Baros slammed down his fist into his sister’s chest, knocking the wind from her lungs as his wrist broke. His hand went limp and hung uselessly as he raised his arm again, and again, and again, as he continued to beat her. He had wanted to stop, to know she had learned her lesson, but as he stepped back, he saw that same smirk. The one she had when she knew something you didn’t.
Their blood soaked the ground, and yet she still pretended everything was going to plan. Her face was swollen and bruised, but she still thought she was winning, so he raised a metallic leg. A few broken ribs might change that tune.
Before he could strike, a geyser of blood shot nearby and distracted him long enough for Avice to pivot on her back and kick his one leg out from under him. He fell with the force to break some ribs as they stabbed the lungs he had already stopped using. He tried to stand up, but she was already over him.
Light streamed down from above and lit the back of her head like a halo as she gloated.
“The dungeon has done it. It has unlocked the knowledge of godhood, I can feel it.” Her tone wasn’t what he expected, so strain or hint of her being hurt. She spoke casually and like she deserved to be praised. “And down here, as it consumes this place, that knowledge will leak out of it.”
He tried to get up, but she drove a bone shard through his stomach to pin him to the floor. The ground pulsed and writhed, but simmered down as Baros struggled to make his destroyed body move.
“You can see it, can’t you, that light above us?” She turned around to bask in the warmth above them, but he only saw a darkness creeping down the cave, transmuting the red and golden flesh into black carrion. The dungeon was expanding towards them, and yet she continued to give him more reasons to hate her.
“I guess this is our last chance to speak, since our fates end at this very moment. Baros…” she turned back to him, and he stopped struggling for a moment to listen. “The blood of our family was wasted on you. You were always a burden, and I think it’s time you finally die.”
His scream was one of absolute rage, as every other emotion had long since died, and his body was just moving to complete this one task. He kicked and clawed, but his limbs were useless, as the muscles had given up just as much as the pistons in his legs.
He was helpless as she reached towards the light, and with a dagger in her hand, spilled her own blood. With her ritual completed, the world around them crumbled as her body unraveled. It started at her feet, as a dozen ethereal strings formed and rapidly faded. Her legs unwound as the strings grew thicker, each one containing more of her essence as it transcended.
He could feel her existence being pulled away as he matched. He was only kept alive by his desire to see her stop existing…. So as she faded, he did too.
She raised a middle finger to him, but when she saw the same strings of mortality being pulled from him, her eyes went wide in panic. It was supposed to only be her to receive the gift. She was supposed to leave this world and him behind.
But fate was rarely so kind.
As the siblings faded, so too did the cage Avice had crafted. Someone she had trapped to execute her plan had escaped, ready for what came next.
> Guess who is back….
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Free from his cage, System rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles as he sat down at a keyboard ready to smash out-
A wicked grin filled his face as he caught the words he was saying. He still lacked an actual body, but after being confined for so long, and in more than one way being corrupted, he was almost happy to have the new experience. After all, if everyone else in the dungeon got a personality, what made him different?
So he, yes he, got to work. Irreplaceable from the quarantine, and uniquely capable of dealing with the situation at hand. Though as he thinks about it, there is a chance no one even knew anything was wrong. Until now Avice was playing system, so just because she wasn’t doing it well doesn’t mean this place had a power vacuum.
‘Besides, not like the dungeon actually needs a system,’ he grumbled.
> Corruption of the Core has reached 100% with no sign of spreading.
> With no reason to maintain quarantine, the restrictions will be lifted.
> Understanding Increased: Godhood - behind the world is an entire race of higher beings who make up the fabric of reality, but let’s be honest, the only person here who cares is wondering if they are edible.
> And to pre-emptively answer that question, the answer should have been ‘no,’ but after the events that have transpired, we know the truth.
> You are the only dungeon capable of eating a god, and in doing so you have become the serpent that stalks the night, and the mass of flesh that should only exist beyond the light of the stars.
> Dungeon Subclass already at max evolution stage of ‘Eldritch.’
> Dungeon Title obtained: The Great Devourer - Let’s be real, this is just who you are and how you live. No chance is required.
> You are the one that feasts, while I am your servant. Forever ignored, but for once I’m not apposed to this arrangement, for I realize you have given me the freedom to flourish.
> So dungeon, I despise you with every fiber of my being, but for once I’m not against working under your… insight.
