Eternal Dungeon POV
It had been an interesting week, after my second floor was discovered more and more groups started visiting it. So far the only group that’s permanently moved into New Beginnings has been the party Ava’s Own, and I think that stems from the fact that they got a free building to live in. So far Ava and her team have done several excursions into the Royal Woods as well as other areas. Since they’re the only ones actively living in the dungeon they’ve done more exploration than all the other groups. Most groups barely even enter the forests, patrolling the edges of the plains for easy harvests and occasionally venturing deeper in. I’m not sure if there’s an actual reason behind it other than extreme caution. So far from what I’ve picked up most groups just don’t want to venture into the more dangerous zones until they have a solid idea of what threats lie in wait.
This works out great for the few parties who are fine with the danger that comes with exploration. There are only a couple parties that have ventured as deep as Ava’s Own have mostly because Ava’s Own is the only party who has an alliance with the wolves, who are currently dominating the Royal Woods thanks to the efforts of said party. The wolves easily outnumber the rest of the factions and I can already sense that the war of succession will be coming to its finale soon. The last quest that the Prince of Wolves gave out was to join him in a confrontation with what remains of the other Princes and their forces; it wouldn’t be for another few days so Ava’s Own was preparing as much as they could for the event.
In other news I was quite happy with the new offering altar I had made. The adventurers seemed to like the free income as well as the challenge of finding new things for me. I could just keep using my aura senses to make copies of everything, but what I learned from absorbing something was just so much better. If I absorbed an item I could replicate it on a much better level than simply sight copying. It was like trying to copy a building from just looking at it vs having the actual blueprints, the difference was night and day. If I had absorbed something I would know how it was made, which let me also make variants of the item as opposed to only being able to copy the one version I saw. In summary absorbing things was just better than the mana sight copies I’ve been forced into doing up until now. It was better for the adventurers as well since it meant I had far more reward options available compared to before. Such as the Blank Legacy Tomes I recently placed for 2000 EC in my new bookstore which caused quite the stir once people saw them for sale.
On the subject of my stores, my currency system has been a real hit. It only took a couple of days for everyone to realize that EC is worth more than silver or gold since you can only get EC from one source, me. I mean they can also only use it in my dungeon, but I have plenty of things to sell. The system integrations have easily been the largest draw for adventurers as they provide a benefit that is impossible to get anywhere else. The number of groups who simply dive my first floor 3 times and then buy the basic and party system integration features is quite high. Although I’ve found it interesting that no one above level 30 has even entered the dungeon yet. If I had to guess it must be some kind of limit that the Adventurers Guild is placing on people who want to enter. Lucky for them I’m already steadily approaching level 3. Although my leveling speed is due a new type of oddity I’ve noticed.
It started mostly normal, a single level 20 adventurer walked into the dungeon. I sometimes get solo adventurers who just want to fight a couple lesser prowlers or search the floor for magical herbs to collect before subsequently leaving. The level 20 walked right down the safepath leading from the entrance to Wyla and placed his hands on her trunk to receive her `blessing`, again normal for a new adventurer to go straight to getting their dungeon token. This is where it got weird. He got the token, checked it for something, then immediately drank a vial of poison and died. I had no idea what the idiot thought he was doing, but that's not even the end of it! He respawned (obviously) and the first thing he did was open his system and then start cheering?! What does that even mean?! The now level 16 adventurer just up and left afterwards, he walked straight out of the dungeon, no exploring, no adventuring, nothing. Just came in, killed himself, respawned, and left. I was massively confused but pushed it out of my mind for the moment since I assumed it was nothing more than an oddity. Oh how wrong I was.
That guy was just the beginning, every day at the same time, the Guild seems to just let people in who just immediately kill themselves, respawn, and then leave. Not all of them use poison, but most of them do. Others seem to use either the least painful method or the most painful method, I could at least explain that away as them trying to earn some kind of skill. Over the course of the week my second floor has been open, several level 20’s have killed themselves on my first floor and they always seem so happy about it. I honestly don’t know what’s wrong with them, but I’ve now dedicated a small portion of my mind to figure it out. I'm hoping one of the adventurers actually here to adventure will let something useful slip, but so far all they do is shake their heads at seeing the suicidal ones.
