Here is chapter 16 hope you all enjoy it! So I found people who are willing to help edit, I'll try to get edited copy out the first time but sometime there might be situations where I'll post without the editors going through it due to our times not matching up that day but will update as soon as possible when it get edited.
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Sage had been thinking about this since team STAR cleared his dungeon. The dungeon boss will continue to grow and every battle will help him grow no matter what. But the normal monsters didn’t have that luxury as when they died they were gone forever. He could just keep them hidden and let them only fight each other but they will hit a wall on their growth.
As he pondered he muttered “I wish there was a way to communicate with the people outside.”
Alice heard this and quickly flew over to him “Oh no Sage that is a bad idea. The fact that dungeon cores have a consciousness is a secret to most people and don’t forget that you are too different from a normal dungeon core and would likely attract unwanted attention.”
Sage began to think again trying to think of something that could allow him to train his monsters against adventurers without too much danger for his monsters. Suddenly he remembered the tombs he used to explore and thought of an idea.
“Hey Alice if I were to set up signs and rules, would the adventures follow them?” Sage decided to tell Alice his idea to see how it might go.
Alice was caught a bit off guard by the question, after pondering a while she replied “Yes in certain situations it is possible.”
“What kind of situation?” Sage was becoming more hopeful.
“Well if you have a puzzle or something that they need to solve in order to progress then they would need to follow whatever instruction you give them to move forward.” Alice answered with a thoughtful expression.
Sage pondered a bit and then finally said his idea “Would they follow rules for a fight? I want to train a group of elite monsters that will be used to protect us. However sending them out in the dungeon means they are very likely to get killed before they can become stronger. But if they don’t fight the adventurers then they are very likely to quickly reach a limit from fighting each other. So my idea is to have a trial room where these adventurers can fight the monsters but not kill them. If the adventurer win they get a reward but if they lose they won’t die either.”
Alice’s eyes grew wider and wider as she listened to Sage explaining his idea. Finally once Sage finished she looked at him like he was some strange creature and said “That is a very interesting idea Sage… this could work.” Alice pondered for a bit before continuing “Ok this is what you should do: Some dungeons do have puzzle rooms or treasure rooms that only open if you meet a certain condition. Once inside the adventurer is given a challenge and is rewarded accordingly. You should create tokens as a rare drop from the monsters. Once they have a token it will give them access to the treasure room where their goal is to defeat the monster without killing it. Then based on their result you can make a reward appear according to how well they did. You should also add a punishment where, if they kill the monsters, they won’t be able to access the room for a certain amount of time.”
“This is very well thought out Alice.” Sage was a bit surprised at how quickly Alice took his idea and improved upon it. “How were you able to come up with it so fast?”
Alice let out a proud smile and said “You’re looking at the top graduate from dungeon fairy school!”
“Dungeon fairy school?” Sage paused for a bit and continued “You know Alice it’s been 2 months since we met and I really don’t know much about you.”
Alice was startled for a moment and then said “Well it has been two very busy months.”
“Well since things finally slowed down I would like to know more about you. Unlike me who was just born you seem to have been alive for a while already, I would like to know more about you before you became my dungeon fairy.” Sage has thought about who Alice was many times but he has been so focused on keeping himself safe he always forgot about it. However now that Sigrid was here he felt a big weight lifted off his shoulder as he will finally have someone talented to train and protect him.
“Aww that’s so sweet Sage. Like I said before us dungeon fairies are spirits without a physical body. We are naturally born by the world so we don’t really have a family but we do have a strong sense of community. We tend to live together in groups in isolated areas. The older spirits wander around to find newly born spirits and bring them back to be educated.” Alice began to tell her story and Sage carefully listened.
“To tell you the truth we aren’t really dungeon fairies when we are spirits as not all of us become dungeon fairies, in fact only a few do as there aren’t that many dungeons. Most of us will live as spirits forever but there are certain ways for us to gain a physical body. One is to become powerful enough that we form a physical body on our own but that could take hundreds of thousands of years. Another way is to possess a living being but that is very dangerous because if the soul of the living being is stronger than you, you would die, also you will be stuck in that body and if that body dies you die. Unless a spirit becomes powerful enough to take over someone powerful then taking over a weak person is just making yourself weaker. If one is lucky enough like me they would become a dungeon fairy and get a body custom made for us by the dungeon core.” Alice slowly explained more about her species and there was a hint of sadness in her voice.
“The village I came from is many kingdoms to the east. We were very lucky as the village itself was founded by a dungeon fairy of a nearby dungeon. Because of this we had protection that other villages didn’t. You might be wondering why a bunch of spirit would need protection but we are very valuable to certain types of mages who use us for experiments or as ingredients for some potion they are making. The dungeon fairy did a lot to keep us safe and even taught those who were interested in the workings of a dungeon. This way if any of us were to become a dungeon fairy we could guide our dungeon core down the correct path and stay alive.” Suddenly Alice paused and her breathing became much more rough.
“However… that peaceful life didn’t last.” Her voice is now getting hoarse and tears formed in her eyes as she struggled to continue “One day demons appeared… their goal was to take control of the dungeon to create a foothold in that kingdom. Although the dungeon and dungeon fairy put up a valiant fight they were eventually overwhelmed by the demons. The dungeon fairy was killed and the dungeon core turned demonic. After the dungeon core was turned he sold us out to the demons and our village was attacked… I ran… I don’t know how far but I ran with all my strength and finally lost them after a few days… After that I was wandering around for years before I finally met you….”
