-Mike-
Mike grabbed for anything he could hold onto as the starfighter lifted into the sky. He knew some Arch-Mages could fly, but this was something else. The craft was so fast. As he soared through the clouds, he looked down and marveled ad the vast swaths of land they quickly traversed. Moments later, they were far from any city and deep in the mountains. Mike frowned. Living out here for very long would not be possible even for gold-level adventurers. The mountain range below was full of mighty monsters, creatures that used manna to augment their natural growth and strength. Of course, monster parts could be precious for forging weapons, potions, and building materials. He supposed that the area might be frequented by high-powered raid groups looking to hunt powerful monsters by overpowering them with their high levels and teamwork.
The starfighter slowly landed in a peaceful-looking meadow next to the base of a mountain. As the cockpit slid back and a ladder deployed, he looked around, fearfully searching for the monsters he knew must be close. Mike saw nothing but tall trees and thick brush that was so dense he couldn't see past where the area had been cleared. He stepped into the soft grass and looked behind himself. There was a cave. Suddenly an alert popped up in his vision. "DOMAIN OF THE ANCIENT DUNGEON ARMAGEDDON" His mouth dropped open. Brian's machine was a dungeon? That wasn't supposed to be possible!
Mike walked forward, noticing what clearly were large weapons emplacements near the entrance. He peered closer, using his upgraded IDENTIFY skill.
Category
Description
Skill
Body
Ancient Dungeon (Sentient? OH SHI%$$)
GODLIKE (do weapons even work VS you?)
Mind
OVERPOWERED A.I. CPU
GET HACKED
Spirit
LOL, DO YOU MORTALS NEED SPIRIT?
IMMUNE TO ALL SPIRIT SPELLS
Weapons
YOUR UNIVERSE HAS ENDED
ARMAGEDDON
Manna Use
NONE
NONE
Path of WHATEVER I WANT
THE SYSTEM CANT IMPOSE RULES ON ME
GET FKED
Close Combat
Drones, nanites, shields
Enemies die
Ranged Combat
Did I burn your planet with my tiny laser?
Enemies die
CURRENT LIMITATIONS
STUCK IN THE CORE OF A WORLD
You can't leave because it would destroy the world, and you're a good A.I.
Mike gasped at the information. This was a GODLIKE dungeon. That meant that successful raiding parties could encounter vast riches if they completed a delve. GODLIKE dungeons were very rare, and when one was found, entire kingdoms could go to war over controlling access to one. He could be set for life if he sold the coordinates to the adventure guild. He looked closer at the stats. The weapon's capabilities were a bit troubling. Typically dungeons were afraid of their core being destroyed, so they offered up riches to parties who breached their defenses as a defensive measure to buy off attackers before they caused permanent damage.
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Mike sat in the grass in front of the entrance and thought about what would happen if this place was discovered as it was. He figured that the dungeon would be seen as an overwhelming threat by the local kingdom, who would promptly attempt to destroy it as rouge sentient dungeons with nothing to offer would not be tolerated. However, his IDENTIFY skill showed that this dungeon could not be destroyed so easily. He figured that instead of outright war, there might be a campaign to sabotage the core by sneaking in explosives or attempting to obtain control of the dungeon by finding leverage of some sort. However, the fact that the SYSTEM recognized the dungeon as pretty much all-powerful suggested that negotiations would be the only way for interested governments to move forward with their desire for control or obtain unique dungeon materials.
Mike also noticed that there wasn't any overflow of MANNA or SOUL coming out of the dungeon. Usually, powerful dungeon cores attracted vast amounts of MANNA and SOUL and sucked it down to their core to help with their growth. Adventurers would dungeon dive for both the benefits of the increased ambient MANNA and to find riches. He knew that the Arc-Mage faction had at least one GODLIKE dungeon that they used to help them level up in their class as the manna the dungeon collocated was thick, pure, and allowed the rapid accumulation of stat points.
This dungeon, on the other hand, had neither SOUL nor MANNA. This would considerably reduce its value as the adventure types would demand outrageous sums even to enter it as they were not naturally compensated with the opportunity to level faster. On the other hand, a GODLIKE dungeon like this that didn't need MANNA could still be physically inscribed with runes to create an array that would bring in MANNA and even some SOUL from the surrounding area.
Large MANNA gathering arrays had been tried in the past, but they needed an area deep in monster territory so it could gather the ambient MANNA generated by the hoards of powerful beasts. Such manna gathering attempts had consistently failed as giant dragons, and other monstrous raid boss level beasts had been attracted to the MANNA accumulation and had destroyed everything.
