The Greatest war the continent has ever seen didn't involve men, it was against nature that Thea reigns over, it consisted of thousands of warships that housed thousands of troops. According to survivors, the voyage towards the ninth continent has seen more deaths than there were wars in the Vayari continent for the last two decades.
The numbers amounted to six digits.
─Accounts by the Royal Librarian in History, Zenok Paige
[Year 1247, Imperial Calendar of Samar]
“It's impossible to procure this much wood for this size.”
“Aw cmon, Carpenter! I am willing to pay you as much! Doesn't your [Tree Whisperer] allow you to make them grow faster?”
“Just because I have that class doesn't mean I can make the wood grow in a day.”
The Carpenter laid down his axe and looked at the merchant, his head more tired than his body. The merchant has come unannounced and came to bargain, the worst part is that the Carpenter is sure that some of the merchant’s skill is combating his willpower.
“I know that! With effort, I know that there will be a lot for us to do! But think about the rewards!” The Carpenter furrowed his brows. “The ninth continent is just ahead of us! With its dangerous waters, we’d need strong ships! And if people knew who’s wood and who’s work those ships are won't they pay you a visit?”
“So, the waters are dangerous. Yet you want to grow the wood beyond what is natural making it naturally weak and aside from my contract of building the ship for you… what are you trying to get here?”
“All I’m saying is that we could take the Ironwood─”
“Not the damn Ironwood discussion again.”
The Carpenter is getting frustrated, the ironwood is very hard to grow, the climate and the soil being the main problem for him and it does not help that a single ironwood tree would grow for nearly 20 years before becoming tall and ready to be used.
“Wait, wait! We're not going to suggest harvesting the existing ones.” The merchant quickly added.
“Then what?”
“We’ve bought saplings all over the continent.” the merchant pulled out a scroll out of his bag. “Theres a total of hundred twenty of them, all my company is asking now is that you grow them till harvest and we’ll pay you for it!”
The Merchant’s tone is persuasive, no matter how the Carpenter scrutinised his expression for falsehood, though he couldn't help but sigh as he was led to this conversation.
“Since we’ll just have to grow the sapling then I can deal with that. Let's discuss the details later.”
“Of course,” The merchant gave a toothy smile. “Pleasure to do business with you, John the Carpenter.”
“Yeah, yeah.” John Carpenter waved his hand away.
Once the merchant left, probably drafted a contract. John went to organise his firewood, some to turn into charcoal and potash, then some for himself and his family. It was an honest day of work once he was done he went back inside his home and lay himself down on a rocking chair before opening the newspaper he paid a subscription to.
A decade ago, an oracle was given to every single temple of the great six gods an event that shocked the entire continent. It is not every day that every single god would bestow an oracle. All of them have almost the same content as well.
Jaheva the god of light said that there are new subjects to be enlightened on the ninth continent.
Dehx the god of death and peace promised that the ninth continent be the promised land.
Helion the god of earth and metal promised new resources hinting at riches.
Lazil the warrior god promised countless battles waiting and honour that awaited those willing.
Azul the goddess of flames and perseverance, the younger sister of Jaheva promised the strongest battles that would hone themselves,
The Goddess of nature, Thea promised monsters and beasts unknown from their lands.
It took months before the temples decided to annunciate the news, it was the talk of the whole continent for months, kings and nobles investing unto merchant ships and warlords making their way unto the ninth continent, something they had ignored for years.
It was a land that promised riches.
***
[Year 22]
[The Abyss, The Ninth Continent]
Hadro was prudent in the usage of his SE due to his plans to ascend, he refrained from using it unless he had to attack or block, there are three main dungeons that he knew where he stood. Most of them are surely capable of handling and dispatching him outright.
That's why he needed something else, a weaker dungeon, possibly a dungeon that has not yet burrowed itself into multiple floors. If that were the case then his endeavour would not be rewarded, a dungeon with multiple floors meant a guarded floor.
Multiple biomes were crossed, swamps, and plains until he was met with a desert.
“Have I gone too far north?”
The orientation of the ninth continent is similar to one of the old continents from Earth, that is Australia.
The northern part of the continent is nothing but sand which soon meets a beach. In Reality, it would be filled with vegetation, mostly some mangroves and anything that can survive in salt water.
But in the Abyss he had no idea. Hadro wished he could use some of his SE to fly but due to his goal chose to refrain from it.
