《Draconic Karma Dungeon》 Prologue - A God’s Troublesome Creations Prologue - A God¡¯s Troublesome Creations Once upon a time a god created a universe, as gods are wont to do. The god created fauna and flora and added mana to the world. Not everything got mana - in fact most things didn''t - but what did, excelled. The god made some of the creatures sapient, and - while none of these had mana - they excelled as well. The sapient species excelled so well that they quickly imed the top of the food chain. Each time the god created new life they used up a bit of their power. As a god they had a lot of power, of course, and they saw no reason not to use it. A god had to have a world, and good worlds contained life. For a while the god was satisfied with the world and its 8 sapient species. But 7 of the sapient species slowly grew bored of their luxurious life as a top predator and began to grow greedy for more. To not just be among the best, but the best instead. And as the sapient species had ced themselves firmly on the top of the food chain, the only way to gain more dominance was to dominate another sapient species. 6 sapient species turned to the 8th species - the only species that didn''t desire to dominate others simply for the sake of it - and began to kill and capture any they found. A couple of centuriester, only 7 sapient species remained. The 7th species wanted more dominance as well, but found it easier to pick on a race rather than an entire species. The 7th species had 7 races and one disliked fights and conflicts more than the others, which made it an easy target for bullying and abuse. After half a millenia, only 6 races remained. The god had watched it happen but gave their creations the benefit of a doubt, hoping they would learn their lesson and cease to fight on their own ord. But when the remaining sapients simply went to look for someone else to dominate after they had caused an entire species and an entire race to go extinct, the god had had enough. The god wanted to punish the greedy and power hungry - as those types had led the fights against the extinct species and race - but spare the helpful and kind. Not everyone had participated in the ughter, but few had tried to stop it. And rarely had an attempt ended well. So, the god decided to create Dungeon Cores, giving them the mission of luring the greedy into their dangerous depths with promises of riches. Then the god gave sapients the ability to earn Skills, Achievements and Abilities. They could now earn experience by leveling up their Skills or - as an incentive to the violent and power hungry to enter Dungeons - killing creatures in Dungeons. When one had enough experience they would level up and gain two points to their 6 main Ability Scores. Why 6? The god gave each of the 6 sapient species, which had turned against the 8th, a natural affinity with one of the main Ability Scores. They did the same to the 6 remaining races of the 7th sapient species. The 7th Ability Score was then made to represent the fallen species and race and to help prevent their fate from befalling on another. The god didn¡¯t want the sapients of their world to make their every action based on their creator¡¯s wishes - the god would have descended to The Surface World if that had been their desire - and so the god made the 7th Ability Score a hidden one. Not that the Ability Score was truly hidden. It simply meant sapients wouldn¡¯t automatically be informed when their Score changed, like they were with the other Ability Scores. Yet the right Skill or Ability could still inform a sapient of what they wanted to know. When the god created the system for the sapients, the creatures it had granted mana to, got ess to it as well, but in a different form for each species. Some species could no longer truly die of old age, some granted massive strength or a special power. Several now earned experience simply for being alive while having mana flowing through their blood. But where sapients could gain many Skills over their lifespan, semi-sapients were instead born with one or more Skill, but few would ever get another Skill. The god decided to keep this, despite it having been unintentional. As these species had gotten a part of the system designed for sapients, the god named them semi-sapients. However, the god still wanted the world to have some magical creatures that couldn''t level up, and so gave a smaller amount of mana, than the semi-sapients had gotten, to several species. No other beings, than those that could level up, had any reason to enter a Dungeon, so the god made them unable to do so. In the beginning, this system worked as intended. Greedy, violent and power hungry sapients entered a Dungeon and few of them came out alive. But as the good, kind and helpful sapients had little reason to enter Dungeons, they rarely did. This meant that the sapients which exited a Dungeon, could much more easily dominate others with the newfound power and riches the Dungeon Core had given them. Good sapients still got experience from leveling up their Skills, but rarely could theypare to a dedicated Dungeon visitor in a one on one fight. The good sapients tried to help others against these powerhouses, but found themselves outnumbered. After all, some power hungry sapients were cowards and had no problems gaining positions of power by supporting the powerful Dungeon visitors. To fix this problem, the god created tier ups and Breakthrough Orbs. This way, all sapients had a reason to enter a Dungeon several times in their life, while still making it more likely for the greedy, violent and power hungry to want to dive too deep into a Dungeon and get killed as a result. The god then reset everyone''s levels to once again level the ying field and thought the problem was fixed. But the good, kind and helpful sought no power and thus few of them had reason to want to tier up at all. Leaving them powerless against any wandering Dungeon visitor. To create more initiative, the god created sses toe with a tier up and Skills to suit these sses. Some sses would be geared toward a peaceful lifestyle while others more suited for an adventurous one. The change worked and good, kind and helpful sapients started gaining strength to defend themselves against the dwindling mass of greedy, violent and power hungry sapients. With the change to the sapient system it changed for semi-sapients as a result. The semi-sapients adapted well to the tier up part of the update but could not gain sses due to not being sapient. The god decided to instead let semi-sapient gain a suitable Skill with their tier up, as they had less of those than sapients did. At this point the god felt bad for all the creatures that weren''t included in the system they had made. These creatures couldn''t gain levels or Skills or Achievements or Abilities. The god wanted to include them in the system but didn''t have enough power to include that many creatures in the system, as they had used their power for so many other things. Instead the god gave all species outside the system the 6 main Ability Scores as hidden Ability Scores and gave them a chance to sacrifice part of an Ability Score in exchange for an innate Skill. They still didn¡¯t have levels nor did they get any Skills except for the innate ones. While the world was not perfect, the god still loved it. One such imperfect thing was the Dungeon Cores, for despite their mission to rid the world of evil they sought to kill all that entered their Dungeons, whether they be good or bad. The god tried to remedy this by giving Dungeon Cores their own system with Achievements and Abilities suited to them. They linked the tier up of Cores to the number of bad sapients they had killed, hoping this would make the Dungeon Cores start to focus on their mission. The god even allowed Dungeon Cores to see their Personal Status without having a Skill or Ability to allow them to do so and to ask the system for general information, neither of which the sapient version of the System allowed. Sapients had parents to turn to for general information, where Dungeon Cores couldn¡¯t even leave their dimension. Sapients could only see their own Personal Status the day they became an adult, unless they got a Skill or Ability to let them see it again. Letting every sapient see their Personal Status at any time would be too draining for the god. Instead sapients would be informed of what Ability Scores had been raised each level up, so they could keep track of it if they wished. Whether or not a sapient knew their own Strength Score wouldn''t change what it was, after all. But even with all that, no Dungeon Core ever reacted to their new system. Finally, the god realized what had gone wrong with the Dungeon Cores. They were not sapient or even semi-sapient and thus they had no thought, no concept of right or wrong or their mission in life. Only instincts. But now the god was mostly out of power and needed to rest to regain it. And when gods need rest, it takes millenia for them to truly recover. Besides, it was mostly the greedy, violent and power hungry sapients, who died in Dungeons anyway. Surely, the god could rest a while. When resting the god didn¡¯t truly sleep, but simply became less aware of what happened in their world. And thus, less able to act on anything. Though now lower in number, the greedy, violent and power hungry sapients never truly ceased to exist. They came up with new ways for getting their way and with the god now resting and thus less aware, they often got away with it too. One thing the god did notice, was when the soul of a sapient fused with a brand new Dungeon Core. The god saw that it was good and gave the new Core what blessings the weakened, resting god could. Chapter 1: Empty Rooms and a Creature Pattern Chapter 1: Empty Rooms and a Creature Pattern I woke up in a cave. As I could see all the corners of the cave at the same time, I quickly noticed that it had no opening. Which was good. I was defenseless and with no opening no one could threaten me. The room had the standard dimensions of 5 meters in length, width, and height. Wait. How did I know the dimensions of the room? How did I know it was the standard dimensions? The standard of what? Why could I see everything at once? And why couldn''t I panic about the fact that I was trapped in here with no way out? My instincts told me to dig but when I tried to move closer to a wall, I found I couldn''t move! Yet I still didn''t panic. There wasn''t anything wrong after all! Wait. Why did I think I could move when obviously I couldn''t? Humans can move and I''m human. But I wasn''t human. Not anymore at least. But what was I then? And how was I meant to dig if I couldn''t move? In the middle of the room there was a diamond looking octahedron on top of a pedestal. That''s me. I knew this with absolute certainty. Does that mean I''m a Dungeon Core now? That felt right. That must mean I can make monsters and manipte my surroundings with mana! I immediately wanted to make a monster, but my instincts again told me to dig. Maybe I''m meant to make a room before making a monster? I tried to imagine that one wall lost a 1 m3 square with the dimensions of 1¡Á1¡Á1, no longer questioning why I knew the exact dimensions. One moment the wall was whole the next it had a hole. I mentally giggled at that thought. Then, exactly 5 minutes after I woke up - and I was absolutely sure that''s how long it took -, a blue box appeared in front of me. Wee Dungeon Core! Information windows have been added to you to help you navigate your new life as a Dungeon Core with the soul of a sapient. This includes the Personal Status window, alert windows, and general information windows. I was right! I am a Dungeon Core now! Before I could consider the message more, a new one reced it. New Achievement: First of Your Kind: As one of the first of your kind, it''s your duty to ensure that your kind prosper. Condition: Be among the first 10 members of a new species, subspecies, or race. Reward: 200% EXP gain for 5 years. 200% fertility and Toughness for the first 3 generations of your kind. This is lost when you die. [200% EXP gain: Your species already has enhanced growth. Changed to 120% EXP gain: 5 years left. 200% fertility and Toughness: Not avable for your species. Changed to: 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor and +2 Toughness then 120% Toughness to all your creatures: 75 years left] Does that mean I''m the only Dungeon Core with¡­ what did it call me again? With that thought the first message popped up again. The soul of a sapient? Or am I simply the first? Thinking for a bit I decided it probably depended on whether it happened on purpose or by ident. Of which I had no way of knowing. I''m dead?! The thought shook me for a moment. No. I was dead. Now I''m a living Dungeon Core. My new Dungeon Core instincts told me not to worry about it. It didn''t matter that I had lived before. Only what I did now. After a moment''s thought I agreed with it. It''s not like I can do anything about it anyway. Or remember much from my past life¡­ ¡­ What about this Status window? Personal Status Level: 0 EXP needed for level up: 0/0 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/0 Mana: 49.75/50 Mana regeneration: 5 per hour Floors: 0/1 Creature Theme Selection Starter Environment Selection Achievements Mission I start at level 0? And what''s up with the requirements for level up? All beings are level 0 until they reach adulthood. When someone bes an adult depends on the species. Dungeon Cores are adults when they have 10 rooms, at least 30 creatures and an opening to the Surface World. Dungeon Cores can''t earn EXP at level 0. The Surface World? Dungeons exist in their own dimension which gets bigger as the Dungeon does. The Surface World is the main dimension, and it''s where the sapients live. The "main" dimension of what? But the info windows had nothing to say about that. Perhaps it''s not ''general'' information¡­ What''s my mission then? Mission Too many sapients have karma levels of 25% or lower. The System created Dungeon Cores with the intention of having them kill off these bad people while making good people stronger. Dungeon Cores are given loot to lure greedy people to their death, while the promise of more power will lure the power hungry. 25% or lower? Is that on a scale from 0% to 100% where 0 means superviin and 100 means saint? The very worst of sapients have a karma level of 0% while the very best have a karma level of 100%. Karma levels are calcted based on a sapient¡¯s most recent actions while considering things like their situation, surroundings and so on. ¡®Most recent¡¯ is based on the sapient¡¯s species'' expected lifespan. Children are therefore more likely to rise or lower their karma level based on a single action. Children cannot gain karma-based Achievements before they have done at least 100 actions. And how do I know what karma level people have? So I know if I should kill them or not¡­? Karma level is a hidden Score. As such, only those with a rted Skill or Ability can see it. Skill or Ability? What¡¯s the difference? Skills are gained as a child through training or as an adult through leveling up after training for it. ss Skills are granted with tier ups. Dungeons cannot get Skills. Abilities are gained through Achievements. Okay then¡­ At least that''s a mission I can agree with! Pleased with my mission I decided to get started immediately. Okay, I guess I need to do the Creature Theme Selection¡­ Creature Theme Selection Avian Bipedal Corrupted Draconic Elementals Fey Golems Landbound beasts Water creatures Vegetation And so, I pondered for a long time. I considered all my options. But in the end dragons was obviously the right answer. Okay, so I didn''t consider it for that long! I just really wanted dragons! I did try to consider the other choices, but dragons just always seemed better! With that decided I then needed to choose my Starter Environment. Starter Environment Desert Forest Mountain River andke Volcano Well, that was a much shorter list. Maybe it''s so short ''cause no other environment fits my chosen creature? Hmm. Magma in the environment would be nice as I could use it in several different defensive ways. But the hiding and sneak attack capabilities the forest would give is really nice too. The desert and mountain didn''t speak to me at all, and ''river andke'' wasn''t as interesting as the remaining 2. My goal isn''t to kill everyone though so magma might be too much. Hiding is more my style anyway. Forest it is! Draconic and forest selected. Drag pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 1 Drag? Drags are small green dragons with an average wingspan of 40 cm. They can breathe fire only once per day or respawn, so they only use it as ast defense. Their main attack is their long sharp ws. They are social creatures which live in burrows in forests and mainly eat fruits. They eat fruit? I hadn''t ever considered that there might be a dragon which preferred fruit to meat. While I really wanted to spawn one, I didn''t feelfortable doing so before I had made a forest for it. So, I went back to digging. First, I made a 1 meter wide and long 4 meter high opening. Then I began on the actual room. But soon I had to ask: How big should I make the room? Is there any limit to it? Dungeon rooms have a standard size of 10¡Á10¡Á5 meters with the exception of the Core Room, which has a standard size of 5¡Á5¡Á5 meters. The dimensions of a Dungeon room may change without penalty as long as the room is 500 m3 or less. Making a roomrger than 500 m3 makes the room count as more than one room. "Count as more than one room"? Sounds like I''m only allowed to make a certain amount of rooms. I waited for a bit thinking the blue boxes would confirm my thought. But nothing happened. Maybe I need to phrase it as a question? Do I have a max number of rooms I can make? Tier 1 Floors have 10 rooms each. 2nd tier Floors have 20 rooms each. 3rd tier Floors have 30 rooms each. And so on. ¡­ What''s the different Floor tiers? Tier 1 Floors are Floors 1-5. Tier 2 is 6-10. Tier 3 is 11-15. And so on. Pleased I had both gotten the answer to my original question and learned more about the system, I returned to my digging. With only one type of creature, there wasn''t much reason yet to make the rooms anything but standard. I did briefly consider making one giant room but discarded the idea as I thought people might end up walking past a lot of the danger. Huh?! Why can''t I dig anymore? Personal Status Level: 0 EXP needed for level up: 0/0 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/0 Mana: 0/50 Mana regeneration: 5 per hour Floors: 0/1 Creature Theme Selection Starter Environment Selection Achievements Mission Uh¡­ I''ve run out of mana. Might as well look at these Floor Details, while I wait for it to recharge. Floor Details for the 1st Floor 0/90 levels worth of creatures 0/2 puzzles 0/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Hm¡­ Creatures. Creatures Creatures give you a little EXP when killed and can kill sapients which earns you much more EXP. Drag: 20 mana + 10 mana 20 + 10 mana? What does that mean? Creatures have a base cost and a cost for each extra level. Ah. Got it! So I can use 50 mana to get a level 4 drag. No response. Right. Can I use 50 mana to get a level 4 drag? A Dungeon Core has to be level 4 or more to make a level 4 creature. Level 0 and level 1 Dungeon Cores can only make level 1 creatures. A level 4 creature can only belong to the 2nd Floor or deeper. The 1st Floor can only support level 1-2 creatures. Uh, alright. Later then. Let''s look at Puzzles. Puzzles Puzzles earn you EXP when attempted. The mana cost depends on the Floor level and the difficulty level. No puzzle has been designed So I have to design the puzzles myself. Nice. That will give me something to do while waiting for my mana toe back. Are Traps the same way? Traps Traps can kill sapients which earns you a lot of EXP. The mana cost depends on the size of the trap and how deadly it is. No trap has been designed Thought as much. And so I began to design puzzles for a bit before a thought hit me. I got distracted earlier but wasn''t there mentioned something about Dungeon Cores already having enhanced growth? Why is that? Unlike most other beings, Dungeon Cores have no parents to take care of them before adulthood. To protect level 0 Dungeon Cores, they are ced in their own dimension until they are ready for sapients. This means a Dungeon Core cannot earn EXP before bing an adult. The sapients can and do and therefore often jump from level 0 to 5 or so when they be adults. To make it more equal for Dungeon Cores they instead need less EXP to level up in their youth. This gives Dungeon Cores enhanced growth while young. Uh¡­ Neat! I went back to designing puzzles and ended up switching between digging and designing. Chapter 2: Puzzles, Mimics and Achievements Chapter 2: Puzzles, Mimics and Achievements And¡­ done! As soon as the first room had been made and I dered it done, nts and trees started to grow all around the room. Soon the room floor waspletely covered in grass, moss, ferns, small bushes, and the like in between the now fully grown trees. Climbing nts had even covered the walls and ceiling! Heh¡­ I didn''t realize the environment appeared automatically¡­ What if I wanted a route through the forest? A dirt route appeared going from the opening to the core room straight through the new room to the wall on the other side. Nice! I can still customize it! Let''s test how far this goes! After some testing I discovered that as long as it fits in a forest environment and isn''t in itself dangerous, I can be as detailed as I want. I can even do some crazy things like making the trees form words, give their bark a green-reddish rainbow color or create a blood red pond by raising the iron level in it! The environment also includes insects as long as they''re harmless or only annoying. Ordinary mosquitoes are okay, while mosquitoes with mria are not. While testing I realized that it didn''t cost mana to change the environment or spawn insects. Can I fill the entire room with mosquitoes and kill people with mosquito bites? Not that I actually wanted to do that, but it could be a useful n B. The answer was no, though. I couldn''t even get the number of mosquitoes up to the level of a proper swamp. And as I couldn''t control the insects - I tried - I couldn''t just make them attack someone anyway. At this point my mana was almost full again, so I decided to turn the room back to default - as I didn''t yet know what I needed from it - and finally spawn a drag. Hmm¡­ How do I do this? Maybe I just think "Spawn level 1 drag"? Indicate a location for the creature. A creature cannot leave a designated area. Spawn it in this ro¡­ Floor. The drag sessfully spawned but as it appeared in the newly created room, I couldn''t really know if it was locked to the forest room or the 1st Floor. Hello there! I aimed the thought at the drag, but it sadly didn''t react. Its long ears didn''t even twist. I had only been a Dungeon Core for a day, so I didn''t yet feel lonely, but I knew it would eventuallye. Maybe it will react to amand?Go to the Core Room. The drag had been exploring the forest floor but immediately changed direction. It worked! But when it arrived in the short corridor between the two rooms it sat down instead of walking into the Core Room. Why won''t it enter? No creature can enter the Core Room to ensure they don''t identally shatter the Core. I suppose that makes sense. And it''s not like I really need one in there anyway. Go do what you want. The drag turned around and found a tree to climb. I watched it for a bit. It explored the tree before jumping into the air and flying around. It seemed to like the room but it couldn''t actually tell me if it did. I tried. What did the description of drags say again? Drags are small green dragons with an average wingspan of 40 cm. They can breathe fire only once per day or respawn, so they only use it as ast defense. Their main attack is their long sharp ws. They are social creatures which live in burrows in forests and mainly eat fruits. Right! They burrow and eat fruit! I immediately made a couple of different sized burrows in different ces and changed the trees and bushes to fruit trees and berry bushes. While I was at it, I decided to add a little pond in one corner. The dragnded in a plum tree and smelled a plum but didn''t seem interested in eating it. As I looked more closely at the drag a status window showed up. Creature Status Species: Drag Level: 1 Strength: 8 Dexterity: 15 Toughness: 9 Intelligence: 8 Awareness: 13 Charisma: 11 Achievements: Abilities: Uh~! While I''m sure I could guess it, please inform me what these new categories mean and what would be considered a high score. No reaction. Hmm¡­ Let me try again. What do these new categories mean and what would be considered a high score? Strength: Measures a being''s physical power. Dexterity: Measures a being''s agility, hand-eye coordination, and speed. Toughness: Measures a being''s ability to withstand physical wear, pressure, or damage. Intelligence: Measures a being''s reasoning, memory and ability to learn quickly. Awareness: Measures a being''s awareness of surroundings, other beings and one self. Charisma: Measures a being''s ability to make other beings like them despite possible differences. All adult beings have a total of 60 across the 6 main Ability Scores at level 1. Sapient species generally start out with the 6 Ability Scores being roughly equal. This usually means they start with one Score of 12-14 and the rest being 9 or 10. For every level up a being will gain 2 points to their Ability Scores. Where the 2 points end up reflects what the being had previously done or had need of. Okay. So, for a level 1 its Dexterity and Awareness are high, while its Toughness must have started out kinda pathetic. Its Toughness supposedly gets first +2 and then an additional 120%, so it would have started with a Toughness of only 5. My Dungeon Core mind made quick work of the math. That would mean drags are hard to hit or hide from but will normally go down quickly if actually hit. Oh well! While I love watching my drag, I still have work to do! Digging a corridor in the right wall and starting on a new room, I soon realized that, as I could always see everything in my Dungeon, I was still observing the drag! Neat! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Two dayster I had 3 rooms done and needed a change of pace. Let''s make this room a puzzle room! Puzzles Puzzles earn you EXP when attempted. The mana cost depends on the Floor level and the difficulty level. Kindness Levers in right order Math Pictured knob door Politeness Rainbow color Sacrifice Simon says Triple key door Trivia door Hmm¡­ Not only had I needed to design the puzzles and traps, I had to name them too¡­ And puzzles, which killed or seriously harmed if you failed them, were locked untilter Floors. Kindness. The 3rd forest room from my Core Room was now separated from the other rooms by a thin stone covering covered in climbing nts. The only other difference was the appearance of a scared drag with its tail caught in a tiny bear trap. The drag wasn''t actually real. It was a part of the puzzle and would disappear when it was solved. At which point the thin stone covering would slide to the side. Ha! Let''s see any bad people figure this one out! The puzzle cost me 40 mana and while I didn''t know if it gave me enough EXP to be worth the cost, I loved the idea that no bad people could get to my Core. Actually¡­ What does happen if someone gets to my Core? Do they want to kill¡­ shatter¡­ me? The first time a sapient enters a Core Room after each added Floor they will be rewarded with EXP depending on the number of Floors. Each time a sapient enters a Core Room they will be offered a piece of loot better than in the rest of the Dungeon and specifically chosen to be as useful as possible to them in return for not shattering the Core. Should they ept, they will receive their item and be teleported just outside the Dungeon. Most sapients don''t want to shatter Dungeon Cores as they are a source of loot and power. Some may want to shatter a Core to keep it from apetitor. The sapients have additionally invented a device which can force a Dungeon Core to ask for permission every time it wants to do something. Only if permission is granted can the Core do it. Uh¡­ That''s got to be hard to make or expensive or something, right? I started panicking. No answer came. Maybe I just didn''t ask it right. Uhm¡­ How rare is this Dungeon Core taming device? The Dungeon Core Cage is an enchanted cage designed to control Dungeon Cores. It is made of celenegil and is covered in various runes. Dungeon Core Cages aremonly made by Enchanting Runesmiths. ¡­ That didn''t help much¡­ What''s celenegil? Celenegil is an alloy created bybining orichalcum and tinum. It has the highest enchantability of 100. And what''s orichalcum? Orichalcum is a metalmonly only found in tier 8 or higher Floors of Dungeons. It has an enchantability of 80. Relief rushed through me. It''s got to be super hard to get to then. That''s from Floor 36 and higher! ¡­ What are enchanting runesmiths by the way? Enchanting Runesmiths are tier 8 sapients, who had the previous sses of: Commoner, Intelligence, Memoir, Runescribe, Apprentice Runesmith, Runesmith and Apprentice Enchanting Runesmith. The ss specializes in carving runes in stone and metal and enchanting it with magic. ¡­ That sounds even harder to get a hold of! Not only do you have to be a high tier, you also have to have had the right sses beforehand! Happy with my continued freedom I went back to digging for a bit before a thought hit me. You said they were made by Enchanting Runesmiths. That means other sses can make them too! So, tell me: which sses can enchant a Dungeon Core Cage? Enchanting Runesmith is the only 8 tier ss able to properly enchant a Dungeon Core Cage. Should a 7th tier Apprentice Enchanting Runesmith try to do so the Cage will work for about a week before breaking. Some tier 9 sses or higher can make a more or less functioning Dungeon Core Cage if the ss is Intelligence based. Do you want to have the different possible 9th tier sses listed in order of their likelihood for enchanting a functioning Dungeon Core Cage? Yes/No No, thank you. It still seems like Dungeon Core Cages are rather rare, so it¡¯s fine. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It was the middle of the 7th day and I was done with the 6th room. To change the repetitiveness of my life I had made a curved tunnel between the 5th and 6th room instead of the standard short corridor. It didn''t help the boredom much though. It might be a good ce to put some traps though. But I didn''t want to put down traps without making sure it wouldn''t hit good people. Or at least make it less likely. And I didn''t yet know how to do that. I had just designed yet another trap while waiting for my mana to regenerate. I''m running out of ideas for traps and puzzles¡­ And it''s gotten really repetitive by now¡­ Hoping a break from the digging-designing cycle would help my mood, I decided to do nothing but watch my drag for a while. Unfortunately, as I''m always seeing everything at once I already knew everything it might do. Maybe making it a friend will change its behavior? I need to make more eventually anyway. So, I made it a friend and they immediately started ying aerial catch-me-if-you-can. Wait a minute¡­ The way I had made the puzzle a couple of days ago and the way I had spawned the drags had many simrities. Mainly that I had a design and used mana to make it appear where I wanted it to appear. Can I design my own creatures? A Dungeon Core can gain creature patterns by leveling up, absorbing a dead creature, or designing one themselves. If the designed creature is close enough in design to an already existing creature, the Core will receive said creature''s creature pattern. Any creature not of the Core''s Creature Theme will cost an additional 50% in its base and level up cost. The question had been aimed at myself, but I was very happy with the response I had gotten. Awesome! I''ve always wanted a mimic! So, I immediately began designing a mimic. However, when I was done making the perfect mimic, disaster struck. Much like how my puzzles weren''t allowed to harm anyone on the 1st Floor, the mimic too was simply too powerful and mana expensive for now. As in way too expensive. My "true mimic" as I named it had a base cost of 11,000 mana! On top of that I had to pay an additional 50% bringing the actual price up to 16,500! I only had a max. of 50 mana right now! So, a new routine began: Digging and designing increasingly weaker mimics until I had made one I could use. Every time I tried to design a weaker mimic, I first attempted to make the mimic draconic in the hopes that the extra 50% mana price would disappear, but then the design didn''t result in a creature pattern. I didn''t want topromise the mimics'' ability to perfectly mimic other things so I mostly yed around with their Strength and putting limits on what they could turn into. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I have sessfully made 9 different mimics and I still don''t have one weak enough to use! The 8th room was now done, and the 9th mimic had a base cost of 50 mana and an actual cost of 75. Leaving me just shy of the goal. Isn''t there some way to make this mimic draconic? Wait¡­ That''s the wrong question! I should instead have my drag learn to mimic! I then immediately designed a drag with the abilities of the 9th mimic - as it was the weakest one. Mimicking drags are drags with the abilities of the mini dumb mimic. They live with a drag flock and have a bigger taste for meat than ordinary drags. When they notice sapients they mimic something harmless in an attempt to ambush. All mimicking drags have the Achievement ''Ambush Predator'' giving them the Ability to deal 120% damage when ambushing. Yes! And the price? Creatures Creatures give you a little EXP when killed and can kill sapients which earns you much more EXP. Drag: 20 mana + 10 mana Mimicking drag: 50 mana + 20 mana Wasting no time, I tried to spawn one in the 1st room with the other drags. But nothing happened. Right, I need to have max. mana. The waiting was torture as I couldn''t concentrate on making new designs. But finally, my mana was full and I spawned a mimicking drag. New Achievement: Creature Designer (I): All Dungeon Cores design traps and puzzles. Some design their own creatures as well. You are now one of them. Condition: Design a creature and spawn it. It does not matter if the designed creature already existed or if it''s apletely new design. Reward: Creatures have a 5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 110% EXP. Nice! A new creature and an Achievement! And this Achievement is in a series! Awesome! Now mimic a bush! The mimicking drag turned into a small bush as ordered but immediately turned back to a drag, clearly not wanting to be a bush right now. It still made me happy to see and so I continued my earlier break and simply observed my three drags. After several hours of simply watching, I concluded that the mimicking drag would act like an ordinary drag until it saw a sapient. The three drags loved ying together. Aerial tag, water games and hide-and-seek, while mostly using their sense of smell, seemed to be their favorites. Back to work, I guess. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Finally! I''m done with the boring part! The 10 rooms stoodpleted atst. Now to add some more creatures. Hmm¡­ I want to stick to the dragon theme and have mostly dragons. Like 90% dragons or something. How much does that leave for everything else? Floor Details for the 1st Floor 3/90 levels worth of creatures 1/2 puzzles 0/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps 9 levels for other creatures then. Alright. The mimic is one¡­ Even though it''s a dragon I''m still counting it as a mimic. Hmm¡­ While I love mimics, I still don''t want to have too many of them as it will just ruin the element of surprise. One mimic each Floor sounds good. But what other creatures do I want? Dragons are the main event. You are meant to see and be awed by them. So¡­ Maybe something boring looking but surprisingly dangerous? With the 10 rooms now built, the cycle was now: design creatures - hopefully in my price range - and spawn drags when possible. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó You have fulfilled the requirements for making an opening to the Surface World. Making an opening allows you to level up and earn EXP. Make an opening now? Yes/No ¡­No, thank you. I''m not ready yet. It was 4 dayster, and I had just spawned my 30th creature. While I don''t n on doing everything I can before opening up, I do want to have some traps and the other puzzle up first. And 3 creatures averaged in every room seems like too little. 5 sounds better. So, I ignored the message for now and went back to nning. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Another day passed before the next message popped up. New Achievement: Careful Preparation (I): You have decided to prepare your Dungeon some more before going to the next step. Condition: Wait at least 1 day before opening your Dungeon after the option has appeared or wait at least 1 day after getting ess to a new Floor before making it. Reward: An extra 5% mana regeneration and the Ability to use the next mana payment for level ups as a Mana Bank. ¡­ I didn''t expect that¡­ Extra mana regeneration?! And a Mana Bank! Now we''re talking! Status, please! Personal Status Level: 0 EXP needed for level up: 0/0 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/0 Next mana payment for level up: 0/100 Mana: 36/50 Mana regeneration: 7.5 per hour Floors: 0/1 Floor Details Achievements Mission Awesome! Now I can save up for an actual mimic as my max. mana is now effectively 150. But¡­ my mimicking drag already does that job and the only mimic I can actually get isn''t any better, so there''s really no point. Still, I can now get more expensive creatures should I want to. The regeneration boost is the real catch there though! Hurray for shorter periods of boredom! ... And how do I use this Ability? The Mana Bank Ability allows a Dungeon to use more mana at once than their maximum mana. The Dungeon can put mana in the Mana Bank by manually transferring mana to it. Mana in the Mana Bank can be used by the Dungeon at any time. Manually? Giving it a try I focused on moving my current mana into the Mana Bank. Well, something definitely happened. Status? Personal Status Level: 0 EXP needed for level up: 0/0 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/0 Next mana payment for level up: 36/100 Mana: 0/50 Mana regeneration: 7.5 per hour Floors: 0/1 Floor Details Achievements Mission It worked! Then let me try to spawn a drag using the mana in the Mana Bank. I only had enough mana to try this right away due to having gotten distracted trying to design a very powerful creature that I might never get to use but was fun to design regardless. The drag spawned just like it should. Yes! Chapter 3: Rules and Opening Chapter 3: Rules and Opening The 19th day of my new life arrived, and I now had 49 drags and one mimicking drag as I had decided to make the drags first. Let''s make the other puzzle then! The puzzle was a door with three locks which I wanted right before my Core Room. The keys I wanted to hang in a thick thread around the necks of three drags from three different rooms. If a drag died before the key left its body the key would be teleported into the drag''s burrow. This way the puzzle was still technically possible, but the person was unlikely to know that. By doing it this way rather than having the key disappear when the drag died made the puzzle cheaper in mana. My instincts didn''t like the puzzle though. ''A puzzle is meant to be in only one room'' they seemed to say. I ignored them. This is my Dungeon! And here I decide what goes! And with that thought the puzzle snapped into ce, the keys appearing around the necks of drags in different rooms. New Achievement: Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. Condition: Make or change a rule that must be followed while in your Dungeon. Reward: The Ability to make Dungeon Rules and a 5% mana discount on all creations. ¡­ Is this a normal amount of achievements for someone my age? The average 19 days old Dungeon Core has 0.0000005 achievements. The average 19 days old sapient has 0.000076 achievements. The average 19 days old creature has 0.000025 achievements. Thought so¡­ It''s probably because I''m a sapient Dungeon Core. I''m most likely doing a lot of things differently from other Cores. Now what''s a Dungeon Rule? Dungeon Rules A Dungeon Rule must be followed while inside the Dungeon. The mana cost depends on the Rule and how big an area it covers. Rules that cover all current Floors automatically be Dungeon-Wide (DW) Rules unless stated otherwise. Multiple Rooms Puzzles (DW) Oh, I''m gonna have so much fun with this! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I wanted to be extra sure I had enough mana to make my Dungeon Rule, so I waited all 20 hours it took to fully recharge my mana and fill my mana bank. With 150 mana at my disposal, I made a Dungeon Rule. New Dungeon Rule: Bad Karma, Bad Luck: Sapients with intentions to shatter or enve the Core or with karma levels of 25% or lower will have slightly more bad luck than outside the Dungeon. Sapients with karma levels of 75% or higher and who have no intentions to shatter or enve the Core will have slightly more good luck than outside the Dungeon. Yes! It worked! This will both keep me safer, stop good people from dying and increase the chance of¡­ New Achievement: Karma''s a Bitch: Rather than having your Dungeon kill indiscriminately, you have instead decided to actively follow your mission by making it much more likely for sapients with low karma levels to die. Condition: Make it more likely for sapients with karma levels of 25% or less to die in your Dungeon than other karma levels. Reward: A Karma Aura in grayscale will appear around sapients inside your Dungeon. The darker the aura the worse karma the sapient has. Unlocks the Ability to have your creatures and traps target sapients based on their Karma Aura. 110% damage dealt to people with a karma level of 25% or lower. ¡­ bad people dying¡­ I suppose an ordinary Dungeon Core might achieve this by making more loot to attract the greedy. Personally, I had decided that, as I didn''t yet know the outside economy, the standard loot drops for killing a creature was good enough for now. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I should probably make some traps now. With the Karma Rule in ce, I felt a lot better about putting traps down. Still, I didn''t want to put any traps in the first room they would enter. It was supposed to be the easiest room after all. What about one in the third room they enter, three in the trap corridor and one in the room after they have done the first puzzle? That makes five traps and half of what I''m allowed. The rest I''ll do after I''ve opened. After some consideration I picked out which traps should go where and ced them as I got the mana to do so. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I had nned to open up now, but I also haven''t really used my Dungeon Rules much. And apparently Dungeon wide Rules are gonna be more expensive as my Dungeon grows. But what other rules would benefit me or my mission? My Core still stood in the middle of the Core Room on its pedestal. My Core looks a bit vulnerable like that. Let me move it. ''No!'' screamed my Dungeon Core instincts. ''The Core has to stay in the middle of the Core Room!'' Well then. New Dungeon Rule! The Core can be ced anywhere in the Dungeon! The Rule didn''t take hold. ''A human heart has to stay inside its body to work. Likewise, a Core has to stay inside the Core Room'' my instincts informed me. Hmm¡­ The Core can be ced anywhere in the Core Room. This time the Rule took hold. I then moved my Core to where the ceiling and wall meet, right above the opening to the rest of the Dungeon. But now the pedestal stood empty, and people expected there to be a Core there. And they are going toe in here to get a personalized reward from my Core too. If the Core is obviously missing, they''ll start looking for it. Perhaps I could make a fake Core, which acts like a real one? Giving rewards and teleporting people out and such? I figured it out in the end. The fake Core itself was a trap of the optical illusion variety. It didn''t do anything at all by itself. The trap was simply to make you think it was my Core when it really wasn''t. Then a Dungeon Rule dered that the giving of rewards and teleporting people out would be done by the fake Core. I even threw in a Rule stating that everyone and everything - in case someone brought a golem or something - except me would think that the fake Core was the real one. Just to be safe! It didn''t work exactly as intended though. New Dungeon Rule: Fake or Real Core: Everyone and everything except the Core itself will think the fake Core is the real one. This can be ovee by rted Abilities or active Skills of the same tier as the Core or higher. It might not be as invulnerable as I had hoped, but it was better than nothing. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Floor Details for the 1st Floor 50/90 levels worth of creatures 2/2 puzzles 6/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Relevant Dungeon Rules That feels like enough to start with. I have gotten a bit lonely by now, so it would be nice to¡­ see some people? I guess I''m unlikely to ever talk to anyone ever again¡­ I was oddly okay with that. Probably due to being a Dungeon Core now¡­ Show me my Rules. Dungeon Rules Relevant for the 1st Floor A Dungeon Rule must be followed while inside the Dungeon. The mana cost depends on the Rule and how big an area it covers. Rules that cover all current Floors automatically be Dungeon-Wide (DW) Rules unless stated otherwise. Bad Karma, Bad Luck (DW) Blood Shed, Blood Room (DW) Fake or Real Core (Core Room) Mobile Core (Core Room) Mostly Random Wonky Magic (DW) Multiple Rooms Puzzles (DW) Rewarding Fake Core (Core Room) My Wonky Magic Rule was meant to, once in a while, change the effect of a spell. The reason it was only ''Mostly Random'' was due to two things. 1) The randomness was always annoying or harmful to the caster if the caster was a bad person, while the effect was always fun or helpful if the caster was a good person. And 2) I could change how often the magic randomly went wonky from 10% to 50% onmand twice a day for 10 minutes. Making the Rule much less random. Should I make more Rules before opening though? I think I should make at least one more. But what? The drag were truly social creatures. When active they always yed with each other, never bullied - not even my mimicking drag - and liked to cuddle when rxing. It was hard to imagine that they would attack anyone. Especially someone whose only crime was walking into the room. That''s when it hit me. I could make a Rule stating that they won''t attack unprovoked! I wanted to make the Rule immediately, but I was still running on empty after thest one. But it was a good thing I needed to wait. Wait. People - good, bad, and in between - are going toe to my Dungeon in order to get stronger. They do this by killing my creatures, solving my puzzles, and reaching my Core. So, with a Rule like this I would be stunting the growth of any nice people who choose to leave my creatures be. That''s the opposite of what I want. Can I have a rule rewarding people EXP for not killing my creatures? Like double the amount for instance? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. I''ll take that as a ''Yes''. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Experiencing Peace: When a sapient leaves a room without killing a single creature within it, both Dungeon Core and sapient gain twice the amount they would have gotten if the creatures had been killed. Only counts once per room per run. If a sapient kills 1 or more creatures that Experiencing Peace has already given them loot or EXP for, they will gain no loot or EXP for doing so and Experiencing Peace will disable for the rest of the run. I had hoped tobine them into one Rule, but in the end I needed to make it two different Rules. After making the first of the two Rules I realized that once some good people had discovered this Rule, they would tell everyone about it. And at some point, bad guys would hear about it¡­ Is there any way I can stop bad guys from simply exploiting my Dungeon? Without even putting any effort in?! ¡­ Well¡­ The ¡®Bad Karma, Bad Luck¡¯ Rule might make it a bit more difficult. But can I add something to make ¡®Experiencing Peace¡¯ harder to exploit? I mean¡­ I want to give even bad guys a chance to give peace a try but¡­ I don¡¯t want my kindness to be exploited¡­ Is there even any way for me to tell when I¡¯m getting exploited? Maybe not, but I like to think I would realize it¡­ And if I do realize I¡¯m getting used¡­ What would stop me from pushing the override button? Nothing! I¡¯m the god in here after all! ¡­ I guess that means I just need to make an override button then¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Override: The Core may choose to deactivate and reactivate its Rules onmand. I hope that does it! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó When I, many hourster, made the Rule to make my creatures attack only in self-defense something unexpected happened. New Dungeon Rule: Karma Creatures: The creatures of this Dungeon have be karma creatures and will mirror how sapients treat them. But if they notice a sapient with a karma level of 10% or lower, they will do their best to kill them. They will try to befriend any with a karma level of 90% or higher. The Dungeon Core can still spawn non-karma creatures even though the default has changed. All Dungeon creatures have gotten the karmic phylum I had only nned for the Rule to stop my creatures from attacking first. Maybe the system sensed my underlying intention of making it more rewarding for the good guys¡­? I certainly wasn''tining about the results though! I wonder how the karmic phylum has changed my drags. Show me the description of karmic drags. Karmic drags are small green dragons with an average wingspan of 40 cm. They can breathe fire only once per day or respawn, so they only use it as ast defense. Their main attack is their long sharp ws. They are social creatures which live in burrows in forests and mainly eat fruits. As they are karma creatures, they will mirror how sapients treat them. But they get aggressive if a stranger nears their den, and if one karmic drag gets attacked every drag in its flock wille to their defense. It looked mostly normal but with a short version of the karma creature description added on. Though thest line sounded like the social aspect of their nature had interacted with the new karma aspect to give the drags a new instinct. The same change had happened to the new karmic mimicking drag. Wait¡­ The Rule says they''ll try to befriend the really good ones. What happens if they befriend someone? When a karmic creature befriends a sapient, they will do all they can to help said sapient. They will follow the sapient around until the sapient leaves the karmic creature''s designated area. That''s¡­ a bit disappointing¡­ But I got time! I''ll just have to spice it up myself! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I guess it''s time to open up then. You have fulfilled the requirements for making an opening to the Surface World. Making an opening allows you to level up and earn EXP. Make an opening now? Yes/No Yes. Indicate a cement for the opening. Opening sessful! You are now an adult and have leveled up! You are now level 1! You can now choose the maximum allowed number of sapients for your Dungeon Floors. It cannot be lower than 4. Can I change the numberter? The maximum allowed number of sapients for a Dungeon''s Floors may be changed at any time but will not take effect for any sapients already inside. 6 then. I believe that''s the number a bnced party has. Let''s see how my status looks now. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 0/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 2/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Double the mana regeneration! Hell yeah! Chapter 4: Introducing the Tribe and First Party Chapter 4: Introducing the Tribe and ''First Party'' "It''s been weeks since we left the border, Nerok. Don''t you think we''re far enough away?" Nerok was the System-approved leader of a group of runaway ves. The elves thought of themselves as superior to other species due to their long lives even before tiering up. Beastkin on the other hand only had an average base lifespan of 40 years. Whichpared to an elf''s average base lifespan of 500 years truly is short. To make up for it, the system had made it so leveling up was easier for the short-lived species. Faster leveling meant you would tier up faster. And every time a beastkin tiered up they would receive an additional 10 years of life, where an elf would only get one year more. Still, a beastkin could nevere even close to the elven lifespan. The elves used this as an excuse to make any beastkin they could into a ve. They just wanted to use us to get easier ess to BO''s. The short lifespan making us animals is just an excuse. Nerok often thought to himself. The Breakthrough Orbs - often referred to as BO''s - existed in tiers and were needed for three things: Its main purpose was to make someone break through to the next tier - hence its name. This only worked if you crushed a BO with the appropriate tier which was also bound to you. At level 9+ one would need to break a 1st tier BO, at level 19+ it would be a 2nd tier BO and so on. Each time a Dungeon creature was killed there''s a 5% chance a BO with a tier matching the Floor tier would appear with the loot. The BO would then bind itself to the first person to touch it. The mostmon use of BO''s was to power the light in one''s house, keep one''s fridge and freezer cold and the like. One would have to change the BO¡¯s asionally, and higher tiers had a higher life expectancy, but everyone could use any BO''s for that. A BO you were bound to would be more effective, but only by 10%. The 3rd use was only done by the nobility. They liked to buy thousands of a specific tier of BO''s and merge them into 1 unbound BO using a ritual. The unbound BO would then go to the noble''s son or daughter so they could tier up without ever entering a Dungeon. While the nobles of most species simply bought the BO''s from Dungeon miners, the elves used ves for it. The elves saw this as a brilliant strategy as the chance of a tier one BO dropping goes from 5% to 10% when there is a person on level 9+ in the party. Likewise, for 2nd tier BO''s and level 19+ and so on. And normal Dungeon miners would tier up immediately, when they get a BO drop at a + level, instead of grinding for BO''s. So, the ves have a much higher BO drop rate. A much stronger and faster supervisor will then be nearby picking up all BO''s before any ve can get to them. Nerok thought for a bit before answering his fellow ursakin. "Yes, we''re far enough away that I doubt the elves will ever find us. Butst I checked we couldn''t agree on what action was best: Do we keep going till we reach Mammalia, which is three times the distance we''ve already walked away? Or do we look for a good location to settle down in?" "I remember¡­" Morghar said with a frustrated sigh. Morghar was an ursakin in his prime: His skin had no wrinkles, his curved bear ears were still bright brown and he was full of energypared to Nerok. Nerok was more than 25 years Morghar''s senior and as such roughly 3 generations older due to their species'' short lifespan. The older ursakin looked older than his age - even for beastkin - as the constant fighting without tiering up more than once took its toll on his body. "My cubs are just getting tired of walking all day every day. And you know I would do anything to make them happy." Nerok knew the feeling. Ursakin had a stronger sense of family and a bigger need to help, protect and stay with their family than any other species or beastkin race. Lupinekin came in a close second but they couldn''t quite match the overprotectiveness of a bear. And if the elves had had the family instincts of a ursakin they probably would have noticed their slowly shrinking numbers by now. Something their beastkin ves had noticed but refrained from pointing out. "It''s been a week since west voted on the topic and then we were still too close to the elves forfort. It might be a good idea to see how everyone stands on the topic now. Maybe all this walking made someone change their minds¡­" Nerok gave Morghar a small smile. "It''s about time for a lunch break anyway. We can vote afterwards." Morghar gave a huge smile. "Thanks Chief! You''re the best!" Then he started going around spreading the news of lunch break and voting. Nerok gave an amused shake of the head. He was the oldest of the 98 ex-ves - soon to be 104 as 6 had been pregnant at the time of their escape - and as such he had been named Chief of their group of refugees. Though his Charisma ss probably helped too. The System had shown its approval by then bestowing him the Achievement ''Nomadic Chief'' to him. The Achievement gave a bonus to Toughness to the whole Tribe due to being Nomadic and a personal Charisma bonus to Nerok as the Chief. Nerok didn''t feel like he deserved that honor, but he understood the importance of having someone in charge. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Look! Look! A Dungeon! We found a Dungeon!" Two lupinekin siblings came running towards the crowd of adult beastkin discussing their options before the vote. The younger one was the one shouting while her older brother simply nodded with wide eyes. Riska and Tuzzik had been sent away to y in the nearby area while the adults were talking. They had been told to stay in hearing range, both so they could hear their parents call them back and so the Tribe could hear them call for help. The lupine siblings, though, had found a love of bending - but not yet daring to outright break - the rules after a lifetime of being a ve, and so had decided to walk just a bit further away than they were allowed. "A Dungeon?! Show us to it!" Nerok demanded. A Dungeon would be Systemsent. The loot from even just the 1st Floor of a Dungeon would be fantastic for the refugees but the real blessing would be from the ess to Breakthrough Orbs. BO''s they could finally bind, break and tier up from which would improve their chances of survival and make keeping their freedom much easier. The siblings turned around, with Riska immediately starting to run back to the Dungeon Portal. Tuzzik being older was able to contain his excitement to a fast walk so the elder ursakin and the rest of the Tribe could keep up. The other children had heard Riska''s shout too and ran after her, not wanting to wait for the adults. No one was worried they might try to enter the Dungeon as they all knew you could only do so after the System dered you an adult. While walking, Tuzzik told the adults what happened. "We were just exploring the forest when we saw a light appear to the left of us. We stopped to observe as we''ve been taught to do when you don''t know if the enemy has noticed you. The light was from a Dungeon Portal! You know, one that just appeared!" "Good job Tuzzik! And you too Riska!" Nerok praised the siblings. The adults had caught up to the children and saw them surround the Dungeon Portal. The lupine siblings wore bright smiles, and their tails were wagging. The Portal looked like a stone doorway with a curved top. The middle of one side was reflective, not like a mirror but more like the reflection of dirty water. The greenish reflection told the beastkin that the first tier of the Dungeon was jungle or forest themed. While they couldn''t tell its monster theme from the outside, they could narrow it down some. No undead Dungeon could have forest as its first tier theme. "Anyone against staying here, building a vige around the Portal?!" Morghar asked in a loud voice. The main argument for going all the way to Mammalia was the guarantee that they would be allowed into a Dungeon to get their tier ups. Naturally, no one had any reason to want to walk all the way there anymore. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The following discussion took longer than it should have. Nerok had started it by touching the stone part of the Dungeon to trigger the System message informing any potential Dungeon miners how many may enter at a time. When Nerok announced that 6 adults would enter the Dungeon while the others set up camp, everyone started to argue why they should be one of the 6. Nerok quickly realized it would be night before a Party got decided on, if he didn''t interrupt them. "QUIET!" Silence followed. "Firstly, the best Party is a bnced Party! As such the Party will have one member of each race!" People nodded in agreement. It was well known that each beastkin race started out better at one Ability Score specific to the race. "Secondly, the best Parties have members that trust each other! That have each other''s backs!" Nerok waited a moment. Letting it sink in. It might keep people from getting angry. "We need to be mining this Dungeon as soon as possible! I am your chosen chief, so I will design the first Party to enter the Dungeon. This will give the rest of us time to make camp and decide who''s in a Party with who. Is this eptable to you?!" Nods and agreements came from all around. Nerok took a moment to consider which 6 would best fit the requirements. "I will name the Party in order of their natural Ability Score. As such the first named will be the ursakin of Strength! The ursakin will be Morghar!" A mixture of grumbles and approval appeared. Morghar straightened his back, gave a bright smile, and walked proudly up next to Nerok. "As he is a trusted friend of Morghar, the felinekin of Dexterity shall be Nalir!" A different mix of grumbles and approval happened. Nalir simply nodded and stepped up beside Morghar. Morghar gave him a bright smile and a high-five as he approached. "For the rhinokin of Toughness we have the best friend of Nalir''s significant other, Thenac!" Thenac gave a small smile before walking up to the others. She had be overly cautious and shy after she lost half her nose-horn to a new trap appearing in a Dungeon room where none had been before. The Dungeon in question had been tamed and so no new traps could have appeared without permission from the elf that tamed it. As such Thenac hadn''t been looking out for traps and lost half her horn for the vers¡¯ amusement. "The other friend of Thenac, the muskin of Intelligence, Zaktak!" The muskin had been 1 out of 8 siblings, each one she had loved dearly, each one had been murdered by the elves for some small real or imagined mistake or killed their first time in a Dungeon due to ack of proper weapons and armor. The loss of her family had made her tough, pessimistic, and quick to anger. Zaktak gave a cocky smirk as she walked up and ced herself in front of the other ones chosen. Her short stature was obvious when she was standing this close to the others. With a height of 1.44 meter, she would have been diagnosed with dwarfism in any other beastkin race but Zaktak was actually quite tall for a muskin. ¡°We have her mate, we have her friends, the lupinekin of Awareness, Begdar!¡± At this point Nerok had gotten the crowd excited for each picked member. Having seen the other chosen ones, most people had realized how well they fit together and didn''t think they would fit in just as well with the Party. The rest was due to Nerok''s System-given authority and Charisma. Begdar skipped up to the others giving them a big smile. Her gray wolf tail was wagging as she took her mate Nalir''s hand. Nalir had been standing quite stoically with the others before then, but now his - small - smile had returned to his face. They truly are a sweet couple those two, Nerok thought as he watched them. Looking back at the Tribe he announced thest member of the Party. ¡°To bnce the others out we have Taozcec, the vulpinekin of Charisma!¡± Loving the attention Taozcec took a couple of steps forward before he twirled around and took a bow, mixing his naturally higher Charisma with the Chief''s to make the crowd go wild. As beastkins became adults at age 8, the Party¡¯s ages ranging between 13 to 16 years meant they were in their prime. And with the Tribe knowing how well 5 out of the 6 fit together - with Taozcec being the one from outside the friend group - no one was able to disagree with the Chief¡¯s decision. ¡°This first Party will prepare themselves quickly before entering the Dungeon! The rest will make camp and talk calmly amongst themselves. I do not intend to make any other Parties!" Nerok knew he was partly repeating himself but thought it better to do so. No one actually wanted to do chores after all and this way, they at least couldn''t say that they forgot. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 6 chosen beastkin walked cautiously into the Portal with each one prepared for monsters to ambush them as they entered. They only rxed a tiny bit when nothing immediately happened, and they could see the first Dungeon Room. It was a standard 10¡Á10¡Á5 meters and had the forest theme, though this room only had one tree in it. The walls and ceiling were covered in climbing nts and the floor was covered in a shortyer of grass and wildflowers. Three of the corners had bushes, while in the far-left corner a big tree stood. Said tree was behind a fast-running stream wide enough that no tier 1 could jump over it without getting wet. "There! In the tree" Thenac pointed to the tree and shouted. In the tree branches there were 4 tiny green dragons looking at them curiously. The Party walked closer with raised weapons, keeping a close eye on the dragons. "Why aren''t they attacking us?" Begdar couldn''t understand. They were Dungeon monsters. It was in their nature to attack anyone they saw. The Party stopped moving as they came to the stream. "I know they''re Dungeon monsters, but I don''t feelfortable attacking first." Morghar admitted. "It just seems like something an elf would do to us. And I don''t want to act like an elf." The others nodded. "What do we do then?" Taozcec asked. The vulpine was acquainted with the others but wasn''t close enough to be considered their friend. As such he wanted to take some time getting to know them better, so he didn''t end up stepping on someone''s toes. "Well, we have three choices." Begdar stated. "One: we can walk back out and report this phenomenon to the Chief. As a consequence, we might not be allowed to enter the Dungeon again the next couple of days, as some will im we have already had our turn." No one liked the sound of that. "Two: We could kill the peaceful dragon monsters anyway. Or three: We ignore them and check out the next room. Potentially we coulde back and kill them on the way back." Quickly agreeing on the third option they walked to the next room. As they entered the short corridor between the rooms, they each got the same System message: Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 5 EXP. The whole Party was first stunned as double the loot appeared in front of them. The shock then gave way to outburst. Though with everyone talking loudly, over the absurdity of a Dungeon rewarding you for notkilling their monsters, it was impossible to actually hear what was said. A couple of minutester they had calmed down enough to look at what loot they had gotten. Two 1st tier Breakthrough Orbs, 4 pieces of magic wrapped meat, 6 blue-purple apple sized plum looking fruits and 14 small aluminum cubes was a big haul for the first room of a Dungeon. Even bigger when considering that they simply walked through the room. "5 EXP?" Thenac questioned. "We gain half EXP ''cause we''re capped at 9+ and double due to this ''Dungeon Rule''. Each level 1 monster killed gains 1 EXP and as Riska and Tuzzik just saw the Dungeon Portal appear it can only have level 1 monsters right now." The rhinokin looked really annoyed with herself at the end of her speech. "That means we didn''t notice the 5th dragon. It could have been behind us and we didn''t know! We¡¯ll never know¡­" While a monologueing from Thenac was certainly unusual, she was also well known for being overly cautious and a monster slipping past her notice would surely irk her. "Who takes the BO''s?" Taozcec asked. "Does it matter?" Zaktak asked back. The muskin was eager to get back to mining. "We''ll get more in a moment. Even faster if we can get loot this way in each room." Zaktak started packing the small aluminum cubes in Morghar''s backpack while being careful not to touch a BO. With the ursakin being the strongest of the group, an unspoken rule stated that he should be the one to carry the aluminum cubes, which had given Dungeon mining its name. No one had been miningmon metals in mines since Dungeons appeared. Instead mining happened in Dungeons. "Maybe not, but we should think it through anyway." Begdar thought on it for a bit before starting to twist her hands around each other. "Since the monsters don''t attack us, traps might be the biggest problem here¡­" The lupinekin let the rest be unsaid. After a moment the others nodded, agreeing with her conclusion. Taozcec even gave a dramatic bow and said, "After you, mydy!" making the othersugh. Begdar didn''t move though. "What is it, hon?" Nalir asked his mate. "Though most do, not all 2nd tier lupinkin get the Awareness ss. So¡­" She looked around at the others. "Please don''t be mad if I get something else." Her Party agreed. It was widely known that the System would give you the ss you were best suited to whether you knew it at the time or not. Relieved Begdar picked up a BO and crushed it with both hands. Energy flowed into her starting from her hands. You have tiered up! You have gotten the ss Intelligence! You have gotten the passive ss Skill ¡®Increased Memory¡¯. You are now level 14! Your level ups gained you: +1 Dexterity +1 Toughness +4 Intelligence +2 Awareness +2 Charisma "Intelligence." She announced surprised. "I''m level 14 now." She added. The saved but halved EXP she had earned over the years had been enough to earn her several levels at once. Unlike her previous fears, the announcement was met with congrattions from the entire Party and a public kiss from her mate. The felinekin wasn''t normally one for public disys of affections but his mate''s very bted first tier up was special enough for an exception. Afterwards Begdar''s tail was wagging like crazy, and her face was one big smile. Nalir couldn''t help but give a slight smirk back. "Well if you two lovebirds are done¡­" Morghar began. "I think we should give the other one to Thenac. She has the best chance of getting Awareness of the rest of us." He then shrugged. "And as Zaktak said we''ll likely get more in a moment." No one argued and so the shy rhinokin got the second BO. "You were right, Morghar. I did get Awareness." With the Awareness ss came the passive ss Skill ¡®Enhanced Senses¡¯ which would make it more likely for Thenac to notice any traps before they were triggered. Or more hidden dragons¡­ Chapter 5: Exploring a Peaceful Dungeon Chapter 5: Exploring a Peaceful Dungeon It took barely half an hour from making an opening to the Surface World till a Party of 6 stepped into my Dungeon. That''s much faster than I expected. Good thing I took the time to prepare. Especially Experiencing Peace would have been hard to have people discover if it wasn''t alreadybined with Karma Creatures. The Party was made up of what could only be beastkin. Though maybe they called themselves something different. The 6 looked mostly human but had features from animals. Mouse, cat, bear, wolf, rhinoceros, and fox. Rhino beastkin? That''s a thing? Didn''t know that¡­ The Party had their weapons raised, not seeing my drags at first. Then the rhinogirl pointed to The Great Tree - I was bored, and I named every room too, that''s how bored I was! - and¡­ said some gibberish. Of course I don''t understand them! I mentally scolded myself. I''m just a Dungeon Core! They have no need to understand people! By now the Party had clearly noticed that my creatures weren''t attacking them unprovoked and had started discussing what to do about it. But what options they were considering I didn''t know¡­ I have to make a universal trantion Rule when I have enough mana. Wish I already had a Rule like that in fact. Ahhh! Why didn''t I think of that?! System, how much mana would a universal trantion Rule cost me? A ¡®Universal Trantion¡¯ Rule has a mana cost of 100 mana per Floor the Dungeon has or wants to cover. With a mana discount of 5% on all creations the price falls to 95 mana per Floor. If all current Floors are covered by a Rule it bes a Dungeon-wide Rule unless stated otherwise. 95 mana. Got it! The 6 beastkin had very light Karma Auras and when I focused on a single Aura, I would get the actual karma level. The mouse had the lowest level, which was still the really high level of 73%. As such she almost qualified for slightly more good luck but not quite. The other 5 did though as they had karma levels of between 78% and 87%. Good people! That''s good! They''re unlikely to want me harmed! The Party had decided to go to The Rainbow Forest but the magical appearance of double the loot they would have gotten seemed to stop them in their tracks. Maybe they even got an EXP message like me. Experiencing Peace rewards you 10 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 2 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 1 EXP. Awesome! Status! Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 13/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 12.5/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules That means I''ll go level up when two Parties finish my Dungeon. Before even! EXP-wise that is. That can''t be normal! Uh, right¡­ A normal Dungeon would have gotten 5 EXP for that room while I got 13 due to the Rule and Achievements. ¡­ I think the System only allowed me to have Experiencing Peace give double EXP ''cause it follows my mission so closely¡­ It does kind of ¡­ break the system¡­ after all. I had to mentallyugh at the unintentional pun. On the other hand, the info windows have informed me multiple times that killing people gives a lot more EXP than anything else so it might not be all that groundbreaking after all¡­ Then a bright light came from the wolfgirl. What happened? Then I remembered she had crushed an Orb they got as loot which had then turned into mana and flowed into her. Uh, right! That was a Breakthrough Orb. She must have just be a 2nd tier then. While waiting for people to arrive I had given myself a crash course in my own loot, as I had realized I hadn''t actually looked at it. I only changed the loot chance of the mimicking drag as I wanted there to be an almost certainty that its unique loot drop would drop. It wasn''t that special anyway. Just fun. And as I only had one mimicking drag the change wouldn''t have a big consequence anyway. The wolfgirl got a kiss from the catboy which clearly made her happy as she smiled and wagged her tail. Cute. Hmm... Tier 2 people are supposed to get a ss based on the 6 Ability Scores. I wonder what she got¡­ I likely would know if I could understand them! Frustrated, I simply watched the rhinogirl glow as the other loot got gathered after which the Party continued to explore my Dungeon. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó After some more congrattions the Party entered the Dungeon''s 2nd room. This one also had a fast-running stream but instead of just cutting one corner off, this one went from the closest right corner to the one diagonally across from it cutting off half the room. The right corner part of the stream was more pondlike and surrounded by reeds. Where the previous room had one big tree, this one was a more standard forest room with plenty of trees. But the big difference from normal forest roomsy not in the number of trees this time. "Rainbow trees?" Zaktak eximed. The bark of the trees was a green-reddish rainbow color but otherwise looked like normal trees. Taozcec replied "Apparently so" but he was just as confused as the muskin. "It''s really pretty though." The vulpinekin added to which the others agreed. "Where are they, Thenac?" Nalir asked. The felinekin hadn''t been able to spot the dragons in the trees this time due to the thicker tree cover. Luckily Thenac had an eye on them. "In the trees again. Surrounding us but only watching." Morghar gave a bright smile and pped Thenac''s back. "The tier up is already helping I see!" Thenac simply shrugged and nodded not knowing what to say to that. "Let''s keep going then. Before they change their mind about not attacking us." The Party did as Nalir suggested and left the room. The double message popped up again with Begdar and Thenac still getting only 5 EXP like the others but this time not due to being capped but due to them being a tier too high. This time the loot again consisted of 4 pieces of meat and 6 fruits. There were 20 small aluminum cubes this time though but no BO''s. Knowing the randomness of loot drops they simply gathered the loot and kept going. In the third room, the stream cut them off from the left side but there was nothing but grass on that side of it. Looking straight ahead the Party could see into the next room where a pond appeared to be. Forward and to the right there was a cluster of three - normal looking - trees with what appeared to be 5 burrows in between. Taozcec, the most curious of the bunch, only got to take a couple of steps forward in the direction of the three trees before hearing Thenac shout: "Trap!" The vulpinekin quickly backtracked as he didn''t yet know what kind of trap she had seen. "It''s a pressure trap. If we ignore the burrows and walk straight to the next room nothing will happen. But heading for the trees will. If you really want to investigate you should walk straight ahead until you''re right next to the trees before turning right. But be careful. The dragons are in those trees watching." Now knowing that the trap gets triggered when you step on its pressure tform and roughly where it is, let Taozcec walk around the trap to investigate the burrows. The rest of the Party followed him. As the vulpinekin in front got about 2 meters away from the burrows the dragons overhead started to hiss at him. Otherwise freezing his movements he slowly looked up at them. Their wings were slightly spread as if preparing to take flight and they were showing teeth. They weren''t moving though, which showed the Party that it was just a warning. While watching the dragons Taozcec walked a couple of steps backwards. The dragons in turn stopped their hissing and folded their wings back against their bodies. Beastkins and dragons stared at each other for a long minute before Begdar chose to speak. "I''m pretty confident in saying the burrows are dragon burrows and that they won''t attack us if we leave their homes alone." No one spoke for another moment before Begdar added: "Let''s just move to the next room." The Party walked slowly at first, making sure they didn''t spook the dragons, but slowly got up to normal speed. Zaktak gave the dragons a hard look before leaving with her party. This loot drop gave them another two 1st tier Breakthrough Orbs, two meat chunks, 8 blue-purple fruits and 20 small aluminum cubes. Cutting in before the others, Nalir ordered: "Morghar, Taozcec, take the BO''s so we can keep going." The rest of the Party looked at each other before shrugging. Morghar and Taozcec got the Strength and Charisma sses that were expected of their race. With those came Extra Muscle and Persuading Voice. As they had noticed earlier, the 4th room was mostly one big pond with water lilies in it. There were three trees in each corner with dragons in some of them. Additionally there was a dirt route going all the way around the perfectly circr pond and connecting both openings in the room. "Well this is mighty cozy! It is truly a Dungeon like no other!" Taozcec said with a smile, the tier up helping him getting over the scare from earlier. Before anything else could be said, a dragon flew down tond just in front of the Party by the pond edge. With just over a meter between them it was closer than any of the other dragons had gotten to the Party. Suddenly Zaktak had an outburst. "You''ve gotta be kidding me! That dragon has a ne with a key in it!" "I think we''re supposed to get the key without harming the dragon¡­" Begdar suggested. "Hmm¡­ Let me try something. Step back a bit." Taozcec sat down on his knees while his Party backed a couple of steps away. "Come here little dragon, I won''t hurt you." The vulpinekin showed the dragon that his hands were empty. The dragon''s attention was fully on Taozcec, but it didn''t yet move. "Can I pet you? You''re so cute!" The beastkins behind him tried to stifle augh. The dragon though decided it liked the words - or more likely the tone - and bodynguage of the vulpinekin and so calmly walked up to him. When there Taozcec did as he said he would and petted the tiny green dragon. This close he could clearly see just how small it was for a dragon. It was barely the size of a cat! The petting had made the dragon purr. The purr was both deeper and faster than a cat purr though. Still petting the dragon with one hand Taozcec pulled the thread ne off of the dragon without meeting any resistance from it. "I got the key. Sorry little one, we must get going." With ast pet the vulpinekin pushed himself to his feet. The dragon stopped its purring, jumped into the air, and flew to a tree where itnded. "So¡­ anyone see the keyhole?" Taozcec asked. No one had, so they started looking around. After 15 minutes searching while dodging dragon burrows, they decided to give up and just keep going. Exiting the pond room 8 meat, two fruits and 18 small aluminum cubes appeared as loot. No BO''s but finally a rare loot drop had appeared. Or rather two did as it had been doubled like everything else. Two 1¡Á1-meter green scaled leather appeared as loot. "That kinda looks like dragon leather, so it might be fire resistant." Begdar suggested. Unfortunately, the simplest identify Skill appeared in 3rd tier so they couldn''t know this for sure any time soon. Chapter 6: Abnormal Dungeon Chapter 6: Abnormal Dungeon I like them. They respect the drags and leave their burrows alone as asked to. Asked, hissed at. Same thing really. They got it after all. The catboy seemed to be the leader but only took charge when needed. The wolfgirl was clearly his mate. The foxboy had sessfully charmed my first key-wearing drag and gotten the first key. Peaceful solutions! Just how I like it! The foxboy had even risen 1% in karma levels simply petting my drag. The mousegirl had done so when they decided to leave the burrows alone in the room before. It was likely only her karma levels getting raised due to her having the lowest karma level of the entire Party. See! I''m making people better people! I love my job! Mousegirl only needs one more percent before she gets extra luck in here like her friends do! They seem a bit confused by the slightly fire-resistant dragon leather. Maybe they don''t know what''s special about it¡­ Uh, well! Status! Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 52/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 32.75/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Uh! I''ll likely get faster regeneration when I level up! Yes! I can''t wait! Or well¡­ I guess I have to¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 5th room had plenty of trees and a stream going from the middle of the left wall to the near right corner. Unlike the other streams this one had steppingstones in it. The stones are right in front of us too. Begdar thought. There''re too many details like this for it to be a coincidence. Taking a deep breath she nervously spoke her thoughts out loud. "I know it might sound crazy but this Dungeon is pretty weird anyway so you might just agree with me." She took another calming breath as her Party turned towards her. "This Dungeon has done plenty of unusual things: peaceful monsters, double loot and EXP for not killing said monsters, the trap was perfectly ced to punish people for going near the burrows, something the dragons first give a warning about, they could have¡­ should have just attacked us for it!" Another calming breath was needed to stop her rambling. Then she turned to look at Taozcec. "It let you pet it! It purred as you pet it!" Another breath. "The key around its neck. You could probably take it by force but it¡­ it seems to me like you were meant to do it peacefully. Like everything else in this Dungeon." The lupinekin turned to look at the steppingstones in the stream. "These stones are clearly here for us to step on so we can get over without getting wet. But just like the trap before the burrows, these steppingstones are meant to teach us something." Nalir took her hand and gave it a squeeze in support. "What do you think the lesson is?" Thinking for a bit Begdar suggested: "None of the other streams had steppingstones but we also didn''t need to get to the other side to get to the next room. Here we do. I think the Dungeon is telling us to only cross streams with steppingstones." She nervously looked at her Party. "I sound crazy, don''t I?" "Na¡­ I believe you." Taozcec stated. "This Dungeon is weird about no one attacking anyone. It being more intelligent than most and trying to teach us its boundaries seems just up its alley if I''m being honest." Zaktak and Thenac, being the pessimistic and cautious ones, had some things to add to it. "If it''s really smarter than other Dungeons¡­" Zaktak began "... it might simply be trying to lure us into a false sense of security." Thenac nodded and cautioned them to be more cautious, just in case. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The steppingstones had gotten them safely across, but it took longer than expected to find the way to the next room. While looking Thenac pointed out that there were 6 dragons in the room rather than the usual 5. In the end it turned out that instead of the way being located in the middle of a wall this one was next to a corner. In addition this one wasn''t a simple 1-meter-long opening like the others had been. Instead it appeared at an angle, curved and was much longer than the others. It was also partly hidden behind a tree¡­ Entering the curved corridor two 1st tier BO''s, 6 meat, 6 fruits and 26 small aluminum cubes appeared and this time everyone got 6 EXP. As the remaining 1st tiers, Zaktak and Nalir got a BO each and became 2nd tiers. Zaktak got the Toughness ss which while unusual for muskin was kind of expected for her. Nalir on the other hand got the usual felinekin ss of Dexterity. With these sses came the passive ss skills of Enhanced Stamina and Fast Reflexes. Additionally Nalir was rewarded with a big kiss from his mate leaving the whole Party smiling. With no one being 9+ anymore their chances of getting BO''s had now halved yet the Party couldn''t be happier. They had finally tiered up! With the corridor only being 1-meter wide, Thenac was put in the front to keep a watch out for traps. After her was Taozcec in case a dragon needed to be charmed. 10 meters in, the rhinokin noticed a slightly raised pressure tform and 3 vertically ced holes on each side of the wall. "Another pressure trap. Judging by the holes in the wall, this one will shoot something from said holes. Likely something sharp." Thenac turned her head to look at her Party. "I''m going to trigger it, but as it could be a gas we should be prepared to run." It wasn''t necessary to trigger the trap before passing but in a tight corridor it seemed better to Thenac to not take the risk. They nodded. Thenac carefully stepped a toe unto the tform and pushed down, activating the trap. 6 darts burst out from the holes, hitting the opposite wall, and falling down. "Just darts. Let''s keep going." They did but soon Thenac noticed another pressure trap. "There are no holes with this one, so I don''t feelfortable stepping on it. Could whoever, is the one in the back, go get a stick from the other room? A thick one?" Zaktak grumbled a bit but turned around and walked back. Thenac had started carrying thick sticks around while in Dungeons ever since the trap incident that took half her horn, but as she had known this was either a jungle or a forest Dungeon, she had decided it would be a waste to carry one around as she could just get one from the surroundings. Zaktak came back with a thick stick she had broken off of a tree and sent it forwards till it got to Thenac. Thenac used the stick to safely trigger the trap. Metal spikes burst through the ground. "Metal spikes. Just walk over them." Another 10 meters passed, and another pressure trap was found. No holes in the wall so the rhinokin used the stick again. Rocks loudly crashed from the ceiling and snapped the stick. She gulped. Why didn''t I think to look up? Thenac decided she had to try to remember to look up when looking for traps. The rocks weren''t big enough to kill any of them as they were all 2nd tiers now but even someone at level 3 could have gotten killed by that. The 1st Floor is supposed to be for level 1 and 2, so while not a lot stronger than expected this trap is still somewhat stronger. The rest of the corridor didn''t have any traps. The 6th room had the trees ced in rows with a brook following the furthest wall. The opening to the next room could just be seen from this angle. It was in the middle of the wall to the left. "What lesson did the Dungeon try to teach us with the trap corridor?" Zaktak asked sarcastically. "To be careful." Thenac replied. The others stared at her confused. "Did we get hurt? No. Why not? Because we were careful. The traps in this Dungeon are slightly less hidden than in the two other Dungeons I''ve been in. As long as you''re being careful in that corridor, anyone could have noticed the traps and safely avoided them." She shrugged. "They were all pressure traps. We could just have stepped over them." Mumbles of agreements could be heard. Morghar took a closer look at the trees hoping to spot a dragon in them. "Is that an apple tree! My cubs love apples!" The ursakin started picking apples for his children. While taking a living monster, pieces of traps or puzzles with you outside would fail, pieces of the environment - like the apples - could be harvested and brought out. And as the Floor resets after a Party leaves it, they could take as much as they could carry without worry. The room turned out to be an orchard with two rows of pear trees, two rows of mango trees, two of apple trees and two of orange trees. By the middle of the right wall there was a thornbush which would make the dragons hiss at anyone nearing it. The Party concluded their burrows were beneath the bush. They exited the room carrying a lot of fruit while still leaving some space for loot. With the orchard room having 6 dragons in it, said loot consisted of 4 meat, 8 fruits and 32 small aluminum cubes. Another doubled rare loot drop appeared in the form of two small round shields covered in the green scaled leather. Zaktak and Morghar got to carry the shields as none of them had any and those two were the most likely to use them. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The wolfgirl had made a nervous monologue in The Hidden Tunnel Room. Not that I knew what it was about, but they seemed more¡­ paranoid¡­? afterward. It took them a whole 10 minutes of concentrated searching before they found the opening to The Trap Corridor. Experiencing Peace rewards you 12 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 3 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 2 EXP. The Hidden Tunnel Room showed me that the System rounded up when ites to EXP. I can use that. In pretty simple ways too. Like here where there are 6 drags in a room. I''ll just have to keep a lookout for it. Status! Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 69/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 38/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I believe this is where you say ''nice!'' Thest two members of the Party got their tier up confirming my suspicion that they had all started out as level 9+. This would also mean that they were way overleveledpared to my level 1 creatures. My drags wouldn''t have been able to hurt these people if they had tried! Well they''re good people anyway. They won''t hurt me¡­ Right? I had to admit I was getting a bit nervous thinking they might get into my Core Room. The Trap Corridor went well for them. The rhinogirl was clearly their trapfinder. She looked a bit spooked after triggering the Rockfall Ceiling trap. Maybe it surprised her that it wasn''t another Spikes trap? They all loved The Orchard though. The bearboy in particr seemed excited. Status. I ordered again. I liked seeing my EXP going up. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 86/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 48/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With new shields in hand the Party entered the 7th room of the Dungeon. A big rock stood in the middle of the room covered in vines carrying fat yellow berries. The next room was located to the right with a dirt route leading there. Between the closest right corner and the route there was a small pond slightly hidden by reeds. Another dirt route sprang from the first going around the vine covered rock. On the other side of this second route stood a bunch of different bushes. "Hey there little one. Would you like to be petted as well?" Taozcec had noticed a key-carrying dragon on top of the vine rock. As the rock was about 2.5 meters high Taozcec decided to let the dragone to him. The dragon looked at him but didn''t move towards him. Instead it picked up a berry from the vines and started to eat it. Zaktak grumbled while looking at the dragon. "That exins why we couldn''t find a keyhole earlier. What a waste of time!" Taozcec kept talking to the key-carrying dragon while the rest of his Party started to walk around, no longer so afraid of spooking the dragons. "They''re berry bushes!" Morghar discovered. He immediately started eating the nearest raspberries. The other 4 went to follow his example. "Different types of berry bushes. Like the trees in the room before this." Thenac soon added. While eating a handful of ckcurrants the rhinokin decided to try and identify the different berries despite not having a System Skill for it. "Starting from the end closest to where we came from, we appear to have ckberries, raspberries, ckcurrants, redcurrants and two types I''m not familiar with. Do any of you know them?" After taking a look, the other 4 concluded that they didn''t know them either. "We probably shouldn''t eat them then. Hmm¡­ Let''s gather a branch with berries from each and see if someone else knows what they are. And a vine with berries too." "I got it!" Came it from the vulpinekin. Taozcec had the dragon in his arms and a key in one hand. Holding the dragon up he then tried to convince it to fly up on the rock again. As he had stopped his petting the dragon had no longer a reason to stay in his arms, so it did as it was told. "How many keys do you think we need?" Taozcec asked. Begdar thought for a bit while the others shrugged. "Judging by the frequency of them appearing and the number of rooms left, I''ll guess probably 3 though it could be 4 or 5. We might have missed one though. Remember the first room? We didn''t see the 5th dragon in there. Maybe it had a key too." The others nodded, looking a bit annoyed. "Most likely we need to collect all the keys in order to enter either thest room or the Core Room. But let''s keep going." 8 meat, 4 fruits, 22 small aluminum cubes, two 1¡Á1 leather pieces and two pairs of boots made of said leather appeared when the Party left the room. While equipment like the boots didn''t bind itself to the first one touching it, it did resize to fit them perfectly. As former ves none of them had fitting shoes. Morghar and Zaktak had gotten the shields so they said no to also getting the boots. After some discussion Nalir and Thenac ended up with new footwear. Nalir did because his ss, Dexterity,bat wise focused on speed and fast reflexes. New boots would make him run and turn faster. And as the trapfinder Thenac might decide to activate a trap using her foot again. New footwear would naturally protect one''s feet better than old ones. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó You''re supposed to bribe the drag with sunlightberries! It''s supposed to keep eating them while on the rock till you call while holding some in your hand! That¡¯s supposed to be an extra challenge for getting one of the keys! That one of them needs to be bribed with food! How was he able to¡­? Right¡­ They''re all tier 2 now. And since the foxboy''s the one dealing with the drags he''s most likely the one with the highest Charisma. Probably even has the ss Charisma. ¡­ No wonder he could charm my poor level 1 drag. Experiencing Peace rewards you 12 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 3 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 2 EXP. That took them barely any time. Status. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 103/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 49.5/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Chapter 7: Meeting the Coolest Dragon and Getting Rewards Chapter 7: Meeting the Coolest Dragon and Getting Rewards Straight to the right of where the Party had entered the 8th room there was a small pond. Otherwise the room was simply filled with trees and bushes. While there wasn''t a dirt route in this room the Party could clearly see the opposite wall from where they walked in due to theck of trees in that direction. "I think I can only see it due to Enhanced Senses but there''s a door shaped depression on the wall in front of us. Behind the climbing nts that is." Thenac pointed but none of the others could see it. "There''s likely a puzzle we have to solve then." Begdar concluded. The Party walked forward a couple meters before Thenac spoke again. "I hear a whimper¡­?" She looked confused. "They''re Dungeon monsters so why would one be hurt before we even enter the room?!" Begdar was quick on the uptake. "It''s not a monster! It''s the puzzle! This Dungeon thrives on kindness, so we likely have to help the poor dragon to solve the puzzle!" The thought of these friendly - and quite frankly cute - dragons being hurt send both the ursakin and vulpinekin running, looking for the hurting dragon, puzzle, or no. Taozcec might have a closer connection to dragons having petted two but Morghar was a dad. A bear dad. As such he was way more practiced in locating whimpers. Underneath one of the bushes Morghar found the whimpering dragon with its tail caught in a tiny bear trap. Enraged, the bearkin used his Strength to break the trappletely and free the dragon. The dragon rubbed its body against him with a purr - much like a cat would - before spreading its wings and jumping into the air. Two wing beatster it started to disappear by slowly turning into light dust confirming that it was in fact just a puzzle. At the same time the hidden door opened up making a loud noise as rock scraped against rock. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 3 EXP. Morghar received several ps on his back, arms and shoulders before the Party turned to leave the room. With no actual monsters in the room they didn''t receive any loot when leaving it. The 9th room looked kind of like a swamp. It had a thick cover of trees found in swamps such as ashes, maples, oaks and baldcypress. The ground under the trees was muddy and wet. However, the illusion of a swamp was broken by thepletely dry dirt route curving through the trees. Unlike the previous routes of this Dungeon, this one had several rocks in different sizes embedded in it. The addition of rocks quickly caught Thenac''s attention. "That rock''s a trap." She pointed to a rock the size of a small head standing on the edge of the right side of the route. The rock had holes in it making it look a bit like ava rock. "No pressure tform or tripwire, so it must be a proximity trap. Don''t know its range though. The holes suggest darts or gas." The Party quickly decided to simply walk on the other side of the route while passing the trap. It worked. The 6 dragons followed the Party walking on the curved route by flying from tree to tree after them. Exiting the room Experiencing Peace rewarded the Party with 6 meat, 6 fruits, 20 small aluminum cubes, 4 1¡Á1-meter leather pieces and two helmets covered in green leather. The Party quickly agreed that they had gotten quite lucky this time having apparently gotten 3 rare loot drops which had then gotten doubled. "The leather pieces appear to be themon rare loot drop for these small green dragons, though it might still be too early to tell." Begdarmented. Rare loot drops consisted of 3-8 different items that dropped more rarely than the other drops. One of these 3-8 items were 3 times as likely to drop than the other rare drops and as such was named themon rare loot drop. Each monster had its own set ofmon drops, rare drops and possible amounts of metal cubes which determined what loot could and would drop when a creature died. As Begdar and Taozcec hadn''t gotten any rare loot yet, they got to keep the helmets. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó A puzzle was attempted! You have gained 5 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 1 EXP. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 109/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 51/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules It didn''t surprise me that the Party solved the puzzle so quickly. And it was quite pleasing to see the karma level of the bearboy rise like the foxboy''s had earlier. Likewise I had expected the rhinogirl to notice the Sleeping Gas trap and she did. Status! I ordered yet again as they left The Swamp Route. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 126/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 52/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Looking good! And now they are gonna meet the mimicking drag! Or rather¡­ I think it''s gonna stay changed the whole time so they might not notice it¡­ But their trapfinder is also really good at her job. She even noticed the hidden door in The Room of Kindness! Well I''ll see what happens I guess¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Thest room had trees, bushes, and a stream like many of the others. Unlike the other rooms the stream of this one started from a waterfall. The waterfall was roughly located on the top of the middle right wall. The water then went into a small plunge pool before curving to interrupt the dirt and pebble route leading to a triple locked door. Where the route was interrupted by the stream there were several steppingstones. "There''s the third key." Thenac pointed to a key-carrying dragon in a tree a bit into the forest to the right of them. Taozcec walked towards it. "I got it. Hey little one! Do you want pets?" Soon the dragon had been persuaded down and its key had been removed. However only one step had been taken towards the steppingstones before Thenac forced them to a stop. "Stop! That''s a fake rock." She pointed to a rock just slightly bigger than a closed fist sitting to the right side of the route just before the stream. Silence followed where only the waterfall could be heard as her Party waited for their trapfinder to tell them what kind of trap she found. "Logically it would be a proximity trap but something - probably Enhanced Senses - tells me it''s not. I don''t know what else it could be though." Grabbing a stick the rhinokin went to poke the rock. It responded by folding itself out while changing color to green and looking at the stick. The rock now looked exactly like the other small green dragons. "That is so cool!" Zaktak shouted, making the shapeshifting dragon look at her with widened eyes. Passing the others in a hurry the muskin kneeled in front of the dragon and grabbed it in a hug. Surprisingly the dragon didn''t try to wiggle itself out but instead began nuzzling her cheek and purring. "I wanna keep you!" Noticing that her Party was looking stunned at her due to her uncharacteristic action she added: "Who wouldn''t want to keep a shapeshifting dragon as a pet?!" The muskin huffed before hiding her blushing face behind the nuzzling dragon. Nalir was the first to shake off the shock and waved at the others to follow him. Zaktak decided to carry the cool dragon with her but it disappeared from her arms as she entered the Core Room. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 5 EXP. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 6 EXP. You havepleted this Dungeon while it has 1 Floor for the first time. You have gained 50 EXP. Before getting their personalized reward from the Core the Party received their loot: two 1st tier BO''s, 12 meat, 4 fruits, 34 small aluminum cubes, and two 1¡Á1 meter constantly color-changing dragon leather. "The shapeshifter dragon was obviously worth more loot than the others but what''s up with this dragon skin?!" Zaktak asked, holding up a color-changing piece of leather. As always Begdar had a theory ready. "It''s likely a rare drop from the shapeshifter. Can I try something?" Zaktak gave her the leather. Green. Begdar thought and the leather turned green, staying that color. Red, she tried next, and it did as asked. The lupinekin then exined how to do the same to her awed audience. After everyone had tried changing the color of the two color-changing leathers - with Zaktak proiming her dragon ''so cool'' a couple of times - they packed their backpacks - now full to the bursting - and walked to the Core to get their rewards. Just as Nalir was about to put his hand on the Core in the center of the otherwise empty room, Begdar had something to say: "When we touch a reward in here - whether it''s our own or someone else''s - we''ll be sent back to the Tribe. When this happens the Tribe will swarm us wanting to hear about the Dungeon. They won''t give us time to look at our item, so it might be a good idea to not touch before we figure out exactly what each item is. And well¡­" She nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "It might also be a good idea to n how we''re gonna tell the Tribe that this is a nice Dungeon¡­" "Yeah sure. Gifts first!" Zaktak demanded. With them basically having simply walked through the Dungeon, it was no wonder she saw the reward as a gift. Shaking his head with a small smile the felinekin touched the Core. The Dungeon Core offers your Party personalized rewards greater than elsewhere in its Dungeon in return for mercy. If you ept you and your Party will receive said reward before being teleported back to the Surface World. Do you ept this offer? Yes/No Yes. With that thought rewards started appearing in front of their recipient. "Yes!" Zaktak had to hold herself back from touching her reward. Elven ves of level 9+ like Zaktak and her Party - and most of the Tribe for that matter - were only allowed on Floors 1 to 5 as that¡¯s where 1st tier BO¡¯s are dropped. And as the elven Dungeons were at least several decades old their Core Rooms were always located on higher levels. As such Zaktak - and her Party - had never gotten a reward frompleting a Dungeon before. This made her extra excited. The leather body armor in front of the muskin was clearly made of the same type of color-changing leather they had just gotten some of. The armor was well made and would fit her body perfectly. Likewise was Nalir''s item made of color-changing leather. Though his took the form of a hooded cape. His mate Begdar had gotten a dragon shaped amulet covered in runes. Morghar smiled softly at the two small green dragon plushies in front of him. He knew who they were meant for. On the ground before Taozcecid a banjo with a green dragon leather cradle strap. What exactly Thenac had gotten wasn''t really clear to her. It really just looked like a small cone made of the color-changing leather. "What is this supposed to be?" For a moment no one said a thing. Then everyone turned to look at Begdar. She just shrugged and said: "It''s most likely magical in some small way. The type of material suggests it''s connected to the shapeshifting abilities of that one dragon we saw. But what exactly it does I cannot say." "Do you think mine might be magic too?" Asked Morghar. Begdar considered it. "This reward is supposed to be better than anything else in the Dungeon. I can''t really see a couple of dragon plushies being that. However, it''s also personalized and knowing how much you love your cubs, I can totally see these plushies having some protection magic in them. I mean, you are clearly meant to give them to your girls!" Begdar ended her thought with arge smile to Morghar. "Oh! But you probably have to touch them both at the same time to get them out with you!" The ursakin promised he would. "And my banjo?" Taozcec asked. "I would imagine that your banjo and my amulet could do one of two things: increasing one of our Ability Scores by some small amount while we''re using them or creating an area of some sort of effect around us. Though again, only while we''re using them." Knowing what wasing the lupinekin simply kept going. "As for Nalir and Zaktak: I mentioned earlier that dragon leather is most likely somewhat fire resistant and we have just covered the color-changing aspect. Both your items - had a tailor made them - would have used up at least two of the 1¡Á1-meter leather pieces we have gotten as loot. As such it qualifies as ''greater than in the rest of the Dungeon'' on its own and won''t be magical." Nalir looked around at his Party. "I suppose we should now discuss how to tell the Tribe about the Dungeon." And so they did. Chapter 8: The First Level Up and Passive Achievements Chapter 8: The First Level Up and Passive Achievements The mousegirl really likes my mimicking drag it seems. I giggled a bit. While I didn''t expect her to give that reaction, I can understand it. I love that drag too! Mousegirl even pouted a bit when the drag disappeared from her arms! A puzzle was attempted! You have gained 10 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 2 EXP. Experiencing Peace rewards you 12 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 3 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 2 EXP. This time I didn''t feel the need to check my Status right away. Now is the moment of truth. They are about to enter my Core Room! I waited nervously for several minutes before the catboy finally touched my Fake Core. The ''Rewarding Fake Core'' Rule activated, and rewards appeared: a +1 Charisma banjo for the foxboy, a color-changing dragon leather cape for the catboy, a color-changing dragon leather body armor for the mousegirl, a +1 Intelligence dragon amulet for the wolfgirl. What the rhinogirl and bearboy had gotten was more interesting to me though. Rhinogirl''s item looked like a small cone made of the color-changing leather but my Dungeon instincts told me its purpose: To make it look like her horn was whole again. She was meant to ce the cone on her broken horn, and it would glue itself to it while changing color and shape. It would end up looking like her horn was back but a simple knock to the face would make it fall off. Bearboy''s items¡­ No. Beardad. He''s now beardad. Beardad had gotten two drag plushies which informed me that he was a loving dad. These plushies would be actual drags for 1 minute should their owner ever get in danger. Drags might not be super strong or anything but a surprise me to the face will distract most things long enough for the child to get help or run for it. The Party - especially mousegirl and beardad - looked happy with their items but hadn''t yet touched them. Instead they had started talking. As no one was looking at my Fake Core or trying to find the real one I concluded that they really were no threat to me. They are likely talking about their new items and what they''re gonna do with them¡­ Yet I don''t know that. Status, please. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 155/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 57.5/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules While I''m slowly getting closer to those 95 mana, I still need to wait another¡­ 2.5 hours! There is no way they''re going to be talking about their new items for that long! ¡­ Guess I''m not gonna be able to know what people are saying next time either¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It took the Party 17 minutes to touch their items and disappear from my Dungeon. Your 1st Floor has been emptied of sapients. Do you wish to close your Dungeon for up to a day before opening again? Yes/No ¡­ Yes! That''s perfect! How long will your Dungeon be closed for? Pick a time between 1 minute to 24 hours. Hmm¡­ I want at least 2 hours 13 minutes, but would it be a good idea to wait longer? It would be nice to be able to level up as soon as I have the EXP for it. Which would take another 6 hours and 40 minutes. Bing a Dungeon Core had made me really good at basic math. While it took this Party 3 hours 36 minutes to leave my Dungeon, the next one will probably be much quicker as it will have the knowledge of this Party. Some things get a randomized cement each run but it''s not gonna slow them down much¡­ Okay I''ll expect the next Party to only take an hour but for my EXP to be maxed after 15 minutes. That means I have to add another 5 hours 55 minutes to my previous 2:13. My Dungeon will be closed for 8 hours and 8 minutes! Timer set to 8 hours and 8 minutes. Do you wish for this time to be the standard time closed? You can manually change it againter. Yes/No Cool, but no thank you. Probablyter though. ¡­ Wait, can I make it, so I close at sundown and open at sunrise each day? Do you wish to change the current timer of 8 hours and 8 minutes to 6 hours 32 minutes? Yes/No I''ll take that as a ''yes it''s possible''. But no, that''s too short a break. Let''s keep it as is and do a day/night cycle from tomorrow. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok noticed the first Party spawning beside the Portal and gave them a once over. They didn''t look hurt at all or even the least bit exhausted. Odd. Their backpacks had been of the big kind and looked overly full. That''s odd too. The 30-35 monsters a Dungeon starts with wouldn''t have dropped that much loot. The Party wore new green boots, helmets and shields too. Unlike Nalir''s ck cape and Zaktak''s body armor these weren''t unique and thus had to be normal loot drops. Something is clearly up with this Dungeon. But I think it might be a good difference. Before talking to the first Party Nerok needed to know how long they had to talk before sending the next Party in. The old ursakin put his hand to the now fully stone Portal. The Dungeon Portal will open again in 8 hours and 8 minutes. 6 can enter the Dungeon at a time. Tomorrow morning then. The first Party started opening their backpacks and showing the Tribe what they had gotten. It might be a very good difference indeed¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Universal Trantion: Everyone will understand all spokennguage. There was only a minute left on the timer so I was waiting excitedly. What type of Party will I get this time? One with higher or lower karma levels? Maybe the same one again? Will they also all be level 9+? Will they try to attack my drags? Are they all gonna be different types of beast- The timer had run out and a new Party had entered my Dungeon. Unlike the previous Party this one noticed that the three bushes in The Great Tree Room were berry bushes. Gooseberry, cranberry, and cloudberry bushes to be exact. I hadn''t wanted to use the same berry bushes as in The Berry Forest after all. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Turns out: It''s mostly not all that interesting to listen to people you can''t talk back to. Maybe it was in part because this Party said less and already knew 90% of my tricks¡­ Again they were level 9+ beastkin of the mouse, cat, bear, wolf, rhinoceros, and fox types. They didn''t try to attack my drags and they had started out with karma levels between 70% and 84%. So nice people but not quite as nice as the first set. Experiencing Peace rewards you 10 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 2 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 1 EXP. Personal Status Level: 1 EXP needed for level up: 207/200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/100 Mana: 99.75/100 Mana regeneration: 15 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I had enough EXP now as they had justpleted The Great Pond Room, but I still had to wait another minute before I had enough mana. Luckily it seemed like any extra EXP would simply be saved tillter. While the Party collected their loot, I got to finally level up. You have leveled up! You are now level 2! B¨¬xi¨¦ pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 2. Nice! A new creature! Status first! Personal Status Level: 2 EXP needed for level up: 7/300 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/150 Mana: 0/150 Mana regeneration: 22.5 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I can make a drag per hour now?! Awesome! Now tell me about b¨¬xi¨¦s. B¨¬xi¨¦s are the females of the species pixiu. While both genders have the body of a lion, the head of a dragon and feathered wings, the male only has one deerlike horn while the female has two. Pixius have traded half of their Charisma for an innate passive Skill. B¨¬xi¨¦s have a natural aura thatpels those with a karma level of 25% or lower away from them. Should those beings go near them anyway, the b¨¬xi¨¦s will attack them. As they are karma creatures they will otherwise mirror how sapients treat them. Their diet mainly consists of small to medium sized creatures. I get the feeling b¨¬xi¨¦s were karma creatures before I made the Dungeon Rule on it¡­ Does that mean I got b¨¬xi¨¦s because I made the Rule? Or would I have gotten them now anyway? The sses of sapients as well as Dungeon Cores'' level up creature patterns are given based on one''s actions and personality. The sses of Dungeon creatures with the ability to tier up get chosen by their Dungeon Core. Huh¡­ Okay then. Wonder what I''ll get next time. The Hidden Tunnel wasn''t hidden when you knew where it was, and they went through The Trap Corridor just as quickly. While the foxgirl picked a couple of mangoes the Party had apparently been told by ''Chief Nerok'' to focus on berries. They even had several jars to put the berries in so they wouldn''t get squashed. While it''s annoying to see my Dungeon get finished so quickly, I also didn''t build it to stop people from entering my Core Room. I made it to kill bad guys, yes. But more importantly to support the good guys. That''s why I made The Orchard and The Berry Forest after all! I give bad people bad luck and good people good luck. Uh! And I love seeing my Dungeon help people be better people! Already half the Party had had their karma levels raised by 1%. And of course! Faster out means faster in means faster EXP. Can''t forget that part! That does mean I''m definitely gonna do a day/night cycle so my mana can keep up though. The Party pointed out the mimicking drag in its rock form but simply walked past it. They left without looking closely at their items. Chief Nerok likely wanted more people in as soon as possible. Your 1st Floor has been emptied of sapients. Do you wish to close your Dungeon for up to a day before opening again? Yes/No Yes, please. How long will your Dungeon be closed for? Pick a time between 1 minute to 24 hours. 2 hours, please. Make it the standard unless the sun has gone down. Then I''ll be closed until dawn. Standard timer set to 2 hours if the sun is up and until dawn if the sun is down. Current timer set to 2 hours. Good. Show me my status, then. Personal Status Level: 2 EXP needed for level up: 110/300 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/150 Mana: 16.25/150 Mana regeneration: 22.5 per hour Floors: 1/1 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I forgot to ask earlier but how much do b¨¬xi¨¦s cost? Creatures Creatures give you a little EXP when killed and can kill sapients which earns you much more EXP. Karmic drag: 13.5 mana + 4.75 mana B¨¬xi¨¦: 18 mana + 9 mana Karmic mimicking drag: 27 mana + 13.5 mana Wait a minute! When did my creatures get this cheap? Karma creatures are cheaper than other creatures due to their mostly docile nature and because said nature helps Dungeon Cores achieve their mission without unnecessary bloodshed. The Achievement ''Creature Designer (I)'' gives you a 5% discount on the base cost of creatures. The Achievement ''Dungeon God'' gives you a 5% mana discount on all creations. Clearly, I should have made the karma Rule earlier then. It''s clearly the one with the biggest effect on this. This might be stupid, but I want my mimics to be the highest possible level on the Floor they''re on. So, make my karmic mimicking drag level 2! The system didn''t give a pop up for it, but I could feel that the mimicking drag was now stronger, faster and its mimicking was even better. That and I had lost 13.5 mana. And then we wait for more mana. I actually think the smartest move here is to first use my mana for leveling up as I''ll then get faster regeneration. Yeah, I''ll do that. And during the night when I can''t level up due tock of EXP I''ll instead catch up on making more and stronger creatures. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 2nd Party - who called themselves ''The Hunting Party'' as they knew each other from having hunted food together - came out of the Dungeon not quite an hour after they had entered. And like the previous Party they lookedpletely unharmed. Blessed be this kind Dungeon! Nerok thought to himself before putting his hand on the stone Portal to see the new cooldown. The Dungeon Portal will open again in 2 hours. The standard timer has been set to 2 hours if the sun is up and until dawn if the sun is down. 6 can enter the Dungeon at a time. Uhh¡­ So the Dungeon wants sleep? Or maybe it wants us to sleep regrly¡­? Regardless of what was actually true, Nerok turned around and walked toward the center of camp. He then got people''s attention and informed the Tribe that the kind Dungeon had once again thought of them by having its schedule fit theirs. The thought of having a monster spawning Dungeon cater to their needs raised the Tribe''s morale even more than Nerok had expected. The Tribe started partying with the two Parties that had been in the Dungeon being the guests of honor. The people start partying when I bring them good news. Heh! Sometimes, it''s pretty sweet to be Chief¡­ Nerok thought with a smile before shaking his head. The bitter partes when I break this party up in two hours so we can get back to work! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 3rd Party had just freed the fake drag in The Room of Kindness. The beargirl - mamabear? Perhaps. But how would I know? - had been the one to free the drag. As she did her karma level rose from 70% to 71%. New Achievement: Making the World a Better ce (I): You have made the people around you into better versions of themselves, thus making the world a better ce. Keep doing it. Condition: You have sessfully made the karma levels of other people rise 10 times in total. Reward: 110% Charisma. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 110% Charisma changed to 10% discount on karma creatures.] You already have 5 Achievements active. Pick one to turn passive. Passive Achievements give only half the rewards. You can only change your decision when you earn an Achievement. Careful Preparation (I): Reward: An extra 5% mana regeneration and the Ability to use the next mana payment for level ups as a Mana Bank. Creature Designer (I): Reward: Creatures have a 5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 110% EXP. Dungeon God: Reward: The Ability to make Dungeon Rules and a 5% mana discount on all creations. First of Your Kind: Reward: 120% EXP gain: 5 years left. 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor and +2 Toughness then 120% Toughness to all your creatures: 75 years left Karma''s a Bitch: Reward: A Karma Aura in grayscale will appear around sapients inside your Dungeon. The darker the aura the worse karma the sapient has. Unlocks the Ability to have your creatures and traps target sapients based on their Karma Aura. 110% damage dealt to people with a Karma Aura of 25% or lower. Making the World a Better ce (I): Reward: 10% discount on karma creatures. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. Well, that¡¯s annoying¡­ Oh! And they''re all so useful! Okay there is no obvious pick. So hmm¡­ I¡¯ll do the exclusion method! Okay what do I absolutely have to have? I¡¯m a draconic karma Dungeon. That¡¯s my thing. So I have to keep Karma''s a Bitch and Making the World a Better ce. The reward from Careful Preparation is too good to give up! Faster mana would always be my thing. The 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor I¡¯m already using, and I don¡¯t want to¡­ erase any creatures. So I¡¯ll keep First of Your Kind as well. The EXP gain from that one is really nice too. Hmmm¡­ System? If I were to turn Dungeon God passive would I still be able to make Rules? And what would happen to the ones I¡¯ve already made? When an Achievement is passive its rewards are halved and rounded up to the nearest whole number. Abilities given by an Achievement cannot be halved and will instead be kept by the Achievement holder even if the Achievement is made passive. Abilities with cooldowns will get double the cooldown if the responsible Achievement bes passive. Then half the rewards of Dungeon God simply means that the 5% mana discount on all creations bes a 3% discount. That¡¯s not a big difference. Halving Creature Designer would make a bigger difference then. So I¡¯ll turn Dungeon God passive. Dungeon God (Passive): Reward: The Ability to make Dungeon Rules and a 3% mana discount on all creations. Making the World a Better ce rewards you 500 EXP. Nice! Still need more mana before I can level up though. Chapter 9: Everything Has Tiers and Trouble Lurks Chapter 9: Everything Has Tiers and Trouble Lurks You have leveled up! You are now level 3! Karmic woods wyvern pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 3. You can now make your 2nd Floor. Three Parties had now sessfully gone through my Dungeon and after the first half hour of my 2-hour closing time I had the mana to level up. Status. Personal Status Level: 3 EXP needed for level up: 450/450 Additional EXP: 381 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/200 Mana: 0/200 Mana regeneration: 30 per hour Floors: 1/2 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I still have a lot of EXP! And the woods wyvern? Karmic woods wyverns are a small brown feathered species of wyvern with an average wingspan of 1.7 meters. They have traded half of their Charisma and Intelligence for the innate active Skill ''Stunning Scream''. They attack by stunning their prey with a high pitched-screech before attacking with teeth and ws. Their diet consists mostly of small to medium sized mammals. As they are a solitary monogamous species they can only be found alone or with their lifemate. They will refuse to build a nest unless they find a tall tree. As they are karma creatures, they will mirror how sapients treat them. But they get aggressive if a stranger nears their nest. That gives me ideas for the 2nd Floor, but I want to do more for my 1st Floor first. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Your 1st Floor has been emptied of sapients. Timer is set to 9 hours 13 minutes. Night hade and the 4th Party had left. All Parties had been beastkin at level 9+, but two beastkin hadn''t tiered up. 6 times had a karma level risen. Status. Personal Status Level: 3 EXP needed for level up: 450/450 Additional EXP: 838 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/200 Mana: 132/200 Mana regeneration: 30 per hour Floors: 1/2 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Game n: Design some fitting creatures to add to my current rooms while waiting for my mana to reach 200. When it does, I¡¯ll level up. Then I¡¯ll save up half of the needed mana payment for the next level before using the rest on my creatures. When possible, I want to add new creatures during the night and focus on leveling up during the day. Right now I have a lot of EXP though, so I''ll focus on that a bit tonight as well. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 2 hours and 16 minutes passed. You have leveled up! You are now level 4! B¨¡ z¨² lung dragon pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 4. Status. Personal Status Level: 4 EXP needed for level up: 650/650 Additional EXP: 188 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/250 Mana: 0/250 Mana regeneration: 37.5 per hour Floors: 1/2 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Looking good! B¨¡ z¨² lung dragons? B¨¡ z¨² lung dragons are colorful flightless dragons with a serpentine body averaging 5 meters long. Their 8 legs are short, so they attack using their teeth and powerful tail. Their neural spine sail is hard and sharp and reaches around the tail making their tail attack especially dangerous. Their diet consists of rocks, minerals, and gems. As they are karma creatures, they will mirror how sapients treat them. They have traded 3/4 of their Dexterity for the innate active Skill ''Luck Bending'' making them incredibly slow and bad at hitting an opponent unless they bend the other''s luck. They can curse one being at a time with a bit of bad luck or bless one with a bit of good luck. The effect ends when the dragon dies or after an hour has passed. They can make it rain onmand. That sounds so powerful! They must be really expensive then. How much do they cost? Creatures Creatures give you a little EXP when killed and can kill sapients which earns you much more EXP. Karmic drag: 12 mana + 4.25 mana B¨¬xi¨¦: 16.25 mana + 8.5 mana Karmic mimicking drag: 24.5 mana + 12 mana Karmic woods wyvern: 49 mana + 21.75 mana B¨¡ z¨² lung dragon: 82 mana + 34.75 mana Yeah, it''s pretty expensive. But what a discount I get! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I had decided that every creature after The Trap Corridor was to be level 2 as the 1st Floor could only have level 1 and 2 creatures. I wanted to wait with the wyverns and lung dragons till the next Floor and while I eventually wanted to have two b¨¬xi¨¦s in The Waterfall Room for now I only had enough for one level 2 b¨¬xi¨¦. Thest room is supposed to be the hardest one after all! I only had enough mana for one more drag, so I added it to The Great Pond Room. Onest Status and 1st Floor Details before they arrive though. Personal Status Level: 4 EXP needed for level up: 650/650 Additional EXP: 188 Mana payment needed for level up: 125/250 Mana: 1/250 Mana regeneration: 37.5 per hour Floors: 1/2 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Floor Details for the 1st Floor 77/90 levels worth of creatures 2/2 puzzles 6/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps The 1st Floor ising along nicely I''ll say! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The first Party of the day had light gray Auras and thus wasn''tpelled to stay away from the b¨¬xi¨¦. Even so, they had no idea on what to do or think about the winged lion with a dragon''s head and deerlike horns and so simply avoided it. You should have seen the look on your faces! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The second Party of the day could be found in The Trap Corridor when I had enough mana to level up. You have leveled up! You are now level 5! Karmic kobold pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 5. You can now make your 3rd Floor. Iughed mentally. Already allowed to make the third Floor yet I haven''t even begun on the 2nd. Kobold? Kobolds were once a sapient species. Due to their extinction they were then added to bipedal and draconic Dungeons as level up creature patterns. As such, kobolds do not exist outside of Dungeons. As a Dungeon creature based on a once sapient species, kobolds gain sses. The ss is chosen by the kobold''s Dungeon Core. Before their extinction they lived in viges that they defended together. Kobolds are able to make tools, structures, and basic traps without any guidance. Wow. I''m not even sure what to think about that! But they have sses and can build stuff! That''s awesome! Uhm¡­ Status, please. Personal Status Level: 5 EXP needed for level up: 833/900 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/300 Mana: 0/300 Mana regeneration: 45 per hour Floors: 1/3 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules The ''Making the World a Better ce'' Achievement gives me about as much EXP as¡­ well everything else put together! A lot of people have been raising their karma levels. And that might be due to the novel experience of peaceful Dungeon creatures and will then likely die off somewhat when people are more used to it. On the other hand: making the world a better ce by killing off the bad guys is my mission! The mission of all Dungeons! So making the good people better must be something the System wants! ¡­ Or at least it''s a part of my own personal mission! I haven''t seen anyone with low karma though¡­ I wonder why that is? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok was getting more and more frustrated. Khaogthoc had several times tried to demand that his Party should be the next one to enter the Dungeon. Why won''t he just ept a no?! Nerok tried not to let the irritation show as he once again told Khaogthoc that some other Party was in front of him in line. Loudly Khaogthoc asked: "When is it our turn then?!" Truthfully Nerok had put Khaogthoc''s Party behind the line a couple of times. Each time a Party had left the Dungeon rich and unharmed with tales of its trials of kindness and peace, had left Nerok with the fear of how the Dungeon would react to Khaogthoc''s Party. His Party consisted of Khaogthoc, his two equally bullying friends and three youths they had bullied into joining them. The youths had no backbone due to their - and everyone else around here''s - former life as a ve and Nerok could only stop bullying if he had some proof it had happened. As none hade forward even when asked, Nerok had nothing he could do without seeming crazy or corrupt. It honestly wouldn''t surprise me to hear that the three of them had killed someone. Nerok''s frustration had not been lessened. I''m definitely biased though. "Your Party is set to be the first one to enter tomorrow morning." As his fear rose, he decided to ask around among the Parties that had already gone in, what they thought would be the reaction to a monster getting killed. Most mentioned that the ''Experiencing Peace'' Rule stated that the double bonus only took effect if no ''creature'' was harmed. And that it could therefore be assumed that killing the monsters would simply make it a normal Dungeon run. Though none knew if the monsters would attack in self-defense or not. ''First Party'' - they had never chosen a name and with everyone else calling them that they had decided to ept it as their own - had given another option. They described how the dragons had warned them away from their burrows and seemingly forgiven them for going near. ''First Party'' suggested that the Dungeon monsters would attack back but only to those that attacked them. Nerok thought this idea had merit. The Chief hadn''t wanted to test this theory so soon though. He just couldn''t deal with Khaogthoc anymore. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The second key-wearing drag had this time been one of the drags in The Orchard. I need to make more things randomized onter Floors. This Floor only has the room the two first keys appear in and the location of the fake hurt drag in The Room of Kindness randomized. As the drag got petted into giving up the key the karma level of the mousegirl from day''s second Party rose. Achievement tier up: Making the World a Better ce (II): You have made the people around you into better versions of themselves, thus making the world a better ce. Keep doing it. Condition: You have at one point sessfully made the karma levels of other people rise 25 times in total. Reward: 115% Charisma. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 115% Charisma changed to 15% discount on karma creatures.] You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? ¡­ No, thank you¡­ But cool... ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 4th Party was about to leave when I had enough mana to level up again. You have leveled up! You are now level 6! Karmic galespike pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 6. Status. Personal Status Level: 6 EXP needed for level up: 1,082/1,200 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/350 Mana: 0/350 Mana regeneration: 52.5 per hour Floors: 1/3 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I remember when my mana regeneration was only 5. Such boring times! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó As this day had started earlier than the previous day - and due to people getting faster atpleting my Dungeon by having heard so many tales of my tricks -, I had time for a 5th Party before it grew dark. Shortly before said Party was due to arrive a window popped up: Achievement tier up: Careful Preparation (II): You have decided to prepare your Dungeon some more before going to the next step. Condition: Wait at least 1 day before opening your Dungeon after the option has appeared or wait at least 1 day after getting ess to a new Floor before making it. Do both of these once or thetter twice. Reward: An extra 10% mana regeneration and the Ability to use the next mana payment for level ups as a Mana Bank. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? No. How many times can Careful Preparation tier up? It seems a bit overpowered. Serial Achievements start as (I) and can tier up 4 times to (V). The only exception is karma rted Achievements which can tier up 9 times to (X). Karma rted Achievements get more difficult to achieve after (V). So Careful Preparation can give me a regeneration of 35% of my max. mana per hour! Powerful, but notpletely broken. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Dawn of the next day had almost arrived and I felt good about all the work I had done through the night. The Great Tree Room, The Burrow Trap Room and The Hidden Tunnel Room had gotten their drag counter boosted to 6. Thus all rooms had 6 drags except The Room of Kindness - where there were no creatures - and The Rainbow Forest - which only had 5. I had other ns for that room. Needing another 4 levels worth of dragons to reach my own self-imposed goal, I added another level 2 b¨¬xi¨¦ to The Waterfall Room and one to The Orchard. I thought it would fit in well there. As I had now reached the amount of dragons I wanted to have on the 1st Floor, The Rainbow Forest got a couple of electric eels instead. Or rather ''fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning'' as those for some reason counted as draconic. They were basically eels with stronger electricity and the ability to be really gigantic. Thest of which would never happen due to it being spawned by a Dungeon as a youth. When I had first seen the name of the eels I had to ask the System for more information. Elemental sea serpent? And what''s with the ''Lightning'' bit? The race of it? It reminds me of how the beastkin races get mentioned. Elemental sea serpents are true dragons, which have a natural control over mana of a specific elemental type. All elemental creatures have races categorized based on their prefered element. And yes. I am counting it as a non-dragon despite it being described as a ¡®true dragon¡¯. If it looks like an eel and acts like an eel, then it''s likely a mimic but you can pretend it''s an eel. Or at least I''m going to! It''s much cheaper that way! I had been trying to design electric eels and wanted them to be cheaper, so I made them draconic. It turns out the creature already existed, and so I couldn¡¯t name it myself. Not that ¡®draconic electric eel¡¯ is a much better name. As the eels were meant to deter people from crossing streams, they might be tempted to but shouldn''t, I also added an eel to the stream guarding The Great Tree. The Swamp Route got a couple of level 2 karmic log crocodiles - one on each side of the route. They were a bit expensive due to not being draconic, but my discounts made it alright. Log crocodiles resembled a roughly 2 meter long tree log while staying still, which had inspired their name. Floor details and status, please. Floor Details for the 1st Floor 90/90 levels worth of creatures 2/2 puzzles 6/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Personal Status Level: 6 EXP needed for level up: 1,200/1,200 Additional EXP: 256 Mana payment needed for level up: 88.25/350 Mana: 0/350 Mana regeneration: 70 per hour Floors: 1/3 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I just need some more traps and I''ll be ready to make the 2nd Floor. Chapter 10: The Effect of Karma Chapter 10: The Effect of Karma Dawn hade and the first Party of the day entered my Dungeon. For the first time in my Dungeon life, did I get to see people with ck auras. Notpletely midnight ck though. The mouseboy, rhinogirl and foxgirl had a more normal looking gray aura. Still darker than the average people I had seen but not truly concerning. I had gotten an unexpected amount of good people until now after all, so my average was likely skewed. The bearboy, catboy and wolfboy all had really dark auras though. Looking closer I discovered that they had auras of 12%, 20% and 18% respectively. As such they would be affected by - slight - bad luck, would take 10% extra damage and would bepelled away from the b¨¬xi¨¦s. The bearboy''s really close to 10%. If he were to somehow lose those two percent, he had above 10%, every creature would start attacking him! Why do I hope that happens? Right. ''Cause they''re really bad guys! The Party had walked up to the stream before The Great Tree. The three with gray auras had stopped up several steps before and were watching the drags in the tree nervously. Bearboy turned around with sneer on his face. "Remember the deal. If you don''t fight the monsters with us, you won''t get any of the quadrupled loot." The three nodded but didn''t move closer. Quadrupled loot? Where did thate from? The bearboy stepped into the stream not caring he got wet, and his two friends followed him in. Having entered the eel''s territory it gave them some electric shocks before being found and killed. My¡­ well I don''t have a heart anymore so I suppose the notion would be ''my Core sank''...? Nheless I had realized that these guys were level 9+ like all the others and thus my level 1 and 2 creatures were unlikely to hurt them much. At least I''ll get to see some of my bad guy defence systems in action. I thought as the Blood Shed, Blood Room Rule took effect. The Rule was purely a cosmetic change as it was meant as a ''don''t kill'' warning in case the peaceful creatures hadn''t been enough. I''m excited to see the bad luck take effect! Will it be obvious? Or will it be more subtle like the good luck has been? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The moment the lightning sea serpent - for despite its small size for a sea serpent, what else could it have been - was killed everything turned red. The leaves on the trees, bushes and climbing nts turned into a dark fall red color. The grass became bright blood red and even the water started to look like blood. Vanek, the muskin, gave a loud squeaking scream before looking around paranoid. Kerir, the vulpinekin, and Duzcax, the rhinokin, didn''t make any sounds but looked cautiously around as well while moving closer to each other hoping to cover the other''s back should something happen. Khaogthoc was shocked by the color change for a moment before looking smug. "See! The Dungeon acknowledges our challenge!" The ursakin gathered the loot from the in sea serpent before continuing towards the tree with dragons in it. His friends/henchmen Vakhix, the lupinekin, and Talgrag, the felinekin, followed closely behind. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The tiny green dragons fought back against their ughter but were too weak inparison to give their attackers more than scratches and first-degree burns. When no extra loot appeared after leaving the room Khaogthoc decided it meant their quadrupled reward would appear as they entered the Core Room instead. "It''s better that way anyway! We don''t have to carry as much loot through the Dungeon this way!" The stream in the second room had two of the small lightning sea serpents in it and again the room turned red when the first was killed. No one noticed the trap before the burrows and as none of them had listened too closely to the other Parties'' tales, also hadn''t known to look for it. Metal spikes went through Khaogthoc''s left foot and left him limping. The ursakin killed all 6 dragons in the room himself as a response. The first death of a drag turned the room red. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó When the bearboy killed the first drag in cold blood, two things happened: his karma level went from 12 to 11% for attacking with no just cause and all other drags in the room went to attack him at once. They got some burns and scratches in but nothing much as he was both a much higher level and his two friends came to his aid. Much the same thing happened in The Rainbow Forest, but I had noticed something they hadn''t. They didn''t notice that the key disappeared after they killed the drag?! I don''t think they even noticed the key in the first ce! This made me ecstatic as they now couldn''t enter my Core Room and get extra EXP and personalized rewards. They have shown they don''t deserve it! The bearboy stepping on the Spikes trap was clearly the work of bad luck. Now that I think about it, losing the key, without even knowing it, is pretty unlucky as well. And while they in theory could find the key by searching the burrows, I really can¡¯t imagine them looking there. Not even when they realize they need 3 keys. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Trap Corridor went alright for them. The wolfboy did a good job finding the traps but got hit in the head by a single stray rock from the Rockfall Ceiling trap. Bad luck for him! I thought with augh. The Orchard had a single b¨¬xi¨¦ in it which I had ordered to guard the passage to The Berry Forest. The three with ck auras killed the drags first while the gray auras waited by the entrance. It took them several minutes to realize that they had avoided the area around the b¨¬xi¨¦ and only then did they notice the b¨¬xi¨¦ itself. The three gray auras had naturally noticed long before then, as they weren''t affected by the b¨¬xi¨¦. They simply tried not tough out loud while watching the bad guys walk around an invisible wall. I, however, didn''t try to stifle myughter. Partly because I couldn''t actuallyugh out loud¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Having ordered the rhinogirl into freeing the fake drag, the Party entered The Swamp Route. Seeing a glimpse of a marsh crocodile to the right, the bearboy had his friends follow him into the swamp. The other three simply stood still and waited for them to be done. With a jump the bearboy attacked the crocodile with his axe, his followers close behind. Having once again attacked a peaceful creature finally caused his karma level to fall to 10%. Shrills sounded from the room''s 6 drags as they took to the air to attack the bearboy. Then a roar came from the other crocodile as it ran across the dirt and pebble route to avenge its dead kin. The sudden loud sounds stunned the whole Party for a moment allowing the drags to attack the bearboy before he could defend himself. Hearing the pained shouts of the bearboy had the gray Auras turn around and run into the previous room where they hid. Despite having almost double the Toughness of a normal drag, half the drags had still fallen by the time the other crocodile arrived. It was their lowest Scores after all, so it wasn¡¯t really a surprise. To bearboy''s bad luck he was still distracted and thus took a bite to the right leg making him fall to the ground. Drag him towards the sleep trap! I ordered my crocodile. Shortly after the trap activated, and all three bad guys fell asleep. Now asleep the bearboy was quickly killed by a bite to the neck from the crocodile. The crocodile then walked back to its own side of the swamp as it had no beef with the other two beastkin. The two remaining drags however needed to avenge their fallen flock. They killed the two by slowly ripping their throats open while they were asleep. As the room was now cleared of sapients a pop-up appeared. 3 level 9+ sapients have been killed in your Dungeon. You have gained 2,850 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 570 EXP. 5 level 2 creatures have died. You have gained 10 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 2 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 1 EXP. What?! How?! Huh?! After thinking it over a bit I realized I had killed 3 level 9+''s as a level 6 Dungeon Core using only level 2 creatures and a trap. So of course the reward would seem big. It probably also has something to do with the fact that they were killed. No one else has died in my Dungeon and my creature and trap descriptions do state that killing would earn me a lot more EXP. Besides. Dungeon Cores have increased growth while young which means I need less EXP to level up at the moment. So it¡¯s probably not as big a reward as it seems. Though still way bigger than anything else. ¡­ Status¡­? Personal Status Level: 6 EXP needed for level up: 1,200/1,200 Additional EXP: 3,788 Mana payment needed for level up: 88.25/350 Mana: 91/350 Mana regeneration: 70 per hour Floors: 1/3 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ... I think I''ll focus a bit on levelling up tonight... ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó No more sounds could be heard from the swamp room. Vanek, Kerir and Duzcax gathered their courage before looking into the room. Khaogthoc''s dead body could be seen from the entrance. Relief went through the three. Vakhix and Talgrag are likely dead too then, they thought. "Do you guys think they''ll attack us if we just went through?" Vanek, the muskin, asked. "Maybe, but why does it matter?! I''m not going through there! I''m leaving!" The vulpinekin, Kerir, stated loudly. Vanek looked down and twirled his right foot around. "I wanted to see the shapeshifting dragon¡­" He mumbled. Zaktak had talked loudly about the awesome shapeshifting dragon and its rare loot. The color-changing leather was highly sought after, as no one in the Tribe knew how to dye clothes. "I''ll go with you." Duzcax stated. "But we''ll turn around if anything attacks." The rhinokin added. "Deal?" "Yes!" Vanek said excitedly, drowning out the Kerir''sins. Not wanting to be left alone the vulpinekin followed the others into the swamp room. Nothing attacked them and as the sleep trap had already been activated it didn''t matter that they had forgotten its existence. Poking random rocks in the next room eventually revealed the shapeshifter. Said dragon simply walked away from them having gotten annoyed by so many people having poked it since the Dungeon opened. All three beastkin agreed that they wouldn''t have found the shapeshifter if they hadn''t been told it was there. No loot had appeared, and they didn''t have a single key. They could have gotten one from one of the dragons in the room but as only one key wouldn''t open the door, they didn''t bother getting it. As the three of them hadn''t participated in any of the fights they had only gotten EXP from the puzzle. Still they had no desire to attack any of the monsters. Instead they turned around and walked back. Stopping next to the corpse of Khaogthoc, Duzcax asked: "Shouldn''t we gather their stuff? The Tribe needs it." After looking ufortable at each other they decided to do so. Around Vakhix and Talgrag''s bodiesy two BO''s. They had been dropped by the monsters they had killed, but the two died before they could bind them to them. Before more than a "Who sho-" could get out of the rhinokin''s mouth Kerir had grabbed one and crushed it. The vulpinekin then used her new Enhanced Reflexes to avoid Duzcax who was trying to grab her. As a 2nd tier with the Dexterity ss Kerir quickly left the other two behind and ran for the Portal. Now alone the muskin and rhinokin gathered the rest of the loot. While doing so they decided the other BO should go to Duzcax as she had been the one to suggest they loot the bodies for loot. The rhinokin got the Intelligence ss and soon suggested they reported Kerir''s actions to Chief Nerok. And Khaogthoc, Vakhix and Talgrag''s as well of course! Chapter 11: Faulty Traps and a New Floor Chapter 11: Faulty Traps and a New Floor 2 hours and 15 minutes had passed since the mouseboy and rhinogirl had left the Dungeon. Normally a new Party enters immediately after the 2 hours have passed. What has changed this time? Well obviously, that would be the killing, but all Dungeons kill so it can''t be on my end¡­ Can it? Maybe it was the sudden attack when bearboy''s karma level dropped to 10%? Yeah. That probably confused them. I can only hope they get over it. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It only took another couple of minutes before the next Party entered. This Party had two mice and two cats in it instead of it being all different beastkin types. Weird¡­ Hmm¡­ Every Party has hadpletely new people in it each time. Clearly this is due to everyone or at least arge part of their Tribe being level 9+ and needing Breakthrough Orbs. The loot is only their secondary goal and the EXP gain is lowpared to their level. The Chief likely ordered the first many Parties to have bnced groups or something but has now revoked the order. Ohh! And that likely caused the dy as everyone now found new Parties with their friends in it! But what made him retrieve the order? Hearing that I only attack in self-defense perhaps? But wasn''t that already obvious? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó You have leveled up! You are now level 7! Fledgling karmic neurotoxic dragon pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 7. You can now make your 4th Floor. Status. Personal Status Level: 7 EXP needed for level up: 1,550/1,550 Additional EXP: 2,460 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/400 Mana: 0/400 Mana regeneration: 80 per hour Floors: 1/4 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ¡­ I already have enough EXP to level up both this time and the next. And I just leveled up too¡­ Crazy thought. Killing really is the bread and butter of Dungeons! No sooner had I thought that did a window pop up. Achievement tier up: Careful Preparation (III): You have decided to prepare your Dungeon some more before going to the next step. Condition: Wait at least 1 day before opening your Dungeon after the option has appeared or wait at least 1 day after getting ess to a new Floor before making it. Do somebination of this 3 times. Reward: An extra 15% mana regeneration and the Ability to use the next mana payment for level ups as a Mana Bank. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? ¡­ Right. It''s been a day since I became level 5. What''s my mana regeneration on now? Personal Status Level: 7 EXP needed for level up: 1,550/1,550 Additional EXP: 2,460 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/400 Mana: 0.5/400 Mana regeneration: 100 per hour Floors: 1/4 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules That¡­ is¡­ brilliant! You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? Right, I forgot to answer. No, thank you. I want to keep it as is. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 3rd Party of the day hade and gone and after having spent 36 minutes nning my 2nd Floor, I leveled up again. You have leveled up! You are now level 8! Fledgling karmic feathered serpent pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 8. Status. Personal Status Level: 8 EXP needed for level up: 1,900/1,900 Additional EXP: 1,266 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/450 Mana: 0/450 Mana regeneration: 112.5 per hour Floors: 1/4 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 4th Party of the day only had two new faces. The rest were people who hadn''t managed to tier up when they were herest. That must mean we''re at the end of the rush to get Breakthrough Orbs! But what does that mean for me? Won''t they need me any more¡­? I still have fruits and berries! And¡­ and loot! Color-changing leather! Yeah, I''ll still be used some. Though likely not as much. And that''s okay with me. I have several Floors to make before I''ll really need more EXP anyway. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 5th andst Party of the day had 5 recurring guests who hadn''t tiered up - including the mouseboy from the Party where half the Party died - and one entirely new person. A catgirl. I gathered from the chatter, that the cat was in the early stages of pregnancy and was only allowed toe due to the peaceful nature of my Dungeon. Apparently, all the other pregnantdies were further along and had decided to tier up after giving birth. I should probably stop calling everyone boys and girls when only adults can enter me¡­ ¡­Nahh¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Achievement tier up: Making the World a Better ce (III): You have made the people around you into better versions of themselves, thus making the world a better ce. Keep doing it. Condition: You have at one point sessfully made the karma levels of other sapients rise 50 times in total. Reward: 120% Charisma. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 120% Charisma changed to 20% discount on karma creatures.] You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? No, thank you. I''m good. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Shortly after thest Party had left for the day - everyone had sessfully tiered up - I acquired the mana necessary for level up. You have leveled up! You are now level 9! Longma pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 9. You can now make your 5th Floor. Status. Personal Status Level: 9 EXP needed for level up: 1,794/2,400 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/500 Mana: 0/500 Mana regeneration: 125 per hour Floors: 1/5 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules So. Tonight''s n¡­ The traps aren''t doing it for me. They slow the good people down who they aren''t intended for. A good trap has to be unknown until it''s sprung! Hmm¡­ I should make a Dungeon Rule for that. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Karma Traps: The traps of this Dungeon can only be triggered by sapients with a karma level of 25% or lower. Additionally, traps do 150% damage to those with 25% or lower and are harder for them to spot. The first part of the Rule had been simple. The high level of extra damage was what made the Rule expensive. It''s a one-time expense though. So it''s definitely worth it! After that, I made the remaining traps for the 1st Floor. And done! Or should I add another rule before I start on the 2nd Floor¡­ In the hopes of getting some forewarning about higher tier people - specifically the evil kind - I decided to add another Rule first. New Dungeon Rule: Identify Identity: Everyone can see the name, species, ss, and level of everyone in their sight while inside your Dungeon. Only while using a Skill or Ability to hide is anyone exempt from being identified or able to fake their identity. Said Skill or Ability have to be of the same tier or higher than the Dungeon Core or happen with the Dungeon Core''s approval. ¡­ So the Parties can see the species and level of my creatures then? That wasn''t intended but I also don''t really mind. Wait! Does my mimicking drag use a Skill while hiding? It looked like a drag at the moment and had the words ¡®Karmic mimicking drag¡¯ and ¡®level 2¡¯ hanging translucent over its head. Hide. As it mimicked the nearest tree branch the words disappeared. Good. You can stop hiding. What about the Kindness puzzle? The puzzle was meant to mimic an actual creature of mine and so did indeed fake a floatingbel. My Dungeon senses told me it was a fakedbel though. I wonder if others will be able to tell that it''s a fake drag this way¡­ Or maybe they''ll think it''s a shapeshifter or something. Now then. 2nd Floor. Anything I need to know about making a 2nd Floor before I start? When making a new Floor, the Dungeon first builds stairs leading up or down from the back of the Core Room. Whether the direction is up or down is decided before making the 2nd Floor and can''t be changedter. The Dungeon then creates all the rooms allowed for the Floor tier. The Core Room will stay between the two Floors, keeping the two parts connected, while the Dungeon Core is creating a new Floor. When a new Floor is done the Core Room moves to the end of the new Floor leaving a Safezone behind. Safezone? A Safezone is thest room of a Floor which is not a Dungeon''sst Floor and the first room of all Floors except the 1st Floor. Safezones are also known as the Dungeon Stairs. Safezones cannot contain creatures, puzzles, or traps. As such many sapients use Safezones to take a break before going deeper into a Dungeon. Hmm¡­ I''ll see if I can spice this Safezone up a bit when Ie to it. So¡­ What''s my total creature level for the 2nd Floor? Floor Details for the 2nd Floor 0/210 levels worth of creatures 0/2 puzzles 0/15 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps What? That''s-! Uh right. The level average of the Floor is meant to be higher than that of the 1st Floor. So while it looks like I can have many more creatures, in actuality I really can''t. The creatures will simply have a higher level instead. Or¡­ well¡­ I still could if I wanted to make all my creatures level 1. But seeing how easily the evil bearboy and his henchmen killed my creatures, I don''t think the answer lies in numbers. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I had dug half the 2nd Floor by the time dawn arrived. On the dot, the moment the timer hadpleted a Party of 6 walked into my Dungeon. That''s more punctual than usual¡­ Maybe they''re more excited? I didn''t recognize any of them. Over each person''s head stood their name, species, ss, and level. The first would only interest me should theye back and the second was obvious to see. It is kind of nice, being able to see what they call their own¡­ species? Races? The beastkin species have 6 different races. Each beastkin race contains features from a different animal and are naturally a bit better at a specific Ability Score. Races then. Their sses all read ''Commoner'' and their levels were between level 5 and 8. Clearly these are the young adults of the Tribe. So, they must have run out of level 9+''s. Being the first to enter since the ''Identify Identity'' Rule had been implemented they had to stop and point, first at each other, and then each time a new creature of mine showed up. They were disappointed that the traps no longer activated. The Dart trap in The Trap Corridor confused them as they could clearly see it was there. The holes on the walls were still visible. Which had always been a part of my n for luring people into thinking all my traps were that visible. The rest of their trip through my Dungeon went without anything interesting happening. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok had called for a meeting that morning while the young adults were inside the Dungeon. "The Tribe needs one or more Parties to make daily trips into the Dungeon to gather loot!" Nerok started the meeting. "Should we try to only gather food - such as through hunting and harvesting - from the forest out here we''ll exhaust our resources too quickly! Fall is not the best time to nt and sow, but more importantly, weck the seeds to try!" Giving the Tribe some time to let it sink in, Nerok paused and looked around at his Tribe. "As our previous trips into the Dungeon have made us mostly equipped, we would only need to have about two runs through the Dungeon a day! More, however, is always wee! I''ll give you all some time to talk it through with your Party." Nerok walked off to the side as people started locating their Party and discussing it with them. Chapter 12: Morale Schemes and Elven Enemies Chapter 12: Morale Schemes and Elven Enemies "The Dungeon changed again, Chief Nerok." The Tribe''s youngest Party had just returned from the Dungeon. The meeting had revealed that most of the Tribe didn''t want to ever enter a Dungeon again unless needed for a tier up. Nerok couldn''t me them for feeling that way after how the elves forced them to mine for BO''s. Fortunately, between Morghar''s cubs begging him to keep entering the Dungeon so he could return with stories, Zaktak''s fascination with the shapeshifting dragon and Begdar''s natural curiosity, ¡®First Party¡¯ had decided to volunteer. Maybe they''ll be renamed and will simply be known as ''the Party'' now that they''re the only regr one. "Of course it did." Nerok responded. "The Dungeon wants to grow but doesn''t want us to be surprised each time it changes something. Inpromise it only changes the 1st Floor during the night. Then we''ll only be surprised in the morning, but we''ll know something will have changed. That''s part of the reason why the Dungeon is closed at night." Nerok exined to the youngsters. The Chief had decided to keep the morale high by making the Dungeon seem both intelligent and kind. It wasn''t hard to do with how unusual the Dungeon was. "I imagine the Dungeon is working on its second Floor during the day. After all: Only rude people sneak a peek at a Dungeon''s unfinished Floor." While ''rude'' might not have been the right word for it, it was true that people didn''t tend to visit a Dungeon''s unfinished Floor. The reason why, however, was actually because killing creatures and solving puzzles didn''t give EXP or loot in unfinished Floors. As a part of his morale scheme Nerok had taken to correcting anyone calling the Dungeon creatures ''monsters''. He would either argue that these creatures only attack in self-defense, so how are they monsters? Or he would point out that the System itself called them creatures every time someone got loot and EXP from the ''Experiencing Peace'' Rule. At this point everyone had agreed with him that this Dungeon had creatures not monsters. Still. People often slipped up. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It took the 2nd Party of the day an additional 2 hours after the timer had run out and the Dungeon had opened again. This gave me time to finish digging the 2nd Floor but left me a bit worried they might leave mepletely alone. Not only did I need them for EXP I also needed them for entertainment. While the Parties weren''t overly interesting to watch - likely due to the peacefulness of my Dungeon - they would sometimes say or do something interesting. Before they arrived, I received this message: Achievement tier up: Careful Preparation (IV): You have decided to prepare your Dungeon some more before going to the next step. Condition: Wait at least 1 day before opening your Dungeon after the option has appeared or wait at least 1 day after getting ess to a new Floor before making it. Do somebination of this 4 times. Reward: An extra 20% mana regeneration and the Ability to use the next mana payment for level ups as a Mana Bank. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? No. Status. Personal Status Level: 9 EXP needed for level up: 2,058/2,400 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/500 Mana: 0/500 Mana regeneration: 150 per hour Floors: 1/5 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I was pleased. And finally the 2nd Party of the day arrived. I recognize them! That''s the very first Party to visit me! Does that mean they''ll send every Party in here again but with more breaks in between them? I had no way of knowing. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Karmic drag level 1." Begdar read out loud. "Karma¡­ That must be why they only attack in self-defense!" The lupinekin was relieved to finally know the answer to that question. But then a new question hit her. "ording to Vanek and Duzcax the¡­ creatures suddenly started attacking one or all three who had gone into the swamp itself. And it wasn''t simply because they entered the swamp. They had been there sometime before it happened after all¡­ So why¡­?" Begdar pondered this as the Party walked through the Dungeon and picked up their loot. While trying to find an answer she looked at the other creatures'' species. Fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning Level 1 "Fledgling?" The lupinekin questioned. "But Dungeons don''t have young creatures! Their creatures are made so they have no use for anything not in its prime age! Why would this one¡­?" "Well¡­" Morghar began. "You know how my daughter Birax loves dragons? Even before we found this Dungeon?" His Party nodded. "Well¡­ Apparently dragons don''t grow old. Instead they grow more powerful. They still grow up, sure! But instead of growing old they just get bigger and more powerful! Maybe the Dungeon decided to apply this to its creatures?" "Or¡­" Zaktak took over but did so with an eye roll. "Maybe it''s easier for it to make them young rather than old? Maybe it''s just to make it easier for us like Chief Nerok says? Or maybe an adult was simply too big? Who knows? And does it matter?" Her Party nodded. Begdar still wanted the answer but decided to table the thought for now. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While gathering loot after the pond room Begdar had a solution to her first question. ¡°Of course! Karma¡¯s a bitch!¡± Her Party looked at her confused. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Her mate asked. ¡°Who did the Dungeon attack and kill?¡± ¡°Vakhix, Talgrag and Khaogthoc.¡± The answer came from Zaktak. ¡°And can any of you mention a single good thing any of them have ever done?¡± Her Party shook their heads. ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s something¡­¡± Taozcec started. ¡°But no. I can¡¯t say I ever witnessed any.¡± ¡°You know I¡¯m convinced this Dungeon is smarter than other Dungeons and that it wants to be kind while still being a Dungeon?¡± Nods came from all around. They had all heard her analyze the data from both their own trip through the Dungeon and others¡¯ ande to this conclusion. With how unusual this Dungeon was, they couldn''t help but believe the theory had some merit. Zaktak and Thenac had even abandoned the idea that the Dungeon was trying to lure them into a false sense of security. If the Dungeon wanted to kill them, the recent deaths where it spared half the Party, both showed that it could kill and that it wasn¡¯t going to. ¡°I believe one of the three - probably Khaogthoc - did something to get bad karma.¡± The lupinekin started. ¡°Whether it was one particrly evil act or if the Dungeon could see his¡­ bad karma or something and something tipped it over the breaking point I don¡¯t know. The essence of my theory is simply that being evil will make the Dungeon turn on you.¡± Taking that thought in for a bit, her Party couldn¡¯t help but agree on it being a possibility. It was only those three out of the whole Tribe they would call bad people at all. Not that the whole Tribe was good. They all had their faults and ws. It was just that Vakhix, Talgrag and Khaogthoc were the only ones who were mean bullies. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó This is my favorite Party! They understand me so well! Especially this Begdar girl! The Identify Identity had¡­ done as advertised¡­ and I now knew the names of those in my favorite Party. The traps not activating anymore confirmed the Party¡¯s belief in my kindness towards the good and average person. Which in turn made me like them more. Thenac sessfully located all my new traps before anyone got near them, but as they wouldn¡¯t activate the Party simply walked past them after that. Thenac sure gets happy each time she finds a new trap¡­ Does she like traps, my traps or locating traps before they can get triggered? Nheless the Party¡¯s happiness was contagious, and I couldn''t help but be happy with them. When the Party encountered the b¨¬xi¨¦ in The Orchard Begdar quickly noted that 1: it wasn¡¯t called a karmic b¨¬xi¨¦ and 2: that Vanek and Duzcax had seen the three bad guys be repulsed by the winged lion-dragon. I think Vanek and Duzcaxare likely the rhinogirl and mouseboy the bad guys came with. The wolfgirl then sort of correctly concluded that the b¨¬xi¨¦ was so into karma that it had be almost synonymous with the creature. Sort of yes. But you seem to assume there¡¯s only one creature like that¡­ Soon the Party left again, and I went back to working on my 2nd Floor. What should I add first? Creatures, traps, or puzzles? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Achievement tier up: Careful Preparation (V): You have decided to prepare your Dungeon some more before going to the next step. Condition: Wait at least 1 day before opening your Dungeon after the option has appeared or wait at least 1 day after getting ess to a new Floor before making it. Do somebination of this 5 times. Reward: An extra 25% mana regeneration and the Ability to use the next mana payment for level ups as a Mana Bank. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? No. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Three days had passed, and my favorite Party was now my only Party. They visited about twice a day and I liked the routine. Making the World a Better ce has stopped giving me EXP though. But that was to be expected. The first of these days I leveled up as the Party was halfway through the Dungeon. You have leveled up! You are now level 9+! Your EXP gain will be halved until you tier up. Kirin pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 10. You can now create the 1st tier Boss. Status. Personal Status Level: 9+ Needed number of killed sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower: 3/10 EXP: 0 Next mana payment for level up: 0/1,200 Mana: 0/500 Mana regeneration: 175 per hour Floors: 1/5 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ''Needed number of killed sapients''? Please exin. In order to tier up, sapients need to break a Breakthrough Orb bound to them and of the right tier. Dungeons need to have killed a certain number of sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower in order to tier up. Huh¡­ Okay, then¡­ I might be stuck at level 9+ for a while... Being level 9+ also meant all the EXP I gained got halved. Well... I had no way of encouraging bad people toe so I simply focused on my second Floor. I finished the 2nd Floor early on the night of the third day, so no one had seen it yet. While making it I had gotten an Achievement tier up. Achievement tier up: Creature Designer (II): All Dungeon Cores design traps and puzzles. Some design their own creatures as well. You are now one of them. Condition: Design 5 creatures and spawn them. It does not matter if the designed creatures already existed or if it''spletely new designs. Reward: Creatures have a 7.5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 112.5% EXP. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 1 passive Achievement. Do you wish to change which Achievement is passive? No, thank you. I used the rest of the night to dig the 3rd Floor. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó A week had passed since the Tribe had found the Dungeon and settled down. And a couple hours after dawn disaster struck. ¡°Chief! Chief! Zoorrar is a spy for the elves!¡± Tuzzik shouted while dragging said 4-year-old muskin after him. ¡°Really? How so?¡± Nerok asked, not truly worried. Children and their games. ¡°No I¡¯m not!¡± Zoorrar tried to deny, only to be drowned out by Tuzzik. ¡°She used this-¡± The young lupinekin handed the Chief a Communication Orb. ¡°-to talk to the elves! I overheard her tell them ¡®we¡¯re still here¡¯! She likely told them our position as soon as we found the Dungeon!¡± Tuzzik only became more panicked the more he spoke. ¡°Recapturing us is one thing but with a young Dungeon here too there is no way they won¡¯te!¡± Nerok considered asking more questions to confirm the usation but decided not to. Tuzzik wouldn''t have gone this far to make a joke about something this serious. And he wouldn''t have been able to hand Nerok a Communication Orb if his story wasn''t true. To make a Communication Orb you had to at least be a 5th tier with a ss capable of enchantments, so Communication Orbs weren''t supermon. Andstly. Zoorrar''s pale, scared and guilty looking face told the Chief that the story had been true. Additionally, for the Communication Orb to still have energy - as could be seen by its slight glow - after more than a month and a half meant that it had been based on a BO of at least the 4th tier. As such it was likely a minor noble elf who wanted Zoorrar as a spy. Chief Nerok rose to his full height. ¡°Zoorrar! What exactly have you told the elves?!¡± Zoorrar was a 4-year-old muskin and thus much smaller than the angry old ursakin. She told everything. Chapter 13: Planning with a Dungeon Chapter 13: nning with a Dungeon Chief Nerok walked into the Dungeon all alone. His morale scheme had backfired. Nerok had tried to convince the Tribe to evacuate while leaving the Communication Orb behind. The Tribe instead decided to ask the Dungeon for help. And as the Chief, Nerok was roped into doing the actual asking. As a System-approved Chief, Nerok also had to actually do what his Tribe agreed on or he would lose his Chief Achievement. Luckily for Nerok, the Tribe rarely could get everyone to agree on anything. This time though, they had¡­ Zoorrar had gotten a scolding from several people - children and adults - and had gotten extra chores and constant supervision. But due to her young age that was all the punishment she got. I''ll just walk through the Dungeon while describing the situation, gather the most useful pieces of the loot and when I exit, I''ll inform the Tribe that the Dungeon is too young to help us. And so Chief Nerok walked through the Dungeon while seemingly talking to himself. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I was feeling conflicting emotions listening to Chief Nerok. On one hand I felt bad for them and wanted to help. On the other hand I was excited as these elves sounded like bad guys and killing them would likely let me tier up. As the Chief walked and talked, I pondered on how I could help them. Changing the number of people allowed in my Dungeon wouldn''t work. The elves would just keep watch outside and without everyone leaving my Floors wouldn''t reset. They would be trapped in me not daring to leave. The Tribe would end up starving to death or having to go back to the Surface World and risk the elves. They wouldn''t even be able to harvest food from my 1st or 2nd Floors as trying to go up any stairs not connected to my Core Room would just teleport them out. Is there any way I can hide that they are in me? Maybe with a Rule? But I can''t just make them all invisible, so where would I hide them? I had tried to make all my creatures invisible shortly after getting ess to Dungeon Rules, but it was way out of my price range. Could they hide in my unfinished 3rd Floor? Is it possible for people to enter it while unfinished? I would imagine so. They likely just can''t get loot or EXP down there. So that''s an option. Otherwise¡­ Why can''t they just evacuate, let me deal with it ande back afterwards? Sometimeter Nerok''s monologue came to the part of the story where he had convinced his Tribe that I was¡­ Well essentially a local god. Which my Achievement says I am so he''s not exactly wrong. Now the Tribe refused to move without the approval of their god. "Oh! You''ve made a second Floor!" Nerok looked pleased for a short moment before worry came back and he gave a sad sigh. He didn''t seem to notice that I had changed the ex-Core Room from a barren room into another little berry forest with a t long rock on each side for one to sit and rest on. Like the System said I wouldn''t be able to, when it had described Safezones, I couldn''t ce traps or puzzles inside. However, my creatures could walk through the room now that my Core wasn''t there anymore. They just couldn''t stay there for more than a couple of minutes. Something to remember for surprise ambushes. Back to the situation at hand: I''ll talk to him and let him make the final decision. Though maybe we can test my theory out while he''s here. The old bearman looked around as he went through therge 1st room of the 2nd Floor. As the main creature species of this Floor were the woods wyvern and the b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon the room needed to be big. The dimensions of 20¡Á20¡Á10 meters meant this one room counted as 8 rooms. The Chief simply looked for the exit and as such he missed two keys on his way through the 1st room - The Forest of Territories - and another in the 2nd room - The Wood of Rebirth. I really like the key puzzle. I''m gonna make it a theme! For now I ordered three drags from the 3rd room - The Griffins'' Treasure Room - to go collect the keys from the previous rooms. The Chief looked amazed each time he saw a new creature of mine. The two griffins guarding a big treasure chest got the biggest reaction from him. Not a single sound. Instead he frozepletely and stared. Then he blinked rapidly for a while. With it being a dragon Dungeon and griffins being clearly notdragons it must have surprised him to see them in here. And then¡­ I decided to have fun! Disguised as business of course! Greet him. I ordered. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó ¡°Hiiiiiii!¡± Nerok jumped in shock. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± You have to be an adult to enter a Dungeon? So why do I hear a child¡¯s voice? Is it a new trick from the Dungeon? The two half-lion, half-eagle karmic griffins stepped aside giving the Chief a better view of the treasure chest. When he first entered the room it looked like a normal treasure chest. Dungeons often had chests like this, though normally they didn¡¯t appear before the 2nd tier. And they wouldn¡¯t be this big before the 3rd tier or at leastte in the 2nd tier. The treasure chest now had 4 eyes, two arms, 4 legs, sharp teeth, and a tongue. Over its head it now said: Karmic small dumb mimic Level 4 ¡°I am here!¡± The living treasure chest said. Nerok simply stared at the unnatural sight. ¡°Core want to help.¡± Nerok blinked. ¡°Core found two¡­ two¡­ ob¡­ op¡­ ti¡­ on¡­ sshhh¡­¡± The Chief had finallye back to his senses, but it took him a bit to decipher the mimic¡¯s words. ¡°The Dungeon Core wants to help us defend against the elves? And we have two options on how to do so?¡± The living treasure chest started jumping. ¡°Yes! Yes!¡± It stopped jumping. ¡°You are so smart!¡± Nerok quickly realized why its species had ¡¯dumb¡¯ in it. It was smart enough to talk but just as dumb as a 1-year-old beastkin. And with the speech pattern and behavior of one too. But if this one is considered ¡®small¡¯ how big do they get? Can they turn into other things than chests too? ¡°What options does your Core propose?¡± ¡°Op¡­ ti¡­ on¡­ one. Just¡­ eva¡­ co¡­ cu¡­-¡± The mimic had a hard time with the words. ¡°Evacuate?¡± ¡°Yes! Yes!¡± ¡°But then you¡¯ll end up enved!¡± Now knowing that the Dungeon was actually smart Nerok felt a lot worse about leaving it to its fate. ¡°They have a device that can-¡± ¡°Core know.¡± The mimic interrupted. ¡°You think you can defeat them, don¡¯t you? You can¡¯t! They will be sending 2nd and 3rd tiers! You¡¯re too young to-¡± ¡°Core have n. Core not defeat but not ensle¡­ ¡­ ved.¡± Nerok took a deep breath. He could try to interrogate the mimic on how the Dungeon was intending to do that. But with its difficulty with words he was unlikely to get much out of it. And the Core is unlikely to want to tell me its secrets. ¡°What is the second option then?¡± ¡°Stay on 3rd Floor. Need test.¡± ¡°Stay here? What needs to be tested?¡± Three drags came flying from the previous room each carrying a key in their front ws. Stretching his hands out, the drags dropped their keys into the Chief¡¯s hands before flying back. ¡°I thought all Dungeon creatures had to stay in their room¡­?¡± Nerok wondered out loud. The mimic started moving past the griffins towards the stream separating them. ¡°Not for my Core.¡± It said as it stepped onto the water, somehow standing on it. Nerok looked closer. Fledgling karmic lighting sea serpent Level 4 Fledgling karmic lighting sea serpent Level 4 The mimic is walking on a couple of sea serpents! Now standing next to the Chief the mimic spoke again. ¡°Ask for key.¡± ¡°What?¡± The mimic pointed at the door to the next room. ¡°Door locked. Need 4 keys. Ask for key.¡± Nerok looked at the door. It had 4 locks. The drags had only given him three keys. ¡°You want me to ask for the 4th key?¡± The mimic nodded his whole body. ¡°Why can¡¯t you just give it to me. You did with the other keys?¡± ¡°Puzzle.¡± The mimic simply said. ¡°Right! Of course!¡± For this Dungeon to have a ¡®politeness¡¯ puzzle made perfect sense. It fits the theme. ¡°Please give me the 4th key.¡± A drag - suspiciously only on level 1 - flew out of its tree and dove into the small pond across from where the mimic had been. When it surfaced it had thest key in its front ws. Nerok unlocked the door and stepped into the Core Room. Loot appeared and EXP was granted. The Chief looked the loot over, took the two unfertilized griffin eggs - the eggs were big enough that he could only have one in each hand at a time and had a light yellow coloration - and left the rest, not having room for it all. "This way!" The mimic tried to skitter into the Core Room but instead disappeared and reappeared on the stairs behind the Core that went to the unfinished 3rd Floor. "And why are we going that way?" Nerok asked as he followed the mimic down the stairs. "Test!" Came the answer. The first room of the 3rd Floor was a rectangr room with a couple of wooden watchtowers at the other end. Each one was manned by a kobold with a crossbow. Watchtower? Dungeons don''t build buildings! And the kobolds take a long time before they figure out how to or why to build something like a watchtower. "Sorry about the mimic." A voice said. Nerok jumped a bit, having let his guard down and gotten distracted by the watchtowers. Karmic kobold Commoner Level 5 They can get sses?! Gulping, Nerok responded. "It''s alright." The kobold nodded sharply. The kobold looked like an anthropomorphic wingless dragon. It was roughly 120 cm tall and wearing armor made from the green dragon leather. Its dark red scales emphasized the bright green scale leather. Its back was straight, and it had its hands behind its back. This was a soldier. "Mother Core wished to test if¡­ you people¡­ were able to enter an unfinished Floor." The ursakin nodded. "I could have told you that, but no harm done." The kobold soldier nodded back. "Mother suggests your Tribe stays in an unfinished Floor while your enemy attacks. Where this is exactly depends on when the enemy attacks and the number needing housing." The soldier paused, looking expectedly at Nerok. Taking the hint the Chief informed the soldier - and thus its Dungeon too - that their poption consisted of 95 beastkin where 6 were pregnant and 12 were children. "The idea is good, but children can''t enter Dungeons and we can''t leave them behind." The Chief then informed the Dungeon and kobold. "Children can enter if Mother says they can." The kobold replied nonchntly. "The expected time of attack?" Nerok answered that it was likely to happen at some point in between 7 to 9 days. "Good." The soldier said. "That will give us plenty of time to prepare." Seeing the kobold''s rxed attitude gave Nerok hope. "Can the Dungeon get to the second tier in that time?" The kobold shook his head. "You need certain Orbs to tier up. Dungeon Cores need to kill a certain number of evil people." "Uh¡­" Something clicked for the Chief. "That''s why you killed Khaogthoc and his two friends." The soldier tilted its head but stayed silent for a bit. Then the kobold looked up at Nerok again. "The wolf and cat were only bad people. Bad people have arge chance to die but Mother gives them a chance to survive. To redeem themselves. The bear was so evil he broke the thresh point into true evil in The Swamp Room. Mother pulls no stop for those truly evil. They can no longer be redeemed." Nerok nodded, letting it sink in. "I don''t doubt you. I suspected they were worse than they appeared. Anything else I should know?" The soldier tilted its head again. The Dungeon must be talking to it. "Yes. The mimic is too high level to enter the 1st Floor and we kobolds cannot enter the 2nd either. Should you need to talk you''ll have toe to us. Mother always listens but she can only answer through us. On that note, Mother Core asks you to inform her on what you end up deciding. Should you choose to evacuate to Mother, we ask you to wait till shortly before the enemy is to arrive to allow for us to make you proper housing." Nerok agreed and the meeting was concluded. The mimic had simply observed the conversation between the two and looked confused whenever a harder word was used. Now it followed the old ursakin up the stairs but stayed on the top steps. Touching the Core the old ursakin got his personalized reward: a cape made of golden feathers. Being curious Nerok looked first to the Core then the mimic. "You wouldn''t happen to know if this does anything special?" The mimic jumped a couple of times not finding it at all difficult to do so while standing on the steps of the stairs. "Griffin cape! Give more Char¡­ Charis¡­ isma!" "How much more?" The chief pried further. No one in the Tribe could use an identifying skill. The mimic jumped some more before stopping. "I want favor!" "And what would that be?" "Don''t tell about me! I hide and jump and scare people! They no fun if know!" Nerok had tough at the mimic''s attempt at a pout. As itcked lips it had ended up looking like a wide-eyed frown. "Well¡­" the ursakin forced himself to stopughing. "I have to tell my Tribe you talked to me on behalf of your Dungeon. Instead I promise to not reveal your species or other abilities beside speech. Is that a deal?" "Deal?" The mimic didn''t understand the word. Shaking his head with a smile, the Chief exined. "A deal is when one gives something to another while getting something from them. This something can both be an actual item, promises or information. I will give you a promise not to reveal your nature to my Tribe, so you can still jump scare them. In return you''ll tell me how much Charisma my new cape gives me. When I ask you if it''s a deal I''m really asking if you think it''s fair." The living treasure chest had its tongue hanging out as it thought. "I think it fair." It decided. "Then you say ''it''s a deal'' and shake my hand." The Chief stated as he walked towards the mimic with his hand out. The mimic did so before jumping up and down again. "Two more Charisma!" It said while jumping. Clearly the many times the word ''Charisma'' had been repeated helped the mimic learn the word. Nerok knew the 2+ in Charisma was only the enchantmentid on the cape. In actuality the cape itself would also give some extra points in Charisma based on whether each person seeing him wear it found it stylish, awe inspiring or the likes. Or it might take Charisma from him if the watcher found it ugly. "Thank you, little one." The mimic stopped jumping and began its not-really-pouting again. "I not little! Just small!" Nerok gave a littleugh. "Sorry my friend! I will make sure to call you ''small one'' instead!" The mimic nodded satisfied. Nerok touched the golden feathered cape and disappeared from the Dungeon. Chapter 14: Tribal Announcement and 2nd Floor Chapter 14: Tribal Announcement and 2nd Floor Karmic griffins are expensive. More expensive than even my karmic small dumb mimic, which was the second most expensive creature I had made. And not just a bit more expensive but a whole 80 more mana before the 50% extra and my discounts. For the base cost that is. The griffins'' level up cost is actually less. Probably ''cause leveling up a mimic makes it stronger and better at hiding, while leveling up griffins just makes them stronger. The reason the griffins base cost was that high was likely due to their Ability to deal 120% damage while guarding a treasure. The definition of ''treasure'' is subjective though. I consider my mimics to be treasures as it took me so long to design them. And even longer before I had made one, I could use. As such, I had gotten my griffins to guard my mimic while still getting the 120% damage bonus. Honestly, I think griffins are meant to be on the 6th or 7th Floor. If they''re expensive to me with all the discounts I''m getting, then I don''t think a normal Dungeon would be able to make one before the 3rd Floor if they really tried. But then you have to factor in that mine are also the much cheaper karmic versions. Thus skyrocketing the price of their non-karmic cousins. All that being said I could still easily afford them even without using my Mana Bank. Griffins were just much more expensive than what I had made beforehand. For instance, karmic griffins were more than 3 times as expensive as the b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons. If I were to make them without using my Mana Bank, I would have needed to have done it 2 levels at a time. The mimic was - as its species stated - dumb and so I had to slowly repeat the words it had problems with. It would have taken way longer if I hadn''t! Still, its sentences sounded like a 3- or 4-year-old. With all the discounts I had gotten I no longer had any problem counting the fledgling lightning sea serpents as dragons in my mental count to make sure my Floors were roughly 90% dragons. Like the 2nd Floor the 3rd Floor also had only three rooms due to me making rooms bigger than the standard room size. The rooms of the 3rd Floor had been dug but it was far from done. No puzzles, no traps and only three kobolds. The Watchtower Crossroad was actually the only room where the environment was done as I needed Kobold manpower to finish the rest. Though I might decide to add more watchtowers to the Crossroadter on. Due to the kobolds'' ability to gain sses every kobold was spawned with a weapon. As their creator I got to choose what weapon they spawned with, as long as it wasn''t super powerfulpared to the kobold''s level. In the case of a kobold with a crossbow, the material of the crossbow and bolts would change based on the kobold''s level. The kobold talking to the Chief added some nuances I hadn''t told it of. The fact about people with 10% karma level or lower being unredeemable I hadn''t even thought about yet couldn''t help but agree with once I did. The Chief didn''t seem to notice that the kobold was speaking in an entirely differentnguage. One consisting mostly of growls, yips, hisses, and bellows. Oh well. Maybe someone else will notice. Chief Nerok left my Dungeon having gotten his options and I began nning for the future. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The whole Tribe had kept close to the Dungeon Portal as the time neared for their Chief to return. More than an hour had passed, and the Tribe had gotten excited. "The Dungeon must be able tomunicate with him if it takes him so long!" many stated. A few skeptics in return pointed out that the Dungeon might just have gotten a new Floor. This didn''t stop the excitement from mounting though. Shouts and cheers got out as the Chief appeared out of the blue next to the now stone Portal. Nerok quickly noticed that the Tribe was already gathered around him. He put on his new griffin feathered cape, raised his hand to quiet the crowd and spoke to his Tribe. "Yes, as some of you have guessed I have sessfullymunicated with the Dungeon!" "How?!" Asked the curious and the skeptics. "The Dungeon has finished its 2nd Floor and has begun making its 3rd! The 2nd Floor has a single creature with the ability to speak!" Multiple "What?!"''s and other sounds of surprise could be heard from the Tribe. Said sounds got louder when the Chief continued speaking through the noise. "The 3rd Floor only has three creatures for now yet all three are speaking draconic humanoids!" Nerok paused and soon the crowd was quiet once more. "The Dungeon has a n!" The cheers returned louder than before. Nerok simply waited for their curiosity to quiet them down again before continuing. "The Dungeon fears no elves as it has ns on how to survive without even being enved by them!" This time the cheers almost shattered everyone''s eardrums. Meeting elves and not getting enved? That seemed like an unachievable dream to the Tribe, but of course their local Dungeon god would know a way! It took much longer before the Tribe calmed down after that announcement. And when they did, they all had one question on their minds: How is that possible? Knowing this, Nerok stated: "Naturally the Dungeon did not wish to inform me on how it intended to escape the effects of the Dungeon Core Cage. It only stated that its confidence wasn''t simply due to believing it could win over 2nd and 3rd tiers!" Happy mumbles appeared. Now knowing their Dungeon wouldn''t fall to the elves, they were once more worrying about themselves. "The Dungeon gave us two options on how to deal with this!" The Chief continued. "We can evacuate while the Dungeon deals with the elves." Several people booed at this, not wanting to leave their new god and safe haven. "Or we can stay in an unfinished Floor while the elves are here!" It took the Tribe hours to decide on all the details. Then ¡®First Party¡¯ was sent into the Dungeon both to inform it on their decision and to gather more loot for the Tribe. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó My favorite Party clearly didn''t know how to talk to me, now knowing I could hear and understand their every word. Still, they informed me of the Tribes decision to stay in an unfinished Floor. They added the Tribe''s worry that the elves would know the Tribe was in the Dungeon by looking at the allowed number of sapients. To this I responded by making a Rule. New Dungeon Rule: Chosen Family: The Dungeon Core may choose to see certain sapients as a part of its Dungeon just like its creatures are. The sapient then stops counting as a sapient to the Dungeon''s allowed number of sapients per Floor. This includes allowing children inside in Dungeon, though those children cannot earn EXP from the Dungeon. Creatures will only attack them in self-defense, and traps will not be activated by them. Adult sapients can still earn EXP and loot like normal but can choose to bypass any puzzle in their way but won¡¯t then earn EXP for the puzzle. No sapient with a karma level of 25% or lower can be seen as a part of the Dungeon nor any with evil intentions towards the Dungeon Core. Currently chosen sapients: The Tribe of Chief Nerok. Due to Begdar, Morghar, Nalir, Taozcec, Thenac and Zaktak''s current presence in your Dungeon they will get the option to ept this change now or decline it. Should it be declined the Rule will simply take effect next time they enter. New Achievement: A Friend in Need (I): You are a kind being who helps others without thought. Condition: Go out of your way to help someone without expecting anypensation for doing so. Reward: 100 EXP and 105% Charisma. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 105% Charisma changed to 5% discount on karma creatures.] You already have 5 Achievements active. Pick two to be passive. Passive Achievements give only half the rewards. You can only change your decision when you earn an Achievement. Before it could start listing my Achievements, I had already decided on which two should be passive, so I interrupted. Have A Friend in Need and Dungeon God be passive. A Friend in Need (I) (Passive): Reward: 50 EXP and 3% discount on karma creatures. Dungeon God (Passive): Reward: The Ability to make Dungeon Rules and a 3% mana discount on all creations. A Friend in Need (Passive) rewards you 50 EXP. The Party saw no reason not to ept the Rule and thus did so right away. They also understood that it was my way of informing them how the Tribe would be hidden in me. Zaktak petted with and cooed at the mimicking drag as always before the Party continued towards the 2nd Floor. Unlike the Chief, theymented on how the Safezone wasn''t bare unlike all other Dungeons''. Begdar is so gonna ask me why it''s different. And so many other questions too! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó ¡®First Party¡¯ entered the 1st room of the 2nd Floor. This room was double the length, width, and height of the rooms of the 1st Floor. With that came taller trees but otherwise it was just a bigger forest room. "Pitfall trap. And another one over there." Thenac had finally gotten her desired Trap Detection Skill. Skills could only be granted before adulthood - but then only a maximum of 10 - or during a level up. And the level ups one got while tiering up didn''t count here. Having been stuck at level 9+ for most of her life, she had only now been able to level up and gain a new Skill. Her Trap Detection was still only level 1, but it would still work really well on the 1st Floor of a Dungeon. Especiallybined with her already existing expertise on traps. "Karmic woods wyverns, huh?" Begdar had looked up while Thenac was looking down. There appeared to be about half a dozen of them in the trees in front of them. Though their brown feathers were a good natural camouge, so Begdar wasn''t sure if there might be more, she just hadn''t noticed. When asked, Thenac informed her that there were indeed more hidden. "To the right. Ground level." Thenac had noticed movement behind some trees. B¨¡ z¨² lung dragon Level 3 A roughly 5 meter long, serpentine, 8-legged, wingless dragon walked past the Party barely sparing them a nce. Its orange coloring and red highlights made it very visible in the green forest. It had a neural spine sail going from the beginning of the neck and around the other side of its tail making the tail look like a double-sided weapon. "It''s not karmic either? Like the b¨¬xi¨¦?" Begdar wondered out loud. The Party decided to walk straight ahead for now while avoiding the traps. They knew they didn''t need to do so but liked to keep in practice doing so. Thenac kept an eye on the trees as much as on the ground and noticed a key in the biggest one nearby. Taozcec was quick to take over and began convincing a wyvern to give them the key. The wyvern got closer but didn''t seem to understand what the vulpinekin wanted it to do. Seeing that it wasn''t working Nalir simply climbed the tree, got the key, and jumped down again. "Good job, hun!" Begdar said and gave the felinekin a kiss on the cheek. Nalir''s eyes softened, and a small smile appeared on his lips. "The key seems to be located in a bigger concentration of wyverns and there don''t appear to be any lung dragons around here. Most likely the next key is in the territory of the lung dragons. Though that is assuming they have one." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Not long after finding the first key of the Floor, the rhinokin again noticed an item. "Is that a treasure chest?" Walking closer she pulled the climbing nts off of the chest. Said chest was big enough to contain one of the small shields they had gotten earlier and high enough for a helmet. Thenac opened the treasure chest and found some dragon leather along with three medium copper cubes. Morghar picked up a copper cube. "You don''t normally see copper before the 3rd Floor, right? And sometimes first by the 4th?" His Party agreed. "Thank you kindly then! You even went so far as to make them medium sized!" The ursakin said to the Dungeon. As a small cube was 1¡Á1¡Á1 cm, the medium 2¡Á2¡Á2 and the big 3¡Á3¡Á3, each size had a volume much bigger than the previous size. Going from small to medium was an increase of 8 times the volume while there from small to big was an increase of 27 times. That and the fact that the bigger sizes made it quicker to gather them meant that the Party was really pleased. Next to the chest was a stream guarded by log crocodiles like the ones from the swamp room. The stream had logsid over it at ces and steppingstones at others. On the other side of the stream the wyverns and lung dragons were level 4, but the room looked otherwise the same. The Party reached the wall on the other side of the room, but the opening wasn''t immediately in sight. Thenac''s Trap Detection detected several traps to the right, so the Party decided to go that way. Entering the lung dragon territory the Party quickly found the 2nd key half hidden under a rock. The lung dragon territory had fewer trees and instead big rocks stood amongst the wildflowers and ferns along with small puddles of water. Thenac identified a proximity trap around the key but couldn''t tell what kind. A stick was used to retrieve the key. The Party ended up walking past the opening as they had noticed another chest. This one contained a pair of dragon leather boots and another 3 medium copper cubes. Exiting the room arger than usual amount of loot dropped. Plenty of different dragon leather items the Tribe already had and while most of the cubes were medium sized, they were all aluminum. 6 BO''s dropped as well, and the Party felt weird having to ignore them. With the Tribe still so primitive and without ess to trade, they had no use for any more of them. As such the Party only gathered the aluminum cubes and the dragon meat. Chapter 15: Emerald’s New Life Chapter 15: Emerald¡¯s New Life Before even entering the 2nd room of the 2nd Floor Thenac stopped to point out a couple of proximity traps that couldn''t be avoided as they were ced right in front of the opening to the room. One was the same rockfall trap from the trap corridor, while Thenac couldn''t identify the other one. She hadn''t encountered a trap like this before and her ''Trap Detection'' could only help her find traps, not identify them. Normally the rhinokin would have quickly activated them and stepped back into safety as a way of disarming them. But as the traps still refused to activate such a trick was unnecessary. The room was the same size as the rooms of the 1st Floor and had a mixture of trees, rocks, and puddles in it. The room was located to the right and the Party would have to pass another proximity trap to get there. This one identical to the holed rock in the swamp room though this time surrounded by simr looking rocks. While Thenac looked for traps, Zaktak had noticed that the one b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon in the room was carrying a key around its neck and pointed it out to Taozcec. When the vulpinekin stopped giving the 8-legged dragon chin scratches after getting the key the dragon looked him in the eyes and nodded. A weak white glow appeared around Taozcec for a bit before it disappeared. "What was that?" Morghar asked. No one had an answer for him though. Like the room before the Party saw no need to search the entire room and so simply walked to thest with three keys in tow. The 4 bright red feathers and 14 small copper cubes informed the Party that some new creatures were hiding in the other room. They gathered the feathers, dragon meat and metal cubes and went back to look for the new creature. They were somewhat disappointed by the two small, dark red birds they saw. Back in the 3rd room the Party noticed a door with 4 locks on the left side. To each side of both the Party and the locked door were a tree. Beside those 4 trees there were no others in the room. Leading to the door was a dirt route with water on each side. As such the closest left corner was simply a pond. The stream on the right side of the route went from the closest right corner to the furthest left leaving the furthest right corner as an ind. On said ind stood two half-bird, half-cat creatures guarding arge treasure chest. The treasure chest had double the height, length, and width of the two treasure chests in the big room and as such were about a meter high. "The stream has no steppingstones." Begdar simply stated and despite the tempting big treasure chest, no one in the Party had any desire to disrespect the Dungeon by crossing its boundaries. "We''re still missing a key." Zaktak pointed out. "Do you guys think it''s in here or that we missed it in another room?" The Party looked around the room but only the 4 trees were inside their given boundaries. Thenac pointed out both that there were drags in the trees and that none of them had thest key. "One of them is only level 1 though." The rhinokin added. "That''s slightly weird." After a quick thought Begdar concluded: "It''s a puzzle. The level 1 drag is likely a clue with the reward being thest key." Her Party nodded. They pondered the puzzle for quite a while before Taozcec decided to call the drag in question down and pet it. More time passed before the vulpine started softly muttering to the drag. "You are such a cutie, little one. So small and kind and cute!" "The Dungeon rewards kindness and good deeds, right? That''s probably another clue but I can''t see how it factors in with the level 1 drag!" Begdar sounded frustrated. "The Dungeon rewards us for having mercy and has made clear boundaries through its streams meant to teach us respect and-" the lupinekin''s monologue got cut off. "Politeness!" Came the outburst from Taozcec before he turned back the level 1 drag in his arms. "Will you please give us thest key?" He asked the small green dragon. With ast purr and nuzzle it spread its wings, flew over the pond, and dove into it right by the nt covered corner. The Party only had enough time to give a couple of surprised sounds before the drag flew out of the water with a key in its front ws. Flying back tond on Taozcec''s shoulder, it tried to hand the key to him. As he took the key from the level 1 drag, he thanked it. At the same time the System announced that a puzzle had been solved. With thest key in hand, the Party went and opened the door. Seeing the Core in the next room Zaktak couldn''t help but ask: "Didn''t Nerok say there was a speaking creature on this Floor?" "Yeah." Morghar confirmed. "We must have missed it." "You did!" Came a childlike voice from behind, followed by a short giggle before it cut itself off. The Party turned around in a sh looking for the mysterious voice. "Show yourself!" Ordered Nalir. "Na ah!" Replied the treasure chest. For the short moment it was speaking the Party could see a mouth with sharp teeth and 4 small eyes. Words had also appeared above it but the split second wasn''t enough to let any of the 6 read it. "Why not?" Asked Taozcec. "We just wanna talk, that''s all." The chest seemingly gave up pretending to be a treasure chest and revealed 4 eyes, 4 legs, a pair of arms and a mouth full of sharp teeth. "But that''s so boring!" The now revealed small dumb mimicined. "What would you rather do then?" The vulpinekin asked, a bit surprised. "I hide and jump and scare!" It replied excitedly while jumping up and down. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The foxboy politely asked the drag for the 4th key and his karma level rose another point. Taozcec is at 89% now¡­ next time his karma level rises he''ll get swamped by my creatures as they try to befriend him. Begdar had tried to ask my mimic all sorts of questions. Most questions it didn''t know the answer to though - like why some creatures had karmic in front of their species name and some didn''t - and it quickly grew tired of answering the ones it could. I did tell it what Thenac''s first reward did so it could inform the rhinogirl. It would be sad if she never figured out that the shapeshifting cone could make her horn look whole. To stop the remaining questions the mimic skittered into the invisible anti-creature wall before the Core Room and jumped down the stairs to the unfinished 3rd Floor while shouting "Don''t follow me!". The Party decided it would be disrespectful to enter a Dungeon''s unfinished Floor without permission - and especially so when told not to by its creature - and instead decided to simply leave. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Party came by againter that day as always - with Thenac now having a whole looking horn. They saw it as a routine visit to gather loot. One more important than normal due to the looming threat. As such, they had 3 wooden¡­ wheelless wheelbarrows¡­? with them to carry food in. The wheelless wheelbarrows had handles on both ends and wererge enough that they had to be carried by two people. The Party might have seen this as a routine visit but I, however, had kept count. This was their 10th visit. And each time they came to The Waterfall Room the mousegirl Zaktak would pet and y with the mimicking drag. Finally I''ll get to see the Lifelong Friends Rule in y! I was so excited! Interesting things didn''t happen all that often. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Rule ¡®Lifelong Friends¡¯ has gone into effect. Karmic mimicking drag level 2 is now your friend and will soon no longer be a Dungeon creature. Karmic mimicking drag level 2 is unable to pick a name or gender for themself. As their next of kin it falls to you to pick a name and gender for them. Zaktak had simply been tickling the coolestdragon of them all when the System started talking. Her mouth shot open, but no sound came out. The rest of the Party liked to rest for a bit and talk while she petted and yed with the drag. It didn''t take them long before they realized the muskin had stopped ying. "What''s wrong?" Asked Thenac. "I¡­ uhhh¡­ System¡­ uhhh¡­" Zaktak stuttered, stunned. Then, with a sudden burst of speed, she gave the mimicking drag a tight hug and announced: "You''re mine now! You''re a girl, ''cause we''re awesome and your name will be Emerald!" The whole Party then watched as the drag grew a tiny bit bigger and its identity changed to: Emerald Karmic mimicking drag Level 2 Zaktak additionally got this message: Emerald is no longer a Dungeon creature. "What just happened?" Asked Morghar. "The Dungeon made a best friends Rule, where if you make a Dungeon creature your friend it stops being a Dungeon creature so it can be your friend instead!" The muskin said in one excited breath while hugging the purring and nuzzling Emerald. "It''s not a part of the Dungeon anymore?" Asked Begdar to rify. "No, she''s not a part of the Dungeon anymore. Emerald has a name and gender now! Dungeon creatures don''t have neither!" "Does that mean she can follow us out?" Morghar asked. "Can she meet my cubs?" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Morghar was quite excited to finally show his kids a real dragon and talked enthusiastically with Zaktak as they walked through my Dungeon. The rest of the Party looked happy on their behalf but couldn''t match the beardad and mousegirl''s enthusiasm and so stayed mostly silent. I noticed that a new mimicking drag spawned when the Party entered the 2nd Floor. To the surprise of all - myself included - Emerald leveled up not once but twice when the Party exited the Forest of Territories. That''s fast! I simply thought at the time. The Forest of Territories was very big after all and Emerald was still low leveled. But then she leveled up again after the next room. As far as I could gather it would take a level 2 beastkin three runs through a normal Dungeon with two Floors to level up. Emerald only got EXP for three rooms though. Admittedly the 2nd of the two was the size of 8 rooms but that''s still only one Floor when added together. She should have needed¡­ my Dungeon mind made quick work of the math. 8 times as much EXP. My Experiencing Peace Rule doubles most of that EXP but that can''t be all! ¡­ Hmm¡­ Wait¡­ I created her species. It didn''t exist before now except as one of my Dungeon creatures, and thus as a part of me. As such, she would have gotten the ''First of Your Kind'' Achievement and thus double EXP gain for 5 years! ¡­ Uhm¡­ And maybe drags simply need half as much EXP as a beastkin does to level up¡­ No¡­ I''m not jealous just ''cause a tiny dragon gets EXP faster than me... Emerald even got a reward when the Party got to the Core Room. Hers was a spiky color-changing leather cor giving her 2 more Dexterity. At least she didn''t already level up a 4th time... ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Three trips through my Dungeonter and Emerald was ready to tier up. Like sapients she needed to crush a Breakthrough Orb to do so. That¡¯s odd. I thought only sapients needed to do that to tier up. In fact, System? Only sapients and Dungeon Cores tier up at all, right? Only sapients, Dungeon Cores and certain Dungeon creatures can tier up. However, some creature species have age tiers, which have different effects depending on the species but always involve a power boost. Uh, right! Of course! I forgot. But why can Emerald tier up? Drags nor mimicking drags are ''true dragons''. And why does she need a Breakthrough Orb to do so? I thought that was only sapients? A creature bound to a sapient through the ¡®Lifelong Friends¡¯ Rule will follow the tier up conditions of sapients. However, due to their body''s instability from having been created from mana, they will instead instantaneously ''evolve'' into a stronger rted creature that can contain the additional power, should said creature not have age tiers and be unable to have a ss. Her body is unstable?! Because she was made from mana?! Does that have any other consequences for Emerald? And what about my own creatures? Dungeon creatures'' mana-made bodies are stabilized by their connection to their Dungeon Core. As such a Dungeon creature cannot leave the dimension of their Dungeon Core. A creature bound to a sapient through the ¡®Lifelong Friends¡¯ Rule is separated from their Dungeon Core but is in turn bound to a sapient. This makes a Dungeon creature''s body stable enough to leave the Dungeon but not stable enough to be able to contain all the power it gains from level ups. The ''evolution'' into a stronger creature is enough to stop any other consequence of being made from mana from happening. As the sapient is unable to transfer the energy necessary for survival to the creature, the creature must instead find another way of getting the needed energy. As such, most creatures bound to a sapient through the ¡®Lifelong Friends¡¯ Rule will begin to eat. Generating energy themselves will slowly make the body of the creature less mana-based. Once the creature is no longer mana based it will no longer be bound to the sapient and, as such, will no longer die if the sapient does. At this point the creature can break its bond to the sapient should it wish to. Oh. Okay. That''s good! Mostly. Apparently Emerald dies if Zaktak does. And I suppose all my creatures would as well, should I die. The Party had gone back to the previous room where they had left a pair of BO''s behind. Emerald bit down on one and began to glow and grow. When the light had died down again, she looked like a different dragon. She had gotten a bit bigger, her scales became a darker green before getting covered in leaves and her ears became short and wide instead of the long, slimmer ones she had before. Looking at thebel floating above Emerald it now said: Emerald Fledgling karmic mimicking elemental dragon - Forest Level 10 Cool. Could you tell me a bit about the non-mimicking variety of the race, System? Elemental dragons of the Forest element are true dragons that have adapted so well to a forest habitat their bodies have taken on Forest properties. Their leaf covered bodies allow them to photosynthesize part of their needed energy intake. Branches can be extended from the body to attack enemies or manipte objects. While having the ability to breathe fire, they rarely use it. These dragons are about an inch tall when they hatch and have a wingspan of 60 cm when fully grown. As they are true dragons their blood flows with mana making them immune to dying by old age and additionally grants them a specific amount of EXP based on their age tier each year. True dragons, which are not bound to a Dungeon Core, are considered semi-sapient creatures and can enter Dungeons while only counting as half a sapient. Nice. And I do remember correctly when I say that the ¡®fledgling¡¯ part is her age tier, right? And that it''s the ''I''ve just be an adult'' one? The age tiers of true dragons are hatchling, fledgling, young, mature, old, ancient, and true ancient. Hatchling dragons are level 0. Fledgling dragons are level 1-19. Young dragons are level 20-39. Mature dragons are level 40-59. Old dragons are level 60-89. Ancient dragons are level 90-199. True ancient dragons are level 200 and higher. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Domestic yak is unable to gain the karmic phylum due to ''domestic'' and ''karmic'' being too simr. Calcting¡­ Domestic creatures'' behavior will remain unchanged. Discounts rted to karmic creatures will also rte to domestic creatures. ¡­ Okay then¡­ ¡­ I ordered 10 galespikes to follow the orders of 10 kobolds before ordering the kobolds to practice riding and flying on their new mounts. 10 selected karmic galespikes have gotten the modifier ''kobold trained'' and will follow the orders of kobolds over their own instincts. 10 selected karmic kobolds have gotten the modifier ''galespike rider'' and can ride galespikes without a natural risk of falling off. I thought that would make the galespikes domestic, but this is even better! Sweet! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó After having met Emerald, Morghar¡¯s cubs insisted on him getting one as well. And of course beardad caved in and began befriending the new mimicking drag in The Waterfall Room. ¡°The girls decided you should be a boy named Sprout.¡± Morghar told his new friend. ¡°I believe they are hoping you might choose Emerald as your mate, but please don¡¯t feel like you actually have to do so.¡± Sprout was seemingly just as quick to level up as Emerald had been. He must have gotten the Achievement as well. It wasn¡¯t just aimed at the very first of one¡¯s kind after all. When Sproutter was ready to tier up/evolve he became the same type of dragon Emerald had. He was a bit smaller than her, though. ¡®Cause of the gender difference perhaps. I wonder if all drags would be Forest dragons. Could be due to the simrities between the two races. You know, the simr sizes, their preferred habitat, meatless diet, and such. Or maybe Sprout actually has a crush on Emerald¡­ Now that I think about¡­ Sprout has been very attentive to Emerald. ¡­ He definitely has a crush on her! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 6 days had gone by since Nerok''s visit. The Party had kept to the schedule and visited twice a day - now with the wheelless wheelbarrows and Emerald and Sprout as their 7th and 8th members. Would the bonded drags have counted towards the allowed number of people if they weren¡¯t also a part of Nerok¡¯s Tribe? A creature bound to a sapient through the ¡®Lifelong Friends¡¯ Rule does not count towards the allowed number of sapients in each Floor. However, unlike other creatures they can actually enter a Dungeon and do so automatically when their bounded sapient enters the Dungeon. They cannot enter a Dungeon without their bounded sapient. Uhh¡­ Good to know¡­ I think¡­ I had finished the 3rd Floor and while the 4th Floor was unfinished, it was ready to receive guests. Just as it was supposed to be. To make it a bit more secure for them I added another Rule. One inspired by the way I had hidden my Core. New Dungeon Rule: Hidden Unfinished Floor: The unfinished Floors of the Dungeon will be hidden from everyone and everything except the Core itself and any sapients covered under the ¡®Chosen Family¡¯ Rule. This can be ovee by active rted skills of the same tier as the Core or higher. I saw no reason to make it easy for vers, so I had lowered the number of allowed sapients to its lowest setting. The cooldown timer I had at first wanted to put on max, but I changed my mind. While a timer of 24 hours would give me more mana to build defenses with, it also makes it more likely for the people outside to realize that their friends are dead rather than simply on a different Floor. And then they''ll likely call for stronger backup instead of walking to their death. No timer is better for now. No wait¡­ If I get lucky - which is entirely possible due to Bad Karma, Bad Luck - and kill a Party really quickly the Portal would immediately open again. Thus making it obvious that they died as they didn''t have time to reach a new Floor. There must be some way to¡­ Hmm¡­ System? Set the standard timer so¡­ 2 hours have to pass from one Party entering my first Floor till the next Party can enter. Standard timer set to 2 hours from the arrival of each Party. Perfect! That way they are less likely to realize the previous Party has died. If that is what ends up happening, that is¡­ It might be hubris speaking¡­ To make sure I hadn''t jinxed myself I had a kobold knock on some wood for me. I didn''t have hands myself after all. Status and 4th Floor Details please. Personal Status Level: 9+ Needed number of killed sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower: 3/10 EXP: 5,594 Next mana payment for level up: 0/1,200 Mana: 1.25/500 Mana regeneration: 175 per hour Floors: 3/5 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Floor Details for the 4th Floor 170/450 levels worth of creatures 0/2 puzzles 0/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Relevant Dungeon Rules Chapter 16: Evacuation and Elves Chapter 16: Evacuation and Elves Wanting to confirm the Rule onest time before entering, Chief Nerok ced his hand on the stone part of the Dungeon Portal. The Dungeon Portal is currently open. The standard timer has been set to 2 hours from the arrival of each Party. 4 can enter the Dungeon at a time. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Chosen Family'' any member of Chief Nerok''s Tribe, including children, can enter the Dungeon without counting towards the Dungeon''s allowed number of sapients per Floor. Turning back to his Tribe the Chief repeated what the people already knew. Just to make sure they behave. "The Dungeon may have made us its chosen family, but we are still its guests! Behave yourselves and respect its boundaries! Be kind to its creatures and don''t cross any streams unless the Dungeon has provided it with steppingstones! If a creature tells you to stop you do so! And that¡¯s whether it tells you with words or growls! Understood?!" They did. "Then grab everything so the elves think we left! Then we''ll enter the Dungeon and see how it has prepared for our arrival!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The children loved the cute drags but were easily convinced to leave them alone by their parents or guardians. "Later." They were told. "We need to see where we are staying first and unpack our stuff. Besides, you''ve yed with Emerald and Sprout before. You can wait before ying with these." Loot was collected on the way, but fruits, nuts, berries, and meat were the main focus. They had no real clue as to how long they would have to stay after all. The first 5 BO''s were given to the 5 pregnantdies, who had yet to tier up. None of them have given birth yet but it looks really close for two of them. One of the two closest to giving birth was Morghar''s mate. His mate was a bear-beastkin like himself and their two children. The girls appeared to be identical twins, but they clearly had two different personalities. Birax was slightly calmer and seemed obsessed with dragons. Haria liked dragons too but less enthusiastically and was more interested in running around, exploring, and ying tag. She did sessfully drag her sister into ying with her and the other kids instead of only observing my creatures. The children even got to run around unsupervised while in the big Forest of Territories. They really trust me a lot it seems. One little mousegirl - and by little, I mean while she was only one meter tall, her features was what told me she was still a child - wasn''t allowed to wander off though. Her foxboy guardian kept a close eye on her in fact. Or maybe he''s her dad? I''m notpletely sure if that''s possible or not. Hey System?! Can a¡­ I looked at the species name above the foxboy in question to find the proper term. ¡­ vulpinekin have a¡­ I then looked above the mousegirl. ¡­ muskin as a biological daughter? Crossbreeding between the different beastkin races produces an offspring of the race of either the mother, the father or one of the grandparents. Oh¡­ Simple then¡­ What then, if a beastkin and an elf had a child? Crossbreeding between different sapient species produces a sterile offspring with features and abilities from both parents. Right. So likely not a popr option. The Tribe had now reached The Watchtower Crossroad and were greeted by a kobold who proceeded to show them around. The Tribe was very impressed by The Kobold Fortress. I might have built the walls, the trees, and the moat but the rest of it the kobolds had done. Furniture, tools, doors, and the likes had all been built by the kobolds. I had simply told them what I wanted done, while supplying them with trees to cut down and rocks to shape, and they did. They might not need to sleep but that won''t stop me from making sure they have beds! Granted, it was just one room filled with beds and nothing else, but at least they had them! The unfinished 4th Floor was a series of 5 rectangr rooms with long stone buildings on each of the long sides of the rooms. Each building had a t stone roof and was furnished by the kobolds. The Tribe would end up a bit cramped with only 10 18¡Á3 meters buildings but it wasn''t too bad. Several ck fledgling neurotoxic dragons with dark green highlights were hanging out on some of the rooftops along with 10 level 8 kobolds, who couldn''t leave the Floor due to their higher level, and the mimic of the Floor. The karmic dumb mimic currently looked like a raised part of the roof, so the Tribe was unlikely to ever realize it was there unless it revealed itself. The neurotoxic dragons were slightly bigger than drags but had sharper features and small spikes running down their spine. The yak wool beds were a big hit, even though each bed was made of wood and only had a thin yak wool nket to sleep on and one to sleep under. I wanted something like that for my kobolds eventually too. For now my kobolds hadn''t had enough time to make nkets for themselves as well. And well, as they like to remind me; they also don''t need to sleep. So right now they simply had beds covered in the softest moss I could make. The Tribe was sad that they would be unable to take the yak wool nkets with them when they left, due to it havinge from a Dungeon creature and not the environment. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Tanithil Alnus was the lieutenant for the toon sent to retrieve the runaway ves and confirm the existence of a new Dungeon. His superiors didn''t want to take the words of a ve child too seriously after all, so his orders regarding the Dungeon were simply to scout it and report back. That''s probably why they sent my toon too. Tanithil thought to himself. Everyone here is young and has little to no field experience. Tanithil had two sergeants under his charge who in turn had a squad of 10 elves each under theirmand. The toon additionally had a field medic in training, who was somewhat outside the normal chain ofmand. If Mr. Populus - as his title was ¡®field medic in training¡¯ he had asked everyone to instead call him Mr. Populus - gave a medically rted order he had to be obeyed by all, but he was otherwise just underneath the two sergeants in the hierarchy. Tanithil knew Mr. Populus was a 3rd tier Shaman but didn¡¯t know his exact level. A toon of only 24 people might seem small to some, when pitted against a group of 98 people. But those people should remember that not all of the 98 beastkin could fight, while all 23 elves were professionally trained in handling ves. And while most of the ves might have tiered up by now, they would only be at the early to mid-2nd tier - with the exception of three ves who were level 19+ due to having been meant to grind for 2nd tier BO¡¯s. Meanwhile the elves of Tanithil¡¯s toon were all inte tier 2 to mid-tier 3. Tanithil himself waste 3rd tier - level 28 specifically - with the ss of Leader. The Leader ss gave him the active ss Skills ''Aura of Speed'' and ''Morale Boost'' in addition to the passive ''Persuading Voice'' he had gotten when he got the Charisma ss he no longer had. "The Portal has been located!" Came the word from a Scout. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Well, they appear to have abandoned the area." Sergeant Luvon Tiliamented. Tanithil nodded. "Have all awas - except Mr. Populus - look for clues as to their whereabouts." ''Awa'' was the term used for all sses that was or started as the Awareness ss. Likewise ''dex'' was for the Dexterity based, ''char'' for Charisma and so on. Though with Strength only having one syble in the first ce no one shortened that one. The shortening didn''t include the hybrid sses, which were based on multiple Ability Scores, that appeared from the 4th tier. It only referred to sses with only one focus. In Tanithil''s toon no one had hybrid sses as no one was a 4th tier. "We''ll pick a group of 4 to scout the Dungeon for the report and have the rest make camp and guard the area." Tanithil announced. "Yes, lieutenant Alnus!" Said the two sergeants with an elven salute. After having clicked their heels together in respect for their lieutenant the two of them went to go order their squads around. Tanithil took his Communication Orb and started making a report to captain Gleditsia. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Jaonos eagnus entered the Dungeon with his crossbow raised. The other three elves in his Party had their weapons ready as well. Jaonos noticed the text above each of his Party members head but didn''tment on it out loud. While no monster attacked them immediately, they didn''t let their guard down. Halfway into the room Jaonos heard the other Dexterity ss, Elduin, shout "In the tree!" as he threw one of his throwing daggers. The small green dragon fell to the ground as the room turned red. As it hit the now blood-red grass it turned into loot. The remaining 5 dragons answered the attack with screams as they flew to attack the dagger-thrower. He simply answered by throwing more daggers at them. Only one got close enough to attack before it died, and it used the opportunity to st his face full of mes. This naturally caused him to curse up a storm. Jaonos lowered his crossbow and took out his water canteen. He then dumped its contents on top of Elduin who responded with a mumbled thanks. The light of the fire had temporarily blinded the man. Iefyr, the Party''s Strength ss member, ordered Elduin to rx for a bit while he and the Toughness ss, Paeral, checked if the room was truly empty of monsters. Jaonos stood by Elduin as they searched. Not in case the blinded man needed help with something or to protect him, but because he had no reason to help the others look. The monsters are all level 1 anyway. As soon as Iefyr and Paeral stepped foot into the stream they got electrocuted. They hadn''t thought to look in the water as they hadn''t expected the Dungeon to have any water dragons. Forest themed Dungeons didn''t get those until they got either the ocean theme or the river theme at a higher tier. And while the stream before the big tree could have been taken as a sign that the 1st tier of the Dungeon had the river theme, one thing had informed the elves that it wasn''t so. The reflective surface of the Dungeon Portal had been green, not blue. With the electrocutioning from a level 1 monster, the two 2nd tiers barely got hurt and the sea serpent was soon ughtered. Then the two gathered Elduin''s daggers and sounded the all clear. Jaonos then pushed the still blind Elduin into the next room. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó All the monsters seem really focused on killing Elduin and Paeral for some reason. Every time a monster noticed one of the two, they started attacking, but didn''t immediately attack if they saw Jaonos or Iefyr. Elduin looked really hurt at the moment, though his eyes worked fine again. While attacking the monsters of the 3rd room he had stepped on a spike trap which had him limping. Of course he''s faking that. A 1st Floor trap wouldn''t harm ate 2nd tier enough for that. Why he would fake it, Jaonos didn''t know though. Elduin had then gotten steadily angrier over each slight wound and had taken to being the spearhead. A role better suited for Paeral as the tough of the Party. No one tried to discourage him though. If he wants to take the hits then let him, the other 3 thought. While spearheading the Party through the corridor between the 5th and 6th rooms, Elduin had taken dart to his sides, more spikes up through his hurt foot and rocks to his head. Jaonos knew that any 2nd tier that had been looking out for traps would have noticed them as it was only the 1st Floor. And any 2nd tier awa would have spotted them without looking for them. But Elduin was mad and simply charged forward without looking. The fight in the 6th room was different than in the other rooms. Here Elduin was attacked by a dragon-headed winged lion that he couldn''t focus on, which made the battle much more difficult. Iefyr had just as much trouble focusing but together, they defeated the monster. But before that happened it had gotten a couple of hits on Elduin. Meanwhile Jaonos and Paeral had taken care of the ''drags''ing to attack Paeral. Elduin still wanted to spearhead the mission and fell into a pit trap with wooden spikes on the bottom as a result. And then the drags started dive-bombing him. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The elves had arrived 2 days after the Tribe had evacuated. The first Party consisted of two level 17''s with the Dexterity ss, one level 18 Toughness and a level 19 Strength. Whenever possible, I had my creatures attack the one named Elduin. With my creatures and traps being so weak on the 1st Floorpared to the elves I knew I would have to take them out one by one. Jaonos and Elduin both had the lowest levels of the 4 at level 17 but Elduin''s karma level of only 9% made the choice between them easy. Paeral''s karma level of 10% meant that my creatures would attack the Toughness sser instead if they saw him first. I had tried to redirect them, but it wasn''t possible once they had noticed an evil target. Guess I know who''s next! The other two had karma levels of 17% and 22%. The Party got Elduin up from the Hidden Pitfall trap using a rope they had with them. Clearly, they are better prepared for this than the Tribe was. They failed the Kindness puzzle as they had ''killed'' the fake drag. I thought this would have stopped them in their tracks, but it only slowed them down while they looked for the hidden door. When they found it the Strength sser simply rammed the stone door open. ¡­ I hadn''t realized that was an option¡­ This also meant that the Strength sser was the one getting hit by the Acid Spray trap spitting acid from above him right in front of the opening just inside The Swamp Route. The acid made his skin red and irritated but nothing more. The now red elf tried to tell his Party to "keep an eye out for-" something but got interrupted by the drags spotting and attacking Elduin while they were screeching. Unluckily for Elduin he decided to attack the drag by going past Iefyr and jumping forward with his daggers aimed for a flying drag. This led him into the trigger zone of the Sleeping Gas trap and caused him to fall asleep. And then the two log crocodiles arrived. While no one was stupid enough to enter the area with the white fog looking sleeping gas, Jaonos still had a crossbow. So while Elduin got several more wounds and burns from the drags he didn''t die, and the log crocodiles didn''t get near him. The other three barely made sure the room was empty before leaving Elduin on the ground. And with Elduin now unconscious the Toughness sser was now the one in front and thus the one getting hit by traps. This time Spikes and Darts at the same time. It didn''t hurt him much though. The two b¨¬xi¨¦s'' aura did a brilliant job of disorienting the elves while the b¨¬xi¨¦s tried to kill Paeral. His right arm - with which he held his double-ded axe - was bleeding fiercely. But in the end my creatures lost. The mimicking drag had been mimicking a branch and got a bite of Paeral''s ear when he passed by but was then quickly in. With the Party having gotten no keys the Strength sser again smashed through my stone door. Chapter 17: Extermination and A New Environment Chapter 17: Extermination and A New Environment When Elduin Corylus woke up he was all alone. This didn''t surprise him. He would have done the same. So he simply picked himself up and powerwalked as he tried to find his Party. The 2nd Floor started with a much bigger room. Are they even still in here? Maybe I should find the next room and wait there¡­? Unless it looks like they kept going that is. Unfortunately, Elduin was under the misguided assumption that his Party would already have activated all the traps and thus only looked for monsters. Falling into a hidden pitfall - this one with stone spikes on the bottom rather than the wooden spikes of the Floor above - and getting dive-bombed was something he had tried before. But there were two major differences this time: His Party wasn''t near him. And it wasn''t drags dive-bombing him. The brown feathered wyverns stunned Elduin with one scream after another stopping himpletely from attacking them back. The wyverns had their first feast that day. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Yes! It worked! When I had first learned about the wood wyvern''s ability to stun through their screams, I had wondered if having the wyverns scream one after the other would leave someonepletely paralyzed. And it did! I had first tested it out on the other three elves, but it seemed to have only half the effect when used on multiple people, so they hadn''t ended up permanently stunned like the lone Dexterity guy. But as several lung dragons had been nearby and cursed the Toughness sser with bad luck before attacking, Paeral had still ended up dying. Just not due to my wyverns. Watch out for friendly fire guys! To Paeral''s now extremely bad luck, he had stepped into the path of one of Jaonos'' crossbow arrows. His chainmail armor protected his chest well from shing ws, but the arrowhead simply passed through and pierced his heart. When the remaining two elves attacked the lung dragons in their territory, they were hit with several bad luck curses each and ended up killed as well. Bad luck is a powerful thing indeed! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Sergeant Tilia. The portal has opened again. Most likely the Dungeon has a 2nd Floor. We would like to request permission for the 4 of us to enter the Dungeon, sir." Sergeant Tilia looked them over. "For what reason do you wish to enter the Dungeon?" "To train our situational awareness, sir!" The soldier lied. He and his friends actually wanted to collect some BO''s and sell them for extra money. "It might only have two levels, but it is still a Dungeon we''ve never been in before, sir." Sergeant Tilia nodded, believing his story. "Good initiative soldier! I''ll have a talk with lieutenant Alnus ande back to you. He might have someone else in mind who needs extra training." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The sergeant came back soon after and gave them the go ahead. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The next Party of elves didn''t fare any better against the power of bad luck. This Party didn''t end up separated but when they entered the b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons'' territory they still ended up dying. I''m pretty good at giving my creatures strategies to follow if I say so myself! Even with the power of luck it would still have been unlikely that my creatures would have won without helpful tips and tricks from me. As the third elf of the 2nd elven Party died, I tiered up. You have tiered up! You are now level 10! You can now make your 6th Floor. You can now make 2nd tier traps and puzzles. You can now pick the environment for your 2nd tier of Floors. New Environment Desert Mountain River andke Volcano Awesome! What environment do I want this time¡­? Hmm¡­ I can''t see how ''river andke'' would give me anything new for my environment. I can already make streams and ponds - though not very deep ones - and I don''t have enough room for rivers andkes. So why would I- Uhh! The forest environment meant all my level up dragons were suited to the forest environment! ''River andke'' would then give me water dragons! Well I already have one in my lightning sea serpent. So do I need more? I mean more water-types would be nice but would ''desert''-, ''mountain''- or ''volcano''-type dragons be better? Then thest elf died, and I got my - no longer halved - EXP. 1 level 17 sapient has been killed in your Dungeon. 2 level 18 sapients have been killed in your Dungeon. 1 level 19 sapient has been killed in your Dungeon. You have gained 7,200 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 1,440 EXP. Status! Personal Status Level: 10 EXP needed for level up: 4,100/4,100 Additional EXP: 15,219 Mana payment needed for level up: 1,130/1,200 Mana: 21.5/600 Mana regeneration: 210 per hour Floors: 3/6 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I''m almost ready to level up already! I had been saving up mana since the first elven Party arrived. And with that fast a mana regeneration it will be in minutes! What was this about 2nd tier traps and puzzles? 2nd tier traps can only be found through Skills or Abilities. A 2nd tier trap can only be used on a 2nd tier or higher Floor. 2nd tier puzzles can have the possibility of harm if a sapient fails to solve it. A 2nd tier puzzle can only be used on a 2nd tier or higher Floor. Nice. But I should get back to the question of environment. First, I''ll ask myself: what is my current goal? Defending the Tribe by killing the elven vers. Then: what environment would best help me achieve this? My first instinct says volcano due to fire''s destructive tendencies. Mountain dragons are likely tough and might have powers over earth and stone. Desert dragons are likely good at camouge. Water dragons - or sea serpents - are typically gigantic¡­ and water is associated with healing¡­ Which I definitely want but is not really helpful to my current goal. Then I''ll pick one of the others this time and ''river andke'' next time. ¡­ Mountain still sounds incredibly boring to me¡­ ¡­ Desert dragons might help me ambush people but the environment itself sounds really boring too. ¡­ Give me some magma then! I pick the volcano environment! Volcano selected. I immediately tried to add some magma to The Trap Corridor. Only one environment theme can be in effect per tier of Floors. Environment themes cannot be changedter on. Fuck that! New Rule: Environments can be mixed and don''t have to be the same for the entire tier of Floors! New Dungeon Rule: Mixed Environments: All rooms on a Floor have to mainly follow the same environment theme but can have some aspects of other environments mixed in. Huh¡­ Close enough. Magma was soon dripping from the ceiling at various ces in The Trap Corridor. Let''s see what else I can do with this! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó You have leveled up! You are now level 11! Karmic ash drake pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 11. The new Rule had meant I had ended up waiting an hour and a half before leveling up. Maybe I should have waited till after I had leveled up before making the Rule¡­ But never mind that now! At least I had something new to do while waiting. I had decided to make certain areas drip magma from the ceiling but rarely and randomly. This way it would depend on people''s awareness or - as people rarely looked up - their luck. And with your luck being tied to your karma level while in my Dungeon¡­ Bad guys beware! I couldn''t mix the environments too much but that didn''t really bother me. The biggest change I had wanted to make anyway was to change the far corner of The Wood of Rebirth to something fire themed. And I could do that just fine! Said corner now had cracks filled with magma and several nts constantly on fire. Good thing I can stop the fire from spreading. ¡­ And that it doesn''t actually consume the nts as both the nts and mes are a part of the environment. Hmm¡­ Should I focus on leveling up some more now that I can or should I work more on my Floors instead? Leveling up gives me more mana regeneration which lets me finish my Floors faster. But right now my goal is to protect the Tribe which leveling up won''t help me with but more creatures, traps and puzzles would. But if I finish the 4th Floor it would be¡­ well¡­ it would be finished and thus the Tribe would be in between my Core and the elves. ¡­ Hmm¡­ I think I''ll almost finish the 4th Floor for now and then we''ll see what the situation is. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "The first Party should have been out by now." Lieutenant Tanithil Alnus had called a meeting with the two sergeants when the Dungeon Portal opened once again without any elves having left the Dungeon. "The Dungeon might have gotten a 2nd Floor by now, but it can''t possibly have gotten a 3rd." Tanithil might not have studied Dungeons but he knew more about the elven controlled Dungeons than your average elf, as he had been quite fascinated by them in his youth. And no elven Dungeon had ever gotten a 3rd Floor only two weeks after their Portal appeared. "That means the entire Party somehow died despite them being a whole tier above the Dungeon''s." The two sergeants looked doubtingly at each other. "And you don''t think they simply got dyed?" Sergeant Tilia suggested. "Maybe they found something interesting and stopped to examine it?" Sergeant Castanea huffed, sounding annoyed. "Or maybe they''ve decided to simply disregard the orders of a swift return and instead took a break in there." Then his speech turned into mumbles. "Disrespectful soldiers. Every. Single. One of them!" Now the lieutenant was the one looking doubtful. Tanithil shook his head. "Then the second Party would have been the one to return instead." The lieutenant turned to look at sergeant Castanea. "Unless you are suggesting that the first Party is disregarding their orders so they can bezy, and the second Party decided to wait for more than an hour for the 2nd Floor to clear without getting worried or annoyed at the long wait. And how exactly do you exin the Portal being open again if the second Party is on the 1st Floor?" The sergeant sighed and answered politely, the challenge reminding him of his lower rank. "I can''t, lieutenant Alnus. Sorry for doubting you, sir." "Then I suggest I report this anomaly to captain Gleditsia." The sergeants agreed and the meeting was concluded. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Apletely new Dungeon killed two Parties of high-end 2nd tiered elves?! sphemy! The rare loot must be alcohol and they want to keep it to themselves! Send a 3rd tier Party in after them before they drink it all!" Came captain Gleditsia''s bellowing voice from the Communication Orb. "But sir! The Dungeon can''t possibly have more than two Floors!" Tanithil tried to defend his logic. "And yet the 1st Floor is ready for us to enter despite none of the Parties-" The lieutenant was cut off by the captain. "Send a 3rd tier Party in to get my alcohol or I''ll have you demoted!" Tanithil closed his eyes tightly in frustration. "Yes, captain Gleditsia." "Good! And don''t disturb me again unless you got my alcohol!" "Yes, captain Gleditsia." The line was cut abruptly making the rune covered Communication Orb go from glowing purple back to its softer blue glow. Tanithil had only recently been promoted to lieutenant and hadn''t been told anything about his assigned captain other than hisst name. But now the pitying looks he had gotten from several elves made more sense. Clearly captain Gleditsia''s main feature was that he was an alcoholic. Which in turn made him an awful captain as he didn''t find his duties as important as his alcohol. Most likely the only reason Gleditsia was even a captain instead of amon soldier was due to him being a noble of some kind. Not that Tanithil knew this for certain, but that''s how he interpreted it. There wasn''t anything the lieutenant could do about it at that point in time, though. When the toon returned, he would report it to the inspector general. But if the corruption stretched even there it would likely be deemed a "personality conflict". Then Tanithil would probably just be moved to themand of another captain, so he would at least be rid of captain Gleditsia himself. Hopefully it''ll be dealt with properly, so he can get an actual punishment. He''s putting lives at risk! For now though, he had to obey his captain''smand. Whether he liked it or not. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó In the 3rd elven Party three members were level 24 while the Fighter was level 25. They are sending higher level people in. They must have realized I killed the other two Parties then. The 4 elves held the sses of Scout, Fighter, Tank and Mage. Mage! I''ll finally get to see magic then! Iughed mentally. And see it backfire! While the Scout had a karma level of 67% the other three had levels under 25% but over 10%. As such none of the Party would be immediately attacked but three would get a bit of bad luck, 10% extra damage and would activate the traps as well as getting extra damage from them. And with the Mage''s karma level being 11% it wouldn''t take much before he gets attacked on sight. It all depends on how he reacts to peaceful ''monsters''. The more bnce in the sses of the Party,bined with the higher levels makes me think the elves have decided to take me seriously. ¡­ I don''t know if I''m ready for that¡­ Chapter 18: Wonky Magic Chapter 18: Wonky Magic En Rhamnus really didn''t like his Party. They were¡­ unpleasant people. The Mage, Ayred, especially. Ayred had made it clear from the beginning that his only purpose in life was to use magic and destroy things. Or even better:bining the two and using magic to destroy things. And I get the feeling ''things'' is a very broad term for him. En thought as the Party entered the young Dungeon that might have killed above its tier. I think ves and animals are included in Ayred''s definition of ''things''. Maybe even other sapients like humans and gnomes. En chose not to consider if elves were included too. Nothing happened as the Party slowly walked into the room. Then Ayred threw a bolt of magic at the top of the tree in the corner. Following the bolt the Party saw it hit a small green dragon. The dragon turned into loot before it had even realized what happened. The room turned red as screams came from the direction of the tree. 5 other small green dragons jumped into the air and started flying towards the Mage. En only ended up shooting a single arrow, which killed a dragon before it could get to the Mage. Ayred, however, killed another three before they got near him. Thest got cut down by the Fighter, Hagwin, just before it got to breathe fire at the Mage. "Ha!" Ayred sent his Party an incredibly arrogant smirk. Clearly mocking the others for getting less kills than him. All without even saying a word. He must have a lot of practice with that smirk! En thought but didn''t say a thing. The Party had no interest in themon loot of a 1st tier Floor if it wasn''t BO''s and instead entered the next room. While En was the first to notice the dragons this time, his Dexterity wasn''t high enough to do more than aim his bow in the right direction before Ayred had cast a spell and killed it. With a Dex that high despite being an Int he''ll likely get an Intelligence and Dexterity based ss next tier. En got to kill two of the drags - the Scout had finally had the time to read the name tag above the dragons - flying towards Ayred while the Mage got the rest. Or rather, Ayred would have gotten the rest. As the Mage tried to shoot the spell to kill thest of the drags in the room the spell instead backfired and - for some odd reason - gave him a sprained wrist. This time the Tank, Andrathath, was the one to kill the drag before it could breathe fire on the Mage. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The first several times it happened the Party didn''t think much of it. To do magic 4 things had to happen. 1) You had to be at least tier 3 as that''s when you get ess to mana. 2) You had to have enough mana to cast the chosen spell. A higher Intelligence score would give you a higher mana pool, and mana regeneration was based on your maximum mana. So while all sses from tier 3 and up could learn magic it was mostly the Intelligence based ones that ended up using it daily. 3) You had to have enough Intelligence to be able to learn the spell. Again making it more appealing to Ints. And 4) You had to actually learn the spell. The System often gave Skills that needed mana to be used but spells had to be learned. Granted, some Skills, some sses got, looked, and acted a lot like spells, but came without the ability to cast it wrong. As such the whole Party simply assumed Ayred hadn''t learnt the spell properly. So when the spell malfunctioned again in the third room - this time draining energy from the whole Party - they simply looked annoyed at the Mage while thinking he was ipetent. The magic worked as it should in the next two rooms and En even seeded in stopping Ayred from killing the drag with the key. The Scout feared the key would have otherwise disappeared with the killed monster. The drag was thus killed only after the Tank, Andrathath, had pinned it to his chest with one arm and kept its mouth closed with the other hand. En had removed the key only a second before Ayred shot a magic bolt at it. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó In the 6th room En wondered why he was the only one who noticed the ''b¨¬xi¨¦''. Ayred had even cursed at the ''invisible creature'' that had hit him after the b¨¬xi¨¦ had rammed into him with its deerlike horns. The hit hadn''t actually hurt him though, but the Scout still found it weird that the Mage hadn''t seen what hit him. It''s probably just ''cause I''m the only Awa here. En thought after shooting the winged lion-dragon. Maybe this is why the other Parties failed inpleting this Dungeon! They didn''t have any Awas who could see these monsters. And while one is doable at this low level even without being able to see them, with more numbers these could be really hard to fight against. After sharing this discovery with the others - and consequently lifting their morale -, the Party entered the 7th room. The key-carrying drag on top of the big rock in the middle of the room immediately went to attack. Ayred reflectively responded by shooting a magic bolt at the attacking drag only for the magic to instead give him a beard made of feathers. Good thing too as it gave Andrathath the opportunity to grab the drag and pin it to his chest so they could get the key. The spells Ayred sent after the other angry drags worked as intended. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó My ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule didn''t seem as powerful as I had hoped. The first time the Rule took effect it simply weakened the spell, which in turn halved the damage output it otherwise would have had. I was the only one to notice it happened though, as the Mage was way stronger than a simple level 1 drag. At half damage the bolt still killed the drag. The sprained wrist was a better result but still seemed a bitcklusterpared to my imagination. It is random though, so it might give more spectacr resultster. Simply being this high level must have given them enough Awareness to spot my traps ''cause the Scout isn''t pointing them out, yet they know exactly where to avoid walking. The Party had expertly avoided my Spikes trap in The Burrow Trap Room. Theirter ease in avoiding the traps in The Trap Corridor and the Hidden Pitfall trap in The Berry Forest confirmed my thought. The feather beard made meugh. Mentally that is. In The Room of Kindness, the Scout had spotted the fake hurt drag and frozen in surprise. This gave the Mage time to spot and shoot a bolt at the illusion. Seeing as the drag didn''t leave any loot behind, it was quickly obvious to the Party that it had been a puzzle. Like the two Parties before them they instead rammed through the door. This led to the Fighter getting covered in acid which only made him itch for a while. I know my puzzle gets their strength based on the tier of the Floor they''re on but isn''t there another way to put a stopper to this? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. So¡­ There is now a Rule that states that¡­ you have to actually solve my puzzles. ''Cause if you don''t¡­ it''s annoying to me¡­ and you don''t learn the lesson I''m trying to teach you¡­ and then¡­ bad things happen¡­ Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves: All Dungeon-aligned beings and items get a 5% increase in Toughness if a puzzle is neither solved nor failed but instead skippedpletely. Dungeon-aligned includes Dungeon walls, doors, puzzles, traps, creatures, "family" and so on. A puzzle is considered skipped if it is "solved" by breaking the puzzle, if physical or magical force has been used to trick the puzzle into a solved state, or if the puzzle gets skipped. The increase in Toughness through this Rule cannot be higher than a 100% increase and gets reset once the cheating Party leaves the Dungeon. Due to the current presence of sapients in your Dungeon the Rule will for now only take effect in current empty Floors. The Rule will take effect on the remaining Floors as soon as they are empty of sapients. Despite how rambling the Rule had sounded, as I tried toe up with it on the spot, it ended up being a pretty cool Rule. It won''t do a lot this time around, but wow is that gonna stack! That was kind of expensive, though. Mostly due to me having several Floors now, I think. ¡­ Then again¡­ I get a lot of discounts on my creatures, so I''ll probably always find Rules expensive to make. The Party had entered The Swamp Route and the first spell the Mage tried to cast got affected by the ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule. This time it resulted in the Mage temporarily bing mute. Not something that really bothered him. By the time the Party entered The Waterfall Room the feather beard had fallen off and the Mage could talk in a quiet whisper. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó En could see the exit of the first room of the 2nd Floor, but it was guarded by 10 b¨¡ z¨´ lung dragons. Every time before this the Party had been able to kill off the 8-legged dragons pretty quickly, so the faint ck aura that for a second appeared around Ayred came as a surprise. The Party didn''t know what it meant and so decided to ignore it. Even when that ck flicker appeared another 9 times. The first spell Ayred tried against the lung dragons made a red glow appear around the Mage, simr to the ck aura from before. The second spell worked and killed the intended lung dragon. The third spell summoned a unicorn. A unicorn named Sunbolt. Unicorn! What do I know about unicorns? En thought desperately to himself. The white, lion-tailed, cloven hooved, goat-bearded, horned horse might have been summoned with its face turned towards En but that wasn¡¯t who it decided to attack. Instead it wasted no time and began charging towards Ayred with its head lowered so its horn was aimed at the Mage. Right! Unicorns are aggressive and attack on sight. Every elf had heard the infamous story of how the previous elven queen had been attacked and killed without warning by a unicorn while she was visiting a craftery in the neighboring human kingdom. Like many elves, En had often questioned why the craftery had wanted to keep a unicorn. Though with humans¡¯ much shorter lifespan it made sense why the unicorn hadn¡¯t been locked up well enough that it couldn¡¯t attack anyone. Though¡­ Some rumors stated the unicorn wasn¡¯t even punished for killing the queen! To some, the most horrifying part was that many other crafteries and even some royalties had poorly secured unicorn herds as well. En was about to shoot an arrow at the unicorn but got interrupted by the lung dragon that Ayred had intended to kill when he instead summoned the unicorn. Said dragon was raising its sharp tail in an attack towards the Mage, and so En shot it instead of the unicorn. It died on the spot. Unicorns can also heal themselves, En reminded himself. Ayred had gotten a couple of spells off but the unicorn barely seemed to get hurt by them as it rammed its spiraled, straight horn into the Mage. Ayred hadn''t even thought to dodge and was hit in the torso. The unicorn was only level 4 but still managed to get far enough in that it hit a rib and broke it. Blood sttered as the unicorn ripped its horn out of the torso as it reared. Light glowed around its own body and the bodies of the three lung dragons Hagwin and Andrathath had hurt - but due to bad luck hadn''t yet killed - and healed the wounds of the 4 creatures. This gave the dragons a second wind and they began fighting even harder. The pain had Ayred looking down at his wound as he covered it with his hands, trying to keep the blood inside his body. As such he didn''t see the unicorn aim its hooves at his head as it reared down. Shortly after, the Mageid t on the ground, not unconscious but stunned and confused. En didn''t want his Party member to die if he could help it, but each time he tried to go for the unicorn, an 8-legged dragon would show up and the Scout''s priority would change. As such the unicorn got to stomp Ayred''s head again, knocking him unconscious, before enough lung dragons had been killed that En could get a shot off on the unicorn. Unlike the magic bolts from earlier, which had simply been less effective, the arrow instead got reflected by a magic shield and bounced off. As such, the unicorn got another stomp off on Ayred''s head before En actually hit it. And unlike the Mage''s bolts, the arrow killed the level 4 unicorn in one hit. The unicorn burst into light particles but left no loot behind. All 10 b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons had been killed at that point, so after a quick look around En pulled off his backpack and began to work on Ayred''s chest wound using his first aid kit. The Scout didn''t know what to do for the broken rib, so he chose to focus on the bleeding wound. Ayred woke with a scream as En cleaned the wound with the alcohol from the first aid kit. The Mage thrashed around for a bit in pain before settling forying still while making pained sounds. