by Alston Sleet
Once the king knew his skill had been foiled, it wasn’t clear how things would change.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Coldona's Challenge
Thirty minutes of fiddling with the wall opposite the entrance inside my greeting hall had finally produced a well-designed portrait area and welcome plaque. The most difficult part of the entire endeavor had been gathering enough metal to form the plaque. The process became far easier once I figured out the trick of just absorbing air.
Air didn’t convert to metal very easily, in fact, it was something like a ratio of a thousand to one. But the nice part about absorbing air is that whatever I absorb will be replaced shortly after. As a bonus, the wind being kicked up was soon bringing leaves, seeds, pollen, and a host of dust with all it contained along with it.
Once I had a smoothly polished solid steel plate on the wall, the edges formed with a delightful copper braid pattern, I anchored it all securely to the wall with metal spikes which fused to the very rock.
Beside the plaque I smoothed and polished the stone, adding up parts and removing parts until I had a uniform dark grey, almost black, rock surface. This was where I was planning to build the image of my goddess. I still hadn’t decided yet what she should look like, but I at least had my easel ready.
Once I was done and pulled my view back to look it over, I was hit again by the evil blue box.
Ding!
Congratulations, you have reached the minimum level of competence in
[Conjuration], Level 1.
[Conjuration] allows a ‘Dungeon Core’ the ability to reform and reconstitute materials for which they have the etheric pattern. [Conjuration] is a legendary skill which has been pursued by magicians for more than a millenia. The ability to form stone, metal, wood, magical items, and creatures from concentrated mana is considered a skill reserved for Dungeons and the gods alone.
Ding!
Congratulations, you have reached the minimum level of competence in [Etheric Pattern Formation], Level 1.
[Etheric Pattern Formation] allows for the formation of etheric patterns from the absorption and deconstruction of objects or memories. A highly prized skill that allows skilled magicians to create spell scrolls, spell books, memory orbs, and at higher levels, training stones.
Ouuuuchy! I am getting so damn tired of the blue box. This time though I noticed something interesting. The first skill came through almost entirely in the odd mechanical type voice, though the concept ‘Dungeon Core’ was improved over the last time. The second skill though was similar to many of the other announcements before. Was mister blue box announcement improving over time? Was [Conjuration] mechanical sounding because I was the first in some way? It was a ‘legendary skill’ so maybe. Was this something I could use? Probably not, but it was interesting and since I probably was a unique little snowflake in this world, I had a chance of seeing entirely unheard of things. I would need to keep my nonexistent crystalline ears peeled and ready.
I wasn’t sure what ‘etheric patterns’ were, but it was probably the reason that I could make things once I had consumed enough of it. I didn’t feel like I had any patterns floating around in my noggin, but then I wasn’t really sure how I was doing what I was doing. It would probably improve as I got better. Another thing to watch for.
Focusing back on the metal plaque I pondered the words for a bit and what kind of impression I wanted to make. For me as the dungeon, and for Coldona, as well. I needed to impress, but not frighten challengers off. I needed them to know that death could happen, but that the challenge was the point, not their death. I needed to hint at a bribe of magical and mundane rewards, while not promising them to all. I would be speaking for Coldona so I needed her to sound like she was challenging mankind to be better, to do better, to grow, even if it hurt. I needed to essentially channel my inner Italian grandmother. Loving, but willing to smack you with a rolling pin if you can’t get your act together. Luckily, my Nan had provided just such a model.
First, stroke the ego of whoever enters. Let them think they have already won. I was taking a cue from mister blue box on this one.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Nice and bold, running across the whole of the top in flowing script. For the fun of it, I use an alloy of copper and steel for the words. I would see how it goes as it ages and oxidizes.
Everyone likes to win, and when you win, people congratulate you for it. Having congratulations right at the top, right for entering, would hopefully put whatever message was on the plaque in a positive light. It had worked for mail scam marketing, it could work for me! Though realistically it would probably only work a bit and even then only some of the time. But hopefully, this would be a numbers game over a long period of time anyways.
Ok, moving on then. A little bit of description to hint at what the hall was and why it was a ‘good thing!’ ™.
Within these halls lie challenges and prizes for those who wish to prove their worth.
Good, good. Short and sweet, hint at bribing with prizes, subtly (blatantly) hint at only the worthy being able to win those prizes, all good.
Now I needed to segue into Coldona and why she would want humans to challenge her dungeons and monsters. Why would she favor humans over the monsters which are her domain? Ah, turn it around, she favors the humans, but it’s all tough love and she thinks they need training and honing to reach their greatness. They are just failing and so she is graciously helping out. Pro-tip, in an abusive relationship, the abuser is always in the right and trying to ‘help’ the abused.
I felt so skeevy lying like this, but it’s kind of a matter of life and death, namely mine, and if this worked out Coldona actually will be able to help out. This plaque is almost a promise for her to try and do that. Is it a lie when lying causes the lie to become the truth? I never did get a passing grade in my philosophy class in college, this might have been why.
The failure to live up to the challenges of Monsters and Dungeons has grieved Coldona deeply. The loss of life, the sadness, the sheer waste of potential has called out to her for a solution.
