It has been a day or two since the soul had a talk with Old White. Time was incredibly difficult to tell in this place. No stars, Suns, and Moons to calculate time with.
From ‘The Talk’, he had realized five things which he needed to keep in mind. Always. Everytime. Everywhere.
First, he was now a dungeon. An entirely different creature or organism compared to his human form. But apart from the first few hours, which were spent cursing after realizing the gravity of the fact, he found it incredibly exciting. It was going to be something new. Something adventurous. Something incredibly exciting.
Second, now he was in Titania. He wasn’t in The Immortal World. He could not walk ahead with preconceived notions. Everything would be different. Names, Places, People, and finally their cultivation. Seeing that someone could exile such a powerful dungeon to heaven knows where he could not take people here as weaklings. But strength ruled over everything. He personally believed that a stronger fist ruled above everything. The stronger he is, the safer he is. So he should get back to cultivating or was it Dungeonerring? No maybe Creating? Mining ? Tunnelling?
Third, there was no Qi. He had tried sensing here and there and finally came to the conclusion. There is no Qi here. Instead, people cultivated using Mana. Although he was not sure, how? How did they use mana? Did they cultivate similar to cultivators? What were their power levels? He later tried using Qi Cultivation method to absorb. Surprisingly, it worked. Of course, later he realized that both were forms of energy. Cultivation Method was simply a way to absorb energy in a particular manner, to get a particular result. Like cultivating Qi by making it run through flesh, would result in a stronger body.
Fourth, larger the dungeon, the stronger he is. Larger the area the dungeon covered, more Mana he could absorb and control. Earlier, he wanted to simply create a strong cave and surround it with Qi infused, sorry mana-infused rocks and metals, and go into secluded cultivation. But he realized it completely went against his dao heart. He wanted to be free and unfettered.He wanted to learn more. Experience more. Although he was stuck here, it didn’t mean he couldn’t experience something new. Following Old White’s steps, he will create a dungeon to attract more people. It will help him get stronger and also learn new things! Maybe later he would be able to create an avatar?
And finally, Old White had a bad grudge with Gods. Not talking about his personal vendetta and promise to kill order, but the way he said mentioned ‘ Gods ‘ felt like he was eating something unpleasant. Like rotten eggs. But he had great respect for someone called Creator. From what he could make out Creator had the created this world and everything inside it. And from what he understood,now he too was a part of that vendetta. Hateful! Where was the consent form?
So in short. Grow more! Grow Large! Grow stronger!
But the thing which had been torturing him for past the hours was, how to create one?
He couldn’t walk. He didn’t have hands to dig one. Swords, as much he liked them, were currently unattainable. In fact, anything which can be used as a weapon was not there. Unless rocks count. The pointy one. But common sense told that pointy rocks were definitely the wrong way to go…unless Titania had a different common sense common.
Energy attacks were a waste. Bombing energy on the surrounding walls turned out to be highly energy wasting and also extremely dangerous. Half of the newly created meter long tunnel was now buried under rocks. Yes, collapsing of tunnels.
Now he was trying a different method. Old White had mentioned that Dungeon Core’s were Gods inside their domain. So here he was trying to create a domain. Earlier few tries which depended on his understanding of Daos had failed badly. The Dao was probably on a vacation.
In short, Domain was not at all related to Dao Domain. So here he was trying to infuse mana in the air and surrounding area to create an Energy Domain. A domain purely made of his mana controlled by his soul energy. An area of hundred meters or so was now completely infused with his soul energy and mana. But the thing which surprised him the most was his complete control over mana infused objects.
It worked! It was like controlling your own body. Each rock felt like part of him. He was the brain and the heart, while rest was his body.
Wait! His body? So dungeon was his body? Didn’t that mean, people were going to step over his body? Walk inside him? Were mere mortals going to walk over him? Walk on an Immortal? Mortals walking inside an IMMORTAL’S BODY? Immortals could step over mortals like they were ants! But here he was going to allow those ants to walk on his body, his creation? Were was his face !?! All his reputation will go down the drain! Ughhh…his heart hurt. It was going to be humiliating. He was going to allow mortals…mortals! But how could mere mortals, those pitiful creatures walk over him! It was blasphemous! Or so went the Soul’s rant.
After few days, finally, the soul calmed down enough to think rationally. In fact, even the soul was surprised by the intensity of this rant. Usually stronger the cultivator, the more numb their emotions, and feelings become. They become indifferent as nothing is new. It's the same thing every time. That’s why he craved for unknown. It was like a drug. The happiness or satisfaction on learning something new, the adrenaline rush when fighting unknown or the finding nothing an returning empty-handed after an adventure. All this simulated his emotions, and unknowingly he had become addicted to these feeling. It was refreshing.
The anger burst which came suddenly did simulate his feelings, but also made him realize that he was losing control over his emotions. On looking back, he found several instances were his emotions went out of hand. Sudden anger on realizing that he may be trapped or intense hatred for Old White. At all these moments, he had apparently lost control. On thinking deeper, he could only connect this to apparent damage to his soul.
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Apart from this, the anger did help him sort his motives. He was only going to allow the strong, the worthy to enter. If they didn't have enough capabilities he was simply going to kill them, one way or the other. They were a stain on his creation.
Now he would finally start creating his Dungeon. A dungeon worthy of an Immortal! But first, his Dungeon needed a proper name…You know maybe after the construction is done.
