Duke contemplated responding to the message but ultimately decided not to engage just yet. Instead, he set about making his plans a reality. The first step was a deep DUNGEON SENSE scan of the mountain he was on. It took a bit to find what he was looking for, but he was able to find the underground network of tunnels that he guessed covered the entirety of the constructed planet. Within those tunnels, he found a cavern big enough for what he wanted. He TELEPORTED down to the cavern.
Once there he cleared out the few minor creatures that had taken up residence there, earning him a whopping 47 Contest points. The clearing of distractions was more important than the points, but he would take every point he could. Finally, he took a Dungeon Core out of his bag and prepared to plant it. He had steadily poured Mana into the Core for the entire trip with the Overmind and had been able to push it all the way to his own Tier.
With no ceremony but a smile, he planted the Core in the wall of the cavern. There was a brief shaking of the ground as the Core secured itself in place before it began to consume the surrounding section of wall to form its own specific entryway. The entryway expanded until a massive set of ornate stone doors had formed. They towered over Duke, reaching nearly to the ceiling of the cavern, each door ten meters wide.
Duke stepped back and waited for the Dungeon to complete its formation. From the Tier and complexity of the Dungeon he had designed, Duke knew it would be a few hours before it was completely set up even at his Adept rank. He delved into his Contest menu to see if he could find anything interesting. He had already noted the small increases in his Abilities from his activities thus far but wanted to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. While deep in a listing of services available in Sanctuary, he received another message.
*** Contest Messaging System Activated. You have received a message from Molekethesius.
Duke, you shot up the rankings so quickly! Did you kill a predatory team blocking one of the lesser gates out of the city? ***
Duke responded to the message, deciding that Mole might just be a good source for information in the city. He did not fully trust the dragonian, but their entire cultural history was based on honor, so Duke expected at least some honor from the dragonian.
*** Contest Messaging System Activated. You have sent a message to Molekethesius.
Nothing so spectacular yet. Just managed to slip out of the city and find a good hunting ground. But the next person up on the list, someone named Zarmouth, has decided to threaten me if I get close to his point total. From the point standings, it looks like he may have followed through with that threat more than once. ***
*** Contest Messaging System Activated. You have received a message from Molekethesius.
What do you intend to do about him? He is known to have killed a number of Contestants. ***
*** Contest Messaging System Activated. You have sent a message to Molekethesius.
Make him try to kill me, of course. I could use the points. ***
Duke did not receive a message right away, but he had other things to do right now anyway. The dungeon had finished forming and was ready for him. He stepped forward and entered the combination of knocks and button presses across the entire surface of the immense door. In all, it took him a full minute to enter the specific combination. When he was done, there was the sound of the whirring of gears and heavy locking bars moving before the massive doors began to open.
Silently, the doors swung outward revealing their four-meter thickness. Duke knew that the very nature of the dimensional immutability of dungeon structures made the door’s imposing thickness irrelevant, but he wasn’t concerned with practicality here. Appearances matter both to him, and to those populating the dungeon. He waited for the doors to fully open, locking in place with an echoing “thoom.”
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With a wide smile, Duke entered, mentally triggering the closing mechanism for the doors with his DUNGEON ENGINEERING Ability. They slowly swung shut behind him, closing with an authoritative boom followed by the whirring of gears as the locking bars completed the sealing of the doors.
Before he started to explore the area, he focused on his DUNGEON ENGINEERING Ability and pushed on the Adept-ranked Ability hard. He focused on the time dilation properties of the dungeon. Previously, he had been able to make the training cave pass time four times faster than the larger dungeon it had resided in which was the limit of his DUNGEON MANIPULATION Ability at the time. He wanted to see just how far he could push things with his newly evolved Ability.
Duke focused on the Ability, Pouring Mana into it at a prodigious rate. He quickly passed one hundred million Mana and kept pushing until he could feel the Ability reaching its limits. In the end, he had poured over two hundred fifty million Mana into the Ability and had the headache to prove it. He received a system notification on his results.
*** You have accelerated the passage of time within the dungeon, “The Forge,” by 1,074 times normal. This is far beyond any reasonable norm and may result in dungeon instability over time. The effects on individuals entering and exiting the dungeon may be significant.
For pushing your Ability, DUNGEON ENGINEERING, to such an extreme, it has gained 15 levels to Adept 31. ***
Duke nodded to himself at the notification with his eyes closed and hand pressed to his head. The motion created a wave of nausea as his migraine did not appreciate the motion in the least. It took longer than Duke had expected for the headache to clear, and he was able to fully stand back up and open his eyes, he noticed that his hand was covered in blood. The realization that he had caused yet another brain aneurysm washed over him as he CLEANSED the blood.
REGENERATION saving my ass again after I pushed things too far…again. But pain is progression, right?
Duke looked up to take in the full scope of the dungeon he had poured so much of himself into and found himself impressed. The dungeon primarily consisted of a two-kilometer square crafting area with space for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of separate crafting areas. There were some areas that Duke had specifically designated when he crafted the dungeon, but there were many more that were available for crafting areas that might be needed in the future.
He turned towards an approaching figure whose steel-shod hoofs echoed throughout the hall. The figure stood nearly three meters tall and was built with the broad shoulders and thick arms of a smith. The minotaur grinned as he approached Duke.
“Greetings Emperor and welcome to the Forge. I am Sar Forglyn, and I am the master of this hall.” He extended his hand for Duke to shake and engulfed the man’s hand in his own.
Duke noted the thick calluses on the minotaur’s hand and the unyielding grip that belied his strength. He could tell that the minotaur’s strength was nowhere near his own, but was far beyond most he had encountered to this point.
He smiled as he responded, “Thank you for such a warm greeting. I am eager to see what The Forge has in store for me. Do you have enough crafters at your disposal?”
“More than enough if it is just you that we are outfitting.”
“For now, yes. There may be others in the future but that is currently a complete unknown. Just remember that nothing worth more than fifty million gold can leave this place. Will that be a problem?”
“Not exactly. If it is a limit per item, we can work around it. You may have to take some things out piece by piece and assemble it yourself afterwards.”
“I should be able to do that if it’s not something that should be in one piece to start.”
“Modular design is what we will aim for when it comes to the big things. Are you ready to get started with measurements or would you like a tour of the facility first?”
“Let’s get the measurements done first and the tour can follow afterwards.”
“Certainly. Come with me.”
Sar Forglyn led Duke to a room close to the entrance. The chamber was covered with runescript that Duke had to force himself not to study. Instead, he stood where the minotaur had indicated. The minotaur stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself. Seconds later, the runescript lit up brightly and several beams of different colored light traced over Duke’s body from all directions. Thirty seconds later, the door opened, and Sar Forglyn gestured for Duke to step out of the chamber.
They crossed the hall, and Duke saw a perfect replica of himself standing in the next room. As he watched, Sar Forglyn was able to reposition the simulacrum in any position and it held itself in the pose.
“This will give us the ability to fit anything to you and test its range of motion without having to take from your time directly.”
“That is outstanding. How many simulacrums can you make?”
“We have twelve simulacrum chambers so that is our current limit. We can make more but I don’t see us needing more for quite some time based on your earlier statement, Emperor.”
“That should do nicely. Now, about that tour…”