When the minute was up he appeared outside of the dungeon with a groan. Being shifted outside when he was still in pain was not an enjoyable experience. Even with the level ups he had blown through the remaining mana to heal himself further.
** Awake the Prime (E grade) Dungeon has been completed**
Would you like to claim this dungeon for 2,000,000 TE?
He had no desire to do this right now, all he really wanted was to lie down for a few days and rest. Instead of doing what he actually wanted he accepted the message, claiming the area.
**Please choose one of the following options**
Option 1: Terraform surrounding area covered by this dungeon. Note: this will cost further TE, amount dependant on Terraforming.
Option 2: Terraform as per option 1 but also leave dungeon in place. Note: this will add an extra 500,000 TE to cost.
Option 3: Claim area, leaving dungeon in place but do not terraform.
“Oh come on! This is the worst dungeon imaginable and its 500,000 TE to keep it? What a load of crap!” Damn it, now I am talking to myself!
Even though he really didn’t want to, he chose the second option and kept the stupid dungeon. When that was done he did some large scale terraforming. The mountain being in the middle of the area was a pain as he couldn’t just build the road he wanted in the area, he needed to literally change the shape of the mountain to accommodate what he needed. He needed to flatten out large parts of the mountain edges and then add more to extend other areas so that the crystal could be in an optimal position. He then ended up needing to cut tunnels through the mountain to make this thing work, and then had to spend even more time with reinforcing everything to make sure the mountain wouldn’t come crashing down now that he had pretty much poked holes through it. When he was finally done he confirmed his choices, double checking all the designs several times.
**Terraforming confirmed, time to completion 3 days. Would you like to name this area?**
Hell no.
**Title Upgrade: High Mayor to Duke**
**Duke: Through the claiming of an area of a planet large enough for a Duchy the title of Duke has been acquired. While in an area that you rule you stats are increased by 25%. Title Upgradeable. Note: If the area under your control is taken from you or you freely give up this land you will lose the title.**
Again, hell no. But now that he was done he made his way to the edge of the mountain and looked out over the area. “Holy shit”
The F grade area was nothing like he remembered. Even at this distance he could make out areas that had buildings instead of trees, but what he noticed more than anything was the roads he had built. Throughout the entire area he could make out the roads that were all built, standing out in the forest due to trees having been cleared to make way for them. He wanted to go down there as quickly as possible but without mana and being injured he was stuck waiting on the mountain until he recovered enough to make the trip. There was no way he was going to walk, not down a mountain and not through the forest. Resting for a few hours and flying was a much better plan.
Shaun woke a few hours after he had fallen asleep, he wasn’t even bothered about sleeping on the ground, as log as there was no sirens or flashing red lights, he was happy. He checked his mana and he had enough to fly himself to the F grade area where he would be able to recover comfortably, or he could heal himself further. He did have potions in his inventory but he was saving them for a real emergency, a true life or death moment that he knew he wouldn’t make it out of. He had thought about using one when he had fought the Prime but by the time he was down, even if he did take one, he would have ended up with a sword through his body by the time it had taken effect. Thinking about the dungeon he moved back towards the entrance, he still hurt but it was manageable.
**Welcome to the Awake the Prime (E grade) Dungeon**
Objectives of Awake the Prime dungeon
Sentient robots have taken over the outpost of Trifel, work your way through the outpost, killing all of the robots and unlocking each lock placed on the central area. By unlocking all five locks you will be granted access to the Prime who will only awaken once all of its minions have been killed.
Defeat the Prime to save the outpost.
Note: You may leave the dungeon at any time by retreating back to the entry point.
One participant located, please choose from the below difficulty settings to enter.
Low – Highest level 50
Middle – Highest level 75
Peak – Highest level 100
Max – Highest level 124
He had confirmed what he wanted to, now that the dungeon had been claimed whoever entered could choose a difficulty setting. It was information that he could pass along to the others in case they wanted to do a dungeon run, although he would advise against it, robots sucked.
Heading back to the edge of the mountain he took off into the air and made his way towards where he assumed everyone would be. A few hours in when he was approaching the buildings that had sprouted up he used his echo and found that there was a lot of people in the area. He knew he had been in the dungeon for a while, but seeing that everyone had arrived put just how long he had wasted fighting robots into perspective. He took out the stone from his inventory and contacted Eric. ‘You free? I am out of the dungeon.’ Rather than stay in the air he dropped to the ground a little further out so that he wouldn’t be noticeable by the people around.
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‘We have been trying to get in contact with you! Did you seriously only just get out of a dungeon? It’s been over 2 weeks!’
Stupid robots. ‘Yeah, I will tell you all about it some time. But I’m pretty hurt and all I want to do is sleep and rest. Is there somewhere I should stay or should I head back to the lake?’
‘The big house off of the town hall is where we are all staying, you have a room. I will gather everyone and meet you there.’
‘Eric, I have never been here before! Where the hell is the town hall?’
‘Sorry, forgot you hadn’t been here yet. The settlement crystal is in the town hall so if you go there, you will see the house.’
Rather than fly over he walked in the direction he felt the crystal was, he had no issues making his way through the forest but as soon as he hit the buildings he could have kicked himself for being an idiot. People stared at him when he appeared from between two houses and walked onto the road, he didn’t recognise them but they looked at him with a good dose of fear. Looking down at himself he couldn’t blame them. His armour was cut straight across his chest and he was covered in blood, he looked terrible. If he continued walking like he was he would draw more attention than if he just flew. Without saying a word to the people staring at him he took to the air and just made a straight line to the settlement crystal. He had barely made it halfway before someone tried to attack him by shooting an arrow at him while he was in the sky, he just ignored it and sped up. It didn’t take too long for him to find the town hall and clearly see the big house next to it which he aimed for a dropped down near the front door.
