A terrifying figure of a knight emanating void energy was walking slowly through the tunnel that was not even inch higher than the monster that had a black stone strapped to its forehead. Inside dwelt a presence that was exited by its every step, thoughts of grandeur running though its mind.
"Thinking about it, do the cultivators have some sort of a system or not? It does not seem that way." Karl Gulden mused, trying to invent new ways to exploit the system. However, it seemed that he was the only one with the system that was explicitly shown to him, the cultivators had to do the good old research and Karl's own system tried to somehow fit their world with its rules and laws into a digital form.
At least that was how he imagined it.
"This means there will not be many exploits that are left undiscovered in the system of cultivation, the only meaty exploits I can find should be in relation to my dungeon system." He speculated further, but the only thing that kept appearing in his mind was some way to guess the best locations for his buildings.
He ended up with history being his answer.
His system obviously depended on where he tried to use it, he should explore the world's history and visit the most famous historic places and the present most potent sites to get the best dungeon buildings possible.
"That is so funny. Most people gain power in cultivation worlds through secret scriptures, but I will be seeking famous places and hidden history records." Of course the dysfunctional Heavens could throw a big wrench into his theories.
He urged the Void Knight to go faster, as he did not want to waste too much time before finding the closest place to his other dungeon that he would connect in the future to achieve a single large dungeon with all the utility he needed.
"But that is troublesome! It means that I will have to have multiple dungeons in multiple places if I want to seize all the best sites." Karl did not like his conclusion as it naturally led to a battle on multiple fronts. Not to mention that he was unwilling to just throw traps all round.
"I will worry about it when it comes, I do not have multiple good sites yet." He wanted to enjoy his current level some more, because he would not be reaching level four anytime soon. "This will be the place."
He stopped the movement of his minion in one of the more remote places of his former Labyrinth, when he saw an entry he had been waiting for to appear on his holographic screen.
[Temple of Earth(2) 5 000 000Ma 15/s]
He quickly focused on the building he wanted and began construction without delay. With level three, his mana regeneration was ten times better than before and he estimated the whole process would be done under two hours. He could not wait for his new servants that were bound to improve his construction speed tremendously while thinking about his future joint dungeon layout and security.
"I need some measure against Earth cultivators. They would be a nightmare to face." He thought about constructing parts of his dungeon from materials outside the Earth attribute, but there was no suitable candidate. The only option that struck him as easy and obvious was ice. The problem was that if he faced an invasion force some day, even Water Mojo would be probably present among their forces. He needed something very rare, but something he could still use himself.
"I will do something about it after exploring the new temple." He promised himself to lay the paranoid part of his mind to rest.
The Temple of Earth turned out to be quite a weird structure. To the point Karl had no clue if it was completed until all the rocks ceased their movement and the result was left in front of him to look at with his bulging eyes.
"Well, that is unexpected." In a perfectly cubic room dozen meters high there stood a thick pillar made of rock in its middle that went from the floor all the way to the ceiling. It would be an ordinary pillar, but it was joined with another pillar that went from left to right and yet another one that began behind Karl and ended up embedded in the far end of the room's wall. Three pillars intersecting in the middle of the cubic room, spirals of yellowish energy running from their six bases into the intersection in the middle where all the energy simply vanished under the stone surface of the joint.
Karl watched the strange structure for a time before eagerly looking at the structure's options through his management tool kindly provided by the system.
[Temple of Earth(2) 5 000 000Ma 15/s]
Spells- [Dominion of Earth ()/s]
Summon- [Elemental(Earth) 50/s]
"What trickery is this? This does not follow the pattern at all!" He was surprised to see that there were no cheaper versions of his previous minion as he had expected, but just the same old elemental plus a strange spell he decided to try out right away.
Still, it felt rather underwhelming at a first glance.
Karl selected the Dominion of Earth spell and his senses immediately shifted as if he had become the ground around him. He could sense all the tunnels that had been miles away just a second ago and felt every single one of them as if everything had been his body. It was a very strange experience, one that he had expected to have when he had first heard that he was supposed to become a dungeon. It took him some time to get accustomed to his new perception and when he focused randomly on one of the tunnels, he could sense its rough surface, the aftermath of the quick work of his minions.
"So crude, I have been oblivious to all the details." Karl thought and suddenly, the surface of the tunnel changed, becoming smooth like glass.
