Lord of Creation

by Lawrence Blackwood

  I pulled my weapon out from the Knight and traded it for the Bone Breaker. The goliath of a club weighed almost as much as my initial carry weight now, and its Damage was 1000-1500 plus a 15% bonus against Heavily Armored enemies. The Knight was little more than a tin can waiting to be crushed.

  Another swing came at me, which score a glancing hit on my shield. The sheer force of it still almost knocked me to my knees and dropped me 200 Health. As soon as I was able, I got back to my feet and swung Bone Breaker at the Knight's knee. If I could take one of the legs out, my job would be much simpler.

  It almost worked. The bastard's ridiculously high Dex saved him. What kind of tank moved like that? I was faster than him, yes, but not by much. His sword caught my swing, jarring my arm, but it left him open for a hefty kick right in the groin. Not a stupid toe first, little kid kick, but a full on, fireman breaking down a door kick that could have sterilized a bull.

  That got his attention. The Knight didn't seem to feel pain quite like humans did, but apparently even mysterious suits of armor have genitalia too. Was there actually something in there? The armor was fitted so well that there weren't big enough gaps to see through. Either way, it's time to FSU. Nighty night, Tin Man.

  The Doom Knight fell to his knees, clutching at his groin. I didn't play by the rules. I kicked the shit out of my enemy while he was down. My first swing of Bone Breaker caught him square in the temple. From there, it was cake. 7 swings later, the Doom Knight was dead. I may have cheated a little bit, but at least it let me know of a weakness that needed fixing.

  After a brief pause, the Knight's wounds fixed themselves, and the hulking suit of armor kneeled in front of me. "You have proven worthy of my service. I will gladly fight and die in your name." The suit or armor resonated in a gravelly, but not unpleasant baritone. "Well then, let's get going!" With a sucking pop, we were brought back to the real world. Well, not the real world. My new real world.

  "Welcome to your new home!" The Knight looked slightly disappointed at being brought to a Level 3 Dungeon, but I quickly assured him that it wouldn't stay that way for long, especially with him helping out. Once I set him and his Dark Warriors up in the Boss Room, he seemed to be much happier. It helped that with his presence the Dungeon's Level was kicked up to 4.

  Which meant I got another Worker! I left two of the little guys in the Dungeon with Felix, the Doom Knight. It wasn't the greatest name, I know, but I liked it even if it wasn't likely to strike fear into the hearts of anybody anytime soon. Which brought me to another point. How did I get people to come attack my Dungeon? And how bad was it if they succeeded?

  I shook off the questions rolling around in my head. I had more important things to consider. "Felix, change the Dungeon as you see fit. You know more about this than I do. Just leave a side room for me." With a nod the Doom Knight set off, mentally commanding the two Workers. "Oh, one more thing! Don't forget to get some padding for your armor!" I called out, chuckling at how the simple mistake let me win so easily.

  The other two Workers came to my side as I left the Dungeon. "Damn." I muttered. In the time I was gone, almost 30 trees had been cut down. "You've been busy. Any ideas on what to do next?"

  One of the Workers raised its hand. "Traps! Traps!" It squeaked excitedly. I shrugged and told him to go for it, and the little thing scampered off.

  "And you?" I turned to the other one.

  "Refinement for your home. With the materials provided I can not only make it more defensive, but I can hide it as well. Given enough time, I may also be able to provide a Power Conduit for the Dungeon. That will allow you to convert your Exp gain from any source to the Dungeon about 3 times as efficiently as you can right now."

  I pretended to go over what he said in my mind, but I knew the Power Converter was best and I told him so. "Excellent! I will get on it right away. When I am finished I will begin modifications on your home."

  This whole Dungeoneer thing was pretty cool and all, but how was I supposed to get Exp if I was tied to a Dungeon in the middle of a forest? Fortunately, it didn't take me long to find the answer to that question.

  ◆◆◆

  "Welcome, brave adventurers, to my humble abode. And your graves!" I stood in the Boss Room of the Dungeon with Felix by my side. Half a month of nothing but building and upgrading as best we could had prepared us for this day. I had pumped the Dungeon and Felix full of the meager Exp I earned from chopping wood and other menial tasks. It wasn't much, but it helped. Felix had earned a couple more Dark Warriors, and the traps that were made had definitely taken their toll on the group of intruders.

  I had watched the whole fight through the eyes of my undead. The original party of 6 was now half that number. One of their tanks and two of their rogue/assassin types were dead, for which I was grateful. They generally had high DPS and specialized in killing Bosses. They likely would have gone for Felix, as he was considerably more intimidating than I was, but there was no reason to take chances.

  The group was clearly outclassed, but didn't give up. I admired that, in a way, but they only had one tank left and he wasn't looking so hot. Other than him, they had a hooded elemental mage and a Healer that looked ready to drop from exhaustion. They had a chance though, if it really was just me and Felix. But it wasn't.

