The new issue that had grabbed his attention was that the inert portal he had woken up next to, which had been a second blockage he had felt, had apparently been cleared by the eruption of spiritual energy and now served as an outlet through which this valuable new resource was steadily draining away.

At that moment, the rate at which the spiritual energy vent he had opened spewed out energy outpaced the loss significantly, but there was no guarantee that the vent wouldn't run out eventually.

Furthermore, such a sudden influx of spiritual energy to whichever place the portal led was sure to attract attention and it was now imperative for him to see if there was a way to close the portal and to find out where it led.

He moved himself to the newly activated portal which had started lighting up in a soft glow and now consisted of slowly spinning rainbow particles on a canvas of black and gray. He found no way to interact with the portal, as the stone arch surrounding it was only what it seemed and didn’t contain any further functions. It seemed that his only option was to step through the portal.

When he arrived on the other side he was greeted by a dimly lit room with sheer, stone walls. The only slight illumination was provided by the portal, and even that was almost entirely gone by the time it reached the walls.

He was relieved that some process in his new body recognized the changing light conditions and activated his night vision. After a few seconds, the room was perfectly visible to him, as if it was in full daylight. It seemed that not every new ability of his had to be manually activated.

His crystal body was soon followed by his incorporeal one since there seemed to be no immediate danger. After a brief inspection, he determined that the room was roughly hemispherical with no further features to indicate which way would lead to the surface the fastest.

When he neared the wall just across from the portal, one of the abilities of his crystal body that he had not yet tried out drew his attention. It almost seemed eager to be used and after a small moment of reluctance, he complied.

He felt uncomfortable being told what to do by his own body. It had been ages since anybody, or anything had even tried to tell him what to do. It didn’t really matter since he had wanted to try them all out eventually anyway, but it was the principle of the thing.

In front of his eyes, the stone began to part. Hesitantly at first, but with increasing speed a hole the size of his fist formed. His senses further told him that the stone from the hole had been fused into the stone surrounding it, making it a bit more durable. This meant that the bigger the rooms he dug with this technique, the sturdier their walls would be.

He had received the advice that reaching the surface as fast as he could, would only be beneficial, so he continued working to establish a passage to the outside world. As his familiarity with the technique increased, so did his rate of advancement. Luckily, the drain on his energy only slightly exceeded the rate at which it refreshed, so it would take quite a while until he would have to stop.

Two days of digging upwards at a steep angle later he finally broke through to the outside world. A ray of sunlight speared out of the small crack that was his connection to the outside world. It had taken many cycles of excavation and meditation to refill his reserves, but now he finally felt the connection from his inner world to the tunnel strengthen considerably.

Alongside the stronger connection, another barrier appeared at the tunnel exit, preventing the spiritual energy which had accumulated more and more in the tunnel from spewing into the outside world. This alleviated his fear that he had just kicked the energy loss problem down the road and hadn’t actually solved it.

After this positive surprise came a much less welcome one though. There was someone outside waiting for him. He could make out a hushed conversation between at least three people, one of them female and two male.

He now regretted not taking the time to properly research all of his abilities and that he hadn’t really explored the full combat potential of his new bodies.

From his limited information, he surmised that he had probably unluckily tunneled into a settlement or a camping spot. Another possible explanation was that there was someone who had somehow tracked him and was now waiting specifically for him.

He was suddenly very thankful that his method of excavation was almost completely silent. Just when he was about to silently close the opening again in order to carefully think about his options it seemed that at least some of the energy had escaped before the barrier had been established, which had seemingly led to his discovery. It was unexpected, however, that the voice which called out to him soon after both knew that he was present and also exactly who he was.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“The delegation of the Great Oracle humbly greets the esteemed dungeon.”, a female voice called.

He thought about retreating for a few moments but ultimately decided against it. For one, the other party clearly knew where and who he was and secondly, A group of determined cultivators would have no trouble digging down to his portal in a matter of days.

Since retreat was not an option there was really no downside to showing a bit of goodwill by meeting the other party face to face. He thus swiftly removed the few centimeters of rock separating him from the outside world and came face to face with a party of three.

