Dungeon, a strange name given to a special phenomenon by the heroes that were summoned in the past. That said, they described dungeons as a master conscious that controls monsters to protect itself which is unlike what happens in truth.
Within this world, Dungeons are something similar to Hell but not the same. Hell is a special plane hundreds of tens of thousands of times bigger than any other realm besides heaven and connects to every other world as the souls of the condemned come to this place to be washed and eventually return to the cycle of reincarnation or to become demons for their crimes.
Dungeons on the other hand are drastically different. These are highly stable parallel worlds but their size can’t be considered even 10% the size of the world they live in. That said, these worlds possess an immensely high concentration of mana this causes phenomenon in the nearest world they appear near to have ‘vanishing’ incidents of its residents while the dungeon is young.
These creature breed and spread and thanks to the dense mana they grow and eventually filling the realm. As for how a dungeon ‘appears’ it is said that once a Dungeon forms at least 1 level 90 resident, these immensely powerful creatures will break the space in the most fragile area, which happens to be the area nearest the world, to break free of the small realm.
Similar to the space crack appearing from hell, dungeons form space cracks but these are many times more stable due to the ‘distance’ between the two realms being many times shorter.
As for how one finds a dungeon, it is more than obvious that space cracking would cause an unimaginable amount of energy to be dispersed and what is more is that the pressured mana in the other realm would drastically leak into the world like a dam.
Any level 91 and above master within a 100 km radius would feel it and any master level level 95 would instantly feel the breaking of space within a 10,000 km radius around himself.
The one who found it was two masters, first was the Gatekeeper of Everlight academies training field and the Fire church’s pope and the location was in the Great Desert that exists and is home to the Fire church’s main branch.
The two masters instantly reached the place after feeling it and they both have already put down a seal to block the passage of the creatures and leaking of mana and were building a Passage gate similar to what the academy has.
Training areas are a form of dungeon but they are artificially created by very powerful people. The ones existing at the academy were made by the founder but the most powerful area was actually a true dungeon that set the foundation for the school to prosper under his guide.
“It is said that the initial exploration will draw in almost all nobles from high rank to low rank, leaving only the weakest most unlucky who do not have a strong foundation to guard their people as well leaving several Earl to guard each nation while countless nobles will go. In particular many Magic academy will be performing a school wide trip to the dungeon to give the students real life and death experience and allow them to feel a dungeon with their own body and hopefully have them grow intensely in the high density mana area.” Nil said.
“So father wants to make a strong guard force to be able to go?” Xero asked.
“Of course, I was able to get the help of the Light and Dark Ice church who are also training their knights and so we are training together. The Dark Holy church on the other hand has gathered the resource and have set up a familiar summoning circle. It is far too expensive for a small noble like us to have one but we have paid the church and they have helped us give our knights familiars. We currently have 100 knights in training and if we can get enough of them to at least level 10 along with guards, we will be able to take at least 50 with us to the dungeon and train them.” Nil explained.
The children looked at each other, “Father, does the village still have a lot of monsters at least level 20 around?” Xero asked.
“Yes, quite a few in the deeper mountains that your brother hunts to make his pack of devils.” he says.
“Tell brother to stop making those, have him bring in a lot of meat from now on. I'm going to teach the knights something that my teacher taught me to quickly improve.” Xero said.
Nil looked at the boy curious but nodded, “Alright, I will tell him.” He said.
“Do you need help?” Ernest asked.
“It would be helpful, I'm not a professional, I only intent to teach them the martial arts technique that Grunt taught me to train my metabolism so that their strength to rapidly rise above level 10.” Xero said and thought a bit, “And also take the time to have Ashley smith more Sword Minions and train them while we are at it.”
“You have a lot of those?” Univa asked surprised.
“The swords that make them up yes. Most of them are Earth type though since it’s easy to gather earth from under our own feet but the ones in storage are all in the mines because rock is better than dirt.” Xero said and summoned Ashley.
Nil showed an expression of surprise to find that Ashley had grown a lot. “Ashley, go pick up a ready Stone Spirit sword from the mines then forge them into Sword Minions.” Xero said.
“Great! Oh right, if you have the little buckethead forge the minions it would increase their sharpness. Her forge skills are many times better since she is a true blacksmith race compared to me who is more of a fighter race.” Ashley said.
“I’ll keep that in mind but please don’t call Cinder a buckethead.” Xero said but the Devil with the two burning blue white flames on her horns simply floated out to go pick up the next minion she would forge.