He groaned and chose to move back to familiar lands, this time he decided to go southeast, where even from his position, the largest mountain he had ever seen.
“In Reality, the top is gone but even so, it's still there, the remnants of that thing.”
Hadro could tell, the entire thing was a volcano. The mountain ridge that stretches to the west is similar to the one in Reality so it checks out.
Now that he thought about it, if the top of the volcano is still there then why in Reality it isn't? How far in between is a SE even going back and forth to record everything?
Though not his final destination, he still had to traverse towards it so he could mark down the locations he had already been.
“Hiss!”
With a flick of his wrist, a bone-shattering sound was made. He didn't have to look where it happened, the only thing he acknowledged was the SE that added to his pile.
[230SE+]
Too few, he noted. He continued his march towards the Forest, it was serene as it was largely uneventful. Though it would be different if he had to count the Trek as one.
That quickly changed when he heard hushed grunting and controlled noises. Hadro raised his hand and pointed in the direction immediately ready to kill any threat that went his way.
However, he was left perplexed when he saw literal cavemen with spears with flint tips. The reaction of the cavemen carried from warily pointing their spears to trying to walk away slowly.
Hadro was beyond shocked, how is a prehistoric species of humanity still alive in the Abyss? Out of the knowledge he was given, he started to reason, whilst the Abyss records everything it comes to a stop when the object in reality dies.
A soul is the record of one's history. It will stay with the object of record and will only go to the abyss once the object of record has ceased.
It is possible that when these cavemen were still alive, they were very strong allowing them to live in the abyss with teamwork instead of dying and being lost in all of history in due time. A hint of curiosity flashed in Hadro's eyes, the cavemen are an object of curiosity.
“Huh!”
The cavemen were careful in their approach, so Hadro decided to meet them portraying himself with no harm. He raised both hands and slowly approached.
The cavemen, although apprehensive, didn't attack, though one member moved forward with caution in his steps and once they were close enough Hadro realised that the cavemen, although filled with dirt from his feet, weren't generally dirty or smelly.
The cavemen whose spear was down examined Hadro touching his hair and then fiddling with his white coat.
“Good thing I didn't have to wash that buddy.”
The cavemen who are watching suddenly riled pointing at Hadro.
“Gatula tuk tuk?”
The cavemen came with their language, as a god Hadro didn't have the weakness of a language barrier because he could discern the intent in their words instead of words just being fed to his mind.
The caveman asked, “Is he lost?” with expressions, simple sounds, and gestures. Hadro was about to reply when they heard the roar of an unknown beast.
The caveman flinched and the one near Hadro grabbed his wrist and they all ran somewhere. Hadro didn't resist and followed them, he was led to the already nearby mountain where rocks and cliffs are what made it up.
There, he was led to a cave which after crossing inside was closed by a large rock that they pushed. Inside there was a fire, Hadro worried that they were in danger of inhaling smoke.
But it turned into needless worry when he saw some light brushing past small openings above the main entrance of the cave where the smoke undoubtedly exits.
What surprised Hadro next was that children and women came to welcome the men. Judging by their situation, they were more well-off when Hadro first came across the villagers of Foreline.
Animal hides were used to cover their bodies and glancing further in the cave a few more to make themselves warm. Hadro watched as the situation became more sullen when the children and women saw the men without a game.
“Hmm…”
“Worry not, tomorrow we hunt big!”
One of the men declared, that Hadro now assumed he was the leader. Wearing a stripe-patterned hide over his body his actions were seemingly taken seriously.
Being surrounded by children made Hadro baffled, by his knowledge, the rules of Reality is followed by the abyss.
Therefore, he is sure that these children are… 'no way… ‘ children from the abyss itself, they didn't have any counterpart in reality. Hadro’s eyes glanced at the men of the cavemen.
‘They were never alive in Reality in the first place’
They were purely Abyss-born, a continuation of what used to be. It was bizarre, the Abyss abides by the same law as that of in reality it was thanks that these cavemen survived.
Now looking closely, these cavemen are similar anatomy to modern humans, the difference is that they have thicker-looking skulls, dark skins and weary faces.
The cavemen did their supposed business, someone tended to the fire and the children bothered their fathers with stories. While some were still staring at Hadro, some even touched his clothes.
“You, which tribe?”
“None.”
