> Hello All, Dungeon Reviewer Tom here to bring you a very special issue of dungeon weekly.
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> This year brought forth a phenomenon a few of you have probably heard of known as the “Mysterious Island”. While I fondly remember when I visited said island several decades ago, I’ve missed out on reaching it ever since. This year however I’ve managed to interview several lucky adventurers that made it this year and I’m here to bring you short snippits of their experiences.
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> Enjoy
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> I remember beating back a massive stickmen and fighting a caustic bush. Those were pretty memorable moments personally but I also…Well…
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> Those were unique for me, but I feel like I’m explaining it badly. Those could show up in a regular dungeon and just saying I fought a bush doesn’t make the mysterious island unique. It doesn’t fully capture how it felt you know?
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> I…Okay here’s how I’m going to try and explain it. When you go to a typical dungeon there’s usually a theme. The mysterious island had a theme as well, but it was more…varied. Like. Even the most varied dungeons tend to only have a few general monster types with the occasional lucky unique to bring food to your table. The mysterious island however probably had over 100 different affinities in it! It was a lot okay? One moment you would be fighting a solid golem of earth, the next a creature of air and bubbles. One moment you would be wandering through a mini biome of sand and crabs the next one with floating droplets of water slowly falling in strange patters.
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> It wasn’t just a place of wonderous variety, however.
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> There was…There were these glowing pools of water with horrible tentacles that pulled all three of my teammates into them. Mike quickly grew a pair of rabbit ears and started hopping about. Mercy lost her enchanting smile and…grew scales like a kobold. Even Malo was affected by those pools. He grew fat and blubbery as his body shifted towards something like a boar it…it was awful. Their statuses said the debuff was temporary but…Mike still likes to hop even after the status cleared.
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> What was my favorite part of the island? Easy. I gained nearly 20 levels in [Dagger Mastery] and a dozen more in both [Endless Blades] and [Quick Taunt]. My class advanced from [Knife Bard] to [The Singing Blade] and…this is a bit embarrassing to confess but I’ve been in a rut for quite some time. This island gave me the feeling of growth for the first time in years. It was nice.
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> Let me tell you the story of the island. I’m looking forward to the reward I’ll get from the adventurer’s guild for learning the secret of the island once and for all. By the time this is published I’ll probably be famous! Hear that? You’re getting an interview with a future famous adventurer. Lucky bugger arn’t you.
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> First off. Some background. There was this quest I found deep in an ancient ruin on the island. It brought me to several different areas and caused me to chase down this flitting wind spirit that flew around the whole island for 2 whole days.
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> At the end of the quest you are able to summon…it can’t be a dungeon monster no. The island can’t be just a dungeon. It’s just too strange for that to be the case. You are made to summon this swirling entity of curses and potions who throws out cantrip class spells every half second and speaks of an old power given flesh.
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> That fight took me and m’partner a good 30 minutes to complete.
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> (At this moment in the interview, the adventurer spent over 20 seconds in silence running his fingers up and down a long axe like weapon that flaked motes of ash and rust constantly. Finally as if having finished remembering what he had faced the adventurer continued)
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> Finally upon beating that…echo of a forgotten realm, you are given the secret of the island.
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> It’s actually a space wizard. When it’s not down on earth it hides behind the moon and performs some vast magic to well I’m not quite sure.
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> I…yes I realize it sounds like a conspiracy when I say it aloud but the island itself told me what it was. I felt a faint rumble through my feet as the quest notification finished explaining… It was very convincing at the time okay. Believe what you will, I know what that island is.
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> I beat its messenger and learned its true history. I even got three potions called “Remnants of the celestial” that increased my intelligence stat. IT ACTUALLY INCREASED MY STAT. That’s proof is it not? I’ve never heard of that happening before. The space wizard is stealing our history by coming down to the earth and letting people explore it. That’s why you’ve never heard of the witch king before. Lost to history and then eaten.
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> Isn’t that sad? We have lost so much to the island over the years. It's not the island's fault however. It never said what it was using that history for but I think it's using it to help bring itself back home.
