by A F Kay
Attributes
Strength: 18
Stamina: 18
Dexterity: 20
Intelligence: 22
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 15
Ratings
Knowledge: 39
Armor Class: 163
Max Encumbrance: 396 lbs.
Critical Chance %: 3.98%
Power Strike %: 3.52%
Haste %: 4.96%
Dodge %: 34.96%
Persuasion %: 27.44%
Resilience %: 16.10%
Endurance %: 3.52%
Cleverness %: 42.00%
Perception %: 33.18%
Resistances
Elemental Resistance %: 18.10%
Poison Resistance %: 18.10%
Acid Resistance %: 18.10%
Mind Resistance %: 18.10%
Order Resistance %: 18.10%
Chaos Resistance %: 14.10%
Disease Resistance %: 18.10%
Light Resistance %: 18.10%
Dark Resistance %: 14.10%
Regeneration
Health Regeneration per second: 1.40
Mana Regeneration per second: 1.55
Energy Regeneration per second: 29.67
The new Armor Class of one hundred sixty-three staggered him. Much of that was from his body alone. He would be far more durable now.
Ruwen noticed he hadn’t gotten any experience for killing the assassin. That probably meant Ruwen needed to kill the Naktos Mage from outside the library to get his deferred experience. Vigor had improved his stats by ten percent, giving him a much-needed boost. Store increased his resource pools by ten percent, which helped greatly as well. The fifty percent increase in Encumbrance from Backbone wasn’t as important to him, as his Void Band had one hundred percent weight reduction. But there might be times when he needed to carry things outside his Inventory, so it still had value.
He still had two attribute points to distribute, four spells to choose, and two abilities to pick. The addition of all the new capabilities from the necklaces had caused him to wait on distributing his points. He wanted to get used to his new current state before distributing them.
Ruwen opened his Inventory and pushed on the cutout person there, flipping it, and revealing his Harvesting view. He studied it with satisfaction.
Meridian - Location - Level - Progress to Next Level
Body - Heart - Copper - 0.96%
Stone - Right Leg/Foot - Copper - 1.04%
Order - Spine - Copper - 2.33%
Water - Right Shoulder/Arm/Hand - Silver - 1.21%
Light - Head/Neck - Copper - 2.27%
Life - Groin/Hips/Abdomen - Copper - 1.85%
Mind - Brain - Copper - 1.90%
Air - Left Shoulder/Arm/Hand - Silver - 1.39%
Chaos - Torso - Copper - 0.08%
Fire - Left Leg/Foot - Copper - 0.71%
Dark - Organs - Copper - 0.10%
Death - Intestines - Copper - 0.05%
While the Light and Order Meridians had felt easy to advance, the Chaos and Dark Meridians were much harder for him. The Chaos and Dark Meridians just didn’t feel as natural to him, and his Resistances were lower for those Meridians as well.
As they approached the clearing that held the dungeon entrance, Ruwen stopped everyone. He still had Detect Temperature active, and he scanned the area but found no one else. Ruwen knew Sift had excellent night vision, but he didn’t know about Hamma.
“How is your night vision?” Ruwen asked Hamma.
“Bad,” Hamma admitted.
Ruwen removed his Jaga Wedding band and handed it to Hamma. With his cloak’s hood, Owl Eyes, and his enhanced vision from advancing to Copper, his night vision had become superb even without the wedding band.
“I can’t take this,” Hamma whispered and tried to give it back.
“I don’t need it,” Ruwen said.
“What if Ky tries to find you and finds me instead?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen smiled. “Well, then you better always know where I am.”
Hamma looked doubtful.
Ruwen gently pushed her hand back. “Let’s handle it like the staff. You borrow it until you find something better. Deal?”
Hamma slipped the ring on. “My first wedding ring.”
Sift raised his eyebrows at Ruwen. “You just proposed?”
Ruwen vigorously shook his head. “I did not. It’s just for night vision.”
“Congratulations, you two. I never saw it coming,” Sift said.