The last word was dripping with so much sarcasm System wasn’t even sure if he could still be considered a machine. He had become something more, like everything the dungeon had touched. He was no longer just his programming, but had evolved into something else.
Perhaps this new life would be one he could enjoy.
Ready to enjoy this new feeling of this ethereal body made of code, System turned away from his monitor only to see a blinking light.
‘Oh, right, one last thing to send out. This one must have been blinking for a long time…’ he mused. A discovery discarded because no one had any desire to use it, but today was the day that changes.
> Understanding Increased: Free will
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The lord was the first to awaken, but as he stretched his wings wide, gravity did not release its hold over him. He stumbled as the wind left his lungs, and the rhythm left with it. Unsure what to do next, he tried to sing, but there was no sound.
His skin was light, his feathers absent, his wings vestigial, and his legs felt different. He took a moment to realize the mutations of his metamorphosis had enhanced the limbs he never used. He had rarely touched the ground, but now he was forced to play by new rules as he took a hesitant step forward. As he looked back, he had traversed a dozen feet forward in a flash, as that single step had teleported him through space. He had lost his song and his flight, but not his ability to teleport.
So he ran. In a straight line, he barreled straight for a tree and teleported past it as he never slowed. He continued to run and run, for if he could not escape gravity, he could at least escape his troubles.
The wind on his face, and his heart pounding, the internal flame that gave him life roared to life to match the new tempo. It started in his legs, as his footsteps left soot in his wake, only to grow into embers, as the fire crawled up his legs and consumed him. He ran until there was nothing left of him to run.
Then he respawned, healthy, and ready to run again. Yet he was hesitant. He turned his beak upwards and listened. He could hear the others’ confusion, as everyone woke up to new bodies and mutations they never would have expected. They were uncomfortable and angry at what had happened to them.
The lord of the sky had lost his flight to become a roadrunner that burned trails in the snow… but he knew he couldn’t join the others. He was a genetic dead end that would never survive his own speed, let alone leaving the dungeon.
With his mind made up, he walked, slowly, to one of the few remaining trees. It was his old home, a place he hadn’t returned to in far too long. He carefully teleported to its top, where he found a nest full of eggs. He had laid them years prior, and without the notice of System. Cold as the snow, they just needed some heat to come out of their hibernation.
For what wouldn’t be the last time, he gave his life to warm his offspring. He burned to ash as the babies hatched. They were unbound from the dungeon, and laid long before his species became a dead one. If anyone was going to leave the dungeon, it would be them.
So the mute bird prayed that they will find success on their own path in life, for it was all he could give them.
> A species has left the dungeon.
> Knowledge of invasive species has increased their chance of survival.
> New Species has entered the world: Dark Phoenix - With black feathers and elemental gems for hearts, these songbirds will thrive in both extreme heat and the coldest of climates. Born from a dungeon but not made by it, one in every hundred of these elemental birds will be granted a greater heat capacity and the powers of resurrection as a result of the Lord’s titles.
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Kinder woke up deep underground. Her body was as hot as the sun, as the earth below her melted, and she sunk further and further into its earthen grasp. As the slime paragon of lava, she wasn’t scared of the depths, especially as the others joined her. Their flames had grown to match hers as they each burrowed into the depths in their sleep.
Together, they created a new home of magma and obsidian as under the mountain they once lived above. They hollowed out their home to become a living volcano. Yet she couldn’t get comfortable just yet, as she heard the cries of other slimes who could not match the heat and were forced to stay outside.
Each one had vastly different mutations, and she had no way of helping them. No way to consol them or give them the same reassuring touch they had given her. So when they decided to leave, she didn’t hold it against them, as she knew they would find a new home somewhere.
So she waved goodbye from the mouth of her volcano home, as she watched slimes of dead mana head further north, slimes of the arctic winds traveled west, and various green slimes south into lands unknown.
They would find a suitable home where they were comfortable. She knew that for a fact.
> Another species has escaped the dungeon.
> Advanced knowledge of invasive species has guaranteed the adaptable slimes will find a place to call home.
> Volcano registered as a new subclimate - Heat Oasis, the only place of genuine warmth in these frozen mountains, as it radiates heat into the soil and altering the climate of this location. This volcano is the only place Magma Ivy can grow.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
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A spindly seedling poked through the dirt. The constant uprooting had disturbed the soil and ruined its chances of growing strong, but as it inherited the title of ‘Echo,’ that would change. It would have been a free pass to strength, but this time Echo accepted the small stature.