Hadro sent the intended meaning of the word directly to the caveman; he wanted to make sure that they didn't have any communication gap. Now he looked at him, this particular caveman is old.
Hadro watched as the children started pulling at his arm. He sighed and lifted his arm slowly, the kid clung and now he was left with a giggling kid.
The tribe of these cavemen didn't seem particularly wary of Hadro. He was thankful for that. He placed down the kid and asked the same caveman.
“Hungry?”
The old caveman gave a nod, before pushing the kids back to their mother's.
“We are.”
I nodded with a smile, I opened [Storage] and pulled out some snake meat. Which aroused bafflement at the cavemen. The [storage] function I had stored the blueprints or “Material Record” courtesy of the function of the abyss.
Thanks to that I didn't have to acquire materials myself putting me in danger, but then again it uses my SE. Though, I believe that this endeavour is worth the cost.
Stolen novel; please report.
With a wave of a hand, the snake meat which is quite large in my hand was sliced into multiple pieces.
“Hungry?”
The men of the tribe immediately started working and giving out plates, which were made of stone. I gave them the pieces of equal sizes, totalling 12 large steak-sized pieces.
They all happily waited for their turn being given, one by one expressing their gratitude. They cooked it first in their bonfire which was continuously producing flames.
“Are you God?”
The old caveman asked. “One of many,” Hadro replied, there was nothing wrong with this answer. He is practically a god in body and soul.
When the cavemen heard his answer they started bowing down in his presence. He waited for them to speak before he did something.
“We waited long.”
The old man raised his head and turned it to one of the men, the man seemed to understand and stood up to retrieve something.
“Our God died, long ago.”
It seems a lore is about to drop which Hadro is curious about. Once the man who was tasked to take something came back with a tablet with writings the old man spoke.
“He left something to us.”
The stone tablet was filled with SE, it was so dense Hadro was momentarily confused why it was so. Then he remembered, anything is possible with SE so maybe the god that used to be here left something in this tablet.
Hadro didn't feel any malice in the tablet, as mentioned, anything is possible with SE and resurrection is not out of the picture. He placed his hand on top of the tablet and he was assaulted with memories of the unknown past.
It was fragmented making it hard to make a complete picture of the events being shown. With memories, emotions and sounds being merged together.
There was a man who was screaming, by the emotions, it was against another pantheon.
“We've made a deal! And this is how you repay us?! My people and my friends?!”
The rage that man— that god was feeling was contagious, fury started to affect Hadro's psyche.
“Then with the last of me, I condemn you all!”
That was basically the last piece of the comprehensible fragment before Hadro was looking at the people once again.
[4000SE+]
That amount of SE for that short memory? The SE in the tablet soon started vanishing, that was their old god? What was his name? Hadro wanted to know but he had an objective coming here.
“I See.”
Before the entire SE vanished from the stone I restored it once again, the entire fragmented memory retaking its place. I may have lost some SE in the process.
That God was a lore, a part of the ninth continent. It's best to preserve this history till they learn more.
“Thank you.”
Hadro pursed his lips, that much SE would help him move forward but it would be stupid to remove a piece of missing history just for a few thousand SE. Hadro woefully sighed as he returned the tablet.
“I'd like you all to help me. So be at ease.”
There was hesitance on the cavemen, ignorant on how to act further. Not wanting to offend or disrespect a god, however, upon seeing that Hadro had no irritation in his face they all sat down still lowering themselves.
“Cmon, the food is bound to be burned if some of you didn't help.”
Once the old man saw the gentle attitude of Hadro he decided to help with the food, the others soon followed after. Sharing the food with everyone bound to make them loosen up.
Once they all ate the food Hadro had given, he started asking questions. With his objective, an obvious question to ask is to be related to a dungeon, but instead with a compulsion decided to ask about the god in the fragmented memory.
“Who is… your previous god?”
“Akman.”
“What God…?”
“Don't know, only name.”
Hadro nodded. A god named Akman, it is obvious that he had his own pantheon until a war happened, a war against another with Jaheva involving it. Now that he thought it over, Jaheva and her pantheon didn't even set foot on the ninth continent.
If the fragment memory and Jaheva not even moving in the ninth continent are any indication of connection, the war didn't end in a draw. It was a war with no winner with everyone being the loser.
It was a speculation with the end, but with limited evidence to infer to then it was the most probable theory. But enough of that, Hadro's curiosity is already sated. It's time to continue with his objective.
