The third floor was deathly quiet, both Hyacinth and Kvatar hiding from Zagon and his eldritch powers. The eye had gone on a rampage after absorbing some of the butterflies, though the dungeon had gotten the rest when Lilia died. It proceeded to drain the colour from the surroundings, turning the obsidian below them white. When it stopped, Zagon went into hibernation, his body mutating underneath the cover of his wings.

The first hour after the battle was spent rebuilding. Lilia’s corpse had given Viv six thousand mana to play with, but even that wasn’t enough to rebuild the second floor. He first resummoned his named creatures and rebuilt the church, and only then did he start repopulating.

It was much easier to spend mana than earn it. When the number hit zero, he turned back to Lilia’s corpse, going through his spoils. The soul weapon and the butterfly wings were gone even before her body, and all that remained were her personal possessions. That included the now dim crystal armour and the myriad of other minor magic items that she carried with her.

He would shatter his soul if it was below grade 6, but there was something he had to do beforehand. The consequences of a newly born dungeon killing an adventurer close to S rank would be too much for him to handle currently. He was prepared to face challenge after challenge to grow faster, but he had finally reached his limit. He needed time.

“Hyacinth, put on the armour and head outside. I need you to hide once you’re out of the city, and then sneak back in. They’ll figure it out eventually, but it will buy us time,” Viv said, absorbing the magic items. Using the mana from that, he conjured a Ring of Illusion - something he had Hyacinth buy in the ghost market.

“Fabricate her wings and her sword. Make sure no mage sees you. Don’t. Mess. Up.” Viv would kill Hyacinth himself if he made one more mistake. “Inform Lyla of any complications.”

One of the rewards for a side quest was a Signal Ring, which wasn’t as useful as he hoped. Only two non-dungeon creatures could wear it, and the barrier separating the world from the dungeon interfered with the magical connection. Still, if Hyacinth was close to the dungeon, he would be able to send a few words to Lyla.

It took a while to pry Lyla off the armour, but eventually, Tamiel talked sense into her. After making sure he looked the part, Hyacinth headed outside the dungeon, leaving Viv with the last blaring issue. Namely, it was the dark floating screen that said Error.

“How long are you gonna keep standing there? What’s this about?” he said to the floating fairy, still dazed from the fight.

“I was just thanking Auberon that we survived that. I thought I was a goner.” Pecan shook his body like a wet dog, flying circles in the air.

“Right, something about an error. Let me go check. Well, you need to excavate the rock first.” Pecan said, floating above a particular spot. Viv had hastily relocated his core to the third floor and buried it deep underground, collapsing all possible ways of getting to it.

A vertical shaft a thousand feet underground appeared in front of Pecan. “Oh boy, this is a treat. Here I go!” he yelled, diving head first into the small hole. Just as he was about to crash into the dungeon core, he disregarded all laws of physics and just stopped.

“Whew, that was fun. Oh boy is this a mess,” he said, staring at the error screen.

Several minutes of silence passed as his head snapped from screen to screen, fully invisible to Viv. It was during times like these that he regretted not being able to see strings. If he could figure out how Pecan was manipulating the interfaces that gave him power, he could become unstoppable in one fell swoop.

Title gained - [Flawed Mark of a Royal Dungeon]

Access to [Soul Shard] Menu.

Access to [Soul Market] Menu.

Connection to the Grand Soul Network.

The instant he gained a title, his soul began to tremble. He resisted until the dungeon core began to crack again, and then he had no choice but to accept whatever was happening. Countless threads began to detach from his soul, travelling in different directions. In return, a single thread reached back from every direction, connecting him with a hundred strange souls.

Previously, if he concentrated, he could feel the titanic soul that he was latched onto. The soul belonged to Auberon, the creator of this system. Now, if he truly concentrated, he could feel a vast network of souls, each one a different size. To his surprise, his soul wasn’t the biggest. Ten others eclipsed his in size, though he doubted they could best him in his prime.

The various souls tried to reach out through their links, but even the greatest failed. His soul was isolated from others. The cursed fairy king was meddling once again.

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“Ahhh, I should have warned you about that, but don’t blame me. Everything that happened right now was super strange.” Pecan peered through the dungeon core’s crack, retreating as soon as Viv focused on the outside world.

“What was that?” Viv observed the hundred different links, examining each soul in detail.

“It’s the Grand Soul Network,’ he said, sticking out his tongue. “It connects a hundred of the greatest dungeons to ever exist. Well, a hundred and one now because of this anomaly.” Viv kept silent, digesting this information.

