by Aleron Kong
“It kind of sounds like a bad deal for the Adventurers,” Richter noted.
“That is only because you do not know everything that a Dungeon offers, my lord. Even with the heavy tax of the crown, and the portion that Adventurers give to their guild, one successful Dungeon dive can give someone enough to live on for weeks or months. There is also the possibility of finding powerful items. The Dungeon is a powerful draw for the poor and destitute.”
Richter nodded in understanding. It always came down to money and power, “So the King gets people to mine his Dungeon for him, both for loot and resources, takes a big cut, and if it gets rid of some beggars…”
“That is why entrance to the Dungeon is free, my lord,” the chamberlain said nodding. “Each death helps it grow in power, making the level of loot and magic even better for the nobles and the King. It also serves to reduce the population of ‘undesirables,’ as the new King calls them. The old King wouldn’t let anyone with a low level or without combat skills into the Dungeon, but now it is open to all.”
One thing didn’t make sense to Richter, “How does everyone get in? Only people I give permission to can pass through the snake mouth.” Futen floated up before Randolphus could answer. Richter gave quick orders for the orb to find Sion and have him send the meidon sprites out with their pixies to gather herbs from the forest. He also told the remnant to have Sion and Terrod meet him at the village gate. Futen voiced assent in his monotone voice and floated off again.
“You could easily set the permission of the Dungeon to allow entrance to any and all, my lord. The only reason there is any impediment to entry at the present time is because you are the Dungeon Master. The Hall of Elemental Hunters has had no Master for many centuries. Though the King regulates entry by force of arms, no king of Yves has ever been a Dungeon Master.
“Many do not know this, as the Dungeon predates the city of Law. The first King of Yves was merely a warlord who happened to find the Hall and the Place of Power it rests upon. He found the Heart Crystal which let him bind his bloodline to the Place of Power, but the Dungeon Heart was never found. It is rumored that it is hidden somewhere within the Hall of Elemental Hunters, and that if found it could grant mastery of the Dungeon, but none know for sure. Countless generations of the royal family,” he paused a moment before correcting himself, “of my family, have searched the Dungeon, but it has never been located. Without a Master, anyone and everyone can enter and exit the Hall.”
“And Law isn’t worried about the Dungeon being used to bring a hostile army right into the city because…”
“‘Dungeons are for adventure, not war’,” Randolphus finished with a smile. “Now you see the importance of that truth. Rather than being feared, the few Adventurers that have established Node Roads to other major settlements grow rich just by charging exorbitant fees to transport materials and messages.”
Richter took a moment to absorb everything he had just been told. While he did, the gardeners walked up periodically and handed him plants. He absently summoned more mist workers to hold them. The chaos seed considered placing the plants in his Bag of Holding, but it wasn’t a viable option. The weight wasn’t an issue. With thirty-three points of Strength, he could carry up to three hundred and thirty kilos. Coupled with his bag’s truly magical 90% weight reduction, he could carry over three tons. Still, there were only four hundred slots in his bag and some items took up several spaces each.
After he had loaded up the first mist worker, he turned to Randolphus again, “Alright, so we already agreed not to feed our people to the Dungeon. I still need other options to make it grow strong as fast as possible.”
“There are several ways.” Randolphus reassured him. “One, you already know that the Dungeon will generate a certain amount of Dungeon Points each day. Some of these will be allocated to leveling. Two, I have read that they can attract monsters of whatever type the Dungeon specializes in. This did not affect the Hall in Yves both because it is in the middle of a city and because the monster type is an elemental class. You mentioned that the Dungeon would be populated by a beast. Specifically which type, my lord?”
“The Harbinger is my old pet, the shale adder. The battle with the goblins changed it into a Chaotic reptile, whatever that means.”
“Reptile beasts, then,” Randolphus said nodding.
“Actually,” Richter answered, “the prompt said that because of my Limitless ability, the dungeon could be populated by any animal or any beast.”