Sage was silent as he processed all that he has just heard. He has always wondered about Alice’s existence but didn’t expect it to be something like this. Seeing how sad she was he wanted to comfort her but had no idea what to say.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
After a long time Alice recovered and smiled “Now look at me being all down and gloomy. I promised myself that I will stay positive no matter what! I know this is a bit late but I thank you for letting me be your dungeon fairy and I’m going to make you the best dungeon ever!”
Sage finally replied “I’m looking forward to our time together.”
After that Sage began construction of those rooms he had planned, he decided to name them the “Trial Rooms”. The rooms were easy enough to create and he made 3 of them on the first floor and 3 of them on the second floor. Then he labeled them as Rank G Trial Rooms and one of floor 2 room as Rank F Trial Room. The monsters now had a chance of dropping Rank G or F Trial Room tokens that would open up the door to the trial rooms. There is a hidden chamber inside the rooms where the monsters will stay and come out from. Sage decided to rotate the monsters inside the room daily and only allowed each room to be used twice a day. Sage will observe the fight and if the adventurer wins without killing the monster he will summon a reward for them. Outside of each room the rules of the trial rooms were posted so the adventurers knew what to do.
All of this took about 3 days until it was completed. Sage waited until it was night and there were no adventures left in the dungeon to make the entrance to these trial rooms and to put down the rules. After that he began moving the elite goblins and elite kobolds he summoned for his army into the hidden chambers in the trial rooms.
Soon morning arrived and adventurers entered.
*Dungeon Town*
Massive amounts of builders and supplies began to arrive and the dungeon town is now under construction. With the support of the entire kingdom the town was being build at an unimaginable rate. Just a few days ago the elite guards sent by the king arrived to help maintain the law in the area. More and more adventurers arrived and luckily for them just 3 days ago the second floor of the dungeon was opened up so now even more adventurers could enter the dungeon at once.
Soon adventurers began to enter the dungeon with the guild request at hand and the dream of finding a skill book. One team was inside the dungeon for about an hour before one of the members made a new discovery.
“Hey guys come here, I think I found something new!”
“Something new? People have been through every part of the first floor already what new thing could there possibly be?”
“All of you just come over here and see.”
When the rest of his team arrived they were shocked at what was before them. It was a wall with a closed stone door with the words “Rank G Trial Room”.
“What is this place?”
“Look on the right side of the door.”
Then everyone’s gaze locked onto the right side of the door where a set of rules was listed.
Welcome to the Trial Rooms!
-A token of matching or higher rank than the room is required to enter
-Only 1 person can be inside for the trial to activate
-Each trial room can only be used twice per day
-The person doing the trial must be equal or lower rank than the rank of the trial room
-A higher ranked person will not trigger the start of the trial
-Tokens will not be refunded
-Tokens can be dropped from monsters
-To leave once you are inside you only need to press a button, however if you have not finished the trial you will forfeit the trial
-To complete the trial you have to use the weapon provided. Should you use anything else you have failed the trial.
-You are not allowed to kill the monster inside, only defeat it. In turn the monster will also not kill you.
-Should you kill the monster none of the trials will work for you for a week, the second offense will be a month, 3rd will be half a year, 4th will be a year, and after the 5th none of the trials will activate while you are inside.
-Once you have successfully completed the trial, you will be rewarded according to your performance.
The entire team just stared dumbfounded at this as this sounded more like the rules for a competition than something seen in a dungeon. Quickly one of them regained their sense and shouted “Quick we need to report this to the guild! If we are the first to report we will get a big bonus!” With that the entire team rushed out of the dungeon.
*Evening, Dungeon Town, Adventurer’s Guild*
The guild master stood looking out the window as Penny read the summary of today’s report.
“Today many teams reported the appearance of these “Trial Rooms”. From all the reports there seem to be 3 Rank G Trial Rooms on floor 1 and then 2 Rank G Trial Rooms and 1 Rank F Trial Room on floor 2.” Penny slowly read the report to the guild master.
The guild master kept looking out his window and asked “Has anyone managed to see what is inside?”
Penny flipped to a page in the report and said “Yes, one adventurer by the name of John has managed to find a rank G token and went inside one of the Rank G Trial Rooms. He has reported that once he was inside the door closed on him. Around the edge of the room there were racks filled with different types of wooden weapons for him to use. An elite goblin walked out from a secret door in the back of the trial room and waited for him at the center. He picked his weapon and fought with the elite goblin. He struggled a bit but was able to defeat the elite goblin in the end. Afterward the elite goblin went back through the secret door but when John checked that wall he couldn’t find anything. A chest appeared next to the exit and inside he found a rank G skill book but we only have his word for it as he said he has already used it.”
“I see… That will be all Penny. Leave the report here and release information about these “Trial Rooms” tomorrow.” The guild master still looked out the window and hadn’t turned to look at Penny even once since she came in.
“As you order sir.” Penny put the report on the table and left the room.
After Penny left, the guild master continued to look outside for a long time. Finally he let out a sigh and turned back to look at the reports.
He quickly read through the report and muttered “Little dungeon core do you sense the danger that is to come as well.
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Edited by Nova