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> Anyways. Going to go cash in my explanation. See you again while I’m famous Mr…what was your name again? Tom? Haven’t heard of you. You can follow me around when I become famous I’m very generous like that. Hey. Maybe some of my fame will even rub off on you! Won’t that be great!
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> What? Screw off. No. I won’t stop for an interview. If you want answers, you’ll have to ask them while I fight through this dungeon – I’m much to busy.
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> *grunts after flinging off an owlbear claw*
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> What? Yes I went. Got this nasty scar from fighting a giant rose too.
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> *Repeated sounds of flesh hitting flesh as the interviewee pummeled the previous owlbear.*
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> It was void attuned okay? Nasty void fire breathing void liquid drinking bugger. My [Brawler] class does not do well against punching void stuff. The whole time I fought that stupid flower, my feet were sizzling and turning red despite my [Iron Body] and 86 points in endurance.
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> *cracking noise as two more monsters were smashed into the wall repeatedly*
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> Anyways. Got some experience at least – even if the dammned thing gifted me some boots after I beat it. I refused obviously, why the hell would I want to wear boots when I could feel the earth beneath my feet.
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> *interviewee raises bare feet and points with an angry expression*
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> What? No I don’t have a skill or anything I just like the feeling… why do you ask? What does this have to do with the island anyways. Do you have a thing for my feet? Shove off.
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> (Adventurer stopped responding at this point ending the interview early)
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> What? YES I WAS THERE! OHMYGAWD. There was a field of cute little puffball monsters and a giant clock that sped up time. Actually sped up time while you were in it! WOW!!! I’ve never seen time magic before and I’ve been in a bunch of dungeons my friends all told me that’s a sign of a strong dungeon do you think the mysterious island was really strong???. Anyways spent maybe 10 minutes by that clock and the event was over! Can you believe it? 8 days past in only 10 minutes? Well okay not quite 8 days because I spent some time in that puffball field but still! I bet that was the most exciting thing on the island!!!
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> Secret of the island? Well l did complete a questline that culmulated in a fight with a strange construct of mana. I believe it called itself the witch king? Really liked cackling is all I’ll say to that lump of air and time mana.
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> Well either way, there I learned the island is stuck in a time loop. There was also something about being infected by some magical virus? I didn't quite get all of it but I did see some strange viruses in the questline so maybe it was telling the truth.
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> Yeah me and me buds were there. Proper warm-blooded adventurers we are. None of this finger wavy twiddly magic nonsense. I fought a bull with my bare hands you know? Threw away my sword and tussled with the monster on its own terms. That’s the sort of thing that makes you feel alive.
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> What made the island special? Ehhh. Can’t say mate. Seemed like a normal dungeon to me. Bit weird to get to though.
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> Most memorable? Oh I quite liked this old bank full of explosives. Made my blood pump. Made me feel alive. Me and me buds jumped out just as it exploded and I wish I had some of those fancy viewing capturers. Would have made a great way to pick up chicks am I right? Wouldn’t even have to say anything just project that macho pose and burning wreckage behind me. Damn I should check how much one of those are.
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> What sort of structures did I see? It was strange it was almost like there was a dozen different cultures and places all stitched together. A lot of it looked fine, but sometimes whoever stitched them together did a bad job. There was a solid line of burning grass right beside a solid line of blue sand in one place.
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> The strangest was probably the edge of the island however. There was a swirling mist that kept making you want to turn around - and stepping into it would cause you to sink into a thick numbing liquid that made you want to turn around even more. I wanted to explore further but wasn’t strong enough to pierce the outside of the island and find out what was on the other side. What if the island connects to a whole other world?
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> I missed my chance to find out.
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> What did I take away from the mysterious island? Besides all the loot you mean? Well I did complete this winding quest. Found out the island is a war weapon created by our government. There’s a conspiracy about how they are making artificial dungeons I read about last year and this island is the culmination of their experiments.