He was deeply fascinated by what had just happened and began testing out his newfound power some more. He moved and shaped tunnels and the rock and soil moved by his will as if he was a god in his underground kingdom. Smooth tunnels, bizarre columns and dreamlike caverns sprang into existence, flowing like water under the command of the greedy dungeon that was stunned by his sudden power.
"Damn." Karl finally interrupted the spell after an undetermined amount of time. The range of the spell was only a few miles, but even then he had to force himself to keep away from the temple. He knew that he might get stuck for weeks here, playing with the amazing new spell.
"I think most security problems had been just solved." He could not imagine anyone being able to defeat him in the area of the few miles if he activated the spell. Sadly, the area was not large enough to encompass his other building. However, the temple's defensive value was unquestionable.
"Let's connect to the old base, besides, I need the walk to sort through my ideas." Still overwhelmed by the spell, he exited the Temple of Earth and began returning back to his original base.
Karl proceeded to tunnel towards the Fort of Orlov to connect to his other structures, leaving two of his Void Knights behind. Plenty forces to be able to protect his new structure against anything mediocre. He switched his awareness to the guarding duo every now and then and stopped all his work in surprise, when one of the knights saw a familiar figure.
"Ah! Lord Regent sees his runaway ruler, how convenient!" Karl chuckled and the hand of one of the guarding knights shot up to keep the youngster from fleeing. Karl decided to leave his minions working alone while he began returning back to his new building where he had to initiate the future Lord into his new role.
* * * *
Tyrn walked next to the pond that was near the Labyrinth's entrance, how many decided to call it. He was veiled in his magical cloak that prevented most of the threats in to woods from detecting his presence. However, his eyes were down under his hood and he did not seem to even care about the dangers of the forest anymore. They were too distant and he had no experience with any of the feared beasts.
His eyes blinked.
His right eye blinked.
His left eye blinked.
He touched them both softly with his left hand and they were still there.
And his right hand was squeezing his butt that hurt like there was no tomorrow.
"Cursed bitch! Does she think that she is my mother or what?!" Tyrn growled, angry at the whole world and even on himself. He was happy that the punishment had been much lighter than the original idea and he was angry at himself for it. He felt like a puppy that was happy to receive only a light beating from its master instead of a harsh punishment.
"Ten out of fourteen is too much." He stomped into the dark tunnel with a shining stone in his hand.
He proceeded along a path that led to a branch of the Labyrinth that he had marked as a dead end. The tunnels were as dark and humid as ever and his imagination kept conjuring hideous monsters beyond the edge of the cone of light that was coming from his glowing stone.
"I will have to dive."A shiver ran through his body when he remembered the substance the Labyrinth was flooded with. His disgust did not last, interrupted by a suspicious noise and all his hair stood on his body when he looked into the depth of the tunnel and understood that it was not from outside of the tunnels.
"Someone is here." Tyrn's mood fell and he hoped it was someone, not something. He was already quite deep in the tunnels, but it was the part he had previously explored and there should not be anyone present.
Something has changed.
Despite his fear and hesitation, he knew that the famous slave driver hero Purple Flash was losing patience with him and he had to explore at least some of the tunnels to avoid her wrath. Reluctantly, he slowly continued walking, ignoring the ominous noise in the background evoking a feeling in him that the rock itself had come to life. What a ridiculous notion. He persuaded himself that it was at least not reminding him of spiders in any way. The disturbance was difficult to attribute to anything he knew, a weird creepy noise that was more pronounced the more he pushed further though the tunnel.
He wanted to return, but he could not because this was a tunnel that led to several dead ends that he had skipped the last time. He needed to sneak though it if he wanted to really explore more than one or two of the tunnels he had previously abandoned. At some point, he noticed that he could see something even without using his stones, a faint source of light had to be somewhere deeper into the tunnel.
Moving further, he was sure that the source of the light purple glow was coming from behind a corner, he hurriedly took out the map he had drawn and found his position.
"This tunnel is straight! There should be no corners." He persuaded himself that he was hallucinating due to fear and simply pushed forward, his crouching figure making it closer and closer to the source.
"You are just a hallucinating coward, the tunnel is straight, the map says so." He told himself until he passed a certain point and could not ignore what he saw anymore.
The right side of the tunnel disappeared and there was a new branching connection that just after a few meters expanded into a huge cavern that was suspiciously rectangular. Before he was able to see any more details, his eyes registered two big figures that stood right behind the door of the strange room, their whole body glowing with the light he had previously seen.
