It's been about three days since I opened the entrance, and to be honest with you, I don’t know what I was expecting, since the only thing that entered so far have been a pack of wolves. All of whom were easily dealt with. I did gain thirty xp though.
I spruce up the first floor even more, there’s now a small stream that split the floor in half, as well as adding a couple of granaries, and adding more crop varieties.
That's right there’s cabbages, apple orchards, tomatoes, and potatoes, among many others. I’m sure my soldiers appreciated the variety.
Oh speaking of soldiers Emile and Ellen had created a plan to post a guard detail at the entrance, one Landwehr and one National Guard. They even built a watchtower and I didn’t even spend any mana on it! Way to go!
In that time I maxed out this floor's creature capacity by summoning three guard donkeys, one armed farmer who I named Helen, and one herd dog.
Speaking of Helen she’s wearing the exact same outfit that my other farmers wore, except for she’s armed with a musket.
I informed both Emile and Ellen to notify me if anything comes through the entrance as I’ll be off to start on my second floor.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Vonesmy Adventurers Guild office
The door bursts open startling Guildmaster Andreas, a wood elf, came in shortly thereafter. Andreas stood up clearly annoyed at such an unannounced entrance.
“Volkoth, what is the meaning of this?" Andreas asked, crossing his arms.
The wood elf now known as Volkoth, after catching his breath, Spoke. “Sir, I have discovered a new dungeon.”
Andreas’s eyes went wide. “Truly? You do not jest?”
Volkoth nodded. “I had Cast Dungeon Scan and it revealed that the dungeon is really young, only being four days and eight hours old.”
Andreas was ecstatic. A dungeon was exactly what Vonesmy needed for the local economy to be restarted. Truth be told, ever since the combined Lariz and Ergon embargoes imposed upon the Union of Kurz, times have been tough, businesses closed, trade halted. UoK’s only source of outside trade goods had been our protectorate in Lazogh. Kurz only had one dungeon which is situated east of the city of Kurz known as the Karland Dungeon.
Union of Kurz: formed as a Union between Humans, Wood Elves and Dwarves after wining the 5 year long Kurzian War of Independence against the Laziran Empire. The country is run like a direct democracy with members of the three species receiving equal representation in the Grand Council.
The inhabitants of the Province of Kurz felt like they were neglected by the Laziran Empire, more specifically from their High Elf monarch who felt no need to develope the Province. This has resulted in rampant poverty, infrastructure decaying, and constantly being on the verge of famine, as such the people of the province banded together and declared independence against the empire.
Every city has their own local councils this ensures that the voices of the people are heard from directly. Everyone can and are encouraged to participate in their local council meetings at the end of each week. During these meetings each Local Council debate and vote for Local Agendas, then representatives from the Local Councils are sent to Kurz to vote for a Collective Agenda based upon the vote from the Local Council they represent, once a Collective Agenda has been decided it must then go through a vote at the Grand Council. Currently there are 14 local councils who have 1 vote each. Note Local Agendas are separate from Collective Agendas and must be voted by the Grand Council to be implemented.
Then there is the separate Grand Council ruling directly from Kurz, members of this council are voted in through public elections and decide on national matters, such as laws, diplomacy, etc. And lastly the Grand Court, which acts to enforce and interpret laws, as well as strike down laws deemed unconstitutional by the court, each judge are elected for life.
Each branch of the government have measures in place to prevent each other from gaining too much power. The Grand Council can order for the removal of a judge through a vote, and as previously stated The Grand Court can declare Grand Council directives/laws unconstitutional. The Local Councils can vote against implementing Grand Council directives/laws and the Grand Council in turn can vote down Local Council Collective Agendas. While the people elect judges the Local Councils also have the power to remove judges and the Grand Court can in turn declare Local and Collective Agendas unconstitutional.
A vote passes based on majority. During Local Council votes, each council MUST have at minimum 100 participants for a vote to count.
----------------------------------------
Republic of Ergon: Is a representative democracy run by Orcs, and is founded upon a set of 12 principles.
Representatives are elected from the 9 provinces of Ergon and meet at the Ergonese capital of Uzd. Each province has 3 representatives in the House of Representatives, which in total would have 27 provincial representatives. The Ergonese Senate has 2 Senators from the country's 25 cities totaling at 50 city Senators. Both seats are colloquially known as the Ergonese Parliament.
The President is decided through two separates votes, the city and provincial votes.
The President can choose their Vice President, if a candidate wins the city vote and the other the provincial vote, then the candidate who won the city vote is declared the president, and the other candidate who won the provincial is chosen as the vice president regardless of who the president chose.
There are three branches: Parliament, Presidential, and the Supreme Court. There are checks and balances to prevent one branch from gaining power.
