Season 3: Catpurr 1: Picking my Dungeon.
Like most days, the red-haired man in the body of a child sat within his underground chambers, frowning as he lazily eyed the interface before him and the expectant look from Dungeon.
And, like most days, he was once again being forced to make a choice, one that would impact his survival and define his existence on this plane.
Upgrades Available. Please pick a core type.
Centralized Gestation Chamber.[+200% Monster Growth rate]
Centralized Mining shaft. [+60% Ore Regeneration]
Centralized Dark Core.[+50% Attack & Defense Strength of Servants/ All Minions gain Unstable!]
Centralized Plantation.[+100% Growth Rate of Plants]
It was time to pick a focus for the dungeon. The starting point that would determine how his dungeon would run and operate.
A monumental moment for any dungeon owner yet for Adam…
Well, he was locked in to what kind of dungeon he could have.
“Nyx below…” Adam groaned.
Due in part to a moment of oversight or perhaps his rotten luck, what was originally supposed to be a haven to sequester himself between trials was now a welcome mat for hundreds of greedy adventurers.
[Dark Core Selected!]
So, Adam picked the Dark Core, hoping that it would bolster his home’s defenses from the constant onslaught of hapless souls.
“Damn idiot!” Adam seethed, an unnatural rage bubbling up from within as an image of a pink-haired woman plagued his mind. “I should have killed her instead…”
“That can be arranged, Master.” Dungeon said, the artificial intelligence of the dungeon bowing to Adam in the form of a tall lithe woman in white.
“No… No no. She has her uses,” Adam replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And please stop calling me-”
“AW!” Liza let out, the aforementioned pink-haired cat girl tackling Adam from out of nowhere. “You think I'm useful! I knew you cared about me!”
“WHAT?!” Adam spat, struggling against the woman trying to plant a kiss on his cheek.
“Leeeemmme kiss yooou~” Liza sang.
“Get off me you oaf! Dungeon! DUNGEON!”
At Adam's command, the dungeon around him shifted, revealing enchanted roots from above that reached down and pulled Liza away.
“Nyx below woman! Do you never cease not being annoying!” Adam spat, glaring at the cat girl suspended above him.
“Kinky.” Liza replied.
Adam took a deep breath, a sigh escaping his lips from the depths of his soul.
“Alright. Nap time it is.” Adam said, sending Liza away who began to scream as the vines placed cloth around the struggling girl until she passed out.
“Ahhh. Silence,” Adam said before being interrupted by a loud boom. “Or not…”
“ADAM!” Judith screamed, the former Paladin of Voltrain bursting into Adam's underground chambers. “You foul and wretched demon! What pervasiveness have you undertaken?!”
“What?”
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“I can feel it! The very air has become warped in vile necromat-blEkh?!” Junith paused, her body seeming to seize as she went pale and threw up, rainbow vomit hitting the floor.
Suddenly he could feel a shift, a change in the make-up of his abode as a flash of dark energy seemed to course through it. Immediately Adam felt invigorated, a sense of strength taking him.
“Huh…” Adam let out, brows raising. “Interesting.”
“Interesting?! How is! Is…. Uggghk… You bastard,” Junith moaned, the change in mana make-up of the dungeon making the paladin ill. “I’ll stop… I'll stop your fiendish… Machinations…”
Junith dropped, hitting the floor as vines sprouted up and dragged her unconscious body away.
“Hmm.” Adam muttered to himself, turning away as he eyed the magical mirrors that surrounded the room and showed him the various adventurers traversing his dungeon.
Across the floors, dozens of parties. Men and women fighting monsters created by Dungeon in her autonomous mode while Adam was away on his trial.
In a desperate attempt to protect her core, Dungeon had expanded the labyrinth, creating nearly a hundred floors filled with monsters of the damned to combat the curious delvers.
Of course, this wouldn’t have been a problem if Liza hadn’t secretly designed the entrance of his home, creating something called a Dream Girl Barbie Home that was bright pink and drew attention far and wide.