“Do not move or we will attack!”
Someone shouted at him the moment he was on the ground. He slowly turned around to face the person who had yelled at him, with him were nearly a dozen others, all with their weapons aimed at him. “Everyone just relax, I was told to come here by Eric.” As soon as they heard Eric’s name they became more hesitant to open fire on him.
“If what you are saying is true, you won’t mind staying where you are until someone can confirm your story, keep your hands in the air and don’t move or we will attack.”
Looking over all of the people willing to fight him he was actually somewhat impressed by their level, all of them were in the E grade, all in their 40’s. “I have a better idea. What about I just lay on the ground with my hands out by my side?” They looked at him like he had lost his mind, but after a few minutes of consideration the guy that had been yelling at him gave him a small nod. As soon as he got the all clear he got on the ground and just laid there like he said he would. He even closed his eyes and started to drift off until he heard more yelling.
“What is happening here?” And there is Viv. “Shaun? Why are you here? And why are you on the ground?”
He didn’t even bother lifting his head up to look at her he just gave her a little wave. “That dungeon was hell. I am sore and tired. Robots suck.”
He felt more than saw Viv walk up to him. “Did you say ‘robots suck’?”
“Yep, for over two weeks I have been fighting robots. Two weeks of having to listen to a siren and having to fight by flashing red lights. It sucked.”
There were a few beats of silence before Viv spoke again, but when she did she sounded more put together than she had when she had initially spotted him. “Shaun, why don’t you head inside, I’m sure the others will be along shortly. Aaron, will you spread the word that Shaun is to be treated the same as anyone would treat myself, without him we wouldn’t have this place at all.”
Picking himself of the ground wasn’t fun but he managed to do it without causing a scene. He moved into the house quickly and he found it to be much nicer than any of the ones he had built, definitely more opulent as it was fully furnished and much larger than it originally seemed from the outside. He spotted a couch that looked comfortable but then looked down at himself again and sighed, he was filthy, and he still had enough manners to know that making a mess of the couch wasn’t okay.
“Come on, I will show you to your room, there is a bathroom where you can clean up and we have some clothes you can change into.” Viv thankfully led him up to the second floor and into a spacious room with a huge bed quickly. He didn’t even wait for her to leave before stripping out of his armour and then his under clothes. He knew that she was watching him, but he just couldn’t find the energy to care.
He spent longer in the shower than he really needed to but he utilised this time to drain his remaining mana and continue to heal himself under the peaceful spray of water. By the time he had it out of the shower he eyed off the bed and figured that the others could wait a few hours while he rested, he didn’t have anything urgent to go over, not to him anyway.
He didn’t know how long he slept before he was awoken by the bed shifting and the feeling of someone laying next to him. When he opened his eyes he looked across and found Gabe smiling at him. “Morning. You sleep well?”
“How long was I asleep?” He felt fully refreshed, even his chest didn’t hurt as much as it had before he went to sleep.
“Nearly 14 hours. Seemed you needed the rest. Was the dungeon that hard?”
“Yeah, I haven’t been pushed that hard since, well ever.” Like a cat he did a full body stretch while laying in bed which helped to fully wake him up.
“Everyone is here waiting for you if your up to come down. We have food.” The moment he heard that there was food his stomach growled its protest at not being fed. He jumped out of bed and went to the closet, looking through it for clothes to throw on. “Its great to see you again. And also great that we don’t have to pretend to hate each other. I get it though, why we had to do it. That tutorial was brutal, especially after speaking to people who were in other tutorials. Ours was one of the worst I have heard about.”
Shaun listened while he got dressed, he noticed his armour had been cleaned and was sitting on the dresser, he needed to repair that before wearing it again so he stelled for normal clothing. When he was dressed he turned to Gabe who immediately came up to him and gave him a hug. “I have missed you too Gabe.”
They made their way downstairs and the moment he spotted food he made for it immediately, stacking his plate full of everything he could before heading over to the table that everyone was sitting at. They didn’t interrupt him while he ate which he was thankful for, one of them even got him a drink which he drained in one go at the end. By the time he had finished the others weren’t even halfway done.
“So, you ready to tell us all about the dungeon? Don’t leave out anything that you think could be important.” Viv got straight to business, which he didn’t blame her for, this was the first time they had really seen him struggle in a dungeon, they were curious about what had made it so difficult to put him in such a terrible shape.
He started from the beginning and walked them through every aspect of the dungeon, the levels he encountered and the difficulty of fighting robots. The more he spoke through his experience the more disheartened they got at ever being able to utilise the dungeon. When he finished telling them that now that the dungeon had been claimed, you had a choice to choose the difficulty before entering, they started to plan out how to best utilise the dungeon for others to train in at the lowest setting. He finished off by telling him about the terraforming and how long it would take, being clear that they should wait until it was done as he put a trail up to the dungeon from the ground that would help navigate the area once it was completed.
They spoke more about the Prime and what his plans were next, which was to spend another day or two preparing for the next dungeon, making sure he fully recovered and then set out. Over those two days he was given tours of the area, heard the plans on expanding throughout the F grade area sooner rather than later in preparation of an influx of people moving to them over the course of the next year. They also went over preparations on how they were going to keep out The Pantheon allies. Apparently before anyone could enter through the gates they had to make a binding pledge that promised no fighting, to obey the rules and that they were in now way allied with The Pantheon. Overall it was a relaxing few days, but duty called and as soon as he felt overwhelmed with the amount of people around he decided to head out to the next dungeon, hoping that it would be better than the last one.