“Have you seen a Dungeon?”
I sent images when I said the dungeon to add context. The old man clearly thought about his answer intending to please Hadro with it, Hadro perceived the act as a way of not currying favour but rather like a son trying to get acknowledged by his father.
“Dungeon, inside Forest.”
The old man answered with confidence, Hadro saw the unwavering self assurance of the old man, that's a good thing, turns out the cavemen knew a place where he could find a dungeon.
‘That's saves time’
The tribe soon went to sleep, the sun already setting. A year has passed in Reality, Hadro counted, he needed to get out of Abyss in about 10 days, staying in the Abyss more than that shortens his time to work around his followers.
Families slept in grass that they might have scavenged outside, one thing Hadro noticed is that the old man is particularly sleeping in much more bedding. They also wanted to add some grass for Hadro to sleep but he refused; he had this wooden mattress that he copied from the village to use.
It wasn't the best bed he had, but a particularly comfortable one. He had already resolved himself to remove all mortal thoughts but when the abyss makes him like a mortal man, he couldn't help but indulge in it.
Hours went by and Hadro was graced by the Abyssal record of the sun, warmth filled the cave and it was time to wake up, his eyes landed on the still burning fire being filled up with sticks.
Hadro woke up whilst stretching his body, watching as the cavemen started to discuss places to hunt, either for fish in the nearby river or for more protein heavy animals of the forest. Nonetheless, it all stopped when Hadro woke up.
“Good morning.”
He spoke as soon as he pulled out some chicken eggs from storage, using SE to materialise eggs. It's going to be a productive day as it's time to scout the dungeon location.
Hadro counted the heads and decided that eggs weren't going to be enough so he pulled out another snake meat which was now cut into thin ham slices. The tribe was expectant of Hadro but didn't let themselves become useless in awe.
They provided a stone slab that they placed on top of the bonfire. Knowing where this is going he gave the eggs to a woman along with the thin slices.
“Share it.”
Hadro decided that it would be best to have the caveman who is clearly prehistory modern man under his wing, after this he’d have to go under a conquest to get them all to guard his territory.
He is sure that there will be a time where it is needed. After a while, everyone had their fill. Hadro had the old man guide him to the location of the suspected dungeon.
They crossed several changing scenes, from hills to a running river they had to cross, till they had entered an obvious death zone.
It was quiet for a forest, glancing at the old man whose accompanied by a few men, Hadro saw unease, not to the point of fear but rather to the still and eerie silence that permeated the forest.
“It seems that our journey ends here.”
The old man looked at Hadro, worry plastered in his eyes.
“God, leaving?”
“No, I'm just going to check this area. Go home, you've travelled far.”
The old man was reluctant, Hadro decided the moment he came back to the cave he would give him a name. The hunter-gatherer tribe will settle on his conquered domain and live there as farmers, the next generation will be more prosperous.
“Can't follow?”
“No, dangerous.”
The old man soon heeded Hadro’s words, he was too old for this journey. He may be healthy but he is surely far from what he was able to do. Besides, Hadro’s journey is towards a dungeon, a place with nothing but danger laced in it.
The accompanied men soon escorted back the old man, thankfully, Hadro left a parting gift of more sliced snake meat in their cave. They will soon return to their life after he continues his quest.
He marched forward, already feeling the unsettling silence of the forest, he couldn't hear as much as a cricket noise, only the howling wind greeting him. The lands that they had to cross are familiar, Hadro mused, having a lot of time he started theorizing where he was.
Considering he went to the south and this place is cold yet vegetation thrived means that they are near the southern ridge, which divides the southeastern great mountains from the rest of the continent.
When Hadro scouted for different lives that are scattered in the continent, he also marked the land, there are two major ridges, the Northern ridge which separated the mainland from the sea and the Southern ridge which separated the great mountains from the mainland.
The Great Mountains as Hadro called them, are four separate mountains, by comparison, Mount Everest is 9km tall, Hadro has yet to make an exact measurement, but the Great Mountains in his current location would make him crane his neck upwards just to see the peak, he wasn't even near it yet.
After a long walk, with the sun at its highest peak, Hadro decided to rest with his waterskin that he got from the Village. He knew that he was quite nearing his destination, the amount of SE concentrated in the area was vastly suffocating, no wonder monsters and beasts alike don't come here.