“Have I told you that you’re an anomaly? Normally, you progress through various quests and gain qualifications to become a ‘Royal Dungeon’. That all happens as you slowly progress through each floor, building up strength. In your case, our King’s quest takes priority over anything else.

“It would all be fine if you completed the quest before killing the butterfly lady, but here’s where it gets complicated. Now that she’s dead, her massive soul has nowhere to go, and the system cannot absorb the soul without giving anything in return. Since you killed an A rank adventurer, you clearly possess the qualifications of a Royal Dungeon, but since you can’t receive a quest to obtain the relevant menu, I need to step it.”

The more Viv heard, the more he grasped about the so-called “system”. It was a complicated ritual, a spell on a scale he had never seen before. It managed every dungeon in existence, granting them power like none other. Despite that, it was only a magical construct, and it had trouble adapting to the various circumstances surrounding him. If it had no imperfections, it would be equivalent to something created by the gods, and even Auberon, as ancient as he was, couldn’t be compared to them. Still, it was the greatest spell he had witnessed, a work that spanned millennia.

“Why is the mark flawed then?” Viv asked.

“Well, your soul is strong enough to deserve a Mark, but the King stepped in. Normally, you would be able to talk to each other, trade information and secrets, and even access the fairy realm, but I guess he didn’t want that.”

Viv silently cursed Auberon with every curse word he knew. The fairy king didn’t want him to find allies.

In fact, after looking at every single link, he recognised multiple souls. He had toured every dungeon in Nex and held each and every dungeon core in his hands. Three of the hundred dungeons were his, a pathetically small number, but then again, Nex wasn’t known for its dungeons. If they recognised his soul, they would be trembling in fear by now. For if they didn’t cooperate, they would be crushed.

[Soul Shard]

Current Total - 7 shards

Convert Shards to Mana - 1 shard / 1000 mana

Condense a Soul Orb - 10 shards

Create a Soul Weapon - 25 shards

Manifest an Avatar - 100 shards

Construct the Perfect Vessel - 1000 shards

The new menu raised ten different questions he would have to ask Pecan in due time, but for now he started with the simplest. He only had seven shards, and he wouldn’t be killing any more A rank adventurers soon.

“Soul Shards?”

“Yep,” Pecan absentmindedly replied. Viv exercised the utmost of control to not lash out at the stupid creature.

“Could you explain more?” he asked, and only then did Pecan sense the hostility.

“U-uh, yeah. So, whenever something with a really strong soul dies, the dungeon absorbs it and converts it to souls. That butterfly lady had a strong one, so you got seven. You shouldn’t worry about this too much, it’s meant for when you’re constantly fighting A and S rank adventurers.” Pecan soared higher up the shaft, peering down at his orb as if staring at a rabid dog.

If the Perfect Vessel didn’t allow one to leave the dungeon, then he didn’t know what else would. This was how Auberon kept growing his soul, becoming stronger piece by piece. The dungeons didn’t realise how much a fourth rank aura manipulation soul was worth. He had already devised a scheme to bring out its true strength, but the blasted dungeon gave him no chance to realise that.

[Soul Market]

Ironscale Hydra - 10 shards

Nightmare Jabberwock - 10 shards

Laughing Gith Commander - 10 shards

Elvin Statue - 10 shards

Sanguine Transformation: Arcane - 10 shards

...

Dawnbringer - 100 shards

Soul Jar: Lich - 100 shards

Primal Chaos Dragon - 100 shards

Lotus of Rebirth - 100 shards

Holy Deva - 100 shards

...

The Devil’s Song - 1000 shards

Lumin’s Chalice - 1000 shards

Everbright Leviathan - 1000 shards

Time Stop - 1000 shards

Ravenous Void - 1000 shards

...

What Viv saw before him was an ever-expansive list divided into three categories. Monsters, weapons, spells and magic ingredients were available for sale, the world’s secrets available to trade in exchange for measly soul shards. It would be the perfect catalyst for Viv’s cruel rituals, provided a few more A rank adventurers died here. Unfortunately, he was broke. And even if he was offered a chance to sell his knowledge, he wouldn’t offer that kind of power to Auberon. He would only be empowering his enemy, letting him know of the tools Viv had to slay him.

As for now, he had to recover. He could think of ways to create shards after meeting Auberon, provided he lived to tell the tale. He was oh so close now. It was time to remember the spell that would let him walk the dungeon.