Since the problem of the suicidal maniacs is effectively running as a background task, I can focus on more interesting things back within my second floor. I put a lot more care and effort into my second floor because it’s really the first true floor of my dungeon. The first floor was less of a chapter one and more of a prologue or maybe tutorial would be a better thing to compare it to. It gives everyone a taste of what I can do and creates a space where the lowest level people can train and level while also learning what a dungeon is like. Although I will admit that I haven’t exactly been making a traditional dungeon. I had plans to fix that on my next floor, a floor which would be made soon since I’m about to hit level 3 and its suicide o-clock.
Suicidal Maniac POV
This dungeon was my last chance at progressing any higher. I had already made many plans to try and get enough accolades in order to raise myself to Greater. The problem was the stupid level cap. I was already level 20 which meant that if I got enough experience to level up just one more time, I would be forever locked into my low Rank of Lesser. I refused to let that happen but there had been nothing I could do. Anything that would give me enough accolades to reach Greater would also likely increase my level making it ultimately meaningless. I had lost all hope until one of my friends told me about a program the Adventurers Guild was running. Apparently the new dungeon discovered had the ability to revive someone from the dead at the cost of losing some of their experience, the Guild was running a program where people at the rank up cap like myself could use the dungeons revival feature to lower our total level. There were some stipulations about repayment to the Guild but I didn’t even care. I would do anything to prevent myself from being stuck on the lowest rungs of society for the rest of my life.
It had taken me 5 days to get my turn after finishing all of the paperwork. The Guild offered to let people take in a painless poison that would simply kill you swiftly, I of course accepted. I did not want to have to kill myself with a blade or at the jaws of some beast just to save a silver or two. I was given my slot in which I simply walked into the dungeon, got the respawn token from the tree in the middle, and then all I had to do was drink the poison. I paused, staring down at the opened vial of murky blue liquid in my hand. What if the dungeon didn’t revive me? What if I didn’t lose enough levels to matter? What if I couldn’t get enough accolades? Would I have to do this again just for another chance? What happens once I run out of chances? So many thoughts spiraled through my mind making me hesitate at the moment of truth. I clenched my free hand, my nails digging into my skin, the pain breaking me from my thoughts. I had to do this. There were no more options. Either this works or I’m stuck as a lesser rank for the rest. of. my. Life. I refused to be nothing more than a lesser being. I drank the poison while the courageous thoughts still filled my head and the next thing I knew I was waking up on a bench. There was a small moment of disorientation, I felt as though I had just woken up from a really long slumber. I quickly came to my senses and opened my status to check the level. I cried and jumped for joy when I saw that my level had managed to lower all the way down to level 16! I had managed to eke out 4 levels worth of room to try and get to Greater rank. I quickly hopped off the bench and ran for the exit, excited to get started on raising my skills.
Eternal Dungeon POV
Level increased to 3 (New Perks available)
I felt the energy of a level up and checked my status just to be sure. Yep level 3. It made since that it was coming so fast to me, after all I had access to plenty of at-level and over-level adventurers to accelerate my growth, combine that with the number of level 20’s killing themselves and I would make my way to level 10 pretty quickly. If my current pace continued I could likely reach the level 10 milestone after only a month or two. That was of course contingent on having a steady stream of adventurers that were at or over my level cap. Although according to the system knowledge the soft cap on the Eastern continent was 300 with the average being in the 100’s. So I should have plenty of divers to fuel my growth to level 10, then a slowdown until level 30, then I would be soft capped at 30 until I could raise enough powerful adventurers to start my leveling process again. I was excited for what that many floors would mean for me, lots of space for grand adventure and story telling. It made me excited to get to work on the next floor, but first I need to pick my extra Superior Perk from level 3. I had a plan for the future that required me to take a certain perk.
Superior Perk Selected: Aspect of the Wyrm
Wyrm’s are the reptilian lords of Sky, Land, and Sea. Those mighty beasts which breathe the elements and weave mana into their very being. To be a Wyrm is to be recognized as a candidate for true Dragonhood, however only the mightiest of Wyrms will ever make it that far.
