Pov Vivian

I’ve never been a captive before, but I’ve always imagined it being torturous, where you are in a place that’s damp and cold, you barely get any food, all around a horrible experience. Well, I could say that I’m mentally tortured by the simple fact that the biggest dragon I’ve ever seen is just a few meters away, currently sleeping, and could kill me in an instant, but that’s about it.

This place is nice and warm. They bring me plenty of food, so actually, the biggest problem I have is boredom. That just doesn’t seem right. I also wasn’t always bored. Ismael, as the dragon called itself, actually spoke to me from time to time.

At the start, he never slept, but nowadays he does. I don’t know what this dungeon did, but now, even if they allowed me to, I can no longer get any message through to my grandfather.

I’m pretty sure I saw the dungeon stone that this cave-like place is made of change a bit, and well, now I don’t even have the hope of waiting for the dragon to slip up so I could get help down here.

They say that I will be let go when the time is right for them, but honestly, I don’t know if I believe them or not. At the start, I didn’t believe them at all, but they treated me nicely, so who knows what their plan is?

I was startled a bit when Ismael started to move. The way he woke up kind of reminded me of a cat, which was strange to witness. His eyes were bigger than my entire body, and it was kind of weird whenever he looked towards me. Yet I was so bored, I think I will risk a question. "Good morning, Ismael?" He blinked his eyes slowly and nodded towards me. "Can I ask you a question?" After a bit of time, he slowly nodded.

"I’ve always wondered this: Dragons don’t get their intellect before they reach platinum rank. So how could they be the rulers of the Age of Civilization if at that point gold rank was the highest? And even more so, how could they bring about the Age of Civilization when, in the Second Age, silver rank was the highest? No one has ever been able to answer that question for me."

He blinked his eyes a bit faster this time, laid his head closer to me, and I did take a few steps back just in case, but I was already against the wall with nowhere to run. I expected a voice that would shake the world around me, but instead, I felt a spell connect to my mind.

“It's too early to speak out loud, but this will do well enough.”

“You know, I had the same question in the Fourth Age, the Age of Heroes, and I guess I can tell you the same answer my mother gave me. Like you know, talents can change a lot. Remember when you were so shocked when you first woke up here, and you couldn’t sense that I was a diamond rank?”

“Then you realized that you are not the only one who can hide their rank. Well, in the Second Age, the Age of Monsters, there were seven dragons that gained the same kind of intelligence that other sapient species had.”

“Now, normally, that wouldn't have helped them win anything, but, well, the smarter of us can always control the unintelligent of my kind to a certain extent. That helped them win the Second Age. In the Third Age, there were more. Now, I don’t know the exact number, but at the height of our power, we had something called the Council of 300, so there must have been at least 300 intelligent dragons back then.”

He looked at me then, seeing if that was good enough, but I think he could see the hunger for knowledge I had. He huffed in amusement. The volume of air pushed me against the wall, simply from the size of his huge body.

“Just for reference, at the height, there were about 100,000 of us. So, I think there might have been a maximum of 1,000 intelligent dragons in the Age of Civilization. And as you know, any species capable of complex thought will have differing viewpoints. The end of our high point would come no matter what. It's just that the people we were oppressing managed to wage war before we could wage war on ourselves.”

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“When we got to the age of heroes, when everyone could reach the platinum rank, well, there were too few of us left to mount a real resistance even if we could unite. So that’s the story of my kind. We could have been great, proper leaders who didn’t die of old age. We could have guided civilization, except we tried to control it. We tried to enslave, and, well, we got what we deserved. Any civilization built upon some sort of enslavement of others usually falls sooner or later.”

He smiled at me. I could see it, even if his face didn’t look like a smiling one I’m used to seeing on other people. The implication was clear: we also enslaved an entire species. “Is this dungeon seeking revenge? Will it end our civilization for what we have done to its kind?”

I didn’t get an answer for a long while. I think it must have been an hour, as I was already doing other things, trying to keep busy, when he finally spoke.

