I honestly didn't know why I hadn't seen Rockwood’s invasion coming. The dwarves had said it would be pissed, and I had read enough dungeon core stories that it was frankly embarrassing that I hadn’t expected it. Perhaps I hadn’t believed that a dungeon would resort to violence without recourse, but I suppose that was wishful thinking on my part. The worst offender to me were those little Dungeon Guide things that the humans placed at my edge. If those things worked, it didn’t bode well for the average intelligence of dungeons in this world.
I was special. Yay?
Step one in removing this tick digging its way into me was estimating the danger and timeframe of the problem. From observing Rockwood’s advance it was clear that the limiting factor was its cilia and not its minions. The spiny dog things could bite all they want but they had to pause every once in a while to allow their host dungeon to catch up. The range of their leash was only about thirty feet or so. Something I could exploit with my Nothic once they respawned.
Eyeballing the rate of Rockwood’s expansion put it somewhere between 1500-2000 liters per minute. That seemed fast, and perhaps it was fast to a human, but to me, it wasn’t much. Just the three-dimensional volume of my maze put it at around 100 million liters. Now I didn’t expect Rockwood to traipse through every side tunnel, but even if it followed the most direct path it would still take multiple days to reach my core. Three and a half days, give or take.
Now if it didn’t subsume everything from floor to ceiling the situation would be different, but it was and not in the most coordinated fashion either. At the current pace, I would be surprised if it reached my core by the end of the week. A month seemed like the more accurate estimate, especially since my Nothic would respawn soon and slow it down further. The slime-like spreading of its cilia didn’t inspire confidence that it would come up with an ingenious tactic to bypass my minions and that made me sad, but what could you do. Not every wild dungeon you meet was destined to be the love of your life.
Welp, if I had days to beat it, then I might as well prepare. It began with knowing my enemies.
< Terror Dogs:
Damage: Physical;
Weakness: Impalement through the mouth or lower left side of their chest >
My monster manual went on a long-winded explanation of their pros and cons and hunting strategies, but I managed to extract the needed information with little headache.
I could just let Rockwood advance while I prepared, but that would be painful and annoying. Ideally, I should slow its advance down as much as I could easily, and then come back better prepared and push into its territory. Since its minions only dealt physical damage, I had the perfect counter.
Playfully, I contacted Tank.
Hi Tank. What do you think of invading another dungeon?
The great Golem shuddered to life and its electric blue eyes winked open. It seemed to think about the question for a minute then ponderously shook its small head in a clear negative.
Wait...what?
Would you protect me if another dungeon invaded?
At that Tank took an excited step forward and lifted both his sword and shield high. His eyes flared with lightning whose light reflected through his transparent sections and created water-like ripples on the walls around him.
Fascinating.
I told Tank to wait as I extended the third floor down from the cliff face towards the ground in a single long line. When I got to the dirt, I began excavating a tunnel directly above the location I extrapolated Rockwood would be in fifteen minutes. When I reached the tunnel, I bent the cilia of my first floor into higher dimensions in a short section of the hallway and populated that same area with third-floor cilia. Then I brought Tank down the tunnel and made sure the roof was tall enough to accommodate his height and narrow enough that enemy Terror Dogs wouldn’t be able to slip around him. For good measure, I mirrored Rockwood and coated him in a flexible armor of cilia.
Hold the line
Lightning flickered in his core as he looked down upon the puny dogs. Tank stood his ground as the dogs charged and stopped cold as they slammed into his solid frame. A short battle ensued, where Tank knocked some teeth in but then fell into [Reconstruction Protocol] as the combined attacks overwhelmed him. In his defensive stance, his physical resistance shot up to 80% and his healing began to slowly outpace the attackers. It was a near thing, and I narrowed the stone on either side of my boss to lower the number of attacks that could hit him at the same time. A second later, he triggered [Ethereal Shell] and for a short moment his resistances shot up another 5% and his life skyrocketed before the shield shattered and his resistances fell.
I watched for fifteen minutes, making small adjustments and reinforcing the stone on either side of Tank until I was satisfied that the dogs wouldn’t be able to break through. My Nothic spawned, and I made sure they had a few windows to see through from the next Transparent Alumina ampoule that I created.