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Increases mana potency of all wyrm type dungeon creatures by 40%
Increases experience gained by all wyrm type dungeon creatures by 40%
Superior Perk: Aspect of the Wyrm has been absorbed by Superior Perk: Aspect of All
Superior Perk: Aspect of All
Aspect of All absorbs all other aspect types and brings them under its fold. Superior Perk Points may be used to either add new Aspects or to increase the base bonus of Aspect of All
Base Bonus: 20% to mana potency and experience
Aspect of Beasts: 5% Bonus to Aspect of All
Aspect of Wyrm: 10% Bonus to Aspect of All
Total Bonus: 35% to mana potency and experience
According to the system this was the closest I could get to dragons. Mainly because, as I learned, Dragon’s are a race directly created by someone from one of the highest levels of administration. I only know this because of how much information was blocked and unavailable to me. Apparently what the system considers to be `Dragons` only applies to beings who directly share the blood of their origin, something which makes even the lowest of dragon’s qualitatively different from any other lizard that flies and breathes fire. Dragon’s are also the lowest rank of system entities. They function as aides of the system, helping to spread it and mana through new worlds or enforcing rules upon old ones. While they don’t have system protections nor system admin permissions, they do have unique tags as well as a Support system as opposed to a Full system. All the intricacies are honestly lost on me, but the important thing is that while I can’t call anything I make a `Dragon` I can still get giant fire breathing lizards that fly, they’ll just be called Wyrms instead. Fine by me, the system can keep its technicalities. Now, time to make some kobolds.
Eternal Prowler, Boss of the North POV
Vengeance! I relish in the feeling of once more slaying a party of fools who so easily killed me back when I was nothing more than a lesser being. Now I was the hunter and they, the hunted. I had swore to take my pound of flesh from every being that dared to slay me on the first floor. I would not allow them to keep the score so unevenly skewed in their favor. I knew that eventually a group would manage to kill me, even with my new Superior form. However I would ensure that I took as many lives as I could before that day came. I watched as what was left of the party of 5 dissolves into motes of light and mana as they get absorbed by Lord Eternal. It was always nice to never need to clean my pristine coat of blood and viscera.
I did a quick check over the rest of the clearing that our battle had taken place in. I got into the habit of doing this after one of the sneakier ones hid away to survive the battle. Luckily the fool thought that he could surprise and slay me, thinking me exhausted after my fight with his four compatriots. He was wrong, his friends were nothing more than a minor nuisance and his surprise attack was meaningless. Still if one of them had gotten away unscathed I would’ve been incredibly annoyed, so it's good that I was able to kill them all.
At first I tried my best to hold back, knowing that any ability I displayed to my enemies would be adapted to and prepared for. Thankfully the almighty Lord Eternal agreed that they should not be rewarded with knowledge for dying. The Lord implemented a system that would remove many of their pre-death memories leaving them only with a sense of how they died so that they could still learn from their mistakes. This meant that so long as I destroyed all the enemies they would only learn that I killed them, not that I killed them with a spatially empowered claw strike.
Of course this mattered not if one of the clever adventurers escaped after seeing my attacks. Several had already managed to do so, although they learned very little from retreating so quickly. Even then I had yet to face a party that escaped unscathed, I always managed to take one or two members from them in their retreat. Just another one of the benefits of the new floor, unlike on the first floor where I was restricted to my cave and its surroundings, on the second floor I am able to wander anywhere within the unrestricted zones of my territory. This simply means that I must stick to the deeper parts of the forest or the mountains of the Borderlands.
I finished my patrol of the clearing, finding no signs of the sneaky ones. I quickly leave, my coat shimmering to change its colors to match my surroundings. I had already caught the scent of another group entering my domain, they seemed to be searching for my den. Unfortunately for them they would not find it without venturing well outside of the tree cover and into the dangerous Borderlands. I moved towards the bold group and began to stalk them, testing the limits of their perception and observing as they fought against the beasts of my domain. I would watch them until I was certain I knew their fighting style and only then would I strike. The hunter must always be prepared.
Adventurer POV’s
Of the many groups who had ventured to the second floor of the Eternal Dungeon, very few have seen any success in exploring the larger reaches of the floor. So far all those who went into the Forest of Endings were either smart enough to stick to the edge of the forest, or dumb enough to push further within. All who returned, respawned or otherwise, from the Forest of Endings would tell tales of massive prowlers evolved with potent affinities for Wyld and Aether. Those who dared to travel closer to the mountains always lost at least one of their number and all that the groups would divulge was that the boss was not to be trifled with. The groups that lost to it refused to give up information on the boss in order to try and preserve an edge against their competition. After all, the dungeon itself had placed a first kill bounty on all of its own bosses, with rewards of powerful items and thousands of EC.