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> It’s come other years you say? ehh. Don't believe everything the government tells you. This was the first time they deployed their experiment once they have enough practice they are going to take over the world with endlessly produced high level items and materials.
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> It is known.
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> And there you have it! The Mysterious Island. Confusing descriptions but something seemed familiar. For the life of me I can’t say what that familiar feeling is however. By next week I’m going to be traveling to the broken continent again, I think some of my favorite dungeons were found there. The real powerful ones that have been around a millennia. You can find my serial at adventurer guilds across all the continents the next issue will be Issue 278. As always ~thanks for reading.
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> -Tom.
Excerpt Obtained from an article in "Dungeon Weekly"
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Abyss: I told you before the games I’ll be advancing soon. This is your final warning - I’m level 100 and have 10842/11110 experience. In case you weren’t told, there's an experience bonus in the games.
Abyss: Well either way, once I reach that point I’ll be gone and unless one of you has reached Tier 6 and can take over you’ll have to find someone new or dissolve the group.
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Amy: I’m close but I don’t think I’ll make it in time :/
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Fated Eternal Design: …I’m tier 6 okay? We should be fine.
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Abe: Wait what! How?
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Fated Eternal Design: I…am sorry? I get a lot of experience from my dungeon.
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Abe: What are you doing that we aren’t??? Quests?
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Fated Eternal Design: I have a lot of adventurers I guess? A city’s sprung up around me. I had a lot before but recently thousands of sapient’s appeared. I guess they heard about…the eternal. Heh. Either way here. Let me show proof.
Fated Eternal Design Level 64 105/4810 exp to next level. System Access Level 6 0/2 requirements met to advance. -124/2500 sapient delves. -Level 82+ Stats Mana Storage 36529.36/36529.36 AMU Physical Storage 2038000/10416055 Kg (stone average) Age 3 Years Distance underground 351 meters Number of floors 15 floors Titles. Air Mana Specialization, Mental Mana Specialization, Eternal Mana Specialization, Customization.
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Abe: Oh? We are showing off our statuses? Okay well, it's been a while and now I can force my customization on you all. I have the best theme. Not even a competition. Everyone else pop out your statuses as well. Last one to do so is a pebble or something.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Abe Level 59 EXP to next level 1580 System Access Goals Left 1/2 Reach Level 64 Titles
Fire Mana Specialization,
Explosion Mana Specialization,
Entropy Mana Specialization,
Customization.
Stats Mana Regeneration 1.34 Mana/Second Mana Storage 89 Percent Physical Storage 78 Percent
ZeMadDoctor. Level 60 (20/4270 exp) System Level 5 1/2 to advance (level 64+) Floors 12 Mana Regeneration 89 mana (personal) Mana Storage Personal Max 4270 Mana Storage AMU 11990.55 Current Mana Concentration 2.81 Distance Underground 199 meters Current Year 2000 AS Current Time 7:23AM Age 3 years Average subjects a day 15.6 Number of caged Demons (lesser) 1590 Number of caged Demons (regular) 120 Number of caged demons (greater) 2 Null stone storage (useful) 420 kg Null stone storage (quality) 859g Physical Storage (inventory) 1209 Titles Earth Mana Specialization,
Kinetic Mana Specialization,
Space+Void Mana Specialization,
Customization.
Innearth Level 59 105/4140 exp to next level. System Access Level 5 1/2 requirements met to advance. -50/50 sapient delves. ✓ -Level 64+ Stats Mana Regeneration 82.45 personal unit/min Mana concentration 2.79 AMU / personal unit Mana Storage 11566.38/11566.38 AMU Physical Storage 56% Capacity Age 3 years Current Year 2000 AS Distance underground 293 meters Number of floors 14 floors Titles. Earth Mana Specialization, Crystal Mana Specialization, Void Mana Specialization, Customization.
