Duke awoke the next day in full snuggle and he couldn’t be happier about that situation. The feel of Aurelia against him was a comfort against the whirling insanity of his world. He luxuriated in the feeling. And then his notifications hit.
*** Oh, what fun for a new king. You solidified an alliance with another nation. How exciting. And you chose a kingdom that couldn’t even defend itself. Brilliant. So, let’s run through this: you have taken over a kingdom that doesn’t have enough people left to fill its capitol city and allied with a nation that can’t defend itself. Such amazing decision-making skills!
But at least you found a fight against a foe that was higher tier than you. That should have at least been entertaining. Nope. You made that boring too. At least you did so while defying a local god. You didn’t see his reaction, but I’ll tell you this – it was the most entertaining thing all day long.
Anyway, your Skills and Abilities did see some gains:
Dodge increased to Practiced 54
Aerial Maneuvering increased to Initiate 40
Martial Arts Combat increased to Adept 27
Diplomacy increased to Initiate 15
Tonfa Mastery increased to Adept 104
TELEPORTATON increased to Adept 119
REGENERATION increased to Adept 69
LASTING DISGUISE ranked up to Initiate 4
LIGHTNING increased to Practiced 74
OVERCHANNEL increased to Adept 22
FORCE increased to Initiate 16
CLEANSE increased to Practiced 10
RESTORE increased to Master 51
IDENTIFY increased to Initiate 24
INVENTORY increased to Practiced 7
ARMOR SKIN increased to Adept 10
FLIGHT increased to Practiced 27
COMBAT SENSE increased to Initiate 20
DUNGEON SENSE increased to Adept 65
You’re a king now. Go conquer the world or something. And keep pissing off the local gods. That’s fun to watch.
You did kill a few opponents and sent an entire army packing so that counts for something when it comes to experience. Here, have 420,200. You are now level 128 and have 48 Characteristic Points to spend.
***
Fucking annoying bastard right there.
*** They are watching you closely but still only see what I want them to see in the dungeons. They are continuing to hold out on you. They took half the experience you earned for themselves. It is time for me to step things up a bit more. They are too comfortable using you like they have all along so I am going to make them give you what they have held back one way or another. Your next set of notifications should be a bit different. Expect to receive credit for things you have not done but don’t worry about it. They have a huge experience bill to pay you and I am going to see it settled before I completely break their hold on you. Continue to grow, help my dungeons grow, and we shall see to your freedom! ***
Oh shit, the Overmind is getting serious. I had better be ready for the backlash when this all comes to a head. How the hell do I get ready for backlash from beings who laugh at gods?
Duke continued with his day by reluctantly extricating himself from Aurelia leaving her with a CLEANSE and RESTORE. He made his way downstairs, surprised that she was still asleep after he got up.
That must have been one hell of a draining meeting if she’s this tired. I’ll have to ask her about it.
Breakfast was brief but he was ready to get his day going. He needed to check in with Madrigal and see what the restored Duke had been up to. Duke had a sincere hope that the man had managed to get things going and could take some more concerns off his plate. As he headed for the door, Sam intercepted him.
“Good morning, Duke. Can I borrow you for a few minutes please?”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?”
Duke immediately noticed that Sam was leading him to the secret entrance where his core chamber was located. Duke’s level of interest and concern began to rise as he was silently led into the core chamber yet again.
“So, I’m sure you are wondering why I brought you here again.”
“A fair guess.”
“The Overmind has tasked me to create some new levels to the training dungeon. It struck me as odd since there are very few actually using the training dungeon right now but when the Overmind speaks, I listen.”
“OK, so what does that have to do with me?”
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“There is another task that you are being asked to complete. Planting another dungeon core.”
“Wait, I thought that you wouldn’t be able to bud another one for at least a week. Why are you ready to do so now? Did half of the dungeon city die?”
“Nothing like that. The Overmind changed some of my parameters which allows me to bud faster. I can make a new core every day if necessary. It will be a bigger drain on my Mana but as long as the dungeon city continues as it has, and no, half the city didn’t die, I should continue to grow albeit at a somewhat slowed pace.”
“And did the Overmind say where he wanted me to plant this core? I’m running out of secure locations rather quickly.”
“He didn’t say. But I’m sure you will find an ideal spot for it.”
“Anything particular about this core I should know about then?”
“It will be stronger than normal so it can handle more Mana from the start than an average core. You can think of it as starting as a tier two core.”
“OK, I guess I can handle that. How much Mana will it be able to handle being poured into it before planting? The previous one was able to handle 6,000 Mana before I planted it without showing any strain.”
“This one will be at least an order of magnitude greater than the previous one. You could invest 100,000 Mana into it, and I am sure it would be fine. Possibly more, but let’s not push it too far just yet. Do you have a location for this one in mind?”
“I have a possibility or two but I’m not sure if it will be welcomed in the first place I am thinking of. I may have to reserve that for a later core. And, you know that I’m going to have to start planting these in the wild if you keep budding them off this quickly.”
“We are well aware and that is a risk we will have to take. The dungeon energy of this world is insufficient for what the Overmind plans on doing so it is up to us to grow it.”
“And just what is it that the Overmind is planning?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“This is going to suck for me, isn’t it? I’m going to have increased power but at much increased risk. I can’t zip all over the planet defending dungeons left and right.”
