“Heyyy, you’re doing it super wrong.”
Lyn looked up, half of his body gone again. He lost count of how many times he had blown up. He never gave up - with each time, he was that much closer to completely controlling mana.
“Master taught me how to do this? Are you smarter than my master?” Lyn snarled.
“I wouldn’t dare to say that, but I’ve noticed something in the past few days. His methods are completely fine, but they’re meant for demons, not for a weak creature like you,” Pecan said, lifting one of Lyn’s detached arms.
To that, Lyn conjured a ball of fire and blasted it towards Pecan. He dodged it before the blast even left Lyn’s hand.
“A bit of fairy advice for you, take it if you want. You gotta ease up a bit on the mana. It’s like a stream of water. You’re trying to force it to go in one direction when it wants to go in another. Be a bit gentler, guide it where you want it to go.”
Pecan flew off after that, not willing to hear what Lyn said. It felt like everyone was doing that nowadays - everyone was ignoring his opinion. Of course, what the stupid fairy said couldn’t be right. His master personally taught him how to cast magic, and he was superior to everyone else only because of him. He couldn’t be wrong.
It took three more days for Lyn to even consider changing his approach. It crept up on him like a snake. Every time he died, he would hear Pecan’s words echoing through his mind. On the fourth day, Lyn decided to try it out.
At first, it was confusing. He was used to dominating mana, imposing his will on it, that was what he was taught. When he finally grasped how to do it, his whole world changed. The mana that previously felt like a rampaging bull was now calm, and although it was still difficult to control it inside of his body, it was much easier than before.
The mana stabilised inside of his heart, every beat now sending waves of mana through his body. He collapsed in writhing agony, but the pain brought him greater strength. He wanted to rejoice, wanted to celebrate, but all he felt was confusion.
“Master was wrong. No, he couldn’t be,” he thought to himself.
Despite his fanaticism, he wasn’t stupid. He was proud to be considered one of the smartest among his kind, and he could very clearly see that Viv’s methods were wrong. It simply went against everything he previously believed in.
He was weak, but he was the one chosen to be given power, thus he was special. But, Xeel was given even greater power, and he was summoned minutes before being given it. Now, Pecan’s method turned out to be superior to his teachings.
His mind was in turmoil, but he didn’t get much chance to think. “About time, a bit later than I was expecting,” Viv’s voice boomed in his head.
“You should now be much stronger than you were before, but that doesn’t matter. You still can’t cast higher tier demonic spells, but we’re going to fix that quickly.” Viv went on, seemingly unaware of Lyn’s inner thoughts.
“Typically, a normal demon would strengthen his body, using the entirety of it as a conduit. Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that. However, I am the Demon Lord, and there is no one in the world more knowledgeable than me in demonic spellcasting.”
“We’ll be using an ancient method. It is quick but incredibly dangerous. I’ll warn you, if you mess up, even I won’t be able to revive you. As soon as I resummon you, you will die again.”
Lyn calmed down a bit, entering into study mode. He could deal with his problems later, it was important to glean every bit of information from his master. Even scraps of it could make him leagues stronger than the rest.
“Seven bindings of Amoriel, that’s the name of the technique. First, you must craft a chain of mana and wrap it around your heart. Then, you manifest an oath. The more binding an oath, the more powerful you will be. If you ever break an oath, your heart will be crushed by the chain, and your life will end.”
“I’ll teach you in detail about how to make the chains, but at the end of the day, the oaths will be yours. They can never be taken back, so think carefully.”
Lyn felt like he was thrown in the middle of a tsunami. If this was before, he could easily make several oaths revolving around the master, but he found out how easily his heart swayed. If he made an oath to always be loyal to his master, could he keep it?
“I’ll do my best,” is all he could say.
As for Viv, even if he knew what Lyn was thinking, he wouldn’t care. He was aware that the method was risky, but in the worst case, he would simply get another goblin. It would be a shame to lose a month’s worth of progress, but Lyn turned out to not be as talented as he thought.
Main Quest 08 Complete.
Reward - Spirithorn Deer (C), Lightning Cheetah (C), Mistfire Fox (D), Longtail Snake (D), Thieving Ferret (D), Twin Hare (D), Spirit Voice (tier 2).
Good news came in pairs as not half an hour later his quest was complete. Knowledge of the druidic spell came flooding into his brain, though it wasn’t as impressive as he hoped. Still, it was nice to expand his options for the future.
Just as he was about to inspect the creatures, Pecan came rushing through the air. He was similar to an arrow in flight and had just as much difficulty stopping, hitting the wall and going splat in the process.
“You’ve completed a quest I see, it is my duty as a fairy to give you another one,” he said, trying to act nonchalant.
“Hmm, this next one isn’t so interesting, but the one after that will round out your dungeon. Anyway, here it is.” He waved his hands around dramatically, muttering gibberish until an interface appeared in front of Viv.
Main Quest 09
Any place must have a thriving ecosystem. Plains are known for their diversity and their food chains, thus the dungeon must emulate that. Although normally creatures fight with each other, in trying times, they will unite to defend against any invaders.
Summon 100 creatures on the second floor, have 10 different creatures.
