Chapter 55: Adventurers

Wednesday, April 5th, 1:02 PM

Dungeon Ciara

With Vijaya acting solely under her own brainpower, the fight was over in less than a minute. Her stingers and bite scraped uselessly against weapons instead of sinking into human flesh. The group collected a spirit core and a set of rings from Vijaya’s chest.

I nodded at what had happened.

That’s how it’s supposed to go. Dangerous—likely deadly if someone is stung or bitten, but a centipede should act like a centipede—at least, on the early floors.

My krakens and tigers brought in more species, but I still didn’t have two things I wanted. So, I tended to the stone of my Dungeon and enchanted the walls with mana wherever I could—though the numerous people made it difficult to reach most places at or near the surface.

Because I hadn’t allowed anyone inside, my castle received the full treatment along with most of the housing since people were busy.

But two houses were a different story.

Thirty-three students and one particular professor remained inside, playing with each other’s bodies rather than helping the community.

The crowd who’d tried to get into my castle had mostly ended up on the beach or around the Lagoon, sunning themselves, flirting with one another, and playing in the clean waters.

I sighed at their careless behavior, but figured the other humans would sort them out in their own time.

Many of them will learn, one way or another.

There was chatter in my fruit orchard. Katie Ames’ discovery of my mana-imbued fruits had the place in an uproar as humans gained blessings. Two people had already acquired an alchemist class, and four were various sorts of cooks.

Some of those delving into my Dungeon had become warriors of various stripes—almost always relating to whatever weapon or fighting style they used—and word of that fact spread.

Bruce gathered empowered assistants as two others who worked on the first new houses gained classes related to their work. One had abilities specific to working with crystal and glass, while the other was granted the power to shape wood, and make it grow into what he wanted—so long as the wood had not dried out first.

The frames for the first line of houses were made with heavy timbers instead of relatively-thin boards. All were grown into place—becoming a single, living skeleton of wood, and the effect was stunning.

I watched with rapt attention, and managed a rough imitation of his ability with a redwood sapling that I added near the pond at the bottom of my second floor. I shaped it into a park bench, and smiled to note that the tree was still alive.

“Good, Ciara. Watch and learn. Protect your world.” Sven said softly, but he didn’t appear.

“The enemy’s—” Sven’s voice faded.

[Sven?]

There was no answer.

I hoped this was just one of Sven’s pranks, but my gut told a different story.

Right. I need to press on.

I made several more redwood benches surrounding my pond, then added some along the paths through the forest.

The group that had slain Vijaya saw a tree sprout and shift into a bench. They approached it with caution, allowing a pack of Forest coyotes to get close before attacking.

The alpha coyote led the charge, yowling to get their attention while the other three circled to attack their flanks.

Spears impaled two of the normal-sized minions before they could deal significant damage to anyone, but the third slipped by human weapons to sink its teeth into a young woman’s thigh, shaking violently and trying to tear her flesh away.

She uttered a ragged scream and dropped her short sword to slap at the coyote with bare hands while her group’s leader focused his spear and shield against the Alpha coyote.

One of the other men, who’d scored the killing blow against Vijaya, ran the coyote through with his longsword. It cried out in pain, releasing the girl’s leg to snap at the man, only to receive a hard kick against its face as another party member drove a spear into its spine.

The humans managed to win as the Alpha coyote was defeated by the leader, who glowed blue as he gained a Phalanx class, causing him to babble excitedly for a moment. The injured girl had to be carried as they beat a hasty retreat so that her leg could heal.

Cutting through the forest proved a foolish move, as the tallest man screamed when his face adhered to the nearly-invisible bottom edge of a Canopy Crawler’s massive orb web.

Quick action by their leader saved him as the web was cut just before the huge spider reached them and skittered back up to its hiding place against the trunk of a large redwood. But the one who’d become ensnared suffered lacerations from the silk.

“F-fuck this! Let’s take the main path,” the tall man shuddered and pressed his right sleeve against the cuts on his forehead to staunch the bleeding.

Their group met another party, composed of sailors, who’d just beaten Vijaya and stared at the students.

“What happened?” One of the sailors dropped her long staff and rushed forward.

“Coyotes.”

“Spider.”

The woman who was approaching slowed when one of the young men barred her path with a spear. “What do you want?”

“Don’t bother, Rita. They’re being rude.” A black-bearded man among the sailors folded his arms.

“I have something that can help,” Rita said, opening her backpack to pull out a pair of gorgeous Freestone peaches.

The man with the spear said, “Food? I mean, that’s really nice and all, but—”

“I don’t know how much they’ll heal, but these fruits aren’t normal. Look closely at them,” Rita urged.

“What the hell? Peaches that can heal over time?” The tall man with a bloodied forehead took one of the fruits from her outstretched hand.

“Carl, what are you—shit… You just bit into something a stranger gave you?” One of the other students facepalmed, eliciting stony, unamused frowns from the sailors.

