Jake was a hard working man or at least he thought of himself as such . He tended his flock and was the sole provider of meat and wool for the island village nicknamed rats nest for its robust rodent population. He was a somewhat superstitious man which was not uncommon for these island folks. Many saw the singular mountain on their island as a kind of religious icon and made frequent trips to its summit to pray to whatever power had brought this land out of the sea. It was on one such trip up the mountain that Jake came across a strange cave he had never seen before. He thought this a bit odd because he had been up that very path more than a hundred times. Ever since he could walk he had made trips up that very path and never seen this cave. Curious he tentatively took a step into the cave. Looking in he noticed something near the sealing it was a spider that was spinning a web of blue fire. With a slight start he dropped to his knees, bowed his head and gave a short prayer to whatever entity blessed the mountain with their presence and quickly left. Jake quickly made his way down the mountain and to the village. Once he entered the village he quickly made his way to the town seamstress. A small bell dinged as he entered the establishment. “Oh Jake how can I help you today,” asked a wirey old lady from behind the counter.
“Arlene I just made my way up the mountain for my daily prayers and on the way I came across a cave. I think I felt something inside it. Also there was a spider weaving a web of blue flame. If that’s not a sign to seek your advice I don’t know what is,”Jake said excitedly.
“I will come and see but if this is nothing and you make me close my shop I want a weeks worth of mutton,” replied Arlene with a slight sneer. Jake nodded and with that Jake helped Arlene close up the shop.
As they were walking up the mountain Arlene began to speak. “Well if the sign really was to come find me you might be right about a greater demon taking up residency. I mean an angel certainly wouldn't want anything to do with me.” She said with a chuckle.
“If it is a deity, shouldn’t we bring it a gift at once?” Jake questioned.
“Yes I believe we should however not until we know whether it is a demon or an angel. There are some formalities that must happen first,” Arlene said with a hint of a smile. As they came around a bend in the path they saw the cave. As Arlene got closer to the cave she began to grin even from the distance she could feel demonic energy seeping out of the cave entrance. She stepped into the cave entrance and felt the transcendence wash over her; this truly was the home of a demon. She took a few more steps inside and a message greeted her.
You have entered the Abyssal Sanctum
Arlene bowed low and gave a short prayer before exiting. She and Jake hastily made their way back to the village. This was big and there were important things to do.
Sanctus talked to Markus about the humans that entered his dungeon. According to Markus they were of a cult and could be useful. Markus also said that some creatures have souls and that for a dungeon this was important. Apparently the creatures Sanctus had killed so far were not of a high enough rank to have a tangible soul. Markus explained that all living creatures had an intrinsic rank G-SSS and through a process called leveling a life form could raise that rank this is called evolution in monsters, and ranking in “enlightened races.” In reality there wasn’t really a difference. This process of evolution would make changes to a creature's body, mind, and even soul. Something that Markus stressed was that a creature having a higher rank didn’t necessarily mean it was better in combat than a different creature with a lower rank; it was more like it had the potential for higher stats and better abilities. For instance Markus himself was S rank however his actual combat abilities were closer to low B or high C rank. One of the reasons a creature could have a lower combat rank then their true rank is if they have powerful traits like greater daemon or archangel influence.
Markus finally came to explain that for the monsters in Sanctus’s dungeon to level they needed to kill creatures that were at least D rank because the souls of lower ranked creatures weren’t strong enough to remain tethered to reality in the manna filled environment of the dungeon. However invaders were able to level through killing any of the creatures in Sanctus’s dungeon because the very environment that makes souls dissipate actually allows for energy ripples to form when the bond between the dungeon and its creature breaks. Markus then started to talk about the history of leveling and Sanctus drifted off to investigate the return of the humans from earlier.
Sanctus was surprised to see that there was another human accompanying them. Well less the additional human and more the state they were in. The human looked to be in her early twenties with light blond hair and tan skin. However the shocking part were the ropes and chains that bound her wrists and ankles and the very recent gashes on her forehead that spelled out the word repent. The human with the most mana spoke to the original human who gave a nod and pushed the new women inside. As soon as she was in the dungeon she seemed to shiver with fear and looked like she wanted to leave. However a few well thrown rocks from the other two convinced her otherwise. As she entered its depths Sanctus felt a hunger awakening within it, but with hunger came another part, a more nurturing part that almost of a sick parent wanting to improve their children. Sanctus acknowledged these parts of itself and basked in them for a moment however Sanctus also knew it would not relinquish control to them. It’s not like Sanctus was going to let the human survive but Sanctus also didn’t want to waste the soul that had just entered it’s depths. Sanctus quickly ordered some of its rats to make loud screeching noises down paths Sanctus didn’t want the human to go. Slowly herding the soul to the one that would devour it and in the next few steps the woman slipped on the edge of a riverbed and red ringed tentacles swallowed her into the water. A moment later, the water turned red.
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Sanctus was happy that the plan worked. Sanctus had wanted the uneak octopus to kill her and empower itself whether or not this was a good choice Sanctus didn’t know however the very first creature it had created had a special place in its core. That and Sanctus was curious about why it had had a different reaction to Markus becoming the general than the others. Earlier when Sanctus had asked Markus about it Markus had said that it cold have a variety of reasons ranging from it being Sanctus first creation to just dumb luck. After this Sanctus had grown a fascination with the creature and had gone as far as ordering all other creatures to avoid killing it. Sanctus now doubted anything in the water could kill it after watching what it did to the human. Who’s remains it was currently eating. When it noticed Sanctus’s presence it gave a small wave with a tentacle before returning to its meal.
Sadly Sanctus could not watch the octopus forever it also had to find out why the human had come into its depths and if so whether there was a way to get more. So Sanctus turned its attention to the best source of information the dungeon had to offer… Markus. Markus explained that his presence had probably led to the creation of a cult and that the woman was most likely intended as a sacrifice. Markus also said that more of these sacrifices would most likely come in the following days.
Markus was right in the days to come more people were forced into the dungeon and more still were joining the cult. Sanctus tried to direct most of the sacrifices to his favorite octopus however some died from other things such as the new traps Sanctus had created. In the past days Sanctus had started to create a few pitfalls to scatter across the first floor and out of the ten sacrifices Sanctus had received three fell victim to them one killed itself but the other six were all killed by the octopus. What was interesting is that the souls Sanctus was receiving could be stored in its core. At the beginning it was just immediately giving them to its octopus but Markus had convinced it to at least save the souls from the humans the octopus didn’t kill. This ment Sanctus currently had three unused souls and he had an idea. It was going to create its first D rank creatures.
The difference of creating a E ranked creature and a D ranked creature was much more complicated. To create a D ranked creature Sanctus had to mold it and replicate the blueprint manually. Sanctus started by creating a replica of the human creatures and then went forward making pale skin, violet photosensitive eyes adapted to life underground there fingernails were long and black ending in points long hair flows down their back looking almost alive cuts appeared on their necks and with a burst of instincts Sanctus whispered a name. “Sororitas Nocti” with that, a shimer swept across them and a message appeared.
Species Sisters of the night Rarity Habitat humanoid Average species Stats amphibious Str 15 Dex 25 Con 10 Int 25 Wis 15 Luck 5 Description These humanoid monsters were created by the dungeon Sanctus as a more dangerous human that was adapted to life underground. Little else is known about this creature.