“I know that the [Stone of Calling] isn't a man-made object…” Alan paused, trying, and mostly-failing, to draw in a bit of fresh oxygen. “But can you… imagine the look on an engravers… face… if they were to fuck up.... on the last line of such a detailed engraving.“
Although it was uniquely unpleasant to experience first-hand, he couldn't help but admire the way that Su'ong was wielding his own tail as a weapon to keep him locked in place, while simultaneously using it to choke the shit out of him. I wonder if she could teach me how to fight properly…
“What?“ Su'ong stared slack jawed at Alan, as if he had just grown a second head on top of the first. While he, in turn, waggled his nonexistent eyebrows, and sucked in a noisy, slightly painful breath through his now-mostly-constricted windpipe.
“Alan…” She sighed and released her hold on his tail. “You are such an idiot.“
By the time Su'ong's eyes flicked over to the stone and back, she had already lost her desire to continue strangling Alan. At least for the time being.
Hearing the sound of footsteps coming from behind, Alan pulled himself to his feet, and found that Reggie was already standing not three feet away. Hands on his hips, the Wraith wore a disapproving scowl that was somehow mimicked by the unmistakable avian perched on his shoulder.
Reggie motioned at the Roc and rolled his eyes. “You've already met the bird, so I'll skip over introductions.“
He gave the [Stone of Calling] a ponderous look, and then glanced at Alan. “You said you got that out of one of my Loot Boxes? Are you sure? I feel I should warn you. That… shouldn't have been a possibility. I don't know how it got in there. In all my years, I've never once seen that stone. I am sure of it.“
That was a disconcerting bit of information. Alan's mind began turning over possible ideas, but the more he thought about it, if Reggie truly hadn't ever seen the stone before, then there weren't many other options. If the [Stone of Calling] wasn't from the Dungeon, then it had to have been placed here at some point.
No matter how he went about puzzling it out, his train of thought always led him back to the same place. Or more accurately, the same being. Zalbohg, The Impure One.
The ArchDaemon of the Impure Realm had already shown that he was more than capable of sneaking objects into the Dungeon. It had only taken System Administration several seconds to close the dimensional anomaly that had preceeded the purple box containing the [Daemonic Flames of the Impure Realm] Skill appearing at Alan's feet.
They closed the anomaly, but who's to say that box was the only object the ArchDaemon snuck into the Dungeon?
The lack of sleep was making it hard for Alan to think straight. He knew she was right. After fighting off his weariness for the better part of a day, there was a very good chance that he was jumping to conclusions. [Healing Fog] had been keeping him going, but now that he had lost access to his Spells, Alan was running on the last of his fumes.
It was time to take a nap. First, however, he had an impatient Wraith to deal with.
“Although I can't say for sure where the [Stone of Calling] came from,” Reggie said with a distant expression, “the Safe Zone should serve as the perfect location if you choose to use it. With the protections set in place, it would be next to impossible for you to lose here.“
“That's… actually a really good point,” Alan admitted. He rubbed a hand over his head and gave the Wraith an appreciative nod. “Thanks Reggie. I'll put some serious thought into it after I get some sleep.“
“Not before you use your Class Scroll you won't!” Su'ong added cheerfully, tossing another armload of coins and Tutorial Tokens into Alan's Storage Case.
“Yeah, I don't even want to think about that Scroll right now…” Alan admitted.
“I've already got a bunch of Skills that I don't know how to use. I didn't want to chance setting myself on fire again, so I haven't even tried using [Fire Manipulation] yet. But the Water and Earth varieties are turning out be a pain in the ass to figure out… I was probably worried over nothing. It's doubtful that I could do much more harm than maybe, I don't know, burning my fingers or something.“ Alan groaned and joined Su'ong in packing away the last of his 'random junk'.
Sighting a large segment of Scorpion that still contained a fist-sized chunk of scorched meat, Alan tore it in half and offered the bigger piece to Su'ong.
To Alan's surprise, she crinkled her nose up with disgust and waved him away. She will eat a raw fish head, but seared Scorpion meat is where she's decided to draw the line?!
“These things might look ugly as fuck when they are alive, but they taste surprisingly good when you put a bit of fire on em,” Alan said with a shrug.
“Reggie, you want some of this bug meat before I eat it… all…?“ Alan's words were cut off by the sound of the Roc squawking eagerly. “Of course you would want some too you greedy little shit…” Alan murmured and tore the bigger half of the scorpion meat in half yet again.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Cramming the first half into his mouth, shell and all, Alan held one of the remaining pieces out towards the Roc and mimed throwing it up into the sky. The Roc hooted in agreement and lifted off right as Alan threw its treat up, and at an angle, doing his best to make the bird work for it. Alan followed the bug meat-eorite with his eyes until it passed through the first barrier.
Unwilling to wait any longer, Reggie grabbed the remaining piece of scorpion out of Alan's hand, and took a tiny bite. “I must say, ever since I saw you eat that first scorched Corrosive Stout Tail Scorpion, I've been wondering what one tastes like after being cooked.“ He closed his eyes and chewed.
“Alas, like everything else, it has no flavor,” Reggie said with a hint of anger. “Just once, I'd like to taste something… His eyes suddenly flicked out towards the island.
“I hate to constantly repeat myself, but I really must be going soon. The Core Consciousness has once again secluded itself in an isolated room far below the base of that tower.“ He pointed off towards the island.
“There is a powerful artifact called a Celestial Essence sealed away in there. Thus far, the ambient energy that it emits has been enough to keep us going.
