, with an ugly laughter.
A quick <Wind Blade> shut the disgusting thing up. So the <Goblins> probably knew something now. They often send someone back to report when facing anything new, a trait which had kept them alive in the <Trolt Mountain Range> until now as every forward camp that the sect had established in the mountains was compromised for a certainty as soon as they were attacked by <Goblin> scouts. And the little pests had bred like bunnies in that relative safety. He wouldn''t be astonished if they would have to go to war with them in a couple of years.
But that wasn''t important now. First the camp had to established.
"Clean up the mess and set up a camp. When you are done disciple Seth from the scholar division will inform all of us about important dungeon knowledge. For those of you who don''t already know, he is the disciple with the most knowledge on dungeons in the sect and has read more books and written theories about them then even the anyone else in the sect.
Since the dungeon just survived a goblin hunting party entry is strictly forbidden for the next few days. Disciple Seth with inform us about the specific time period. That is all. Now get to clearing the rubble and corpse first."
Torians speech wasn''t very detailed or extensive, but every man and woman he brought were very experienced and already knew what to do even without him saying anything. Still it paid off to never take any chances and get everyone on the same page.
With a levitation spell from elder Sue the rubble was soon in a neatly stacked pile next to the <Dungeon Entrance> and the corpse of the unlucky goblin was disposed of deep into the woods. It was really luck that the grassy slope before the portal was not that steep and you could comfortably build a camp so close by.
"Disciple Karl, please take nine helpers and set up a perimeter around the camp and keep watch, but don''t engage potential enemies. We have enough elders here that you just have to inform that a threat is coming and they will handle it. Disciple Seth will fill you in on the information on the dungeon later."
Two hours later the camp was finally completed and the watch was spread out. The 41 remaining people gathered in the middle of the camp, 10 elders and the rest experienced inner disciples.
"Now then disciple Seth. Now is your time to shine. I read a bit about dungeons on our trip here, but I am by no means an expert on the topic. Until we have a better grasp on the dungeon you will be the one whose information will be the basis for every decision we make."
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"Way to not put pressure on me. Thanks elder." Were Seth''s only thoughts before he began to compose himself. He had to be confident and make a lasting impression on the gathered elders. This was his time to make a lasting impression and set himself up to be invaluable in the future. If he got promoted to elder status when the second group arrived he had a very good possibility to be put in charge of the place or at least have some say in the development. If this went well he was set for life.
"Well then. It difficult to find a good starting point so I will first explain what you can see here. The portal is hanging suspended in the air, not because it is levitating or something. It is just anchored there in space itself. The stone around it is a border to limit the size of the portal. It will grow naturally with the dungeon. The material tells us the interior of the first floor. The stone infers that this is a cave type dungeon and that theme will probably continue for quite a few floors. If the portal would be confined between two trees it would have been a forest type dungeon. I think you get the idea.
The reason for the explosion and rubble you see here is another very mysterious phenomenon that is related to space magic. When a dungeon digs itself out of the earth and reaches the surface it will be literally ripped out of the world. Where it ends up no one knows, but you can see what it leaves behind. That would normally be an empty cave system with the same shape it first had when it reached the surface. It seems that in this case the remaining stone was not able to support the sudden and violent ripping out of stone. If one cleared the entrance one could see how the dungeon started out. Since we know when it reached the surface we can infer what category of dungeon we are dealing with.
There are 3 know categories divided by their growth rate. First we have the dungeon who makes new floors every 2 months like normal Mist-Mana cultivators would if they had no bottlenecks.
Those mostly form spoiled, childish personalities and are easily manipulated, but react with violence when they don''t get what they want. They need frequent interaction with sentient life ensure their mental health and growth.
Then we have dungeons who grow a floor per month. Those have either timid, childlike or teenager personalities and are harder to handle in the beginning as they don''t trust anyone easily. They can handle extended periods of loneliness but if you leave them alone for too long their personalities will get twisted and everyone that enters them will suffer under their insidious ideas and crazy whims. If you can establish a good relationship with them however they will be very loyal and helpful once you have their trust.
The third category are the most mysterious and only one was ever found on the <Kathargo Continent>. They grow at an astonishing 2 floors per month in the beginning and have the personality of adults. They can probably survive over a hundred years with most of their personality intact and contain many mysterious objects and secret knowledge. You will have to build a relationship of mutual benefit as they are far too intelligent to be manipulated by someone. The one known dungeon of that category had to be destroyed when he was betrayed by someone he saw as a friend and in response laid waste to the area surrounding the entrance and then plunged the whole continent in war. It took 20 years to put down and the continent is today known as the <Twisted Lands> where the realm of Chaos has found its footing on this world.
So you see, dungeons have personalities and emotions like any sentient species. Don''t treat them like objects or animals and don''t anger them.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.Now onto the problem that the <Division Head> has already addressed roughly. I don''t know how big <Goblin> hunting or scouting parties are, but I doubt that the <Goblin> went in there alone. Since the <Dungeon Entrance> is still empty we can assume that the dungeon survived and since only one <Goblin> came out we infer that the dungeon won. If the dungeon had died this place would now be swarming with beasts.
Since we don''t know how much damage they did it would be best to wait for 3 days before the first exploration begins. It might feel vulnerable now since it lost a sizable amount of its population or bloodthirsty after a won battle.
In three days it can breed new <Mana Beasts> or place new <Beast Puppets> and calm down again. That is another fascinating point of the dungeon. Any population that is permeated by the dungeons Mana has an insane maturation rate of about 1/10 of the normal time. And that brings me to my next point, that is what to expect once you are inside the dungeon."
"I think that were enough information for the moment disciple Seth."
The calm but somehow loud intervention of the <Head Hunter> cut him off and interrupted his fervent stream of words. Only now did he realize that he had been too immersed in his explanation to realize that the sky had gone dark and everyone looked tired from the rushed travel.
"My apologies <Division Head>" Was the only thing he could utter.
"No problem. I think everyone could see that you clearly have a deep knowledge of the topic and love for it. We will clean up the rubble tomorrow and cut logs for the huts that we will construct in the next few days. The tree line is entirely too close to the <Dungeon Entrance> and makes it hard to defend against potential attacks. We will resume your speech tomorrow afternoon. Now let''s eat and then rest. We elders fortunately don''t need much sleep anymore and take the watch for the night until we have fortified our position."
The night passed without any unwanted visitors and two bored elders even caught a few <Carnivorous Rabbits> that had gone off to hunt at dawn in addition to a few deer they had found sleeping at night.
Once everyone was up they had breakfast and then half of the group began clearing the rubble and the other half went to chop wood and clear off the branches. Just an hour before lunch time Seth and two elders began mapping out the ''Dungeon Corpse''.
He was very excited to see one himself and when they emerged back into the open after half an hour his evaluation had everyone excited.
"I think this is a type 3 dungeon.", were his first words when everyone was gathered to eat.
"This dungeon was clearly born intelligent, indicated by the many rooms and branching tunnels. From the size of the cave we can deduct that it opened at around 9-10% cultivation which is the maximum size before it has to open itself to expand further.
I also just this morning remembered to let junior disciple Cog recount his time inside and we can safely say that the dungeon has a functioning ecosystem already. Since he arrived just about two hours after the dungeon opened and there were already many plants and insects the dungeon probably has no or next to no puppets.
Type 1 or 2 dungeons always start with a clear path to their core and place <Beast Puppets> in regular intervals that just stand motionless in the way until someone enters attack range and only the type 3 dungeon is documented to have had a functioning ecosystem from the beginning.
After lunch a basic ladder was constructed to comfortably reach the portal by two disciples while the rest of the group split into a wood cutting and a hunting group and after dinner was another lecture by Seth.
He took a deep breath of cool and fresh evening air with a hint of smoke from the earlier fire they had roasted their dinner on. Then he continued his lecture from the day before.
"Yesterday I didn''t get to inform you about what to expect inside the dungeon, so I will do that now. The first and most important info is that you have only one way to communicate with the dungeon and that is through carving something and bringing it in the dungeon or by carving something directly into the dungeon walls.
But since we do not know how the dungeon would react to that it is best we assume that it doesn''t like that and wait until it is able to contact us. That will happen when it reaches 10 floors and enters a new stage in development.
In the meantime we can assume that it can see us, but not hear us. You should still be respectful just in case. Every dungeon we know of has access an upgraded form of the <Archive> magic that can automatically translate every language, spoken and written, to the dungeon, so that is fortunately no hurdle we have to cross.
When you are inside and exploring you should only defend yourselves and not actively search for <Mana Beasts>. You don''t want to accidentally wipe out some species that might be vital to the ecosystem. You should also try to map what you see since the dungeon layout won''t change and just expand so it doesn''t confuse the inhabitants. If you want to harvest plants the same rules apply.
If my assumption is correct the dungeon should have 4-5 floors by now. I suggest that you only travel to the middle of the fourth floor so it doesn''t feel threatened.
Another thing to be mindful of while exploring the dungeon is cultivation. Dungeon Mana is different from normal Mana, even if it doesn''t seem like that at the first glance. There will be no problems if you just regenerate your Mana in the dungeon after a fight, but you have to thoroughly get rid of it before you start cultivating again as it will be mixed in your cultivation. It will then slowly spread through your whole Mana and that is no problem if you never enter the dungeon again, but if you do it can later on forcibly take control of you then or just ban you from leaving by making you unable to use the exit. That is how the dungeon retains the <Mana Beasts> as well, since they would be able to escape otherwise. In the beginning stage the dungeons hold is very weak and it cant prevent anyone even one stage higher then itself from leaving, but later on even someone a whole realm above can''t escape its control forcibly.
When you want to get rid of the dungeon Mana I propose that you do so while still in the dungeon, just before the entrance. The dungeon gains massively by absorbing your much purer <Liquid Mana> and can use that to progress quickly.
But I wouldn''t advise that anyone with a higher cultivation then <Liquid-Mana> do so, since the force of the Mana could damage it somehow. I think that is all I have to say for now. The last piece of advice would be to not do something you haven''t cleared with me or one of the elders, as we have to be very careful to not ruin our relationship with this potential treasure trove and mighty ally.."
"Thank you disciple Seth. I think this is a lot of useful information that everyone should take to heart and think carefully about. If there are any other questions that come up tonight you can ask them before your departure tomorrow. I also haven''t decided on an exploration team yet so I will announce that tomorrow as well.
Now you all should get a good nights sleep while we elders take the watch again."
Chapter 6 - Exploration
Hey guys. I thought I''d put this chapter out right before I go to bed. I''ll edit it when I wake up. Since it is 3 am where I live this counts as this weeks promised chapter, but I expect to put out 1-3 more depending on how well the creative juices flow.
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Quin watched as the group of humans, presumably hunters because of their light leather clothing, made their way further into the first floor. They looked a bit weary but also very interested in every little detail. At the back of the group he spotted a familiar face. The little hunter from two months ago was back. He faintly remembered the name Grom. To be sure he checked again with <Archive> and while he was at it also the rest of the group.
"Oh right. This one was Cog. 58% Mist-Mana Cultivation and 13 years old. Favored weapon is the spear. <Mana Affinity> is time. Well that is really rare. Well then, lets see what the others are at. Liquid Mana Cultivation x9. Well fuck."
If Quin still had facial expressions this one would certainly be very ugly.
He hurriedly went to his <Dungeon Core> and moved it further down and away from the middle. He had made it a habit to just anchor it 10 meters beneath the future entrance to the next floor so he didn''t have to move it manually every time. After a short contemplation he placed it 10 meters right under the ring of water. That would hopefully deter them enough for now. There were certain general spells to locate dungeon cores, but those mostly required someone at the <Core Solidification> stage. He didn''t yet have a divine sense yet so communication with his dungeon denizens was impossible right now.
When he observed them very closely for any signs of their plans he came to a conclusion. He was an idiot. Those youths were not greedy and took or killed everything they could while going down. If you want to take out a dungeon core then there is no point in wasting resources by letting them run loose or wither when the dungeon dies.
Furthermore dungeons are highly profitable if you have an amiable relationship. Why would anyone kill a self regenerating treasure trove? Even if you were in the area just for a few weeks, having found a dungeon was reason enough to settle there. Unfortunately he was quite deaf at the moment and no spell he knew could change that at the moment since he did not have the capability to hear at the moment.
A dungeons life was precious as long as it hadn''t allied itself with someone already and he definitely did not have the capability to communicate yet. Since he hadn''t seen anyone for such a long time the <Dungeon Entrance> also wasn''t situated in someones direct domain so no jealousy should have popped up yet.
While he calmed himself with repeated arguments for his usefulness the youths had advanced onto the second floor.
Gods, he hated to be powerless again. He had even turned his death into a victory, but now he was like an infant. Only an infant had parents that would protect it while he had a bunch of cannon fodder in a cave.
Resigned he bitterly watched as the hunting party slowly crept through the tunnels of the dungeon. They expertly dodged every larger group of beasts and incapacitated anything they didn''t want to eat. Dungeons were a great source of food. The meat was different from the Mana as it had no corrupting effect and could be eaten without worries, but many dungeons had to fight the overhunting of the species in the first few floors by slowly shifting to species that could not be eaten like most insects or would not be eaten like rats.
It seemed tough that this wasn''t necessary with these hunters since they know how to hunt while keeping the natural balance intact. Quin just had to hope that they would stay in charge of the decision making regarding his dungeon for now. At least until the <Mana Beast> diversity was high enough in the higher floors that too much hunting wouldn''t hurt his future potential.
When they were in the middle of the second floor the big migration wave from the third floor reached them. They were obviously very confused as the streams of beasts suddenly gathered and began moving further down while fighting against each other for better positions or to keep their families safe from opportunistic predators. They were attacked when they went too close to the groups, but when they backed off again the beasts didn''t press them like normal and just went back on their way and ignored them.
The biggest procession was formed by the about 300 <Shroomlings>, their evolved forms, 100 <Boulderlings> and even a few <Lesser Stone Golems>. They were now comparable in population to the rats. Their growth wasn''t as explosive but more a steady one that would show its strength later when it enabled them to continuously grow stronger until they reach the <Liquid-Mana> Stage and when they evolve they can go even further.
Curiously the hunters followed them through the rest of the second floor and onto the third floor. There they rested while the strongest of them who were on the third stage started reconnaissance to search for a suitable home.
After nearly an hour of waiting the scouts returned and the march continued until they reached the center of the floor with a small lake and myriads of bones and other mortal remains of every bigger race that had previously lived on the third floor. The air had an unpleasant smell of rot a few poisonous plants could be seen near the tunnels that led them further into the dungeon. As hunters they were no strangers to foul the smell of decaying bodies, but since it was in a confined space with little air circulation most of them had to fight the urge to vomit.
The most numerous bodies on this vicious battlefield were those of rats and spiders, the two apparent former overlords of this floor, but also those with the most progeny.
The <Shroomlings> on the other hand didn''t seem to mind it at all and began happily plating themselves all over the cave and began to absorb the nutrients the bodies still had left.
The <Boulderlings> and <Lesser Stone Golems> on the other hand probably had no sense of smell and were fine with wherever their protectors led them.
No one in the group wanted to linger in that particular cave any longer and they quickly went on their way.
Since they didn''t have to be careful like the goblins and had no big battles they made good time and reached the middle of the fourth floor after only eight hours, including the one hour rest. If they had rushed through and not stopped every cave to carefully examine everything they could have made it in half the time as opposed to the goblins who needed approximately three hours per floor and were annihilated after 9 hours inside by the rats, or Grishnak who made it out again in six afterwards.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.When they were done taking samples and cataloguing the species they packed up and went back much to the relief of Quin. What really astonished him though was that they completely pushed out their whole Mana pool before exiting and after a while there were 30 more hunters who just went in and pushed out their whole Mana. And that was not just a bit <Mist-Mana>, but the much more compressed and pure <Liquid-Mana>.