“I honestly don’t think he cares that much about his kind. Dungeons are like that; they never really got along. But who knows what will happen? But I do warn you: I recommend all of you leave him alone. I don’t think any of you have experienced what the dungeon can do when it goes to war. Even I have only heard stories about it, but they were always scary stories.”

He then broke the connection we had. I knew that he wouldn’t speak to me again, at least not today. A few hours later, the gateway opened up, and a few people came through with the food. The food was always great, and they left immediately after they dropped it off. I tried to figure out how the gateway worked, but I wouldn’t be able to break the lock that would allow me to use it, even if I didn’t have a guardian constantly watching me.

Time continued to pass, but I finally was able to get some art supplies at least, so I could once again start sketching different designs for dungeon floors. It was my hobby, and I know that at least a few of my designs have been used in diamond-ranked dungeons. Perhaps it was a bad idea to do so, but I was pretty sure that this dungeon didn’t need my help to do anything.

I was shocked out of my daydream when the gateway opened up—not at the regular time when they normally brought food. It was the first time I saw the person who had killed the master.

He had grown so much stronger. He was now as strong as me, but that was only if I took into account our core strengths. His body felt so much stronger than mine. I didn’t even think I could win if he was a newly advanced diamond rank.

“There's a good chance that you’ll get to speak to your grandfather today,” he spoke in a measured tone, and the other people with him set up a table with a really interesting-looking crystal on it that seemed to be designed for communications.

How did they get that signal to go through whatever changes the dungeon made to the dungeon stone? I was supposed to ask questions, but he held up his hand. “No questions, no speaking at all until that crystal lights up.”

So we didn’t and waited for hours and hours until the crystal lit up. Immediately, I could feel my grandfather’s signature just beyond the crystal. I said as hastily and quickly as I could, “It's the dungeon! It’s completely free!”

My breath was rapid as my adrenaline shot up. I expecting the communication crystal to be turned off, but nothing happened. I looked up in confusion only to see a smirking face looking back at me.

“Make it brief. As you can hear, your granddaughter is just fine, and we aren’t hurting her. You will get her back; you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Have they hurt you, my dear?” I heard through my special communication skill. It seems like we can still secretly communicate as this device has allowed us to get close enough to each other to communicate without any problems.

“No, they have not hurt me,” I said and communicated through our skill at the same time.

“This dungeon is completely free, and it has multiple diamond ranks working for him, including a peak diamond rank dragon.” I do not know exactly how my grandfather reacted to it, but I should say something with my voice as well, as the person who brought the crystal was looking at me weirdly.

“Your senses are getting better. Yes, they are communicating through some kind of skill, but I warned you guys about that,” Ismael spoke with his loud voice. I looked at the person now turning towards Ismael, and he simply nodded.

“Yes, we expected that they would do that, but well, hopefully, that will help make our point even more so. Our main goal is that you stay quiet. In the end, it’s up to you how you want to handle it. She will still stay down here until that certain time comes.” That person answered Ismael and then spoke to my grandfather.

“Vivian, tell me everything you know. If they have diamond ranks, this is more serious. We need to know everything about them as soon as possible. Are you sure that the dungeon isn’t controlled by that dragon?”

I sent an affirmative back to him, but I didn’t bother pretending to speak, as they already knew what we were doing. “I think I should stay here and gather as much information as possible. I don’t think they will be an easy enemy to beat. Also, the dragon has warned me that going to war against this dungeon would not end well. I think I agree with him.”

“I do not like the idea of you staying there, but right now, I think you have the correct idea. Try to get as much information about them as you can, and I will do the same. At least I think I now know who the people are who are leaking all this information. It seems that we have been in conflict with that dungeon for a while now without even knowing.”

“I will accept your deal if I can speak to my granddaughter every week.” I could hear my grandfather’s powerful voice coming through the device that was just in front of me. None of the people here seemed to be affected by that voice that I have seen make people quiver in fear.

“Once a month, and if you are caught speaking about our existence, well then, the time is up, and so is this conversation.” With that, the device was turned off, and I could no longer feel my grandfather.

“Ismael, don’t speak too much with her.” The dragon just huffed at that, and then they left. Everything had happened so fast. Did I make the right decision?