First, he was going to improvise his chamber. Bare rocks would have satisfied someone else, but to him, they were simply rocks. Dirt cheap, dirty and not at all beautiful. If he would have been allowed he would have really liked to use Heavenly Jades to construct everything. They were gorgeous. They were tough, and once infused with Qi, not even a true Immortal at his full power would be able to scratch them. But he would have to do with these rocks and gems.
He willed the rocks to meld with each other, and slowly move outwards. Rocks around him rippled as if they were liquid, and melded with each other. Melding with each other, made them tougher and more difficult to break. This went on for a while until the crystal was floating in a ten meter wide and five-meter tall chamber, with a dome over it, which was almost meter in diameter. Next, he willed the rocks of the wall to smoothen themselves. A bit of his mana reserve was consumed as the black rock turned smooth like glass. The sharp bumps receded into the wall.
Once done, the soul nodded his head in satisfaction. Now for the interiors. He summoned the numerous diamonds in his domain and willed them to cut themselves into pieces. The raw gems slowly turned into beautifully cut diamonds. The smallest being nail size, while the largest the size of a fist. These diamonds found themselves, embed on the ceiling, in numerous patterns. If someone from immortal World, would have seen this, he would have found these patterns to be constellations found in the night sky of the mainland. The Sword Constellation, the Emperor Constellation, The Hammer Constellation etcetera found themselves beautifully carved on the ceiling, connecting the Gems into more tangible forms.The light which was being emitted from his core would fall on them, creating an illusion of a starry night sky. The dome was similarly decorated except for a foot long hemisphere protruding from its center. The hemisphere was decorated with green and blue crystals until it finally resembled his home planet. The planet which he most cherished.
Once done, it was time for the walls. Four Corinthian design pillars slowly emerged from the floors at the four corners.Almost seven meters high. The top and bottom were decorated with numerous Immortals and Devils fighting each other. On the top of each wall ran a strip on which names of every person he had killed were carved in beautiful calligraphy. The whole strip was covered with thousands of names. The strip was to remind him how he had killed people who once stood at the top, and never to lose confidence. Because even an Immortal could be killed, and Gods could be slain.
Once done he summoned the metals in his domain,and carefully willed them in the shapes of four divine beasts.
The Azure Dragon found himself on the east pillar. It's head holding the roof,while it faced the crystal. The body was made of some white metal in which he had mixed some azure gems until the whole thing looked blue and beautiful. The claws and teeth were made of pure white diamond. A large solid piece of blue diamond became its eyes.
Similarly, Vermillion Bird went over the south pillar. Red gems, which he believed was ruby became its eyes and claws. Rest of its body was made of some unknown metal with crushed ruby inside. Its long neck touched the roof while the head curved and looked at the crystal.
The Black turtle went at the north pillar, with his whole body made of Black Rocks, studded with tiny gems, while White Tiger took the west pillar. Its body made of pure white metal and tiny rare black diamond.
The Divine Beasts, occupying the four corners looked particularly intimidating but beautiful. Next were the empty walls, where he wanted to show four of his life’s most remarkable achievements. He tried using mana to change rock color. In fact, it turned out to be pretty simple. He simply had to will it, which left him surprised. Changing the mineral content would cause them to change colors. He tried doing the walls when he realized he was exhausted. His mana was exhausted. He started his Cultivation Technique. From experience, he knew it would take at least an hour or so, for him to be full.
Instead of wasting, he decided to investigate the blue boxes. But the question was how? Should he call it out? Or should he will it? No, last time it had popped up on asking a question. So questions? But what should he ask? Maybe something of the outside world?
He looked at the air an asked mentally, “ Who is Illiasa?” He felt incredibly weird asking air…Now, where was the blue box…??
NOTIFICATIONS INSUFFICIENT PRIVILEGES
What the hell? Privileges?
NOTIFICATIONS PLEASE CONNECT YOUR DUNGEON TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR ACCESSING THE DUNGEONPEDIA.
And here was the answer.
Right at time. Was it a spirit? Something like Puppet Spirits or...
NOTIFICATIONS YES. I AM SPIRIT OF THE GLOBAL DUNGEON NETWORK. RESPONSIBLE FOR HANDLING THE TRAFFIC ON THE DUNGEON NETWORK. I AM HERE TO ANSWER ALL YOUR QUERIES.
Ooohhhh....Are you sentient? Are you alive? Can you think? How do you work? What are you? Are you made of Energy? Where does the information come from?
NOTIFICATIONS SORRY, I CANT ANSWER THAT QUESTION. YOU DON’T HAVE SUFFICIENT PRIVILEGES.
Are you male or female?
NOTIFICATIONS SORRY, I CANT ANSWER THAT QUESTION. YOU DON’T HAVE SUFFICIENT PRIVILEGES.
How old are you?
NOTIFICATIONS SORRY, I CANT ANSWER THAT QUESTION. YOU DON’T HAVE SUFFICIENT PRIVILEGES.
Can you do anything instead of repeating " Sorry. I can't answer that question. You don't have sufficient privileges" ?
NOTIFICATIONS YES.
What?!?
NOTIFICATIONS I CAN STOP ANSWERING YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS!
…….
Bullshit. When did he ask stupid questions?
By the way do you have a name?