Murai found himself comfortably floating on top of the water, watching and feeling the surroundings. Floating mana was quite comforting to his senses, while the pressure itself seemed to be gone too. He didn't know where it was coming from, but not as it mattered.
“Well, this has been quite something,” he said, flinching his body upwards to swim like a proper duck. As he did so, Lisa floated up, where she winced her body and became floating in her form. Beside this pond of water, the floor of this cave—where the water ended in a circular pond in the middle of this room—seemed made of colorful square marbles. It appeared that the previous tower was once a simple way to get up here, or it had also some other purposes.
Murai noticed some old appearances of stairs and walls indicated many rooms on the way up, but that was about it. It was already in the past, destroyed, and useless in the present. Such things weren't something Murai wanted to even think about, so he dismissed it and cared little about the tower below him.
In his opinion, the whole trial of this tower was kind of lackluster, since it was limiting any sense of freedom. This sort of place under the water was no trial, but a straining mess, that seemed more like a prison. The water was dangerous and any living would find it unreasonable to travel upwards. This room, on the other hand, was much more interesting.
Lisa got to her floating, glaring around, and feeling mesmerized at the same time when Murai got out of the water. Walking around this vast room, he seemed interested. She glared at him unwillingly, hoping to tell something, but she couldn't find the power within herself to make some things obvious.
After all, he did make it through, so what's the point of her nagging?
“That is ridiculous... Where have we ended up? A scent of Divinity!” she shouted, following her senses of mana and the divine feeling that came from one particular corner.
In the corner, Murai was already standing before a tall structure of a man shrouded in a carved marbled robe and without a visible face. It had a well-carved muscular body in the section that the robe didn't obscure, with a clear six-pack and a nice definition of anatomy. It held at least 4 meters in height and appeared like some Greek god, but Murai knew that wasn't the case nor it was safe to assume it was a God, per se.
In fact, it looked so generic he was inclined to try his beak on this statue, but that would be stupid. The Divinity was at least real: glowing in viscous light and undulating power like no mana ever did all over this statue. So he stopped himself from thinking of doing something that he would've regretted. The wrath of a god wasn't something he wanted to experience for the time being, nor any talk, in fact.
Also, this was clearly the domain of some god, so he had no choice but to act restrained.
Feeling nothing but various thoughts about this unspecified god, Murai awaited the message of the Will of the Battleworld without care for this statue.
While he did so, Lisa arrived at this corner, observing the statue, more so than the godly aura surrounding it. It was like a gust of bright mana that surrounded its proximity, giving it a distinct light that wasn't mana, but a divine feeling that was hard to describe. It was something that pushed a human mind to limits, forcing one to kneel in reverence before it.
Though Murai would never do so, and Lisa—for some reason—hadn't done so either.
“This is a Blessed Dungeon? How come?” Lisa wondered, recognizing what this was about almost immediately. “Gods don't do this sort of thing under many normal circumstances. Somalis Dungeon has these rarities, but... considering level 99 potency, I suppose this is an extra special? What was this place before it got destroyed? Land of some God's Domain is a doubtful idea... Not at this place for sure, unless it is many millennia old.” she asked out loud, causing even Murai to frown.
“This is just some residual force of some mark left by god. Nothing too fancy, nor something you should get excited about. Gods won't care either way nor should they. Got it?” Murai quacked with a dismissive attitude.
“What do you know? Gods are very powerful in this world, and their standing is known to almost all powerful Blessed! I was a part of the Pantheon of one and was even their knight, so I know all about it!” Lisa shouted, floating right above his face.
“Pantheon? You were part of their mortal armies? I thought you were a succubus. Those aren't the kinds that are usually working with the gods...”
“I don't mean the obvious side of them... Not like this one, you see?” Lisa pointed to the statue. “I was a demonic being. The kind that such Orderly gods cared less about. Demons have their own sections of the Pantheons with their respective demonic gods. They also form factions in the Order or Chaos of good and evil. Battleworld and religions around the gods have always been like this. In this world, it forms a strong power dynamic, so I suppose it's something unique to this world and unlike what you should know. It forms a well-balanced—albeit chaotic— power dynamic where the gods do their business while we, the mortals, are doing things according to their desires.”
Sounds like complete bullshit to me, but whatever. Murai though. “Gods or not, Order and Chaos doesn't care for either. I find it not that surprising to see this mark though, so I will listen to your little stories at some time in the future. Not now. For the time being, how about seeing what sort of place is before us? We have the last trial before us, but this.... is not it. I spell treasures!” Murai said, wriggling his tail without even knowing about it.
