Chapter 9
“The elders have decided. You will go to this dungeon to determine the validity of its claims. While this cutting of celestial golden pine tree is important, the possibility of having a holy grove homeland is too important to pass up. Sacrifice the cutting to the dungeon. If it does indeed build a celestial golden pine tree, notify us immediately with the voice communication talisman. We'll begin the migration,” said chief Ailmer Enfina.
“Yes, chief,” said Thalia. Thalia, a tall elf with brown hair and eyes, was only a C8 chi practitioner. This, however, placed her as one of the strongest members of her grove of elves. Her minor affinity for the rare Space magic also increased her strength. Elves were a magical race, with high magic resistances and strong enchanters. While the resistances were helpful in protecting themselves, they had a large down side: it made it extremely difficult for elves to progress in chi cultivation. The solution to this deficiency was to have access to a celestial tree. Celestial trees would produce celestial mana, which they had no resistance to. In all other ways, this mana was identical to regular mana, and it would therefore allow the elves to practice cultivation to the higher levels.
The very fact that this grove had a cutting of celestial golden pine tree made them the strongest elf grove in all of East Lucenia. It was said that there were many celestial trees in the Central Fantisa continent, and that the powerful elves there were as numerous as the stars in the sky. If this dungeon could really produce a celestial tree, it would be a boon for all elves in East Lucenia. The dungeon could eventually become a base for elves in this continent to rise to dominance.
Thalia was chosen to go to the dungeon and deceive the humans. Humans in this continent believed the elves to be a people devoid of desire for power. It was what allowed the occasional elf to be allowed into dungeons dominated by humans. The dwarves kept to themselves in their underground cities, and their strength in crafting and blacksmithing kept them safe. Although, it was said that they had their own dungeons underground. As for the beast-kin, well, they were hated by the humans. The elves, however, had become almost subservient to the humans. It was a disgrace for their entire race.
All of this would change with access to a celestial tree. Thalia took the jade box containing the cutting and a large mana crystal from her chief. She bowed, placed the box in her bag of holding, and left the grove on foot. In a month, she would arrive at the dungeon that was supposedly sentient and willing to grow a celestial tree for the elves.
***
“What, empty rooms and tunnels? After all that build up? What a bait-and-switch,” said Jeromy.
Silently, Dorn raged in his head, it's supposed to build towards more and more lush environments as you progress, goddamn adventurer morons.
Obviously unable to hear him, the team just commented about the floor they could see. Roderick just said, “It probably wasted all its energy building that ridiculous inn and forest.”
Mina said, “Don't forget the church, Roderick. The dungeon is trying to tell us that it isn't infernal, it's just here for practice against demons. And I bet you anything that the inn will become packed non-stop with D-rank adventurers. No one is going to mind living in such a beautiful forest environment, where it never rains or snows.”
Roderick responded acerbically, “I'll believe all that when my shit turns purple and smells like mana crystals. And that's assuming the dungeon doesn't just kill all the adventurers in their sleep.”
Lina, the other pure fire mage on the team, as well as Mina's twin sister, said, “Thanks for that vivid imagery, dear leader.”
Roderick just hefted his full tower shield, flipped her off with his other hand, and marched towards the tunnel. Jeromy, the team's rogue, had already activated the pit fall, so Roderick walked around it. The team followed after.
In the first room, the lizard lunged towards Roderick, who placed his shield on the ground and braced his shoulder against it. The lizard bounced off the giant shield, unable to get any purchase against the metal.
It was when the frustrated lizard was swiping at the shield that Jeromy phased into view out of the shadows, sliding his dagger across the lizard's throat. The Dark-enchanted dagger slid easily through the lizard's scales and meat of the lizard's neck, killing it instantly. “Well that was easy,” said Jeromy.
Mina rolled her eyes at Jeromy and said, “It's supposed to be easy you idiot. This is a D-rank dungeon and we're low B-rank adventurers. If it was a challenge, that would be shocking.”
***
Emelia had had Dorn create a crystal viewing ball to watch the progress of the B-rank mages and Kiera. Kiera was locked in the challenge against the three lizards. She was doing admirably for being by herself and never having fought in a dungeon before. Meanwhile, the lazy War-Mages had begun just burning through everything in their path with giant bouts of fire. Since there was no vegetation to harvest, they didn't need to be particularly careful. Strangely enough, it was the last member of their team, the one who seemed to be a pure fighter with a two handed sword, that had the ice magic they were using to cool down the rooms after the fights.
The perfectly cooked bearded dragon was a sorry looking sight. Despite the lack of effort, Dorn decided to always be a fair dungeon, giving the same loot to the B-ranked adventurers blazing through his dungeon as the struggling D-ranked ones. Although, if he found a battle particularly exciting, he might bump up the quality of loot.
