While Rox was sorting out Max and Levine’s stuff I had some business to take care of.

Harvesting the Demon Wolf’s body and turning it into equipment had been a good idea. We were sorely lacking good weapons and armour. Which led me to think, is there any metal in the earth around the dungeon?

So instead of just using mana to make rooms, I started getting teams together to start digging out new rooms. I figured that way we might find traces of metals and mine it.

The non-fighters had been turning the wolf materials into items we can use and had presented 4 items to me. One was a wolf pelt armour, rank E, but no special options. The other 3 were talismans created with the wolf’s tooth, wolf claw and a combination. The first two were rank G and did nothing but the 3rd… it was Rank E and raised stamina by 1. This could be considered to be the first successful creation of equipment in the dungeon! Equipment that improved stats, the first one has been made! And at least for the talismans we could create quite a few.

Wolf Pelt Armour (Rank E)

Made from the pelt of a Demon Wolf, this armour provides additional protection from cold

Wolf Talisman (Rank E, Stamina +1)

Made from the tooth and claw of the Demon Wolf, imbued with the Demon Wolf’s essence

 The first step towards getting better equipment!

Anyways, now we had teams bringing in stuff from outside, which was going incredibly well, although no one was close to having enough merit points for naming yet… but of course we were holding a naming ceremony this week for our fire squirrel.

We also had mining teams digging into the walls trying to find metal which I had good hopes for.

And lastly we had Rox training up Max and Levine to get them good classes.

Everything was settling down finally, I felt like I could take it a bit easier for a while.

Lady Rox told me that choosing a path was to choose how I would grow and develop in the future. Of course I would listen to what she told me but I also knew that this choice, well I had already made my decision.

A great achievement!

Your dedication and perseverance allowed you to break through all your confines and limitations.

The ability to choose a path has been granted to you.

The Goddess of the Moon has a special interest in you, opening up a new path.

Paths available:

Path of Asura

The killing path

Choosing this path will allow for mutation depending on those who you have killed

Strong in Strength

Path of the Soul

The path of enlightenment

Choosing this path will allow for you to grow into an aptitude which will manifest as a class

Versatile

Path of Divinity

The path of the holy

Choosing this path allows for you to grow in accordance with your chosen divinity

Your growth will be determined by your divinity

Versatile – Dependant

Lady Rox said that I didn’t have the exact same paths as Max, maybe because I didn’t help kill the demon? Anyway Alex said I had an affinity to the holy element so I naturally have little compatibility with the demon path… but the Path of Divinity?

Then something incredibly shocking happened. It was so shocking even Alex and Rox who were with me lost the ability to speak… hell even I didn’t know what to say!

While we were looking at the Paths… two of them just… disappeared! Then the message changed…

The Goddess of the Moon has a special interest in you, opening up a new path.

The Goddess of the Moon has chosen you.

Being a chosen of a God leads to great personal power however that power must always be used in accordance with the God’s will

Paths available:

Path of Divinity

The path of the holy

Choosing this path allows for you to grow in accordance with your chosen divinity

Your growth will be determined by your divinity

Versatile – Dependant

You have been Chosen by the Goddess of the Moon

‘You mother of all that is unholy! Where’s my choice?! I wanted to be like my bro Max, you took that away from you evil cow! Who asked you to take away my choices?!’

I was livid! Giving me just one choice, didn’t that mean I had no choice? Bloody hell! This is so unfair!

Alex was shaking his head, ‘Another God is interfering again. Damn, well go ahead and ‘choose’ your Path…’ he even emphasized the word choose… I want to cry! Why is it always me?