It took a depressingly long time, but the Terror Dogs began to die. From the time it took for my Nothic to stare them down, I estimated the dogs had around 6,000 effective life. Assuming capped resistances that put them at around 1,500 actual life. Not insane, but still on a similar level to Tank, and there were dozens of them. It was only the combination of his increased maximum resistances, [Impact Absorption], and healing that allowed him to tank them.
Perhaps I could speed this up and save Tank some tanking.
Betsy dear?
“What...”
Would you like to go kill things?
“Do I!” Betsy gasped, leaping up into the air and warping through the higher dimensions in the equivalent of a barrel roll. “Of course I do! Let’s go! Gogogogogogo!”
I sighed at that and unhooked the excited beholder from her harness. She wriggled on the ground as I installed four ugly feet onto my girl. She roared with excitement and dashed out of her chamber as I beat myself up for mangling the beautiful shape of a beholder with...feet.
Oh, god they were so ugly...
Whatever, she was happy, and on the bright side she was finally able to meet Tank.
Precisely an hour after the first Terror Dog died, another one lumbered to join its brethren, by then all of my Nothic had joined Betsy and were blasting any living thing in the hallway to slime in seconds.
Once the situation stabilized, I asked my minions to stop and capture one of the Terror Dogs. A few Nothic died, but they succeeded and I began my experiment. I wanted to know why Rockwood was coating its minions in cilia. After I ground away at the thin layer of ephemeral fibers around the Terror Dogs head and shoved my cilia inside it, the answer became crystal clear.
< Floor 3 creature count: 17/17 >
< Maximum creature count reached! >
The bound Terror Dog collapsed as its heart stuttered to a stop. A second later a beige wave passed over it, and I crushed the spawning Sacrificial Stone Golem to dust as I processed the revelation. I could steal creatures as long as I separated them from their host dungeon. If I could do it, then Rockwood most definitely could.
I quintupled the thickness of the cilia barrier around Tank, formed a similar armor around Betsy, and formed a double-thickness armor around all the rest of my Nothic.
Phew.
With that existential terror abated I discovered another issue. When Rockwood failed to push forward with its creatures it began expanding through the stone. When it hit my domain, it applied an enormous force that slowly degraded my cilia and pushed them back. This was around fifty times slower than having the monsters tenderize me first, but there didn’t seem to be much I could do. My cilia were simply more fragile than its.
Several things I attempted worked to circumvent this issue, but none were viable long-term. Drilling into Rockwood or launching highspeed cilia-based projectiles worked, but were either too localized or required too much concentration to beat back the tide consistently. In other words, I could push back in specific areas, but Rockwood was expanding equally over a massive surface area and on the whole, I was losing.
That was frustrating, but not a danger. It would take Rockwood nearly a year to defeat me with this method, and by then I should be much higher level and therefore more capable of pushing it back. I would have to figure out a way to separate myself from it when I gained sufficient mana, but that was a problem for another day.
It also reinforced the idea that I had to push into its territory with my creatures to win. In that vein, there were many preparations I had to undertake before I was ready for an invasion. Most crucially, I hadn’t taken full advantage of my most recent upgrades. Specifically, [Tears of Gold]. There were other objects I had that counted as items and could — and should — be uptiered. My equipment, the Dagger of Geas, and...me.
Step the first: level up my equipped item, and why not begin with an old friend?
The Dagger of Geas sizzled as it hit the pool of golden water and I can almost feel its sadistic little heart crow with joy. That it could feel joy in the first place was a surprise to me and I shut it out as even touching its feelings briefly was icky.
Dagger of Geas
Weapon Artifact
Level: 22
Life: +189
Attacks with this weapon cannot kill
+25% physical and mental resistance
Abilities: Suggestion, Suppress Soul, Consume Soul
I hadn’t expected the Dagger to level up since it was an artifact but it was a welcome upgrade regardless. I wouldn’t use it for the coming war. It was annoying to unequip it every time one of my minions landed a killing blow while making sure no humans were about to die at the same time. Instead, I would dual-wield two shadow daggers. One with damage and one with resistances.
I would have to figure out how to get the humans out of my forest for the duration of the war, but one problem at a time.
