Chapter 13

Twang!

Tom’s crossbow bolt flew past Brutus and caught the enemy gnoll in the neck. The wound was critical, and the monster succumbed to its injuries a moment later. Tom quickly set to reloading his crank crossbow while the three minotaur kept him safe and, in one corner off to the side, Antoine trimmed his cuticles.

While they were facing six – now five – gnolls, Antoine remained fully confident in the capabilities of Tom’s three minotaur minions. Particularly Brutus, the Minotaur Champion. Over the last few days in the depths of Zeta dungeon, Brutus gained four levels, putting the already powerful monster at level twenty three. Tom had listed the monster’s status after he’d gained the last level, and the humanoid monster’s physical stats were impressive.

Name

Brutus

Health

570/570

Age

5 months

Stamina

530/530

Race

Minotaur Champion

Strength

48

Class

Warrior

Dexterity

15

Level

23

Constitution

57

Subclass

Berserker

Endurance

53

While the monsters were somewhat slow – at least when they were not charging directly at their opponents – their physical strength was nearly unmatched. Oh, Antoine could arm wrestle any one of them into submission, but it would take Rory and Sevin working together with both arms and leverage in order to win such a contest against Brutus.

And that was with Brutus only using his weakest hand. He had four to choose from, as he had gained an extra pair when Tom evolved him.

While the party had been resting in Caseville after Tom created a dungeon in that city, the party had ordered four large warhammers. Caesar and Cicero each wielded one of those weapons, easily swinging about those massive iron weapons with their strength, which was less than Brutus’s but still very impressive for their level, and not having been evolved into champions.

Brutus, meanwhile, dual-wielded his warhammers. With two sets of arms, he easily gripped one hammer in his upper two arms and the other in his lower two, swinging them about dangerously as he charged the gnolls. Swinging the hammers together, he caught two gnolls at the same time and caused the number of enemies they faced to drop down to three.

Brutus bellowed in triumph, and the three minotaur Charged, activating their Skill that empowered such an action with Stamina, causing them to move significantly faster and with more force than normal. They each literally trampled one of the remaining gnolls, turning to deliver coupe de graces before their enemies could recover.

By the time that Tom finished reloading his weapons, the enemy gnolls were all dead. Antoine was still cleaning his fingernails, having not bothered to even look up to make certain his protege was managing alright.

“That’s the last of them,” Tom said. “I mean, unless more spawned since we checked the census. I don’t think it’s worth sticking around on this floor until more spawn tomorrow.”

“How long are you planning to stay in this backwater, Tom?” Antoine asked.

Tom frowned. “I don’t know. I wanted to make certain that it was stable and that it would be profitable after I changed the dungeon.”

“It’s been two weeks since you introduced the elementals to the deeper floors,” Antoine pointed out. “Your leveling has stalled out again. The others are starting to catch up to you. Have you even considered moving on?”

Tom sighed. “I guess you’re right, at this point I’m just dragging my feet,” he admitted. “Okay. Once everyone is together, I’ll announce that we’re leaving tomorrow to the next dungeon on the list.”

“I’m certain they’ll be ecstatic,” Antoine agreed. He paused for a second. “Tom, have you considered what we talked about before? Establishing your own kingdom in the wastes, as the ancient kings once did before you?”

Tom was silent for a moment. Then he admitted “Yes, I’ve thought of it. I don’t think I’d make a very good king, Antoine. I’m worried enough about trying to be a half decent Controller. I don’t think that I can do my job and Fenard’s at the same time. Especially if the other nations are falling apart, like Velund. And whichever one is next. Alpha says that there’s less than a year before two nations begin to fail.”

Antoine nodded. “I think you might be right that now is not the time to strike out on your own,” he admitted. “But I disagree on one thing, Tom. Ferdy was half the man that you are when he was your age. He was a spoiled rotten little brat who’d never been told no his entire childhood. I’m not entirely certain at what point he finally stepped up and became a half-decent leader, but the fact remains that you possess a number of qualities that he lacked at your age.”

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“Yeah? Like what?” Tom asked.

“For one thing, Fenard has never seen combat. He never will, if he has anything to say about the matter. Technically, Tom, your abilities are that of a Summoner, not a combatant. Yet you are unwilling to simply stand behind your companions and your minions while the fighting is done for you. You have overcome your physical shortcomings to make contributions to the battle in a meaningful way through your crossbow archery.”

“Okay,” Tom said, “But how often does a king actually need to fight himself?”

Antoine acknowledged the point with a nod, then continued. “What is the real reason that you are reluctant to leave Zeta Dungeon? Are you worried that when you are gone some critical mistake will be found which will impact the local economy.”

