The woman walked slowly through the various paths and dead ends that made up my first Floor, stopping occasionally to poke and prod at some rocks or plants seemingly at random. Or whatever the reason was for her actions I didn’t understand it at all. Her stopping to check out the pools of water and the Bat nests made sense to me though, as did her detailed examination of my various traps. Those were actually made to be a part of the Floor experience, after all.

As the woman was doing her investigating I couldn't resist doing a little of my own, specifically into the woman’s Status, comparing it to the earlier ones and to my own creatures.

…Ah crap. She wasn’t just stronger than the previous Challengers. She was much stronger. The others had been level 10. This woman was level 57, and had more in her weakest Attribute than my strongest creature had in their strongest, by quite a large margin. I was suddenly very grateful to the system for imposing a limitation on who could enter into the Dungeon without my permission. If that hadn’t been there… This woman or anyone even close to as strong as her could have killed me and there would have been nothing I could have done about it. As it was now I felt a, albeit somewhat tenuous, sense of safety, which encouraged my curiosity. Someone as strong as her surely had to be able to tell me something new and interesting, right? There was so much I didn’t know. So much I wanted to learn more about. About how Dungeons usually worked, since apparently I was unusual in some way according to the previous Challengers. And about what had happened with the Edict, most importantly how I could avoid having that happen again.

I just wished I could speak, so I could ask. My telepathy didn’t work with anyone not created by me, so that was out of the question.

…Wait a minute. I was remembering something… What was it... Stalker had spoken to the Challengers.

Well, more accurately she’d sang and clicked. But they had understood what she meant.

I sent Stalker a message to prepare her. The woman was one cave away from her chamber still, but I wanted her out in the open and ready to ask my questions as soon as the woman stepped into view. The Leatherwing dropped from where she’d been hanging in the ceiling and landed on the ground just in front of the entrance to her cave.

A minute later, the woman stepped around the corner. She paused as she saw Stalker standing there, before looking past her a second later and examining the rest of the cave. She didn’t step inside though. Perhaps she didn’t think I’d appreciate her approaching my second Floor entrance, oath or no oath. I didn’t care either way, since I was busy crafting the perfect opening for Stalker to sing.

“You seek new information. Veos is the same. I will ask his questions.”

The woman froze and looked around, then her eyes widened slightly as they turned towards Stalker. For a few seconds there was total silence, before the woman shut her eyes and took a slow breath.

“Of course it can speak…” She said, though I didn’t think that was meant to be a response to my previous statement.

“Very well”, the woman said. “In exchange for allowing me to investigate, it is only fair that I do the same for you. Ask away. Though there are some things I won’t be able to, or want to, answer.”

Yes! Alright. Question time. What did I want to know again… I had thought this out a moment ago… Ah, right.

“What is the best way for me to learn the things I don’t know about Dungeons and the System?” Stalker sang. The woman seemed taken aback for a moment as the more complicated words seemed to not translate perfectly from notes to words, but it looked like she got the meaning I was going for. After spending a while contemplating for a moment she answered.

“That is a very complicated question, as it depends heavily on what you want to learn. Most Dungeons learn over time, though whether by experimentation or by the System giving them the information I don’t know. What you could do is ask someone who is more studied regarding Dungeons, as they might know more. There are some things I might know, but I’m afraid I don’t know a how-to guide for how Dungeons learn.”

Drat. Well it was worth a shot, at least. I supposed I would have to wait to learn more about the general system-related stuff. For now though there were some more specific things I was curious about.

“What is the cost of an Edict, and how can you learn that ahead of time?”

This time the silence was longer, though not I suspected due to the woman not understanding Stalker’s words. Rather the silence seemed to be because she understood them.

“An Edict is a powerful thing.” The woman said eventually. “I don’t know how they work, or how they are made. All I know is that the strongest Dungeons hold them sacred, and never share knowledge about their details to outsiders. I’m afraid if you want to know more you’ll have to ask another Dungeon or one of its emissaries.”

I could talk to other Dungeons? How? And what were emissaries? I shook myself. Why was I asking me when for once there is someone right here that can actually answer…

“Dungeons can talk if they are close enough for their territories to overlap, or almost overlap." The woman answered after I'd had Stalker sing the question. "I don’t know exactly the process, but those kinds of meetings mostly happen far below ground, when Floor sizes become sufficiently large. Emissaries are contracted outsiders. They function a bit like unofficial Guardians and spokespeople, serving as a Dungeon’s way of interacting with the outside world.” The woman paused. “Though before you ask I don’t know how it works. Emissaries are rare, and for what I know they don’t typically speak of it. But I do know most Dungeons don’t have one, and the ones that do are all at around my Tier, or higher of course.”

Yikes, not something I could do anytime soon, then. Which was becoming a trend, I was noticing. How infuriating. Why must all these cool things I wanted to do be locked behind some ethereal level requirement? I felt a sudden and intense urge to finalize my third Floor and continue my expansion, but forced myself to remain present in the conversation. I had many more questions I wanted to ask, for as long as the woman was willing to answer.