The question was, what weakness did the Terror Dogs have? The monster manual only mentioned impalement. Did that mean physical damage, or were these creatures weak to anything if it was delivered through impalement? Hmm, a conundrum. For now, I would stick with physical damage and switch once I gained new information.
Weapon
Level: 22
Life: +189
+123 physical damage
Good enough for the guys I go out with. Next, those dogs definitely dealt physical damage:
Weapon
Level: 22
Life: +189
+45% physical resistance
Perfect. Now the scary part. I was technically an item, so what would happen if I got...upgraded? It took me nearly an hour of ruminating back and forth to muster up the courage to dunk myself. So many terrible thoughts cycled through my head as to what might happen. Would I create a feedback loop and level up to infinity and explode? Would the fountain break? Would I? Or would nothing happen and I was stressing for nothing?
By the end of the hour, I hadn’t settled on a decision and was interrupted from my musings by the system informing me of my newest ability.
Fractured Augmentation:
Artifice Hulks gain [Charge Strike]
Charged Artifice Hulk eye attacks gain 20% additional damage per second charged
Charged Artifice Hulk eye attacks deal damage in an area
Charged Artifice Hulk eye attacks gain 20% additional area of effect per second charged
Treants may be charged with up to 100 mana
Treants with mana do not disintegrate outside of their spawned floor
Treants lose 1 mana per minute while outside of their spawned floor
Nothic grant +100 experience to nearby plants upon death
+5 to maximum creature count
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Oh, bloody hell. I got a triple fusion of skills again. At least it didn’t appear to have a massive downside like [Unstable Fusion] had. Still, the new skill was arguably worse than any of the skills that made it up. Artifice Hulks had gained the ability to charge their attacks which was nice, but the skill specifically said eye attacks. My Artifice Hulks had eyes but they didn’t attack through their eyes so...did that make the upgrade useless? The second mixup was better but not by much. Treants were my worst creature so allowing them to leave my bounds seemed like a missed opportunity. Worst of all, no plants could survive in the Deep Dark of my first floor so the fact that Nothic granted them experience upon death was a moot point. I suppose I could get mushrooms or something, but once again, useless.
On the bright side, I had increased my minion cap by an abnormally large amount. I set aside the upgrade as I didn’t really have the time to figure out how to use it best and just settled on being happy with a higher minion cap.
Shortly, my thoughts returned to upgrading my core. So far, the only abilities that had affected any negative outcomes were the ones that had been fused. My unfused skills were all positive and I had never experienced a negative downside from any of them. Therefore, I should have nothing to fear from upgrading my core since [Tears of Gold] was an unfused skill.
With the utmost care, I levitated a single drop of the golden waters above my core and let it fall. I winced as the drop absorbed into me, but when nothing catastrophic happened I relaxed. Braver now, I brought a little more water over and had it absorb into my core.
< You cannot level up while in combat! >
< You have leveled up! >
< You are now level 19! >
< WARNING: Physical level == Soul level returned false! >
I could feel a shift in my domain. When I leveled normally I knew I grew stronger, but the change was so gradual that I generally dismissed it as inconsequential. Here though, I leveled in seconds and the change was jarring. My cilia solidified, becoming more anchored to the physical world. Each strand strengthened with the most immediate effect being that Rockwood’s advance slowed by a fractional percentage.
Huh...
< You cannot level up while in combat! >
< You are now level 20! >
< WARNING: Physical level == Soul level returned false! >
< You cannot level up while in combat! >
< You are now level 21! >
< WARNING: Physical level == Soul level returned false! >
< You cannot level up while in combat! >
< You are now level 22! >
< WARNING: Physical level == Soul level returned false! >
< You are now tier 4! Congratulations! >
< Consuming your core now elevates sentients to the 5th tier! >
Rockwood’s advance ground to a near standstill as the ripple spread through my dungeon. It still ate away at my edges, but I was now on an even playing field with it. Perhaps only a hair weaker overall. From this, I could deduce that Rockwood was at the end of the fourth tier.
It appeared that I could upgrade my level with tears of gold even when in combat, but I didn’t gain any upgrades from it. That was fine, just having improved resistance to other dungeons was good enough for me. The primary downside was that higher leveled adventurers would now want to come to eat me. The Captain was doing his job admirably though, so I would worry about that later.