Shaking my head sadly, I took my ‘choice’…

A warm feeling enveloped my entire being and I could see a white light covering my body… something inside me felt different but I couldn’t tell what… also I felt myself becoming stronger…

You are a chosen of the Goddess of the Moon

Floating in the night sky, the Goddess of the Moon blesses travellers, minstrels and musicians

The Goddess of the Moon prizes loyalty and bravery above all other traits

Your act of saving your friend emphasized both traits prized by the Goddess of the Moon

She has blessed you with the class ‘Warrior of the Wick’

Henceforth, you will be the representative of the Goddess within the Five Worlds

The new class: Warrior of the Wick has been assigned

New Abilities and Skills available

All old magic formations were purged

All old skills have been replaced

A new sub stat has been generated: You have gained the sub-stat ‘Holy Power’

Wait a minute! I don’t even get to choose a class? Nooo wait this is not fair!

Rox looked at me, ‘Look at your new abilities before you complain. This is an amazing class, especially for you since you’re manaburnt… I think the Goddess especially tailored this class for you.’

Ok… that shut me up.

Praise the Goddess of the Moon!

You actually tailored this class for me? I shall worship you as my new Goddess! I’ll be loyal! I’ll be dedicated!

I looked at all the changes… I had grown stronger and I had gained 3 skills ‘Holy Light’, ‘Flame of the Wick’ and ‘Light of the Wick’ but… they were all sealed?

Then I got another message.

You have been given a task by the Goddess of the Moon

Establish a temple to the Goddess of the Moon

Completing this task will unlock one of your skills

I had just been praising this Goddess! Fuck me, damn… well guess what? I’m going to take on your task and I’ll make the best temple you could ever think about alright?! Fuck!

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Me and Alex had a conference as to what we were going to do next. One thing we agreed had to happen first was expanding the number of rooms we had. So while mining was happening, they had excavated about two rooms worth now, Alex made another 18 rooms to bring our total to 30. It expended a lot of mana but I think it was worth it. Besides, the newly motivated squirrels and hares were bringing in mana so fast that we were not short whatsoever!

Which brought me to my next point, ‘Alex, we should branch out and get another species in the dungeon.’

We had a terribly great advantage. My theory of evolution so far… well I was confident in it but obviously it was best to try and test it.

‘I want to test my theory of evolution!’

‘Sure, that’s hitting two birds with one stone since we can get another force for the dungeon. Hmm… well… the creatures we can summon so far… um… Summoning menu.’

What creature would you like to create?

Creatures available

Squirrel (animal)

Giant Elite Squirrel

Intelligent and fast

15 mana to summon

Giant rat (animal)

3 mana to summon

Hare (animal)

Giant Elite Hare

Intelligent and fast

40 mana to summon

Wolf (animal)

40 mana to summon

Slime (monster)

The lowest cost monster that can be summoned by a dungeon

Under control of the dungeon

Mutation and evolution possible

Offensive ability lowest, defensive ability low

Has high resistance to physical attacks

Intelligence rating Negligible

Magic ability - minor magic absorption only

Soul increases ability and allows monster to leave dungeon

Weak to offensive magic

50 mana to summon

Goblin (monster)

The lowest cost tribe monster that can be summoned by a dungeon

Under control of the dungeon

Mutation and evolution possible

Offensive ability low, defensive ability low

Intelligence rating Low – increases with a goblin leader

Magic ability - magical perception only

Soul increases ability and allows monster to leave dungeon

Weak to mind magic

100 mana to summon

Demon Wolf (demon monster)

Possesses the Essence of Rage

Has Demonic Restoration ability

Moderate offensive and defensive ability

High stamina

If enraged, will lose control of all sanity

400 mana to summon

Kobold

Locked – unlock with 50 dungeon points

Orc

Locked – unlock with 100 dungeon points

Skeleton

Locked – unlock with 50 dungeon points

Zombie

Locked – unlock with 50 dungeon points

Imp

Locked – unlock with 100 dungeon points

‘What do you want to start your experiment with? Rats, slimes, goblins, wolves... er... rats?’

We looked at each other.

'No.'

'No.'

