As Fran slept, Dominik Made his way to the treasure room. He gathered all of the tags from the royal guard, including his own. Though his had been badly damaged, it was still legible. He put them all into a large pouch, along with the simpler dog tag of the guild’s scout, and tied it off.
Next he went about making a room. He kept slightly more than half of the troglodytes on day shift, letting them sleep at night. They needed about ten hours of sleep. The rest he kept on night shift, so he could always have workers and watchers throughout the dungeon.
The dungeon had twelve floors, with the dungeon core being at the end of the twelfth floor. There were various crude rooms and hallways dug out before that, which had all been filled with various altered demons, covered with tentacles.
He’d brought the troglodytes to begin digging a tunnel past his room, so she could be at the end of the final hall. Hopefully if anyone ever made it down here, they’d go for the dungeon core, rather than continuing on to kill the rest of the denizens of the dungeon. And if Fran did choose to fight, as a mage, she’d benefit from the range anyway. Casting spells down the hall, from beyond the door, rather than in front of it, would work much better.
As the troglodytes dug, they made the tunnel nice and wide, as he’d instructed. But because the troglodytes were only a bit over three feet tall on average, the ceiling wasn’t very high. Clearly the previous overlord used some sort of magic or demons for this. The troglodytes didn’t even have pickaxes, nor did he, instead using their clawed fingers to get through the soil, and digging around rocks, to then be carried away and stored in one of the empty rooms.
Dominik thought he should make them taller as well. But for now, he’d taken a large warhammer from the treasure room, a previous possession from one of the members of his battalion, though he couldn’t remember their name.
After the troglodytes had dug deep enough, or encountered a large rock, he would have them move out, and dig any remaining dirt and rocks out at his height, just over six feet, and slightly above his head. He slowly dug out an arched hallway. Either he or Fran could comfortably walk down the middle, but the sides would be much lower.
After he felt he’d dug a long enough hallway, to avoid having adventurers attack her, he’d set about digging out a room on the side opposite of his. He made the doorway large, though as of this time, none of the rooms had doors, he, as well as the troglodytes, began digging out a room.
This entire process took several hours, but at the end, they had expanded the hallway, and created a decently sized room for Fran. He’d made sure to dig out any hard rocks on the floor, leaving only soft dirt.
However, the ceiling of the new hallway being soft seemed like a problem. He was sure he’d read something about how dungeon cores solidify walls of freshly dug hallways and rooms. Some sort of advanced earth magic that, it was posited, they all had access to. Possibly because of their connection to the dungeon, they made it part of them and, therefore, had a close connection to the earth.
He had the troglodytes take a break as he focused on this new magic, and focused on the earth around him. After some time, he felt the connection. In fact, it seemed easier to do even from far away with his consciousness in his main body, but it still seemed possible through his avatar, though it would be a waste of mana going through an extra person.
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Clearly the main body being directly connected had something to do with it. Obviously he’s achieved the ability to do it, but the main body seemed to do it more easily, with less wasted mana. It was far more efficient when cast from the main body, and it seemed to work all over the dungeon with no extra mana cost based on range. It only worked a bit more slowly from farther away, especially on the first floor. The mana must be flowing perfectly through the dungeon, and the only difference based on range is the speed travel for the mana, or rather for the spell using the mana.
Dominik found this fascinating. He had a lot of ground to cover, so he used his main body to cast the spell. He watched as the floor, the walls, and the ceiling of the newly dug hallway began to harden and solidify, becoming nigh impenetrable through normal physical means. Hence why adventurers don’t simply dig their way through. And he had yet to meet a mage skilled enough in earth magic to counter this spell. Though he himself found he could soften it if he needed to expand it.
Clearly dungeon cores were the masters of earth magic, and such mastery could only come through a close connection to the element itself. Perhaps eldritch dungeon cores are also masters of alteration, as he’d never seen such massive and depraved alterations made to the creatures of other dungeons. Only with the eldritch dungeons.
Though these dungeon cores tended to lack any reason with their changes, as opposed to the careful alterations he had planned. Nor did their dungeons contain any sort of synergistic creature structure, it seemed as if they summoned things at random. It was quantity over quality.
Perhaps, Dominik thought, the eldritch creatures were only trying to make the creatures more like them, and it wasn’t for the sake of just making them stronger, no part of a strategy. Some creatures simply seemed to handle the rapid alterations better, while others fell apart quickly.
Dungeons started because powerful creatures were drawn to the mana deep within the earth, pouring through these ancient ley lines. Some simply journeyed to these dungeons physically, and others, it was possible, simply created a rift between this plane and theirs, using the instability of these ley line locations, and seeking the power for themselves. Or perhaps, the power wasn’t the point, only the ability to come to the plane. This was the case for the eldritch dungeon cores, and for any others not from this plane of existence. Though the part about simply wanting to enter this plane rather than seeking power was only Dominik’s theory.
He thought the way this eldritch dungeon core had gone about everything was simply too illogical for something seeking to gain power, or even something simply seeking to survive. But perhaps its great ability tells of its ultimate goal. Alteration. It simply wishes to change the other planes, even the demons it summoned.
There are those who’ve told tales of people going mad upon seeing an eldritch dungeon core, or even just the inhabitants of an old core’s dungeon. Dominik thought this was overblown, but it was true that some people found these changes horrific. Perhaps these eldritch beings found creatures from other realms, or perhaps the existence of these other realms, horrific themselves.
Perhaps they sought to enter these other planes and change them. Using their powerful magic, with enough eldritch dungeon cores, on a long enough timeline, it was hypothetically possible. If they were successful enough to spread to the surface and take over the earth. But because of their madness, their illogical need to change everything into something more like themselves, or perhaps the creatures of their plane, they weren’t very successful, despite their great power.
Dominik went looking for paper in his avatar, and eventually found some from the previous adventurers, as well as an expensive fountain pen, and began writing his theories on eldritch dungeon cores. His mind constantly coming up with more questions, and possible answers, until he’d used up most of the paper he’d found, and had likely run low on ink as well. He’d need to get more when they go to town.
He’d noticed it was morning, and he checked on Fran through his sight in the dungeon. She was still sleeping soundly. He decided to get cleaned up and to find some clean clothes before their trip. And this time, he made sure to put some coins in a pouch, right next to the other, so he’d actually be able to buy something.