Parliament must approve Presidential appointments either to the cabinet ministers or the Supreme Court, Parliament can impeach and remove the president from office, and lastly the Parliament can override presidential vetoes. In regards to the Supreme Court, Parliament can impeach judges and remove them, and Parliament can introduce amendments to the Ergonese Principles.
The President has the power to veto Parliamental laws and appoint judges.
The Supreme Court can declare certains acts of the President and Parliamental Laws unprincipled.
Basically the Republic of Egron is just the USA but with differences in presidential elections.
----------------------------------------
Lazir Empire: The Lazir Empire or more commonly reffered to as the Laziran Empire is a elective triple monarchy between Orcs, Humans, High Elves. The empire has a small Arachne minority.
Each section of the empire divided into three sections based on where majorities of each race live, the western section is administered by an Orc monarch, the central section is administered by a Human monarch, the eastern section is administered by a High Elf monarch. All three monarchs answer to the current ruling Emperor or Empress. The election of the monarch and the ruler is conducted independently and is decided by the people, with nobles counting for two votes.
----------------------------------------
Republic of Lazogh: The Republic of Lazogh is a Dark Elf nation, with a sizeable Wood Elf minority. Currently the RoL is a Sister Republic to the Union of Kurz.
Lazogh was once a part of the Laziran Empire like the UoK. Once UoK declared independence, the Dark Elves of Lazogh felt like they weren't represented fairly in the triple monarchy and followed Kurz's example and follwed suit. The revolutionary leaders of Lazogh knew that they didn't have the capacity to wage war and it's armies undersupplied so, the leaders of Lazogh, with approval from the people agreed to become a client state of the Union of Kurz.
The government of the RoL is the same as the UoK except they have a Prime Minister whose the chief of the army, and the one to conduct diplomacy.
Despite being a client state, the UoK leaves Lazogh alone, never meddling with the country's affairs. It is to the point where the RoL is it's own independent country rather a client state on paper.
“Gather a party of six, I’ll bring the good news to Mayor Laramie.” Andreas instructed.
———————————————————————————————————————————————
I had just finished digging out the second floor, which had cost me ten mana just to extend the floor beyond a 10x10x10x10x5 size limit.
I must now choose a theme.
> Select a theme for Floor 2:
>
> Forest
>
> Plains
Well it makes sense that the farm option is gone, now I have only two options left. The plains is a vast open field, perfect for cavalry, but unfortunately I can’t summon cavalry. So naturally I picked forest, it’s the perfect terrain to conduct ambushes. Especially since I only have access to militia regiments.
With the theme selected I am now greeted with a sunny forest, so naturally I spend five mana to implement a day night cycle, and like in my previous floor I added a dirt road connecting floor two entrance with my Core room.
Time to check my Status.
> Name: Amelia Yokakko
>
> Dungeon Name: Undetermined
>
> Exp Req: 30/100
>
> Level 1
>
> Mana: 5/20
>
> Mana Regen: 5 per hour
>
> Floors: 2/5
>
> Traps: 1
>
> Puzzles: 2
>
> Titles: None
Man the struggle is real with that mana capacity. Dungeon name huh? Guess I gotta choose a name, but what name should I pick? Guh this is so hard. I’m bad with creating names, my sister often teases me about that fact every time she asks me to run her DnD campaign.
But I guess I gotta choose a name, I cannot keep putting it off forever. I’ll name this Yokakko Dungeon for now, at least until I can come up with a better name.
I can’t really do anything right now but make a puzzle. So I’ll spend the rest of my mana into creating this. So I’m thinking that in order to solve this puzzle, well there’s two parts, part one involves placing the correct tree bark onto the correct tree, then the second part is to correctly identify two of five chosen trees, each of the five trees will be different for everyone. The reward will be a third key required to open the door to my Core room and randomized dungeon loot, failure to complete the puzzle will make the key appear hanging on top of the tallest tree, the area where the puzzle is located is a small clearing located on the right side of the road, at the midpoint. Aaaaaand now I wait.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
———————————————————————————————————————————————
Vonesmy Guild Hall-
‘Volkoth had really outdone himself this time, managing to get the Manarias Party’ Andreas thought. He walked out from the receptionist desks and moved to address the six assembled adventurers, Samarra the mage, Greorjy the gunner, Markus the tank, Hazmir the cleric, Casmur the paladin, and lastly Najira the ranger.
"Listen up!" Andreas declared. "This is a new dungeon we've stumbled upon. All six of you are to enter and explore everything it has to offer, following our Kurz adventurer tradition. And, above all, try not to die. I understand nobody truly dies in a dungeon, but I'd rather you avoid the phantom pains that come with it," Andreas cautioned.
This got a round of applause from the gathered six, and they set off to the temporarily named Yokakko Dungeon.
Two hours later the six had left the city of Vonesmy, to the direction of the dungeon.