This huge rush of energy pushed him directly to 60% with some to spare that he promptly used to dig out most of the area for the next floor. Luckily for him they continued to deliver and he was able to reach the next stage after around 4 days. That catapulted him two and a half months further, but it also meant that the beasts in the dungeon couldn''t keep up with his rate of improvement at all. They had already hovered about 10% beneath him with the difference slowly growing, but now his lead would be insurmountable.
But he had hope that the purer Mana in the lower floors would let them advance much more rapidly then normal as well. Having more then originally planned was not a real problem obviously and would just lead to his safety advancing by leaps and bounds. No one would be unhappy about more safety. Especially not him after his previous reminder about his own weakness.
Once he reached the <Liquid Mana> stage there would be a whole slew of new options available and it would also lead to the most explosive growth period relative to the previous size a dungeon would encounter in a very long time.
Then Quin once again began to design a floor and and make the other ones bigger. This time he decided that he liked the earth floor and only made the Tunnels completely out of stone. He also liked the giant room and decided instead of one big room he would do 4 and a <Boss Room> in the back. Each of them had a lake with an island in the middle with an opening in the middle of that. Each opening converged into one central tunnel that led to the boss room.
This time however the water was 3 meters below the bridges to the islands, impossible to reach if you were in the water. So if you had the misfortune of falling in there was only one way to escape and that was through the tunnel to the <Boss Room>. Since those of the beasts that lived in the water and on the land both needed an easy way to access the element they were currently not in he added a few cave entrances which allowed smooth entry and exit to the water. Those converged into the tunnel to the <Boss Room> to make it harder to defend and easier to exit at the same time.
After a few hours the beasts had mostly moved again and every race had found its new home. The <Webspinners> had once again proven themselves as the undisputed rulers of the dungeon and didn''t even need to rush downwards like the rest as no one was willing to claim the <Boss Room> and risk getting wiped out by them.
The long time at the top was used well by them and they had bolstered their numbers considerably. They were the first race to cross the 1000 member mark and occupied the big <Boss Cave> and the long tunnel leading to it just for themselves. From there frequent invasions on the other races could be mounted when the food ran low. But since they were also spiders even the weaker members of their own race frequently were on the menu.
The other four caves were respectively ruled by the rest of the spiders and rats who occupied the whole cave and the tortoises and the centipedes who only had enough numbers to occupy the island in the middle.
In the following days the first three floors were thoroughly explored under the lead of an ecstatic young man who furiously scribbled away as they walked, having the air of a crazy scholar. They also brought him up the next 10% every day without fail. He almost felt bad for them as the floors would continue to grow by 10% for every breakthrough he had. They obviously thought he grew over time and never knew that much of the floor was still not explored.
On the seventh floor Quin decided that he wanted to mix things up once again and made the whole floor a labyrinth of very high and 10 meter wide ravines with some caves in the upper parts for those able to climb or fly. He only designed such obviously unfavorable terrain for some of his leading species because he knew that it would only have to last for one day.
The eighth floor went in the other extreme and featured many small caves and tunnels who were just wide enough to allow the biggest beasts to just about travel through them. To top it all off the whole floor was covered in water that reached the ankles with the occasional very deep pool from where the swimming beasts could emerge at any time and ambush anyone who went too close to them.
On the ninth floor he did the same but this time the floor was just one big room with eight islands in a circular formation around the big central island and the rest of the room flooded. he also added waterfalls that sprung out from the ceiling and the walls On every island there were trees planted and they had a hole in the middle leading to the next floor, except for the central island one that led to the <Boss Room>.
The tenth floor consisted of caves that got bigger the further you went in. But the special part of this floor that instead of tunnels, bridges connected those caves and the space between and above the caves was empty. That gave the effect of a floor in three parts, one above the caves that could be used by flying and climbing beasts, the cave system connected by the bridges and the water ways 10 meters under the bridges with extra caves under the caves above them often times connected by a tunnel inside.
The <Boss Room> was the only exception and it stretched on all three layers with an entrance on all three of them making a three pronged siege possible.
Since he now was at 100% the only thing left to do was to condense and purify his current Mana. After a whole day he was finally done. He had transformed his 100% <Mist-Mana> into a whopping 1% <Liquid Mana>.
Finally his senses of smell and sound were back again and he even had a way to communicate now. Even if that was only possible with for now pretty dumb beasts or a specially contracted person that he didn''t have.
But that was a problem for another day and for now he just wanted to revel in his new senses and watch his beasts progress further in their development.
The following days he would be very busy with cultivating and then exploring all his new options in designing his dungeon.
Chapter 7 - Sacrifice and Reward
Hey, had much time today and wrote the next chapter already. Can anyone of you tell me how the average view system works? I don''t think it is the average views per chapter since they never go down, but I can''t think of any other explanation or find one somewhere.
Edit: This time the numbers went down. I think it just doesn''t do that for every chapter since this is the 10th post and I only now see a change.
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In the last few days the whole dungeon was in a phase constant movement and chaos. Every stronger group of beasts wanders deeper and they experience an explosive growth. When Cog and the other disciples encountered this phenomenon at first they were unsure what to make of it and just decided to follow the relatively tame <Shroomlings> on their journey down the dungeon and stopped on the fourth floor like recommended by Seth.
But when they came back on the following days under the lead of Seth the beast population was totally different from the first visit and also visibly smaller and weaker then before. He then theorized that the beasts wandered further down and that our Mana donation should have propelled it to somewhere from the eighth to the tenth floor in depth.
An expedition was proposed to the elders that should go forth until the end of the eighth floor since he was reasonably sure that the dungeon would have at least nine floors by the time they arrived there. We would rush to the fourth floor and then carefully make our way down from there. The way down was estimated between 12 and 14 hours and the way back 8 to 9 hours. Cog would then have to be excluded from the exploration as he wasn''t strong enough to make the whole trip with barely any rest.
The <Mist-Mana> stage was after all the stage of body development and only when you completed it would you have the necessary bodily strength for the strain of cultivation or going on long exploration trips.
In the outside world the basic camp had expanded under the hard work of the remaining disciples and elders. The first action was to secure the cliff behind the dungeon and building suitable defenses there as well as an easy way up. Since the dungeon wasn''t located on <Mt. Thai> itself and just in the side of an unnamed mountain plateau at its foot the <Head Hunter> had decided that they would build a stronghold on the plateau later, but now four watchtowers had to suffice that were located with the tower facing the mountains at twelve o''clock and the tower overseeing the dungeon entrance and nearby woods at six o''clock. The other two towers were situated at three o''clock and nine o''clock respectively.
The towers looked more like outposts built on four 15 meter long wooden trunks, a platform at 13 meters and a roof made of wooden planks. Then the <Head Hunter> used his nature <Mana Affinity> and exceptional control over it and revitalized the wooden trunks into sprouting new roots, making the room at the top waterproof by growing leaves on the roofs and making a railing by growing thick branches to each other just above the wooden platform.
In the end the watchtowers looked decidedly elvish and would continue to stand sturdy for many years, only requiring regular trimming.
On the ground level the elders had already set up quite a few log cabins to accommodate the second group that would arrive in about 2 days time. A basic wall was also set up against wild beasts and any would be aggressors from the nearby small sect or <Goblin> clan.
It was constructed by a simple moat being dug and the earth from the moat was piled up to a wall of dirt. At the peak of the hill palisades were dug deeply into the loose earth that was then compressed by an elder with gravity <Mana Affinity>. They only left a single entrance in the wall and also filled the moat at that point since it would only be a temporary defense anyway until the first big wave of the <Blackwood Sect''s> disciples arrived and the dungeon town had to be expanded.
The portal also got a special wall built so it wasn''t immediately visible when the camp was entered, so that anyone who Didn''t already know of the portal and entered the camp wouldn''t be able to accidentally discover it.
It really was hard to imagine what a group of 40 super-humans could achieve in such a short time frame if they set their mind to it. Normally no elder would lower him- or herself to do construction work or keeping watch at night, but with the head of their division leading by example no voices of discontentment could be heard.
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The return of the exploration team two days later coincided with the arrival of the second group and it was decided that the report of their findings would wait until the next morning to allow the team to get their much needed rest.
In one of the bigger huts however, two elders were still not able to rest as they had much to talk about.
"Please Maria. It hasn''t to be you. We can find another one to do it."
"I already informed the sect master and we had an assembly of the available elders where I also was confirmed as the best candidate. I had to travel alone and only caught up to the group after a few days, because of that."
"But you are important to the sect. And to me. We joined the sect together. We fought together and adventured together. And in the end we even both became elders. You have nothing that you have to prove to the sect."
"I won''t be gone Torian. We will still see each other quite often. And you know I don''t do this to prove something to the sect. If I had to prove something I wouldn''t have been chosen for this task in the first place and you know that."
Helplessly Torian shook his head. This tactic wouldn''t work. They had argued for a whole hour in an endlessly repeating circle, no one able to convince the other yet.
But slowly she gained the upper hand and he was close to giving in. In a last ditch effort to sway her mind he decided to change his tactic.
"Think about your disciples and your kids. They will miss you dearly. I know you somehow blame yourself for Ralph''s death, but you were definitely not responsible. There was nothing you could have done to save him from the <Golden Rose Guild>.
And this is no way to punish yourself for that."
"This has nothing to do with Ralph. It is now 10 years since his death and I had all the time in the world to grieve and come to terms with that. And my kids. My kids are grown adults that can handle themselves. Korg even has his own kids now.
My disciples can also handle themselves. I haven''t accepted a new disciple in years and the other ones already know every thing I have to teach them.
I have no loose ends left. This is something completely new and exciting while I can also help the sect and thereby also my kids and disciples if I do this right. You know that I will never reach the <Core Breaker> realm on my own, but if I become the <Dungeon Medium> I can still do something meaningful. The sect needs to not mess this up and since in the end one can only depend on ones self if a job has to be done satisfactory."
Tiredly Torian gave up. At this point there was nothing to be gained and their friendship would suffer if he pushed on at this point. She had always had this stubborn streak, but until today that had never brought him much trouble.
After a while he left dejectedly and made his way to Seth to inform him on the need for another exploration to gauge wether the dungeon was at the second stage yet, so that Maria could bind herself to it.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
But where was sorrow in reunion there was also joy. And so Cog and Grom had a happy reunion that lasted deep into the night as Grom couldn''t wait to hear everything about the dungeon and other topics. The usually so quiet boy was now brimming with energy and constantly pelted Cog with various questions.
"So how did you manage to keep up with the inner disciples and the elders?"
"The <Head Hunter> personally used some of his Mana to refresh me whenever I couldn''t continue and the only thing I had to do was run with all my might. That helped my cultivation progress very much and I''m now at 64% already!"
"I''m just at 53%. You have so much luck."
"What luck you idiot? I had to run as if my life depended on it for half a month with barely any rest and all that in the pouring rain. You could just comfortably ride on a sect provided <Wind Walker> while focusing on cultivating."
"Well whatever. Then tell me about the dungeon. How deep is it? How big are the floors? Which beasts did you see and how many did you kill?"
There really was no end in sight and so Cog had no other choice then to diligently answer them.
The next morning arrived and everyone got up at dawn to prepare breakfast. The second group consisted of around 500 people, divided in 300 outer disciples, 150 inner Disciples and 50 elders and teachers. They had thankfully received ample food and other resources back at the sect that would last them for at least a year.
The caravan that would arrive in approximately one month would undoubtedly have even more so that the unhindered growth of the dungeon was all but guaranteed.
After breakfast everyone gathered and listened to the speech of Seth, who in the beginning reiterated the general information about dungeons for the newcomers and then began a detailed report about this particular dungeon. He described the myriads of beasts that lived there, the variety of grade 1 plants and the strange but fascinating environments from floor five onwards. But he also warned of the dangers of the dungeon. Those were the bodies of water where some of the biggest rank 1 beasts of the dungeon lived, the poisonous plants that could often times be found from floor 3 onwards or the unnecessary provocation of seemingly weak beasts as some populations were estimated to soon cross the thousand member mark.
Some species were known to be either very aggressive or protective of its members and any misstep in their territories could mean death for anyone not in the <Liquid-Mana> realm.
When Seth was finally done it was lunch time. After they had their fill there was an announcement that took many everyone but the newly arrived elders and Torian by surprise. It was announced that elder Maria would step down from her position and enslave herself to the dungeon as a <Dungeon Medium> in exchange for it allying itself with the sect and granting special benefits to it.
They were furthermore told that a magical contract was worked out by the assembly of elders that would ensure that both sides had to abide by its content. As soon as the dungeon reached stage two it would develop a divine sense and could thus read and agree to it.
They were then warned by elder Maria herself not to trust anything she said until the other elders confirmed that she was still herself as no one knew how much control a dungeon had over its <Dungeon Medium>.
Many disciples were sad to see her do something drastic like this for the sect as she was an elder well known for managing the sects library with great care. She was also very helpful for disciples that searched for particular books or wanted to know something specific as she had read most books in the library and knew the place of every one of them.
She could retain all that information thanks to her very rare mind <Mana Affinity> that she used to give herself a photographic memory.
The rest of the afternoon was then free so that everyone could settle down and tents for the newcomers who didn''t get a hut could be constructed.
Just before dinner Cog and Grom were ordered to visit the hut of the <Head Hunter> by an inner disciple, as he had something to discuss with them. Confused the two youngsters made their way to him and carefully knocked on his door.
"Please come in." The inside of the hut was very spartan and only consisted of a simple bed, a desk with a chair and a bench for visitors. When they stood inside and had closed the door, Torian began to speak.
"I will make this very brief. You were promised a reward for your exceptional contribution to the sect and I will now tell you what I have decided to award you.
You will each be exempted from ever having to earn contribution points for the sect and anything that requires contribution points as payment will be free for you from now on.
You will also get a suitable elder to personally teach you as soon as you reach the next realm and I will personally teach you the necessary hunter skills when things have calmed down here. Is that acceptable for you?"
"Yes elder. Thank you very much." Grom furiously nodded to Cogs statement. He was very nervous and couldn''t utter a single word.
"Well then enjoy. Your dinner."
With a "Thank you elder." and a bow they dismissed themselves.
When they were outside their composure crumbled and loud shouts of joy could be heard as the two boys ran back to their hut to celebrate.
When they were done celebrating and eating Grom desperately wanted to visit the dungeon again to see wether it had changed much from his memories and he persuaded Cog to take him just to the first floor.
A few minutes later the two were frantically knocking on the <Head Hunters> door again.
"You two again?" Was his only response.
"The dungeon changed. The entrance entrance is totally different from yesterday." Was the response he got.
Hurriedly he searched for Seth and took him, Cog and Grom to the portal. Before they even saw the changes he had already investigated them with his divine sense. Two meters behind, above and below the portal there was now a wall of smooth stone and stairs were moving to a portal that now resembled a chiseled gate rather then a cave entrance. The original size of the portal had also changed from two by two meters to three by three meters.
When they stood before the new entrance he shot a questioning look in Seth''s direction. The young scholar had a wide grin on his face and informed the rest of the small group about the situation.
"The dungeon reached stage 2. We can now establish the contract and finally communicate with it. The further a dungeon grows the bigger is its influence on the immediate surroundings." He explained.
"I recommend that we start the contact as soon as possible so that elder Maria can talk to the dungeon for the whole night and we can begin the negotiations tomorrow morning."
Torian sighed. He wouldn''t get much sleep tonight.