Progress - 6/100, 2/10.
Reward - [Treasure] menu, appropriate reward based on quest completion.
“That’s new. Pecan, explain.”
“I was just about to, Your Majesty. Although I can’t say much about the next quest, it’s important to decide which creature will be the most common. After all, you can’t keep endlessly resummoning creatures that will get easily killed.”
“The way dungeons are expected to operate is strange. Steadily increasing difficulty, giving treasure to humans, monsters that are supposed to just be killed followed by stronger versions of these monsters. Despite you claiming this is a positive cycle, it seems like all a dungeon is doing is training humans,” Viv said, his voice perfectly still.
Viv thought about the quests in particular. While creating the first floor, they were teaching him how to operate the dungeon, but starting from the second floor, arbitrary rules were imposed on him on how to shape his floor.
Pecan flew about flustered, sensing Viv’s rage growing. Stumbling over his words, he was trying to explain the intricacies, but it all sounded like excuses.
“It doesn’t matter to me in the end. I can grow a hundred times faster than those imbeciles,” Viv said, hiding his true thoughts from the fairy. If they aimed to train humans, then he would create hell on earth for them, making them suffer for every step they took.
He would have to carefully investigate other dungeons once he got himself a body. Pecan was cagey about anything relating to the deeper secrets or his king, mentioning something about orders. Shelving that together with his other plans, he brought up the interface.
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In regards to creatures, his interface was utterly flooded with one mana creatures. Thankfully, he could manipulate it however he wanted, so he got rid of anything below ten mana, sorting them by mana cost.
[Creatures]
Giant Earthworm (D) 10 MP
Goblin Warrior (D) 15 MP
Thieving Ferret (D) 20 MP
Goblin Grovetender (D) 25 MP
Longtail Snake (D) 25 MP
Twin Hare (D) 25 MP
Mistfire Fox (D) 35 MP
Goblin Warchief (D) 40 MP
Hellfire Goblin (D) 40 MP
Cursed Goblin (C) 70 MP
Spirithorn Deer (C) 70 MP
Lightning Cheetah (C) 85 MP
Bloodfang Wolf (C) 90 MP
The list got quite long with the addition of new creatures. It looked like most of them were useless besides the three most expensive ones, but they would fill the diversity requirements. They would cut deep into his mana reserves, but he had reached 120 mana every day with the addition of the mana from the guardian and the open space.
Viv wasn’t the one to waste mana, so he got to work. All this time waiting for Devourer wasn’t spent doing nothing. Instead, he was recalling another spell. He had spent a long time thinking about how to get out, and the conclusion he arrived at was simple. He needed some experimental subjects.
The new runes lit up on his orb, mana concentrating on the small spider. After the process was done, the spider turned green, remaining the same size.
Creature Gained - Standstill Spider (D)
Standstill Spider (D)
A regular spider imbued with the curse of paralysis. Victims remain fully awake while being unable to move their bodies, trapping them in their minds.
Abilities - Paralysis Venom.
The spider was the size of two fingers in width and could be squashed as easily as any other spider, but a single bite should be enough to render an adventurer immobile. He let the spider get picked up by a grovetender and carried deeper into the plains.
The grovetender placed it on a tree and listened to Viv’s instructions. From now on, they would have to create a forest for the spiders to live in, and that was where he was going to be concentrating most of his forces.
As for the second plan, he would have to create something deadlier for those who wouldn’t succumb to poison. He called Lyn to the second floor and had him hand over a clay jar. It was something a warlock used to keep his strange sacrifices, though that wasn’t enough to prevent him from dying to Xeel.
Moving the lid, he chose the jar as the summoning point. One after another, he summoned fireflies into it, taking care to not let any escape. When he was done, Lyn was tasked to carry the jar.
“From now on, when you’re not working on the chains, you’ll be working with these fireflies. Your task is simple - fill them up with unstable mana and make sure they don’t explode.”
The project would likely take some time, but it would be good practice for Lyn. Besides, once he completed it, he would have a cheap way of producing deadly weapons. He had been relying too much on the dungeon core to create monsters, but the truth was, he could create something much scarier if he had tools. Unfortunately, he had nothing to work with.
And then, he got started with summoning. He summoned a few of every creature, though the majority of them were Standstill Spiders. He spent 2000 of his mana, leaving him with practically nothing left. Two weeks and two adventuring parties were all that it took to gather that much mana.
He took a careful look at the pack of five wolves running about. He had seen Bloodfang Wolves as a kid. Their village once had a pack of them in the forest nearby. Every night, the villagers would board up their doors in fear of the red eyes shining in the night. Weeks later, some adventurers came to subjugate them in a bloody battle that killed one of them. Even now, he remembered the terror he felt just by thinking about one of them.
Now, all he saw was a pack of mutts. They were decent for their rank, but they couldn’t match Xeel or Devourer, and even Lyn stood a chance against them. Still, they’d serve their purpose of distracting from the spiders.
As he was finishing with the last of the spiders, he felt the mana of the dungeon skyrocket. It was like a hurricane entered his cave. Turning his attention there, he saw a massive ram half-mix standing there.