"A Door?" He said in confusion and immediately understood that should not be the main reason of his surprise and felt quite silly. Silly and scared.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
After he had overcame his shock, he turned around intending to ran away, but his hesitation was a grave mistake and one of the monstrous armored figures leaped forward and caught him by his arm. When the huge hand clenched around his arm, he stopped his motion as it was clear that any kind of struggle was futile. Tyrn closed his eyes and expected his end with thumping heart.
Expected and expected some more, but he was for some reason still alive.
He opened his one eye and looked sneakily at the one holding him and quickly closed it again, because the armored figure was much scarier up close and he had a feeling that he had when he was a kid, the feeling that no one could see him as long as he had his eyes closed.
It was a very silly strategy, but it was all he had.
Tyrn had no idea how long he had been frozen in his posture, but every time he tried to open his eye a little, the glowing metallic monster was still there and he quickly closed it again. Until he heard steps and looked in the direction in which he had intended to go originally. He saw that there was another similar glow in the tunnel, slowly nearing his position.
He had no reaction and continued to stand there in shock, because he could not be more in shock than he already was.
The sounds of steps were closer and closer, until the sound stopped directly in front of him and he dared to look who it was. It was no surprise that it was the same kind of metallic giant as the one who was holding his arm, but right when his consciousness was about to fail him, he saw a black gem strapped to its forehead and everything clicked into place in his head.
"Great Demonic Eye of Doom, forgive this humble servant!" He wanted to fall to his knees, but forgot that his captor was still firmly holding him and ended up half-hanging in the air by his arm. His action ended up as a strange dance at the feet of one of the Void Knights, his whole body tangled into its legs.
He stopped all his motion when he saw the monster that carried the terrifying artifact lifted its finger and began wrote on the wall words that were left there glowing with bright purple light, doubtlessly a spell formation was being written by the Great Demonic Eye of Doom.
"Please mercy, Excellency of Terror! I will obey your every command!" The youngster continued to tremble half on the ground and half in the air.
"Just be quiet and behave Riven brat, I have a migraine already." The revelation of the Great Demonic Eye of Doom.was not what Tyrn imagined, but it made all the tension to leave his body nonetheless.
To the point he fainted.
* * * *
"Mm, I used a cellar like this for my collection of pickled vegetables. Brings back memories." A tall man with black hair tied on the top of his head and sparkling green eyes entered swiftly through a moldy door of the cellar that held a lot of Tyrn's unpleasant memories and stared at the surprised person in her purple robe that seemed to be shocked by the man's presence. She was not surprised by the man's extravagant clothes that was showing off his wealth and status, but by his mere presence, she had not expected to see the man ever again.
"Immortal." She stood up and bowed low with her hands clasped together and all her words stuck in her throat.
"This little plan of yours has been really amusing Purple, but it is high time we stop playing games." The man flickered the long sleeves of his black robe and clasped them behind his back. There was no reaction from the dumbfounded Yen and the personal guards of the two important people that were present seemed to be confused as well by her confusion, as it was not her usual behavior.
"I must say that I have been greatly disappointed how low your opinion of your Eldest had sunk. One day, I embark to negotiate with neighboring cities and the other I find out that I have abandoned my post." Yen was still silent, thinking about how The Immortal had found out about her plans. He must have had more spies in her sect than she had anticipated.
"Whatever, I am glad that you at least behaved constructively and tried to find a shelter instead of some other actions that had been proposed. It is the only reason you still hear me with your head on your shoulders. I think at least an apology is in order to the savior of the city." He held his nose higher and received a pair of two bulging eyes staring at him without blinking as a response. Yen was starting to doubt the necessity of the farce, she felt no need to bow or apologize to anyone, even if the consequence might be her death. The Purple Flash was not the kind of a hero that had been created by propaganda, it was the byproduct of her actions. One might say that it was her fearlessness that had created what she was, not the other way around.
"You will have none." She said dryly, not moving a muscle and the personal guards of the two people became much more tense.
"You are still stubborn and clueless as always, Yen. Don't you understand? Savior means that the city will not need to be evacuated." The Immortal spread his hands in jubilation, but his conversation partner's face remained the face of a stone statue.
"That is impossible. What about our finances and food supplies?" She doubted his words without hesitation.
"You are hopeless! I know you do not like politics, but this is too much." He shook his head, but Yen knew that it could not be completely genuine. However, she decided to listen to whatever story he had prepared, despite doubting his loyalty to the city.