Chapter 8 - New Design and Conversation
Hey there, this will probably the last chapter this week as my parents decided on a short trip to the Netherlands from tomorrow until Sunday.
On another note, do you feel the spacing has been better or worse? I would also really appreciate a rating from you with a bit of text so that I know what to improve on. That will help you too since the future chapters then go up in quality and you dont have to endure my current mistakes much longer. (hopefully)
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After just doing nothing for a few hours for the first time in two months Quin busied himself again with designing a new floor and experimenting with a few of his new options.
This was one of the new changes of being in stage two. He could now design a new floor for every percent of progress, or save until he had cultivated the next 10% and needed to create the floors to be able to cultivate further.
He contemplated which design he wanted for the next ten floors and decided on an overgrown temple design. One of his new gimmicks was that he could add light sources that came out of nowhere similar to the infinite water that started and fed his water system. That gave everything a very mystical air and also created the illusion that the surface was almost in reach.
The ceiling was high and the tunnels wide with a paved path of mossy and cracked stones and On the sides was a thick underbrush of about 5 meters. Not enough to live in but perfect for a stealthy approach or ambush. He also added the occasional stone pillar and small room of indeterminate use on the side.
The rooms were spacious with old ritual places or temples and large ponds that were so overgrown that anything could lurk just under the surface without anyone noticing. The design of everything was very airy, meaning not many walls and much open space, save for the regular expansive cellar of the temples that were easily defensible and mostly dark. The only illumination came from the occasional luminescent plant or <Light Stone> in specially made brackets.
The <Liquid-Mana> stage was also the point at which almost every race evolved completely for the first time. The so called evolutions before were more like variations forced by the harsh environment or an absolutely abysmal aptitude for Mana, barely better then that of a mortal, that made it absolutely impossible for them to reach even the upper regions of the <Mist-Mana> stage before they died of old age.
This surefire evolution also influenced the design heavily as most species would either develop into a bigger and stronger version or a more intelligent and nimble version of themselves, that mostly led to the development of hands and starting to move on only two feet. But those were not distinctions between races but between individuals. Two brothers could develop exactly the same way until the <Liquid Mana> stage and then one would become more intelligent and the other would gain an innate advantage in combat. In the end it was possible that the intelligent brother rode his stronger counterpart into battle one day.
There were of course exceptions to that rule and one being more intelligent then the other by no means meant that the other one was dumb. In the end it also mostly ended up in a situation of mutual benefit as one branch were the ones who devised plans and built shelters and weapons while the other branch functioned as guards and protectors that was the most effective in direct confrontations.
As the beasts gained the knowledge to make tools it was also necessary to supply them with weapons, tools, knowledge on how to use them and crafting knowledge. For that he created special hypnotic arrays that would teach the beasts directly how to use a specific tool or weapon or how to make something like fire or clothing.
Since smithing required metals as well as ways to smelt and then work on them most recipes were making use of ingredients like bones, shells, teeth and much more.
He also placed a trigger array in the <Boss Room> that would begin randomly spawning metal weapons or magical talismans near the arrays that explained their use on special altars. This would reward the holding of territory and make the dungeon dwellers more capable of fighting with any outside invaders.
Since the <Boss Room> needed something special he made a few very easy cultivation techniques for beasts available there as well as three separate altars with weapons, armors and talismans available on them.
Another new evolutional path that opened itself were plants with basic intelligence. And Quin promptly placed his new pets between the already existing plant life. Most plants used a venom of sorts that they either dispersed into the air or stored in their thorns. Once the prey was poisoned it only took a few minutes until they lost consciousness and were dissolved into fertilizer.
Since the jump from stage 1 Mana to stage 2 Mana was such a big one the beasts were unable to stand the pressure on the new floor until they reached the 10th stage of the first grade. That meant the new floor was currently completely deserted and the plants had to survive completely on Mana. To help with that he placed another new acquisition, the <Mana Geyser>. But instead of the water the normal geysers pushed out this version drew in Mana and then explosively shot it out into the environment.
Any natural <Mana Geyser> was a treasure that was cared for greatly and was a very popular cultivation spot.
When he was done with his new floor he also remodeled the dungeon entrance. With his current cultivation he could affect the outside world that was approximately 2 meters away from his portal. With this new change he could also move his awareness outside for the first time in 2 months and observe his surroundings. Of course there was not much to see as someone had built a wall between the portal and the rest of the world. Just his luck. At least He could tell that is was late afternoon by the angle of the sun rays.
Then he noticed that his portal was floating in the air and decided to put a bit of substance around it and go for a more fitting portal design.
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When it got dark Quin was ripped out of his cultivation by very strong energy ripples at the dungeon entrance. When he moved his consciousness there he noticed 3 people and 2 of them were the cause of these ripples. They stood there unmoving and a plate made of pure jade was placed on the floor in front of them.
Ages ago someone had found, that jade had the unique property of being able to hold information. Those information could be inscribed by divine sense and also read with it, making it a very comfortable way to carry whole libraries in a piece of sufficiently high grade.
The piece in front of him was at least grade 3 and it contained a high level magical contract. He read through it and was astonished. The female of the the two strong individuals would willingly offer herself as a <Dungeon Medium> and in return he would be allied to the <Blackwood Sect> she was from. This alliance would ban him from installing vicious traps into the dungeon that were aimed at the disciples from this sect, have him provide a complete map of the dungeon with every especially dangerous place marked, let disciples use the dungeon for breakthroughs and then have him remove the corruption of their Mana.
In turn they were obligated to in no way try to harm him or his <Dungeon Core> and they would defend him against any hostile forces that wished to harm him, something they would have no doubt have done anyway as he was so valuable. But it was nice to have a binding confirmation of that.
Quin read it again and couldn''t find any hidden information or unclear formulations. There were no downsides for him and he would gain massively, so there was nothing to really consider. He imprinted his consent and the jade glowed as it drew in a massive amount of Mana.
Magical contracts were one of the best inventions ever made. They were almost impossible to break, grew stronger with time making it even harder to break them the longer they existed and if you weren''t a complete dimwit it was impossible to be tricked or deceived into signing a contract you didn''t want.
Then began the ritual to bind Maria, his new <Dungeon Medium>, to him. First was a very long and complicated chant, followed by hand sigils and in the end runic tattoos formed all over her body that she filled with the dungeons Mana. All of this was completely unnecessary as Quin knew a much shorter and easier chant that accomplished all of this hour long procedure in a minute, but he had currently no way to tell them.
Then he felt a connection form in his mind and the first words were transmitted through this connection to him.
"HELLO? DID IT SUCCEED?"
"God damnit woman could you please tone it down. You don''t have to shout."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere."BETTER?"
"I SAID QUIETER."
"Sorry."
"You better be. If I were made of flesh I would be currently lying on the floor twitching and bleeding out of every fucking orifice I have."
Maria looked down on her feet, her face beet-red.
"Is everything ok?" The second strong person asked.
"Yes. Who could have known that telepathy requires almost no Mana?"
"You blasted it with your thoughts?"
"Shut up."
"Ask them to leave please. We have much to talk about and I don''t want to be interrupted every five minutes because you can''t control your expression. Also tell him to refer to me as ''him'' and not ''it''."
"The dungeon wishes to speak with me without an audience, Torian. I will find you once we are through with talking. Also refer to him as ''him'' and not ''it'' you insensitive blockhead."
Grumbling Torian and the third person, who I now remember is the easily excitable scholar, make their way back.
"So, I need to get a basic overview about where we are geographically and your motivations for doing this. And don''t try to lie to me. It is incredibly hard to lie through telepathy, because every message you send automatically carries a bit of your current emotions with them and with your abysmal control over it at the moment it you would only embarrass yourself by trying."
"Can I ask you a question first?"
"Go for it."
"Why are you so grumpy?"
"Try imagining being caged in with thousands of entities that only think about hunting, fucking and sleeping for two months and then the first person you can talk with screams directly into your mind at the highest volume possible. I think I''m being perfectly reasonable here."
"Sorry. Again. We are currently at the edges of the <Trult Mountain Range> in the province <Trult> that is currently managed by the <Blackwood Sect> in the country of <Veskia> on the <Kathargo Continent>.
There are three reasons I offered to be the one to sacrifice herself. Reason number one is that the sect is in decline for a few thousand years now and we need every help we can get to hold our position as local ruler. The second reason is that I want to secure the future of my children and disciples as best as I can.
The third reason is plain boredom. I won''t achieve anything great anymore anyway and will most likely stay at the <Core Solidification> stage for the rest of my life."
"I don''t think you will be for much longer. My <Archive> magic tells me that you have the mind <Mana Affinity> and I happen to have a suitable cultivation technique for that affinity."
"You are two months old. Why would you know anything about human cultivation, or even more then I do?"
"Then let me ask you a question. What do you know about mature dungeons or whatever you call us?"
"You progress much faster then the other two types, you are more intelligent and sometimes strange artifacts can be found inside your body?"
"Well that is very incomplete knowledge. First off my dungeon isn''t my body but my cage and defense system at the same time. My body is only the <Dungeon Core>.
Secondly mature dungeons are entirely different from child dungeons, because we are reincarnated ascended individuals with a certain amount of memories from our past life. And in my special case with all of them. So in reality we are much more knowledgeable in cultivation then you are and me especially, because I previously also ascended by cultivating Mana like you do."
There was a long silence after that.
"That is really a lot to take in. But I guess you have no reason to lie to me and I now would be very interested in your offer with the cultivation technique."
"I''ll pass it on to you as soon as I have a grade 3 jade plate available. If I transmit it telepathically it could damage your mind because there is too much information at once. Then let''s get back to questions from me. Tell me about the strength of the region we are in. And please just the upper echelons and not the millions of small fries that undoubtedly run around everywhere."
"Well then. In <Trult> we are the rulers as I have already mentioned. There are about 200 elders that are at the peak of the <Core Solidification> realm, 10 of which are currently here, and 800-900 teachers at varying stages of the <Core Solidification> realm. Then we have the Sect master and the 11 protectors who all already reached the <Core Breaker> realm.
I am unsure about the other sects in <Veskia> and the surrounding kingdoms, but the most of the stronger ones should be about our strength. Then there are the royal academies. They are ruled over by the respective royal clans of the kingdoms and every king is rumored to be at least at the <Spirit Gathering> realm in power with many <Core Breaker> elders as protectors."
"That is truly disappointing and reassuring all at once. In a few years I will be all but invincible here, but this low amount of power also indicates that my progress will be very slow then as the natural Mana in this region has to be very thin.
Are there other dungeons in this region?"
"You are the first in <Trult> but <Veskia> has seven other dungeons and each of them is what you call a child dungeon type. I heard that the oldest one is two hundred years old as the all the previous dungeons eventually went insane and had to be put down. It is rumored to be at the third stage already and very close to the fourth one, but it is controlled by the <Veskia Royal Sect> and the public isn''t allowed inside anymore.
As far as I know you are the only adult dungeon in the <Kathargo Continent> though."
"Ok. I think that is all the information I need at the moment. Now then let''s talk about the next steps we will take. You will go back into the camp I presume you have behind that wall. You will talk to the people so that they can be sure that you are still yourself. That should be their most prevalent fear right now. You will however not disclose the information that I am reincarnated for now.
Furthermore you will ask them to only send <Mist-Mana> disciples in and that also only in approximately three days so that the <Mana Beasts> can fill the empty space. <Liquid-Mana> disciples will be allowed once the first beasts reach that level and begin populating the higher floors. I also ask you to not push my cultivation forward for the moment as I need a solid foundation for my cultivation.
Stage 1 was just the gathering of Mana for the second stage, so it wasn''t really of consequence then. For the complete map I have to provide you will need to bring me a grade 1 jade slab for the rough layout or grade 2 for the detailed one, but please don''t circulate the detailed map outside of the teachers and elders as it could later be stolen by any rival sects and I am not really too keen of that. I think that all the important informations are exchanged now. Then let''s use the rest of the night and tell me about your life, important history or anything else of interest really. It really has been boring in these last two months."
Chapter 9 - War is on the Horizon
Hey, the trip on short notice was also cancelled on short notice. So here is a new chapter. I''m still waiting on my first advanced review, but that is probably not really easy to write with my low chapter count. I''ll try to remedy that.
Once again feedback is appreciated and I am very sure I forgot to write something here that I wanted to ask. Oh well. Next time then.
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Another week had gone by and the camp life had fallen into a routine. The outer disciples formed groups of 10-20 members and entered the dungeon at dawn, then they came back out for lunch bringing back whatever they managed to slay.
In the meanwhile the inner disciples and teachers went to thoroughly map out the area and also cut down wood for the construction and to clear space for the future city.
The elders on the other hand had to keep watch and converse with the former elder Maria to determine wether she was still herself, but those concerns had vanished over time as there was no unusual behavior from her and the elder she had most contact with previously, Torian, assured everyone that she was still the same as always.
In the afternoon the wood they had cut was then processed and used to replace some of the tents so that the camp grew more stable by the day. The many pelts that were gathered in the dungeon were also used to make new tents for the caravan that would be arriving in 3 weeks. Torian had also sent back a disciple with a detailed report of the situation for the <Sect Master> on a tamed rank 2 <Mana Beast> and this messenger should arrive any day now.
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Meanwhile deep under the sect there was a dusty room that held great resemblance with a throne room. A few ancient <Light Stones> flickered there as if they would soon die and plunge the whole room in eternal darkness. That would have possible be the better option for any would be visitor as the scene that could be seen there was not something you wanted to look at.
On three thrones made of presumably human bones sat three mummified corpses that emitted a strong miasma that twisted the light in very peculiar ways and corroded their surroundings until they were pitch black and had a deep purple sheen that seemed to surround them.
The corpse in the middle missed the lower half of its torso and wore a crown that strangely still in pristine condition and looked very misplaced on an apparently ancient corpse. All three of them were also clad in expensive garments.
The corpse in the middle wore an expensive robe embroidered with gems and golden threads and held a scepter in its hands. The corpse to the right wore a very expensive dress and held a crystal ball in her lap that swirled with a dark grey fog.
The last corpse on the other hand was dressed in a heavily ornamented armor and had a long sword attached to its hip in a comparatively modest sheath.
In the far back end of the room right across from the thrones was a majestic portal that now slowly opened. A person clad in a black mantle and hood that hid his features entered and walked into the middle of the room. The person then knelt down and spoke with a loud voice.
"Greetings to the venerated ancestors."
Then the corpse in the middle started to open its eyes and eyeballs that seemed to have been directed inwards rolled in position to coldly examine the newcomer.
"Speak." Was transmitted into the newcomers head.
"Venerated ancestors, I have just received a report that we found a type 3 dungeon and formed friendly ties with it in our province. I have a detailed report with me."
The other two corpses likewise opened their eyes and moved their heads to look at the person.
He pulled his hood off and revealed the face of the <Sect Master>. The typical grandfatherly smile was nowhere to be seen and he had a very grave expression on his face.
"Bring it over."
He pulled out a jade slip and made his way further into the room. When he reached the pedestal on which the thrones stood he knelt back down and held his open hand with the slip on it before him. The miasma reacted and formed into a hand that grabbed the slip and brought it to the corpse in the middle. After all three of them had examined the report a female voice transmitted to the <Sect Master>.
"This is very good opportunity. We can soon enact our revenge with its help. There is no kingdom that can withstand its might once it matures a bit further."
An eery green light shone her eyes, the only indication of her murderous delight.
"No one can know of this. This sect has enforced a magical oath of loyalty so our disciples will not disclose this, but the <Goblins> and the other small sects are a problem. Eradicate every one of them. They either will submit and be assimilated or they die. The <Goblins> can later be traded to the dungeon for additional benefits."
This time the warrior corpse had spoken.