I looked at each one carefully… then snuck a glance at Max and Levine doing their training regime. I wanted to pick the wolves, they were strong and fast… not to mention fairly cheap to summon. The problem was that the guys had just finished fighting them so we’ll give it a few weeks before we try summoning wolves.

‘I think for now wolves are out of a question… so goblins!’

So with that we summoned 5 goblins.

So now my training included Max and Levine as well as 5 goblins. It was a very strange sight, even I’ll admit that.

Anyway, we also expanded the floor to have 15 secret rooms and we selected some rooms for the new goblins and they were settling down. Unfortunately it was way too early for them to get close to evolving but one can hope.

Then finally, the day of the naming ceremony came!

The naming ceremony!

We had cleared out the area around Greywall and we had made a small platform out of wood. That’s right, we had started harvesting wood from the forest, although it wasn’t exactly a smooth process, we had nothing to cut down trees with, but dungeon masters can cheat, all they need is the material itself! Even twigs and branches could be called wood! Thus I made a platform.

Rox was going to be holding the ceremony this time, I never really understood… she had access to all the powers of the dungeon like me since well she was its custodian but she said that wasn’t how it worked. Basically, she said that if dungeon fairies operated the dungeon, they could only operate in the way they were taught never leaving an opportunity to grow. Some dungeon fairies did that to be sure but Rox said those dungeons took forever to develop, taking as long as a decade just to reach the point we had reached within one year.

Ah, the naming ceremony started.

Rox, in all her splendor was wearing a more formal looking petal dress, dark purple along with dark green forming a gown.

‘Everyone, during the Battle for the Dungeon against the Wolf Pack, there were many who lost their lives… and we should honour them for the sacrifices they have made.

And among the living there are many who proved their bravery.

This young squirrel is a great example of what we cherish here in this dungeon, loyalty, duty and bravery. She single handedly led a decisive attack against the leader of the wolf pack, the Demon Wolf, at the risk of her own life.

From her contributions during the attack we have decided to award her with the highest honour we have in the dungeon.

Ms fire squirrel, please step forward.’

The young squirrel walked forward in front of the entire dungeon’s inhabitants.

The idea of this ceremony was two-fold. One to reward contributions during the wolf attack, the others had been given merit points for their actions. Two was to build something… a sense of community, a team, a spirit of belonging and the urge to become better, to strive towards becoming… something more.

‘I name you Eva, Soul of Fire. In the darkness you are our light, in the cold you are our warmth. May the passion you have in life burn forever more, and each time you face adversity, may you rise from the ashes like a phoenix reborn.’

Then it was my part of the ceremony. This was the first time I was going to attempt to contract someone created from my dungeon, so I was wondering if it worked… because the contract with the dungeon was already in place.

I didn’t need to worry.

 A contract has been offered to ‘Fire Squirrel’.

A Contract has been formed

‘Fire Squirrel’ has been added as a Lv1 Contracted

The power of the contract flows between contractor and contracted

Fire Squirrel is already a contractee of the dungeon

The contract has been enhanced

Fire Squirrel has unlocked the Skill ‘Soul of Fire

Fire Squirrel’s intelligence has increased by 3 points, strength by 1 points, agility by 1 points, vitality by 1 point and magic power by 4 point

The power of the contract flows between contracted and contractor

Contract Summoner Alexander’s Intelligence has increased by 1

Contract Summoner Alexander’s Magic Power has increased by 1

‘Fire Squirrel’ has been granted the name ‘Eva, Soul of Fire’

Name bestowal has been invoked

Fire Squirrel has now been named

Eva’s strength has increased by 9, agility has increased by 11, intelligence has increased by 21, magic power has increased by 24, stamina has increased by 11

Eva has unlocked the skill ‘Soul of Fire’

A huge series of lights shot up around the newly named Eva. These lights were like flame, red, yellow and orange particles and were dancing around our new heroine.

All the dungeon inhabitants were cheering, even the goblins which made me grin.

I was still grinning four days later when the dungeon leveled up again.