Still, Rita pushed one in front of the injured girl, who said, “Uh, I’m already starting to feel a little better, so I don’t know if—”

“It works…” Carl pulled his bloodied sleeve away from his forehead, and the others watched in awe as his wounds knit slowly before their eyes.

The man who’d barred Rita’s path with his spear looked thoughtful as he withdrew the weapon.

“Not everyone’s out to get you, kids,” said a gray-haired sailor who looked to be in her mid-fifties.

“I hear the Dungeon kills bad people,” said Rita

The injured girl took the peach and bit into it.

“Who told you that?” asked the black-bearded man.

“An angel named Michael,” she cooed.

A mid-thirties brunette who wore a sour expression said, “Don’t get her started, Trent.”

“Not this shit again.” Trent put a hand on the sour brunette’s shoulder.

She deadpanned at Trent, then rolled her eyes. “Just trying to help.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Kathy.” Rita smiled.

“Rihelah’s got that boy locked down tighter than a well driller’s asshole in the freezing rain. You wanna learn the hard way? That’s your choice.” Kathy shrugged.

A few minutes later, tensions ebbed and the groups opted to explore together for safety.

Well, that’s nice. Here’s hoping they form a strong community.

I heard a single deep bark from the harbor, but it wasn’t my girls or Bella.

The pup wasn’t visible yet, so I located my girls.

On the beach, Sunny and Sandy had their ears perked.

[Is new friend?]

[Friend!]

They shared a glance before running toward the sound of the new dog with tails whipping sideways. Bella did her best to keep up, then yowled with a sad tone and tucked her tail as she fell behind.

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My Labs slowed until she caught up, then kept pace with Bella. Her tail wagged as the three headed for the harbor.

“Duke, heel.” A stout, balding man stepped off a fishing vessel that arrived late in the day, followed by an enormous Golden Dane whose short, dense fur looked like it had just been brushed.

Oh, Duke’s adorable!

A handsome mix between Golden Retriever and Great Dane, the dog had a black-tipped snout that contrasted with his golden face and body. His body was well-muscled and healthy, and his tongue lolled as he stared at all the people while his tail smacked his master’s leg.

My girls slowed to a trot as they approached with Bella, but Duke’s floppy ears stood halfway and he stopped to stare. His tail stood out behind him, and he boofed once.

[Friend!] My girls neared the man and his dog without changing their posture, while Bella stopped and lowered her stance along with her tail.

The man blinked hard and shook his head. “What the—”

Duke barked loudly and my Labs stopped, cocking their heads but keeping their tails moving.

[Not friend-want?] asked Sandy.

[Smells like afraid,] said Sunny.

[Is okay!] Sandy blinked slowly at Duke, who raised his brows.

“Did those dogs just talk?” The man kneeled beside Duke and met his dog’s eyes.

“Yep, they did,” said another sailor who approached from the Crow’s Nest.

“Nathan?” Duke’s master stood to greet the man as he approached.

“Hey, Cap’n Dan,” said Nathan, stepping past my girls as he reached for a firm handshake.

“Well… the Labs seem friendly enough,” said Dan.

“Hah. You have no idea. You girls wanna play with Duke?” Nathan patted the Golden Dane’s flanks, and Duke looked up with eager eyes as his tail began to wag.

[Friend-want!] my girls said in unison.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I thought I’d seen everything after Jesus the Hulk.”

“This place is somethin’ else,” Nathan shook his head.

“You sure it’s okay? You know Duke’s rambunctious.” Dan raised his eyebrows at Nathan while Duke tugged at his leash and whined.

Sunny and Sandy whined back, and Bella crept forward to join them with her tail wagging.

“Aw, he ain’t gonna do no harm, will ya, Duke?” Nathan rubbed Duke’s head but stared at my girls and muttered, “Ten of him couldn’t hurt those two.”

Dan shrugged. “Hah. Them Labs’ll be wrapped around his paws in no time. Alright, Duke. You play nice.” He unclipped the Duke’s leash and the Dane mix trotted toward Sunny and Sandy. His posture stiffened, his tail raised, and he growled softly.

[Dominance-want?] Sunny cocked her head.

[Smells like Alpha-want,] said Sandy.

[Mommy’s girls is Alphas,] said Sunny, stepping forward with her tail raised as she growled quietly back at the Dane, showing relaxed confidence.

Sandy joined her sister, and their eyes flashed with blue light for an instant.

Wait. Did they just—

My girls… have noble titles?

Duke’s body lowered as he dropped his tail submissively.

Dan’s mouth fell open.

My girls trotted forward, and the sniffing of backsides began.

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The soil in my redwood forest grew somewhat thin as the trees reached more than two-thirds of their full size.

No good. I can’t let my forest run out of nutrients.