“Mama~! I heard lil bro is back!” A sudden shout came from behind Opal and suddenly Nadir rushed in. Unlike before when she would use simple dresses. She was now using a knee long green dress with a white shirt and green vest while her hair was in a high ponytail revealing her cute face and large but pure clear and innocent eyes. “Lil Bro!” Nadir said and jumped hugging Xero, “Hey hey! Guess what!”
“What?” Xero asked.
“I said guess!” She pouted.
Xero chuckled and look her up and down, “Does it have to do with your clothes?” He asked.
After taking a close look he found that there were a sachet shaped magic bags on her left side while there was a single magic bag on the right side. “Is that a herbal Sachet? I thought only alchemists used those?” Xero asked.
“YOU GOT IT!” She said taking a step back spinning while giggling, “I found a nice old lady witch alchemist. Papa looked for her after she moved into the town. Papa even helped her build a little herbal shop near the northwest wall. Now she is teaching me nature magic, earth magic, water magic and alchemy.” She said happily while smiling brightly.
“That’s really good, with your Spirit Pot you can even learn to cook with it and it might even be better than Ashley if you do it correctly.” Xero said.
“Mn! Lil sis in law already taught me how to cook the mana in meat. It was really confusing but after a while when sister in law helped me make a spell to make fire appear it became much easier to make.” Nadir said.
While the children were talking the scholar walked in quietly and showed Nil something.
“Hmm…” He read and scowled before scratching his head. “... this is hard? Between building a merchant’s bazaar zone and officially set up the northeast mine that have yet to be made which do you think is better? The cost nearly 3,000 gold to start up the new mine but it's only 1,500 gold to make a merchant’s bazaar.” Nil asked.
“Eh?” Nadir, hearing the question, looked back at Nil. “Papa? Isn’t it obvious? Papa should invest in opening the mine as well as investing the blacksmiths to increase the types of products. We can’t have merchant’s without things to sell or money. Papa should also invest in clearing the land inside the village for wood and only during winter set up a Merchant’s bazaar for next year because then we would have plenty of things to sell.” Nadir said.
Everyone froze looking at the girl rather confused when her sophisticated replay came from the always innocent and somewhat airheaded girl.
“Sweetie? How did you think of that?” Opal asked.
“Huh? Isn’t it obvious? We aren’t rich or have lots of things to trade yet. If we attract all those chubby sly fatties who like to buy things cheap and sell really expensive, like these clothes papa bought mama and me, they would take everything in town soon.” She said and smiled, “If papa focus on making lots of food in the farms, and mining and directly smithing instead of selling the rocks and make armor, weapons and maybe even just normal house items, while keeping the number of fatties low we won’t be made poor so quickly.” She said.
Meldie and Xero was almost burst out in laughter at hearing the Merchant’s being called ‘Chubby Sly fatties’.
“It’s impressive, she is rather innocent but maybe because of that she can see a person's nature? Could it be that she also studies for the merchant trade in secret?” Univa asked.
“No, in fact, unless she snuck into my office she shouldn’t have ever come in contact with anything dealing with finances.” Nil said.
Univa nodded and walked to the scholar and asked for a piece of paper and pen before going to the tea table and calling Nadir before writing down a list.
The others looked and found that it was a simulation about a town with only 5,000 gold, was in forest covered land with little mineral but near a large river and with lots of flora and wildlife. The village was on a trade route between two large cities.
“How would you develop this village with the limited money.” Univa asked.
Nadir looked at it and tilted her head before flipping the page and doodling making a sketch of two circles a line and at the center was the town and other dots meaning different villages. Some more lines meaning water.
She scratched her head, “If they cut the wood and made farmland they would only be able to get money probably the next year when enough land is cleared and if they did eventually a lord will appear to help develop the land but if they want quick expansion why not invest in lumberjacking and fishing. Neither is expensive and if they make a small merchant’s market at the center of the village, the fresh goods made by any carpenter here or fish coming could be sold at once. With the money invested into carpentry, Lumberjacking and fishing, the money would return within 4 to 6 months probably and the money could once more help expand these same places helping clear the land for the following year and attract farmers which then the money should be invested into farming.” She said and looked at her father. “Is that good papa?” She asked.
“Sir, I really suggest you send your daughter to the national academy of mercantile and trade. In that school she can learn systematic investment plans and how to be a merchant while still learning some level of magic needed for her familiar.” Univa said seriously.