Which turned out to be four more questions, with most of the answers could be boiled down into ‘this is a cool feature that I can’t access right now’, or ‘I don’t know, ask someone else.’ Were all investigations this annoying?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

There was one question at least that got a proper answer. The final one, focusing on Names.

“A Dungeon can grant a Name to its creatures at the cost of Mana, though sometimes Experience can be required as well. The Mana can come from either the Dungeon or an external source, most often a Mana Crystal, that the Dungeon is in possession of. But the Experience has to come from the Dungeon itself. The exact cost depends on a large variety of factors, many of which are unique to each Naming and can’t be accounted for ahead of time. Some general rules though are that the higher the level of the creature being named, the more expensive it will be. Other factors are how well the Name suits the creature it’s given to, and the intent the Dungeon has while giving it.”

Once she was done speaking I had Stalker thank her, and answer some of the woman’s questions in return. I felt pretty good about that, since unlike her I was actually able to answer the questions I was given. How old was I? Easy. What is this Guardian’s name if it has one? Even easier. How many Names have you given? How many Quests?

All questions I was able to easily give complete and correct answers to, without stumbling even once.

After the questions from both parties were over the woman said she had to go, which by that time I found an exciting prospect. I was beyond eager to get back to working on my third Floor, especially since the woman had been kind enough to leave behind a full two of those Mana Crystals. As additional thanks for my excellent ability to answer questions no doubt.

I had been a bit hesitant about how Naming my third Floor Guardian would go, considering the Edict and how Naming Krazad had gone. But with these in my possession I was full of confidence and roaring to go.

After a cursory examination of the Floor to remind myself of what I was doing, I got to work. Now that I had a proper Story in mind there was a lot of editing to do on the Floor layout, but I was driven to see it through. Instead of simple empty rooms for my normal creatures I carved out small but proper dwellings, and placed them inside the courtyard instead of them just being openings in the wall. I then populated the various buildings with a different amount of creatures depending on their size, and made proper parapets for my normal Gargoyles around each one. I then found I could add timed automatic locks to the doors through the system, making each building open one at a time without me having to do it myself. I could even randomize the order, making the gauntlet something you had to drudge through without being able to know and prepare for everything ahead of time. Plus the doors being locked also made it more difficult for more than one set of enemies to attack at once, as I was worried that would make the Floor a bit too difficult. Not to mention how it would be off theme.

When I was done I ended up with four buildings, one in each quadrant of the courtyard, with one large fountain in the center. My Guardian itself would be on the far end, seen from the Challenger's perspective when entering the Floor, atop the main castle parapet itself, and looming in the distance the instant they entered the Floor.

Once I was done I took a moment to just look at the Floor in its entirety. It felt good. Right. The different creatures and layout came together both in function and aesthetic to not only tell a self-contained story, but they would also connect to the overall narrative of my continued Dungeon moving forward. This I felt was the true start of my Dungeon, with the first two Floors being me experimenting, trying to figure out what was best.

I checked my Mana, and once I saw it was full I moved the Mana Crystals to where my third Guardian was sitting. It was time to give him a proper name. I thought for a moment.

Your name will be Obelisk. I sent. Guardian of the deeper Dungeon. Gatekeeper of the castle. Your task is to test the strength and perseverance of all who’d challenge this place, and remind them of the price to do so.

I felt mana drain out of me. Much faster and with greater intensity than the necromancer, but since I could still feel that it was being drained it wasn't close to the rate of an Edict. Despite that though my own mana pool was drained in seconds, and I felt the pull shift slightly, pulling through me onto the Mana Crystals. It was an incredibly strange sensation, like I was a straw and something was drinking through me, yet I was also the water, and the glass. Still it wasn’t painful, and I didn’t feel the enclosing blackness, so it was much better than the second Naming. After it drained the first crystal and started to work on the second I started to feel a bit worried, and that worry only increased as the second stone gradually became emptier and emptier as the seconds passed. The second crystal cracked; it was empty. The drain once more started coming from me, and I felt the now annoyingly familiar sensation of myself being sucked out of myself and drawing ever closer to the infinite void. I steeled my resolve. My mind was stronger now, and my thoughts more solid and focused. Thankfully most of the Mana cost had been paid already, and it ended soon after my drain started up again. I sat back and watched as the strengthening took hold of my Guardian.

Your creature Obelisk is being strengthened!

Your creature Obelisk has become a [Vampiric Gargoyle (Lord)].

Experience Gained!

You have successfully made a Lord grade creature for the first time!

Experience Gained!

…This would turn into yet another big deal once people outside found out, I was sure of it. Though as I watched my new Guardian try out his new body and examined his new Status there were only two words that came to my head;

Name:

Obelisk

Level:

30

Race:

Undead Construct (Stone, Death, Blood)

Grade:

Lord(Guardian)

Attributes

Strength

150

Vitality

280

Dexterity

120

Perception

100

Spirit

100

Force

100

Health

2800

Mana

1000

Skills

[Drink Stone], [Blood Curse], [Raise Thrall], [Stoneskin], [Drain Life], [Darkness], [Shadowstep], [Stonespear], [Stone Barricade]

'Worth it'.