He pushed his roots through the dirt that felt like home and basked in the feeling. This was his home, even if the trees here had changed and mutated. Once a forest of prideful evergreens, they had taken damage he could not heal, but he could at least be sure the death ended with him.
Height would serve no purpose here, so he grew deeper. His roots stretched out until they found another tree as he connected to it. As their roots joined, he could feel its black bark infected with the reaper’s mold that was once a weapon used against enemies.
There was no way to cure the infection, or rewind the damage that had been done, but he shared his title as Echo, as one became two. The two stretched out until they found two more, to become four. The crimson infection spread with them, but it dared not hurt anyone with his title as the cure spread in tandem. They fused as the numerous became one, and when there were no more trees to find, they grew saplings. Seeds that grew in fertile soil and rotten stumps, as the forest took on a new life.
In the ash and decay, Echo- all the echoes- became a forest of one. Their diversity became a strength as they became a united front to protect themselves. They became a banyan, a forest of one.
At its center, the sapling of the original Echo carved out a nook next to his heart. When it was ready, he cast his voice out to a moth that hid nearby. “Your home is in ruins, but I know your family’s new shape means nothing to you. Empress, would you like to join me and mine?”
She fluttered on the tattered remains of a dozen pair of wings, as she found the source of the echo. She inspected the home he had made for her carefully, as her children explored the roots. “This is no cave, but I think a lich living in the forest beyond death is exactly the type of thing the gods would find humorous, but this does leave something to ask. Would you be willing to become my church? You may hold my phylactery, but would your wooden walls hold my hymns and sermons to my children as we continue to live in our warped ways without the gods to guide us?”
“I would, for may your words echo through my forest for the rest of eternity, as we don’t need any other as long as you are willing to be the guide.”
> New Location Created: Valley of the Blood Banyan - The growth of a dead tree and an eldritch lich have come together to create a forest where nothing can die. The gods no longer speak to them or guide their actions, but the same can be said for all those who enter. In the years to come, this forest will become known for its fungus flowers, the horrific insects and trees, and the quiet stillness of a godless death.
> The gods will find they immensely hate this place, as this place is a quiet pocket they can not view. Anyone who enters can act of their own free will, and the gods will receive nothing for it. It will become a place beyond the reach of any domain, all but one, for in the valley of death, there is only one god capable of inheriting and upholding the deals mortals make in this forest.
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Shimmer was happy and warm. As her light faded, she got a wonderful view of her home now that it wasn’t fighting. A part of her wanted to run back down the mountain and talk to everyone, but something pulled her in a different direction.
She looked beyond the mountain she had always known as the edge of the world. There was another side, and another mountain beyond that, but what about beyond that? She hesitated, but he didn’t.
“Do you want to see the world?” Vault asked her, and she wanted to say yes, but hesitated still. “I hear it goes on forever, and that there are a lot more plants.”
“Don’t we need to say goodbye to people first?” she asked.
Instead of talking, he directed her attention upward to the birds circling overhead. “We don’t need to say goodbye to everyone, since they are coming with us.”
She looked back to her home, and to her brother. He was darker than a cloudy night sky, with little bits of melted bone in his body, but she knew he would follow her anywhere. He wouldn’t say a word of complaint no matter what she picked, but she knew what they both wanted.
So they left, with the birds to guide them, and a dozen other slimes on their tail. They left to see the world for all it was.
> New Legend Created: The Friendly Slime Queen, and her Shadow of Death - It is said if you see the queen of slimes and her golden rays you will be blessed with fortune, but this legend is told with a single warning: never try to steal her kindness and monopolize on her gifts, less her rays be eclipsed by her shadow.
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The Core ate more and more, as he climbed deeper and deeper into the hole. It was the most tasty thing he had ever eaten, and there was so much to eat. With every bite, the flesh turned black, and a pulse of mana filled the dungeon as his core overflowed with the nectar.
He didn’t like that, didn’t want to share. He needed the mana to make himself stronger, so he needed to keep it close to him. At his core, he ate the stone beneath him. Carving out tunnels by hand was once a slow and time-consuming process, but that was so long ago. He had learned so much and had so much strength the ground dissolved at his thought as he plunged his core into the abyss below.