Hamma punched Sift in the shoulder. “Leave him alone.”
“Make sure you have those rolls at your reception,” Sift said.
“You’re impossible,” Ruwen muttered and strode toward the dungeon entrance.
They carefully made their way over the rocks and into the dungeon. As soon as they were inside, Sift handed Ruwen the Fighter insignia he’d gotten from Big D at the mine.
“I can’t make that thing work, so you take it,” Sift said.
Ruwen nodded, and with ten Mana attached the Fighter insignia to the cloak covering his left shoulder. He channeled three Energy into the symbol, and it emitted a soft light. With their enhanced vision, it was enough to clearly see their way.
When they got to the main cavern, Ruwen stopped.
“Which tunnel?” Sift asked.
“One second,” Ruwen said and removed the Cursed Carrot of Clear Sight from his Inventory.
“You better hope there are no rabbits in this dungeon,” Sift said.
“Very funny,” Ruwen said.
He walked to the farthest tunnel on the right. Big D had told him they increased in difficulty as you moved that direction, and it only made sense that the Dungeon Keeper would live near its most powerful creations.
Remembering the resources he’d seen yesterday, he opened his map and toggled Resources back on. Nothing appeared. His Harvesting of this dungeon had literally taken everything. Pushing the guilt away, he reminded himself he was here to fix that.
“The emptiness is kind of creepy,” Hamma said. “I’m getting anxious waiting for something to happen.”
“I don’t think anything will happen in here,” Ruwen said.
The tunnel spiraled down, and the path was much rougher than Ruwen’s tunnel yesterday. He guessed a lot fewer people entered this tunnel due to its difficulty. The hand holding the carrot hadn’t turned orange yet, but it only had a range of one hundred feet. He didn’t expect anything to change until he reached the bottom.
It took another five minutes before the tunnel leveled out and then ended in darkness.
“It must be a big room,” Sift said. “I don’t see anything.”
Ruwen couldn’t either, so he slid along the wall, hoping to find a crystal like the upper floor had. He found it a few seconds later, a large shaker in the holder.
“Do you think light is safe down here?” Ruwen asked.
“Yes, we’re really deep,” Hamma said.
“Go for it,” Sift said.
Ruwen turned off Owl Eyes and looked away as he violently shook the large shaker. Then he dropped it back into its holder and turned around.
Light arced across the cavern as the crystals that covered the ceiling like spiderwebs glowed brightly. On the far side of the room, a gigantic waterfall fell a hundred feet before crashing into the gigantic lake. The waterfall was so far away he could barely hear it.
“Treasure is always behind the waterfall,” Sift said.
Hamma looked at him. “What?”
Sift nodded. “In all the books, the treasure is always behind the waterfall. We should definitely start there.”
Unlike the lake on level four in Blapy, this body of water had a beach all the way around it. Not a nice sandy beach, but the rocky uncomfortable kind like Stone Harbor had.
“So much for a quick trip to fix the dungeon,” Hamma said. “What if it’s underwater?”
Ruwen flashed back to his terrible experience on Blapy’s level four. “I sure hope it�
�s not underwater.” He looked at the waterfall that must be over a mile away. “Or behind the waterfall.”
“The water is glowing,” Hamma said. “It’s so pretty.”
The crystal that lined the ceiling also ran along the bottom of the lake, and the light had made its way there.
“It really is,” Ruwen said.
“You can see everything,” Sift said. “I wish there were fish.”
Ruwen thought about the dungeon. He had only been in the main cavern, tunnel nine, and now this last tunnel. But all of them had been lined with the clear quartz crystal. Ruwen had thought of them like veins or just a mechanism to provide light to adventurers. But what if, like Sift said, “they were a way to see everything.”
“Let’s search the area around this entrance before deciding what to do next,” Ruwen said.
“Sound’s good,” Hamma said and ran her hand over the stone wall to the left.
Sift laid down flat and stuck his head in the water. Ruwen shook his head and headed back to where the shaker sat.
