While Greg and Martin were battling the man faced spider and then on their way to leave the forest. Jade was trying to figure out what to do next when Martin knocked on Jade’s “Skin” layer.
‘Right I am a dungeon. I need to create an entrance, and make some monsters and floors.’ Jade organized his thoughts.
Before being woken up Jade had been in a slight state of enlightenment. Quickly Jade opened up the dungeon. As he did a familiar said occurred. Beep
Achievement Ancient Presence complete (1/1)
Points + 75
Elemental Beings can be summoned
Survive as a dungeon for more than 100 years. *Special* must have dungeon open to the outside world to unlock achievement
Jade looked at his life list. The elements were not on the list. On the monster list had fire, water, air and earth. Jade summoned 10 of each just to look them over. Each elemental was either a small humanoid shape or an animal shape. Air was birds, fire was dogs, water was a snake, and earth was in the shape of a bear.
‘This is a good start for a dungeon’ Jade recognized.
He sent all but the fire elementals to go and scout around for 3 minutes. After the three minutes were over the elementals all return. Jade then realized that he couldn't get any information from them. Jade had the earth elementals go and gather any plant life, roots and everything included that could fit in the entrance hole.
The earth elementals each went out and brought back several types of plants, out of the 10, 4 brought the same type of grass, 3 brought the same type of vine, and the other 3 plants were different. Jade absorbed the plants. A flow of information about their uses, habitats, and life cycle. The grass was rated as common, the vine was uncommon and each of the plants was rated as rare.
The only place these plants would wind up together was in the forest. Jade created 26 more entrance holes. Summoning more earth elementals, 10 for each hole. 3 of the elementals were sent to gather different plants, the rest were sent to capture animals alive and drop them down the holes with broken legs.
Thinking about it, Jade sent out 5 air elementals for any birds or flying animals. Then Jade decided he might want water animals in his dungeon at some point, and sent out 5 water elements per entrance to gather aquatic plants and animals.
It wasn't long when a brown rabbit with broken legs was dropped down the dungeon, falling 75 meters to it’s death. The earth elementals brought squirrels of different colors, hundreds of insects, more rabbits, deer, a puma, some wolves, more and more plants, and mushrooms. The wind elements brought insects, several bird species, and flying squirrels. Water elementals brought back frogs, fish, salamanders, algaes, and plenty of other water plants.
Jade was interested in the strength of the elementals, they were in the system as a tier 4 monster. Jade kept the elementals out for a few weeks, when they couldn't bring anything new back. The last new creature was a bear, which barely got through the entrance before dying to internal injuries, from being stuffed into a small hole.
It was time to set up the first floor. Jade had space a plenty. After some thoughts about his old worlds dungeons. Caves stood out about what to do.
The dungeon ended up in three sections. The first was 1600 meters long in the outermost 1600 meters of the dungeon, dubbed the tunnels. The second 1600 meters was dubbed the mushroom domain. The last 1600 meters radius was the cavern.
The tunnels were 3 meter to 5 meter diameter tunnels that flowed in circles up and down around the second layer. There were sub tunnels, of varied sizes to let animals pass through. The tunnels were at least 10 cm away from each other and less than 25 cm from another tunnel. This made a massive maze with no set path to travel.
The mushroom domain was equally divided into 4 parts, the North had toxic mushrooms, the East had aphrodisiac mushrooms, the South medical mushrooms and the West edible mushrooms. The mushroom domain was set up as tunnels with no sub tunnels connecting occasionally. Each tunnel was 4 to 7 meters in diameter, with intersections around 10 meters. Wind patterns were set up to keep all mushroom spores in the mushroom domain and not let any spread outside.
The cavern was set up to act as an underground forest. There were layers, with tunnels of various sizes leading up and down. In the center was the natural confusion formation to protect Jade’s core. Using seeds from trees there was a small forest already growing shrouding out viability.
The last thing to do was set up a grand entrance and populate the dungeon with animals, as Jade thought that the elementals would be to much of a challenge for a first floor, because the large bear was a tier 3.
The population of animals came first. Jade summoned 100 herbivore variety, North, East, South and West in the tunnels and the mushroom domain, while in the cavern only a single group of 100 was summoned. The tunnels and the cavern had no trouble, half of the mushroom domain was a complete mess.
The animals in the North died almost instantly and the ones in the East fucked themselves to death. Jade decided to let the animals travel as they needed. Next Jade summoned insects and omnivores. Jade finished off the population with the carnivores.
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Leaving the floor of animals settle, Jade thought about the entrance. In games it would be staircases or cracks in a rock wall. Those were one time dungeons that had some loot and rarely would you come back. Jade wanted to make a commons, a small market for selling loot and buying things. Next he wanted to be able to trade for things. Jade had no idea if that was normal for a dungeon, but he wanted to be able to do that anyways. Also a healing area was necessary, for those that managed to get back alive but injured. There was also the problem that Jade had 4800 meter radius of land to work with. It was easy to rationalize the need for more than one entrance. Jade decided to make 8, North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and lastly Northwest.
With all the other entrances closed Jade got to work designing in his head a commons area to discuss things, a food market, a stall market, a trading post for him and a healers lounge. As he finished creating the first rough build he heard a ding.
Skill learnt Architecture level: 1
+ 1% to durability
Looking at his first building made him a little proud, but he quickly absorbed the entrance and redid it. Jade noticed it was underground and no way to the surface. There was no instructions about what an area was for or any place for clerical services. It was 4 more remakes before Jade was happy with his work.