Amy Level 62 200/4536 exp System Access Level 5 1/2 requirements met to advance. -50/50 sapient delves. ✓ -Level 64+ Mana Regeneration 88.73 personal unit/min Mana Storage 11456.45/11566.38 AMU Physical Storage 82% Capacity Distance underground 242 meters Titles: Water Mana Specialization, Life Mana Specialization, Life+Mental Mana Specialization, Customization.
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Abyss: You know it took me six and a half years to reach where most of you are at right now? Just saying. Bunch of show-offs. Respect your elders!
Abyss: Nah I jest. Great job everyone. As long as you've been having fun who cares what level you are. certainly not me. I'm glad you figured out how to keep the group after I left - I just gave FED a moderator role once I advance he'll be promoted to group admin. You can figure out what to do afterwards.
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But Innearth was no longer paying attention to the group. As fun as seeing their choices were, he had a bigger problem. 2500 delves? I already got 50 dammit. Why is it asking for more! It took a special event just to get those 50!
I thought I solved this issue but it's going to pop back up again in like 5 levels? I have to start thinking of solutions, I can’t just wait for them to wander past with those numbers. I have to be proactive.
Innearth was rapidly reaching a longing for adventurers that dwarfed his previous desire. He had had a taste of actually getting to test his designs. He wanted more.
Thus over half of his consciousness was split and devoted solely to brainstorming how to get adventurers.
The other section of his consciousness started to clean up and review his dungeon.
Okay. Well let’s make sure to check on all my cute little ascended monsters. They each need attention I don’t want any of them to feel like I have a favourite.
Innearth made sure to spread his thoughts wide while thinking that so all the ascended monsters in him could “overhear” that thought. He then flipped to the cavern with the level 61 Snake scout and made sure to direct his thoughts as close as he could to them.
It's you. You’re my favourite. Don’t tell your siblings.
The snake scout made a snorting motion and moved slightly, its massive body wrapped a dozen times around the room shifting and shaking a bit with the motion.
Moving up and down them, Innearth saw all the changes that had taken place in the snake. The first few evolutions had pushed the dungeon-born monster closer to “natural” creatures or monsters. It could now eat for energy as a substitute for Innearth’s influence and its own mana. It had also shifted and grown several minor organs and more structures. Its last evolution and the most visual changes had been its length, however. Even as it was pushed away from dungeon magic it was pushed more and more towards an almost mythical magic existence with its length.
Based on their current levelling speed they would reach level 64 and reach their 6th evolution within a few more months – Innearth couldn’t imagine what other than length would change with that evolution.
Smiling fondly and pushing warmth and pride towards the highest levelled ascended monster in Innearth’s dungeon, he turned and moved on.
His next visit was to the area his invisible illusion wurm was located. The slippery ascended creature was hard to track and impossible to pin down. Even with the snake INSIDE of Innearth’s influence he could just barely tell the floor they were on – he was forced instead to look at the illusion the snake used to shift its presence.
They had briefly rested in their old mini-boss room after their battle royale and were now exploring his whole dungeon.
Well there didn’t seem to be anything in his dungeon that could hurt them – or if they could they wouldn’t be able to catch them – so Innearth left them to their own devices.
His next visit was to the water slime who had…changed both in design and slightly personality.
The area that Innearth had expanded into with natural underground monsters had changed as well. Almost as if to follow along with the water slime.
Over the past few months, the area that Innearth was theming as the ice caverns slowly pushed into where the monsters were originally living – relocating them down deeper and deeper. As more and more mana funnelled down into Innearth’s lowest floor the monsters grew stronger generation after generation and some ascended to a point where they could survive in the ice zone that was originally their home. The water slime took charge of the monsters and fought battle after battle against the natives finally becoming recognized as their boss.
After ascending once more at level 16 the water slime had grown a shimmering blue gold crown and became the king slime cementing its rule. The whole situation was strange if only because they were located at the bottom of his dungeon and were weaker than most of the monsters above him but…that was fine. They were simply displaced monsters, not something Innearth cared enough about to throw at adventurers even if it cost him nothing.
…you know throw at the adventurers I’ll get once I figure out how to attract them.