"As you know the Gelu sect fell under the pressure of the demonic cults. The cult that operates near their borders had caused too much trouble for them. Other cities found themselves in a difficult position as well and we all were searching for a common solution. Some proposed that the cities should be joined to gain the military power to protect farmlands at a suitable area, preferably somewhere with lower activity of demonic cultivators and a solid wall still standing." He started to walk back and forth slowly while gesticulating with his hands, clearly enjoying his moment of triumph.
"Conveniently, the issue with Heavenly Tribulation not preventing demonic cults from attempting all kinds of crazy experiments does not mean that those experiments are not dangerous and so it happened to pass, that the infamous Cult of Mezzaiel that has a base near our city met an unfortunate accident."
"What do you mean?" Her eyes sharpened and she completely forgot with whom she was speaking. There obviously must have been some development, if he was back in the city.
"After a huge fluctuation of all energies across the board at the cult's location, Mezzaiel and all of his sect are missing, replaced with a strange jungle devoid of any human presence." The Immortal dropped the bombshell and savored her shocked expression.
"That is incredible! Do you mean to say that the threat to the city is mostly gone and we will be receiving people instead of evacuating?" She still could not believe the completely reversed situation.
"Right. A lor of people and multiple sects. If we consolidate our resources and enlarge the farming area a bit, everything should work out just fine. I have come to invite you to a meeting. We need to distribute the land around the city properly." The Immortal kept his fake smile on his face and Yen smiled as well, despite wanting to punch the man instead.
The dynamics in the cultivation world had always been like this. Immortals had their Death Domain that could easily kill anyone at the Mojo Condensation, Mojo Purification, or Mojo Crystallization stages and kept those people in line. That tactic, however, did not work on people of higher stages of Soul Binding or Soul Transformation that were often called False Immortals. The strength of a cultivator was tremendously influenced by their Mojo and it was not rare that False Immortals were much stronger than True Immortals if their Mojo was good enough.
It all created the dynamics where Immortals were politicians who had the masses under their thumb, but were afraid of the top False Immortals who were skilled fighters. As much of a threat as they were, Immortals could not eradicate them, because they were the only protection they had against another stronger Immortal that might appear, as it was completely impossible for anyone below the False Immortal stage to face an Immortal directly.
In short, The Purple Flash could not go against The Immortal and his tremendous political influence, but he knew that his days were numbered in case she launched a suicide attack at him. Everyone at the top understood why the two bloodlines of cultivators had dominated the city, their ability to fight was above average.
"I will join the others as soon as they arrive." She said formally, overcoming her distrust of the man opposite of her.
"Then let's go meet your new colleagues, they are already here." They walked together out of the cellar and Yen wondered what could have happened to the infamous cult, the unknown factor making her a little uneasy.
* * * *
High above the city of Jinsheng, there was a vast land filled with wonders. It was above, yet none could reach it by going up, down, right or left, as the direction the land lay, no mortal could follow. It was infinitely far away for any ordinary denizens of The First Heaven, yet only a single step away for those from higher realms.
The Second Heaven.
Despite its wonders it was still among the lower realms in the Heavens, as there were other seven above it, each more enchanting than the other with the Seventh Heaven being overgrown with lush forests and vegetation, a land where all animals thrived in absence of any humans. A pristine wilderness ruled by its Emperor by his steady hand.
"Hmph, it seems that the fool is tired of his game." A giant of a man with thick green hair and beard looked at his hand with interest, his eyes able to see what simple mortals could not. The force restraining his aura disappeared, but he honestly paid it little attention, as the restraint was just superficial anyway. It meant that the Ninth Celestial Lord had stopped being a fool, playing his silly game, or someone had just punched his empty, drunken head.
"The second should be true, he was just too annoyingly intrusive into the matters of other beings." The bright emerald eyes sparkled and looked behind him where his tail swished though the air, chasing away a fly without killing it, a little creature that for some reason kept harassing his butt. His four hoofed legs stepped from side to side and he made a few steps forth, preparing for his walk through the lush forest around him.
"Nature is a beautiful thing." The Seventh Celestial Lord made just two steps when he felt the fly again on his butt and repeated the movement with his tail to chase it away, his every action filled with tranquility. He had always liked nature and refused to sacrifice the little animal for just a tiny bit of his own luxury. He was The Seventh Celestial Lord of Nine Heavens, the merciful lord of forests and nature.
"Well, if there are no restrictions any longer, I might peak into other Heavens to see how creatures fare there." He smiled and began to meditate without changing his position in any way, his four hooves standing on the ground and just his tail swishing from time to time, as the fly not only had not decided to give up on his butt, but even flew a little lower at times.