"As you wish ancestor."
Then the corpse with the royal attire spoke again.
"Also take our little dimension out and let it be transported into the dungeon. We are currently of no use here and we need special high grade materials only obtainable in dungeons to regain our vitality. Let a protector take us there since they all know how to access this dimension and they know which materials we require. You may leave now if that was all."
"Of course ancestor. Your wish is my order. A protector will be notified as soon as possible."
With that the <Sect Master> turned and exited the dimension.
Once outside he appeared in a cell that was deep in the sects dungeons. He put the hood back on, took out an inconspicuous stone that was the entrance to the dimension and left the cell. He used a few secret passages that had been added by a paranoid <Sect Master> before him and soon appeared back in his office, ready to obey the orders of the ancestors and give them out as if they were his own.
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Gormak was getting increasingly worried. His son was expected to be back for a few days now. It had been a week since two hunters of his team came back with various grade 1 Mana plants and beast carcasses they had found in a cave.
He had just stepped into the <Core Solidification> stage and had promptly organized a hunting team, hoping Grishnak would follow in his steps and become a great warrior and hunter.
But now that hope had been shattered. He would probably never see his son again. There were no messages sent and normally he never should have taken this long. Hopefully the scouts he had sent would bring back new of what had happened.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.A loud wailing ripped him out of his musings.
When he stepped outside his hut he saw his wife of 160 years, Karga, crouching on the ground next to corpse. He couldn''t see his son''s face but there was no question whose corpse that was. He wouldn''t cry. That would disgrace his sons memory. His wife and their daughter would cry for him too. With weak knees he forced himself to walk to Karga. His whole body felt tense and stiff, but without strength at the same time.
He desperately wanted to turn away, leave and just pretend that all of this wasn''t happening. With shaky hands he reached for his wife''s shoulder. She just turned to him and clung to him desperately. As if she had to make sure he would stay and not leave her too.
When he was finally able to bring himself to look at the body he noticed remnants of dirt and that the head was too far up for it to still be connected to the rest of the body. In this moment he cursed his damnable observation skills that tormented him with so many little details. The obvious claw marks, the scrapes and broken nails. It was getting harder and harder not to cry. but he also couldn''t look away. One of his sons ears was also ripped off and the arm on the same side was obviously broken, indicated by the unnatural angle that it was in.
He wrapped his arms around his wife. To others it would seem that he was comforting her, but in truth he needed her just as much to support himself. Then his daughter stepped outside and another loud wail ripped through the silence that had previously only been broken by his wife''s sobs.
Stumbling and unsteady his daughter made her way to them. Tears running she stared dazedly at the unmoving body of her brother. They stood like that for a long time with no words spoken. Slowly his grief and sorrow turned into anger and hate. No beats would behead its prey or even bury it afterwards. This stunk of humans.
The two scouts had stood there motionlessly, but in their gazes was an unmistakeable sorrow. The two of them had trained Grishnak when he was little to be a scout. He should have joined them when he reached rank 2, learning from them and making him a more complete warrior and hunter.
"Report!"
"Yes sage Gormak. We found him in a shallow grave in the woods right outside a human camp. Had to wait ''till night so we could dig him out safely.
The <Blackwood Sect> have apparently built it around the cave. Shzar overheard with his sound affinity that it is apparently something called ''dungeon''. His sound affinity is also probably the reason we are still alive because there are some of their elders and teachers there.
If we want revenge we need the whole <Skulldigger Clan> to move out and that quickly. They''ll get reinforcements soon and then there is nothin'' we can do. They have also placed watchtowers on the flat mountain, so we have to move stealthily and attack by night."
A cold hate gripped his thoughts. If he could he would have rallied the troops and went there right away. But now was the time to stay rational to ensure that he would not fail this last mission for his son.
"Let''s go to the chief."
When they arrived at the chief''s small hut he had gotten his sorrow and his anger just under control.
He knocked loudly.
"Come in." The voice of an elderly <Goblin> could be heard from the inside.
"Recount the events!"
"Yes sage Gormak."
Then Kraggar once again recounted the events. When he was done silence reigned in the cramped room. The chief was never one who cared much about his worldly possessions and had just taken over a small hut after his wife''s death.
"You know what this means Gormak?" Was his first question after he had digested the information.
"Yes chief. They know that we know of the dungeon. They will no doubt soon mount an attack to silence us. I will send my wife and daughter further into the mountains to live with the warchief. But I will not let them get away with this. I will take everyone willing and attack them in two days after I have buried my son. That should keep them occupied and will buy time for the rest of you so you can get further into the mountains and start a new village somewhere safer."
"The rest of the sages and me will hold a meeting in a few hours. You should be with your family. We will have everyone willing ready by tomorrow evening. You will be the raid leader."
Satisfied Gormak turned and went to leave. When he had just opened the door he heard the voice of the chief add something.
"I am sorry for your loss."
The next day went by in a blur and when it was time to gather meet the raid troop had arrived he couldn''t even tell what had happened. It was as if he was imprisoned in his own little world and only got out when he took a deep breath of fresh air and gazed at the three beautiful moons in the sky.
There were about 1000 <Goblins>, male and female, that had decided to sacrifice themselves for the clan. Most of them were old and would have only been a burden later on and so they had decided that they would go out as warriors. It pained him to see one tenth of his clan join him in death but this was necessary. If they hadn''t uncovered that there was a dungeon it was likely that one tenth would have been able to survive, if any at all.
Silently they made their way through the the forest, careful to spread out and not clump together. That reduced the probability of being discovered by the watchtowers as they could dive from one shadow to the other. When it was midnight they finally arrived at the camp.
They took out their arms and downed a <Berserk Potion> that the clans shaman had brewed. Now they had approximately 10 minutes until their minds would forever fade. He took another deep breath and then gave the signal to attack. Soon one of the watchtowers noticed their approach and alarmed the camp, but it was too late. They had arrived at the first tents outside the makeshift palisade. Soon the first brave warriors climbed inside and the first screams of people and <Goblins> dying could be heard.
"TONIGHT WE WILL FEAST IN SHKRAVAZAR!" He yelled, amplified by Shzar. The loyal scout had refused to let him die alone, just like his partner Kraggar.
"TO SHKRAVAZAR!" Was the unanimous response he got.
A smile crept on his face for the first time in days.
Chapter 10 - First Battle
Hey here is the newest and promised chapter of this week. I have realized that writing a battle scene is very difficult for me as you have to constantly know how big the battlefield is and where all the characters are and I had to rewrite it a couple of times. I also realized that the things I had planned for the story aren''t enough to really fill it and I suddenly have a gap to fill in which the dungeon gets stronger without constant time skips. I think that there will inevitably be one, but I had hoped that it wouldn''t be this soon.
Another problem that came up was that I went back a lot in the earlier chapters that I posted all together at the start and I edited many parts that I wasn''t happy about. But now that I have rushed the chapters out like last week it would be very annoying for readers to have a story that constantly changes the parts that are already out.
The last problem that I noticed was that I have no backlog of chapters for the times when I have no/ not much time to write. So in the next few weeks I will probably post less chapters and create a buffer that I can also edit any time that I come up with a better idea. I will also take the time to better plan out what will happen in the next few chapters so that I can get to writing with a clear plan in mind.
TLDR: Less chapters in the next week, but hopefully a better story and less stress for me. Now enjoy.
Edit: If you want to know where I got my main inspiration for the story try Mystery of the Dungeon</a> by VRDrako. It isn''t continued anymore, but he had many ideas that heavily influenced my story.
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Groggily Cog was waking up. Then he registered the alarm and the screams of people. On the bed next to his Grom was just waking up and he still looked a bit dazed, just like Cog was feeling himself. Then the mighty voice of the <Head Hunter> cut through the noise.
"We are under attack. arm yourself immediately and gather at the dungeon. The wall has been breached and it is no longer safe there."
Now they were awake like someone had poured a bowl of freezing water over their heads. On the third bed of the hut Seth was also finally awake. In the last week they had always explored the dungeon with him, helping him find new species, sparring with them so that he could formulate a tactic against them and carrying the resources that they obtained. Those tactics against beasts were a very hot commodity at the moment that the outer disciples desperately wanted. Especially the data from the lower floors. It was estimated that the first rank 2 beasts would pop up in a week since the beasts advanced at a terrifying pace.
But the greatest difficulty was that they were accustomed to daily life and death combat in opposition to the disciples that were mostly hunting weaker prey. That led to the beasts being at least a stage stronger then their cultivation indicated, making them very formidable foes.
When they had all dressed themselves and taken out their weapons they opened their door to a screeching <Goblin> with a short sword and shield. Cog immediately thrusted out his spear but the <Goblin quickly dodged and slashed out with her sword. The cut should have missed, but a small blade of wind separated itself from the sword and cut open his shoulder. Then Seth had already passed him and accurately stabbed the <Goblin''s> eye with his rapier.
The sight of a clearly sentient being dying right before their eyes twisted their insides, but now was not the time to dwell on that. Now was the time for a kill or be killed mentality.
Outside their hut chaos reigned. All kinds of elements and spells were flung through the air. The <Goblins> all had red, bloodshot eyes and were attacking with unbelievable aggression and recklessness. A <Goblin> that had lost one arm and his weapon jumped at them and tried to bite down on any exposed flesh.
Grom managed to block him, but got large scratch marks over his face for his effort. Before the <Goblin> could find balance again a spear penetrated his throat.
When they ran behind their hut to find a way deeper into the camp they ran into five <Goblins>.
Seth immediately jumped forward and attacked 3 of them in a flurry of attacks, his normal scholarly self nowhere to be found. His acceleration <Mana Affinity> synergized well with his weapon of choice and let him have the advantage, even against three <Liquid-Mana> stage opponents.
Grom an Cog on the other hand had more problems with their opponents since they had the massive disadvantage of cultivation stages to overcome. So they opted for a more defensive style and hoped that Seth would win quickly.
Seth on the other hand didn''t let up the pressure. Like the term ''acceleration'' suggested his speed picked up more and more. Soon his three opponents were riddled with little cuts. Now the berserk state they were in worked against them, as they couldn''t formulate a tactic to use their numbers effectively to push him into a corner.
Then one of the three <Goblins> made the unavoidable first mistake, sealing his end as his head went flying through the air. With their comrade gone the last two <Goblins> were helplessly slaughtered. in the moment the last of the three fell, Cog managed to hit a lucky thrust into his opponents artery. Seeing that Cog had all but won Seth ambushed Grom''s opponent from behind and ended the fight quickly.
When they made their way further into the camp, they saw a well known teacher that taught skinning being swarmed by 20 <Goblins>, one of them even at the <Core Solidification> stage. Helplessly they had to watch as he slipped on the arm of a slain enemies corpse and got his head bashed in by a war hammer.
Frightened they they hid themselves behind a nearby hut and waited until the <Goblins> were on their way again. When they felt it was safe to move again they once again moved in the direction of the dungeon.
The closer they got the more often they saw elders and teachers rushing through and taking 10-20 opponents by themselves, since most <Goblins> were at the <Liquid-Mana> stage.
Then they finally met up with a large group of about 200 disciples that battled about double their number in <Goblins> on the main street leading to the dungeon. They pushed them away from the dungeon and back to the entrance gate.
The three of them decided to circle around and join the group from behind to avoid getting surrounded by enemies. But when they turned to use the houses as cover once more they were met with the sight of the <Core Solidification> <Goblin> with the war hammer that had killed the elder. Thankfully he had separated from the rest of the group and had some nasty injuries from the earlier fight.
They quickly got into formation with Grom standing in the middle and desperately trying to block the <Goblin''s> advance while Cog and Seth attacked from the sides and tried a pincer move on him. For a while it went well, but then the <Goblin> decided to mix it up and threw his hammer at Seth while lounging at Grom to take down and die together.
None of the three had expected this move because it was just insane to do so. The <Goblin> had apparently lost the last shred of his sanity and that was what made his move so unpredictable.
Subsequently Seth was barely able to dodge the hammer, but he was unable to directly rush to Grom''s help.
A loud scream escaped Grom''s lips as the clawed hand gauged out his left eye. Only then did Cog come to his senses and he used his spear at the same time that Seth''s rapier arrived.
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But the damage was already done. His eye was gone and his scream could have alerted any nearby attackers. Seth quickly opened his enchanted bag and took out a pain numbing pill and a healing salve. After they had forced the pill down Grom''s throat and had applied the slave to stop the bleeding they each took an arm and lifted him up between them.
Quickly they left the scene and luckily managed to circle around the remaining houses and the combat to reach the safety of the group. Grom had also recovered a bit on the way and was now able to stand without help.
Meanwhile somewhere else on the battlefield Torian was facing off against three <Goblins>. One of them was the apparent leader of the raid and was exceptionally skilled in the use of his explosion <Mana Affinity> to block his sword with incredible force.
The <Goblin''s> two helpers were apparently not fighting the first time together with him, as they had a very good rhythm that covered for each others weakness.
Torian also couldn''t just defeat them with raw power since that would leave him drained and unable to further aid in the defense of the camp. At least not as a fighter. Slowly he managed to gain the upper hand because the other side only had someone at the beginning of <Core Solidification> and two at the peak of <Liquid Mana>.
Then he finally got one of the helpers to trip up and cleaved his head in half. That spelled the end for the valiantly fighting trio as the other two lost to the <Berserk Potion''s> madness and lunged at him. He just had to shift his body to the side and behead the leader to end it all. With the death of the leader the last <Goblin> had no chance at winning and died only seconds afterwards.
Then he finally had the leisure again to look at the battle again.down the road a big group of disciples had formed and held up nearly half of the original <Goblin> forces. Elders and teachers were all over the place and fought against small groups of enemies.
Then he looked at the dungeon and saw with horror as about 50 <Goblins> that had snuck by while he battled and just entered the dungeon.
Anxiously he chased them inside only to see them slaughtered by Maria. She weaved between them, dodging blows at impossibly narrow margins and every one of her moves struck a vital spot, killing the enemies instantly.
Her mind <Mana Affinity> was a very powerful tool in a fight as she could heighten her senses so much that she had a perfect overview over the battle and an inhuman reaction time. Back in the day she was also the main fighting force in their little trio. He would often do reconnaissance and build shelters, while Ralph was the one to control the battlefield with his gravity affinity.
The death of one of his only two friends had hit him almost as hard as it had hit her, although he would never admit that to anyone but her. The sect might be very unified on the surface, but the competition for any rank was very fierce and every underhanded method that didn''t harm the sect overall was used.
The dying scream of the last invader ripped him out of his musings. Since the dungeon was apparently safe he had to get back outside and check the situation again.
Once outside he noticed that the situation had changed dramatically. The flood of <Goblins> had shrunk considerably and now that the disciples had time to organize themselves they had the absolute advantage over the crazed enemies.
That was the one big downside of this kind of potion. As soon as you can''t roll over the enemy and need to strategize and work together everything would fall apart.
Now that the <Goblins> were as good as defeated he quickly joined the battle again to prevent any further casualties.
Half an hour later the last <Goblin> drew his last breath and silence began to once again reign in the newly built camp. Once the disciples had caught their breath and the adrenaline had worn off many of them began to throw up, sob or search for their friends if they had been separated.
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In the following week the atmosphere in the camp was very subdued and spent cleaning up the remnants of the battle. The <Goblin> corpses were thrown on a pile and burnt, while the corpses of the sect disciples were preserved with Torian''s nature magic and made ready for the transport back to their families along with a reasonable sum of money as compensation.
Torian had the unthankful job of counting their losses while also coming up with an explanation for the attack. Both the disciples and the <Sect Head> needed something plausible to hear and so had brainstormed with all the present elders and teachers to find it. In the end he came up with 178 dead disciples and 4 dead teachers, most of them from outside the walls who were ambushed in their sleep and didn''t get a proper warning.