Now it was the waiting game. Jade went to focus on pumping more animals into the dead zones of the mushroom domain.
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Martin was extremely happy. As soon as he got to the capital he reached out to his family and shared his discovery. While his family was not a wealthy noble family by any means they could afford to buy up undeveloped land like the cursed forest. Martin spent his own money from some of the herbs he gathered to buy up the land.
Other members of his family were concerned about the monsters, and the size of the mana crystal deposit. They suggested a formal expedition to fully explore the deposit and any other resources that could be acquired. This took about a year to get contracts with 6 different adventuring guilds for 20 C rank parties, 13 B rank parties and 3 A rank parties. There was also the supplies to feed the expedition, locating and hiring a high level surveyor and making making a potential road to ease the needed labor to mine the mana crystal. All of which came from Martin's pockets.
The expedition launched quickly. There was little trouble for the adventurers cutting down any beasts that got in the way. The overgrowth caused more problems, but as a mage skilled in fire, and some water Martin was able to help carve out a path. In two months the expedition made it to the center of the forest. Just Martin Was about to celebrate a job half over news came in about a structure of mana crystal in the woods.
Escorted by an A rank team, Martin was staring out at flawless built building in the ground made completely of the highest grade mana crystal.
“Has anyone been inside?” Martin asked
“No. We know the contract, protect and report” the leader of the party report.
Martin nodded before walking down the ramp inside the building. Inside were chairs, lanes for carriages, a few cooking stations, and a stairway downwards. There were two doors. A large one with a picture of a man giving chickens, weapons and plants to a chest for what looked to be coins. The other door was a cross, a man cutting off another man's leg and a man looking to be using magic to heal.
The cooking areas were unique. There was a basin with two levers and a long tunnel tube. Ovens were burning without wood and had large buttons which he had no idea what purpose they had. There was cupboards with different mana crystal pots and pans.
Turning a lever, water came out of the tunnel. The water was hot to the touch. Looking at the lever, there was a flame. On the other lever was a snow flake. Martin moved past this part and into the area with the chairs. The party was following but watching and interested in the strange things. The stairway downwards was of some importance.
‘Was this a city of something else?’ Martin wondered walking forward.
A familiar feeling washed over him. This was a dungeon. A life dungeon.
Life dungeons were the most dangerous of dungeons but also tended to be the most valuable. Dungeons an era ago were considered, intelligent rocks with massive amounts of mana. Then came the first life dungeons, and the theory was changed. The most common type of dungeon was an animal soul running on some instinct created by a log forgotten god, and that life dungeons were the souls of people turned into dungeon cores.
The party saw the stair and walking forward they knew what this was as well. The stealthiest member of the party went over to the chest trading room. He pulled out a dagger and put it in the chest.
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Jade was focusing on the mushroom domain when he noticed the first people enter his entrance. They walked around not understanding the cooking area. They stood at the stairs to the real part of the dungeon. Jade watched them, until a chest was opened. He didn't notice the man leave the group. The man put in a dagger.
‘Shit’ Jade thought realizing that he had nothing to pay the man.
Jade absorbed the dagger and placed two more in the rewards chest. The man opened it looking disappointed, but then took out a copper coin and put it in the chest. Feeling bad about the first reward, Jade gave a hundred copper coins as repayment. The man was smiling from the coins and put in a large copper coin. Jade payed with 100 times the reward again. The man put in two silver coins, one small and one large. Jade gave 50 times each coin. The mana to create silver was 3 times harder than copper. The man smiled more and let out a small laugh and placed a small gold coin. Jade repaid him with 25 gold coins.
The man was almost dancing for joy when he picked up the coins calling over the other members of his party. They each put in some things. Jade gave out either silver or gold depending on if he thought it was worth something. He had never been a mortal that dealt with silver and gold so he had no idea what to pay. However it looked like he was paying well and was getting some uncommon weapons and miscellaneous things.
There was one man not interested in trading instead he went to the large crystal in the middle of the chair section. Jade was trying to think about what do get to get more information from these people. When it hit him, his old cultivation methods. Yin wood method Mind Blood Syphon.
Jade’s cultivation was too low to attempt many of the best utility cultivation methods or he did not have the right resources. Mind Blood Syphon only needed targets to absorb Qi from and would also copy information from a target. Quickly Jade spent a few seconds getting in the mindset and using mana complete a minor path of completion.
As the man touched the crystal, Jade copied everything of value. Language, fighting abilities, magical abilities, history, maps all were taken and more. Jade knew that he was a life dungeon now, and that his life was still at risk, but no one would try and use old magics to try and control him. That left a sigh of relief from some his instincts. He was in some unnamed forest, the map was incomplete, the man didn't fight hand to hand he was a mage that use fire, water and wind.
History of the nation was interesting. The kingdom of Gihread was created by refugees of three different kingdoms after the start of the demon wars era (current era). There was no information about the coming of the demons only that they came after the first life dungeons.
Jade began to use Ice Mind Eyes, on Martin.
Dungeon Status
Level 10
Dungeon Type: Jade
Name: N/A
Titles: N/A
Achievements: Perfect Perfection, Ancient Presence
Mana: 4014/25000
Points: 1150
Floors: 1
Skills: Basic Dungeon Mana Gathering Level 1, Unknown Mana Gathering Level ???, Dungeon Mana Manipulation, Mana absorption, Mana creation Level 2, Dungeon expansion, Summon Monsters, Summon life, Monster imbuement, Monster Naming, Environmental Controls, Floor creation, Architecture Level 3