“Dungeon.”
“Yes, Master.”
Adam sighed.
“Dungeon… For the last time, stop calling me Master. It's extremely unsettling,” Adam hissed, turning his attention back to his minions being slaughtered. “I selected the Dark Core, why are my soldiers still being beaten? Why aren't they being boosted?”
Dungeon went stiff for a moment before responding, “The effects of the Dark Core aren't instantaneous. It will take a few days to install the configuration, my Leader.”
Adam sighed. Already the adventurers had breached to the thirty-third floor, making their way through nearly ⅓ of the dungeon floors.
Any further, and he'd be in serious trouble.
“Seems like I'll have to get my hands dirty,” Adam muttered before his eyes settled on a familiar green-haired woman and a man carrying a coffin. “Or… maybe not. Dungeon! Get me Ellie.”
***
Titania side-stepped, avoiding a swipe from the goblin’s club before she drove her knee into the monster’s gut.
Immediately she heard a crack, the ribcage of the creature snapping like a twig under brutal attack, it's organs ruptured with blood pouring from its mouth.
“Well… That's the last of em, should we get going?” Titania said, adjusting her enchanted bracers as she scanned the cavern with her dark vision that was filled with monsters.
“Sec,” Sehn replied, the hunched over man yawning as he collected the weapons and corpses of the deceased monsters.
“Oh come on, leave it! It's all junk!” Titania protested, watching as her friend picked up and tossed the chipped and broken weapons into a coffin that acted as a spatial storage. “If Rubella’s team finds the next entrance before us I'll be pissed! Momma wants that bonus money!”
“Right right, I get that, but every bit of scrape we collect helps us pay our debt,” Sehn replied, dragging a goblin corpse and tossing it into the coffin. “Plus… I'm pretty sure-”
Sehn and Titania froze, a feeling of unease washing over them.
“Did-” Titania began.
“Yeah… Seems like the dungeon just got a whole lot more dangerous.” Sehn replied, a sickly energy hanging in the air. As a veteran diver, he knew full well what that wave of energy was.
The dungeon had evolved.
Titania cracked her knuckles, “Oh well, nothing we can't handle. Shall we get moving?”
“Yeah, just help me move this ogre into the coffin,” Sehn said, placing his hands beneath the rough-skinnes monster's shoulders. “Alright, on the count of-”
Sehn froze as he looked up, eyes wide at the pair of cat ears poking up from beneath the dead ogre’s feet.
“Alrighty! I've got a good grip!” A childish voice let out, causing Sehn and Titania to pale. “Are you ready?”
A moment passed in silence as they stared at the out of place demi-child, yet, they were no strangers to odd occurrences.
“Please. Please tell me you aren't related to a kid named Adam.” Sehn said, a sinking feeling bubbling within as a life in chains flashed before his eyes.
“Yup! My name is Ellie! I was sent here by Master Adam!” The white-haired cat girl said, smiling innocently at Sehn as a crab danced on her head. “I've been sent here to escort you to him!”
“Wait? Escort us to him? What do you-” Titania said, blanking out mid-sentenced as she and Sehn’s brain cells came to a simultaneous conclusion. “Nooooooo.”
This dungeon…
It was Adam's.
It wasn't unheard of for man-made dungeon's to exist, usually they were abandoned wizard towers, derelict research facilities, or defunct Stout mines. Usually places dark, damp, and loaded with mana.
So the conditions to create one weren’t very hard, however it required time. Years to decades at minimum for even a one floor of a dungeon to occur. Yet… this one had seemed to appear overnight.
A mystery that had perplexed the Guild Hall, but now… Now they had their answer.
Sehn and Titania both began to cry, with Sehn visibly sobbing as the two adventurers held each other close, “I'll never work off my debt!”
“Come on! Master Adam wants to talk with you guys!” Ellie let out, grabbing Titania and Sehn's hands, leading the two crying warriors into the abyss of the dungeon.
****