Thankfully the <Goblins> weren''t too far gone when they were first attacking and so the corpses were mostly intact and not hacked into small pieces or partly eaten like he had seen before. Admittedly they also didn''t have the time for that since their main objective was apparently to do as much damage as possible and so the corpses were spared.
The only reason for an attack he could come up with was that the <Goblins> had somehow concluded that there was ha dungeon here and that they would have to move quickly, so they had sent many of the older or sick <Goblins> to do as much damage as possible to ensure they could migrate away. This theory was also supported by the fact that if the <Goblins> were really attacking them to annihilate them, they would have sent four to five times as much fighters.
Many people would underestimate the intelligence of the <Goblins> and think of them as just another slightly more intelligent beast, but that was what those people often cost their lives. Goblins could get even older then humans at the same stage of cultivation and the oldest of them had seen so many fights and had interacted so many times with other races that they were exceedingly cunning and merciless, making them foes that were very hard to deal with.
The disciples could be divided into three types these days. The ones mourning while doing nothing, the ones mourning and training fiercely to become stronger and the apathetic that either didn''t care about the dead or were already numbed by many battles and bloodshed. They just carried on with their lives as if nothing had happened.
This was the situation the protector that carried the ancestors found when he arrived. He instantly took command of the elders residing here and went on a punitive mission to the nearby <Goblin> clan, but by the time they arrived there was no one to be found in their village. In his rage he then completely trashed the place to vent and also set a sign for anyone who would dare to attack the <Blackwood Sect> again.
When they returned he also scheduled a preemptive attack on the <Iron Fist Sect>, that was also in the vicinity of the dungeon, for two days after the caravan''s arrival.
In this attack only elders and teachers would participate to prevent unnecessary deaths.
Once he had settled down for a bit he also had a long talk with all the elders and the former elder Maria to get a firsthand report about the general situation of the camp and the dungeon. Later on he also wanted a personal conversation with the dungeon and Maria as the mediator.
Chapter 11 - Rank Two
Hey you,
I have a poll about my usage of <>. So far I was pretty consistent with it for important terms, but I think I forgot a few. I have also heard that it really breaks the immersion if I write like this and I personally gravitate towards options 2 and 3.
Another complaint I heard was that in my dialogue it is unclear sometimes who speaks. Is the dialogue like it is in this chapter ok?
This will be the last chapter for this week. See you next week.
2576 Words
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The last week had been very uneventful for Quin. Maria was out in the camp for the most time to help repair the damage and the outer disciples that survived unscathed and were motivated to go back into the danger of the dungeon were understandably few. But that didn''t bother him anymore as just this morning the first rank 2 beast had emerged.
The rat''s leader was surprisingly the fastest one to advance. He had battled daily with the <Boss> and under that self-imposed pressure his progress was really astonishing. Now that he was at rank 2 stage 1 the <Boss> would inevitably loose to him since it was somewhere between rank 1 and rank 2 at the 11th stage due to the uniqueness of the <Title> only giving it a stage higher in power then it would originally have.
It now moved on only two feet and used its wings to keep the balance even while running. The wing''s feathers also began to spread a bit onto the shoulders and a thin strip on the back. Standing up it was now as tall as a <Goblin> and had the ver imaginatively named race of <Airat>. Cultivators really had the worst naming sense.
The <Airat> led the other rats to finally delve deeper into the dungeon, but the only outcome was that the other rats were prevented to move deeper. But not by the <Boss> but the dungeon itself. Quin had already anticipated that something like this would occur and had placed a filter formation that only allowed rank 2 beasts through. This ensured that the genes passed down there were of higher quality and ensured that every beast on the floors below would be able to reach rank 2.
The <Boss> could not ensure that since the beasts that reached rank 2 could easily bypass him and ensure that their races could too.
Since the rat population was one of the biggest now their leader was naturally not the only strong one and so they left again while the <Airat> turned and wandered alone in the darkness of the tunnel connecting the 10th and 11th floor. For the first time since its birth it would be alone and had to fend for itself.
But when it finally reached the end of the tunnel a pleasant surprise awaited it. At the end of the tunnel 9 young <Airats> that were created by Quin were sitting there huddled together.
As soon as they saw the former rat leader they instinctively saw it as a parent and began squeaking in delight. Since it now had someone else from its race sitting there it naturally felt an odd responsibility for the young ones and took the lead of them to find shelter at the earliest convenience.
Since it was now the strongest beast on the next ten floors the <Boss> title was automatically awarded to it. Previously a plant at the peak of grade 1 had held that title, but it naturally couldn''t compete with a stage 2 beast.
Luckily for them the first room featured very few flesh eating plants and also a temple ruin with a deep cellar complex. After two close encounters with the resident plant life they began traveling on the road as it was the only place that was reasonably free of trees and large brushes. And this room led them straight to the aforementioned temple ruin.
The <Airat> leader was very curious and explored it thoroughly as it had never seen something like this before. That led to the discovery of the cellar, that was also explored thoroughly.
As they found no other life inside it declared this structure as its new nest.
Deep inside the cellar though, it made another discovery. On the wall furthest down inside the tunnels under the ruins it found strange markings that had an indescribable charm to it. Like in trance it stared for two hours at the markings until the information inside had fully been transmitted inside its mind.
Suddenly, it had knowledge of the creation process and usability of various tools that could make life easier in the future if they managed to get their paws on them or the materials to create them.
But the sudden influx of information also had another side effect. The rat leader had gained a slight bit more self awareness. This was an additional benefit that Quin had added a few days ago to further cement the route of evolution that the more intelligent beasts had taken.
After it had received all that new information it was a bit dizzy for a while, but then it brought the other ones to also view the strange markings. It had always been more intelligence then the other rats and had secured plenty good nesting spots for the group. This had led to its role as a leader to be very cemented and also a certain mentality to bring as many members of the group to any good spots it found as possible.
Quin on the other hand was watching the actions of the rats with great interest as they were his test subjects on how dangerous the new floors were. He was a bit disappointed that they had stopped advancing so soon, but there was plenty of time for them or other races to do that.
He was especially eager since he had managed to get to 3% in the last two weeks and now he had 3 floors that were essentially empty save for the abundant plant life. That also included the plants with the ability to use the Mana to continuously evolve instead of only supplementing nutrients with it.
The young ones also grew nicely under the enhanced Mana pressure and had already reached the fourth stage after six hours and would reach the fifth after twelve.
Had they been <Mana Beasts> with lower aptitudes their Mana channels would probably have ripped under the immense strain of so much Mana pouring through.
Over the course of the next few hours more and more beasts arrived at the next rank and migrated further down to secure a spot for their species to stay. The <Boss> title was also passed on multiple times as its holders left the 10th floor one after the other.
Quin had to expend quite a bit of Mana to ensure that everyone got the same starting advantage, but it would be worth it as it helped to quickly populate the next floors.
After a bit of thought he also created a barrier that did not allow the inhabitants of the lower floors to get back to the first ten floors. That was a counter measure to prevent a power imbalance and stifles growth of the weaker creatures.
As he had now a divine sense to better exert his will on the dungeon dwellers they would have to be at rank 3 to currently slip his control and exit the lower floors and eventually the dungeon. There really was no reason for the beasts to seek a less Mana-rich environment, but better be safe then sorry.
His divine sense had also enabled him to nudge beasts to do certain actions and trigger certain evolutions that he wanted to have further down the line. He knew he would spend roughly one and a half years at this stage and he had very much time to slowly design his dungeon like he wanted it to be.
Another change that had occurred on the first ten floors, was that the beasts had begun to further dig out their bases. The dungeon Mana then seeped into the new tunnels and caves slowly converting them into part of the dungeon so that Quin had full control of them. This was one of the phenomena that were not yet able to be explained by anyone who had researched the matter. He was only able to expand the dungeon every 10% of cultivation, but parts that were dug naturally somehow were not limited by such restrictions.
He had only once heard a legend that dungeons were an artificial race that were created by a very powerful god. Maybe he or she had arbitrarily decided such a rule. Of course that explanation had never satisfied him and he would strive to find a better one some day.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Almost every species had variations that specialized in digging and so the expansion quickened its pace with the increase in the respective populations. Occasionally he also connected a tunnel they dug to a lower level, so that their bases would eventually span every floor. That led to Quin having to update his map for the sect daily and also battles between the species on massive scales because of the increasing need for food or the reduction of their population. As soon as the sect joined the fun with more of their disciples he would have a show to watch whenever he felt bored.
Two of the disciples that entered the dungeon daily were Cog and Grom that were supervised by the excitable scholar Seth. Since Quin had made an agreement with the sect that <Liquid Mana> disciples could not just go inside and vent their frustrations on the beasts, they mostly acted as an insurance policy for the younger outer disciples. Any inner disciple that broke that rule would go in Quin''s personal blacklist and be swarmed by enemies if they ever dared to go farther then the 10th floor.
The potential loss of access to many valuable resources in the future had prevented any incidents from happening. They would at most hunt a few beasts as food, but never more then 20-30 and always from the species with large populations.
"Hey Quin." His thoughts get interrupted by Maria that just returned.
"All finished up with cleaning the camp? I haven''t seen you in a whole week." Was his response.
"Did you miss me?"
"Not you specifically. If there was someone else to chat with I would gladly do so." She had to suppress a laugh as she pictured him saying that while pouting. Despite his insistence that he was hundreds of years old he often behaved like a man-child.
"I always thought that immortals would behave more dignified."
"Why would I do that? There are always the ones who don''t know how to have fun, but would you want to live like that for eternity? Most immortals would do anything to relieve their boredom."
"Speaking of serious old men, a protector of the sect arrived yesterday and wished to speak to you."
"Well that''s fine. He can come whenever he wants. If I have anything in abundance then it is free time. There is only so many small changes you can do to a dungeon. Speaking of your sect, why would you use the term ''sect''?"
"I don''t really understand what you mean." Came her confused response.
"I mean normally the term is used for religious groups isn''t it?"
"What is ''religious''?" Another confused response.
"Great! Now how do I explain that? It is believing in a higher power, mostly a very strong being, that helps you out in life."
"So you mean like the ancestor that founded the sect? There are cults in the city that pray to him, but most just ask him for good fortune before battle from him."
"Oh. I think that answers my question then."
"Sometimes you really ask the weirdest questions Quin." Sighed Maria.
They chatted for another hour before a strong Mana pressure at the <Dungeon Entrance> alerted Quin of the protector''s arrival. He was led to a side room near the entrance by Maria that Quin had furnished with furniture made of stone and wood. Maria had then added cushions and a carpet to make it a comfortable room for her long talks with Quin or any guests they might have.
When they were both seated Maria began the conversation.
"So how can we help you protector Garold?"
"Well I''m here to do two things. First would be to inform you that I will be staying in the camp permanently to ensure the dungeon''s safety as we have already suffered an attack by the <Goblins> and there will possibly be future attacks.
The second reason I''m here is to negotiate further contracts and ensure the dungeon has everything he needs. I''m sure you have done so already to the best of your ability, but as a protector I have a greater influence on the sect as a whole and can promise things to him that you couldn''t. Could you please convey that to him?"
"Oh I don''t need to do that protector. He was able hear everything we said, I only need to tell you his responses as he can''t communicate on his own yet."
"Ask him if he has something specific to offer or something that he wants." Quin chimed in.
"He asks if you have anything specific that you require or want to offer."
"Well there are multiple things that we need in the future. The first would be a place not deep into the dungeon where we can mine stones for the construction of the city outside. We have information from other dungeons in the kingdom that found this highly beneficial as they are unable to excavate further after a certain limit, but that was somehow able to be circumvented by manual labour."
"Tell him that we will accept the first offer. No species settles in the first rooms anyway as there is the constant threat of humans invading their lairs and there is really no downside to it."
"He accepts the first offer without any conditions since he deems it mutually beneficial."
"Good. Very good. With that out of the way we are also in need of ores for the smithing and formations departments. For the right to mine we will deliver 10 different types of <Mana Animals>, <Mana Beasts>, <Mana Plants> or treasures for you to copy. Once we are unable to deliver anything new anymore the contract can be revised with new conditions."
"Tell him that I also need the ores that should appear to scan them first. This offer is also very good and if they accept the condition we have a deal."
Maria was very happy with the way the negotiation went and conveyed Quin''s words. The protector once again agreed and just wanted to leave to prepare the contract when Quin chimed in with an offer of his own.
"I also need elemental essences. At the moment the whole dungeon Mana is neutral, but I need those essences to create more advanced environments for the rarer variations of beasts. In return I will create an emergency path leading straight down the dungeon should the inhabitants of the camp ever need to retreat into the dungeon. The tunnel will stay closed off and be clear of any enemies."
"Please wait protector Garold. He also has an offer to make"
Maria quickly conveyed the offer.
"In light of recent events this seems a valuable option to have. I foresee a lot of fighting in the next years, be it against other clans, sects or the <Goblins>. We will accept the offer."
Protector Garold had never had such smooth negotiations before and he had done a lot of them for the sect. This was likely the result of having two sides that depended on each other so heavily.
Not a bad change. He thought and left the dungeon satisfied with the results.
Chapter 12 - New Arrivals
Hey you,
as I have feared I need much time for learning until October. I have multiple exams coming up and not enough free time. But I think it should be possible to get out one chapter per week. When university starts again in early October I have more time to write again as all my exams are always at the end of the term.
2489 Words
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The next two weeks were spent in cultivation for Quin to reach 5% and the beasts on the lower floors bred like crazy to populate it at the earliest time possible. All in all they were very peaceful with many disciples entering the dungeon who fought to wrest every last benefit they could out of it, but the beasts on the lower floors proved to be very ferocious and the treasure hunt often turned into a struggle to keep themselves alive while still making a bit of profit. He was really happy with the way the dungeon had developed.
But what brought him the most joy was the memory of his ''negotiation'' with the protector. This sect was really too naive. If you wanted to survive in the cultivation world you had to be cunning and take every advantage you could while not turning whoever you took advantage of against you. In this case he had used a very subtle and complicated formation to more readily agree to his demands and always begin negotiating with their bottom line.
It really was no wonder that they had declined so much since the first generations. If you are gullible there will naturally be many people lining up to shake your hand in friendship while having the other hand in your pockets, searching for valuables.
He would really have to make good use of that piece of information while simultaneously teaching them to be less naive. A tight rope to balance but if he did it right he would definitely profit. It also would''t do to just let them continue on like this as it could possibly put him in danger too and he wanted to prevent that at any cost.
The sect''s <Core Breaker> protector had no chance to detect the formation as it had been devised by a famous immortal merchant that was very famed for his intricate mind altering formations. This merchant had used his formations to even rip off other immortals and they had also helped him gain the treasures he needed to cultivate until his ascension.
When he was eventually uncovered no one wanted to do business anymore, but he had once again his cunning and trust in his formations with a simple offer. He would double the price that anyone managed to negotiate from him inside his formations when he did business with them.
That year many people thought they had found a quick and simple way to make a huge profit and thousands of people flocked to the merchant to do business with him.
Later on that year was named the <Year of Midas> as everything that the merchant touched to sell transformed into gold very quickly. He managed to gather unimaginable riches and treasures and once the year was done only a handful people had managed to make a profit from the merchant.
Of course those people were blacklisted instantly afterwards and were never able to even speak to the merchant from then on. The merchant''s name would forever remembered as Harold, The Petty.
