Amelia looks up at the trapdoor and noticing that the sludge is vanishing before it reaches the floor. How bizarre, I guess even this place can’t stand the smell, she considered, as a smile spreads across her face. After watching the nasty stuff vanish for a time, Amelia looks down the tunnel and notices in roughly thirty feet. There is a junction splitting to the north and south. She watches the intersection for a moment, then thinks Status.
Name — Amelia Eversong
Race — Human
Class — Rogue level 3.
HP — 914-914~1500 (malnourished) MP — 1000~1000
Str — 15 Dex — 35
Int — 10 Cha — 10
Skills. Stealth Lvl-2, 38 MP per second Night vision Lvl-3 (passive toggled) Backstab Lvl-1 +10% damage +20% bleed (Recommended to be under stealth.) Dash boosts speed by 30% for 10 seconds (unlocks at 30 Dex.)
Amelia looks over her stats and sighs as if I need you to point out my diet sucks, she thought. But still not bad, considering it’s only been a month since my class activated. She had spent practically every night sneaking around in stealth as much as possible while keeping night vision activated all the while. Shaking her head, she chided herself for letting her mind wander in such a situation. As she got closer to the crossroad, she slowed down and turned on her stealth before peering around the corner.
What she discovered was a ten-foot corridor with a bare stone chamber at the end. Turning around to look down the other side, she saw the same thing. How boring, she thought as she disabled stealth. To be safe, she stepped to the entrance and peered in, yep an empty chamber, or maybe a cell. Thinking of that possibility, she chose not to enter, just in case a hidden door came down behind her. Amelia looked suspiciously at the walls around the entrance but could see no signs of a door.
She shrugged and strode back to the main shaft. She walked down the opposite tunnel, just in case, but it was identical. She just kept progressing, and in another fifty feet, there was another crossing with two identical empty cells. How strange, what kind of place is this.
Amelia frowned and kept moving while thinking, this is such a waste of time. When she arrived at another corner, she walked down one and searched inside again, but there was still nothing is this some abandoned shelter. No, it looks new, so maybe the government is building these all over the city in case of an emergency. Okay, that's not likely here in the slums. Maybe inside the second and third rings, but here not likely. The people inside the other rings are more likely to throw us at any enemy. Alright, that's being pessimistic. They would ignore us, pull the garrison into the third ring and let us fend for ourselves.
{Night vision has increased to LVL-4.}
Why did Night vision level up already? It just leveled up yesterday. I didn't expect to level it again for at least a week-and-a-half. Is it because it's darker here? After checking her stats, she smiled and could see the minor difference in her vision. It was insignificant, but in total darkness, even a slight increase is welcome.
When she reached the next intersection, she gave a cursory glance both ways, and continued although at a quieter pace, as she realized she could discern light ahead. Another twenty feet and she could make out what turned out to be an opening at the end of the shaft. Amelia’s heart beat faster as she decreased her pace further. Trying not to produce a sound since it would travel exceptionally well in this cramped passageway.
When she was almost twenty feet from the entrance, she could make out what appeared to be a rock sculpture, sitting on a throne of shiny stone.
Amelia’s nerves were taut., She was about to give up and turn around when another notification popped up. Amelia barely stopped herself from screaming. After spending a few moments to calm down, she eventually studied the notice.
{Night vision has increased to level 5, Rogue level increased to 4. You have 10 stat points to distribute. (You have 24 hours to place your free stat points, or the system will randomly assign them).}
This place must be special, or perhaps I have been training my Rogue class wrong this entire past month ..... Nah, I am way too awesome to perform that kind of blunder. Okay, Str+2 Dex+5 Int+2 Cha+1. Yup looks excellent, although I do not know what the charisma stat is for. Since it is there, I will give it some love.
{HP 414-621~1700, MP 1200~1200.}
Nice, now should I check out this place or run back and accept these gifts. Amelia thought to herself while bobbing her head from side to side. Maybe a tiny peek while in stealth. She decided while giving a decisive nod to encourage herself. Alright, I can use stealth for about 31 seconds now, and I can use my dash skill if things do not go perfectly. I can do this; she decided as she began psyching herself up. With a plan in hand, she activated stealth, then peeked around the opening. She quickly had the system analyze the stone figure on the throne.
{Rocky Minor Earth Elemental 1 star, Level??.}
That was enough to cause her already pale face to turn white in fear, but she blacked out when she analyzed the other sculpture.
{Lord of Chaos%#! $ ERROR, Nalle, Supreme Asgardian, unknown Core 10 Star ERROR (Dial-up noises) Dungeon Core, Level????. ERROR, Unknown Variables (static noises).
