The main hall inside the Academy of Dark Arts was packed to the brim. The seats, rafters, balcony and floor were all full of silent listeners. Some had been there since morning classes but more had arrived after word of a sudden lecturer holding a special class was spread around.
Marie was set on her dream of joining Syndicate ranks full time and was putting in more effort than before to help Abi cultivate a new generation of Space Mages.
"Miss?" A woman near the front raised her hand.
"Please. Call me, Professor," Marie smiled at the student, enjoying her role more than she thought she would.
"Yes, Professor. I still don't understand the difference between portals and teleportation and why there is a need for both?"
"That's a good question. While both seem similar, they each have their own benefits and flaws. Teleportation is good for moving single people or small groups and allows them to instantly appear in locations they have visited before. The cost of the spell is determined by how far away the target is and the amount of people being transported.
Portals - or gates, on the other hand, are a different pot of fish. They take effect over reality rather than the mage casting the spell and cost a significant more mana in their initial set up. Once they've stabilised however they only require a trickle of power for their upkeep and can be used by the masses as opposed to small groups.
The difference between the two is not only a variable mana cost. Gates take longer to set up than a single use of teleportation would, the amount of people that can use them afterwards make up for that shortcoming.
How you arrive at your location is also important. Once a gate is created, it is visible on both sides of the portal. Time is needed for people to pass through and the gate will need to be guarded to prevent misuse. Teleportation, however, occurs instantly and follows the mages will.
There is also a spell called mass teleportation that's capable of moving even armies, but is not cost effective so I won't go in to it. What I will say is that it takes an absurd of mana to move a large number of people with one spell. So unless you're coordinating with a group of Space Mages - or you have a mana pool the size of a river, it's highly unlikely you'll be able to cast a spell like that on you own. Hell, you may even suffer for trying it.
It's easy to learn from the mistakes of the past. An mana-depleted Space Mage is no help when it comes to retreating. Unless they're saving their own skin that is," she added, talking from experience.
The woman who had asked the question was nodding along, scribbling down notes as fast as she could. Much like the majority of those in the hall. Others were entranced by the old ladies' words and couldn't take their eyes of her long enough to write anything down.
"I know most of you didn't see the portal that was created in the forest, but that was different to the gates we are able to create. Even I have never seen a gateway that leads to another realm, and I have been around. When I was closing the breach, I wasn't able to decipher any of the runes that were used in its creation.
Which I'm still pertubed about.
Still, that's the speciality of gates. They allow you to travel to places you have never been before, unlike the spell teleport which is confined to known locations. To be able to create portals, you need to have the spell gate and know the symbols for at least one runic travel formation. You can aquire them by studying currently-dormant gates spread through the land. Chasing someone through portals is much easier than following a teleporter, let me tell you." Marie thinks back on her past events and how they helped shape her into the person she is today.
A strong woman.
And a strong Mage.
With an even stronger determination to hit level 100 and become an Assassin. Joining the Syndicate is her goal, but it's not enough. She wants to be an Assassin, one with the shadows. If Abi knew about it, she would probably attribute it to Marie's kleptomania.
The hall was even quieter than before after Marie's mention of demons. The citizens hadn't seen them, but the details weren't being hidden. Word of what happened had spread through Varona like the wind. Everyone now knew that demons were real. That they were an actual thing, and they had even invaded them. Or at least they tried to.
The person who secretly ran the council, the woman the Priests revered as their God, the one who claimed to own the dungeon and all the monsters inside, had fought them back. Or so the stories went. There was also a lot of "I killed more than you did" in between conversations for some reason, but the girl named Abi was present in almost every story.
Even Marie had spoken about the woman with green hair. She let her tongue slip mid-lecture before composing herself.
"Tracking a teleporting Mage is like searching for invisible bread crumbs. The mana signatures they leave are faint are the only way to find them is..."
Marie's was psyched. Her lecture continued until late in the evening and the numbers attending only grew larger. She prayed it would only take a few weeks to train herself a few replacements if she kept drilling them with knowledge. Hopefully some of them would unlock the class and she would be free.
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Although, teaching had actually grown on her by the end of the session. Having so many people listen to her speak was a hard to begin with. Especially since Marie liked to live in the shadows and had hid away from society for the last 40 years. Yet, there was something about a crowd of people hanging on her every word that she found intoxicating, and she liked it.
Marie the Space Mage Professor
Dungeon Stories Volume 4
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I haven't made any progress at all.
Zero.
None.
Ishda is still a far-sighted dream due to my constant spending and every day there's something else that I need to spend points on. Whoever said having more DP would make life easier was a fool. Although, that might have been me. If anyone calls me out on it, I'll just pretend I never said it.
I remember the days when I only had 20DP. Spending my points in a matter of seconds and lazing around living the life of un-luxurious bliss while waiting for them to refill. Ok, I know, that's not how it went down. Then again, if I swap out 'bliss' for complaining and crying then it wouldn't be too far from the truth.
Instead of making my way towards another valuable farm of DP, I've been replenishing Assassins, upgrading features, dealing with unforeseen problems and coaching the triplets. For reasons they seem to blaming on me, none of the girls want to use their transformation skill. I don't wanna force them to change, but as humans... They kinda suck. Like... really suck.