After one of the unfortunate immortals he had ripped off managed to get his revenge and slay Harold his formations quickly became known on the whole <Divine Plane> and doing business got very risky for a period of time. That was until there were counter formations developed for each and every formation that Harold had invented. Unfortunately these formations hadn''t spread down into the mortal world yet and Quin was sure that he would find much use for them now and in the future.
The sect should really have learned long ago that negotiations had to be conducted in neutral territory so that no one could meddle with the surroundings. Formations were very wide-spread and the sect should have long ago taken precaution against such basic means to manipulate negotiations.
Another thing that had baffled him was their willingness to just loose an elder so thoroughly to an unknown quantity. If he had really wanted the whole camp would have been massacred and the dungeon filled with insidious traps that would have killed most people under the <Core Breaker> level.
That would of course have been his end as the sect had multiple of those, but the sect shouldn''t have trusted on the fact that he was a reasonable fellow. Vigilance had never hurt anyone and giving him a killing machine like Maria who was most likely one of their strongest elders was a huge mistake on their part.
He had already given her a specific training regime for her mind that would let her break through to <Core Breaker> in the next few years. And that would not be the highest she would reach with his help. That, he was sure of.
He was interrupted from his musings by Maria who messaged him.
"They are here."
He had instructed her to inform him once the caravan had arrived so that he could prepare with an increased growth rate of the plants that they would most likely harvest in masses for the first few days.
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The disciples and teachers of the sect were busy preparing the camp for the arrival of the first caravan filled with disciples.
It had been getting progressively warmer and today was the hottest day this young year had seen yet. Under the brilliant rays of the sun they created tents from the massive pile of furs they had gathered from the dungeon and the first stones were also already mined and transported outside.
In addition to that the forest was notably less dark and filled with fresh saplings as the incredible amount of wood that was needed for construction left the forest for good. These ancient trees that had braved the test of time and countless storms had now succumbed to their one true predator.
Right in front of the dungeon was a stone stele that was erected not long ago. On it the names of the fallen were immortalized as they gave their life in battle for the sect. Various types of flowers were placed around the stele and the ground was drenched in alcohol. It was an ancient tradition in <Veskia> to pour the strongest alcohol you could get on a warrior''s grave. Since the bodies would be moved back to their families soon the only place to do so was the newly erected memorial.
The caskets with the bodies themselves were stored in a big warehouse that was originally erected to hold the various goods that could be gained in the dungeon. Now it served as a grim reminder for everyone that they were still mortal despite the amazing things they could do with their Mana.
This wake-up call was received very clearly and no disciple had been seen slacking off in cultivation lately and the combat classes were filled to the brim with motivated students.
This busy but subdued atmosphere was instantly broken by a loud shout from one of the watchtowers.
"THE CARAVAN IS HERE IN HALF AN HOUR."
The disciples quickly finished their tasks and gathered at the entrance to the camp where a second wall had been constructed to prevent any similar raids from happening again.
Even the teachers and elders were no exceptions to this and soon the entire camp was deserted leading to confusion from the ones coming back out of the dungeon.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
After a few minutes the first tamed beasts could be seen making their way out of the forest with riders atop of them. The new arrivals had happy expressions on their faces as the long journey was finally over.
The journey wasn''t arduous, just long and boring. There was nothing to do except chatting, moving and cultivating.
There were many happy reunions, but also grief when the news about the attack spread like wildfire in the new arrivals. Most of the newcomers first visited the memorial to see whether someone they knew had his or her name engraved there, as many disciples were still in the dungeon and they couldn''t be sure wether they lived until they confirmed it there.
The newly arrived third realm experts were also informed that a few of them would join a planned attack on the <Iron Fist Sect> on the next day to prevent them from doing anything that would negatively impact them or the dungeon.
That the protector and <Head Hunter> would personally go with them also raised the moral as there was assurance that the casualties would be held at a minimum.
It was estimated that the <Iron Fist Sect> only had 10-20 third realm experts themselves and almost all of them at the initial and middle stages. They on the other hand would raid them with 100 elders and teachers in the middle of the night, just like the <Goblins> had done with them.
The enemies with <Core Solidification> cultivation would all have to die, but the disciples would have the choice to either swear a <Magic Oath> to be loyal to the <Blackwood Sect> or they had to die too. Unfortunately they had no method to do the same to the enemies at the third realm or they would have unhesitatingly done so.
In the morning the raid force departed at dawn while most of the camp was still asleep. They would arrive at the <Iron Fist Sect> at around midnight and start the attack immediately. Normally this trip would have taken them around 2 days, but with the protectors impressive control over gravity through his affinity everyone was much lighter and could move around much faster.
Once the camp was mostly awake the construction and scholar departments took over the construction of the town. They had made many plans on the long journey and were eager to finally realize them into the future dungeon town. Since the caravan consisted of a mass of approximately 8.500 people with the camp now containing roughly 9.000 there was an abundant workforce with many people having nothing better to do at the moment.
The smithing department had to first deliver the needed ores to the dungeon and then they had to wait until he grew the needed ore veins. In the meantime they helped ro construct a second wall that would encase the inner and the outer camp or mine the stones needed for the city construction.
The alchemy division on the other hand had plenty of herbs already and quickly put together a list of herbs that would have to be donated first to the dungeon so that they could be harvested at the earliest time possible. In the meantime they divided the department in half with one half constantly harvesting herbs from the dungeon while the other half concocted various pills, potions, salves and many more. The variety of medicines helped the efficiency in the camp greatly as fatigue and injuries were now basically nonexistent and there ware also many medicines that increased the strength or speed of the disciples.
The martial department had immediately took over the combat classes and the guard duty. But those could only occupy so many people and most of the members went as escorts or to train into the dungeon, so that the miners and gatherers could focus on their tasks.
What started out as a simple mission turned soon into an all out war against a tide of rats that swarmed them at the cavern on the sixth floor that was occupied by them.
In the end they had to budge and retreat as the reinforcements of the rats seemed endless and the fighters got more and more exhausted.
The newly arrived hunters were quickly instructed by the ones that already lived in the camp and soon they functioned as guides for the dungeon and scouts so that the fighters were warned of any incoming threats. Another of their tasks was the crafting of weapons, tools, clothes and armors out of the remains of the beasts that were slain in the dungeon. There was a constant need for new supplies as old ones got worn out or broke altogether and their biggest customer in that respect was the martial division.
The farming division had to first clear farmland for their <Mana Plants> that were used for food or alchemy and so they temporarily put their people under the supervision of the construction department who coordinated the systematic logging of the forest.
It was important to start farming soon since the dungeon couldn''t even support the current population''s needs forever and they were only a fraction of the disciples that would soon converge on this location.
The formations department was another division who made use of the <Mana Beast''s> remains to produce much needed products. The hunters had already used very rudimentary formations to improve the watchtowers and the wall, but now all these had to be remade and many new formations were needed. Some were offensive, some defensive and some were just to make everyday life a bit easier.
The scholar division on the other hand took over the administration of the camp and coordinated the other divisions so that all they all worked together and not against each other. They also began cataloguing every single resource that was found in the dungeon and where one could find them.
The trading division were the ones that made sure that everyone got what they wanted. Even if they were from the same sect there was nothing for free and every division had to buy the needed resources from the ones who produced them. The merchants from the the trading division made it their task to always know who had or needed what and to provide it for them, making a profit from that. The ones that profited the most from that were the hunters as they had been here for weeks and almost every resource was in their hands in the beginning and a percentage of everything that left the dungeon had to first be paid to them for finding the dungeon in the first place.
The construction department began tearing down the huts closest to the <Dungeon Entrance> and replaced them with proper houses made of stone and wood. The wall surrounding the portal was also replaced and a proper gate was installed to make the dungeon better defensible. The inner wall was also replaced and the space between it and the dungeon was reserved for elders, teachers and important disciples.
As the ones who discovered the dungeon Cog and Grom naturally continued to live there as well as Seth who was the sect''s dungeon expert. There were also a few other disciples who had either gathered many merits for the sect or were very close to breaking through to the <Core Solidification> realm.
The rest of the disciples then had to move to the outer district.
While the camp was busy the elders and teachers had reached the enemy sect ahead of the schedule and prepared themselves for the nightly raid.
Chapter 13 - Recruitment
Hey you,
there was a heatwave where I live in the last few days and I discovered that writing in that climate just doesn''t work for me. I also had a lack of sleep the last few days so if the sentences seem off please tell me.
On another note I''d like to hear what you think on how the story should progress further. I have a few ideas already, but nothing is set in stone and I''d like to hear your suggestions.
2400 Words
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The energy waves of 100 third realm experts who mobilized their Mana shocked Szilas out of his meditation. His confusion didn''t last for long and when the first attacks landed on the sect''s grounds he had already taken out his battle armor and rapier, a sword treasured by his family for hundreds of years.
As a sect elder he had the obligation to defend the sect with his life. He was extreme clear on the strength of the sect and had resigned himself to die together with it. When he exited his room his three children with their spouses and his fifteen grandchildren already awaited him in the living room. It seemed that in his old age dressing himself in his armor had taken more time than anticipated.
"The sect will probably perish tonight. Don''t resist once we old folks are dead. It will be on you from now on to let our family prosper!"
When he had said his piece he darted out of the door to experience the fun of battle one last time.
What awaited him outside were many flashes of energy that streaked through the darkness, spreading destruction wherever they landed. Multiple structures had already collapsed and the rubble was mixed with the corpses of anyone unlucky enough to be trapped inside.
The elders of his sect were fighting the intruders while heavily outnumbered and the disciples often also joined the fight in the hopes of tipping the scale, even if it was just by a bit. But the tide of enemies proved to just be too strong.
When multiple shadows rapidly neared his position a cold glint entered his eyes. He may be old now, but once he was feared in all of <Trult> province and he even gained the nickname ''The Serpent''. His whole being resonated with this nickname.
His attacks were fast, vicious and his blade coated with poison from his <Mana Affinity>. He moved agilely on the battle field and he had created multiple strong poison arts.
When he probed them with his divine sense and saw that his opponents were only in the early and middle stages a cruel smile formed on his lips. Did they think that his sect was only made up of weaklings? He had long ago reached the peak and carefully hidden that fact from the world.
Instantly a poison mist formed around him and he flashed forward with his <Serpent Soaring through the Sky> movement art. The name was from a time when he was young and brash and nowadays he never mentioned it anymore.
His enemies were clearly surprised by his speed and he used that advantage to instantly behead one of them. The ensuring fountain of blood drenched him in blood and stung in his eyes as he quickly passed the corpse.
Enraged cries erupted from the group and multiple of the enemies began their assault simultaneously. He quickly figured out that they had never fought together before as their coordination left several glaring holes through which he instantly escaped the enclosure and mounted his counterattack. This time the enemy had managed to deflect his attack with his arm, but in exchange for his life he had lost that appendage for good.
What the enemy didn''t knew was that the poison in the air and on the blade would soon kill him anyway. With every gust of wind he created by moving his poison mist spread further, but in the dark no one had noticed it yet. Had they fought by daylight the intruders would have just pelted him with ranged attacks, but now under the cover of darkness he held the absolute advantage.
Once again employing his movement art he dodged a burst of fire, a few icicles and a scythe made of <Magic Iron> that were aimed at him. He feinted an attack on one enemy while spraying toxic liquid on the warrior with the scythe who had followed him and who had mounted a sneak attack on his unprotected back.
With a shrill cry the man dropped on the ground writhing in pain. Then he turned his attention to the attacker in front and followed the feint with a real attack that sent the enemy on his back as he had more strength than his frail body would suggest. He formed a spike out of pure poisonous Mana and shot it into the enemy on the ground.
That was when he noticed the enemy who had newly joined the fight. His eyes widened when he made out a familiar face. He had faced off against Torian ''The Hunter'' and his two friends Maria ''The Berserker'' and Ralph ''The Crusher'' many times before. Their nicknames were quite unoriginal, but the fact that they got famous enough to get them and that everyone in the province knew them was all that one had to know about their strength.
Out of his own team of six no one else had managed to get a nickname and four of them had already died in battle or through age. The only other survivor was now the <Sect Head> as Szilas couldn¡¯t be bothered to do it, but still wanted a very firm say in the sect then and in the future. But as it seemed now there was no future anymore. At least he had made sure that no one in his family was a good-for-nothing so with a little bit of luck they would survive.
Focusing on the man in front again he noticed that the other <Blackwood Sect> teachers had left and searched for new targets. Torian of course knew about his poison and that they were no threat to him.
¡°Old Devil I didn¡¯t think that you would still be alive and kicking after our last meeting. But it seems you lost quite a bit of your vitality. I almost feel bad fighting you when I see you like this.¡± A mocking grin was on Torian¡¯s lips.
Szilas just snorted and began a mad dash towards Torian. Since Torian''s was not made for combat he drew his own sword and took a stance. Szilas on the other hand knew that his poison would be expelled by Torian''s Nature affinity immediately and likewise decided to conserve his Mana for strengthening his body.
They both knew how to use the attribute-less attacks that warriors trained in, but they were not proficient enough with them to use them in a situation like this.
With their huge quantity of Mana they just strengthened themselves to the limit and began a flurry of attacks and counters. They danced through the rubble and burning skeletons of houses and people at an insane speed that most fighters in this battle couldn''t even follow with their eyes.
While he was moving through the whole battlefield that was once his sect, Szilas saw many of the elders and disciples fighting until they drew their last breath to defend their sect. He had known what would await the sect, but to see it pained him nonetheless.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.Then a Mana pressure suddenly appeared behind him. He had no time to mourn his inattentiveness and was smashed into the ground by the Gravity affinity.
"It seemed you had a bit of trouble with this one."
Hopelessness spread through Szilas'' mind. The Protector had made his move and he now had no chance to take someone important with him into the underworld.
When he felt a huge amount of Mana gathering behind him he felt a tiny ray of hope. He had recently developed an Art that would allow him to concentrate poison around him into a makeshift armor. Slowly he too gathered Mana and condensed it around him. his own gathering was luckily overshadowed by the Protector who prepared to finish him off.
When he felt that the Protector would release his move at any second now he used his movement Art and soared into the sky. When he reached about 5 meters in height the Protector let out a snort and released his blast of pure Mana.
Szilas curled up and tried to protect his head as best as he could. Then the blast reached him and shattered his armor along with his spine. He felt a brief moment of indescribable agony before he blacked out.
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When he awakened again he was greeted by a world of pain. There was nothing in his body that didn''t hurt. Most of his bones were probably broken and his skin, or the parts of it that were left, was full of scrapes and bruises. That he hung in the crown of a tree in a very uncomfortable position didn''t really help that either.
But there were also good points to this. He was alive for now and hadn''t bled out internally or externally. The most important organs also still worked and he was sure that one of his arms wasn''t broken. He accessed his <Space Ring> and willed one medicine after the other to appear in his mouth. Jewellery with space enchantment was very rare on this continent and he was luck to find this ring in the burned ruins of a secluded sect in the mountains.
He relaxed a bit as he felt the medicine taking effect, slowly mending his torn skin and muscles. The blood on his body had already crusted over and was now slowly breaking off to make place for new flesh and skin. He also suddenly realized the thirst he suffered now that he slowly grew accustomed to the pain. He materialized a jug of water in his functioning hand and shakily brought it to his lips.
The refreshingly colt water felt delicious like never before to him. This brought him back to his senses from the delirium he was in previously after awakening again. When he finally opened his eyes only darkness greeted him. For a few seconds he thought that he had gone blind, but when he slowly tilted his head he could make out a few shapes of branches before him in the feint moonlight.
Apparently it was still night, or night again. The second option seemed more likely when he thought about his thirst and the dried blood on his body. If his thirst was anything to judge by then it had been multiple days as he could go a week without eating or drinking under normal conditions. One of the many advantages Mana brought with it.