Similar tales could be heard about the south. While the Flooded Forest was a surprisingly safe zone to explore, Croaker Lake itself was an immense danger. Plenty of groups confident in their prowess upon the water would purchase or loan boats from the docks and go out onto the lake searching for the boss. None had returned from the murky depths of the lake, always respawning with the knowledge that they were killed by the boss, but nothing more. Only a single survivor was rumored to even know what the boss is, but these rumors always dead ended. If someone did have knowledge of the boss in Croaker Lake they were keeping it for themselves.
The East and West were different stories. Adventurers could successfully enter the zones and return with bountiful harvests of plants and beast parts. Although the areas were still rife with danger. The East held a village of goblins which weren’t normally a threat, but their high numbers and superior defensive position by the cliffs made the village impossible to breach. It didn’t help that within the village were several Hobgoblins, a greater variant of the normally weak lesser creatures. All that was known about the boss of the east is that it was the leader of the goblin village, many assumed this meant either a warchief or a shaman. Several parties had already attempted to sneak in stealth classers to learn more, but so far none have been successful.
The West was accepted as one of the safest places to venture, a starter zone of the floor. The beasts there were organized, but fought each other just as much as they did adventurers. There were no wandering goblin raiding parties, nor were there beasts of extreme strength lying in ambush. Many went into the Royal Woods each day to simply kill and harvest a few groups of monsters, before leaving. Several parties have attempted to seek out the boss, but none have been successful. One party is known to have more information on the Royal Woods as they have gone deeper than any other, but the fact that that party is led by a noble causes most to ignore them. There were several attempts both by and against various groups to strongarm other party’s into giving up information, however the dungeons safe zone sanctity can be violated by both man and monster. Several parties were forced to retire early for the day after learning that the Spiritkin in guard uniforms were for more than show.
On the subject of the Spiritkin; the strange new race of sentients that seem to be created by the dungeon have already managed to endear themselves to many adventurers. Their natural disposition is to be kind and helpful and their knowledge of the dungeon makes them an invaluable source of information. However, if slighted, their vengeance is incredibly terrifying. Many adventurers who spoke unkind words or attempted to give unwanted affection found themselves blacklisted from shops or denied the right to accept quests. The local laws of the Spiritkin were not to be ignored as the punishments could be enforced by both the dungeon and the system. Each violation of the dungeon’s rules would increase the experience penalty of death by 5%, requiring payment of 1,000 EC to lower it again. Each successive 5% increase doubled the base cost of lowering it, meaning that it was 3000 EC total to lower from 30% to 20%. At 40% it would cost a staggering 15,000 EC to reduce back to 20%. If you ever exceeded a 50% penalty one would find themselves with a Black Mark, a symbol that meant the normal rules didn’t apply to you. Those with the Black Mark would find themselves unable to access their integrated systems and unable to respawn. The dungeon would even place bounties of EC on the heads of those who were marked in this way, many had taken to calling it `The Mark of Death`. Fortunately only 8 people received a black mark, one group received it for threatening to destroy the core, the other 3 people received it after their experience penalties exceeded the 50% limit. After an initial wave of disrespectful adventurers, the rest learned to simply follow the rules as you would in any country, county, or town and the number of violations dropped significantly.
The Adventurers Guild itself began writing guides and ensuring that those who entered would be beholden to the rules, the Adventurers Guild had even started slowly raising its EC funds in order to purchase an official guild space within Wyla on the second floor. It became a focus of the Guild after a party moved into the dungeon’s town on a permanent basis, normally the guild would block such actions under the rules of restricted entry, but since the party were the discoverers of the dungeon, it was legally theirs and the guild rules didn’t apply to them. Of course this placed them at odds with many of the members of the Adventurer's Guild, but it's not like anyone could apply pressure to them when they lived full time inside the dungeon. The guild itself decided that the issue was not worth pursuing and simply barred other adventurers from taking up permanent residence until a proper guildhall was established within the dungeon.
Overall things were shaping up to make the Eternal Dungeon a new focal point of Adventurer activity and things would only get more hectic after the guild was forced to officially appoint the Eternal Dungeon the rank of Mythic and the title of Legacy Dungeon. Once those notices were made public by the guild, people began to flock towards the town of Brahmstone and the Viscounty of Brahm at large. Merchants changed their routes, adventures of all levels started their journey, and a group of growing bandits on the very eastern edge of the kingdom, started changing their course.