Almost all preparations were complete but I had to take care of the humans. It was nighttime, so they were all outside my domain, but dawn was approaching and it wouldn’t do for them to train while I didn’t have the Dagger of Geas equipped. The most obvious solution was to simply ask them. To that effect, I woke Cortana and asked her to inform the humans that they could die now.
Knowing the humans, they would doubt the message. Maybe they would simply be skeptical, or maybe they would be curious and throw one of their number under the bus to confirm my words. If anything I doubted they would stay away for the entire duration of my war with Rockwood. Especially since it would last at least a few weeks since I doubted I could remove its cilia any faster than it could remove mine.
They needed a clear sign that they were welcome to enter my domain, but the kiddie gloves were coming off. For some reason, thoughts of a certain caped crusader jumped into my mind, but that seemed a little silly. I looked around my domain to try and get more ideas and eventually settled on Tank. His electric blue eyes cast ripples of coruscating light that flickered and danced around him.
That should work.
I zoomed up to the upper atmosphere and focused on a single one of the lenses that illuminated my super trees. I remembered that plants used mostly red and blue light for growth, and discarded much of the yellow and green wavelengths. I could use that to send an undeniable signal to the humans.
I subtly shifted the shape of the glass lens into an irregular prism. It took some finagling, but by the light of the stars, I managed to split out the light into a rainbow. Some more shifting and trial and error with the glass allowed me to redirect the middle part of the spectrum up and away while keeping the outer wavelengths focused down on my trees. Since my enhanced trees were all clustered around my cave entrance, they were suddenly bathed in a grim violet glow. That didn’t seem enough, so I intentionally introduced distortions to the lens which caused the violet light to be brighter in some sections and darker in others. I set the lens spinning and suddenly I had an effect not all too dissimilar to how the bottom of a pool looked in the sunlight. Except it was purple and evil.
I replicated the effort on the rest of the glass lens and quickly fell into a rhythm where I could focus on other tasks while modifying the lens. It would take a while, but I was confident in a day or three there would be a malevolent god ray shining on the entrance to my first floor.
Satisfied that my cave was now suitably ominous I realized that I may have a problem. Humans were notorious for wanting things that they couldn’t have. There was a chance that by installing the god ray, they would be more interested in seeing what was behind it, not less.
The humans needed a reason to deviate from my cave. My Nothic would be busy and wouldn’t have the time or inclination to repel more invaders. To that effect, I redirected the green/yellow godray onto my sky castle. My Artifice Hulks would be more than capable of keeping the enterprising humans busy. To make the task of scaling the sky castle more enticing, I filled my third floor with old items. None were amazing, but most were made of shadow and were at relatively high levels. Within the morass, I hid a few of my old enchanted items for good measure, and after a second of thought, also a few Shadow Sources since I had so many piling up.
To make it extra juicy for the adventurers to veer up instead of down, I shifted [Tears of Gold] up to the deepest part of the flying castle. It single-handedly provided a reward that any adventurer would appreciate if they were brave and strong enough to face my Artifice Hulks. I installed a little plumbing to make sure the fountain wouldn’t overflow and to limit the volume of liquid in the fountain at any given moment to be sufficient for a single medium-sized item. That way, I would be able to store any excess for my use, and adventurers wouldn’t waltz in with a caravan of items to upgrade all at once.
Lastly, I installed a pillar of stone shaped to look like a huge vine coiling up from the ground up to the outer courtyard of the castle. To make it even more tantalizing, I embedded tiny shards of glass into the surface of the stone so that the whole construction glittered in the starlight. In the day it would be even more impressive. The adventurers would have to rock climb to get up, but if they weren’t willing to do that, they weren’t ready to face my Hulks.
Enough.
I had a war to fight.
----------------------------------------
“It’s beautiful isn’t it.”
Christina gestured for Gella to join her on the roof of her cottage with a smile. Somehow, her life had become more peaceful ever since the dreaded collar had snapped around her throat. Her days were empty and so she had learned to fill them with an appreciation for the small things.
“The castle? I mean, I guess...” Gella slumped down beside Christina and clutched her knees close.
Christina glanced at her morose companion, but then back up to the floating castle that glittered in the moonlight. “Did you see it while it was being made?”
“What? Four days ago? No, I had the early watch that day.”
