Pov Vivian

I looked out from this mountain mansion. It wasn’t as glamorous as I thought it would be compared to the open Palace in the main city. That place was one of the most opulent buildings I’ve ever been to. It’s important to also learn how the settlements around dungeons work, as they often mirror the way the dungeon itself works.

I have checked the information my people have gathered about this dungeon, and I have a lot of questions to ask. Things just don’t add up, and if it wasn’t for this stupid political situation, I would have been questioning the city Lord and the Master in charge of everything here. Now, I was just lucky to be here. Why this Master didn’t want me to meet the Lord when I got here, I don’t know, but I have a feeling it’s due to their personal squabbles.

Once again, I went over the data I had, trying to make sense of how this dungeon could have functioned in the early days. But no matter how many hours I put into it, with all the skills I had meant to figure these things out, I was missing crucial pieces of data to make sense of it all. But I didn’t even know where to start looking for those missing pieces or what they could even be.

Then I felt it—most likely, I was the first to do so—as only a few moments later did the vibrations become strong enough that others would pick up on them. It was partially thanks to my talent, which also allowed me to walk inside dungeons that were way too weak to handle the presence of a diamond rank. It was a wonderful surprise when I reached diamond rank and got this talent, as it allowed me to do my job even better.

I love figuring out how dungeons do things; they are the most wonderful living things in this world. They are also one of the scariest. The breakthrough of this dungeon started to settle down, but it took quite a while, which means that this dungeon core should be pretty big. That would help the numbers a bit, but not enough.

I started to head towards the location the Master told me to go to. The manor was quite big and labyrinthian, but eventually, I found my way to the location. The master and the city lord were already discussing the current situation, and apparently, the city Lord didn’t know that I would be joining. Typical Master, with their practice of keeping as much knowledge to themselves as possible.

I could feel the city Lord sensing me out, so I did the same to him. He was supposed to be 6th stage diamond rank and at the bottom of the stage like every other forced diamond rank, but he was close to the 5th stage. It was a bit hard for me to properly sense him, which was weird. The master was a proper 5th stage, probably thinking he was the strongest, but my grandfather was nice to me, and thanks to him, I was 4th stage.

I was introduced, and I flexed my talent a bit to show that I was actually a diamond rank, but only briefly. The city Lord had indeed been kept in the dark about me entirely. He seems to care about the dungeon, making me increase my evaluation of him.

What I wanted to do was ask questions before we went through the gateway, which also looked quite interesting, but it seems the city Lord didn’t want to wait and started to walk towards the gateway.

Quickly, I flexed my talent once again to shielded this dungeon from diamond rank fluctuations that cause them to go crazy and, in most cases, hurt themselves. The Master indicated for me to follow, and so I did.

We entered the gateway, and for the brief moment it took us to get to the other side, I quickly ran the calculations to figure out that we weren’t going as deep as I expected. Usually, dungeon cores were at the bottom, but this one was about halfway down. It instantly reminded me of my grandfather’s tales of fortress dungeons and how they worked.

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My train of thought ground to a halt, and so did I, when I saw the dungeon core. It was perfectly circular, which was uncommon as most dungeons couldn’t make themselves perfectly circular. It had a brilliant white light coming from it and was almost completely clear. Then, there was the size of it—so big, so… “magnificent.“ I felt like I was drawn in by the beautiful core as I walked past the city Lord.

“Let’s get this done quickly.” I heard the Master say as he dragged the chain device closer. It was the first time I properly focused on it and realized that it was not a platinum-ranked chain but a diamond. So they really wanted to keep this dungeon in their hands. If I understand it correctly, this dungeon is currently the only reason why the Beasts and the Masters have not come to a single fight, and if things continue like this, we might actually form an alliance with the Masters. I didn’t relish the idea—I didn’t much like how they run things—but if a proper war were to start, it would be way safer to have two opposing forces instead of four. A lot less chaos that way.

The city Lord was acting strangely; every once in a while, I saw his eyes darting around like he was looking at shadows. The dungeon core itself was slowly getting larger, and it was fascinating to see it happen.

I didn’t really like that we needed the chain dungeons, but if we didn’t, it would be like leaving a local god to do anything they wanted, and like every other person, dungeons could be vindictive. Every single one who had reached platinum rank could wipe civilization off this world easily enough if they learned a few key pieces of information.

The Master pushed the device closer, and it activated when it got close enough to the core. The box opened up, and chains started to be created. They seemed to be onyx in color and were quite thick.

It seems that this dungeon truly has a lot of willpower. The fact that the city Lord seemed to have that much control over the dungeon was impressive, but I wasn’t certain how controlled this dungeon actually was—it was most likely doing things it wasn't supposed to, as the data was wrong.

More and more chains were created, and they slowly started to move towards the core, then surrounding it. A diamond rank device like this made chains that would counteract this dungeon’s willpower perfectly but also make sure that this core could influence its dungeon almost as well as it did without the chains. That was the benefit of a diamond rank chain device.

It was connected to a necklace with a large amulet that the Master was currently holding up. Whoever held this necklace was the true master of this dungeon as soon as the chains finished their work. It would most likely go to the most secure facility the Masters had. I kind of expected to get an order to capture that necklace, but I guess we’ll see.

It was annoying to shield them both, as the chains took longer than any of us expected. I looked back and saw the city Lord had gotten a bit closer, but he was still looking kind of nervous. That was truly strange, and I guess this was a good enough time to ask him some questions, as the Master was too busy binding the necklace with the chains. Yet it seems like I waited too long, too mesmerized by the dungeon core itself.

There was a small pulse of power from the necklace, and then the chains had stopped moving around and were tightening themselves around the core. I could view, thanks to one of my more specialized skills, the connection forming and then completing. It was done.

“I’ll take that,” I heard a different voice, and after one blink, I saw a man behind the Master holding onto the necklace.

Before I could do anything, that man—or something that looked like a man, as one of his arms had wicked claws on it—pierced through the back of the master, even while he was trying to activate defensive skills, and went straight through him and his heart. No way that should be possible, but then I felt that person’s core ignite. He had been so close to diamond rank that killing the Master pushed him over.

Was it the Delvers? I stopped hiding my strength and allowed it to flow through me, ready to fight. “I am so sorry, you weren’t meant to be here,” I heard from behind me and tried to move, but the Lord put me in a bear hug, and no matter how much I pushed, I couldn’t dislodge his hands. Using my skills, I drove my head backwards as strong as possible, but I almost blacked out, as it felt like I hit a wall.

I did seem to be able to destroy the necklace that was around his neck, and then I felt his true power. He was a 3rd-stage diamond rank. How was that even possible? Then I felt another presence close to the dungeon core. It was another diamond rank, and I swallowed in absolute nervousness as that person was at the peak stage. What is going on?

More people appeared, going near the dead body of the Master, doing something to him. Then I saw the peak diamond rank transform one of his hands into the distinct claws I would recognize anywhere. That thing was a dragon in human form. What was it doing here? What was going on? Then that transformed arm moved so fast I couldn’t follow and pierced the dungeon core itself.

“No...” were the only words I could get out as I was being squeezed, and it was hard to breathe. I saw the dungeon core crack, and the light it was emitting dimmed at a fast pace. They just killed it—why? What's happening? But my brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen; it was so hard to think.

Whatever skills this Lord had were suppressing my strength. I hadn’t felt this vulnerable in so long, and I felt the darkness closing in. I needed to get a message through to Grandfather, but I felt my strength leave before I was confident the signal got through.