“Shouldn’t I be?” Tom asked. “I mean, I can seriously screw things up for a lot of people. The mistakes I made in Tilluth killed people, Antoine.”

“No, they didn’t. Fenard killed those people when he failed to protect them,” Antoine argued. “Sending one medium leveled warrior in to hunt a monster like that was completely inadequate. Those deaths are at least as much on Fenard’s shoulders as yours, Tom.”

Tom exhaled in frustration. He didn’t like thinking about the fact that some of his neighbors were dead because of his mistakes, and he was unwilling to assign the blame to anyone else, whatever Antoine said.

“As for the economy, I’m sure that there are problems or imbalances, but they’re either a mistake that you can correct through the network, or the trouble is not worth the effort on your part that it would take you to resolve.”

“Why are you so set on me establishing a new kingdom anyway?” Tom asked.

“Because the system is dying, Tom,” Antoine said. “The old system that Fenard would have you maintain is broken. Marshal told me, before he died, that if we don’t establish a new kingdom, then what is happening in Velund will happen everywhere. He warned me that the nations would fall one by one, and there will be nothing on the map except for blight, waste, and the wilds. We were pushing to return to the surface when … I failed to protect him, Tom.”

Antoine’s voice broke slightly, and Tom’s eyebrow rose at the man’s display of emotion. “What happened?”

“We were challenging the World Dungeon. Or one that we thought to be the world dungeon, at least. Marshal began to have visions. I don’t know all of the details, he said that if he told us everything we’d think he was going mad. But after floor one hundred fifty, Marshal suddenly decided it was time to turn around. He said ‘There is a fork in the quest, and I must choose to save the system or the people. I choose the people.’”

Antoine was silent as he collected himself, then he continued. “Everything that they think they know about your class is wrong, Tom. You’ve come to the truth much sooner than Marshal did, but you know by now that all of the books about controllers are faulty. They’re damaging things they don’t understand in their efforts to force a system to do something it was never intended to do.”

“And what was it intended to do?” Tom asked.

“Maintain a balance between the forces of creation and destruction.” Antoine waved his hands in frustration. “Or at least that’s what Marshal said. I don’t have all of the answers, Tom. They died with him. Perhaps you should ask Alpha, the next time you see her.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that will work,” Tom said. “She’s not all put together yet.”

“Her name was Reus,” Antoine said. “The woman who appeared to Marshal in his dreams, the way that Alpha appears to you.”

“Reus?” Tom asked. “But that’s the name of the world!”

“And she was the spirit of the World Core,” Antoine said. “I think that the name fits.”

“Marshal was having visions of the World Spirit before he died?” Tom asked.

“No, Tom. Marshal was having visions of the World Spirit before he was murdered.” Antoine sighed. “Do you know the reason I hate Fenard so much? It’s not because he’s a bad king. He’s actually pretty good at the job. I hate him because the throne he sits on is made of Marshal’s bones. When Marshal was passed over for the position of king, it was because everyone expected him to die in the World Dungeon. Just like they’re expecting you to die, once you get that fatal quest.”

“Wait, what?” Tom asked.

“Not the quest you have at the moment, Tom. Another quest, to fix what’s wrong with the World Core. That quest is the reason that Controllers have a short life expectancy. The old king of Welsius, Fenard’s father, wasn’t content to leave things up to chance, however. He sent one of his men into the dungeon with us, and when it became apparent that Marshal would return to the surface to claim what was rightfully his, our guardian turned into Marshal’s assassin.”

“King Fargus had Marshal assassinated? Why?” Tom demanded.

“To secure the throne for his son, of course,” Antoine answered. “Tom, I believe that Marshal turned back to complete the quest that you’re working on now. He kept talking about networks and structural damage.”

“That’s … that’s terrible. Does Fenard know?” Tom asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never asked, because if he admitted to knowing the plan I might not be able to stop myself from killing him,” Antoine admitted. “I can’t forgive him from benefiting from the assassination, Tom. How do you think I’d feel if I knew that he knew in advance?”

Antoine was silent for a moment, then he continued. “I was there when he saw us off, Tom. He knew that our quest was dangerous, and that we were likely to never return. It was emotional. He promised to step down and grant the crown to Marshal if he were to return victorious. If he made that promise knowing that his father arranged Marshal’s death … Yes, I think I’d have to kill him, and consequences be damned.”

Antoine paused again, then, just loud enough for Tom to hear, he whispered “Just like I did Fargus.”

Tom winced at the admission. “I thought that the old king died of a heart attack.”