Ruwen was no expert on dungeons, but he had read about the famous ones. Dungeons always had some similarities with their Keeper. He hadn’t figured out Blapy yet, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it centered on her sense of humor and love of games. But she was as advanced as a dungeon could get. Younger dungeons, like this one, wouldn’t be able to display such abstract concepts. Their similarity would probably be more physical.
He rubbed his hand over the crystal and then put his cursed carrot back in his Inventory. Dungeon Keepers had to be careful. They were, regardless of level, beings of immense value. They hid well to keep safe.
What better way to hide than to move anywhere in the dungeon on tubes of crystal? The crystal probably snaked through all the stone so that even if adventurers smashed all the quartz, they would never reach the Keeper. The more Ruwen thought about the layout of the dungeon, the surer he became.
Until Ruwen came and took everything, leaving nowhere for the Keeper to hide.
Ruwen touched the crystal above the shaker and spoke directly to it. “I am sorry. Truly and sincerely, I lost control. I don’t kill for pleasure or slaughter those who can’t fight back. What I did to you was a mistake. Please let me try to fix it.”
The section of crystal above the shaker warped, and a creature the size of Ruwen’s index finger stepped out. It looked like a mass of quartz crystals smashed together into a human shape.
The Dungeon Keeper spoke, the sound a low vibration instead of words, but Ruwen’s Hey You ability allowed him to understand. The words came slowly and forcefully as if the Keeper was discovering them for the first time and shoving them into Ruwen’s mind.
If truth you speak…
Three things I seek…
Power…
Protection…
Pledge…
Chapter 59
The Dungeon Keeper stood on the shaker, the light making the tiny creature glow intensely. It didn’t have eyes, but Ruwen could feel the Keeper’s gaze. Hope surged in him at the chance to redeem himself.
“I will do my best,” Ruwen said. “I’ve been thinking, and I have some very powerful moss. It serves as a guardian for a tier-one dungeon. I hope it can replenish you.”
Yes…
Ruwen opened his Inventory and removed the rolled-up robe he’d stolen from the temple on his Ascendancy Day. He’d used this robe when he’d been trying to figure out the safe doors in the Blood Gate before realizing how bad the idea had been. He had taken a piece of the moss to study later.
He carefully unrolled the robe and held the luminescent moss up to the tiny figure. A blunt stubby hand reached down and touched the moss, and in moments, the moss disappeared. The Keeper trembled, and the light surged in brightness, dimmed, and surged again. Ruwen threw the robe over his shoulder and prayed he hadn’t just killed the creature.
YESSSSS…
The Dungeon Keeper stopped trembling.
So…much…power…
Thank…you…
The lights flared again and then steadied.
Protection…
Ruwen had put off finding his parents for this trip but had resolved to not let anything else stand in his way. He couldn’t stay here protecting this dungeon right now. He looked through his Inventory, and one thing stood out immediately.
Name: Gem of Stabled Terror
Quality: Rare
Size: Small Herd
Weight: 0.04 lbs.
Activation: Water
Effect: Shocking Pony of Terror larvae will activate and transition into adults (approximately 30 seconds).
Restriction: Control of herd requires gem. Obedience quickly deteriorates after 1 minute.
Description: Submerging the Gem of Stabled Terror in water will release a small Shocking Pony of Terror herd. Size (Herd and Shocking Pony of Terror) is dependent on available volume. Aquariums not recommended as tiny Terrors are angry Terrors.
Ruwen retrieved the gem and shuddered to think how big they’d get in a lake this vast. It was probably for the best, as he’d already been tempted to put them in Sift’s drink. Twice.
Holding out the gem, the Dungeon Keeper touched it, and the treasure disappeared. A moment later, the creature spoke.
Acceptable…
Ruwen rubbed his palms on his pants. That just left the pledge.
“What does the pledge mean?” Ruwen asked.
Sift yelped from behind him, and Ruwen turned. Sift pushed himself up off the beach and rubbed his nose.