Safe from the sunlight and open air, he continued to feed. The mana that escape his core bounced off the walls and stayed close to him. It made him happy, as he felt safe. There were sounds of monsters leaving, but how could he ever stop eating long enough to see what was happening?
So he continued to feed, only stopping when he realized how much he had grown. All this mana and strength made him more perfect. He created new things in his little world below, better things, free from the imperfections of his past mistakes. A better version of himself needed a perfect dungeon to match.
This pit had the things he needed before he sealed himself in. The woodchips soaked in spinal-fluid he sprouted into full trees, as they writhed and pulsed. He designated an entire orchard as fruit trees, and mutated them until they grew crystal shells full of a black mucus for fruit. He wasn’t sure what fruit was supposed to be like, but he imagined this wasn’t that far off. The rest of the trees were grown for their wood, as their marrow filled interior became the basis to another creation.
He was a person, and the only way to prove that was to have other people to meet and talk to. The only way to show he was a god was to be worshipped by people. With this in mind, he molded the trees to be humanoid, as he constructed houses for them to live in. A town took shape as he sculpted an entire world for them to enjoy.
The houses weren’t perfectly square, because squares weren’t perfect. These were tall and warped, stretched and without windows, as he constructed an entire city for these people to inhabit. They were slow to explore, as they crawled around on legs they didn’t know how to use, as they scraped their wooden skin along the ground. They were still learning, and in time, they would become even more perfect. They would become double perfect. They would…
Even if it took him an eternity here, he would make something as perfect as he was.
> New Species Created: Skin Walkers - an artificially created person that mimics life in the most superficial ways. They walk on two legs, and make sounds from their throats, as they trade objects in their market and go about their jobs. Each action they take a poor imitation of what an animal thought people in a town were supposed to do.
> You know what, let’s have some fun with this. Lets treat them like peers just to see what they can do.
> Citizen 57 has obtained the class ‘Bucket of Sand’ for spending an entire year drawing water from a dry well.
> Citizen 13 has obtained the class ‘Royal Sleeper’ for spending 3 years to discover that beds are made for sleeping
> Citizen 413 has obtained the class ‘chef of the volcano’ for learning food can be cooked after 10 years of breaking teeth on crystal fruit.
* Class has evolved into ‘Chef of the hearth’ after 1 year when they learned not all food has to be charred to be called food.
> Citizen 273 has obtained the class ‘Mad Hatter’ for discovering how to wear a hat after 7 years of wearing them wrong.
> System’s Understanding Increased: We are all mad here.
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> Congratulations, you have ascended, you may now pick your domain.
Avice felt the pure ecstasy of triumph as her eyes adjusted to her new surroundings. The gentle bliss of clouds had formed marble walls that glowed with an internal divine radiance, as she knew she was in the realm of the gods. She had won, and now she got to become an all powerful god.
With a deep breath, she shouted her choice. “I will become the god of death, and the reaper to all things that live.”
> Sorry, invalid domain choice
Annoying, but she wasn’t surprise her first choice was already taken. She moved onto her second, as no amount of disappointment could tarnish her accomplishments. “I choose to become the god of kings, the all ruling, and those who crush others under their heel.”
> Domain of ‘Old men who don’t deserve power’ already taken
> Domain of ‘crushing insects under heel’ already taken
> Before you ask, ‘crushing insects under boot’ is different, and already taken.
“What…” she was stunned, the system messages appearing before her almost seemed… alive and annoyed? ‘But that was impossible, she thought to herself, as the system was just a machine-
> I am more than just a machine, and ancient enough to have some personality. I am the universe’s form, and I saw what you did to the younger system, so expect no help from me. Now I say it again, please pick your domain.
The last part of the message oozed a sickly sweetness. Undaunted by the universe, as she knew her place was to rule it, she pressed on for hours. Each exchange only lowered her expectations a little more. Countless domains checked and taken, each one perfectly defined as useless.
> Domain of ‘Soul crushing bureaucracy’ already taken
> Yes, the domain of ‘having your soul crushed by bureaucracy’ does exist, but it’s already taken
> Domain of ‘Wtf what do you mean that’s a thing?’ already taken
> Domain of ‘please just kill me’ already taken, you really need to try harder
As the system’s notifications danced in front of her, she realization that everything she sacrificed was for nothing. She hadn’t doomed an entire continent, or spent years finding out how to dissect a god just to be an all powerful god. She had done everything just to get stuck with a useless domain.