“It’s pretty hard for a heart to work when you stuff a sword in it,” Antoine explained. “Technically I’d call that a heart attack. Aside from you, nobody knows for certain that it was me. I’d appreciate it if you kept the silence on this matter. If Ferdy found out, he might feel compelled to do something with the information.”

Tom was silent for a moment. “I won’t tell.”

“I’m not terribly worried about it, Tom. We’re already committing treason, what’s a confession of regicide between friends?” Antoine said, chuckling.

“I can sort of get why you want me to be a king,” Tom said. “But that doesn’t mean that I want to be one, or that I’d be good at it if I did. Besides, with Velund and somewhere else collapsing right now, me breaking off and forming a new kingdom will only add to the chaos in the world.”

Antoine shrugged. “You’re right, now is perhaps not the best time for it. When you change your mind, Tom, just let me know. You’re not alone in this. You have far more support than you’re aware of.”

The conversation lapsed. Tom had quite a bit of information to digest, and it would take him a while to sift through everything Antoine had revealed.

~~~~~~~

They left the small village that supported Zeta dungeon the next morning. Jessica was perhaps the most excited to move on, as while the residents had been positively enthralled with her fireworks for the first few nights of their stay, they had become less enraptured by the loud noises and lights in the night as time wore on.

Unfortunately it would be a while before she found an appreciative audience again, although she made good practice with her illusion skills as they rode, conjuring up false images of Rory and Sevin engaging in mock battle with each other. The dummies were obviously not real, she couldn’t get the faces or proportions quite right, and the movements were unrealistic. But she was straining herself to improve them every time she practiced her summoning, and in the heat of battle she knew that even a poorly done illusion of one of the Warriors could make a critical difference to the performance of the team.

The party rode for six days to the next dungeon, and when they arrived the conquered it in twenty minutes. The primary enemy of this dungeon were giant ants, which were vulnerable to Emil’s pest control spell which targeted insects and arachnids. Unfortunately, using this powerful spell, while convenient for clearing the dungeon, was triggering diminishing returns in Emil’s experience gains.

“You gain less experience for doing the same thing twice,” Antoine explained when Emil commented on how little he’d gotten from clearing the entire dungeon with a single spell. “The more you exploit that spell, the less experience you’ll gain from it. It will eventually get to the point where you’re better off clearing the dungeon the hard way. At least, if leveling is your goal.”

The ant dungeon was named Eta. It was a level nineteen core which Tom leveled to level twenty-three. He Customized it to give it ten floors. The top floor was grasslands, the second woodlands, and the rest were simple caverns.

He set each floor to spawn something valuable. The dungeon didn’t want to stop spawning its native ant monsters, so he assigned them to the grasslands, which made the core happy. In the woodlands he assigned direwolves to be spawned, and in all of the floors beneath he spawned goblins.

That is to say, he physically spawned them himself so that they would be born loyal to him. Once he had a small community on each floor, he evolved one goblin selected at random to be the leader and charged him or her with keeping the peace with the other goblins, and instructed them that if any humans were to come into the dungeon, they were to attempt to trade with the humans rather than attack.

The goblins seemed excited to, well, to be alive. Tom was hopeful that the wolves and the ants on the top floors of the dungeon would keep them from breaking out and exploring the surface, and that the goblins would be willing to mine for and trade with the human merchants that would be arriving – with guards of course – in the near future.

There were only two dungeons left on his list before Tom planned to return to Weaver Estate to celebrate his birthday with his parents. He believed that he had plenty of time as he set out for the level twenty-six dungeon which was known to spawn mermen. Surprisingly, the mermen of the dungeon were not immediately hostile to them, and were even excited when Tom informed them that he intended to make changes to their home, suggesting a number of additions which they would appreciate.

He changed the first floor to look very much like Zeta dungeon, and a second floor which was filled with an Estuary Biome, which he added water elementals to. There was nothing stopping the mermen from traveling to the second floor, and in fact they were looking forward to gathering the elemental cores for the small trading business that they conducted with the nearby humans, adding the magical ingredient to their list of trade goods, which had previously consisted only of the fish which had always grown in their dungeons.

He didn’t create deeper floors to the merman dungeon, as he would have been forced to populate those floors with monsters. He didn’t want to change the natural ecology of the dungeon, since the mermen were peaceful and not a threat to the local humans. If he created additional floors, he’d be forced to populate them with monsters, and there was a chance that it would create an inter-floor war with the mermen on floor one.

Satisfied with his actions, he had labeled the ant and goblin dungeon Eta, and the two floor merman dungeon Theta. Then he moved onto the final dungeon he intended to create before taking a rest, and it was in Iota dungeon which he hit another snag in his plans.