He must’ve been at least ten metres tall, towering over anyone and everyone. He had two curled horns with bells tied on every end and four white, glowing eyes. No clothes were covering his grey upper body, and the bottom half was covered by thick hides. In his hands, he held a magnificent staff with a dreamcatcher at the top of it.
“I’ve come to say hi,” he said, his voice mellow but booming, thundering through the entire cave.
He had trouble fitting into the actual cave, so swung his staff downwards, creating a rift in the sky. On the other side was reflected Viv’s orb. Stepping through it, the rift closed behind him. He reached out and grabbed the orb, examining it from every side.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Mezeem, the leader of the Lucid Eye. I normally wouldn’t come here myself, but I had a strange feeling.”
If there ever was a time to panic, it was now. He was too strong for anyone present to even touch him. Even if Viv wanted to do something, his orb could be destroyed in mere seconds. He cursed himself for not fully annihilating every seer in existence - some had hidden when he killed the greatest of them, Luciette.
He had never heard of this Mezeer or the Lucid Eye, but there were experts everywhere. If he was in his prime, he could easily deal with the situation, but he was as powerless as a bug. A thousand schemes ran through his head of how to survive.
“Well, I can see that this is a dungeon, but it’s a weak one,” he mumbled, looking directly at Pecan, who was similarly panicking.
“Great sir, please spare us. I don’t know what we did to offend you, but we will do everything to serve you,” Pecan dropped to his knees, already considering himself dead.
“Stand up, I’ve got no intentions of harming you. I’m still not sure why I’ve come here, but I’ve come to find out.”
In the face of overwhelming might, Viv had no choice but to negotiate. He was prepared to reason or threaten him if it came to it, but for now, he had to pretend to be a normal dungeon core. He dimmed his soul, releasing the pure soul out of its cage.
Mezeem looked up in the air, the bells ringing once. Instantly, every monster in the dungeon fell asleep. He slowly levitated, swinging his staff in a circle. The dreamcatcher was a three-coloured swirl, and as it touched the air, it opened another portal.
This time, it was much bigger. The sky winked out of existence and was replaced by a thousand colours, not visible to the human eye. Objects, creatures and figures flashed every second, horrible amalgamations of colour floated through the air as Mezeem hummed.
“If I destroy you, I will die. How interesting, I wonder what would kill me. I see shadows raining in the skies, tearing through the nation.” His eyes shone with such intensity that even Viv was blinded.
“If I spare you, the future is varied. In some, I see overwhelming darkness, though in some, it’s only grey. The decision remains, if the future is so bleak, perhaps I should get rid of you now.” He gripped the orb even tighter, looking at it with all four of his eyes.
“Let’s negotiate,” Viv wrote in the dirt, seeing a thin line of hope.
“Oho, a dungeon that can already communicate. I’m interested. What are you offering?”
“You leave here and never return. In return, I will spare you and your clan in the future.”
For once, Viv was telling the truth. He had no choice but to make the decision - seers could sense truth better than anyone in the world. Although it meant one more future teller in the world, this one didn’t seem as powerful compared to Luciette. Besides, his revenge was to do with humanity, he could spare some off-shoots. After all, every race was descended from humans.
The giant ram-mix gripped the orb as it began to crack. Viv wasn’t ready to die yet - he hadn’t gotten his revenge, he hadn’t annihilated humanity yet, his dreams reignited by the dungeon. Just as the orb was about to shatter, the beast released the orb, letting out a bellowing laugh.
“For the sake of humanity, I should kill you right here and right now, but if it means that my clan will survive, then I trust that you will follow through with your deal. A word of warning - I am not the first calamity that will befall this dungeon, but it will come sooner or later.” Mezeem said, waving his staff again. The ethereal rift in the sky closed, a piece of it absorbed into the dungeon.
Viv was unsure whether Mezeem knew who he truly was, but it didn’t matter as long as Viv lived another day. He could deal with the ramifications tomorrow, he had grown attached to his second life. After all the hope, all the scheming, he felt that if he died this time, it would truly be over.
“Well then, dungeon core. I’ll be leaving you to it. I hope we never meet again,” with that, he stepped through another portal, this one showing the mountains. Moments later, he was gone.
Both Pecan and Viv breathed a sigh of relief. “Huzzah, we’re not dead. Praise the king.” Pecan hollered, zipping around in the air.
And, unsurprisingly, an S-class creature visiting and tearing open a portal was something noteworthy.
Title gained - [Dreamer]
0.01% chance of summoning a dream version of a creature.
Allows construction of Dream Portal.
Viv took one look at the Dream Portal and immediately shelved it away. It cost an astonishing 20 000 mana. Still, it was a potential way out of this damn dungeon.
“I’ve got to be more careful. If my existence in this state were to be known, there would be hundreds teleporting here, all vying to take revenge for their loved ones.”
He had a hunch about what could kill Mezeem. The next designated Demon Lord - one who had the potential to be even stronger than Viv. As soon as he died, the Demon Lord inheritance would be passed to Vedan. He was named the Demon Prince of Creation by his peers, and to Viv, he was practically like his son.