“Wow, you did all of that in such a short time?” said Meka once he finished explaining everything that happened in the void dimension. She’d received rewards the same way he did since they were in a party. She definitely benefitted from the whole adventure since she could also now use this as a potential floor theme.
“Yeah, but what now? How do we get materials to unlock a floor increase in our dungeon?”
“You have to invade other dungeons. World, legacy, or player dungeons; it doesn’t matter.”
“How do I invade a player dungeon?”
“You have to send a formal notice through the system, and that’s only possible when you can see them. After that, you just wait for the prep time to finish and it’ll automatically transport you to the dungeon.”
“What happens if I win or lose?”
“If you win, their dungeon is consumed by yours. The player dies and you receive all of their unlocked themes and bosses as potential options for your own dungeon. If you lose, you die and forfeit everything in your dungeon as well.”
“And what about world dungeons?”
“They’re dungeons unique to each floor that you can go in and out of in a traditional dungeon diving way.”
“Which one do you wanna do? We both have a new theme, so it’s time to upgrade our dungeons, yeah?”
“You’re not wrong, but I don’t know any legacy locations and player dungeons aren’t something we can challenge together. There are a bunch of world dungeons, but I’m not sure which one would be best for us to tackle. Let me do some research.”
“Pick the hardest one and meet me back here tomorrow.”
“That works just fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She excused herself from the room and Amon wasted no time in transporting to his dungeon.
He was always so happy to see how much progress they made. There was now a sprawling town on the root of the Mother Tree, with a statue in his likeness erected near the trunk of the tree. Their architecture had increased from simple huts to complex homes and there were even shops further down the branch. Just from a glance, he felt like there were probably hundreds of inhabitants now.
The roads were rather lively with the buzz of celebration permeating the air. Amonians mixed and mingled with his other summons and created an environment that Amon knew was worth protecting.
“Praise be to the All-Father!” exclaimed Nel as he fell to his knee, causing everyone in the entire town to do so in succession. Everyone other than a brown skinned woman with green hair and icy blue eyes, draped in loose sheer robes that matched her hair. She had been standing beside Nel, but as he kneeled she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Amon’s neck in an embrace.
His first thought was to look for Seru, but she was thankfully nowhere to be found.
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“Amon!!!” She exclaimed as he caught her out of instinct alone. It wasn’t hard for him to guess who she was, but he was still surprised to see her in the flesh. Well, was she even flesh? She looked as real as he did, but she did have a faint glow from the top of her head to the bottom of her bare feet.
“Thank you for taking care of us,” he paused briefly while he considered what to call her.
She apparently noticed his hesitance because she spoke up gleefully. “Nia!”
“Nia… That’s a beautiful name. Thank you for taking care of us, Nia.”
“Of course!” She released him from her hug and put her hands on her hips, puffing her chest out with pride. “A father is supposed to protect and provide and a mother is meant to nurture!” She beat her chest with her fist once, bolstering her confidence even further. “I’ll always nurture and cherish all of my children, so make sure you do what you need to do to be the best father possible!”
He couldn’t help but laugh, even if it was bittersweet. He tried his best not to dwell on it, but he had been excited to be a father. He’d cared for and doted on his wife throughout the entirety of her pregnancy and he was nothing but happy to raise his daughter. All of that was stolen from him in the blink of an eye, but now he had a new family. Or, at least something he could use to temporarily fill the void. None of this felt real to a certain part of him, but the part of him that was afraid to face the harsher parts of reality was eager to use these people as a crutch.
He didn’t know that about himself though. He just knew that he was currently happy, and starting to feel truly at home.
“I brought you some gifts, Nia.” He brought the portable lab out of his inventory first and everyone within eyesight watched closely. “Give this one to Kenja and have Seru help her deconstruct it to make sure it’s safe. The last one is going to be a new essence, but we have to get the materials for an upgrade first.”
She pouted, then sighed softly. “Thank you for the gift, but you should’ve waited until you had everything first before mentioning it! You ruined the excitement. Do you not understand how these things work?”
He was taken aback. She wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t expecting that kind of response from her in the slightest. “Well,”
“Well, it’s okay! The thought is there, we can practice the execution. C’mon, let’s eat!” she grabbed his hand and raised her other hand. A huge table rose from the trunk in the middle of the road, with hundreds of chairs present for everyone to attend. There were countless plates of different seafood dishes, all of them clearly caught by the people of his town.
Her voice must’ve carried to every denizen of the dungeon because people started to cross over from the other roots and Seru was amongst those people, sweaty from what he could only presume to be training. When she made it over, he offered her a warm smile.
She returned it without hesitation and came over to him. “Lord Amon!”
“Seru, come sit!”
He ushered her to the seat beside him. He was at the head of the table, with two empty seats to either side of him. The one on the left was filled by Nia and the one on the right by Seru, putting them across from each other. Blue, Jack, and Nel were all the next closest ones to him, then after that came Kenja and a bunch of faces he didn’t actually know.
“You should address your people, All-Father.” said Nel.
He didn’t have anything prepared, but he wasn’t going to shy away from the opportunity. These people saw him as something of a deity, so he couldn’t lose face before them.
“My children, I want you to know that I am proud of each and every one of you. You’re progressing at a magnificent rate and growing stronger with each passing moment, but, most importantly? You’re all happy. This happiness is the most important aspect of our existence. We must always be able to rely on one another and lift each other up so that we can maintain this happiness. I have a lofty goal, I wish to make this dungeon the most powerful one ever created, and I cannot do that without the support of each and every one of you. We have to have absolute power both within our territories and the outside worlds of the Tower. We have to carry a presence so indomitable that any enemies we have will cower in fear at the utterance of our name, so that we can always protect our happiness. Whatever it is you need, don’t hesitate to ask anyone here, regardless of their standing. We’re all family and that supersedes ranking. Thank you for your continued support.”
There was a silence after he finished. He hadn’t thought of it beforehand, but did his voice even reach far? He wasn’t yelling or anything. Was there enough excitement, or was that too heavy for a celebration?
People started muttering, but he could only hear those closest to him.
“So that’s your ambition?”
“Of course your goal is that vast, you’re Lord Amon.”
“We’re already the strongest dungeon, the world just doesn’t know it…”
He was about to say something else, but Nia grabbed his hand and shook her head no. After she did so, Nel rose from his seat and screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Praise be to the All-Father!” And the chant came from everyone else who also rose from their seats and repeated after him.
His worries flushed out of his body. Apparently, they just needed a moment to digest everything he said. After that, everyone happily dug into the meal they were provided.