  Dark Warriors formed from shadow behind the group as they charged. They targeted the healer first, who fell to the floor before he knew what had hit him. Without the positive Buffs from the healer, the tank's charged turned into a stumbling fall. Felix took care of the burnt out, muscle bound warrior in one fell strike.

  The mage rained lightning down on Felix all the while, but even with the elemental advantage against metal he didn't slow down. He was built to take punishment, after all. Between the phalanx of Warriors and the Doom Knight, she never stood a chance. Which meant...

  We won! And earned a pretty massive chunk of Exp while we were at it, too. Popups appeared left and right for Level Ups for me, Felix, and even the Dungeon. First Defense bonuses, No Major Losses bonuses, and more filled my vision. I could get used to this.

  With my now Level 6 Dungeon and points to spare for it, I pumped the minimum Level Spawn for each of my rooms. The maximum was my Dungeon Level x 10, so I couldn't do much about it. Still, Level 38-60 undead spawned in each room at a number between 40-60. There was a 10% chance that each undead would spawn as a Dark Warrior, making them roughly twice as strong. If you did the math, there should technically be at least 4 Dark Warriors per room. Still, there was always a chance that none would spawn, even if it was pretty low.

  I left Felix to use his points as he wished, with a recommendation that he boost his Luck eventually. I continued to keep myself well-ish rounded, but couldn't help tossing a few extra points per Level into Wis, Int, or End. My spells were starting to lag behind a little, so I resolved to make myself more useful in the next battle. A plan started to form in the back of my mind. "Workers!" I called. This was going to be good.

  The tunnels I had them dig around the main Dungeon were small to conserve space, but it was still difficult to make them while avoiding traps. There was one to each side of the main path, with walls that only my magic could pass through, but nobody could see through. Including me. We color coded both sides of the wall in varying shades of grey and black so I could see how far along each room I was. It would take a lot of practice, but if I watched the battle through one of my minion's eyes I could launch magic into the room without having to physically be there. I wanted to just go into the room in person but that would break the Dungeon's Laws and vaporize me. Or so Felix claimed, and I had no reason to claim otherwise.

  It was a while before the next groups of adventurers came, which was fine by me. It gave us plenty of time to prepare to our heart's content. I was immediately glad I put in the side walls. I could shoot 6 Magic Missiles per second. 2 per second because of my high Wisdom and Intelligence boosted the cast time, which was multiplied by 3 because it was level 58. Soon it would be 60,
and I'd be able to shoot 8 per second. My control and aim were both getting better too.

  Missiles wizzed towards the intruders, targeting eyes and ears. along with any wounds that they accumulated throughout the Dungeon. It had devastating effects straight off the bat, because the mages had yet to put up Magical Wards. I blinded the healer first and ordered a few Dark Warriors to target him. All but one of my Warriors fell, but it was worth it to take out their main support. With the Fallen Partner and Retribution Buffs the rest of the group got from the death of their comrade, they made quick work of the next 2 rooms. They were nearly a quarter of the way through my Dungeon already.

  Their tanks fell next. The first, a red-skinned giant of a man taller than Felix exploded when he died, on the 9th room. The second took out an entire group of Dark warriors before he finally fell, 5 rooms after the first tank. 2 more rooms, and they would reach the Boss Room. Not bad for a Level 50 group facing hundreds of monsters, some of which were 10 Levels their superior. But without the tanks they'd never make it.

  The last survivor, a Level 56 Necromancer(the highest Level of the group), managed to make it to Felix. He didn't stand a chance, and he knew it. Necromancy may have helped a little with controlling the undead, but there were none here. Doom Knights and Dark Warriors were actual living creatures. With a wave of my hand I called off Felix's killing blow.

  "My name's Donovan. You're pretty damned good at what you do to have made it here," I said, offering him my hand, "You can join us, if you want. I need a left hand man, and someone that knows a thing or two about magic. Big ol' Felix here does his best, but he's a swordsman at heart, not a mage. If you don't want to join, I'll let you go. I won't even drain your Exp."

  The Necromancer thought for a moment, but eventually took my helping hand. "The name's Niko. Kind of like the beginning of Necromancer." The until now nameless man said. Well, at least it's original.

  "Welcome aboard, Niko! With the Exp from your old group, our Dungeon is Level 9. That means you and Felix both get 3 Workers to do as you wish. Of course, if you try to do anything to undermine me, they will refuse your request and instantly report back to me so I can kill you. And don't think you could win. With the Exp from your ex group, I'm Level 76." Niko turned pale, but nodded.

  He and his share of the Workers quickly set about making a Magic Well, which was basically just a cooler, larger version of a Transmogrification table. Using it, we could convert large amounts of fairly common resources, such as copper and the like, into small amounts of uncommon and rare materials like steel and gems with magical potential. we had plenty of objects for Transmogrification, so my excitement for the project outweighed my trepidation.

  As I made my way to the Boss Room, which was in the middle of being deconstructed and moved deeper into the ever expanding Dungeon, I noticed that the walls, ceilings, and floors were slowly getting darker and darker. The deeper I went, the darker the stone got. When I finally got to the new Boss Room, 22 rooms in, the place was an inky, purplish black reminiscent of obsidian.

