Chapter 3

It took Ryan a whole day to spread his influence into a three-foot sphere around himself. Erin mentioned the measurement to him, noting his core was equal to the size of a human fist. He had no reference for that, so he ignored it.

“So, what do we do from here?”

He floated in the chamber, the latent mana in his body keeping him suspended, while Erin flew around, enjoying the new space. The entire room glowed with a pure white energy, and Ryan could feel more mana slowly filling him.

Erin had explained to him that currently his mana capacity was low, meaning he would have to take multiple breaks as he worked. As such, it took him the whole day to create his small space. At least the larger he got, the more mana he would be able to absorb, and the larger the area he would be able to work on before needing to take a break to recharge.

“Well, this is a good start.” Erin landed atop him – a favorite spot of hers, it seemed. “But we’re going to need to get a lot bigger.”

“You mean I’m going to.” She really hadn’t done anything, other than complain about how slow Ryan was. He may have ‘accidentally’ blasted through a piece of rock near her when she had started to annoy him. That stopped her complaining.

“Don’t be like that, Ryan, I’m helping too.” She sent a hurt feeling through the bond.

“Nagging isn’t helping.” He sent her a chuckle as he felt her anger rise. “But I think I am ready for the next step towards dungeonhood.” He was more comfortable with his mana and had definitely become faster at shaping the earth around him. He’d also noted that as he expanded, he seemed to absorb the broken dirt and rock, instantly gaining an understanding of the material. He needed to ask Erin about that.

“Are you listening?”

Oops. He had zoned her out. What had she been saying? Quick, divert.

“You have such pretty wings.” He watched her face as she blushed and stuttered, her face turning red for a moment.

“Tha– thank you.” Erin flapped them a couple of times, watching as the fine white feathers ruffled, then cleared her throat. “As I was saying, this is only the first step in your path towards being a proper dungeon.”

She waved her hand, and six strange symbols appeared in front of Ryan, each glowing a different color.

“These are the different affinities you can have as a dungeon.” ‘Affinity.’ That was a new word. “Across the land, there are usually seven different types of dungeons. Each dungeon specializes in a specific type of energy, or specialized mana.”

There were different types of mana? Was that why Erin had originally glowed gold when she met him? Was that her type of mana? Also, she said there were seven, but Ryan only saw six symbols.

“Which means?”

“The mana specialization of a dungeon determines what type of mobs it will be able to create.”

“Mobs?”

“Eh, adventurer slang for the types of creatures a dungeon has.”

“Why do I need these mobs?” She really hadn’t explained much of being a dungeon to him. All he knew was to use his mana to grow his influence, so he could gain more mana.

“You are so clueless.” She sighed in exasperation.

“Only because my ‘helper’ doesn’t tell me these things. I can’t just absorb all your thoughts—” Erin’s face grew startled, and Ryan paused. “Can I?”

“No! No, that’s… that’s not a good thing. Sorry, I’ll do better.” She seemed panicked; he could feel terror streaming through their bond. Guess I shouldn’t mention absorbing her again.

“Anyway, as I stated earlier, a dungeon’s goal is to grow stronger. One measure of strength is the amount of mana a dungeon can control, which is why growing your influence is important. The larger you are as a dungeon, the more usable mana you have, and the quicker it refreshes. Mana exists naturally in the world, and as a dungeon, you draw it in constantly from any area that you have influence over.”

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That made sense and explained why he was now pulling in much more mana than when he had barely had any influence on his surroundings.

“The main way for a dungeon to become stronger, though, is by defeating adventurers and gaining experience.”

“So, I use my mobs to beat them, and they just hand over this ‘experience’ when they lose? What exactly is an adventurer?” Erin’s face grew grim for a moment.

“Well, they don’t just ‘hand’ anything over. When an adventurer dies in your dungeon, you absorb them, and you gain experience based on how strong they were. Experience is the other way in which a dungeon grows in strength. You know what, Ryan? We will cover experience a little later.”

Death. Ryan remembered a giant blade, a quick slice. He didn’t want to kill anyone.

“All right. But Erin, is there a way to grow without killing? I don’t like that idea.” Erin’s face brightened, though her eyes were still sad. She wrapped him in a hug.

