It was a wild fight between Hyacinth and Xeel, both possessing a demon’s endurance. Hyacinth was lightning fast, his new innate ability shining in combat. On the other hand, Xeel had mastered more than a few tricks himself. The fight ended when Hyacinth tripped, his foot bound by a shadowy rope. The darkness on the ground consumed him, several more ropes appearing to restrain him. If it was a real duel, a sharp spike of shadows would finish him off, but they stopped there.

“Don’t think you’re so tough. I’m just not used to my powers. You’re going to horribly lose during the next fight.” Hyacinth shouted, his clothes stained black.

“You should have total control over your surroundings. Xeel could have just as easily snuck a tendril of darkness behind your back and impaled you,” Agares informed him as Hyacinth lowered his head, nodding.

If Viv could sigh, he would be doing so right now. The kid was incompetent, now turned overly rash by his transformation. A regular greater demon would have easily defeated Xeel even with no combat experience, but Hyacinth was turned into a demon using cursed blood, resulting in him being much, much weaker.

It would be some time before he could go outside and do his bidding, and before he did, Viv needed to acquire a better sword - this one was already on the verge of breaking.

As Hyacinth went down to the second floor, he ran into Lyn, both staring intensely at each other, the tension palpable in the air. He gripped his sword as Lyn’s body began to ignite, but none of them made the first move.

“Move out of the way. I need to go to the second floor.” There was enough space for them to pass, but neither would give way.

“I was holding back. If our master didn’t say anything, I would have torn your head from your body,” Lyn snarled, his eyes blazing.

“Come on then. I’ll kill you just like I did before.” As lightning crackled beneath his feet, another goblin appeared before them.

The goblin was taller than regular, dressed in human clothes. He had no weapons with him, carrying himself differently from other goblins, his back straight and his chin pointed up. To Hyacinth, it almost felt like it was trying to imitate a human.

“Stop this, Lyn. Hyacinth can’t be resummoned as you can, and he wouldn’t appreciate wasting mana,” Tamiel then muttered a few words in a different, more guttural language.

“You’re only safe because my master values you. Begone from my sight,” Lyn said, walking past Hyacinth. Tamiel nodded at him, creeping the hell out of Hyacinth.

The dungeon was all kinds of unusual. He was halfway down the tunnel when he passed another strange goblin. The goblin was naked, his skin a mix of black, red and purple, his arms and legs having mutated into something entirely different. He stared at Hyacinth, his eyes empty, though no fear or emotion could be seen in them.

“The goblins here are weak and weird.” He commented, raising Agares.

“That’s because they worship me. I’ve taught them how to be unique, how to be stronger than the rest. That’s what I’m also teaching you,” Agares replied, his voice neutral like always.

“I’m eternally thankful, but when do we go out and slaughter the rest of the mages? There’s several more in the village, all as deserving of death as the previous ones,” he spoke respectfully, none of the previous arrogance in his voice.

“If you go out like this, you’ll only get killed. Learn how to disguise your true appearance and control your strength. Only then can you go. Besides, my power is currently only limited to the dungeon. I won’t be able to guide you if you go outside.” Hyacinth grunted but kept on walking. The first floor was visited too frequently to stay there for long.

The second floor was impressive no matter how many times he visited it. He longed to fight the bloodthirsty wolves and the lightning-speed cheetahs, but Agares wouldn’t let him. It didn’t matter, eventually, he would defeat both Xeel and Devourer and become the strongest in the entire dungeon.

“Let’s continue. Remember, with every breath you take, you’re pumping mana from your heart to your body. It’s constantly circulating in your veins, making you faster and stronger than anyone else. Your demon heart is your most important organ, everything else will eventually regrow if you give it time,” Agares’ voice lectured him in his mind. He was sitting in the middle of a mushroom field, which was supposedly the most mana-rich part of the dungeon.

“Now, imagine, each time your heart beats, electricity surges through your veins. Your mana should be lightning, your heart - thunder. Only then can we proceed with making your demon heart complete.” Hyacinth closed his eyes, feeling each heartbeat.

He imagined the lightning streaking along the ground when he was running, and when that didn’t work, he imagined lightning blasting his body, a "miscast" from one of his companions. After an hour of intense concentration, he opened his eyes.

“I think I can feel something, but it’s so hard. No matter how hard I try, I can’t grasp the feeling,” Hyacinth said, stretching.

“It’s because you’re a talentless hack, a pathetic excuse for a greater demon!” Viv shouted, though no voice reached Hyacinth. He had been at it for three entire days with little to no progress despite learning one of the best methods to temper his heart. Besides, anyone half-decent would have enough mana for a disguise spell in the first place.

“It’s tough, but I have faith in you as my successor. Fine, let’s train your innate ability for a bit before you try again.” Agares’ voice had a bit of edge to it, though Hyacinth ignored it.

He lined up together with five lightning cheetahs, and on the count of three, he sprinted as if his life depended on it. Everything turned to a blur as his body sped up, electricity trailing beside him. Time slowed down, each second annoyingly slow. The leader of the cheetahs passed him in a flash, but the rest kept up with his speed, waiting for him to slow down. If he did, they had permission to bite him.

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Despite considering this a ridiculous training method, he enjoyed this as much as combat. It let him fully unleash his newfound power, and he felt himself improving every time he did this. Though unfortunately, his steam always ran out before the cheetahs gave up. They took chunks off his flesh, sprinting away at full speed before he could retaliate.

“If you keep up training your innate ability, one day you might reach the second stage. Then, you’ll truly be powerful.” Hyacinth nodded, wincing from the pain, remembering what Agares had told him yesterday.

Me, you, the world. As innate abilities became stronger, they could start affecting more things. If he could form his domain, he would be unstoppable. His ability made him faster, increasing both speed and reflexes. It also made his brain adapt to the speed much easier by slowing down his perception of time.