----------------------------------------
“Well, that was easy. You scared the mortal to death,” I said to Rocky. I’m going to ignore the fact that she was looking at me as she fainted.
Tayna rolled her eyes, “she is not dead, just unconscious.”
“So, should Rocky step on it?” I inquire. (because I do not really want her to stay there, apparently I cannot absorb a living being)
“'She' is not an, it. She is a girl like me.” says Tayna.
Fine, her, does it really matter, though? Then I peek at Rocky, who also is looking between the two. Rocky shrugs like he does not get it. I am total with him in this. Also, I wonder if Rocky’s species has a gender or if they chip off a rock and watch it grow. After being lost in my own little world for a moment, I look back at Tayna, “so what do we do with it? I think Rocky should step on it.., her.”
Tayna flies over to the intruder, looking her over from head to toe. “well, I don't. She’s maybe ten to thirteen years old or so. It is hard to know, as she seems malnourished.”
I groan, peer at Rocky, “what do you think? It’s your throne room?” Rocky looks at the human girl, then his foot, shows a look that says, I do not need that on my feet. “Okay fine, you two win, but seeing as I have no arms, it is your problem.”
Tayna turns to glare, “You don't have to be a jerk about it.” She said she shot out of the room up the tunnel and out through the trapdoor fast as lightning.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Well, Rocky, I guess that means we're babysitting till she gets back. Rocky nods, left his staff against his throne, sets his crown on top of the backrest. He walks to the unconscious child, gently lifts her, and lays her on his gigantic seat. Rocky then sits down on the floor in front of the throne and observes the tunnel.
With nothing to do but watch an unconscious child or an immovable rock. I experimented with the knowledge in my mind by carving lines in the tunnel. To my surprise, it seemed the human was not interfering with my work. That's odd. I’m sure when this child first entered, I couldn't do anything.
Carving beautiful, symmetrical designs turned out to cost nothing in Mana, perhaps because whatever system governs these things must judge it as embellishment. So, that is what I did, starting from the trapdoor, making my way through all the small rooms. Coating every surface until they all grew together around the entrance to the Throne Room.
The moment all the designs came together around the door, there was a perceptible humming. Pulling more Essence from the surroundings. The suction only lasted a few minutes before it stopped, and all the excess began flowing out into the world. Interesting, but how come I can't use the essence I Can feel flowing throughout my dungeon. I noticed that the girl lying on Rocky’s throne was absorbing more now and releasing a tiny amount of mana at the same time. That mana was flowing into my Core. Suddenly this child is not such a hassle to keep around.
Still, I could feel essence flowing throughout diagrams, refining and flowing back out of the dungeon in a denser form without all those impurities that seem to be a part of it. Also, it's not coming from outside like I thought it's more permeating from the ground.
A moment later, while I was admiring my work, a tiny Fairy popped in. right in front of me, hands-on-hips. “What did you do,” Tayna asked through gritted teeth? “There was a massive pulse of pure essence gushing out from here a few minutes ago like a ton of essence. I’m fairly certain everyone, even remotely sensitive to the essence, felt that a hundred miles away.”
“I improved my tunnel,” I said, not reading her mood at all. “It was too plain and boring. This is much better, right?”
Tayna glared, zipped into the tunnel, and nearly dislocated her jaw. “Where did you learn this? These are the Glyphs carved all over Asgard? Nobody has ever stayed there long enough to inspect a single diagram. I only know because before the Asgard Dungeon fairy died, she dispatched two of them to the council for study. That's where we learned the warding and special glyphs used in bags of holding.”
I would have shrugged but just sent the mental image of a smirking Statue of the Lord of Chaos.
“Do not do that again,” she said. “I don't buy into most of the stories told about him. But that doesn't stop a winking Lord of Chaos from being creepy.”
“Sweet, it worked. I wasn't sure I could project an image to you. Anyway, to answer your question, I copied them off the tunnel walls in the Asgard Lower Sewers., I suspect they look better in my tunnel.”
"Remember, I already explained before this girl trespassed about my attempted dungeon napping adventure with Therlion."
"Stop, hold on a minute," Tayna said while it looked like she was swiping the air in front of her face.
When she stopped, I got a message, Tayna would like to share a file with you, do you accept?. Confused, I accepted. The file was a picture of a tomb, with two colossal stone Templar's, drawn swords pointing at a massive sarcophagus. "Was it this room," Tayna asked?
“Yes, except someone, probably Therlion shattered the statues and coffin.”
After Tayna got her emotions under control, she said. “The last message from Trina (who was the Fairy for the dungeon, Tyrant. Better known by the people of this world as The Lord of Chaos,) was that photo 35,339 years ago. She died of mana depletion one year after her bonded dungeon died.”