  "It's because of my Dark Alignment." Felix said as if he read my mind. He was helping the Workers haul the raised dais that he stood on when adventurers made their way to the Boss Room.

  "Huh," I replied, "It's kinda cool. What Alignments go with Dark?" Felix cocked his head to the side and shrugged his massive shoulders. His Levels were making him grow in size so fast that we had to make the Dungeon taller. He was now fully 7 and a half feet tall, if not slightly more than that. "Anyway, I'm going to find Niko. Keep up the good work!"

  The newest addition to my team wasn't in the Dungeon. No, he was in my house. The Magic Well he had mentioned was apparently too valuable to risk it getting destroyed in a raid. I opened the door to my house, which was still bone, and made my way to the back, which was dug into the cliffside. In one of the backmost rooms, Niko and his three Workers were building the Well. I had my Workers help out too.

  It was an ugly thing for the moment. a ring of rocks around a pool of brackish water lay in the middle of a hole in the floor. The Workers were melding and smoothing out the stone while Niko concentrated on the water. Sweat dripped from his face as the water gradually became crystal clear. With twice the amount of Workers, it only took a few minutes for the stone ring to be finished.

  "Impressive." I said, leaning against the door frame. "Can we convert raw materials to Exp now? Or vice versa?" Niko looked confused for a second, as if reorienting himself with the world after the massive use of magic. "Uh, Exp? Oh, right! Of course! Materials don't convert for much until you get into the rare stuff. Which is good, in a way. That means you can convert Exp to materials at a pretty decent price." He spoke with an excited fervor, and didn't breathe till he was done. "How much is a pretty decent price?" His eyes squinted slightly in concentration before he replied. "You should be able to check through your Dungeon tab. Trust me, it's pretty good."

  I did as he said, flipping over to the newly made Magic Well section.

  Magic Well- Can convert items into other items, or items into Exp. Also works with Souls, Spirits, and Prayer.

  (Note. Items converted to Exp can be Reverted back into their original form for the same amount of Exp they were converted to. This is generally less than the original Exp cost to create an item. Some use this as a handy way for storage, so long as they aren't expecting to leave the Well for any considerable amount of time. Reversion becomes impossible after 1 month.)

  Stone to Exp- 100 lbs. = 50 Exp

  Wood to Exp- 50 lbs. = 50 Exp

  Flint to Exp- 25 lbs. = 50 Exp

  Bone to Exp- 25 lbs. = 50 Exp

  Copper to Exp- 10 lbs. = 50 Exp

  Iron to Exp- 5 lbs. = 50 Exp

  At my current Level, Level 76 (Killing actual adventurers is amazing for Exp) It took a couple thousand Exp to level me up. Considering that this was the very weakest version of the Magic Well, I'd say that those prices were pretty damned good. Especially since stone could be found literally everywhere, and I could harvest some Skeletons from the Dungeon if I really wanted to. I'd just have to be careful about it. After a group of outsiders attacked, the Dungeon got a 24 hour ward placed upon it. But if I killed the monsters in there, there wouldn't be any ward. That could spell disaster if somebody attacked before it reset. It was probably worth it though, if I only grabbed a monster or two per room.

  With both me and Niko in the side walls, and the new upgrades and traps being implemented, we should have a few monsters left over. I could just take those, and still take benefit of the 24 hour protection. The leftover bodies of my monsters would work too. For now though, it was just a waiting game. I wished Niko good luck and went to get some sleep.

  Crack! What the hell was that?! I rolled out of bed, already grabbing Bone Breaker and my shield. A quick shift in my Inventory later and my armor was equipped, and not a moment too soon. A chunk of the wall twice my size exploded inward and catapulted me across the room. I didn't even have time to get my shield up. Whoever was out there, they were god damn hardcore.

  A lone figure stepped through the massive hole in the wall, almost filling it. The handle of a sword the size of Felix jutted from his back. The figure stood there until the dust cleared, staring me down. "I've come for Niko." Oh shit. I never thought that he would have more friends, especially not ones so much more powerful than him. Judging by the amount of Health he had dropped me by with only a secondary hit, he was at least Level 100, if not 110. He was almost 35 Levels higher than me. He could probably wipe my whole Dungeon with nothing but a half decent healer on his side.

  "Niko is with me now. You can always join, if you want? I could grab you an application." I coughed, trying to clear some of the bone dust from my lungs. The mountain of a man just snorted and narrowed his eyes. Well, it was worth a shot.

  "Niko would never associate with filth such as you. He is a better person than that." I had to suppress the urge to laugh. This guy was too melodramatic.

  "You know Meathead, when som
ebody has armor made from literal bone, you should probably be afraid of them. Boo." Meathead charged.

  Meathead was big, so so big, but just as stupid as you would have expected. That didn't mean he wasn't dangerous though. I almost got my head squished into paste a dozen times trying to get out of the house alone, but once I did it was easy to make him think I was hiding Niko in the Dungeon.