“I know. As a celestial being, I am generally against it as well. You can slowly gain experience by spreading out your influence and absorbing new materials around you, but it takes a much longer time to gain experience that way, and the Goddess told me she wants you to grow fast. Besides, adventurers know the risk, and take it willingly.”

He couldn’t fathom why people would willingly go towards death. Maybe Erin would explain it later.

“But we are a bit off topic,” she was saying. “So, long explanation short, as a dungeon, you will make mobs, which will fight adventurers who come into your dungeon. Killing adventurers equals more experience for you, which makes us stronger.”

“Simple enough. So, I have to choose one of these affinities in order to begin making mobs?” He felt Erin’s pride at his question through their bond. I got something right. Go me.

“Yes. Each affinity affects the basic types of mobs you can begin creating. By knowing what type of mobs you will make, you will be able to begin forming the first level of your dungeon. Then we can start trying to attract adventurers.”

Adventurers equaled power. Ryan was all for the path to power, especially as it seemed to make Erin happy. The killing part was still unfortunate, though.

“So, what are my options?” he asked.

She pointed to the red symbol first, which was shaped like a flame. “Fire affinity starts with small lizard-like mobs, eventually allowing you to create lesser dragons.”

An image of a giant, fire breathing lizard filled his mind from their bond.

“Those seem cool.”

Erin nodded before pointing towards the next symbol: a blue teardrop. “Water isn’t really an option for us, as we aren’t near the water, and adventurers usually complain about exploring those anyway.”

All right. So far, it’s looking like fire.

“No water, okay. Next.”

“Wind,” she pointed at a nearly invisible silvery symbol that appeared to be a few squiggly horizontal lines, “gives way to various air-based wisps and elementals, as well as winged beasts. Usually, a wind dungeon is high up in the mountains, which we are not.”

So, still dragons.

“Not an option. Okay.”

“Earth affinity dungeons begin with low-level animals, but quickly expand to great beasts.” Images of massive clawed and furred creatures filled Ryan’s mind as Erin pointed towards the next symbol. “Earth dungeons typically also have golems within.”

A humanoid pile of moving rocks seemed intimidating at first, but he felt it would get old fast. Ryan was definitely still liking that dragon option.

“Boring.”

“Celestial, or light magic as some call it—” She pointed towards the golden symbol, a perfect golden sun, “—begins with gentler, magical creatures, which eventually evolve into divine.” She sent an image of a beautiful unicorn, as well as a large, glowing version of herself: an ‘angel,’ she called it. “However, celestial dungeons usually grow rather slowly. Like I said, celestial creatures are averse to killing.”

Well, that won’t help me get stronger, so that’s out. “Doesn’t seem like a good path to power. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“And the next one?”

“The last one is darkness. It is the power to raise the undead. Dungeons aligned with darkness raise skeletons and zombies, and can bring forth anything that has died in their dungeon as their own monster. In that sense, a dark dungeon could have creatures from the other affinities as well, but in the undead form.”

That seemed intriguing, but Erin didn’t seem keen.

“Hmm. Going to have to say dragons are the coolest.” Ryan glanced at the six symbols and recalled Erin’s earlier comment. Shouldn’t there be a seventh? Maybe she had misspoken.

Erin let out a sigh, as if she had been holding her breath. “Thank the Goddess. The church hates dark dungeons.”

The church, you say? Ryan saw a brief vision of a man in white, and a feeling of disdain filled him. Ryan was pretty sure he didn’t like the church.

“So,” Erin was saying, “just stretch out your mana to the symbol for fire, and that will bind your dungeon to that affinity. After that, we can really get started.” Erin pointed towards the fire symbol.

Ryan grinned to himself, moving his mana ever so slowly out towards the fire symbol. I really don’t like the church. The thought pushed into his head. And if the church doesn’t like the darkness…

Something within him snapped, and suddenly his mana shot towards the dark symbol: an impossibly black human skull. The moment his mana touched it, the darkness wrapped around Ryan’s light and rushed into him. It left a black imprint on his stone, the same shape as the skull symbol.

“Ryan, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”