The woman, who was obviously the leader of the party, was clad in white-rimmed, black robes which concealed her body and hair fully, while her face was hidden behind a white ceramic mask. The mask was not plain though, as its facial features were highlighted by gold filigree.

His ability to see spiritual energy also informed him that there were a variety of potent talismans hidden beneath her robes and that the mask was clearly much more valuable than even its ornate appearance would suggest.

She was flanked by two men who wore a much more common outfit with both of them clad in cured leather armor which was mostly concealed by heavy, dark-green cloaks.

In terms of weaponry, one of them was outfitted with a short axe for close combat and a long spear that could be used both for hunting large prey and also to keep enemy combatants at a distance. The other had a bow slung over his shoulder with a quiver on his right hip and a machete on his left one.

The weapons and armor also faintly lit up to his spiritual energy sight, marking them as low-level spiritual tools on the same level as the woman’s talismans.

“And who might you be?”, he asked the trio.

“Greetings, dungeon master. I am Oracle Nayda, sent by the Great Oracle Broga to be your aide, advisor, and liaison to the Great Will, and these are my guardians Seylin and Rafir.”, she answered.

“And how did you learn of me and my location?”, he asked her, though with less suspicion than before. After all, he knew that this was what oracles did, they knew things and used that to steer history in whatever direction they saw fit. His sources of advice had also told him to expect visitors, just not that quickly.

“Your location was revealed to Great Oracle Broga by the Great Will. This is a barren land, magically speaking, and as the first and only dungeon, your presence is a boon as well as a necessity for its continued development. The Great Oracle has long pleaded with the Great Will for greater support and the revelation of your location was the source of great excitement among the local agents of the Great Will.”, she answered.

“While your words sound believable, you should understand that I have to make sure before we talk further.”, he told her. Her two guards were bristling at his statement, but the young woman only nodded.

“What would you like me to do to prove my identity?”, she asked. Quin pondered for a short moment before deciding what would be the hardest thing to replicate which could still establish her identity fairly quickly.

“Why don't you draw a simple sealing array for me?”, he said. with a wave of his hands, his incorporeal body ejected a thin layer of loose soil onto the smooth stone floor between the two sides. “If you really were trained to assist me you should be able to do that much.”

“Of course.”, she answered. She then grew a branch out of her right sleeve and used it to draw various symbols and lines in a vaguely circular shape with an open spot in the middle where the subject to be sealed would be placed.

During the inscription process, Quin kept most of his focus on the two men to make sure they couldn’t make use of his lapse in concentration for a surprise attack. His occasional glances at the array did confirm to him what he had been more and more sure of during their short conversation though.

Even if Nayda wasn’t, as she had claimed, an oracle, she was at least sufficiently bound to the Great Will that it was highly improbable that it would allow her to harm him. Sealing arrays were virtually unknown to weaker cultivators and also designed in such a way that they would only work against their intended targets, which made them ineffective against the large majority of possible opponents that weaker cultivators would face.

They were however a tool commonly used by the agents of the Great Will to lock away objects or people that were too hard to kill until a time when an individual able and willing to do the deed arrived. Dungeons, he knew, were frequently used to hold such undesirables as few locations were as secure as them.

When she was done inscribing the array, the young oracle looked at Quin in askance. “Is this array to your satisfaction, dungeon master?”

Quin took a long look at the array circle and mentally compared it to the more advanced ones he had seen in the past. When he couldn’t find anything wrong with it he looked back at her and nodded.

“Very well. I apologize for my caution, but I am sure you understand that I am now in a more vulnerable position than at almost any other time in my life.”, he said.

“That is only natural. May we know the honorable dungeon master’s name?”, Nayda answered.

“You may refer to me as teacher Quin. While you are under my care and supporting me in various ways I will naturally reciprocate and guide you in your cultivation efforts.”, he said. “Now, if you would follow me, please. I will show you the inner world of my dungeon and we will see about setting up some accommodations for you. While we walk you can tell me what you know about dungeons and the things you think will be most pertinent for me to learn in the immediate future.

With that Quin turned around and made his way back down the pitch-black tunnel. Nayda followed him without comment and after making eye contact for a short moment her two attaches followed the others, having been ignored completely by both.