He tried shifting his body a bit to get in a more comfortable position, but his aching body protested immediately. He had no other choice then to endure and wait until he was healed further. After a while he finally remembered to use his <Divine Sense> to examine the state of his body. He was still a bit muddle-headed it seemed.
What he came up with was a broken back, arm and legs while most of his other bones had tiny cracks and fracture all over them. His organs were mostly just about to fail though. Had he awoken just a few hours later the damage might have been too much to survive in the short-term.
After he had made sure that there was no immediate threat to his life he drifted back into unconsciousness.
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After several hours he awoke again. This time the sun stung in his sensitive eyes and it had begun to rain again. When he probed his body again his <Bone Mending Pills> had done their part to fix him up and his bones were temporarily able to withstand stress again. His organs were mostly patched up and would not fail for the time being. All of his muscles still ached, but now they were at least useable again and would let him finally leave this damn tree.
Very slowly and carefully he crawled down the tree. What would normally have been a few seconds of descend turned into a whole hour with small rests every time he had successfully lowered himself on another branch.
When he finally was back on solid ground he let out a sigh of relief and searched for a branch to use as a staff to lean on. After searching through the dried leaves that covered the ground for a bit he found an acceptable branch and began marching in a random direction. He would find a landmark sooner or later as he had lived here for centuries and it was basically his backyard.
After only half an hour he had found small clearing that was very close to his sect. Or former sect now. He was quite anxious to find out what had happened after his involuntary departure.
When he finally saw the first ruins he was quite out of breath and would have rested if the worry about his family''s fate hadn''t propelled him forwards. He made his way through the rubble that was still littered with dead bodies and body parts. No one had apparently bothered to even bury or burn them.
When he spotted as rank 1 <Wind Wolf> gnawing on the arm of a corpse that was otherwise completely buried under a collapsed wall, he sent out a Poison Spike to quickly kill it. He couldn''t just stand by idly as animals desecrated the dead of his sect.
He let out a sigh of relief after finding his former residence in ruins, but no signs of any corpses. That meant that most, if not all, of his family had survived this disaster. With his greatest worry resolved he was finally able to relax and take care of his body.
Exhausted he sat down on the remains of a wall and again tended to his wounds that had reopened after his overexertion. The rains still soaked him, but at this moment he didn''t care anymore.
After careful consideration he decided to bury the dead of his sect for the next few days while recuperating and then he would find the reason for this attack.
It was time this region showed some resistance against the <Blackwood Sect> and with their future on the line he was sure that he would find support from the leaderships of the small sects that still remained in <Trult Province>.
Satisfied with the rough outline of his plans for the future he rose again to begin his depressing work as the sole undertaker for his sect. he would give every single one of them a proper send off and not just some nameless mass grave.
Chapter 14 - The Future is Now
Hey you,
I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave me a rating. Unfortunately I don''t know how much I can release until late October. At least once per week might be too much already since I am really busy with exams. I have no plans to drop this story.
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When Quin thought back at the last six months the progress of the town and his dungeon was really astounding. The new disciples they gathered from the nearby sect and that they had forced a contract of absolute loyalty on had been forced to work very hard. Most of the menial tasks like mining and wood cutting were done by them until the masses of mortals arrived. Then they were made the overseers of the work they had done before and given a quota to fulfill to avoid punishment.
The mortals were housed in giant buildings and their living conditions were anything but good from what he had gathered. As soon as any news began to spread they were naturally discussed while dungeon diving and Quin was always there to listen. Most of the people concerned with the mortals were those that had very close mortal relatives like parents or siblings, the others had slowly developed an apathy to the injustices happening to those they almost considered lower lifeforms.
This was just one of the many issues that naturally developed in most cultivators. Fleeting things like mortals, basic needs like food or copulation and the value of any life just faded more and more from their mind as the centuries progressed. Death was something that every cultivator had to face countless times in all its forms that they either slowly got numb to it or began to go insane.
With the new workforce the city quickly began to expand and to be reworked from the ground. Every wooden shack was torn down and replaced by houses made of stone. Huge administrative buildings were constructed and elders could buy mansions on huge plots of land near to the <Dungeon Entrance> to show off their wealth and importance to the world.
Since this was not possible in the city around the sect headquarters many elders and teachers took this opportunity to secure themselves and their clans a secure foothold in the city that was sure to be the second center of the sect in the future.
Since this city was planned from the start in contained many artificial lakes, parks, statues, operas and theaters for the residents to enjoy and for any visitors to marvel at. But the picturesque city vanished as soon as the inner wall was crossed. here, the wooden shacks were not only prevalent, they even began to be stacked on top of each other. It wasn''t an unusual sight to see a house collapsing that couldn''t bear the weight added on top anymore.
Cultivators were very robust though and no serious injuries had been reported yet. The collapsed houses were then just cleaned up and a new foundation made of stone was built before the houses were stacked again. The first Cellar Casinos had also opened and the construction of a second Undercity was just a matter of time. A merchant elder had already secured the rights from the sect to open the black markets, fighting pits, brothels and more himself and direct the majority of the income to the sect itself.
The sect was very aware that no one could prevent the formation of those from happening and so the elder devised a plan to at least control it. This Undercity was planned by the sect''s best architects and would later go at least four stories deep down and to make sure that it wouldn''t collapse and take the city above with it there were many supporting pillars and walls that would span through all four floors.
The first floor would be the one with the businesses that could not be allowed to exist in broad daylight for anyone to find. This would also be the floor that had most of the Undercity''s visitors would see. The lower floors should be as much out of sight as possible as they would house what the city wanted to hide from everyone who did not specifically search for them. It also had to be easily accessible and traversing three floors just to get to a brothel would most likely never have worked anyway.
On the second floor were the slums of the city. Here was the place where the mortal workers would live, hidden from the view of the general masses of cultivators. It was a place of safety, but also a place to hide the lowly lifeforms that nobody wanted to see cramping the streets when the cultivators went on a stroll through the city.
In the <Sect Headquarters> the mortals mostly lived in the Undercity anyway, and now this was just taken a step further. Seeing as the mortal population was so huge already and it was estimated to grow even further this floor was planned with more than double the size of the first floor with ample room for further expansion.
The third floor was planned to be even more massive than the second one. Here would be the <Mana Beast> and <Mana Animal> farms that would supply the whole city with meat and basic crafting ingredients for the disciples to buy. Maria had already informed him that the protector would once again come to discuss the acquisition of beasts and animals from the dungeon. The sect had made a massive purchase of <Sun Crystals> from the neighboring kingdom that was ironically easier to reach then the rest of their own due to the mountain range. The crystals were a better version of the <Light Stones> and at least Grade 3. With a sufficient supply of Mana they could illuminate the whole floor and once the Mana supply stopped they would slowly dim, so that a day and night circle could be simulated.
On the last floor would be the sewer system for all floors above as well as the rest of the city. Mortal workers who were very unlucky or criminal cultivators would soon shovel shit there and hunt the inevitable <Mana Beasts> that would crop up there, but it would also be the place for beggars or fugitives to live and the way smugglers got their wares into the city. A teacher of the sect with the Water <Mana Affinity> had already confirmed that there was a massive underground river nearby that came from the mountains so the supply of fresh water was already secured. Supposedly this river was already used by a number of cities further inside the province so sooner or later a dock would have to be built for easier trade routes and fortifications against potential invaders.
And even with its big scope the city at the moment only occupied one-quarter to one-third of the side of one nameless mountain at the foot of , so room for expansion in the future was a given. The planned fortress atop the flat mountain would have to wait for the moment as it wasn''t immediately needed. The watch towers had been expanded though and now they were much broader and sturdier than before.
A proper stairway was also carved into the cliff so that the disciples had no problem climbing up and down the mountainside.
Although the progress of the city was astounding the change inside the dungeon was just as noticeable. It now was at an impressive 80 floors. When he reached the end of the <Liquid Mana> phase the dungeon would have an astounding over 10 times increase in expanse compared to the previous stage. The beasts had also grown further and further, shaping the dungeon''s interior to their needs and preferences.
Now a group of disciples would need to travel approximately 14 days without exploration and without rest just to reach the end. And that was also if they did not meet any enemies.
As the dungeon acquired a fair number of new beast species through the sect the space got more and more cramped leading to most species developing at least one variant that would specialize in excavation as long as they were not privy to information about tools used for that task or they could simply not use them.
Now the dungeon hosted a great number of feline, wolf and other insect species that weren''t present before and the fighting on the first ten floors got more intense and broader in scope every day. The miners who looked for valuable ores also had to either venture deeper and deeper, into more and more hostile territory or dig through tons of normal stone to reach new veins. If they didn''t have anyone with an affinity related to metal the first option was the only viable one as they had no methods to locate the veins otherwise.
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On the tenth floor the <Boss> title shifted constantly as the beasts who were strong enough to get it would sooner or later leave to the lower floors anyway or they were killed in the massive fights that broke out daily. Quin also decided to have a secondary entrance to the 11th floor that was deep under water to give the evolved fishes a chance to go deeper too. The ones who did manage to cross the line that separated them from were a terror for the other beasts to deal with as they were mostly much bigger than the beasts on land and they only had to leave the water when they wanted to hunt land beasts.
But the beasts in the water had it by no means easy. As the water tunnels were not as expansive as the tunnels above and digging was harder the place they had to share was much smaller. That lead to a very harsh environment in which only the very strongest or most versatile could survive or even thrive. Amphibians were the ones who could use the advantages of the water ways the most as they nested in caves that were only be able to be reached by diving and they could hunt the small creatures as well as the big ones.
The ones amphibians who used this best were the <Toadlings>, <Murlocs> and alligator species. The <Toadlings> and <Murlocs> who evolved from toads and frogs respectively used tools and superior numbers to hunt whereas the alligators used their strength, size and explosive speed to drag their prey into the water and drown it there.
The species who were the undisputed kings of the water world though were neither of those species. That position firmly belonged to the <Riff Sharks>. They hunted in small groups and had an estimated length of 10 meters. Those two features alone made it nigh impossible to hunt them. But to make matters worse they were also very fast and had an incredible jaw strength that made them very good hunters.
Meanwhile on the higher floors knowledge had become a very important resource and ruins were very coveted places. Especially the <Boss Room> on the 20th floor was very valuable as it taught the beast language to anyone who gazed at the altar placed inside. This language had nothing to do with the actual sounds made by the beasts and used Mana instead that was emitted through the mouth in a kind of morse code that could be received by anyone who heard the cries of the beasts using it.
After the 20th floor there was actual trade of goods or knowledge between different tribes who managed to secure certain key information that everyone could put to good use. But the tool to effectively communicate ones desires also led to internal strife, so some groups split themselves from their species and began to found their own villages. This led to the following ten floors to be the most chaotic as new groups constantly formed and only the strongest ones managed to travel further down the dungeon.
Because Quin had already foreseen that problems would arise the floors from the 21st to the 30th were mostly filled with open grass lands, only a few trees, the occasional hill and many small rivers. The rooms were also fairly big so that there was sufficient space for all the small communities that had formed.
The ruins this time were old tombs that had their entrances in the hills and then led further underground. The information this time was about how to construct basic straw huts using the tall grass that grew everywhere. This was of course no normal grass and in fact every grass stalk was a Grade 1 treasure. They were very sturdy, but also flexible and when weaved together they could even serve as makeshift walls for the villages.
To make the wood from the few trees not just a valuable commodity, but also a challenge to get, every single one of them was sentient. As soon as they evolved from Grade 1 through mana absorption they began to be classified as Rank 2 , the <Treant>. In this case every <Leafroof Acacia> that evolved became a <Lesser Treant Acacia>. With their evolution they were also able to move around and thus even harder to find.
Only the <Shroomlings> that evolved from <Mushlings> had no such problems as the Treants instinctively trusted them and even planted themselves in their villages. With this move they replaced the <Lesser Golems> of earth or stone as those had separated themselves once they had the means and numbers to defend themselves.
The floors from the 31st to the 40th then contained a swamp that favored the amphibians as well as the most coherent groups, because of the obvious huge water masses and because the environment was very hazardous. Only very strong individualists or groups that helped each other out against ambushes from the hidden depths and the vegetation would have a chance to survive these floors.
With the weak beasts and unstable groups filtered out the next ten floors were a savannah again, so that the populations that managed to pass through the swamp had a place to expand their numbers once again. When he had established these floors the <Shroomlings> were surprisingly the first to arrive and they also had minimal losses, but in retrospect it really was only logical.
The toxins in the swamp had no effect on them, most plant life wouldn''t attack them and they were very dependent on each other since they were weak individually.
From the 51st to the 70th floor there was a big change, but not in form of hazardous terrain, but because that was the time when he had merged the <Elemental Seeds> into his core and began to attune certain places more heavily to the elements. The terrain this time was again a caves, but this time it was so cold in these caves that the walls were made of ice and the ground was frosted over and very slippery. Since their advancement to the second Stage almost every beast had a stronger body that could handle this type of temperature though.
The water attuned Mana was very strong inside these floors and the deeper the ruins went the colder it also got and the stronger was the Concentration of water Mana. The deepest places would also later birth the first <Water Elementals>, beings of very basic intelligence at the beginning that purely consisted of Mana attuned to their element.
They were formless and very weak in the beginning, but once grown up and evolved they would become some of the most powerful known entities.
And finally on the 71st to the 80th and later up to the 90th floor he made the floor full of deep water and placed many small islands and narrow land bridges connecting them. On the islands themselves were huge trees planted that would serve as homes for the newly advancing avian species like the <Thunder Hawks> and <Oceanic Eagles>.
Quin had often contemplated whether the conditions in the later floors got too hard to handle and would cripple his dungeon''s growth as the beasts saw themselves unable to advance further anymore. This worry was unfounded though and although the swamp and ice terrains were meat grinders that swallowed thousands of corpses, the influx of new beasts from the lower floors never stopped.
As the new communities grew further and further some of the big factions stopped their constant infighting and began trading their newfound knowledge with each other. This led to an explosion in the population and the lack of space pushed the strong individuals of the species to form small groups to try to reach the lower floors where space was in abundance. In the end only the strongest survived and their superior genes would be passed down to those born in the lower floors who were destined to travel even further down then their parents.
Chapter 15 - New Challenges
2498 Words
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Sighing Torian wandered around in his temporaryoffice. After a while he went to the room high window that granted him a good view of the city below that was full of bustling life. With the constant expansion of the city the huts that were built-in the beginning had long been demolished to make place for the more lavish buildings that were made available with the increasing stream of resources. The Sectnaturally decided that the private residences of their Elders could never outshine the official Sect''s headquarters and so a grand citadel was being constructed atop the flat mountain that originally only held the four watchtowers.
The construction was carried out by the many mortal workers and a few of the inner and outer Disciples of the Sect while the elders oversaw and directed the construction. This resulted in the incredibly short predicted construction time of fivemonths.There was a total stagnation of further dungeon exploration previously, because the city construction needed so many helping hands. There was of course the occasional scouting mission that went further than the tenth floor, but those missions only searched for safe routes to go down further instead of trying to discover every natural treasure or species the dungeon had to offer. To this day they had only reached the 33rd floor with still no end in sight and no clear picture of anything lurking on these floors except a safe path that could be gone by the time they reached that floor the next time.
Now that the citadel construction was well on theway the Sect head had already sent him instructions on his next tasks. Firstly he had to finish the excavation of the Undercity and subsequently and subsequently get rid of the slums that began to form outside the city walls.The plan was to celebratethe new year and new city togetherand the slums full of mortals wouldtarnish their reputation in the eyes of many Elders and probably visitors from other parts of the country. His secondinstruction was to remove the Goblins from the nearby mountain range in the next six months or to at least corner them enough to provoke a final battle to exterminate those pests.
