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The Dungeon, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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After only a few days of experimentation, the holding cells were full to bursting with undead. I didn't want to keep expanding the cells to hold more of them. Having the undead there did nothing for anyone except stress out The Risen. Thankfully, I had an idea for just the place to put them. While castles, ruins, and other decaying vestiges of civilizations were known throughout fiction as magnets for various undead, there was only one place where they were the sole occupants.

Tombs.

While Graveyards technically counted, if they possessed a mausoleum, they were often the haunts of vampires and werewolves. Thus, they were not the sole domain of the risen dead. But either way, what were Earth's most incredible and impressive tombs?

The Pyramids.

Enormous complexes, constructed within a human lifetime through means unknown to house the body of their demi-god kings, the Pharaohs. It would be like having a dungeon inside my dungeon! A Sub-Dungeon! Dungeonception? Whatever. I wanted pyramids and whadayaknow; I had plenty of open, unused desert on the Ninth Floor.

It was easy to build a Pyramid despite what thousands on Earth believed. I just had to cut rectangular stone blocks from the ground and start placing them pyramidal. Getting that white sheen on the sloped stones along the outside was challenging but doable. Though, I didn't have enough gold for a capstone. Still, Orichalcum would do, especially with an enchantment to reflect sunlight, powered entirely by fire mana. In the setting sun, It looked like the capstone was on fire.

It was Awesome.

Either way, It was Tomb Time. ™

I cribbed from as many movies, games, and books as I could as I designed the Tomb. Doors tied to gems that only open on a specific day of the year, a rolling bolder trap triggered by weight-sensitive plates, and huge antechambers lined with statues of Anubis, Osiris, Thoth, Bastet, and a half-dozen other animal-headed gods I assumed existed. If it was portrayed as being in an Egyptian tomb, I emulated it.

There were thin bridges across endless pits and light-based puzzles, and I even made one room full of highly venomous snakes! One of the light-puzzle rooms was a 'Solstice' door, which would open only if light touched a red crystal, something that, with my artificial solar cycle, would never occur. It was up to them to figure out that they needed to reflect the light into the gem.

The boss chamber was the largest open room in the Tomb, with multiple shafts of light casting shadows at odd angles. This is where the prospective guilders would fight the Bone Colossus. Behind the boss, behind a magical barrier that would only fall when the boss was 'defeated,' was a sarcophagus containing the closest approximation I could make to an actual mummified corpse.

I wanted to put some valuable loot in that sarcophagus, but I didn't have anything yet. For now, I just filled the Tomb with the undead. Huea, acting as their controller, was also given a chamber to live in. Said chamber had easy access to a monster-only tunnel connected to the Scorpan Village.

But speaking of Loot, It was time to add some incentives to my dungeon.

For a long time now, there was little outright 'loot' guilders could find apart from the equipment my monsters died with or the mana water on the first Floor. It was time to change that.

I added pots throughout the dungeon containing various numbers of Talons to act as a monetary reward. A few small chests contained larger amounts and the occasional piece of enchanted gear. Leather and iron were most common on the first three floors, with only basic enchantments. One such example was a mace that slightly increased the power of blows dealt by increasing the effect of gravity on the mace when swung and automatically canceling that extra momentum when the user stopped swinging. I call it the "Heavy Blow" enchantment. It was only a tiny increase, but it was there. Better equipment found deeper in the dungeon would have more powerful versions.

For floors four through six, I scattered 'higher tier' loot: Silver and Copper jewelry, small Mithril weapons, arrows, and bolts, all enchanted with slightly stronger effects. And more Talons, of course. The chests also became more ornate: constructed of solid iron rather than flimsy wood, with some carvings and decoration.

Floors Seven through Nine had a further upgrade to the quality and strength of the loot's materials and enchantments. Moonsilver jewelry and Mithril weapons were now more common. They were still rare and would require detours from the main paths, but they existed. The book I've had Towers-Over-Others write will be the loot for beating Tear on the Seventh, though I was looking at replacing him as the Seventh-floor Boss soon. I needed a dedicated warrior for the role rather than a smith pulling double duty.

The Pyramid received its own personalized loot chests, pots, and coinage. The coins had different designs and glowed green rather than silver. There were no other differences in the quality of the loot.

Floors Ten and Eleven were trickier. Ten was a very different style of Floor compared to those previous, and I wanted the loot-receiving method to reflect that. So, rather than find loot in pots and chests, Guilders could take quests from the Minotaurs and receive loot as rewards. Things like collecting Jackalope antlers, Winged Hare wings, and Unihare horns. Perhaps wrangling loose Steel-wool Sheep back into their pens, with the reward waived if they kill any.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I can just imagine them trying. Heheh.

The Eleventh would be like that but scaled up immensely. Parties could receive quests to explore areas, gather resources, etc. They'd need the money to buy homes and ships, pay for ship repairs, and more. I was going open-world with that shit, and I had a lot of experience to draw upon. As they explored the Eleventh, they'd slowly uncover all the lore I'd spread out and hear 'rumors' of powerful items hidden on each island.

Speaking of the guilders, a few parties had already begun their delves, and it looked like the Isid-Haythem-Cliche raid was next. I couldn't wait for them to meet the new merchant, Drake-kin, who'd set up shop at the entrance. His personality was absolute gold.