And so, for the first time ever in the dungeon, Viv had no free time. He had to constantly babysit Hyacinth while continuing to give lessons to the goblins and operate the dungeon, not to mention learning new spells and figuring out new traps. Days passed in a blur until one day, a certain panel appeared in front of him.

Main Quest 10 Complete.

Reward - [Magic Item] Menu, Flame Sword (grade 2), Poison Dagger (grade 2), Mace of Heaviness (grade 2), Spear of Frost (grade 2).

One of the C-rank adventurers had died to Xeel again. No matter how much they prepared or fought him, he was far too deadly, reaping several lives every time someone went to fight him. The adventurers eventually killed the guardian, though they were too exhausted to proceed to the second floor.

[Grade 1] [Grade 2] [Grade 3] [Grade 4] [Grade 5] [Grade 6] [Grade 7] [Grade 8] [Grade 9]

[All] [Weapons] [Armour] [Accessories] [Consumables] [Miscellaneous]

Spear of Chain Lightning 250 mana

Cloak of Elements 250 mana

Staff of the Woodlands 250 mana

Ring of Deflection 250 mana

Potion of Greater Healing 150 mana

Scroll of Fireball 150 mana

Statue of an Ice Spirit 150 mana

For once, everything was neatly organised and sorted. Perhaps it responded to him wanting to filter out the low mana cost monsters last time he wanted to sort something. This was a list of every magic item someone had carried when they died. As long as it was magical, it would get absorbed by the dungeon. Also, everything on the list could be potentially found in a chest when clearing the dungeon.

But the aim of this menu was different. He sensed two options when mentally thinking about the Cloak of Elements - either he could summon the item itself, or he could make the item a part of some monster. In the former case, it could be stolen by adventurers or taken back by monsters. The latter would cost less mana and would disappear when the monster died.

Both the options had important uses, but before he could figure out which magic items to create, Pecan dropped out of the sky, free-falling.

“Heeeey, long time no see. Hanging around with the goblins is more fun than I thought! The dungeon is running very well, and there are rumours that there will be an expedition to the second floor soon, though I’m sure you know that already.” Pecan hovered next to the orb, reading the same screen he was.

“Aha, let’s see. You’re progressing too fast for me to even assign regular quests, so we’ll skip ahead a bit. There it is, I’ve found the right one.” Once again, Pecan’s head was turning back and forth, rapidly looking at what Viv assumed to be the quests.

Pecan waved his hands and a black box of words appeared in front of Viv, but before he could see what it was, the entire room began to shake. Moments later, the floating panel flashed bright yellow, blinding even Viv’s mana sense. It shone like morning’s sun, making Viv’s soul recoil.

Main Quest 11

The little demon lord progressed fast, much quicker than any regular dungeon. It played around with its friends all day long until something horrible happened - a hero appeared. The hero found out something horrible and rushed to the dungeon, slaying all of the demon lord’s friends. Then, the core shattered and the demon died. The end. Such is the fate of a dungeon that doesn’t play by the rules. Prove to me you’re worthy enough to spare.

Summon an A-rank creature. Create a grade 6 Magic Item. Acquire a tier 5 spell.

Progress - 0/1, 0/1, 0/1.

Reward - Meeting with the King of Fairies, Auberon. King’s Guard (A), Crown of Summer (grade 7), Phantoms of the Wild Hunt (grade 6).

Silence reigned over the dungeon for seconds as both Viv and Pecan stared in shock. Then, Pecan dropped to his knees as intense bloodlust overwhelmed him. Viv’s soul was thundering, dressed for war. The previously cloudy sphere was filled with dark-violet lightning, his entire body crackling.

“Please, please, please. Spare me! I didn’t know, I truly didn’t know. I didn’t tell a soul that you were here, I kept quiet about all of it! I swear I swear, let gods smite me dead if I’ve told a single lie. I invoke the sacred law, let Auberon himself strike me dead if I’ve lied. Please, you must believe me.” Pecan shivered, unable to move a muscle. Viv’s soul was overwhelming, threatening to absorb everything around it.

With a single glance, Viv knew that Pecan was telling the truth, but that didn’t change a thing. His life was over the moment Auberon wanted to end it, he was a puppet dancing on someone else’s stage. Someone had to pay for this. Every named creature except Lyn and Hyacinth came running to his core, his anger becoming theirs.

“Master, please.” Tamiel was the only one who retained his sanity, kneeling on the ground. His entire body was shaking, his soul on the verge of collapsing.

The already cracked sphere shuddered, fracturing down the middle. In an instant, his anger was forgotten, survival instinct kicking in. Before it could burst, Viv stopped his soul transformation, expanding his soul. He pulled the shattered fragments back together, using his soul as glue to piece everything together.

The adrenaline faded, realising how dumb he had been just a minute ago. He had let rage overtake him, even thinking of punishing his subjects. First Mezeem, now Auberon - he vowed to be free in the past, to not let anyone control him, but look at him now.

The orb had taken too much. It couldn’t contain his soul in the first place, and he had taken his battle form twice. Combining that with Mezeem cracking it earlier and it was no surprise it had burst. He would have to be extremely careful from now on.

“It’s fine. I was just a bit surprised." Viv’s tired voice echoed through their minds, just as exhausted from the trial themselves. "Pecan, you’re excused, but if I ever catch you disobeying me, your life will turn into living hell.” Viv said, looking around. Worst of all was Tamiel, his soul had sustained injuries from being this close to Viv.

“Thank you for sparing everyone, master,” Tamiel mentioned nothing about his injury, kneeling towards the orb.

“Don’t think this is over, Auberon. You better be prepared for when we next meet, for I’ll bring horrors you can’t even imagine!”