With his short rest ready to embark on the riskiest journey he ever had. He prepared spears complete with a metallic tip. Hadro does not plan to hold back, here his death is guaranteed and he has no idea if he could just revive.
Moving forward, there is no longer grass growing, only dark soil and dying trees with no leaves in their branches. When he reached a certain point, Hadro realized that this dungeon was not as weak as he intended it to be.
A monster of unknown form and name came after him, the System didn't even offer a name for them it had two heads and limbs with no definite form that slithered over the other barely making a coherent form.
Hadro was a bit intrigued but that didn't last long, the monster pounced once it saw Hadro who didn't hesitate to try and destroy the monster by just crushing its skulls. Which worked fine and killed it with not much of a sound.
“I caught it off guard.”
[3,800 SE+]
Hadro knew it, the monster was on the level of a deity. Most deities would have resisted his power and could have defended themselves against it but the instantaneous activation of Hadro’s power meant they had no time to react.
Hadro soon felt the ground rumble, he alerted the dungeon for sure. After that, he didn't dally anymore and continued his journey with much more vigour. He ran in the direction with the thickest concentration of SE in the surroundings.
[28 SE+]
[14 SE+]
[22 SE+]
…
The concentration was so dense he was starting to passively gain some of it. This might affect the surroundings but Hadro whose origin is now a god did little to harm but more to benefit him instead.
The SE started to flow in Hadro like a small whirlpool, he could now understand why the SE was starting to degrade the surroundings, it was removing history from the objects around it. SE in an area swirls around an epicentre, it enters from a point, where the history of the SE that entered conflicts with the existing ones destroying both in the process.
Multiple monsters of different shapes and forms started to interrupt Hadro’s advance. All unnatural and possibly a combination of existing and gone beasts from time untold. He crushed them with instantaneous activation of his ability.
His advance from the forest of dead wood standing like a vast monolith from time lost, he found the intensity of the whirlpool the amount of SE being funnelled to him is now at three digits. The monsters became more alien with grotesque forms that Hadro had a hard time thinking where the head was.
His first trouble came when he failed to kill a monster instantly, it suddenly became tough Hadro felt like squishing a softball into a steel ball. It became almost impossible to end it instantly, the grotesque form of the monster wriggled with its limbs of unknown number.
Thankfully, Hadro still has his spear to use. With precision and speed, he launched the spear towards the monster. Though the monster's speed allowed it to dodge the blitzing spear, it wasted no time rushing to Hadro with uncanny movements.
The spear unnaturally bent its direction at an angle where it was impossible, going after the monster with undisturbed momentum as it was thrown. Unfortunately, its grotesque form meant that its shifting body had eyes everywhere.
Hadro cursed as the monster dodged but was thrown away and off-balanced after the spear landed like a meteor beside it. And by some bad luck, he heard sounds coming closer from the direction of the assumed dungeon.
Hadro sighed, this will be a lost cause. If he continued, death would be guaranteed. For today he decided to retreat. The monster with a roar of abnormality started to dash forward Hadro’s location.
“This is causing me to lose Energy.”
Instead of crushing the monster, it died horribly by being pulled out in several directions, it became a mess of writhing limbs and flesh after Hadro changed his tactic. Crushing the monster was an option he preferred because it ended swiftly, but pulling it apart was like tearing a textbook apart, no matter the resistance, though the cost was more than it was worth.
Tearing something apart efficiently is not as easy as crushing a skull. Hadro could have torn the monster and it could still be alive. Like the monster, he faces now. He tore it apart on multiple pieces but it was still moving.
“Damnit.”
Hadro retreated. This dungeon is much more powerful than he can handle. If that was the case then in Reality it would be much more worse. Monsters of unnatural design already make it hard for the Village to defend itself like recently.
He didn't spare any effort, using his power to dash out there as quickly as he could with the spear in hand. The monsters were eager to give chase but when the SE that funnels to Hadro goes down to two digits the monsters decided to stop pursuing.
Thankfully, Hadro came out with information in hand, he knew how to look for a dungeon and how to identify one. The swirling amount of SE is a good giveaway.
However, while that information is useful, his goal is still ongoing. He already wasted a day here, he was already fortunate to find a dungeon thanks to the local humans.
Every time he spends in the abyss is not going to do him good. Especially with the lingering threat that will soon reach his followers.
Hadro is lost about where to go, while he knows that he can go back to the Hunter-gatherer tribe, he still has time to go scout the surroundings.