The chamberlain’s mouth dropped open in shock. When he closed it a faint smile of disbelief was on his face, “You may get tired of hearing this, my lord, but your ability is astounding. The implications of this…” He trailed off as he started considering them.
“Randy... Randy!” he repeated with a little more force. As Randolphus came back to himself, “You gotta stop phasing out on me. You do know that is super-annoying, right? Now, what implications?”
“I apologize, my lord. The first thing that occurred to me was that the number of dangerous beasts in your lands is about to drop. If what I read about the Dungeon consuming monsters is true, then your domain will become safer. At least in regard to beast or animal attacks,” Randolphus clarified, “which the reports from our hunters indicate is the majority of what they encounter. The Dungeon will begin to consume them both for energy and so that it can learn to spawn them in its depths.”
Hmmm, Richter thought. That was a fairly large consequence. There were other monsters in his domain, but as they were living in a forest, most were classified as beasts. If Randolphus was right, the Dungeon eating a large amount of the predators around the village might make it safe enough for his noncombatants to start ranging outside the walls again. It also meant that the Dungeon should have a steady diet of monsters to feed upon and could grow in level fairly quickly.
Richter’s mind continued to work, and a troubling thought occurred to him, “If the beasts are consumed by the Dungeon, does that mean that there will be a rise in the other types of monsters that appear around the village?” His medical mind was at work. Everyone thought antibacterial soap was a good thing, but they didn’t factor in that humans had evolved to have a symbiotic relationship with some bacteria. Killing those bacteria just left room for dangerous bacteria to move in and take up shop. MRSA sounded like woosah, but it wasn’t nearly as tranquil.
Attacks by the undead were already on the rise. True, both he and Hisako thought that was because of the eldritch master, and he planned to challenge the lich in only a few days, but it wasn’t a sure thing that killing the creature would stop the monsters. The Land was a magical world, but it still operated based on logic. If the Dungeon removed one part of his forest’s ecology, the beast predators, it only made sense to him that another type of predator would fill that niche. He explained his reasoning to the chamberlain.
“I suppose that is possible,” Randolphus replied, stroking his well-manicured beard. “Monsters do not just appear out of thin air, however, at least not outside of a Dungeon. They come from dens, nests or lairs, or migrate in from other areas. In the first scenario, we will simply need to clear the monsters out of whatever hole they have found. This would not be overly different from the current situation.” Richter nodded. Finding dens, the larger nests, and the more dangerous lairs the nests developed into was one of the main reasons that the guards and hunters patrolled the land around the village. A swarm of monsters was the immediate danger that the village faced. The mists had, so far at least, protected them from more ‘civilized’ enemies.
“In the second migratory scenario,” Randolphus continued, “the monsters will slowly be infiltrating the region. As long as they are dealt with soon after they enter our lands, it should not be anything the village cannot handle. The Dungeon consuming the beasts in the area should make your people much safer, my lord!” The chamberlain had a happy grin on his face.
“Or,” Richter began, and Randolphus’ smile began to slip, “it means I can fin
ally unlock my third power.” So far, he had been able to unlock two of his four powers, Air and Life. Each unlocked power increased his spell strength in those types of magic by 50%, while at the same time giving him a 50% resistance as well. Even more importantly, it unlocked the bonuses of Mastery.
His Air Mastery gave him the Fast Learner ability, which meant his skills improved 30% faster than normal. Coupled with his Limitless ability and the nearly endless battles he had been engaged in, it was why he had been able to progress so far so fast. Most of his ranks were still just novice and initiate, but even that was astounding considering the fact that he had only been in The Land for half a year.
The bonus from his Life Mastery, Bounty of Life, was even more powerful. It increased the growth of his village by 30%. The Hearth Tree was built upon the same type of ley line and the tree had grown larger than most skyscrapers on Earth. When you added in the bonuses that the Quickening provided, his settlement was a rocket shooting upward. All the village needed was time and safety and he knew it could become the stuff of legend.
