I….might have made a mistake.

Math isn’t my strongest suite now…

Yet I’m very sure 95% percent of two million people should have left me with around a hundred thousand remaining.

Why are there only three in front of me?

*Why are there only three?*(Tree)

*While you were busy giggling like a small kitsune over a candy tree, the applicants discovered a new facet of the Maze.*(Dryad)

A new facet? What? I’m pretty sure it was only supposed to…

Wait.

Maze made from Chaos.

Ah, I see the issue already.

That still doesn’t explain the massive decrease though…

*Aren’t they much stronger than normal humans too?*(Tree)

*I wouldn’t rank them in the same level as our normal associates, close though.*(Dryad)

*Taking a stab in the dark here. The maze allows them to consume the power of those they kill inside it?*(Tree)

Why am I being stared at like this is my fault? It’s a chaos maze, obviously this would be par for the course Dryad!

Well, whatever. At least the dead contributed to my secondary plans.

Reaching up with my senses I encounter a lump of refined Chaos power formed through those who failed in the Maze. Pulling the lump of power out I bring it down to earth to hover in front of me. The lump looks like a colorless rock the size of a human head. Although it cannot be seen effectively with the naked eyes, to inhuman senses it radiates power.

During my previous experiments I found that the human mind can be used as a ‘refining’ receptacle for Chaos power. Through a mechanism I cannot yet explain properly, they take pure disorder and make it even better.

That’s humans for you, crazy enough that chaos can’t make them much worse.

I glance at the two women and one young boy in front of me.

Well, not that much worse at least.

*Is there a reason the boy is staring at you with such a fanatical look in his eye, Dryad?*(Tree)

*Youth are very impressionable you know. I’m sure his active imagination is putting a face and body to my voice.*(Dryad)

Smirk! That’s definitely a smirk!

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Now that the preliminaries are done, I’ll have to report to Emily about the unfortunate accident. Normally the lives of 1,999,997 people wouldn’t mean anything to me. However, I did say I would try to keep as many of them alive as I could. I think the prevailing explanation she gave me was that many of the people came from countries outside the Empire.

All of them dying is probably a large diplomatic incident. I guess if they invade the Empire I’ll take action to remedy the issue. Since I caused it to start with, I should clean up the mess that could occur.

On the other hand, the two women are from differing countries that border the Empire so we could say it isn’t all bad.

Something like, ‘See how powerful you can become in the Madness Maze?’

As long as we leave out the failure rate there should be no shortage of applicants…

I take another look at our survivors.

The boy is dressed in nothing but street rags. There is a suspiciously large amount of metal, wires, glass contraptions, and poisons on his body. If I didn’t know any better I’d say he was a professional cleaner. Probably the kind that took out a rival gangs ‘trash’ were I to guess.

The two women are rather ugly. From my point of view at least, although that’s probably because during my experiments in Soul Binding my sight has altered a bit. I can see past their gorgeous exterior to the darkness writhing inside both of them. Strangely enough the boy doesn’t have any, almost like to him, killing is merely a way of life.

It must be because the two women took pleasure in slowly drinking the life force of their opponents, while the boy didn’t. He merely executed them like one would step on an insect in the way.

The disparity between the three is very large as well. The boy it at least 60% of the total. The remaining 40% is split between the women, so they only have roughly one-third of his power.

*I’m going to take the women under my wing. They make a nice match for Emmy, she’s been needing some helpers for running things, lately.*(Dryad)

I mentally sigh at the poor women soon to be overworked by their inhuman mentor.

*I guess I’ll take the boy then. At the bare minimum I can rest assured with him designing traps. He might even be good at architecture, I’ll need to test that though.*(Tree)

With the decision made to split our efforts, I tell the boy, “What is your name.”

A small look of shock arrives over his face as he realizes that Dryad isn’t the only part of this awesome Tree. Watching him kneel immediately makes my heart warm. This kid, he can see which side the bread is buttered on, yes he can.

“Rat, m’lord.” the boy states with a tired tone.

“Hmph, a garbage name for a shining uncut diamond. Remove it, from now on you are my representative in the world. Your name will reflect your status. I will not have others disparaging me. As the Empress is your sister-in-service you will be known as Venenum Mundi. The blade that strikes without failing to kill.” I say, solemnly. It’s a good name based on one of the old languages I remember from Earth.

Considering the array of tools he has, it is more than accurate to say the least.

Now comes the real fun. Scanning his gear I reach into the lump of refined Chaos power in front of me. Slowly as if by the hand of an unseen tailor, an exact duplicate of the gear he is wearing appears.

It may look the same true, but the appearance is the only similiarity.

The rags will cloak him allowing him to conceal himself within, travel through, and create shadows. The various pieces of iron, steel, wires, and glass contraptions are all duplicated with mythril, orihalchum, dwarven copper, and plasti-glass. I’m reasonably sure that there are more of these metals on my servant than available in the real world. Plasti-glass for sure, that’s a chemical derivative I pulled from Earth. It’s similar to glass in terms of being see through, but in terms of hardness it outclasses diamonds. For protection I outfit the entire set of clothing in graphene. Unless someone strikes him with a divine blade, or cuts through with magic power on the same scale as the Green Lady he should live.

Melting away the boy’s previous gear with Chaos Flame I get to work on the actual body. Similar to the Empress I improve intelligence through re-wiring his brain. I reduce the effect of pain by altering his pain tolerance by lowering the amount of space it takes in the brain. Removing the affinity for other elements, unlike Emily, I specialize him in the Darkness element completely. Moving on I recast his bones into diamond hardness. His marrow is altered in order to extend longevity into the distant future. Muscles are rebuilt, specific focus on the fast twitch side. When he moves it will be faster than a normal human can even recognize. Organs are rebuilt with a focus on intaking impurities to excrete them as weapons. Death by poisoning will be quite literally impossible for this young boy. For the skin, I darken it allowing him to blend effortlessly into the shadows. The eyes are my masterpiece though, through careful use of the refined chaos, I add a touch of my own sight to him.

From now on, no matter how pretty the outside is he can see the soul within. As a result though his eyes go from a bland black to a brilliant silver.

“Get up Ven. For now, a simple task. If there are any diplomatic issues that the Empress needs ‘resolved’ you will take care of it for her. Since you can travel through the shadows, distance is nothing to the reach of your blade.” I inform him of a few other simple things, before turning my attention away.

Ven is a quick study, immediately using my shadow to jump into the Palace nearby. I’m sure him and Emily will make a wonderful combination.

I bet Dryad will be shocked though, I finally managed to delegate!

Even though I sometimes enjoy it, it’s not always fun and games using fire to solve problems. Ven is a reminder to me that sometimes a more delicate touch is required.

I banish the Madness Maze so that it teleports to over the empire’s Capital. I’m sure Dryad can explain in her spirit form how it’s a gift from me.

They’ll have to build their own staircase up to it though.

Now it’s time to begin planning the Dungeon itself.

I’ve always been enamored of the ‘Tower’ dungeons in my memory. With my knowledge of how space elevators work, I think I’ll try to build up.

Most dungeons go down, so perhaps both ways!

A dungeon that reaches into the worldcore and another part that stretches above the sky into space.

Hmmm….

I like this concept, let me ponder this for a bit after a short nap.