It took 6 weeks of training with Lady Rox before she finally told me that I had unlocked a new class and that it was a good one.

Thinking back, Levine had already chosen his class… well ‘chosen’. His predicament made me want to laugh at his misfortune. Alex would say Lady Rox is rubbing off on me again.

‘What is the new class, Ms Rox?’

So far she said I had the choice between 3 classes, warrior, guardian and ranger. But she wasn’t satisfied, her special skill allowed her to see further, into what each class led to and their individual power and she said it wasn’t enough. It seems this new class had satisfied her…

I almost shuddered… the training I had gone through was… brutal…

She would wake us up early in the morning, then we had to carry rocks on our shoulders as we ran from one end of the dungeon to the other. I almost cursed, with a total of 45 rooms now, each the size of a massive cavern, running across them was easier said than done! After that, we had to climb walls continuously then hang from the ceiling and do situps and a whole bunch of strange contortion acts. Lastly… I don’t know where she got this idea but she had gotten Alex to make a large pond in one of the rooms. Then she made us swim! If that wasn’t bad enough with it being winter outside, she made us swim while strapped with rocks! By the time we were done, it was already dark out and exhausted we would just crawl to sleep. And nothing was to her satisfaction, nothing was ever enough! She said we weren’t putting enough effort into it!

So who’s we? It was me, Levine, Eva, the 5 goblins, a troop of squirrels and all the hares. She had gotten everyone with fighting potential to do this training. And not a single one of us could make her happy with the training…

So yes, if Lady Rox was satisfied with a class? I will jump through hell fire and off a cliff to choose it!

‘It is a class called Crimson Warrior, and it is powerful. The previous class you had called warrior was replaced by this, the other classes are the same. Do you want to pick this?’

‘Definitely!’

You have chosen the class 'Crimson Warrior'.

Warrior’s Honour, Warrior’s Blood

The Crimson Blade, the Dragon’s Might

Warrior’s Cry, Warrior’s Duty

Enemies Beware Within My Sight

The new class: Crimson Warrior has been assigned

New Abilities and Skills available

All old magic formations were purged

All old skills have been replaced

You have gained the skill ‘Crimson Blade’

You have gained the skill ‘Red Guardian’

You have gained the skill ‘Warrior’s Cry’

This section is only for those interested in the technicalities and not needed for enjoying the story

Spoiler: Spoiler

The idea for the skills is also leads to discussion about mana. Mana is a source of energy, it is visible to the naked eye when it touches air as it gives off light. Humans gained control of mana after it appeared on earth, but the younger you were the better off you were. Why? Because in humans, the organ that helped with mana storage and control is the thymus, an organ that humans lose in adulthood as it lost its purpose. With the advent of mana, this vestigial organ had another purpose.

Now to the theory of skills, skills are specific magical formations embedded within the human body that force mana to move and flow in specific ways. Mana has laws of its own. Making it move in specific ways makes different effects happen. These specific skill structures are called formations and they are found throughout the body… thus if you lose that part of the body or that part of the body gets damaged, the skill becomes sealed or lost.

Ie. If you have a sword skill [Cross Slash] that concentrates mana into a blade that can be launched from a weapon, it might be found in the right or left arm. If that arm gets cut off, they lose the ability to use that skill.

Skill formations/structures are found usually in which ever region they are supposed to take effect, like resistance skills being found on the skin.

A skill like [Contract] would be found in the Brain.

One of the problems or should I say limitations of this way of making the skills is that compatibility between skills must exist.

Thus you can have both fire and ice magic skills, but if your right arm has the skill to make a [fireball], then that arm can’t hold the skill formation for [ice shard] at the same time because they aren’t compatible. However if you have [Electric shock] on that arm, as well as [Water beam], the electricity and water are compatible and they might even combine/evolve into a new skill.

I haven’t hatched out the skill system perfectly how I want it yet, but it’s ahem evolving haha