Sam’s voice changed, becoming something otherworldly. “Why can’t you? Is it because the twin elders have restricted you in so many ways that you are not even aware of? Don’t be concerned, Duke. My plan will set you free from their control, take you out of their game of manipulation. This is all for your benefit in the short term. Before you ask, yes this benefits me in the long term even while benefiting you still. Imagine the power you would gain when you have planted hundreds of cores, and your title fully tiers up giving you a five percent increase per core planted instead of the one percent you receive now.”
“Titles can tier up?”
“Some can. This one will since I designed it that way. Now, go help the LFD with their new core. I have business elsewhere.”
Duke could plainly see the change when the Overmind’s presence left Sam’s form. Sam shook his head and continued speaking. “I don’t think you are going to have to defend all the dungeons. Most will be able to defend themselves after a while. And many will prove so useful to the populace that has forgotten what they are that they will be protected like the assets they are.”
He nodded to Sam in response. “You’re probably right. Having dungeons for people to adventure in will lead to many good things I bet. Maybe we can create a resource-dungeon. Is there any way to influence what kind of dungeon a core becomes?”
Sam thought about it for a long moment before answering. “I really don’t know the answer to that one. It might be possible but I would have no idea on how to do such a thing. Anyway, my core is about to bud. Please be ready to catch it like last time.”
Duke moved over to the core itself and saw it start to bud like the last time. This time it seemed to be moving faster than before. The bud glowed with a pulsing blue light and Duke readied himself to catch it when it fell. It practically leaped into his hands when it finally did pop off the core gem making catching it a simple affair. Duke immediately began to pour Mana into the new core, quickly restoring its blue glow.
“The first one glowed red. This one is glowing blue. Does the color mean anything Sam?”
“It could, but that information is not available to me for some reason. I guess we are going to have to experiment and see.”
“Experiment? That sounds like a terrible idea. Experimenting with dungeon cores sounds like something Baslin would want to do, and I do not want to see how that would turn out.”
“Yeah, let’s not do that.” Sam’s look of panic and revulsion was entirely human. His expressions had gotten better and better as of late. If they did not already know Sam was the dungeon, Duke might have been the only one to be able to tell that he really wasn’t human.”
Perhaps that’s why the Royal Dungeon Administrator was able to get away with playing as a person.
Sam and Duke headed out. Sam wandered off to chat with some others in the common room while Duke headed out with a bright shiny new dungeon core to plant. Once outside the Inn, he TELEPORTED to the Wildheart Refuge. He appeared high in the air over the Council Chambers and gently flew down, trying his best to not startle everyone again.
Duke waited patiently as the guards took their time coming over to him. They were much more casual since there was no imminent threat and let him into the Council chambers without an escort. Inside, he found Snarlheart and Emberclaw in her office with the door open. He knocked on the doorframe.
The pair looked up and brightened when they saw him. Emberclaw spoke. “Good morning, King Duke. What an unexpected pleasure. Come in, please.”
Duke joined them and closed the door behind himself, extending his SILENCE Ability to encapsulate the room. Neither seemed to notice. “It’s great to see you again and to see you still working together is even better. I have come with a proposal. I ask that whether you accept or decline, this remains a secret between us three.”
“That sounds rather ominous, Duke. Are you sure you want to propose such a thing? We are a rather social group, and conversations are hard to prevent or monitor.”
Duke sighed inwardly. “Very well. Just know that I bring this to you at great personal risk because I trust you and want to help you.”
The serious looks he received from them both showed Duke that they were taking it seriously.
“What is the hardest part about growing your people in power out here?” Duke asked.
“There are few monsters to fight around here. That is why we chose this area to make our own in the first place. We are not a generally martial group of people, so it seemed like an ideal situation. But the repeated attacks by seemingly random warlords and kingdoms have shown us that it was perhaps not the most long-sighted choice. We simply do not have the monsters to kill for experience that others do. So, our people grow slowly while our enemies grow far more quickly.”
“That is exactly what I deduced.” Duke smiled as he continued. “I have brought you a potential solution to your growth problem.” Duke opened his left hand to show them the dungeon core.
“What is that? A glowing gem?”
“It’s much more than that. This is a dungeon core. With it, I can create a dungeon for your people to explore and gain experience from. Even magical treasures will eventually be available.”
“I don’t understand.” Snarlheart was intrigued but cautious.
“It’s like another world you can enter and leave but while you are in it, you can adventure and fight monsters, gaining experience and loot. Surely, you’ve heard of legends of such things.”
“I have not. Emberclaw?”
“Me neither, but it sounds rather exciting. How does it work?”
“I simply plant the core in a location that you can protect, and it will grow an entrance over the next day or so.”
“Location we can protect?”
“Dungeons are extremely valuable for what they can do but some will fear them and try to destroy them. There are so few left in the world that we can’t allow any of them to be destroyed.”
“You enjoy disrupting our happy little nation, don’t you, Duke?” Emberclaw asked with a wry grin.
“I enjoy helping my friends and allies. What do you say? Would you like a dungeon of your own?”
The pair exchanged a glance before they both nodded at Duke. “Yes, let’s plant this dungeon of yours.”
Duke smiled as he dropped the SILENCE that had been wrapping the room. “You have a good place to put it?”
“Oh yes. Follow me.” Emberclaw chuckled.