My practice transformed into diligent expansion. Once I realized that corruption could be achieved by sending small pulses continuously, it stopped being training and turned into the real deal.

Some experiments confirmed that objects and the natural environment were no exceptions to the rule. I could even corrupt everything around me at once. Not immediately, however. Every time I wanted to corrupt an area around me, it took me upwards of fifteen minutes.

Thus, while I could use it to extend the dungeon, it was unusable as a fighting skill. That wasn’t my goal, though, so I was more than happy that I could corrupt things without converting them into dust.

I also couldn’t do anything with them; I just removed enough of the System’s interference to make things considered corrupt. I stayed away from any living being, except for the first bird. I would need some testing with subjects I could communicate with before I seriously did it.

First, I decided to expand the dungeon in a direct line to the city. At some point, it merged with the road, but the rest was still through the wilderness. All I wanted was a relatively safe passage for us.

I was halfway there, busy with my last area of corruption, when the system suddenly decided to acknowledge my efforts. It was all sorts of ironic to see the System notice me for what basically amounted to breaking it.

But I had already concluded that the System just translated my growth in the world in an easy-to-understand way, so it was not too surprising to see a message.

[Dungeon Created]

You are the only source of corruption for the domain you have extended.

As long as you are alive, the dungeon will keep existing and spreading.

Living and non-living individuals do not obey the dungeon creator.

[Dungeon Connected: Your dungeon's domain has expanded to include a pre-existing dungeon]

Which was exactly what I was expecting. Beings inside the dungeon still had their own minds, and corrupting them only meant cutting the system out, not changing how they thought or acted. They wouldn’t all of a sudden start obeying me.

Nonetheless, it was confirmation that my actions were making a difference. Not only was it basically telling me that it really was my dungeon, but also that the old dungeon at the summoning site was also mine.

I spent what remained of the day, including the whole night, laying out a corrupted path until I finally reached Nova’s gate. Suffice to say, even if I had already announced that I would be doing it, every single soul I encountered was astonished.

“You are really creating a dungeon?”

“Will the monsters attack our city?”

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“How!?”

I got all kinds of questions, but the common topic always revolved around being safe from monsters. They had grown bland, unprepared for the real dangers of a magical world. The System had subdued the real magic in the world, and they hadn’t had to worry about anything.

My answer? Our soldiers and city guards would no longer be the weaklings that we currently had. Train. Train. And train. Until their level was above that of the dungeon.

And that would start happening immediately.

It was already dawn when I finished my work. The next day, I would encircle the city in corruption, and start expanding in a circle around it. The city itself, however, was more problematic.

First, I needed everyone to be corrupted. Their levels to be high enough to withstand attacks. My ability to cleanse corruption high enough to maintain the city with as little effort as possible.

It was hard.

“Guard!” I exclaimed to those already stationed at the gates, welcoming the early birds into the city. “Someone bring me whoever is in charge!”

A woman broke into a sprint without questioning me—they were all aware of who I was by now. It took her less than two minutes to come back with a scrawny man by her side. I surely hoped that wasn’t the person in charge of the whole city’s defenses, otherwise, it would explain many things.

It turns out, he was. He was merely level 10, which had been more than enough to handle the occasional rogue merchant that tried to sneak in goods without declaring them.

“That's going to change, immediately.” I quickly asserted myself. “This city will become part of a dungeon, and you will have to protect it from monsters. So, starting today, I want all of you to take turns clearing the dungeon.”

“But won't it be an issue if we completely clean it up?”

“You don't have to worry about that; there is no way you can completely clean it!“

Before leaving, I added one more thing. The most important one.

“If you want to keep your job, you'll have doubled your and the army's level in less than a week.”

I had been level 10 when first clearing this exact same dungeon, but I didn't believe it would be the same for the soldiers. They would need to be at least 20 to hold themselves together without major incidents.

As soon as that was clear, I went back to extending the dungeon. It was routine work, but far from boring, I found it entrancing. There weren't any two things that reacted equally to corruption. Not even the same type of tree would equally become corrupted.

I was getting bolder, extending my powers to small rodents and creatures. It didn't go well at first. Without giving them my undivided attention, it often resulted in failed transformations.

I had to send pulses that skipped touching them when they were too near a critical point, and that was far more complicated.

My [Advanced Corrupted Bloodshaper] helped, though. It allowed me to morph and adapt my pulses with much more ease.

It was a wonderful day overall. And I wasn't regretting having brought Claudia over yet. If anything, I owed her my quick progress.

But of course, when attempting to create your own nation under the nose of the Order, things can take a turn for the worse way sooner than expected.

[New message from Yasmin]

Darian!

You must come immediately to the Church, they have come!

I left everything right where it was, corrupted or not, and darted to the Church. My plan was still in progress, it was too soon for them to attack. I had to put and end to it.