I won….

I was startled for a long second. After what felt like hours of the struggle between our cores, the fact that I had slain the other dungeon was somewhat of a shock to me.

But even more than that was my now-evolved crystalline structure. My once cyan core had become a dark red with large specks of grey that seemed to dance around and move throughout the crystal. But not just my body had grown, my power top. Before I was overwhelmed by the energy I had felt around me, but now… now it was unlike anything I could understand. I felt my presence reaching out in all directions further, deeper, stronger than before.

I felt as though the caves and rooms of the now defeated dungeon core were mine to bend and shape to my will. Unconsciously I felt the mana coursing through the stone and sensed where mana cores could be located. I understood that with a single thought that wall would vanish or I another one could be put in its place. The very essence of the ground seemed to revere me as its king. Its god!

It was a scary feeling and one I had no intention to abuse. If I was weaker willed I might have abandoned myself to those feelings. My sense of power and regality taking over, my master and friends doomed by my folly, but if I was that weak of will I would never have been sent back. So I pushed the temptations to the back of my mind and brought up my status.

What do I have to work with?

Status

Name:

Dungeon Avenger

Race:

Ancient Dungeon

True Name:

Firren Twire

Level:

11

Gender:

- - -

Age:

E̷̴͟͞r̵̡̛̛r͜҉̶ó̷͜͞͠r̨͠

Health:

342

Mana:

20532

Health Regen:

10/s

Mana Regen:

1820 / s

Floors:

2

Rooms:

38

Inhabitants:

0

Fauna:

0

Dungeon Type:

Dragon & Golem

Dungeon Influence:

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

207 Meters

I am now a Dragon and Golem dungeon…. Huh. That's an interesting combination. Dragonic Golems could be interesting? That means that when I absorbed the other dungeons powers I took its type as well. Thinking about the list of dungeons he had memorized as part of his preparations he only noted two that were dual types. Maybe dual types are only possible through conquest like this. Does that make me a rarity now? Well, I was a rarity before.

But my just looking at my stats my powers were nothing like earlier. The mana itself had risen sharply, as well as my influence. I must give off quite the power now huh…. wait….

The surface! The school! With my power as it was, I was sure to be sensed by them. Hell, the clash I just had must’ve sent ripples all the way to the capital. I am found out for sure.

But was that bad?

I have a hope of communication now. No doubt they will be sending someone to investigate me, see what those waves of mana were about. If they caused any major damage they may even come for extermination first! There will be a fight.

But again I ask myself, is that bad?

Maybe this is exactly what I need. My plan had been destroyed the second I appeared like this. But maybe, just maybe this could work….

But first I need to figure out what EXACTLY I can do!

----------------------------------------

“Sir! I can explain! I swear I meant no harm… I was just…”, Firren was having little luck with Mater Timon

“Doing what? I see that letter you have stuffed in your pocket! Who sent you! What do they want with our school now!”, Timon was not happy with the young apprentice. They had only met once, during the entrance exam. He saw promise in him then, but now…. Now he only saw disgust.

“Who? I don't know! I wasn't sent anywhere … The-the letter was ….”, Firren had no idea what was going on. It was just a letter, a royal one, but still.

“They are up to their old tricks again! Trying to scare Phonta off again, but this time they resort to terrorism! You will be expelled if we find you were set up to do this!.... That’ll send them a message alright!”, Timon was yelling now at the apprentice, but his eyes were unfocused as if he was remembering a dream.

“I think you are mistaken, sir! This letter was just a prank sent by some gruffy student to mess with me, I just happened to hav-”, The envelope was snatched from his hand in an instant.

“Oh! So it was a prank huh!”, Timon did not buy it one second. “They always choose the dumb ones, easier to recruit, but so easy to catch too”, Timon seemed to sigh to himself.

Timon ripped the wax seal off the envelope and placed it face down on the table. Firren could almost make out a rune on the back of it. ‘Why was that--’

The master made a fist with his hand, revealing a red magical stone embedded into a golden ring on his finger. Closing his eyes and muttering to himself for a long moment, channeling his mana into the runes embedded on the ring and into the gem. The stone glowed a brilliant yellow light, causing both Timon and the boy to cover their eyes quickly.

When the light vanished, the young apprentice looked first at the master, then followed his eyes to the wax seal. There, on the back of the wax, was a faint icon. A golden crown with a blue gem embedded proudly at the front. The symbol of the king himself.

There was no doubt about it now. This letter and its contents were handwritten by the king for Firren to read.

Both Timon and Firren let out a gasp, but for very different reasons.

----------------------------------------

After a few hours of trial and error, I had made quite a bit of progress on understanding and expanding my powers.

First, thanks to the expanded powers and some honest practice I was able to move and bend the stone in the dungeon to my will. Though considerably harder, the metal ores and magic stones were also absorbed, formed, and moved by a simple thought.

Holding this much control was something unreal to me. Thinking back to a peaceful time, many years before I was sent back, I remembered the feeling of using the telekinesis spell for the first time. For a solid week, I had made small pebbles orbit his hand wherever I went. Allowing them to dance about in the air, making elaborate and fluid moves like they were birds on the wind. I felt the same way now.

I don't know if it was my dungeon instincts flaring up from the level up, or the fact that I finally had a plan of what I wanted to do, or even the fact that it was incredibly fun. But regardless, I was excited to begin to shape the dungeon to my will.

I moved my core to the pedestal the old core sat and stretched out my perception to its maximum. I could feel the grass some kilometer above me rustle in the wind and the caves stretch on for miles, winding their way to the surface. If they did come for me, they would come through the caves. That was for sure.

The previous dungeon’s work was not something to take lightly. He had a solid two floors and more than three dozen rooms set up, but they were too small, too basic. They formed a spiral from his core room and had no strategy or purpose. I could tell the other dungeon ran more on instinct than careful consideration. I intended to be different.

For the first real time since coming back as a dungeon, I send out a sweeping order to my dungeon.

"CLOSE!!"

And the earth shook.

In an instant, the stone moved itself to fill in every corridor, room, and the cave that was outside my core room. Immediately my mana pool almost bottomed out, but I had sealed any entrance to me for the time being.

They could still come, there were records of dungeons sealing their entrances when they felt threatened, but no thickness of stone can withstand the will of a kingdom and its profit. Pickaxes would be brought out and night and day they would work to chip ever closer to the core. I did not intend to end up like that, watching as an armed party of adventurers dug their way to my demise. I have a plan now after all.

----------------------------------------

Headmaster Phonta sat down in her office, her head swimming with emotions. It had a day since the incident, but she still could not help herself from tearing up a bit at the thought of its result. Her dungeon, her pet, they were both lost to her. Her school, her school, her very name, they all could have been taken from her had she acted slower. No! It was not that she acted slow, it was that she let the dungeon grow beneath the school for so long without restraint.

She would not make the same mistake again. She sensed another core had taken over what her pet dungeon had left behind.

She carefully folded the letter she had laid out in front of her. Placed it into the envelope, sealed it, and handing to her secretary outside.

“Ma’am?”

“Send this to the adventurers guild. It is urgent.”