“Ugh... Fine... Gods and such a vast topic that it is fine to think about it later.” Lisa said, accepting that Murai's view on this was not like hers. “This looks like the end of the Dungeon, so I suppose a last round will happen here?”
“Thanks for the great piece of wisdom, Lisa. That's really a great thing to know.” Murai uttered, mocking her obvious words more than anything else. He left the statue alone since it was a waste of time to see it further, so he went to other corners.
In fact, what wasn't a waste of time?
Murai was yet to know what kind of rewards this dungeon could even offer, nor what he was supposed to do to get them. After all, the beginning of this journey wasn't to reach any kind of reward or finish a dungeon. He wanted to save his life and get the fuck out of these caves that led to more caves. That was a simple rundown, which changed, leading him to the current state of problems that led to this dungeon.
So, Murai observed other corners, indicating this place was a triangular formation of some kind filled with magic and runes throughout the ground and walls. It had a massive ceiling of almost 20 meters, filled with residual and crumbled pillars while the ceiling was littered with intricate details and archaic mosaic pictures. As for their details, most were old, and unnoticeable behind cracks filled with growing vines, moss, or nature that penetrated these walls.
Figuring out the whole structure and the case of this tower was simple. Murai saw no other place that led above, making this the end of this simple building. A huge tower from before had this on top of it.
In the middle of this triangular formation was a wide area of water, which was the submerged part of the tower. Around it were 3 sections of corners with one dedicated to the god's statue, while others were nothing short of impressive.
Murai walked to the dedicated corner with the most powerful Mana fluctuations that were strong and unlike the pressure from the god's statue.
All kinds of mana materials came from the ground, making it quite a sight for any being that was sensitive to mana. There were flowers, small trees, and crystals like any other. There were hundreds of them in a dozen meters wide and tall section of a specifically made room.
Dozens of precious materials surrounded one mesmerizing flower that immediately shook Murai's core. It was a bright handful of flowers with a mesmerizing color scheme and such powerful mana that one wouldn't see it even on more extraordinary planets. Its might was small, yet it felt as if it was overshadowing every other treasure in this room. Its top was two swirling colorful vortexes, while its leaves left one perplexed if they were tangible or not.
In fact, the encompassing feeling of the mana around this room was coming off of this flower, and not the rest—which weren't ordinary either.
Those materials... are fine! So fine! Precious and well outside of this damned world, but is this flower what I think it is? Murai wondered and came closer to this snug corner that was surrounded by thick walls. As he tried to reach the flower, he bumped into something invisible, which led to his stop and inability to continue forward.
“Shit... A barrier? Give me a freaking break... I just wanted to take a look... at... this... flower.” Murai mumbled in displeasure, picking a fight with this barrier with his beak. It was too tough, but it at least served as a punching bag for his mood, which he needed to calm down.
After a while, Lisa had enough of observing the god's statue, which wasn't something she found all that appealing. She didn't recognize this statue, nor the Pressence of his domain. She rather moved to other sections as Murai did, arriving closer to the corner he was at.
“What are you doing?” she asked Murai, who cursed the barrier with all kinds of languages that even she didn't understand.
“Licking my ass, Lisa. What do you think I am doing?!” he quacked at her, pissed off and angry.
Without much change of expression, Lisa turned her attention to the collection of glowing materials hidden by a clear barrier. The utter undulation of the mana itself was seeping even with the barrier between them, making the mana in this place extremely dense. It was fitting and made her soul form flicker in delight. It was too powerful, but it was also making her uncomfortable, which was strange. Seeing it from the distance was enough, even though it was kind of strange, and the barrier seemed to be part of it too. It may be a
“This! A Celestial Artifact?!” Lisa exclaimed, looking at the flower with a swirling vortex of mesmerizing and colorful energy. She looked in desire and with a gleam in her eyes. So much so that she stumbled to the barrier too, but unlike Murai, she wasn't all that upset about it.
What was the Celestial Artifact she mentioned? A treasure made by gods with powers that no mortals could think of.
Aside from the flower, many other things were kind of interesting too but this flower overshadowed them all. All kinds of gems, ores, and materials with unnatural richness were there, aside from the flowers and trees. All of them were high in value, possibly because of their close proximity to this flower, or so she thought and guessed.