But the benevolent Celestial Lord loved all creatures and it certainly had no influence on his mood. Not even a little bit.
With his mind, he connected to the First Heaven where the weakest creatures lived, he had always liked the place. Although it was plagued with the two legged ugly beings that had some strange stupid ideas against nature all the time. He was shocked when he discovered that there was a sea of dead mice everywhere, the immaculate little creatures that he really liked for their resilience and cute whiskers.
He was shocked and his tail swished again in its relentless match with the fly.
Then he looked at the other end of the lowest world and was devastated by numerous dead foxes strewn all over the continent. Their little cute paws lying lifelessly in the forests, looking like they had black socks on. How could someone hurt an exquisite animal like that?
He was mortified. His tail swished vigorously downwards as the fly changed targets again.
It was not the best idea.
"This is insanity! Insanity!" The usually very calm Seventh Celestial Lord staggered under the accumulated stress coming from observing the countless dead creatures.
"Ah! Here!" He focused his mind again and randomly touched with his awareness a lovely white rabbit that must have been not even a year old. However, there was a two legged annoying creature with the rabbit and when the Lord Seventh saw what the deranged monster was doing to the innocent white rabbit, he furiously swished his tail in unprecedented rage.
And killed the fly.
"YOU!! YOU WILL PAY!" All the forests of the Seventh Heaven swayed and the skies rumbled as if awaiting the Seventh Lord's judgement and the form of the half-human and a half-horse disappeared from his realm with the deafening sound of thunder. Something that was strictly forbidden by the rules of the highest in the Heavens, but his rules were meaningless when there was no one to enforce them any longer. Even if there was, only the Ninth Heavenly Emperor himself would dare to stand in the way of the righteous anger of the Seventh Celestial Lord, as it was too much trouble to stop him and no one usually cared about the targets of his rage anyway.
* * * *
"Great Demonic Eye of Doom, what an idiot." Karl shook his head while looking at the fainted Young Lord that was actually a Lord no longer strictly speaking, but Karl could not deny that he understood his fear.
"The important part is what am I going to do with him now? He is a killer. I doubt they have a psychiatrist in the city prison here." Karl was technically a killer as well, but the problem was that Tyrn executed the deed deliberately for a couple of gilded trinkets against his close companion. Karl had an urge to get rid of him, because that was exactly what any judge in a world like this would do, but it was still Tyrn Riven and he owed his former friend. He owed and this was the only way to pay him back post mortem. To transform Tyrn into what he should have been if his territory had not met a disaster. Karl knew very well why their bond had been special, he simply had not been able to talk to anyone else in the new world directly and it made a huge impact on him.
He had no illusions that the absence of Tyrn's family had not played a huge role in his upbringing.
Karl stopped his train of thoughts about what might have been if and simply decided to do it, but he needed to think of how.
Still, should he support a cold blooded killer and tolerate his eventual future deeds just to patch up his regrets? How could he remodel him in a short time to limit all the damage he could do to those around him?
"I have no clue. No clue." He arrived at a terrible conclusion. He could guess what to do if Tyrn was just a little delinquent, but he did not feel confident at all with his record. "I will really need to find some sort of a psychiatrist. That is quite a tall order here."
Secretly, he thought that he himself would need some rehabilitation program, but his ego immediately banished that thought.
Another thought was, if Tyrn's father even would want Karl to do him this kind of favor.
"Would he be even pleased if I told him something like hey, this is your son. He is a good man, he had just killed four people, raped two women and robbed dozens of others before I have managed to bring him on the right path!"
After a while, Karl had to admit that he was no closer to the solution to the problem what to do with the kid, the Void Knight that carried him pacing quickly in circles. Another option was to hold him in the Fort alone where he could try to cheat and kill only him, but that might have been a fate worse than death, being alone for most of his life.
"Let's sum it up. I should confine him here to prevent him from doing harm, but I do not want him to be isolated from people, making his condition even worse. I want to help some kids because of another reason as well. I also want to build here a base at the Fort of Orlov and establish it as my first dungeon stronghold among many all across the world." Karl stated all his goals and decided to simply cram everything into a single move.
"Let's execute Karl's super multi-objective genius move!" The Void Knight carrying him suddenly stopped doing circles, standing in the middle of the dark tunnel with its arms spread wide, illuminated only by the eerie Void light.
"Young Global Dungeon Leaders assemble!" The idea was impeccable, what could go wrong?