They're still level 1 for Core's sake.
Even Bear is level 18!
The triplets just aren't strong enough to beat a Golem in human form. They don't have the stats for it. If only they'd grab a few levels as Dragons, then they wouldn't do so bad in their other form. At this rate though, Bear's going to end up being their protector and guardian.
I've also been spending my time sorting out other problems. The guests from Tune have been allowed to return home and we've taken in a new batch of redeemable souls that need guidance.
Guidance that is more like therapy, but it works. As soon as their souls have reverted back to grey, they're swapped out with another yellow or orange soul from the coastal community. It's slow going, but it's better than killing everyone and it works.
I'd be a mass murderer by now if I followed Sis' instructions. Fortunately, I found my own way of correcting behaviour that doesn't involve 16 years of waiting for them to mature. Growing up in an already corrupt world is no way to start a new life.
No wonder the system wasn't working properly before. Sending souls through the cycle of reincarnation, only for them to be born again into the same shitty world is not a problem solving idea. The equivalent is sweeping dust under the rug. It might be out of sight for a while, but the problem is still there. It's better to mop the floor instead. Although in this case, Tironia is the floor and it's pretty fucking big.
It's going to take a long time to clean, but it's not like I have to do it all on my own. Sacha, the Deputy Mayor of Varona, is amazing when it comes to finding the right people for the right job. Hence when she told me that Raff - one of the City Council members - would be the best person for the job, I immediately put him in charge of reformation.
Delegation at its finest.
My responsibilities on the matter are now more laid back. Hana and Mira still watch over the yellow souls undergoing reformation and instead of me, it's now Raff that sends them their way. Samantula and the Spiders are still on orange duty which takes much longer to cleanse.
Other variables that I hadn't considered before and another reason why I'm still nowhere near Ishda, were the current problems in the cities I already control. Orad wasn't actually that bad to be fair and it only took the better part of a day for me to sort out.
After having an awkward conversation with Mayor Baldur about the fact that I'm a Dungeon Core, which he took a lot better than I thought he would, I created buildings to house the homeless and built livestock-producing features to ensure everyone would be fed.
I also made an orphanage and staffed it with a few Assassins to look after and teach the little delinquents. Usually it's hard to find someone to care for those who haven't been dealt the best hand in life. But since I can rely on my ever-expanding family, I don't have to worry on that front.
Mayor Baldur is quite young for his position. He's roughly in his forties, has dark brown hair, is cleanly shaven and wears a nice tunic that you would expect your everyday city Mayor to be dressed in. He's also as straight faced as they come. After joining me me as I constructed the buildings, he didn't seem startled in the lease nor did he say a word.
It was beginning to throw me off my game with how casual he was and I was starting to question whether he might be a demon too. But when his facade finally broke, I felt much better. People should be freaked out about me being a Dungeon Core, right?
Mayor Baldur's jaw dropped after we left the city. Outside the walls, a small hill was emerging from the ground. It kept rising up, getting higher and higher until a door rose into view embedded in the new mountain. Soil fell from the featureless frame as it stopped rising and settled in to it's new position, surrounded by the grip of Tironia. Mayor Baldur almost deafened me, screaming like a lunatic as the door creaked opened, "What the hell?"
Did he not believe me? Did he think I was just a super powerful Magus or something? I told him what we were going to doing of course, but he must not have believed me. Well... that was unlucky because it's there now and adventurers are ready to level up on good, old-fashioned, ugly and smelly Goblins.
Dungeons that are free to enter are unheard of around here. So any treasure they find, which I did add to incentivize dungeon diving, is theirs to keep. Not to mention that they can level up quite well on my Goblins. Growing stronger the accomplishment they rack in can become addictive and the effort they put in works twofold.
They grow and get stronger, becoming happier and higher level in the process. Improving their lives and hopefully inspiring others to do the same.
I earn more points as the farm grows too, so it's a win win.
I explain to Baldur that the monsters inside this dungeon are not capable of leaving and that there will always be a couple of guards on duty to ease his mind. Not that they would exit the dungeon anyway. Everyone I summon is loyal to the dungeon. To me. Still, it makes Baldur feel better.
Dungeon B is only 20 floors deep and consists solely of Goblins. A hobgoblin is set as the Dungeon's Boss and it shouldn't be too hard for a group of seasoned adventurers to take down.
A comfortable room where the Assassins can relax after standing guard outside is after the Boss. In the room behind that, defended from any would-be dungeon destroyers, is Core B.
Nothing will happen to me if it's destroyed, it's just a Dummy Core after all, and I shaped the dungeon around it myself using my own dungeon's powers. To be honest, the Core is actually irrelevant and unneeded. Now that the land is mine, I can keep purchasing and create dungeons out of nothing. Still, having a Dummy Core there makes me feel better for some reason and it looks legit.
That was the extent of Orad's problems. Not many at all as the city runs rather well. I can't fault Baldur. He's a good guy with a good soul to match. I like him.
Tune and its Mayor, on the other hand, are pretty fucked.