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Obsidian Beach, Atlantis, Kalenic Sea

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Haytham placed the bouquet of flowers at the base of the monument, then stood back to join Bertram. The monument was erected on the beach itself, just after the dunes. All across its reflective obsidian-black surface, names were carved, the names of those who'd fallen in the first landing of the Bahrain Invasion. Though the number of names was relatively small, every party had lost someone, and it was surrounded by flowers. Haytham's eyes lingered on Flasa's name.

So much had gone unsaid between them, and now he'd never get the chance.

He turned away and joined Isid and Paeter's parties in line. They were fourth in line, marking the first time the dungeon had been open to all Gold and Platinum parties since before the invasion. The beach was packed, but the guilders were dour and severe. From his casual observation, Haytham found that despite their losses, the average party size had grown since the invasion. A bevy of smaller parties that had never made it past Mushu decided to join forces and push past the Guardian.

He thought it was a good change. Less parties meant everyone could delve more often, and larger parties meant less risk of death.

When he'd rejoined the rest of the raid group, the guards at the dungeon's entrance waved them on.

As always, they walked down the strip of sand along one side of the roughly triangular cavern, which terminated in a very exact isometric triangular hole cut into the cavern's end. The teal glow that illuminated the cavern beyond cast ghostly shadows on the faces of every guilder in the group. As they began their trek across the mostly empty cavern to the ruins that held the true entrance to the dungeon, Haytham noticed the new addition immediately.

Among the ruined columns and bricks was a colorful tarp strung from the highest points of the ruins. Beneath the tarp were a number of Kobolds, a Capriccio, and a single Drake-kin. The golden-scaled Drake-kin directed the Kobolds as they moved crates around, while the Capriccio, female by the size of the horns, made notes on her clipboard. It was only a short time before they were noticed.

"Ah! My first customers!" The drake-kin exclaimed, "Welcome, welcome, to my humble shop. What can I interest you in today, hmm? Wait! Don't say anything! You'll certainly require these teleport crystals! Made on the Seventh Floor by our most skilled craftsmages, these are single-use crystals guaranteed to return you, safe and sound, to the dungeon's entrance." The merchant, for that, is all the drake-kin could be, immediately leaped into his sales pitch.

He had quite the collection of items for sale, though they only bought another set of Teleport Crystals. As they were about to leave, exchanging goodbyes, the drake-kin smacked his forehead.

"Ah, in all the excitement of this morning, I forgot! Mrs Losat, I have a message to pass along from The Creator. He wishes for you to know that He has added something called 'loot' through the dungeon. He said it was 'long overdue'." Isid nodded at the Child slowly.

"I thank you for passing the message along..." she trailed off, and once again, the Drake kin smacked his forehead.

"Oh bother, I forgot to introduce myself again, didn't I? My name is Hawker Goldscale, this is my assistant Bapeep, and the Kobolds are Flex, Clap, and Scowl." As he pointed at them, Bapeep nodded, briefly looking up from her clipboard. Flex flexed his tiny biceps, and Clap clapped rapidly, bouncing on his toes. Scowl scowled, turning away to continue his work immediately.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances. Good day, Hawker."

"And to you, my wonderful customers! Good delve to you!"

As they passed through the ruins and over the warning carved into the stones, Haytham could only say one thing.

"I wonder if the loot resets between each party delving or daily." The rest of the raid group shared wide-eyed looks, then picked up the pace. They were the fourth group to enter the dungeon today; who knew how much treasure had already been taken!

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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The loot did indeed reset daily, as the guilders soon found out. It would cost me far too much in Moonsilver to replenish every pot and chest ten times daily. The Drake-kin can only mint so many coins a day! Granted, they can perform the enchantments in bulk and cast them in the hundreds, thanks to metal mana. Directly shaping coins to an exact mass is much easier using magic.

Either way, at some point, the coins would filter back into my economy through the bank, merchants like Hawker, or the coin purses of dead guilders.

I spent some time observing the surface as my favorite guilders made their way through the upper floors, peering through the eyes of Children, rats, and various birds. The local humans had gotten mostly over the fact that monsters walked among them. I attributed that to the knowledge that the monsters fought to defend the island, even if most of the civilians weren't on the island at the time.

The bank was doing well. At the moment, the exchange rate was still what I had initially set it at. One Talon is worth Three Phenoc Silver Coins. It was incredibly simple. The difference in value was because, while they're both made of Silver, Moonsilver is the more valuable material. Its properties as a mana-conductive metal were incredible.

Kata found her job much easier, with Lady Kolchiss acting as her steward. The lady was much more familiar with the bureaucracy necessary to run a government than Kata. Haylee Kolchiss was the heir to her father's dukedom for a number of years and had lessons in the event she never bore a son, or so she explained to Kata. The pregnant woman was only showing ever so slightly, and apart from some nausea, her symptoms were mild.

The town continued to expand, with new houses outside the wall housing new immigrants. And we did have some immigrants! Though rumors abound on the mainland of the 'horror of Atlantis,' a daring few decided to try their luck on my island rather than wait out the warring dukedoms. Personally, I blame Medean for spreading those rumors. The man seemed like the vindictive type from my last interaction with him.

When the raid group finally reached the next boss on the Fifth, the Shadow Spirit, I turned my attention to the mushroom castle's dungeons. I didn't want to miss this!

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???, ???, ???

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Ah- Where am I?

Who are these people around me? They look like... priests? Are they Larpers or something?

Wait. On the marble floor around me are a dozen people dressed in clothes just like mine—modern Clothes!

This is familiar...

Is this... Isekai?!

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