“I agree sir, even if the young miss has a familiar with alchemy skills, that is something that can be slowly trained but to have her learn something she is already talented in would be much more beneficial.” The scholar said.
“She is a very logical, she can think of which jobs to invest in without thinking of prices, in other words she thinks of investing everything and not a specific value. What she had said would indeed work, it's a small village so it didn’t need advanced or specific pricing but when we speak of large cities you will need not only a financial minister but also a group of scholars to aid him or her.” the scholar continued.
Nil sighed.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Honey, our children are so talented.” Opal said. “Sweetie, come with mama, let’s go tend to mama’s garden.” Opal said.
“Yay! I love the smell of mama’s garden!” Nadir said getting up and skipping away after her mother.
“Ernest, let’s go as well.” Xero said and took a step but looked back to find him dazed and blushing.
Xero walked over and waved his hand in front of his face and he blinked, “Uh? Oh yeah, let's go. I want to look around as well.” he said his face blushing more and walking in front.
“Are you girls going to stay?” Xero asked.
“If your father doesn’t mind I wish to just walk around.” Univa said.
“I will go with you too Xero.” Meldie said.
Xero nodded and said goodbye to his father and little brother that was still in the room before following the hurrying Ernest.
***
SNIFF! SNIFF!
Standing with a group of hunters spread around, Void’s Hunter Order was deeper in the mountains after hearing from miners and loose hunters that there was a powerful monster in the mountains that could threaten the safety of the town.
Void had reported to his father and Nil put down a 100 gold scouting request to find out what kind of creature.
Currently aiding the hunters who were walking slowly and carefully to not leave their own tracks were creatures that could cause nightmares to anyone who had to face them.
After being killed and corrupted by Ember within her Feral Soul Den, the countless monsters were degraded into mindless demons. They are unlike the Feral Devil that was Ember, instead they were Feral Demons. Creatures with no true will of their own completely submissive and controlled by the Feral Devil.
Similar to Cinder and Ashley, Ember must ‘raise’ her pack in strength. When a body is first occupied by a Feral demon soul it is considered a Level 1 Possessed Demon, after several days and the body ‘heals’ in the den regaining removed bones, skin, fur, fangs and anything butchered, it would be considered a Level 5 Lesser Feral Demon Infant. As it hunts and eats it will grow larger, depending its race, losing the Lesser and growing the infant.
At the current moment, all around were Level 12 Lesser Feral Ice Wolf Demon Adolescents. These were made during the winter and are the strongest feral demons Ember had as well as the best scouts. They are far weaker than they were when alive but they have regained some of their strength allowing them to use some degree of ice magic.
Similar to all demons, they grow by being destroyed and similar to Cinder’s forge, her Feral soul cave was a respawning location for these minions.
ROAW!
A wolf far in the front barked and the hunter walked and inspected the area. “It’s a paw print. Age… maybe around 2 days, heading north. Seems to be dragging prey.” the hunter says loud enough for the nearest to hear and the message passes to Void.
“Spread out the search, stay hidden and let the feral demons make the noise. Make sure to apply the anti-scent potion.” Void ordered and took out a bottle with a special top with a small pump that helped spray the content. Covering himself from head to toe in that solution, he watched the others do the same and crouched down as they spread out.
Void walked slowly and they spread out more and more combing the mountain for several hours.
Only after a while he heard a hiss from the small tan skinned figure hugging his back. Ember, unlike the other two Devil’s didn’t develop or ‘wake up’ from the euphoria of the evolution. She was still like a little house cat towards Void which made it hard for the 19 year old as the tigress devil would also not put any clothing on and would not walk upright. She walked on all fours and acted just like a cat towards him.
As for when they hunt, the 19 year old has taken to having her piggyback while using her to watch his back. With her keener hearing and senses she did what was proper when out in a hunt while holding onto his back. At this moment her hair was standing on ends as she hissed a low hiss that signaled danger.
The next second a tiny red light came from the right entering her body.
This signaled that a Feral demon had been killed and all at once, all the Ice wolves that were active suddenly howled and began to run towards the source.
A very loud roar came as Void cautiously ran towards the source of the disturbance while still being quiet.
Finally he arrived to find his hunter injured but not dead several meters away against a tree, several feral demons injured but slowly healing and at the center, casually eating the corpse of five dead Feral Ice wolf demons was a huge Manticore.