But he also had plans of his own. Now that so many Disciples had been freed up he had finally organized a group of 50 inner disciples that would test just how deep the dungeon grew and collect the floor maps that were engraved in a stone tablet and placed at the beginning of each 10 floors. Had the protector now negotiated to get these maps they would really be in the dark just how massive the dungeon was already. He had of course stored the old maps for their archives and most floors now had double the size compared to the first time they got a map of them, but many were even bigger as the beasts had clearly carved out their living spaces and expanded them for their needs and growing populations.
He had once tried asking Maria about information on the dungeon, but her response was very surprising. She had used most of her time interacting and socializing with the Sect Elders to make sure no one thought she was controlled bythe dungeon or justcultivating and training. Occasionally she had also chatted with the dungeon who had specific questions about the outside world or wanted a monthly update on the situation of the city. So all in all she knew even less about the dungeon interior then he did and had surprisingly few interactions with the dungeon itself. When asked about this he had apparently told her that his current focus was on growth and that things would change as soon as he solidified his Mana Core.
Another positive piece of news was that Cog finally reached the Liquid Mana stage and a test of his Mana showed that he had a very good affinity for time, which was a very rare and strong affinity. With this his status in the Sect instantly skyrocketed and Torian decided to take him as a personalDisciple since no other strong Cultivator with that affinity existed in the sect. He would start his lessons in a few days once he had everything either organized himself or delegated to capable people. He would have loved to nurture Seth into his paperwork slave so that he could go back to cultivating and attempting a breakthrough, but there was no stopping him when he heard that there would be an expedition into the dungeon. In the end he was even voted as team leader due to his extensive experience in dungeon exploration and knowledge about dungeons in general.
With another sigh he turned back to his overly large desk that was filled with paperwork. There were many plans to be made and many tedious tasks to be fulfilled, but there was just not enough time of the day to accomplish everything, even when one only had to sleep once a week.
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Seth was so excited that he had almost began dancing in front of the Head of the Hunter Division at the good news. He was just barely able to save himself from that embarrassment and keep his composure until he arrived at home and promptly invited Cog, Grom and a few other friends for a party at his new residence in the Elder''s district. His gamble on being the local dungeon expert and conviction that a dungeon had to form in the Sect''s province in the next 200 years had paid of in a spectacular manner and had secured him a bright future.
When his confused friends arrived and enquired for what reason there was a party, his answer that there was finally a big dungeon exploration left them speechless for a while. But since having a party was never a bad thing they stayed anyways and celebrated until his departure the next morning.
When he stood in front of the entrance again a very bad feeling rose in his stomach. It was some ind of premonition that something would go terribly wrong and that he had overlooked a crucial detail. After a few seconds of deep thought he couldn''t come up with anything and mentally pushed the feeling to the side to concentrate on his mission.
"Alright. Before we go just a few reminders so everyone is on the same page. Our mission today is to advance down the dungeon. We think that the dungeon has at least 40 floors, our only confirmation through the dungeon map is 39 floors. Given the dungeons history of developingfaster than ordinary dungeons we have reason to believe there exist 50 to 60 floors or even more. We are not expected to reach the end, but if we do there will be a sizable reward from the sect. We are also not expected to fight our way through, but find a route that is relatively safe and can be used by a bigger group. Furthermore we should strive to find safe spots that can be use as bridgeheads to either explore the floors further or to go deeper from there the next time. Our exploration is estimated to last a month before we are back on the surface. I have a few space pouches filled with rations since we can''t be sure that we will be able to hunt or find fresh water or edibles at all times. If you have any questions you can ask me any time. Now then, we want to reach the 11th floor today so you better hurryup."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
And with those encouraging words the group of 50 set out and made haste to the 11th floor, which they reached after only 16 hours of constant running. After this exercise everyone was drenched in sweat and exhausted, but also happy to finally rest and go exploring in the next days. The final guardian or Boss as it was called at the end of the 10th floor had smartly avoided them since it could already gauge that they were much stronger than him from their passive Mana Pressure alone. If it hadn''t developed that skill it would never have stayed alive for aslong as it had. But what was convenience for the stronger beasts and cultivators since they avoided a difficult fight made it an absolute terror for the weaker entities that encroached upon its territory. It never took a losing fight and smartly focused on any weak links that a group had, whittling their numbers down before it went in for the kill.
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While the dungeon was furtherscouted the next morning Cog made his way to the residence of theDivision Head Torian, his new master, to receive his first lesson in using his Mana beyond simple body amplification and to learn how to make use of his affinity.
Nervously he stood at the gate of huge walled mansion. The wall was more to avoid anyone peaking in then for any real protection, but it was intimidating to him nonetheless. He used the big door knocker that was decorated with intricatecarvings to announce his presence and was soon ledthrough the gate into a huge forest of different plants, many of them even Grade 1 or even Grade 2 materials that any outer Disciple would drool over.
But plants weren''t the only things living inside this little forest. Through his nature Affinity the Division Headhad naturally also a strong connection to animals and Frost Leopard that he had tamed and reared since he found it as a young cub in the Trult Mountain Range. It was famous throughout the sect as the only tamed CoreSolidification beast and with his strong body and formidable control over ice it could probably enter the top ten of the most powerful elders in the sect. Had henot left it in the Sect at first the goblin raid would have probably been beaten down much quicker and with much fewer casualties, but of course no one dared to raise that point with the now most powerful and influential Elder.
Cogwoke up from his musings when the servant reminded him to enter the studythat they had already reached. He had no recollection of how they arrived here or how long they had stood in front of this door. Mentally composing himself he opened the door and entered. What greeted him was the sight of a small library with shelves and a desk made of Deep Sea Mahagony, a Grade 2Plant that grewdeep in jungle lakes. The ceiling was decorated with paneled wood that was arranged in intricate patterns and the whole floor was covered with a crimson carpet. Behind the desk sat Elder Torian, an imposing presence like always, with a stack of documents on the side while a half-finished book laid open on the desk. He wasapparentlyreading it when Cog arrived.
"Please take a seat Cog."
He said and motioned to one of the two armchairs that were placed in front of the desk. He hurried to the armchair with nervous steps as he was still not used to being in the presence of his idol since entering the sect and his anticipation of finally learning how to really cultivate didn''t help either. The advanced methods of any Sect on how to groom their disciples were tightly kept secret so that they could maintain their status as elites and new upstartorganizations or unaffiliated cultivators didn''t endanger the status quo. Even outer Disciples had no knowledge of any such techniques and only once one became an inner Disciple would they get access to them either through the Sect library or a personal mentor.
"Today we will begin with a purely theoretic lesson on cultivation and on what your options are moving forward.Your first focus should be on combat. Every cultivator has to fight others at some point in his life. How you do that entirely depends on your own preferences and your creativity. Almost every affinity can be used in countlessdifferent ways and it is up to you to find the one that suits you.
Your second focus iscultivation and you should learn what cultivation really means.Up until now you only drew in Mana from the outside world and compressed it all in the end until it took a liquid form. Now you have to do that for every single drop of Mana before you can assimilate it into your own Mana Pool. That is also the reason that cultivation gets harder and slower the further you cultivate. But now there is also a second component to cultivation and that is your understanding of your affinity. You should strive to understand what you can do with your affinity and how to combine certain aspects of it to achieve a better effect. The further you progressin your cultivation themore you have to shift your focus from Mana cultivationto cultivation of your understanding.
There are many people who get stuck in the early stages of cultivation because their aptitude with the Mana cultivation aspect is toopoor they just barely scrape by and advance fast enough to further increase their lifespan. That matters less and less though, the further they advance. On the other hand there are people with exceptional Mana cultivating capabilities that have a poor comprehension capability and get stuck at a certain point and advance slowly or even never again.
The third focus should be on your affinity itself. There are many affinities and a few basic rules have been observed about them through the ages. The first one is that the broader your affinity isthatthe weaker it is in the beginning. The second rule isthatthe broader the affinity is, the more options you have to grow in the specific direction that suits you. The third rule is that the more closely related an affinity is to yours, the easier it is for your to also get an understanding into that affinity. This is important to either narrow down your early path and get access to early power or to expand your path for the future to not get stuck one day and to broaden your options of advancement.
I think we should end todays lesson here. It may not have been very long, but the ramifications of what you do with those informationare very important for your future development. You should think very long and hard about what I told you today and when you have made your choices for the future you can come back to consult me for any questions you might have. This is your future you have to plan and no one has any right to tell you what to do with that."
The rest of the day was like a blur for Cog as he agonized over what the right path for his future was.
Chapter 16 - The Divers
1590 Words
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When Seth awoke the next morning, he was a bit disoriented and couldn''t quite remember where he was. The now familiar wooden ceiling was now made of fabric and his heavenly soft new bed was hard as rock. Whenhis brain also finally woke up he once again remembered that they would explore the dungeon again. The morning really wasn''t his time of the day.He really bemoaned the fact that his field of study wasn''t about the effects of nice beds and cushions on cultivation. On that path there was no danger to his life and it was comfy as well, but then on the other hand he wouldn''t be rich and he wouldn''t get to experience any adventures either. Why were there no purely positive choices in life?
Still mumbling and grumbling to himself he emerged from his tent to relieve himself and get his sore muscles healed so that he could survive this day only to suffer again tomorrow. Cog had once told him that he had never seen such an optimistic morning person, but he was sure there was a hint of sarcasm in his statement.
Once the whole group was ready to go they left the small camp,its caretaker and the protective formations behind and they entered the twilight of the underground jungle that encompassed the next ten floors. In the beginning they had used the broken paths that was barely visible and only illuminated by the occasional Mana stone. That had proven to be a disastrous move as they had been in the open while the hunters on that stalked them could ambush them at anytime and retreat back into the shadows. There had been quite a few deaths before they realized that no matter how scary the undergrowth was, being in the open was worse. The number of members in a team had also been enhanced as safety in numbers was a very real concept here, if only to minimize the chance that the unlucky one to be dragged away wasn''t you but your neighbor. Another problem of using the pathways was that they led from one monster den to the other and once they felt that their offspring was in danger the beasts attacked with reckless abandon, leaving only mutilated corpses to be found of the lucky members that didn''t get eaten.
As the only non-combat member and expedition leader he was naturally in the middle of the group, the safest position really, but even that did nothing to relieve his tension. Luckily every member of this group was an elite hunter and veteran dungeon diver, at least in comparison to the rest of the sect. Seth was only necessary by the virtue of being favored by Elder Torian and having read every single report and bit of information on dungeons available to the Sect. They were likely to encounter something unexpected ornew and they needed someone who either knew what it was or could make an educated guess that could save their group from extermination. The jungle was eerily quiet and the rustling of leaves was the only thing to be heard until a scream broke the quiet.
The whole group rushed forward to see one of the weaker scouts being half-swallowed by a huge alligator that had been buried in the mud. Its snout was already bloody from his frantic blows with his small machete that he had used earlier to clear them a path. A few of the faster members had already arrived and under the onslaught of ten angry hunters it quickly died only to clamp down its maw in the last second. With a sickening crunch the scout''s spine snapped and his eyes glazed over. Wether he was still aliveand unconscious or already dead was impossible to say, but after a quick check with his Divine Sense one of the other hunters confirmed the first loss of their expedition.
Not wanting to leave their friend rotting in the dungeon, it took five hunters to force open the nameless alligators jaws and remove the corpse. It was then placed in one of the space bags so that they could bury him in the extensive graveyard near the Sect''s headquarters. The alligators corpse was then processed, since it was no use wasting precious materials out of sentimentality. It helped neither the dead nor the living.When they resumed the exploration the scouts were kept closer and everyone''s awareness was at the peak. After another 19 hours the groupfinally reached the end of the 15th floor, thankfully without any more casualties and they reached a safe room that was not yet occupied by any beasts.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The passage to reach it was a narrow tunnel and thus easily defensible by the five Inner Disciples that stayed here. They had been enlisted by the Sect to guard it for ten years, in which they would get preferential treatment by the sect. Namely better resources for cultivation and a free weapon and armor. They could also amassbonus contribution points by hunting or gathering natural resources and selling their gainsto the Sect commissioned traders that would visit them once a month in the near future or discovering new important locations like beast hideouts, Mana geysers and ore veins in their allocated 5 floors. The death toll from these stationed Inner Disciples would of course be very high in the beginning, but once they were more accustomed to the dungeon and the dangerous locations were known the Sect expected the number of deaths to drastically drop. Every year there were masses of new Inner Disciples since the bottleneck from Mist Mana to Liquid Mana wasn''t a big one and it wouldn''t really hurt the sect to loose a few. The truly talented disciples had enough resources anyway and the ones with poor aptitudes would be filtered out until the disciples worth nurturing were left behind.
After leaving the scout''s corpse in the camp so that they could get it on their way out they set out once again the next morning and after tenhours of running they made another stop on the 17th floor after encountering a fast flowing river with murky green water that made it impossible to know what dangers lurked within. Naturally the whole group was very tense and many threw nervous glances at the water, manyof them had heard about instances where careless hunters had been ambushed and dragged down water holes or rivers. Since the Snappers, who were masters at this technique, had static jaws they could only rip out pieces of their prey and couldn''t chewit properly, they drowned their victims first to make sure that it wouldn''t escape afterwards. Drowning was one of the most horrible ways to go for a cultivator since they had a much higher lung capacity and could go much longer without air then ordinary mortals. That in turn meant, that their death sruggles could go on for hours with no hope for help.
The only warning they got was a low humming sound, before 5 Praying Mantis type beasts broke through the thicket behind them and started slashing at anything in reach of their claws. With a start Seth began to circulate his Mana and hurry to the site of the attack, together with everyone else. But as soon as the beasts realized that their opponents were stronger then they looked, they retreated back into the woods with the same blinding speed from their ambush and soon even the low humming sound of their wings wasn''t audible anymore.
"Any losses?" He asked, fearing the worst.
"Karg lost his right arm when he protected his face. Only clean cut wounds that can be stitched together otherwise." Came the quick answer from Roman, his second in command who also doubled as his bodyguard.
"Quickly apply blood staunching salves and scent covering powder and then we have to move! The scent of fresh blood will have the beasts near us in a frenzy and we can''t affordto still be here when they arrive." After a hurried first aid the Seth''s team was once again on the move.
Six hours later they finally arrived in the camp on the 20th floor. It was once again a hard-to-reach cave with a narrow entrance tunnel that was located near the entrance to the floor and fortunately hidden from view behind a hill that was overgrown with tall grass. The exploration team had only found it because they had seen it on the map that was provided by the dungeon and a camouflage array had made sure it was not accidentally discovered by the beasts that entered the floor regularly.
Again a night had passed and the troop was one man shorter again as Karg was unable to really help them out and would soon even become a burden. Once the time came that they went back outhe would join them again.
Once outside they convened together on the hill next to the entrance and enjoyed the panoramic view. Seth took a deep breath and thought to himself:
"This is so much better than the damn jungle."
Then out loud he said:
"Remember everyone. This floor might seem idyllic, but it is even more dangerous than the last and the fact that we can see everyone also means that everyone can see us. So be careful, be alert and let''s hope we reach the 25th floor without any further losses."
Sadly a Hiatus
Many of you have probably seen this coming, but in the last week a lot of personal stuff has been coming up and I just didn''t find the time/motivation to write again. So I''ll take a break and focus on university/family and maybe I''ll write a shortstory if the inspiration hits (curiously that is mostly at 2.00 am). Whent I get my motivation and free time back the story will definetly continue. I already have a clear image of what I where the story will go and I just have to find the time and energy to write it.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Sorry again, Phil