“What do you guys think is inside the dungeon?” Najira asked, as she held her bow.
Markus Gunner turns to Najira, “Well Najira, I hope it’s Magic Crystals.” He said, holding his Kurz Pattern 56 Crystal Musket, in other words a musket that requires Magic Crystals rather than gunpowder to fire, and produces no smoke when fired. Magic Crystals are a scarcity in the UoK, something the Ergons and Lazirians are taking advantage of. “This baby eats way too much of it, I love her, she’s great, but I haven’t got a chance to use her lately.”
Magic Crystals possess a rich, deep purple hue reminiscent of amethyst, adorned with an orange iridescent vein and a delicate light silver streak. All firearms have components made from this ore.
In order to load a magic rifle, one must take a small chunk of Magic Crystal, split it half, insert the chunk into the breech, and then take the other half into the muzzle, then much like a regular musket the user then needs to use a ramrod to push the other chunk down.
“I think it’s only you that's has to worry about it, Greorjy.” Hamzmir said, with a goofy grin on his face.
Greorjy chuckled, “Aye, but the Laziran Rifle Legions do make me worried, and they’ve got the crystal supply to support them.”
An eerie silence fell upon the group.
Casmur who was ahead of the group, turned to look at her compatriots. “Let’s not dwell on this for now, let's instead head into the dungeon.”
Everyone nodded along and continued trudging along the dirt road, silence fell upon the group.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Enough time should have passed, my mana should’ve regenerated by a significant amount, at least enough to summon one regiment for the second floor. Let's see, status!
> Name: Amelia Yokakko
>
> Dungeon Name: Yokakko Dungeon (Temporary)
>
> Exp Req: 30/100
>
> Level 1
>
> Mana: 15/20
>
> Mana Regen: 5 per hour
>
> Floors: 2/5
>
> Traps: 1
>
> Puzzles: 1
>
> Titles: None
Nice, let's see…
> Floors->Floor 2
>
> Floor 2
>
> Theme: Forest
>
> Capacity: 0/64
Oh so the capacity increases by thirty-two per floor, alright time to summon creatures.
> Creatures:
>
> Bear: 7 Mana
>
> Wolf Pack: 15 Mana
>
> Jaguar: 6 Mana
>
> Anaconda: 7 Mana
>
> Militia
>
> Prussian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> Austrian Landwehr: 15 Mana
>
> British Fencibles: 15 Mana
>
> Russian Opolcheniye: 15 Mana
>
> French National Guard: 15 Mana
>
> Irregular
>
> Spanish Guerrillas: 20 Mana (currently floor locked)
>
> (Non Hostile, passive, or domesticated creatures such pigs, sheep, and chickens are free of charge and won’t count for the creature capacity, however they won’t attack outsiders)
Yikes, seeing the price tag increase for animals is rough with my max of twenty mana. Though, I’m glad that the price tag never went up for the militia’s as I could always just summon more militia if other units and animals get too expensive, I think I’ll save up for the Spanish Guerrillas. Guess I’ll wait for one more hour. Man it’s really a shame these guys are only locked for this floor specifically, well at least until I fully unlock them.
After an hour had passed, I summoned the Spanish Guerrillas, their description read: Guerrilla units aren’t soldiers, but civilians, often bands of families, friends, and neighbors driven to take up arms against foreign occupiers. During the French invasion of Spain and Portugal in what was known as the Peninsular War, the local Spanish population rose up against France, with guerrillas engaged in constant partisan warfare against the Grande Armee, so much so that Napoleon referred to Spain as an “Ulcer”.
The term Guerrilla Warfare was coined in the context of the Peninsular War, one in which the Portugues, Spanish, and British were fighting the invading French forces. Though in reality guerrilla warfare tactics have been used long before the term was first coined, even going as far back as the 6th Century BC with Sun Tzu proposing the use of such tactics in The Art of War.
Anyways I summoned the Spanish Guerrillas, and I’m confused.
Status.
> Name: Amelia Yokakko
>
> Dungeon Name: Yokakko Dungeon (Temporary)
>
> Exp Req: 30/100
>
> Level 1
>
> Mana: 0/20
>
> Mana Regen: 5 per hour
>
> Floors: 2/5
>
> Traps: 1
>
> Puzzles: 1
>
> Titles: None
Ok… I have used up all the mana, but they’re still not here ok, time to check floor capacity.
> Floors->Floor 2
>
> Floor 2
>
> Theme: Forest
>
> Capacity: 15/64
Hold on, something’s not right, they must… hiding… if I had the ability to face palm right now, I guarantee you my hand would’ve gone through my head.
“Alright guys, you can come out now.” If I could pout, I’d be pouting hard.