“This throve... Is this what I think this is?” Lisa asked herself as well, and upon doing so, looked at Murai, who kept cursing the barrier to oblivion.
“Stop that... It's no use, Murai Hisagi. This isn't a reward meant for us, but a farming spot by gods, probably... It seems like it.” she said, floating closer to his side and stopping before his face, which stopped his beak.
Seeing her stubborn face of reason, Murai glanced at her, still angry. “Bah! Gods can get screwed up. I just want a few of those gems and crystals and I would be satisfied. That's all that I am asking for, but... this.. thing... Screw... this.” Murai told in an irritated tone, eying the flower more than anything else.
He knew what that was, and it wasn't some Celestial Artifact. It was something much more than that, but he never saw this one in such a position. He wasn't sure why it was in this dungeon, on this planet, or what reason it even had to be here. As for it, being called a Celestial Artifact? That was a nice joke on Lisa's part since it wasn't an artifact that the gods could ever make.
It was a form of Mana Essences and it came from the far and encompassing universe and River of Manaflow. Endless Skies, or so it was called in the part of the universe.
Murai heard and watched legends about these sorts of essences, but watching and feeling this one with his own eyes was something special. It had the power to affect the surrounding mana, improving the living, or non-living things with unnatural richness filled with Laws or some specific Paths.
Murai immediately understood that the Celestial Pool existed because of it, and not because of those crystals. In fact, this Celestial Pool was far away from it, affecting the water with barebone effects. Opposite to this flower, mana spikes, or crystals were just ordinary rocks. An aftereffect of this World Essence, known as Everflower, is capable of blooming even the most deadliest and null rocks.
“Yeah? You wish you wanted them, but you won't get anything from this place, so forget it.” Lisa slapped his beak, feeling and seeing a growing desire in Murai's eyes. “Let's wait for the next Trial since we are at the end of this Dungeon, shall we?” she insisted, unbothered by his lack of interest in her own words. In fact, she forgot to mention that Will of the Battleworld did mention the possibility of some rewards, and all Dungeons had rewards room and loot to get. Did it include this room? She doubted it since this seemed to be way too valuable for a Dungeon that wasn't part of the Origin.
Murai didn't want to listen to her, but it soon changed for the better, because the Will of the Battleworld descended upon him. This time, it was with a much stronger power than before.
It penetrated and shook Murai's Will, but he got hold of himself in a single moment, hearing the message with composure fitting to his soul.
[Congratulations Citizen, you've Breached the first gate of the Somalis Dungeon - Version: Acaman Tower of the southeast of the Palia Kingdom]
[You have done so with 184 seconds to spare, with a fantastic value of your accomplishments according to your level and power. Enemies weren't weak but were dumber than a plot of land. It's fitting]
[The following rewards for the 1st Trial according to the Dungeons are following]
[10 pouches of the Crystal Shard's dust - Grade D]
[10 Mana Spikes Vials - Grade C]
[10 Medium Mana potion of Grade C]
[You will get them once the 2nd Trial is over]
[As for your powerful accomplishment. Your main rewards for your accomplishments are brief until the 2nd Trial ends. It will be the main course, adding stronger difficulty and reasonable rewards]
[Body Attributes +2]
[Mana Pool improved by 50 points]
[The next stage of the Trial shall start with a different kind of Trial]
[It shall be your choice]
[The following course of action is following the trial of the Somali Dungeon - Version: Acaman Tower and its core]
[You have 3 corners in this room, with 3 Gates. You chose the Gate, you chose your fate]
[Gate 1 is Trial of the Combat]
[Gate 2 is Trial of the Wisdom]
[Gate 3 is Trial of the Talent]
[Which you chose is dependent on your fate and it won't come again, nor it should]
[For better or worse of your trial, the special reward for finishing any of the 3 Gates is a Blessing as well as 2 choices from the Throve of the World Essence and the following reward from one of your choices of the 3 Gates. Another thing is timed rewards, but that will be explained in due time]
[Use your chance well]
[It won't come again in your life]
Then the message ended, leaving frowning Murai alone with unknown thoughts. It soon ended when rumbling sounds appeared from the walls, with dust and stone falling off of the old walls. 3 gates appeared in the wall in the 3 corners of this massive room.
“Lisa... Is this normal for a dungeon? Tell me, or I will be called a duck for the rest of my life!” Murai asked with a stupefied expression, for a duck.