Ewww, not the cleanest prose ever, but it would work. I hope this world doesn’t have literary critics. This implied strongly why Coldona would create monsters. yes, Coldona made monsters and dungeons, but it was humanities fault for failing to grow stronger and kill them off. Shame on you!
In her wisdom, the Goddess Coldona has presented this Challenge, a training ground for masters of weapons and magic alike. Offered for a short time, only those brave of heart, strong of arm, and wise of mind shall be able to survive the Dungeon of Challenges.
So, ‘Dungeon of Challenges’, warning that you could die might sound like a threat, but it also implies that death isn’t the point. So, you know, don’t see me as an evil thing that needed to be eradicated!
With a bit of fiddling, I created an arc of stone with metal embedded which said ‘Dungeon of Challenges’ then pushed it out and up to the top of my magical traveling doorway. At the edge of my domain, it was almost impossible to move the stone around, but it was actually relatively easy to add stone beneath and remove it above then fuse it all together. It wasn’t exactly ‘lifting’ the stone, but it worked amazingly well despite the indirect nature of the actions.
Turning back to the plaque I stared at it trying to decide what I needed to include. Praise, bribe, subtle challenge, imply that humans are at fault for dying to monsters, offer a place to fight and improve…what else is needed? Ah, turn things around and make it about humans living up to Coldona’s values. Perfect.
Enter the Dungeon of Challenge. Train and survive, grow, prosper, and win back against the Monsters and Dungeons of the wild.
I had to fiddle, moving text around a bit, changing the size of text, shifting things a bit here and there, but eventually, the plaque looked impressive. Now comes the part I had been putting off.
I needed to design a goddess. Pretty but obviously not human. Subtly wrong, but not disturbingly so. Tentacles were rig
ht out! Floundering for a moment I stared at the blank wall until a solution came to me. Make a pretty human woman, then shift things to be slightly off. It was easier to make a pretty woman then it was to try and make it perfect all in one go.
I wanted this to be pseudo-religious iconography as well, so needed this to be more than just a portrait. My eventual decision was of a woman standing staring directly out of the painting with her arms held out slightly to the side with palms up, having one knee slightly bent and held next to her leg would also change the feel. It would imply giving and embracing of others while still being a slightly unnatural stance and pose that would feel otherworldly, or at least that was my hope.
Since I felt like I was dealing with the Roman “I’m perfectly willing to mess with mortals” gods still, I might as well copy the art style as well. I wonder how the humans will deal with a naked goddess? I wonder if my goddess will freak out and kill me! Oh well, I plan to show it to her before I move forward to letting humans into my dungeon anyways. She will have the final say on her form anyways.
Pushing different colored stone up out of the wall I was able to outline the basic structure. The entire process of roughing out the semi-statue semi-painting took only moments. If I had access to this kind of ability back on earth I would have been a far more accomplished artist rather than a mediocre one who rarely sold pictures for websites. If I was being honest with myself it was more of my lack of ambition and drive that had failed me rather than the lack of magic.
Long lean legs, right leg shifted forward and bent slightly, toes pointing as if a dancer preparing to step. All formed in a white marble-like stone. Hips cocked slightly and invitingly, flat stomach with a hint of definition, proud medium sized upturned breasts with just a hint of rose quartz mixed into the white marble. With a chuckle, I put just a tiny bit more rose quartz into the nipples before I moved on to her shoulders and arms. Strong arms, not manly but more defined than had been hinted at within the legs, hands cupped upwards and with a burst of brilliance, I made each fingernail tinted with copper and steel.
Inhuman, but still pretty.
Next was her face. I went with a wider face structure and eyes with epicanthic folds giving her face an Asian or Pacific-Islander feel to it. Her eyes were green malachite etched around an obsidian stone pupil. Her hair was swept over one shoulder and down such that it lightly covered her left shoulder and trailed above her breast. This left her right ear exposed and so I decided to tilt her head ever so slightly to her left. Once I did so it felt far more alive and vibrant. I first tried making the hair out of gold but it didn’t look right to me so I went with steel and copper mixed with silver. I would let that sit then maybe mix gold in as well if it seemed to look right to make it an interesting metallic wave flowing down her head.
Pulling my viewpoint back I stared at Coldona’s image while trying to figure out who she reminded me of. Once I realized she looked like my ex-girlfriend Jessica I pulled away and started to wonder if a gem could get drunk. Taller, with a slightly less oval face, but Jessica had definitely unconsciously been my model.
Never mind, Jessica had always been pretty so a good model for a goddess even if she had been shallow and betrayed me. Mentally I grimaced as I admitted, at least to myself, that Jessica hadn’t been shallow and she hadn’t betrayed me. She had been practical while I had been uninspired and unwilling to strive in life. Our breakup had been ordained since we had started dating. We had very little in common except finding each other funny, but our life goals just had not coincided. She had them, I didn’t.
It was petty, but the idea of making my Ex into a slightly monstrous beauty was appealing in a childish way.