The bush in front of me began rustling and up jumps a woman, dressed in civilian clothing adorning a top hat, she’s wielding a carbine in her right hand, and a hand ax in her left hand. That same woman is giving me a very smug grin, to which I deadpanned hard.
“Well Señorita Yokakko, a pleasure to meet you.” The woman spoke before securing her carbine on her shoulders, sheathing her hand ax at her left hip, and then offering a respectful bow.
“I don’t want to keep referring to you as ‘The Woman’ so I’ll call you Isabella.
“Ahh, I shall accept this generous gift, kind dungeon.” Isabella said, smiling heartily
Before I could even utter a word Ellen approached, tipping her hat to Isabella, before turning her attention back to me. “Fräulein Yokakku, six figures approach the entrance. What are your orders?”
Wait guests? Like real guests and not animals? Oh this is so exciting, I gotta watch them!
“Do what you think is best Ellen, and that goes for you too, Isabella.” I said, before disappearing from floor 2 and reappearing at the dungeon entrance, where I spotted six figures observing the floor’s surroundings. I count three Humans, one Dark Elf, one Dwarf, and one wearing full plate armor.
“Hi, and welcome to Yokakko Dungeon, name is still pending and-“ I stopped myself, huh, why are they ignoring me? System can you please provide an explanation?
Outsiders cannot interact with a dungeon avatar, unless the avatar has manifested.
Well that makes sense, I guess I’ll try harder next time.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The party arrived at the supposed location of the dungeon, its a hill surrounded by by the forrest, now the entrance itself is an iron door situated on the foot of the hill.
All members briefly glanced at each other, before steeling themselves to walk towards the door. Upon the party's first entry into the dungeon, they marvelled at the sunny landscape of their current location. Dotted with farmhouses, barns, and a couple granaries.
"Whoa, this is surreal. If we weren't in a dungeon, I would've mistaken this for an actual farm." The mage Samarra commented.
"Place must've made an impression on you, Samarra, you barely talk on our adventures." Markus said, nudging Samarra.
"Focus! We're still in a dungeon, who knows what creatures go against us." Casmur cautioned, before continuing. “Alright, here's the plan Markus, you and I are up front, Greorjy, Najira, you're our back line, Hazmir only heal if one of us is critically injured, and finally Samarra, your'e our support, stay in the middle.” The Paladin briefed her companions.
She received a chorus of aye, aye Casmur.
Meanwhile by the watchtower overlooking the entrance. Bertin and Cecelia observed the six adventurers.
“So, do we fire?” Bertin asked.
Cecelia shook her head, “Nein, we’ll let them take the first shot.”
Both guards pointed their muskets at the group of adventurers, fingers poised on the triggers. The situation changed when the ranger spotted the sentries in the watchtower and promptly alerted her party, who received instructions to eliminate the two guards.
“Alright, fire back!” Cecelia declared, as she fired her musket, ducked down to reload, and Bertin fired soon after.
[With the party]
‘Tch, how does this dungeon have access to magic crystals? And furthermore how does it already have crystal rifles for monsters ’ Casmur thought as both Markus and her raised their shields to block bullets. She turns to Greorjy.
“Greorjy, try to see if you can snipe them!, the rest advance while there’s smoke covering the watchtower!” Casmur yelled, as yet another bullet hit her shield.
“Way ahead of you!” Georjy responded, kneeling as he aimed his rifle at the watchtower.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Wow, I’m watching what is essentially a video game dungeon raid party in real time. Yeah, not surprised that they easily took care of the watchtower guards. So now they’re examining their corpses.
“Don’t recognise these uniforms. Also why weren’t they wearing armor? Seems impractical to me.” The dwarf wearing a white robe said, pointing to Bertin's corpse., then he gestured to Cecilia's corpse. "Also her uniform reminds of the Ergonese Zephix Battalion."
The other guy, also wearing full plate armor without a helmet, shrugged. “I dunno, beats me, but check out this hat.” The man said, as he wore the bicorne.
“Wait, I don’t see any parts made from Magic Crystals, so I’m a bit perplexed as to how these can shoot.” Says the man as he held a musket picked up from one of my soldiers.
Now the one in the full plate armor opened the cartridge pouch from Bertin’s corpse and, oh what heck! They’re dumping the cartridges!
“What is this?” They say, picking up a cartridge and tearing apart the paper, revealing the musket ball, and she dumped the gunpowder.
She’s wasting precious gunpowder! They then take a look at the lead ball and she throws it away, mouthing “useless.”
Now to be fair, I don’t know how the musket that man in leather armor was wielding is able to fire without any gunpowder. I observed him break off a piece of an unfamiliar gem, one I had never seen before. He split it into two halves, inserting one into the breech and placing the other into the muzzle. Using a ramrod, he proceeded to push the chunk down the muzzle.
The group continued walking down the road.