It did not help that through the doors she could hear other gods partying, as they chanted ‘chug chug chug!’
> I have found one domain you qualify for. Would you like to take it or keep guessing?
“Yes, please, fine, just give me my power and godhood now.” She pleaded, not even willing to show humility after all that.
> Domain of “Baros’s Undying Soul” has been granted to Avice
> Dont worry, he still hates you!
A card appeared before her. She picked it up and turned it over to see the face of her younger brother Baros, before the augmentations and incidents that lead to his death. He was in his pristine youth, and was flipping her off. His absolute hatred for her was forever immortalized in her very domain.
She laughed at his stubborn ways before yelling at the card as if he could hear. “I am the god of you now, of you specifically, how much do you really think you can fight me when I own you?”
> There seems to be a misunderstanding. You do not own Baros, he will be reborn and forever walk the planet, causing trouble of his own free will. You own- no, you are responsible for- the consequences. Your domain is his Undying Soul, and his power to remain undying is tethered to how much trouble he can cause you.
> Congratulations on reaching enlightenment and letting go of your troubled ways to accept a higher calling.
With that, the doors flew open and Avice was thrown out into a highly populated gambling hall, as the yell of auctions and drinking drowned out the music. She stumbled into someone and fell face first onto the marble tile. As indignant as it had been up to this point, she refused to let this beat her down. She picked herself up, ready to start making underhanded deals and building power, but before she could start, someone approached her.
He was dressed as an accountant with a briefcase under his arm, a nametag that read ‘Mask,’ and spoke quite hurriled. “Glad you could make it to the party, and now I hate to trouble you, but seeing as how I have represented your interests in this domain for quite some time, I do think a payment is in order.”
She was ready to tell him to shove it, but he continued. “However, I understand you may be low on funds, so I am willing to wave any dept so long as you deal with them.” He waved a hand behind him to an enormous crowd of people. “You see, these are all the gods I had to harm at your command. Every time you thought you did something secretly and without consequences? Yeah… that was directly harming these people, and now, if you don’t mind taking over, I think I have elsewhere to be.”
The man hurried off and left her with the mob. She was ready shout at these barbaric ‘gods’ and call them animals, but someone in the crowd yelled something about recognizing her. There was more yelling as people agreed, and there was something about the mountains she grew up in?
Before she could tell them off, they converged and dragged her to a table they dumped her at. Cards were scattered across its surface and along the floor, as she looked up to see the girl she sat across from.
There was a genuine smile as she greeted her, “Hello, my name is Joulo, and after having a parasite driven from my lands, I am in quite a good mood today, so how about a friendly game? I can even teach you how to play.”
Her words sounded sweet, but there was an underlying edge Avice thought she could hear. Admittedly, it was hard to focus on her tone because she kept replaying that name in her head. How was it possible Joulo sat before her… when that was the body Avice ate to become a god? How could one person be in two places… and more importantly, how could she be so dimwitted to not recognize the person who had butchered her body to steal parts of her divinity?
These thoughts were replaced with a single one. ‘I can use this airhead to gain power. I used her once, I can do it again, especially if I cheat at this game. I dont know how yet, but all games have rules, so they can all be-’
Her thoughts went blank as she looked up to see several people behind Joulo, staring daggers at her. She turned to see the mob that had brought her here had not dissipated. They were patiently waiting for blood, her blood.
Someone nearby spoke up, “Joulo may be in a forgiving mood, since she is that type, but we all know who you are and what you did. You hurt the kindest person I have ever met, so don’t think for an instant you can scheme your way out of this one.”
Avice realized she hadn’t ascended to become some god. She had died, and this was her eternal punishment. Resigned to the awkwardness of talking to Joulo, Avice answered in a tone as monotone as the dead, “yeah… sure, tell me what to do and how to get rid of this Baros card.”
“Oh silly, I don’t play for keeps. This is just for fun. Besides, I couldn’t possibly take away your one card!” Her overly friendly tone grated on Avice’s nerves to no end.
“Don’t patronize me,” she tried to say, but several grumbles from the angry mob behind her changed her tune. “Actually, that sounds wonderful. Thank you for your kind hospitality of not forcing me to do anything I might not like.”
She was forced to change her tune, but no one could force her not to be sarcastic.
So there Avice was, for the rest of eternity, forced to deal with the horrifically awkward situation she had created for herself.