Emelia had thoroughly enjoyed the fear on the faces of the team when they had killed the bearded dragon and lights had shot out of its body, merging into the chests of each person. It was just a simple gift that allowed adventurers to skip levels they had completed before, and they were relieved when Mina told them about the enchantment and called them cowardly nitwits.
The team pulled the little chunk of high steel out of the room's treasure chest and drearily threw it into the team's bag of holding.
Emelia said, “Hey, that's a piece of magical metal that they are treating like cabbages along the side of the road. Can you throw a thousand kobolds at them on the next level?”
Dorn said, “No, it's bad enough that they already think I'm an infernal dungeon, without going ahead and making unfair levels. Now be quiet, I have to finish the sixth floor before they reach it.”
Emelia replied, “Well, if you hadn't wasted all your DP's making levels four and five, you would have been able to complete your sixth floor two weeks ago, instead of having to wait for the new adventurers to show up.”
Dorn just ignored her and continued working. Currently, the War-Mages were working their way through the fifth level. In this level, Dorn had created a teleportation glyph entrance room that had four doors along one wall. Above each door was a carving of one of the four base elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. Each pathway had large lizards and snakes that had been lightly enhanced with the corresponding element.
Every elemental magic was weak against a particular magic and strong against another. For example, Fire magic was strong against Air magic, while being weak against Water magic. As such, the Crimson War-Mages obviously chose the Air magic corridor and were proceeding to blast their way through with more fire. What they didn't know was that the loot would be highly increased for choosing the element they were weak against.
The final boss for this level was another large bearded dragon, but had been lightly enhanced in all four base elements.
Despite still using fire to blast all the common enemies, this time, however, they were being more careful, as the fifth level had some basic herbs. Bioluminescent mosses had replaced the boring wall torches, and little patches of common yarrow and white snakeroot were growing. These two herbs were used in the lowest quality healing and stamina potions, respectively. The team obviously took samples of every herb they came across.
Jeromy had even commented that the level looked beautiful, more like what they were expecting after seeing the entrance hall, the housing forest, and the dungeon mines.
While the War-Mages marched on, Dorn was putting the finishing touches on his sixth level. It was a maze floor, with rooms that all looked the same. He decorated each room with a different colored dragon sculpture to allow the adventurers to have some idea of what rooms they were in. All except for the entrance chamber, which was a giant meadow. Right next to the teleportation glyph grew a giant willow tree, and a Light-enchanted fake sun was up above. He had even used Illusion magic, a subset of Light magic, to make the sky look blue and have infinite distance. A few clouds moved around, protecting from the glare of the sun. He filled the entrance chamber with soft grass, and with Air magic, he created soft breezes that blew across the floor. It made for a nice safe zone after passing through two levels of monsters.
From the meadow were six entrances into the level's maze, and each path could eventually lead to the final boss room. He continued to have small enchanted sun lights in each room. To combat mages using the trick of placing a hand against the wall and following it to the exit, he created a couple of floating islands. Paths that circled back on themselves destroyed this ploy used by adventurers. The maze had numerous dead ends that held treasure chests, some trapped with sleep enchantments.
He had found that while he could place enchantments on various parts of the dungeon, he just couldn't make items or loot have any on them. The rules governing dungeons were as ever, completely arbitrary and lacking in common sense.
For the boss, Dorn created a giant python and gave it a mild paralytic venom. Looking around, Dorn was completely satisfied with this floor. He said, “Status.”
Status
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Name: Dorn'axial
Dungeon Name: A Dragon's Dungeon
Dungeon Level: 11
+1 for 12,000 DP's
Floors: 7/11
Dungeon Points: 56,379
Dungeon Rating: D6 – Your dungeon
is dangerous enough to kill the
average human adolescent!
Congratulations!
Despite the ever-present dickish rating, Dorn was happy with his current dungeon. Further, he was thankful that the presence of B-ranked adventurers were bringing in so many DP's. He could only imagine the number he'd get if one of them actually died. Of course, that was almost completely impossible at his current danger ranking. Dorn proceeded to buy the next 4 levels, costing him 54,000 DP's, but netting him access to two more floors, as well as the ability to buy Dungeon Enchantments and Dungeon Alchemy in the Dungeon Store.
***
After killing the giant elemental bearded dragon on the fifth floor, Roderick grumbled to himself before saying, “I'd rate this level's difficulty at about-”
Jeromy interrupted, “D5, just like the stele at the beginning of the level told us.”
Roderick said back, “Stop trusting the signs this dungeon puts up.”