With a body of a lion, a disfigured human shaped face that looked like the face of a lion and human poorly blended together, surrounded by a large main and a set of large dragon wings, the beast was casually ignoring the little ant’s around it. The body was 7 meters long and 3 meters tall but it was already an adult Manticore. These kinds of beasts at adulthood would almost always be ranged at level 51 at the weakest.
Void sneered as he saw this and moved to the injured hunter while watching the Manticore. He took out a potion and fed it to the man causing the slash wounds on his chest to slowly close and cut off the blood flow.
He was still not out of danger due to several broken bones and injuries that would require experienced medical healing or a high level potion that he did not have on hand.
Thankfully the hunter’s order was able to hire a doctor that had moved into the village. And if it did not work, he knew that the Dark Holy order and the Light Ice church each had healers if needed.
“Ember, get a feral to transport him back to the village quick.” Void said.
The little tigress tilted her head confused, she had some trouble understanding human language after evolving into the Feral Devil.
Void sighed and sent a mental image of the man being taken by a demon to the village.
With a nod the Feral Cave opened behind them and a large feline walked out and Void strapped the man on while watching as the Manticore looked but did not attack.
Only when the Feral Demon left the Manticore yawned with black blood dripping down its big maw, “Human, what do you want invading my hunting grounds?” It asked in human tongue.
Void’s eye twitched as he did not expect to find an intelligent monster like this. Any monster that reaches above level 41 can speak the human tongue which is a sign of immense strength among monsters.
“Our people heard many disturbances coming from deep in the mountains so we were sent to investigate. We never expected to find… such a noble creature.” Void said.
The Manticore snorted, “Withdraw from my territory, I shall be lenient this time but the next ones to invade, I shall chew those tiny bones into dust.” He said and turned before spreading the huge wings and taking to the air like a bullet and flying away.
Void was covered in sweat at the pressure from the creature, to have a fully grown Manticore around wasn’t a good thing. This meant that deeper into the mountains would have even greater creatures. Considering how humans expand, as long as the Null family become baron, the village would become a hub to expand the borders to the northwest that is unclaimed territory within this mountain range.
He took out a small red firework and put it down before lighting the fuse which shot a red flare above the trees.
To the hunters, this was a signal to retreat and with it going off, they knew that the creature was found or most likely something happened. As such, they returned to the meeting point that was a forest camp they made and Void ordered them to pack up and return to the village.
They arrived as the sun was setting and Void let the men go off to their homes while he reported to his father.
***
After hours of checking out the guards and Knights, Xero and Ernest, who was daydreaming part of the time, began to teach them all the movements and how to flow mana.
Many complained that many of these channels were blocked but Xero replied in the same manner, “With use, the mana channels will slowly open, especially for the knights who will have familiars. The more open and the more mana you have there is a chance to get a stronger familiar.” Xero said but did not mention how the amount didn’t really matter since his family had gotten the same creature three times.
Still they did need to train so it did not matter, Xero explained that this was a technique that would help them build muscle strength by eating a lot so it should only be done after eating. Like that the men just practiced the movements to help sharpen and make it work then later try to move the mana separately.
Come lunch, they all went and ate and tried it out for the first time but found what they ate insufficient which Xero agreed to saying they need magic monster meat or they would never really develop it.
Later, it eventually reached time for dinner so the guards and knights were let off and the two boys and the halfling headed inside to find Univa already drinking tea.
Zip was sitting down with Jasmine at his left and to Ernest’s surprise, there was a tanned little girl with horns on his right.
“Hey is that a devil?” he asked.
“Oh right, that is Cinder, she is big brother’s familiar.” Xero explained.
“But why is she at the table?” Ernest asked.
Suddenly Cinder stood up on the seat proudly sticking out her chest, “Because boss is my hubby so of course I will eat with him!” she said then her nose twitched, “Oi, you have a demon familiar! I can smell his scent on you.” She said.
Ernest was surprised that his familiar was seen through but nodded. He summoned out Night who stretched his arms and legs. “OH! Is it dinner time already?” He asked and looked at the prepared table with 17 places. With one for the scholar, three for the guests, seven for the family, not counting the baby, there were four extra spots.
“Why so many places?” He asked.
“Our family has lots of humanoid familiars so we eat together.” Xero said.
Night shrugged and went to find a spot when he looked at Cinder and froze. He flew over and sniffed and blinked, “Hey kid, correct me if I'm wrong but this brat smells like a Plated Devil.” Night asked.