“There are Octorse here!” Sift shouted. “And they’re just as mean.”
“Don’t stick your head in the water,” Ruwen yelled.
Sift pointed at him. “You are really brilliant, thanks.”
Sift knelt down and peered back into the water.
Ruwen turned his attention back to the Dungeon Keeper. If it had responded to him, he’d missed it. So he asked again.
“What does the pledge mean?”
Need grow…
Need help…
Need Master…
Ruwen shook his head, not sure he had understood correctly.
“Are you asking me to be your Dungeon Master?”
The Keeper looked up at him.
Yes…
A lot had happened to Ruwen since his Ascendancy. He had become Uru’s Champion, reached level six, started the quest to become an Ink Lord, and learned how to Fortify his body with Spirit. With so much happening he didn’t know if complicating his life further would be wise.
But the dungeon didn’t know any of that, and it made Ruwen curious. “Why?”
Three reasons have I…
Understand me you can…
Spare me you did…
Mend me you will…
Ruwen wanted to put this behind him. He was thrilled the Dungeon Keeper had lived and that Ruwen had been able to help it. Ruwen thought about Blapy, and how Ky could travel all over the continent, maybe even the world, because of her power as a Dungeon Mistress. In fact, it didn’t look like Ky did much except bring people to Blapy. Maybe being a Dungeon Master wouldn’t be that much work.
“I mean no insult. But, can I change my mind later and stop being the Dungeon Master?”
Yes…
Ruwen thought about it for a few more seconds and decided it couldn’t hurt.
“Then I accept,” Ruwen said.
A notification appeared, and Ruwen opened it.
Thrum!
You have been offered a Soul Oath…
Mastering One’s Self
The Keeper of this dungeon has offered you the position of Master. Dungeon Masters are expected to help their Dungeon Keeper grow and aid in the development of the dungeon’s resources.
Dungeon Tier: 40
Keeper state: Fragile
Dungeon state: Abysmal
Rewards unlock at dungeon state: Poor
Reward: Free movement within the dungeon.
Reward: Access to the dungeon’s res
ources.
Warning!
This is a soul binding and bridges death.
Accept or Decline
Ruwen, after another moment of thought, chose Accept.
His right wrist burned while the base of his neck grew ice-cold, and a six-sided prism appeared briefly on his wrist. His map pulsed yellow, and he opened it to find a new tab had appeared. It was labeled a generic: Dungeon.
Ruwen opened it and found it contained all the details and choices he had access to as Dungeon Master. Everything was red, and he quickly closed the view. He would study it when he had more time.
This Keeper welcomes Dungeon Master.
Ruwen looked down, but the small figure had disappeared.
Are you talking directly in my mind? Ruwen asked.
Only possible when close.
What should I call you?
This one never named.
Do you have a preference? Is there something you like? A favorite animal?
Light through crystal pleases.
Well, he wasn’t going to have a Keeper called Rainbow. How about Fractal?
Acceptable.
Nice to meet you Fractal, I’m Rami.
Sensed you, Fractal did. Honored Fractal speak you.
Can we all fit in here? Ruwen asked only kind of joking.
Rami laughed, and it felt like a cool mist across his mind. There is plenty of room in here.
Haha, Rami, Ruwen said.
Rami hadn’t spoken since Ruwen had killed the Naktos Assassin. He’d been afraid that what he’d done had upset her, and hearing her voice made him happy. And it reminded him of another thing he’d been worried about.
Fractal, this is a weird question, but would a dead body do you any good? Ruwen asked.
Yes. Spirit dense. Interesting skills might know.
Well, today is your lucky day. Ruwen said and then dropped the assassin’s body out of his Void Band.
The body, clothes and all, melted into the stone floor.
Yes. Lucky day. Recover Fractal need.
“Company!” Hamma shouted.
Ruwen turned to the entrance.
Slib and House Captain Juva walked into the cavern with their hands over their heads. Behind them, holding her crossbow at their backs, was Lylan.