Lina cocked her head and asked, “Why? They've been nothing but helpful so far. I'm more inclined to believe them. Why do you seem to hate this dungeon so much?”
“I hate all beings that wantonly kill people, especially if the being is sentient and knows what it's doing,” answered Roderick.
“Bullshit,” said their final member, the fighter named Hendrik. Continuing, he said, “No person is forced to come to the dungeon, and every person that comes knows the danger. Should the dungeon just offer out loot for free? Where would it get the energy to do so?”
Roderick just looked more dour and stepped on the exit teleportation glyph and mentally thought, Floor 6. He vanished in a flash of white light.
Jeromy looked around, “I think something's wrong with Roderick. He's going to try to kill the dungeon when we get to the end.”
“Don't talk about the leader behind his back, and we'll stop him if he tries. The orders of the adventurer's guild come first,” Hendrik admonished.
The rest of the members stepped up to the teleportation glyph and vanished. Arriving at the sixth level, they stared around at the wonder of the meadow. After getting their view of the vista, as well as the expansive skies, Lina was the one who first noticed that Roderick was missing.
Lina said, “Roderick's gone.”
The War-Mages got a little frantic and looked throughout the small hills of the meadow, before hurrying into the maze. Jeromy scouted ahead, disarming all the arrow traps and pitfalls. The group quickly got to the exit and saw that the doors to the boss room was open, and a dead giant python was on the floor. Checking the treasure chest, Hendrik said, “He didn't bother to take the loot.”
Hendrik pulled out the uncommon herb known as hepatica, used in basic mana potions, and carefully placed it in a jade box with a tiny sliver of mana crystal, before tossing the box into their bag of holding.
“Come,” said Hendrik, “We must make haste to protect Roderick from his own actions.”
***
Dorn was looking bemusedly at the crazed man who was bashing away at his elemental shields with a giant club. Roderick had been alternating between blasting the shields with fire and smashing it with large objects. Dorn was even considering talking to the man, but ultimately decided against it. He would only ever speak to Kiera, his dungeon-born minion.
Roderick was alternating between crying and screaming, saying something about wanting his wife back. Dorn just glanced at Emelia, who was hiding in her invisible form within his shields. They both had the same thought, humans. What the hell is wrong with them?
Dorn was glad that he had cleaned up his throne room prior to the War-Mages arriving. The opening to his old sleeping chambers as well as all the treasure rooms were gone, filled in with earth. Gone also were the transfer glyphs that had been all over the floor. Now, the giant hemispherical level only contained a teleportation glyph (required by the gods) and his diamond, resting on a crystal pedestal underneath his ten elemental shields.
It was at this point that the rest of Roderick's team teleported into the room. After quickly looking around, Jeromy ran up to Roderick to try to restrain him. Roderick just threw him off.
Mina yelled out, “Roderick, stop, what are you doing? We're here to rate the dungeon and report back.”
Roderick kept bashing away with his club. Finally, Hendrik went up and physically pulled him off of the shields. Roderick immediately took a swing at Hendrik with his club. Hendrik managed to dodge back in time to avoid the slow attack of the tank.
“Roderick, what the fuck? I know you lost your wife to a dungeon, but you've been over it for nearly a decade. And this isn't the dungeon that Laura died in,” shouted Hendrik. Roderick just glared back with red eyes.
“Oh my gods. Look at his eyes; someone has Dominated him. He must be under a compulsion to destroy the dungeon,” said Mina.
“Well do something about it,” shouted Jeromy, “or someone's going to die.”
“I can't. If the person was strong enough to put an enchantment on Roderick, I will be unable to undo the Domination.”
The team members just backed away from Roderick and allowed him to go back to bashing away at the shields.
Lina, almost in tears, asked, “What do we do?”
It was at this point that every team member heard a loud sigh. Roderick flew backwards as if he had been hit by a giant, and landed on the ground in a heap, completely unconscious.
Mina and Jeromy shouted out, “Roderick!” before running towards him.
Mina, the only member of the team with healing magic, immediately sent some mana into Roderick to diagnose his condition. Sighing with relief, she told everyone, “He's alive and fine, just sleeping. His Domination has also been removed.” She pulled back her mana, as it was considered very rude to use mana to examine someone's body, except for in emergency healing situations.
At this pronouncement, everyone's head turned and looked at the conspicuous diamond residing underneath those glowing elemental shields. Dorn's voice rang out, “Yes, I healed him, you are welcome. In return, I expect some repayment. Do not tell anyone that I can interact and communicate with people. If you do, I will kill you. Even if you flee far away from this dungeon, I will some day hunt you down and kill you. Finally, if you ever manage to capture the person or people responsible, you will bind any strong chi practitioner and bring him to me, where you will execute him in my dungeon. You may not negotiate. You can now take your friend and return to the housing level or leave. You are free to return and live here, as are all adventurers.”