First I looked to the toes, all I could see to change here was to continue the claws/painted look of the fingernails from before. Moving up the legs I considered if I wanted to shift anything here, maybe go with inhuman musculature or something else, but I decided not to. I had studied human anatomy for art, but I had been very slapdash about it and while I could form a human well enough, I had no confidence in an altered form. It would be pretty piss poor payment to make my goddess unable to walk.
With the hips I decided to shift things slightly, I subtly shifted the hip bones upwards, giving her body a voluptuous feel while still being slim since it’s not the way a humans bone structure would form. It was a bit of trickery with perception, and the results were well done if I did say so myself.
I left the subtle stomach muscles and breasts alone, they worked well enough as they were and frankly I liked them. It might be that a more Rubenesque look was attractive in this world, but I liked the slimmer athletic look.
The eyes were shifted further, I wound tiny flecks into the malachite but with a fit of brilliance, I shifted things entirely. I pushed the eyes back into a reversed orb instead of subtly pushing them out as I had before. This copied the effect some paintings had been constructed with where it seemed the eyes followed you as you walked around the room. That had always been disconcerting to me even after the effect had been explained.
The entire thing was pretty and subtly inhuman, but nothing about it said monstrous and it needed something else. Something that clearly said ‘not human’ rather than ‘modified human’.
The ear which had been slightly upturned once I tilted her head was an obvious target for change. First I pointed the tips, creating an elfen look, but that wasn’t enough. Next, I created ridges and changed the whirl of her ear, the entire effect was subtle but it reminded me more of a bats ear than an elf's ear. The pointed tips would stand out more than the whirl would but anyone studying the effect would notice it shortly after.
It was when the thought of it being more like a bat than an elf is when the obvious changes came to me. Fangs and wings! The fangs would change the face and make it less otherworldly and slightly sinister, but the wings, oh the wings would be the master stroke! I wouldn’t go with demon wings, that would push things too far into the land of sinister, instead, I would go with downy gentle silver-white wings.
The fangs were simple, two slightly curved white marble fangs gently overlapping the red quartz blushed cupid lips. The wings, on the other hand, didn’t work. It softened the entire structure too much, the big downy wings gentled the inhuman structure and said angel far too much. With a bit of fiddling, I changed things by adding large metal inlaid claws pushing out of the shoulders of the wings. The claws were almost blade-like and colored the same as the toenails and fingernails. Sharp and scary, but in the same way that a bird of prey is scary. It’s inhuman, but not a monster.
Staring at the new religious iconography I was impressed, and I was enjoying the fact she was nude, but the lack of titillation from the nudity reminded me of my new body. With a huff of annoyance I decided that my petty revenge of nudity was probably uncalled for, I was more upset with Denda than Coldona in the first place. I decided to wrap her with a toga made of white marble. I left a lot of leg, cleavage, and one shoulder uncovered, but covered all the important bits. It still made me laugh to know she was anatomically correct under the layer of stone clothing.
I drifted back and stared at the portrait as I tried to figure out if there was anything else I needed to do. With a last bit of effort, I titled the bottom “Coldona’s Challenge.”
CHAPTER NINE
I Am The Stair Master!
Before I turned to make the first of the challenges of my dungeon I needed to do some housekeeping. Namely, I needed to calm my instincts down and move my core further in and down. Up to now, I had just been sitting on a lip of stone just inside my vestibule. While I had been in my creative fugue my instincts had been muted, but now that I was no longer as distracted, my instincts were all for hiding and digging.
The first thing I did was create a small hallway at a slight angle and next to the stairway down into my vestibule. When I had first made my entrance alcove I had flashed upon a way to close and open doorways in such a way that my need for a ‘hallway’ to my core would be sa
tisfied while also there was a tight space no one could walk through. A cheat for sure, and I wasn’t certain it would work, but if it did, it would be a game changer. Around the entrance hall, I had walls with a vertical divider, these vertical lines were centered on each wall. They would eventually become the tunnels to each challenge. I designed things so that the portrait and plaque would be the first thing seen from the entranceway, directly in front of the stairs. Each tunnel would branch off from the walls of the octagon of the entranceway.
If you were designing things to be majestic and impactful symmetry and symbolism was important. If you see a large number of hallways off to the sides and one big picture in the center, then that picture is going to look like a way to hide some secret tunnel. No one would stare at the crack right next to the entrance stairs! That’s just silly!
If my doorway collapse idea worked, then this ‘silly’ idea would make me almost untouchable. Well, untouchable to someone who can’t cast space magic that is. My trick would be worse than a spotlight for someone who could manipulate space as I could. Once I had my new hallway built, I created and destroyed rock in a wave to push me along. My stone surfing quickly shot me down to my new refuge. Once I reached a distance down the hall I focused back at the entrance of the hallway. Grabbing the space around the wall on either side I pulled them inwards. Once I pinched the two walls together so close that it appeared not even a playing card would fit, I held it and waited. This was the test to tell me if my idea worked. The hallway was still the same size, it was still man-sized and mana could seep through. It just wasn’t man-sized on both sides. From my gems side, you could walk down a hallway, on the other side someone walking through would seem to expand out from the tiny crack. If you somehow managed to pinch yourself into just the right spot, you could walk directly back into the cracks warp, but in practice, it would be impossible.