Still, there were two other powers he had yet to unlock, Dark and Water magic. The Water Mastery ability, Tranquil Soul, would be of immense personal use. It would decrease the casting cost of every one of his spells by 30%. Spells of the initiate rank cost substantially more to cast than novice level spells, and saving nearly a third of his mana per casting would make him considerably more dangerous.
That alone might not be enough reason for him to awaken his next power though. The downside of awakening his Powers was that it affected the magical fabric of The Land. Each unlocked Power increased the ambient magic of his domain, which in turn attracted stronger enemies. If Randolphus was right, the Dungeon would consume monsters in the area. Awakening another Power would make his domain even more dangerous than it was now, however. A third Mastery would not only attract more monsters, it would mean more formidable ones with higher levels.
The perk of Dark magic was what he was really thinking about. Hidden Treasures increased the yield of any treasures and loot he obtained by 30%. Coupled with his new Mark, Blood and Chaos, that would greatly increase his chances of finding truly amazing gear. Now that the Dungeon was literally on his doorstep, the Dark ability would basically increase the influx into his economy by 30%. The raid on the goblins had shown him the importance of having gold in his war chest. The ship Shiovana had been working on would also be ready soon, opening the village to trade. For the type of magical items and resources Richter wanted to buy, his treasury could soon be depleted.
Perhaps even more compelling was the possibility that he might find another Magic Core. Richer had no idea why so many Cores were scattered around his lands. Apparently, they were supposed to be harder to find than lotion at a boys’ camp. They were even more rare than finding a Place of Power. Whatever the reason, he was two for two when he had unlocked his Powers. He already had a firm idea of what he would use his next Core to build. There was no denying that The Forge of Heavens and The Dragon’s Cauldron were the biggest force multipliers in his village.
Unlocking another Power would probably even help his Dungeon. Right now, the Dungeon Points it generated every day were increased by 200%. One hundred came from his Air Power and one hundred from his Life Power. It only made sense that unlocking another Power would further increase the bonus.
Yes, he had a great deal to think about.
CHAPTER 21 – Day 142 – Kuborn 32, 0 AoC
The gardeners finished bringing over the plants. Richter had to summon another three mist workers to carry them. One of the gardeners brought something wrapped in a sodden blanket. He explained that it contained a shiverleaf frond, the main ingredient in the Potion Selak’s Luck. Apparently, the silver plant did not react well to sunlight. Richter thanked him and started walking down toward the village. Randolphus followed close behind him.
They stopped by the Forge of Heavens and Richter grabbed one ingot of each metal the village possessed: iron, steel, high steel, moonstone, cobalt, quicksilver and elementum. There were only eight bars of elementum left and it hurt Richter’s “frugal” soul to think about literally throwing one down a well, but it was the only realistic way that he could think of to get more. Apparently, elementum wasn’t even naturally occurring on this plane of existence. It was a “fey” metal, whatever the hell that meant.
He’d once hoped to use the transmutation property of The Dragon’s Cauldron to yield more of the clear green metal, but the conversion rate was astronomical. To make even one cobalt ingot required more than a hundred thousand iron ingots to be sacrificed. When you factored in that elementum was more powerful and rare than cobalt, obtaining the metal that way just wasn’t a realistic option.
Richter also placed some unsmelted ore in his bag. If he understood the earlier prompts correctly, offering the metal ingots would make it possible to gain the same back as loot. If he wanted the Dungeon to “grow” more metal in the form of mineable veins, he needed the metals in their raw form. Unfortunately, the only ores he had access to were iron, copper and moonstone.
An iron mine had been found early on after settling in the area, and a small vein of copper had been found within it. The only reason he had access to moonstone was that he’d found a mound of it randomly out in the forest. There hadn’t been much, but Richter still wondered if the reason there had been any at all was because of one of the level two perks of the Quickening; a 25% increase in the chance of finding rare resources.