“It was like watching a craftsman create art from nothing. Every stroke masterful, and every functional segment enhanced with little details that bring the parts together into a unified whole. I think it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You’ve changed,” Gella shot her an accusing look. “Where is my friend who said that dungeons were the bane of our existence and how we would all burn if we didn’t follow Deia’s teachings?”
“I’m still that girl,” Christina laughed, light and free, “but is it wrong to appreciate the majesty of a storm cloud while it holds its lightning in the sky? Dungeons are the same. Destructive, enigmatic, and downright weird sometimes but while they lie dormant they can be truly amazing. If I’m stuck here anyway, I think I’m going to enjoy it while I can.”
“You have changed,” Gella leaned back and forcefully let out a deep sigh as she looked up at the dungeon’s creation. “I suppose it is rather pretty isn’t it.”
The pair sat like that for a time, speaking of small things. What unique crops did the farmers manage to grow in the fertile dungeon land? When would the Captain get a message back from Krimta on what to do with the dungeon increasing in tier at a record-breaking pace? Would anyone else manage to find that purported fountain that upgraded items once a day and what item would they upgrade if they could?
Has anyone else died fighting the giant golems?
As time passed, tension built between the two women. It was a palpable thing. A cold, clammy pressure that sloughed off Gella in waves. It was present in the way her fists clenched periodically. In the tightness in her eyes and how, no matter how she leaned back, she couldn’t find a comfortable position to sit in. Eventually, Christina grew tired of waiting for her friend to speak up and brought it up.
“You were right!” Gella blurted out. “About the Soul Burn, I mean. It lasts for months if not years and hurts nonstop. I went over to the slave tents and asked around and you wouldn’t believe what I heard. It’s barbaric how they’re treated! But it’s not like I’m any better since I’ve just ignored them all this time. I can’t believe I’ve been so thoughtless. All these years and I never once thought. I’m a horrible, selfish, horribly selfish person!”
Gella burst into tears as her voice broke. Christina froze for a second, but then placed a comforting hand on Gella’s back and rubbed it in small circles.
“You’re not selfish—”
“I am! Yes, I am! I spoke to this slave whose name is Kellar, who’s been a slave for as long as he can remember. He’s never even known what it's like to open up his interface! Imagine having a restriction collar on for so long that you never get to feel a skill activate. It’s horrible. How could things have gotten this bad without me noticing?”
“The scripture states that the providence of the system is graced on the righteous and those who have wronged deserve no such mercy.”
“What wrong could a child have possibly committed to warrant a lifetime like this? What if having the collar on so long makes it so that when they take it off he won’t be able to access his interface?” Gella paused as if a much worse thought came to her. “What if they never take the collar off him.”
“I don’t know Gella. You could ask a priest for his criminal report. Maybe then—”
“I did that. I contacted a friend in Krimta and he asked the church for the reports on a slave ‘by the name Kellar’,” Gella took on a gruff mocking tone, then slumped forward with a sigh, defeated. “He doesn’t have any papers associated with his name or any records of when or how he was incarcerated in the first place. As far as the church is concerned, Kellar doesn’t exist.”
“That doesn’t seem like them. The deacons are always sticklers for record keeping.”
Silence descended upon them for a couple of minutes.
Gella sighed again. “I wish you could come to talk to Kellar in person, then you’ll see. He’s angry. They all are, and I would be too if I was in their position.”
A short trip of one-hundred minutes could be arranged, sister.
Christina jumped as Cortana’s voice whispered in her ear. She forced down the flood of questions for the fairy to maintain her secrecy. She would ask later.
“I might be able to go visit for a bit.”
Gella’s head shot up and she spun on Christina. “Wait! What? Since when?”
“Just now...” Christina gritted her teeth. Oh, she would have words with Cortana once they were alone.
“Great! Let’s go.”
If you stay out more than an hour and forty minutes we will both die though, sister.
...So many words.
----------------------------------------
Christina stepped outside of the dungeon’s domain for the first time in a long while. She followed Gella through the dark camp in a daze of giddy excitement. This was such a simple thing, yet it felt like the greatest gift in the world.