"In fact, that Essence has been there since long before this was even a Dungeon. From what little records were left behind by the Dungeon's founder, the Sandstone Palace was once a vast underground labyrinth built in secret to seal away the Celestial Essence. The records don't explain what a Celestial Essence is, but the Core Consciousness has been using the chaotic energy signature the Essence creates as a smokescreen to shield itself from my senses for all these years.“
“My feebleminded twin doesn't know that this Safe Zone is also drawing power from that very same artifact. Now that the Safe Zone has come online, the Core Consciousness has yet to realize that it's hiding place is no longer hidden behind a dense veil of energy.“ He looked down at where his feet would've been were his robes not so oversized.
That's it! Alan couldn't believe what he was hearing. That's gotta be the Celestial Essence that the System told me to find. Now if I can just find a way to break into that tower…
“I would like to apologize.“ Reggie mumbled down at the floor. “I was telling the truth when I said I honestly don't know what Celestial Energy is, but it would be my assumption that Celestial Essence has something to do with it. I…” Reggie raised his head to look at Alan.
“The only reason I was hesitant to mention it is your penchant for choosing to pursue the most foolhardy and reckless choices available to you. Even now, I'm sure you are already planning out a way to crack open that tower. For all of our sakes, I would ask that you think carefully before doing so. Not only would the Core Consciousness immediately know what you've done, and exactly where to find you, but removing that Essence from the gathering array would spell the end of my Dungeon. Everything would begin failing, and I doubt I could hold this place together for a week without it.“
He gave Alan a pleading look. “Neither do I believe that you could survive coming into contact with such an overwhelming source of energy.“
“That artifact is highly unstable, but it is also the only thing that has kept my Dungeon from starving. I lose nothing by admitting that I am terrified of whatever Celestial Essence is. I've never been able to bring myself to go near it. Perhaps it is selfish of me to warn you away from what is perhaps yours by birthright, but if you were to break open the tower, only to be killed by what it conceals, all would be lost for me…”
He was correct. Alan's first plan of action had been to do whatever was necessary to smash that tower into pieces. Not only had the System itself told him to retrieve that artifact before claiming the Dungeon Core, but now that he had an idea of what it was, the word birthright seemed to resonate with him.
If provided with such a powerful object, Alan's Cultivation Core would likely grow by leaps and bounds. Except, if it was what was powering the Dungeon, it would be fair to assume the Core Consciousness wouldn't be very pleased to have its only true source of energy stolen away.
Alan wasn't at all confident that he would be able to survive if the Dungeon truly put its mind to eradicating him. From what Reggie had said, the Dungeon had almost immediately deemed him to be an insignificant pest. If not for the Wraith's intervention, there was a very good possibility that he would already be dead.
Before his mind could wander too far off the beaten path, Su'ong brought up something that he hadn't even considered.
“Ok, so there are plenty of negatives. But what Alan hasn't mentioned is that he has a Quest to retrieve that Celestial Essence. The System might be heartless, but it doesn't give out impossible Quests. So think. Is there any way that claiming that artifact could benefit us in the short-term?“ She asked, motioning between the three of them.
Reggie pointed at himself questioningly. To which Su'ong sighed and nodded. “Yes Reggie, I'm talking about you too. For the time being, we're all stuck in this together. The Tutorial Administration might want the Humans to fail the Tutorial, but the System personally intervened in Alan's Evolution. Had the System meant for him to die in this Gods forsaken Dungeon, it would've never bothered to assist him in the first place. He was on the verge of a complete spiritual collapse.“
She glared at Alan, and then at Reggie, “We have to come up with an actual plan, and there are less than three days left for us to do so. Get your heads out of your asses and drop all the useless negativity. We all knew this was going to be a challenge."
It was irritating to be told off, yet Alan knew she was right. Although he was determined to get some sleep, until he found the time with which to do so, he needed to try and be productive. In a bid to make himself useful, Alan pulled up his PSA, and glossed over his expanded list of tabs.
For the first time since entering the Dungeon, Alan forced himself to look at the Tutorial survivor counter.
Current Human Survivors 964/1113.
The last time he'd looked, there were eleven hundred and eight survivors. In just over twelve hours, one hundred-forty-four additional denizens had already died. “What the fuck is this?!“ Alan demended. If things kept progressing in this manner, he didn't see humanity lasting out the week, let alone the seventy-one and a half days that still remained on the tutorial clock.
After turning around and displaying his PSA for both Reggie and Su'ong to see over his shoulder, Alan faced them both. “How have so many people already died?! Is this normal??“ He tried his best to keep an even tone, but the fury he felt was hard to keep contained. For the first time in a while, Alan wished that he still had his Emotional Stockpile to lean on.
Su'ong gave Alan a sad smile, but it was Reggie that spoke up. “As much as I would like to say otherwise, this is completely normal. It is the first day of the Tutorial after all. For the majority of Denizens, this will be the first time they have ever encountered System-enhanced beasts and plant life. Now that everyone has been enhanced by Stats, a simple argument, turned physical altercation between denizens can easily become deadly without the proper restraint.“ He looked at Su'ong, and back to Alan.
“Once Tutorial Denizens realize that killing each other not only provides far more Experience than defeating beasts, but also allows you to claim their inventory ring and all of its contents as your own, well... Things usually get much, much worse. When taking into account the unstable nature of Humans in general…”
“It doesn't bode well for them at all.“