I carefully added soil in forty-centimeter layers, lifting the ground cover each time. Small roots were disturbed, and several thousand plants took serious damage in the process, but my forest weathered the process just fine.

“Earthquake!” one of the men in Trent’s group shouted.

He pointed at the forest floor rippling in the distance ahead of them and all of them fled toward the surface in a panic. It was a lucky break for those humans, since they’d been close to entering the territory of my ‘small’ Palomar tigers.

While they’d fared relatively well against my spiders, snakes, skunks, and coyotes, I doubted they were ready to face the big cats.

A cow dragged in by my larger tigers gave me a highly-anticipated species I needed for a trio of bulls for my third floor. All were set at 400% mass relative to typical cattle, making them the size of a White rhinoceros—but they differed in appearance and augmentations.

The first had a luxurious, cream-white hide and a wide set of sharp-tipped horns. He received a Physical augmentation.

Next, I cackled when I found that a certain animal had found its way inside my Dungeon and died.

A Northern Pacific rattlesnake.

Fingernail-sized, keeled scales and the rattler’s striking color pattern covered the next bull’s hide. I gave him horns that curved up and forward, heat-sensitive pits in his upper lip, and a Stealth augmentation.

The final bull was more slender. He sported a black and white Holstein pattern, blunt-tipped horns, and the Speed augmentation.

My thinking was that the different types of leather that could be made from their hides could be useful. My instinct liked that they’d be a daunting challenge until the humans became stronger and more organized.

Technically, I could create more serpent minions based on rattlesnakes, but first I wanted to see how the humans fared against my big cats and other large fauna.

I thought about traps, but my instinct told me to wait and see what kind of threat the humans would pose.

As I pondered what to do next aside from creating a boss and digging deeper, a peculiar conversation caught my attention.

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“…and that’s why we need an Adventurer’s Guild! You all saw that gigantic cat Mike was riding earlier today. If we don’t organize and train properly, more people are going to die.” Paul spoke to his friends with the emphasis and surety one might expect from a prophet.

“This isn’t a game world,” said Kelly. “We could’ve been killed! I’m never going in that place again.”

“We don’t have a choice.

Paul shook his head. “You heard what Sven said. This Dungeon is—”

“A death trap,” Kelly cut him off. “I can’t live like this, Paul. If you insist on going in there again, there’s nothing…”

“Kelly? What are you saying?” Paul’s brow furrowed and he frowned.

Kelly pointed back and forth between her and Paul. “This… isn’t gonna work. I’m leaving, Paul.” She grabbed Garrett’s hand and left.

The three who remained with him turned to Paul, who stood speechless.

“Shit. Sorry, man,” said Rodney.

Susanna and Christina embraced Paul.

Paul hugged them back for a moment, then said, “Thanks, but we don’t have time to worry about that. You guys, we need to do this. If people don’t organize and train, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. Let’s go talk with Joe and Mike about how we can make this happen. We have to help save the world.”

I relayed the info to my residents, who were all helping Mike to make nails and hinges.

“Actually, an Adventurer’s Guild is a good idea,” said Michael.

[What do you mean?]

Michael creased his brow and blew a sigh. “Well… at least, in stories, Guilds train people, and help them form proper parties to go into Dungeons. You notice most who’ve gone into the Dungeon have been using swords and spears, but almost nobody uses a bow?”

“Archery takes time to train,” said Mike.

“Exactly. But if people just run into the Dungeon with no training or ranged weapons, a bunch are gonna die when they run into those big cats.”

“Yeah. They will,” said Siobhán, scrunching her eyebrows.

Joe rested his hand on Siobhán’s shoulder and they shared a smile.

“What about guns?” asked Rihelah.

Mike shook his head. “Not a good idea right now. We don’t have a means of producing bullets. Sure, we have a stockpile, but those should be saved in case we need to defend this place. If people get abilities related to firearms and our ammo runs out—”

Rihelah interrupted, “Can’t you make some? You’ve got some incredible skills, Papa Mike.”

“Everything I know how to make is based on techniques from Auronox-knows-where, Rihelah. Probably knowledge from some other world, and none of it has to do with firearms. I’d need proper tools and schematics to produce ammunition that won’t jam a weapon or cause it to explode in someone’s hands.”

“But you used to make your own special rounds before,” said Rihelah.

Mike placed a large ingot into a crucible. “Yeah, but I bought the casings, primers, bullets, and powder. I also had special tools. Pressing pet-loads together from existing components is a lot easier than making everything all from scratch.”

“Okay, so guns are out. At least, until things get going again.” Michael sighed. “But I still think we should hear what this Paul has to say.”

“At least he’s not down in the Dungeon—trying to die again,” muttered Siobhán.

Joe smirked, met Siobhán’s eyes, and they sighed.

[Okay. As it happens, Paul and three of his friends are headed toward you.]

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Floors: 3

Minions: 314/360

Residents: 12/16

Denizens: 351582

Traps: 6/15