While moving into the area the monsters used to inhabit Innearth found some…not strange closer to embarrassing details he had missed initially.
The excavating monster had finished removing all the fossils and assembling them and Innearth was shocked to find instead of one creature that Innearth had started to think of as a dragon there were two separate ancient sources of the bones. One was a 4 legged prehistoric 2 horned creature with a tail and rolling back. The other was a creature that stood upright on two legs and had stubby little hands.
…so Innearth’s crystal dragon had been based off of two separate prehistoric monsters overlapping on top of one another…it did not have 6 legs and the single skull he had found initially had belonged to the upright predator.
The fossilized creature had been sewn together with mana that Innearth was starting to think of as “fossil mana” and then the shrew-like creature had gotten on and tried to ride its new mount to safety. Seeming disappointed the scarier-looking predator fossils were now missing a head, the shrew settled for the prey creature instead.
Being rebuffed by the cold and then pushed deeper into the dungeon the dinosaur riding monster had rampaged before being driven away again this time by the slime king and several of its subjects.
Now the subterranean political structure was shifting around the slime king and its loyal forces of wild monsters. The triceratops-riding shrew monster had set up a roving band of rebels that sought to dismantle the slime dynasty.
…the whole scenario just amused Innearth. War had begun to form and Innearth had goaded on the free entertainment by providing the slime king with a “crystal worm” spawner to help bolster its forces.
The spawner was just a copy of the ones in his beginner floor where spiked worm monsters were split in two and mitosis-like doubled their number after healing slowly in sped up time.
For the rebel team, Innearth had given a single cannon-like crystal turtle who could smash through any makeshift castle the slime kings’ forces built – as well as a dozen small “lesser crystal snakes” each with an embedded piece of t-rex fossil inside of them.
The result was the king could constantly refill his forces with weaker troops, while the unique raiders were stronger but vastly outnumbered. The random slices of fossil chunks were mostly to theme the raiders, but it also allowed the shrew to communicate and persuade the forces to work for him with strange fossil mana spells.
Of course, despite giving Innearth “pet” vibes he still cared quite a bit about his slime king and did not want them to die for entertainment. Thus, behind the slime king a looming protector was found in a single greater snake with multiple illusion cores. That bodyguard was not nearly as good at hiding itself as the unique material version – the one the illusion wurm had originally been – but…it was enough to hide from the farce of a war and swoop in to save the king if it ever needed it.
There were a few more components to this battle – the largest being the "endless mass of crystals" did not care for the charade and would pop in periodically to play with the slime king. If the slime king was indisposed, the mass would wander through the battlegrounds as a third party playing at war and muddying the results. But, for the most part, Innearth was done checking out his natural monster area.
Finally Innearth moved on from exacerbating the battles and found his 3 crystal snakes. They were taking turns to head off and explore in pairs acting almost military-esque in their actions. They had after all been made then shoved straight into a war and had thus advanced in the midst of massive battles.
The more Innearth spent time watching them the more their personalities began to manifest for him. Renaming them from Scout 1/2/3 Innearth instead drew on their military actions and christened them “Cadet Brawn”, “Cadet Follower”, “Cadet Instinct”. He made sure to communicate their “commanding officer” was the snake scout and to learn as much from him as they could.
After going over all his ascended monsters and giving them the attention they deserved, Innearth finished restarting his dungeon. The snake and spider battle was back on. All the monsters that had been made and retrieved in various events were spread throughout his existing areas.
The biggest change was that the ice golem made with a dozen combined balls that he had tested out in the island was set as the boss of the ice caverns. The boss fight was set up so that a minimum of 4 snowmen would break apart and reform into a giant single monster – just a bit less than 4x as strong as normal snowmen.
A portion of his regenerating mana and attention was used to slowly – efficiently – expand where the burrowers moved. A portion went towards using all his excess mana to make the materials his ice caverns needed and to design each room.
Finally, the rest of his mana and attention was left on where his mind had been brainstorming this whole time. Brainstorming ways of solving his adventurer problem once and for all.