Mike thought that the Armageddon could present a unique opportunity if its weapons were potent enough to fend off anything. If he could work with the dungeon to create the necessary pathways, a vast rune inscription could be inlayed into the miles of tunnels the dungeon was sure to have available. With periodic entry points up to the surface, the array could suck in the ambient MANNA and whatever ambient SOUL there was for miles and miles.
Such a colossal MANNA accumulator would present a massive boon to any kingdom as whoever had possession of the dungeon could sit near the core and level stat points like crazy since the dungeon was not using any of the MANNA OR SOUL for its own growth. Mike was overwhelmed and completely lost in his musings regarding the unique dungeon. He was oblivious as the Strange walked out of the entrance and promptly sat in his lap. He jerked back to reality as the thing began to purr.
-Brian-
As I touched down into the meadow where the Armageddon's entrance was, I saw the most peculiar sight. Mike was sitting with the Strange in his lap! The strange eyed me as I climbed down the latter. Mike was sitting as still as possible and trying not to move-the, fear evident in his eyes.
"Hi, there!" I said. "Looks like you have been making friends!" The strange started to raise a paw at me. I immediately pulled some juicy meat from a pouch at my waist and threw it at him. It caught the meat and scampered off, no doubt to terrorize some local monster. "So, how did you end up holding the strange like a pet?" I asked.
Mike stammered. "Well, I'm not sure. That was crazy. Anyway, I was sitting here and thinking about the Armageddon. Do you realize what a potentially amazing thing you got here?"
I chewed on some of the meat. "Well, the Armageddon is pretty cool in a galaxy-shattering sort of way. What exactly has your jaw-dropping?" Mike replied, "Well, dungeons are usually exploited by adventurers and either raided for treasures or used to help level up MANNA or SOUL stats. Your dungeon is unique because it appears mechanical, and it doesn't have any MANNA or SOUL. This means it doesn't need any MANNA or SOUL." I stared at Mike, not understanding what he was getting at. "So what? It doesn't have MANNA or SOUL. Why do we care about that?" Mike rolled his eyes at me. "Well, if it's not using MANNA or SOUL, we could use it all for ourselves! If we inscribed a huge rune array in the dungeons' vast tunnel network, we could suck in the ambient MANNA, and whatever SOUL is being generated by all the powerful monster beasts out here in the wild! The runes could be built to condense all this ambient power into a small room where a few people could benefit from the increased levels! Imagine what this could do to your cultivation! You could overcome your low experience gain by meditating in a room like that"
I itched my ear while I thought about what Mike was saying. "Won't increased manna flows attract attention? We are trying to hide from the SOUL beings while we level up after all."
Mike replied, "Oh, yes, but one of Armageddon's stats is "Get Hacked" surely, that means he can alter the appearance of his stats, no? We could build the array in secret, and when the flow of MANNA and SOUL finally gets detected, the Armageddon's fake states would hide us from prying eyes. He could appear like another higher-powered dungeon, but without the invincible weapons. He could structure the dungeon-like normal dungeons with traps and dangers that get progressively harder. When a certain level gets reached, the Armageddon could pay out some gold or some valuable resources he has accumulated in building his tunnels. This would cause the dungeon to appear normal while we hide in the accumulation room and benefit from all the MANNA and SOUL flow. The SOUL beings would investigate, but if we do it right, they will never know that it isn't the dungeon core that's getting all the fully condensed manna flow. We will be able to accelerate our meditation and build up our SOUL defenses the whole time. The main trick would be to make sure we hide the runes well. It is a massive project that will likely take years to complete, but the benefits are enormous!
I replied, "Well, how do we know that dungeons aren't just another construct made to funnel SOUL to these SOUL beings?" Mike replied, "Oh, they undoubtedly are. Dungeons are the obvious solution for collecting SOUL from animals since they do not have the mental connection necessary to facilitate the direct payment of SOUL TAX. Dungeons must collect the ambient SOUL and use it to grow and pay the region's principality. If the Armageddon is contacted by one of these beings, he should negotiate a tax payment to avoid suspicion!"
I grinned at what Mike was saying. This whole thing sounded like the perfect solution to my problem of not being powerful enough to defend myself from SOUL possession skills. All we had to do was trick everybody into thinking the Armageddon was a normal dungeon. I could then use the flow of energies to substantially accelerate my cultivation and grow like a weed right under the principalities nose!