“That’s cause she is.” Zip said looking at the Dark Cherub.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?” He shouted and was up against the wall before he flew and grabbed Xero’s short shaking him, “WHY THE HELL DOES YOUR FAMILY HAVE THE MOST FEARED AND MOST RESPECTED DEVIL’S IN THE SAME PLACE!?” He shouted.
“W-w-w-wh-what a-are y-y-you talking about!?” Xero said while being strongly shook.
Night let him go and pointed at Cinder. “Don’t fucking play with me! Plated Devil’s are the most revered devil in hell! They possess the magic to forge demon bodies and help break bottlenecks! They are the most revered race, no devil would try and provoke them and their aura causes demons to fear them as much as Sword Devils. Not to mention…” he then pointed right at Xero’s nose, “Your fucking familiar! It’s the most feared devil that caused even the demon lords to issue an order that any sword devil to appear is to be hunted to the ends of hell and made sure to be killed so as not to allow their rebirth!” He shouted.
Xero frowned, “Is it that serious?” Xero asked.
“Of course YOU DIMWIT! They are unique races that create their own spawning locations and literally forge and create minions! There are few races that can ‘birth’ minions. Also Plated Devil’s boast one of hell’s strongest defenses, being able to take an impact from creatures 10 levels ahead. If put in thought of the demon lords. A Plated Devil demon lord at level 91 can take a hit and live from a level 93 and you should know, the strength of any creature above level 91 is has the strength of the previous level multiplied by 2 or even 3 times.” he said.
“Calm down Night. It’s not something to be shocked about. Although it is surprising that two high level devils appear in the same family, it’s not so serious right?” Ernest said.
“Not so serious?” Night mimicked and laughed, “You guys may not know this but a Sword Devil can’t advance on its bottlenecks without having its body forged by a Plated Devil. In all of Hell, Plated Devils are the only devil that do not fear Sword Devils. The two have an incredibly tight mutual benefit relationship. Plated Devil’s are slow and suck at hunting but Sword Devil’s are fast and it is said that at the same level, only Sword Devils can beat Plated Devils. Their offensive power and speed are what Plated Devils lack so you could say they are the hunters who bring the required material for the blacksmith. Even if other demons and devils do the same, the quality and quantity the Sword Devil brings for when they break through can’t be compared. On another note, Plated Devil have a biological need to forge a Sword Devil to make the same break through. For this reason, they are the only devils to defy the demon lord’s decree for killing Sword Devils. More than 90% of Plated Devil’s and Sword Devils serve under either a Plated Devil demon lord or a Sword Devil demon lord and there exists only two of each kind in hell.” He said
The family looked at each other and laughed wryly hearing about the hidden relationships between demons.
“Father, I have returned!” Void returned at this moment and entered the dining hall and found everyone.
“Nyaa! Myaster!” Ember said caressing him while her stomach growled.
“Yeah yeah, You’ll get food in a bit.” He said.
She purred and jumped off his back and stretched like a cat and went to the open seat she usually would eat.
Night on the other hand felt faint, “That… is a Feral Devil… Why the hell is it so passive?” He asked.
“What now?” Ernest asked.
“That thing, its another devil that are rare and feared in hell. Their savage personality is only restrained by the Plated Devil when it has trouble breaking though while it has an instinctive hate of the Sword Devil who usually hunt the Feral Devils and demons because the material from them are extremely high quality. There are even times when the Sword Devils bring specific corpses to make Feral Devils of a specific demon variation and take advantage of the Feral Devil’s low intelligence to trick them into making the demon or devil and return to kill it.” Night explained.
“Yeah, sounds about right.” Void said. “Father, we discovered a Manticore in the mountains, its adult and at the lowest level 41 because it spoke to me.” Void explained.
Nil sighed, “Good job, let's sit down to eat. Ashley and the maid’s are just about finished so let's worry about this after eating.” Nil said.
“Great.” Void said.
“Lets eat!” Cinder shouted.
“NYAAA!” Ember answered in return.
“Shut up you two! You’re noisy!” Ashley shouted as she walked in casually holding two large tray of monster meat piled high and balanced perfectly. The devils were drooling for the meat that she placed in front of the two and was attacked instantly while the servants began to walk in with food.
“Alright, let eat, Sir Ernest, you can sit next to Xero while your familiar has a seat next to you.” Nil said.
“I give up.” Night said and simply sat down and started to eat along with them.
When Nadir walked in with Opal, Ernest’s face blushed as his eyes followed the 15 year old but he forced it away only to keep peeking her way every so often.
Jasmine who saw this raised a brow and giggled but remained quiet afterwards.