Richter also took the time to try and make the central anvil learn the enchantments from the captured goblin weapons. Ideally, he liked to drink a Potion of Selak’s Luck before doing this, but he had precious few left. It took a full five days for Tabia to make more, and there was always a significant chance that her attempt to brew it would fail. That meant a loss of time and possibly resources. So, for now, it fell to his natural Luck, which at twenty-five still made him luckier than any man on Earth. It was his own theory, but from what he could gauge, most Earth humans had attributes between ten and twenty, ten being low average and twenty putting them at Olympian level.
Unfortunately, the lack of extra luck was telling. Of the three items, the High Steel Goblin Cleaver +2, the Orichalum Round Shield of Rust, and the High Steel War Hammer of Soul Trap, only the second was absorbed by the Forge of Heavens. A new floating green light appeared in the central anvil, waiting to be learned. The loss of the other two was a bit of a disappointment, but he couldn’t win them all.
After Richter outfitted himself with two bundles of arrows, the two Companions left the Forge. Alma was apparently in a playful mood, because she had perched on top of the building and swooped down to blow a gust of air into Richter’s ear as they exited the Forge. She trumpeted her successful attack after he exclaimed “Gah!” She decided to float along above him after he glared daggers at her. Randolphus hid a small smile, the consummate professional. Soon the sound of hammering faded behind them and they were at the gate, where Sion and Terrod were waiting. The sprite’s bonded pixie, Sapir, was flying around them. Upon seeing Alma, the young flyer gave a whoop of glee and began chasing the dragonling through the air.
“My lord,” Terrod greeted him, placing a fist to his chest.
Sion repeated the gesture, but with much more snap, coming sharply to attention. Richter furrowed his brow at his friend, until, with his fist still on his chest, Sion extended his middle finger and adopted a sardonic expression. The chaos seed rolled his eyes. Sometimes he regretted teaching his best friend so many Earth swear words and insults.
“Your little floating light told us to meet you here, and to be well-armed,” Sion remarked. “What are we getting into this time? Stealing eggs from a harpy’s nest? Water-wrestling a leviathan?”
“Exploring our Dungeon,” Richter said with a smile. Sion smiled back and Terrod’s eyes widened slightly.
“Is it true then, my lord?” the captain asked. “Have you truly brought a Dungeon to the village?” His voice was
a mixture of awe and excitement.
Richter winced slightly. Apparently gossip flowed faster than curry through a baby. He realized it had been unrealistic to think that everyone wouldn’t already know about the Dungeon. After all, hundreds of refugees had appeared at the same time as the Dungeon, and every guard that had remained in the village had marched up the hill to escort the freed prisoners into the village. Would have been good if he could have kept a lid on it for at least a couple days though, he thought ruefully. He brought the grin back to his face, “It is true, Terrod, and I’m taking my Companions with me when I go in. Which brings me to the next thing I need to tell you.”
He gestured to Randolphus and said, “He is my new Companion.” Richter had been debating on whether to share any of the chamberlain’s backstory with Sion and Terrod. He had ultimately decided to just keep his yap shut. Randy was no fool, and he would trust the man to disclose information if and when he felt it was appropriate.
Sion and Terrod both shared a look before each extending their hands to Randolphus. The sprite held on a bit longer than necessary and stared the chamberlain in the eyes. “You would not have become Richter’s Companion unless your paths aligned. Will you be able to handle yourself in battle, however?” Terrod nodded, having wondered the same thing. Just because Richter was a Companion to each of them did not mean they had any tie to each other. They could not, for instance, read each other’s status pages.
Terrod and Sion had proven their prowess to each other in war and had fought back-to-back. The two men trusted one another. Randolphus, on the other hand, was just Richter’s bookish chamberlain. They were understandably concerned about doing a Dungeon dive with him.
Randolphus looked at Richter, but the chaos seed just raised his eyebrows. The meaning was clear. It was up to the chamberlain to decide what to say. The Spy took a deep breath, and told them, “My duties for the late King were more than just administrative. I have some skill in Stealth, Small Blades and Water Magic. I promise you that I will be able to take care of myself.” So saying, he removed his robe. The other three men’s eyes all widened in shock.