Maybe there's something that the Hunter-gatherers missed. His feet started leading to a nearby hill since he knew what a dungeon's effect was on its nearby surroundings. He at least has somewhere to start.
The hill isn't that high, but it allows him to see somewhere far all around except the ridge that blocks his view within the great mountains. He worked his eyes scouring the place like a perched eagle.
His effort came to reward him, the dungeon he escaped from is quite large. The epicenter which the dungeon core is assumed is completely barren of every living thing. On another particular land, he could see obvious signs of a dungeon.
Trees in a near-perfect circular manner are dead, bark exposed with nigh a single leaf attached to its branches. The dead trees stand out since the dead trees draw a perfect circle like a sphere on a canvas.
Fortunately, it was quite close so it would hopefully take Hadro a few hours to traverse the forest towards it. He moved his feet and headed towards the dungeon but as he traversed the trees and got closer he heard noises that grabbed his attention.
He was astonished as another set of anatomically similar humans waved their hands whilst making noises to grab Hadro’s attention. He stopped in his tracks and waited for them to get close to him.
Even though Hadro walked with clothing and they barely had some animal hide to cover themselves they didn't hesitate to stop him, the dungeon was already ahead of him, and he could already see the dead trees near it.
“Stupid! Danger that way!”
The tough-looking man with a spear with flint tips reprimanded Hadro. The others just huffed in annoyance. It seems that this is not the first time that they had to warn someone from going in this direction.
Without even thinking twice, Hadro was grabbed by his wrist and got pulled, probably thinking of him as a weird child, though Hadro could clarify what he was, he didn't. He was curious about this other tribe.
So he allowed himself to be dragged to a cave with a steep ravine as its entrance. He couldn't see the bottom thanks to its structure be was sure if something fell in it would have a hard time escaping. Further inside the ravine, Hadro saw a skeleton of an unknown animal.
But on the right side of the ravine, an entrance to the cave where they entered. A fire near the entrance that let its smoke wander out the entrance of the cave. The man who had long stopped pulling Hadro turned around to face him.
“Why? Why go at Death Ring?”
“Death ring?”
The man with furrowed brows scrutinised Hadro, he narrowed his eyes at him and Hadro felt like how his dad used to scold him, a fond memory but right now he had to address a problem rather than listen to someone scold him. Though it was his fault for following.
Hadro looked around the cave, it wasn't that big but not small either. His eyes soon glanced at two women sitting down, their bellies bulging. Hadro couldn't help but notice how they were losing SE at the pace of a trickle.
It was an amusing sight. Knowing that the previous encounter he had with cavemen allowed him to learn that most children now are pure Abyss spawns. Already forgotten by history but still recorded.
The man in front of Hadro was not amused whatsoever, huffing with anger now. Hadro sighed and conjured the same snake meat. The inhabitants paused as they saw what he did. The man in front of him now was baffled jaws hanging open.
“I need to go to the death ring.”
The moment he spoke, all admiration and awe stopped and they bowed, even with the pregnant women despite their pregnancy just to show reverence and respect.
“No, stop. Especially you two.”
Hadro commanded them to ease, clearly, they were religious, just then he noticed a man in the back, he wasn't old like the other tribe but looking at his ears, he was different. By his pointed ears, it was clear that the man was an elf.
“That, Karan.”
The man noticed where Hadro was staring and offered his name. Right, Hadro forgot to ask for names.
“Karan?”
The man nodded. “From another tribe, he is family now.”
It was hard to confirm if he was actually an elf, but unless sources and evidence told otherwise, Hadro had no reason not to believe that it was an elf. But there is a way, and hopefully, it proves his theory right.
“Karan.”
“Yes?”
“What is your age?”
“16 winters”
So the elf was a young boy, this proves nothing but it was a fun guess. When Hadro remembered, he wanted these tribes to be within his domain, Agni was the only one responsible for defending it and having some people there to help protect it would be a good idea.
“Right.” He looked at the man he assumed as leader of this tribe. “Name?”
“Kish-Kish.”
“Kish… you wait for me, I have something to do.”
After that, Hadro didn't dally anymore and went out of the cave, he backtracked where he left off. Encountering mundane trees and thickets till he reached the once-familiar dead wood. However this time, he did not encounter grotesque monsters.