They arrived at the slave section of the camp and slipped into the northernmost tent to find rows of sleeping slaves. Near the entrance they found a squat, scarred man meditating on a pallet. He was around their age and bald with downturned crow's feet at the edges of his eyes that aged him a decade. With the ponderous intensity of a patient man, he opened his eyes and nodded at the pair.
“Hi Kellar,” Gella whispered. “I brought a friend who’s interested in hearing your story. I promise she won’t snitch on you.”
Kellar gaze shifted and for a brief moment, Christina felt like a mouse looking into the jaws of a beast. The moment passed and the tension in the air vanished like it was never there. The man was at least tier four or she would eat a boot.
Ooh, I like him. I think he and Tank could be best friends.
Who was Tank?
“You are the soldier who lives in the dungeon, yes?” Kellar said in a surprisingly deep voice.
Christina nodded, and after a little more small talk, Kellar fell into a comfortable rhythm of an experienced storyteller. An hour passed in a moment as Christina found herself getting sucked into the man's words. He told a compelling narrative of pain and hardship and by the end, she could understand how his words had so deeply shaken Gella. Christina herself was more skeptical. The church did not enslave just anyone.
“Do you not believe in Deia’s teachings?”
“Oh, quite reverentially.” A small smile lifted the right side of Kellar’s lips. “But it was not the great goddess but a lowly priest who snapped this collar around my throat. These two are not the same, yes?”
“No, I suppose they aren’t,” Christina murmured, then spoke in a louder tone. “So why do you tell this story? Is it just for entertainment or do you have a goal you seek? A dream perhaps.”
“I dream of a life with my family away from the church where I am allowed to make my own living and pray in the way I see fit. I dream of a time without this collar draining the happiness from my wife, and a home where my children could run free, but alas. Such a day will never come, yes?”
He’s lyyyyinnnnggg! Cortana giggled in the back of Christina’s head in a sing-song voice. Look at his butthole pucker! He’s going to pull a runner! Oh! Maybe he’s going to organize a coup? This is so exciting!
Christina raised a brow at that and leaned toward the bald man. “Perhaps, but humor me. If you could become a free man tomorrow, where would you go? To the dwarves? Or do you think trying your luck in the mountains among the beastmen would favor you best?”
“It is difficult to build a self-sufficient home in the mountains isn’t it?” Kellar responded with another half smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Besides, any life with a collar is no life at all.”
Not to be a buzzkill, but we’re going to die in precisely thirteen minutes and forty-two seconds. Please promptly head back to the dungeon.
“Well, thank you for your time,” Christina smiled and stood. “I must go, but perhaps we will speak again.”
Kellar nodded, and Christina hurried out with Gella hard on her heels.
“So? What do you think? We should free them, right?”
“Gella, please. If what you said about Kellar’s papers is true, it would be easier to orchestrate his escape than it would be to navigate the paperwork of freeing a slave who isn’t a slave.”
“Then let’s do that!”
Christina shot her a look.
“Oh don’t give me that look, I mean let’s ask my mom to pull some strings. I’m sure we can figure it out if we work together.”
“I don’t know, Gella. We’d need to get the approval of a bishop at least to remove his collar, and that would require doing the paperwork anyway.”
“How can you be so heartless!”
Six minutes. Fly you fool.
“I’m practical,” Christina shook her head. “What you are suggesting is impossible without the express support of a bishop. The few I’ve met would never agree to this. We’ll talk later. I’m out of time. See you tomorrow.”
Christina heard Gella huff behind her as she broke into a run toward the dungeon bounds. In three minutes she hopped across the border and she heard Cortana wheeze out a sigh of relief as she popped into visible existence beside her.
“You can slow down now,” Cortana giggled, keeping pace on her glittering wings. “By the way, I have a question for you.”
“Oh me too,” Christina huffed, amazed at how bad her endurance had gotten from just a little while lounging about.
“Me first! If you were offered three skill books and told you could only choose one, which would you choose? A skill book that gives you an aura that calls lightning down from the sky and makes everyone who isn’t you take more lightning damage. Or! One that covers you in terrible thorns that break any items of anyone who attacks you?”
“And the third option?”
“It makes physical space around you hyperbolic! I think that’s my choice personally. Tank would love walking in a straight line and getting all turned around.”
Christina sent the giggling fairy a side-eye. “I have never in my entire life heard of any skills that could do any of those things,” she replied with finality.