“Thank you, dungeon,” said Jeromy. The War-Mages then picked up their leader and carried him to the teleport glyph. Thinking, Floor 2, they disappeared in a flash of light.
Emelia flew out of Dorn's shields and came out of invisibility. She looked down at Dorn before saying, “Why'd you do it? When did you get such a bleeding heart?”
“I do not care about the lives of lessers. I did it totally out of self-interest. If I didn't do anything, their leader was going to die of dehydration or fatigue, continually bashing away at my shields. If a B-ranked adventurer died in my dungeon, it would send out the wrong message to the world, and the wrong adventurers would come here. The Churches would be even more intent on killing me, as they would use this as proof that I'm an infernal dungeon.”
“I suppose,” Emelia agreed sadly. “You would have gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 DP's for him dying, though. It's a shame.”
If Dorn still had eyes, they would be bulging out of his head at this statement. “What?” he shouted. “My dragon body only gave 250,000 DP's!”
Emelia simply stated, “It's the difference between absorbing material and killing lifeforms. Frankly, it's incredible how many DP's you got for absorbing dead material.”
Dorn hummed for a second, “So how many DP's is an average, mid-level, D-ranked adventurer worth?”
Emelia told him, “Unfortunately, there's a massive drop in scale between each rank. D's are worth somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 DP's, depending on their level. C's are worth 50,00 to 100,000. You now can guess what the B's are worth. A's start in the millions.”
“What about S-ranked adventurers?” Dorn asked.
“The values are astronomical,” said Emelia. “But remember, A and S-ranked adventurers almost never die in dungeons. To make it to that level, an adventurer has to be a very smart and powerful chi practitioner. At those levels, the people get powerful danger sense, and they turn back when they reach something too dangerous. It's why no one had conquered the nature dungeon in Ilsan for three centuries prior to you.”
“But still, with enough B-ranked deaths, a dungeon can make a humongous amount of DP's. What do the advanced dungeons even spend them on? And why do dungeons bother building A and S levels if no one is going to be conquering them?” Dorn asked.
“Well, usually we are told not to mention this to our dungeon partners until they hit B rank, but since you're old enough to handle it, I'll just tell you now. The gods have one final way to screw over the dungeons and recoup some extra entropy. When you reach A rank, you will begin to have virtual battles once a year against other dungeons. Your monsters, led by your avatar, will attempt to beat your way through a copy of the opponent's dungeon, while his monsters will attempt to break through yours. Whoever wins gets half the DP's that the loser has accumulated. The loser loses everything. This can be very dangerous for a high powered dungeon, as they become unable to manage their dungeon. Usually, this results in-”
“Dungeon breaks. It usually results in dungeon breaks, doesn't it?”
“Yes,” said Emelia.
“So you mean, all those dungeons that are destroyed for becoming 'corrupted' and spewing monsters into the outside world are really just victims of the gods' shitty plans? I've personally destroyed four dungeons that went through dungeon breaks. So all those dungeons and their pixies just die?”
“No, when a dungeon break occurs, the bond is instantly severed, and the dungeon pixie is summoned back home to the pixie world. Eventually, the pixie will be recycled to a new dungeon,” Emelia said.
“How many dungeons have you been through?” Dorn asked, knowing the answer.
“None, you're my first dungeon. Hooray, try not to have a dungeon break. Speaking of, while it's okay to send common animals, like the horse you gave Kiera, outside of the dungeon, do not ever send out even a single monster. If you do, the System will decide that you've gone through a dungeon break and will sever our bond and yank me back to the pixie world. And you'll be stuck without a pixie for the rest of eternity. And please, no jokes about getting rid of me, or I'll really be pissed.”
“No, Emelia, you've grown on me. I'd be bored again, without you around. This is a lot to take in, however. So why don't dungeons just stop at B ranks, and not upgrade to A-ranked...oh. Right, because mages come and steal them. I forgot that they do that. Hmm, I'll need to save up for Dungeon Avatar then, prior to upgrading to A rank. Since I'm safe behind my shields, it shouldn't be a problem.”
“Yes, that is true. You are a cheating dungeon. I can already see you with an adamantium staff and mithril sword, utterly destroying other dungeons around the world. The super-dungeons aren't going to know what hit them. Hum, I wonder if the gods actually helped you transform into a dungeon for that very purpose. It still strikes me as strange that the transformation worked. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess,” said Emelia.