Wolves with mould growing on their back is his first encounter, Hadro didn't hesitate to kill these monsters, the nearby dungeon had already taken them in its arsenal and it would not do him good to see mindless minions spared.
With a flick of his wrist, the monster's skulls crushed instantaneously without resistance. He continued forth, onwards where he started funnelling SE unto his own. Soon, he reached the dungeon's entrance, and the SE funnelling to him was still in the two digits.
It means that this dungeon is quite recent but not new. Just as he wanted, Hadro entered, he immediately felt the full attention of the dungeon boring down upon him. It didn't deter him however, he instead ran forward.
The entrance and possibly the first floor of the dungeon were filled with a maze and laced with simple traps. Loose soil that will turn into a hole deadends that goes down to a massive hole, roots that are filled with poisonous tips.
Those are easily navigated, except for the sudden turns with monsters hiding out of sight Hadro managed to traverse the dungeon till he was on the second floor. There his encounters with traps were less and more with monsters. The terrain involved wide rooms and some grass that goes up to knee height.
Hadro didn't even bother and ended the snakes that the tall grass hid, the attention of the dungeon became oppressive soon enough, in close inspection, which to Hadro is a blink of an eye, the snake seemed to contain magical attributes to it. It didn't make Hadro think deeply about why the dungeon suddenly became vindictive.
Hadro could see that the walls were now moving at a perceivable pace. Hadro stopped holding back and started moving, empowering his actions with SE. The dungeon in Reality is impossible to enter.
Hadro didn't bother learning why, especially in the Abyss he can do so. Now he had a theory. The dungeon portrayed in Reality is the dungeon in the Abyss. This might be an absurd theory, but knowing that SE is abundant underneath the earth it just might be possible.
However, unlike the dungeons in Reality, dungeons in the Abyss are more aggressive. Why? It is probably the Link between the two. The time when an SE goes to the Abyss to make a record is unknown. Aura amplifies this, however, that only exists within sentient minds, and not a lot of people have access to Aura either.
Souls also stay with their object of record, in Reality, and are faint in the Abyss until upon death when their souls are pulled into the Abyss fully. So the dungeon only reacts now simply because unlike with a mortal entering a dungeon, in reality, the object of record is moving in real-time, not without delay.
Hadro moved with swiftness, his motion now a blur, the dungeon was closing itself at a rapid rate opening itself in other places. However, the resistance of the dungeon soon was for nought as Hadro finally landed on the third floor, which was very different from the last floor.
A cave system connected by caverns illuminated by some bioluminescent moss or lichen. In the far depth of the cavern, Hadro saw the thing he was going after, a spherical gem in the ground. SE could be seen rhythmically pulsing out SE from beneath the surface which soon joined the swirling SE that orbits the dungeon core itself.
With impatience, Hadro empowered himself with SE to try and rush towards the core. This proved to be a fatal mistake, the cavern housed some pools of water around it with stalagmites and stalactites. It made a perfect environment for small things to hide.
Hadro in his rush, was bitten by a fish with mutated parts. Making him stumble for a few feet then soon roll on the ground ungracefully.
“Fuck!”
The fish bit down like a bear trap, it crunched his bone. In all of his time in this world. This was the first time he felt pain. Hadro groaned, his mind was placed in turmoil. Apparently, just because he was a god does not mean he is free from the pain itself.
With a flick of his wrist, the fish’s head collapsed in itself and its jaws were pried open letting Hadro see the damage done to himself. He was pretty sure he set up a shield that would automatically spring up once something fast tried to hit him.
He didn't wonder long enough to guess, his eyes set on the Dungeon core. With his power he stood up snapping the bones in place, even using magic to lessen his pain. He walked towards the Dungeon core his hand nearing it. The pulsing of the dungeon core became rapid, and Hadro felt the weight of the Core’s presence.
Its intentions were laid flat for him to feel as well. It was terror, hatred and rejection, all of it being blasted through his consciousness all at once. But those emotions could never stop him, with the intent to claim it, Hadro touched the Dungeon core and he was subjected to the experience of perceiving the world by how a dungeon perceives it.
His mind shook a bit, turns out touching it was not enough for the core to be claimed. He washed it with his intent to claim, but the core did not submit till finally the core lashed out when Hadro pushed his system upon it.
[Dungeon Core Claimed]
[Processing]
[Fragment of the God #^!#* acquired]
[Proccessing my memories upon you]
“...!”