I stared at her for a few seconds, “what, you assume I am the chaos dude from long ago. Also, why was he known as Tyrant?”
Tayna raised an eyebrow, “you say outlandish things sometimes, and as for the title, once you have your first room, an exit, and your first boss mob, you get to choose your own moniker.”
“Just because I came from a dead dungeon’s coffin means nothing. Maybe I was his/her pet rock. Also, as for those outlandish things, I say leave them. Probably has something to do with all the knowledge swirling around in there.” I responded while thinking about the title. Looking around, I notice an option to choose a title on my status screen. I guess Tayna was right, but ill leave it for now.
"Wow, that is quite the imagination there, Miss. Nalle," said a fairy even smaller than Tayna, also dressed equally inappropriately. "Sally, what are you doing here," asked Tayna with a bright smile on her face.
Sally grinned back at Tayna, “I got promoted to your old job. Not as epic as your promotion to Dungeon fairy, for the only dungeon core on this world.”
Tayna blinked, “what happened to the other one.”
Sally rolled her eyes at Tayna, “well, a little while ago, a certain Dungeon caused all the Essence within several hundred miles to bottom out. Not that there is much in this world. But anyway, the poor things hibernation system could not get enough energy to sustain itself and shut down.”
Horrified at what was just said, I stammer out an apology. "I didn't mean to; I was just drawing diagrams that I learned while escaping from a sewer."
Sally glances at me with slight annoyance. “Although your system files are corrupted beyond retrieval. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for murder.”
"I see. Well, l do not accept your reasoning. You two should go catch up or something." (I said that, but some part of me knew she was right.)
“Sally, since you here, do you have admin rights?” asked an excited Tayna.
"Yeah, I just got access. Why, what do you need?" replied Sally while giving me a disdainful look.
"Can you look at Nalle’s systems? I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I am not sure it's even there? In fact, it reminds me of them," Tayna looks to Sally,
Sally gives me a conflicted stare before she sighed, "All alright, I will look into it." then she turns to me. "don't interrupt me while I am digging around, and if you get prompt asking permission for me to look into anything. Just accept. It will go faster."
"Okay, while you're working on that, I will continue making our home safer." Actually, I needed them to stay distracted, as I was still carving more intricate runes and glyphs all over the dungeon, including on myself. Not being able to move around does not feel right to me. (wonder why though I don't have any memories of moving around on my own before.)
“Oh, Tayna, what did you leave for a while ago? You seemed to be in a bit of a hurry?”
Tayna jumped up, startling Sally, who was tapping on her system screens. I watched as Tayna darted out of the throne room into the first chamber on the left. Then she began pulling out fancy furniture that I guarantee this human has never seen even a thread of this quality before.
I wanted to absorb it all, but the moment that thought entered my mind, Tayna threw an irritated look my way. I pretended to be interested in a tiny spider crawling around the massive four-post bed that could probably hold twenty of the little human. A moment later, I was not pretending and fully engrossed myself in trying to figure out how it got down here without me noticing.
Sally, who had followed behind Tayna while absently flicking a finger in front of herself, screamed, “that is a Ghost spider. They're not supposed to be on this continent. Quick Miss. Nalle, kill it.”
I stared at her and asked, “what would you like me to do?”
Sally ignored me, zipped back to the throne room, and started trying to pull Rocky. It was funny watching someone the size of Rocky's pinky trying to drag him. Rocky gave an annoyed sigh, following the tiny fairy to what I guess will be the human's room for now. Since Rocky is far more agile than he looks, the spider did not last long. He put one large finger in front of the spider. When it crawled up, he squished it between the other finger.
“Cool, I got a new recipe for a spider. I thought you said this was a ghost spider,” I ask Sally, who distractedly nods at me. “How come it only says spider on my interface?”
Sally finally stops what she is doing, sighs and replies, “I do not understand your interface. It isn't a real one. It is not even connected to the world system. Someone or something is writing this stuff in as you go.”
“Please tell me you're trying to scare me,” I said. “If you are, it's working.”
“Unfortunately, Nalle, I am serious, and it's actually your dungeon system that's being controlled. Your world system is not there, and that's supposed to be impossible. Even people that never waken a class still have a basic connection to the system. I need to run to the office real quick and look through some old reports to see if I Can figure out where or who you were before.”
With a pop, Sally had vanished on the spot. After around half an hour, Tayna got Rocky to put the human girl into the bed, well after Tayna washed her up a bit. While I disposed of the rags she had on. Only then did Tayna wonder where Sally went. I said she had business to attend to elsewhere. Tayna shrugged and moved back to watching over the human.