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule changed the effect of 6 of the Mages bolt spells while the Party was in the 1st room of the 2nd Floor. I don''t think he knows any other spells. The first wonky spell made a mechanical clock with arms and legs and a sword appear and attack its caster. It got a couple of scratches in before it was destroyed and turned into light particles. The second one blinded the Party - but not my creatures - for 10 seconds in the middle of a fight. The third made the Mage incredibly clumsy for a minute which had him falling on his face twice and hitting the Fighter with a magical bolt on ident. The 4th reversed gravity for the Mage for a minute which dislocated his right shoulder twice when hended on it after each time gravity changed. The 5th doubled damage dealt against the Mage for the next minute. And while it didn''t make much difference for my own creatures, it did help the level 4 unicorn the 6th wonky spell summoned. Like the animated clock from earlier the unicorn would count as one of my Dungeon creatures either till it died or the Floor got emptied of sapients. This was a good thing as the system considered unicorns as semi-sapients, and the unicorn otherwise would have appeared on the previous Floor due to the 2nd Floor having reached its allowed number of sapients. Why the unicorn had a name when the animated clock didn''t have one I didn''t know, and the System refused to tell me. However, I did know that, unlike the animated clock from earlier, unicorns were karmic creatures. As such, it immediately attacked the Mage rather than the first it saw - which had been the Scout who had a karma level of 67%. The unicorn didn''t only attack with surprising power but also healed itself and some of my b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons it was fighting with, as well as shielding itself from attacks. Additionally it had resistance to magic attacks leaving the Mage unable to kill it. The unicorn did go down eventually - it was only level 4 after all - but not before damaging the Mage severely. I need to get myself a couple of unicorns as soon as I have the mana for it! But unicorns are way out of my price range¡­ I mentally sighed. Just as far out as my true mimics are¡­ More actually. My true mimics are karmic true mimics now, making them much cheaper than before. Unicorns have a base cost of 10,000 mana, despite already being a karmic creature, making them almost 2,000 mana more expensive than my karmic true mimics in base cost... I mentally sighed in disappointment. Immediately after the Scout had given first aid to the Mage did the Party begin to scold the Mage for casting a spell, he ''clearly'' hadn''t learnt to use. The Mage had gotten a concussion and couldn''t properly defend himself against their usations, so they began discussing what to do now. While they shortly considered simply leaving, their much higher level made them reject that idea. Instead the other three ordered the Mage to stop casting spells unless it was his Skill spell - it sounded like said Skill was some form of shield spell - and instead use his emergency dagger. Apparently, the dagger was meant to be used once the Mage ran out of mana. "I was out of mana anyway." The Mage grumbled. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Party had avoided all traps they could, activated safely those they couldn''t and collected both keys in The Forest of Territories. The traps in the opening of the 2nd room were annoyingly noticed as well and thus didn''t do any harm. But let''s see how they deal with the creatures of The Wood of Rebirth. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó As the two robin-sized dark red birds were faster flyers than the brown feathered wyverns, En took it as a priority to kill them first. As a 3rd tier against a 1st tier he hit the two with his first two arrows. You might be specialized in Dexterity, but I happen to have a decent amount as well! Having killed the birds En then turned his attention to a wyvern. That he hadn''t noticed that the birds didn''t turn into loot wasn''t so much bad luck, as it was a disinterest in 1st tier loot - with the exception of BO''s -, as well as the continued existence of more Dungeon monsters in the room. That the birds got consumed in a short burst of me as they died was simply mistaken for the burst of light that appeared before a monster turned into loot. En''s Party sessfully pinned the lung dragon carrying the key, so they could take the key before killing it. As the other 3 did that, En killed another two of the dark red birds - both of these were level 1, where the other two had been level 4 - which had attacked Ayred. Again not noticing theck of loot as he didn''t care to look for it. Chapter 19: Phoenixes and The Kobold Flight Chapter 19: Phoenixes and The Kobold Flight Phoenixes are birds which spend most of their life constantly on fire. As they are a solitary monogamous species they can only be found alone or with their lifemate. Should their lifemate die they will never take another. They are immune to fire, live exactly 500 years if not killed and burst into me as they die. They will then be reborn shortly afterwards from the resulting ashes as long as the ashes aren''t disturbed. The reborn phoenix will automatically be an adult and will start out with a level corresponding to 25% of its level before death, rounded up. As such, they are unable to be reborn before reaching adulthood. A newly hatched phoenix will grow up quicker than its long life expectancy would suggest and will be an adult after only 20 years. The blood of a phoenix flows with mana which is what grants them the ability to be reborn. It additionally grants them a specific amount of EXP based on their age tier each year. Phoenixes, which are not bound to a Dungeon Core, are considered semi-sapients and can enter Dungeons while only counting as half a sapient. The age tiers of phoenixes are hatchling, fledgling, young, mature, ancient, and true ancient. Hatchling phoenixes are level 0. Fledgling phoenixes are level 1-19. Young phoenixes are level 20-49. Mature phoenixes are level 50-89. Ancient phoenixes are level 90-199. True ancient phoenixes are level 200 and higher. Phoenixes were creatures unlike any others and so they had a description longer than any other. Or at least, I think that''s why. While the long description might trick some into thinking phoenixes were expensive, they were actually pretty affordable. Not quite cheap but not all that expensive. This was ''cause, while they are reborn from their own ashes, they didn''t actually deal that much damage when attacking. Especially not while they were still fledglings and thus not able to catch on fire and deal additional fire-damage. Phoenixes had high Dexterity and low Toughness meaning they were hard to hit but easy to kill when they did get hit. And while they could be reborn, one only had to kick the ashes to stop it from happening. My two fledgling phoenixes were the karmic versions and so they went after the wounded Mage each time they were reborn. For fledgling phoenixes it took them a minute after death toe back to life. This time would be halved based on the age tier of the phoenix before its death. My phoenixes were reborn at level 1 6 times before the Scout unknowingly stepped on their ashes. The Scout had simply been moving around trying to find a good angle to shoot the second griffin from - the first having already died at that point. As the Mage was forbidden from casting spells, he was standing a bit away from the battle and defended himself with his dagger whenever a drag or a reborn phoenix came near him. As such, he didn''t get much more wounded. The Tank and the Fighter got some wounds from the expensive treasure guarding griffins but nothing truly serious. The Fighter then went to open the treasure chest, only for my mimic to attempt to bite his hand off. ''Attempt''. As in, the Fighter''s Toughness was too high inparison to my mimic''s Strength for his hand to actually get bitten off. The teeth did go pretty far in, though. Must be due to the extra damage mimics deals when ambushing. The mimic was killed pretty quickly once discovered. Mimics were ridiculously stealthy and strong but had an unnaturally low Toughness Score inpensation. With the fight being done the Party gave the loot a quick once over like they had done after each fight. They didn''t collect most of it - really only the rare BO''s - but their job was to scout the Dungeon. This included collecting any unusual loot. They had collected a couple of the unknown blue-purple, apple-sized, plum-looking fruits in the very first room but nothing special was found since then. This time the loot included a pair of dark red feathers and a couple of griffin eggs which the Party decided to collect. The Party had all seen griffins before as several nobles liked to use them as short-distance mounts - griffins couldn''t bear an elf for long at a time - or for guarding treasure. As such, they recognize the eggs as griffin eggs and not all that special. They decided to take them with them in order to prove there had been griffins in the Dungeon. The Party then looked for the 4th key for a bit, but they quickly gave up and instead had the Fighter ram the locked door. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While the Party had been a bit confused as to the existence of a 3rd Floor, they didn''t dwell on it. Andrathath, the Tank, raised his shield and stormed the watchtowers at the other side of the first room of the 3rd Floor, thinking he then wouldn''t get hit by the crossbow bolts of the kobolds or the spikes the galespikes were flinging. Hagwin, the Fighter, was right behind him. While Andrathath was right in assuming he wouldn''t get hit by the galespikes and kobolds, it happened for a different reason than the one he assumed. He simply wasn''t the one they aimed at. Ayred was. And just ''cause the galespikes and kobolds didn''t hit the Tank or Fighter as they ran toward the watchtowers didn''t mean they didn''t get hurt on the way there. A ssh of magma dropped from the ceiling and hit the shoulder of the Tank and the Fighter''s helmet. The heat caused Andrathath to drop to the ground and roll around, hoping to get the magma off his shoulder. Hagwin immediately pulled his helmet off but the metal had heated up quite quickly. Some water from his water canteen helped. Having gotten most of the magma off, Andrathath cooled himself with some water as well. Then the two took a couple of deep breaths before they started running again. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 4-winged lime and yellow-colored wyverns took to the air to get a better angle to shoot the spikes on their tails at the evil Mage. The kobolds already had such an angle as they stood in their watchtowers and so they immediately began shooting at Ayred. In response Ayred shot a magic bolt at the nearest flying galespike killing it instantly. Only to be scolded by the Scout for casting the spell. Ayred''s destructive goal in life meant that he refused to use his ss given Skills as neither Mana Shield nor Detect Magic could be used for destruction. As such Ayred fully intended to disregard the other''s caution and use his magic bolt spell whenever possible. But with his mana once again being too low to cast it, the current enemies being unfavorable to fight in closebat and his own wounded condition, Ayred decided to retreat to the Safezone. With their primary target now in the Safezone, the galespikes instead targeted the Scout shooting at them, while the kobolds went after the Tank and Fighter as the two had climbed different watchtowers and killed the kobolds in them. The two of them jumped down and went for two different ones while trying to avoid getting hit. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I could order the galespikes to follow the Mage into the Safezone. He''s so wounded by now, he might even die from that. I watched the other three mostly unharmed elves for a moment. But I highly doubt I can kill all of them. And then they''ll spread the word that my creatures might attack you in the Safezone, losing me that advantage. Nah. I''ll get my chance to kill him. He hasn''t left yet, and so he''ll need to pass through The Fortress. I''ll get him there! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó This time the key wasn''t discovered before the creature carrying it around its neck got killed. The key disappeared and reappeared in a small shelf - only big enough for the key - at the underside of the killed kobold''s watchtower. Ayred reentered the room when the galespikes and kobolds had been killed. But as he walked over the bridge the two ¡®fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning¡¯ jumped out of the stream to attack him. The Mage got an electric shock but wasn''t really hurt by the attack. And with the sea serpents now being out of the water they were easily killed by Ayred''s dagger. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With The Yak Pasture''s main defensive strategy being for the yaks to herd the invaders into the many traps of the room, it didn''t fare well against a Party where every member could spot the traps beforehand. The next room fared much, much better. The kobolds were very good at following mymand. And with the galespikes of The Kobold Fortress being ''kobold trained'' they essentially followed my orders as well without me actively having to order them around. As such I ordered half of The Kobold Flight - as in 5 galespike riding kobolds and 5 kobold-trained galespikes - to attack the Mage, while the other half distracted the rest of the Party. The karmic creature description said that ''they will do their best to kill'' those with karma levels of 10% or lower. The kobolds knew that the best way to have the Mage killed was to follow my orders. And I found it best to iste him from his Party. And as the galespikes of The Kobold Flight were kobold trained - and thus could go against their instincts when a koboldmanded it - my creatures had no problems distracting the Party instead of personally going after the evil Mage. The Mage ran back to The Yak Pasture as he tried to escape the half of the Flight, which was attacking him. But unfortunately for him, my creatures didn''t have to stay in their room and so simply followed him while shooting crossbow bolts and spikes after him. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Ayred didn''t have enough mana for another spell and even if he had wanted to use his Mana Shield Skill, his low mana meant it would barely havested 10 seconds. He knew he was going to die. But let me kill one more first! Ayred threw his emergency dagger, trying to hit the nearest galespike in the chest. The Mage''s Dexterity was higher than the monster''s and so the dagger would have hit it¡­ if Ayred didn''t have a concussion. What Ayred didn''t know was that, despite the Mage being 2 tiers higher than the Dungeon monster his Strength was still lower than the enhanced Toughness of the galespike. Strength wasn''t a specialty of a Mage after all. As such, the Mage would have needed to hit the galespike multiple times to kill it regardless. Having no weapons and unable to cast his magic bolt spell, Ayred simply ran in a panic towards the stairs he hade from. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Mage''s dead body fell into the stream at The Watchtower Crossroad,pletely pierced by bolts and spikes. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó These beasts have an unnaturally high Toughness, En thought to himself as he saw that his arrow only deeply wounded a galespike. Even in the room with the 6 kobold watchtowers En had been unable to kill the galespikes in one shot. But when the creatures had been at level 5 he had at least been able to two-shot them. The level 6 galespikes of this room appeared to have a high enough Constitution Score that he wouldn''t even be able to do that much. I need a new strategy. Out of the corner of his eye En noticed Ayred running out of the room. He wouldn''t have been much help anyway against flying enemies. Better he gets to safety. A galespike-koboldbo appeared in front of him with their crossbow and spike-filled tail raised for the attack. En didn''t notice that half the flying enemies flew out of the room after the Mage, nor did he realize that his ''enemies'' refused to be the first to attack. The Scout instead implemented his new strategy: shooting arrows at the wings of the galespikes with the intent to down it, so Hagwin or Andrathath could kill it - and the kobold on it - with their higher Strength. However, the Scout quickly realized that with two pairs of wings, it would be somewhat more difficult to shoot it down. "Throw me up there!" Hagwin shouted to Andrathath as he dropped his shield. With a stern nod the Tank threw the Fighter up into the air. With Andrathath having alright but not a lot of Dexterity, Hagwin did get up to a galespike but ended up hanging from the spike-filled tail of it. And while the Fighter might have had better Dexterity than the Tank, the high speed of the throw - and some bad luck - had caused Hagwin to get a spike in his right eye as he grabbed onto its tail. With a scream Hagwin swung his sword and cut off the tail of the galespike. The sudden loss of its tail caused the galespike to lose control of its flight. As all three started to fall to the ground the galespike spun around and got a bite off on the Fighter before it glowed and turned into loot. The bite hurt but wasn''t all that deep. Hagwin''s wounded eye wasn''t life threatening either, but he would likely end up permanently blind in the right eye. The fall was only about 2.5 meters, and so it didn''t really hurt the Fighter. Andrathath stood ready to end the kobold falling with Hagwin and did so in one swing of his sword. En then sessfully downed a galespike and started working on getting another down as the other two killed the downed one and its rider. Chapter 20: Fighting in the Fortress Chapter 20: Fighting in the Fortress Ha! Take that! I had sessfully killed the evil Mage and while I didn''t think I could actually kill the remaining three, just having killed a level 24 while being level 11 made me ecstatic! 1 level 24 sapient has been killed in your Dungeon. You have gained 2,400 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 480 EXP. Status! Personal Status Level: 11 EXP needed for level up: 5,000/5,000 Additional EXP: 13,540 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/1,400 Mana: 61.5/700 Mana regeneration: 245 per hour Floors: 3/6 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules The three elves had gotten a lot of small wounds from all the crossbow bolts and tail-spikes and the Fighter had even gotten blinded in one eye. And just as they had gotten the st'' of The Kobold Flight downed, the half that had taken care of the Mage returned and saw the ughter of their n members. Just like the drags, kobolds were social creatures and so they demanded revenge and attacked the now elven Party of three. The battlested only another 16 minutes as the Party had found a rhythm. After killing The Kobold Flight, the Fighter and Tank climbed a watchtower each and killed the kobold in them. The kobolds on top of the wall on the other side of the moat were shot at by the Scout but his exhaustion from fighting mixed with the longer distance gave the kobolds enough time to duck behind the half-wall on top of the wall. More small wounds had appeared on the elves and the Scout looked really exhausted, so I counted it as a small victory. The Tank - as the least wounded - went looking for the Mage. Not far, though. He went into the middle of The Yak Pasture where he shouted "Ayred!" once and waited a couple of seconds before returning. While he was gone, the other two stated their disbelief of the kobolds having built a fortress in this new a Dungeon. Which they, of course, only had been able to do because of my guidance. When the Tank returned empty handed, the Party quickly concluded that the Mage had left the Dungeonpletely due to being mostly useless without mana. After all, the Scout had seen him leave the room so the Dungeon monster couldn''t have gone after him. They don''t even suspect that my creatures can leave their rooms! And so they don''t realize he''s dead! As the kobolds weren''t going to lower the drawbridge for them, the Party was forced to wander into the moat. As my theme was ''forest'' rather than ''river andke'' I couldn''t make the moat all that deep. At most 20 cm. The 4 totally-not-eels of the moat did some lightning damage to the Tank as he entered their territory but were quickly killed. The Fighter then jumped-rammed into the wooden drawbridge. As he did, the two kobolds on the top of the wall poured 1.250 liters of steaming hot water on top of him. I was pretty proud of this trick as it didn''t count as a trap due to it being made and activated by the kobolds. First the water trough had to be filled with water from the moat and ced on top of the wall right over the drawbridge. Then it had to be heated by the short-ranging me of a galespike or two. Then the two kobolds on the wall had to tip it over at the right time. The Fighter shouted in anger as the water hit him. The Scout stood a couple meters behind him and had the perfect angle to shoot and kill one of the kobolds, as it was leaning out from the half wall cover. The other kobold managed to duck into safety before getting hit. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Past the moat and wall there was an oblong courtyard. To each side En could see a watering trough with some hay on the ground behind it. Like water meant for horses, the scout thought. Or for the galespikes perhaps? The ground right in front of the Party in a rectangr shape was sand rather than dirt. That, added with the fortress esthetic of the room, gave the impression ofbat training happening in the front courtyard. A bit further ahead right in front of the Party was the only door into the ''fortress''. Or gate rather. En hadn''t forgotten the second kobold on the wall but decided to act like he had in order to draw it out. It worked and En shot it dead as it got ready to attack with its crossbow. Before going further En told his Party to halt as he scouted the courtyard for enemies. Finding none, the Party started doing some first aid. Cuts were cleaned and Hagwin''s eye got covered by a dressing which got held in ce with medical tape. With that done the Party opened the gate and entered the fortress. The first room was a small 2¡Á2.5 meters vestibule. The vestibule had an empty weapon rack in one corner, an empty shield rack in another and two empty armor stands in each of the remaining corners. This left just enough space that one could get to one of the 4 doors in the room. Right in front of the gate the Party came from stood another gate and to each side were smaller doors. Still high doors though, as the System demanded a giant should be able to fit through it. Dungeons were made so all the sapients could use it after all. As such, the height of a Dungeon room rarely went below 4 meters and if it did, it wouldn''t happen in more than a room or two in a row. The Party chose to take the right door and as they left the vestibule, a gray glow appeared for a second around certain parts of the Party''s weapons, shields, and armor. For the Scout only his arrowheads and iron helmet had glowed. "Do you guys think that was supposed to be a puzzle?" En asked. The Fighter gave a short - somewhat pained sounding -ugh. "If it was, I don''t want to solve it! Leave our weapons and defenses behind in a Dungeon!" Hagwinughed again and Andrathath joined him with his deepughter. "No way I''m doing that!" Having walked some meters into the room the Party could see 5 small 1¡Á1.5 meters rooms to the right and 10 moss covered wooden beds on each side of the room to the left. When the Party cautiously opened one of the doors of one of the small rooms, they found it to be an indoor outhouse. With it simply containing a coverable hole and a basin with water, the elves refused to call it a toilet. On the other side of the 20 moss beds there were another set of 5 indoor outhouses. The Party then followed the room to the left which led to another same sized vestibule with a couple of easily avoidable traps. Well¡­ Easily avoidable for 3rd tiers. The Scout had a brilliant innerpass and so the Party checked the right gate. This led to a grass covered courtyard filled with trees and flowers. Right in front of the gate stood another locked door with 4 locks. "So¡­" began En. "We found the Floor exit. But I believe our mission was to report on the Dungeon, so it''s probably best if we explore the rest first." The others agreed. Walking through the door in front of where the apparent sleeping quarters were, the Party entered the spinning, knitting and weaving room. The room contained several spinning wheels, weaving looms and rocking chairs. In one corner stood arge basket filled with natural colored yarn and various knitting sticks. Finding nothing of interest the Party entered the next room. This one being a kitchen with kitchen tables, tools, and primitive ovens. A butter churner stood in one corner. The kitchen had three doors: the one they came from and two right next to each other to the far left. The Party picked the furthest door and entered a room with the dimensions of the two vestibules. This one only had two doors - one on each side - and identical wheel of fortunes hanging on the walls to the left and right of the Party. Each wheel had slices of red, yellow, and green. While there were equal amounts of red and yellow slices there were slightly fewer green ones. "That one is fake," stated the Scout as he pointed to the wheel on the right. "Uhh¡­ How did you know?" asked the level 6 small dumb mimic, while keeping the basic shape of a fortune wheel but revealing its 4 eyes and mouth. Instead of getting an answer the Fighter - as he was the closest - hit the mimic with his sword. The light from the dead mimic turning into loot concealed the momentary reappearance of the gray glow around the Fighters sword. With only one wheel left, the Tank spun it. The wheelnded on a red slice and a click could be heard. The Party looked around in rm, but nothing had happened. With a shrug Andrathath tried to spin the wheel again only to be met with resistance. The click had been the wheel locking into ce. The Tank didn''t have a lot of Intelligence but while his ss meant he focused mostly on his Toughness Score, Andrathath also had a lot of Strength. So Andrathath''s reaction to meeting resistance was to use more force. This caused the wheel of fortune to fall off the wall and break. The break revealed that a key had been inside the game of luck. Your Party failed to solve a puzzle. The puzzle has been broken and cannot be retried this run. After picking up the key, the Party entered the next room. They were now back in the first vestibule with the racks and stands. As such they chose the left side gate as it was the only one, they hadn''t tried yet. Once again, as the elves left the room, parts of their items glowed. It was the same parts too. The sight of 8 kobolds wielding swords, spears and shields in the dining hall came as a surprise to the elven Party. They had let their guard down after so many empty rooms. A battle began. Every time a kobold was unable to dodge or block an attack they died. But each time an elf attacked a kobold - whether they hit the kobold, its shield or missedpletely due to bad luck and hit the ground, a table, or a bench instead - their weapon would glow gray for a second and visibly rust. On the third attack the weapon would turn to dust. Additionally the arrowheads seemed to count as one weapon as they all turned to dust as the third arrow was shot. The same thing happened to the shields and armor of the elves but instead of it happening when the elf attacked, the item would rust when it got hit. Had they known this would happen, they would have gathered the weapons from the loot of the galespikes-riding-kobolds from earlier. The 6 kobolds they had sessfully killed in the dining hall hadn''t dropped weapons as loot. And so the elven Party suddenly stood weaponless before the remaining two - still armed - kobolds. Chapter 21: 3rd Tiered Results Chapter 21: 3rd Tiered Results I was super proud of my Room of Rust trap room and my Wheel of Fortune luck puzzle and they had worked exactly as intended. The Wheel of Fortune had 22 slices and to get the key one needed tond on a green slice. With 6 green slices - and 8 each of red and yellow - it normally would have given one roughly a 27% chance of getting the key. While there was no consequence tonding on another color in this version of the wheel, inter versions I wanted there to be consequences for getting red. Now, in my Dungeon, the luck of sapients was bent already. When spinning my Wheel of Fortune this change in luck was amplified fivefold. As such, the odds were still 27% for people with karma levels between 26% and 74%. For karma levels of 75% or higher the chance of getting the key was about 41%, while 25% or lower only had around 13.5% chance. If they hadn''t decided to break my puzzle, they would have been stuck spinning the wheel as it resets every 5th minute until they finally got the key, or they would have been forced to give up. Instead they got the ''everything gets extra Toughness'' penalty. They even walked straight past two keys while exploring the fortress. I didn''t even think I had hidden them that well. The Party just hadn''t looked for them. The Room of Rust would curse all metal leaving the room to rust whenever it hit something else or got hit by something. That is unless it was ''disarmed'' by having the metal removed from the room by one of my creatures or my sapient ''family''. The curse wouldst a day, but any rusting would still be there after the curse had disappeared. By the 5th hit under the curse the metal would bepletely rusty but would still hold its form. By the 6th it would turn to dust. I hadn''t realized, however, that the curse could be stacked. The elven Party had left The Room of Rust twice and so had gotten double the curse. As such their weapons had turned to dust in half the time. With the three 3rd tiers now weaponless and their shields and armor soon breaking down as well - the wood in the shields hadn''t been harmed but with the metal gone, the wood would fall to the ground - it stood to be a fairer fight. While my two remaining kobolds had shields and weapons - one had a sword, one a spear - the fight was still three against two with the three being vastly higher levels. I knew my kobolds wouldn''t be able to win the battle, but I hoped they might be able to take out one more elf before getting defeated. After all, the elves had no weapons left, and my kobolds had enhanced Toughness. There seemed to be a decent chance, one more elf could be killed. So, I ordered my kobolds to focus their attacks on the Fighter, as he was the most wounded. The sword kobold''sst act was to turn the Fighter''s armor to dust after which the kobold was punched to death. The spear kobold then got its spear thrusted into the chest of the now unarmored Fighter, puncturing his lung. With a fist from said elf the spear kobold turned into loot like the rest of its n had. The Scout tried to do some first aid to save the life of the Fighter but couldn''t stop blood from entering his lung. Realizing this the Scout decided they needed to get Hagwin outside the Dungeon and so he could get actual medical attention. Andrathath started carrying the wounded Fighter, an act which agitated the wound and made it bleed more. As they reached the back courtyard the Fighter started to cough violently. Plenty of blood came up and I wanted to look away. I couldn''t, though. I would always be looking after all. The 13 level 1 drags in the courtyard had no such problems, however, and turned away from the sight of the dying man. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Before the locked door had been rammed open like the ones before, the Fighter had died. I didn''t regret it. He might not have been as bad as the Mage. But he had still lived a life of crime. That doesn''t mean I like watching him slowly drown in his own blood. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It had been almost 3 hours since the 3rd tier Party had entered the Dungeon. At this point lieutenant Tanithil Alnus had given up on them evering out. The Dungeon was unnatural and Tanithil wanted nothing more to do with it. It was gettingte, though, so the lieutenant had decided the toon would stay for the night and leave in the morning. Not directly home, though. They would do arger sweep of the area while looking for traces from the run-away ves. Finding the ves might soothe over the embarrassment of failing toplete a 1st tier Dungeon. A simple dinner had just been served when En and Andrathath appeared next to the Dungeon Portal covered in blood and weaponless. Tanithil was relieved they had survived, but theck of two of their Party confirmed the lieutenant''s suspicion of the extra danger associated with this Dungeon. "Medic!" Tanithil called. Normally he would call the field medic Mr. Populus like he had been asked but shouting ¡®medic¡¯ would make him aware someone needed medical attention and toe in a hurry. Tanithil would get the report from the two survivors once they had gotten their wounds cleaned. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó A puzzle was attempted! You have gained 12 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 3 EXP. 35 level 6 creatures have died. You have gained 210 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 42 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 21 EXP. 1 level 25 sapient has been killed in your Dungeon. You have gained 2,500 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 500 EXP. The remaining two elves had, upon realizing the death of the third, looted the dead body and raced to The Fake Core to get out. They didn''t even look in the direction of my hidden, unfinished 4th Floor. Satisfied, I checked my status. Personal Status Level: 11 EXP needed for level up: 5,000/5,000 Additional EXP: 16,828 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/1,400 Mana: 247/700 Mana regeneration: 245 per hour Floors: 3/6 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules My mana regeneration can''t keep up with my EXP gain like this. For a moment I reconsidered focusing on filling out my 4th Floor and instead getting some more levels, but I discarded the thought. I hadn''t been able to kill all of them after all and the next Party would surely be stronger. Though, now that they have reached my Core I wonder if they will continue. It sounded like the 3 elven Parties had simply been told to scout me out. But I can''t really know what they''ll actually do next¡­ I suppose I''ll just inform the Tribe that I once again survived against the elves. That always makes them happy to hear. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 2 days had passed without any elven Parties appearing, so on the morning of the 3rd day an older rhinoman, bearing the name Molgroor, had bravely volunteered to venture outside the Dungeon and take a look. When he returned, he reported he had seen clear signs that the elves had made camp around the Portal and that the camp was now gone. To be on the safe side the Tribe sent a dozen adults out in every direction. Only when all 12 had reappeared unharmed and having seen no elves did the Tribe rx and celebrate their survival and continued freedom. And mine too. I was their god and protector, so they made me the guest of honor. Well¡­ sort of. I didn''t have a body they could party with so instead they toasted in my name. Many times¡­ It might be a good thing they don''t have any alcohol. The Tribe was drunk on joy and alcohol would surely have made it worse. Instead of alcohol, the Tribe were drinking yak milk or the watered-down fruit and/or berry juice of their choice. Water had been added to the juice to make the supplyst longer. At the time they didn''t know how long they would be stuck on my 4th Floor and the environment didn''t reset as long as sapients were present on the Floor. And this was whether they were considered family or not. Luckily, my creatures were able to transport yak milk, fruit, nuts, and wild vegetables from the previous Floors, so the Tribe wasn''t ever actually in danger of starvation. They would just eventually forcefully have be vegetarian. Having deemed the Surface World safe once more, the Tribe thanked me for my hospitality and moved back out the next day. This was good timing as I had reached my limit for creatures, puzzles, and traps for the 4th Floor, and I had even leveled up once. With no more danger from the elves I soon dered the 4th Floor finished and focused on leveling up till I stopped having the EXP for it. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "What do we have here?! A Party of beastkin!" Said the stone, 2-dimensional kobold-face. Emerald and her Party - which had at this point been renamed ''Emerald''s Party'' or simply ''the Party'' by the Tribe and I - had just gone through the grain field in the third room of the 4th Floor when the stone face spoke up. The Party had resumed their normal bidaily visit to the Dungeon to gather food for the Tribe and this was their first visit to the finished 4th Floor. The design had gone through drastic changes since the Tribe had left, but the creatures were the same as they had been while the Tribe was there. "Come in,e in!" The kobold-face continued. The knobless, stone door, the kobold-face was etched on to, opened up letting the Party pass through to the next room. And hid the ugly blobfish totem behind the now open door. Begdar stopped up before entering and seeing this the rest stopped as well. "You''re a puzzle door, right?" Begdar asked. "Indeed!" "But you''re just letting us through?" "Of course!" "But-!" The lupinekin eximed, confused. On the other side of the talking door a kobold - this one of flesh and blood - wearing the typical green dragon leather armor that the kobolds of this Dungeon wore, appeared. "It''s The Door of Speciesism, ma''am." It informed Begdar. "Speciesism?" "Yes, ma''am! The Door will let people in or not based on their species. All beastkin will be let in immediately, while all elves will be refused. It is still a puzzle door though, so any elves will have a chance to convince The Door it is wrong in stereotyping all elves. Right now Mother Core has only seen beastkin and elves, though, and has very little information on any other species. As such, they will have to sessfully argue for their species'' virtues before being allowed to enter. The purpose of the puzzle is to make people realize that speciesism and stereotyping is unfair and wrong. Only if you-" The kobold was about to say more but cut itself off mid-sentence. "Of course Mother Core! Forgive me. I shall say no more on the matter!" The kobold then nodded to the Party and turned around. Zaktak shrugged her shoulders and was the first to go through the open door with Emerald right behind her. This is an individual puzzle. You failed to solve a puzzle. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' you have been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 88 EXP. "I failed the puzzle?!" Zaktak eximed, confused. "But the door is open?" The Party looked to Begdar for answers. Something the lupinekin had gotten quite used to and in fact filled her with pride. "I didn''t get the System message about failing the puzzle,-" Begdar had the habit of speaking her thought process out loud. "-which means the puzzle is individualized, right?" Begdar looked at Zaktak, who gave a confirming nod. "And the kobold told us the purpose of the puzzle is to make people realize that speciesism¡­ is wrong." The lupinekin looked shocked and a bit horrified as she finished her sentence. For a moment she said nothing as she blinked rapidly. Then she announced her answer in a quiet voice. "To solve the puzzle, we have to realize it''s wrong to believe that all elves are evil¡­" "But they are!" Thenac eximed, her hand unconsciously touching the fake part of her nose-horn. "Have you met every elf, Thenac?" Morghar asked. "No¡­ But all I have-" "No 2 people are the same, Thenac!" The ursakin interrupted. "If the only ursakin you had met was Khaogthoc would you think me just as bad?" "No! Of course not!" "Because you know I''m nothing like him! But what if you didn''t know me at all? What if you had met plenty of ursakin who acted like Khaogthoc? Would that suddenly make me like him too? Even if all other ursakin were evil it would be unfair to me, to judge me based on others'' actions! And while many elves are clearly assholes, I''m sure, there are some who are not!" With those words thepassionate ursakin walked through the open door. This is an individual puzzle. You have solved a puzzle! You have gained 8 EXP. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' you have been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 88 EXP. Morghar then turned to smile at Begdar. "Just like you said!" Begdar smiled back and nodded once to herself. "Then the question bes: Is the realization enough or does it have to be said out loud?" The kobold had left, and The Door of Speciesism stayed quiet. Without a word Nalir walked through the door opening. The felinekin then turned around and gave a nod and a - small - proud smile to his mate. "Okay then!" With a smile on her face and her gray tail wagging, Begdar skipped into the next room. Taozcec closed his eyes and focused for a moment, epting the truth Morghar had spoken, before following Begdar through The Door. Neither Thenac nor Zaktak could sessfully convince themselves that not all elves were in some way evil. The rest of their Party decided to help them work through their hate of elves at ater time. Right now, they had a job to do. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó All I knew about the behavior of elves I had heard from run-away elven ves or observed from - what appeared to be - elven soldiers. Meaning I had one biased source and a small sample from a very specific part of elven life. I didn''t know how they recruited people to their military, so I couldn''t know if it was full of criminals! So I really had too little knowledge on elven behavior and culture to judge them on. They might have had some good reason for everything that had happened. Though I doubt it excuses their actions. The elven Scout with a karma level of 67% had given me hope not all elves were assholes. And that was not just based on his karma level. I had also noticed he had only attacked my creatures in self-defense or in defense of his Party. Though, it might have been a good thing the Mage''s karma level went down to 10% that quickly, making all my creatures attack him. And that when the Mage died, the kobolds had already been angered. That way the remaining 2 couldn''t report back my secrets. After all, it could havepromised the Tribe''s safety had the elves be too curious. I knew fully well I had an unusual Dungeon. The Scout reminded me of the dangers of stereotyping and made me want to share the lesson with others. And so I made The Door of Speciesism. Don''t tell them the answer! The meaning of The Door of Speciesism is that you have to learn the lesson, not simply be told the answer! "Of course Mother Core! Forgive me. I shall say no more on the matter!" It''s okay. You can tell people how The Door reacts to other species, but please refrain from actually giving them the solution. "I will Mother Core!" The kobold started going around The Kobold Training Camp sharing ''Mother Core''s wisdom'' to the other kobolds. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Only half a day had passed since the Tribe moved back to the Surface World and I had already run out of excess EXP. Emerald and her Party had visited twice, just as they normally would. Status, please! Personal Status Level: 15 EXP needed for level up: 172/10,600 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/2,200 Mana: 42/1,100 Mana regeneration: 385 per hour Floors: 4/8 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules While I wait for the EXP needed for another level up, I''ll work on my 5th Floor! Finally I''ll have a Boss! Chapter 22: The Boss and Its Discount Unicorn Chapter 22: The Boss and Its Discount Unicorn As the new and exciting thing was the boss, that was the first creature I added to my 5th Floor. The 1st tier Boss had to be located in thest room of the 5th Floor. I could have made a Rule to change this, but as that''s the room where I would have ced the Boss anyway, there was no reason to waste mana making a Rule to change this. However the second Rule for Boss Rooms I did mind enough to change. While making a Boss the Core simply had to make a creature inside thest room of a tier. The creature would cost 1.5 times what it otherwise would have cost but in turn gain the ''Boss'' Achievement which doubles the creature''s Ability Scores. However, most Cores aren''t sapient and thus they ce their creatures randomly. So to stop Cores from identally cing massive amounts of creatures in the Boss Room and making it impossible for good sapients to proceed to the next tier, the System added a restraint on Boss Rooms: the only Dungeon creature who can be in a Boss Room is the Boss. The System windows informed me of all of this after several rounds of questions, which had started when I was unable to give my Boss a healer. I was very proud of my unicorn/bunny hybrid! And I had waited for just this moment to unleash my creation, only to be stopped by a System Rule that didn''t rte to me anyway! Good people can just pass through my Dungeon with nothing stopping them after all! So, of course, I simply made a new Rule. New Dungeon Rule: Boss Assistants: Boss Rooms can have up to 3 non-Boss creatures in them. These creatures can at most be at a level responding to half the maximum creature level for the Floor. That cost me a whopping 970 mana! And it''s not even all that powerful! I get the feeling the System doesn''t like what I''m doing¡­ But I can still make it work! As a non-draconic creature with magic resistance and the ability to magically heal others, my unicorn bunnies were naturally an extremely expensive creature despite it otherwise simply being¡­ you know¡­ a white bunny with a unicorn ''beard'' and horn¡­ and thus not particrly threatening. In fact, if I were to make the kirin and unicorn bunny at the same level, then even with the kirin costing more due to being a Boss, the bunny would still be more expensive. Still. It would make the kirin way more powerful! And well¡­ The bunny would not make a good Boss itself. But should all 3 assistant creatures be unicorn bunnies? Or would it be better to add some other creatures as well? I considered my options before deciding that unicorn bunnies, b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons and feathered serpents were the best support creatures I currently had. This would give healing for my Boss, and bad luck and stupidity for my enemies. Though my lung dragons can only curse one person at a time with bad luck. Actually¡­ it would be much better if it blessed my Boss with good luck instead! My Boss was a kirin. In my Dungeon this made it simultaneously super powerful even without assistants or the ''Boss'' Achievement and¡­ in some circumstances¡­ super useless. Kirins would only attack bad guys and refuse to harm any others. So if a Party came with the intention of harming me but they all had karma levels of 26% or higher, my Boss would refuse to harm them. Even in self-defense! But in turn it will pull way above its tier when bad guyse around, ughtering all my peaceful creatures! And those types are the ones I both fear the most and want to kill the most! The Boss Room was fairly simple in design. A wildflower meadow with a stream running through the middle of it. Steppingstones were ced so good people wouldn''t have to get wet. In the two corners closest to the Core Room I had ced two rabbit burrows each, giving my unicorn bunny 4 burrows to hide in when not healing. Unlike an actual unicorn my bunny had to touch the one in need of healing. The other two corners had a tree each. ''Cause my forest theme might be pretty flexible but it still demands the presence of trees. Additionally, the side of the stream people woulde from had a chance of dripping magma. I had finished the Boss Room when my Party came to visit me 2 hours and 28 minutes after dawn. Should I show them my awesome healer bunny now or wait till the Floor is finished? Nah¡­ I want to keep it as a surprise! Some time passed as I recharged my mana. Emerald''s Party had entered my 4th Floor when suddenly a thought hit me. System? Can unicorn bunnies heal sapients? I needed to be sure before I said anything. The Skill ''Healing Touch'' can be used on any living being. As such, it cannot heal the undead. That sounds suspiciously like a yes! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Morghar had sessfully helped Zaktakplete The Door of Speciesism puzzle by pointing out that they had all thought that all Dungeon creatures were aggressive and needed to be killed before they killed you. He reminded her that they used to think of them as monsters. Zaktak had given Emerald a sad hug at that thought and decided to leave her stereotypes of elves behind her. There were many evil elves and some of those had killed her family. But somewhere out there, there was a good elf or two. Like this Dungeon amongst the 1,000''s of other Dungeons. Thenac, however, was not convinced. "They kill off all the good ones, I''m sure!" She had grumbled to herself. "Or maybe they beat all niceness out of them!" The Party had only just passed The Door of Speciesism, when a kobold announced that the Dungeon had made itself a new creature. One with the ability to heal. The kobold then proceeded to invite any sick or wounded member of the Tribe to visit the unfinished 5th Floor and be healed by the new creature. "What about pregnancies?" Morghar asked, clearly thinking about his mate. "As the healer uses the System Skill ''Healing Touch'' to heal, there should be no problem regarding the treatment of pregnant women," was the kobold''s answer. The Party quickly thanked the kobold and its Dungeon before racing through the rest of the Dungeon, so they could share the news with the Tribe as soon as possible. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Chief Nerok was happy. His people had escaped envement and the System had rewarded them with a kind and generous Dungeon for doing so. Many had died during the escape or during the first week of travel, but life had never been easy. The System rewarded hard work, not the easy path. The Dungeon had at first simply allowed them to tier up, something any Dungeon could have done. But then it spoke. It spoke to the Tribe through its creatures. Its creatures, just as kind as the Dungeon they lived in. Dungeon creatures that one could befriend and bond with, after which the creature would lend its strength to the Tribe. The Dungeon had answered the Tribe''s prayer and saved them from the elves, putting itself at risk in turn. And now it offered to heal them. And here I thought I had made it up. Nerok couldn''t help but think. But once again, the Dungeon proves itself unlike any other Dungeon. People would start to get active Skills at the 3rd tier. But a healing Skill like ''Healing Touch'' would be a 5th tier Skill for a ss specializing in the Healing element. While some Dungeon creatures were created with higher Skills it usually came with one or two Ability Scores being unnaturally weak. And the Dungeon had only just finished its 4th Floor. Even if I were to assume the Dungeon had an actual tier higher than its number of Floors would suggest, it would still only be in its 2nd tier. Even if it had been a 3rd tier Dungeon it is still incredibly odd for it to be able to make a creature with a 5th tier Skill. It seems the System truly made this Dungeon a minor god, the Chief concluded. Perhaps the System did so, to make the Dungeon better suited to help us. ¡­ Or perhaps we''re meant to help each other? Regardless of the System''s full n, it was clear to Nerok that right now, the Tribe were to be healed by the Dungeon. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Chief had dered that everyone had to be healed by my unicorn bunny. However, Nerok had also realized that it wouldn''t make sense to send the entire Tribe down at once. Instead the Tribe arrived in groups of 6 to 18 people. The first group being the biggest and containing the most wounded - that being bones that hadn''t healed properly -, the 6 pregnant women along with a mate or family member for each. When Vanek, the mouseboy who had been a part of the Party with the Tribe''s three bad guys, came by with a group to be healed he stopped to talk with the mimic in The Griffins'' Treasure Room. He even stayed a while after the others had left for the next Floor. He seems to¡­ find this small dumb mimic¡­ amusing¡­ No, that''s not the right word. I watched the two more closely as they interacted. But I wasn''t able to figure out what had drawn the mouseboy to this particr mimic. Had he simply wanted to befriend a mimic, why wouldn''t he have picked a higher level one from a lower Floor? I was determined to figure out this mystery. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While most of the Tribe appeared to be mostly fine, they all suffered the effects of having been physically and mentally abused during their time as ves. Which in many cases had been their whole life. I couldn''t do anything about their mental issues, but I could heal their physical problems through my unicorn bunny. The problems were often so bad it took my poor bunny multiple healings topletely heal the beastkin. Achievement tier up: A Friend in Need (II): You are a kind being who helps others without thought. Condition: Go out of your way to help someone without expecting anypensation for doing so 10 times. Reward: 1,000 EXP and 110% Charisma. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 110% Charisma changed to 10% discount on karma creatures.] You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 2 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? Yes, actually. Each fully healed person counted towards the ''Friend in Need'' Achievement as I had actively sought them out for healing - or as actively as it is possible for a Dungeon Core - and didn''t expect anything in return. Other than continued friendship that was. Which didn''t seem to count here. But now I expect to be rewarded with more Achievement tier ups. I wonder if this will count as ''expectingpensation'', but I sort of doubt it, as I would still heal them even if I didn''t get any tier ups. You already have 5 Achievements active. Pick 2 to turn passive. Passive Achievements give only half the rewards. You can only change your decision when you earn an Achievement. AchievementReward: A Friend in Need (II) 1,000 EXP and 10% discount on karma creatures. Careful Preparation (V) An extra 25% mana regeneration and the Ability ''Mana Bank''. Creature Designer (II) Creatures have a 7.5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 112.5% EXP. Dungeon God The Ability ''Dungeon Rules'' and a 5% mana discount on all creations. First of Your Kind 120% EXP gain for 5 years [5 years left], 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor and +2 Toughness then 120% Toughness to all your creatures for 75 years [75 years left]. Karma''s a Bitch The Abilities ''Karma Aura Sight'' and ''Karma Targeting''. 110% damage dealt to people with a Karma Aura of 25% or lower. Making the World a Better ce (III) 20% discount on karma creatures. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. Let''s keep Dungeon God passive. I intend to change it again when A Friend in Need gets to tier 4 or 5, so the second will only be temporary. ¡­ This seems slightly risky but as I''m expecting no danger in the near future¡­ System. Make Dungeon God and Karma''s a Bitch passive. Dungeon God (Passive): Reward: The Ability to make Dungeon Rules and a 3% mana discount on all creations. Karma''s a Bitch (Passive): Reward: The Abilities ''Karma Aura Sight'' and ''Karma Targeting''. 105% damage dealt to people with a Karma Aura of 25% or lower. A Friend in Need rewards you 1,000 EXP. System. Show me my Achievements. Achievements You receive Achievements whenever you do something particrly good or extraordinary. To get an Achievement you have to fulfill its condition. With each Achievementes an appropriate reward. Achievement Condition Reward A Friend in Need (II): You are a kind being who helps others without thought. Go out of your way to help someone without expecting anypensation for doing so 10 times. 1,000 EXP and 10% discount on karma creatures. Careful Preparation (V): You have decided to prepare your Dungeon some more before going to the next step. Wait at least 1 day before opening your Dungeon after the option has appeared or wait at least 1 day after getting ess to a new Floor before making it. Do somebination of this 5 times. An extra 25% mana regeneration and the Ability ''Mana Bank''. Creature Designer (II): All Dungeon Cores design traps and puzzles. Some design their own creatures as well. You are now one of them. Design 5 creatures and spawn them. It does not matter if the designed creatures already existed or if it''spletely new designs. Creatures have a 7.5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 112.5% EXP. Dungeon God (Passive): You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. Make or change a rule that must be followed while in your Dungeon. The Ability ''Dungeon Rules'' and a 3% mana discount on all creations. First of Your Kind: As the first of your kind it''s your duty to ensure that your kind prosper. Be the first member of a new species, subspecies, or race. 120% EXP gain for 5 years [5 years left], 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor and +2 Toughness then 120% Toughness to all your creatures for 75 years [75 years left]. Karma''s a Bitch (Passive): Rather than having your Dungeon kill indiscriminately, you have instead decided to actively follow your mission by making it much more likely for sapients with low karma levels to die. Make it more likely for sapients with karma levels of 25% or less to die in your Dungeon than other karma levels. The Abilities ''Karma Aura Sight'' and ''Karma Targeting''. 105% damage dealt to people with a Karma Aura of 25% or lower. Making the World a Better ce (III): You have made the people around you into better versions of themselves, thus making the world a better ce. Keep doing it. You have at one point sessfully made the karma levels of other sapients rise 50 times in total. 20% discount on karma creatures. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. Going from 110% damage to bad people to 105% doesn''t seem like that big of a difference¡­ Maybe I should just keep it like that¡­ But that 5% could be the difference between life and death¡­ ¡­ Especially when people start going against my Boss¡­ ¡­ I''ll look at it againter. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Achievement tier up: A Friend in Need (IV): You are a kind being who helps others without thought. Condition: Go out of your way to help someone without expecting anypensation for doing so 50 times. Reward: 5,000 EXP and 120% Charisma. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 120% Charisma changed to 20% discount on karma creatures.] You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 2 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? The Friend in Need Achievement went from once to 10 times to 25 times to 50 times. There''s a chance the next one is 75 times, but as it''s the 5th tier up it''s more likely 100 times. If it''s 100 I won''t get the next tier up when I''m done healing the Tribe. Depending on future situations it could happen pretty soon after though, as I would be pretty close to the 100 when done. But the real question is: Is the 5% more damage to bad guys more or less worth than 2,500 EXP and 10% discount to karma creatures? No. It''s not. The discount means I can get creatures faster which make up for the less damage dealt. Additionally, more creatures will give me more EXP, which leads to faster level up and more mana regeneration. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 2 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? No, thank you! A Friend in Need rewards you 5,000 EXP. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Between the number of needed healings, the size of the Tribe and my bunny''s mana recovery time the healing ended up going through the entire night and through the next day too. This made me realize that, since the Tribe didn''t count towards the allowed number of sapients anymore, I couldn''t keep them out if I wanted to. After the elves had left, I had reset the timer to its previous standard, but the Tribe could enter my Dungeon at any time and the timer wouldn''t even reset. The Tribe essentially didn''t exist to my cooldown timer. I guess they really are my family now! I giggled to myself. It''s impossible to keep them out! I didn''t really mind, though. Chapter 23: Loot and Merchants Chapter 23: Loot and Merchants I had gotten a lot of EXP both from having the whole Tribe pass through my Dungeon to get healed and from several Tribesmen getting their karma level raised. The threedies, who were furthest in their pregnancies, expressed their joy at moving around again. Something their mates didn''t like them doing, thiste in their pregnancies. All the extra EXP naturally led to a couple of level ups. Status, please. Personal Status Level: 18 EXP needed for level up: 14,230/16,900 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/2,800 Mana: 428.25/1,400 Mana regeneration: 490 per hour Floors: 4/9 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I''m really not that far away from getting another tier up. EXP-wise that is. Which I believe isrgely due to Dungeons needing less EXP to level up in the beginning of their¡­ lives¡­? Existences? But also partly due to my EXP multipliers. I''ll have to kill more bad people before I can actually tier up, of course, and I don''t think that is likely to happen any time soon. Probably when the elves return sometime next month. It was now dawn again and in addition to having leveled up several times I had also made good progress on my 5th Floor. 5th Floor Details, please. Floor Details for the 5th Floor 352/570 levels worth of creatures 0/2 puzzles 0/30 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Not by any means done quite yet, but good progress, nheless. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Tribe and I settled back into our routine after the mass healing. Emerald''s Party - often joined by Vanek - visited twice a day and every second or third day the second visit of the day was joined by some of or most of the Tribe''s children. That one mousegirl¡­ pup¡­?- I was pretty sure the child of a mouse was called a pup. -neveres. I think she might have done something bad and gotten grounded. Sometimes, when the kidse to visit some of the other adults wille as well, but otherwise Emerald''s Party and Vanek are the only adults that regrly visits me. Vanek, when he came by, would join Emerald''s Party for the first two Floors at the end of which he would talk to the mimic. Okay. It''s pretty clear by now, that he does intend to befriend this specific mimic. But I have yet to figure out why! Why this one?! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 3rd and 4th Floor had a couple of new rare loot drops all of which the Tribe loved. That the yaks had a 20% chance of dropping yak wool was already known to the Tribe, but surprisingly neither the small dumb mimic the griffins were guarding nor the one pretending to be a Wheel of Fortune had dropped their rare loot before the elves had left. Said rare drop was a wand with the ability to change the color of anything non-living and non-magical you pointed it at in exchange for some of one''s mana. How much mana depended on the size of the object and the wand couldn''t make patterns. The Tribe didn''t yet have any 3rd tiers - and as such, no one had ess to mana - so they couldn''t actually use it yet. But the idea of being able to change the color of stuff, without having to know how to dye clothes or make paint, was something that made the Tribe excited for the future. The 4th Floor had new loot drops from 7 different creatures. Leopard, tiger, and bear meat gave the Tribe some variation in meat but wasn''t overly exciting. The obsidian bear did have a chance of dropping an obsidian knife, though, and those were supposedly really sharp. A feather of Intelligence would give its carrier 1+ in Intelligence. Not a lot, but every feather could be bundled together and worn with each feather giving 1+ in Intelligence. With only a 5% chance per feathered serpent it didn''t drop too often, though. Only about one every run or two. Of course when it dropped it was then doubled due to Experiencing Peace! Feathers of Intelligence were rainbow colored just like the feathers on the feathered serpents. The rainbow feathers look surprisingly cool on the otherwise green serpents! Feathered serpents were roughly 60 cm long and could fly without wings. My fledgling neurotoxic dragons'' rare loot drops had the same odds of getting dropped as that of my feathered serpents. But with there being more neurotoxic dragons than feathered serpents, people were more likely to get a vial of numbing poison than a feather of Intelligence. The numbing poison could be used as a painkiller if applied to wounds but was lethal in high doses or if ingested. The 4th Floor had a single ¡®elemental pixie - mist¡¯ which would create a mist around people they didn''t like and lure them off the Cliff trap covering the entire right side of the first room. The Cliff trap had cost me very little mana for its size due to how obvious it was. The pixie''s job was to negate that. The Floor also had a pair of p¨²cas. P¨²cas are shapeshifting fey, who can only turn into mammals and will always have the same color of fur. Which color depends on the p¨²ca but is always either white or ck. Should they try to take a sapient form they will additionally have some features from the animal whose form theyst took. Their interpretation of a beastkin could end up looking pretty weird! As both p¨²cas and pixies were fey, they left fey gold as amon loot. Fey gold took the appearance of an unnaturally hard, small gold coin. Any attempt to smelt or form the gold wouldpletely fail. But should you try to push a bit of mana into it, it would transform into an item. Never anything big or super rare, but what exactly it would be was as unreliable as the actions of fey. Which to most seempletely random but actually depend on whether or not they like you. Fey gold, however, was actually mostly random. Every point one had above a karma level of 50% would give one a 1% higher chance of getting something useful - with ''useful'' being very broad. Likewise, every point below 50% would give you a 1% higher chance of getting something worthless - likemon leaves or rocks - or something outright harmful to the touch - like acid. One had to be pretty high tier to be able to charge something with mana without touching it after all. The Tribe didn''t have ess to their mana yet, though, so for a while the fey gold would simply be collected. Lastly, p¨²cas also had a 10% chance of dropping a 1¡Á1-meter ck furred skin. Said skin was special as when made into clothing it would be form fitting. It couldn''t be bigger than it originally was, but it would shrink itself to better fit its wearer. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó A metal loot drop cannot be lowered to more than the same amount of the corresponding metal of half the Dungeon metal numeral order, rounded down. Oh? What''s the ''Dungeon metal numeral order''? The Dungeon metal numeral order is the numeral order of which metals appear in Dungeons. As in ''1 is aluminum, 2 is copper'' and so on? The Dungeon metal numeral order has aluminum as number 1, copper as number 2, tin as number 3, iron as number 4 and so on. Which number is gold then? Gold is number 7 in the Dungeon metal numeral order. So, half rounded down is tin then. Still higher than expected from a 1st tier Floor, but only a little and it is the 5th Floor, so it should be okay. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Ipleted the 5th Floor 1 hour and 47 minutes before sundown 3 days after I had healed the Tribe. Status, please! Personal Status Level: 19 EXP needed for level up: 15,162/19,400 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/3,000 Mana: 0/1,500 Mana regeneration: 525 per hour Floors: 5/10 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I didn''t really like that it said 5/10 Floors. It made me feel like I was slow. I could finish all 10 Floors really quickly if I made every creature be drags - the cheapest dragon I could make - but I wanted to do it properly. And having only drags would make my Dungeon quite boring. Show me the details for the 6th Floor. Floor Details for the 6th Floor 0/828 levels worth of creatures 0/4 puzzles 0/40 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Uh? That''s less creatures than I had expected. And the puzzles doubled! Must be because I''m starting on my 2nd tier Floors now. The volume for each Floor doubled from 1st to second tier after all! Makes sense the other aspects would change too. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Chief! Nerok!" Riska came running towards Nerok''s tent. "Merchants! There¡¯re merchants in the forest! On giant millipedes!" "They are called arthropleura, young one." The Chief said with a smile. "I take it your brother is leading them to us." The young lupinekin nodded eagerly. "They are so big!" She added. "The arthropleura? They have been bred to be big so they can carry more stuff around for merchants. Their long bodies make it easy for them to navigate forests unlike something big and bulky like an elephant." Nerok lifted his hand in the direction Riska hade from. "Why don''t I go greet them, while you inform the rest of the Tribe. Tell them to prepare anything they want to trade." "On it!" And off she went. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok had only just left the ''vige'' - a.k.a. the area of the forest the Tribe had felled the trees from and put-up tents in - when the sounds of thousands of insect feet hitting the forest floor hit his ears. Soon thereafter he spotted Tuzzik running alongside a 5-meter long arthropleura with another two arthropleura following behind them. Each arthropleura had two merchants sitting on them, one on each end of the creature''s body. All the valuables had been ced in between the merchants tied to the arthropods'' bodies. Of the 6 merchants two were beastkin - vulpinekin and felinekin -, two were giants, one was a human and one was a gnome. "Wee!" The Chief greeted. "Praise be the System!" The gnome greeted in return. Gnomes were known as being brilliant tinkers and craftsmen due to their naturally higher Dexterity Score. Their roughly 1-meter-tall bodies were always topped with bright colorful hair and possessed an equally colorful set of,rger than expected eyes. The color of the hair and eyes had the curious quality of always being the same. The ears of gnomes ended in a point. Just like an elf''s. This particr gnome was past his prime but not yet elderly. As the base expected lifespan of a gnome was 120 years it meant he was around his 70''s or 80''s. Maybe even in his 90''s if he was a higher tier. His hair and eyes were a bright blue-green color. The hair was long enough to cover half of his ears. Good. Nerok thought. No reason to unnerve the Tribe. Tuzzik gave his Chief a big smile before running off. Not only did he want to find his younger sister again - very had made his protective instincts unnaturally strong - but he also didn''t want the Chief to find out, just how far out the two of them had gone while ying. The two lupine siblings had definitely broken a rule on that front and would be grounded should anyone find out. "Whad are ye folks doing this deep in the foresd?" The gnome asked as he got down from his arthropleura. "We found a Dungeon and decided to settle down around it." The Tribe had agreed to never mention their lives as ves to any outsiders. They wanted to get on with their lives without their past dragging them down. All 6 merchants looked at Nerok with wide eyes for a moment, clearly not expecting that answer. Then the other 5 went back to taking care of the giant arthropods. The gnome - clearly their leader - presented himself to the Chief with sparkling eyes. To a merchant a Dungeon meant money. "I am Podon Peddlepitch, leader of this here caravan. Bud please. Jusd call me Pod." "Greetings Pod. My name is Nerok. I am the System-approved Chief of this Tribe." The gnome straightened his back hearing this. Being a System-approved leader was harder to achieve than simply bing a leader. First off, the size of the group you were the leader over needed to have a certain size. For a Merchant Caravan the smallest size was 10 people. For a Tribe it was 50 people. Secondly¡­ the System wouldn''t always approve of a leader and grant them the Achievement and its rewards, and the System could take the Achievement away again should you displease it. Some said the System only approved of good people bing leaders. And while the System typically took away the leader Achievement after said leader did something bad, not everyone believed this to be the actual second criteria. Podon did believe this, though, and tried to do good whenever possible in the hopes that, should he ever get a merchant caravan of 10 people, he would then get the ''Small Merchant Leader'' Achievement. In short: Having the actual Achievement was something for others to respect and strive after. And when talking to a chief one could refer to them simply by their name with no social consequence. But when talking to a Chief it would be impolite to not call them by their title as well. After all, they had earned that respect from the System. Mere mortals could do nothing less. "Chief Nerok! A pleasure to meed ye!" Of course, Podon was still a merchant and continued. "Tell me aboud thad there Dungion! Whad kind is id? How big? Any interesting lood? Ye know! Alllllll the good stuff!" His excitement had made his dialect more pronounced. Nerok told Podon about the local Dungeon, while the rest of the merchants unloaded the 3 beasts of burden. There was no reason for them to carry all the goods when they would be staying for a while anyway after all. Neither Nerok nor the Tribe would say a word about the peaceful nature of the creatures of the Dungeon unless the outsiders intended to enter the Dungeon. The Dungeon was still too young to get that sort of attention if unnecessary. No one would tell the merchants that the Dungeon could talk through its creatures either. That would be for the Dungeon to share should it chose to. Just like the miracle of the Healing unicorn bunny would only be revealed to those the Dungeon found worthy. Chapter 24: Exploring The 5th Floor Chapter 24: Exploring The 5th Floor No one had visited my 5th Floor yet and the sun had risen long ago. Normally Emerald''s Party would have visited me by now. At what I assumed was around midday - I might be able to tell perfectly how much time has passed and my cooldown timer could tell me when the sun rises, but I didn''t actually have a clock, nor could I see the sun - a pair of wolf pups informed me of the arrival of merchants and that said merchants wanted to explore me. There were 6 in total but 2 wanted to stay behind to guard their goods. The pups informed me that the Chief wanted to join the merchants but wanted Begdar toe along as well due to her high Intelligence and knowledge of my Dungeon. And if Begdar went, her mate would follow. However, the Chief didn''t find it wise to reveal to the merchants that the Tribe could enter the Dungeon with no regards for the allowed number of sapients per Floor. Especially since this is what saved them from the elves. As such, Nerok had asked the wolf pup siblings - Riska had called Tuzzik her brother while telling this part - to ask if I could change the allowed number of sapients to 7 for a while. I had no problem doing that, but as the young siblings had told me all this in the 1st room of the 1st Floor, I had no way of actually replying to them. They knew this, and left again when they were done talking¡­ at me? Yeah. Talking at me. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok had distracted 4 of the merchants - the young giantess and the older felinekin had stayed with their arthropleura to keep an eye on both the animals and the goods - and kept them away from the Dungeon Portal while the two pups informed the Dungeon of the situation. The Chief had plenty of tales ready to tell - all modified to exclude any hint of very - but he was nheless relieved to see Tuzzik and Riska. The two kept their distance with the older brother seeking eye contact with his Chief, after which he gave Nerok a short nod. Having done their task, the two pups ran off to get a better look at the arthropleura. "Enough about that!" Nerok stated and turned to guide the merchants towards the Portal. "You wanted to see the Dungeon, correct?" "Thad we do! A 1st tier Dungion? Why?! Ai could even walk-through id by meself! There would be no problem with 4 of us!" Podon stated. "Thad reminds me! Jusd how many folks does the Dungion allow in at once?" "I believe it''s 7 at the moment but the number does change at times. As for walking through the Dungeon alone¡­" Nerok made a dramatic pause. "If it were possible for a child to enter the Dungeon, they would be able to walk through it unharmed." The 4 merchants looked confused at the Chief. "Whad makes ye say thad?" Asked the gnome. Wanting to drag out the mystery a bit longer, Nerok took the opportunity to wave Begdar and Nalir over to them. "The creatures of the Dungeon only attack bad people." This statement caused the merchants tough out loud. "What can we help you with, Chief Nerok?" Begdar asked as she and her mate reached the group. Nerok waited till theughter quieted down before answering. "As the expert on the Dungeon I was hoping you and your mate might want to join our merchant guests and I during our trip through the Dungeon." Begdar took a quick look at her mate before answering. "We''d love to!" "And maybe you could tell our guests a couple of tips before we enter¡­?" The woman''s gray wolf tail started wagging. Begdar loved to share information. "The first thing to know about the Dungeon is that its traps and creatures will only harm you if you are a bad person or in self-defense. So don''t attack the creatures." The merchants looked confused at Begdar or each other. Then the gnome rxed and rolled his eyes. "Ay! Ye got her in on id!" Podon eximed. "Got me in on what?" Begdar questioned in return before realizing what had happened. "Oh! You don''t believe a Dungeon can be a pacifist. I mean, it''s not really a pacifist. But you get the point!" Podon nodded, looking at Begdar like she was crazy. "''Course Ai don'' believe id!" "Well I doubt you''ll believe it or anything else I could tell you about the Dungeon unless you see it first, so let''s get going! Just promise me you won''t attack first!" "All righd! Sure thing lidldy!" Podon said mockingly, as he was much shorter than the lupinekin. Podon might try to be a nice person but he found it hard not to mock someone clearly crazy. "Bud led me crew and Ai ged properly dressed firsd. We still have our riding gear on!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Podon Peddlepitch Gnome Merchant Level 38 Nuktar Beastkin - Vulpinekin Merchant Level 33 Caleb Walters Human Merchant Level 32 Hotheus Giant Body Enhancer Level 36 While part of me found it interesting that beastkins and giants didn''t havest names, for the most part I was panicking over the neers'' levels. They''re in their 30''s! The merchants clearly hadn''t believed that my creatures weren''t aggressive but had apparently promised Begdar not to attack first. Luckily - for them but possibly me too - the three of them had karma levels between 53 and 67% with thest - the gnome - having a whole 82%. As such, no attack was made by the merchants or my creatures. Instead the drags watched from The Great Tree. Normally they would mirror the friendliness of Emerald''s Party, but the caution of the neers made them stay away. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "As you can see, the creatures of this Dungeon only attack bad people and in self-defense. So, first rule of this Dungeon: don''t attack its creatures. 2nd rule: respect the Dungeon''s boundaries. This includes not crossing streams that have no steppingstones or bridge and to heed its warnings." Begdar took a breath and was about to continue, when the human interrupted. "If no one is allowed to attack the monsters, how can anyone get EXP and loot from them?! Isn''t that the whole point of a Dungeon?!" Begdar gave Caleb a knowing look and a smirk. "You''ll see~!" She teased. "The bushes in this room are berry bushes if any of you feel like having some before we leave the room." They didn''t and the group left the 1st room. As they did so, the merchants saw an unexpected System message. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 2 EXP. In addition to that, a bunch of loot appeared in front of the group. The merchants froze in shock, while the three Tribesmen looked at them amused. "We actually got EXP for that?" The giant, Hotheus, asked, confused. "Not only didn''t we do anything but we''re 4th tier!" It wasmon knowledge that for each tier above the Floor one was, one''s EXP gain would be halved. And that, while EXP would normally be rounded up to a whole number, should the amount of EXP gained be less than 0.5 one would get no EXP at all. Being three tiers too high, all the merchants'' EXP gain would be divided by 8 in a 1st tier Dungeon. As such, they hadn''t expected to get any EXP before meeting level 4''s on the 2nd Floor. And then only getting 1 EXP at a time for the rest of the Dungeon. Nerok had mentioned to his guests earlier that the 5th Floor might have been finished. The merchants had thought that meant they could get 5 EXP for killing the Boss, as it would be level 10 and would give 4 times as much EXP for being a Boss. The level 9''s and 10''s of the 5th Floor would give 2 EXP and all in all would not be worth it for the EXP. The merchants had insteade for the experience and their curiosity. But gaining EXP for doing nothing when you should have gotten none for doing something¡­ That''s a massive difference! And then throw in double loot too! "Well¡­ You did just get EXP for a whole room rather than for one creature at a time and then it got doubled. Soooo¡­ That doesn''t surprise me." Begdar stated, matter-of-factly with a shrug and a happy smirk. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó All in all, the trip went pretty calmly as the merchants did as the Tribesmen told them to. Each merchant even rose in karma level once and Nuktar, the Merchant vulpinekin, even rose twice. From having been the lowest at 53% to slightly higher at 55%. Now that I was less petrified by fear I couldn''t help but notice just how¡­ meaty¡­ the merchants were. They weren''t fat, nor particrly muscr. Just¡­ fuller¡­ than anyone else I had seen. Then came the realization that everyone I could remember ever seeing was members of Nerok''s Tribe. A Tribe made up entirely of run-away ves. As in overworked, malnourished people. Getting food and healing from me had helped a lot, but this was a lifetime of suffering. And now that I couldpare the Tribespeople with people who had never been ves, I could see just how thin the Tribe still was. In other news, I had decided to err on the side of caution and had ordered my kobolds to stay silent. I did not have anything to say to the neers that Begdar couldn''t - and did - say for me. The 3 non-beastkin merchants sessfully convinced the Door of Speciesism that they - and their species - were decent people and the foxgirl Merchant already knew not to trust stereotypes. Then they came to my new 5th Floor. I was excited to see what they thought of my new puzzles! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The first three rooms of the 5th Floor seemed to intend to take you down memoryne through its use of creatures. No new creature could be seen, and the draconic creatures even appeared in the same order they had originally appeared in the Dungeon. In the second half of the 2nd of these rooms the kobolds reappeared and as these ones were level 10 they all had the 2nd tier ss of Dexterity. While the merchants found it odd, it really wasn¡¯t a big dealpared to the many other odd things about the Dungeon. The loot from the rooms seemed a bit odd to the group. There was arger amount of big copper cubes than expected even with the doubled loot and some of the meat looked different, even though they had seen all the creatures before - and thus all their respective loot. They had expected some big copper cubes to appear as drops from creatures like the feathered serpents and the griffins, but the actual amount that appeared each time had been more than double of what was expected! Additionally, 4 small vials of shortsting invisibility appeared after they had left the 2nd room of the 5th Floor, which informed the group that there had been several invisible creatures in the first three rooms. That was why the loot hadn''t made sense. At the end of the 3rd room there was a puzzle door. Rather than the etching of a talking head, this one had words written in a lime green color on the gray stone. I am but a humble door. What about you? Describe yourself! Podon asked to be the first to try the puzzle, and he described himself as being a brilliant Merchant. When nothing happened, he tried to prove his statement by bragging about his aplishments. This went on for a while before Begdar gave a burst ofughter. "Ye figured id oud, Ai presume?" The gnome asked with a small smile and amusement in his eyes. "Yep! You-" "Don'' tell!" Podon interrupted. "Give us a wee chance to figure id out ourselves, youngss." Begdar blinked, shocked. She had never considered letting someone else figure things out when she already knew the answer. The lupinekin was simply too used to always being the smart one who answered her Party''s questions. The three with the Merchant ss tried to describe themselves in a couple of different ways with differing aspects of their lives and lengths of descriptions. The giant Body Enhancer, Hotheus, watched the others'' attempts and decided he wouldn''t be able to do any better. The three Tribesmen had by now all figured out the clue - they were more used to the Dungeon''s style of puzzles - and opted to watch as well. "Whad about a hind there, wolfy?" Podon didn''tpletely want to give up but had run out of ideas. Begdar giggled. "A hint? But the door already gave you one." Confused, the merchants turned to look more closely at the door. The Merchants tried looking at the edges of the door and the doorframe, hoping to see what they had missed. The Body Enhancer, on the other hand, reread the three lines on the door. Stepping forward, Hotheus described himself to the door. "I am but a humble father. Who wants nothing more than for his daughter to be happy." And with those words, the door opened. Chapter 25: The Greatest Weapon and Merchants Decisions Chapter 25: The Greatest Weapon and Merchants'' Decisions As it was an individual puzzle, every person had to humbly describe themselves or they would fail the puzzle, but after Hotheus'' example the others had no problems doing so. The room they entered had olive trees along the wall of the door they entered from and the opposite wall where another door was. Along the other two walls were weapon stands with all sorts of weapons. As with all of the walls and ceilings of this Dungeon these too were covered in climbing nts. Likewise the ground was covered in grass and wildflowers, but no bushes could be seen in this room. In the exact center of the room stood a statue of a human knight. In one hand it had a shield while the other had its hand stretched out towards them with the palm facing up. On the stone stand underneath the statue stood the words: Bring to me the greatest weapon, that kings covet, puts warriors to ruin and ends all wars. The group read the riddle and most began to ponder on the solution. Nerok was the only one to show no interest in trying to solve the riddle, seemingly satisfied letting someone else work it out. Nalir looked around for clues but didn''t give it serious thought, as he knew how much it would please his mate to be the one to solve it. Begdar ignored the weapon stands as she knew they were red herrings and tried to look for other clues. The hand of the statue was stretched out with the palm up, clearly indicating one needed to ce something in its hand. But what? Begdar asked herself. Looking around again she realized that - unlike in any other room in the Dungeon - all the trees were of the same kind. What was so special about the olive tree wasn''tpletely clear to the lupinekin, and after a bit more thinking she concluded it was not the kind of tree that was important but simply nature in general. The trees needed to be identical to serve as the clue and olive trees just happened to get picked. Caleb and Nuktar were looking at the weapons in the hopes of finding a weapon that stood out to them. As there were anything from swords to bows to spears to slings to hammers and maces and so on, they had a hard timeing to any conclusion. Hotheus examined the statue more closely but didn''t find anything new. Podon reread the riddle several times while thinking about the nature of the Dungeon. While all Dungeons had creature and environment themes, the gnome had heard of no other Dungeons that had a theme like this one. A theme of morals! A Dungeon that actively tried to teach people to be better people! So whad is the lesson here? Podon asked himself. Whad is the moral? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I don''t think any of them have a good Awareness Score, I concluded. I admit, they are also not expecting the door to have a doorknob and they aren¡¯t even looking in the right direction, but still! It''s disappointing! ¡­ Though¡­ for the sake of having the element of surprise for the next group of bad guys¡­ I suppose this is for the best. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Thad mighd jusd be id! The gnome Merchant thought and walked up to the statue. Reaching his hand up high - due to his short stature - he grabbed the hand of the knight statue and tried to shake it as he said out loud: "Ai bring ye peace!" The statue bent in the wrist and elbow, making it seem like an actual handshake. At the same time the door behind the statue slid open. "Uh?!" Begdar eximed confused. That was not the solution she had reached. Though thinking over it, it did make sense. But what was the point of having all the trees be the same type? Putting the question to rest for now, Begdar followed the group out of the room. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 8 EXP. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 10 EXP. While the 4 merchants only got 5 EXP in total, the fact remained that no creature had been seen in the previous room. Then 4 small tin cubes appeared as loot. Exmations like "Tin?!", "What?!" and "By the System!" could suddenly be heard. The first three metals to appear in a Dungeon were aluminum, copper, and tin, in that order. Copper typically appeared in thetter half of the 1st tier of Floors and tin in the first half of the 2nd tier. Where exactly they would start to show up depended on the Dungeon''s creatures and what level they were at. An 8th Floor filled with level 1 drags would still only leave small aluminum cubes. It was almost unheard of for a Dungeon to drop tin before the 6th Floor, though, it did at times happen. This was typically seen as a sign of a fast-growing Dungeon. Finally the noise died down, only for Podon to state: "Clearly the unknown creature was a mighty powerful onepared to the Dungion''s tier!" Begdar really wanted to go back and locate the mysterious creature, but one thing held her back. The Dungeon clearly doesn''t trust the merchants. No creature has said a word while they have been here. The creature likely stayed hidden because of them. I have to respect the Dungeon''s decision here! The lupinekin took a deep breath to calm herself. I''ll see it next time. When there''s no merchants with us. Having noticed his mate''s agitation Nalir grabbed Begdar''s hand, gave it a squeeze and sent her a questioning look. She answered with a shake of her head and a grateful and reassuring smile, telling her mate without words that she was okay and that they would talk about itter. Nalir thenmunicated his support of her by giving her a quick kiss on her forehead, turning her smile big and bright. Then the two returned their attention to the rest of the group. Before entering the Dungeon the 7 of them had agreed that the three Tribesmen had first im on anything they found in the Dungeon. It was their Dungeon after all, and the merchants had only been invited in as an act of goodwill. As such, the Chief had imed the 4 small tin cubes and put it in his own backpack. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While I for the most part didn''t mess with the loot drop chances, I felt like I had to in some cases. Some of my creatures were not intended for a 1st tier Floor and as such gave more valuable metal cubes than I should be capable of dropping at this stage. For these, I changed the loot drops to something more realistic, like big copper cubes. This had happened to all my mimics - except my mimicking drag -, my unicorn bunny and - to a lesser degree - the griffins. The level 10 karmic mini mimic in The Room of The Peacemaker had a naturalmon loot drop of 1-2 small gold cubes. As gold was the 7th metal to appear in Dungeons it normally belonged to 4th tier Floors. There was no way, I would want to pull attention towards myself by having that appear so early! I did trust the Tribe to a certain degree and considered for a bit making it a Rule that the Tribe would get the natural loot drop chances when not with outsiders. But I realized the Tribe would gain just as much unwanted attention if they found to have unexined gold as I would get should it be discovered it came from me. So the 1-2 small gold became 1-2 small tin. The kirin Boss would drop 3-4 big copper cubes - which had not been altered by it bing a Boss - which seemed to me like a bit too little for it being the Boss. The unicorn bunny, however, would naturally drop 1-2 big tin cubes despite only being level 5. Even for a Boss fight, big tin cubes seemed like it would be a bit too much instead, so I changed the bunny'' metal loot to 3-4 small tin cubes. This way it would look a bit more¡­ powerful¡­? than the mini mimic. And I do love to misdirect people! That being said, when fighting against evil the kirin could be much more powerful than the mini mimic. It was the boss for a reason. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Kirin Level 10 B¨¡ z¨² lung dragon Level 5 Fledgling karmic feathered serpent Level 5 "Why''re there multiple monsters in the Boss Room?" Podon asked out loud as the group entered the Boss Room. Nerok calmly walked up to the kirin standing in midair just slightly above the running water. Stopping in front of it, he gave the dragon-headed, blue, and red scaled, cloven-hoofed, long-necked, lion-maned, horse a couple of ps on the head underneath its ossicones. The kirin was 2.2 meters at the highest point of the withers but including its neck and head it was 3 meter tall. As such, Nerok could only touch the creature''s head ''cause it wanted him to. The kirin responded to the friendly touch with a happy neigh and a whisk of its scaled, yet fur-tipped, lion-tail. "Because the Dungeon wanted it and the System allowed it." Answered the Chief confidently and proudly. His local god had done it once again! "Riiighd¡­" The gnome nor hispanions were convinced but had no good exnation themselves and decided to just ignore the anomaly for now. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 55 EXP. You havepleted this Dungeon while it has 5 Floors for the first time. You have gained 250 EXP. It was clear to Begdar that, once again, a creature had gone unnoticed. And again, she resisted the urge to go back and look for it. It took several minutes of deep thinking to realize it was the unicorn bunny they hadn''t seen. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó When the group left, I checked on my status. Personal Status Level: 19 EXP needed for level up: 19,400/19,400 Additional EXP: 613 Mana payment needed for level up: 1,750/3,000 Mana: 41.25/1,500 Mana regeneration: 525 per hour Floors: 5/10 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 7 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules The 6th Floor had been dug but as I had started by making the most expensive creature - which was, as always, the mimic of the Floor -, it currently only had a level 5 small mimic in it. The mimic would end up being level 12, but I had not yet enough mana to finish leveling it as each level up cost me a whopping 1,407 mana. And I also needed to save some mana so I could quickly level up when I got the EXP for it. I should probably stop my obsession with making my mimics into secret bosses, though. It''s mighty expensive and slows down my process! ¡­ ¡­ Next time¡­ ¡­ Maybe¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Podon called for a meeting with his merchant caravan that night. They had already traded with the Tribe but had plenty of things they needed to decide on for the future. The meeting began with the 2 guards of the day getting updated on all that had happened. "We need to decide whad we tell people aboud this¡­ unique Dungion?" The gnome leader continued afterwards. "We could sell ''formation on the Dungion to whoever wants to pay us for id. This would give us money now, bud soon other merchants woulde in and givep¨¦tition. This here mighd still be a young Dungion bud the tin lood is proof it''s a fasd growing one. Id will soon be a real money bank." Podon took a sip of water from his water canteen. "Instead Ai suggest we pretend it''s a normal Dungion to anyone nod already in the know. Should anyone aske, we say we found a town in the middle of noo-where with a Dungion but we refrain from saying exactly where or how big the town or the Dungion is. We would pud this ce on our route - id is already baisically on id! - and wee back here every month or so. Thad wai we''ll basically have a monopoly on the easiesd toplete Dungion in this here world! One which also happens to give double lood!" The gnome shrugged his shoulders. "Well¡­ For a wee while at leasd. It''ll be discovered by others ad some poind of course. Mighd be by other merchants or be by thad there culd that has been killing Dungions to get ahold of their Cores. There only seem to be older or mighty well protected Dungions lefd round here ''cause of them¡­" Podon had looked thoughtful before he shook his head in disappointment and took a look around at the others. "Regardless of other merchand caravans and cults. Do ye agree with me n for the immediate future regarding this here Dungion?" Agreements were heard. "Then Ai have onesd question for y''all. Do we leave in the morrow? Or do we stai a wee while longer?" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The merchant caravan decided the Dungeon was still a bit too young to be of much use to them. They would leave in the morning ande back at ater date and check on its progress. Chapter 26: And For A While Life Was Good Chapter 26: And For A While Life Was Good I reached level 19+ter the same day the merchants had been by. Now I needed to have killed 50 bad people to tier up. While it seemed like a lot to me, I also found it alright that I wouldn''t level up again for a while. I still had plenty of Floors toplete after all. And while 50 people seemed like a lot to me, to other Dungeons this was likely a small number. During that same night I finally got the next Creature Designer tier up. I had made sure to design and spawn new kinds of creatures to my Dungeon. Just a single one here and there. And now it had paid off! Achievement tier up: Creature Designer (III): All Dungeon Cores design traps and puzzles. Some design their own creatures as well. You are now one of them. Condition: Design 20 creatures and spawn them. It does not matter if the designed creatures already existed or if it''spletely new designs. Reward: Creatures have a 10% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 115% EXP. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 2 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? No. I like it as it is. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 4 days had passed since the merchants had left. Now knowing they would be regrly visited by merchants, the Parties had started to collect 1st tier BO¡¯s - but as a tertiary priority as food was more important and metal more immediately useful - so they could use them to sell or trade with. ¡®Parties¡¯ in plural. The bidaily visits had doubled as the Tribe''s 3 level 19+''s - this including the Chief himself - had begun going through the Dungeon bidaily as well, often apanied by some of the oldest of the Tribe. While all the other creatures of a Dungeon had a chance to drop BO''s of the Floor''s tier, all Bosses had a chance to drop BO''s of the tier of the next Floor. This had made it attractive for the 3 beastkin who had been stuck at level 19+ most of their lives, as they had been used to grind for 2nd tier BO''s by the elves. The Chief always stopped to greet and pet the kirin Boss. Probably hoping to befriend it. Not a bad idea. It will warn you of bad guys by attacking them and likely makes for a good steed. Not normally super powerful, though. Speaking of people trying to befriend my creatures, I had finally solved the mystery! During one of Vanek''s visits the small dumb mimic hadined that most people didn''t seem to like it much due to it''s child-like speech pattern. The three exceptions being the Chief, Vanek and me. The mimic added that, whenever it entered an unfinished Floor - as it could only enter Floors with enough avable creature levels - it would be looked down on by any kobolds and even the smarter mimic. Just as I was about to discipline the culprits for making my precious treasure feel bad, Vanek spoke up: "I know how you feel. I might not be looked down on for my speech pattern but¡­" The mouseboy gave a slow, deep sigh. "I''m a really shy person¡­ and when¡­ when I try to befriend someone¡­ or just gain someone''s attention¡­ they¡­ they overlook me¡­" Vanek started sniffing and his eyes slowly filled with tears. The treasure chest mimic skittered toward him and gave him a short-armed hug which the mouseboy returned with his slightly longer arms. "I don''t think they mean to!" Vanek howled. "I''m just¡­ I''m just so¡­ so small and shy¡­ and meek¡­ and¡­ and¡­ mouse-like!" The mouseboy had been sobbing and sniffing throughout the sentence, only to end it in a loud cry. Thest word had been spoken like it was a curse. Like everything wrong in his life came from him being a muskin. Probably a thought originating from his time as a ve. It''s clearly giving him a very low self esteem. As I was watching the two lonely beings bond I found the answer to my query. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok¡¯s Party¡¯sst visit on the day before had resulted in a pair - as all the loot was doubled - of 2nd tier BO''s. One was given to Nerok - as he''s the Chief - giving him the new ss of ''Bard''. Not really what I was expecting¡­ The other was given to Molgroor, the older rhinoman who had ventured out to see if the elves were gone. Molgroor was given the Messenger ss. That''s a thing? Okay¡­ If it makes him happy, I guess¡­ And it had. In Emerald''s Party Morghar, Taozcec and Emerald herself had reached level 19+ as well, with the rest of the Party close behind. Just like the Chief''s Party they had also gotten a pair of 2nd tier BO''s, which was given to Morghar and Taozcec. Morghar became a Fighter, while Taozcec got the Leader ss I had expected the Chief to get. System? Why did Taozcec get the Leader ss when Nerok didn''t? The sapients get 3rd tier sses based on their previous ss and whether their personality and actions depict them as best suited for a peaceful or adventurous lifestyle. A sapient with the Charisma ss will at the 3rd tier get the Bard ss, if deemed best suited for a peaceful lifestyle, or the Leader ss, if deemed best suited for an adventurous lifestyle. Oh! So, Taozcec wants adventure while Nerok wants peace and quiet! Yeah, I can see that! The day ended and I took a look at my stats. Status, please! Personal Status Level: 19+ Needed number of killed sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower: 13/50 EXP: 41,125 Next mana payment for level up: 0/5,250 Mana: 391.25/1,500 Mana regeneration: 525 per hour Floors: 5/10 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules And the 6th Floor Details too, please! Floor Details for the 6th Floor 600/828 levels worth of creatures 0/4 puzzles 0/40 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps Looking good! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Rule ¡®Lifelong Friends¡¯ has gone into effect. Kirin level 10 is now your friend and will soon no longer be a Dungeon creature. Due to both beings having simr Achievements, kirin level 10''s ''Boss'' Achievement will be ''Chief''s Steed'' rather than beingpletely lost. Kirin level 10 is unable to pick a name or gender for themself. As their next of kin it falls to you to pick a name and gender for them. Nerok gave his steed a soft smile. "Your name is Lionheart." The kirin grew a bit in size in response to his new gender and his lion''s mane grew thicker. Lionheart is no longer a Dungeon creature. Lionheart Kirin Level 10 "Wee to Chiefdom, my noble steed." Nerok added with a grin. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The selected karmic kobold has gotten the Achievement ''Small n Leader''. Small n Leader: You are the leader of a Small n. Condition: Be the leader of a n with 8 to 14 members. Reward: 1+ to your Charisma. Your n has a tendency to follow yourmand. Huh¡­ I had informed the kobolds of my new puzzle room of their duties and - as I wanted them to feel more like a real group - told them to pick a leader amongst them. The room had 12 level 12 kobolds in it. There was at least one kobold of each 2nd tier ss with the Charisma and Intelligence sses being represented only once each. As such, I had expected the Charisma ss kobold to be chosen as the leader, only for an Awareness ss to be selected! The kobolds had discussed what a leader would have to do in a fight and who would be able to do that best. The conclusion was that a leader should direct their men and to do that well one needed a high awareness of the battlefield, opponents, and allies. High Intelligence would be useful in making the right decisions, but without first having the right information, which a high Awareness would give, it couldn''t be properly used. As the 12 kobolds saw no reason why they shouldn''t follow the chosen leader they saw no reason why high Charisma would be needed for the leader. The Charisma ss instead became the¡­ social front? of the group, with orders to foster good rtions with others. Why didn''t I assign a leader to The Kobold Fortress when it gives the kobold an Achievement? ¡­ Right. Back then I didn''t know it was an option. I then told the Kobold''s of The Kobold Fortress and The Kobold Training Camp to choose a leader each. The 4 kobolds in The 2nd Memory Lane were too few to get an Achievement for their leader and didn''t have any need for one. The 10 kobolds of The Kobold Training Camp quickly picked a spear-bearing kobold amongst them. The selected karmic kobold has gotten the Achievement ''Small n Leader''. Small n Leader: You are the leader of a Small n. Condition: Be the leader of a n with 8 to 14 members. Reward: 1+ to your Charisma. Your n has a tendency to follow yourmand. The Kobold Fortress group included the kobolds of The Watchtower Crossroad and The Yak Pasture and thus it took them some time before they decided on a leader. As the majority of the 28 kobolds carried a crossbow, it came as a bit of a surprise when a sword-bearer was selected as the leader. The selected karmic kobold has gotten the Achievement ''Large n Leader''. Large n Leader: You are the leader of a Big n. Condition: Be the leader of a n with 25 to 49 members. Reward: 3+ to your Charisma. Your n has a tendency to follow yourmand. On second thought¡­ I do believe this was the kobold who always took charge when the Tribe came to visit. I guess my kobold took the natural choice after all! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 53 minutes after dusk, the day after Lionheart had been named, I finished the 6th Floor. I was both satisfied with it and not. The puzzles I had made I really loved! I think the puzzles will be really hard for most people to solve, yet the solution will be obvious to the Tribe! However, exactly what I was dissatisfied with I couldn¡¯t tell. Maybe I should try to separate the different types of creatures into different rooms? Hmm¡­ Guess I¡¯ll try that out on this next Floor. As the 1st Floor of the 2nd tier was finished the metal loot drops of the 1st tier was halved. What? Why? All other tiers than the Dungeon''s current tier gives out half the amount of metal loot rounding up and without going down a Dungeon metal number. This is to encourage sapients to go deeper into the Dungeon. Okay¡­ I''m not gonna mess with it then¡­ On the first 5 Floors every kind of creature had a chance of dropping either a 1st tier rare loot drop or a rare drop specific to that kind of creature. On Floors 6-10 the system was much the same but with the 1st tier rare loot drop instead being 2nd tier rare loot drops. Like with a Dungeon''s level up creature pattern the items in the rare loot drops collections would fit the Dungeon''s personality and behavior. I was a mostly peaceful Dungeon and I had just healed a whole Tribe for no gain. So, my 2nd tier rare loot drop options being a multivitamin herb, healing paste, burn paste and a vial of weak antivenom made a decent amount of sense. One could see these as being somewhat weak options but they were just what my Tribe needed. Speaking of: Vanek had sessfully befriended the mimic. Unlike a mimicking drag, mimics were smart enough to give themselves a gender and name. The small dumb mimic quickly decided it wanted to be male like Vanek, but had problems chosing a good name. The mouseboy was quick to help and suggested the name Champ. Both as it was a shortening of ''champion'' and as a reference to ''his big gaping mouth''. Champ loved his new name! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Like I expected, the Tribe had no real problems solving my puzzles. Even the scary looking one. They actually trust me enough to walk through fire for me! The thought made me happy, and I mentallyughed. As I now had a 2nd tier Floor the two Parties had no problem getting their 2nd tier Breakthrough Orbs. By now the rest of Emerald''s Party had gotten ready to tier up. Zaktak insisted Emerald should be the 1st to tier up. I had a 2nd tier Floor now and thus 2nd tier BO''s would no longer be super hard toe by, so the rest agreed. Rather than bing a whole new kind of dragon like I had expected, Emerald and Sprout simply grew a bitrger, and their age tier changed from ''fledgling'' to ''young''. Huh¡­ Must be due to Forest dragons being ''true dragons'' and having mana in their blood already. Other than that, Thenac became a Scout, Zaktak a Tank, Nalir a Monk and Begdar a Mage. Uhh! Another Mage! A nice one this time! I can''t wait to see what spells she''ll use! And what my ''Wonky Magic'' Rule will turn them into! When the glow around Begdar disappeared, Nalir approached her and gave his mate a celebratory kiss. Uhhhh! Kisses! You go girl! The 3rd consistent member of Nerok''s Party was an older catman by the name of Gazkak, who ended up getting the Crafter ss. Clearly a lover, not a fighter, that one. Champ and Vanek had joined Emerald''s Party for a run and Champ had evolved from being a ''karmic small dumb mimic'' to a ''karmic dumb mimic''. Which really just meant he could mimic bigger things now. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Life is good. Chief Nerok thought with a smile. No one here is a ve anymore, the Dungeon protects us from the elves and provides for us. It was kind enough to warn me of Vanek''s low self esteem centered around his race and species! It didn''t have to do that! It even went so far as to heal our bodies! Nerok was taking a walk through the tent-''vige'' with Lionheart by his side. The Chief''s Steed wasn''t yet strong enough to carry an adult ursakin around - kirins weren''t built for that after all -, so Nerok intended to help Emerald''s Party mine the Dungeon for a while, to help Lionheart level up and get stronger. Till then, they would simply walk side by side. One of the Dungeon''s kobolds had informed the Tribe that the elves had only been doing a scouting mission and would likely be back at some point. As such, they had decided not to build permanent homes, so they quickly could pack up and stay in the Dungeon. This meant the Tribe had to focus extra on getting wood for fires and fur from wild creatures or leather from the Dungeon for clothes, so the Tribe could keep warm in theing winter. However, with the exception of rhinokin, all beastkin could handle the cold rather well, so Nerok wasn''t too worried about winter. As for the elves, even with faster long-distance transportation like horses it would take about 6 weeks before the elves would return, from the time they left. Likely more, as they would need to report what they found and then put a new group together. So while Nerok knew the Tribe wasn''t permanently safe just yet, they were temporarily. And Nerok wanted to enjoy that. Venek has Champ now and with the Tribe being aware of his feelings, he has bounced back up! Nerok continued in his thoughts. And let''s not forget Lionheart! The Chief gave his Steed a grin and a p on his long neck. Minzca and Megthiz will give birth any day now!Bringing even more joy to the Tribe! Merchants have put us on their route, so trade is guaranteed.And the Dungeon has already given us ess to 2nd tier Orbs! The Chief took a deep breath and stopped to feel his body. It felt so young! 10 years! I have another 10 years! Nerok continued his walk but he knew he - as the Chief - had other things he needed to give his attention. So he ended his train of thought with prayers to both his main and local gods. Praise be the System for providing for our Tribe by giving us this Dungeon! Praise be the Dungeon of Karma for all it has done for our Tribe and all it will do! Chapter 27: A Newborn, A Drunken Captain and A Dungeon Rescue Team Chapter 27: A Newborn, A Drunken Captain and A Dungeon Rescue Team 5 days passed. Chief Nerok''s Party had stopped visiting after having gotten the needed BO''s to tier up with. Nerok still came by daily but Molgroor and Gazkak didn''t join him anymore. However, the children of the Tribe often joined him as he walked through the Dungeon and informed me of ongoing events in the Tribe. It was a nice routine. On this day Emerald''s Party hadn''t visited me at all and I had gotten quite worried. Their 1st trip of the day normally began around 2 hours after sunrise, and I hadn''t heard from them 4 hours after sunrise. What''s happening?! Did the elvese back? No¡­ they can''t have¡­ It''s too early! They''re just dyed! Distracted by something! Then Chief Nerok showed up. "I wish to apologize on Emerald''s Party''s behalf." Nerok said he walked through The Great Tree Room. "Morghar''s mate Minzca has gone intobor, you see. Morghar has to stay with his mate the next while and his Party wishes to¡­ refrain from gaining any EXP while Morghar doesn''t gain any." The Chief looked up at the ceiling of The Rainbow Forest and gave an adoring smile. "They didn''t want to out level him. Isn''t that sweet?" Nerok finished collecting the loot into Lionheart''s saddle bags. Due to Lionheart being an already existing species and having a longer base lifespan than both beastkin, drags and Forest dragons, he leveled up slower than the rest of the Tribe. As a mimic Champ wouldn''t age as long as he was staying still but otherwise had a base lifespan of 25 years. And as Champ was also considered a new species he actually leveled up only slightly slower than Emerald and Sprout. That being said, Champ was now level 20 and had be a karmic mini mimic. While this meant he could only mimic things with a maximum volume of 3 liters, he had in turn gotten smarter. Which meant he no longer talked like a toddler but like a young adult. I both missed it and not at the same time. The current treasure chest mimic of the 2nd Floor was much less talkative than Champ. So a mimic''s lifespan is considered to be 25 years for the purpose of calcting how much EXP they need to level up. A kirin''s base lifespan, on the other hand, was 65 years, so leveling up was much slower for Lionheart. However, Nerok and Lionheart had worked hard on gaining levels and the kirin was now level 15. At the Chief''s previous visit he had informed me that Lionheart had gotten strong enough to carry him around for an hour or so at a time before needing to rest. The Chief started talking again once the loot had been collected. "In the meantime the young adults of the Tribe have volunteered to rece them as the Tribe''s miners." He rolled his eyes. "And by that, I mean they egged each other on about not being traumatized by having been forced into a deathly Dungeon multiple times a day by the elves. No, no, no! They are brave juveniles!" The Chiefughed for a bit as he gathered more loot into the saddle bags. When done, he started walking and talking again. "I demanded someone a bit more responsible came with them, to keep them out of trouble. And guess who volunteered! None other than Vanek! He has reallye a long way! And this will surely help his self esteem! Keeping an eye on the rowdy ''Party of the Brave'' as they call themselves!" Then his face turned serious and¡­ embarrassed? "Of course, the Tribe appreciates all you have done for us. But¡­ well¡­" Nerok gave a deep sigh as he collected more loot. "We have all just had a really bad experience with other Dungeons. The Tribe loves you! Most just can''t deal with the memories thate with entering a Dungeon. Not well enough for daily visits at least. Once in a while seems to be fine, if a bit ufortable." Nerok said nothing for a while, clearly the topic had made him feel down. Then, just before he left, he added. "I suppose it''s easier for the youngest of us. They have less bad memories to ovee." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The next day the whole Tribe came down to The Room of Fallen Heroes to have the newborn bear cub healed by the unicorn bunny. Both as a precaution and as a¡­ well¡­ it really seemed like a form for christening to me. As the baby wasn''t named yet and didn''t have any ss or levels, his floatingbel simply said: Beastkin - Ursakin Level 0 "Like we all have been healed by the Dungeon of Karma, so will this babe!" Nerok had said. The newborn''s parents, siblings and Chief stood on the far side of the Boss Room, while the rest of the Tribe stood packed together on the other side of the stream. Like sardines packed together. When the Chief started to inform people of where to stand, I tried to move my creatures out of the way the best I could. But as the kirin Boss tried to move to the side of the room, Nerok came and guided it back into the middle, making the Chief stand in between two kirins. Clearly the Boss is meant to be my representative in this. But why didn¡¯t he grab a kobold on the way instead? They can talk on my behalf after all. ¡­ Clearly the System doesn¡¯t know the answer to all questions. Not that I expected it to read everyone¡¯s minds¡­ ¡­ And now I¡¯m just d to know it isn¡¯t a mindreader¡­ "The System blessed this Dungeon! And the Dungeon passes some of this blessing on to us! From this day forward! This child receives blessings from the Dungeon of Karma like the rest of us!" Massive cheers burst forward when the Chief stopped speaking. Nerok gestured to Minzca, the mother, to bring the baby to the unicorn bunny. The bunny had been sitting in front of one of its burrows but on mymand hopped over to the mother and used ''Healing Touch'' on the cub. The Skill did nothing but light the baby up, as any problems had already been healed in the womb when his mother had gotten healed. More cheers and this time the sound made the cub start crying. Minzca and Morghar began trying to calm the baby while Nerok continued the ceremony. "The Dungeon of Karma has bestowed its first blessing on the child!" The Tribe smiled but kept quiet in order to not further disturb the crying cub. The Chief turned to the parents. "And what shall the boy''s name be? The Dungeon wishes to know." I do? Well, yeah. I do. But¡­ Why are you speaking for me? ''Cause it makes me sound like a god? So, that¡¯s why you didn¡¯t grab a kobold! You want to strengthen the thought that I¡¯m a god! ¡­ I guess I don''t really mind, then. It''s pretty cool actually! As long as I actually think the way he says I do, that is. If he says something out of line, I''ll have to cut in! The baby boy had quieted down again. "His name is Daarux." Minzca said and all at once the Tribe began to greet their newest member. This naturally caused the cub to start crying again. Luckily, the ceremony was now over, and the Tribe left my Dungeon. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Lieutenant Tanithil Alnus walked into the office of inspector general Acer. As he entered the room he noticed how tired the general looked. General Acer was quick to hide his exhaustion once he noticed his guest. "Uh! Wee! Take a seat! How may I help you?" The inspector general asked in an excited tone and an honest smile on his lips. Tanithil blinked a couple of times before deciding to ignore the general''s sudden shift in mood. He took the seat in front of the desk and began hisint. "I believe my captain is unfit as a captain, sir. He cares not for his duties and - from what I can gather - his only interests lie in alcohol." The general''s face turned serious, yet still happy. "Of course! Nothing I haven''t dealt with before! I will do all I can to help you! Now! What is the name of your captain?!" "Captain Gleditsia, sir." Inspector general Acer made a pained grimace like he had just been shot in the foot. "That¡­ doesn''t surprise me¡­" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I''ve had manyints about him¡­" General Acer opened his eyes again and looked straight into Tanithil''s. "Captain Gleditsia is the third and youngest child of brigadier general Gleditsia, who in turn is the firstborn of general Gleditsia. If I only had to go against the will of the father I could - and would! - do so. But his grandfatherplicates things¡­" The inspector general took another calming breath, leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling before continuing. "I tried once, you know. When the captain was first reported to me. I tried several different things. But each attempt either did very little or was foiled by general Gleditsia or someone acting on hismand. The only thing that stuck was that I got him more or less banned from ever getting promoted." General Acer turned his gaze back to Tanithil''s. "But at the same time I can''t get him fired or demoted. So unfortunately, the only thing I can do for you is to move you to another captain." Then he gave the lieutenant a crooked smile and added: "Lucky for you, captain Gleditsia''s mother is dead and his grandmother refuses to interfere in this or I wouldn''t have been able to do even this much for you! His mother was already a 5th tier titanium huntress, when she died and his grandmother is ate 7th tier mithral huntress!" "I feared something like this was happening¡­" Tanithil said with a sigh while closing his eyes and pinching his nose for a short moment. Then he looked up at general Acer again. "So I considered the problem on my way back from myst assignment and I think I have a solution." The general''s face lit up. "Well then, let''s hear it!" "Myst assignment included the scouting of a new Dungeon. It had been reported that it was 2 weeks old - the Portal had been spotted as it appeared - and as such it should have been impossible for it to have more than two Floors. Yet it had three. It killed two whole Parties of 4 2nd tiers and half of the 3rd tier Party! How?!" Now it was the lieutenant''s turn to take a calming breath. "I won''t go into depth on all the odd things there are going on in that Dungeon, I''m sure you can find my report on it." "The Dungeon is dangerous." Tanithil continued. "More so than its age suggests it should be. As an unimed Dungeon in no man''snd the next logical step is to summon a trustworthy, dungeonless dungeon master and tame the Dungeon. As my captain, any mission dealing with this Dungeon is Gleditsia''s responsibility. As such, it''s expected that Gleditsia leads the mission now that it''s existence has been confirmed. If I understand his personality correctly he wille up with some excuse for why he can''t, but if we¡­" Tanithil turned a bit embarrassed. "...or rather you. I doubt I would be of much help here. But if you could ensure captain Gleditsia is on the team entering the Dungeon there should be a big chance he would end up¡­ injured¡­ enough that he''ll have to retire. And then he can''t neglect his duties and put more lives in danger." General Acer looked thoughtful for a while, trying to see how someone might counter this idea. While he found a couple of ways it could fail, he saw no reason why anyone would put any me on either of them for anything. "Interesting¡­ I''ll see what I can do. Does this mean you''ll stay under captain Gleditsia''smand for now, or do you wish to be moved to another captain anyway?" Lieutenant Tanithil Alnus gave the inspector general a crooked smirk. "Nooo~. That would just be unfair to the next lieutenant!" The 2 gave a quietugh. "Well then. Thank you for your assistance, inspector general Acer!" Tanithil said as he rose from the chair and clicked his heels together to salute the general. General Acer rose as well. And despite not needing to, he saluted the lieutenant back. Tanithil had earned his respect and trust. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Priestess Calorose led her flock towards the location Skau had given them. When Calorose heard that another piece of the shattered goddess had been found she had been quick to summon her flock and inform bishop Marthox of the good news. As always, time was of the essence! Every day wasted was another day for the monster infection to grow in, making their holy mission to reassemble the goddess that much harder. At least we caught this one early on. Calorose knew an infection could be almost impossible to win against if the order didn''t free the goddess from it early on. Calorose had indoctrinated her flock personally using the strategy father Marthox had taught her. It was an efficient strategy that most in the order used to convince new members of the reality of Dungeons. Calorose had tried to preach about the goddess'' plight before she had gotten the Skill and been taught the technique and her words had gone through to no one. But ever since she had learned it, for almost every time she preached, one person would realize the truth! She couldn''t find it in herself to me those who wished to ignore the painful truth, though. And most members of The Order had to have their faith renewed daily by listening to a priest preaching. Calorose''s own flock was like that, and while it could sometimes get exhausting, she found her duty just as fulfilling! Calorose was young for a priestess of The Order of The Broken Goddess. It took a lot out of a person to properly preach for the order. This meant potential priests and priestesses had to be at least 4th tier, but more often than not 5th tier to be a fully fletched priest or priestess. Calorose herself had to first be a 5th tier Charmer before she had what it took to properly preach. Now, barely more than a week after bing a priestess and being sent out into the world to spread the faith, she had to lead her small flock in a crusade. Her flock was 6 members strong - 7 if counting herself - so unless the infection had grown stronger, they could all enter the Dungeon at once. Seeing the tents in the distance, Calorose stopped her horse for a moment to speak to her flock. "We''re here. The first thing we''ll do is locate the Portal. Then, we present ourselves and our sacred mission. That way we might stop the local Tribe from having any bad reactions based on false knowledge. But should the locals turn hostile regardless of having heard the truth, we shall quickly enter the Dungeon and finish our sacred mission." The priestess didn''t wait for a reply from her flock and simply kicked her horse into action. She knew they would follow her lead, like she would follow bishop Marthox''s. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "So¡­ you are saying Dungeon Cores are actually a piece of the System''s soulmate, who was crystallized and broken into thousands of pieces eons ago." Chief Nerok began summarizing sceptically. "Now having be broken and vulnerable her pieces became infected with monsters. Monsters, which will do whatever it takes to keep her from being reassembled and reunited with the System. And therefore the monsters keep the pieces ''prisoner'' in dimensional Dungeons and try to kill anyone attempting toe near the piece they''re guarding¡­" "Yes exactly!" The siren priest replied with a smile. Sirens had two forms: a half dolphin form for when they were under water and a half bird form for when they were above water. The bird form had a human face and torso along with big brown feathered wings on their backs and talon-like arms and legs. "Breakthrough Orbs are the goddess'' way of making people more capable of helping her. And the only known way ofpletely getting rid of the monster infection is to rescue the piece of the goddess they''re guarding!" Calorose ended the Chief''s summary. "Our Dungeon only attacks those who have done evil. How does your religion exin that?" Nerok questioned. The priestess looked shocked at hearing this but quickly replied. "Really! How marvelous! This must be her heart! She must be using the extra strength in this piece of her to control the behavior of the infection!" Calorose gasped as a thought hit her. "Oh~! Can''t you see! She''s crying out for help!" With those words the priestess stormed into the Dungeon Portal beside her. Her acolytes were quick to follow after her but thest one of them - the only human - was shut out as the allowed number of sapients was reached. "Should we follow them?" Begdar questioned. "Hmm¡­" The Chief took a moment to consider their next actions. "Molgroor, Morghar. Escort the acolyte back to their animals and keep an eye on him there." With Morghar having a newborn it seemed better to keep him in the ''vige''. When news of visitors had arrived, Sprout and Lionheart had been ordered to guard the newborn and his mother. Both as a precaution and to have the Tribe appear more normal at first nce. Nerok waited till the human had been escorted away before continuing. "I want the rest of Emerald''s Party to follow me and Lionheart into the Dungeon. We are all to be carrying weapons. If the creatures attack the outsiders-" The word was said as if an insult. "-we will attack them as well. If they don''t, we will follow them while out of sight till we can ask a mimic or kobold for advice." "Of course!" and "Good n!" could be heard from some of those nearby but most simply nodded stoically. The aforementioned 8 quickly located each other - Zaktak, Emerald and Thenac hadn''t been present but were within shouting distance - and gathered their weapons before slowly walking into thepletely stone Portal. Like the Chief had assumed the ''Chosen Family'' Rule allowed them to enter even though the Portal looked solid. Chapter 28: The Order of The Broken Goddess Chapter 28: The Order of The Broken Goddess 6 people came running into my Dungeon, none of whom I recognised. Their Auras wereyered for some odd reason. The Auras closest to their bodies were all some shade of gray. All over 35% and under 75%. Pretty normal. But the second Aura, the one covering the first Aura, was the same color for all of them. That being the darkest possible ck. The one meaning a karma level of 0%. The identity tags helped clear things up a bit, but also added several more questions. Calorose [Hypnotized] [Dungeon Weakness] Siren Charmer Level 40 Phoebolis Sagitta [Charmed] [Dungeon Weakness] Centaur Archer Level 35 Celtina Truefall [Charmed] [Dungeon Weakness] Gnome Crafter Level 26 Sotor [Charmed] [Dungeon Weakness] Giant Labourer Level 28 Todalus Crater [Charmed] [Dungeon Weakness] Centaur Toughness Level 19 Glubos [Charmed] [Dungeon Weakness] Giant Fighter Level 23 Oh, no¡­ My karmic creatures chose to react to the outer Aura rather than the inner, and attacked with a ferocity I had never before seen. Not that it helped my level 1 creatures. "The infection has sensed we''re a threat to it and has taken back control in response! We must not let the infection stop us!" The siren shouted as she let her Party take care of the fighting. "For the goddess!" "For the goddess!" Her Party replied. Ignoring the loot, the 6 of them started to go through my Dungeon while killing everything in sight. My 1st tier Boss felt their deaths immediately. Okay, System. First things first. Why do they have two Auras? Is the second one the Aura of the hypnotist or something? Sapients gain a massive amount of negative karma when they attempt to or seed in gettingplete control of the mind of another being or in affecting another''s mind for selfish reasons. As the affected sapient is no longer in control of themselves, their actions count as that of the mindbender until they regain control of themselves. System Alert The sapient known as Luvenia Mein is responsible for the death of 692 Dungeon Cores through the usage of various forms of mind maniption. This led to her getting a permanent karma level of 0%. Through her Brainwashing of 22 sapients the cult known as ''The Order of The Broken Goddess'' was created. The members of the cult use the Skills ''Charm'', ''Enthrall'', ''Hypnotize'' and ''Brainwash'', as well as spells meant to have the same effects, to gain more members, and no one is considered a member unless they are affected by one. As both ''Hypnotize'', ''Brainwash'' and their respective spell variants are in effect until dispelled, whether or not the caster still lives, the cult has continued to function and grow even after the death of Luvenia Mein. In order to minimize future deaths of Dungeon Cores all members of the cult known as ''The Order of The Broken Goddess'' are given ''Dungeon Weakness'', which causes all attacks from a Dungeon to deal 150% damage to them. ¡­ The ''Dungeon Weakness'' thing was gonna be my next question¡­ The 150% damage is really nice, but¡­ I can''t help but feel like this is a massive problem. Not so much for me personally, but for all Dungeon Cores! And 692 have already died! ¡­ Uhm¡­ How rare are Dungeon Cores, and how long has the cult been active? There are currently 9,863 Dungeon Cores. On average 1-3 new Dungeon Cores get created each year. The cult known as ''The Order of The Broken Goddess'' has been active for 47 years. That means an average of 14.7 dead Dungeon Cores per year! Emerald''s Party, with Chief Nerok and Lionheart recing Morghar and Sprout, stepped into the Dungeon. Once more carrying weapons. Good to know I have backup. Calcting¡­ ''Dungeon Weakness'' is extended to include damage from the ''family'' of a Dungeon Core. Awesome! The new arrivals stopped and stared into the air, clearly having received a message from the System. Likely to inform them that the Weakness now included them. The message wasn''t received well, though. Probably due to now knowing for sure that my ''guests'' want to kill me. And then Lionheart felt the ughter like my Boss had and was visually filled with desire to avenge the fallen. When the tribal group located the cult members, while thetter group searched for the entrance to The Trap Corridor, the former group almost attacked them immediately. Luckily, - Wait, did I do that? - Thenac reminded the others that the cult members likely had a much higher level than them and it would be stupid to attack them now. Better to wait till my creatures had tired them out first. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó My karma creatures'' hatred of these people with effective karma levels of 0% meant that every creature in a room was summoned to the location of the cult members regardless of distance and line of sight. As such, all 41 creatures in The Forest of Territories headed towards them the moment the first one stepped a foot into the room,pletely disregarding that they weren''t supposed to leave their territories. System? How can I undo mind control? ''Charm'' and its spell variant is in effect until 1 day has passed, it has been dispelled, or the caster dies. ''Enthrall'' and its spell variant is in effect until 1 week has passed, it has been dispelled, or the caster dies. ''Hypnotize'', ''Brainwash'' and their respective spell variants are in effect until dispelled, whether or not the caster still lives I don¡¯t have time to wait a whole day for Charm to go away on its own. Not while my creatures are so aggressive. They¡¯ll be killed long before the day¡¯s up! And this siren Charmer will simply reapply the Charm anyway, won¡¯t she? So, I¡¯ll have to deal with the Charmer first then. Which means I have to dispel the Hypnosis or kill the caster. But I don¡¯t know who the caster is. I only know he isn¡¯t here, which means I can¡¯t kill him anyway! My creatures didn''t arrive at the same time, but the higher number of creatures meant that the bird-like siren had to start throwing spells around. Beforehand she had let the rest of her Party do all the fighting. And there really hadn''t been any need for her to do anything, as my creatures had been both low in level and few in numbers. I have to kill them to defend myself, don¡¯t I? The siren''s spell of choice was an ice shard spell. The 5th of which got wonky and turned into a self-aging spell. One that aged her 4 years. Uhhh¡­ Not quite what I was hoping for¡­ The next wonky spell, two roomster, caused all the siren''s hair to fall off. Not quite it either¡­ The cult had no interest in loot and so, no interest in treasure chests. Even through the strong desire to kill them my level 4 small dumb mimic had stayed in the form of a chest. The cult had shown a desire to try and solve the puzzles, while also valuing speed a lot. This meant they used a couple of minutes to try and solve any puzzle they came across before deciding to simply brute forcing through it. Having killed the fake drag before realizing it was a puzzle and having collected zero keys at all, meant that they had had to break all the doors they came across. I don''t feel all that bad about people breaking my doors down anymore. I thought as I enjoyed the boost to my creatures'' Toughness. Now if only I could increase the rest of my creatures'' Ability Scores! ¡­ Hmm¡­ I''ll have to think about that¡­ While looking for the 4 keys to open the door in The Griffins'' Treasure Room the giant Labourer tried to look in the treasure chest. This naturally got him bitten. He survived it, though. After this they quickly gave up on figuring out how to open the door, and instead rammed it open. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The two phoenixes kept ambushing the cult and while fighting The Kobold Flight one of the siren''s ice spells got wonky and made her blind in the left eye. Now that''s more like it! At this point the cult was starting to have some problems and the only 2nd tier in the Party seemed like he was at the end of his rope. The centaur Archer and the siren were 4th and 5th tier, though, and thus barely looked hurt. The Greedy Pacifist kobold n of the 6th Floor had gotten the task of making oil out of olives. First and foremost so it could rece the water in the kobold controlled water trough trap with oil. After all, oil is both stickier and can get hotter than water. The Greedy Pacifists had sessfully made some olive oil but it wasn''t the best quality oil. After a couple of tests it had been deemed good enough for frying but not for sds. Which was still more than good enough for pouring over one''s enemies while boiling hot! But as the Archer had sessfully shot down the kobolds meant to tilt the now oil-filled stone trough, it would have to get tested another day. The cult didn''t know of my Room of Rust trap and while they only entered the room once, it still didn''t take long before all their metal had turned to rust. Most of their gear had been leather, though, so it was mostly their weapons which rusted. For me the most exciting part was the Archer''s loss of arrows. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The mist pixie in the first room of the 4th Floor was located and killed by the Archer, who had improvised and thrown a rock at it, before the pixie could trick anyone into falling off the Cliffside trap. This inspired the other cult members to pick up choice rocks as makeshift weapons. The fledgling feathered serpents, on the other hand, sessfully lowered the Intelligence of the one 2nd tier so much that he started thinking it was a good idea to walk into my traps. He took a nap in The Flower Bed. His Party wasn''t quite ready to leave him behind, though. Only after several minutes of trying to wake the centaur did he wake up again. They really shouldn''t have bothered. The feathered serpents of the next room once again lowered his Intelligence. The unnaturally low Intelligence of Todalus Crater made the wounded level 19 Toughness ss decide it would be fun to jump over the low stonewall and into my wheat field. Everyone knows it''s rude to step on someone else''s growing field! It can ruin their harvest! These fields were not actual wheat fields. The fields were traps that turned into sharp, wheat-looking des that spun around and cut everything in its path. They would activate once someone entered a field. The Karma Traps'' damage bonus plus his Dungeon Weakness meant that the poor Charmed guy took a lot of damage. It took some time before any of the feathered serpents was killed and his Intelligence stopped being lowered. And at that point, the guy had already died from blood loss, all while being too stupid to realize what was happening. Calcting¡­ New Achievement: Weeding the World: Rarely does a being ever validate getting a karma level of 0%. But if they do, they represent a danger to the world and need to be killed immediately. Condition: Kill or help kill at least 1 being with a karma level of 0%. Reward: 1% extra lifespan per being of karma level 0% you have killed and the Ability to see the Karma Auras of beings with karma levels of 0%. [You do not have a lifespan. 1% extra lifespan per being of karma level 0% you have killed changed to 1% more EXP gained per being of karma level 0% you have killed.] [You already have the Ability ''Karma Aura Sight''. ''0% Karma Aura Sight'' changed to ''0% Karma Sense''. You can now sense when a being of karma level 0% is within 1 km of your Dungeon Portal.] Weeding the World: 1 being of karma level 0% killed. As ''Weeding the World'' would give the same reward whether it is active or passive, the Achievement automatically turns passive. You have gotten a new Achievement while having 3 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? No thank you¡­ Okay¡­ I take it, it took a while to figure out what ''lifespan'' would trante to for a Dungeon Core. Gaining more EXP doesn''t entirely seem like the same thing. It also seems a bit weak for an Achievement¡­ And the System even acknowledges that and turns it passive immediately! ¡­ ¡­ Maybe it''s like my ''Blood Shed, Blood Room'' Rule and only meant to inform people of one''s wishes. That would make sense! While I already knew the System wanted bad people killed due to my mission, non-Dungeon Cores wouldn''t know that. "Todalus Crater died for the goddess!" The siren had shouted before she began walking on the dirt route between the wheat fields and thus avoiding the traps. Her Party followed in her footsteps, having decided that, while watching the centaur get killed was scary and gruesome, he had been an idiot to jump into a field in a Dungeon like that. The group then arrived at The Door of Speciesism and The Blobfish Totem trap. Said trap didn''t work as well as intended. It was meant to stop people from sessfully sweet talking The Door of Speciesism by lowering their Charisma by half - rounded up and with a maximum point loss of 8. After having their Charisma reduced, only the siren was able to convince The Door of her species'' good nature. "We are called sirens because our naturally high Charisma makes us brilliant singers. When a siren goes off everyone near and far will hear it. Likewise all will stop to listen to a siren''s song. Though, we are, of course, not as loud!" She ended with a grin. The Door of Speciesism then asked about her species'' thoughts on making others do things they don''t want to do, like I had originally instructed it to do. It was my not-quite-subtle way of asking them about very. "No, no, no! No siren would ever do that! The System has gifted us all with free will! To disregard someone''s free will is to disregard all the System has done!" The siren dered in response. So, you weren''t the one to Charm your Party intoing with you? Despite having ''Charmer'' as your ss you have never actually Charmed anyone into doing something they don''t want to do and the very thought of doing so disgusts you? You are clearly lying, girl! The Door didn''t see the lie, though, and let her through. She hadn''t learned the intended lesson, however, so the puzzle had still been failed. This confused her, but didn''t slow her down. When The Door had opened for her, the other 4 decided to walk through as well and thus officially skipping the puzzle. I still got EXP for the puzzle, even if they skipped it. A puzzle was attempted! You have gained 8 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 2 EXP. 11 level 8 creatures have died. You have gained 44 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 9 EXP. Creature Designer rewards you 7 EXP. 1 level 19 sapient has been killed in your Dungeon. You have gained 950 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 190 EXP. Weeding the World rewards you 10 EXP. The cult members were quickly in a fight with the creatures of The Kobold Training Camp. They appear to bepletely immune to my Do The Dishes trap. I thought soon afterwards. The Chicken Totem trap was meant to lower their Awareness and make them more susceptible to it. The Do The Dishes trap was meant to curse anyone seeing the wooden wash basin filled with dirty dishes into doing them. And when cleaned, the dishes would magically be dirty again and you could be forced to clean them once more! I think their Charmed states and the Hypnotisment are overriding my trap¡­ Luckily for me, it seemed to be the only one they were immune to. Unfortunately for me, the remaining centaur was able to point out all my traps except my Totem traps - which simply gave some form of debuff to whoever was within a 10 meters radius of it. While said centaur Archer could locate my traps she didn''t notice the dumb mimic in the middle of The Kobold Traning Camp. The mimic was disguised as a statue of¡­ well¡­ me¡­ my Core that is¡­ and was located right behind an altar and in between the two totem traps of the room. Said totems being The Snail Totem, lowering Dexterity, and The Chicken Totem, lowering Awareness. The mimic ate the first person toe near it, which happened to be the gnome Crafter. Two big gulpster and the gnomedy was gone. Weeding the World: 2 beings of karma level 0% killed. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The feathered serpents with their innate passive Skill ''Aura of Morons'' - which gave any enemy in the Aura a -1 to Intelligence per 4th level of the serpent, but could be resisted by those with a high Awareness Score - had had some sess in the form of the dead centaur. But the fledgling neurotoxic dragons had fangs that were too weak to inject venom with - due to still being fledglings - and had to resort to spitting their venom. This method of delivery - in addition to their young age tier - made their venom much less effective unless it hit a weak spot, like an eye, an open mouth or a fresh wound. If this happened it would cause great pain and potentially nausea and vertigo as well, depending on the amount that ends up inside the person''s body. Several times a cult member had flinched in pain from the venom, but - even with their ''Dungeon Weakness'' - it didn''t seem to slow them down much. I don''t think I''ll make any more of those before I can make them as ''young'' rather than as ''fledgling''. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The first spell the siren cast in The Geyser Path decided it didn''t want to do ice. Instead it took the form of a lightning bolt, which hit all three of the siren''s remaining allies as well as the feathered serpent the siren had aimed the spell at. The centaur Archer was a 4th tier and took the hit quite well, but the two giants fell to the ground and went into 3 minutes and 16 seconds long seizures. During this, the Archer and siren had to defend the rest against the other 20 creatures in the room using only ice shards and the crossbow with matching bolts they had gotten as loot from a kobold in the previous room. See that''s more like it! Normally an attack like that from a 5th tier to two already wounded 3rd tiers would at least have needed immediate medical attention - that is, if they didn''t outright die from it - but the ''Almost Random Wonky Magic'' Rule used some of the used mana to change the spell''s effect, thus lowering its power. Having been made from the Charmer''s mana it also didn''t trigger ''Dungeon Weakness''. The Tribesmen had considered attacking the cult members while half of them were down, but they had long since seen the ''Level 40'' above the siren''s head and chose caution instead. "We attack when the Boss has them distracted." Nerokmanded. When the room had been cleared and the siren could take a break from spellcasting and think things through, she decided that since something was clearly wrong with her spells she should cast as few as possible. Urh! But that was the fun part! The Geyser Path ended with a puzzle door but one I was less satisfied with than my other puzzles. The door was covered with pictures of all the different kinds of creatures of my first 4 Floors. Except my mimics that is. Each picture could be pressed down, and to open the door the 8 correct pictures had to be pressed down. If one had picked even just one picture wrong, once 8 images had been pressed, all selected buttons would simply pop up again. The answer was the 8 different kinds of creatures of the 4th Floor. Should I rece this one? Definitely someday. But, you know. When I no longer have any new Floors to make. It took a couple of minutes, but the cult got there in the end. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó To see a longma one had to have a karma level of 90% or above. But in return they would and could only attack people with a karma level of 10% or lower or when aiding a sapient of 90% or above. Like the kirin, the longma was both horse and dragon. Where kirins were a mixture of dragon, horse, lion and giraffe, longmas were simply dragon horses. The horse body was covered in brightly colored dragon scales, it had big draconic wings, a pair of horns that curved backwards on its forehead and a pair of long whiskers by its nose. Its teeth were split equally between that of a horse and that of a dragon with the 12 back teeth being t mrs and the 12 in the front being sharp canines. As the main creature of the 5th Floor - when not counting the Boss or it''s healer - was the longma and the entire cult had effective karma levels of 0%, well¡­ the two 3rd tier giants were soon killed by razor sharp teeth from a creature they couldn''t see. When the siren noticed that arade had died she would shout out their name and dere that they had died fighting for the goddess, like she had done every time someone from her party had died. ¡­ And then carry on like nothing happened. The rest of her Party hadn''t been as careless about seeing their friends die and had be more and more nervous and frightened. As the least harmed and the two with the highest levels remaining centaur and the siren hadn''t been as affected by the death of their weaker members as the others had been. The Archer had, however, be mighty paranoid. The Charmer and the Archer only survived the three Memory Lanes and all its longmas due to the Archer''s paranoia and ability to hear the longmas. Must be a Skill or an Ability or something. Too bad Identify Identity won''t give me a full status on people. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It came as a bit of a surprise to me when the siren quickly solved The Door of Humility. "I am Calorose, priestess of the broken goddess. I seek nothing more in life than to serve the System and its soulmate by bringing the pieces of the goddess back together." The Archer then repeated it but with her own name and calling herself an acolyte. In The Room of The Peacemaker the couple first waited for an attack. When nothing happened, they went to read the clue under the knight statue. After thinking and discussing it for a couple of minutes without finding any obvious solution, they then proceeded to explore the room. "Priestess Calorose? The door has a handle." The centaur Archer stated out loud before making to grab the ring handle. Said handle was ced at eyeheight to the centaur and jumped from the door as she tried to grab it. Having been taken by surprise the Archer had no chance to defend herself as the mini mimic turned itself into a sharp cone midjump and pushed itself through her eye and into her brain. The naturally higher Toughness of centaurs having been ovee by the mimic''s Ability giving its ambush extra attack power. Weeding the World: 5 beings of karma level 0% killed. With the mimic''s cover having been blown, it was soon killed by the siren. Getting frustrated, the priestess decided to simply grab the nearest weapon and put it in the statue''s hand. This caused the knight statue to animate and attack the siren with the sword she had given it. It only got a single attack in - slicing her left shoulder open - before getting sted by an ice shard and breaking into pieces. This was actually a legit way to¡­ well not really solve the puzzle but to ovee the puzzle. Defeating the statue would yield no EXP but would open the door to the next room. Additionally, the ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' Rule wouldn''t react to this. So, the lone 5th tier siren priestess began preparing herself before she would walk into The Field of Fallen Heroes to meet my 1st tier kirin Boss and its assistants. Blind in one eye and bleeding from one shoulder, but otherwise unharmed. Chapter 29: Boss Battle Chapter 29: Boss Battle Calorose had been Hypnotized by the words of bishop Marthox 8 years prior when she was a 3rd tier with the Bard ss. To be a Charmer - andter Entraller, Hypnotist and Mindbender - one had to have started with Awareness or Charisma as their 2nd tier ss. As such, Marthox gave Calorose some extra attention, knowing she could be another bishop one day. Only when Calorose finally became a 5th tier and got the Charmer ss did Marthox let her out of his sight, so she could spread the faith of the broken goddess. Before meeting bishop Marthox, Calorose had only learnt two spells: how to create water and how to create ice. And everything she had been told afterwards was either about her new faith or how to convert people. Of ss Skills Calorose had 8. And only two of those were helpful in a fight against a Boss while having no allies. Had she not been Hypnotized, Calorose would have run out of the Dungeon by now. She was definitely not meant forbat. But she was Hypnotized, and so she proceeded anyway. Knowing she would be up against a Boss, she started out by using the active ss Skill she had gotten as a 4th tier Acolyte on herself. The Skill ''Bless'' would give her 10 minutes where one Ability Score would be raised by three and the rest by one. Calorose chose to raise her Charisma by three as she knew her only real chance to win was by Charming the Boss and having it stand down. Then she would be able to stroll right past the Boss. As an Awareness/Charisma hybrid ss Calorose''s physical Ability Scores were poor, so she intended to stay out of closebat as long as possible should n A fail. Her Intelligence was alright but not muchpared to her Awareness or Charisma. So, while spells were an option, it was not one the siren priestess liked. Calorose really hoped her Charisma could ovee the Awareness or Charisma of the Boss. For her only other option was to pelt it to death with ice shards or to try and drown it with water. The Hypnosis didn''t even let her consider running away as an option. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Unfortunately for Calorose - and this had nothing to do with any luck-bending Dungeon Rule -, a kirin''s best Ability Score was Awareness: One of the two Ability Scores, which could be used to resist the ''Charm'' Skill. While the siren had enough Charisma that she would have been able to Charm the kirin had it not been a Boss, the doubled Ability Scores it got from being one, made it able to resist the Skill. The Skill ''Charm'' would initiate a mental battle of minds and wills. The two beings'' highest Ability Score among Awareness and Charisma would go up against the other''s. The Skill would only work if the Charmer had at least 150% the Score of the Charmed. If it seeded, the Charmed one would follow any suggestions the Charmer made, if they weren''t too outside what the Charmed would have otherwise done, but only for a day. It could be reapplied, however. In this case Calorose''s Charisma and the Boss'' Awareness would have been equal, if only the 3+ to Charisma from ''Bless'' and the doubling of Awareness from ''Boss'' was to be considered. However, the kirin didn''t only have ''Boss'' as an Achievement. Mimics start out with the Achievement ''Ambush Predator'' and griffins get the Achievement ''Treasure Guard''. Likewise all kirins get the Achievement ''Avenger of Heroes'', which in turn gives them the Ability ''Power of Fallen Heroes''. Said Ability would give the kirin a boost to its Ability Scores based on how many ''Heroes'' had died nearby in the past 7 days. Whether or not the System considered someone a hero depended on a person''s karma level, with 90% or higher being the threshold. Part of why karma creatures had ''karma'' in the name was due to their nature making them unable to get their karma level lower than 90%. Should it somehow happen, their immune system would start attacking their body as the loss of their nature would make the body seem like a foreign object to be killed. A.k.a. the no-longer-a-karma-creature would get a severe allergic reaction to itself¡­ The Ability ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' wouldn''t have been enough to stop the kirin from getting Charmed by itself, but it was more than enough to turn the tides in favor of the Boss after it had its Ability Scores doubled. So, when Calorose tried to use her ss Skill ''Charm'' on the kirin the moment she saw it, it failed immediately. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I guess I''m about to find out if my supercharged kirin can defeat a 5th tier. I thought as the siren prepared herself before entering The Field of Fallen Heroes. The Boss Room had been named that after kirins'' innate Ability. ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' gave kirins a boost to their Ability Scores depending on how many beings with karma levels of 90% or higher had died within 1 km of them during thest week but the boost would disappear once the murderer had died or a week had passed. Dungeon creatures were made of mana and bound to the life and will of their Dungeon Core and as such didn''t normally have a karma level. Because they, as an extension of me, would then have to have my karma level. And as I, and all other Dungeon Cores, don''t have a karma level, they don''t have one either. But the nature of karma creatures meant they had to have a karma level of at least 90%. Yet as a Dungeon creature they couldn''t have a karma level at all. This put my creatures into a karmic superposition of both having a karma level of 90% and not having a karma level at all. In reality it meant they didn''t have a Karma Aura, yet they still counted as ''Heroes'' to my Boss''s Ability. ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' gave my kirin 1+ to all 6 Ability Scores each time a new threshold was reached. Each of the first 6 Heroes to die were a threshold, so after only 6 dead Dungeon creatures my Boss would get an additional 6+ in every Score on top of the doubling the ''Boss'' Achievement gave it. When 12 Heroes had died was the next threshold reached and from there the amount would be doubled for each threshold. My Dungeon had 308 creatures before The Field of Fallen Heroes, which gave my kirin an 11+ to each of its Ability Scores. Not as much as ''Boss'' gave it, but it''s still a lot. While one''s Ability Scores at level 1 varies from being to being, it does stay mostly consistent. All level 1 beings had a total of 60 and the distribution of them was often mostly the same within a species or race. For each level up the System gave two additional points. On which Ability Scores these two points ended up was decided by the System based on the being''s previous actions and needs. As such, an observant being would end up getting a lot of Awareness, while a being that had lost an important fight might get a bit more in its Strength Score doing its next level up. So, without considering any Achievements or Abilities my kirin had started with a total of 60 at level 1. It had gotten 18 more through leveling up, putting the total at 78. Then its Ability Scores got doubled giving it a total of 156. Right now a total of 308 Heroes had died near it within the past week giving my Boss an extra +11 to each of its stats. This gave it a current total of 204 points to its Ability Scores. And then there was an additional +2 and 140% Toughness from ''First of Your Kind'' and ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'', making this kirin''s highest Ability Score Toughness rather than Awareness, as it otherwise would have been. It also gave it the total number of Ability Score points a being of level 90 would have¡­ I forced the kirin''s Status to show up. Creature Status Species: Kirin Level: 10 Strength: 35 Dexterity: 39 Toughness: 55 Intelligence: 25 Awareness: 51 Charisma: 35 Achievements: Avenger of Heroes, Boss Abilities: Power of Fallen Heroes Yeah¡­ That Toughness is kinda ridiculous! And that Awareness too! Unlike sapients, kirins couldn''t get Skills and couldn''t use magic, so the Boss wasn''t actually as powerful as a level 90 sapient. You are not meant to fight a Boss alone either. The System had designed it so a Party of 4 at level 10 could win against a 1st tier Boss. A normal Boss of this tier would have an Ability Score total equal to a level 48, but it would be alone against 4 sapients. It would be a hard fight for a Party of 4 level 10''s and someone would likely die in the attempt, but it was possible to win. A Party of 6 level 10''s would naturally have a much easier time winning - provided they could work together - and would have a bigger chance of everyone surviving. Essentially, had the siren''s Party survived to meet my Boss, they likely would have won. Or maybe not. It did have an unnaturally high Toughness Score. Luckily for me, she''s all alone! Another thing the Achievement ''Avenger of Heroes'' did, was that the first nearby Hero death caused the kirin''s mane, tail, and hooves to set on fire as it got consumed with desire to avenge the fallen Hero. And when said avenging had happened, the me would die down as the Ability reset. So, in a Dungeon setting it would likely neverst the whole week. It seems quite likely to me that she''s gonna die to my kirin. But just to be sure, I better raise the wonky magic chance to 50%. As it onlysts 10 minutes, activating it while she''s fighting my Boss would be the right time to do so. This is life or death for me after all¡­ Well¡­ not actually. She would likely just take my Fake Core and leave with it. Though, she might notice it''s fake when she tries to take it¡­ It was mostly meant to stop me from getting enved. Death seems somewhat harder to fake. Hmm¡­ The ''Fake or Real Core'' Rule might actually convince her that she got the real Core, though. What was the wording of that again? Dungeon Rule: Fake or Real Core: Everyone and everything except the Core itself will think the fake Core is the real one. This can be ovee by rted Abilities or active Skills of the same tier as the Core or higher. So, as long as she is in my Dungeon she''ll think the Fake Core is the real one. I highly doubt she has any Skills to tell her otherwise. My thoughts were interrupted as the siren had finished her preparations and had started to head for the Boss Room. Break a leg! Or neck if you like! I didn''t actually want to know what would happen should she take my Fake Core. The Tribesmen looked ready to jump into the fight the moment my Boss had distracted the siren. While I''m pretty sure that''s not necessary, I appreciate the help regardless. The siren had tried to take a spiked shield with her from the puzzle room, but as a part of the puzzle it couldn''t leave the room. While she fumbled with it, I considered ordering the kirin to attack but I decided it would be better for it to stay close to the unicorn bunny in case it was needed. And there was no way I would ask the bunny to leave the protection of its 4 burrows behind. The siren then picked up the crossbow the Archer had been using and seemed to consider taking it with her, only to discard it in the end. Guess she''s taking the magic route. Fun stuff! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó n B then. Calorose thought as her Charm attempt on the Boss failed. The priestess knew she couldn''t let the failed n A faze her as her life was on the line. And more importantly: The goddess is counting on me to save her while the monster infection is weak and small. The Boss, which was rushing to attack her, looked like a dragon, horse and lion hybrid with a long neck and odd-looking fur-covered horns. The lion-mane and -tail as well as its cloven hooves were on fire. Its eyescked irises and were an angry red color with flickering sparks of orange. A color which resembled the fire on its body. Calorose had little time to dodge and only managed to move enough that the sharp teeth of the hybrid hit her shoulder instead of her throat, letting her survive the attack. Her shoulder was bleeding and she could feel the heat of its fiery mane as it began to set her clothes on fire. Then again. Calorose continued her thought process. While this infection is still small it is certainly not weak. It must be drawing power from the heart piece of the goddess. With renewed determination, Calorose shot three ice shards into one of the Boss'' fiery eyes. The first two simply shattered against the eye, irritating it and causing it to water but barely doing any actual damage. The third malfunctioned and froze her in ce for several precious seconds. More than enough time for the monster to release her shoulder and tear her throat out like it had originally intended, while her back got shredded by unknown attackers. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Uh?" Emil Great Rat looked around confused. What happened? It wasn''t that Emil didn''t know what he had been doing. He knew fully well that he had been on a mission to rescue ''a piece of the broken goddess'' from a ''monster infection''. But something had changed for him, and that was what he was questioning. I don''t believe in it anymore! Emil concluded after some soul searching. What do I do now? He questioned himself. Chapter 30: Changes in The Tribe Chapter 30: Changes in The Tribe The extra wonky chance had made the siren''s third spell work against her and let my kirin and the Tribesmen kill her without her being able to defend herself. Weeding the World: 6 beings of karma level 0% killed. 1 level 40 sapient has been killed in your Dungeon. You have gained 2,000 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 400 EXP. Weeding the World rewards you 120 EXP. Good. I mentally sighed in relief. I wasn''t truly worried but I couldn''t help being a bit worried anyway. Status, please. Personal Status Level: 19+ Needed number of killed sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower: 19/50 EXP: 127,502 Next mana payment for level up: 0/5,250 Mana: 535.5/1,500 Mana regeneration: 525 per hour Floors: 6/10 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I''m still so far from tiering up! Iined to myself. I guess most Dungeons must have a lot more bad people visiting them than I have had. ¡­ And they probably don''t level up as quickly as I do either, so they wouldn''t get to level 19+ as quickly as I did¡­ I suppose I don''t actually have anything toin about¡­ The Tribesmen - except Emerald and Lionheart - had been staring at nothing while I had been looking at my Status. I wonder what that''s about¡­ One by one they started acting normally again. Uh! Right! They helped me kill the siren, who''s effectively a 0! They must have been reading the ''Weeding the World'' Achievement! The Tribesmen looked at each other as if to confirm that they had all gotten the same System message. They gave each other short nods. Then Nerok started speaking. "Our enemies have been in! But these enemies didn''t act on their own ord! There are more of them out there! The System even put deathmarks on them! Both in the form of their ''Dungeon Weakness'' and their¡­ 0% karma level¡­" The Chief was visibly distressed but also had never heard of karma levels before the siren and her unwilling followers had appeared. "And while we can now identify them, how would the rest of the Tribe know if a visitor is one of them?" Oh! Oh! Pick me! I know that one! Kirin! Nuzzle Emerald! The no-longer burning Boss did as Imanded it. "Emerald?" Zaktak asked in confusion. Nalir simply nodded like it made perfect sense - which it did of course! -, and the Chief immediately looked more calm, while Begdar took the time to exin it out loud. "The creatures of this Dungeon can somehow detect bad guys. It would make sense if Emerald - and Sprout and Champ too - could do the same. Had any of the three been nearby when these¡­ cult members arrived, we would likely have known of them immediately." "But wouldn''t we then have attacked them immediately and the Tribe would have gotten killed needlessly due to the massive level gap?" Thenac asked cautiously. Taozcec rolled his eyes at the rhinogirl. "Don''t be dramatic, Thenac! The whole Tribe wouldn''t have died!" The foxboy then gave a small shake of his head while scrunching his nose a bit. "But yeah¡­ It wouldn''t have ended well¡­" "Hmm¡­" The Chief immediately had everyone''s attention again. "This calls for a Tribal meeting." The others either nodded or agreed out loud. As the Tribesmen left I began considering what my own reaction should be to the news of this Dungeon killing cult. Should I even do anything differently? My n was already to not get killed. Now I just know a bit more about my opponents than before¡­ Can I use that knowledge for something? What do I even know that I can use? ¡­ Huh¡­ I really only know that the cult brainwashes their members and wants to collect Dungeon Cores¡­ Maybe I could make a Rule that stops anyone from entering my Dungeon if they are brainwashed or Charmed or what not¡­ But I did justin about not getting enough bad guys to kill, so I can tier up¡­ But then again. They''re not actually bad people. They''re under someone else''s control. And I don''t really want to kill someone like that¡­ I suppose the elves wille back at some point anyway. System. I want to make it a Rule that no one can enter my Dungeon if they are under someone else''s control, such as being Charmed, Hypnotized or Brainwashed. I would prefer if it also included being forced but that might be going too far. Rules, which stop sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower from entering your Dungeon, go against your Mission and as such cannot be made. Huh¡­ I''m honestly not that surprised. It would have been too easy a solution. Well then! System! Give me a Rule that lowers the-... No wait! What about a Rule that no form for mind control works in my Dungeon? A Dungeon-Wide Rule to forbid mind maniption costs 58,200 mana. What?! I''ve never seen a cost that high! How can it be that expensive?! Wait! What''s the cost for just having the Rule cover the first Floor? A Floor-Wide Rule to forbid mind maniption costs 9,700 mana. Ahh! Still too high! My max is only 6,750! What about just one room? The cost for a room-wide Rule and a Floor-Wide Rule is the same. In return extra rooms can be added to the Rule with no extra cost if on the same Floor. Of course! Ahh! I thought in frustration. Back to n B! A Rule that lowers the Ability Scores of anyone who is in any way mind manipting anyone or is themselves mind manipted, please. A Dungeon-Wide Rule to punish mind maniption costs 5,238 mana. Alright. I guess that''s what I''m going for then! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Wait a minute! Can I make a Rule which simply weakens mind maniption over time? A Dungeon-Wide Rule to weaken mind maniption over time costs 4,974 mana. Yes! Now which one do I want? ¡­ Or¡­ Should I just pick them both? Well¡­ The first option makes it easier to kill and thus defend myself. The second will eventually give people their mind back. System? How long would it take for the Rule to free someone¡¯s mind? A Rule to weaken mind maniption over time would weaken mind maniption equaling to lowering the Ability Score of the maniptor by 6 points per hour. The Skill ¡®Charm¡¯ triggers a contest between the maniptor¡¯s Awareness or Charisma and the potential manipted¡¯s Awareness or Charisma. The Ability Score in question will be the individual¡¯s highest between the two. The Skill only seeds if the maniptor¡¯s chosen Ability Score is at least 150% of the potential manipted¡¯s chosen Ability Score or more. The Skill ¡®Enthrall¡¯ triggers a contest between the maniptor¡¯s Awareness or Charisma and the potential manipted¡¯s Awareness or Charisma. The Ability Score in question will be the individual¡¯s highest between the two. The Skill only seeds if the maniptor¡¯s chosen Ability Score is at least 175% of the potential manipted¡¯s chosen Ability Score or more. The Skill ¡®Hypnotize¡¯ triggers a contest between the maniptor¡¯s Awareness or Charisma and the potential manipted¡¯sbined Awareness and Charisma. The Ability Score in question will be the maniptor¡¯s highest between the two. The Skill only seeds if the maniptor¡¯s chosen Ability Score is higher than the potential manipted¡¯sbined Awareness and Charisma Ability Scores. The Skill ¡®Brainwash¡¯ triggers a contest between the maniptor¡¯sbined Awareness and Charisma and the potential manipted¡¯sbined Intelligence, Awareness, and Charisma. The Skill only seeds if the maniptor¡¯sbined Awareness and Charisma Ability Scores is higher than the potential manipted¡¯sbined Intelligence, Awareness, and Charisma Ability Scores. Okaayyy¡­ I wasn¡¯t prepared for this much information. I¡¯ll have to reread this a couple of times. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok had sent the others out to announce the Tribal meeting while he and Lionheart went to talk with the remaining cult member. The two arrived at the edge of the tent-vige where the horses and said cult member were located. Molgroor and Morghar stood nearby and kept a close eye on the human. "Has there been any change in his behavior?" Nerok asked seriously. The Chief had no time for the usual small talk. The old rhinokin was the one who answered. "He stopped moving for a minute or two a while back. Clearly pondering something. When he started moving again he began eyeing our weapons and clothes a lot more than before." Morghar gave a hum and a nod to confirm it. "Apparently the members of this cult are only a part of it due to Skill forcing them to join it." The Chief informed them. Both impromptu guardsmen widened their eyes at this. "You''ll hear the details at the meeting." Nerok turned his focus away from the two and onto the human. Said human was painfully thin, had clean, yet unhealthy looking, brown hair and was dressed in what appeared to be ck clergy robes. The man was looking warily at the old ursakin Chief between wanting nces at Nerok''s gear - especially the griffin feather cape - and the kirin standing beside him. Knowing that his new Ability only let him see the Aura of the truly wicked, Nerok took a quick nce at Lionheart''s reaction to the human. As a creature from the Dungeon of Karma he would have a better sense of the man''s true nature than the Chief. Lionheart simply looked warily at the human. "What do you intend to do now?" Nerok asked. Silence. For a bit the human simply looked cautiously at the Chief while shifting his weight from one foot to another. Then the human asked in return: "What are you gonna do?" Nerok raised an eyebrow. "That depends on what you want to do." More silence and nervous movement. "You can take a horse and go back where youe from if you want..." The Chief suggested. "They''re not your horses!" The human stated, louder than before but not quite yelling. "This is the Order of the Broken Goddess'' crusade horses. If anyone gets to have them it should be me!" Nerok sighed and shook his head. "As you said. These horses don''t belong to either of us. So, you have no im to even one of them. I, on the other hand, can im them all as war spoils." The man opened his mouth frustrated but had to close it again as he had noeback. "So, I ask again. What do you intend to do now?" "Give me a stupid horse!" He said with a scowl. Then he tried to jump on the nearest horse, only to be stopped midjump by Nerok grabbing his arm. "Not so fast, young man! We have some questions for you before you go!" The human tried to get his arm free but was unsessful. "Fine! Let''s just get this over with!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó So, as I understand it, the time needed really depends on who the victim is, specifically what their level is and what their main two Ability Scores are. The bad guy needs to be at least 5th tier to even use the weakest version of mind control and will have Awareness and Charisma as their main Scores. As such, they naturally have a bigger chance of winning against a random opponent. As the time it takes for the weakening Rule to break the Skill depends on how big the bad guy won against the victim, there really is no solid way to predict when the victim gets their mind back. So, while being a really nice Rule, which I definitely want¡­ It¡¯s too unpredictable to give me a lot of extra safety. I¡¯ll just have to make both Rules. Expensive. But necessary! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 7 minutester I realized how one Rule might affect the other. To confirm my suspicion I asked the System: If I have a Rule which punishes all mind maniption by lowering the Ability Scores of even the victims, and a Rule that weakens it over time by effectively lowering the Ability Scores of the maniptor. Wouldn¡¯t the first Rule make it harder for the second to break the mind control? A being affected by the Skills ¡®Charm¡¯, ¡®Enthrall¡¯, ¡®Hypnotize¡¯ or ¡®Brainwash¡¯ will break free from the Skill if their relevant Ability Score(s) get high enough that they would have won the Ability Score contest the Skill triggered. If the maniptor has gotten higher Ability Scores since the Skill was used on the manipted, the old Ability Scores will still be the ones affecting the Skill. Alternately, certain Skills can be used to mimic this effect. ¡­ ¡­ I don¡¯t think that¡¯s an actual answer¡­ ¡­ But it might be a yes¡­? ... I¡¯m just gonna take it as a yes and remember to edit my Rules, so they don¡¯t hinder each other. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok had started the Tribal meeting by telling the Tribe all he knew of the cult, which called itself ''The Order of The Broken Goddess''. The news had already spread throughout the Tribe and the Chief knew it had. Still, Nerok knew it would be for the best to insure everyone knew the story. And that they knew the same story too and not a hearsay version. Then the human was questioned. Unfortunately, he didn''t know a lot more than Nerok had just told. The man had tried to resist talking a couple of times, but Nerok''s much higher Charisma had him singing time and again. Emil Great Rat''s only additional information was the name of a bishop, how the priestess had gotten in contact with said bishop and the location of the small church the priestess had run for only about a week before her demise. Having been interrogated and expressed a wish for leaving quickly, Emil was given a horse and excused. As the facts and problems had beenid bare and with the outsider gone, Nerok then beganing with solutions and inviting his Tribe to do the same. "While those of us who followed the cult into the Dungeon can now see other members of this wicked cult, the rest of you would only know should they choose to tell you." Nerok began. "Our Dungeon is the Dungeon of Karma! And all its creatures can tell good people from bad! Whether someone has been forced to join an evil cult or simply enjoys violence! I suggest, more of the Tribe forms a bond with a Dungeon creature. Both to better defend against the cult which aims to destroy this peaceful Dungeon. And to help us better detect other threats as well. Our enemy might have loudly proimed their wicked goal this time, but that might not always be the case!" The Tribe quickly agreed to the suggestion and started talking amongst themselves: What creature suited them best or was the most practical one. Which would make for the best defender or most useful in day to day life. And so on. Nerok simply let them talk for a couple of minutes. It had been quite a scare and they all needed to calm down. Then the Chief noticed the chatter start to die down on its own and got them back on track. "It would seem my suggestion was well received!" Agreements could be heard. "While I do have more suggestions, I would first like to hear if any of you have a suggestion." "We should start training too!" The shout hade from Bongoz. Bongoz was a felinekin and had recently discovered a love of woodcarving. His mate was Baaktha, who was a pregnant muskin expected to give birth in about a month or so. Interracial couples like that was just asmon among beastkin as couples of the same race were. "Not just leveling up in the Dungeon but actually training to fight! Against the cult and the elves! We know they''lle back! The kobolds said the first batch was just the scout, remember?!" The Tribe once again burst into chatter amongst themselves, though louder than before. Nerok tried to gain a sense of his people''s opinion to the suggestion. It had been one he otherwise had intended to suggest himself. At first it seemed like most were against the idea, as the Tribe saw no way for them to be strong enough, fast enough for it to even matter. But then the idea began to spread that just ''cause they had trained themselves and gotten more levels didn''t mean they had to fight next time an enemy came. The Tribe could simply hide in the Dungeon should an enemy seem too powerful for the Tribe to handle. Seeing that the suggestion had started to gain momentum, Nerok got the Tribe''s attention again. "Excellent idea Bongoz! Let''s put it to a vote! Hand up, who agrees with the general idea of fight training. We''ll decide the details afterwards." As it was simply the general idea of it, what appeared to be all the Tribe rose their hand. "All for mandatory weekly trips to the Dungeon?" Definite majority. "All those who believe fight training should be for all, including children?" The Chief continued. Only a few hands rose. "Those who believe fight training should be mandatory for all adults?" The vote seemed divided. I could count them up¡­ Nerok thought. ¡­ or I could give them apromise. "All for having a specific group of adults focusing on fight training and having it be voluntary for everyone else?" Lots of hands and a definite majority. Nerok gave a nod and a small proud smile before getting to the next decision to be made. I''m getting pretty good at this Chief business! Nerok took some time to think before continuing. "Any volunteers who wish to be the ones to train to fight against our enemies?" Roughly 15 hands rose. Nerok took notice that this included The Party of the Brave, Vanek and Emerald''s Party, before resuming. "That seems like a good amount of volunteers! You know who you are, so put your hands back down." Nerok took a calming breath before asking the next question. He knew it might lower his Tribe''s morale, but he knew it had to be asked. "Is there anyone capable of teaching our volunteers how to fight other people?" Silence, then worried chatter. The Tribe, as ex-ves, knew how to fight against mindless Dungeon creatures, but fighting against other people was a different matter. Luckily, Begdar came to the rescue. "We could ask the kobolds to teach us. They might be too young to know a lot about it, but they''ve fought against both the elves and the cult before." "Excellent idea, Begdar!" Nerok quickly stated, happy for there to have been some form of solution. "I''ll ask the Dungeon for permission next time I visit! Any other suggestions to be considered?" Slight chatter appeared. "Should we have some form of screening for the merchants?" Molgroor suggested. It was quickly agreed that getting a bonded Dungeon creature near the merchants and seeing their reaction would be the only screening. Then the Tribe began to discuss what to do should the creature be aggressive towards one or more merchants. Chapter 31: A Thief and a Forest on Fire Chapter 31: A Thief and a Forest on Fire Emil Great Rat had been a thief before he had joined The Order of The Broken Goddess. The order''s influence hadn''t changed this fact, only tempered it. Growing up as an orphaned street kid meant he had to go against society''s rules to survive. Other kids had a family which fed them and helped them out. Emil didn''t even know what his parents'' names had been and thus didn''t know his ownst name. But plenty of people had called him "a great rat, unnaturally big" or some variety thereof, so Emil had taken Great Rat as hisst name. Sometimes people had offered to aid Emil, but he knew they were simply trying to trick him into lowering his guard, so he didn''t fall for their false offers. The Order of The Broken Goddess, however, had taken good care of Emil: giving him shelter and tasty food. What more could a homeless guy ask for! In return Emil only had to pretend to believe in the existence of a broken goddess. He didn''t even have any duties to attend to! Well¡­ Except for joining the failed crusade. Still better than what his life had been beforehand. For a bit Emil had actually believed in the existence of the broken goddess. He could no longer say for certain. He felt it could be true, but that he wanted a bit more proof before truly believing. But even without believing he was still ready to support The Order. As long as they took care of him in return, that is. Before, the presence of his boss kept him from going back to his roots. But now, that influence was gone. So when the Tribe chose to simply send him off with no one to guard him, he knew it would be the perfect time to take a couple of extra things for himself. The horses! Was Emil''s first thought and target. Stupid rules saying they''re not already mine! But as always! Rules are there for me to break them! Never done anything for me after all, so why should I follow them?! Soon after, Emil on his own crusade horse reached the other three crusade horses his group had arrived with. Boss had only received 4 crusade horses from big boss, as she had still been new at her job. As such, Emil and the gnome girl had shared a horse on the way there, and the two centaurs hadn''t needed any horses. That thing again?! Seriously? What is that?! The creature had the body of a horse but blue and red scales and an unnaturally long neck. Fur-covered horns on top of its reptilian face behind whichy a mane of golden fur. It was the creature the boss of this ce had walked around with. Something that unique has to be worth a lot! So of course, Emil had to take it too. The horses were secured by ropes to some thick branches on the nearest trees. Lizard-face stood in the middle of the three horses and let them sniff and nibble it as horses are wont to do when curious. The horse Emil had arrived on began sniffing and nipping too, soon after Emil had jumped off it. Why''s lizard-face not on a leash too? I don''t have any extra rope for you mister! However, the ropes were quite long and Emil did have a knife with him. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "... end up having a whole army of Dungeon creatures to help us fight against the elves!" Tirza, the vulpinekin leader of the Party of the Brave, finished her suggestion for the whole Tribe to have not just one Dungeon creature friend but many. "While your idea has merit, Tirza!" Nerok began. "... and I will certainly ask the Dungeon if such a thing is possible or have limits on the Dungeon side of things! On our side of it you have to remember that we have to feed all these creatures! While one or two creatures each - depending on their needs - is certainly possible, we do have to be careful not to-!" The Chief cut himself off as he had spotted Lionheart sprinting towards him. "Lionheart?! What''s wrong?!" Lionheart didn''t slow down until he stood on the other side of the Chief. Then he began trying to push Nerok in the direction he hade from using his wither. Getting worried, Nerok pulled himself on his steed, who immediately began running. Only 35 seconds passed from Lionheart started running with Nerok clinging to his back till he stopped. It took Nerok several seconds to realize what Lionheart wanted to show him. A horse was missing! The remaining two horses were moving restlessly and seemed to be in distress, but otherwise they looked unharmed and were still roped to nearby trees. Nerok looked around the area, trying to find any clue as to what had happened to the third horse but finding none. Hearing the Tribe nearing his location he loudly informed them of the missing horse, while thinking to himself: What happened here? Could the rope simply have been too loose? But what about Lionheart''s reaction then? Hopefully someone can figure out what happened, so we can stop it from repeating. ''Cause¡­ The old ursakin Chief gulped. ¡­ I really don''t know what happened here. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Emil Great Rat had jumped on his horse and quickly gotten out of there, the moment lizard-face ran off after he had failed to ce the rope around its long neck. He had done this enough to not risk it when the jig might be up! Not that he had ever dealt with living animals before¡­ Still, Emil now had two horses so he considered the event a sess! ¡­ At least until he realized he had a week or so long journey ahead of him and only enough food for a day or two. The busty horsedy had been hunting for them on the way there using her bow and arrows, but Emil had no such skills. ¡­ And she and horse boy had been surprisingly good at finding their way around in the forest. ¡­ Gnome girl was always the one to raise their tents wasn''t she? Emil didn''t think he knew how to do it. ¡­ And fire for the cold almost winter nights. That had been the giants'' job. One getting firewood and the other making it catch on fire. Emil wasn''t worried about getting the wood, he was in a forest after all, but how exactly had they made it catch on fire? "Stupid lizard-face!" Emil grumbled to himself. While the horses and lizard-face were distracted, Emil had unknotted a rope from a branch, cut it in half and bound the half still connected to a horse to the saddle of the horse he had ridden in on. Then Emil had taken the half of the rope he had cut off in both hands and cautiously approached lizard-face wanting to secure the exotic creature for himself so he could sell it off when he got back in town. Seeing him approach, lizard-face had begun to back away. Emil had had very little experience with animals and as lizard-face didn''t seem aggressive he had decided to simply to get it over with fast. After having decided that speed was the key to sess but before Emil had begun to implement his new strategy, lizard-face had begun to turn around. As Emil had nned on putting the rope loosely around the creature''s long neck, now having its face turned in another direction made this more difficult to do. And so, as Emil tried, the need to first get to the neck before actually attempting to knot the rope around it meant that lizard-face had had more than enough time to run off before he could. As lizard-face had run off towards the beast people, Emil had quickly decided not to risk getting discovered and jumped on his horse to take off with the newly connected horse right behind them. ¡­ Am I even going in the right direction? Emil didn''t know and had no real clue how he could find out. I think we came from this direction¡­ And that was just the first of his problems¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Only for Those of Sound Mind: All mind maniption is punished by having all Ability Scores lowered by 10%. This is in effect whether it is done to you or by you, but will not hinder any attempt to free a being from mind maniption. It does make me feel safer, but boy! was that expensive! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Get Out of My Head: All mind maniption is weakened equal to a lowering of 6 points per hour of the used Ability Score(/s) of the maniptor. I hope this will end up saving some innocent lives. ¡­ What a Dungeon Core I am. Wanting to save the innocent rather than killing those with low karma as my mission states I should. Cult members even count towards my tier up despite them being forced. I would have killed the siren¡¯s group regardless of whether it helped me tier up. I don¡¯t want to take any risks when ites to my life after all. ¡­ And I¡¯m pretty sure I couldn¡¯t even have stopped my creatures or traps from killing them due to the karmic targeting. ¡­ I suppose I could have¡­ removed some of the creatures or traps they would have a hard time dealing with, but as every removed creature gives me back half of their mana¡¯s worth I would soon have ended up with max mana and been unable to remove anything else. That would have been stupid, though! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The selected karmic cherufe has gotten the Achievement ''Puzzle Guardian''. Achievement: Puzzle Guardian: You are the guardian of a Dungeon puzzle. Condition: Be the only guardian of a Dungeon puzzle. Reward: 125% to all Ability Scores when doing your duty as a guardian. What?!Why? I had charged my magma golem with guarding the blue coin token, which was a key to the first door of the 7th Floor. The golem had ced the token on its back as it would be harder for people to notice it was there without making it impossible - which the System wouldn''t allow. It had even made a circr indent in its back for the token. If that was a thing why didn''t the drags and kobolds, I charged with keeping keys out of the wrong hands, get this too?! I questioned the System, but I didn''t pause to let it answer. It''s basically the same thing after all! Don''t tell me it''s just a difference between using keys or coins! The description of the Puzzle Guardian Achievement simply shed in response. As I reread the thing I noticed it: It says ''the only guardian''! That''s why! Should I change my key-puzzles then? So that you only need one key? I considered it for a bit before discarding the idea. They''re on the first two Floors. While the extra Ability Scores are nice, it won''t make a lot of difference on those Floors. The time dy the extra keys give - and the confusion surrounding them - is better for those early Floors. But I''ll definitely start using only one guardian! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The 7th Floor was finished 2 hours before dawn the day after the cult had tried to ''rescue'' me. We had fallen into a new routine, where the whole Tribe intended to visit me at least once a week. No one had actually limited it to that as everyone wanted their own bonded creature friend ASAP. Nerok had asked if they could have more than one, but unfortunately the System wouldn''t allow that. The Chief had also asked if my kobolds would mind training the Tribe in fight techniques, which they didn''t. Several kobolds all around my Dungeon even ended up with the ''teacher'' modifier: 8 self-selected karmic kobolds have gotten the modifier ''teacher'' and will have a better sense of what to do to help their students learn. One of the new kobold teachers was the Charisma ss kobold, which wanted to teach everything but fighting. Sure. If that''s what you want. Every adult member of the Tribe was scheduled to attend at least one lesson while 16 people had applied for daily lessons. The cult really shook them up! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It was tradition in Mammalia that the parents of a newborn would do no work for the first week of the baby''s life. Instead, theirmunity did all the needed work for them and brought them food to eat for the duration. This was meant to give the parents time to bond with their newborn without having to worry about anything. Morghar would have liked to follow this tradition, but wasn''t too disappointed when it wasn''t entirely possible due to the various threats approaching the Tribe. ¡­ At least he didn''t need to do any chores or cooking for a bit! The ursakin dad stood at the end of the long first room of the 7th Floor with the rest of his Party. Begdar had considered befriending a kobold, as they could hold a conversation, but no kobold stood out to her. In the end, she decided to wait. You could only bond with one creature after all! Thenac had chosen a simr route, but had also asked the Dungeon for a small creature with high Dexterity and Awareness. A kobold had informed them that, while not exactly small, wolves had been nned for the 8th Floor. It then proceeded to tell Thenac that, while bigger than a house cat, a lynx would be a perfect fit for her and could easily be included in the 9th Floor. After hearing about the feline''s natural abilities, she agreed to wait for the 9th Floor. Nelir had started paying attention to various ck-furred animals in what the kobolds called their training camp. This made it impossible for Morghar to know what creature the felinekin was actually trying to befriend. Taozcec had, as the only one in the Tribe, considered befriending a phoenix. Birax had overheard the Party discussing it and had asked Taozcec why he would want a bird when a dragon was possible. The young girl had been devastated when it was revealed that you had to be an adult before the Dungeon could give you a creature friend and couldn''t understand why anyone would pick a non-dragon. The vulpinekin had informed her that as a being of flight and freedom, birds had always been his favorite animal, which was why he considered a phoenix. He also briefly considered getting a unicorn bunny with its Healing speciality but quickly discarded the idea, as several other members of the tribe had expressed the desire to have one as well. It would have made getting one himself a bit redundant. So, Taozcec had yet to decide on a creature. Morghar had learnt a lot about the charismatic, yet shy, vulpinekin since they started mining together. Taozcec was a listener and aforter, soothing your cares and worries away. The vulpinekin would only enter the spotlight if he could make his audience happy by doing so. But if someone else could do the same he would happily let them take the lead. Morghar thought he would make the perfect dad and had tried to convince Taozcec to take in one of the three children in the Tribe who had no true guardian. Said children lived with ''temporary'' guardians, but Morghar had been too busy mining and taking care of his expanding family to figure out just how temporary the different guardians actually were. Instead he had simply attempted to convince Taozcec to check the situation out himself. Right now, the Party stood before the door leading to the second room of the 7th Floor. The door had a circr indent obviously meant for the blue coin the cherufe had had stuck in its back. Zaktak had been carrying the coin and, as such, was the one to ce it in the indent. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 15 EXP. The door moved to the side only to reveal yet another door! This stone door was identical to The Door of Speciesism as it too had an animated 2-dimensional kobold on it. "Wee visitors! I''m the smartest riddle door of all!" The door stated. "Test me! Tell me a riddle and I shall give you the answer!" "Oookaayyy¡­" Begdar began, a bit surprised. Riddle doors were quite normal in Dungeons but normally you had to answer its riddle. Not the other way around. "What about this one? You wear me everyday but you never put me on. I''ll change colors if you leave me in the sun for too long. What am I?" "Clothes!" The door answered right away. Begdar looked a bit confused at the door. She didn''t think it was that hard a riddle. "No. You put clothes on. So¡­ it''s not the right answer." "Of course it is! I''m brilliant!" The door said stubbornly. "Next riddle!" The Party stood in silence for a bit before Nelir tried a riddle. "Many have heard me, yet no one has seen me. I won''t speak unless spoken to. What am I?" "A voice! Easy! Next one!" The door had again answered wrong to an easy riddle. Morghat was the next to give it a try, having heard one from his dragon obsessed daughter the day before. "What has no legs, but can dance, no lungs, but can breathe and no life, yet lives?" "Music! Keep theming!" "Why did the human cross the road?" Taozcec asked, having solved the riddle of the ''smart'' riddle door. "To get to the other side!" The door shouted happily before swinging open. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 25 EXP. The vulpinekin gave his Party a proud smirk. "It always answered the first thing that came to mind. So, I just gave it a riddle where that would be the right answer." Then he gave Begdar a wink. "You''re not the only one of us who can solve puzzles." Begdar simply rolled her eyes in response, a small smile on her lips. "Good job. But I''m sure I would have gotten it! You just got lucky and got it first!" "Believe what you want, Begdar~!" Taozcec taunted her as he walked backwards into the next room, havingplete trust in the safety of the Dungeon. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 972 EXP. While that was an enormous amount of EXP to get at once, the first room of this Floor had been a rectangr room which was long enough that it might have contained all the creatures of the entire Floor, so the amount made sense as well. The whole Party was in the 3rd tier, with Emerald and Sprout having the lowest levels amongst them at level 22, though the two were quickly catching up to the rest of the Party. As 3rd tiers on a 2nd tier Floor like this one the gained amount had been halved by being a higher tier and then doubled by the Experiencing Peace Rule, which canceled each other out. Looking behind Taozcec, Morghar could see into the smaller rectangr room he was walking into. The walls to the right and left of the entryway were double the length of the other two walls and had plenty of weapons on stands beside them. "No exit?" Zaktak asked before Morghar could study the room more. And as she had stated, there appeared to be no exit in the room. The wall on the opposite side of them had no weapon stands next to it either. "Must be another puzzle room¡­" The muskin answered herself with a shrug. "And this is likely the puzzle." Thenac continued Zaktak''s thought process and gestured to the middle of the right wall. Here an empty, altar-like table reced the weapon stands and a sentence was written on the wall. "''Show me only violence''." Thenac read out loud. "Hmm¡­" Begdar began thoughtfully as she looked around. "Ah! And that must be who needs to be shown!" Morghar followed her gaze to the wall opposite the riddle. In the middle of said wall, several meters up, there was a pair of fake eyes, staring straight ahead and slightly down right at the riddle. The Party knew instinctively by now, that the Dungeon disliked violence and liked to give distractions with its puzzle. It had been pointed out often enough that they no longer saw any need to remind each other to ignore the distractions, which in this case was clearly the weapons on the many stands. Looking around for other clues, Morghar noticed another oddity. The wall with the entrance was covered in mirrors! Perfectly reflective mirrors! "Look!" The ursakin shouted as he pointed at the mirror wall. As ves, the Tribe had had very little ess to mirrors and those mirrors would always be of a poor quality. As such, the whole Party was immediately distracted by the mirror wall, and instead of trying to solve the puzzle they beganmenting on their own appearance and talking about the different people who would want to see their reflection. Chapter 32: Solving and Making Puzzles Chapter 32: Solving and Making Puzzles Well¡­ That was unexpected¡­ But somewhat understandable. I thought as Emerald''s Party admired themselves in the mirror wall. But curious, still¡­ Would you mind assisting me, young kobling? I asked the nearest free kobold. The kobolds took pleasure in calling me ''Mother Core'' or simply ''Mother'' when only around other ''children'' of mine, as the custom had now be. I had in turn decided to refer to them as if they were all children. My children. They naturally loved it. The kobold nearest to Emerald''s Party was located in thest room on the 6th Floor, as the 7th didn''t have a single kobold. This meant it was a part of the Greedy Pacifist n of kobolds. The n mostly spent their time experimenting with olive oil. How to make better quality and how to better preserve it were currently their top goals. They had given the Tribe a jar of theirtest product and kept an example for themselves as well, so they could figure out if things spoiled differently in the Surface World than in my Dungeon. The jar itself had been carved from stone by the n and came with a screw lid. Something, I had been the one to teach my kobolds about. "It would be my honor to aid you, Mother!" The Greedy Pacifist replied. I want you to ask Emerald''s Party a couple of questions for me. You can find them in The Room of Reflections. "Yes, Mother!" Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my creatures couldn''t enter other Floors due to the maximum levels worth of creatures for each Floor. The only exception was upleted Floors. System? I want a Rule which allows my kobold to enter an already filled Floor. I just want it to be able to ask them a couple of questions. New Dungeon Rule: Mana Form: All Dungeon creatures can turn their body into mana. While in mana form they have no physical body and do not count towards the Floor''s maximum allowed levels worth of creatures. Nice! Looking at my mana I saw that it had cost me 339.5 mana. For a Dungeon-wide Rule it was actually really cheap. Likely cause it didn''t have any offensive or defensive purpose. On the way through The Swampfire Forest I informed the kobold that I wanted to know howmon mirrors were. It might be possible to incorporate the information intoter puzzles after all! The beastkin had only just stopped talking about the mirror wall when the kobold arrived at their destination a couple of minutester. The kobold asked the question before Emerald''s Party had had a chance to say a thing. They quickly exined that while mirrors were somewhatmon, they were normally of much worse quality. Only royalty would have mirrors with a reflection this clear. Interesting¡­ I don''t know if I can use it, though. You can go back now, kobling. If you wish. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Intelligence ss, ''mana form'', glowing, mist-looking kobold left the room and the Party got back on task. Clearly this was just another oddity of the Dungeon of Karma. "''Show me only violence''." Begdar read out loud to remind herself and her Party of the riddle. After pondering the riddle a bit she suggested a solution: "Perhaps if we cover up all the words except the word ''violence'' then the eyes would only be able to see said word." Her Party nodded. "How do we cover up the other words?" Zaktak asked. "Hmmm¡­" Begdar didn''t have an immediate answer for that. "Cover it with our bodies?" Morghar suggested. "It''s not that high up." Begdar gave a nod and a shrug at the same time as she didn''t have any better idea at the moment. Emerald''s Party then tried to stand in front of the riddle without blocking the word ''violence''. A snort was heard. The Party looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the kobold from earlier had only moved to the entrance doorway. "The eyes aren''t only seeing the word ''violence'' right now! But a bunch of beastkin and a couple of dragons too!" The kobold gave another snort. Begdar facepalmed. "Of course!" With a smile and a nod she thanked the kobold for its aid. For it had indirectively told them that, while doing it this way was wrong, they were on the right track. "Let''s look for something to cover it with." Begdar instructed her Party. Soon a barrel in the corner was discovered, filled with small, stone balls intended for the nearby slingshot. Only¡­ That was the only ammunition in the room. No arrows or bolts despite the bows and crossbows. And underneath the small balls were a long piece of cloth. A cloth conveniently the color of the volcano themed wall¡­ "So¡­" Morghar began, holding the cloth in his hand. "How do we get it to stay up there without holding it?" "There''s small hooks over all the words, Morghar." Thenac stated as she grabbed the other end of the cloth. "They''re made of volcanic rock, so they blend in well and most won''t easily notice them, unless you''re looking for them or have a high Awareness." Morghar and Thenac covered the three first words, leaving only the word ''violence'' be shown, before taking several steps back. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 23 EXP. Rocks were heard scraping against each other and the Party looked to the one empty wall in the room. The wall was slowly being lowered. Only to reveal¡­ another empty wall behind it. "What?" Could be heard from both Begdar and Zaktak, with thetter being much louder than the former. Morghar gave a confused "Huh?", while the remaining three beastkin simply looked at the new wall in shocked confusion. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Bahahaha! I couldn''t stopughing. You should have seen your faces! More mentalughter. Emerald''s Party proceeded to walk up to the wall and feel the entirety of the wall, looking for a hidden exit. It only made meugh harder. If I had had a movable body I would have been rolling on the groundughing. I couldn''t remember everughing this much, and as no one could hear me unless I wanted them to, I saw no reason to stopughing. Only after the whole length of the wall had been thoroughly searched through touch, did the Party give the idea up. As I didn''t want the kobold to even hint at the solution to the next puzzle, I had ordered it back to its n. Bagdar began pondering the new mystery out loud, only for Thenac to spoil my fun and notice the solution. "The exit is visible in the mirror!" Well¡­ That''s how it is when you have a Scout on the team! After that it didn''t take the Party long before they realized they had to look at the exit in the mirror while they walked through it. The exit didn''t exist unless you were looking at it in the mirror. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó All in all, the Tribe thought the swampfire forest theme was odd but scary, which was intended. But as the traps didn''t trigger, they failed to realize how well the traps fit the theme and added to the fear factor. The Floor could have been done about a day earlier if I hadn''t added 22 small, 2nd tier chests to the Floor. I added them due to the ''Strength of the Hoard'' Ability my red fledgeling karmic hoarder dragons had. And unlike the griffins'' Ability recing a chest with a mimic won''t work. I might consider mimics a treasure but they can''t be a part of a hoard. I had tested it¡­ The Ability added points to the dragon''s Strength Score based on the size of its hoard, so I felt the need to give each one a chest as a hoard. While having a hoard consisting of a single small 2nd tier chest surrounded by leprechaun gold - which I had paid very little mana for - didn''t make for the biggest hoard, it still gave each hoarder dragon a 2+ to their Strength Score. Not a lot, but still the equivalent of a level up. Having a hoard might normally mean that you don''t share, but having a karmic nature seems to cancel it out. The hoarder dragon sure didn''t seem to have any problems letting the Tribesmen take the things in its chest if it got some pets in return! Each of the 22 small, 2nd tier chests contained three medium tin cubes. Additionally, they had a 5% chance of containing a small item inspired by its location or defender. As all 22 chests had the same defender, the item that could appear was the same: a spoon made of redwood, that could bring up to 5 liters of water to boil in a minute just by stirring it. It would also work for tea or soup, but not for oil. While that might not seem super impressive, this feature didn''t require the user to use any mana, so even children could use it! ¡­ I hope no one actually lets a child y with it unsupervised¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó This time I decided to start by making the puzzles of the new Floor. Two of which I had wanted to use since the time I made my 1st and 3rd Floor respectively. I hadn''t been able to make them as I intended then due to the ''puzzles aren''t allowed to harm people yet'' rule, and I simply hadn''t gotten around to making them until now. Thest puzzle of the Floor was the newly improved one-guardian-only locked door, where you simply had to get two keys to unlock it. Nothing super fancy, but in turn super cheap! Well¡­ These days it was cheap. It had been expensive back at level 0. The third puzzle was a¡­ fetch quest? Something I had only realised afterwards. Whenpleted the visitor would be rewarded with a key to the locked door. That and EXP forpleting the puzzle. After having made the puzzles I began on making creatures. I decided not to begin with the mimic. ¡­ Mostly ''cause I didn''t yet know where it would be best to put it. I needed to first know what I wanted it to be able to turn into before I could decide on its race. Which would reflect what size objects it could turn into. Instead I first made a bunch of fledgling karmic meborn dragons. They looked much like the ssic red dragon that was my hoarder dragon, but meborns were more¡­ t. It had a t, wide mouth and its legs came out from the side of its body like a smander, giving it a shorter look. The fledgling version was about 1.5 meters from its ws to its hornless head. And while it couldn''t breathe fire, it did have the tendency to catch on fire. Hence the name ''meborn''. Their bodies were covered in a mmable gel they could ignite onmand using a little spark of Fire mana. Then I began filling the next room with magma lindwyrms. These 2 meters long dragons looked like obsidian ck snakes but had a pair of legs on the front part of its body. So¡­ it looked like a big snake with arms¡­ Arms ending in deadly ws, mind you! But it still looked a bit odd. Magma lindwyrms lived in magma - of course! -, so they were ced in a hall with a stone route in the middle and magma to each side of it. A week had gone by and I had finally made all the 18 lindwyrms I wanted to make. I was once again starting to wish my mana regenerated faster than it did. That didn''t mean I was bored, however! The Tribe had visited me quite often during the day! Especially the first 5 days after the cult had appeared as everyone wanted to bond with a creature of mine. After that it had been a bit calmer. Three Parties still came by twice a day each, though¡­ So, my Dungeon was still much busier than before just based on that. Many other members of the Tribe had decided they wanted toe by once a week for fighting lessons with the kobolds. This meant there were about two lessons per day. And all of this naturally gave me a massive amount of EXP. Status, please! Personal Status Level: 19+ Needed number of killed sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower: 19/50 EXP: 641,048 Next mana payment for level up: 0/5,250 Mana: 662.25/1,500 Mana regeneration: 525 per hour Floors: 7/10 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules So, much EXP! And I can''t use it! I wish I could just get rid of the tier up requirement! But noooo~! That would go against my mission as a Dungeon Core! The System can''t have that! Chapter 33: A Heros Familiar Question Chapter 33: A Hero''s Familiar Question Brother Malik walked next to his Familiar Sunbolt. It had been about a month since the Monk had felt Sunbolt''s presence in two ces at once and they had been walking in the direction of where the other Sunbolt had been. When the split had happened Sunbolt, who had just recently gone level up to level 23, had lost a level. Malik had sensed through the Familiar Bond that the EXP had been given to the other Sunbolt. Something he hadn''t known the Bond could do. It hadn''t been a lot of EXP so Malik wasn''t mad about what had happened. Mostly confused as to why the other Sunbolt was feeling so angry. The Monk had never felt his Familiar feel anger before. Only minutester, Malik couldn''t sense the other Sunbolt any more and he was intrigued as to why that was. Did she die? Was she simply shielded? Or had their link somehow been severed? And why had there been two Sunbolts in the first ce? Malik was an orphan, who had been brought to and raised by the local craftery. As an orphan of the Craftery Cartwright - known for the excellent carts they made - he had been given thest name ''Cartwright'' as was tradition. He had had a good childhood and he loved everyone in the craftery and they called each other family. Shortly before his 14th birthday Sunbolt had been born into the craftery''s unicorn blessing and the two kids had quickly grown close. And when Malik had turned 16 and became an adult the System had dered Sunbolt his Familiar. His family warned him that, just like how the System can take away an Achievement for leadership if the person turns to evil, the Familiar Bond could be taken away too. Even quicker in fact! Apparently normal people couldn''t have a Familiar, only those the System called Heroes could have one. Malik had sessfully kept his Familiar Bond even though he was now 34 years of age. In those 34 years, Malik had rarely been outside the craftery or its connected orchards and farms. And when he did leave the craftery he mostly just went to the Large Town the craftery bordered. Malik had long had a small wish to explore the world but had had no reason to do so. No direction to go in. But now he had! Malik and Sunbolt had left the next day and gone in the direction of where the presence of the other Sunbolt had been. The Monk could have ridden on Sunbolt more but that would have made the trip over faster. Malik wanted to enjoy the experience! After several days of walking through a forest without seeing any other people, Malik began hearing the sounds of society in the distance. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok Beastkin - Ursakin Bard Level 27 Lionheart Kirin Level 18 Sunbolt Unicorn Level 22 Malik Cartwright Human Monk Level 25 Huh? I thought only sapients were able to enter Dungeons. System? Exin. All sapients and semi-sapients can enter a Dungeon as both are able to level up. Uh. Right! I think you mentioned that earlier! So, unicorns are semi-sapients then. Right as Malik entered, all the drags of the room dove towards him from their various positions in The Great Tree Room. The fledgling lightning sea serpent even stuck its head above the water to look at the human. A dragnded on each of Malik''s shoulders - to which he flinched but didn''t otherwise react - and started purring their deep, fast-going purr while nuzzling him. The other 4 drags began making air acrobatics while flying around him and whistling prettily at him. Only then did I notice his white Karma Aura. 99%! Wow! No wonder my creatures instantly love him! "Like a red dragon seeks its gold." Stated Malik the human, Hero Monk. "No fear at all. And, as you stated, friendly. As we all should strive to be." "Exactly." Nerok agreed, looking curiously at the drags'' unusual behavior, while seeming pleased by it. Malik proceeded to introduce himself and hispanions - including Sunbolt and Lionheart - to the drags. Apparently the unicorn was the Monk''s Familiar. System? What''s a Familiar exactly? Achievement: Familiar: You have formed a Familiar Bond with a willing being. A Hero can have multiple Familiars but the Familiars will not have Familiar Bonds between each other, only between Hero and Familiar. Condition: 1 of the beings has to be a Hero, and the rest has to have a greater loyalty and friendship to the Hero than any other. Reward: Both Hero and Familiar(s) have the Ability ''Familiar Bond'' and 10% of the other''s Ability Scores is added to their own. Ability: Familiar Bond: The Hero and their Familiar can sense the direction and emotion of the other and have 1 copied Skill, Ability or Ability Score from the other at a time. That. Is. SO. Powerful! But also really hard to get! Being a Hero is super hard- Taozcec had been stuck at 89% for weeks, and most of the Tribe seemed to be stuck on a specific karma level as well. -and getting another to swear their loyalty and friendship to you is difficult too! Being done with the introductions, Malik turned his attention back to Nerok. "And you say the Dungeon might answer my question if we go further down?" The Chief nodded. He has a question for me? Should I answer? ¡­ He does have Hero levels of karma, so probably yes. But let''s see what the question is first. Malik calmly looked each drag in the eyes and petted the heads of the two on his shoulders. Getting eye contact with each drag of which 4 are flying around wasn''t as hard as one might have expected. They all wanted to have eye contact with the Hero after all. After having gotten said eye contact Malik spoke to the drags. "Thank you, my friends. For greeting me and showing me your hospitality. However, I must be going." The two drags on his shoulders gave sad whistles before jumping into the air and joining the other drags. The Monk walked forward but instead of simply entering the next room he first stopped up to greet and thank the sea serpent in the stream for its hospitality. Having petted the head of the sea serpent Malik entered The Rainbow Forest ignoring the loot on the way, which Nerok stopped to look at. ¡­ Only to have the experience repeat itself in the next room. ¡­ While having the drags of The Great Tree Room follow him. It happened room after room but soon the drags started getting the impression that the Hero didn''t intend on spending too long in each room based on therge number of drags flying around him, and they stoppednding on his shoulders. Still, they greeted him with whistles and joined the rest in flying around him, giving the 4 visitors quite a show. The unicorn appeared to get some love as well, as once in a while a drag wouldnd on her - I can see everything in my Dungeon at once. I knew the unicorn was a mare - back and nuzzle her neck while purring before once again joining the aerial show. The key-carrying drags handed the keys to Malik without being prompted and the b¨¬xi¨¦ in The Orchard wanted chin scratches. He had no problem solving the Kindness puzzle and even tried to bandage the fake drag before it turned into light particles and disappeared. The swamp crocodiles joined the parade and mimicking drag didn''t even try to mimic something and simply joined the aerial show. As the 4 walked down the spiral staircase to the 2nd Floor, the creatures of the 1st tried to follow them. As the next Floor was already full of creatures they began to take their mana forms. No! I demanded. Stay on your own Floor! We don''t want to overwhelm him! That didn''t mean he wasn''t still swamped by creatures, but it helped keep the number to more¡­ reasonable levels. The journey was a very slow one, as most of my creatures got pets and all were thanked orplimented in some way. While the visitors slowly walked through The Forest of Territories, I asked the Chief of The Kobold Fortress to be ready to greet them. Malik didn''t treat the small dumb mimic of The Griffins'' Treasure Room any different than the other creatures, even though it could talk back to him. The mimic wasplimented for its happy nature and given a hug before the Hero kept going. The Politeness puzzle normally meant that the visitor had to ask for the key before it appeared and was brought forth, but Malik had already been so incredibly polite that the puzzle was already considered solved. The kobolds of The Watchtower Crossroad looked nervous as the Hero Monk approached them after having greeted andplimented the galespikes, which had flown ahead, and the lightning sea serpents guarding the bridge. They were fidgeting and generally looked like they were about to meet a celebrity and wanted to make a good first expression. They had all left their watchtower and stood in a row waiting nervously, hoping to receive some love from the Hero. Naturally the key-carrier gave Malik the key without him asking for it. This meeting-a-celebrity vibe appeared to be something all the kobolds ended up experiencing when near a Hero. The only exceptions being the Charisma ss Greedy Pacifist and the three kobold leaders, which instead looked at Malik with deep respect. The sword-bearing leader of The Kobold Fortress escorted the Hero Monk to the dining hall in the middle of the fortress. Here the entirety of the 3th Floor - except the 6 sea serpents for obvious reasons - and the 4 visitors made themselvesfortable for the uing conversation. Nerok, Malik and the 28 kobolds took the bench seats by the two of the 4 long tables in the room. The 13 level 1 drags and the wheel of fortune mimic ced themselves on the table as close to Malik as they could get. The 16 galespikes and the 7 yaks had to be content with standing due to their size. They didn''t seem to mind it as they got to stand near the Hero''s back while he sat by the table. And naturally the kobold had gathered a folded yak wool nket for Malik to sit on. At least they hadn''t forgotten Nerok and brought him one too. I giggled at the sight of the dining hall. In one half of the room it was packed with bodies, while the other, beside a bit of overflow from the first half, waspletely empty. "Mother Core mentioned you had a question, sir." The leader of The Kobold Fortress began the conversation. There was no way I would demand that my karma creatures went against their nature to help and please Heroes, so I had quickly decided to have my kobolds answer the question he had. I just have to deal with any consequence that maye from it, when ites. At least I can be sure Malik here won''t mean to cause me trouble. ¡­ I''ll ask him to be careful who and what he tells about me, when he leaves. "Yes, my friend." Malik replied. He likes to call everyone his friend, it seems. "Some weeks ago I felt my Familiar Sunbolt in two ces at once, only for the new Sunbolt to disappear from my senses minutester. Like morning dew before the rising sun. Sunbolt and I soon left theforts of home to find out what the fate of the other Sunbolt was." Uh! Sunbolt is the unicorn the ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule had the elven Mage summon! Or part of the unicorn? Other half? System? Calcting¡­ Your essible information windows consist of Personal Status windows, alert windows, and general information windows. While this inquiry does not fall under any of these, its unique and personal nature allows for an exception. The ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule collected the EXP and instincts needed to make a level 4 unicorn from the willing unicorn named Sunbolt. The remaining mana of the ''wonky'' spell was used to create the body of Sunbolt. The collected EXP gave it the Skills and Ability Scores of a level 4 unicorn. It was then given the instincts of Sunbolt. Wow¡­ That Rule is moreplicated than I expected! I ryed the information to the kobold leader who had told the visitors that ''of course mother knows the answer! The question is if she will tell you!''. Not exactly like that, of course! Malik was sad to hear that ''the other Sunbolt'' had died shortly after having been brought to life. The Hero Monk did a prayer for the early death, which ended in a request for 90 seconds of silence. When the time had passed I had the kobold leader ask him why it was 90 seconds. "6 seconds for each of the 8 sapient species that once was. 6 seconds for each of the 7 races of the beastkin that once was. When we honor a death, even when it¡¯s a necessary death, we should remember the unnecessary ones in times past." The Monk stated calmly. Nerok had never heard this either, and we were informed of how an entire species and a whole race had been ughtered for no good reason. That sounds familiar. System? The description of kobolds, please. Kobolds were once a sapient species. Due to their extinction they were then added to bipedal and draconic Dungeons as level up creature patterns. As such, kobolds do not exist outside of Dungeons. As a Dungeon creature based on a once sapient species, kobolds gain sses. The ss is chosen by the kobold''s Dungeon Core. Before their extinction they lived in viges that they defended together. Kobolds are able to make tools, structures, and basic traps without any guidance I thought so. Kobling? "Yes, Mother Core?" Answered the leader. Ask him what the names of the extinct species and race were. The kobold did so. Malik stated that no one knew the names or natures of the two. Only that their deaths had been unwarranted. Knew it! He didn''t react to seeing the kobolds. I had the leader inform the visitors of the kobolds'' status as the technically still extinct species. Nerok seemed to gain another level of worship - not literally, that''s not a thing -, while Malik simply smiled and stated his happiness for their species'' continued survival. Even if it was in a more limiting form. The conversation seemed to be more or less over but I had onest question to ask: why 6? "6 is the number of the System." Nerok was the one to answer. "6 Ability Scores. 6 beastkin races who are each connected to an Ability Score. And 6 remaining sapient species who likewise are each connected to an Ability Score." Malik continued the exnation. "6 species set the sun for the 8th. 6 races decided to bury the 7th." Chapter 34: The Return of The Merchant Caravan Chapter 34: The Return of The Merchant Caravan Emil Great Rat had finally found his way back to town. He thought he had beenpletely lost, but the return trip had simply ended up taking three more days than the trip to the Dungeon had taken. The nights had been cold as Emil had both been unable to properly raise the tent and had had a hard time starting each fire. Sometimes he had even been unable to get it started. And as he had no idea on how to hunt or what nts were edible - only knowing that some were deadly - he had been forced to eat one of the horses. The other one didn''t like seeing that. Looking back, he probably shouldn''t have killed the horse where the other could see it. It had gotten quite rebellious after that. The meat had filled Emil''s stomach, but hadn''t tasted good. He didn''t know how to properly prepare the dead horse for cooking, and he was more used to stealing already cooked food or food that could be eaten raw than cooking for himself. The meat had also gone bad earlier, but Emil had eaten slightly rotten food often enough that he didn''t think much of it. I need some proper food. Emil thought to himself as he entered town. I could take some from old bakerdy. She never notices me. He was about to turn the horse in the right direction before realizing why that might not work this time. Right! The horse! She might not notice me when I''m by myself, but she will definitely notice the horse! It can''t hide the way I can! I guess I have to hide the horse first. Somewhere safe, so no one else can take it. What about the ''church'' stable? The ''church'' was really just a repurposed farmhouse which came with a stable. Still. The roof had no holes and the ce had several beds, so Emil prefered it over living on the street. And the boss had been good at providing him tasty food. I can use the Communication Orb in there to tell boss''s boss that boss is dead, while I''m here. Then he can send someone else to bring me tasty food. Having decided on his course of action, Emil turned the horse in the direction of the ''church''. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Monk and his unicorn Familiar left after finishing the tour of my Dungeon and getting warned to be careful of telling others about me. The Tribe and I went back to our routine. The merchants were expected to arrive before the elves did, but the Tribe wasn''tpletely sure it would happen that way. The elves had likely had a Communication Orb with them, and it would make sense if they had then ordered for backup toe with a Dungeon Core Cage before they even left. If they had, the elves could arrive at any time by now. As such, the Tribe had organized a constant watch, mostly consisting of bonded creatures. At day it was those that could fly which watched from the air. At night it was creatures with night vision, which guarded the Tribe. This consisted of one each of the smoke tiger, andva leopard species, as well as two p¨²cas and two elemental fire foxes. To avoid having any creature be too tired, beastkins would join the watch as well, though to a lesser degree. 7 days had passed since the Hero and Familiar had been by. Not a lot of interesting things had happened during the week, however. Mostly befriended creatures tiering up, some of which evolved. Nalir had, for example, befriended a p¨²ca who had quickly gotten a tier up and be a ''karmic shapeshifter''. The appropriately named Shadow could now turn into all animals and of all colors. He just prefered ck. The 8th Floor was finished, and the Tribe had had no problems with it. While making the Floor, its wolf Pack had gotten an Achievement for including at least 4 members connected to different elements, which gave a bonus to all use of mana in the pack. The two Alphas of the Pack had gotten the ''Alpha'' Achievement, giving 0.5 points to Strength and Toughness for each additional member of the Pack rounded up. As the Pack consisted of 5 wolves in total that gave a bonus of 2 points to each of the two Ability Scores for the two Alphas. The equivalent of two level ups. The elemental wolves had a chance of dropping a weak wand of their element, while the magma lindwyrms could drop a piece of magma proof armor. With the new creatures came new loot drops. The meborn dragons of the Floor had a chance to drop a small leather pouch full of the mmable gel the dragon was covered in. Though, as momma was a part of a puzzle, she instead had a chance of dropping a magic ne I had named "Momma''s Love". The ne had a chain of iron links with a little crystal figurine in it. The figurine was of the meborn dragon momma nuzzling her egg. The ne was meant to be given to children, who would be teleported to their nearest parent or guardian when in danger. The ne would then ''break'' by turning into mana particles. After finishing the 8th Floor, I dug out the 9th and started on the puzzles intended for the end of the Floor. I felt it might take me some time to figure out how to make them work as I intended. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Pod left his crew to follow the wolf boy - who had reminded them that his name was Tuzzik -, so he could greet Chief Nerok. Before the two left Skau had taken the time to observe the young boy. He had seemed happy to see the merchant caravan but not so much, that he could be described as desperately happy. Not like something terrible had happened and outside aid was needed. Good. They must have realized the truth and epted the necessity. With a quick nod to herself, the young giantess went back to unpacking the goods they expected to trade with the Tribe. Some minutester, her father, Hotheus, came to help her with her task. "Excited to see the inside of a peaceful Dungeon, sweetheart?" Her father asked as they moved crates to where Nuktar and Dokric were building the stand, where the goods would be disyed. Skau had already brought them the first crate with pieces for the stand. The vulpinekin and felinekin had done this task often and could set it up quite quickly, despite the stand''s size and many pieces. "Sure. If someone hasn''t already shattered the Core for being an abnormality." Skau replied carefully. Her father rolled his eyes, while gently shaking his head. "You''re really pessimistic, when ites to the survival of Dungeons, you know." The tanned giant said with a smile. "Always assuming someone is gonnae and kill it." "And often someone does." His fair-skinned daughter responded. Skau had taken after her mother when it came to looks, but had inherited her father''s interests and hobbies. Or¡­ at least that''s what her father thought. Hotheus got a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm¡­ that cult has been rather active around here." "What are the ns for the day?" Skau asked, quickly changing the topic. The two ced the crates down next to where the two beastkin were working on the stand. "Offload beasts. Build stand. Pass the Tribe¡¯s new inspection. Caleb and Nuktar guard goods, while rest walk through Dungeon. Learn rarity and worth of various Dungeon loot. Set up stand. Profit." Dokric replied. The older felinekin prefered to get to the point as quickly as possible and didn''t like to use fancy words. Or many words, if it could be avoided. This made him excellent at pressing a price up or down as needed, but terrible at selling a product the customer couldn''t recognize. As such, Dokric was typically in charge of selling stuff with obvious uses, such as food, cloth, kitchenware, decorations and the like. Hotheus looked at his daughter with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as he asked the felinkin: "So, the Dungeon hasn''t been dered an abnormality and had its Core shattered?" "Of course not!" Dokric clearly thought Hotheus an idiot for asking. Skau didn''t notice her father giving her a look, clearly saying "I told you so!". She was too busy wondering what had gone wrong. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Hotheus was born in the Kingdom of Pallens. Pallens had giant Royalty and most of its poption were giants. With its almost subtropical climate it could sometimes get really hot, something Hotheus wasn''t a fan of. So, as soon as he was 14 years, and thus of age, he left to find a better ce to live. The fact that he didn''t have a good rtionship with his parents and his two ''brilliant'' older siblings, didn''t have anything to do with it. None whatsoever. On his travels he visited many, more mildly tempered, ces. The Large Petty Kingdom of J?tteheim was one of those ces. However, as it was located in the cold end of what could be considered a temperate climate, it was almost too cold instead. It had been here, he met Dundjra. Oh Dundjra! Dundjra had loved hermunity and had spent most of her days helping around the Small Town. Hotheus couldn''t help but fall in love with her! After a short, but intense, half a year courtship, the two had gotten married. While Hotheus had been raised to expect a much longer courtship than that, he saw no reason to deny his lover a courtship following the traditions of her people. Barely a yearter, their beautiful baby girl was born. Skau was only 4 when the Small Town got inflicted by an unknown disease. They had had no prior experience with this particr disease and most, who had caught it, died within a week. When outside aid finally arrived, it was already toote for Dundjra. When spring arrived, Hotheus had packed up and went to look for a new home for him and his daughter. But then came a new problem. Skau loved to travel. Not because she liked adventures, but because she loved nature and traveling meant she got to see it often. Nature was not as abundant in civilization. Fortunately, Hotheus found some traveling merchants, who could use a bit of muscle and didn''t mind having an 8-year-old with them. As Skau got older, she slowly got more chores to do as they traveled, and when she turned 14, she decided to stay with the caravan. Hotheus tried to hide what a relief it was, that she hadn''t done the same thing he had, when he turned 14. Luckily, her hippogriff phase didn''tst long. Hotheus thought to himself as he helped his daughter unburden the three arthropleura. Said phase had started shortly after her 14th birthday. She had stated that as an adult, she could take care of the creature herself. But unlike these beasts,- Hotheus gave the nearest arthropleura a couple of ps along with a smile. -hippogriffs eat a lot of un-rotten meat. The giant huffed to himself. Much more expensive than simply giving someone our leftovers to supplement what they can forage in the forest floor themselves. Much easier, much cheaper. Having finished offloading the arthropleura, Hotheus started focusing on his surroundings again. What did Dokric say was next on the agenda? The arthropleura have been unburdened, Nuktar and Dokric took care of the stand¡­ Right! The Tribe hase up with an inspection, which we have to pass before they will let us trade with them! ¡°Ready for this ¡®special¡¯ inspection, Tuzzik mentioned?¡± Hotheus asked his daughter as they sat down to wait for someone toe by. Whether it was another member of their caravan or whoever was meant to inspect their goods didn¡¯t really matter. They couldn¡¯t leave the goods unguarded anyway, so they couldn¡¯t go get the inspector themselves. ¡°Sure. Can¡¯t be worse than in Laumur.¡± Skau replied with a shrug. ¡°True!¡± He gave augh. Laumur was known for theumur cake and had a very thorough inspection protocol for those exiting the Small City. They didn¡¯t want anyone to leave with their secret recipe. Or even a piece of the cake! You had to eat it inside the Small City! Crazy people! They didn¡¯t have to wait long before Podon and the Chief showed up alongside an elder rhinokin man and a familiar creature. Is that the Boss?! How did it get out of the Dungeon?! Hotheus took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. Remember: The monsters of this Dungeon are friendly! Just as the giant father had had that thought, the monster locked its eyes on Skau. It then roared like a dragon while it reared like a horse, only for it to charge towards his daughter as if to prove his former thought wrong. Naturally, Hotheus used the time, it took the beast to near them, to push Skau behind him while activating all his Buff Skills. The monster had for some reason decided to attack, and Hotheus knew he didn''t have enough time to get something he could use as a shield. He didn''t even have enough time to put his arms in front of himself to protect his own body. For now he was simply his daughter''s meat shield. Hotheus had never been happier for having the Body Enhancer ss. Chapter 35: A Fathers Guilt Chapter 35: A Father''s Guilt The merchants came 11 days after the Monk and his unicorn Familiar had left, and there had still not been any sign of any elves. Emerald''s Party had all reached level 29+ two days prior, except Shadow that is, so they had at that point decided to only go through my entire Dungeon once a day, though they still attend the daily training with the kobolds on the 4th Floor. As I didn''t have any 3rd tier BO''s for them, it made sense to slow down the grind. Around the time the rest of the Party reached level 29+, Shadow had gotten to level 20 and tiered up. This time Shadow got an elemental species like Sprout and Emerald. ''Karmic elemental shapeshifter - Shadow''. Now whenever he would shapeshift he would be a shadow in the transition rather than the shy mana light particles from before. More importantly he had gotten the ability to hide in shadows. Riska had quickly visited me to inform me of the merchants'' arrival and to request I change the allowed number to 9. I tried to get her attention by having a drag bite her green dragon leather dress and drag her further into the Dungeon. Unfortunately for me, she was out the Portal again before she even noticed anything. My Ability ''0% Karma Sense'' had informed me that a person with 0% karma level was within one kilometer of my Portal. ¡­ That girl has too much energy! Can''t stay still long enough for me to warn her! At least it''s the merchants again. The Tribe should be able to defend themselves. They have them outnumbered and the merchants aren''t at a massively higher level. At least not the 4 who visited mest time¡­ Hmm¡­ Next time Nerokes by, we''ll have to decide on a signal for this. Maybe I could change something in the environment of The Great Tree Room? I could ce a big ck boulder in the middle of the room, perhaps? Maybe the boulder should be a permanent fixture and the color changes from white to ck when my Ability activates? Marble maybe? When Polma and ze arrived 1 hour 27 minutester I had ced a ck marble boulder in the middle of the first room. The boulder was smooth and the perfect shape and size to sit on, while still looking like a natural rock. Polma was the Crafter ss catgirl of the Brave Party the young adults had made. Her younger brother was a part of the Party as well, though he wasn''t the Party''s other felinekin. No, no, no. Polma''s brother was the ck haired andrger of the Brave Party''s two rhinoboys. Neither kid was adopted and they had the same parents. The catgirl and her elemental fire fox, ze, entered the Dungeon while running and kept running till they reached the 3rd Floor. Didn''t even notice my new boulder. While running Polma gave me a short summary of what had happened: One of the merchants was likely mind controlled in some capacity, the person had been apprehended, and Chief Nerok had decided to put me in charge of their fate. The cult was the most likely suspect and their goal would mean my death. As Polma and ze reached the 3rd Floor, I had a kobold ready to inform her of my new ability to break mind control over time, and as such the mind controlled merchant was to be ced in The Great Tree Room until they had their mind back. Happy and relieved, Polma quickly left to give the Tribe and merchants the good news with ze gekkering happily beside her. Before the mind controlled merchant and their guards could arrive, I ordered all the creatures of the 1st Floor - just in case - to stay in The Waterfall Room until I called them back. As all my creatures can fly and have no need to breathe while in Mana Form, even my lightning sea serpents could move there without a problem. It didn''t take long before Begdar, Thenac, Taozcec and Molgroor showed up, followed by the merchants. Podon Peddlepitch Gnome Merchant Level 38 Hmm¡­ he hasn''t gone up a level since he was herest¡­ Probably ''cause merchant aren''t in Dungeons that often. Dungeons are the best way to get EXP after all¡­ Dokric Beastkin - Felinekin Appraiser Level 39 Uhh! New guy! The old catman looked like he was ready to scare kids off his yard. Hotheus Giant Body Enhancer Level 36 Skau [Hypnotized] [Dungeon Weakness] Giant Awareness Level 12 The Body Enhancer was hugging the younger, bound and gagged giantess tightly to him and appeared to be dragging the resisting girl with him. His eyes were full of tears. Hypnotized, huh? I would have thought it would have been ''Charmed'' or ''Enthralled''. The 4 Tribesmen had the merchants go to the middle of the room before cing themselves before the Portal out. The merchants weren''t truly trapped, as they could instead leave at the other end of the Floor by entering the 2nd Floor and attempting to go back to the 1st. The giant sat down on my new ck marble boulder and ced the victim in hisp, still hugging them tight. Right! Hypnotize and Brainwash is still active even if the caster is dead! Charm and Enthrall clearly work differently. Maybe thetter two require the caster to remain nearby? Such a requirement for a Skill would be hard to maintain on a traveling merchant, which would exin why a more powerful Skill was used. It also means this is gonna take a while. A long while. Like at the very least 6 hours. Possibly even a whole 24 hours. Her main Ability Score might be Awareness, which helps, but she is also really low levelpared to whoever Hypnotized her. Though I don''t know the exact level of said person, they would have to be at least a 7th tier, and Skau here is only at the 2nd. ¡­ I have to inform them of the long wait, don''t I? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. ¡­ Is that your way of saying I can do what I want? No reply. Well, even if I can do whatever I want, it is still polite to inform them. Finding the nearest kobold I thought to it: Kobling? Please go to The¡­ No wait. Never mind. I had realized that while I needed a creature, which could talk, I still didn''t intend to reveal too much to the merchants if I could avoid it. Unlike the Tribe, the merchants would have little reason not to inform strong viins of all my quirks if they were offered riches or powerful positions or something in return. Or, you know, they could just straight up get Hypnotized... When a creature takes their Mana Form they still look the same, just made out of glowing, mana particles and theirbel would still be the same but with the Mana Form modifier. So, a Mana Form kobold was still clearly a kobold. If the merchants saw a talking kobold, it would open up for the merchants to ask me direct questions and more of my secrets woulde out before I was strong enough to deal with the consequences of it. What those consequences would be I couldn''t be sure of. Something good mighte out of it. But I would rather not take the chance. I instead aimed my thoughts at the mini mimic of the 5th Floor. This was the first of my mimics to not have its Intelligence Score affected by its very race, so it was rtively smart. And by that I mean¡­ when ites to hiding. ''Dumb'' mimics would try to stay hidden, but had a tendency to answer questions even when undiscovered and the question aimed at another. The rest of the mimic line would keep hiding, silently, even when actually discovered, in the hopes that it would convince their prey that they really were whatever item they had be. However, if said prey offered something the mimic wanted more than the prey, then it would ept the deal and stop pretending. I asked the mini mimic to turn into a small, perfectly round stone with a four-eyed face before assuming its Mana Form. This way the mimic looked like a small floating star. I then had the mimic go to The Great Tree Room. Here Dokric had decided to keep an eye on the entrance way. He was likely fearing that my creatures would return to the room or something. "Stay out!" The old catman shouted as he clenched his fists in front of his body, readying himself to throw a punch should the glowing ball get near him. Surely he knows no creature of mine would harm him¡­? The situation must be making him defensive. My creatures couldn''t even touch anyone while in Mana Form, which my mimic instinctively knew. And my own instincts told me it was the only thing keeping my mimic from trying to attack the giantess¡­ Instead the mini mimic said what I told it to. It even managed to somewhat sound like the System while doing so, like I had wanted. Good job. Back to your post! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Expect a waiting time between 6 and 24 hours. The victim may not leave in the meantime." The sound seemed toe from the small, glowing sphere, which was floating in the air by the entrance to the next room. With its message delivered it immediately left again. That means she''ll be okay, right? "That long?" The lupinekin known as Begdar eximed, before she started mumbling to herself. "Hmm¡­ You''re still young. It makes sense I suppose. " She''ll be herself again. "Id tru then?" Pod asked cautiously. Here inside the Dungeon it was clear to see that Skau was indeed under someone else''s control. But what does that even mean? It said so clearly right next to her name. I don''t know how long this has been going on after all! Hotheus hugged his bound and gagged daughter closer to himself in response to his own thoughts. Howe I never noticed that anything was off?! Skau hadn''t resisted when the older rhinokin had bound and gagged her, but had tried to get away once talk of getting her released from the mind control had started. Her father had insisted on being the one to restrain her, as he both felt responsible and didn''tpletely trust the Tribe yet. Do I even know my own daughter?! But then they had entered the Dungeon and had seen it written over her head. Or has all her dreams and wants and likes and loves and hates been fake?! "The youngss has to stai here for hours?" Pod continued. Where did the mind control stop and my baby girl begin?! "Hmm." Begdar nodded. "Didn''t realize it would take that long. We''ll have to send for some chairs and snacks and such." And here I thought I did so well! "As you sayss." Pod responded cautiously, still not sure what to make of the situation but having long since realized that no physical harm woulde to them. She didn''t leave me when she turned 14! And clearly the odd, karmic Dungeon''s identification system - as well as the glowing, floating maybe-a-physical-manifestation-of-the-System-maybe-simply-another-odd-Dungeon-creature - agreed with the Chief''s earlier deration of Skau likely being manipted through a Skill. ''Surely, I must have done something right!'' I thought! "Taozcec, could you-" Begdar''s words was halted by the vulpinekin''s small shake of the head. Taozcec then gave a pointed look towards the two giants. ''I must at least have done better than my own parents!'' Begdar didn''t have a lot of Awareness, but knew the vulpinekin well enough to quickly realize he had seen something in the two giants which had made him want to stay behind. But¡­ What if she only stayed ''cause someone ordered her to! The lupinkin considered for a moment getting the needed items herself, but concluded that as the Tribe''s Dungeon expert she was needed here. What if she really wanted to leave?! "Molgroor?" Begdar asked. And even if she had wanted to stay with me, there''s no way she still wants to! The older rhinokin nodded. "Snacks, chairs. Some entertainment too, perhaps?" Not when I didn''t protect her from this! Begdar smiled. "That would be nice." Not when I didn''t even notice anything was wrong! "What about your banjo, Taozcec?" Why didn''t the monster hit me¡­? I would have deserved it! The kirin had been in the middle of an attack, trying to bite Skau, when Hotheus got in between them. The monster''s sharp teeth had seemingly hit a barrier right before it would have made contact with the giant''s chest. As a Body Enhancer Hotheus was able to strengthen his body. Not make barriers. It must have somehow known! Of course the otherwise peaceful monster can recognize bad parenting! The kirin kept trying to get to Skau but with her father always in the way the monster kept getting deflected by the invisible barrier. But then¡­ maybe it didn''t actually hit me so I could fix my mistakes? Just giving me a scare so I would know my mistakes¡­? "Taozcec? Should I bring you your banjo?" Molgroor repeated. The vulpinekin hadn''t even reacted the first time the question was asked. And now¡­ My baby girl will get her mind back after this. Taozcec gave the rhinokin a distracted nod. "Yeah." And then¡­ Then she can do what she wants! With ast nod Molgroor left the Dungeon. Whatever that might be¡­ Dokric had calmed down but had then quickly gotten bored. The older felinekin prefered it when things moved fast, and this was clearly going to take a while. He took a step forward and gestured towards the Portal with his hand. "You mind?" And¡­ And I''ll support her! Begdar smiled and shook her head. "No. Of course not. Skau is the only one who needs to stay here." No matter what! Thenac and Begdar moved to the side to let Dokric past them, so he could exit the Dungeon. Taozcec had already moved away from the Portal as he slowly walked up to the two giants. Even if¡­ Even if it means¡­ "Ai''ll stai here if ye don''d mind." Pod dered, not wanting to leave hispanions behind in their most vulnerable time. She leaves me behind¡­ Skau tried once again to get out of her father''s hold as the vulpinekin reached the two. Hotheus didn''t tighten or loosen his hold on her, not wanting to hurt her but not daring to let her go either. ¡­ Like I left my own family behind¡­ Chapter 36: Kill or Redeem? Chapter 36: Kill or Redeem? The older giant turned out to be the victim''s father who felt a massive amount of guilt for what had happened. He felt he should have been able to protect his child from every danger and thus felt he had failed her. He believed he should have been able to stop her from getting Hypnotized in the first ce or at least quickly realize it had happened so he could get her help. But neither had happened, so the father had broken down. Luckily, Taozcec was there and knew exactly how to help. The vulpinekin was known for being quite good at dealing with sad people and cheering them up. Or at least I had realized that was his calling in life. As I couldn''t see what happened outside my Dungeon I couldn''t be sure if the Tribe had realized¡­ Nheless, Taozcec had sessfully calmed the father down. They then ate some food Molgroor had gotten them, before Taozcec started ying and singing songs on his banjo. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Achievement: Freedom of Thought (I): Everyone deserves to have their own free will. Your actions have helped make this happen. Condition: Ensure that at least 1 person can act of their own free will when they couldn''t before. The loss of free will must not have been caused by you. One of these people can be yourself. Reward: 10% easier to help people, including yourself, exercise their own free will. Unlocks the Ability to sense when people in your sight are under mind maniption Skills or spells. You already have 5 Achievements active. Pick 3 to be passive. Passive Achievements give only half the rewards. You can only change your decision when you earn an Achievement. Achievement:Reward: A Friend in Need (IV): 5,000 EXP and 20% discount on karma creatures. Careful Preparation (V): An extra 25% mana regeneration and the Ability ''Mana Bank''. Creature Designer (III): Creatures have a 10% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 115% EXP. Dungeon God: The Ability ''Dungeon Rules'' and a 5% mana discount on all creations. First of Your Kind: 120% EXP gain for 5 years [5 years left], 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor and +2 Toughness then 120% Toughness to all your creatures for 75 years [75 years left]. Freedom of Thought (I): 10% easier to help people, including yourself, exercise their own free will and the Ability ''Mind Maniption Sight''. Karma''s a Bitch: The Abilities ''Karma Aura Sight'' and ''Karma Targeting''. 110% damage dealt to people with a Karma Aura of 25% or lower. Making the World a Better ce (III): 20% discount on karma creatures. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. Calcting¡­ Surprisingly it only took 5 hours and 20 minutes before the Hypnosis broke, and Skau immediately broke down crying in relief. Her father was quick to free her from her binds and remove the gag. Why didn''t it take longer? Did she simply have more Awareness- All members of the cult known as ''The Order of The Broken Goddess'' have a ''Dungeon Weakness'', which causes all attacks from a Dungeon to deal 150% damage to them. ¡­ MY RULES ARE AFFECTED BY THE CULT''S DUNGEON WEAKNESS TOO?! ¡­ Awesome! System Alert Mission has been updated to: Too many sapients have karma levels of 25% or lower. The System created Dungeon Cores with the intention of having them kill off these bad people while making good people stronger. Dungeon Cores are given loot to lure greedy people to their death, while the promise of more power will lure the power hungry. While killing sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower was the intended purpose of Dungeon Cores, helping these sapients raise above 25% is a perfectly eptable way of going at it. As redeeming sapients is much harder than killing them, it will in turn give double the amount of EXP that killing does. System Alert ''Needed number of killed sapients with karma levels of 25% or lower'' on Dungeon Cores'' Personal Status windows is changed to ''Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower''. System Alert The condition and reward for the Achievement Weeding the World has been updated to: Condition: Kill or help kill at least 1 being with a karma level of 0%. In the case the karma level is 0% due to mind maniption, getting rid of said mind maniption is also an option. Reward: 1% extra lifespan per being of karma level 0% you have killed or freed from mind maniption and the Ability to see the Karma Auras of beings with karma levels of 0%. You do not have a lifespan. 1% extra lifespan per being of karma level 0% you have killed or freed from mind maniption changed to 1% more EXP per being of karma level 0% you have killed or freed from mind maniption. You already have the Ability ''Karma Aura Sight''. ''0% Karma Aura Sight'' changed to ''0% Karma Sense''. You can now sense when a being of karma level 0% is within 1 km of your Dungeon Portal. Weeding the World: 7 beings of karma level 0% killed or freed from mind maniption. 1 level 12 sapient has been redeemed in your Dungeon. You have gained 1,200 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 240 EXP. Weeding the World rewards you 84 EXP. With the exception of the sobbing Skau, the sapients of The Great Tree Room began staring at, presumably, the Achievement update. Having helped me free Skau''s mind by keeping her, they likely either got the Achievement or had its count go to two, like mine had reached 7. Lots of updates! I guess having a Dungeon Core free someone from mind control has never happened before. That doesn''t surprise me. I really like the updates too! It might not always be possible to redeem people but it is nice to have that as an option! I likely would have tried to ''redeem'' at least some of the cult members even if I didn''t get any EXP or tier up progress for it. But it is mighty nice to get those things anyway! ¡­ The updates also feel like a form of approval¡­ Like the System is my parent and is telling me it''s proud of me¡­ ¡­ Is the System my parent? I mean technically Dungeon Cores don''t have parents, but maybe more in an adopted sense? You already have 5 Achievements active. Pick 3 to be passive. Passive Achievements give only half the rewards. You can only change your decision when you earn an Achievement. Right! Right. Sorry! I got distracted! I''ll get right on it. I took a closer look at my Achievements. As Weeding the World is the same passive or not, it seems to have already been selected for me. Dungeon God will stay passive. As the elves mighte any day now it would be smart to have Karma''s a Bitch active for the extra attack power. As I don''t expect any potential mind controlled elf to be in my Dungeon for 5+ hours before dying it would make sense to have Freedom of Thought be passive. Hmm¡­ Last one¡­ So, A Friend in Need, Careful Preparation, Creature Designer or Making the World a Better ce. Each one helps me make creatures faster, so I don''t really want to pick any of them. But which would have the smallest difference? I love my fast mana regeneration, so Careful Preparation stays. A Friend in Need and Making the World a Better ce have the same discount, but as I''ve already gotten the 5,000 EXP nothing else would happen should I make A Friend in Need passive unlike for Making the World a Better ce. So, thetter should stay active too. Then it''s just between A Friend in Need and Creature Designer. Having Creature Designer passive would mean making creatures faster as its discount is less, but it would also mean getting less EXPpared to having it the other way around. So what do I need more? Creatures or EXP? ¡­ Tough one. While being able to level up quickly after tiering up is great, and tiering up might happen during the elves'' attack, I would rather overestimate them than the opposite. So, I would rather have more creatures to defend myself with than more EXP. I wouldn''t even be able to level up in the middle of the battle as I need plenty of mana as well to do so. So, Creature Designer should be thest passive one. Creature Designer (III) (Passive): Reward: Creatures have a 5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 108% EXP. Dungeon God (Passive): Reward: The Ability ''Dungeon Rules'' and a 3% mana discount on all creations. Freedom of Thought (I) (Passive): Reward: 5% easier to help people, including yourself, exercise their own free will and the Ability ''Mind Maniption Sight''. Weeding the World (Passive): Reward: 1% more EXP per being of karma level 0% you have killed or freed from mind maniption, and the Ability ''0% Karma Sense''. Good. Now I can finally check my new Status window out! Status, please! Personal Status Level: 19+ Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 20/50 EXP: 1,195,168 Next mana payment for level up: 0/5,250 Mana: 938.5/1,500 Mana regeneration: 525 per hour Floors: 8/10 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules 20! One step closer to tier up! ¡­ Buuuut¡­ Still not even halfway there¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While Skau was out of it, the Tribesmen told Hotheus and Podon what they knew about the cult and what they had done to be better prepared, should any membere by again. When the giantess had calmed down enough she started talking about what had happened to her. A month or two - she couldn''t remember exactly when - after she hade of age she had stumbled upon a vulpinekin bishop of the cult by the name of Marthox. Skau had seen the bishop''s horse and had not only wanted a closer look but wanted to ask him how he took care of his horse. Skau is such a horse girl! Or maybe more beast of burden girl? Her father mentioned something about her wanting to have a hippogriff, while Taozcec tried to calm him down earlier. Or does that still count as being a horse girl as hippogriffs are half horses? While talking to the bishop about horse care he had mentioned his cult several times, which Skau had found nothing off about at the time as she had mentioned the caravan several times too. But then suddenly Skau believed everything the cult stood for. Quick as can be, the bishop had given Skau her a simple mission: Stay with the merchant caravan and report the location of every Dungeon they found to him through the Communication Orb, he gave her afterwards. And of course: Tell no one. The order meant she could act like herself for the most part. The only real exception was that she was unable to do anything, which had any possibility of getting her thrown off the caravan. So, while she really wanted that hippogriff, she could suddenly no longer talk about it. The logic seemed to be that Skau had been, even before the Hypnosis, slightly afraid of her father telling her a hippogriff had no ce in a merchant caravan and would kick her out if she still insisted on getting one. Skau had heard her father talk about his fears and guilt with Taozcec while she had been gagged. So, while talking about the consequence of the Hypnosis, Skau kept reassuring her father that she still wanted to stay with the caravan, even if it meant she wouldn''t have a hippogriff. Such a horse girl! When everything had finallye out, Skau hid her face in her father''s shoulder, while hugging him tightly. She didn''t fall asleep, but it seemed close. Her father carried her out of the Portal soon after. I reced the ck marble boulder with an identical one in white marble. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The merchants stayed for 3 days, during which Skau ran in and out of my Dungeon. She was desperately trying to ensure she would never be Hypnotized again, first by getting herself a bounded creature. Her karmic galespike, Spiked Shield or Spike for short, was meant to stop her from ever getting near anyone like the bishop ever again. That, and apparently galespikes were better than hippogriffs. So, not a horse girl but a beast of burden girl after all! Or something¡­ She definitely has a type at least! Said type appeared to be creatures she could ride and fly on. It also had to be a predator, so it could defend itself and her. She could have gone for one of my fledgling hoarder dragons, but those didn''t like to travel as it would mean leaving their hoard behind. The rest of the merchants decided not to get a bounded creature as it would interfere with their trading, should the creature decide to attack a customer. Other customers would then likely get worried it should happen to them too and stop trading with them. Two things convinced the other merchants to allow Skau to get a bounded creature: 1) Skau didn''t like the actual trading part and much prefered to stay with the arthropleura and make sure they were okay, so having her stay out of most customers'' sight wouldn''t be hard. And should someone end up attacked anyway it would be easier to dere it an act of protecting the goods. And 2) The whole caravan wanted to make up for not having noticed anything wrong with her and surrendered to the young giantess'' pleading looks. After having befriended Spike, the two of them went through my Dungeon almost constantly as Skau was desperate to level them both up fast. Both so they could better defend themselves and the caravan should ite to an actual fight, but alsorgely because I had Begdar inform Skau that higher Awareness and Charisma Scores would make it harder for her to be Hypnotized again. As the first day the merchants were here, Skau had spent getting her mind freed, she didn''t get any EXP that day. The next day she went through the entire Dungeon 11 times, getting through it faster each time. Some of the runs, like the first couple ones, were apanied, typically by her father. The third day Skau went through the Dungeon 10 more times before finally being satisfied as she had reached level 20. 8 levels in 2 days'' work was impressive, but her starting level had also been 3 levels below the expected level for my deepest Floor. I hadn''t actually had a sapient go through my Dungeon while having a lower level than my creatures¡­ And she had gone through my Dungeon like a maniac too. Once the merchants found out how big I had gotten since thest time they were here, they were very impressed by my fast growth despite barely killing anyone. The merchants only knew that Dungeons, which killed more people, typically grew faster as well, so I became an even bigger mystery to them. But one they were now indebted to. After the events of Skau''s Hypnosis, the Tribe now knew the merchants wanted nothing to do with the cult, so they told them about how I had killed several cult members. Nerok decided it was unnecessary to mention the exact levels of the cult members and only told the merchants that several of them had had higher levels than any of my creatures. Yeah¡­ I think I have more worshippers now¡­ Honestly, Hotheus and Skau basically joined when I freed her mind. At the break of dawn of the 4th day the merchants left. I went back to making the unfinished 9th Floor ready for the Tribe to evacuate to. While the Tribe had gotten much stronger, than thest time the elves were here, they had no delusion that they were strong enough to take them on. The preparations were basically finished but I kept going over the details again. Probably not needed, but I would rather be safe than sorry. The first room of the 9th Floor was the second biggest room I had made and covered any area of 1,400 m2. Last time the Tribe had been evacuated they had had an area of only 1,000 m2, so just that one room should give them enough space. Which is good, ''cause I can''t actually deactivate the dangers of the second room without wasting a lot of mana dismantling the puzzle. I would much rather simply make the room forbidden while the Floor is unfinished. And sure. The Tribe can simply bypass the puzzle due to being family, but¡­ I guess making non-karma creatures makes me a bit nervous. I know my creatures see the Tribe as a part of my Dungeon, but¡­ I had, of course, informed Nerok of the forbidden second room during one of his routine walks through my Dungeon to keep me up to date on everything going on in the Tribe. I think his walk-and-talks helps him work through his problems as a Chief and gets rid of some of the stress he gets from the job. Most of the info he gives me I can''t actually do anything about. It''s nice being up to date of course! But I think a lot of it is more for his own benefit. Well! I''m d I can help! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó In the middle of the elvenpany marching through The Galeurien Forest, a proud dawon carried her noble rider with practiced grace. The feline was almost as big as the horses around it but acted like she was twice their size. The dawon oozed power, both through her actions and through the looks of her massive muscles, powerful jaw and sharp teeth. Her fur was a cream color covered in sparse dark brown stripes. Being a female dawon, the fur around her neck wasn¡¯t quite long enough to be called a mane, though it was clearly longer than her otherwise short fur. This magnificent beast was named Oona. "How much further, lieutenant Alnus?" Asked Oona¡¯s rider, the elven noblewoman Sarzina "Zina" Acacia. Lieutenant Alnus had been to the Dungeon before, and so he and his toon had been tasked with guiding them in the right direction. "Hmm¡­ Sometime around noon tomorrow would be my estimate, ma''am." Alnus answered. "In an hour or so I''ll suggest to the captain that we set camp for the night." Zina nodded. It would be dark by then, but the wholepany wanted to be at their destination as quickly as possible. Chapter 37: How to Safely Tame a Dungeon Chapter 37: How to Safely Tame a Dungeon Sarzina "Zina" Acacia was a well educated noblewoman from the elven Queendom of Alfam¨¦r. Her goal in life was to have history remember her as someone great. While elves were a long lived species they weren''t immortal. Dungeons, on the other hand, were. So, as a young elven girl Zina had decided to be a dungeon mistress, so she could shape one in her image and be remembered for all time. While pursuing this goal by studying at a pristine spell Academy, Zina learned that it wouldn''t be that simple. One couldn''t just change theyout of a Dungeon. In fact there was no known way to make a Dungeon change. It was only possible to stop it from doing something new. This just made Zina work harder, as she had realized she needed to get her Dungeon quickly and slowly guide it on the right path. Most dungeon masters wanted a Dungeon with easy to beat creatures and puzzles, as few traps as possible and as much loot as they could get. Few dangers, while getting a lot of EXP and treasure. Zina wanted her Dungeon to give plenty of EXP and treasures as well, but didn''t want to rid the Dungeon of all its dangers. Her perfect Dungeon was challenging. Not just in its puzzles but through the need to detect traps and fighting against monsters as well. The elven noblewoman loved a good challenge and found it odd that so many others wanted to take the boring, easy way. But still. It wouldn''t do to have too many people die in her Dungeon. So Zina intended to have a portal control to ensure people were properly prepared to enter her Dungeon. If they then ended up biting off more than they could chew, it would be due to their own overconfidence. The portal control would also be in charge of collecting taxes of course. And now, at a mere 204 years old she was getting her own Dungeon! Most elven dungeon masters were in their 4th century before they were ready to get their own Dungeon. But Zina had been in and out of Dungeons several times a week for her whole adult life and had gotten the needed Intelligence and Awareness Scores needed to be a dungeon mistress a couple of years ago, when she reached level 59. To cast the spell to link oneself to the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage one needed to have a minimum Intelligence of 60. For the spell to then work one needed to have a high enough Awareness to ovee the Dungeon Core''s natural defenses. Despite the many theories surrounding the topic, no one actually knew how to precisely calcte the needed Awareness. The only thing known for sure was that generally a Dungeon with more Floors had a stronger natural defense than one with less. But Zina was confident her Awareness of 45 would be more than enough to ovee natural defenses of a Dungeon Core as young as this one. Oona, her dawon, had been with her thest 5 years and with how often Zina went in and out of Dungeons the feline had quickly reached Zina¡¯s level. But as all animals of Alfam¨¦r were forbidden from having a higher level than their owner, Zina had been forced to start leaving Oona behind when entering Dungeons. To Zina''s great satisfaction she had gotten special permission: Should Oona level up during the taming of her master¡¯s Dungeon, the dawon wouldn¡¯t be put down for overleveling just this once. Not that it was likely to happen. The Dungeon was too young to be able to give either Zina nor Oona any EXP. The only way she would be leveling up was if some of her Skills leveled up and gave her enough EXP. But again, with a Dungeon this young it was unlikely to challenge the experienced dawon enough for even one Skill to level. Still. It was nice not having to worry! So, naturally Zina was excited. A challenge, fighting with her darling Oona and getting her own Dungeon! The day almost couldn¡¯t get any better! Well¡­ Once the fun part actually started. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It hadn¡¯t taken long before someone came by and saw that the marble boulder had turned ck and duplicated itself. I hadn¡¯t known beforehand that I would be able to sense how many 0%¡¯ers had entered the 1 kilometer radius of my Portal, but I thought the two ck boulders made my meaning obvious once I had realized I could. I didn¡¯t see any member of the Tribe the next 26 minutes, at which point Riska came by to announce that an army of elves had been spotted, and the Tribe was in a frenzy packing everything up, so they could evacuate. Well, then. I passed the word along to my creatures. So¡­ Has the elven army been infiltrated by the cult or do they just have several superviins in their midst? While it¡¯s possible that both of them aren¡¯t mind controlled cult members, I do believe at least one of them is. Having a 0% karma seems like it¡¯s super rare outside of the cult. It seems more likely to me that both of them are mind controlled. And with my creatures being desperate to attack and kill all the bad guys, I sorta doubt I''ll be able to free their minds before they die¡­ ¡­ Self preservation first and foremost. I can''t forget that the cult wants to kill me. Well, steal my Core, but it''s the same thing really. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It took longer than I would have liked, but the Tribe was sessfully evacuated in time. While most of the dys were expected, Baaktha going intobor during the evacuation was not one of them. It probably should have been, as the pregnant mousdy was a couple of weeks overdue, and of course the stress caused by needing to evacuate in a hurry would force her intobor. At least they got her to her house on the 9th Floor before it truly sat in. Though, it does seem like it''s going faster than the Tribe expected. Shortbor means less pain for the mother, right? I made sure the mother was healed by the unicorn bunny when they passed it. Just to be on the safe side. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó As per the estimate of lieutenant Alnus, it was shortly before noon when thepany and the small group of civilians they were escorting arrived at the Dungeon Portal. Captain Gleditsia was quick to order that thepany take a lunch break before proceeding with their mission. A lunch break where the captain drank to his heart''s content. There was a reason why Zina stayed away from the captain when possible¡­ When lunch had been eaten, and captain Gleditsia couldn''t dy the mission anymore so he could drink, thepany got ready for action. Checking gear and weapons, getting dressed in armor and preparing themselves mentally. They didn''t expect any trouble but Dungeons always carried dangers for the unprepared. Thepany was well prepared of course! As one of the Dungeon''s traps rusted weapons and armor, most armor was made purely of thick leather and thread and just about all their weapons were made of different types of rocks. The three highest ranking elves - and the three richest, Zina wasn''t afraid to admit - had acutium te armor on top of their leather armor. Acutium was mined from 3rd or higher tiered Dungeons and was a metal mostly known for making incredibly sharp, yet durable, des. A lesser known fact about acutium was how it rusted like it was a mineral-filled rock rather than metal. A.k.a. very slowly and only to a certain degree. Acutium wasn''t the most expensive thing in the world. But it was really only good for pointy things, like daggers and nails. Making a proper armor made of it was known to be incredibly tedious, and no cksmith would want to waste the time to do it properly. The metal was extremely durable when hit from two angles but sort of brittle if hit from any other. The two durable angles were always at the opposite end of each other, so cksmiths would make sure these angles ended up being the tip and bottom of the weapon. While it was possible for a cksmith to make the durable angles the front and back of an acutium te armor, therger surface area made it very time consuming and not worth the extra effort. As such, unless one wanted to pay an obscene amount of money, acutium armor would be able to take several hits but was more likely tost days of use, rather than years like other metals. Due to all the weak spots, acutium was only really good when its purpose was to stick one end into something else. It was, however, really good at that! So it was only due to the metal''s rust resistance that Zina, captain Gleditsia and the highest ranking medic, the 5th tier Miss Pinckneya, had decided to have acutium armor made for the mission. Of course, Zina''s brother Braern had made her armor and gifted it to her to celebrate her finally getting her own Dungeon. Normally he simply refused to let her pay for more than the price of the material. It was his way of showing he supported her. But this time he hadn''t even allowed her to pay even that much. He''s such a sweet guy. Weapons such as daggers, throwing knives, short swords, arrow- and spearheads were made of sharp obsidian, jadeite or, if the soldier had a bit more money to spend, acutium. The half-a-dozen elves, who preferred a hammer, had theirs made of dense quartzite. Thepany expected that half the weapons would break by the end of it, so everyone had been ordered to carry an extra weapon for emergencies. The brittle nature of stones also meant that no one would be using swords or longswords or such. For weapons, Zina had a small crossbow meant for use with only one arm, a leather bolt quiver filled with bolts strapped to her left hip and an emergency dagger in a holster on her right. With Intelligence being her main Ability Score, Zina naturally intended to mainly attack using spells, but she had been in Dungeons often enough that she wanted to be extra prepared. Having studied at a pristine spell Academy, Zina naturally knew a lot of spells, a lot about spells and a lot about spellcasters. All beings had one or two elements they were connected to. Spells of said element would be easy for them to perform, while it would be much harder to learn spells of other elements. There were 15 natural elements, which were seperated into 4 groups, each of which had a stronger or ''mastered'' version. The first group consisted of the 4mon elements: Heat, Water, Pressure and Earth, along with their stronger versions known as Fire, Ocean, Force, and Stone. Zina''s teachers had taught her that these elementsbined with each other in variousbinations is what made up the other natural elements. The 4mon elements were named so, as it was moremon for someone to be connected to one of these 4 than any other element. The second group was the 6 umon elements, each made bybining two of themon elements. The 4 rare elements were likewise made of threemon elements, while the noble element was the perfectbination of all 4. Zina favored two elements: The umon Light element and the rare Forest element. Her dedication to her training meant she had already figured out how to turn the Light element into its stronger Lightning form. But while she had supposedly mastered the Light element by doing so, she had yet to master Forest by knowing how to consistently cast Overgrowth spells. This was normal. The rarer the element, the harder it was to master. Even for those who favored it. And she was still young. She would figure it out one day. Until then, Zina''s prefered way to deal with powerful Dungeon monsters was to trap them with nts made from Forest element spells before repeatedly hitting them with Lightning. In addition to the 15 natural elements, there were the unnatural elements. These elements were reflections of the natural ones, but versions that couldn''t be favored. The massive research one needed to do to discover an unnatural element had also led people hoarding the knowledge once found. As such, Zina had only heard the name of two, but had little idea on how to cast any spells with them. Sickness was the obvious opposite to the natural element of Healing, and likewise the unnatural Debuff was the opposite of the natural Buff element. It wasmonly known in certain circles that those two were only publicly known due to how obvious they were. The elven noblewoman didn''t spend a lot of time checking her weapons and armor, however. As the dungeon mistress-to-be, her job was mainly to tame the Dungeon Core. But before that, she also had to activate what had been named the ''allow all''-tool. Said tool would disable the restraint on a Dungeon''s allowed number of sapients for 24 hours, so the wholepany could enter at once. It would disable all loot as well and respawn monsters in abandoned rooms, but that was a small price to pay for having the safety of numbers. Especially since monsters couldn''t leave their rooms anyway, making the respawn part pretty irrelevant. It also had the side effect of rendering the normal ''go down a Floor, then back up to leave''-strategy invalid. The only way out would be through the Dungeon Portal or the Dungeon''s Core. But when one had numbers on their side like this, it never mattered. Granted, for a Dungeon this young, sending a wholepany was a bit overkill. Zina double checked that the Dungeon Core Cage was intact in her backpack, grabbed the ''allow all''-tool, made sure Oona was ready as well, before standing by the Portal next to her dawon. When the captain begrudgingly dered they were ready, Zina ced the circr tool onto the stone back of the Portal and filled the device with mana. A click could be heard as it stuck itself to the Portal. Then a swoosh, before the sound of ss cracking. Walking back to the front of the Portal, the greenish, dirty water reflection now had cracks along its sides. None of the cracks reached all that far into the center of the Portal, but it was still an unnerving thing to see. Even when one was prepared for it. With that, the wholepany could enter the Dungeon at once. Only the civilians with them were going to stay behind to take care of the horses and begin building a new town around the Portal. Having arge force enter the Dungeon at once, was the tried and true method to get to a Dungeon Core with the fewest possible casualties, no matter a Dungeon''s size. Normally it wouldn''t be needed for a Dungeon this young, but the captain had insisted on it. ¡­But oddly enough only after his grandfather had informed him it would be for the best, if he led the mission himself. Or¡­ At least that''s what the rumors said. Zina wasn''t normally the kind who listened to rumors. Captain Gleditsia just really seemed like the type who would take any chance to ck off his duties so he could get drunk instead. As the only one who could tame the Dungeon Core - and thus the VIP of the mission -, Zina had to wait till it was time for the backline of thepany to enter. She was not happy about having to miss some of the action. And she so nned to jump to the frontline as soon as possible! Chapter 38: Expecting a Battle, Getting a War Chapter 38: Expecting a Battle, Getting a War System Alert: The restriction on the number of sapients allowed on each Floor of your Dungeon has been forcefully disabled for 24 hours. In reflection of this, the maximum levels worth of creatures for each Floor has been disabled as well, creatures will respawn when their room has been emptied rather than their entire Floor, and visitors can only exit through the Dungeon Portal or the Core. As punishment to the sapients who did this, all loot drops will be disabled the next 24 hours. Oh no! That means they will alle at once! How many is that even?! When the message appeared, all my chests disappeared as well. This in turn meant several of my creatures would get no buffs from the Abilities ''Treasure Guardian'' and ''Strength of the Hoard''. My hoarder dragons still had their leprechaun gold, but that was only enough for a single extra point in Strength. And I highly suspected that point had been rounded up. The two griffins of my 2nd Floor still had their mimic to guard of course. I had only just started to consider if I should have said mimic change its form, when elves began pouring into my Dungeon. Room after room they ughtered my creatures, which couldn''t yet respawn as more elves kepting through. Each room turning red as blood was shed made some individuals hesitate, but then they would just see someone else ignore the change, which made them ignore it too. One of the elves in front was a 3rd tier Scout who was quick to point out my traps to any who had missed one, so my traps seemed sort of useless. The army was mostly 3rd tier, with some 2nd and 4th tier sprinkled in. Additionally there was a 5th tier Apprentice Healer, a 6th almost 7th tier dawon - a giant liger? - and a 6th almost 7th tier with the ss ''Noble Elemental Mage - Lightning''. As the siren had only been at the very beginning of the 5th tier, this did make me somewhat worried. And with the Lightning Mage''s neutral karma level, my Wonky Magic Rule could change her spells for good or bad, neither being guaranteed. ¡­ Let''s just hope, they''re not super paranoid¡­ Interestingly enough, only one of the two 0%''ers I had sensed had entered my Dungeon. Said elf was a Hypnotized level 28 Awareness sser who didn''t look like abatant. A healer, perhaps? No keys were collected but I doubted the locked door would even slow them down. I was right, it didn''t. But by the time the front of the army had rammed open the locked door at the end of my 1st Floor, The Great Tree Room had finally been emptied. I knew I would have to wear them down by having them kill my respawned creatures over and over again, if I were to have a chance at winning this. But if I started right away, they would quickly realize what was going on and simply leave someone behind in each room to stop my creature''s from respawning. Which could also be a strategy, as they would then be spread out¡­ I did a quick count of my rooms. I only have 39 rooms, though. That would still leave 35 elves to walk to my Core together! No! I''m waiting till it''s less obvious that my creatures are respawning! In The Watchtower Crossroad the sword-bearing kobold leader was giving the kobolds of the room some encouragement, and I was just about to ask the leader to return to the Fortress, as the elves were getting closer. But before I could, I had an intriguing thought: If a creature respawns when its room is empty, does that mean the room it was killed in or the room it originally spawned in? I naturally had to test this theory, and I did so by sending one of the wood wyvern from The Wood of Rebirth into The Forest of Territories. I ordered said wyvern to attack the first elf it saw and, as expected, it quickly died. And, just as I had hoped, it immediately respawned in The Wood of Rebirth surrounded by the other three wyverns in its flock. Yes! I was quick to make the order that all creatures from rooms with no elves in them should rush to a room with one and attack the elves the best they could. All creatures from rooms with at least one elf in should instead act like they normally would. Of course, even when ordered to, my karmic creatures would only attack people in self defense or those with low karma. Which wasn''t every elf, only some 75% of them. Which was still arge amount, so it didn''t cause too many problems. For now at least¡­ Even with the maximum levels worth of creatures for each Floor being disabled, my creatures still couldn¡¯t enter earlier Floors if their level was too high, so it would mostly just be creatures from theter rooms in a Floor entering the earlier rooms to attack. Noteworthy exceptions to this were several lower leveled longmas and ash drakes, my Boss¡¯s three assistants - such as the unicorn bunny - and the 64 level 1 will-o¡¯-wisps and 6 elemental Heat slimes from the 7th Floor. The ash drakescked wings and the ability to breath fire. Instead they had the tendency to cover a room with a cloud of burning ash and ck smoke, leaving their enemies blinded so they could sneak up on them using their heat vision. Will-o¡¯-wisps would give all that saw them the feeling that nothing else mattered except getting close enough to touch them. Unless said person had an Awareness of 10 or higher, that is. Which most people had. Then it wouldn¡¯t work at all! Unless! The person saw more will-o¡¯-wisps! Then the required Score rose two points for each additional wisp, making it harder to resist following them mindlessly. Which is why I had prioritized numbers over levels when it came to will-o¡¯-wisps. All with an Awareness Score of 30 or more werepletely immune, though, so it wasn¡¯t perfect. And as it required line of sight I had to be careful an ash drake didn¡¯te by and ruin it. Elemental slimes of the Heat element - an element I still hadn¡¯t gotten quite used to existing - didn¡¯t really gain anything through level up, as all their extra points were put into Toughness. While level 1 slimes had good Awareness for their level, their Intelligence Score of 2 meant that while they would recognize a threat when they saw it, they would have no idea of what to do about it. As the Heat slimes were also karma creatures they would likely only try to hit an enemy with a pseudopod if said person were straight up evil. Though, I had yet to test it. Long story short: Heat slimes were no good in a fight. No. What made Heat slimes interesting were their ability to explode in a st of heated slime upon death. So, the slimes having a higher Toughness Score would be pointless. It was no wonder why no one in the Tribe had wanted to bond with a Heat slime. Or a will-o¡¯-wisp for that matter. To dy the elves in realizing that my creatures respawned once a room had been emptied, I ordered all creatures from rooms, the elves had left, to stay put for now. I nned on having them attack from behind, once the army had killed my kirin Boss and entered the 6th Floor. That way it would be much harder for them to suddenly start having one person stay in each room. No. I have to be patient. If I start doing it immediately after the Boss has been killed, they might just leave a group behind in The Field of Fallen Heroes and stop my Boss from respawning. I¡¯ll have to wait till they¡¯re a couple of rooms away first. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Sarzina Acacia found her future Dungeon extremely fascinating despite its youth. No other Dungeon had ever been recorded as having monsters not of its chosen type on the 1st Floor. Only much older Dungeons had monsters of another type and then only onter Floors. Zina hadn''t actually seen the crocodiles, as she had been ordered to enterst, but she had read the scouting report several times in preparation. And not only were there crocodiles on the 1st Floor, but each Floor had been reported to have arger variety than any other Dungeon its age. Normally a variety like this was only found in muchter Floors of a Dungeon with an age measured in decades rather than weeks. The reported traps were, for the most part, nothing special. Only the rusting trap had stood out as being unique for the Dungeon. The scouting Party had ended up skipping every puzzle, except the unique spinning wheel puzzle, so Zina was still unclear on how special those really werepared to other Dungeons. And as thepany wanted her to tame the Dungeon as quickly as possible, the frontline intended to simply bruteforce every puzzle. And that was admittedly a faster way of getting to the Core. So, finding out just how challenging the puzzles of her future Dungeon were, would have to wait till tomorrow. Or, System forbid, the day after. Like the Dungeon itself, its kobolds appeared much older than they actually were. The kobolds had been reported to have watchtowers and an entire fortress to defend from. Though admittedly a small one. They even flew around on the backs of galespikes! That just didn''t happen! Or at least it hadn''t happened before. Or maybe it just hadn''t been recorded before? Or maybe it has, but it is just really rare? I''ll have to look it up when I have the time. While Zina loved riding around on Oona she never did so when they were in a Dungeon. Dawons attacked with ws and teeth which meant getting close to the enemy, while Zina was a spellcaster with a crossbow and prefered attacking from further away. For the moment the two of them walked side by side as the front of thepany did all the fighting. As they entered the 2nd Floor they heard someone apologize loudly in a disparate and panicked tone. The voice was then cut off mid sentence. Zina and Oona, along with several nearby soldiers, began running towards where the voice hade from. After passing a small stream, the trees started to thin, and they could see what had happened: One of thepany''s three medics - the one Zina didn''t know the name of - had gotten a throwing knife so deep into her left eye it had hit her brain and killed her. A meter or so away from the dead body of the medicy the equally dead body of a soldier with blood still pouring from his throat. Another soldier was cleaning his dagger on the dead soldier''s clothes, while two of his peers calmly observed him doing so. "What happened?!" Zina demanded to know, wanting to avenge the dead but unsure why it had happened in the first ce. Or why the two soldiers were simply watching it happen. "He killed the medic." The soldier with the less bloodied dagger answered as he got back on his feet and sheathed his dagger. "imed it was an ident, captain didn''t believe him." The soldier shrugged. "So, the captain ordered him punished before he joined the frontline." Zina sighed. The punishment for intentionally harming a medic - both inside and outside the military - had been execution for as long as she could remember. Normally there would have been some form of trial beforehand, but as themanding officer on a potentially dangerous mission - though the danger here was low - the captain had the option of executing the aggressor right away if he feared they might harm another. If the aggressor was to bring harm to thepany''s remaining medics it would be a disaster. At least it exined why the other two simply watched. They had probably restrained him while the third did the hard part. But now no one will know if he actually did it on purpose or not. "Let''s get going, privates." Zina stated with a whirl of her hand. Dungeons were known for absorbing nutrients from the newly dead, but only once the room they died in had been emptied. And unlike any other creature Dungeons eat everything. Meat, blood, bone, hair, nails, clothes and items as well, it all disappeared once the room had been emptied. So, people tended to mine without carrying valuables. All nearby soldiers saluted the future dungeon mistress with a "Yes, ma''am!" before they did as she had asked. But it is also dangerous to take too many risks while in a Dungeon. I can''t really fault the captain for being overly cautious. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Their preparations had rendered the rust trap mostly useless. Stone and acutium could rust, but it happened much slower than other metals. Zina quickly noticed, the kobolds had created new types of traps since the scouting had happened: The ground had been covered in oil in strategic ces and there were several tripwires. Both had the aim of making the invaders fall down, so the kobolds could better hit them with their crossbows. Said bolts had the curious effect of making any 2nd tiers hit by one want to throw up, while higher tiers simply got dizzy. The most impressive trap the kobolds had made were their crude bear traps. This means they can work with metal already! Zina dropped a small rock into the first unactivated bear trap she saw. It snapped shut but a couple of its teeth broke off in the process. It might be crude work but it clearly works! The noblewoman was really excited! So many new discoveries! So much to learn! She tried to repress a giggle. And I''m not even in the frontline, so this is just what''s left! There must be so much more! And here I thought being in the back would be boring! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It wasn''t going all that well for me, which wasn''t a surprise. I expected that the tide would turn once the elven army reached The Field of Fallen Heroes, but that I would be losing until then. I didn''t even really think I would be able to kill them all. There were too many of them all at once - even with the restriction on creatures per Floor lifted - and they had both a high level healer and a couple of almost 7th tiers. About a dozen elves had some Skill or knew a spell which could either lessen the effect of the will-o''-wisps or temporarily raise the Awareness of others, so they wouldn''t want to follow the will-o''-wisps. Apparently for most of the elves the closest Dungeon to where they lived was full of fey, so they knew exactly how to counter them. My exploding slimes were sessful for a while - until the elves learned to shoot them instead - but only so far as to wound people, they didn¡¯t actually kill anyone. The army had almost reached The Field of Fallen Heroes and only three elves had died. 71 to go. Well, 72 with the dawon. The first to die was, naturally, the 0%''er. She had been cursed with bad luck from a dozen b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons before getting killed by friendly fire. And that elf was then killed by his fellows in retaliation as they didn''t believe it was an ident. The third elf was killed by a surprise attack from the 4th Floor mimic while being distracted by the Dishwashing Trap. Both mimic and trap were quickly destroyed by nearby elves. The ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' Rule was slowly raising the Toughness of not only my creatures, but my traps, puzzles and doors too. So while I hadn''t killed a whole lot of them yet I had wounded most and exhausted many. Especially, as they were unknowingly facing the same creatures again and again as they kept respawning. Yes! The ring handle mimic, ced just before the Boss Room, had gotten another sessful ambush kill. 71 left! The mimic got one more bite in before getting killed. The handleless door the mimic had been on was rammed open only for the statue of the room to animate and attack the nearest elf. With the extra 50% Toughness from all the skipped puzzles it was a formidable foe. But while it almost killed the already wounded soldier it surprise attacked, the statue didn''t actually end up killing anybody. Now it''s time to truly test how capable my Boss and its assistants are. The siren wasn''t much of a fight. Chapter 39: The Might of Fallen Heroes Chapter 39: The Might of Fallen Heroes Sarzina Acacia had discovered that her future Dungeon did indeed have several unique traps. Some form of gas was meant to be released from some realistic looking, but fake, flowers. Normally such traps were hidden in the walls or fake rocks. Zina didn''t know what type of gas had been in the flowers as it had already been released when she arrived. There were also small fields of wheat, which were secretly death traps, and totem traps, which could lower one''s Ability Scores. And who knows how many of these unique traps had already been destroyed by the time I came by?! It was a bit worrying to see that a soldier had been killed in the camp themed room on the 4th Floor. With this many people it was meant to be much safer to get to the Core, so he shouldn''t have died. But it wasn''t too worrying. idents did happen after all. Zina, Oona and the rest of the backline arrived at the 5th Floor Boss Room. It truly is a fast growing Dungeon! Having finished the 5th Floor in not even 3 months! Zina had thought when she entered said Floor. Her excitement turned to horrorter on as she saw the bodies scattered around the Boss Room. "What happened here?" Zina eximed. "The Boss was both more powerful than expected and wasn''t even alone like Bosses normally are, ma''am." Lieutenant Alnus was the one to answer. Alnus looked bruised but not seriously wounded. He had likely been healed by the 5th tier medic, though, so it had likely been much worse beforehand. "It had the assistance of three other monsters. One of which was a ''unicorn bunny'' which would constantly jump in and out of its burrows to heal the Boss, prolonging the fight massively." Zina''s eyes suddenly began to shine. "Really! Did you notice anything else?! Any reason why the Boss was more powerful or why it wasn''t alone?!" Alnus thought for a moment. "The Boss seemed unable to touch a third of us. Only reason no more died in fact, myself included. Could be connected to why it seemed so powerful¡­ But it''s not really my expertise, ma''am." Zina shook her head violently. "Right! Of course not!" She took a quick look around the room. "How many were lost in the battle?" "9, ma''am." "9?!" Zina hadn''t been the only one to shout. The Dungeon was only 2.5 months old. How could it possibly kill 9 presumably 3rd tiers? The lieutenant gulped and looked worried before adding: "Three of them were 4th tier¡­" In shock, no one said a thing. In a way it wasn''t surprising there had been 4th tiers present. Higher leveled people in the military tended to like fighting and would thus want to be a part of the front line. Which would lead them to stand before this overpowered Boss with a personal healer. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With several of my creatures dying and respawning again and again, my kirin''s ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' Ability strengthened my Boss even more than before. That, plus the bonus in Toughness from the strengthened ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'', meant my Boss had the Ability Scores of a level 106. That was 16 levels higher than when the siren tried to defeat it! The frontline of the army always checked the size of the next room before entering it. They didn''t want there to be too many people in any room, as fighting took a lot of space. Too many allies in a small room, simply gave you arge chance of hitting and getting hit by your own allies. So, seeing the small size of the Boss Room, the elves decided to only send in 9 3rd and 4th tier people to deal with the Boss. Which was much more than any 1st tier Boss should be able to handle. The spellcasters of the army had almostpletely refrained from using spells but some had been used to target flying opponents. And some of those spells had gotten wonky. Leaves had been ripped out of nearby trees to obscure the sight of the caster, and one spellcaster had be a sheep for a minute mid fight. Both times the caster had ended up more wounded than before due to the unexpected vulnerability, but nothing more happened. Not all the elves in the army were bad people, however. Just most of them. As such, one spellcaster had had their Force elemental st strengthen, when it became wonky, rather than having something bad happen. But no mana was spared when the first group of 9 elves entered The Field of Fallen Heroes. I had the b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon curse the 4th tier Survivor ss with bad luck, as said elf had been annoyingly good at noticing any and all hints giving away my, otherwise invisible, longmas''s positions. Without him my longmas might do a lot more damage. I ordered both the longma and the feathered serpent of the room to focus more on staying alive for as long as possible, rather than focus on attacking. With the flying serpent''s innate passive Skill ''Aura of Morons'' it was worth more to me alive, and the longma could curse another should the Survivor die. Naturally my unicorn bunny''s job was to stay hidden in its burrows till it was time to heal the kirin. The kirin, however, was full on offensive. Doing damage and killing enemies was the objective here. And damage was what the kirin did. The Survivor appeared to notice the danger and tried to jump out of the way, only for his leg to get caught by the powerful, burning hooves of my Boss. The sound of bones breaking was interrupted by a loud scream of pain. This caused 5 of the other 8 to freeze in shock. Not surprising. My Boss was only level 10 after all. Two of the remaining three rushed to attack and distract my kirin, while the third tried to drag the Survivor away. Having a Toughness Score of 72 meant even powerful attacks from the 4th tier Hammer Wielder only caused bruises. So, my kirin simply ignored the two attackers to finish off the Survivor. Who soon was a survivor no longer. This made the other 5 wake up and join the fight. As the one doing the most damage, the Hammer Wielder was the next to go. A little bad luck surely helped here, but so did the elf''s low Dexterity, making it impossible for him to dodge. The battle took quite a while. My bunny jumping in to heal my Boss whenever it got too bruised. When the fourth person died, the remaining 5 decided to call for backup and had the arriving Archer focus on killing my bunny. Four elves had died but now there were 11 living elves in the room. Three each from both the first and the second groups had karma levels over 25%, meaning my kirin would be unable to harm 6 of the 11 elves. I hadn''t expected to win the fight anyway. I had only hoped I could kill off some of the bad guys so I might finally tier up. And luckily for me, having this many fighting elves in a small room caused some problems with friendly fire. People getting in the way of arrows, daggers, short swords, hammers and spells hitting the wrong target, and so on. But with no mana being spared in the Boss Room there would naturally happen something wonky. First, the ground got covered in ice, making all the elves fall to the ground and have a harder time standing and moving. My bunny had to move a bit slower, but wasn''t really bothered by the sudden ice. My kirin never actually touched the ground in the first ce - likely due to being unable to harm anything unless they had a karma level of 25% or less. Grass wasn''t evil after all - and was instead walking on the air several centimeters over the ground. The feathered serpent could fly and the b¨¡ z¨² had 8 wed legs to bnce on. Another two elves were killed by my Boss in the ice confusion. Then the male Mage''s spell blinded him, and I ordered my b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon to take him down while the rest of the elves were distracted by my kirin. But then the Archer had gotten his legs stable and with fewer living allies he could finally kill my bunny unicorn as it came out to heal my Boss. Before going down my kirin killed another elf and had heavily wounded 4. My remaining two creatures were quickly taken care of with no Boss to take the heat off of them. With the battle done the Apprentice Healer was called into the room to heal the survivors. The Boss battle was naturally already a hot topic. 9 out of 16 is not bad. Not bad at all! Especially not with the level difference! 13 down, 62 to go! Now I just have to wait till the back of the army is in The Trusting Fox''s Pass. And then I''ll begin phase two! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Lightning traps! Zina thought excitedly to herself. While she knew most people wouldn''t be happy about such a discovery, she also knew it would help make her Dungeon - and thus herself - famous. Unlike most traps, it''s not even a one-time-use one! Those are so rare! The noblewoman went to get a closer look at where the lightning originated from, redirecting the lightning whenever it appeared. On the wall at an angle there was an odd looking metal object. It appeared to be a cone shaped rod surrounded by a spiral of a different metal. Every 30 seconds lightning would shoot out from this object or the identical one it pointed to on the opposite wall a bit further away. The lightning would go from one end to the other, hitting everything in its way. At the end of the room - which was the first room of the 6th Floor - there was a broken, yet somehow active puzzle door. The door itself had been rammed open, but the consequence of failing the puzzle would still take effect. Consequences for failing puzzles were quite normal for 2nd tier Floors, but they normally stopped working when the puzzle itself was destroyed. Not always, though, so it wasn''t too unusual. The consequence here was getting a Force fist to the face, when one entered the door without solving the puzzle first. Without the element of surprise, however, it wasn''t hard to dodge. Zina soon after noticed that the entirepany had stopped near the other end of the next room. Most took the time to take a short break and drink some water. Several people seemed to be in a heated discussion. "No! We can''t just send more people through! They would be trapped boars!" Lieutenant Alnus shouted to captain Gleditsia, all manners casted away in the moment. "Like he said!: We don''t KNOW if it will have the same effect on everyone! So we have someone else TEST IT!" Gleditsia bellowed back. Zina interrupted them before they could continue shouting. As she did so, she made sure to have her back straight, her hands behind her back, and her nose tilted slightly upwards. Her posture would subconsciously remind them she was a noblewoman and make them more likely to listen to her. "What is going on? Captain, lieutenant." Hopefully reminding them of their titles would also remind them to talk respectfully - and calmly - to each other. Not that Zina had much hope it would work on the captain. He seemed to always be shouting. Luckily, the lieutenant was quick to answer. "Well, ma''am. That fire over there-" Zina looked in the direction of his finger and saw that the mespletely covered the room''s exit. "-is immune to the effects of having water poured on it - we had a couple of spellcasters try first thing. As it looks like an unnaturally thin wall of fire we decided to simply have someone jump through it, ready to roll on the ground should they catch on fire." Alnus looked to the ground while taking a deep breath before continuing. "Private Pinus volunteered. He was a Tough after all, we all thought he would be better able to handle it should he actually catch fire." The lieutenant crossed his arms, looking sad. "He didn''t catch fire. He simply screamed in pain, sinking to his knees with his head in his hands. He¡­" Alnus gulped, tears appearing in his eyes. "He wasn''t able to defend himself when the monsters attacked him¡­" Shaking his head and speaking with a stronger voice than before, lieutenant Alnus rounded up his exnation. "The captain and I were just now discussing how to go around this problem. Sergeant Castanea suggested we have another private run through to see if it will have the same effect-" "These disrespectful soldiers would only deserve it, should the same happen to them!" Interrupted said sergeant in an annoyed mumble. Lieutenant Alnus simply ignored him. "-and the captain agreed with him. My fellow lieutenants and I believe we should consider other options first." Zina gave a quick nod and hid her excitement over the new challenge. "Let me take a closer look at the situation before I cast my vote." Clicking her heels together, she saluted them. "Gentlemen." She then walked away from them, knowing her clever words would keep their anger - especially the captain''s - in check for a time. Stopping next to the mewall exit, Zina quickly noticed how the wall next to it had parts of the stone in a lighter color. "Trust me" it said. Trust who? Zina questioned. The mewall? After considering it some more, she came to a possible conclusion with augh. And then she walked through the mewall to test her theory. Chapter 40: Infinite Boss Battles Chapter 40: Infinite Boss Battles The level 59 elf with the ''Noble Elemental Mage - Lightning'' solved my firewall puzzle, which beforehand had made the rest of the elven army halt their assault on me. The fire was meant to symbolize the fear of trusting another, while the punishment of failing the puzzle symbolized the pain and paranoia of being unable to trust anyone. As such, the fire didn''t need heat, air, nor fuel to burn, which in turn meant water couldn''t extinguish it. It also meant the fire attacked one mentally and not physically like most fires. Where normal fires would attack one''s Toughness, this fire went against one''s Awareness. Anyone with an Awareness Score of 25 or higher would feel no pain even if they had failed the puzzle, as they would know their own mind well enough that the puzzle couldn''t affect them. But anyone with a Score under 15 would immediately go braindead. Anyone in between would feel a level of emotional pain corresponding to their Awareness Score for a whole minute, leaving them emotionally drained afterwards. Unless of course, one had solved the puzzle. Still. I was very proud of that puzzle! And it had worked so well in practice too! But then the almost 7th tier cracked the puzzle: Simply trust that the fire won''t harm you, and then it won''t. She naturally told the rest the solution as well. Luckily for me, not everyone was actually able to trust that the fire wouldn''t harm them. Likely due to having heard the screams of the first one to go through. Unfortunately for me, none of those elves died from it, they were simply in pain for a minute while others protected them. At which point it became clear that the pain was temporary, with my creatures being a bigger danger. Speaking of bigger danger! It''s time for phase two! With that thought I ordered all my creatures from rooms the army had passed to attack them from behind. I had had them gather on the 5th Floor so they could attack together. Before the elves had entered The Trusting Fox''s Pass, I had added several burrows in both that room and allter rooms, so my unicorn bunny had more ces to hide. My kirin Boss had surprisingly - to me - been respawned already powered up from its ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' Ability. But upon rereading the wording of the Ability I found that it didn''t matter if the kirin had existed when the Hero had died, only whether the Hero had been avenged or 7 days had passed. And in this case the ''Heroes'' had yet to be avenged and in fact more were getting killed. Several of the frontliners have died, though, and they were the ones who killed most of my creatures¡­ Does the Ability consider the whole army to be the culprit? Or maybe their leader? Regardless of the reason, my kirin was still strong and slowly getting stronger. Of course, as each power up threshold was double that of the previous, it would take longer and longer each time. ¡­ For some reason my Boss couldn''t leave its room¡­ It appeared to try, but seemed to be blocked from leaving. System¡­ I thought sternly. Why? A Boss cannot leave their Boss Room. I mentally sighed. Well, now there is a Rule that says they can. New Dungeon Rule: Working Vacation: A Boss may leave their Boss Room but will then receive the ''Vacation'' modifier, which will half the Ability Score bonus they receive from their ''Boss'' Achievement. So the ''double Ability Scores'' would then only be 150%. Not what I had hoped but better than nothing. And not too expensive in mana as I only have one Boss at the moment. The ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' does more at the moment to boost its Ability Scores than the ''Boss'' Achievement anyway. So, it''s not too big a loss. With that fixed, I had my own army attack from behind, killing 4 elves in the surprise attack itself. The resulting battle killed another 3, but the two almost 7th tiers - the dawon and the Noble Lightning Mage - had finally gone on the offensive and together with the two remaining healers - one 3rd tier, one 5th - they prevented any further deaths on their side. Just before my Boss would have finished off another elf, a wonky spell from the Lightning Mage turned my kirin into a troglodyte. While still a Boss, having exchanged its Ability for the ''Camouge'' Skill meant it suddenly was at a much greater disadvantage. So naturally, my foul-smelling, bipedal, 1.5 meter tall, frill-headed, kind of frog-looking lizard Boss didn''t survive even 10 seconds. And its nocturnal nature meant it had a harder time seeing due to my brightly lit up Dungeon. But I had gotten a bit too distracted to properly focus on the battle. She has such a fascinating fighting strategy! Using nts to hold down one''s opponent before using high damage lightning to finish them off with?! Brilliant! I need to use that strategy with my own creatures! I could have Lightning wyverns and Forest dragons team up! After a few more thoughts and ns on how to best do that, I forced myself to stop. No! Don''t think about that now! Focus on the present! What was the score again? Right! 21 down, 54 to go! And only 12 more bad guys till I can tier up! The elven army was panicking. Some had started once my Boss reappeared, while others only began once the kirin had been put down again. Before they could calm down, my Boss - and plenty of other creatures - had re-reappeared. Only 5 more elves died this time around as they were more prepared to deal with my Boss attacking from behind. After they had killed it again, it was quickly decided that the best course of action was to get to the safety of the Core Room. ''This has to be thest Floor after all'', they stated. ''The Dungeon may be growing fast but it is still just a baby,'' they added. I chuckled to myself. I had two whole floors finished for them after they finished this one! Had they decided to turn around here my kirin would have been unable to follow them to the 4th Floor and they would have no more casualties. I still didn''t think I would be able to take them all out. Even with the weaker Boss Achievement, my Boss was still effectively a 11th tier, as the elves had skipped yet another puzzle. But with it being unable to harm 21 of the remaining 48 - including the three with the highest tier - it would be unable to carry this warpletely by itself. While my other creatures did a good job of making the army exhausted with their constant attacks, I didn''t expect them to get any kills. With the exception of my mimics that is. Maybe The Greedy Pacifists will get a couple of kills¡­ It would depend a lot on how the elves handle their puzzle. I had gotten the pattern for fledgeling elemental Fire wyrms at level 18. They were going to be a main part of the defense of my 9th Floor. And after having observed the invading army, I had realized that they had rtively few spellcasters. I had only seen 10 of the original 74 cast any spells at all, and at this point only half of those were left. However, two of the now dead elves I hadn''t even known could cast any spells until shortly before their death. So, it was entirely likely a couple more elves actually could. But their reluctance to use magic even when overwhelmed by this many enemies made me sure that no secret spellcaster would cause any major problem for phase 4. Either their magic wasn''t good enough to be of much use in a fighting situation, or they wished to hide it for some reason. Not that it mattered to me what the reason was. My Fire wyrms could only be harmed by water, ack of air, and spells. This amazing invulnerability came from having their entire serpentine body made from mana of the Fire element, but came with the drawback of having their actual Toughness Score be pathetic. All the Fire wyrms I had at the moment were level 17 or 18, meaning they had to stay at my unfinished 9th Floor or take their Mana Form. So with all this in mind, the third phase in my n was to target the spellcasters in preparation for the 4th - and unfortunatelyst - phase of my n. I didn''t need to kill all the spellcasters before phase 4. I only needed to drain them of their mana. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "You! Dungeon master girl! Solve the puzzle so we can be done in here!" Captain Gleditsia shouted from the front line. With the constant attack from behind by the repeatedly respawning Boss on ''Vacation'' along with a horde of other creatures, the backline of thepany was now fighting more than the frontline. This really should mean that captain Gleditsia would now be supporting the backline while Sarzina Acacia should really be with the frontline. But Zina loved a good challenge and she had long since clocked the captain as azy coward. So, the elven noblewoman only went to join the frontline, when she heard that they needed help solving a puzzle. The left corner of this end of the rectangr room had an opening on each side of it. The left opening appeared to lead to the corridor to the Boss Room from the same angle they had originally entered it. This meant the Boss Room itself could also be seen, and plenty of monsters could be seen running through it, but the Boss itself was not currently in it. The opening next to it and right in front thepany appeared to open up to a curvy corridor leading to the left. On the volcanic wall in front of them and between the two openings the words "Take the left" could be seen. This was clearly what had the frontline spooked. "Have you checked the left wall for a third exit? Maybe a hidden door?" Zina suggested. Gleditsia simply shouted for the nearest private to do so in response. "I''ll check these two for Shadow mana in the meantime. Could be one or both are illusions instead." Zina stated out loud, not really talking to anyone in particr as she was focusing on the mystery in front of her. Captain Gleditsia folded his arms in front of him with an inpatient grunt and a scowl on his face, but he didn''t say a word. He knew better than to interrupt a spellcaster in the middle of a spell. He had once done so and ended up in a lot of pain in return. Zina wasn''t actually casting a spell, however. Activating the ss Skill ''Identify Mana'' she had gotten as a 5th tier Noble Mage on each opening, it was revealed to her that both openings were covered in an illusion made of Shadow mana, just as she had suspected. Zina absentmindedly informed the frontline of her discovery as she began casting spells to change the Shadow mana''s element to Healing. While somewhat difficult to do as one needed a lot of concentrating and Intelligence to seed, it didn''t actually cost a lot of mana to do. This was due to the change being from the Heat and Earthbined Shadow element to the Water and Earthbined Healing element. With the two elements both consisting of two of the base elements and sharing one of them, it didn''t take as much mana to force the change as it could have. Facts like that was what Zina had learned at her spell Academy and she was proficient at using it to her advantage. It would actually have been even easier for her to turn the Shadow mana into the Heat and Pressurebined Light element with it being one of her vored elements. But changing the mana to the Light element would simply block the sight behind the mana with light instead. That and the small amount of extra mana would be well spent for having the new mana veil take away a bit of their fatigue as they passed through it. Well¡­ Whichever one they ended up going through. It was cheaper in mana to change an element than destroying the mana anyway, so the mana might as well be changed in a way that helps them. With the Shadow mana illusion gone, the left opening was now the one to show the curved curridor, while the one right in front of them showed the big tree with a stream in front of it from the very first room of the Dungeon. Seeing that the elven noblewoman was done revealing the truth of the two exits, captain Gleditsia was quick to order the nearest couple of privates to exit the room through the left opening. After the privates had gone through the captain quickly followed. Zina, on the other hand, went back to helping the backline deal with the Boss. Chapter 41: The Dangers of Greedy Pacifists Chapter 41: The Dangers of Greedy Pacifists The Boss had only killed two soldiers this time around. Sarzina Acacia and lieutenant Tanithil Alnus had done their best to control who got into close contact with the kirin. It seemed unable to make contact with certain people, after all. No reason not to use that weakness against it. No other creature was any threat to any of them, but they were exhausting to deal with in suchrge numbers. And killing any bunnies had taken priority. Anyone with low Toughness was sweating and panting by now, but luckily that number was rtively low. Zina didn''t have a lot of Toughness herself despite her high level. It also wasn''t needed in her case. Her skill with spells and her crossbow meant no creature coulde close enough to harm her, and oddly enough none had actually tried. She didn''t have time to wonder why that was with all that was going on around her. The Boss once again killed, they focussed on advancing forward. Killing creatures was second priority for a moment as they tried to catch up with the frontline. The end of the otherwise volcano themed 4th room of the 6th Floor contained a small forest. While a wonder and a mystery, as Dungeons normally couldn''t mix environments like this, it too, would have to wait. Getting to the Core was more urgent than Zina''s curiosity. The frontline was once again arguing with each other before the door to the next room. However, this time it seemed more confused and frustrated and less aimed at each other. Getting closer Zina noticed the once big, but now broken, quartzite hammerying on the red grass close to the door. At first Zina assumed it must have broken when they tried to break the door, only for her to discard the idea. The door waspletely dent free, after all. "What''s the problem this time, captain?" "The stupid door won''t break!" Gleditsia simply shouted in response. Zina raised an eyebrow at this, but decided it wasn''t the time to verbally question why they couldn''t open a simple 2nd tier puzzle door. One needed a Strength Score of 38 to ram open such a door after all. Maybe all the highest level Strength ssers were killed by the Boss? But one only needs a Strength Score of 30 to at least do some damage to it. There must be someone left like that. One huff and a shrug, and she was back to solve the problem in front of her. "I''ll give it a try then." With a scowl, the captain turned away to boss someone else around. While Zina didn¡¯t know the exact Strength Score of Oona, she did know the cat had recently be capable of taking down a 2nd tier puzzle door like this one. A single look at her dawon followed by a head nod towards the door, had Oona ram, shoulder first, into the puzzle door. Only for the door to open before the dawon hit it. Zina had studied Dungeons enough to immediately tell that the next room had the mostmon Dungeon room size of 10¡Á10¡Á5 meters. To the back of the room, but taking up most of the space, there was a small stone hut. Said hutcked a door, and 6 of the dragon-headed, feather-winged lions with antlers could be seenying inside the hut. Four of them were the one antlered ti¨¡nl¨´s, while the other two were the double antlered b¨¬xi¨¦s. And walking around in front of the hut: 10 kobolds. With the door mysteriously open Zina attempted to shoot a crossbow bolt at the nearest kobold, before it could harm Oona - why hadn''t it already attacked? -, only for the door to m shut again. "Oona!" Zina was immediately panicking. Realistically she knew Oona could take care of herself, but her emotions had temporarily overridden her reason. The door opened again and the dawon ran out, having heard her master call her. "Oona!" The relief was obvious in Zina¡¯s voice. But a quick hug around the giant feline''s neck was all there was time for. Zina could hear that the Boss had returned for another round. She needed to solve this puzzle so they could keep moving. With the panic gone, confusion instead filled Zina''s mind. Why can Oona enter when no one else can? Put your weapons down Or beware The Greedy Pacifists the riddle on the door said, written in the holy blue color of the System. Oh! She''s the only one of us to not carry any weapons! The riddle seemed straight forward, but potentially dangerous to solve as it might leave them vulnerable to attack. The riddle promised ''The Greedy Pacifists'' wouldn''t attack them if they solved the puzzle and put their weapons down. Which would exin why the creatures hadn''t attacked Oona. The ''put your weapons down'' part might also mean that to solve the puzzle, one can''t attack ''The Greedy Pacifists'' just like they can''t attack you. But what about the other creatures? Are they a part of ''The Greedy Pacifists''? Then again. It was only the 6th Floor. Creatures here couldn''t be a higher level than level 12. They would likely be okay even without any weapons. ¡­ Unless the Boss came after them¡­ Hmm¡­ I could just trap it¡­ But first Zina needed to know if the door would actually open if someone put their weapons on the ground. It did! But the moment she tried to pick her weapons back up, the door would close again. With onest test it was revealed, the same thing would happen should someone else try to walk through the door. Rying all the new information to anyone who would listen, Zina went back to join the backline fighting the Boss. The kirin was already wounded, unable to touch anyone near it and blocked from getting close to someone it could. After restraining it under her Forest spells, she ordered the backline to stop attacking it. "It can''t respawn if it doesn''t die!" It annoyed her that she hadn''t thought of that earlier. Normally she would have had that realization much sooner, but the sudden urgency had kept her mind busy. The soldiers followed her order and shortly thereafter they all entered the 5th room of the Floor, without carrying their weapons. They were almost done after all, and most of the weapons were almost broken anyway. So it didn''t take much to convince people to leave them behind. And it wasn''t like they were going to go all the way back alone. Even with the Boss trapped, the many enemies had tired them. At first, ''The Greedy Pacifists'' didn''t attack. They observed them closely. But that was all. And all the creatures, which had been attacking them from behind, stayed outside the room. Must be a feature of the room. Most likely a part of the puzzle and thus in ce to help ensure no one fights in here. Then one of the privates noticed what appeared to be 25 cm high, 5 cm radius wide stone jars with screw lids likewise made of stone. The guy wanted a closer look and went to pick one up. Before he could touch it, the two nearest kobolds growled at him, causing him to freeze in ce. Like everyone else, the captain heard the warning growls and instinctively turned to look. Unlike everyone else, the captain then ignored the warning. "I knew there was alcohol in here!" Gleditsia shouted as he tried to grab as many jars as he could carry. In response every creature in the room roared as they attacked the captain. Unarmed and with his arms full of stone jars, the captain couldn''t put up a fight. A couple of privates attacked the kobolds in response, only to be killed as well, while taking a single kobold with them down. "Stay still!" Zina shouted, hoping to prevent further blood stter. "They are Greedy Pacifists! They only attack if you try to steal!" Having takenmand of thepany several times before in this Dungeon run and with great results, they had no trouble obeying her. And she might also be the one inmand¡­? Zina wasn''t sure about that. As a medic Miss Pinckneya couldn''t be inmand, unless it was to overrule an order from themanding officer based on her medical knowledge. While Zina as the future dungeon mistress was the most important person to keep alive on this mission, and while her knowledge on Dungeon meant she was listened to, she also wasn''t an actual part of the military. Lieutenant Alnus must be themanding officer now then. Zina quickly concluded. The other two lieutenants had been killed by the Boss earlier. One in the original fight, the second in the first surprise attack. Luckily, Alnus was one of the few mysteriously immune to the Boss''s attacks. Should it seed in getting loose, it wouldn''t be able to kill theirst lieutenant like it had killed the other two. As Zina had expected, no creature moved to attack them now that their jars weren''t getting stolen. "Don''t touch anything. Just leave." Zina ordered thepany, small as it now was. How many do we even have left? Too few¡­ Definitely too few. No one was supposed to die! Exiting the home of The Greedy Pacifists, they arrived at the Safezone between the 6th and 7th Floor. A Safezone. Not the Core Room. At least our weapons are here. Zina thought with a sigh, before ordering thepany to find their weapons in the pile, so they could carry on. Alnus was quick to show his support, and tried to raise morale by ordering them to then take a small break. Even with one half staying on the stairs of the Safezone and both rooms on either end of it, very few had enough space to sit down. But it was toote to turn around now. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Boss did a good job of getting rid of another three spellcasters. The remaining two were the Lightning Mage and the Healer, and neither of these had a karma level of less than 25%, so my Boss could do no more on that front. Instead I had it focus on harming as many elves as it could, so the Healer had to use mana to save them, while taunting the Lightning Mage into casting more spells. The first of which seemed to work well as the Healer began to only heal immediately life threatening wounds to save mana. But the Lightning Mage wasn''t so easily taunted and used her spells sparsely and effectively. And with the Healer mostly healing using a ss Skill, there were now very few opportunities for any spells to go wonky. The elves had skipped almost all my puzzles. The firewall had been solved and my illusion puzzle was considered failed, not skipped, as the goal was to simply trust me not to lie when I say to go left. They didn''t trust me not to lie, so they failed. Every other puzzle up until then had been skipped. With all the extra Toughness from the skipped puzzles, The Door of Pacifism could no longer be broken open. Thest door they had broken had taken their physically strongest remaining soldier 5 minutes to slowly break down, where he otherwise would have been able to oneshot it. The captain - everyone called him that, so it must be his rank - had simply shouted at him for being weak. If only they had realized they simply had to knock! My Door of Pacifism was - unlike every other door I had made until then - only one part of the actual puzzle. So, even if they had been able to break the door itself, the puzzle would still be active. It also meant the puzzle couldn''t actually be skipped, which was both a good and a bad thing. Mostly good though! As the Lightning Mage eventually realized, the puzzle was solved by passing through the room without attacking or stealing. Had they broken the door they would have been able to carry their weapons with them. But as a part of the puzzle - or Challenge Room really - every member of The Greedy Pacifists - which included their 6 pixius, two unicorn bunnies and one small mimic - would get a 25% bonus to their Ability Scores when defending themselves against armed opponents, while in the Challenge Room. They would likewise get a 20% bonus when defending their items from thieves. So, while The Greedy Pacifists didn''t get their 25% bonus this time, they did get a 20% bonus when the captain tried to steal their olive oil, boosting their Ability Scores to that of a level 21. This bonus was then lost as two of the elves attacked in revenge, but with the two elves being level 28 and 32, super exhausted, already sore, outnumbered, and - most importantly - unarmed, they didn''t really stand a chance. Their aura had been a neutral gray, though, so I did feel a bit bad about having killed them. Not the captain, though. He was an asshole. I know I can still attack them in the Safezone, but should I? It seems pretty unfair to me. Hmm¡­ Let''s take stock of the situation. If they''re still resting when I''m done, then I''ll attack. So, 31 down, 43 elves remaining. I''m almost halfway there! And only 4 more bad guys till I can tier up! Not that I''m gonna do that now. I need all the mana I have for phase 4. Can''t spare a drop of mana for the tier up. Hmm¡­ Maybe waiting a bit is actually a good idea for me. It''ll mean I have more mana for more Fire wyrms. But it''ll also mean more mana for the Lightning Mage and the Healer¡­ Hmm¡­ The next Floor will likely force them to spend plenty of mana to make water, though, so maybe it would still be worth it to wait¡­ Or maybe entering my 7th Floor with less mana means the heat will end up affecting them more. ¡­ They can''t skip my puzzles anymore, so they''ll end up stuck in the heat for a while anyway¡­ ¡­ Is it bad that I don''t want them all to die¡­? I know they want to enve me ande from a nation of vers. But their auras tell me, not all of them are bad! I mentally sighed. I guess I have to decide if I''m going to attempt to kill them all. Or aim to only kill the bad elves. Hmm¡­ I don''t like killing innocent people, so I want to avoid killing them all if that is an option. But if any of them survives they will report back with most of my tricks, making me even more vulnerable next time! And there will be a next time! I''ll either have to truly lose or win many rounds like this before they give up! ¡­ At least that''s the impression I get. They might give up after seeing how many I''ve killed. Still. While it strategically seems like a good idea to kill them all, I don''t want to do that¡­ Hmm¡­ While plenty of them aren''t bad people, they''re all still trying to cage my Core and control my decisions, which I naturally won''t allow. ¡­ Isn''t this a form of self defense? Not of life but of freedom? Yeah, I would say so! I feel a bit better about it now, but I still want to avoid it if possible. ¡­ Can I even kill them all? Is there actually any possibility of me actually killing the Lightning Mage and her dawon? ¡­ The heat might get to them, and if the Mage runs out of mana, the Fire wyrms will be able to take them all out. ¡­ I don''t think anything else has a chance against those two. So, how likely is it that the Mage will run out of mana? ¡­ I have no idea. Surely mana works differently for sapients than it does for Dungeon Cores, and since the System chose not to answer the question for me, I know I won''t get any help on that front. Another mental sigh. So I guess it''s all up to me. As I couldn''t taunt the Mage into using more mana, I doubt she''s suddenly going to start using a lot. So, no. I don''t think she''ll run out of mana, and so I don''t think I can kill her. And I guess I don''t even know if the puzzles will keep them in the heat for long. I don''t actually know how strong the dawon is after all. She might actually be able to break the door down. The cat is almost a 7th tier, so maybe¡­ Nah. I doubt it. While strong, she appears to be more Dexterity based, while also having a good deal of Toughness. With a spread like that, I doubt she can also have the needed Strength Score to dent one of my doors. The current minimum is 47, after all, so even with her level up to 59+, she would have to only have two main Scores with one of them being Strength for her to be strong enough. With three it seems highly unlikely. ¡­ Not impossible. Just really unlikely. And now that I''m thinking about it, only half the puzzles on that Floor even have an actual door to break. So it should still keep them there a while. Though, probably not all that long. The Lightning Mage seems really smart. She might just solve them super quickly¡­ ¡­ Could she ''skip'' the puzzles using magic? In theory I guess she would have to have an Intelligence Score of at least 47, like with a physical attack. ¡­ And something about having learnt the spell in question, I believe. System? Can you confirm this? Can a puzzle door be broken through spells? And does it use one''s Intelligence Score? Dungeon puzzles have a Toughness Score of X¡Á10+10 with X being the Floor tier the puzzle is on. Unlike beings''s Toughness Scores, Dungeon puzzles suffer no damage at all from attacks based on Ability Scores lower than the puzzle''s Toughness Score. However, attacks based on Ability Scores more than 150% of the puzzle''s Toughness Score will break the puzzle in one solid attack. ¡­ Plural. Ability Scores was pluralized. That''s a yes then. Magic can be used to break my doors open. ¡­ Back to the main topic then. I''ve concluded that I don''t believe I can kill the Mage. And if I can''t kill her, then I can''t kill everyone anyway, so my tricks will get out anyway! So, I might as well resume only killing the bad guys. ¡­ What a relief that is! I don''t like having to kill in self defense. Though I know it''s sometimes necessary. A mana break it is! After a bit of thought, I ordered my creatures to no longere from the next rooms of a Floor and to try and act as docile as possible unless attacked. I decided to still have them enter from behind, but had them change their behavior. Before they would actively charge towards the elves while making battlecries, thus inviting the elves to attack my creature, so my creatures could answer back in self defense. Now they would move more slowly, walking instead of sprinting, and their battlecries woulde only after getting attacked. This change would most definitely majorly confuse the elves. But how exactly they would react, I didn''t know. The change might make the elves realize why my creature had ''karmic'' in their names and stop attacking them. Or maybe it would simply make them scared as they would have no idea what had changed. I didn''t really care about the details. The confusion alone was enough reason for me to make the change. The constant horde of attacking creatures were mostly only good for making the army tired. ¡­ So, how is thebour going? As I could see everything in my Dungeon at once, I naturally already knew the answer to that question. While close, the elves hadn''t actually been in my Dungeon for a full 3 hours yet, so the actual birthing part had yet to begin. Still. It was clearly going to be a quickbour, as she had already dted 5 cm. ¡­ Not that I actually knew anything about giving birth. I had just overheard them talking. I took the time to have the mimic of the 9th Floor inform the Tribe of my progress. Well¡­ Without revealing that I didn''t think I could kill all of them, that is¡­ Hearing how many much higher level elves I had killed made them even more in awe of me! ¡­ I should probably stop encouraging their worship of me¡­ But I like being worshiped! Chapter 42: Turning The Heat Up Before Cooling Down Chapter 42: Turning The Heat Up Before Cooling Down I suppose I met my goal¡­ Lieutenant Tanithil Alnus thought as he led what remained of thepany through what appeared to be a swamp, constantly on fire. Captain Gleditsia is dead just like we had nned. But at much too high a cost. The 7th Floor appeared to be one long burning swamp. As thepany had gotten an hour-long break, and with the Boss still trapped, the monsters no longer caused them any problems. Except for the ''mimics''. Their species could only be seen once they had revealed themselves, and as they seemed to possess extra Strength during surprise attacks, they were naturally hard to deal with. Mistress Acacia appeared to be the only one able to detect camouged mimics. The elf threw her spells - which sometimes did odd things, though never anything truly harmful. But with only one person able to notice the mimics, naturally the things would sometimes get through their defenses. Sergeant Castanea had been their most recent victim. And while Tanithil hadn''t really liked the man, he had known him for years and couldn''t help but feel sad for his death. Out of the original 6 sergeants, only two were left. Sergeant Luvon Tilia of his own toon and one Tanithil didn''t yet know the name of. He would learn it, should the guy survive. The Dungeon has already taken the lives of so many. Who knows what other dangers lurk in here? A golem made of magma had left behind a blue token. As the Dungeon didn''t give out loot at the moment, the token had to be for a puzzle. Hopefully simply one they hadn''t seen yet. I really don''t want to spend any more time in here than I need to. They were about 70 meters inside the burning swamp when Tanithil noticed the massive increase in water intake. At first he simply thought it a bit odd how everyone had decided the 7th Floor was the right time to hydrate themselves. Then he remembered they had just had a break. Surely people had taken the time to drink then¡­? They were in a burning swamp of course. It would make sense for it to be a bit hotter here. Except¡­ That''s not how Dungeons work. The fire would burn you if you touched it, yes. But it would not heat the surrounding area up, nor would it actually burn the wood it was on, nor create any smoke. But why have we been coughing then? Not knowing the answer, he instead conveyed his observations to their Dungeon expert. "The effect must be caused by either a puzzle or one or more traps." Sarzina Acacia began. "We haven''t seen any traps on this Floor yet, so I suspect the heat and the bad air to be the traps of this Floor." Mistress Acacia started to look¡­ Excited? "Which would mean staying on this Floor for too long can be deadly. Probably even regardless of one''s tier!" She mumbled a bit to herself, while looking around wide eyed. "So, we best hurry up then." Tanithil interrupted her mumblings. "Right, ma''am?" She shook her head and blinked rapidly before answering. "Yes, of course lieutenant! That would be the best cause of action." With a quick nod, he ordered thepany to move faster. And while his Morale Boost Skill had been activatived since the captain went down, it was only now his Aura of Speed was activated. Tanithil didn''t have enough mana or mana regeneration to be able to keep them both active for long. If they didn''t find somewhere colder soon, he would have to let go of his Morale Boost, so they could focus on speed. "Let''s make a sharp right here, lieutenant." Mistress Acacia suggested, all of a sudden. "I don''t like how the ground looks around here. I suspect it might be a trap of some sort." With their best Awa dead, the dungeon mistress-to-be had be the new trap-detector. Her main Score might be Intelligence but her Awareness was quite high as well. Tanithil looked around confused, but could only see more swamp floor where the noblewoman indicated there was a trap. He didn''t doubt her though and simply ordered thepany to walk right around the area. But when he wanted them to move forward again, Mistress Acacia again asked to avoid the area. Several meters further right and they were now right up against the wall. "I believe holes like this-" Mistress Acacia pointed to a small hole in the ground some meters in front of them. Said hole was partly covered behind charred sticks and foliage. Tanithil would have had no chance of noticing it, had it not been pointed out to him. "-are the air traps making us cough. Most likely by releasing some invisible gas of some sort. I suggest we hold our breath and run through it. Much faster than going around." So, that''s what they did. Finally, the end of the long room was in sight. The door at the end had a circr indent clearly meant for the blue token. But when the token was inserted, the door simply revealed another door. This time of the talking variety. We are never getting out of this heat, are we? Or this Dungeon for that matter¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Huh¡­ That''s¡­ an odd reaction to my quicksand traps¡­ She could clearly see my trap, so why didn''t she just call it by name? Maybe they''ve just never heard of quicksand? And the Lightning Mage has enough Awareness to notice regardless? I had gotten the Boss freed with the help of several nearby creatures and had gotten it fully healed up again. With three unicorn bunnies it hadn''t taken long. Maybe I should have made all three Boss assistants unicorn bunnies, after all. Ah¡­ No. It would be a bit too over the top - not to mention expensive - if I had three of them just to heal one Boss. I had refrained from having the Bosse after them again, just yet, as I wanted them to think it was still trapped. Though¡­ It was a bit hard to free it. The nts appeared to have be stronger after she used her magic on them. Now they had reached the end of The Swampfire Forest. While their guard wasn''tpletely down due to the massive amount of creatures still attacking them - or rather attacking in self defense or defense of their flock -, I doubt they expected the Boss to be a problem again. My kirin stood ready, though I made sure it was far enough away and behind a lot of trees, so not even the dawon could sense it. The small mimic of the room had gone unnoticed as well, pretending to be a rock and being somewhat off to the side but still near the exit. After having inserted the blue coin and solved the first puzzle, they had the dawon try to ram open The Riddleless Riddle Door. As I had assumed, the feline wasn''t strong enough to do any actual damage to the door, so they had to actually solve the puzzle. Right now the army was busy, most of them with protecting the remaining dozen from my creatures, while said dozen were trying to figure out my Riddleless Riddle Door. As such, this was the perfect time to spring an attack on them. On my order, my Boss charged the army. And once it was noticed, I had it let out a loud roar. Its long neck gave it an unmistakable sound, which the army recognized, causing them to focus on the new, yet old, threat. This gave my mimic the opportunity to ambush the nearest soldier with a karma level of under 25%. Said soldier had been about to backstep into the bush-shaped mimic, making it feel threatened and attack him. First it ate his leg in one big chomp. Then, once the soldier had hit the ground, it took his head. My mimic was then killed, before it could attack another. The kirin, on the other hand, didn''t seed in killing anyone else, as it had quickly been trapped in nts again. Still, the distraction it had caused had helped. 33 down, 42 left. While I''ve decided it''s pointless to try and kill them all, I do want to kill another two bad ones, so I can tier up afterwards. It took the Lightning Mage 9 minutes after that to solve the riddle of The Riddleless Riddle Door, which I thought was slower than expected. Maybe I had a bit too high of an expectation of her. But then she proved my thought wrong by quickly solving the ''Show me only violence'' puzzle. The Mirror puzzle took them quite a bit of time, however, as the many elves in the room had blocked the sight of the door''s reflection. It took them enough time that the remaining two 2nd tiers and even a level 27 Leader passed out from the heat of the room. The two 2nd tiers had been fighting my creatures at the time and were killed once they fainted. Both had a normal gray aura, which was why the two had survived this long, so I felt a bit bad for their deaths. But it had happened so quickly in both cases that I hadn''t been able to call my creatures back before they had died. The Leader ss had been sitting down far away from the fighting when he fainted, so he simply passed out. Solving my Mirror puzzle ended up being a group effort. A Scout finally noticed the sight of the door''s reflection and pointed it out. Another soldier then went to touch the mirror, to see if that was the mirror, and a third tested the wall where the door seemed to be ced. Then finally someone had the bright idea to walk backwards while looking at the door''s reflection. They were naturally quite relieved to finally be out of the heat. Until they realized they had entered another Safezone¡­ I naturally did a mental evil cackle. Muhahahahaa! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While taking a much needed break to cool down and catch their breath in the Safezone between the 7th and 8th Floors, thepany began discussing whether or not they should continue on their mission. Sarzina Acacia had long since fallen in love with the Dungeon and was determined to im it as her own or die trying. The incredible fast growth, the unique monsters, puzzles, traps, thebel floating over everyones head stating their name, species, ss and level, the slightly mixed environment - - the unnaturally powerful Boss, multiple monsters in the Boss Room and all the monsters being able to leave their rooms. All of this screamed of mysteries needing to be solved and challenges to ovee. And Zina had always loved solving mysteries and oveing challenges. So, getting to tame a Dungeon like this would surpass even her wildest fantasies. And that was before mentioning how certain it was that a Dungeon like this would be known worldwide for all eternity! Zina had to have her name associated with this Dungeon! It has to be mine! We can''t stop trying! The rest of thepany wasn''t so determined. Their primary goal was to survive. Something that no longer looked certain. On one hand, they could do as Zina wanted and try to get to the Core. The monsters would slowly get stronger as they went further down, and as they weren''t trapped in their rooms their numbers would only increase as thepany progressed through the Dungeon. And of course - most terrifyingly of all - they had no clue which Floor the Core Room was on. On the other hand, they could retreat. They would know what challenges were where, and the monster horde would decrease as thepany progressed. As the ''allow all''-tool had disabled the teleport function from the Safezone stairs, they would have to pass through everything again, with every trap and puzzle having reset after a Floor had been left behind. Though, most puzzles were automatically considered solved - though without any EXP given - if you came from behind, as they were otherwise unsolvable. But puzzles like the talking doors would have to be solved all over again! Thepany decided it would be safest to leave through the Core Room, if it was on this next Floor, but that it wouldn''t be worth it, if there somehow was a 9th or 10th Floor. This conclusion wasrgely motivated by the fact that the Boss couldn''t harm everyone, and the desperate want to stay out of the heat they had just left. Then thepany voted on it. 12 believed there was a 9th Floor, while 27 thought the 8th was thest. As such, thepany once again began moving towards the Core Room. The first room of the 8th Floor had a tree in each corner and grass at each end of the elongated room. Next to the two trees on the other side of the room sat two 3 meters tall drag statues. In between the two patches of grass the ground was covered withrge square tiles. Each tile had one of 8 images on it: Grass - green in color -, blueberries, apple, plum, fish, pig, chicken, or drag. Zina noticed that, interestingly enough, every tile was a pressure te. Hmmm¡­ To make it harder to figure out which tiles are safe perhaps? Dungeons rarely have that much forethought! Naturally, this pleased the future dungeon mistress greatly. The walls pictured various creatures eating: horses, cows and sheep grazing, a wolf pack feasting on a in cow, humans roasting and eating a suckling pig around a firece, drags eating different fruits and berries, a bear eating a fish, a sea dragon of some sort about to eat multiple fish at once, chickens eating worms and several others. At many points along the walls, there were circr lids blending in with the images. Must be where the punishment for failing to solve this puzzle will being from. And with thepany having exited the Safezone, the monsters were once again attacking. Zina could even hear people fighting in the Safezone itself. The monsters were likely trying to get to the elves on the 8th Floor. It made some form of sense that they could enter a Safezone if they were only passing through. Of course, not all elves had exited the Safezone yet, so the two groups naturally ended up fighting while there. This tiled puzzle room had several drags in it, though none had moved from their trees yet. Must be a part of the puzzle. Zina thought before ordering that the drags of the room be unharmed, unless they attacked first. With all the fighting happening behind her, Zina began solving the puzzle. It didn''t take her long. She was a smart girl after all. Chapter 43: Mommas Treasure Chapter 43: Momma''s Treasure While walking across the tiled part of the room, Sarzina Acacia only stepped on tiles with images of either apples, blueberries or plums. These three were in the diet of drags, which was the only monster type in the room. A room which also had two giant drag statues in it. Upon reaching the handleless door on the other side, Zina was quick to spin the wheel right next to it. How sad that it felt the need to reuse a puzzle already. I hope it bounces back quickly. Older Dungeons were known to reuse previous puzzles. Sometimes they began making new ones againter - or at least a new variety of an old puzzle - while some Dungeons seemed stuck on the exact same 50 or so puzzles. And I hope it doesn''t use this one again, ''cause this is too easy! The wheelnded on a red triangle. After all, I just have to keep trying every couple of minutes until I hit a- The sound of stones scraping against each other appeared from closely behind the Noble Lighting Mage, and she reflectively turned around to see where it came from. -green one. The two statues were moving, though they had yet to make an attack. Oona noticed her master''s reaction and turned to look as well. The giant drag statues began moving towards the nearest victim, only to be intercepted by Zina and Oona. Zina shot a single bolt of Lightning toward the statue on the left, which crumpled in response. Oona began biting and shing at the one on the right, causing chunks of stone to fall off while only getting scratched by the statue in return. Several nearby elves tried to help the dawon defeat her target and Zina hit it with a couple of bolts, only for each attack to do no damage at all. Only Oona''s attack did any damage to the statue. Odd. I know the Toughness of Dungeon materials follow a different rule set while inside their Dungeon, which is based on the tier of the Floor. But this is only a 2nd tier Floor¡­ After a quick look at her allies, she rolled her eyes and sighed. Right. I forgot I''m surrounded by 3rd and 4th tiers! And that the more powerful ones are defending our back! While Zina was thinking, Oona had defeated her opponent. This caused the puzzle to be solved and the handleless door to open. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 3 EXP. After walking through the exit of the room a new message appeared from the System. One Zina had never seen or heard of before. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 12 EXP. Loot is disabled. "What?!" Had this always been a thing?! Did it happen in other Dungeons too?! The holy message says it''s due to a ''Dungeon Rule''. Does that mean it''s a universal Dungeon Rule or one only for this Dungeon?! The elven noblewoman forced herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath. Calm down. It was likely just a part of a puzzle. Perhaps topensate for the extra difficulty. ¡­ Not that the ''don''t kill'' part was all that hard, when the monsters of the room hadn''t even moved towards them. Having gathered her thoughts, she shared them with those near her, who had yet to exit the room as they had heard her sudden shout and gotten worried. Now reassured, they followed her into the next room. Said room was the standard 10¡Á10 meters and thus too small for how ever many remained of thepany to be in it at once. The room was covered in grass - still green - and flowers with climbing nts once again covering the walls. Each corner had a small sapling of a tree, only just big enough to have grown some pretty pink flowers. In the center of the room there was another statue. This one was human shaped, sat on the grass with its legs crossed and had its hands resting on the knees. On each side of the statuey a b¨¬xi¨¦. Calmly¡­ Looking at the neers, but making no attempts to even get up. "Like before." Zina stated to those behind, but without turning her head away from the monsters. "Don''t make the first attack. It is a part of the puzzle. One it might be favoring." Around the statue and b¨¬xi¨¦s there was a ring of brown wool nkets. After getting a closer look at the statue, Zina noticed that the statue had been ced on a nket as well. Seeing no other clue as to what the puzzle was about - not even an exit door -, Zina decided to simply sit down on a nket and try to imitate the statue''s posture. Seeing this several other elves decided to do the same, while Oona - being quadrupedal - simplyid down next to her master. While fighting could still be heard, this room was quite peaceful. They could rx for a bit here. Some of the privates began talking to each other, while others simply caught their breath in silence. Then the wall, opposite the side they had entered from, sunk into the ground and revealed the exit. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 2 EXP. Zina blinked confused at the exit several times before regaining herposure. She wasn''tpletely sure what they had done to solve the puzzle. It hadn''t immediately been solved when the frontline had entered the cross legged position of the statue, and several privates had quickly found said position ufortable and changed their stands. Was it a test of patience? If so, it wasn''t a very hard test. It took - what? 5 minutes? With a look at the two b¨¬xi¨¦s in front of her, she reevaluated that thought. But if you also couldn''t kill these two, then it would quickly be a much harder puzzle. Few would even have gotten the idea. ¡­ Truthfully, I wouldn''t have gotten the idea if not for the odd behavior of the monsters in the previous room. And back then my first instinct was still to attack! Only therger distance between usbined with their unnaturally¡­ dare I say ''docile'' behavior¡­ led me to think there might be a puzzle in effect. When exiting this room another System message, much like the previous one, appeared. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Experiencing Peace rewards you 4 EXP. Loot is disabled. So¡­ I have to know. Is this for every room, or just those two? With that thought, Zina began trying to convince thepany to not attack every monster they saw. It took some time. But the docile behavior of the monsters of the two previous roomsbined with the holy words of the System eventually convinced the survivors to give it a cautious attempt. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Uhh¡­ Is this a good thing? I think so¡­ I mean I won''t get to tier up, so it''s definitely not all good, but no more people have to die¡­ ¡­ I guess¡­ I''ll just¡­ have to wait and see what happens¡­? The third room of the 8th Floor was a long one much like the first room of the previous Floor. This one wasn''t as long as The Swampfire Forest, and unlike all my previous Floors it had a couple of dead end side rooms. It waspletely possible to simply walk past these side rooms, but then you would end up either having to break through the locked door at the end or go back and solve the puzzles the side rooms contained. As such, it was only the presence of my ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' Rule, which let me feelfortable using some of my space for skippeable side rooms. The main traps of this Floor were the many spots whereva might sprout from the ground. These spots were scattered roughly in a line through the first room of the Floor. The invisible line would make invaders expect the traps in one area, making the few outliers all the more dangerous. This room was naturally named The Volcanic Mountain Range. With the Lightning Mage leading the elven army, no one ended up sted byva. And as she had convinced the rest to let my creatures be, my creatures also stopped having to defend themselves. The army simply walked past my meborn dragons and my elemental wolfpack with both sides simply watching the other closely. Off to the left side, half way into the 40 meter long room, was the entrance to the first side room. The Lightning Mage, with her interestingly high Awareness, noticed this and guided the army past the wolfpack guarding the room. Both feline and canines growled at each other as the army walked closer to the pack. But while the situation was clearly tense, no one actually attacked. The first side room was Momma''s Treasure Room. The small forest themed room contained a pair of b¨¬xi¨¦s and a pair of ti¨¡nl¨´s, but the most fascinating thing about Momma''s Treasure Room was the level 0 meborn dragon egg half hidden in some high grass. I had discovered that it was possible to create creatures of level 0 for half the base mana for its species, but that said creature would be unable to fight at all or use any innate Skill. So generally not useful at all! But this egg was a part of a puzzle. The Noble Lightning Mage noticed the egg, but saw no reason to touch it. She had mumbled her curiosity about the level 0 part, but left the room soon after, having recognized it as a dead end. A level 33 Ranger with a karma level of 24%, however, made sure he would be thest one to leave the room, intending to get a better look at the egg. At first he simply poked the egg while keeping a close eye on the two adult creatures in the room, he could actually focus on. When they didn''t react, he picked up the egg for a close look. Satisfied, the Ranger then ced the egg in his mostly empty quiver before leaving the room. Hmm¡­ I wonder why he did that behind the others'' backs. With no one to fight, the army soon reached the second side room: Momma''s Cave. Momma''s puzzle was a simple fetch quest: Bring momma her baby. In return the key to the locked door at the end of the Floor would appear. This made momma meborn a Puzzle Guardian. Of course this wouldn''t do much of a difference against 40 opponents. Even with her buddy the ''karmic elemental smander - Fire, Healing'' healing her near constantly, while its Fire element kept it from taking damage from the firecovered dragon mother. The Lightning Mage entered Momma''s Cave first and neutralized all 5 traps in the room using her Forest spells. After half a dozen elves and the dawon had looked around the cave and found nothing of interest, they left again. Now Momma''s puzzle wasn''tpleted, nor skipped or failed. It was ''in progress'' if anything. The egg had been collected but not yet delivered. It wasn''t my fault they hadn''t seen Momma''s empty nest as the hint it was. Back to The Volcanic Mountain Range and then to thest room of the Floor: The Magma Pass. A 40¡Á10¡Á10 meters long hall filled with magma to each side of a small pass. The room didn''t look like it had a height of 10 meters as 3 of them were filled with magma and obsidian. In these two strips of magma lived my 18 magma lindwyrms. Their immunity to heat made them perfect for knocking enemies into the magma around them, with the 4 ash drakes able to both block the pass and the sight of their opponents. The pass also made it hard to evade an ambush from the Floor''s mimic. Too bad my defenses won''t be tested today. And it had just be time for phase 4 as well! The elves had been in my Dungeon just over 4.5 hours by now and had used 3 hours after having been discovered but before entering my Dungeon. This had given me enough mana to make three level 5 Fire wyrms and one level 6. Not a lot to work with, but with the 4 of them side by side on the Magma Pass one couldn''t really avoid them. And despite their low level they had high Strength and Dexterity Scores. Which¡­ did mean every other Score - especially Toughness - was kinda low. Still. It was mostly their very few weakness, born from being a being of living Fire mana, I had counted on. I still had them stand guard on the pass. I just expected people to carefully step over them instead of attacking. Oh well. They still haven''t solved Momma''s puzzle. So, maybe something interesting will happen¡­ And something did! The Lightning Mage got distracted observing and casting what appeared to be analyzing spells on the Fire wyrms, leading to one of my traps getting activated by another elf. Though I don''t think they could have avoided activating that one. The trap in question was triggered by having any visitor of low karma level pass the 30 meter mark into The Magma Pass. A 2.5 meterrge, perfectly round boulder would then be dropped out from a hiddenpartment in the wall just above the exit of the room. The pass was oh so slightly tilted and had each side raised a bit, so the boulder could keep rolling without ending up in the magma. As it was impossible not to trigger for low karma people, they only had three ways to not end up smashed by it: Outrun the boulder and get out of its way once in The Volcanic Mountain Range. Jump andnd on one of the few rock tforms in the magma. Or, somehow, push the fast moving boulder into the magma. With ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' giving extra Toughness there wasn''t anyone here who could simply destroy the boulder. Unless the Lighting Mage had some spell to do it with at least. The guy who activated the trap didn''t appear to have a lot of Awareness, as after seeing the iing boulder he jumped out of its way without aiming for a rock tform. Like Dungeon fire, Dungeon magma was only hot when touched. But if one did, then it would act like normal magma. While most of the army chose to try and outrun the boulder, the dawon and 5 elves - one being the Lightning Mage - attempted to seek safety on a rock tform. One of the elves missed theirnding spot and was consumed by the magma. Of those who tried to run, two were pushed into the magma by theirrades in the resulting panic, while the 4 slowest ended up crushed by the boulder and stopping it from reaching the rest. ¡­ Yes! 8 down with a single trap and some environmental hazards! I had immediately tiered up and gotten a bunch of System messages. I quickly chose the ''river andke'' as my new environment, so I could start earning full EXP again right away. I would take a better look at my new status once the elves were gone. After the army had collected itself they pushed the boulder and the crushed bodies into the magma, so they could continue moving forward. This time the Lighting Mage made sure to look for possible traps. As such, she noticed the hiddenpartment inside the now openpartment, which contained an identical boulder. So naturally, she warned the rest before the trap was triggered and no elves ended up killed by the second one. Oh well! I''m still satisfied with the efforts of the first one! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Thetest puzzle had taken them almost an hour toplete. Much longer than any of the other puzzles. While this fact had frustrated the rest of thepany, Zina couldn''t help but be ecstatic. The puzzle hadn''t taken that long because it was difficult. It really wasn''t. It had taken that long because 1) the puzzle took ce in multiple rooms and 2) one of the privates had taken the egg meant for the puzzle. The first of which had never been recorded happening in any Dungeon. Some Dungeons had side rooms with a puzzle which would give a key or token to open ater door, that part wasn''t unusual. But puzzles had always taken ce in one room. The key reward was the furthest that rule could be bent! Or at least, everyone had thought so. Which, naturally, had led to Zina''s extreme excitement. Which she half heartedly tried to hide from the frustrated soldiers. But with the egg delivered to its ''mother'' and the rewarded key in hand, they could finally get out of the 8th Floor. Your Party has solved a puzzle! You have gained 3 EXP. You havepleted this Dungeon while it has 8 Floors for the first time. You have gained 50 EXP. As soon as the door had been open and the sight of the Dungeon Core could be seen, relief was shot through every elf present. Many gave out sighs of relief, while some had their whole body suddenly rx. The sound of knees hitting the ground echoed through theva filled room as several elves dropped to their knees and praised the System for letting them survive the ordeal. With no doubt in her mind, Zina retracted the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage from her back, looked it over to ensure it was still intact - which it was as no monster had actually gotten close to her -, and ced it around the crystal Core. With a deep breath and a shove of mana in the shape of a spell she activated the Cage, making it shrink and reshape from its square form till it fit tightly around the octahedron Core. The spell had linked her to the Cage as well as activating the taming progress. Now she simply had to win against the Dungeon Core''s natural defenses. She could feel the Core fighting against her, but it was like an 99 year-old elf going against a centenarian. With only one having reached adulthood something truly unusual would have to ur for the child to win the fight. There had been some records of older children winning fights against young adults. In these cases the adult had only just reached adulthood, had never been good at fighting, but was older than their opponent and thought to take advantage of this fact. The child would then defeat the odds by either having hadbat training or using the adult''s arrogance against them. But this was clearly not one of those few cases. Instead, just as Zina had assumed, her Awareness Score of 45 had ensured her the victory. She could feel the Cage sending her passive touches, telling her it was working as intended and that the Core wasn''t currently trying to do anything it would now need her permission for. Which was trying to change anything but environmental changes. And that was such a small thing that Dungeons rarely bothered to dramatically change it. Still¡­ Just like the higher number of Floors than expected, the Core itself had resisted more than she had expected. But in a way, this was somewhat expected. It did have those extra Floors after all, which had to be a sign of its power. Nheless, with the Core tamed their mission wasplete and they could finally get out. Naturally this caused thepany to cheer and be merry. With the loot disabled, they wouldn''t be getting out by touching their personalized loot, but by exiting the Core Room from the door they hade from. Soon what remained of thepany stood next to the Dungeon Portal, ready to take a well deserved nap. Chapter 44: Dealing with a Cage Chapter 44: Dealing with a Cage I knew my Fake Core woulde in handy one day! Just as I had hoped, no one had thought to look twice at the Core in the middle of the Core Room, so the Fake Core was the one caged. The ''Fake or Real Core'' Rule had originally been worded so it would also work against golems, but now this wording ensured that even the Cage itself believed the Fake Core to be the real one. And if the Cage kept telling the Lightning Mage that everything was fine then¡­ Well¡­ She''ll still notice at some point¡­ It would buy me some time at least! Maybe even a lot of time as the Cage would probably be med as faulty at first before anyone thinks I did something¡­ From my perspective the rune-covered Cage had been ced around the Fake Core, the Lightning Mage cast some form of spell to activate it, and for 40 seconds it shrunk and reshaped its form till it fit tightly around my Fake Core. But on the mental scale, nothing had happened nor changed. Hmm¡­ Let''s just check out my new status for now¡­ Personal Status Level: 20 EXP needed for level up: 29,600/29,600 Additional EXP: 1,652,876 Mana payment for level up: 0/5,250 Mana: 750.5/1,750 Mana regeneration: 612.5 per hour Floors: 8/11 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: Disabled Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Well¡­ It''s nice. I''ve tiered up. Love it. Lots of EXP. Really not much to say about it though. Back to the serious stuff then. The whole army wasn''t killed, which means the elven kingdom knows many of my tricks by now. No wait¡­ Elves are matriarchal, so it would be a queendom then? Still. What can I do to protect myself? And the Tribe too? For a couple of seconds I simply observed the mousdy push. The baby''s head was getting pushed out and a pair of silver-striped cat ears could be seen with a tuft of simr colored hair in between them. They think they have me caged, so they must intend to use me. That makes it very likely that all or part of the army here is going to stay and guard my Portal till someonees to relieve them. And those people will start building a town around me and visit me daily and¡­ Well¡­ As long as no one actually finds my real Core, all of this is good for me. Just not for the Tribe¡­ So, can I¡­ drive them away somehow? Uhh¡­ Nooo¡­ I can''t act outside my Dungeon after all. But¡­ Maybe I can help the Tribe deal with the elves somehow¡­ Hmm¡­ First question: Ideally, what do I want to happen to the elves? The queendom? Don''t know. Maybe for them to leave me alone. At least for now. Otherwise I just don''t know enough unbiased things about them. The army, which just left? I¡­ Honestly - and this might just be my instinct speaking - I wouldn''t mind killing thest 17 elves with low karma. I might even prefer it! But the other 15? I don''t know. I don''t want them dead. And I don''t want them to cause me or the Tribe any problems. So, second question: What can I do to make this happen? As I can''t directly do anything myself, I''ll have to settle for aiding the Tribe. ¡­ And how do I want the Tribe to handle the elves? Uhm¡­ The Tribe can''t kill them. Even with Lionheart being overpowered right now it won''t be enough to let them win, just like I hadn''t been able to. That and I don''t want to kill the elves. Diplomacy? ¡­ I doubt it¡­ What do we have to offer them, after all? My secrets, I suppose. But not much else. Maybe it''s possible with enough Charisma, but without knowing how Charismatic the highest ranking elves are inparison, it''s not something I want to test. ¡­ Maybe the Tribe will just have to hide¡­ But they would never get out again! They can only get EXP from my Dungeon once per action per run, so being unable to leave would make them unable to get strong enough to defeat the elves! And even if I were to change this by making a Rule, they would simply get stuck before the next tier up! But¡­ Could a different Rule maybe help? Ahh! No! They only affect my Dungeon! Not the Surface World! My mind was filled with angry words and sounds I could not verbalize. Wait! What was the wording of Chosen Family?! Dungeon Rule: Chosen Family: The Dungeon Core may choose to see certain sapients as a part of its Dungeon just like its creatures are. The sapient then stops counting as a sapient to the Dungeon''s allowed number of sapients per Floor. This includes allowing children inside in Dungeon, though those children cannot earn EXP from the Dungeon. Creatures will only attack them in self-defense, and traps will not be activated by them. Adult sapients can still earn EXP and loot like normal but can choose to bypass any puzzle in their way but won¡¯t then earn EXP for the puzzle. No sapient with a karma level of 25% or lower can be seen as a part of the Dungeon nor any with evil intentions towards the Dungeon Core. Currently chosen sapients: The Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma. Okay. Okay. It might work! But what do I want it to do? Hmm¡­ ¡­ Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma? Wasn''t it called Nerok''s Tribe before? ¡­ Is it ''cause they started worshiping me? ¡­ Probably¡­ ¡­ Back on topic: I should be able to make a Rule, which empowers the Tribe, and help them that way. As I''ve just tested, even several Rules working together aren''t enough to make even a whole horde of creatures powerful enough to defeat the most powerful of the elves, so that is still not an option. Maybe I could give the Tribe their own Mana Form, so they can negotiate with the elves with no fear of getting killed or harmed or trapped or enved or anything else¡­ We still don''t have anything to negotiate with though¡­ There is a possibility that the sight of the Mana Form will scare the elves away as if they had seen a ghost! ¡­ On the other hand, the Lightning Mage seemed to be very knowledgeable about magic, and thus mana. It seems very likely that she could simply wave her hand and kill any being in Mana Form¡­ So, I don''t really want to risk it. I was shaken from my thoughts by a sudden wail from the newborn. You''re right, baby! I should ask the Tribe for their opinion! It affects them more than me, after all! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Sarzina Acacia had just finished talking to her older brother, Braern, using her Multiconnected Communication Orb. The Multiconnected Communication Orb, moremonly known as an emco, was a more expensive version of a Communication Orb but came with the ability to connect to any other Communication Orb - Multiconnected or otherwise - instead of just the other one of the pair. However, emcos dide with the caveat that you had to have enough Intelligence or suitable Skills to be able to use them. As a 5th tier Apprentice Noble cksmith, Braern didn''t have the most Intelligence. The cksmith part of his ss meant he had a focus on Strength, while sses with the word ''Noble'' in them indicated a secondary or tertiary focus on Charisma and/or Awareness - it varied from person to person and whether the other part of their ss already had a secondary focus. Zina¡¯s own ss ¡®Noble Elemental Mage - Lightning¡¯ had a primary focus in Intelligence due to being a Mage ss and a secondary focus in Awareness due to it being a Noble variant. Though of course, plenty of people had secondary or tertiary focuses which had no corrtion to their ss. But all of that was to say: Braern had a normal Communication Orb, as he couldn''t control an emco. This meant Zina had to be the one to call him. And she would. Whenever she was away from home, she would make sure to call her brother at least once every two weeks. Which, to elves, was considered quite often. Braern was happy for her - she finally had her own Dungeon! -, and Zina had thanked him again for making her acutium te armor - even though no creature had gotten close enough to touch her, it had still been really sweet of him. Zina had walked a bit away from the bustle of activity happening around the Dungeon Portal, so she could update her brother undisturbed. Having finished said call, she began slowly walking back to the others. As the dungeon mistress of the town getting built, all her duties surrounded the administration of the Dungeon. Things like tax control and/or fees for entering the Dungeon, what potential requirements one had to fulfill to enter the Dungeon and making sure people fulfilled it, and selling information on the Dungeon to potential miners. Whenever a town was built around the Dungeon Portal of a tamed Dungeon, the dungeon master would have first pick of where their Dungeon Guild would be located. As the terrain was pretty t and the ground was suitable for building - or so Zina had been told -, she had naturally picked the plot right in front of the Portal. Many dungeon masters chose to also buy and sell loot from their Dungeon, which both earned them extra money and helped keep prices stable. Whenever one type of loot got really low, the Dungeon Guild would issue a request for it and offer extra money for it. Zina liked this system and intended to implement it herself. While her Dungeon was an odd one, it didn''t seem odd in ways that would make her think it extended to its loot. Of course, she couldn''t be sure of that till the next time she went into the Dungeon. Still, her Dungeon really was an odd one. Much more dangerous than it should be and different from other Dungeons in so many ways it might just be easier to count the simrities instead! But that just made Zina love her Dungeon even more! It''s so unique it won''t just be mentioned in records as one Dungeon among others, only slightly different from the rest. Instead it would have a whole chapter to itself! No! A whole book! And I''ll be right there! As its dungeon mistress! The elven noblewoman smiled to herself as she walked. I had only expected to really be known and remembered in the local area of my Dungeon. This has gone way past even my wildest dreams! Zina took a moment to focus on her link to the Dungeon Core Cage. It was still there. Quietly telling her the Dungeon didn''t want to change a thing. That''s okay. At some point it will. Once the Dungeon requested a change, she could gain extra info from the System. For instance, should the Dungeon wish to add a monster to a room in the currently unfinished Floor, she would be able to get a description of it. Said description would be added to the booklet of the Dungeon sold at the Dungeon Guild and was quite important to get as quickly as possible, so miners could mine better prepared. As soon as Zina arrived at the meadow around the Dungeon Portal she was called over by a group of soldiers, who wanted to know what her ns were for the Dungeon now that she had actually been in it. Most of the small group had lost limbs in the Dungeon - something Miss Pinckneya couldn''t heal, only stabilize. Their questions were easy to answer. Even with how unusual her Dungeon was, she had still spent her whole life preparing for this moment. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While the Tribe wanted to take the fight to the elves, they didn''t have any confidence in winning. Chief Nerok had the highest Charisma Score of the Tribe and if the conflict should turn to diplomacy, he would be the one who would have to talk to the elves. Something he admitted he would be unable to do without at least insulting someone, regardless of how the elves would react to the attempt. The Tribe found my idea of giving them a Mana Form fascinating, but they didn''t like the odds of surviving the Lightning Mage should they try. A couple more ideas were thrown around, all of which were rejected in the end. The only n we concluded to have few enough risks to want to attempt was barely a n at all. It was simply ''wait and see what happens''. The only n part of it was for me to try and find a way to spy on the elves, so we could make more informed decisions once the waiting was over with. I really don''t like this n! I feel so¡­ so¡­ ¡­useless¡­ ¡­ and trapped¡­ While the Dungeon Core Cage hadn''t actually trapped me, the situation somehow had. Speaking of the Cage. Right now it was doing the same thing it would have done if it had been ced on my actual Core. Namely nothing. I wanted to level up and needed more mana for it, so I wasn''t doing anything the Cage would react to. But at some point I would, and the Cage wouldn''t react to it. It might take quite a while before the Lightning Mage would realize something was wrong. After having killed 43 people at once, she would likely - and correctly - assume, that my first priority would be leveling up. And as leveling up happened automatically once the criteria had been fulfilled, the Cage wouldn''t react to it. Still, finding a way to stop or dy her from realizing I wasn''t under her control was one of my goals, though not the most urgent one. The faster I could figure out how to spy on the elves, the more information I would get out of it. Then I would do a couple of level ups, before focusing on what to do about my ''Cage problem''. My Dungeon Rules only worked inside my Dungeon, so while making a new Rule seemed like the way to go, it would be a challenge to word, so it could work while the elves were on the Surface World. With the whole Tribe hiding in my Dungeon I don''t even have a link to the Surface World I can exploit. I mentally snorted, before a thought struck me. The Portal! It anchors me to the Surface World! I should be able to make a Rule connected to the Portal itself! Soon after, a new Rule was in ce. New Dungeon Rule: Portal Observation: The Dungeon Portal sees and hears all that is going on around it. This can be ovee by rted Abilities or Skills of the same tier as the Core or higher. The Rule hadn¡¯t been particrly expensive. It covered a small area and didn¡¯t offer any offensive or defensive properties, so I also hadn¡¯t expected it to. It did take me long to realize I would have to be lucky to get anything worthwhile this way. While the area around the Portal got plenty of traffic, it wasn''t a ce one would discuss anything important. For now I simply learned the elven army had brought civilians with them, who were building a town around my Portal. Humf¡­ Do I have any other links to the Surface I can exploit? Unable to think of anything else, I went to think about how to deal with my ''Cage problem''. I didn''t intend to use any mana to fix it just yet, but getting an idea of how to do it beforehand would only be helpful. I suppose I need to have the Cage send fake requests to the Lightning Mage, so she keeps thinking it''s still working as intended. Oh! And what her answers are, will give me a better understanding of what she wants from me. I mean I can probably guess, but confirmation would be nice. ¡­ ¡­ The Cage has a link to the Surface World, doesn''t it? To the Lightning Mage specifically? ¡­ ¡­ And I''m guessing that''s not ''general information'', which means you won''t tell me the answer¡­ Fair enough! I don''t need to be babied. I can just make a Rule to test it. Let there be a Rule which lets me see and hear what the Noble Lightning Mage sees and hears through the connection she has with the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage she left in my Dungeon. The link between an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage and its activator is not strong enough for both sight and sound to pass through. Huh¡­ Give me sound then. New Dungeon Rule: Eavesdropping on the Warden: Everything the activator of the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around the Fake Core hears will be heard by the Dungeon Core as well. This can be ovee by rted Abilities or Skills of the same tier as the Core or higher. Immediately I could hear the Lightning Mage talk. She was stating she wished to test ''something'' before figuring out if there would be a level requirement for entering my Dungeon, and that she would test that ''something'' tomorrow morning. Which gave me the feeling that no one would enter my Dungeon before then. Good to know. It gives me more time to n my next move and enough mana for a couple of level ups. She mentioned she wanted her Dungeon to be challenging but rewarding, but didn''t mention how she wanted me to change or grow. Every question anyone asked her after that - while still being about me - didn''t tell me about her intentions toward me or how she intended to achieve it. It seemed more geared towards regtions around future miners and how her ''Dungeon Guild'' would be run. Several times she would have two or three answers to a question, where her eventual action would depend on my loot, the danger of my creatures outside of the ''allow-all-tool'' or other details of my Dungeon which weren''tpletely clear to the elves. And apparently some of the answers depended on the experiment she would do in my Dungeon tomorrow. Chapter 45: A Dungeon Mistress First Day Chapter 45: A Dungeon Mistress'' First Day With my ''allowed number of sapients'' still out of order I instead relied on the view from my Dungeon Portal to tell me when dawn had arrived. I had spent the night leveling up, wondering what the Lightning Mage nned to test in my Dungeon today and considering my ''Cage problem''. For thetter problem I had decided to wait till I had roughly used the EXP I gained from the elven army to level up. Then I would have the Cage send fake requests to the Lightning Mage. That should be what she would expect me to do after all! And then I would use her reactions to learn more about her - which could only be a good thing! The snow around my Portal began to reflect the rising sun and made me want to check what my progress had been during the night. Status, please! Personal Status Level: 22 EXP needed for level up: 35,800/35,800 Additional EXP: 1,584,576 Mana payment for level up: 3,000/6,750 Mana: 347/2,250 Mana regeneration: 787.5 per hour Floors: 8/11 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: Disabled Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Well¡­ I think it''s unlikely they''ll wait for me to get another level before entering my Dungeon again¡­ But I don''t think there is anything better I can do right now and I still intend to do another three level ups before I start sending out fake requests. I''ll just have to wait and see what they do¡­ ¡­ Is there any chance they might disable my max allowed again once the 24 hours are up? No¡­ I don¡¯t think so. They¡¯ll want me to give them loot after all. The disabling was likely only meant to make it easier to get to my Core to Cage it, so they can control my growth. How exactly did they do it? Was it a spell or something? Sapients can make an enchanted runic tool to disable the allowed number of sapients in each Floor. Said tool ismonly made by an Apprentice Enchanting Runesmith. To activate the tool it needs to be ced on the back of a Dungeon Portal and have mana pushed into it. Oh¡­ Then, since I could make a Rule affecting my Portal, can I make a Rule¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe one stopping tools like this one from being ced in the first ce? Like a nonstick pan or something? A Rule making the Dungeon Portal haphephobic forsting touches costs 485 mana. That¡¯s cheap. But do I want it? The tool did allow me to throw extreme amounts of creatures at my enemies, while they couldn¡¯t so easily escape my wrath. If I had had this Rule back then and only 4 elves had entered, the Lightning Mage would have had to have been one of them as she was clearly the one meant to Cage me. And even if she had been alone, I highly doubt I would have been able to kill her with just my normal amount of creatures. Of course her Strength is not the best, so she wouldn¡¯t have been able to ram through all my puzzles without being stopped at some point as their Toughness keeps rising in response. But as a Mage with high Intelligence she likely would have tried to solve my puzzles rather than break them¡­ ¡­ While this tool is likely very bad news for other Dungeons, I think it might actually be more to my own advantage than disadvantage. And should I change my mind I can easily make the Rule then, with it being as cheap as it is! ¡­ Actually¡­ It would be nice to, instead of stopping the tool from being used, to punish them further for using it. Like when they break my puzzles. Maybe something like¡­ should my max allowed be disabled my creatures¡¯¡­ Hmm¡­ What Ability Score do I want to raise? Toughness already had a Rule raising it, Strength was useful for most of my creatures, but I had several who attacked using mana based attacks and would benefit more from having their Intelligence raised. Dexterity perhaps? It would let my physical-attackers move faster and help my long-ranged creatures hit their target. Yeah. Dexterity it is! Of course, such a Rule was much more expensive, so I decided to wait till I couldn¡¯t level up any more - and thus had faster mana regeneration - before I actually made the Rule. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Captain Gleditsia had used his influence to ensure the 5th tier Apprentice Healer, Miss Pinckneya, had joined their mission, and he had done so for selfish reasons. It hadn''t even helped him in the end, as his death had been too sudden for her to save him. Sarzina Acacia had used her influence to hire the 5th tier General Contractor, Chalia Ulmus - who wished to be called by her first name despite her age and experience -, partly for selfish reasons, partly not. Supervising and guiding the construction of a new town was certainly something the old elf wanted to do, and having the experienced Chalia help with construction would surely be a big help to the town, both now and for the future inhabitants. But hiring her was also done for selfish reasons. The town would be Zina''s after all, as it would be a Dungeon town till it had grown big enough to be considered a Small City. At that point, only the district with the Dungeon Portal in it would be considered her domain. Of course she would still have to follow and enforce thews of her Queendom, but she would be in charge of localws and regtions. And naturally she wanted the best for her future town! Not that she had enough money or influence for the absolute best the Queendom could offer, but Chalia was certainly up there. Chalia''s presence did create an unexpected friction at first before a hierarchy was established. Lieutenant Alnus was in charge of what remained of thepany, as well as all decisions regarding safety. Chalia was in charge of the construction of the ce and those who worked on it, but had to listen to and try to amodate requests from dungeon mistress Zina, lieutenant Alnus, and, with lower priority, the future citizens of the ce. Meanwhile Miss Pinckneya would take charge when someone''s health was in question. Though, that hadn''t yet been needed. Zina wasn''t really in charge of a lot just yet as the town had yet to be built. She could tell Chalia - both as the dungeon mistress of the ce and as Chalia''s employer - what to prioritize and what to build where. Requests of thetter kind could be denied if the ce wasn''t a suitable ce to build on, but that had yet to happen. At the moment, thest thing Zina was in charge of was who got to enter the Dungeon and when. She had used the morning to figure out the new hierarchy with the other leaders and discuss urban nning for the new ce. It was hours past midday when she finally found time to enter the Dungeon. This meant the ''allow all''-tool had run out of mana and disabled itself, meaning Zina wouldn''t have to waste time and mana doing so herself. Being so high levelpared to the monsters of Dungeon meant Zina had no need to have a Party with her. And though it was unlikely that Oona might gain a level anytime soon, she really didn''t want to risk her best friend''s life on that thought. It would be safer to simply let the dawon take a catnap for a couple of hours. Too bad that''s a Queendom-widew. Otherwise I could just have disregarded it and made my ownw count instead. So, Zina decided to enter the Dungeon alone. Properly prepared and armored of course! But otherwise alone. As her self imposed mission wasn''t urgent she fully intended to leave after exploring two or three Floors. Her goal was to learn all she could about the Dungeon, and while she could have hired someone else to do it, she wanted to do it herself. The first step was the Portal itself. In her excitement she hadn''t thought to check what the allowed number had been or the minimum time needed between each Party. The Dungeon Portal is currently open. The standard timer has been set to 2 hours from the arrival of each Party if the sun is up and until dawn if the sun is down. 4 can enter the Dungeon at a time. ''From the arrival of each Party''? Uh¡­ Didn''t know it could change the start of the timer. And additionally having the timer depend on the position of the sun?! Now that is groundbreaking! Zina was quick to write her observations down in her new notebook. Then it was time to test her theory out. She entered the Dungeon and¡­ nothing happened. So it is true for the whole Dungeon! Or at least the first andst Floor. With no one attacking first, Zina began drawing a simple map of the room, noting down the Portal entrance, the exit, the one big tree, the stream in front of it, the marble boulder in front of the stream, and the three somewhat big bushes. And, of course, how the grass and leaves were still green, when they had been red thest time she had been in the room. She counted the monsters and wrote down ''6 level 1 karmic drags'' next to the map. On another page she described the monster type, which was needed for her Dungeon''s personal bestiary, which she would one day sell at her Dungeon Guild. With that done, she took a closer look at her surroundings. The bushes had berries on them, so she checked her gloves for holes before plucking a berry from each. The boulder was just a normal ck marble boulder. No hidden secrets there. Looking down into the stream revealed another monster, which was then noted down as well. Good thing I remembered to wear waterproof boots for this. Zina wanted to take a close look at the tree to see if there was something behind or in the crown of it. And to do that she would have to walk through the stream. Her physical Scores had never been good, so an attempt to jump over it would simply lead to a ssh. But as soon as her foot touched the water, the level 1 ''fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning'' rose its head over the water and hissed at her. Or rather, at her foot. Curious more so than afraid, Zina froze in ce to see what it would do. It kept hissing, ran out of air which forced it to duck under the water to get more before going back to hissing at her foot. It would likely keep going like that forever if she let it, so Zina pulled her foot back. The monster stopped hissing and went back to swimming back and forth in the stream. Zina wrote the behavior down. Then, still determined to get closer to the tree and wanting to see what it would do, she ced one foot in the water. The monster went back to hissing at her foot. She ced the second one in the water in front of the first. The monster attacked her with Lightning. Zina stopped walking to observe its attack pattern before she kept going again. Once out of the water, the monster stopped attacking her, and she paused to write down what had happened. Then she climbed the tree. The drags in the tree mostly ignored her. Only looking at her when she got too close to them. Having found nothing interesting in the tree she jumped back down. Looking at the area behind the tree, Zina could now see 6 rabbit-looking burrows, which were partly hidden behind grass and wildflowers. Her want for a closer look was answered with a choir of 6 hissing monsters. The tree now contained 6 angry drags with their wings stretched in warning. It was quickly noted before the warning was ignored. The following attack was also ignored, though any firebreath was sessfully dodged. The burrows, much like the tree, didn''t have any secret hidden in them. Zina walked back to the stream again and, all at once, the drags stopped attacking her. Interesting. Their attack pattern appears to be activated by close proximity to their designated ''home''. The fledgling sea serpent once again attacked Zina, as she crossed the steam, and ignored her once she was out. Then the dungeon mistress went to check out the next room. Due to the Dungeon Rule ''Experiencing Peace'' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left. Loot appeared as Zina left the first room, making her smile brightly to herself as she wrote down what she had gotten. Being 5 tiers higher than the Floor tier, she naturally didn''t get any EXP, but she wouldn''t have gotten any anyway. And if this happened after all rooms, then she would quickly get to one where she would. Just as I had suspected! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Without knowing if this development was good or bad, I had decided to hold back on using my Override Button. It wasn''t like it would make much of a difference to the 6th tier, so I might as well hide it. The Lightning Mage slowly and thoroughly went through my 1st Floor. Exploring every nook and cranny and writing down everything she found. Which was everything. Traps were found before she got near them, but wouldn''t trigger when she tried to make them. This was naturally written down and the cement of every trap noted on her map. In The Great Pond Room she decided to kill a drag, even though it hadn''t done anything to her. As expected, it died immediately, everything turned red, and its flock attacked her. After killing the other drags, she wrote down what had happened. Then she mumbled to herself as she often did. This time it was because she wanted to test if one could get EXP and loot for not killing my creatures, and then go back and get EXP and loot for killing them, meaning triple the reward per creature. She decided not to, as she had a too high a tier to get any EXP anyway, meaning she would only get half of the desired test results. She would have to have someone else test it with her. Good thing, I had made the Rule with that same exploit in mind. That trick won''t work on me! Keys-bearing drags had their key taken from them by force, but without killing them. The Kindness puzzle confused her and she wrote down everything she could think of before she decided to free the fake drag crying out in fake pain. Seeing the ''solved puzzle'' screen, she once again began muttering to herself as she considered if I had a theme going on about not harming my ''monsters''. Only for her to discard her thought as ''Dungeons don''t have themes, except for in monster type''. Finally, in the veryst room of the Floor, did she miss something: my mimicking drag! Much the same thing happened on the 2nd Floor. Except she had been informed that the treasure chest was one of my mimics. It didn''t talk to her, as it knew I didn''t really like her. The two griffins attacked her when she tried to get a closer look, but she simply used magic to have them trapped by nts. The mimic let her touch its body and feel how realistic it felt. When she opened the ''chest'' its tongue and teeth were revealed, which had it stop pretending to be an object and run away from her. As she refused to admit to herself that my Dungeon did indeed have a theme, and as the mimic in the room wouldn''t talk to her - not that she tried to make it, she didn''t know it could -, the Lightning Mage couldn''t solve the Politeness puzzle. She wandered around the room several times before she began going through each room on the 2nd Floor again. This time taking extra care to check each and every creature''s neck for the missing 4th key. Which she naturally didn''t find, as it didn''t actually exist before someone asked for it nicely. At some point she began trapping my creatures with her nt magic - which sometimes had funny, but harmless, results - in order to better keep track on which creatures she had already checked. Once she had confirmed to herself that every creature had been checked for possession of a key, she froze and her eyebrow furrowed in confusion. After 17 seconds of this, her face suddenly went from confusion to a crazy-looking grin. What?! "Finally! A mystery worth my time!" The elf mumbled to herself. "And here! In my own Dungeon!" Sorry to tell you honey. But I''m my own Dungeon! The Lightning Mage mumbled several more things to herself but came to no immediate conclusion. She ended up giving up for now and left my Dungeon to eat her dinner. Chapter 46: A Dungeons First Request Chapter 46: A Dungeon''s First ''Request'' The Lightning Mage didn''te back that day. Through her own ears I knew this was mostly due to her¡­ architect?... needing her opinion on various details. She also spent a good amount of time simply mumbling to herself, wondering how to get the missing key. Her only ''credible'' ideas were ''checking the top of every tree and behind every rock'' and ''kill monsters till one drops thest key''. You know. ''Cause I definitely didn''t have a theme. At that point the sun had been down a while, and she had to wait till it rose again. It also snowed a bit in the middle of the night, though it quickly melted once the sun rose. Huh? Uh, right! I believe the Tribe mentioned something about winter preparation a couple of times. Not that they''ll have to worry about winter while in my Dungeon¡­ During the night I leveled up some more, and I reached the level I intended to ''stop'' at, 2 hours and 32 minutes before dawn. Personal Status Level: 25 EXP needed for level up: 48,100/48,100 Additional EXP: 1,453,852 Mana payment for level up: 0/9,000 Mana: 0.5/3,000 Mana regeneration: 1,050 per hour Floors: 8/13 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: Disabled Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Double mana regen! Yes! I''ve been stuck at 525 for so long now! I could see the mana tickle in on the Status screen. Every 0.86 seconds 0.25 mana would be added. It was amazing! I didn''t intend to stop leveling up till I reached the next bottleneck, but it was time for me to pretend to be done leveling. As I didn''t know exactly what message the Lightning Mage would get, when I sent her a ''request'', I had decided to ''request'' something simple, which there wasn''t much to learn about anyway. I would ''request'' permission to make a Hidden Magma Pit trap. Aaaand¡­ go! I mentallymanding the Fake Core to send my ''request''. Nothing happened. The Lightning Mage hadn''t gotten a message to wake her from her slumber. ¡­ So¡­ How do I actually do this? I truly doubted that her willing unconsciousness had anything to do with my failure. Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. You know, System: That is your most used answer. So, what does it mean in this context? I guess I need to make a Rule to do it. But didn''t I already have a Rule about the Fake Core acting like my Real Core? Can you show me the description of that one again? Rewarding Fake Core: The Fake Core is able to give personal rewards and teleport sapients out of the Dungeon on behalf of the Real Dungeon Core. Ah¡­ That was more restrictive than I remember it being. But back then I thought it was all it needed to do. Do I even need to make apletely new Rule? Can I not just update this one? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. That would be a yes. Thanks, System! Please update the Rule ''Rewarding Fake Core'' so my Fake Core canpletely mimic all possible actions of my Real Core. Calcting¡­ Updating the Rule ¡®Rewarding Fake Core'' to ''Mimicking Fake Core'' costs 2,910 mana. Well¡­ That is more expensive than I expected. Dungeon Cores themselves must do much more than I realized¡­ It took me till 14 minutes after sunrise before I had enough mana to update my Rule. Dungeon Rule Updated: ''Rewarding Fake Core'' bes ''Mimicking Fake Core'' Mimicking Fake Core: The Fake Core is able to mimic the behavior of the Real Dungeon Core on its behalf. It has a bond to the Real Core simr to the one Dungeon creatures have with the Core but unlike them, the Fake Core uses the bond not to stay ''alive'' but to one day be a Dungeon creature, specifically a ''Dungeon Core mimic''. ¡­ So awesome! And so pleasantly unexpected! I just thought it would have some previously unknown function, I didn''t expect to get a new type of mimic out of it! ¡­ Was it ''cause I used the word ''mimic'' in my update request? ¡­ Never mind then! Tell me about the new Dungeon Core mimic! The Dungeon Core mimic is a unique Dungeon creature. It is created from the standard bond between a Dungeon Core and its creatures being directed to a Dungeon Core shaped trap, which is programmed into mimicking its Core. The Dungeon Core mimic is simultaneously the only Dungeon creature able to enter the Core Room andpletely unable to leave it. This allows it to exist outside of the maximum allowed levels worth of creatures per Floor. Despite being a mimic, the Dungeon Core mimic can only mimic its own Dungeon Core. It will always have the highest level possible for the Dungeon. It will only attack or reveal itself if ordered to by its Dungeon Core. That is so cool! Unique Dungeon creature? Well, the description did indirectly tell me I can''t create this mimic the way I make my other creatures. But wow, is this one cool! ¡­ IT''S THE ULTIMATE HIDDEN BOSS! ¡­ Uhhh! I can''t wait till you''re here! ¡­ ¡­ I''m basically pregnant now¡­ I certainly feel the excitement and anticipation of it! ¡­ That means I have to share the news with my loved one, right? Or is that not applicable to this? Don''t I already have hundreds of children? What is one more? But every other one was brought to life instantly. This one is special. ¡­ Damn it! You''re not supposed to have favorites among your children! In the end I told the kobolds about it, framing it as a powerful mimic, which would one day help them protect me. I didn''t want them to notice my favoritism. They were naturally very happy about my news. ¡­ They began praising my brilliance¡­ ¡­ Which was not what I had intended, just like I hadn''t intended for my Fake Core to one daye alive. And honestly, getting worshiped for something I had done by ident felt a bit hollow. After that sidetrack, I got back to my current mission. Send a request for making a Hidden Magma Pit on the 9th Floor through the Dungeon Core Cage and inform me of the response. I felt a psychic response from the Fake Core, which could easily be tranted to a confident ''affirmative''. A bit robotic, but eager to obey. Then I heard the Lightning Mage wake up with a gasp, after which she began speaking to herself, louder than normally in her excitement. I might not have been able to see what she saw, but all her muttering really helped fill in the nks. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Getting a System message while sleeping is like an ordinary person getting poked in the middle of the night. You would wake up enough to realize what had happened, but not so much you would be unable to simply ignore it and fall back asleep again. But if you in that moment of partial awareness realized you had been poked because something interesting had happened? Then you would suddenly have a very hard time trying to fall asleep again. It was rmended that requests from tamed Dungeons were answered within 12 hours or it would make its Cage degrade faster. But waiting even 11 hours before replying to the request would make so small a difference it wasn''t worth bothering with. But even though Sarzina Acacia could simply go back to sleep without there being any consequences, her excitement kept her from doing so. It finally happened! Before she called the actual System message to the forefront of her mind, she got up, grabbed her notebook and pencil, before going back into her sleeping bag. A Dungeon Core is trying to make a Hidden Magma Pit trap on its 9th Floor, but is blocked by an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage linked to you. Will you allow the trap to be made? Yes/No She wrote down the name of the trap and its cement, before asking the System to rify like she had been taught to do when a new type of request appeared. While some types of traps and puzzles had the same name across various Dungeons, they often had some subtle differences, typically in size. Holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What is a Hidden Magma Pit trap? Hidden Magma Pit traps are 6 meters deep, 2 meters wide circr holes filled with magma to the 4 meter point. The top is covered with a thinyer of stone camouged to look like the surroundings. Zina wrote it down, word for word, though no part of the description surprised her. It was very rare that anyone could ask and receive answers from the System. Even this form was incredibly restricted as she could only ask questions rted to the current request. As such, even though Dungeon monsters of the same name never had any differences across Dungeons, dungeon masters tended to ask for a description of each of the Dungeon¡¯s monsters when the opportunity would first arise. Normally the request for a description of the requested item or monster was the only question the dungeon master asked, though sometimes the dungeon master wanted to know exactly where a trap or puzzle was to be ced in a room. The System would then inform them of the cement of the trap or puzzle''s center by first stating how far away from the entrance of the room it was, if one walked straight ahead. Then they would state a second distance to either the left or right. Zina didn''t want to know the exact cement of traps, as it would remove the challenge of finding them. On the other hand she wanted to know where puzzles were ced, but not how to solve them, as that would again remove the challenge. So, she nned to word her requests carefully when it came to puzzles. Monsters would always be a challenge, so she didn''t mind learning all she could about them. A Hidden Magma Pit seemed like it would be challenging in the normal Dungeon way, and not dangerous to higher tiers - should they be unprepared - like the heating trap of the 7th Floor was. As such, Zina intended to grant the request. But before she did so, she wanted to make sure she didn''t have any other rted question she wanted to ask the System. Wait. Don''t you normally get to know not just what Floor, but also what room the trap will be in? While Zina didn''t want to know exactly where in the room the trap would be ced, her duty as dungeon mistress meant she needed to know at least that much. Before she got to ask the System what room there was talking about - partly thinking the Floor might only have a single room in it - the System message changed. A Dungeon Core is trying to make a Hidden Magma Pit trap in The Gargoyle Garden on its 9th Floor, but is blocked by an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage linked to you. Will you allow it to do so? Yes/No Zina quickly wrote the change down. Oh holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What is ''The Gargoyle Garden''? The 1st room of the 9th Floor of the Dungeon of Karma is named ''The Gargoyle Garden''. Both room and Dungeon have names?! The new knowledge was excitedly written down. After having considered this fact for a bit, Zina gathered her courage and asked a question she wasn''t sure the System would answer. She even changed her prayer, as she couldn''t see any way for the answer to actually make anyone a better version of themselves. Normally knowing more about a Dungeon would help one survive in it, and people entered Dungeons because they wanted to leave as a better, stronger - and richer - version of themselves. Holy System! Please inform me, so I may be granted a small part of Your wisdom, which I will then grant to others: Is the first room of the 9th Floor of the Dungeon of Karma the only room with a name? Every room in the Dungeon of Karma is named. High on having such a unique conversation with her god, she forgot to write the answer down right away, and instead asked another risky question: Holy System! Please inform me, so I may be granted a small part of Your wisdom, which I will then grant to others: Is the Dungeon of Karma the only named Dungeon or do all Dungeons have names? The question was actually simply ''have the System actually named all Dungeons, but no dungeon master ever thought to ask for the name of their Dungeon during one of these requests before?'', but she knew the System would only answer questions rted to her own Dungeon''s request. Including the newly discovered name of her Dungeon was hopefully enough to make the question count as rted to the request. Dungeons are named by the first sapient to refer to it by a unique moniker. So, the System doesn''t name Dungeons themselves, but epts what we call our Dungeons as their true names! The exciting news was quickly written down, and the discovery would definitely help her gain eternal fame. Zina considered asking if the rooms of every Dungeon had names, but she didn''t want to chance her luck and possibly getting ignored by her god for going off topic. She was also pretty sure her studies stated that rooms were referred to by numbers, starting from the entrance of the Floor. With no more questions for the System, Zina permitted the request. The dungeon mistress had no intention of going back to sleep. She could hear people moving around outside her tent, so it couldn''t be all that early anyway. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While my fake request hadn''t gone perfectly, I had at least learned a lot in the attempt. So, she can ask the System questions rted to my ''requests'', which means she has ess to the description of anything I request. Good thing I chose to start with a simple trap. Interestingly, it doesn''t sound like sapients have unlimited ess to general information windows like I have. Which is good for me as it''ll keep my creatures efficient for longer. The fact that she expected to know what room it was meant to be ced in came as a surprise, and I had quickly informed the Fake Core that the fakely requested trap would be fakely ced at The Gargoyle Garden. Remembering toote that normal Dungeon Cores weren''t sapient and as such their rooms wouldn''t have names. At least the System revealing that all Dungeons had names, had made me seem more like a normal Dungeon. Not that I wanted to be seen as a normal Dungeon. I actually quite liked being worshipped! But I knew I was too young to be able to deal with the consequences of being seen as too abnormal by people like these elves. I now know what to do and be aware of for my next ''request''. I have learnt from my mistakes and I will strive to do better! Chapter 47: A Dawon, Mage, Soldier and Mason Walk Into A Dungeon Chapter 47: A Dawon, Mage, Soldier and Mason Walk Into A Dungeon While I could send the Lightning Mage another fake request for a Hidden Magma Pit, I wanted to learn more and decided to fakely request a creature this time. I had already filled the 9th Floor with all the fledgling elemental Earthquake drakes I nned on making for the Floor. But with my unfinished Floors being hidden from view, the Lightning Mage didn''t know I had already made them, so fakely requesting Earthquake drakes seemed like a good idea to me. After all, it would kinda defeat the main purpose of sending fake requests to make the elves think I was actually Caged, if the 9th Floor only contained traps, puzzles, and creatures I hadn''t requested. Instead I nned on letting them think my moreplicated creatures, traps, and puzzles had been made before they had Caged me. Of course this trick wouldn''t work forter Floors but it gave me a bit more leeway for now, and by then I might have found a better solution. Earthquake drakes could, as their name suggested, make earthquakes onmand. They looked like giant lizards made of volcanic rock and they couldpletely disappear underground in seconds. They really only fit my volcanic theme due to their prefered habitat being the ground - as in ''in the ground'' not ''in a cave'' - near volcanoes, which had affected their appearance and gave them their natural heat resistance. Andstly, they were naturally the karmic variety. All of these facts, one could quickly learn about them - except the heat resistance perhaps - if it came to a fight, so I saw no issue in sharing it with my ''captor''. This time I remembered to keep in mind that normal Dungeon Cores weren''t sapient. With that in mind, I had decided I would first ''request'' a level 1 Earthquake drake, then wait a bit before ''wanting permission'' to level it up 1 level, wait a bit, then repeat until it had reached its proper level. I would essentially be spamming her. She asked for this! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó After having eaten breakfast, checked up on her fellow leaders, answered any question they had for her, and written down all knowledge given about the requested ''fledgling karmic elemental drake - Earthquake'', Sarzina Acacia began asking if anyone wanted to explore the first three or so Floors of the Dungeon with her. She needed someone to break open the door at the end of the 2nd Floor in case she couldn''t solve said puzzle today. The elven noblewoman could simply have brought Oona along, as the dawon wouldn''t earn any EXP at such early Floors anyway. But before Zina had done so, an elf dressed forbour intensive work including metal tipped boots and thick gloves asked her a question as she walked by. "Dungeon mistress Acacia? I can perfectly understand wanting to respect the dead by keeping people from entering the Dungeon. But I believe having it closed off for too long might simply make people even more wary of the Dungeon than they already are." His brave start had turned to nervousness the more he talked. He nervously shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand before he continued. "I''m not an expert, of course! I guess it just made me wonder¡­ Oh¡­ When are you gonna start letting people in the Dungeon? And! And¡­ Will there be an entrance fee right away, or only once the town has been established?" Thest bit came out in a hurry. Thinking quickly, Zina replied with confidence. "For now there is no entrance fee on entering the Dungeon, nor is there any tax on loot. But as the Dungeon is stillrgely undocumented, any potential Party will have to include me and follow my instructions. This is so I get the opportunity to document any detail I deem necessary. Once the first tier has been documented to my satisfaction, I''ll start allowing Parties to enter without me in exchange for a fee." Honestly, however, Zina hadpletely forgotten it was illegal to enter a tamed Dungeon without getting permission from its dungeon master. Normally this permission was given through one of the dungeon master¡¯s employees specifically hired with that purpose in mind, though that was rarely their entire job. Normally they would also sell information about the Dungeon and/or collect tax from returning Parties. However, this early on people would have to go straight to Zina for permission to enter her Dungeon. Lieutenant Alnus had ced a pair of his soldiers as guards next to the Portal, but with it generally being the more wounded ones, Zina was a bit surprised that no one had simply entered the Dungeon regardless. That is surely what would have happened had the Portal in Galhatalos - the capital of Alfam¨¦r and Zina¡¯s childhood home - had that few and even wounded guards. But this wasn¡¯t the capital, and with not even 200 people here everyone would quickly know who broke thew. In a bigger ce, simply disguising oneself would mean one¡¯s identity would be hard to discover, but here it would be fairly simple to check who was missing. There were Skills and Abilities, which would allow one to identify at least part of one¡¯s identity, but guards rarely had them. Getting past the guards without getting caught and revealed was instead the hard part. Which would exin why Galhatalos need much better security around their Dungeon Portal before it would scare away criminals, while Zina¡¯s Dungeon only needed to have a wounded pair watching the Portal. Still, Zina hadn''t considered if anyone, beside herself, might have wanted to enter the Dungeon. She had been too excited over and focused on learning everything she could about her Dungeon to notice much of anything else. But now that it had been pointed out to her, Zina simply had to find other enthusiasts to share her excitement with! "Did you ask because you wanted to enter the Dungeon yourself, mister¡­?" "Right! Sorry, mistress! That was rude of me! My name is Merellien Bet. A pleasure to meet you!" Mister Bet took a deep breath to calm himself down after his embarrassment before he continued. "I must admit to being one of the wary ones, dungeon mistress. It killed more than half thepany! I''m just a simple mason! I would be crazy if I wasn''t a bit afraid! But I believe it''s better to face one''s fears than to run away from it. As such, I want to enter the Dungeon." Mister Bet then gave Zina a small, nervous smile. "But at the same time, I don''t want to try my luck too much, so I don''t want to go too deep!" Not wanting to take risks was something Zina could only partly understand. To her eyes, high risk simply came with high rewards. "Well, mister Bet. I''ll only be going to the third Floor today, if you or anyone else wishes to join me." He tilted his head in response. "When would that be? I have work till three you see." That was several hourster than she had nned on starting, but the interaction had Zina consider how many others might want to join her in the Dungeon, so she quickly decided to take some time to ask around. Clearly she also had to let people know they could ask permission to enter the Dungeon. She hadn''t realized it hadn''t been obvious but thinking back to the previous day, Zina finally took notice of thepleteck of any such requests. People had, however, been very curious on what the level requirement for entering her Dungeon would be. Havingpleted her test, Zina now knew there would be no such requirement. The monsters, at least those on the first two and thest Floor, only attacked in self defense or if one entered their ''home'', so all levels would be able to handle it. "Three works for me. We can meet by the Portal with anyone else that wants toe. Only four can enter at a time, but I wouldn''t mind going multiple times today." "Brilliant! See you then, mistress!" With that he went back to work. Zina spent the next couple of hours informing people that they could enter the Dungeon for free at the moment, if they followed her orders while they were in there. She had quickly gotten the feeling that people didn''t wish to enter her Dungeon. Apparently, her Dungeon was seen as ''too dangerous to be worth it''. Which was nonsense of course! One soldier had seen hisrades decline the offer to enter the Dungeon for a second time and jumped up from his chair to proim how he, unlike the others, wasn''t a chicken. But he was the only one aside from mister Bet, who wanted to enter the Dungeon. I don''t understand? A harder challenge means it has more to teach you. Why don''t more people want to learn? Shaking her confusion off, she went to go get Oona before meeting the other two at the Dungeon Portal. The soldier had seemed like the rowdy, disobedient sort. Zina wanted her dawon to keep an eye on him, so she could focus on documenting her Dungeon. Might as well have her be the 4th member of our Party since no one else wanted to join. Well. Maybe¡­ what was his name again? The mason? Well, maybe he invited one of his coworkers toe with us, but with the reaction everyone else had, I do doubt anyone epted such an offer. Zina rolled her eyes, though only Oona saw her do so. Morons! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó My ''request'' for a level 1 Earthquake drake was epted once the Lightning Mage had written down its description. Any time I ''requested permission'' to level it up she made a quick note in her notebook before simply epting the request. That''s¡­ uh¡­ promising? I think? I didn''t really know what to think about it, but at least no one would suspect anything once my 9th Floor was revealed. Not where that was concerned at least¡­ At what must have been around 3 o''clock, the three elves and dawon met up near my Portal. While I could perfectly tell how much time had passed, and my entrance timer told me when the sun rose and fell, I had had no idea what time that happened before now. A quick bit of math informed me that sunrise happened around 8:10 this time of year, while it fell at around 16:05. This was plus/minus however many minutes the makeshift Party had beente or early to their meeting point. Before the Party entered, the Lightning Mage exined how my creatures didn''t attack unless in self defense or if their territory was invaded, before ordering the other two elves to not attack any of my ''monsters'' unless she specifically told them to. The soldier, who had some type of stone hammer clearly meant for battling with him, had already seen this as he had been there when I was ''tamed'', and so had no problem with it. The mason was likewise carrying a stone hammer, though this one seemed to be meant for hammering nails, as well as a barrel lid, which was probably meant to function as a makeshift shield. Maybe they don''t intend toplete my Dungeon? The Lightning Mage will have no problem protecting them if they''re not going all that far down, regardless of their own levels andbat capabilities. That would certainly exin why the mason guy has no armor either. Said badly prepared mason stated he had heard the rumor of my ''monsters'' not attacking anyone near the end of the trip. But then he informed the other two that he, like most of his coworkers, hadn''t actually believed the rumors. Apparently, the civilians generally thought the ''only in self defense''-thing had been some weird form of coping mechanism meant to somehow deal with the soldiers'' survivor''s guilt. After that small talk, the Party entered my Dungeon. Sarzina Acacia Elf Noble Elemental Mage - Lightning Level 59 Oona Dawon Level 59 Ruehnar Ilex Elf Tank Level 25 Merellien Bet Elf Labourer Level 22 As they entered my Dungeon I took a quick nce at their Auras, not bothering to get their exact numbers. The two almost 7th tiers had very neutral gray Auras, suggesting karma levels at around 50%. The soldier''s was dark enough that my traps would trigger for him, but only just so, meaning close to but either under 25% or at it exactly. The mason''s had a lighter Aura than the first two, not by a whole lot, but enough to put him closer to 75% than 50%. I only wasted 4 seconds on this - one for each Aura I nced at. The mason was a bit wary at first, but quickly realized that the unbelievable rumor had actually been true. The Party - and more specifically the soldier - walked, partly by design on my part, partly by ident brought on by the Lightning Mage thinking traps didn''t work on my first two Floors, right passed the Hidden Spike trap in The Burrow Trap Room. But the traps in The Trap Corridor weren''t as easily avoided. Mind you, they were pretty easy to avoid. But with these one would have to actively try to avoid them in order to do so. The Lightning Mage and her dawon walked first and no traps were sprung. Then came the soldier, and suddenly darts were flung out of the wall after the trap''s pressure te had been carelessly stepped on. It didn''t harm him much. His ss told me his primary Score had to be Toughness, so him only getting bruised by the darts didn''t surprise me. The trap triggering caused a lovely amount of confusion, but had the Party put up their guard against traps. The soldier carefully triggered the remaining traps in The Trap Corridor, which the Lightning Mage pointed out to him, and thus wasn''t further harmed. The Lightning Mage incorrectly concluded that my traps must have been altered to trigger the third time the pressure tes were pushed down instead of the first time like the traps in most Dungeons. Apparently, this phenomenon was rare but not unheard of. The Lightning Mage then noted down how everyone but the soldier could see the b¨¬xi¨¦ in The Orchard. Naturally, she had no idea why that was. She simply imed she needed more data to draw a conclusion. The next while went much like it had done for the Lightning Mage the day before, but once the Party entered The Forest of Territories, she ordered them to check the top of every tree and behind every rock for the missing key, just like she had nned the day before to do alone. Naturally, no extra key was found, even though they searched in all three rooms on the Floor. Then they tried her second ''credible'' idea and began killing my creatures. The grass and leaves turned red, and the Party quickly realized my creatures gave them no EXP nor loot. Experiencing Peace couldn''t so easily be cheated after all! Not finding thest key simply made the Lightning Mage even more excited for the ''challenge'' my puzzle provided her, before she ordered her dawon to ram the locked door open. With the puzzle door broken the three found keys disappeared so they couldn''t be used for the next locked door. At The Watchtower Crossroad 6 kobolds stood in their watchtowers with their crossbows ready to fire at the approaching elves and dawon. The 6 galespikes of the room took to the air and began flying around in the airspace above the 4. Not in circles like a vulture would, but in a chaotic cloud of beating lime-green wings. My visitors tensed up, the mason even froze in cepletely for several moments, but they didn''t attack my creatures. And so my creatures didn''t attack them. Having entered a room not ced on her map, the Lightning Mage ignored my creatures as she drew the room and its details onto her map. Then the Party started walking again, with the soldier and mason only taking their eyes away from the galespikes overhead when the Lightning Mage warned them of my traps. After passing the stream and noting down the two level 5 Lightning sea serpents, the Lightning Mage picked a watchtower to climb, wanting to see how the kobold would react. It was the watchtower with the key-carrying kobold in it. Which I doubted was an ident. The elf and kobold stared curiously at each other for a while, before the kobold slowly lowered its crossbow. I had ordered it not to speak, otherwise it likely would have said something. Actually it''s quite a wonder the mimic of the previous Floor haven''t disobeyed that order already. Seeing as it has the intelligence and attention span of a child. ¡­ Must be its instinct to stay hidden kicking in. Speaking does make hiding much harder. "Fascinating!" The Lightning Mage eximed before writing the kobold''s reaction down. Then she tried to take the thread ne with the key off the neck of it. The kobold pped her hand away. The Lightning Mage raised an eyebrow as the two began staring at each other again. Then - finally - the Lightning Mage decided to try asking politely. In response the kobold took off its ne and handed it over. The Lightning Mage got so thrilled by this she dropped the key in her haste to write it down¡­ At The Yak Pasture the mason had finally picked up his courage as he was the first one to pet the yaks. Neither of the other two elves had thought to try and touch any of my creatures before. While not all my creatures would allow themselves to be touched - the Mist pixie for instance -, this was domesticatedyaks. They really didn''t mind and soon all three elves were petting my yaks. The simple act of petting one of my yaks raised the soldier''s karma level, and as I could sense that he would no longer trigger any of my traps, I knew he was now at 26%. That, and I got EXP for redeeming him. 1 level 25 sapient has been redeemed in your Dungeon. You have gained 5,000 EXP. First of Your Kind rewards you 1,000 EXP. Weeding the World rewards you 400 EXP. Nice! I redeemed him with the power of pets! But I would likely never know exactly what thought had run through his mind in that moment. Chapter 48: Apologies and Unicorn Thoughts Chapter 48: Apologies and Unicorn Thoughts "That''s a mimic. Leave it be." Sarzina Acacia told her Party. The actual spinnable wheel soon gave them a key as itnded on a green triangle. Thetest Dungeon run had revealed many secrets to Zina. After several tests it was discovered that the kobolds refused to followmands, but would do requests if asked politely and it wasn''t too outrageous. Asking them to hand over their weapons or jump on the spot were met with res, indicating they understood the request but refused to follow it. Use of ''please'' and polite wording was enough for them to followmands like ''stop'', ''stay'' and ''follow me'', but didn''t make a difference for most orders. Politely requesting for the gate to be lowered, so Zina and herpanions could enter the fortress without getting wet, was among themands the kobolds listened to. She even learned that ''could you please bring me the keys'' to be a validmand, and two more keys were brought to her. The inside of the fortress was even more impressive than she remembered from back when thepany was simply passing through. It had everything a group of people would need to survive! Well¡­ The kitchen had no actual food in it, but still! There was a kitchen! Dungeons nor their monsters had any need for a kitchen! Nor a dormitory, nor outhouses, nor a dining hall, nor a knitting/spinning/weaving room! So why were they there! Maybe it wants to lead us into a false sense of security? That would exin why the traps have stopped triggering again¡­ ¡­ No, no. Dungeons aren''t smart enough for that sort of strategy! Zina was well aware that she often mumbled to herself without meaning to. Her noble status meant that most people choose to either ignore her muttering or distract her with conversation. In the rare moments Zina was near her peers or higher ranked elves, she had enough practice that she could forcefully stop herself. But doing so was way too mentally exhausting to do in everyday life, and as it rarely ever caused her any problems why should she force that upon herself? Well¡­ This time it had caused a problem. One she probably should have seening. After all, Zina had already concluded that the kobold of this ce could understand every word she said. ¡­ And she had just muttered to herself that their Dungeon was too stupid to think upplicated schemes. They didn''t like hearing that. The Party was in the dining hall at the time along with 8 kobolds. As one all 8 kobolds led out a growl of rage and raised their weapons at her Party. No. At Zina herself. The Party tensed up and froze, as Zina had told them to do in such a situation. The noblewoman had a lot of Awareness and would be able to stop any and all of these low leveled monsters before they had even taken a single step in hostility. So there was no need for the two 3rd tiers or even Oona to do a single thing. It quickly became clear to Zina that the kobolds had only released a warning, much like both the Lightning sea serpents and drags did. But apparently, instead of the warning meaning ''don''t go near my home'', it here meant ''you insulted my maker, apologize now!''. "My sincerest apologies. I didn''t mean to imply that this Dungeon, your Dungeon, wasn''t smart enough toe up with good strategies. Only that most Dungeons aren''t. But clearly this is no ordinary Dungeon!" While Zina said this to pacify the kobolds, she couldn''t help but wonder if perhaps all the oddities of the Dungeon was actually due to it being much smarter than other Dungeons. The kobolds epted her apology and rxed their stances. Still, the mason had had enough scares for one day and asked if it wasn''t time for the Party to leave. While they hadn''t finished exploring the Floor, they were mostly done, and Zina had written down more than enough data for her to be busy analyzing for the rest of the day. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó In the middle of the following night I had reached level 29+, and gotten ess to my 3rd tier Boss. Not that I could make it before the 15th Floor without making a new Rule about it. And I hadn''t even made my 2nd Boss yet meant for the 10th Floor. While I might be able to make it a Rule that Bosses can be ced at earlier Floors, it would also mean the Boss would be at a lower level. I would simply have exchanged power for the element of surprise. Something my mimics already take care of. Status, please! Personal Status Level: 29+ Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 54/100 EXP: 1,215,832 Next mana payment for level up: 0/18,000 Mana: 1/4,000 Mana regeneration: 1,400 per hour Floors: 8/15 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules 100? That''ll probably take me another couple of months¡­ Well. It''s not like I''m in any real hurry to tier up again. I¡­ still have more than a million EXP¡­ How? Dungeon Cores have enhanced growth while young. Right! Thanks for reminding me! I suppose between my maxed out Careful Preparation Achievement and all my mana discounts I probably make Floors and get enough mana to level up faster than other Dungeon Cores my age. And with First of Your Kind along with my Experiencing Peace Rule giving me more than double the amount of EXP your typical Dungeon Core would get, it makes sense I have a lot of it. Oh! And the extra EXP from Creature Designer! ¡­ and Weeding the World¡­ ¡­ and all the small amounts of EXP I get for raising people''s karma or the rare butrger ones for helping people selflessly¡­ ¡­ or the double amount for redeeming instead of killing¡­ ¡­ Basically I earn a lot more EXP than when I deal with bad guys! I even grow Floors faster, which both makes me earn more EXP, but also helped me kill more elves which in turn earned me EXP. ¡­ Hey System? Enhanced growth while young means it''s gonna be much harder to level at some point right? When would that be? With the average tier reached by the end of a sapient''s lifespan being the 5th tier, and the median of the same being 4th tier, a Dungeon Core''s enhanced growth stops at the beginning of the 4th tier. Once a Dungeon Core reaches the 5th tier it instead has an increasingly stunted growth to reflect its immortal lifespan. Oh¡­ and next level I''ve entered the 4th tier¡­ At least I have plenty of mana and Floors to y with! I took another look at my Mana Bank. That is a lot of mana I can use at once now! ¡­ I can have a unicorn! Or finally make my true mimic! Or both! ¡­ Definitely both! No! Stop and think! Would that be a good idea? While I like the idea of making a whole unicorn blessing it would take me so long to do, even if I made them all level 1. ¡­ But I''m immortal! I can waste some time on a powerful blessing of unicorns! Or can I? My creatures aren''t useful for defending me until the Floor they''ve been made on is finished, after all. So, a blessing of unicorns will definitely be very helpful once the Floor is finished, but they will slow the process down drastically! I considered the threat level of the elves for a bit. I''m not in a big danger here, but there is a chance the Lightning Mage could discover I''m not actually under her control. I believe the risk is minimal for now, but once I''ve finished my 10th Floor she''ll realize I can make creatures, traps and puzzles without getting her permission. There was no way I wouldn''t take advantage of that fact when making my 10th Floor, which in turn would reveal that I hadn''t actually been tamed. What about the Tribe? No, they''re not really in any danger. I just have to finish my 9th Floor early one night, so I can dig out the 10th Floor before morning. And the same thing for when the 10th Floor is finished. Food won''t be a problem either. I''ll just temporarily change the environment of the 8th Floor to include a bunch of fruits and vegetables and such each night. The Tribe might be teleported outside my Dungeon should they try to go back to the 7th Floor, but the 8th Floor is still essible and changing the environment costs me nothing but a bit a concentration. ¡­ What was I wondering about again? Right! Unicorn blessing! Hmm¡­ In conclusion: I''m not in any hurry, but I don''t want the elves to suspect I''m still free before I''ve finished my 10th Floor and gotten a powerful Boss to defend myself. So¡­ I mentally sighed in disappointment. I guess I''ll have to wait on making anything super powerful - such as unicorns or my true mimic - till I begin on the 10th Floor. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 4 days had passed since the massacre of 43 elves had happened in the Dungeon. As the highest remaining officer Tanithil Alnus had gotten the task of reporting how their mission had gone. Which included listing everyone who had lost limbs in the battle. It included listing everyone who had died. It meant learning the name of everyone who had died. At least Tanithil wasn''t the one who had to tell their families. That would be an officer ced near said family. With the number of dead; likely several officers. Tanithil, like several other surviving soldiers, had a hard time getting rid of his survivor''s guilt. For the lieutenant it was less wondering why he survived instead of those who died and more looking back and ming himself for things he might have been able to do better. He med himself for not keeping more people safe. For not keeping them all safe. Of course he had been relieved when it had first been over and had celebrated their hard won victory with the rest of thepany. The first nightmare came that night and it kept haunting him even while he was awake. He kept feeling the need to apologize to the dead. Logically Tanithil knew he hadn''t forced them toe, nor had he even realized it would be that dangerous. But maybe I should have realized¡­ His duties were the only thing keeping him going at the moment and he knew it was the same for many of the other soldiers. His biggest duty at the moment was taking care of everyone''s safety. Not that there really was anything to worry about. Any of the civilians could at the very least scare away, if not straight up kill most of the local animals. It was mostly only the so-called ''semi-sapient'' animals which could pose a threat to an adult elf. Every elven child was given at least some basic training in self defense after all, and with the extra power given to them at adulthood by the holy System, mere animals stood no chance against even a civilian of the Queendom of Alfam¨¦r. Other sapients were the main thing Tanithil prepared against. While the first several groups to find this ce would either be from Alfam¨¦r, and thus allies, or random civilians from othernds, who would be unable to do any harm, at some point someone would try to challenge their im to the Dungeon. It was positioned in no-man''snd, after all. Tanithil wanted the town''s defenses to be ready for that day. And that goal kept him going. Of course he knew he wouldn''t still be here when that day came. In three or so weeks the 2nd group of civilians would arrive. This group would include the town''s new sheriff and his subordinates, who would take over from the military. At their arrival Tanithil would inform the sheriff of what had been done in regards to safety, before leading the remains of thepany back home. At their arrival at the capital everyone would get a bonus due to the unexpected danger of the Dungeon. Those with limb loss would additionally getpensation for having lost a limb while on active duty. Thepensation was designed to be just enough to get a runic limb recement of the cheapest kind for whichever limb they had lost. Which was still an expensive thing to be sure! If the person themselves used some of their own money as well, they could get extra features for their new runic limb, like a hidden weapon or the ability to use a single type of spell with it. If said person decided to use even more of their own money, they could go to a Mage who has mastered the Healing element by reliably being able to turn it into the Restoration element and have the limb entirely regrown. For smaller and lessplicated limbs, like a severed finger, it costs about the same to have it regrown as getting a cheap runic limb recement made for it. But the price of getting a whole arm regrown was much more expensive than a runic arm was. At least regrown limbs didn''te with phantom pains. It was generally expected that one would return to active duty afterwards, but there would always be some who decided to do a career change. While he hadn''t lost a limb himself, Tanithil had begun considering making a career change himself. Chapter 49: Noted Oddities Chapter 49: Noted Oddities After having closely examined her notes, consulted her books on Dungeons and even contacted her old dungeon professor through her emco, Sarzina Acacia hade to a conclusion: Her Dungeon was anything but normal. Some of the oddities were simply rare, but seen before in other Dungeons. But for one Dungeon to have more than two of these rare variations had never been seen before. On top of that, several oddities werepletely unique and never seen before. Zina and her old professor had ended up concluding that no good action could be taken before they had more information, so simply learning more about the Dungeon would be the best thing to do for the moment. After looking over her notes the night before, Zina had realized that the levels of the monsters of each Floor didn''t follow either of the two only known standards. Normally the levels of the monsters of a Floor would either be random, or every monster would have the highest level possible for the Floor with the exception of one weaker monster. A rare variation of the first standard waspletely random levels except for Boss''s which would have the highest level instead. But Zina''s Dungeon didn''t follow either of the two standards, nor the rare variation. Roughly 50% of the Dungeon''s monsters of the first three Floors - which were all Zina had information on at the moment - had the highest level possible for the Floor and were ced at thetter half of a Floor, about another 40% were one level under the Floor limit and ced at the first half of a Floor, while the remaining 10% were level 1 monsters, that also didn''t fit into the other two categories. With numbers like that, it didn''t appear random at all, yet many monsters weren''t at the Floor limit! And adding that to all the other oddities Zina had taken note of¡­ ¡­Well¡­ Neither Zina or her old professor had known what to make of it¡­ Other than documenting all the differences, that is. After all, one of the oddities of the Dungeon was how its monsters didn''t always attack, while another gave extra EXP and loot for not attacking. Zina loved the mystery and challenge of figuring out why the Dungeon acted as it did - its traps acted weird too, after all -, but she wasn''t really sure what to think about theck of actual fighting in there. The holy System rewarded people for hard work and normally nothing was harder than Dungeon mining. But, while Zina''s Dungeon gave good rewards, it wasn''t a hard one to mine. Which went against what most people believed was the will of the System. Dungeons are a crucial part of the holy System, right? So, a priest might have an idea of what''s going on and what to do about it. Isn''t one supposed to arrive with the sheriff? When will that be again? Three weeks or so I believe¡­ Guess I''ll just have to keep documenting everything till then! Which was something Zina was all too happy to do. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó This was clearly a good news, bad news situation. Bad news: I had been dered as unusually abnormal. Good news: They didn''t intend to do anything about it till they knew more. Neutral news: Their next course of action seemed to hang on the advice of an unknown priest with just as unknown morals and motives. The only things I knew about their religion was that they worshiped the System and had the number 6 as a holy number. Which won''t help me learn anything about the priest. There is no point in trying to fix the oddities they have already noted. It will likely just make me seem even weirder. At least three weeks will give me enough time to finish the 9th Floor and likely the 10th as well. More defenses are always good! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: More Than Allowed: When the allowed number of sapients in each Floor has been disabled, Dungeon creatures and the Core¡¯s ¡°family¡± get a 5% increase in Dexterity for each additional sapient to enter the Dungeon after the first 4. The increase in Dexterity through this Rule cannot be higher than a 100% increase. I love it, but I doubt I¡¯ll end up using it much. The loss of loot is undesirable after all, and I am supposedly already tamed. It might not end up used at all. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The next dive, the first of the new day, the Lightning Mage was only apanied by her dawon. And clearly having interacted with my kobolds had made her change her strategy, ''cause now she was politely asking for every key before relieving my key-carrying creatures of them. This new habit meant she solved the only puzzle she had had trouble with. Which was¡­ both a bad and a good thing. It was bad in the event she decided I wasn''t worth keeping around or if - or rather when - she realized I wasn''t actually Caged. But her attitude also indicated that she wasn''t a bad person. She just seemed to have tunnel vision aimed at bing famous as a dungeon master. Which¡­ could both end up being to my advantage or my disadvantage, depending on whether her priority was to dominate me or if gaining fame by being associated with me was more important. ''Cause if it was thetter, then I might be able to strike up some form of deal with her! Though I wasn''tpletely sure what kind of deal that would be. I would want to include a truce of some sort for the Tribe, and even if the Lightning Mage wanted to agree to that, I was sure her Queendom wouldn''t. I''ll consider it more at ater date. I don''t want to take any risks before I''ve finished my 10th Floor, so it really isn''t relevant at the moment. The Lightning Mage and her dawon quickly passed the first three Floors before slowing down so the elf could take a massive amount of notes for the 4th. The hate shown from The Door of Speciesism confused and annoyed her for quite a while before she realized what was happening. After which she was quick to convince The Door that not all elves were bad people, and it let them through. She still failed the puzzle of course, which naturally confused her. And made her write more notes¡­ Then The Kobold Training Camp and its many traps were explored and noted, after which it was The Geyser Path''s turn. The Creature Picture puzzle was quickly solved and seeing how little time had passed since she entered my Dungeon, the Lightning Mage decided to explore the 5th Floor right away. Plenty of notes were written for the three Memory Lanes, and like Begdar the Lightning Mage also realized that the three rooms contained invisible creatures through the extra loot and EXP given after each room. The Humble Door only took her a couple of tries before she understood the hint it was giving her. Before answering the puzzle found in the next room, she began exploring the ce. Quickly realizing the disaster about to happen I ordered the ring handle shaped mini mimic to jump into the nearby olive tree, while the two visitors were looking at the weapon stands, and take the form of a small olive branch. I really didn''t want her to write down that it normally looked like the door''s ring handle and spoil the surprise. While the Lightning Mage made sure to look up in every tree, she didn''t use any spells when doing so nor did she climb them, so the mimic''s epic shapeshifting kept it from being found. Then she shook the statue''s hand and entered The Field of Fallen Heroes. Only for Experiencing Peace to reveal that she had missed a creature in the previous room¡­ Luckily, she simply assumed it was another invisible longma. Then she realized that even during normal Dungeon runs I have multiple creatures in my Boss Room. And unlike drags, unicorn bunnies wouldn''t attack when people got too close to their burrows but instead flee, so its presence in the Boss Room was noted as well. I''m getting more and more annoyed at her finding so many of my tricks! Especially since I know she intends to sell the information to people for profit! She has earned that knowledge! But neers aren''t meant to have it from the start! The Lightning Mage left my Dungeon, and if I had a mouth it would be making an evil grin, while letting a few evil-sounding chuckles escape. So, I''ll have to force them to earn it for themselves! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó New Dungeon Rule: Earning One''s Own Paycheck: All knowledge of this Dungeon must be earned individually by exploring the Dungeon or having one of the Dungeon Core''s creatures share the knowledge. Unearned knowledge will be distorted until it has been confirmed by Dungeon exploration or by a Dungeon creature. All EXP gained to sapients or semi-sapients from killing Dungeon creatures must be earned individually by participating in the fight. No unearned EXP is gained in this Dungeon. The Dungeon Core gains nothing from one sapient killing another, if nothing Dungeon-aligned did anything to make this happen. Dungeon-aligned includes Dungeon walls, doors, puzzles, traps, creatures, "family" and so on. The Rule ended up being broader than I had originally intended, but I was still pleased with it. Thest bit was definitely unintended and seemed to be the System''s way of saying ''if you ask for things to be earned, then it must include your own rewards''. As I doubted the situation would happen all that often, I decided to gracefully ept what I was given. Or rather: What I had earned. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Zina may have finished exploring the first tier of her Dungeon but there were still several questions she wanted answered before she opened it up for the public. Biggest of which was why the traps didn''t always activate. Based on all her gathered information, it seemed like the traps of this Dungeon each had two or more conditions which all had to be fulfilled before the trap activated. While rare, there still existed two varieties of this phenomenon: 1) Where most of a Dungeon''s traps function like normal traps with only one trigger, while a select few have a secondary trigger. This secondary trigger could be a timer causing a dyed reaction, or having a certain weight or number of people stand on the pressor te and so on. 2) Every trap of a Dungeon has the same secondary trigger. A couple of Dungeons were even known for having both varieties at the same time, giving some traps three conditions to fulfill before triggering. This would lead to some nasty surprises to people who believe the Dungeon in question has been fully explored, but make the trappletely useless once all its trigger conditions have been made known. Zina wouldn''t be surprised if she were to discover that her Dungeon was one of the few with traps with three trigger conditions. Clearly every trap had a secondary condition and with how unusual her Dungeon already was, she would actually be more surprised if she didn''t find a trap with three trigger conditions. To find these trigger conditions the elven noblewoman would need some help. Clearly the Dungeon-wide trigger condition wasn''t a time dy, and they had somehow triggered some of the traps of the first two Floors while mister Bet and private Ilex were with her. More tests were definitely required before any conclusion could be drawn. Luckily, mister Bet had convinced a couple of his coworkers to ''risk'' exploring the seemingly harmless Dungeon. While a secondary trigger condition never depended on who fulfilled the primary condition, the presences of certain materials sometimes were. Different people had different things with them into Dungeons, so this was an easy way of narrowing it down. Though it could still take a long time, which Zina was okay with. As soon as the mostmon materials and other triggers had been tested, she would start allowing people in without her for a fee. Hmm¡­ What should the fee be? Standard or maybe higher due to double loot and EXP? Yeah, it probably needs to be higher than normal. Or maybe it would be better to have a high exit tax on gathered loot? Chapter 50: Trap Triggers and Troublesome Travels Chapter 50: Trap Triggers and Troublesome Travels During the next several days we settled into a new routine. I worked on finishing my 9th Floor, while spying on the elves. The Tribe harvested fruit and vegetables, as well as trees from the 8th Floor at night, which they made use of during the day. They had even made a rudimentary forge for minor smithing, though they used just as much wood for making furniture. The military elves patrolled the area around where the remaining elves were digging. From what I had overheard, they were currently making sewers. The well had been dug out first, and the sewers were being constructed far enough away from it that the two wouldn''t sh. With 50+ elves - it was hard to count with only a single stationary viewpoint, and no one had spoken of an actual number in my hearing - working on the construction the sewers were very nearly done already. The Lightning Mage had used her time on attempting to discover what made my traps trigger, figuring out why one could make The Door of Speciesism open yet everyone - as far as she knew - still failed the puzzle, and going over her notes while nning her future business as a dungeon mistress. Fees, taxes, prices of loot and information being sold at the Dungeon Guild and so on. A bit of her time did go to speaking with the leader of the construction force and the lieutenant, but less so over time as they each settled into their roles. I was finished with my 9th Floor just before the dawn of the fourth day of this routine, but I refrained from dering it as such right away. I needed to do so shortly after dusk, so I could be sure we had enough time for me to dig out the 10th Floor and for the Tribe to then move all their stuff a Floor down. Naturally I warned them of the uing move, so they could get ready to get it done quickly. Several took it as amand to take a nap¡­ As they would be upte it wasn''t that bad of an idea, if one could actually fall asleep while the Tribe was busy packing up. While waiting for the sun to set, the Lightning Mage had three soldiers join her for a Dungeon run. Two out of the three had karma levels under 25%, while the third was the soldier who had been redeemed by petting my yaks. The yak-petter''s karma level had already risen to 29%, faster than any I had seen before! And I suspected he was the reason I had gotten EXP from ''Making the World a Better ce'' at odd moments, despite the fact that he wasn''t even in my Dungeon during those times! But as a Dungeon Core I see everything happening in my Dungeon all at once, and I know none of the Tribesmen had their karma raised during those times. I must assume something about petting a Dungeon creature taught him a lesson in kindness. ¡­ Or something¡­ My traps triggered and, as with every time this had happened before, it led to the Lightning Mage getting excited and writing down every detail she could think of in her quest of discovering what my ''Dungeon-wide secondary trigger'' was. Which was honestly a good way of putting it! But of course she wasn''t in any way close to figuring it out. As I highly doubted she had any way of reliably discover anyone''s karma level, it would likely stay that way quite a while. As my ''mistress'' was currently focused on figuring out my traps, she had decided to ignore my Floors past my Boss. Instead she would use her time to go over her notes and Dungeon textbooks, hoping to learn my secrets. And as no one entered my Dungeon without her, my deeper Floors had been left to themselves. But when the Lightning Mage again went over her notes that evening on when my traps triggered and when they didn''t, only to find contradictions in any solution to the mystery she could find, she dered to herself - and thus me - that she was out of ideas. Only for her to quickly backtrack and propose the idea that it might be random whether the traps triggered for any particr run or not. Which, of course, wasn''t so easy to prove and could only be disproven if the actual secondary trigger condition was discovered. Nheless, in the morning she would begin letting people enter without her in return for a small fee and an ''exit tax'' of one quarter of one''s loot or its value. Apparently, exit taxes were normally only one fifth of the gathered loot but as it was much easier getting loot from my Dungeon than other Dungeons, the tax had been raised. On the other hand, the entrance fee was smaller than average. A dungeon entrance fee was calcted based on how many wanted to visit the Dungeon on an average day. Popr Dungeons had high entrance fees as a way to stop too long lines - which could either be a physical line or one on a waiting list - from forming. What my ''mistress'' didn''t mention, was how entrance fees were very much simply a reflection of ''supply and demand''. As there were just over 100 elves stationed around my Portal, with roughly half still too afraid to consider entering, and with all of them having work to do as well, I simply wasn''t considered a popr Dungeon at the moment. The sun set, the 10th Floor was quickly dug, and the Tribe was moved sessfully. As my ''family'' they could open puzzle doors without solving their puzzles simply by wanting them to open, and with even my non-karmic creatures seeing them as one of them, the Tribe had no problems passing through my now activated 9th Floor. However, with it being a new Floor - and having been stuck in the same small ce for days - many took the time to actuallyplete the Floor as it was intended. And as they knew of my theme and typical style of puzzle making, they naturally breezed through them. Even more so as one of my puzzles contained a critical mistake, making it much easier to solve. I knew it had been suspiciously cheap! Nice to finally know why. Naturally, I made sure to fix it. It was an easy fix. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Sarzina Acacia began her day by asking Chalia Ulmus how the construction was going. "The town foundation will be finishedter today, deary." Chalia replied. "And then we''ll begin building your Dungeon Guild as you have requested." "Thank you, Chalia." Zina said with a smile and a nod, before leaving Chalia to her work as the noblewoman went to find lieutenant Alnus. It didn''t take long before the dungeon mistress and the lieutenant had decided on a schedule and sry for the temporary guard/fee-/tax collector rotation. Then their new duties were exined to the privates in question, who liked the idea of getting the boredom of guard duty broken up a bit while getting more money. A part of their duties were informing those who paid for it about the first 5 Floors of the Dungeon. To aid with this Zina had prepared 5 hand drawn maps, as well as a couple of pages of short descriptions of the monsters, traps and puzzles found there. These were not for sale just yet, as Zina wasn''t yet able to have them mass produced. With that in ce, Zina felt ready to start exploring the 6th Floor and beyond. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Uh¡­ Right! I''ll have to fix that¡­ My Earning One''s Own Paycheck Rule had made the group of 4 construction workers believe only some of my creatures were non-aggressive, while thinking the rest would act like normal Dungeon creatures. The group had gotten ready to attack before they¡­ relearned? that my drags were harmless if left alone. While I didn''t want people to simply be told where my traps were and how to solve my puzzles, before they had even been in my Dungeon. I did, however, want people to be able toe in knowing my creatures would leave them alone if people left them alone. And I knew, having people assume my creatures would automatically try to kill them would quickly leave me frustrated. How much would it cost to update Earning One''s Own Paycheck to allow sapients to remember being told that my creatures only attack in self defense? Making exceptions to an existing Rule costs no mana. Making exceptions to an existing Rule creates a Subrule for the Rule. Alright then. I would like that exception then. New Dungeon Subrule: Subrules for "Earning One''s Own Paycheck": Subrule 1: The knowledge of Dungeon creatures being generally non-aggressive will not be distorted by this Rule. Good. The 4 construction workers had immediately rxed their guard as the exception took effect. They were still a bit wary but had stopped looking like they expected everything to jump at them. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Brother Malik and his unicorn Familiar Sunbolt were about a week away from returning home to Craftery Cartwright. Their adventure had had just the right amount of excitement and rxation. Truthfully Malik would love to keep exploring like this, but he couldn''t let his people down. Not that they wouldn''t be able to make do without him. No, no! The craftery and its people could take care of themselves just fine. But they would both be disappointed in him and miss him greatly should he leave for longer than this. Malik hadn''t even known how long the journey would take when he had first ventured out. Had it been any other time of the year, Malik would have stayed at home even at the face of the mystery of his Familiar being at two ces at once for a short moment in time. But as it had been the end of the harvest, Malik had been encouraged to go the moment he expressed desire to do so. Having been reassured that everything would be alright, the Hero and his Familiar went for a long walk in the direction the man had felt his second Familiar. Nowte fall had given in to early winter with snow falling and melting in a near constant circle. The Monk had stocked up on supplies everytime he got across civilization, but he was fully capable of surviving off of nature. Winter made it more challenging, but with it still being early winter, Malik didn''t find it too difficult. Though, he had no problem admitting he had eaten less than usual, and Sunbolt had had to eat bark several times. Not that it had dampened their mood any! The twopanions had resupplied at a Large Vige the day before. They were getting a little short on money these days. He hadn''t expected it would take this long, after all. But the people of his Kingdom praised unicorns and saw them as the best judge of character. As such, ever since he had returned to Pasan, he and Sunbolt had gotten a free meal everywhere he stopped by, as well as discounts on rooms and supplies. Not massive discounts, Malik wouldn''t have allowed that. But letting people help made them feel important, helpful, and needed, so Malik generally epted such things with a bright smile and a heartfelt thanks. While walking through yet another forest, Sunbolt gently poked her Hero with her head before making a pointed motion with her head. The unicorn had the higher Awareness of the two and this was her way of informing the human of other people being nearby. Malik loved meeting new people and whenever he had met someone outside of a town they had been in need of some form of help. Some had gotten lost, others wounded, one group had misjudged their need for food and hadn''t known how to live off of thend. So, when Sunbolt informed him of the presence of people in the forest, Malik was immediately ready to go help and adjusted their course slightly to the right, as Sunbolt had depicted. It didn''t take long before Malik began hearing the sounds of hundreds of people talking and moving around. Way more people than the two friends had stumbled upon outside a town before. After several more moments of walking it was revealed to them that arge group of gnomes had set a temporary camp in a clearing clearly too small to fit them all at once, much less all their stuff and animals. They appeared to be roasting arge variety of animals on 6 Orb driven stoves. At first nce there didn''t appear to be anything they needed help with, much to Malik''s relief. That didn''t stop him from wanting to meet them and hear their story. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It wasn''t a nice story. Far from it. The gnomes had been living in a Large Town named Rivervale at the outskirts of Pasan in a region which had previously been a part of the gnome dominated Small Kingdom of Geniss. This region still had a plenty of gnomes living there, though the area had belonged to the human dominated Kingdom of Pasan for over 100 years. None of these gnomes had been alive when the area had been a part of Geniss, making them all citizens of Pasan and used to thews of said Kingdom. But their social customs? Not so much. Having lived in a ce almost purely filled with gnomes with everyone''s closest ancestors - either parents, grandparents or at least great-grandparents - having been citizens of Geniss, their social customs had mimicked the Small Kingdom instead of the one they were actually a part of. This hadn''t caused any problems while Rivervale was still popted. The Large Town had had a Dungeon, which had been one of the reasons Pasan had wanted the region. Not just for The Dungeon of Rivervale but for the other Dungeons in the region as well. For the people of Rivervale this mostly meant they had a new tax collector, so life hadn''t really changed from before the war. But then one day their Dungeon Portal crumpled, bing a pile of rocks and dust. Many suspected one of the Parties inside the Dungeon - all of which had been ejected from the Dungeon seconds before its Portal fell - had done something to the Dungeon Core. But when they had been interviewed it came to light that one of the Parties - the guilty one most likely - had escaped capture. The culture and economy of Rivervale had been entirely dependent on its Dungeon and without it, the Large Town quickly stopped being able to function properly. Visitors including merchants stoppeding once the news of the Dungeon''s fall had spread. People began to move away, while others took to crime in desperation. This particr group had started out as a collection of people from Rivervale, who didn''t know anyone from outside the once active Dungeon town who could take them in or otherwise help them establish a new life elsewhere. They had banded together and set out to find a new ce elsewhere, not really having any specific goal in mind. That was when their Genish variant of social norms began causing them problems. The group could never figure out what they did wrong. They knew no actualw had been broken, yet every town wanted them to settle down somewhere else. Sometimes they were told this directly, sometimes actions spoke louder than words. Two dozen of them hadn''t been able to adapt to their now nomadic lifestyle fast enough. In the beginning, they had had a bit of a problem reliably getting enough food and water for roughly 1,000 gnomes, and wild animals had been a problem several times. Malik had been able to simply jump on Sunbolt''s back and escape any aggressive wild creature getting too close forfort. But with that many people slowed down by heavy possessions, while not actually having enough pack animals or carts for everyone to get a ride at once, this hadn''t been an option for the gnome group. Having listened to their troubles, Malik knew exactly how he could help. Chapter 51: A New Floor to Document Chapter 51: A New Floor to Document These days I was visited by 4 or 5 groups of 4 a day. The elves seemed to have concluded my Dungeon was ''either only dangerous in its second tier or taming the Core calmed it''. To be on the safe side they had all agreed to wait on visiting beyond my 5th Floor till the Lightning Mage had finished going through all my Floors. Surprisingly, my newest Rule hadn''t been noticed. But then again, people tended to group up with people they knew. Meaning either the group were 4 soldiers who had all been in my Dungeon before and thus had minimal distortion to their memories, or none of the 4 had been in my Dungeon before and thus all of their minds were more scrambled than their soldier counterparts. With equally scrambled brains, everyone appeared to know the same amount at all times. That the civilians used way longer to, for instance, find the hidden entrance to The Trap Corridor than the soldiers did, simply wasn''t noticed. They weren''t there at the same time, after all, and the civilians kept thinking ''I was told the entrance was riiiight over there'' and ''why did I go over here, when I was informed it was over there?". These things were even said out loud plenty of times, but - while confused in the moment - they had no idea how to exin their own actions and saw no reason to inform my ''mistress'' of their own embarrassment of being unable to remember her hand drawn maps. Speaking of: My ''mistress'' had chosen to explore and document one additional Floor a day and use her evenings to go over all she had learned that day - both from her own exploration as well as other Parties'' reports -, hoping to understand what made me so unique. She had yet toe up with a conclusion she was satisfied with. The Door of Speciesism constantly caused her frustration, as, while all of the Parties could get The Door to open, none of them had solved it. My traps'' secondary trigger condition was another constant annoyance for her. At the end of the previous day''s exploration the Lightning Mage had, naturally, noticed theck of a Caged Core in the room at the end of the 8th Floor. And as such, she quickly realized I had finished my 9th Floor, which made her super excited. Still, she refrained from exploring the new Floor right away as she had written more than enough notes already that day and needed to start going over them. She had stopped taking her dawon with her as she had realized that if she herself were earning small amounts of EXP after leaving my bigger and more creature-filled rooms, then the dawon was too. ¡­ Not that I understood why, all of a sudden, that was a bad thing¡­ In other news, Thenac had bonded with the level 17 lynx of the 9th Floor. As requested the lynx had high Dexterity and Awareness and as promised it - sorry she - had the innate passive Skill ''Eyes of irvoyance''. Which essentially meant the lynx was passively learning about everything in its sight. And that included whether it could actually see it or not! Anything invisible would still be known to a lynx, which is why I had thought it such a perfect partner to Thenac! No more surprises! With a bit of concentration a lynx could even see through solid objects! It was no wonder its species had gotten the title ''Keeper of Secrets'', it was impossible to keep a secret from a lynx! It was even a semi-sapient, so even lynx originating from outside my Dungeon could level up. Though, I doubt many did. Dungeons seemed to be pretty¡­ controlled¡­ by the sapient species. And the only other way to earn EXP was through leveling Skills up, which was something semi-sapients didn¡¯t normally have a lot of. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While talking to lieutenant Alnus during their daily, but informal, morning meeting, Sarzina Acacia had mentioned the 9th Floor being finished which prompted the lieutenant to volunteer to join her in exploring the new Floor. No one else wanted to be among the first to explore the newest Floor - Why not? -, so Alnus and Zina ended up braving the 9th Floor alone. The first room of the 9th Floor was, as its name suggested, full of gargoyles. Gargoyles of the dragon race specifically. Gargoyles existed in many shapes and forms, each one mimicking the shape of another creature. Naturally each gargoyle race was named after the creature their shape took after. Every dragon shaped gargoyle in The Gargoyle Garden sat on top of a pedestal and had their body turned in the direction of the entrance. As was the signature of gargoyles, they didn''t move at all, which added with the natural stone appearance of their body made them look like stone statues. Several dozens of these gargoyle statues could be seen in the room, but that wasn''t the only monster to be found in there. Roughly two dozen - Zina had yet to actually count them - of the ''fledgling karmic elemental drake - Earthquake''s that the Core had requested could be seen among the gargoyles, as well as about the same amount of ''fledgling karmic elemental wyrm - Fire''s, which had been seen shortly before the Core''s taming. There appeared to be more gargoyles than the other two types of monsters in the room. Maybe three dozen instead of two. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room was made of volcanic rock, and, with an exception for the furthest right corner, every corner hadva slowly pouring out of it. The two elves thought nothing of this, as the environment of a Dungeon wasn''t dangerous unless one actively went to interact with it. This type ofva didn¡¯t actually move either. It simply appeared to do so. Likewise fire made by a Dungeon could burn a nt forever without ever harming the nt nor spreading to another. It wouldn''t warm the area around it and only burn if touched. This has to be all the monsters for this Floor. There are too many here for it not to be. "You are likely right, mistress." Lieutenant Alnus replied to the muttering noblewoman. "Though perhaps a single monster or two belong to another room of the Floor. We won''t know before we''ve checked it." "Yes. True." Zina answered, distracted. She was writing down anything she could think of, pausing to count the exact number of monsters based on species and level, before beginning on a hand drawn map of The Gargoyle Garden. Once done with all she could note from the entrance, Zina looked up from her notebook to take a look at the lieutenant with her. Tanithil Alnus was looking around the room cautiously, trying to keep an eye on, at least, the monsters nearest the pair. Thest time the lieutenant had been in the Dungeon had been when it had been tamed, but he had apparently known it was unnatural even before that. In fact, the original report had stated how Alnus had been the one to dere the Dungeon for ''unnatural''. Never mind. Zina shrugged her shoulders as Alnus turned to look at her. "I want a closer look at the different kinds of monsters." Zina informed the lieutenant as she began walking up to the nearest monster, a gargoyle on a pedestal. "See how they react to different stimuli. Only the kobolds seem to react to one''s words and just not the tone, but I don''t want to assume anything with this Dungeon. And of course I want to know what reaction it will have to getting approached and touched, so I can write it down for the Dungeon bestiary." As Zina spoke she began petting the unmoving gargoyle in front of her. Only its eyes seemed to be moving as it watched her. "This Dungeon is an idiot." The gargoyle didn''t react to the words, spoken in a calm, soothing tone, and its reactions - or ratherck thereof - were written down. "You are just as stupid, you know." Zina tried again. Gargoyles might simply react to different words than kobolds, after all. But still no reaction. A couple more tests - both verbal, through poking different spots, and through simply walking around it - it was concluded that the gargoyle would only move in order to keep an eye on whoever was nearest to it. Something it could determine even if one was closing in from behind. The moment the other person was closer than the one in front of it, it would spin around to look at the other one. It also never blinked. Not even if poked in the eye. It was a bit eerie, but oh so fascinating! Simr tests were made for the other two species of monster in the room. The Earthquake drake didn''t want its belly, tail or face touched, but liked getting scratched behind the ears. The Fire wyrm found the new arrivals interesting the first minute after getting approached before deciding to ignore thempletely. As in . Zina tried to regain its attention by walking in front of the wyrm as it was slithering away. A normal being would react to this by either stopping up or going around the one in their way. The Fire wyrm didn''t care for either option. It simply ignored the ''obstacle''. Which reminded Zina that Fire wyrms were made of Fire. The snake-shaped Fire passed through the Lightning Mage setting her legs on fire. Being on fire and in pain wasn''t good for spellcasting as one wouldn''t be able to concentrate on the spell, so the screaming elf instead cast herself to the ground and began rolling around. After the fire had been put out, Alnus poured the reminder of his water over Zina''s legs to cool her down. The elven noblewoman then took a couple of calming breaths before beginning tough. "I should have seen thating!" She then grabbed her notebook, which had fallen to the ground in her panic, and began writing down her newly learned knowledge. At least the elemental Fire became normal fire once it left the body of the Fire wyrm. Otherwise it would have been harder to put out. This observation was naturally written down as well. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó That was¡­ odd¡­ Yet¡­ not really surprising¡­She definitely loves learning too much¡­ The way the Lightning Mage had tested the reaction of my gargoyle was odd as well but clearly a result of my kobolds. I had immediately decided not to tell them she had so casually insulted me. If I did, they would change their behavior around her, either by ignoring her, acting angry around her, or straight up attacking her. Something about me being their god and ultimate leader meant I counted as a ''one of them'' to their karma aspect. This meant that when I was attacked, my kobolds coulde to my defense. And their earlier disy had informed me that verbal attacks counted as attacks, as long as my creatures understood it as such. For instance, my drags could respond to the volume and tone and consider it a verbal attack if they wanted - and I didn''tmand not to. Hmm¡­ She''s usually better at finding my traps. I thought to myself as the two elf Party left The Gargoyle Garden. She noticed the Rockfall traps in the ceiling and the 4 holes for my Lava Geysers. But almost half of those gargoyles were traps and she didn''t notice¡­ Maybe ''cause gargoyles look so much like a statue, and the traps have been designed to turn around like the real thing. The trap gargoyles were stuck to their pedestals, unlike the real thing, and could thus only attack when someone got close enough. Which, with their long stone tails, was a bigger radius than one might expect. And, granted, the one she chose to closely examine was an actual gargoyle. She likely would have noticed it, had she looked at a trap version more closely. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Before even entering the second room of the Floor it was clear to the two elves that there was barely any light in it. Normally Dungeons were well lit, not too bright or too dark but at afortable medium, with the light appearing from seemingly nowhere. This room was forest themed with plenty of trees, bushes, grass, and wildflowers being lit up only by a bright full moon. The climbing nts on the walls were present like they had been for every other forest themed room, but no such nts could be found on the ceiling. Mostly due to the fact that the ceiling had been reced with a night sky¡­ As Dungeons can only change their lighting when it''s needed for a puzzle, this room has to have a puzzle. A light rted one. Oh! It''s so exciting! As the twopanions entered the room, multiple things happened at once, not all of which was immediately obvious to the pair. They did immediately notice Zina''s body suddenly gaining a lot of muscles. Her arms and legs had all their fat reced, and she could feel her belly gaining abs. At the same time, Alnus''s perfect posture - which Zina had never seen him without - disappeared as the man began just slightly slouching, while twitching in one ce, clearly betraying his nerves. Thest change noted in that moment was how the moon, located in the ''sky'' to the right just beside the top center of the right wall, began, slowly but visibly, moving towards the center of the room. "What happened?" Zina asked the lieutenant. "Is this part of a puzzle? Or some form of trap?" The normally polite lieutenant rolled his eyes at her before replying. "I don''t know. Isn''t that your job?" Then he blinked rapidly a couple of times. "Retreat. We should retreat." "Why?" Zina asked, confused. "Shouldn''t we figure out what happened?" Then the sound of an angry growl could be heard, followed by a yip of pain. The darkness made it hard to tell exactly where it came from, except that it came from inside the dark room. "Oh, them? Don''t worry about it! I''ll just cast a couple of spells! They won''t be a problem!" As she talked, the Lightning Mage began going through the practiced motions - both mental and physical - meant to cast the spell to trap her opponents with nts. Only for nothing to happen, not even the smallest movement of her inner mana. No wait! That''s not true! My mana is moving, just not where I want it to go! Before Zina could figure out what her mana was doing, Alnus had made an annoyed huff, grabbed her arm with fast movement - faster than she had seen him do before - and pulled her out the room the way they hade. The moment the two had left the dark forest-filled room, Zina''s muscles retreated, the moon returned to its starting position and Alnus let go of Zina''s arm with a yelp. "I¡­ am¡­ so sorry about that!" The lieutenant began in a panic. "I shouldn''t have grabbed your arm like that! Or rolled my eyes at you! I''m not normally disrespectful like that, dungeon mistress!" Alnus took a breath as he got ready to continue, but Zina was quick to interrupt him. "It was the puzzle, lieutenant. Calm down." Luckily, Alnus was quick to follow her order. "It''s known as the Reversal Ability Scores Challenge. It''s a rare form of Challenge Room, but of course, many things are when ites to this Dungeon." "Challenge Room, mistress?" Zina nodded. "A Challenge Room is a certain type of puzzle where the solution is to exit the room, while under some form of restrain or challenge. The room we could only enter by leaving our weapons behind was one such room. The challenge was simply to pass through the room weaponless." She paused a moment before adding: "Actually I think the challenge there includes not taking anything, and that''s why the captain failed the challenge. I have to write that down." Alnus waited patiently, being somewhat used to her spontaneously writing down her thoughts, while muttering what she was writing. When she was done with that part, she quickly wrote ''Reversal Ability Scores Challenge'' on the page for the second room of the 9th Floor before finishing her exnation. "The Reversal Ability Scores Challenge forces your highest Ability Score to power your weakest. Or in other terms: Your best Ability Score is now your worst. In my case, my Intelligence began powering my Strength by using Buff elemental mana on my muscles. With my Intelligence being used mainly on that, there wasn''t much left for what I normally use it for. Which is why I didn''t realize what had happened right away." Alnus nodded. "So, while your Ability Scores don''t actually change, it causes an effect like they had been switched?" "Yes! Exactly!" The lieutenant looked thoughtful. "I noticed that I was ruder than normal, found it odd, yet couldn''t find it in me to be more polite. That''s why I wanted to get out of there. I didn''t like how I was acting but couldn''t stop." Zina nodded, casting a quick nce at the ''Leader'' floating above the lieutenant''s head. "Your highest Ability Score is Charisma. That means your Charisma was busy - for theck of a better word - charming your lowest Ability Score into working overtime, leaving less Charisma for you to use in interaction. And with the difference being so sudden, our bodies need time to adjust, and while that''s happening the new lowest Score performs even worse than expected and vice versa." Her speech had gotten faster and more excited as she talked. Alnus looked a bit ashamed and confused as he nodded in agreement. "I don''t¡­ actually know what my weakest Score is¡­ I''m pretty well rounded, you see, and I''ve never seen any need to keep track of what each Score of mine is at. I know Awareness is my second best, and Intelligence might be my third, but at that point my Scores are pretty close to each other, so¡­" "Dexterity." Zina stated with a small smirk and a hint of pride in her eyes. "Huh?" "Your lowest Score is Dexterity. You were faster than normal in there. Not as big a difference as with my sudden Strength, but that makes sense. I''ve kept track of my Scores, and while I won''t reveal my actual Scores, I can tell you this: My effective Strength in that room is more than 5 times what it normally is." It was actually pretty close to 6 times, as her Strength Score was 11 to her 60 Intelligence. "With your lower level and more all around Scores your effective Dexterity was likely roughly doubled." "Uh¡­ Impressive deduction, dungeon mistress." Alnusplemented. "So, find the exit as fast as possible. Does this mean no note taking till after we leave?" Zina sighed in disappointment, but could see his point. "It does. I won''t be able to take as good notes while I¡¯m in there anyway." Alnus nodded. "I''ll try to keep the talking to a minimum. I don''t want to think about what mighte out of my mouth should I open it¡­" Zina gave a nod but was clearly distracted by her own thoughts. "Did you see the moon in there? It started moving when we entered but returned to its starting point once we left the room. It could either be a timer and the exit won''t open or maybe not even reveal itself before the time is up. Likely when the moon reaches the other side. It could also be a clue to where the exit is or will be. Or perhaps a chest with loot. It could even be a lure trap meant to lure us to danger, so we still have to be careful. It''s a bit too early to tell exactly what its purpose is, but we should remember to keep an eye on the moon while we''re in there." Alnus nodded, a bit uncertain. That was a lot of different possibilities. "Anything else?" He asked after a moment of silence. "Onest thing." Zina stated. "I want to cast a couple of protective spells on us before we enter. Something that canst a while without impact from me. Just to be on the safe side. A monster did growl at us, after all. The whole room could be its territory." "Brilliant idea, mistress!" The noblewoman paused to think for a bit. It needs to be able tost a while, either without relying on a continuous string of mana from me, or a small enough amount that my lower effective Intelligence can still handle it. Hmm¡­ A normal Buff spell would take too much mana¡­ Could I¡­ use a Forest spell on us? Lightning can''t exist without a continuous amount of manarger than what I will be able to supply, and Light would probably do more harm than good; attracting all monsters in the room. But Forest? As the base form of one of my favored elements I don''t need to use a lot of mana for Forest spells. It could work. Hmm¡­ Forest armor then? I could even have Alnus''s armor be supplied with mana from his own supply. Might even be necessary¡­ With a small nod to herself Zina began casting, first on herself, then Alnus, ending the casting with an offhandment on how their nt armor would protect them in return for mana from their host. Alnus gave the Lightning Mage a slightly displeased look, but it was gone before Zina could think toment on it. Momentster, the dark forest was once again entered. Chapter 52: Puzzles of Character and Logic Chapter 52: Puzzles of Character and Logic As lieutenant Alnus and Sarzina Acacia reentered the dark forest themed Reversal Ability Scores Challenge Room, Zina paid attention to how her mana moved in her body. It was a fascinating feeling: Having all that mana, but being unable to use it. The Challenge Room might have given Zina an effective Intelligence of 11, but that didn''t mean she was aplete idiot all of a sudden. She could still remember all she had been taught. Instead it would take her longer to solve puzzles and connect dots, and some clues would end up beingpletely missed. But as this puzzle was a simple ''find the exit and leave safely'', her lowered effective Intelligence shouldn''t be too much of a problem. Growls could once again be heard in the dark forest but this time Zina could locate where the sounds came from. She didn''t intend to throw the first punch, but she wanted them to be prepared if it came to a fight and so she quickly called out the monster''s position to the lieutenant. A monster, vaguely resembling a centaur, could soon be seen circling the two elves. It had a pair of triangr fur-covered ears on top of its head. Its nose looked like that of a cat or a dog and its mouth was full of sharp teeth. Its naked torso was covered with a thinyer of grey fur, which turned thick shortly before the ce its front pair of legs appeared from. The palms of its hands had pawpads ending in sharp thick ws, while its 4 legs ended in four-toed hooves with the two outer toes looking like dull ws. Despite having the general structure of a centaur, its tail was identical to that of a wolf. Oddly enough, it was only level 11 when then creatures of the previous room had been level 17 and 18 as expected of Zina''s Dungeon. The centaur monster, called a ''Werewolf - centaur'' whatever that meant, hadn''t circled them for long before being joined by another monster. This one appeared as if a giant had gone through the same mutation the centaur had. Triangr ears, the nose, sharpened teeth, fur, paws with sharp ws - though this time its feet looked like elongated paws and its legs essentially elbows instead of knees -, and the wolf tail slowly swaying behind it. Additionally, its movements seemed to suggest it would be just asfortable walking on all four as it was on two. And it too was only level 11. While the two monsters circled the two visitors, the two elves had moved so they had their backs to each other. "No sudden movements. There must be a reason why they''re not attacking yet." Zina whispered to Alnus. She didn''t get a reply, but assumed he had nodded. He followed the order at least. Then a gnome variant joined the first two in their circling. Then an elf. All level 11 as well. I''m sensing a pattern here¡­ But what does it mean? I take it that something will happen once the human and siren variant shows up, but what? On cue, the fur and feather covered siren werewolf appeared. Its hands were more talons than paws, but its nose and ears were wolflike. The monsters circled half a circle around the elves before the human werewolf showed up with a beastkin variant. Both the elf and the human werewolf looked like if a lupinekin had fur covering their entire body, had a wolf nose and knees bent the other way. The beastkin werewolf appeared to be a muskin covered in brown fur. With elbow-knees and a wolf nose. Still with round mouse ears, but with the usual hairless tail swapped for a fur-covered wolf version. Huh¡­? I thought the variants of this monster were only sapient races? Why is there an animal among them? And why are they still just circling?! A couple more seconds passed with the werewolves simply circling the two nt-covered elves. Then the smallest of the werewolves appeared in the circle. One just a little bit smaller than the muskin werewolf. It had a dragon muzzle and scales visible behind the fur. A kobold werewolf?! Whether it was the appearance of the kobold that did it or Zina''s surprised shout, the pack of werewolves sprung into action. First the centaur, having ended its circling right in front of the noblewoman, then the rest of the pack. As the pack had been circling the two elves beforehand, their attacks came from all directions with half the pack going for either elf. With the lieutenant''s two best Scores at the moment being Dexterity and Awareness, he was quick to both notice that the attack was happening and get out of the way of it. All while shouting angrily at the monsters¡­ The strong Noble Lightning Mage had even more Awareness than herpanion, but no longer the Intelligence to think fast. The split second before the attack hit was only enough time for the noblewoman to conclude that she wouldn''t be fast enough to dodge the attack. Zina had always believed offense was the best defense. Only her confusion over the sudden attack from monsters of an otherwise peaceful Dungeon, had her reflectively hold her strength back. The punch was thrown and the snap of broken bones could be heard as the ribs of the centaur monster broke. With its ribs broken and its breath knocked out, it fell to its knees, stunned. Meanwhile, the other three werewolves attacking Zina, the gnome, beastkin and human, were reflected by her nt armor. Said armor not only absorbed all the damage dealt but even snapped vines at the attackers giving them all bruises. The human even had its hand grabbed by a vine, which it couldn''t free itself from. Seeing their packmate hurt filled the other beasts with rage, making them even more aggressive. Zina grabbed the trapped hand of the human werewolf now desperately trying to rip her throat out, only to be blocked by her living armor. The noblewoman ordered the armor, still linked to her control, to let go of the hand, after which she threw the monster away from her. Only to wince in pain midthrow, leaving the monster more pushed to the ground than thrown away. The pain hade from her right hand, which appeared to be broken. How it had happened, however, would have to wait, as the gnome and beastkin werewolves were still attacking her. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The solution to The Werewolf Wood was simple, yet hard. Most of the details the Lightning Mage had already guessed or had suspicions of: One''s highest and lowest Ability Scores were, essentially, switched while in the room. That was not just one part of the puzzle but one whole puzzle - or Challenge Room - in itself. But I had then ced a second puzzle on top of it,plicated things. The second puzzle included both the moon in the fake sky and the monsters in the room. As the Lightning Mage had suggested, the moon was both a timer for when the exit might appear and a direction to where that would be. She had assumed its appearance would be a sure thing once the time had passed, but no. The time had to have passed and the puzzle had to be solved. The puzzle being ''don''t kill the monsters who are trying to kill you''. This might seem at first nce as me going away from my principles or me being a hypocrite. My own creatures kill in self defense, after all, so why wouldn''t I allow my visitors to? ''Cause this is meant to serve as another lesson. One deeply connected to the specism problem going on around me: Don''t judge a book by its cover, a hyena by its spots, or a werewolf by its ws. The second condition needed to make the exit appear was to do one of two things: Either to not have ''permanently'' harmed - any injuries would be healed once the Floor emptied no matter how severe, so none could be truly permanent - any of the werewolves, showingpassion and restraint. Or to try to medically help the remaining werewolves - as long as at least one werewolf survived this could be achieved - once the time had passed and the full moon became a quarter moon, making the werewolves be¡­ whatever species again. This would show one''s regret and - perhaps - teach a lesson on assuming things about others. With the exception of the kobold werewolf, the werewolves couldn''t talk as sapients weren''t Dungeon creatures and thus I was unable to recreate the real thing. Well¡­ Not ''real'' as in werewolves actually existed - the System had more or less indirectly told me they didn''t, in that odd way the Systemmunicates -, more as in ''what I had imagined in my mind''. What I had ended up with was more of a moon-bound shapeshifting fey. And while the kobold could speak, I had naturally told it not to. Yes, the System had ssified werewolves as ''fey'' and ''bipedal'' in terms of a Dungeon''s creature theme selection and even added my creations to it. But only after I had tweaked them to only be able to infect people with karma levels of 10% or lower. It was probably also what had kept my werewolves out of the ''corrupted'' category, despite the fact that I had made them to be monsters. You know, some of the time. Unlike actual sapients, the werewolves didn''t get sses. Well, except the kobold, that is, which I decided should be randomized each time it spawned. The werewolves'' nature also meant they weren''t eligible as a bounded creature, which was intentional. They might only be able to turn people with karma levels of 10% or less, but I still wanted to contain lycanthropy as much as possible. It took the moon 10 minutes to cross the room, where it quickly became a quarter moon and forced the werewolves'' transformations. While, somewhat surprisingly due to the massive level difference, no one had been killed during the fight. However, half the werewolves had gotten bones broken which would heal wrongly if not tended to properly. And as they weren''t actually sapient despite looking like it - except in a way the kobold werewolf, whose base species had been sapient - the puzzle considered their broken bones permanent damage. So, the exit was still non-existent. Not that the Party realized that as they were still in the middle of a dark, thick forest. Seeing how their enemies had transformed into seemingly mute, and clearly hurt people, had the Lightning Mage spring into action. Well that, and she had finally epted that I had a theme. ¡­ Which might exin why they hadn''t killed my werewolves¡­ Experiencing Peace is pretty clear in its demands to not kill as well. While the lieutenant tried to aid my creatures as well he was clearly affected by his loss of Charisma and I heard him tell my siren werewolf how getting hurt was its own fault by attacking them like that. Well, fair, but rude. As the two tried to get the werewolves back on their feet, they had solved my puzzle and the exit was revealed. Having done their job, the 8 werewolves, still hurt and bruised, waved goodbye to the Party - I had included behavioral instincts into their design when I made them - and slowly limbered into their small cottage in the corner of the room. The cottage was hidden behind the thick tree cover until one was right next to it, and so small it was simply one room with 8 beds. Taking the hint offered by the wave goodbye, my visitors shrugged the encounter off for now and went in the direction of the lighting from the now quarter moon. They''re not going to notice the lynx, are they? Said lynx was high up in a tree, well covered by shadows and leaves, having observed the fight inplete silence. As a karmic lynx it had had no desire to attack or defend the elves, but instead the natural curiosity of felines. Oh well. Maybe next time. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While it took quite a while for mistress Acacia to finish muttering to herself as she wrote about the encounter with the pack of werewolves, Tanithil only reflected on it for a couple of minutes. He had both liked and disliked the Reversal Ability Scores Challenge Room aspect. The inability to be properly polite to the dungeon mistress, even simply calling her by her proper honorific, was unsettling. But at the same time the extra speed and reflexes was a thrill! Not that he wanted to trade and have the effect be permanent. The species of the different werewolves were quite confusing to think about. Tanithil knew that several other nations considered beastkin people, but even that thought wouldn''t exin the inclusion of the kobold. Tanithil didn''t consider the matter deeper. It wouldn''t change anything even if he found out why and it wasn''t his job regardless. Likewise the lieutenant had noticed as they performed first aid, then ignored, the fact that the werewolves'' floatingbels had reced the word ''werewolf'' with ''moon-bound fey''. Something Tanithil found odd as ''fey'' was not a species but a kingdom or ss or something. He wasn''t really into ssification but even he knew something was odd here. Done with his reflection, Tanithil began trying to solve the puzzle of the new room they had entered. A room which was thankfully well lit. Along the left and right volcanic walls were a row of pedestals, detailed with little suns and flowers rather than the fire imagery of the gargoyles'' pedestals. Each pedestal had a crystal or gemstone - Tanithil would freely admit he didn''t know the difference - on top of it of a different color. With 6 pedestals along each wall, this gave an array of 12 differently colored stones. With the colors going from red, to red-orange, to orange, to yellow-orange, to yellow, and so on, it was as if a rainbow had 12 colors. The middle of the room contained another three pedestals in a line, though empty of crystals, and ced at a right angle connecting the other two rows with each other. Each of these pedestals had an indent clearly designed to hold one of the crystals. On the other side of the room was the exit door, clearly visible but without any handles or keyholes. Above the door, right where the wall met the ceiling, was another crystal, this time in a see-through white color. And between the white crystal and the top of the door was a ck te with the riddle of the room written in white on it: The three colors of a bright sunny day While Tanithil was smart enough to realize three crystals had to be picked and ced on the three pedestals in the middle, he still had no idea of which ones to pick. What about the order of cement? Does that matter to the puzzle? Timing? I don''t think it matters here, but¡­ But as before, it was not his job to figure it out. He could help, sure! And he wanted to if possible! But sometimes it was just nice to leave someone else in charge. The lieutenant liked his job. These days he just really needed a break from it¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Once the Lightning Mage was done writing everything down - both their experience in the Werewolf Wood and a description of The Hall of Light -, the two elves began discussing what crystals to move to the three center pedestals. As they had to find the ''three colors of a bright sunny day'', blue and yellow were quickly chosen, representing the sky and sun respectively. The third color was apparently ''less obvious''. Right¡­ ''Cause the first two are actually right¡­ I thought sarcastically. Well one is. But that''s not gonna help you. They decided to first see what would happen if they ced the blue crystal on one of the center pedestals and worry about the third one afterwards, thinking they might get more clues. cing the blue crystal made it glow and shine a blue ray into the sensor crystal above the door, making it turn glowing blue as well. They then ced the yellow crystal on the leftmost center pedestal, which glowed yellow and gave a yellow ray. But this time the sensor crystal turned back to white, though this time it was glowing. Despite achieving the original objective, making the sensor crystal glow white, the door didn''t open. I had originally forgotten that yellow light was made up of both red and green, but after the Tribe had revealed the w in my design, I had made sure to fix it. It had been really easy to solve. I simply updated the puzzle so that in addition to making the sensor crystal glow white, all three pedestals had to contain a crystal and those crystals had to be red, green, and blue in no particr order. After another discussion the elves settled on the green crystal, representing healthy grass, and ced it on the right center pedestal. The sensor crystal stopped glowing in response to the wrongbination. After each failed attempt the three chosen crystals would be stuck at their pedestals for a minute, before they could be removed and anotherbination made. There were multiple reasons for this: Forcing people to think and not just pick randomly or systematically, slowing them down, so I had time - if needed - to make countermeasures, and to make them more receptive toward the next puzzle. And with 220 possiblebinations it would take quite a while to try them all. But of course, the Lightning Mage was both a smart and learned person, who during the 4th attempt recognized what the sensor crystal was showing them while there was only one or two crystals on the center pedestals from her own lessons on ''elemental mana VS their manaless counterpart''. All of a sudden the puzzle had been solved and the door opened. The solution was naturally written down. Not that it would do much good. After The Hall of Light came Gluttony''s Dining Hall. The two elves cautiously walked into the center of the room cing themselves in the middle of two long tables filled with delicious food born from their own understanding of what that meant. Which seemingly meant mostly meats and desserts¡­ To the opposite side of each buffet table were a long dining table with enough chairs to sit 14 people at each table. The handleless, keyholeless exit door was right in front of the entrance, and the walls were filled with the most disgusting images of gluttony I could imagine. Some of the characters on the walls were sapients, while others were wild animals. The elves wandered around the room, writing down every detail they could find, but didn''t dare try eating the food. It was real food and would have filled their stomach like normal, but they didn''t trust me not to have poisoned it. And thus, the puzzle couldn''t be solved. A single bite would have done it, the trick was to 1) not overeat and 2) not try to take any food with you. Then your chair and silverware would be mimics and attack you. If you failed the puzzle due to trying to leave the room with food, the exit would m shut before you could, only to open again once either the mimics were dead or the food left behind. Likewise the mimics would be docile should the food be dropped. The best part was, as the mimics were a result of a failed puzzle they didn''t count towards my maximum levels worth of creatures! Instead the puzzle had been more expensive. Just not as expensive as a bunch of mimics would have been. Once again my puzzle has left you confused, ''mistress''! You better get used to feeling confused around me, once you see how different my 10th Floor ispared to your expectations based on my false requests! Chapter 53: Discovery and a Deal Chapter 53: Discovery and a Deal What is going on here? Sarzina Acacia thought to herself. Why are you so different? Why¡­ How can a Dungeon be so consistent in trying to enforce kindness and good behavior on people? Dungeons aren''t meant to have a theme outside their main creature type and the environment of the Floor tier. Very rarely can a dungeon master sessfully add any sort of theme to their Dungeon, and yet somehow a wild, mindless Dungeon seeded in doing so¡­? She had just gotten back from her third trip to the Dungeon''s banquet puzzle. The werewolf room had been deemed too dangerous to most people here due to the timed Reversal Ability Scores Challengebined with actual aggressive monsters. Zina was well aware of how dangerous her Dungeon could be under the right circumstances, even for people of a much higher level than normally required for a certain Floor. Simply having someone watch her back, could do a world of good in unexpected situations. As such, Zina had decided on caution and only entered the 9th Floor when lieutenant Alnus was avable to join her. Which was only once a day in the afternoon after dinner. That was alright though, as Zina had many details of her Dungeon by now and plenty of oddities to go over and try to exin. At least she had gotten a small breakthrough on her Dungeon''s secondary trigger condition. Certain people fulfilled the condition. Not due to something they were wearing or carrying, nor even due to their weight. She had paid to have some of the known trap triggerers switch clothes with a known non-triggerer and have them walk through the 1st Floor. The traps still triggered, meaning it had triggered because of which person had fulfilled the primary trigger. Now Zina just needed to figure out what it was, the known trap triggerers had inmon, which they didn''t have inmon with any known non-triggerers. Something to which every theory had soon been disproven. The only connection she could find was how none of the triggerers could look at the b¨¬xi¨¦s, while all the non-triggerers could. But Zina, nor any she had asked, had any idea why some could look at a b¨¬xi¨¦ while others couldn''t! So, the realization hadn''t made that big a difference. Dungeons are and always have been mindless. Intelligent design is not something they do. Zina continued her thought process. Sure, some Dungeons do seem to learn from their mistakes, but even that is not a guarantee. Several Dungeons repeat the same traps and puzzles over and over again despite them no longer working. At least allb rats have the ability to learn not to eat Lightning enchanted cheese. For Dungeons it seems to be hit or miss if they can learn or not. For a while, Zina simply looked over her notes of her Dungeon. Trying to find a connection between all the oddities which would let her make sense of it all. What if¡­ Some Dungeons, those which can''t learn, have so low an intelligence that they''re more or less braindead. While learning Dungeons have about the same intelligence that a rat has. She considered this idea for a bit, but couldn''t find any issues with it. That would mean my Dungeon might simply have a higher than normal intelligence for a Dungeon, which might exin all the oddities! Excited, Zina began looking over each oddity she had found to consider if a higher than normal intelligence could exin it. It could. In fact, it would exin just about all the Dungeon''s oddities, with the only exception being the higher than normal umted monster levels for each Floor. But the level of intelligence needed for her theory to actually be the exnation behind all of this¡­ Very high. I doubt even a beastkin would be able to think of some of this. And beastkin are the smartest animals in existence, able to even learn to speak well enough to have small conversations with people! Zina looked stunned at her notebook at her own thought. That would make my Dungeon at least as smart as a beastkin! Maybe even fully sapient! If the noblewoman hadn''t already been sitting she would have fallen on her butt at that realization. Her theory seemed sound. Now she just had to prove it. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó First, there was panic. Silent panic, as I listened to the Lightning Mage mutter to herself. She had discovered my biggest secret. It wasn''t as if I was really, truly trying to hide my intelligence. I''m really just trying to survive and hopefully not have my kindness taken advantage of. Hiding my intelligence just seemed to be the way to aplish that! I took a few moments to use this thought to calm myself. I hadn''t yet failed in those two goals. I was still alive and hadn''t yet been taken advantage of. How do I react, so that those facts keep being true? Option one: Pretend to be mindless during whatever test she ends up concocting to test my intelligence. Right now she was brainstorming ideas for how to do that, only to discard them again, as she had already done that or something incredibly simr while very thoroughly exploring my Dungeon. That has the major hurdle of having to do an even better job at pretending to be a somewhat normal Dungeon Core. Something I have clearly failed at. If I go this route and then fail again¡­ Well¡­ I don''t know what will happen¡­ Honestly, she might not know either and will have to ask that priest guy when hees¡­ Option two: Pretend nothing happened. ¡­ Possibly a worse option than the previous one¡­ Option three then?: Take control of the situation and admit to being sapient on my own terms? ¡­ Which would have to either include some form of binding promise, that she can''t tell anyone else, or a mutually beneficial deal of some sort. I definitely prefer option three, but how exactly do I go about doing it, and what would I rather achieve? Silence or some form of partnership? What would I even want from a partnership with ''my mistress''? Hmm¡­ It sounds like she is and will be the mayor equivalent for the town they''re building, and she hasplete control regarding anyone entering me. Striking a deal with her could be a way for me to get additional EXP. Except¡­ I don''t currently need EXP. I need to kill bad people to tier up. Then¡­ Getting her to send me bad guys to kill? Yeah, no. Firstly. I doubt I can get her to do that. Secondly. It would reveal what I need to tier up, which can be used against me. No. I WILL NOT be taken advantage of! I took a moment to examine that thought. That feeling. Only to have to conclude that it was a lingering mental scar I had gotten as a human. And as such, not something I could actually remember. All I could do was to heed the lesson I had seemingly already learned. So, no asking for bad guys to die in my Dungeon. But that doesn''t mean I can''t ask her for other favors¡­ Like¡­ making the Tribe officially free? Could she do that? Probably not. But I''ll make sure to express my dislike of very with her and maybe she can make it locally banned or something¡­ I mentally sighed. I''m not really sure if this is the right thing to do¡­ ¡­ But I don''t think I have a better option. ¡­ So! How do I go about doing it? I could do my Mana Form, stone-shaped mimic trick again. Make me seem mysterious and all that by talking through a blue glowing and floating orb. Having my kobolds speak for me could work too, but seeming mysterious might make her more likely to actually take me seriously and follow through whatever deal we end up making. ¡­ But what can I even do to stop her from simply backing out of her part of the deal once I''ve done mine? A quiet part of my mind whispered: How do I stop her from taking advantage of me? A part I hadn''t before acknowledged was there. If it''s just changes to my Dungeon I can easily change it back, but¡­ I can''t do that for every possible thing she might think up. And simply changing it to what it was before won''t change the fact that I would have been tricked¡­ I really didn''t want to put trust in someone so clearly powerful. Did I trust someone powerful as a human, only to be betrayed and taken advantage of? ¡­ Sure feels like it¡­ But the feeling of mistrust was all I had left of the event, so I had no clue of its details. So, how can I stop it from happening again? She might actually be a trustworthy elf, but I don''t know her well enough to know for sure. Could I¡­? Somehow bind her to the deal? Like a magically enforced contract? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. Dungeon Cores are unable to enter Enchanted Contracts as their Mission takes precedence. The two messages from the System would at first nce seem to contradict each other, with one saying yes and the other no. But I was quite used to the indirect way the System sometimes answered my questions, and thus I knew what the two answers were meant to say. So, there''s currently no known way for me to ensure she fulfills her part of the deal, but a cleverly worded Dungeon Rule might be able to do it. ¡­ Hmm¡­ And it must include a line about me following my Mission before all else. Good idea, System! And so, while ''my mistress'' was brainstorming ways to test my intelligence, I was brainstorming how to word a Dungeon Rule to ensure that information wasn''t abused. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó A Dungeon Core is trying to make a Dungeon Rule named "A Burden Shared is a Burden Halved". Will you allow it to do so? Yes/No Zina had almost given up on finding a way to test her Dungeon''s intelligence - for now that is - when the System popped up with a new request from her Dungeon. A Dungeon Rule? Like how the ''Experiencing Peace''-effect is a Dungeon Rule? Oh! How exciting! That means I finally get to know what a Dungeon Rule actually is! The exact wording of the request was written down, as always, before Zina asked for more details. Oh holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What is a Dungeon Rule? A Dungeon Rule must be followed while inside the Dungeon. Ahaaa¡­ It didn''t have as many details as Zina would have liked, but enough meaning could be derived from it for Zina to be able toe to her own conclusions. Holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What would the Dungeon Rule named ''A Burden Shared is a Burden Halved'' do? A Burden Shared is a Burden Halved: In return for keeping the secrets of The Dungeon of Karma the activator of the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage ced in the Dungeon Core''s Core Room will be permitted to make requests of the Dungeon Core. No request made of a Dungeon Core can go against its Mission or the request will be rejected by the System. For this purpose the activator will gain ess to the description of the Mission of Dungeon Cores with this Rule. Should the activator be about to share a secret of The Dungeon of Karma without permission all knowledge of said secret will be erased from the activator''s mind before they are able to do so. Should the Dungeon Core reject a request without first considering it, the request will instead be forcefully implemented. "I can make requests of my Dungeon with this Rule?!" The ''keeping secrets'' part of the Rule shed in response to her audible outburst. Seeing this Zina pped her hands over her mouth while getting the distinct feeling her god was staring her down at this very moment. "Sorry!" The feeling lifted a bit but was clearly still present. This time Zina took the effort to keep her mouth shut. Not even a mumble would cross her lips while the System was watching her this closely. While not being able to share all her new knowledge was undesirable, not getting it at all was unthinkable! Besides. She had already gotten more than enough fame. Missing out on it didn''t matter as much anymore. But before she answered the request she read it through several times. It did seem awfully simr to an Enchanted Contract in some ways, after all. So, all this Rule requires of me, is for me to keep quiet on everything my Dungeon deems one of its secrets. Which is annoyingly open ended, but does seem to confirm my Dungeon''s higher than average intelligence. Not that I know exactly how high it is yet, but only sapients and animals like beastkin are intelligent enough to both have a secret and ask someone else to help them keep it a secret. While all my requests must abide by this ''Mission'', nothing bad will happen if I fail to do so. Hmmm¡­ Wait! Doesn''t that say ''the Mission of Dungeon Cores''? As in all Dungeon Cores?! They have a shared Mission? The idea was hard to swallow. Normal Dungeons were just so mindless it seemed impossible for them to have amon goal. Curiosity had at this point taken over, and having found no real drawback Zina epted the Dungeon Rule. Chapter 54: The Act of Private Messaging Chapter 54: The Act of Private Messaging Mission Too many sapients have karma levels of 25% or lower. The System created Dungeon Cores with the intention of having them kill off these bad people while making good people stronger. Dungeon Cores are given loot to lure greedy people to their death, while the promise of more power will lure the power hungry. This¡­ Changes everything¡­ Sarzina Acacia realized. But I can no longer tell anyone! Immediately, her gut - or rather the System - informed her she could tell people about the purpose of Dungeons, just not how she got the information. Zina gave a relieved sigh. The System is helping me navigate this, so I must be on the right path! ¡­ Maybe¡­? I know it''s not part of a request anymore, but¡­ Holy System! Please inform me, so I might better myself and others: What is a karma level? But, just as expected, the System didn''t reply. Zina wasn''t too disappointed. The context of the Mission had told her enough to know that a low karma level was for bad people, while good people had high karma levels. Besides, she had put her old dungeon professor on the job of researching that particr topic. Professor Cercis had loved a good research project as long as Zina had known her. And while Zina would have liked it if she could have done it herself, she had too many other things to think about these days. And of course her Professor had ess to more research materials and contacts than Zina had while positioned in the middle of no-man''snd. So¡­ Every request I make of my Dungeon has to either aid in killing bad people, particrly greedy and power hungry people, or not stand in the way of that goal. I can work with that! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It had been nerve racking to simply wait for the Lightning Mage to ept my Rule enforced deal. Especially as she stopped muttering to herself after her outburst, meaning I had no idea what was going through her mind. And if she didn''t ept it, there would be nothing stopping her from exposing my intelligence. And I just wasn''t ready for that kind of attention. Finally, after 11 agonizing minutes, she epted my deal. Good! I thought in relief, before trying to determine how the Lightning Mage was reacting to my Mission. Only for her to contemte it silently¡­ Now of all times to be silent?! While I could send her a false request simply asking her to speak her thoughts, this would reveal my spying, which was too valuable to give up like that. So, instead I resigned myself to not knowing. Your linked activator requests to know what the secondary trigger for the traps of The Dungeon of Karma is. Will you allow this? Yes/No Pa! Hahahaha! I stutterughed at the sudden request. Of course she found a way to bend the rules! Heh. Requesting knowledge instead of specific creatures! After a bit moreughing I sobered up and considered her request. On one hand she already knows my Mission, so her knowing my traps are triggered based on karma levels might not do any difference. On the other hand it might cause her to stop bad people from entering my Dungeon, which would stop me from tiering up. ¡­ Oh no¡­ Simply knowing my aim is to kill bad guys might cause that reaction! I just don''t know what her opinion is on killing bad people! She could be okay with it or see the death of anyone as bad or anything in between! Why did you have to stop speaking your every thought out loud! I mentally sighed. Well¡­ Since she already knows just enough to make her react badly should she be against my Mission¡­ She might as well get a way to know how to determine who is bad and who isn''t. Send her the description of ''Karma Traps''. I ordered my Mimicking Fake Core as a way of epting her request. The request prompt disappeared and an ''oh!'' followed by scribbling could be heard from the Lightning Mage. But still, no muttering under her breath. Your linked activator requests to know how intelligent you are. Will you allow this? Yes/No She''s already sworn to secrecy so yeah sure, but just how can I even answer that question? I mean, I don''t know how intelligent I am! The prompt disappeared and while no words came from the elf, her excitement was still audible. I wonder how the System defined my intelligence¡­ Actually, let''s stop having a one-way conversation. Send her a request to enter my Dungeon. If she can make unorthodox requests why wouldn''t I be able to do it too?! Secondster I had gotten a ''yes'' reply and could hear the elf packing her writing supplies and start walking. It waste in the day and the sun had technically already set, though it was so close to sunset I doubt she would question why my Dungeon was still open. Once she entered I had her greeted by a rock-shaped, Mana Form mini mimic. Over the next hour I informed her of my dislike of very, the reason why the boulder in the room was ck and suggested the 0%''er be given to me, as in case of mind control I would be able to undo it - I saw little reason to hide that I could do that - and I gave my opinions of her intentions regarding my Dungeon. Most of her intentions wouldn''t change anything for me or the Tribe, so I didn''t have a lot to add. My only real request was that she didn''t try to stop bad people from entering my Dungeon. My secrecy was already mostly secured by the Rule, but I made sure to discourage her from telling other people too much. Stating things like ¡®you would be unable to tell them like how you know that¡¯ and ¡®would they believe you?¡¯ or whatever seemed to fit the situation. I had no intention of telling her my actual reason for the secrecy. I didn¡¯t trust her enough for that and she didn¡¯t deserve an exnation either. If she proves herself trustworthy, maybe I¡¯ll tell her one day. Then again. Maybe I¡¯ll be big and strong enough to not fear getting more attention. ¡­ Or maybe I¡¯ll always fear attracting the attention of something or someone strong enough to¡­ ¡­ Oh! And I did smugly inform the Lightning Mage that my Dungeon did indeed have a theme! She didn''t doubt it at this point. At one point she had even suggested removing the Cage around my Core. The suggestion stunned me. I had not expected that. Especially not at our first actual meeting. But¡­ In the end, the Cage didn¡¯t make me feel caged. It was the presence of the elves which did that. The Cage actually allowed me to gain more information on the current situation by allowing me to spy on the Lightning Mage through the link between the two. But of course I couldn¡¯t tell her that I could no longer spy on her if the Cage was removed. Instead I pointed out how we could use it tomunicate even while she was on the Surface World. Which, admittedly, was a nice option. I just had to be careful not to identally reveal my eavesdropping. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Zina didn''t get any sleep that night. She was too busy going over everything she had learned from her Dungeon - it had denied freedom and had thus epted her im as its guide - and applying it to her ns for the future. She had always considered herself religious, without it being her whole life, but after this? Clearly this Dungeon had been blessed by the System with actual sapiency! Such a thing couldn''t simply happen through a random mutation. And if the System felt the need for a sapient Dungeon there must have been an important reason behind it! Most likely due to normal Dungeons being ineffective at achieving their Mission. But it wouldn''t surprise me if there were more than one reason for it. For that reason Zina had begun nning for how she could best help the Dungeon, and by proxy the System, who had never asked for anything but for people to work hard in order to get Skills and levels. 4 things had stuck out to the noblewoman during her conversation with the Dungeon - and wasn''t that an odd thought! Having a conversation with a Dungeon! The first had somewhat been mentioned in the Mission: The Dungeon had to kill ''bad people''. The so-called 25% or lower karma level, which the Dungeon had been kind enough to exin to the elf. It had even mentioned how not only would only these people trigger the traps in the Dungeon, but they were also unable to focus on the Dungeon''s b¨¬xi¨¦s. If the System wanted them killed, then Zina trusted that judgment. However, the conversation had added perspective to the Dungeon''s Mission. It wanted to kill bad people and only bad people. Yet it didn''t seem to be able to mourn for the good people it had already killed. It wanted to avoid killing good people, but didn''t particrly seem to mind if it did end up happening. At the same time, it wanted to kill bad people and found joy in doing so. In that way, the Dungeon was very much the embodiment of its Mission. The second thing she had noticed was how the Dungeon had been able to detect people with 0% karma. People who, the Dungeon had informed her, had done something so evil the System felt personally insulted by the act. Or: People who had been mind manipted by someone like that. Or mind manipted by someone mind manipted by someone like that. Apparently while someone is mind manipted, you take on the karma level of the one manipting you. And additionally there was a cult around here doing just that with the goal of collecting Dungeon Cores, killing the Dungeon in the process. But the Dungeon had some way to undo mind maniption¡­? It didn''t want to specify how it did that, only that it could and that the System would reward it more for doing so rather than killing them. At this point in the conversation Zina had suggested making the Queendom aware of the cult, so their Dungeons could be better protected. She was then about to suggest for the victims of the cult to be brought to the Dungeon of Karma to have their mind freed, but before she could the Dungeon demanded that this kind of knowledge couldn''te from her, as she wouldn''t be able to exin where she heard it from. That, along with several other simrments, had clued Zina into the third thing that had stuck out to her: The Dungeon didn''t want to attract attention. This concept was almost foreign to Zina, whose goal since childhood had been gaining fame. It wasn''tpletely foreign, however. ¡®Cause getting attention for having done something embarrassing was undesirable even to her. But what could a Dungeon be embarrassed about? Its low kill count? Its age or size, perhaps? No matter which one it was, Zina concluded the Dungeon would one day be over it, but that it might be best to respect its reluctance for now. She would order Alnus to spread the knowledge of the cult to the Queendom. He could im he heard it in one of the towns he would have passed through at that point on the way back to the capital. Lastly, the Dungeon had kept stressing how it hated sapients who enved other sapients. Zina hadn''t at first been sure if this had been meant as ament on how the cult took away the freewill of its members, if it was aimed at her for having ced an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around its Core, or both. Zina had tested the waters by asking if the Dungeon wanted the Cage removed, not sure if it would be a good idea, but prepared to im that the process of doing so wasplicated and would take some time to prepare. That way she would have enough time to figure out if removing the Cage was actually the best action and toe up with a reason for why she couldn''t remove it. After a long moment of consideration, the Dungeon had declined wanting the Cage removed, as the link between Zina and the Cage gave them a way tomunicate through creative requests, which could be used even while Zina was outside the Dungeon. The vements must have been aimed at the cult then. Zina had concluded. Chapter 55: Sapient Beasts and a Stable Boy Chapter 55: Sapient Beasts and a Stable Boy The vements hadn¡¯t been aimed at the cult. 3 days had passed since Sarzina Acacia had learned of her Dungeon''s intelligence. She had soon after announced - carefully worded - that her Dungeon reflected one''s behavior and that the secondary trigger seemed to be based on one''s general behavior rather than one''s current behavior like for the Dungeon monsters. That one person might trigger a trap with a wide effect leading their Party to get hit by the trap as well. And that the massive number of monsters seen during the initial run to Cage the Core was the Dungeon ''reflecting'' the ''allow all''-tool''s effect by allowing the Dungeon to follow different rules for its monsters. And as such, only a temporary effect. This announcement had led to a massive spike in Dungeon mining at first. For the first day afterwards, Zina''s Dungeon had been near constantly in use. But near lunch the next day, one of the soldiers had been killed by the Dungeon, reminding people that the Dungeon of Karma could still kill you. Not that it stopped just about anyone from mining. The loot and EXP was simply too good for the amount of effort expended. While others had been mining her Dungeon, Zina had used that time to reevaluate all she thought she knew about the Dungeon of Karma in the light of the Dungeon''s sapiency and its System given Mission. The immediate conclusion? The System had been right about giving the Dungeon sapiency. As her initial trip to the Core had shown, the Dungeon of Karma was better at killing than other Dungeons of its age or even other Dungeons of its size. Yet, it killed fewer than its strength suggested as the Dungeon of Karma was fully capable of selective targeting, which let it follow its Mission without unnecessary bloodshed. The Dungeon-wide secondary trap trigger was a perfect example of this, only triggering for those the Dungeon actually wants to kill! Simply brilliant! While the Dungeon had stated it had a theme it hadn''t revealed what that theme was. Though with it being an embodiment of its Mission it hadn''t been hard to guess. It had oddly enough gone into third-person due that part of the conversation, saying "my Dungeon has a theme" instead of "I have a theme"... Yet another oddity Zina wanted to add to her notebook, though this time it was one she couldn''t write down. While she didn''t think anyone here would dare read in her notebook without her permission - she was the dungeon mistress of the town they were founding after all, which came with a lot of respect and authority alongside all the duties -, she didn''t want to risk it getting read. What she did write down was her discovery of her Dungeon''s theme of ''reflected behavior'': If you showed the Dungeon kindness, it would reflect it back at you, with the same happening for rude or violent behavior. Still. Even with this discovery, Zina found it prudent to reevaluate everything she had learned. And when she got to the point of analyzing the puzzle door at the end of the third room of the 4th Floor - the one which kept insulting the elven species until you convinced it not to judge based on another''s species -, Zina had to ask herself a startling question: What if the vements hadn''t been aimed at the cult but at me like I first assumed?! Or maybe Alfam¨¦r in general?! But rather than the ve being the Dungeon itself, it was actually someone else? The puzzle door in question wouldn¡¯t fit into the Dungeon¡¯s theme unless it was reflecting the opinion of someone. And after thinking over her past conversations with the talking door, Zina quickly realized that the person the door reflected hated the elven species and thought of them as ruthless ve owners. But who would think that? It¡¯s not true after all! I¡¯ve never seen a ve in my life, nor even heard of an elf of the present time being a veowner! After a bit more thinking on the matter Zina decided to simply request the answer of her Dungeon. While she would have loved the challenge of figuring it out on her own, she worried the Dungeon - and thus the System - expected her to do something. The sooner she figured out what to change, the faster she could begin andplete her sacred task. The elven noblewoman reached inside herself and mentally touched the link between herself and the Dungeon Core Cage through which she sent the request to her Dungeon. To think that I use the System Itself as a meremunication tool! Zina shook her head with a smile. But I can''t forget! If the System hadn¡¯t wanted me to do this, it simply wouldn''t have let me! Secondster, the answer arrived via the holy System. Request epted Your linked Dungeon Core is against very. The only form of ve it has seen is runaway beastkin ves. Beastkin?! But they''re not people! They''re animals! ¡­ Aren''t they? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Finally she got it! Took her a while! I thought I was pretty clear when I spoke - through my mimic - but I suppose I was somewhat distracted trying to sound mysterious and wise¡­ First the Lightning Mage had panicked and aggressively muttering could be heard from her for several minutes as shepared all she knew about beastkin with actual beasts. It hadn''t taken her long to realize she didn''t actually know all that much about them but in her denial she tried desperately to convince herself that beastkin were really beasts. Had always been beasts and nothing but mere animals. Only to end up concluding they were more intelligent than animals, yet were often treated worse. And she froze like lightning had struck her: "They have sses¡­ Only sapient species have sses¡­ Right?" She had muttered to herself - and unknowingly me. She had soundedpletely terrified, like the knowledge could physically hurt her. Then confusion set in as she remembered that my kobolds had sses as well and her denial made a reappearance. Eventually she decided to simply ask for confirmation. Your linked activator requests to know if your kobolds have sses because they are sapient. Will you allow this? Yes/No Sure thing! If her knowing, that kobolds are actually an extinct sapient species, helps here to terms with beastkin being sapients as well, then let her know! It did help her. Only now she had yet another big revtion she wanted to share with her people, but no way to exin where she had gotten that knowledge from. Nor did she know exactly what to do with her newly discovered information. In the end she decided to take it one step at a time. ''Her Dungeon'', aka me, didn''t like vers and supposedly that meant the System didn''t like very either. I don''t think the two are rted¡­ I don''t just hate very because the System does. I hate it ''cause I believe everyone has the right to make their own choices! Still. Believing me to be her god''s spokesperson got her moving quicker than if she hadn''t, so I didn''t correct her. That, and the description of my Achievement ''Freedom of Thought'' literally started with ''Everyone deserves to have their own free will'', so I felt pretty confident in the System agreeing with me on this. That being said, while the Lightning Mage now wanted to abolish all very, she wasn''t cocky enough to believe she could make that happen. Instead her n was to prohibit it for the town being built around my Portal. Supposedly, as the local dungeon mistress she could make localws like that as long as they didn''t go against any majorw made by the monarchy. As she didn''t have a good way to exin why she suddenly believed beastkin to be sapients, she instead decided to point out how beastkin were often treated worse than actual animals, thus starting her campaign out by ouwing animal abuse. Something which apparently was frowned upon but not actually illegal already. Afterpleting the necessary paperwork, the Lightning Mage went back to her bad guy hunt. Specifically, how to locate the person with 0% karma. She had been considering how to find them many times thest 3 days, but had only arrived at one half of the solution: Ordering everyone to enter my Dungeon, iming she wanted to observe how my traps and creatures react to each person. And I do think she¡¯ll take the chance to do exactly that. Just to be sure she didn¡¯t miss something I haven¡¯t told her about¡­ Her only problem was figuring out how to keep the 0%''er in my Dungeon after discovery with all my creatures attacking them. Especially, if she had a full Party with her, which timewise would be the most effective way. ''Cause how would she exin to them that the person needed to be killed by the Dungeon and actually make them believe her? ¡­ I hadn''t figured out how to tell her I intended to undo the mind control rather than simply kill them. I feared what she would do with that knowledge, being as thorough in her approach to things as she was. Would she order people to be mind controlled in order to find out how quickly I could undo it and what factors into that speed? Or would she simply ask me now that she could? But I had noticed she would often attempt to figure things out herself before resorting to asking me for the answer¡­ No! I have to get over my trust issues! She reacted well to learning beastkin are sapient, even though she had grown up being taught the opposite! She just needed some time toe to terms with it! She didn''t even make any crazy experiments during that time! She just reevaluated what she already knew! Maybe she simply couldn''t do any experiments ''cause she didn''t have ess to any beastkin to experiment with¡­ No! Don''t think like that! If she had had ess to a beastkin ve she would probably just have asked it questions and done a couple of simple mind tests! Nothing crazy! Right? Yes, right! Now stop this train of thought and figure out how tomunicate your ability to break mind control to her! I took a moment to calm myself before continuing. I can tell her how ''Enthralled'', ''Hypnotized'', and the likes can be seen next to a mind controlled person''s name while inside my Dungeon. That should help her convince people to leave the person to me. ¡­ And I could add a timer feature to it, counting down to when their mind is freed. That way she wouldn''t have to do experiments to find the exact number. ¡­ Damn it! Why am I like this? Nheless, it was a good idea so I implemented it. It was a simple change to my previous Rule ''Get Out of My Head'' - the one which slowly breaks mind maniption - and as it was purely cosmetic, the change barely cost me any mana. Now I just have to actuallyinform her of all of this. ¡­ Let''s hope I don''t end up backing out! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I didn''t and 2 dayster we had found and freed a young - but still adult - stable boy from his Hypnosis. The timer had ensured everyone was alright - or at least didn''tin too loudly - with trapping the young elf in The Great Tree Room for the duration. The Lightning Mage had exined how she wanted the young stable boy to stay in the Dungeon for the timer''s duration and the soldier and¡­ stable master?... was quick to follow her order. I think she intimidates them¡­ Then she left my Dungeon to inform everyone else what was happening. The timer was in hours after all, it would take a while. ¡­ There was some fear associated with what would happen when the timer reached zero. I hadn''t wanted the timer to say so as future cult members might react by leaving my Dungeon anding back with some form of defence for it. But if they didn''t know what would happen they would have a hard time trying to defend against it. The Lightning Mage had done her best to calm the worried people, though that clearly wasn''t her speciality. She had ryed what I had told her about it being a countdown till his mind was freed but had to im it was just a guess. And while trying to hide ourmunication she ended up emphasizing that ''it was just a guess, we can''t know for certain till it reaches zero''. Which naturally made people more worried¡­ Her follow up of ''the Dungeon doesn''t really kill people, remember?'' had more sess due to the lieutenant cutting her off before she could start mentioning all the times I had killed people. The stable boy - much like Skau - had been ordered to report to the cult any news he heard about any Dungeon and thus hadn''t known a whole lot about what the cult of the Broken Goddess was currently up to. Only that his current mission had been to keep them up to date on the town''s progress. They are so sending out another Party to try and steal my Core, aren''t they? Chapter 56: Karma Theories, Bosss Boss, and Settlers Chapter 56: Karma Theories, Boss''s Boss, and Settlers That worked perfectly! Sarzina Acacia thought to herself with a smile on her lips as she exited the Dungeon of Karma. Her god - through its sapient Dungeon - had charged her with locating and freeing an innocent young man from an evil cult''s mind control. And she had seeded in that mission! The n had been fairly simple: Zina had dered everyone had to go through the first three rooms of the Dungeon with her so she could test her Dungeon''s reaction to each person. ¡­ For the purposes of finding the person with a 0% karma level it was only necessary for the person to enter the Dungeon, but the third room was where the first trap was¡­ It was more realistic that way! ¡­ Or at least that was the excuse Zina had made to herself¡­ Those who refused to enter the Dungeon with her would have to pay a small fine. Nothing major, it was mostly there simply as an encouragement. And if the person she was looking for turned out to have paid the fine then she had nned to try with a carrot next. But it hadn''te to that. The holy System is clearly pleased with me! The noblewoman was filled with a sense of pride and aplishment as she thought of the Achievement she had just received. New Achievement: Weeding the World: Rarely does a being ever validate getting a karma level of 0%. But if they do, they represent a danger to the world and need to be killed immediately. Condition: Kill or help kill at least 1 being with a karma level of 0%. In the case the karma level is 0% due to mind maniption, getting rid of said mind maniption is also an option. Reward: 1% extra lifespan per being of karma level 0% you have killed or freed from mind maniption and the Ability to see the Karma Auras of beings with karma levels of 0%. The Achievement had helped her shed a light on what exactly a karma level was. It''s the System putting a number on how dangerous someone is, not just to others, but to the entire world! Ha! Take that Professor! I''mpletely without any relevant research materials and I still discovered the secret behind karma levels before you! The extra lifespan was nice, but Zina had already ensured her immortality simply through being the dungeon mistress of a unique Dungeon and thought little of it. The Ability to detect people with 0% karma level, however, was greatly appreciated. Zina had not always been the mostmitted disciple of the System, but recent events had certainly changed that. This new Ability would help her ''weed the world'', as the System had put it, in the honor of her god, proving her faith. Shortly after arriving back in her tent her emco went from barely glowing a soft blue light - which was an indicator that it still had power - and began blinking a more vibrant purple, indicating an iing call. As her brother Braern only had a normal Communication Orb it couldn''t be him calling. The only person, it could be that Zina actually wanted to talk to, was Professor Cercis. I really wish I could tell who''s calling before I answer. To mentally prepare if nothing else. For if it wasn''t Professor Cercis, then it had to be either a peer or a superior. Either of which was someone she couldn''t afford to ignore without at least social consequences. It was, of course, always possible to im one hadn''t seen the emco sh, but such a im was better saved for another time. It wasn''t one you could use too often after all. Taking a calming breath, Zina touched the emco with one finger and pushed mana into it to ept the call. "Hey sweetheart! It''s your favorite Professor!" The sound of Professor Cercis had her immediately rx and smile. "Professor Cercis!" "My contacts finally came through for me!" The Professor excitedly began what was sure to be a long spiel. "Turns out the knowledge isn''t really known among elves. I had to reach out to some of my human and gnome colleagues before I got any real results." "Which was?" Zina interrupted before her old Professor could get sidetracked. "Well, the other sapient species believe - or at least the humans and gnomes, I haven''t yet checked what the other believe. That will be my next stop as your question has got me quite curious!" Zina did an eye roll she was d her mentor couldn''t see. She might have attempted to stop her Professor from getting sidetracked but, as so often was the case, it hadn''t quite worked. The thought only made her smilerger. "So the humans and gnomes believe - and have at least some studies to prove it, which, again, I''ll have to look more into myself. That the holy System not only values hard work and risks, but things like kindness and generosity! Of course those things are needed to have a thriving society, but I''ve never heard anyone associate those qualities to the wishes of the System!" "While this is all very fascinating, I really have to ask: What does this have to do with karma levels?" Zina asked, attempting again to move them back to the topic at hand. "Supposedly, if someone has lived a very unkind life, then the System will refuse to reward the individual with any earned Achievement. They call this ''having bad karma'' - which I assume means having a low karma level. And if an individual had already earned an Achievement only to ''be unkind'' the System might even take the Achievement away again till such a time that their karma has gone neutral again." "Huh¡­" Professor Cercis then got sidetracked and began specting, how if this was true, which nobles might have imed to have an Achievement they didn''t actually have. Zina patiently let them get sidetracked for several minutes - it was a fun topic, after all! - before informing her mentor of the Achievement she had just achieved and what it said about people with karma levels of 0%. After having her promise to be careful who she shared the knowledge with! The Achievement gave extra lifespan after all! Who knows what people would do to get that! "Hmm¡­" Professor Cercis hummed thoughtfully. "''Rarely'' you say? Then maybe one''s karma level normally represents how likely the person is to¡­ do another harm, while the lowest score is reserved for people who are a threat to not just other people, but the entire world¡­? We''ll have to do more research to reach a conclusive answer, of course. My colleagues are still helping me search for additional knowledge and should get back to me any week now! Of course we mustn''t forget how quickly humans can get things donepared to us elves and gnomes. I highly suspect it has something to do with their shorter lifespan. Perhaps they unconsciously realize they need to work faster if they want to get the same amount done in a single lifetime that an elf gets done? Gnomes don''t seem to think the same way even though they only live one and a half times as long as humans. Like us elves, they understand that there is no hurry for many things in life." And so the sidetracked rambling begins again. Zina thought with a small smile and a shake of her head. May her ramblings never truly stop. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Boss''s boss had been unable to provide Emil Great Rat with tasty food at first due to how far away Emil was to any of boss''s boss''sckeys. But once the closestckey did show up, tasty food hade with him. And then boss''s boss showed up himself just as he had told Emil he would. Boss''s boss had at first simply wanted a detailed description of what had happened on their failed mission - stupid as the goal of that mission had been. Emil knew how important urate information was when nning how to get stuff and did his best to describe the whole event as detailed as possible. Though apparently the other group''s initial reaction along with what boss had said about the Dungeon had been the important parts to boss''s boss. Emil didn''t really understand why those details were so important, but he was also well aware that he was no mastermind. Boss''s boss was boss''s boss for a reason, after all, and could clearly see things Emil couldn''t. A couple of days before boss''s boss arrived another one of hisckeys had. Or rather one of boss''s boss''s boss''s boss''sckeys had arrived. The elven girl was always wearing a hooded cloak and hiding behind a in mask matching the skin color of her hands and yet she was apparently quite high ranked in boss''s organization. Emil didn''t really understand how the girl could be both higher ranked than boss''s boss and yet have to take orders from him¡­ But Emil also didn''t need to understand. The matter was between the two of them and he was only happy to stay out of it! But then boss''s boss had finally arrived along with 5 others and soon Emil did understand how the order''s hierarchy worked. It was actually really simple! Bishop Marthox knew how to cast the wonderful spell which had made Emil feel so proud of himself! Talindra Delonix-Regia couldn''t cast it, so despite being a higher tier than the bishop she couldn''t be in charge of a mission. The version of the spell that priestess Calorose could cast was a much weaker version and so she was still under the wings of bishop Marthox! So simple! Understanding the hierarchy of the Order of the Broken Goddess came with the understanding that the best way for Emil to serve their cause was for him to stay behind and be taught the art of blending in among elves. The beastkin heathens living around the Dungeon Portal had been reced with elves assumed to be heathens as well, so it wasn''t because Emil would be recognized. No. The mission was simply too important to risk having a newbie join. This particr Dungeon had the main piece of the broken goddess, after all! Nothing was more important than rescuing the pieces of the goddess from her many Dungeon prisons! In the meantime, it was Emil''s job to learn to blend in with the elfs of Alfam¨¦r, so he could enter their tightly secured Dungeon and get himself a Breakthrough Orb and finally reach level 10. ¡­ Well¡­ it wasn''t that tightly secured for people of the first three tiers, but the higher the tier the more security there was to enter. The foul ce had put yet another cage around the piece of the broken goddess trapped at the end of the deepest Floor of the Dungeon and the elves wanted to ensure only their most trusted people could get anywhere near the trapped piece of the goddess! So when bishop Marthox and his temporary flock left to rescue the main piece of the broken goddess, Emil stayed behind with his new teacher. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó 5 days passed quietly after the stable boy had been found and freed. The Tribe had had another birth and a midnight baptism with my kirin Boss and its unicorn bunny assistant was nned for the following night. The mother and baby had needed a couple of days to recover from the birth and it had been announced this morning that they were ready for the ceremony to take ce. But before the sun had set that day, something exciting had happened to the elves as well: Reinforcement had arrived! Or rather: The people meant to actually live in the town. Till now all the elves had fit into one of three categories: soldiers meant to help the Lightning Mage reach my Core, various workers meant to build a town around my Portal, or the ''dungeon mistress'' aka the Lightning Mage herself. These new elves were meant to settle down here and thus there were surely many different types among them. From what I could hear from conversations around the Lightning Mage, some of these settlers were a sheriff and his 9 subordinates meant to rece the military as the town''s security. And of course, the long awaited priest, meant to decide if the elves would try to destroy my Core or not for being too abnormal, would be among them as well. If they did decide to destroy my Core they had two ways of going at it: Breaking my allowed sapients toe at me with massive forces like they didst time or only sending in a small but powerful Party. If they did the first, then I was pretty confident I woulde out on top, seeing as my 10th Floor and its Boss was almost finished and I would once again be able to storm any invaders with forces from other Floors. But if they chose to send a specialized Party - and thus didn¡¯t break the allowed maximum per Floor -, I wouldn¡¯t be able to move creatures to different Floor due to each Floor only being allowed a certain number of ¡®levels worth of creatures¡¯. This would stop my kirins from gaining as much power from the deaths of their fellow Dungeon creatures, meaning¡­ ¡­ I couldn¡¯t be sure I would win. Not while knowing the Lighting Mage and her powerful pet dawon would be a part of this Party sent to destroy me. And sure! The Core they would destroy would be fake, but after having destroyed ¡®my Core¡¯ without my Dungeon actually dying they would realize the Core was fake and begin looking for the Real Core. And with all that magic in her hand, it would surprise me if the Lightning Mage couldn¡¯t find my Real Core should she actively look for it. She could find my mimics when looking for them after all¡­ And with the Lightning Mage being a smart girl, she had surely realized a small but powerful Party would be her best choice for winning. So to summarize: This single priest had the ability to sentence me to death. And if he did, I would only have, at most, a 50% chance of survival. The specific oddsy in the hands of the Lightning Mage and her choices, of course. But the priest could just as well dere I were to live and thus give me a 100% chance of survival for the foreseeable future. Truth be told: This unknown priest made me more anxious than the powerful Lightning Mage. She was the devil I knew, after all. I suppose there is a decent chance my ''Fake or Real Core'' Rule might convince her that she destroyed the real Core, but without the effects of actually dying I somewhat doubt that. Chapter 57: A Priest’s Belief Chapter 57: A Priest¡¯s Belief Broder, no, Fader Travaran Ginkgo had not onlye from a highly religious family he had also spent his life learning all he could about the holy System. Both from books and the older priests of Alfam¨¦r, some of whom he sometimes suspected were holding something back. For his own good most likely. Surely, some things about the holy System were not suitable for everyone! Not even a middle-aged, 4th tier Acolyte like himself¡­ Travaran didn''t want to admit to still being bitter about it, yet couldn''t help but think the best way to worship the System could be found in knowing more about it. Now that he had be a high priest in charge of his own clergy - though right now that clergy only consisted of himself - at least he no longer would be tempted to fight his elders for daring to keep knowledge of the holy System away from him without even giving a reason for doing so. Travaran was fully aware he had a temper. He was just good enough at hiding it that barely anyone else knew. "Fader Ginkgo! Pleased to meet you! I''m Sarzina Acacia, the dungeon mistress of the Dungeon of Karma." The noblewoman speaking was less formal than he was used to them being and looked more like a full-time miner than a born and raised noble. How refreshing! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó At first they had simply been small talking, as was polite. Mistress Acacia asked him how his travels had been and in turn told him about her ns for the town being built. She even suggested moving his house up on the building schedule to which he declined. It was no trouble for him to sleep in tents, andter he could simply get a room at the inn currently being built. It didn''t take long before mistress Acacia requested they get some privacy for a more serious talk. She probably thinks bing a dungeon mistress has or will turn herzy and seeks my advice on the best way to keep worshiping the holy System. Travaran thought, as mistress Acacia opened the door to her office in the newly built Dungeon Guild. I''ve heard many tales of how an elf got themselves a new job in administration or management only to quickly either bezy or think they had. Some, of course, had misinterpreted zy'' as ''not doing as much exercise any more''. Fader Travaran smiled to himself as they took their seats. Well I''ll be happy to inform her that the holy System sees the training of any Skill as worship! What an easy first task! As it turned out, his first task as a high priest wasn''t easy at all and nowhere as lowkey as he had expected. Instead he had the job of determining if the local Dungeon had really been blessed by the System as its dungeon mistress suspected. That can''t be right. Was Travaran''s first thought on the matter. Dungeon monsters are the reincarnation of dead sinners. Only once a sinner has been killed enough times to make up for their sins will they be reincarnated as an animal, then a semi-sapient and finally they''ll have the chance as a sapient again. With their soul now hopefully having learned its lesson. While they''re Dungeon monsters they serve their former people by helping them level up. But why would a Dungeon be blessed? Would it contain sinners who were worse in life or better than the average sinner? By that point mistress Acacia had gotten to the part about the Dungeon having more monsters than usual and Travaran couldn''t help but nod. Ah! So its blessings are there to assist it in containing arger than average number of sinners. But what is the purpose of the theme and this secondary trigger? The holy System rewards risks after all, and this seems to go against that¡­ Breaking the mind maniption of people in the Dungeon?! Marvelous! While not immediately believing the Dungeon could be blessed, Fader Travaran didn''t for one second think it needed to be destroyed as mistress Acacia seemed to fear was an option. The System made every other type of being in the world through their parents. Whether it was an animal, semi-sapient, sapient, or even a nt, the System made them through their parents. Except for Dungeons. Unlike other beings Dungeons weren''t created through a parent, nor was it eternal like the earth, water, rocks, and air. Immortal, yes. But not eternal. No Dungeon was as old as the world and all of them could be destroyed andpletely cease to exist. A rock pulverized would have simply turned to powder, and water boiled became steam. But once a Dungeon''s Core had been harmed it would expel the culprits before disappearing, leaving nothing behind. And no sign could be found of its Portal having ever been there. Thus making Dungeons the missing link between eternal objects and living beings. And with the System making Dungeons without any parents being present, every Dungeon was made perfect. ¡­ Though some Dungeons did end up learning bad habits and having to be put down. That was incredibly rare, of course! With them being created perfect, it could be no different! Simply the fact that the Dungeon of Karma - the holy System officiating the names of Dungeons?! Marvelous! - contained more than the average amount of sinners would have been enough to make Travaran believe the System favoured it. The only thing making him pause was the dungeon mistress''s not so random pauses alongside annoyed face expressions, which seemed to indicate her wanting to say more than she could. An Enchanted Contract, perhaps? But with who? Enchanted Contracts were expensive due to all the regtions surrounding their use, so the individual had to either be well off or well connected and had to have been in contact with her after she first entered the Dungeon seeing as it stopped her from speaking about details specific to this particr Dungeon. That didn''t leave a lot of candidates. Especially seeing as one of the aspects being regted was including the contract breaking should one of the people involved die from anything other than getting killed by the hand or order of the other person. This meant it was improbable for it to be any of those who died in the taming of the Dungeon of Karma. And maybe most importantly: What would the motivation be? Travaran couldn''t think of any, but he had also only just arrived. Maybe a motive would reveal itself to him in time? When the dungeon mistress had finished her exnation, the two of them had sat in silence for a while as Fader Travaran considered all he had learned. Eventually his thoughtful face was reced with calm determination and with a nod to himself he spoke. "While I want to agree with your conclusions and officially dere the Dungeon of Karma blessed by the holy System, I believe I''ll have to first observe the Dungeon myself. Would you mind escorting me after breakfast tomorrow?" "Of course! It would be my pleasure!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It was clear to me that if the Lightning Mage hadn''t been sworn to secrecy through a Dungeon Rule threatening to erase her memory of said secrets should she try, she would in fact have revealed everything she knew to the priest. Despite this seemingly being the first time she met the guy¡­ Are my quirks really that worrying? Seems so¡­ ¡­ Nah! I totally get it! I am really weirdpared to other Dungeon Cores and thus my priorities are much harder to pinpoint. I spent the night filling my 10th Floor with the remaining creatures, made all 4 puzzles, and began filling the ce with traps. Tonight I''ll finish the 10th Floor, dig out the 11th and have the Tribe move there! ¡­ And in the morning have it revealed that the requests I send my ''mistress'' arepletely unneeded as my Core is not actually trapped in an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Fader Travaran Ginkgo had found the Dungeon of Karma incredibly fascinating and unusual. Mistress Acacia had escorted him through her Dungeon and exined and demonstrated many interesting things on the way. He still didn''t know why anyone would want the dungeon mistress to keep certain, unknown knowledge of this Dungeon secret. Travaran did however find it odd how the kobolds seemed to be aggressive if the Dungeon Core was insulted, and maybe that was why mistress Acacia had thought the Dungeon was in danger of being ordered destroyed? Kobolds in general were known as the only Dungeon creature smart enough to make advanced traps, given enough time for them to first master the more rudimentary kind of traps. Still. Travaran had never heard of them being able to understand every word someone spoke to them. The Dungeon of Karma was definitely unusual, and while Fader Travaran didn''t understand why the System had chosen to make the changes it had - or even which changes were directly done by the System and which were simply due to normal Dungeon diversion - it was clear to him that the System had in fact blessed the Dungeon of Karma like mistress Acacia had suggested. A revtion which both relieved and excited the noblewoman. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With the priest''s blessing I, hopefully, would have nothing to fear from the elves. ¡­ Except perhaps, once they realize I''m not actually under their Cage''s limitations¡­ But I seem to have the Lightning Mage on my side now! Maybe I can convince her not to tell anyone? After all, if she doesn''t snitch no one else will know! ¡­ Would the secrecy Rule prevent her from telling anyone? I want it to stay a secret, so¡­ it should, right? ¡­ Huh¡­ I mean, if herck of control over me makes her afraid or she decides to feel offended ''cause I won''t let her micromanage me, then she might decide to try to Cage me again. And being the thorough scientist she is, she would want to figure out why the Cage didn¡¯t work in the first ce, which might lead her to realizing the trapped Core is fake - she is at a high enough tier where I don''t doubt she can see through my defense if she decides to actually try. And if she knows the Mimicking Fake Core is fake then she''ll surely look around for the real Core. And anyone who can see through the Mimicking Fake Core can just as easily find my real Core! I could feel my panic rising with every thought and had to force myself to calm down. Nothing has happened yet, and I have already done all I can to prevent the worst. I''ll just take it one step at a time. And right now that step is cing thest trap on my 10th Floor, so I can dig out the 11th and the Tribe can move location before the sun rises. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Morning came and at first no one realized I had gained a new Floor. Not everyone had the time to go all the way to the end of my Dungeon. While the distance itself wasn''t grand, some of the puzzles would still take some time to solve, even for people who had solved it before. The Door of Speciesism, for instance, needed to be convinced anew every run and every key had to be found and gathered - I had after all made it so they changed position every time. Instead the elves had finally noticed the effect of the ''Earning One''s Own Paycheck'' Rule. Having had more than a full day to settle down after their move meant that some of the neers had epted invitations to guided tours into my Dungeon from some of the more experienced goers. I had celebrated finishing my 10th Floor by increasing the allowed number of sapients in each Floor from 4 back to my original and preferred amount of 6 - getting a second Boss, a true mimic, and a unicorn blessing made me feel safe enough to do so - so the neers could visit me with several friends and an escort or two, no problem. Which led to them realizing the neers had all their knowledge of my Dungeon distorted while in said Dungeon. Though curiously - for them -, they retained the knowledge that my creatures were generally non-aggressive. The Lightning Mage was quickly informed about it and naturally she wrote it down. She thought quietly for a while. I had learnt this meant she was thinking about one of my secrets, which in turn informed me she took my secrecy seriously as she didn''t want to risk anyone overhearing her mumbling. After a couple of minutes she requested to know if people''s knowledge getting messed up was one of my Dungeon Rules. I confirmed that it was and she requested the exact wording on the Rule. Should I? I took a look at the wording myself before I decided. Dungeon Rule: Earning One''s Own Paycheck: All knowledge of this Dungeon must be earned individually by exploring the Dungeon or having one of the Dungeon Core''s creatures share the knowledge. Unearned knowledge will be distorted until it has been confirmed by Dungeon exploration or by a Dungeon creature. All EXP gained to sapients or semi-sapients from killing Dungeon creatures must be earned individually by participating in the fight. No unearned EXP is gained in this Dungeon. The Dungeon Core gains nothing from one sapient killing another, if nothing Dungeon-aligned did anything to make this happen. Dungeon-aligned includes Dungeon walls, doors, puzzles, traps, creatures, "family" and so on. Subrule 1: The knowledge of Dungeon creatures being generally non-aggressive will not be distorted by this Rule. There''s not anything dangerous in there. I mean¡­ I know the line about knowledge being confirmed by a Dungeon creature refers to my mimics'' and kobolds'' ability to talk, but I highly doubt she''ll realize that. It''s not the smallest leap to make. After the Lightning Mage had written down the wording of Rule, she read through it again and realized what I had missed: the mentioning of my chosen family. So of course she requested to know what that was about. I almost instinctively rejected her request but remembered at thest second the consequence of doing so: The request would be forcefully implemented instead. Right! I have to consider all her requests seriously before I reject them. So, if I let her know who my chosen family is, what would happen? ¡­ Well, knowing who they are won''t suddenly let her know where they are, so safetywise nothing would happen. ¡­ Maybe knowing that I, the Dungeon Core supposedly blessed by their god, the System, considers a Tribe of beastkin my family, will help her ept that they aren''t animals¡­ ¡­ Or maybe it will do the opposite, as Dungeon Cores are seen as lower than animals¡­ I could feel my fear of being betrayed caution me against giving away information and for that reason I decided to risk it. I didn''t want to live in fear and I had a whole new Floor to protect me! Your linked activator requests to know who the Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma is. Will you allow this? Yes/No Right! Of course that''s all she would be told! It''s what it tells me under ''Chosen Family'' after all! Hmm¡­ I''ll allow her to know that the Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma is the group of formerly enved beastkin who originally found me. But there''s no reason for her to know any more than that. And luckily for me, she seemed satisfied with that. ... And she didn''t react badly to the news either. Chapter 58: First Look at The 10th Floor Chapter 58: First Look at The 10th Floor It wasmon practice for miners to announce the movement of a tamed Dungeon''s Core to the local dungeon master without first exploring the new Floor. For some tamed Dungeons entering an unexpected Floor without express permission from the dungeon master was simply seen as rude while it came with a fee ormunity service in other Dungeons. Sarzina Acacia had decided the punishment would be a couple of weeks with 3 hours unpaid Portal guard duty each day. This punishment would likely change as the Dungeon and the surrounding town grew but for now it seemed fitting. The newly arrived sheriff had at this point been handed all information needed to aid him in making the growing town safe from both inside crime and outside forces from lieutenant Alnus, before the remainder of thepany had left for the capital. Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus had then been quick to schedule a guard rotation for himself, his undersheriff, and his 8 deputies along with suitable freetime. Some of said freetime he and his subordinates used in the Dungeon during which the relocation of the Dungeon Core was discovered and immediately reported. When dealing with an unexplored Floor, Zina had already established a certain way of dealing with it. Namely: slowly while taking notes and with a somewhat high level person backing her up against the unknown. As her usual choice had left, she needed to find a new person to watch her back and point out details she might otherwise miss. After a bit of thought the dungeon mistress hade to two different possibilities: Sheriff Fraxinus or Fader Ginkgo. The sheriff would be a good exploration partner in the case a puzzle needed Charisma to be solved or if there had been added another room in the Dungeon where the monsters actually attacked on sight, like the werewolves had done. Should the majority of them even still be called monsters? They only attack criminals and in self defense¡­ On the other hand, some puzzles were easier to solve with high Awareness and a sense for details, which the high priest might be able to assist her with. ¡­ In reality her Awareness was likely higher or just as high as Fader Ginkgo''s. Zina simply hoped he might help her shed some light on the uniqueness of her Dungeon. Even if just through offhandments hisck of knowledge of the Dungeon''s secrets wouldn''t allow him to understand the meaning behind. Having no reason not to simply invite both individuals, the three of them had soon after nned an expedition to the 10th Floor for the next day after breakfast. Depending on how it went, Zina would invite either both, only one of them, or someone else entirely to explore the 11th Floor with her when it was revealed. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Both sheriff and high priest had been easy to convince to follow her lead through a Dungeon run. Sheriff Fraxinus expressed a want to learn more about the Dungeon and suggested he might learn more if he went with the dungeon mistress than if he went with his own people. Fader Ginkgo, on the other hand, had simply said ''yes'' to the invitation with no hesitation nor exnation. Simply a nod and a thoughtful look. Finally! People who like to learn about Dungeons as much as I do! When was thest time I found someone like that? Professor Cercis? Actually¡­ Have I ever found anyone else? Braern supports my choices but he''s never expressed a desire to learn for himself or even enter a Dungeon if not for a tier up. He''s a good brother at least¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It took mere moments after the Lightning Mage entered my 10th Floor before she realized that she had been getting fake reports. ¡­ Or rather: She would have if the elves hadn''t just realized I had a Rule in ce to twist people''s pre-knowledge about my Dungeon. Instead the noblewoman assumed that anything she thought she knew about the new Floor was temporarily wrong due to the Rule. And not because I had fed her wrong information from the start. Of course that only meant the realization would be dyed till she was outside my Dungeon again. Which was much appreciated! Any dy would mean more mana for me should the worst happen. Then again¡­ I doubt she can even reveal this to anyone since I want it to remain secret. With no one attacking my creatures, the whole Party having positive karma levels, and with no presence of any non-karmic creatures on my 10th Floor, the only interesting things about their trip were the puzzles. The first one was a closed but unlocked door with the words "The key is the key" above it. Next to the door was my true mimic pretending to be a key on a hanging keychain. The mimic - being my perfect mimic - didn''t react to getting picked up and simply let itself be ced into the keyhole and turned. Which locked the door and left the Party quite confused. They had heard the sound of the lock turning but now the door was locked? While they did get the door unlocked again - as to be expected - they couldn''t figure out why I had made a puzzle like that. And why the System hadn¡¯t announced the puzzle solved. They were all at a high enough tier that they wouldn''t have gotten any EXP for a puzzle that simple - would anyone, had it really been that simple? - but they would still be informed ofpleted puzzles. That''s okay. You don''t have to understand why I do the things I do. Besides! You''ll find out the real purpose of that particr puzzle soon enough¡­ The Three Curses puzzle at the end of the 2nd room was a simple one, mostly meant to distract people from the previous puzzle. Three spheres the size of a human head, each with their own curse attached. The first person to touch a sphere would get the curse until someone else had guessed what the curse was. Only once all three curses had been guessed correctly would the exit be revealed. The curses would change from visit to visit between two dozen varieties. That being said, the curses were all rted to either hearing or speaking. This was both to make it harder to notice the effect of the curse for the unprepared and to make it impossible for someone to solo my Dungeon. ¡­ Maybe I would regret that choice, but my experience told me anyone with the ability to solo my Dungeon would have a hard time finding anyone else in their tier. This meant in dangerous situations they would end up having to protect their partner and potentially leave themselves open to attack or at the very least a bit more tired by the end of each attack. This time around the three curses were a slight stutter, the need to state the color of any noun said, and the inability to hear names. At the end of the 5th room there was another closed but unlocked door with a key hanging from a keychain next to it. Only this time the key was an actual key and the door led to a wall. The simrity of the two parts of the puzzle was the only hint of what was going on. ¡­ That and apparently the Lightning Mage could detect that the key was magical in some way. I knew it was, of course! I just hadn''t given any thought to whether anyone would be able to detect that. So, with the Lightning Mage in the lead the Party solved my puzzle, taking the magical key from the 5th room, bringing it to the first and turning it in the keyhole there. The first puzzle door of the 10th Floor was now a portal to the otherwise inessible 6th room of the Floor: The Blessed Field. Where my unicorn blessing lived! The third puzzle of the Floor was a simple ''make all the unicorns in the room like you and your whole Party to make the trapdoor to the next room appear''. Super easy for some, yet impossible for others! The elves had a surprisingly hard time, however. Apparently a unicorn had killed one of their previous queens? She must have been an evil queen then. The story - most likely alongside a lot of propaganda aimed at making the monarchy seem perfect - had made them incredibly wary and at first even hostile towards the grassing blessing. But after several moments in tense defensive positions, the Lightning Mage seemed to either realize the unicorns had no intention of harming them or she remembered my words about only killing bad people. Nheless, she decided to cautiously approach the nearest unicorn. Once it was confirmed the unicorns wouldn''t harm them, the other two quickly decided to simply avoid and ignore them. Which didn''t do anything to annoy the unicorns but it also didn''t make them like the Party. The blessing instead ignored the Party like the Party ignored them. I wasn''t all that surprised when they decided to stop for the day before having solved the puzzle. The Tribe had solved the puzzle quickly due to Begdar having spread the knowledge of my theme around from the moment she knew of it, and because both her and Chief Nerok made sure to regrly remind people of my and my creatures'' kindness. That''s to say: Everyone in the Tribe knew half my puzzles could be solved through kindness. And even though I had informed the Lightning Mage of my theme, she had yet to use the knowledge of it to try and solve one of my puzzles. As soon as the Lightning Mage had arrived back at - what I presumed was - her office, she began analyzing what she had learned from her trip, like she always did. Only to finally realize just how wrong everything my requests had told her about the 10th Floor was. Chapter 59: A Question of Life or Death Chapter 59: A Question of Life or Death For a long while Sarzina Acacia simply stared nkly at her notebook. After the run through the first half of the 10th Floor, the Party had split up with the dungeon mistress returning to her office at the Dungeon Guild. She had her own living quarters consisting of half the top floor of the building with the other half being offices for herself and her future workers. How? The requests she had gotten from the Dungeon - for how could it be considered hers when it was both sentient and could lie to her - didn''t match what had appeared in the Dungeon. Never once had it requested a ''karmic elemental amphiptere - Lightning'' or a ''karmic elemental lightning drake - Buff''. Yet these species were the only ones to be seen in the first 5 rooms of the 10th Floor. The Dungeon hadn''t ever requested a unicorn either and if it had she would have had to contact Professor Cercis before she could even hope to understand the repercussions for granting such a request. So, how had the Dungeon managed to both lie to me about its actions but implement them as well? Had it simply found a way to make me think it requested one thing, while really requesting another? I never saw any reason to deny any of its requests so that''s definitely an option. ¡­ Except¡­ The System had still ryed the requests, which could only mean the System approved or at least epted the lies. Why would the System approve of a Dungeon lying to its master? Several minutes passed with Zina in uncharacteristically silent depression before a thought pulled her back up. Wait! When did the Dungeon start lying to me? It didn''t do it in the beginning. I might not have gotten the full details of the 9th Floor but it was undoubtedly already halfway finished before I became its dungeon mistress, so I hadn''t expected to know everything about the Floor before entering. And what knowledge I did get about the 9th Floor did end up being true. So, as far as I can tell, the Dungeon has only lied to me about its 10th Floor. Why did it do that? Leaning back in her chair Zina began staring at the wall instead with her arms falling to herp. No. Why would it tell the truth? A normal, tamed Dungeon tells the truth ''cause it has to. After all, if it makes a request about a monster it doesn''t want to make, then that bes the monster it can make once the request gets epted. But this Dungeon is not normal. And Fader Ginkgo has confirmed its abnormality is due to the System taking special interest in it. With the System guiding it, there''s no need for guidance from a dungeon master like with normal Dungeons. ¡­ Zina leaned forward, ced her elbows on the table in front of her, and hid her face in her hands. Of course the System would allow the Dungeon of Karma to disregard my guidance! I''ll never be anywhere near as smart and knowledgeable as the Holy System itself! ¡­ But why all the false requests? Zina straightened her back again as she once again looked over the various false requests she had gotten. Maybe¡­? To make me think I still had control? Had anyone else been in her office with her they would have heard yet another heavy sigh. I normally love puzzles but¡­ this one isn''t any fun¡­ At this point I would normally ask for a hint or guidance or something but the only one I can ask for help with this particr puzzle is the Dungeon and I apparently don''t have any guarantee its answers will be truthful. ¡­ I''ll just have to chance it then. Though I really wish I had an alternative! Zina took one more deep breath before she began sending out requests for answers. Starting with how it was able to create monsters, puzzles, and traps without her permission. The reply took only 10 or so seconds to arrive, but was a simple rejection of her request. Request denied Not surprising. At least it can''t lie to me while rejecting my requests for information¡­ The next request was simply a formally worded ''Why did you lie to me?''. The answer took a bit longer to arrive but at least this time it came with an actual answer: Request epted Your linked Dungeon Core made fake requests to keep its ability to create Dungeon creatures, puzzles, traps, and Rules without approval of its linked activator from said activator for as long as possible. Your linked Dungeon Core fears its linked activator will demand its destruction upon realizing its continuous independence. Not a single word was written down, though Zina desperately wanted to. The reply contained several pieces of valuable information: The Dungeon of Karma could feel fear, consider what the future would bring, and find a solution that could dy the problem even if it couldn''t find a way to truly solve it. And a dying tactic had been a smart move too! Now the Dungeon had an additional Floor to protect itself behind. Its 10th Floor even, which meant it had an additional Boss too! And all those unicorns too¡­ It all served to confirm the fact that this particr Dungeon was sapient. Okay then. What exactly is my response to this? Should I do as the Dungeon feared and demand its destruction? The idea didn''t sit well with her. Such an act would be going against not only her life goal but the will of her god as well. Pros and cons: Destroying the Dungeon would rid the world of an untamable Dungeon. ¡­ ¡­ Is that really the only point I cane up with for destroying the Core? Am I being biased? I''ll have to discuss it with Fader Ginkgoter. And make it really hypothetical. Cons: It would also rid the world of a good source of loot. The best perhaps! Double loot with no danger involved?! And that''s another one: Despite apparently being untamable it has been acting unnaturally pacifistic of a Dungeon after the initial run. And it even exined why that was! ¡­ That is¡­ If it was actually telling me the truth¡­ Zina gave yet another sigh as she shook her head. Being able tomunicate with a Dungeon has been very exciting and all, but without being able to trust that it tells me the truth¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Lightning Mage had been unnaturally quiet after she realized all my requests had been faked, leaving me clueless to her thoughts. The only sounds I could hear from our connection was that of her many sighs and frustrated grunts, the sounds of pages being turned, and clothes moving around because the Lightning Mage did. The silent wait made me more and more anxious. Then finally she began asking me questions, the first of which I had no intention of ever telling anyone about. Still, I took the time to think my reasoning through before I rejected her request: The Fake Core can only keep me safe as long as no one knows it is fake. As such, I won''t exin how I can create things without her approval. Her second request was much more reasonable and was thus granted. But then my information lockdown resumed. Then I could hear the Lightning Mage getting up from her chair and packing her notebook away before exiting the room and power walking somewhere. "Fader Ginkgo? I need some advice when you have the time." Asking the priest for advice? I suppose that makes sense. They do think I''m their god''s, the System''s, chosen one or something like that. "Of course, mistress Acacia. I''lle find you once I''ve guided mister Ilex through his troubles. Can I be safe to assume I will be able to find you in your office when timees?" The priest asked, to which the Lightning Mage confirmed. This time the walking had slowed to a more normal walking speed, and she even took the time to answer a couple of questions from passersby. So by the time she arrived in - what I had to assume was - her office, she didn''t have to wait long before the priest came by. Finally I get to hear at least some of her thoughts on the matter! She''ll have to state them out loud to get his opinion. Though of course she''ll have to speak in metaphors for most of it, so I''ll have to be prepared to trante. With greetings given and tea served - so that was what she was doing while she waited! I couldn''t figure out what all the different sounds had been for - the Lightning Mage began trying to exin the situation without revealing any of my secrets. To do this she actually started out by stating there would be a lot of details she would be unable to tell him, but that she would do her best to still get her dilemma across to him. Which¡­ was fine¡­ It wasn''t like she had revealed why there were certain things she couldn''t say, so all my secrets would still be hidden. Then came her attempt at an exnation in which she called me ''a dangerous, untamable creature, who had yet to actually show aggression''. Which¡­ was a fair description¡­ I have shown a bit of aggression, mostly during their first visit, but for simplicity''s sake it''s a decent, yet abstract, description of me. The Lightning Mage then asked for advice on how to deal with me: Kill me to be on the safe side as taming wasn''t an option, or let me live with the hope I wouldn''t someday turn aggressive. She even added that letting me live would help the town thrive as long as I stayed peaceful. The priest''s answer? Essentially that killing without any reason was a sin and that ''we mustn''t let fear of the unknown control us''. Having said that he questioned if it was perhaps possible to let ''the creature'' live but prepare a response should it one day be aggressive. The suggestion made the Lightning Mage pause before she had to shoot the idea down, stating that ''just like true dragons, as the creature ages it grows stronger''. Any response they prepared would thus have to grow stronger in force at the same pace I did. For a while the silence was only interrupted by the sound of tea being drunk. Having considered the dilemma presented, the priest decided to ask for more information. What exactly would happen should they choose to do nothing? Would people die or property be damaged? To which the Lightning Mage thoughtfully replied that ''the creature'', while dangerous and untamable, was unable to move. As such, only those who got near it ''wanting its hoard and power'' would be in any danger. Hearing that, the priest was no longer in doubt: ''Let the creature live and aid the town, but remind the people getting near it of its wild and unpredictable nature.'' After all, I hadn''t done anything wrong yet. Her response to this? Most likely a nod, as she didn''t say anything out loud. So while the priest''s words had given me much relief, in the end it wasn''t for him to decide, so some worry still remained. Chapter 60: Repairing Trust and Dealing with Complaints Chapter 60: Repairing Trust and Dealing with Comints After her talk with the priest, the Lightning Mage came by to talk to me in person. She wanted to know several things, the first of which being how she could trust me after I lied to her. Which¡­ I hadn''t realized I had done, but looking back; yeah. All those fake requests certainly were a form of lying. One I don''t regret as I only did it out of self preservation. It was a necessary lie. But now she feels like you used her. You took advantage of her firm belief that the System couldn''t be manipted into lying to her. My soul''s trauma demanded I do something to make up for having inflicted the same wound onto someone else, even though I was certain this betrayal had been nowhere as bad as what had traumatized me in my previous life. She had seemed to ept my answer of precautionary self defense, though she had been visually still¡­ sad?... disappointed I hadn''t trusted her? I''m not a mind reader! How am I supposed to know what that expression is for? In the hopes of cheering her up again, repairing our broken trust - Not that there was a lot of trust between us before this. I do still spy on her - and soothing my own guilt, I asked if there was anything I could do to make up for what I''d done. After a bit of thought she stated she didn''t believe I was going to give her actual requests just because she had learned of the false ones. Which was correctly assumed. So instead she asked that I no longer send her requests for stuff I don''t intend to create. Any request for stuff I actually intended to do would be greatly appreciated though she now knew they were unnecessary. Her job as a dungeon mistress meant she needed to be as up to date on my Dungeon as possible and all my fake requests had really messed up her notes. So to make up for my lies she wanted me to make a fake request for each of my creatures so she could ask the System for a description of them, which she would add to the bestiary she had made of my Dungeon''s creatures. Even though new miners would forget all their unearned knowledge as they entered my Dungeon, the bestiary would still allow them to prepare appropriate armor and tools. At least she added that she wouldn''t fault me if I decided to keep the details of certain creatures to myself. So I epted her olive branch, though it would take me some time to decide which creatures to expose and which to keep hidden. Any creature with no hidden features or only features the Lightning Mage had already discovered, might as well be revealed and that was actually most of my creatures. The rest I would have to consider moreprehensively. I did want to give her something she hadn''t discovered for herself as a token of¡­ potential friendship?... goodwill? Maybe as an apology? Probably all three and more¡­ Regardless of exactly why, I still allowed her ess to the descriptions of the two types of dragons she had seen on my 10th Floor: Karmic elemental amphipteres of the Lightning element are a small species of amphiptere with 2 pairs of wings each with a wingspan of 0.6 meters. Their scaled bodies are obsidian ck with bright yellow stripes. They attack through the use of Lightning and only eat electrocuted meat. As their specific way of using Lightning can be amplified through multiple Lightnings being cast at once, elemental amphipteres of the Lightning element find it advantageous to form flocks. These flocks can get as big as the ecosystem can sustain. While they hunt together, they aren''t actual social creatures and inrge flocks it is not umon to see them fight to the death amongst themselves. As they are karma creatures, they will mirror how sapients treat them. They will however gang together against outsiders attacking one of their members. Karmic elemental drakes of the Buff element are a brown species of drake with darker brown spots covering their entire bodies. They are 2.3 meters from head to tail, omnivores, and are opportunistic scavengers. Their slow speed and physical reaction time leaves them open to attacks from predators. While their scales offer little protection against physical attacks, any attack using mana gets absorbed by the drake who can then Buff the attack before redirecting it towards an enemy. This has resulted in making elemental drakes of the Buff element an almost entirely symbiotic species, as various mana using species has used it as both bait and amplifier while offering protection and a share of meat in return. As they are karma creatures, they will mirror how sapients treat them. I had gotten the Lightning amphipteres as a creature pattern as I got to level 19 and while they sounded cool, simply flooding my second Boss Floor with a bunch of the same creature to power up its Lightning seemed boring andme. At the same time I did want to take advantage of said ability. So I used a lot of downtime waiting for my mana to recharge to design various different elemental dragons of, at first, the Lightning element. Only a rare few of these ended up being original designs - which I determined by looking at how many extra unthought of details the description included - as many of my ideas were rejected by the System for one reason or another. It mainly sounded like the System found my ideas unrealistic¡­ In the end I didn''t think any of the various Lightning dragons would have added anything interesting, even if most of their attacks would have gotten the same bonus my Lightning amphipteres did. Something, looking back, I wasn''t actually sure would happen. So I tried again, but focusing on the Buff element this time. An element I was mightily curious about anyway. As it turned out, the Buff element had many different uses all based on strengthening what was already there. Whether it was an Ability Score, a magical effect, or even one''s size. And among the different elemental Buff dragons I found just the right one for the job. Amplifying the already supercharged Lightning attacks, while giving off an entirely different vibe than my Lightning amphipteres. My Dungeon was still my body after all. I didn''t want to be considered ugly or boring. The Lightning Mage hadn''t yet left my Dungeon when I made my ''requests'', so I got to see her face as she read their descriptions. While each description separately was nothing special, in the middle of writing the second one down she realized their destructive potential when working together. The look on your face! Clearly she had forgotten she was working with an intelligent Dungeon! I had even made sure each member of the two species had gotten a ''Symbiote - [name of the other species]'' modifier. Something she had taken note of but not fully understood until now. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The sun set and the Tribe once again began walking around the other levels of my Dungeon to gather food, train with kobolds, or simply to stretch their legs. As had happened several times before, someone would mention how odd it was to be in a Dungeon while being unable to earn EXP or loot from it. They were thankful for the constantly reappearing fruit and wheat, training from my kobolds, their safety and continued freedom¡­ No one said they had to stay in my Dungeon. They simply feared what would happen should they leave, even though I had kept them up-to-date on what was going on up there. I had even informed them that I had convinced the leader that beastkin were sapients and should be free to do as they chose! ¡­ I didn''t mention how long she had been in denial about it after I had told her¡­ Nheless, the Tribe refused to leave and while they gave me more entertainment than they were a bother,ints were starting to get more and more normal. Most I couldn''t actually do anything about either. I thought you were worshiping me? I mean you still are, but can we get back to when it was just worship and noints? The Tribe did do daily prayer to me which was a form of thanking ceremony led by Chief Nerok. ''Thank you for this merciful Dungeon of Karma'', ''Thank you for that loving Dungeon of Karma''. Though sometimes they called me ''the holy System''s loyal disciple''. While I was certainly loyal to my Mission and by extension to the System, I doubted ''disciple'' was a good description. Not that I bothered to correct them. It was close enough. But in an attempt to get the Tribe to stopining, I tried to give them entertainment. First through kobold training, then through aerial drag dances as they looked really impressive when flying rhythmically together. Yet it clearly wasn''t enough anymore. Well¡­ not good enough for my standards. Nerok had already informed me that I had done more than enough just by keeping them safe. So, the Tribe wants - among other things - to go back to running through my Dungeon again, earning EXP and loot. The EXP would help them get stronger which would make them less fearful of elves and getting enved again, while simply getting ess to meat from loot drops againwould stop a good deal ofining. The Tribe had run out of meat and had lived exclusively on a vegetarian diet thest couple of days But all that is inessible to them as they would have to leave my Dungeon and enter again which would reveal their presence to the elves due to their constant guard around my Portal. But this is my Dungeon and here I am a god. So I must be able to change that rule. Right? Let''s give it a try! System! It is no longer necessary to -... Wait no. I don''t want the elves to be able to take advantage of this. They would have no reason to leave after sunset anymore and then the Tribe would have less or maybe even no time to go forage for food in the rest of my Dungeon! And as the environment in unfinished Floors can''t be harvested they would eventually either starve or be forced to confront the elves! ¡­ Let me try again: New Dungeon Rule: My chosen family can restart a¡­ Dungeon run without having to leave my Dungeon. Calcting¡­ Insufficient data provided. Uhmm¡­ That''s a new one. Insufficient data? So¡­ I can do it, I just need to give more details on how it''s going to work? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. Ahh¡­ The ssic ''yes'' answer! I''m d we understand each other! So, I was thinking we could add a door, or maybe more an entryway, to my Core Room that only my chosen family can see and use. Walking through the entryway would take you to The Great Tree Room like you had just entered my Dungeon. ¡­ Is that enough data to make it a Rule or should I keep going? Calcting¡­ The Rule "Family Reruns" costs 13,580 mana. That''s expensive¡­ As it always is when dealing with Rules¡­ And I suppose this one does give me yet another way of earning EXP. Not that I need anymore of that! I took a quick look at my Personal Status to see just how much excess EXP I had and how long I would have to wait till I had enough mana for the Rule. Personal Status Level: 29+ Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 56/100 EXP: 1,499,647 Next mana payment for level up: 2,000/18,000 Mana: 2,013/4,000 Mana regeneration: 1,400 per hour Floors: 10/15 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I have 4,013 mana and need to have 13,580. That should take me about 6 hours and 50 minutes. Mental sigh. It better be worth it! ¡­ Is there something more urgent I need to use that mana for? Maybe I should make that ¡®forbid mind control¡¯ Rule for my 1st Floor now that I have the needed mana for it? But I already have ¡®Only for Those of Sound Mind¡¯ and ¡®Get Out of My Head¡¯ to deal with any potential mind control. While the cult might think my Core is the ¡®main piece¡¯ of their goddess - whatever that means - I¡¯m still publicly known as a new and low tier Dungeon. I might fight above my weight group which might make them feel inclined to send higher tiered people after me, but as I''m still only a 2nd tiered Dungeon they won''t bother sending their very best. And, of course, when ites to the cult, I don¡¯t even need to kill them to defeat them. Simply dying them long enough for ¡®Get Out of My Head¡¯ to free their minds is enough! Yeah. Forbidding mind control won''t have any immediate effect and I won''t need it till I''ve killed or freed more powerful people, making me worth sending the truly powerful people after. On the other hand, ''Family Reruns'' will have an immediate effect. It''ll make the Tribe stronger, which means I''m better protected as well, and I''ll get more EXP for when I''ll eventually start needing it again. Yeah. That¡¯s what I¡¯ll do. And simply adding more Floors will have a more immediate effect than forbidding mind control too. Chapter 61: Rerun Mode and a Holy Mission Chapter 61: Rerun Mode and a Holy Mission New Dungeon Rule: Family Reruns: Only someone the Dungeon considers family can see the Dungeon Rerun Portal located in the Core Room. Entering the Dungeon Rerun Portal will make the family member exit the connected Portal, which has been ced ovepping the Dungeon Portal to the Surface World, and transporting said family member to the 1st Floor of the Dungeon. This will initiate ¡°Rerun Mode¡± for the family member if said member is an adult. Rerun Mode has an allowed number of family members in each Floor at 4. As a rerun means not leaving the Dungeon with loot, only one-use items will be offered as loot during Rerun Mode to limit hoarding inside the Dungeon. Rerun Mode ends once the Party has entered the Core Room of the Dungeon. ¡®Limit hoarding¡¯? I hadn¡¯t thought of that, but of course they would want to keep any valuables they earn, even if it won¡¯t be of any use as long as they¡¯re in here. At least EXP gain wasn¡¯t touched. And meat drops count as one-time use, right? They did. That¡¯s good enough for me! Theck of meat has caused a lot of¡­ well not so muchints¡­ more¡­ debates as some people loudly long for the taste of meat, while others argue they had rarely gotten any meat as ves and they are used to it. If thetter group hears the first long for meat they will reprimand them for not feeling grateful for their freedom and safety. To which the meat lovers will respond by saying they have the right to miss the taste of meat, and that they can do so while still feeling grateful. ¡®But yourining is so disrespectful to [Insert the name of my Dungeon or one of the titles the Tribe calls me by].¡¯ ¡­ I¡¯ve clearly heard that discussion at least one too many times¡­ Let. It. Be. No. More! It was currently the middle of the night, meaning my Dungeon had no elves in it, and the Tribe had by now be mostly nocturnal. As such, there was no reason for me not to inform the Tribe of the new Dungeon Rule. Or rather: Chief Nerok. He quite liked acting as my spokesman. After describing the Rule to him, he asked why the allowed number of family members were 4 instead of the usual 6. Before giving him an actual response, I told him to wait a moment. I assumed at the time that the number was 4 as that was the lowest it could go and thus the default. I hadn''t intended for there to be a maximum after all, that was something the System had added. And given its simrity with the normal ''allowed number of sapients in each Floor'', I had assumed the number could easily be changed. It couldn''t. That didn''t mean it couldn''t be changed at all! Just that it wasn''t as easy to do. To allow an additional family member to enter Rerun Mode at a time costs 6,790 mana. The 6,790 was exactly half of the original price of 13,580 mana, which had made the Rule and allowed 4 people to enter Rerun Mode at a time. Yet the 6,790 mana would only allow one additional person. And as the Rule had been expensive in the first ce simply by virtue of being a Rule¡­ I would rather use that mana on filling out my 11th Floor. The Tribe could make do with Parties of 4. Getting back to Chief Nerok I told him I was too young to handle Rerun Parties of more than 4 per Floor. A white lie, so he didn''t have to know I had prioritized my Dungeon. After nodding understandingly - I was very young considering my immortal species, after all - Nerok set out to gather the Tribe, so he could give them a speech detailing the effects of the new Rule, all the while singing my prayers. And naturally the Tribe responded to the news with cheers. Something different to do, a better way of getting EXP, and a renewable source of meat! It overshadowed the limitations of the Rerun Mode. At the end of the speech Chief Nerok asked the adults who wanted to do a rerun that day to sort themselves into Parties of 4. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The first Party to enter Rerun Mode consistent of Begdar, Nalir, Thenac, and Zaktak, alongside their bonded creatures, Shadow the karmic elemental shapeshifter of the Shadow element, Hyper the karmic Lynx, and Emerald the fledgling karmic mimicking elemental dragon of the Forest element. Begdar was still without her own bonded creature, though it didn''t seem to bother her. Just as the Party had entered the Rerun Portal a message from the System appeared: Error: Departure failed. ¡­ Then the Party exited the entrance Portal in The Great Tree Room. Huh¡­? ''Cause they both left my Dungeon and didn''t at the same time? I couldn¡¯t think of any other reason for that message. At least Rerun Mode seemed to be functioning as promised and soon Hyper, Thenac''s hyper lynx, had hit level 20 and evolved into a karmic irvoyant leopard. Hyper didn''t seem all that happy with her new bigger size, however. While she was still excellent at hiding, it was clear that the smaller amount of ces she could fit into annoyed her. ''If I fits, I sits.'' But clearly Hyper doesn''t fit into as much anymore! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó As a token of trust, the Dungeon of Karma had allowed Sarzina Acacia ess to the System descriptions of arge variety of its monsters, including the newest two types of dragons. The Dungeon hadn''t included all the different monsters it used, but it was actually pretty close. Only phoenixes, several ck animals from the 4th and 5th Floors - which Zina had concluded was most likely a shapeshifting fey called a p¨²ca, but as the floatingbel above their heads referred to them by their current form, she couldn¡¯t bepletely sure about that -, its first Boss the kirin, the fledgling karmic hoarder dragons, the fledgling karmic elemental wyrm of the Fire element, the mysteriously well-hidden creature from the room with werewolves - which Zina only knew was there due to its unidentified meat drop -, and, of course, the unicorns. To only hide the details of 7 out of 44 different kinds of monsters was more generous than Zina had dared to hope for. Then again¡­ Its second Boss was likely a monster it hadn''t showcased before, so the actual number was likely 8 out of 45. Unless the second Boss Room contains additional monsters like with its first Boss. Then those monsters could potentially bepletely unknown as well. Even then, the number still looked pretty good. Not perfect, due to the lingering mistrust between the dungeon mistress and her Dungeon. At least I know I can trust the descriptions. The elven noblewoman had had ate-night discussion with Fader Ginkgo where she had used hypothetical wording while avoiding mentioning the word ''Dungeon'' to ask if the descriptions of monsters, traps, and puzzles could be faked through the System. Fortunately, the high priest had concluded that while a false message from the System could be sent, any questions the System answered were truly and honestly from the System. He also made sure to emphasize that this was incredibly hard to do as it needed both a specially-made, high quality tool which could mentally link the sender and receiver as well as a sender with an incredibly high Awareness Score. So while the requests themselves were false, every other interaction she had had with her god had been real. During saidte-night discussion a lupinekin woman in clean but ragged clothes had served them tea. Before then Zina had been quite unaware of Fader Ginkgo''s possession of a beastkin. Not that that was all that surprising. Most people had the opinion that guests should only be able to feel the presence of beastkin through the cleanliness of a house and the quality of its food. Only if a servant couldn''t be hired to serve the food would guests actually see the beastkin of a household. As such, Fader Ginkgo presumably came from a well-off family to have a beastkin in the first ce but not so rich as to have a personal assistant as well. It was quite likely his family had a couple of servants as well as several beastkin, just not so many as to be able to part with more than one for the high priest. As the lupinekin looked healthy, only poorly dressed and tired, Zina had decided to deal with the matterter. She had had too much on her te. Later turned out to be around noon the next day. She had gotten a good night''s sleep, knowing she could trust in the System''s descriptions of the Dungeon''s monsters and then awakening up to write them all down in the Dungeon Bestiary. With the next run through the Dungeon to figure out how to get to the second Boss nned for after dinner, Zina had several hours to kill. She had already spent some time checking up on various different people to see if her input was needed, such as Chalia with the construction workers and the teenagers she had hired to guard the Dungeon Portal after thepany left. But no one seemed to really need her today. And so, it was off to use the high priest of going against his god! I have to be really careful in how I word this¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "We need to talk about beastkin, Fader Ginkgo." Mistress Acacia stated after a suitable amount of small talk. "What about them?" Talking to the elven noblewoman had proven quite interesting and insightful. Her questions never had an obvious answer and Travaran had ended most of their conversations feeling like he had learned something profound. As such, he was quite excited to hear what she had to say. Mistress Acacia seemed to ponder her wording for a bit before beginning. Her Enchanted Contract must be involved. "As you know¡­ as a dungeon mistress I get to ask the System questions and get an answer as long as it''s rted to my Dungeon." She began and Travaran hummed encouragingly. "The Dungeon of Karma was originally found by a group of escaped beastkin and during my questioning I¡­" She stopped and shook her head. "No¡­ Let''s back up a bit." Looking directly into the high priest''s eye she asked for confirmation. "We concluded that this Dungeon has been particrly blessed by the holy System, correct?" "That we did." Travaran replied, curious as to where this conversation was leading. "Can we¡­" She began to falter a bit. "Can we then conclude that the wants of the Dungeon are the wants of the System?" "What?" Travaran asked, confused. "Dungeons don''t have wants. Or at the very least they have no way ofmunicating them. Dungeons are created for sinners to be punished and forgiven for their sins after their death¡­" Travaran had been fully prepared to keep going but something about hisst sentence had made Acacia open then suddenly close her mouth again. ... It had seemed like she had wanted to interrupt him to correct him on what he had said. "You don''t believe that is their purpose?" Travaran questioned, curiously. For what other purpose could they have? But mistress Acacia couldn''t find any words to answer him with. Something that clearly frustrated her. "You know that is not their purpose." Travaran eximed, wide-eyed as he watched her reaction to his statement. "It''s not that that''s not a part of what Dungeons do, I don''t know about that, it''s just not their main mission!" Mistress Acacia blurted out. At the end of which she flinched hard. She must have gotten dangerously close to going against whatever Enchanted Contract she''s under. ¡­ Punishing sinners isn''t a Dungeon''s main mission? "Is their main mission leveling up the living then?" Acacia shook her head lightly yet replied: "It''s¡­ a part of it¡­" Travaran blinked rapidly in confusion. What else could be a Dungeon''s purpose? Killing?! No! The System wouldn''t create both people and Dungeons only to give Dungeons a purpose in killing people! It wouldn''t make sense! But the thought was there and so Travaran had to ask, so he could get it denied. "Is their purpose killing people?" Mistress Acacia swallowed but didn''t even attempt to answer. Which, in itself, told him the answer. Just as Fader Travaran was sinking into the despair of hearing his god wished him and everyone else dead - for he had no reason to doubt her words, when she had had to work so hard to get around her Enchanted Contract - Acacia began talking again. "Remember the secondary trigger?" Before Travaran could recall the exact details around the secondary trap trigger, he got distracted by the noblewoman suddenly straightening her back as she stared straight forward. It kinda looked like she had gotten a level up System message. Or maybe a request from the Dungeon? Timing wise that seems more likely. Having read whatever message the System had given her, the dungeon mistress began to smile and rx. And after another couple of seconds she began speaking again. "You didn''t hear this from me, okay?" Travaran simply nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. "The System gave Dungeons the primary mission of killing sinners, the living ones that is, and leveling up the rest." There were no longer any odd pauses as she considered her wording. No hesitation of any kind in fact. The System message must have included some form of ease of her Enchanted Contract. I didn''t know that could happen without having both people in the same room¡­ "Specifically, Dungeons are meant to kill the greedy by luring them in with promises of loot, as well as the power hungry through the promise of fast level up. Of course, good people do get killed as well. To do so is just not their purpose." Regardless, that was a big relief for Travaran, who had already thought the worst. The System is with me, and has always been with me. Even in my moments of doubt! Chapter 62: On the Topic of Slavery Chapter 62: On the Topic of very ¡°And that¡¯s why your Dungeon only attacks in self defense.¡± Fader Travan Ginkgo concluded after a moment of silent consideration. ¡°And it exins the secondary trap trigger as well. Heh! Only harming sinners!¡± The priest eximed thest part as an awed murmur as a smile started to form on his lips. ¡°Exactly!¡± Sarzina Acacia confirmed as she considered how well the conversation seemed to be going. And how the happy atmosphere was about to be broken. For with that bit of background given, it was time to get back to the original topic. ¡°Why don¡¯t all Dungeons do the same?¡± Fader Ginkgo asked before Zina could direct the conversation back on track. Not that she minded that. It was a good question! ¡°Hmm¡­ I believe the System decided Dungeons weren¡¯t fulfilling their purpose well enough. Too many innocent deaths most likely.¡° Zina stated, slowly and thoughtfully. ¡°We concluded before that the Dungeon of Karma has been blessed by the System. I could see the System giving these blessings to better guide the Dungeon in its Mission. And I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if every Dungeon after this ends up with simr blessings.¡± Fader Ginkgo seemed thoughtful at this hypothesis before nodding in agreement. Zina took a deep, calming breath before getting the conversation back on track. "With the System watching this particr Dungeon so closely and guiding its choices¡­ Would I be wrong to say that their¡­ goals¡­ align?" "Hmm¡­ The Dungeon of Karma certainly seems to be following its divine purpose better than any other Dungeons I''ve ever heard of." The high priest began. "That doesn''t mean its every desire lines up with the holy System''s. Still¡­" Fader Ginkgo aimed a curious stare at Zina. "If you have determined some such of¡­ desire or want from the Dungeon¡­ I believe it would be worth considering if the holy System desires the same thing." Zina nodded. She hade to the same conclusion. Even if that conclusion had recently been tested by the revtion of the Dungeon''s ability to trick the System into telling lies. "I¡¯ve learned, through my role as a dungeon mistress,-" however little that actually means to the Dungeon "that the System, not the Dungeon of Karma but the actual holy System, considers beastkin sapients." A gasp could be heard from the high priest as part of his world view was shattered. But Zina didn''t stop talking just yet. "And that our local Dungeon began hating very after meeting the beastkin that originally found it." "And with beastkin being sapients every beastkin owner is actually a ve owner!" Fader Ginkgo eximed wide-eyed. Then all of a sudden his shoulders fell and his head lowered, still with his shocked eyes wide open. "I''m a sinner¡­" He concluded sadly. Zina could see how he reached that conclusion. The belief of the holy System didn''t have a lot of virtues and therefore not a lot of vices, which made them easy to remember. Hard work and risk taking - in a mostly safe way, as the goal was to challenge yourself - were the virtues Zina concentrated on the most. Free will was the third andst on the short list of virtues, and the one most often overlooked. Working hard and taking risks were considered worship to the holy System, while ''freedom'' wasn''t something one could easily practice. On the other side of the spectrum wasziness. A vice considered to be the antithesis of both hard work and risk. It was possible to be a hard worker who took no risks, or a gambler who did minimum work. But those kinds of people weren''t nearly as bad as one who possessed neither virtue. In fact, those types of people could benefit a society as long as their numbers were kept small. But a trulyzy person was considered the worst kind of sinner. Except for someone who took someone else''s freedom away from them through either ckmail, torture, murder or very. So it made sense that Fader Ginkgo suddenly thought himself a sinner. "You didn''t know, Fader Ginkgo. I''m confident the holy System will forgive you." Zina statedfortingly. He straightened his back and raised his head, but his eyes revealed the doubts he had of her words. "Perhaps you would feel better if you showed your repentance." Zina felt bad manipting him like this, but she would need all the help she could get on this endeavor. The high priest looked at her with hope in his eyes. He must have guessed she had a specific idea in mind. "How?" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Lightning Mage had struggled as she tried to exin to the priest that beastkin were sapients and why he should care. And why he should care about my opinion on the matter. So, I decided to give her a helping hand by allowing her to reveal the details of my Mission. Which, on second thought, I don''t even know why I considered a secret. Well¡­ I don''t want anyone to know exactly how she learned about it, but otherwise¡­ whatever really. As such the allowance came with the condition that she didn''t reveal how she knew about the Mission of Dungeon Cores. In hindsight she should''ve gotten super suspicious about the timing of that message¡­ I guess she was too relieved and focused on the conversation to realize I''m spying on her¡­ While I could hear everything the Lightning Mage heard, the fact that I couldn''t see what she saw meant I would have to guess what she was physically doing. But instead I could usually follow any conversation she was having. Not this time. Well¡­ not all of it. At some point the priest concluded he was a sinner, something which didn''t make sense to me, but the Lightning Mage immediately understood. The Lightning Mage had begun exining how he could show repentance by supporting her, as she made a localw prohibiting ownership of beastkin. This led me to the understanding that the priest had a beastkin ve, I hadn''t heard, but the Lightning Mage must have seen. The priest agreed to her suggestion, before questioning what would happen to any freed ves. A question the Lightning Mage clearly hadn''t thought too much about, as she simply answered they could do what they wanted. ''They would be free, after all''. The priest, however, realized that a newly freed ve would own nothing and have no money of their own, if she didn''t do something about it. And that such a state could drive people into doing things they otherwise wouldn''t do. "They can start out as miners then." The Lightning Mage stated, before adding that the previous owner would be forced to pay a fine for breaking thew and that that money would be given to the ex-ve. If the ve owner freed the ve of their own ord, up to 75% of the fine would be paid by the Dungeon Guild as a reward for cooperating. The discussion then turned to ''what to do about discrimination against freed beastkin'', and while I supported their topic, I stopped paying as much attention. Instead I went to share the good news with the Tribe. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Ovakz had never seen Fader Ginkgo - she wasn''t being disrespectful, he had asked her to refer to him as such - looking sad before. Mad? Many times. In fact he usually bottled up his anger and only released it when he was home, either alone or with only her and Jangor present. But today her master had shown up to her room looking sad. Or regretful? At least he had a small - but sad - smile on his lips, so whatever had made him that way couldn''t be too bad. "Are you happy here, my dear?" He asked. The lupine woman tilted her head in confusion. He had never called her ''my dear'' before. He regrly called her son ''the young one'' but he usually refrained from referring to Ovakz herself by any name or nickname. When the high priest needed her to do something he would simply look at her and tell her what he wanted her to do, no name or nickname needed, for better or worse. As he had never asked her for her name nor that of her son, Ovakz had long since decided theck of name-calling was a good thing. "I have what I need for me and my son." Ovakz had always believed it was better to answer her masters neutrally. At least until one knew their current master well enough to do otherwise. She had seen both positive and negative responses to seemingly easy questions get sudden and violent reactions from the master. "Yes, but are you happy here?" Fader Ginkgo pressed, making Ovask instantly sweat in fear. Now she would have to give him an actual response and she hadn''t been his personal property for very long yet. She didn''t yet know what answer he wanted. She and her son had been bought by the Ginkgo family roughly a month beforehand as their previous masters couldn''t take the constant screaming of a newborn baby. They had then been given to Fader Ginkgo as a congrattory gift for bing a high priest. With sweat covering her body, she cautiously replied to her master''s question. "I''m happier than I''ve ever been." It was the truth too. She had been treated better by Fader Ginkgo than her two previous sets of masters. She had been born as the property of an elven family, was sold to another elven family as a child, before meeting her current master the month before. And on top of getting better treatment she had her precious baby boy which was still new and wonderful. Even if he did wake her up several times at night. Ovakz was even allowed to prioritize taking care of her son over her own duties, something she knew wasn''t normally allowed. And she didn''t even have a lot of duties in the first ce as her master didn''t even have a proper ce yet for her to take care of. Even if he had, she likely still wouldn''t have a lot of duties as he liked to do most things himself as a part of his worship of the System. Fader Ginkgo hummed thoughtfully. He didn''t seem entirely convinced by her words. She gulped. Her armpits and back werepletely covered in sweat by now, though she didn''t think it had soaked into the fabric enough to show just yet. "Dungeon mistress Acacia ns to ouw keeping beastkin as ves." He stated, looking at her closely to study her reaction. Oh no! He''s gonna kill me before thew kicks in! He''ll kill us both! Why else would he tell me this? Her eyes frantically began searching for an exit as her body stiffened up, preparing for a fight. I have to get Jangor. Her son was taking a nap in their shared bedroll behind her. But that means turning my back and leaving me vulnerable to an attack. Logic may have told Ovakz that the smart thing to do was to attack him first, but her lifelong conditioning prevented her from even considering such a thing. "I intend to support her." Immediately the fire was calmed, but Ovakz'' bodynguage was still tense. Just ''cause Fader Ginkgo intended to support the neww, didn''t mean he wouldn''t kill them first or simply make their new lives miserable somehow. Fader Ginkgo was still looking at her sadly, but by now confusion had joined the sadness in his eyes. "You''ll get enough money to rent a room at the inn for a week. And food too. She suggests you be a miner till you have enough capital to¡­ well¡­ what do you want to do?" Ovakz had no answer to that question. He nodded sadly to himself before continuing. "I want you to know. That. If you ever need any help. You cane to me. Okay? Whether that means money or babysitting, I''m gonna be there for you." The lupine mother was too shocked and confused to respond, and soon enough Fader Ginkgo pped her shoulder before leaving her alone so she could deal with her chaotic thoughts. Chapter 63: Bans and Leaderships Chapter 63: Bans and Leaderships After the Lightning Mage had talked with the priest she sought out the sheriff to ask his opinion on ouwing very. It seemed to me like she wanted both to know what fallout to prepare and if she could count on his support. Luckily, the sheriff was fully supportive. He had apparently disliked how beastkin had been treated for years, though I doubted he had wanted to actually free them. As for the expected fallout, he concluded that as the priest was the only one of the current inhabitants of their would-be-town who had a ve, and as he had already approved of the ban, there likely wouldn¡¯t be a big outcry. There would be arguments, but as the ban wouldn¡¯t expand outside the town¡¯s boundaries - the Lightning Mage didn¡¯t have more power than that -, it would soon be seen as an odd quirk of the ce and its dungeon mistress. The only real problem, the sheriff could find, was for any visiting nobles. People rich enough to have a personal ve would expect to have them catering to their every whim during their visit, and they would most likely react badly to not only having to pay a fine, but having their ve freed as well. After a thoughtful pause, the Lightning Mage suggested a most devious solution: Anyone unwilling to free their ve or pay the fine could instead enter a Dungeon trial. Said trial was simple: Defeat my first Boss, the kirin, while supervised by the ¡®dungeon mistress¡¯ or someone chosen to represent her. The supervision was simply to ensure they didn¡¯t simply wait in a previous Floor till enough time had passed and then im they had defeated the Boss. Did I forget to mention they had to do it alone? Well¡­ They had to do it alone. The supervisor wasn¡¯t allowed to interfere and they couldn¡¯t take anyone with them. And considering that any ve owner who chose to enter the Dungeon trial would almost certainly have a karma level under 25%... There was little chance they woulde out alive. And them dying in my Dungeon would, of course, count towards my next tier up. So naturally, I was all for this rule! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Lightning Mage decided to wait a day before she officially banned very. Just in case one of her advisers thought of any other potential problems. Besides the priest and the sheriff, she had also consulted her former Professor now that she didn''t have to keep the Mission of Dungeon Cores a secret. Guess she''ll have to update her teachings now! Not that it had sounded like she minded that. In fact she had sounded really excited about the news and had immediately started considering how the Mission might affect Dungeons and the people visiting them, even if the Dungeon Core in question wasn''t aware of it. While waiting for the day to pass before announcing the ban on very, the sheriff had joined the Lightning Mage in my 10th Floor again. The priest had to deal with a sudden confession or something like that, which had him cancelst minute. As expected, his duties came first. However, the elves'' seemingly natural fear of unicorns kept the two adventurers from befriending the blessing and thus solving the puzzle of the room. During the night the now nocturnal beastkin Tribe reced the presence of elves. With a constant supply of meat and continuous level up the Tribe had gone back to an almost festive mood. For the moment at least¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Lightning Mage had nned the ban to be announced just as the construction workers'' workday was finished the next day. This meant the majority of people would be tired after a hard day''s work and thus less likely toin about something that likely wouldn''t ever affect them anyway. And the n worked! There were questions, of course. But as soon as they heard the priest support the ban, people began supporting it too. Huh¡­ That was easy¡­ ¡­ Too easy¡­ ¡­ Then again¡­ The priest was the only one to have a ve in the first ce. The rest might not have ever gotten close to one and, as such, don''t have any opinions on the matter. And with their most trusted source on matters of their god supporting the ban¡­ Huh¡­ I suppose it''s not that big of a surprise¡­ The Tribe''s reaction to the ban was split. Most had refused to believe the Lightning Mage would actually go through with it and were now left in paranoid confusion, thinking ''it must be a trap of some sort''. There were, of course, some Tribesmen who felt optimistic hearing she had gone through with it, but the majority were still too frightened to seriously consider leaving the safety of my Dungeon. Upon hearing her Tribe''s caution, Begdar suggested waiting and see what would happen to the beastkin ve the priest had. To ensure the free will of the ex-ve, the Lightning Mage had had a private discussion with her about her future ns. The privacy of the meeting was meant to give the ex-ve a chance to talk about how their previous owner had actually treated them without said person being nearby to discourage it. The Lightning Mage - through the advice of the sheriff - had even demanded the presence of the baby to - hopefully - ensure no ckmailing was happening. During the meeting the beastkin had sounded lost yet cautiously hopeful and had revealed she wanted to keep working for the priest, as he had treated her and her baby well. The Tribe had been outraged when they heard that, for surely she had only repeated what her owner had told her to. And that was certainly a worry, I had as well. The Lightning Mage too had seemed skeptical about it and questioned her some more, only for both the Lightning Mage and I to realize the real motivation behind her choice: confirmed safety. Any other choice came with the dangers of uncertainty, while this one she knew was safe. And when you have to take care of a baby, safety matters a lot. Having finally realized what worried the Lightning Mage, the beastkin mother added that she intended to explore what other job options she had, once she had gotten used to her newfound freedom. Having asserted that it was her own choice, the Lightning Mage scheduled ater meeting between the priest, the mother, and herself, so she could supervise their sry negotiation and offer the beastkin advice should it be needed. In other news, with my unicorn blessing roadblock in ce the Lightning Mage had been unable to meet my second Boss. Three days had passed since the ban on very and the Lightning Mage had taken to visit my Dungeon alone once again, just until she had figured out how to solve the unicorn puzzle. While she could at times ovee her fear of a single unicorn and befriend it, the moment another came closer to her to ask for pets she would make a sudden retreat. Thus failing to befriend the entire blessing. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Talindra Delonix-Regia had been a part of The Order of The Broken Goddess for 38 years. While she was amongst the highest tiered in The Order, she would never be put in any leadership position within The Order itself due to her low Intelligence Score. That is, low for being an 8th tier. 22 Intelligence was good considering it was only her 4th highest Score, but just about all 3rd tiers with an Intelligence based ss were smarter than her. That was why one had advisers, after all! But more importantly, Talindra''s low Intelligence Score meant she couldn''t cast any meaningful spells - not that she had ever really tried - and thus couldn''t cast any variation of The Order''s initiation spell. The weakest of which needed an Intelligence of at least 25, so it would take her at least another two levels before she could cast it. And that was only if at least three of the 4 Ability Score points grained through the level ups went to increase her Intelligence. Which was unlikely, to say the least. Talindra was rarely ever a part of The Order''s crusades to free The Broken Goddess. Her main duty to The Order could only be aplished after the piece of The Broken Goddess located in The Royal Dungeon was freed and it wouldn''t do to die beforehand as no one else in The Order could take her ce. But even with Talindra''s status, she was never able to free that part of The Broken Goddess. Her mother was simply too paranoid to leave her only daughter alone with ''her precious Dungeon Core''. The current n on that front was to initiate a pair or more of her mother''s guards into The Order, make sure they were all in a Party together scheduled to go to the bottom of The Royal Dungeon, and potentially knock out or kill any non-Order Party members. Then it would be easy to free that part of The Broken Goddess without any of the heathens cing me on the good guys. This time, Talindra was a part of the crusade. That only happened when the Dungeon in question was particrly tough and was located somewhat near where Talindra was at the time. Talindra had had a reputation of being a spontaneous wanderer ever since she reached the 8th tier, so no one thought it was odd for her to disappear for a couple of months. They thought she was out looking for a husband, trailed by her personal guards. In reality she hadn''t had personal guards since she was a 6th tier. Her own power alongside all her Enchanted gear had long since made guards unnecessary. And while her wandering had, in fact, started out as her looking for a husband, ever since she joined The Order, it had just as often been Order rted. She had just barely started on one of her husband-hunts, when she had been informed of the crusade she would be joining, and had immediately changed directions. The main piece of The Goddess! Surely I''ll be handsomely rewarded for freeing the core piece of her! Talindra was a loyal follower of The System and The Broken Goddess. Mostly due to the divine rewards she would eventually receive for her worship. Without the promise of reward she would have been a much more passive follower. So it was a good thing her initiation had emphasized the existence of divine rewards to her! Achievements had always been a thing, but few people realized it for what it really was! Bishop Marthox was the leader for this particr crusade due to it having been his initiate and her followers who had originally failed to free The Goddess. He would get one chance to redeem himself before the cardinals ordered him to personally join in the crusade. As in, he didn''t need to be a part of the Party trying to free the main piece of The Goddess. Not this time around at least. Only if his chosen flock failed - making it two failed attempts - would he have to put himself in danger. This was in ce to ensure none of The Order''s leaders got too out of touch with their initiates and their missions, yet still safeguard The Order''s wisest and most powerful members. The Party chosen to attempt a second crusade on a Dungeon didn''t have to consist entirely of a specific bishop''s initiates, as the bishop in question could be new in said position. Still, it was generally expected for roughly half of the Party to be the bishop''s initiates or their initiates'' initiates. Despite all of this, bishop Marthox had decided to take the failure of priestess Calorose as a personal insult to his worship and his ability to pass on that same devotion, and instead of staying safe he had given himself a spot in the crusade Party. Leaders have to stay safe. For a dead leader cannot lead. And a leaderless people will fall to one with a leader. The mantra was one her mother told her every time she was about to do something risky. Talindra had never been discouraged from doing something dangerous - that would have been sphemous, even her heathen parents knew that - but she had been encouraged to do all she could to ensure her own survival. Even if that survival meant civilians had to die instead. So, bishop Marthox ignoring that childhood lesson was confusing to Talindra. I suppose that''s why I''m never gonna be an Order leader. There is clearly some important detail I''m missing. "We''ll settle here for the night, my flock." Bishop Marthox stated as he got off his horse. "We''ll leave as the sun dawns, meaning we have to be up and packed before then, so no chatter before bedtime!" The old muskin had a rough and straight forward way of speaking considering his title. They should be close to their destination by now, but disciple Great Rat wasn''t the best with directions and distances. So it was hard to be certain how far they still had left. Chapter 64: The Order Arrives Chapter 64: The Order Arrives Sarzina Acacia was in the middle of yet another attempt to ovee her fear of unicorns when the Dungeon interrupted her. As fearing unicorns were ingrained in the elven culture the elven noblewoman saw no shame in her fear. If one unicorn could and would kill an elven queen with no warning then all unicorns were something worth fearing. Yes, that particr unicorn had had a high level, so realistically not every unicorn would be that powerful, but they still had that potential for both power and sudden aggressiveness. So naturally, being surrounded by even just two of such unpredictable beasts was terrifying. Your linked Dungeon Core requests knowledge on the iing members of The Order of The Broken Goddess. Will you ept this request? Yes/No "What iing members?" Zina stopped cautiously petting her chosen unicorn. Constantly staying on guard while touching a unicorn took her full attention and she didn''t want to risk identally touching a sore spot and getting attacked. She was pretty sure Dungeon monsters didn''t get sore but part of being on guard meant taking as few risks as possible. There was no answer from the System and the request hadn''t changed or disappeared. The Order of The Broken Goddess was the name of the cult that Hypnotized that poor stableboy wasn''t it? That means I can''t just deal with itter, thinking the sapient Dungeon is joking. Turning around she stood face to face with a second unicorn which had apparently snuck up on her while she was thinking. Seeing the monster that close to her she naturally froze. But the beast simply looked at her and when she eventually unfroze it let her walk away without a fuss. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Sheriff Fraxinus, I have reason to suspect that members of the Hypnotizing cult are approacing our location. Any new arrivals will have to be guided directly into the Dungeon and their exit blocked till any and all timers have reached zero." The sheriff looked surprised and worried at the newmand, but he was quick to spring into action, barking orders to those of his subordinates who were nearby. Through the way mistress Acacia had worded themand, he knew she wouldn''t tell him why she suddenly suspected the cult wasing so he didn''t ask. Shortly after news of the cult had been discovered alongside the Dungeon''s ability to undo Hypnosis, the dungeon mistress had implemented aw that everyone had the right to use another of being under the effects of mind control. The used would then be escorted into the Dungeon. If they had a timer next to their name they would be forced to stay in the Dungeon till it was finished counting down, while they could leave immediately otherwise. Anyone freed from mind control was required to inform both the sheriff and the dungeon mistress of all they knew of their old controller. People making false usations for fun could be fined, while a serious but wrong usation simply wasted a little bit of everyone''s time. Which was naturally better than anyone having been mind controlled in the first ce. Rather waste a bit of time here and there than leave people without their free will. Dakath Fraxinus took his job as head of security seriously. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Just as the Dungeon had said, 6 cult members had arrived at the still unfinished town. What the Dungeon hadn''t told Zina - or maybe hadn''t known - was how quickly they would arrive. Despite having left the Dungeon as soon as possible and going straight to sheriff Fraxinus, it had only taken a couple of minutes before a pair of deputies escorted the 6 neers into the newly built Security Guild. The building, while otherwise finished, had an iplete prison ward underneath it - also known as ''a dungeon for living sinners'' - with only twopleted cells. No one had thought any more would be needed before the town grew in size. So, the work had been postponed so the construction workers could begin making residential housing now that the more important buildings were finished. As the neers entered the building, Zina was quick to conclude that their meager cells would be unable to hold any one of them. While she couldn''t tell their exact tiers she had more than enough Awareness and experience being among people her own power level to conclude that every single one of them were around her own tier - the 6th, almost 7th - or above it. If they''re that powerful, then the Hypnotist must be among them. We have to be careful. Most people only reached the 4th tier, after all. A group of people that powerful were either professional miners, nobles, or bodyguards. And considering the Dungeon''s warning, thetter seemed more likely. Zina wished she could ry that thought to Fraxinus, but as two of the 6 were beastkin - fox and mouse judging by the ears - she didn''t want to risk them hearing her and getting tipped off. With them all being at her own power level or higher, there was no way she would be able to fight them off, after all. Not even with the entire town by her side. Talking seemed to be the only viable strategy, and while Zina didn''t mind talking her way out of a fight, being without a n B was frustrating. And honestly. Kind of scary too. "I am Sarzina Acacia and this is Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus." Normally she would have introduced herself as the local dungeon mistress - and to not do so was a bit of a faux pas as the other person now couldn''t show one the respect one deserved - but knowing their goal it would only have led to them bing hostile towards her. The sheriff gave her a questioning look at theck of title but said nothing. "What brings you to our humble settlement, travelers?" The dungeon mistress continued. "We heard rumors of a new Dungeon appearing around here and decided to stop by. Going through the same Dungeon over and over again can get quite boring, after all!" The short mouse beastkin of the group appeared to be their leader. He must be the Hypnotist then. If I''m right and the Hypnotist is among them, that is. Having had to keep the Dungeon''s secrets secret meant she had gotten better at keeping her mouth shut while thinking. A training she was putting to good use now. The locals tensed up as they looked warily at the neers. While Zina was the only one who had realized just how powerful the strangers were, the fact that no introduction had happened from their side was worrying. Elves were taught that an introduction from a stranger - even if the name was obviously an alias - was a way for the stranger to say ''I mean you no harm''. Likewise, no introduction meant ''I''m here to harm you''. So, while the mouse had made no actual threat, that was what the elves heard. "Then the Dungeon you shall visit." Zina was quick to keep the conversation going. Now if only they''ll cooperate. But she knew that was likely a pipe dream. "However, our protocol states neers must enter the Dungeon with at least two members of the Security Guild. And as the current maximum allowed on a Floor is 6, I''m afraid you''ll have to split up or leave someone behind when you visit the Dungeon." Where before the mouse beastkin had been watching Zina quite normally, he was now staring intensely at her. "Are you sure that''s really necessary?" Am I? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Oh no. Having a 7th 0%''er show up at the same time the Lightning Mage stopped all attempts at splitting the cult up in two groups was too much of a coincidence to be unrted. Meaning my link to the Surface World had beenpromised. Knowing that the Lightning Mage wanted to have elven guards prevent the cult members from exiting before their timers were up, and predicting the cult wanted to enter as one group, meant I hadn''t changed the allowed number of sapients per Floor yet. I had nned on raising the number once the two groups started to disagree on what was going to happen and letting the Lightning Mage know it was happening. Having the number raised would mean the whole group of cult members could enter at once, which in itself was a disadvantage for me, but it would also allow any elf who wanted to guard them to do so. The elves of this town had dered me blessed, after all, so they would want to protect me. But if the cult and the elves began fighting while outside my Dungeon, I wouldn''t be able to help the elves and overwhelm the bad guys by double-teaming them. Nor would I get any EXP should anyone die, but that was mostly a bonus for getting them inside my Dungeon. Survival did take priority in situations like this. But now that n was ruined! I didn''t dare ry any message to the Lightning Mage in case she tried to warn the cult of my sapiency. While she wouldn''t be able to actually say anything - the Rule prevented that - she could certainly hint at my secrets like she had done with the priest. For that same reason I decided not to lower the allowed amount of sapients either. If the whole group couldn''t enter after the Lightning Mage had stated the number was 6 then they would start to ask questions that the mind controlled elf would have to answer. Which in turn would make her try to hint to my independence despite being ''tamed''. So, while I would have preferred to only have allowed the minimum of 4 in at a time to be safe, I considered the advantage of being underestimated more important. I only remembered after all 6 had entered my Dungeon that I had already made a Rule that would have made them forget I was sapient as long as they were inside my Dungeon. I should have lowered the number! Arghhh! rr [Hypnotized] [Dungeon Weakness] [7 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds] Hybrid between elf and beastkin - Vulpinekin Battle Commander Level 55 Reid Alvarado [Hypnotized] [Dungeon Weakness] [9 hours, 33 minutes, 19 seconds] Human Pdin Level 52 Agtius [Hypnotized] [Dungeon Weakness] [9 hours, 13 minutes, 19 seconds] Giant Axe Master Level 57 Jenna Emery [Hypnotized] [Dungeon Weakness] [9 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds] Human Elemental Mage - Earthquake Level 48 Marthox [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [3 hours, 39 minutes, 59 seconds] Beastkin - Muskin Hypnotist Level 60 Talindra Delonix-Regia [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [6 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds] Elf Noble Light Hunter Level 74 Those levels are terrifying! Before this the Lightning Mage and her pet had been leagues above everyone, butpared to these people?! Those two might both be level 59, but at least there''s only two of them! And level 74?! How can I possiblypete with that? I couldn¡¯t even defeat the Lightning Mage and her pet while I had a whole army! I might have a second Boss now but there''s no way that''ll be enough! Chapter 65: Dealing with Overpowered Cultists Chapter 65: Dealing with Overpowered Cultists Dakath Fraxinus knew mistress Acacia had been Hypnotized the moment it happened. Really, her sudden shift in attitude left no doubt of what happened. Especially not given the warning of who they were dealing with. All his nearby deputies had clearly realized the same thing, but Dakath had been quick to y along. He and his men trusted each other with their lives and they knew their sheriff had noticed the same thing they had. So, when Dakath followed the orders of the now Hypnotized dungeon mistress, they knew he had a reason for doing so. It really helped that he had been able to pick out his deputies personally when he got this position. At the time he had focused more on picking his friends and coworkers he got along with. But in hindsight Dakath knew he took his job so seriously he couldn''t actually be friends with people who didn''t. Meaning all his men were just as hardworking people as he was. Of course that didn''t mean they couldn''t throw epic parties when off work! Seeing as the 6th tier dungeon mistress could so easily be Hypnotized meant he and his men had no possibility of resisting it either. As such, the best possible strategy going forward would have to involve giving the Hypnotist - whichever one of them it was - as little reason as possible for using their Skill on someone else. Which in turn meant letting them do what they wanted. And as getting them into the Dungeon had been a part of the original n¡­ It could have been worse. It might still be worse. If they destroy the Dungeon¡­ But there wasn''t really anything he could do about that. What he could do was get mistress Acacia free of the mind control. He and his men pretended everything was fine in the world while they distracted the dungeon mistress with meaningless paperwork to keep her close and distracted. Then, once the 1st Floor of the Dungeon had cleared, Dakath and 4 of his deputies lured her into the Dungeon. This is where Dakath expected trouble to arrive. The noblewoman knew the Dungeon could and would free people from mind control, so surely she would resist. Only she didn''t. Instead she refused to believe she was Hypnotized, even though she could see the words and the timer above her head. That denial meant she acted surprisingly docile while they kept her in the Dungeon. She had asked for her emco so she could make some calls, but Dakath didn''t believe that would have been a good idea and denied her request. And then ordered pen and paper delivered so she could instead write letters, mostly as a way to calm her down and distract her. The letters wouldn''t be sent before she had regained her sanity, after all. And Dakath suspected she, at that point, wouldn''t want them sent at all. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó For a moment the sheriff''s n had filled me with hope. Maybe the Lightning Mage will be able to help me at least dy the cultists. Surely she''ll be able to - with my help - shake off the Hypnosis faster than normal cultists! She''s a smart mage after all! But then she and her guards entered my Dungeon and revealed the 8 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds timer she had. Which is when I remembered it wasn''t her Intelligence, but rather Awareness or Charisma - whichever was the highest for her - that would allow her to regain her free will. Ahhh! Then the Hypnotist is - somewhat ironically - the one who''ll regain his free will first. That does make sense, though. The Ability Scores needed to mind control people are the same ones needed to resist it. So! Current n: Dy the cultists for- I checked the current timer above the Hypnotist. - 3 hours 34 minutes and hope the Hypnotist can either reverse his own Hypnosis - assuming he was the one to Hypnotize the others - or can assist me in freeing their minds. The first would mean I only have one left to deal with and while it''s the strongest one, I would also have 5 powerful people to help me restain her. Thetter option¡­ really depends on how the Hypnotist initially reacts to being freed¡­ For both his and my sakes it would be best if he could hide his sudden freedom from the others. Just long enough to free their minds. But if he starts freaking out too badly¡­ They may just kill him¡­ I hoped it wouldn''te to that. It was really unlikely I would be able to help him survive, should the rest turn on him. They were simply too powerful for me! I was still only a 2nd tier Dungeon meant for Parties of level 10 to 20! Not a Party of level 48 to 74! My sapiency might have made me more dangerous than a normal Dungeon but not by that much! Just to be on the safe side: Is there any way I can push this in my favor? With the Lightning Mage Hypnotized I can''t rely on her to help me. I suppose I could send a mimic to talk to the sheriff if need be. But any attempt atmunicating with Sarzina would be discarded as something said by ''the monsters keeping their goddess trapped'' and thus not to be trusted. ¡­ ¡­ But I don''t normallymunicate with her through my creatures. We usually go through the System! Meaning she would be much more likely to trust my word even while under mind control! After all, the cult still worships the System! But is it worth the risk? I didn''t waste a lot of time considering the risks and in turn I didn''t really find any. With the Lightning Mage under willing guard even while Hypnotized, there wouldn''t be a big chance of her making trouble. If she chose to reply to me out loud - something unnecessary for this type ofmunication - her guards would notice which might reveal ourmunication. But rather that than death. And I did know just the thing to ask for. Request denied Sarzina Acacia had lended the ''allow all''-tool used to break the allowed number per Floor limits during her initial run through your Dungeon. It has since been carried back to its creator. As Sarzina Acacia no longer possesses the ''allow all''-tool she is unable to ept your request at this time. Your linked activator requests to know if you want her to procure an ''allow all''-tool for you. Will you ept this request? Yes/No Likely due to me having included silence in my request, no sound had left the mouth of the Lightning Mage as she read and answered it. But that didn''t mean people didn''t notice her acting weird. The moment she got the request her back had straightened, her eyes sparkled, and her lips turned to a smile. Then she had - presumably - realized she couldn''t help her god¡¯s representative as her bodynguage had clearly reflected disappointment and sadness. This didn''t go unnoticed but due to my request for silence on the matter - or perhaps the included reminder - she didn''t answer any questions they had. While this was a bit worrying it didn''t take the sheriff long before he decided to simply let it go, citing ''whatever it was hadn''t gone as expected for her it seems'', which in turn meant it was either neutral or good for the non-Hypnotized elves. So while that aspect of it had gone well, the denied request was disappointing. After all, the item could have allowed me to storm the cultist with enemies and slow their progress considerably. And they wouldn''t even have had any allies close enough toe back them up, so they couldn''t even take advantage of it! ¡­ Then again¡­ The Lightning Mage might have joined them then¡­ Nheless, it didn''t happen. What other options do I have for slowing them down? ¡­ Dungeon Rules, maybe? The obvious solution would be to make a Rule to simply forbid mind control on the next Floor they''ll enter, but of course I don''t have enough mana for that! I wasn''t all that good at keeping mana in reserve in case of emergencies. Creating new creatures and designing rooms were fun and some of the only things I as a Dungeon Core could use my time on. The Tribe slept through the day and the elves were pretty repetitive to observe - when inside my Dungeon - and listen to. Despite having used no mana since I noticed 0%¡¯ers approaching my Dungeon Portal, I still didn¡¯t have sufficient time to gather enough mana to make a ¡®mind control is forbidden¡¯ Rule before the Hypnotist regained his mind. And I seriously doubted it would take a Party that overpowered more than 3.5 hours to finish my first 9 Floors. I had to have made the Rule before they entered the Floor or it wouldn''t take effect for them, after all! So, I couldn''t even rely on my 10th Floor to slow them down enough if I went for that n! Meaning it made more sense in the present, to use what mana I had on something else. Maybe I could speed up the process? So, the Hypnotist has his mind freed quicker? And maybe, if my Floors slow them down enough, I could even have the other Brainwashed person freed at the same time! Given how she''s the strongest of them and he''s the Hypnotist that would definitely be preferable! But the two do have a couple of hours in difference in their timers, so it might be too much to ask¡­ Well. Let''s see! It took a bit of time to formte the Rule I thought would work best. System? How much would a Rule which lets me use my own mana to undo someone''s mind control cost, and what would be the ratio on it? I had to go for speed and being a cheapskate would simply waste time I didn''t have. Still. I didn''t want to buy the Rule only for 1,000 mana to equal a single minute. As Dungeon Rules can only affect the Dungeon itself and not individuals, such a Rule cannot be made. ¡­ Okay then¡­ But why does my ''Get Out of My Head'' Rule work, then? A Dungeon Rule has to cover at minimum an entire room and affect everyone within that area, who fulfilled the Rule''s trigger criteria. Default criteria is all visitors, but can be changed to only affect some visitors or specific Dungeon-aligned categories instead. If a Rule is changed to only specific visitors, then the criteria must be wide enough that the System determines it not targeted at a certain individual or group of less than 36 people. The Dungeon Rule "Get Out of My Head" is a Dungeon-wide Rule which is constantly in effect. Your attempted Rule would only affect one sapient at a time and only some of the time. Quickly going over all my Rules I could see how most of them had actually followed this System Rule I hadn''t been aware of. What about ''Eavesdropping on the Warden''? That one only affects the Lightning Mage yet went through without problems. The Dungeon Rule "Eavesdropping on the Warden" made use of the link between the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around your Fake Core and the Cage''s activator to circumvent the inability to target individuals. ¡­ Okay. So, that¡¯s a one time thing¡­ Essentially¡­ Rules have to have a passive effect, though it can be hidden behind a trigger. And the trigger can''t be so specific the Rule only activates for 36 people or less. ¡­ 36? 6 times 6, as 6 is the System''s holy number? The System didn''t confirm nor deny anything. Never mind. I need to make a passive Rule covering at least a whole room, though a whole Floor would be the same price. The trigger can be 25% karma or lower, that seems to work just fine, after all. Time to get creative before the Party got too far ahead for it to be useful! Chapter 66: Delaying Tactics Chapter 66: Dying Tactics The Room of Rust didn''t do as well as it had before. It still managed to turn most of the Party''s metal weapons and armor to dust, just not all of it as it had done every time before. The Axe Master''s axe and the Pdin''s armor wasn''t affected at all nor was anything the Noble Light Hunter had on her. Titanium¡­ Unlike acutium, titanium was not just resistant to my rust effect butpletely immune. And as the Party had - as all cultists before them - rammed through any puzzles standing in their way they couldn''t immediately figure out - which had been all of them at this point - they were progressing fast. Skipping any puzzle not in their way and ramming through the rest. Naturally that had activated ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' and the Toughness of everything in my Dungeon had started to climb. Not that they noticed. They hadn''t even used any spells either, so my ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule didn''t even have a chance at causing them trouble. The three closebat fighters and one archerbobined with their high levels meant the spellcasters - for I assumed the Hypnotist was a spellcaster too, even if not one normally inbat - had no reason to waste their mana. Said high level had also meant the bad luck curses of my b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons had little effect, as their experience and skill simply overcame any bad luck aimed at them. I don''t have a lot of mana to work with here, so I really need to work on efficiency. Coming up with a new Rule on the spot while in a stressful situation wasn''t all that easy and my mana limitations only made that worse. Hmm¡­ Maybe a more narrow trigger criteria would make a Rule cheaper? As long as it doesn''t get too cheap, of course. After all, the narrower a Rule the less it''ll be used. Is that how it works, System? The mana price of a Rule depends firstly on the level of the Dungeon Core in question, with lower level Dungeon Cores getting a cheaper price due to being less experienced and more open to changes. Secondly the mana price of a Rule depends on whether or not a Rule would support Dungeon Cores'' Mission. A Rule supporting the Mission will be cheaper, one going against it will be more expensive, and a Rule, which is neither, will not have its price affected by this at all. Lastly the mana price of a Rule depends on how big a change it causes once in effect, with bigger changes costing more. ¡­ You''ve been charging me more every time I leveled up?! The whole spiel simply shed in response. Never mind! I don''t have the time for that! Okay. So. Thest part says it ''depends on how big a change it causes once in effect''. ''Once in effect'' means it doesn''t matter how narrow or generic the trigger criteria is. Not pricewise, that is. To lower the price of a Rule¡­ Can''t lower my level - and I''m not sure I would want to - so the first part can''t help me. By having the trigger be ''25% karma or lower'' the Rule will support the Mission, so that''s good. ¡­ Having the Rule make a smaller change might make it cheaper but also less effective¡­ I gave a mental sigh, only for my muse to arrive. A smaller change? What if I simply boost one of my existing Rules? That would be a smaller change, right?! The System didn''t reply, but I didn''t expect it to. ¡­ Or maybe it would simply be upgrading the existing Rule¡­ Never mind the details! System! I wish to make the Rule ''Get Out of My Head'' more effective, so the cultists are¡­ redeemed faster. How much would that cost? To change the effect of "Get Out of My Head" from "a lowering of 6 points per hour of the used Ability Score(/s) of the maniptor" to "a lowering of 7 points per hour of the used Ability Score(/s) of the maniptor" costs 2,910 mana. System Alert Strengthening the effects of "Get Out of My Head" introduces the potential of the victims receiving brain damage due to a too fast change in brain signals. Oh¡­ Is it worth it to risk brain damage? ¡­ Can brain damage be healed? Damage done to the physical brain can be healing by talented, high tiered mages or a powerful enough healing potion. The sapient species have yet to design a strategy for healing non-physical brain damage due to the near non-existent need for it. So, no. Not this type of brain damage¡­ ¡­ I''ll try to see if I cane up with something better. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Mist pixie on the 4th Floor''s first room The Cliffside had had some sess at dying the Party with the heavy fog it summoned around them. But as the fog disappeared once the pixie was killed it didn''tst long. Still, it inspired me. For should they enter a second fog they would assume another Mist pixie was nearby. They would go look for it so they could kill it and see clearly once again. The standard procedure of cultists seemed to be to ignore any creatures and puzzles which weren''t in their way so they could get to my Core without dys. The fog created by a Mist pixie wasn''t directly in their way but would still dy them, meaning they actually went out of their way to find and kill it. But what if there weren''t any pixies to be found? Surely it would take them a while to realize! I picked an earlier room to experiment with but I couldn''t make a fog as thick as the one the Mist pixie made. It was barely even worth calling a fog! Which meant I would have to make a fog Rule, which shouldn''t be all that expensive. Adding a simple fog wasn''t that big a change and it would only appear in the presence of bad people. So, a fog Rule to distract and dy them. Any way I can make the fog even more confusing? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Agtius had just been given themand to find and kill the annoying pixie making the thick fog. The giant had hoped the first pixie had been the only one, but the thick fog in the first room of the 5th Floor told him otherwise. His fellow devotees were looking for it as well of course! No reason why they wouldn''t, really. Agtius didn''t even expect to be the one to find it. While the Axe Master had good Awareness, he knew disciple Delonix-Regia and the bishop had far better Scores than him and were that much more likely to spot the pixie first. Though Agtius would most certainly enjoy it if it ended up being him who spotted the monster first. After all, being the first to spot it gave the right to squish it in the name of the goddess! Agtius loved to cleave things! At first it had simply been a fondness for all things sharp and what they could do. Then the adolescent had taken up the job of chopping wood for the family. The job had made him feel proud: He could lessen the burden on his family, be useful! And if he practiced enough with his axe he would even be able to help protect his family! As Agtius got better at chopping they even began selling some of the wood and his pride grew at providing his family with both warmth and money. Then the Order had entered his life and he had realized that wasn''t what his family needed him to be. He had plenty of siblings who could chop wood just as well and his father was capable of protecting the family should ite to it. No. What his family needed more than anything else, was for the goddess to return to her former glory! Easing the burden on the System and giving out just rewards to the most deserving! Agtius had grown a lot since then and now his mission wasing to an end. Onest crusade before he would be reunited with his family, having freed the goddess. It''s been so long¡­ Are they even still alive? He knew he was making his family proud! Several minutes had passed with no sign of the sted pixie. They couldn''t stray far from where their fog was as it would simply follow them, meaning it was normally easy enough to locate them once you knew what you were up against. And Agtius had been on enough crusades to know just about anything a Dungeon could throw at him. In fact, it had been his warning which had allowed disciple Delonix-Regia to find and kill the first one within seconds! "It''s taking too long!" Dered the bishop. "We could follow the trail, while keeping an ear out for monsters?" Disciple rr suggested. Looking down, Agtius did indeed have one foot in the grass and one foot not. Not that he would have been able to dere that a trail just from that. "Most of the previous rooms had trails like this, all leading from beginning to exit." Disciple rr continued. "The few rooms where that wasn''t true, didn''t have a trail at all." Agtius hadn''t noticed that. rtar probably only noticed ''cause he''s a Battle Commander. They have to be aware of their surroundings to be most effective atmanding their soldiers in battle. And follow the trail they did, though it seemed like they had already killed every monster in the room. The trail ended and instead of the room exit they had expected they simply found a wall. Not even a puzzle door but a simple wall covered in climbing nts. "Break it." His bishopmanded. Oh! So, it is a puzzle door! Just a camouged one! Agtius took his beloved, Enchanted, expensive axe and hammered it through the climbing nts and directly into and through the wall. For a wall it was. And any seasoned miner had heard the horror stories of what happened to those who tried to break a Dungeon''s walls in an attempt to skip rooms. The hole would swallow them and any nearby Party members up! Fortunately for the Order, Agtius had only made an axe sized hole. Unfortunately for Agtius, his axe was the size of his arm. So, into the void behind the hole went both axe and arm. Agtius screamed in pain as the void tore in his arm, slowly peeling off his arm hair, nails, and skin. He was abandoned before it moved on to his flesh, causing him to pass out from the pain. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó As the Axe Master''s axe broke my wall, I began mentally screaming in pain. I hadn''t felt any pain at all since bing a Dungeon Core. Not even any aching anywhere! So the sudden sensation of pain was unexpected and excruciating. My Core was simultaneously my heart and brain but the Dungeon itself was my body. My creatures, puzzles, traps, and even the environment were - in a way - my nails and hair. Still a part of me, but one it wouldn''t hurt to cut off and one which would alway grow back. But the Dungeon walls, ceiling, and floor were my body. And it hurt when my body got damaged. Had it been my Core I would likely die before feeling any pain. With it being my wall I would hurt but had no actual chance of dying. It took quite a while before I could think past the pain and luckily for me the Party had decided not to attack any more of my walls despite the next two rooms following the samebo of ''Thick Fog'' Rule and alternated environment leading into a wall. The entirety of the 5th and 6th Floors had been covered in thick fog from the Rule but only some pathways had been altered. The first three had been altered in the hope of making them distrust the trails, only for other trails to lead them to the exit. By the time I could think again the Party was at the end of those three rooms, talking to The Humble Door. The Axe Master had clearly been abandoned and seemed to have passed out while my pain incapacitated me. Why did they leave him behind? Why did he pass out? Why is his arm still in my wound? Passing out made him go limp so he should have fallen to the ground by now. Dungeons exist in their own dimension which gets bigger as the Dungeon does. The Surface World is the main dimension, and it''s where the sapients live. Dungeons are only connected to the Surface World through their Dungeon Portal. Should a Dungeon have a hole punctured into it, anything near the hole will be sucked out of the Dungeon till the Dungeon''s natural regeneration has closed the hole or the hole has been blocked. Oh¡­ Chapter 67: Fog of War Chapter 67: Fog of War Marthox had been born into The Order of The Broken Goddess and trained in their ways from the start. Upon adulthood he had been initiated and the small sparks of doubt his child self had had disappeared at once. This was where he was supposed to be. If only people did as they were told! The only thing Marthox hated more than when people didn''t do their job right, was when they didn''t do their job at all. Such as priestess Calorose. It''s a months old Dungeon, not even half a year yet! How could she possibly fail to defeat it?! The old muskin was of the opinion that other people failed their jobs more often than they should. Way more. Which was why Marthox took great pride in his formidable memory, which aided him greatly in fulfilling every duty he had ever gotten from The Order. And if Marthox could consistently do a good job, why wouldn''t everyone else be able to do the same? But sometimes, to get a job done right you have to do it yourself! And as such, Marthox decided he would lead the repeat crusade himself, even though he didn''t need to. Can''t leave anything to chance! To go from bishop to archbishop two requirements needed to be fulfilled. The first was to either gain the Hypnotize Skill or master the use of the spell equivalent. The second was to lead or have a personal disciple lead a sessful crusade after the first requirement had been fulfilled. Priestess Calorose was supposed to fulfill that requirement for him. She had been closer and the Dungeon was practically a newborn! Main piece of the goddess or not, it should have been easy for her! The Dungeon in question had certainly been an unusual one. But not in a way which led Marthox to believe the priestess couldn''t have defeated the foul thing if she had really tried. Clearly she wasn''t as devoted as she had led me to believe. That level ofziness and disregard of the goddess was hidden well. Then came the pixieless fog and the trail leading to a Dungeon wall. And the resulting hole and scream. "Everyone! Stand back!" Came themand from disciple rr. While Marthox, as the highest ranking among them, was in charge of the crusade itself, rr was a Battle Commander and was thus allowed to givemands during battle. After all, his ss did indicate he would do a better job at that than Marthox. Not that Marthox would have done a bad job. rr was simply¡­ faster at suchmands. After everyone but disciple Agtius had taken several steps back, rr exined what had happened, even though they all already knew it. They wouldn''t have reached the tiers they had without at some point hearing the cautionary tale. "What does your expertise suggest we do now, disciple rr?" Marthox questioned. Of course the old muskin already had a n in mind. This was simply a test for the younger - half - beastkin! "I believe we have two options here." The half elf half vulpinekin began. "Either we amputate his arm and as we do, block the hole with something else. This has the potential of someone else getting sucked in in the process. Or, we dere him dead and leave him be." rr took a deep breath as he listened to the screams of the giant beforeing with hisst suggestion. "With thest option we can also give him a mercy killing. He''s clearly in a lot of pain right now." "Hmm¡­" The bishop hummed, considering the given options. "This crusade is more important than any one of us. We can''t risk a second one of our numbers to go down." The muskin pointed his nose up in determination and arrogance before issuing hisstmand on the topic. "There will be no mercy killing for we will let the System decide his fate. This room has no other monster in it but the foul pixie, and the hole will naturally close itself. He may die, but the System might let him live!" With that deration the flock left their screaming member to his fate. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With the Axe Master unconscious and not - yet - dead my creatures wouldn¡¯t respawn on the 5th Floor. And as my creatures couldn¡¯t move between Floors while still being corporeal I had no way of offering the giant any aid. I didn¡¯t know if I would have. But as I couldn¡¯t, I also didn¡¯t need to find out. The fog had done its job. Even if it had been painful at times, the Party had indeed been slowed down. Maybe I can add something to the fog? ¡­ What if they thought they saw a Mist pixie only for it to be a Fata Morgana? Or! Or! Maybe they never realize it¡¯s a Fata Morgana ¡®cause the image keeps avoiding their weapons! And! Maybe it''s not just a Mist pixie! I could add other creatures too! Make them really frustrated they can¡¯t hit my creatures! Hmmm¡­ I should limit it to only fast creatures though. Otherwise they¡¯ll be suspicious too quickly. With my gamen set, I tried to make the Rule, or rather the change in the existing fog Rule. The described Rule includes the use of optical illusions. Optical illusions are categorized as traps. Oh right! Like how I had to make an optical illusion trap imitating my Real Core before I could make a Rule surrounding it. I¡¯ll just rearrange my traps on the 6th Floor, then. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While not all my puzzles before my kirin Boss had been skipped, therge majority had been. And with the additional +11 to each of its Ability Scores from its ''Power of Fallen Heroes'' Ability, my kirin Boss had enough Toughness only the Light Hunter could harm it without the use of Skills. That being said, my Boss also couldn''t do a lot to the cultists. At first it had attempted to attack the Light Hunter only for her to dodge the attack like it was nothing andunch a counterattack with her bow in the same instance. At my order the kirin then attempted to attack the Hypnotist only for the Pdin to use - what I had to assume was - some sort of taunting Skill causing the Boss to refocus on him instead. And as the Pdin also had on top of his titanium armor a Skill active which made the human''s skin seemingly turn to steel, he didn''t seem to take any damage at all. At least it seems like he has to keep sprouting verbal taunts to keep the Skill going. He must be using a lot of energy just keeping those two Skills going. Meeting the ming Boss had also finally made the Earthquake Mage start using mana. Too bad she mostly used it for her ss given Earthquake Skill - more limited in use than what a spell could have done -, meaning there was no chance of a spell going Wonky. Still, at least she''s using some of her mana up. The faster I can drain her repertoire the faster she''s out ofbat. At least temporarily, till she recharges some¡­ The unicorn rabbit assistant was only able to heal the Boss once as the Light Hunter immediately caught on and shot it down before it could hide in a burrow. The feathered serpent and b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon had already been in by the Earthquake Mage after amand from the Battle Commander. Is it just me, or are hismands powering up the people following them? I gave a mental sigh. Right. He''s a Battle Commander. It''s probably something his ss does. Having eventually defeated my Boss despite its high Toughness and the Fog only hindering the Party - of course I had made it so my own creatures and family could see through the Fog no problem -, the Party entered my 6th Floor and met my newly installed ''optical illusions''. Said illusions had changed from being physical stone statues in the shape and color scheme of some of my fastest creatures to incorporeal Fata Morganas with the ability to always be just out of reach. Like any good Fata Morgana was. As for what shapes my Fata Morganas took? My drags, as the first creature I had ever made, certainly weren''t the most powerful of creatures I had these days, yet it was still among the fastest. Provided the creatures gettingpared had the same level of course! My other choices for fast creatures included Fire foxes, Mist eagles, phoenixes, and, of course, Mist pixies. While a Mist pixie preferes surrounding their target with Mist, Mist eagles use their Mist to hide themselves! And with the Thick Fog being under my control I could imitate the effect a real Mist eagle would have on a Mist pixie''s fog, making the Fata Morganas seem even more believable. And with the same method I could have the Thick Fog retreat from the Fire fox''s Fire What I couldn''t have the Thick Fog imitate was a feathered serpent''s innate passive Skill ''Aura of Morons''. Which meant that while feathered serpents were fast, having them as Fata Morganas would risk all the Fata Morganas getting exposed. As for the phoenix Fata Morganas: I nned on having them actually get ''hit'' by long ranged attacks. Then have their ''ashes'' disappear in the Thick Fog and reappearing as a phoenix again a minuteter. This would give the Party a false sense of¡­ well¡­ actually being able to hit something. Otherwise I doubt it would take them long to realize my ploy. As for the Fata Morgana phoenixes only getting hit by ranged attacks: With a melee attack the attacker expects to feel at least some resistance as they hit their target, something a Fata Morgana cannot provide. The Mist pixies? Well¡­ They were the only reason the Party would stop and fight! Getting rid of the annoying Thick Fog they thought was created by Mist pixies was the only reason they would stop up to fight my ''creatures''! Otherwise they would just keep moving, only killing what got in their way. Thest two rooms of the 5th might not have had any trails for the Party to follow, but the Party sure hadn''t forgotten how the trail had screwed them over and lost them a Party member. So, instead of following the trail which would actually have led them to the next room they decided to follow the right wall around till they found the next room. Not a bad choice. It''ll take a bit longer than if they had followed the trail, but they''ll get there. Then my Fata Morganas began their ''attack''. Of course, beingpletely incorporeal they couldn''t actually attack the Party. Instead the drags, Fire foxes, Mist eagles, and phoenixes only made ''attacks'' the target would be fast enough to dodge. And when the target was instead blocked - either from their own actions or the aid of a Party member - the Fata Morgana would abort the ''attack'' with an unnatural or sometimes straight up impossibly sharp turn. Not that the Party noticed how unnatural their enemies were moving while in the middle of fighting them. Lucky me! Or rather: Unlucky you! The Fata Morgana Mist pixies had a different job, however. They needed to y keep away. Staying far enough away to be justalmost out of sight of the Party, popping in and out of their view through the Thick Fog, and generally teasing them with their - and the Fog''s - constant presence. The whole idea here was naturally to make the Party expend as much time, energy, and resources as possible. And it worked! More so for the energy and resources part than the time aspect, but still! It might only have dyed them half an hour or so, but the anger the trick had caused had led to a lot of wasted energy and resources. Mana had been used and arrows fired! Unfortunately for me - rare as that is, it does happen - only once during this did a spell turn Wonky. Said Wonky spell caused everyone - whether they be friend or foe, sapient or Dungeon creature - within a 5 meters radius to effectively be poisoned for 16 minutes. As my only ''creatures'' in that area were actually Fata Morganas, they, of course, couldn''t actually be affected by this. And, once again, unfortunately for me the Hypnotist knew a spell to cure poison, meaning the Party was quickly healed once the condition had been discovered. At least the poison wasn''t discovered right away! Some damage is better than none, after all! And getting cured for poison in the middle of ''battle'' meant they ended up getting even more dyed! With an omnipresent nce at the timer above the Hypnotist I had to admit to myself: I don''t know if that dy will be good enough. They''ll soon realize my tactics and go back to ignoring my efforts¡­ Marthox [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [2 hours, 12 minutes, 27 seconds] Beastkin - Muskin Hypnotist Level 60 They''re already halfway through my Dungeon and it''s only been 1 hour 27 minutes. Yes, my Dungeon gets harder further in. But my first Boss, with an additional +11 to each of its Ability Scores, barely made them pause. It was my wall that took out their Axe Master, not my creatures, and my Fata Morganas and Thick Fog Rules which has dyed them the most. Higher level creatures onter Floors won''t be what wins me this battle. My Rules will! ¡­ My Rules but perhaps mytest puzzles too! Chapter 68: The Written Word of The Goddess? Chapter 68: The Written Word of The Goddess? Agtius woke up as the Dungeon wall closed itselfpletely, changing the constant painful pressure to the more normal pain of a recently lost limb. Naturally, he woke up screaming. His scream turned to painful groans and grunts as the giant ran out of breath and began performing first aid on himself. As one of the Order''s frontliners he had been in Dungeons often enough to always carry around his first aid kit. He even had a half filled bottle of leaves from the numbing bush. Leaves he immediately grabbed a couple of and began chewing on to help him deal with the pain. Having cleaned and bandaged his armless shoulder, he packed the kit away again and took hold of his smaller, emergency axe with his remaining, non-dominant hand. Having lost both his much more expensive primary axe and his dominant arm to the Dungeon wall hole, he had mistakenly made, was a great tragedy for the Axe Master. How can I possibly help anyone like this? But despite his despair, he knew he needed to press on. He needed to locate and rejoin the flock, so he could at the very least distract the monsters for his fellows. He might even be able to get a couple of hits in with his remaining arm and lesser axe! And the longer he waited, the farther away the rest of the flock would be. The less he would be able to help them once he joined. But I''m so tired¡­ The blood loss¡­ I need to rest¡­ Rehydrate¡­ Why does everything keep spinning? Am I hyperventting? I can''t possibly defend myself long enough to even reach them like this¡­ I¡­ Agtius took ast gulp of his water canteen and packed it away. Just¡­ cing his bag behind him heid down on the ground, right underneath where the hole once was, with his head resting on his bag. Need¡­ Agtius closed his eyes, too exhausted to keep going now that his wounds had been tended to. To rest a little¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Reid Alvarado had unexpectedly been unable to even crack the floating mana hands attacking them every time they opened the door between the first and second room on the 6th Floor of the Dungeon. I don''t know if it''s simply a well ced trap or a puzzle door. Not that it matters. I should still have been able to shatter those hands in two unSkilled attacks! While it was true both traps and puzzles got more durability for every additional Floor tier they were on, Reid had been on the 6th Floor of many other Dungeons and it had been years since he had needed to use a Skill before he could break a simple 2nd tier puzzle door, and 2nd tier traps had the same durability. In the end, the mysteriously masked - and apparently elven - woman, he had been introduced to as disciple Talindra Delonix-Regia, had been the one to shatter the floating hands with Skill powered arrows. Pdins weren''t the fastest ss out there, and those mana hands could seemingly dodge attacks and stop people from entering the next room at the same time. It was very different from what Reid had originally trained for. His father was a knight of the Windin Kingdom, who had trained Reid and his twin sister Kathrin inbat since they were children. And with the training being the only real quality time the twins got with their father, they had naturally savored it and done their best to make their father proud by doing well. However, as the twins grew up it became clear that while Reid was on the right path for knighthood, Kat''s real talent was with their mother''s craft: spycraft. For while their father fought Windin''s enemies head on, their mother went undercover to locate and reveal foreign spies. This naturally meant their mother sometimes left home for weeks at a time with strict orders to her children that she was only to be contacted in life and death emergencies. But despite that, Kat and Reid had long since agreed she was still the best mother in the world! Before joining the Order of the Broken Goddess the twins hadn''t seen each other for weeks as Kat had been out on a mission with her spy mentor. And they had only seen each other briefly for months before that, due to their difference in training and lifestyle. The Kingdom of Windin had strict rules stating that no one could finish an education for a job rted to security or leading to a leadership position without going through a lengthy examination with an unbiased expert. And of course, it was illegal to hire someone for such a position without making sure they had the proper education for the job. So, while both twins had been taught their chosen craft from their parents - with private tutors teaching them everything else they needed to know - they couldn''t legally finish their education with their parents and had each gotten a mentor. Reid''s mentor had only taken a week to conclude that Reid already knew everything he needed to know to be a knight. But as the examination needed to officiallyst at least 6 weeks, Reid had been told to join the local Security Guild to get some practical experience by dealing with minor criminals. At the end of each week Reid was then to meet with his mentor to discuss what had happened that week and how he could potentially do better next time. At thest week of both twins'' examination periods, Kat had been told by her mentor to take the newly gathered information - what it was Reid was never told - and deliver it to a certain baron. While this particr piece of knowledge wasn''t earth shattering - she wasn''t officially a spy yet, after all -, it was ill-advised to give certain pieces of information any other way than in person. So, experience in getting undetected to your target, identifying said target, and delivering a message to them without being overheard by undesirable would only serve Kat wellter in life. Having gotten her mission, it didn''t take long for Kat to devise a strategy which would allow both twins to finish their examination together. Reid would be escorting his sister to the baron. Escorting a VIP was something a knight sometimes had to do, after all! Their mentors agreed with Kat''s n and soon the two had time to catch up as they traveled. Kat''s mentor would afterwards ask several of his contacts along their route if they had noticed anything off about any travelers. If the twins finished their mission without drawing attention to themselves, they would both pass their examination and would immediately be hired for their respective craft. The twins arrived at their destination without incident and were almost immediately granted an audience with the baron. Reid wasn''t quite sure what Kat had done to make it happen so quickly. Some trick of the trade no doubt! The baron had been in an audience with a muskin bishop of The Order of The Broken Goddess as they entered. The baron had been a member of the Order himself for barely two weeks at that point and needed assistance in converting his barony. Kat, following her training, had politely asked to be alone with the baron for a moment so she could deliver her message. With a nod from the bishop, the baron led Kat out of the room and into another. With no one to disturb them, Reid and the bishop stood frozen in ce as the human was initiated and made a member of the faith. Once Kat and the baron returned, the bishop attempted to convert Reid''s sister as well, only for Kat to reject the true faith. Not that Kat realized that''s what she did. She immediately used the bishop of trying to mess with her mind. Something the three members immediately denied. Kat ran off in distress. Reid didn''t follow. The twins hadn''t seen each other since. Back in the Dungeon the floating hands had finally all been shattered and with it came the standard ''you failed the puzzle and got no EXP'' message solving one part of the Pdin''s question: the floating mana hands were a part of a puzzle door. However, why he couldn''t damage the puzzle would have to wait till their crusade was finished. Though Reid doubted he would ever know. The seemingly evesting fog meant they only spotted their enemies mere seconds before they attacked. Still plenty of time for a seasoned guard like Reid to defend himself and the others in. With how many beasts had appeared after they had abandoned left disciple Agtius in the care of the goddess, they had started ignoring them even more than before. Only actual attackers were dealt with alongside an asional stab at one of the pixies. At the end of the second room there was an exit block by Fire with the words ''Trust me'' next to it. Bishop Marthox was quick to dere the words ''a message from the goddess''. And true to his word, the goddess prevented the Fire from burning them as they walked through it. The exit of the third room had a simr sign, this time telling them to take the left doorway despite it leading back to the first Boss. A Boss which had mysteriously reappeared despite disciple Agtius still being on the 5th Floor. He''s not dead, he''s not dead, please tell me he''s not dead! With the sess of the previous puzzle, they had no trouble putting their trust in the goddess - for they knew it was their goddess - and thus did as she asked. What incredible control she has over this Dungeon! This really is the biggest piece of her! The one with the most control! Having entered the left door as she asked of them, they entered a new room, rather than the Boss room they had seen before entering. And for the third time in a row, at the end of the room they found a sign from the goddess. This time written directly on the puzzle door¡­ Odd¡­ But Reid wasn''t one to question his goddess'' methods. None of them were. Instead they did as ordered and left their weapons behind as they passed the door. And for the third time in a row, the goddess protected them, taking control of the beasts in the room andmanding them to let her loyal followers pass them without being attacked. The 7th Floor exchanged the Mist fog for a much thinner environmental one. One with quite the smell. But still, fog-wise it was quite an improvement. Unfortunately, the goddess had now used up her weakened reserves - she was still broken into pieces, after all - and control of the beasts had returned to the Dungeon. At least the goddess had ensured they got their weapons back first! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó I watched the 5 cultistsplete my 6th Floor in confusion and wonder. Three of the Floor''s 4 puzzles had been solved with ease! The elvenpany had lost plenty of time, and even elves, trying to solve or at least circumvent those puzzles! The difference between the two sets of enemies? The cult believed my riddle/hints were made by their made-up goddess, and thus someone they are forced to trust with their life. While thepany knew I had made them, and as they didn''t yet trust me, believed my words to be trickery. Howe my improvised Fog Rule is doing more to dy them than my well thought out puzzles! This is ridiculous! At least the heat traps will¡­ exhaust them a bit¡­ Honestly, I don''t think they''ll do any more than that. But tired people move slower! On one hand, the Party''s spellcasters appeared way less educated than the Lightning Mage, and thus didn''t know any good cooling or air filtering spells. Both the Hypnotist and the Earthquake Mage could create small amounts of water at a time and create a burst of wind - using the Pressure element for theter, of course, wind is a movement, after all. But both of those spells needed to constantly be reapplied to be of any help to the Party, which was much too demanding in both mana and concentration. Instead the Party decided to simply get through as fast as possible. Which was the exact opposite of what I wanted them to do! Chapter 69: Speed Is The Enemy Chapter 69: Speed Is The Enemy If I had the ability tomand my creatures to ignore the presence of people with 0% karma level, I would have ordered my cherufe to keep out of sight. As the Party of cultists ignored anything not attacking them - which, due to said inability, meant they still killed all my creatures - having the Puzzle Guardian hide with its coin token would have been preferable. Without the coin they wouldn''t be able to pass the next puzzle door without breaking it, making them waste energy and activating ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' once again. But regardless of what would have been the smartest, my magma golem went on the attack in its attempt to defend its token. Naturally it died and its coin collected. The puzzle door right behind the one needing the coin to open, was the ''Smart'' Riddle Door. Said Door would always believe it had answered a riddle spoken to it correctly, but would only open once it actually had. But! What no one had yet to realize was that this more expensive puzzle door would start ''pping'' people if annoyed. A stone hand would be formed from the Door and p the most annoying person around. But it wouldn''t just be a light p. It was powerful enough to potentially kill a person on level 1. And not everyone had their Toughness Score raised at all as they leveled! So should it hit anyone not meant for closebat? Regardless of level they still might die. Unless, of course, they had good enough reflexes to either avoid being hit or cast a spell to block the p. Or good enough armor, I suppose. And on higher levels having at least one of these was to be expected. If! You were an experienced Dungeon miner, that is¡­ And I highly doubted the Hypnotist entered Dungeons all that often with a ss like his. I definitely preferred a result where everyone was free from mind control, but keeping them away from my Core even at the cost of some of their lives was the second best option. While the Hypnotist could potentially be killed by the ''Smart'' Riddle Door I highly doubt it. He''s not alone, after all. Someone will save him, no doubt. There were three ways to annoy the Door: take too long to give it a ''riddle'' it could answer - a straight up question was fine too -, insult its intelligence, or attempt - sessful or not - to harm it. They chose the third option. With an annoyed grunt the Light Hunter shot a Skill powered arrow at the Door after one too many idiotic answers. The arrow didn''t destroy the Doorpletely - though it was certainly close -, which gave the Door the chance to p her in retaliation. Only for her to dodge the attack and finish the job before another p could be attempted. At least it had kept them in the heat a bit longer¡­ And by entering thest room of the 7th Floor the temperature rose another 5 degrees, and another two puzzles waited to be either solved or destroyed before the Party could leave the heat. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Agtius had no idea just how long he had been unconscious. As he was still in the Dungeon, the main piece of the goddess had to still be trapped. Otherwise he would have been forcefully teleported out as the Dungeon fell. With that in mind, he couldn''t have been unconscious too long, though it could potentially have been a whole hour or two. They could be really close to reaching her prison! Maybe there''s something in their way they need my help with! I need to reach them! Quickly! The nap had done wonders for the giant''s health. While the first aid he had performed on his armless shoulder had certainly been necessary as it had stopped him from bleeding out while unconscious, Toughness being the Axe Master''s second highest Ability Score had aided him in a swift recovery. That being said, Agtius was well aware he was wounded. His exhaustion was made clear to him in every movement he made and dizziness seemed to cloud his eyes every 10th step or so. Still, he had to press on. As the 5th Floor had been cleared out by his flock and couldn''t reset while he was still present, Agtius didn''t have to fight the Boss. Which he was naturally very thankful for. The 6th Floor, however, had been reset, informing the Axe Master that his flock had either sessfully cleared the 6th Floor or died in the attempt. Thetter of which seemed quite unlikely. The Dungeon was certainly dangerous. Just not that dangerous. Nheless, it meant the giant had to fight his way through at least the 6th Floor while weakened and alone. He could only hope the others would still be on the 7th Floor as he arrived, so he wouldn''t have to fight his way through that Floor as well. If he were lucky enough it might even let him catch up with them. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó They?! What?! The Light Hunter had been quick to stop her Party from showing the fake eyes violence by fighting each other or by breaking things, which would have caused a number of weapons equal to the number of people in the room to attack them. It had then taken her two minutes to find the volcano wall colored cloth in the slingshot ammunition barrel. And the moment she saw the cloth she grinned, grabbed it, and covered up all the words on the wall in front of the fake eyes except for ¡®violence¡¯ solving the puzzle. Apparently, wordy was something one of her tutors as a child had been quite fond of. Meaning it was literally child''s y for her¡­ I really need toe up with another Rule to dy them with if this keeps up! Which it did. The high Awareness of said Light Hunter meant she almost immediately noticed the difference of appearance of the actual wall and its mirror image. Connecting that discovery to ''walking backwards while facing the mirror'' took a bit of time, but not at all as long as I would have liked! They only destroy my puzzles if they can''t figure them out within 10 minutes or so. And at this point I want that to happen! 10 minutes on each puzzle, is still a 10 minutes dy! Those add up quickly! Just as the group of cultists was about to begin descending to the 8th Floor, their abandonedrade burst down the stairway and entered the 7th Floor. Of course the group didn''t know this and continued their march. After waking up the second time around, the Axe Master had unsteadily walked through the remaining parts of the 5th Floor. Upon reaching the 6th Floor he had gotten a bit more control over his movements and changed his strategy. The giant was now running. And despite his blood loss and stature he was actually quite fast. Fast enough that he could outrun all the creatures I had ced in the first room of the Floor and use a Skill to quickly ram through the Door of Politeness, so he could keep his momentum going. The creatures in that room wasn''t the fastest anyway. I wonder if he noticed he got double EXP and loot for not killing anything? It doesn''t seem that way¡­ He''s running like nothing happened. Maybe he''s simply too focused looking at his feet to see where he''s going while in my Thick Fog to give any attention to System messages? The second room likewise didn''t have any creature fast enough to intercept the running giant, but at least this time the puzzle forced him to pause. The Fire blocking the entrance to the next room looked quite violent and menacing, so it was no wonder he didn''t want to simply run through it. As he considered the meaning of the words ''Trust me'' next to the mes, he didn''t do something as convenient as speaking out loud, so whether he too concluded the text was a message from the goddess or not was unclear to me. He simply went from standing still, back to running, just in time to avoid being attacked from behind. The Fire Fox from Trusting Fox''s Pass was faster than the giant and jumped on his back as he was running, causing him to falter but didn''t seed in stopping himpletely. Instead the Axe Master swung his secondary axe and with practiced ease decapitated my Fire Fox, causing it to burst into mana particles and loot. The swing did, however, unbnce the giant, making him tumble to the ground and giving the rest of the creatures in the room time to catch up and attack. Attacks which, besides reopening the wound the loss of his arm caused, mostly caused bruises and scratches. Which in turn meant the Axe Master eventually won, even while massively outnumbered and surrounded. He was, however, quickly losing energy. And while he decided to walk the remainder of the now creature-empty room, he clearly didn''t want to waste any time considering how to solve my puzzles! That, and he had clearly suffered no ill effect after having trusted thest message next to a puzzle, meaning the giant quickly decided to follow the words on the wall to decide the correct entrance to enter. I don''t think he even stopped long enough to even look at the illusions ced on the doorways¡­ Like with the previous room, in Pacifistic Eagle''s Pass the only creature fast enough to keep up with the running giant - who was hyperventting at this point - was the room''s Mist eagle. But again, it didn''t really make a big difference as he simply cleaved the poor creature in two after the first - barely sessful - attack. And while he still stumbled after making the attack, he didn''t fall to the ground this time. Putting his axe down on the ground before entering The Greedy Pacifists'' Challenge Room had clearly made him reconsider following the written word, but the creatures closing in behind him forced him to decide quickly. He decided to leave his weapon behind as he entered thest room of the 6th Floor. A room he left so quickly he likely didn''t notice, nothing tried to attack him. Reunited with his secondary axe, the Axe Master hurried down the stairway and entered the 7th Floor seconds before the rest of his Party left it. Here he stopped. Listened. And fell on his knees in relief, as he wasn''t immediately attacked. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó They''re still alive, and not too far ahead of me! Agtius thought in relief. This Floor has essentially already beenpleted for me so I should be able to catch up quickly! I just need to watch out for any remaining traps! But as Agtius tried to get up so he could keep going, his legs refused to obey him and his eyes started swirling once again. I was running on adrenaline wasn''t I? Am I sure I can''t keep going? Another attempt at getting up simplynded him with his butt in the wet swamp. He clearly needed another break before he could keep going. I should drink something too tobat the blood loss¡­ And then¡­ Perhaps¡­ Another nap¡­ ¡­ No! I don''t have time for that! ¡­ But I can''t keep going without a break. Maybe I''ll just¡­ Close my eyes for a moment¡­ And imagine how proud my family will be of me, when I return home after this¡­ Chapter 70: Still Like Living Stone Chapter 70: Still Like Living Stone New Dungeon Rule: Sleeping Safe and Sound: All rest and sleep is double as effective as in the Surface World. While visitors are resting, sleeping, or unconscious no Dungeon creature can attack them. This makes resting and sleeping more appealing to the subconscious of visitors with 25% karma or lower and makes sleep effects from traps more likely to affect them andst longer. While I didn''t actually have any sleep based traps for the cultists to trigger before the 10th Floor, the Axe Master was currently unconscious. The new Rule would make the giant stay that way for longer and stop him from reaching his Party any time soon, leaving them that much more vulnerable for longer. The ''Dungeon creatures don''t attack while visitors are sleeping'' thing was mostly for my sake. I didn''t want to kill people if I didn''t need to, and I would be dying the Party simply by making them sleep and rest more often and for longer through this Rule. And, at least for now, dying them was the game I was ying. With the 7th Floorpleted the Party of cultists entered my 8th Floor and The Hall of Diet. Not diet as in ''you need to go on a diet'' but as in ''a drag''s main diet consists of fruits''. Seeing as knowing or correctly guessing thetter let one know which tiles were safe to walk on without triggering any traps. Something the cultists didn''t want to waste any time on figuring out. Instead they had their Pdin go first, tank all now activated traps till the next safe tile was reached, before repeating. And as ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' affected all things Dungeon, my traps were quite Tough as this point. ¡­ Though technically¡­ All the ''traps'' triggered by the puzzle were simply a part of the puzzle punishing people for not yet understanding it. None of the flying arrows actually counted as ''traps'' to my maximum allowed number of traps on the 8th Floor. Still. The arrows shooting out of the walls every time the wrong tile got stepped on hit with enough Toughness to make even a 6th tiered, armored Pdin flinch and groan. Despite the fact that this floor was meant to be difficult, but possible, for a 4 person Party of 2nd tiers to beat¡­ It took them 6 safe tiles before the Battle Commander noticed and pointed out that every safe tile contained an image of a fruit. The rest of the puzzle went smoothly after that. At the end of The Hall of Diet were my two giant drag statues, ready toe to life the moment the Wheel of Fortune next to the exit eithernded on a red slice or was broken in frustration. And as all my Wheels of Fortune amplified fivefold the slight change in bad luck the cultists had while in my Dungeon from having low karma levels, well¡­ Having been spun the Wheel slowed down and appeared like it should havended on a green slice, which would have made it eject a key needed at the end of the Floor. But, as luck would have it, it slowly passed the green slice andnded on the nearby red one, animating my drag statues. It''s been a while since bad luck has mattered against power and experience! And their Toughness was just as amplified as my traps and puzzles! Their Strength wasn''t, but at least they survived longer, dying the Party further. With a key in hand as a reward for defeating the animated statues, the group entered The Waiting Room. And was immediately attacked by a pair of b¨¬xi¨¦s they couldn''t look at. Only for two newly respawned, level 15, winged, dragon-headed, deer-horned lionesses to attack them a minuteter. For that was the true master n behind the puzzle known as The Waiting Room. One simply needed to refrain from fighting or arguing for 5 minutes and the puzzle would be solved. But that was quite difficult to do if your enemy kept respawning in the room every minute. And since the entire wall was blocked off and not just the exit, it was difficult to locate. They know perfectly well what happens when the outside wall of a Dungeon is breached. They don''t want to risk it happening again. But with my b¨¬xi¨¦s actively seeking to attack them due to their 0% karma level, there will never be 5 minutes of peace. Eventually they''ll have to risk picking the wrong wall and break through one anyway. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Their fear of picking the wrong wall kept them from doing anything productive - other than killing the constantly respawning b¨¬xi¨¦s - for 24 minutes. Way longer than they would normally use on a single puzzle. But getting interrupted once a minute meant that even their closest attempts quickly failed. Eventually the Hypnotist snapped and ordered the others to simply pick a wall and break it. The Battle Commander, having a better sense of their environment, suggested they move away from the chosen wall before having the Light Hunter shoot the wall with her bow and arrows from a safe distance. Wait a minute! How does she still have any arrows left? She hasn''t been all that selective in which of my creatures to shoot and she even ''hit'' several of my Fata Morganas! She hasn''t been picking any of her arrows back up either! Her quiver can''t possibly hold any more than- My Dungeon mind immediately counted the number of arrows currently in her quiver without me truly thinking about it. -25 arrows at a time! ¡­ Wait! Why is it still full?! ¡­ That''s a magic quiver aren''t it¡­ The Party walked back to The Hall of Diet and stood in the grass covered end between the broken pieces of my previously animated drag statues. As the statues were a result of a puzzle and not actual Dungeon creatures, they didn''t dissolve and didn''t leave behind loot. The Light Hunter drew an arrow from her quiver and got ready to shoot it. The quiver still had 25 arrows in it. Yep! Magic quiver! As they had retreated back to the previous room, the wall opposite the opening between the two rooms was naturally the easiest one to hit - even if there was a statue of a dude meditating in the way -, and thus the one the Light Hunter chose to shoot with a Skill-powered arrow. Which just so happened to be the right wall¡­ At least they''ve ''skipped'' yet another puzzle for ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' to take advantage of¡­ The next room was The Volcanic Mountain Range, which had an uneven line of Lava Geyser traps throughout the middle of it. Said Lava Geyser trap was styled after geysers and triggered when a person with low karma stepped on them. Only instead of spewing out boiling water it threwva in the air. As a 2nd tier trap it was quite coldva which turned to stone as it hit the ground. But it still spewedva! And as it triggered on contact it was near impossible to dodge! Or at least so I had thought when I made them. During the ''elven invasion'' I - and the elves - had learned that the traps took a full second to activate and made quite the sound as they do. A single second might not sound like a lot, but unless you were walking slower than normal you would have already left the st zone of theva by the time it arrived. I left the traps as they were for three reasons: 1) Whenever a Party would explore a room for the first time, they tend to walk slowly and cautiously. 2) Unless they were running, they would still be hit by the quickly coolingva rocks as they fell down. 3) My Fake Core had just been caged and I was pretending I couldn''t do anything without permission. The first of these Lava Geysers was right in front of the newly formed entrance, where it was meant to catch people off guard. It seeded, but the Pdin walking first had just enough reaction time to get most of his body away from theva st zone, as well as enough Awareness to block the falling rocks with his shield. The Light Hunter right behind him simply dodged everything with ease¡­ The rest were safe in The Waiting Room. And with that loud announcement all the Dungeon creatures in the room began storming towards the groups of invading 0%''s. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Huh¡­ I really thought my Giant Rolling Boulder traps would get at least one of the slower of them.. I should have realized the Earthquake Mage would simply have changed the boulders'' gravity. With Earthquake being the stronger version of the Gravity element and all that¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Gargoyle Garden of the 9th Floor was filled with roughly half Dragon Gargoyle traps and actual dragon gargoyles. Both would standpletely still, except for keeping the closest person in their sight. Both would stay on their given pedestals till an enemy came within reach. The difference was that a trap couldn''t leave said pedestal tomit to their attack, which an actual gargoyle both could and would. And of course, traps didn''t dissolve and leave loot behind. Like my mimics, gargoyles - the creature, not the trap - were ambush predators and, unlike the rest of my creatures, didn''t attack the cultists as soon as they entered the room. They would, however, attack as soon as their enemies'' backs were turned. It created quite the frightening atmosphere, as the room was filled with dozens of gargoyles all silently staring, knowing any one of them might attack once everyone''s back was turned. Though¡­ They didn''t actually reveal this atmosphere until after the room''s 22 Fire wyrms and 22 Earthquake drakes had been disposed of. And by then they didn''t have the luxury of checking each gargoyle and destroying the real ones, as magma had begun pouring out three of the room''s four corners the moment they entered. Slowly, of course. Magma''s quite thick. As a solution the Light Hunter used some of her seemingly infinite arrows to attack any gargoyles on pedestals now surrounded by burning magma. But with ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' adding massive amounts of points to both my fake and real gargoyles to their already impressive - for their tier - Toughness Score, it took the archer either 5 normal arrow shots or two Skill-powered ones. It seems I''ve forced her to start conserving her energy. Nice! But even with their impressive defense, my gargoyles simply didn''t have the ability to do all that much damage to the much higher tiered cultists and eventually lost their battle. How much more do I need to stall them for?! As I could see everything in my Dungeon at once, that thought was mostly due to frustration over my creatures inability to truly harm these guys. Marthox [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [36 minutes, 57 seconds] Beastkin - Muskin Hypnotist Level 60 Almost there! And now they''ve arrived at The Werewolf Wood! Let''s see how they deal with a puzzle thisplicated while having their best and worse Ability Scores switched! Chapter 71: Puzzles and Mysteries a Plenty Chapter 71: Puzzles and Mysteries a Plenty The first thing Reid Alvarado noticed as he entered the forested room was how bishop Marthox and disciple Emery, the Earthquake Mage, suddenly started growing muscles. The Mage more so than the bishop, who had noticeably given uppletely on his normal poker face. Reid had long since noticed how bishop Marthox only ever dropped said poker face, when anger or frustration made him snap. Which had happened several times during this unusual Dungeon dive. But instead of the anger or frustration expected whenever the muskin dropped the mask, nerves and difort was clearly seen on his face and bodynguage. Then Reid, as he took another step, realized his under armor rubbed against him rougher than before. And yet, as he took a quick second to check it, it appeared to be the same as usual. What''s going on? Then a mighty howl sounded slight behind them and to the right. They all turned around, ready to attack the creature, only for them to see a hybrid between a wolf beastkin and a giant. Given how disciple rr was a hybrid between an elf and a fox beastkin, Reid''s first instinct was to lower his guard as this was clearly a sapient and thus not a threat. But then the hybrid lowered themselves, getting ready to jump. That''s when Reid realized it''s reversed knees. Well trained reflexes pulled Reid''s shield up in front of him as the monster jumped him, but for some reason his body failed to keep standing as he took the hit. Nowying on the ground the monster stood on all fours on his shield on top of him and began biting Reid''s helmet, trying to reach his throat. A feminine scream sounded, a thud of someone hitting the ground like Reid had, the sound of bodies being mmed together, followed by a high pitched, yet masculine groan from what had to be the muskin bishop. All backgrounded by a multitude of growls and barks from all directions. But before Reid could defend the others he needed to fight off his own attacker. Luckily, despite whatever had caused his body to fail against the force of the monster''s jump, his Strength seemed to still be intact and he quickly threw the hybrid minster off him despite its giant size. Reid''s knight training always came through for him in times like this and he was quick to make distance between him and the monster, keeping his struggling teammates at his back for maximum safety while surrounded. A quick nce at how the rest were doing showed Reid the bishop in the middle of sumo wrestling a gnome/wolf monster. What is going on? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Ability Score switching of The Werewolf Wood didn¡¯t affect the timers counting down the time before their minds were freed. Given how their Ability Scores hadn¡¯t actually changed, they simply started doing the job of the Score they had switched with, I hadn¡¯t actually expected the counters to change. The current Ability Scores of the victim were up against the Ability Scores of the caster at the time of casting, but as the Ability Scores of the victim hadn¡¯t actually changed, the cultists were just as resistant to already applied effects, such as the mind control in question, as before they entered the room. The Hypnotist would be unable to Hypnotize anyone while in The Werewolf Wood, but those he had already Hypnotized would remain so. Even knowing this, I couldn¡¯t help but be disappointed. Given that my werewolves were only level 11, the cultists were never in any actual danger from them. But having one''s Ability Scores messed up in the middle ofbat made everyone a bad fighter. And as my werewolves benefitted from ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' they had enough Toughness that only the kobold variant had died when the moon sat. The Hypnotist must have had equally bad Strength and Toughness Scores. ''Cause I''m pretty confident they were both raised with how he took those hits, yet managed to do significant damage to my Toughness boosted werewolf gnome. As my werewolves weren''t karma creatures, they felt no reason to keep attacking after they transformed back. And as they now looked exactly like sapients, the cultist cautiously stopped fighting too, though they didn''t lower their guard. They had, however, overlooked the karmic lynx in the room. Said lynx had been jumping in and out of the fight, always aiming to take an opponent by surprise. And since its prey was focused on deciding what to do about the now docile and sapient-looking fey¡­ A quick attack, then back to hiding. But with the werewolf Pack no longer distracting the Party, the lynx''s next attack was pursued and the cat hunted down and killed. As for the no-longer-wolfed-out fey? The Hypnotist pointed out how thebels over their heads dered them ''monsters'' and those too wounded to flee were killed on the spot. As they had nowpletely failed the puzzle, the exit wouldn''t be revealed to them. Not that that did me a lot of good, seeing as it only took them a singlep around the room before the Hypnotist pointed out the vague outline of the new moon on the ceiling over where the exit would have appeared, marking the spot. Luckily for me, their swapping Ability Scores caused most of their Skills to be less effective, as many of their Skills used their best Ability Score as a base. They did eventually figure out they could have the Hypnotist and Battle Commander use Buff Skills and spells on the Earthquake Mage as she was now the strongest among them. She seemed quite happy about being able to - eventually - break the walled door with her gloved - borrowed from the Pdin - fist. More so in fact, than when she minutester solved the puzzle in The Hall of Light. The creatureless, buffet filled dining room naturally caused some confusion. There once again appeared to be no exit to the room, so it was clearly a puzzle. Just not one with an obvious goal in mind. They didn''t dare eat the food at first. One of their theories was that some food was poisoned and they had to find and possibly eat the few pieces, likely only one for each, which weren''t. But as they couldn''t find any signs of anything suspicious with any of the food, they eventually sat down to, cautiously, eat the offered food. After all, Dungeon environments were known to sometimes have edible food, and they were getting quite hungry after all that fighting. After they had each swallowed at least one bite of food, the exit revealed itself as the first criteria for solving the puzzle waspleted. While confused as to what they had done for that to happen, their stomachs demanded they eat more of the delicious food before them. Unfortunately for me, the Hypnotist demanded they press onwards before the puzzle dered them gluttons and changed their chairs and silverware to mimics. Then to the 10th Floor and The Lightning Forrest! Oh! The giant is waking up! Said giant Axe Master slowly woke up, took a moment to assess his own health before deciding to walk, not run, through the still creature-empty 7th Floor. Boring. I turned my focus back to the Party. The timer''s almost done. I think they have time to deal with the key mimic after it reveals itself, but I doubt they''ll get much further than that. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "''The key is the key''?" Marthox read out loud the inscription over the door barring them from the second room of the 10th, and hopefully final, Floor of the Dungeon. This has already gone on far longer than it should have! "The Dungeon must be fighting our goddess." The muskin concluded. "Otherwise I''m sure she would have chosen a less cryptic way of guiding us, her loyal flock." Of course a key is a key! Not that he dared roll his eyes at the goddess. Surely there was some hidden meaning behind the written clue! The disciples with him nodded, before disciple Delonix-Regia took the key hanging on a keychain next to the door. Only for the key to move with incredible speed, growing legs, mouth, and eyes, jumping off the wall aiming for the eyes of the elven woman. But unfortunately for it, disciple Delonix-Regia had an incredibly high Dexterity Score, which gave her the reflexes and speed to dodge its attack. It wasn''t long after that, that the monster, the dreaded mimic, was yed. "But¡­ the clue?" Disciple Emery questioned, confused. Marthox had to agree. Clearly the key hadn''t been a key at all, so why had the goddess said it was? "''The key is the key''." Disciple Delonix-Regia made sure to put emphasis on the first word as she quoted the clue. "It''s not just any key - and certainly not a key-shaped mimic. We need to find the key, which will be ''the key'' to solving this puzzle." "Ah! So there must be other keys in here!" Disciple Emery concluded. "Most likely." The elf agreed. "Split up and search for keys." Marthoxmanded. "But don''t touch them, it could be another mimic." His flock nodded and did as he asked of them. Choosing to start close to the exit, Marthox too began looking around for keys. They didn¡¯t intend to waste a lot of time looking, but breaking doors down seemed to get harder and harder the closer they got to their goal. Finding the key would save immense amounts of energy, which would likely be needed to deal with the Boss monster at the end of the Floor. While searching, Marthox began considering what was going to happen once they returned to The Prophet''s Gallery Room with the main piece of the goddess. Said Gallery Room was where all the rescued pieces of the goddess were gathered and disyed till such a time, that the goddess could be put back together. Of course to those not initiated, it does sound- Something broke. Not physically, and it didn''t make any sound, but Marthox instinctively knew: Something had broken. With a frozen body, the muskin searched his mind for clues. He knew whatever had broken had been in his mind, but he didn''t know what. The more he thought the more discrepancies he found in his past behavior. Nothing big, but many, many small things. Things he knew he didn''t want to do, yet had done. But also things he wouldn''t do, yet had done. Thoughts started swirling faster and faster, words blending with memories, all trying to reach a conclusion telling him why he had done things he wouldn''t do. Then his thoughts focused on one particr memory. One from his 8th birthday, the day he came of age, became an adult, got ess to the System, levels, and his first ss of Commoner. But more importantly it was the day of his own initiation. They¡­ They had taken his free will from him that day. They didn¡¯t even have any reason to do it! Marthox had been raised in The Order of The Broken Goddess. His parents had been members themselves and raised their only surviving child - it had been aplicated birth - in their belief. Only¡­ Marthox realized now; it hadn''t been their own belief. It had been forced upon them! Just like it had been forced upon the otherwise willing Marthox. But why? Why did they find it necessary? A memory surfaced with the answer. A simple one. Every member of The Order was under mind control, it was a part of- no! It was the entirety of the initiation. And no one was considered a member without it. He had initiated dozens of people himself. Could feel the mental strings he had on them. During the mental battle of initiation he would give all needed instructions, as he couldn''t change it again afterwards without having to undo it and start over. The strings were simr to leashes in some ways. The pet needed to be near the person leashing them as it happened, but could then do as they pleased as long as they stayed within the range of the leash. And while it was almost impossible for the pet to free themselves, the owner could simply drop the leash anytime they wanted to. They found it necessary because they have themselves been ordered to do it. But¡­ why? If it''s really necessary to control the actions of every member to ensure they follow The Order, then¡­ His world crashed around him. For the truth didn''t need to be believed to be true. But a lie needed to be believed by someone to even exist. The¡­ the goddess doesn''t exist does she? It was all just a lie¡­ My whole life! Has been a lie! Chapter 72: Letting Go of Leashes Chapter 72: Letting Go of Leashes I don''t like this. It''s too slow. I can''t help them if I''m not there. With them. Helping them. After waking up from his adrenaline crash, Agtius had felt forced to go through the empty 7th Floor slow and steady. He didn''t like having to do so, but the giant had no way of knowing just how long he would be out of it, should it happen again. ording to the unexined countdown above his head, he had lost over an hourst time he passed out. An hour is a long time in a Dungeon this young. Long enough that the others should have been done by now! But clearly the Dungeon is still there. Still, keeping the goddess captive at its very core. Wasn''t there something about the Dungeon growing faster than normal? Must be why they haven''t reached the end yet. After all, the only other exnation for why it still exists would be that they died, and we all have way too high tierspared to the Dungeon for that to happen! The Hypnosis didn''t let him consider that his fellow devotees might have fled. No follower of The Order of The Broken Goddess was able to consider abandoning their duty to the broken goddess, after all, and subconsciously Agtius knew this. Agtius wasn''t afraid of admitting to himself that he had hit his limits. Taking it slowly was better for his health. And he would have a hard time helping his fellow devotees if he was about to pass out. It could be longer than an hour next time! And even half an hour would be too much wasted time! Think positively! Moving slowly is better than not moving at all! ¡­ Which is what would happen if I tried to force myself¡­ At least I don''t have to worry about any monsters or puzzles on this Floor! I just have to keep an eye out for untriggered traps! Which might not be my specialty but I know enough to spot traps in a Floor of this low a tier! Another dizzy spell hit, forcing the giant to stop in his tracks and take a deep breath before continuing. I just wanna help¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "No signs of any keys on my end." rr stated matter of factly. The half elf half vulpinekin preferred to joke around andugh at life, but he was well aware that the middle of a dangerous Dungeon was no time to joke and acted ordingly. But boy was he gonna have fun writing his report on the crusade! Not that writing a report was something The Order of The Broken Goddess actually did. Sure, the leader of a crusade, bishop Marthox in this case, had to give a verbal report to someone of higher rank, but even that report was usually just a statement of whether the crusade seeded, how many had died, and if they expected any future trouble from the locals. No, rr wrote reports on his battles partly as a way to learn from his mistakes and his opponent''s sesses, and partly to share with his fellow ''battle nerds'', as they affectionately called themselves. Why ''battle nerds'' and not something cooler? ''Cause it was essentially a book club. A book club, where they suggested books, articles, and monuments with each other, all gathered around historical battles, military and strategies. And where those of them who actually participated in battle - on the field or simply nning it out behind a desk - would share their experience in hopes of gaining additional insight. And admittedly, it was often quite the confidence booster, as these days rr was praised more often than criticized for his reported actions. And he didn''t even have to fiddle with any of the details, like he highly suspected some of the other battle active members sometimes did. But to get the best possible report one needed to know what happened all over the battlefield, which was why rr preferred to stand on the edge of it. It gave a better overall view, where he could observe both allies and enemies and their strategy, strengths, and weaknesses. Though, being able to urately describe the battle after it was over wasn''t the only reason for his strategy. Admittedly it had started out as such. But The Order had taken notice of how observant he was and his great - even as a young adult - knowledge ofbat. rtar was then bought and taken out of very so he could use his abilities to aid The Order and their broken goddess. So these days he used his knowledge and observation skills to Command his allies in the best action while in the middle ofbat. Should they obey his Command they would receive a boost as they did so through his ss. And as his advice was just about always good when it came tobat, thebination had led many battles to victory. As such, rr standing on the edge of the battlefield was quite an advantage for everyone but their opponents. Not that he feared getting into actualbat himself! Closebat was fun in its own way! It just didn''t let him observe the battlefield as a whole as effectively. "Huh?!" Bishop Marthox did a surprised jump as rr spoke. Odd. I know he has Awareness in the fifties, he should have been ''aware'' of my arrival. The internal pun made a slight smirk appear on the Battle Commander''s face, before seriousness took back control. I wasn''t even trying to hide my arrival. The muskin bishop blinked rapidly as he tried to focus on the world around them and their current situation. Ah! He was lost in thought. rtar gave a slight, self-satisfied nod as his observation skills had once again allowed him toe to a solution. The bishop didn''t get to say a word after regaining his senses, as they were interrupted by their three allies rejoining them and reporting their keyless results. Huh¡­ Ignoring the muskin suddenly stuttering to their allies, rr went to get a closer look at the door to double check what the corner of his eye had shown him. And sure enough! The door wasn''t actually locked at all! Between the door itself and the wall beside it, right by where the door handle and the keyhole were, could be seen a single metal rod. One. The one meant to keep the door closed. Not two, as seen on a locked door. Naturally, rr went to open said closed, but not locked door. And open it did. Interrupting the bishop''s awkward stuttering and confusing all 4 of them. rr simply smirked teasingly at them and said, "The door wasn''t locked," before turning around and walking through it. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The secretly-not-a-bishop-anymore Marthox had no problem letting Mister rr lead¡­ the group - no longer would he refer to them as a flock or as disciples - and he was even passively aware of how confused this made the elf-vulpinekin hybrid. Normally Marthox preferred being the one in control and Mister rr clearly knew this. Miss Delonix-Regia had noticed the change in behavior as well, but it hadn''t taken her long before she shrugged it off in a ''none of my business'' sort of manner. But Marthox''s conscious thoughts were upied by one simple question: ''What should I do, now that I''m free?'' The main thing was, of course, to ensure his own survival. But if he could ensure he ended up in an - at least somewhat - advantageous position, then that was naturally preferable. Right now I''m surrounded by 4 cultists, three of whom I have personally initiated and can therefore let go off at any moment. None of them are good enough at the mind arts to have noticed I''m no longer one of them. But once or if I release the other three, Miss Delonix-Regia will notice what has happened - there''s no way all three can mask it - and she''ll turn against us! She''s agile enough that she''ll simply dodge any attacks we aim at her, while hitting us with her fancy, high quality arrows. Mister Alvarado might end up the only survivor then, simply due to his own fancy, high quality armor. But¡­ what if¡­? What if she''s not near enough to notice? With a - admittedly rough - n in ce, Marthox took back control of the crusade after the other 4 had cleared the second room of the 10th Floor. "Disciple Delonix-Regia." The muskin demanded the attention of the elf constantly covering her face to hide her identity. Marthox knew The Order nned to use her identity - whatever it might be - to their advantage at some point, but he had yet to be told of their actual n. Or what her actual identity was. But identities aside, what made Marthox¡­ cautious of attracting the elf''s attention was her high level, gear, and her skills inbat. Anything else could wait till he was out of the Dungeon and away from the influence of The Order. "See if you can''t solve the puzzle, while the rest of us search the room for any hidden keys." Marthox continued, hiding his¡­ wariness behind a mask of calm and confidence. "The goddess wouldn''t have gone to such a length to give us clues about keys, if there weren''t any keys to be found." Miss Delonix-Regia widened her eyes and gave a raised eyebrow as if to say ''Me? Why me?'', before struggling and walking over to the door to the next room and its three apanying colored orbs. Marthox did his best to hide his relief at her simply obeying him. To the other three - all whom he had initiated to The Order himself - he signaled to stay silent and follow him - making absolutely sure the Hunter''s back was still turned and now focused on the puzzle door. Then he began leading them out of the room and into the previous. And once that door was closed, he let go of every mental string he had ever made. As he had made them in the name of The Order, they wouldn''t be of any use to him anyway. They would have obeyed the will of The Order, before they obeyed the will of their Hypnotist. And if there was one thing Marthox still believed in, it would be that if you need to get something done properly, you need to do it yourself. Or, you know, use your System-given Skills to make someone else do it exactly how you would have done it. Not that Marthox intended to do that right now! No. As the process meant winning a mental battle with another during which both were quite visibly frozen in ce, any attempt at such would immediately be discovered by the other two. No. That would have to wait till he could get someone alone, whether that be one of these three or someone else entirely. But Marthox would one day have his own followers, loyal only to him! He was sure of that. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó At first Reid Alvarado simply looked confused at the muskin, who had led them back to an already cleared Dungeon room for seemingly no reason. Then a thought struck him: Why am I even in this Dungeon in the first ce? The human Pdin thought back to what had caused him toe to this Dungeon, only to end up even more confused. Why would I care what this ''Order of The Broken Goddess'' wants me to do? Thinking further and further back intill finally, he found his answer: Something had happened to him while he was alone with the bishop in front of him, while his twin delivered a secret message to a baron for her spy examination. Something which had switched his loyalty from his family, Kingdom, andmunity to a mind controlling cult! He might still have cared about his people while under said mind control, but they were suddenly second priority to strangers who told him to lose all contact with anyone from ''his past as a heathen''. Anger swelled in Reid. I haven''t seen or heard from my family in years because of this asshole! And I had just reconnected with my sister! How dare he! Reid opened his mouth to shout out his anger and had just begun to raise his hand in what was sure to be a mighty p, when a couple of details struck out to him from his memories: Everyone in the cult was equally devoted to their supposed goddess - though often in different ways and for different reasons. While not a single one of them ever expressed any doubt. And not a single one of them ever questioned themand of an Order superior, even if the request seemed sketchy or suicidal. They were- are all mind controlled! Or at least therge majority! Even most of the higher ups! Reid scanned his mind for signs that this bishop had been just as mind controlled as the rest of them and couldn''t at first find any. But then the bishop''s most recent behavior came to mind: His sudden stuttering, how he had led them away only for the mind control to disappear as the door closed behind them. It might suggest the muskin had been under a now failed mind control, which let him release everyone else''s. Wait? Why led us away from¡­ Is my memory faulty or was her name Talindra Delonix-Regia?! ¡­ I really wish Kathrin was here. Chapter 73: Panic and Run Chapter 73: Panic and Run Jenna Emery was freaking out and only half listening to who she had known as bishop Marthox exin in short, straightforward sentences how he had been mind controlled into mind controlling people. She was a bit too concentrated on the fact that she had been one of them. Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out! I need to get out! Whether she needed to get out of the Dungeon, the cult, or the situation itself, not even the Earthquake Mage herself knew at the time. So, she decided to run away from everything till she could calm down and figure out what to do now that she had her free will back. One thing she knew for sure, however, was that people could only get sses which corresponded to their personality. The school she had attended when she was a child hadn''t been the finest or anything. In fact, it had been aimed for the low tier society. The part of any society which rarely had the means to raise past the 2nd tier and only under special circumstances past the 3rd. Typically due tocking the necessary funds to enter a Dungeon with any regrity, thus leading to a much slower growth more basic on raising their Skills. And by the time they were level 19+, they would be so old, they would no longer consider it worth it to pay the fee to enter a Dungeon to get the needed Breakthrough Orb to tier up with. So, most people in Jenna''s neighborhood simply stayed a level 19+ thest decade or so of their lives. And with a low tier society school came low level and poorly educated teachers. Teachers who could simply talk about whatever they pleased without being called out for it. Well¡­ It did have to be at least somewhat educational or there would be protests, but that rarely happened. But this loose curriculum had let one of Jenna''s more regr teachers bber on and on about what sses each child might get as they grew up and each ss''s characteristics. And how no one was ever truly dissatisfied with the ss the System had chosen for them. Jenna was certainly happy about her own ss. Even when she had been a young adult who just got her first real ss as an Intelligence - no one counted Commoner as a real ss since everyone had had that one at some point. Her parents were so proud! Both for how quickly she had gotten it -pared to other low tier society people - and for being assigned Intelligence as a ss. Her parents had Strength and Toughness as their ss and like so many others in their neighborhood they worked as seasonalborers. Carrying what people wanted them to carry. Hammer what people wanted them to hammer. Plow where people wanted them to plow. And so on. They wanted a better future for their only daughter and any extra money they gathered over the years were given to Jenna when she came of age to use for the Dungeon fee, so she could quickly level up and make that better futuree true. Then she tiered up and her parents couldn''t help butment on how someone with an Intelligence ss would more likely be hired for better paying jobs than what they themselves did. Only¡­ Jenna had other ns¡­ Like most children she had admired her parents. But unlike most she never grew out of it. Her parents were kind and thoughtful despite their lot in life. Hardworking and patient. They refused to take better paying jobs if it required them to abandon their morals and much preferred those where they got to help those in need. Even if a hard job came with much too small a payment. Jenna wanted to be just like them. Yet¡­ She also wanted to make them proud of her. And they didn''t want her to be like them. So, Jenna had from a young age made apromise with herself. Had even sealed it with a prayer to the System! She would be like her parents in thoughts and actions, but not in ss. For instead of moving crates with her body, she would learn to do it with spells, Skills, and mana. This desire had persisted even under the control of The Order of The Broken Goddess and eventually granted her the ss of Elemental Mage - Earthquake. Earthquake was the stronger version of the Gravity element, after all. And Gravity spells had been her preferred way of lifting heavy objects as a young adult. Jenna didn''t know for sure if mind control could affect the ss one got. But if it did, logic told Jenna the System would change one''s ss back to what it should have been, once the victim''s mind was freed. ¡­ Thebel over the talking muskin''s head still said Hypnotist despite him no longer being Brainwashed. Get out, get out! I need to go! Now! And with that thought, the human woman was gone. Back up the stairs she had recentlye from. The bright, light blue light of the Dungeon transporting her out of it,bined with her own panic, disoriented thete 5th tier long enough that the deputy stationed near the Dungeon Portal could fulfill his orders. And knock her out with the t side of his sword. Luckily for Jenna, her admiration of her hardworking parents had led to her having much more Toughness than the normally fragile Mages. She wouldn''t have survived the attack otherwise. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The deputy in question, Varitan Catalpa, was an elf just barely in the 4th tier, who didn''t dare take any time to truly look at his victim. He only knew that the cult had been strong enough to steal the mind of their own strongest. His good friend the sheriff had concluded - and Varitan agreed - that only a powerful surprise attack had any chance of taking them down. The town didn''t want these people here, but with the dungeon mistress unreliable the sheriff had simply ordered his deputies to keep them unconscious for the time being. If possible, of course! And as Varitan had the highest level amongst the deputies, he was assigned to guard the Dungeon Portal for their return. Should the Dungeon not kill them first, that is. When Varitan finally took a second to look at the female human he had just hit, he quickly concluded he had hit some type of Int ss without holding back. Those were often quite fragile. As a full blown attack from someone with 32 Strength was basically an instant death sentence to those not invested at least a little bit in Toughness, he naturally panicked. He was a deputy, after all, not a soldier. Killing wasn''t what he had signed up for. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Reid Alvarado had asked why Talindra Delonix-Regia had been left behind and had been informed she was under someone else''s mind control. Apparently, freeing someone from your own control was as easy as deciding to do it, while it took time and concentration to free someone from another''s control. And if the other mind controller was more than a certain amount better than the muskin Hypnotist then it waspletely impossible. Then, out of nowhere, the Mage of the group stormed out of the Dungeon, without any words having left her lips since their minds had been given back. Confused, the human Pdin, the elf-vulpinekin hybrid Battle Commander, and the muskin Hypnotist decided to follow her lead. Though at a jog rather than a sprint. As they appeared next to the Dungeon Portal in a sh of light, they noticed one of the town¡¯s deputies kneeling next to their runawayrade, desperately trying to figure out if she was still alive. His panic stopped him from realizing he had gained an audience as he frantically went from trying to find her pulse, to checking if she was still breathing, and back again. "What did you do?!" The Battle Commander asked with incredible hostility. A quick nce at the hybrid showed a tense body just as ready to attack as the voice had sounded. That being ''at the slightest provocation''. Which seemed somewhat unfair to Reid. They didn¡¯t know what had happened, after all, and the deputy was clearly concerned about the woman''s well-being. The deputy flinched at the sound of such hostility, looked up and saw them, before jumping back, leaving a couple of meters distance between them. Fear was clear in his eyes and bodynguage. His gaze flickered cautiously between the three of them as his legs shook in fear. Then a determined look crossed his face as his eyes found a ce to focus on. Swallowing down his fear, the deputy charged. Seeing this, Reid naturally tensed up and got ready to block the attack for hisrades. It was his duty as a trained knight - even if he had never actually passed his final examination - and his instinct as a Pdin. But the charging elf didn''t have a weapon out. Actually, he wasn''t even charging at them. He was charging at something to the right of them. And while Reid had tensed up in preparation to block an attack, he ended up simply watching as the deputy charged into the Dungeon Portal, entering the Dungeon. As he entered, the greenish water-like reflection of the doorway turned to stone as the 1st Floor reached full capacity. "Huh¡­" Was all Reid could say. That''s weird? Why did he react like that? While the elf-vulpinekin hybrid had certainly acted hostile as he asked, the question behind it had been fairly simple: ''What happened?'' With a shrug Reid took over kneeling next to the unconscious woman and began offering her first-aid. Reid''s non-panicking mind was quick to determine she was still alive and breathing. And while she otherwise appeared to be fine, she had a still swelling bump at the left side of her head. All their water canteens were empty, but the cool metal was the best Reid had on him for that type of injury. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While the sheriff and the three deputies in the first room of the Dungeon were certainly confused when thebel over Sarzina Acacia''s head suddenly dered her free of mind control, they couldn''t help but agree with the assessment. One moment Zina was trying to convince the sheriff to either have her letters mailed or for ess to her emco. This was often interrupted by the dungeon mistress attempting to simply leave the Dungeon, which in turn had the sheriff and his deputies scramble to distract her, mostly with questions of the Dungeon or the cult. Then the word [Hypnotized] and its associated timer disappeared, and Zina stopped in the middle of her praise of the broken goddess. One moment passed. Then two. Till suddenly the noblewoman began muttering angry curse words unbefitting of her status. Shortly after her rant began, Lightning started crawling up and down her body as the angry Lightning Mage tried to calm herself by instead focusing on releasing some of her energy through spellcasting. The sheriff and his three deputies simply watched in silence. She clearly wasn''t in the right state of mind to talk. At first Zina was too focused on her own anger over having her free will taken away to notice the deputy entering in a panic. Then she heard the word ''cult'' get spoken and quickly gathered from the panicking deputy that they had left the Dungeon again. Which meant the Hypnotist was right on the other side of the Dungeon Portal! Filled with uncontroble anger Zina stormed out of the Dungeon, Lightning crackling at her fingertips. Chapter 74: Dealing with the Loss of Leash and Limb Chapter 74: Dealing with the Loss of Leash and Limb Agtius had felt this way before not terribly long ago. He had been escorting a small group of the Order''s merchants as well as bishop Marthox from some small town to a much bigger one. They hadn''t expected any trouble, but one could never be too careful. A pair of colorful 8-legged serpentine dragons - which Agtius now knew was b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons - had showed up and attacked them. As the giant was the group''s only defender the rest wasn''t able to do more than distract the mostly orange one while he dealt with the blue and green one. He had been informedter on that Marthox had attempted to use his mind tricks on the orange dragon only to constantly have his concentration disrupted. While fighting the blue and green dragon he would mysteriously miss much more than expected. Something which had been equally as odd and frustrating when fighting against their Dungeon counterparts. Several of these misses had hit the trees around them and cleaved the wood in two. Agtius had been a woodsman before the Order. His Cleaving Skill was at a high level. And when a high level Skill leveled up, came more EXP than when a low level Skill leveled up. Skills very rarely leveled up - it was much more time efficient to simply mine a Dungeon -, but when they did, it woulde with a big boost of EXP. And in that moment it was enough for the Axe Master to level up. With the level up came two points of Awareness. Not that Agtius had realized what that meant. He simply leveled up and suddenly neither dragon wanted to attack him. They were still attacking those he had been tasked to guard, however, so the giant pushed his confusion away to defend the merchants. Only once the dragons had been yed, did Agtius have a moment to question what had happened. I must have been offered a good deal of money to have epted a job which would take me from my family for this long a time. Agtius had thought to himself. Only¡­ He couldn''t remember any talk of payment happening at any point. And just when had hest seen his family? Then Marthox took matters into his own hands and stopped the giant from questioning his situation. But once again his thoughts were his own. Or maybe not. It seemed anger had taken control again. That happened quite often for the former woodsman. As his free will had been taken from him, not just once, but twice, Agtius instantly knew what had once again happened: He had control of himself once again. But this time he hadn''t leveled up, so what had changed? Being a muscleman more than an egghead he didn''t know anything for sure. But he assumed he must have gotten back control because his ''master'' had died. And if Marthox had died, it was highly possible the rest of the group was in the middle of a deadly battle. Agtius had been here due to Marthox''s mind control, so it stood to reason the rest of them were as well. At his core, Agtius was simply a protective hot-head, who would do anything for his family. If he couldn''t protect his family, he would protect his fellow victims. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó To Hypnotize someone, many criteria had to be fulfilled. You had to either have the Skill or be able to cast its spell variant. That was the obvious part. With that, you also had to have enough mana to actually Hypnotize someone, which was quite arge amount. Despite his high level and having a ss specialized in it, Marthox could at most use his Skill twice in a row before he needed to rest. Then came the criteria for the target. For, for some reason Marthox nor anyone in the Order knew about, you couldn''t Hypnotize anyone unconscious. You also needed eye contact but simply forcing a drugged person''s eyes open wasn''t enough. The target couldn''t be a child. The Order had exined this as the System - Marthox wasn''t sure if the System could still be considered holy as its soulmate had clearly been made up - wanting children to remain children and only join the Order as adults. Marthox had no clue what the actual reason might be. And while that was everything needed to try to Hypnotize another, to do it sessfully required the Hypnotist to win a mental battle over the target, during which bothbatants were frozen in ce in a staring contest. If the Hypnotist lost, the mana used was simply wasted. Which was a dangerous situation to be in as anyone with the ability to win such a battle would immediately know what had happened. At the current moment, Marthox wished he could Hypnotize the Earthquake Mage. No one was looking at him and with the human unconscious the sudden stiffness of a mental battle would go unnoticed. But not only was it impossible to Hypnotize her due to unconsciousness, Marthox didn''t even have enough mana to do so after all the fighting in the Dungeon. He almost had enough for a single target, but not quite yet. So the muskin bid his time and waited in the background. Or rather, that had been his n till the elven leader he had Hypnotized earlier came storming out the Dungeon Portal. The moment she saw Marthox standing half hidden behind the Battle Commander, a short distance behind the distracted Pdin giving first-aid, she jumped over the unconscious Mage and headed straight for the Hypnotist. Maybe I should have been a bit more picky about who I released¡­ Luckily for Marthox, the Battle Commander next to him decided to block the Lightninging their way with his own body as he charged back at the elven leader with a battle cry. Unfortunately for Marthox, said Battle Commander wasn''t aware of this particr elf''s modus operandi, and was thus caught and restrained by the nts appearing from underneath him. Marthox didn''t actually know anything about battling. The first spell most people learned - of those who learned any spells at all, that is- was how to create water. So, Marthox created some water to throw at his charging enemy, hoping to disorient her long enough for help to arrive. It didn''t work. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" The pain from losing his right hand was slightly dyed but sudden and sharp. The scream from his mouth reached an even higher note as the pain changed from ''loss of limb and blood loss'' to ''wound getting cauterized''. While his mind was strong enough to stop the muskin from fainting once the cauterizing feeling was over, the pain left the muskin exhausted and unable to do anything buty on the ground, hyperventting. As a Hypnotist his Toughness Score was naturally quite low. "There! Punishment delivered!" The elven leader stated seemingly ending in a satisfied nod, before her voice took a deeper, more threatening tone. "I hope you learned your lesson. We don''t tolerate those who take free will from others around here." Marthox was too wounded to react, but he got the message: Don''t let her catch you Hypnotizing anyone! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó When the timer disappeared from the Hypnotist''s floatingbel along with the associated [Brainwashed] he did what he could to hide what had happened. This made me worry about what his next action would be. I had hoped anger over having been Brainwashed would have him stop trying to reach my Core - and hopefully drag some of the others with him - but his own dark Karma Aura had me concerned he might decide to go along with it. For levels and riches if nothing else. But then he led the majority of his Party away from their strongest member and freed them from mind control. Okay. He freed everyone but the elf girl - her Brainwashed state is probably outside of his ability - yet he has a dark aura? Not as much as while under mind control but damn close! Ulterior motive, perhaps? And as I had helped in freeing them from mind control - either by lowering the needed requirement needed to undo the effect or by freeing the Hypnotist so he could free them - my Weeding the World Achievement went up several notches. Weeding the World: 2,473 beings of karma level 0% killed or freed from mind maniption. ¡­ I''m pretty sure that was a 9 earlier¡­ What just happened?! The System didn''t answer. It likely wasn''t general knowledge. That''s 2,473% more EXP just from that one Achievement! Just. Like. That. And I don''t even know why! Wait! The Axe Master has been freed too! Oh! He must have freed everyone he personally Hypnotized! That exins the big number! Nice! Then the Earthquake Mage started running out, and I could finally make my Rule without fearing it getting countered: New Dungeon Rule: Adding More Weights: Gravity pulls with double the normal force. I fully intended to add this Rule to the 8th Floor at some point. It would make my Rolling Boulder traps much more powerful. But for now, the Rule would do its job slowing down the remaining intruder on my 10th Floor. Said intruder had yet to realize her Party had left her behind. But the puzzle she was trying to solve needed at least two people to function - both would receive a small, mostly annoying, temporary curse, which the other had to guess the effect of. As she was now the only one on the Floor the System dered the puzzle unsolvable and made every part of it intangible. I had made the puzzle like that in the thought - and hope - that if a single powerful individual were toe, they would either be stopped or - more likely - have to break the puzzle to continue, thus adding to Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves. But nope. That didn''t happen. The System simply sent both me and her a message saying the puzzle was unsolvable under the circumstances while it made the whole thing intangible and see-through. Naturally, the Light Hunter then tried to find her Party only to find them missing. While confused, she didn''t let it stop her from reaching her goal: My Core. I took a look at thebel over her head. Talindra Delonix-Regia [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [2 hours, 24 minutes, 48 seconds] Elf Noble Light Hunter Level 74 I really don''t think I can dy her for over2 hours when I only have this Floor left. ¡­ Then again¡­ Unicorns¡­ They appear to be quite efficient deterrents to elves¡­ But just in case¡­ I should inform the Tribe of what''s happening. But maybe I''ll leave the mess happening at my door forter. I doubt the Tribe will care and I can''t really do anything about it. Not that I want to. His Aura tells me he had iting. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Chief Nerok had held a meeting when the Dungeon had first been breached by its, and thus their, enemy. The meeting started with a vote on whether the Tribe would risk their lives defending the Dungeon or not. Nerok hadn''t doubted the oue. He simply needed everyone to know they were on the same page. That they were one Tribe under the guidance of their Dungeon god! Then the ursakin leader began organizing their defense of the Dungeon. Weapons had to be prepared, armor in order, and people needed to know their role in the uing fight. By order of the Dungeon, the Tribe was to be theirst stand. The 2nd Boss wouldn''t be able to cooperate an attack with the Tribe due to itsrge size and widespread attacks, so the Tribe would instead enter The Graveyard of Ash immediately after its death. Its assistants might still be alive, they might not. Nerok tried to n for either scenario, though he focused on worst case. "Good news! Our mighty protector, the loving Dungeon of Karma, has freed all but one of its enemies from the poison in their minds! Releasing them back into the loving care of the holy System! Only one remains an enemy to our savior, but it is the strongest one! A quick archer with the Noble Light Hunter ss! We must prepare for a fierce battle, for though we vastly outnumber our opponent we might still be outmatched!" After having been Chief for so long, Nerok knew he was good at encouraging his people. He just knew exactly what to say. And he was proud of what he did! Chapter 75: Elven-given Punishment and a Found Key Chapter 75: Elven-given Punishment and a Found Key rr hated elves. He thought he had turned that hatred into dislike and distrust when the Order of the Broken Goddess bought him and got him away from his elven father and master. But no. The Battle Commander still hated his father''s species. His mother had been one of his father''s many beastkin ves, and he imed she had seduced him. Only his moron of a wife believed that lie, but rr was sure that was who the lie was for anyway. The bastard chose to ''acknowledge'' rr as his son by giving him an elven name. Only to then refuse to grant the child use of hisst name, thus disowning rr in the same move. Making the man more master than father. rr''s mother died when he was still a toddler, which hadn''t been a surprise to anyone. ves didn''t normally live all that long. Both due to their living conditions and their masters stopping them from tiering up and earning another decade of life. So little rr had to fend for himself against both elves - for being ''half beast'' - as well as other ves, who saw their enemy in a form they could actually hurt. Not that all the other ves had been against rr. Some showed pity for him and histe mother. But those among them who decided to vent their anger and frustration on him tended to go all out when doing so. And as rr - being half elf - stayed a child much longer than any other ve, he was vulnerable that much longer. He only survived ''cause no ve dared to destroy a master''s property. rr had thought himself eternally thankful to the Order for them noticing his talent and buying him. Setting him free from very and all the hateful bullies around him. To be honest, he was still thankful. Even now that he knew he had simply been taken from one type of very to another. At least the Order had treated him much better. No one had bullied him while he was in the Order, he got good food, rest as needed, healing when required, and the ability to tier up. He was even able to make friends! Though when rr thought about it, he realized he had no actual friends among the Order. Instead his friends were his fellow battle nerds. Having exited the Dungeon after having been freed from mind control, rr was once again reminded of why he hated elves. The town¡¯s apparent leader was headed straight towards him in a clear attack, despite rr never having done anything to her. The spiteful Battle Commander naturally responded in kind. Or rather, attempted. The minute or so he was stuck in nts was more than enough for the elven woman to draw her short sword, cut off the muskin''s hand, and use her magic to cauterize the now open wound. She imed it was a punishment and that she hoped he learned his lesson. rr saw an elf punishing a beastkin for no apparent reason. The same way elven masters often did to their beastkin ves, when the sadistic bastards wanted to entertain themselves. His second family might have betrayed him, but he refused to let yet another beastkin be mindlessly punished. The moment he was free of the nts constraining him he rushed towards the elf. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó One moment Reid Alvarado was attempting to cool down the bruising on the unconscious Mage, the next an elven woman had jumped over the unconscious body and caused chaos behind him. What is going on?! Despite his confusion, Reid could somewhat understand everyone''s reasoning: The elven woman had felt the need to punish Marthox for something - undoubtedly all the Hypnotizing he had done, though Reid didn''t know how she knew about it. And if it was because of the Hypnotizing, then cutting a hand off was quite merciful. Most people and governments would have reacted with the death penalty. The System valued freedom highly, after all. That being said, everyone had the right to a fair trial and she had simply rushed in and cut his hand off with no warning and only came with an exnation after the fact. rr, on the other hand, had just seen this happen to a fellow victim of mind control. And while it was certainly noble to defend one''srades, attacking an unaware opponent from behind was dishonorable and cowardly. On top of all that, there were two wounded around them - the Mage and the Hypnotist - who could easily get hit by ident, should ite to a fight. So, no. Now was not the time or ce for a fight. "Halt!" Reidmanded as he began moving to get in between the two. As his intention was to stop the two from fighting, he didn''t draw a weapon but took his shield in hand as he got up. "Why?! So she can keep hurting us?!" rr shouted back as he tried to hit the elf with his dagger - his original weapon having rusted away in the early parts of the Dungeon. Said elf had enough time to defend herself due to Reid''smand making her aware of the attack, letting her summon a wall of nts between them. "What? No!" The elven woman replied confused. "I don''t wanna hurt you!" And true enough her stance had be purely defensive. She was even trying to distance herself from the attacking hybrid, which gave Reid space to get in between them, one t hand facing the defense elf, while the other held his shield towards the aggressive Battle Commander. rr huffed sarcastically in response to the elf''s words, not believing her for a moment, but having at least stopped attacking her. "Then what do you call that?!" He asked with an using finger pointing at the handless muskin. "He Hypnotized me!" She screamed angrily in response, though the anger was clearly aimed at the fact that she had been Hypnotized and not at rr. "He Hypnotized you too!" She continued screaming, though almost as an afterthought. "And while he might have been mind controlled himself, I can''t let that kind of behavior go unpunished!" "Why not!" rr shouted back. Held back by the shield Reid could see from his bodynguage and red face that the Battle Commander asked simply because he wanted to disagree with her. At least it''s a verbal fight now and not a physical one. While I would prefer it if they calmed down a bit more, it''s fine for now. "I''m the dungeon mistress of this town! I can''t just let criminals go unpunished!" "Why don¡¯t we all calm down and take this discussion off the street?" Suggested a new voice. Looking around, Reid noticed a male elf wearing a shining sheriff''s star standing next to the unconscious Mage. Three other elves stood with him - yet slightly behind him, suggesting a hierarchy - with a fourth elf checking the condition on the knocked out human. "We can take your unconsciousrade with us to the Security Guild if it makes you morefortable." The sheriff continued. Sensing rr getting ready to spew insults at the sheriff, Reid quickly replied for the group, wanting to keep the peace going. "What a splendid idea! We wouldn''t want any innocents to end up in the crossfire of any potential disagreements!" Reid kept his eyes firmly on rr during thetter sentence, letting him know his disappointment. rr stared back hard for a couple of seconds before taking in a deep breath and nodding his agreement. Carefully - in case the Battle Commander was bluffing - Reid stepped out from in-between the two before pointing with his eyes for rr to pick up the whimpering muskinying on the ground. Reid fully intended to keep an eye on him by walking behind him. But they either both had to support a woundedrade or neither could for that caution to make sense. Having been trained to be a knight from childhood, Reid found himself unable to simply let the local elves carry the wounded. To do such a thing was to spit on chivalry! Yet if Reid was to carry someone while rr didn''t, keeping an eye on his behavior wouldn''t really matter. The Battle Commander could do quite a lot of things in the time it would take the Pdin to put his passenger on the ground. Luckily for Reid, rr simply red angrily at each elf before picking up the small male muskin. After picking up the taller, yet more petite, female human Mage, Reid nodded for rr to follow the sheriff first. The hybrid simply gave Reid a stink eye before turning to follow the sheriff. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Here we go! I thought to myself as I watched my victim fall right into my trap. Not a ''trap'' as in it took up a slot in my allowed number of traps. No, it was actually a puzzle constructed in such a way, that one would forget its hint and be unlikely to solve it. The Light Hunter had reached the 5th room of The Lightning Forest - The Lightning Forest was mostly split into 5 rooms due to the first two containing puzzle doors - with no further issues due to theck of puzzles in thest three rooms and her own high Awareness letting her spot all my traps. But at the end of that room she had encountered a locked door. Much like the previous ''locked door'' a key was hanging on a hook next to the door. Likely remembering that thest one was actually a mimic, the Light Hunter simply gave the key a suspicious re before ignoring it. ¡­ And unlike thest ''locked door'' this one was actually locked. Which the elven woman naturally checked. And unlike thest one this one didn''t have any hints or riddles written anywhere around it. Which she had naturally wasted several minutes looking for. Taking a step back and thinking it through once again, she finally decided to give the key a chance. A very cautious chance. But no, this key was not a mimic. Unlocking the door with the key worked just fine¡­ till she realized the door didn''t lead to another room, but instead into a brick wall¡­ "What?!" The puzzle in question began in the first room of the Floor with the door which wasn''t actually locked. Above that door the hint had simply said ''The key is the key'', which was naturally true. The actual meaning, however, was that the one and only actual key on the Floor should be ced into the keyhole of the door underneath the text toplete the puzzle and get closer to my Core. Aka ''The key is the key to this door''. The key in question fit just as well into the door in the 5th room, but would only reveal a brick wall, which wasn''t actually made of bricks as it was a Dungeon wall. This was naturally to confuse any who tried. And confuse it did! If she still had her Party I had no doubt she would have risked breaking the brick wall down. Instead she paced back and forth for several minutes, before she decided to retrace her steps, checking every wall, nt, and rock with surprising efficiency and speed. And that meant she eventually arrived back in the first room on the 10th Floor and was reminded of the key hint. It barely took her any time to figure it out after that. At least she had left the key in the keyhole, so now she has to go back and get it. Not that that will take her any time at all¡­ Back with the key she entered it into the correct keyhole and unlocked, not the door, but the portal hidden within. A portal to the 6th room of the 10th Floor: The Blessed Field. For both our sakes, I hope you''re just as afraid of unicorns as the rest of the elves I''ve seen! Chapter 76: How to Kill a Unicorn Chapter 76: How to Kill a Unicorn Turning the key in the lock of the door in the first room of the 10th Floor turned out to be the correct choice. Something which greatly relieved Talindra Delonix-Regia as she had run out of ideas on how to solve the Dungeon''s puzzle. Her next attempt would have been to break through the brickwall behind the door in the 5th room. Which naturally wasn''t an option she was too keen on after what had happened earlier with the axe wielder. Unlocking an already unlocked door and expecting it to anything but lock, seemed entirely illogical, yet definitely something a Dungeon this unusual would do. The fact that passing through the first door of the Floor didn''t earn them any EXP from a solved puzzle, had naturally been disregarded as the door hadn''t actually been locked. So, despite the words above it, it couldn''t have been a puzzle. The goddess was simply making them aware of something for ater one. Talindra''s Party had mysteriously disappeared. She assumed they had either been swallowed by a trap from the surprisingly strong Dungeon - as all the monsters in that area had been killed - or they had left the Dungeon. Either through some form of force forcing them to leave or through their own free will. The fact that they disappeared as the puzzle she had been studying, suddenly stated it ''could not be solved under these circumstances''... That couldn''t be a coincidence. No, the puzzle in question must have relied on multiple people to be solved. And with no more people on the Floor, the puzzle was considered invalid by the System where it had been perfectly valid beforehand. Only¡­ Talindra had an amazing Awareness Score. It was her highest Ability Score in fact. And she had just gone through all 5 of the rooms currently discovered on the Floor looking for clues on how to enter the 6th. The only traps she had found which would hide their dead bodies from her had been the ''hidden''va pits in the third room. A room they hadn''t entered as she had been standing in front of the door to said room, attempting to understand the associated puzzle as they disappeared. And why would they have left? The goddess needed aid so it couldn''t have been willingly. Yet¡­ Talindra hadn''t seen any signs of anyone or anything which could have forced them out either¡­ But ultimately it didn''t matter what had happened to them. Not this moment at least. The goddess still needed saving and with the rest gone, the goddess might just reward her remaining follower more handsomely afterwards for having seeded where others had failed or given up. And Talindra really liked getting things. The short hall connecting the first room to the second hadpletely disappeared as the Light Hunter opened the door. Instead a field of grass, wildflowers, a couple of trees, and the 6 monsters of the room could be seen on the other side. The elven woman froze in fear. The monsters were unicorns. 6 of those unreasonably aggressive, white, lion-tailed, cloven hooved, goat-bearded, horned horses which many foreign crafteries and royalties kept as farm animals and pets for reasons unfathomable to any civilized individual. Knowing how aggressive and dangerous even ''tame'' unicorns were, had Talindra freeze in fear as she saw them standing in the next room. At least they couldn''t reach her yet, as they were in a different room. They hadn''t even noticed her yet. Such was the rule of Dungeons. Then determination set in as she remembered her mother''s lessons on how to deal with unicorns. Her mother didn''t normally do the lessons herself - Talindra had plenty of tutors for that - but defending against unicorns was too personal a topic to their family for her mother to let anyone else teach her daughter about it. Unicorns are aggressive and attack on sight. They mainly attack with their horns but won''t shy back from kicking and stomping with their hooves. They only use their teeth as ast resort. Any damage dealt to a unicorn or their allies, the unicorn can spend mana to heal, but its mana supply isn''t infinite so simply keep at it or attempt to kill it with a single attack through its brain or heart. It can''t heal fast enough to heal those, while a sliced throat would be healed before it could suffocate from it. Still, a sliced throat will distract the unicorn long enough that an actual killing blow can be attempted. But of course, to actually be able tond a hit on a unicorn requires speed or the ability to counter its mana shield. Talindra made regr use of weak spells both for the convenience and to keep herself in practice, but she was in no way good enough - nor did she have a high enough Intelligence Score - to dispel or otherwise counter any sort of spell or Skill. And as her practice was entirely done outside ofbat, she wasn''t even sure she would be able to focus enough on casting it should she attempt to use any mid battle. No, Talindra''s mana use inbat was entirely Skill based. Enhancing her arrows with her Skills or the quick sh of sh Lure were much easier and quicker to do, which mattered a lot duringbat when so much else needed one''s attention. She was, however, really fast. Dexterity being her second highest Score, close behind her Awareness. And enough speed meant one could hit the unicorn before it could shield itself. Lastly, don''t waste your mana on direct attacks against a unicorn. Whether that be through a spell or Skill attacking the beast by itself or by having it surround and empower your weapon. Unicorns are resistant to mana based attacks and simply touching a unicorn with mana will weaken the effect said mana was trying to cause. So one''s mana should be used to either power oneself or to change the environment to one''s advantage. There is of course the theory that unicorns are only mana resistant on the outside, and that any mana which sessfully pierces the skin will end up trapped inside and do damage till the mana has been used up. But with 6 unicorns at once I can''t afford to chance that. So, game n: Hmm¡­ With 6 opponents at once I''ll need to start out with something to disorient or distract them. sh Lure is too small to disorient more than one unicorn at a time- Said Skill was a ss Skill she had received when she became a Noble Light Hunter. Contrary to the name of her ss, Light Hunters specialized in hunting at night, which was why they, if they didn''t already have it, received a passive Night Vision Skill or, if they already had one, an active Heat Vision Skill they could turn on and off with a minimum mana cost. While her trained Night Vision was still only at level 1, Talindra had in fact had it when she tiered up, meaning she had both Skills at her disposal. Light Hunters were named such as they used light or Light to hunt with. Either to lure their prey into a desired position or to disorient them with a sudden sh of light appearing out of the dark. Which was what sh Lure was made to do. The Skill would use mana to create a small orb of Light where the Light Hunter wanted it within view. Depending on the need the orb would either give a soft glow and a weak ''follow me'' effect aimed at the viewer - really only effective on animals - or explode in a sh meant to temporarily blind and disorient. In the prior case there was a small constant drain on mana to keep the Skill active. The Light of sh Lure also didn¡¯t affect the user, so no identally blinding oneself. Which meant Talindra could use sh Lure as a simple light source when she needed to. She had only needed to use her sh Lure a few times during this Dungeon run when she needed to deal with two monsters at once. One would get her arrow while the other was temporarily blinded. -but if I could possibly blind them all at once I would have a really good advantage. Unfortunately, I can''t cast sh Lure fast enough. I don''t know exactly how fast a level 20 unicorn is, but they are supposed to be fast. Maybe I could manage to blind two, maybe three, but there''s not a lot of room between the entrance and the unicorns. And of course the rules of Dungeons prevented one from simply attacking from the previous room, just as no monster would notice her before she entered. Any attack from another room would turn to light particles as it passed from one room to the next. Hmm¡­ Maybe if I¡­ Talindra wouldn''t normally dare to make up a spell on the spot, but the desired effect was so close to sh Lure. A Skill she had started considering her favorite due to its rarity - meaning it would take her opponents by surprise - and versatility. In fact she knew sh Lure so well she decided to risk it despite her Intelligence Score not really being suited forplicated spell use and even less so spell creation. But this spell was just a big exploding sh Lure. Bigger than what the Skill could do even if strained to the max. After a half an hour - even with such a familiar effect, it still needed to not affect its caster and creating spells wasn''t an easy thing to do - she had created her new spell and sessfully tested it. Not that she had anything to test it on, but it had looked like a 1 meter high exploding orb of Light and the sight of it hadn''t affected her sight. Half an hour had gone with the creation of the spell, but Talindra didn''t consider the time wasted. For when it came to unicorns, it was better to be safe than sorry. With that in mind she got herself ready, bow in one hand, arrow in the other, and her mind ready to cast her newly created spell at the center of the unicorn herd the moment she had entered the room. The unicorns raised their heads as one to look at her with their noses red in enraged snorts the very moment she entered the room they were grassing in. She didn''t give them enough time to do anything more before she released the needed mana into the casting of her giant exploding sh Lure. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It was hard to follow what exactly was going on around the Lightning Mage as I could only listen, and more often than not someone would interrupt the one talking or simply start talking over them. I had however been able to see my supposed mistress cut and cauterize the hand of the Hypnotist as it had happened near my Dungeon Portal, so I at least knew the topic of the argument. The Lightning Mage had punished the Hypnotist and not everyone agreed with that. She had argued that with his punishment served and with him no longer being Brainwashed nothing more was to happen. But another argued that her hand should be cut off as punishment for cutting off the hand of Hypnotist ''unprovoked''. They had yet to reach an agreement. ¡­ Or rather, they had yet to calm that one guy down. Everyone else talking seemed to agree that - at the very least - the Lightning Mage had the authority to punish him. And with the Light Hunter seemingly meditating for half an hour, it wasn''t like I had anything else going on. Rules were expensive, so I was left just waiting and collecting mana. The Light Hunter finally moved again, just as the angry one seemed to finally realize no one was actually backing him up. Then she cast a spell meant to blind multiple opponents. Why she cast it in a room devoid of enemies wasn''t clear to me. Instead it simply reminded me of how useless my old ''Mostly Random Wonky Magic'' Rule had been this run. It didn''t work on mana-using-Skills, only actual spells. And as only two of the 6 cultists had been spellcasters of any definition of the word,bined with themon ''we''re in a dangerous Dungeon, so let''s save mana whenever we can''-mentality, it wasn''t all that often that an actual spell was cast. The Hypnotist had kept himself as far from actual battle as possible and the Earthquake Mage preferred using Skills over spells. The few times a spell had gone Wonky it hadn''t even ended up inconveniencing them at all. It had annoyed them, but not enough to even slow them down. But if archer girl here intends on using an actual spell¡­ System! Make Wonky Magic less random! The Wonkyness was now increased from a 10% chance to 50% the next 10 minutes. The Rule only allowed me to do so twice a day, and I had originally nned on using both charges during the final Boss battle - on the assumption and hope that the battle wouldst more than 20 minutes - but with only a single intruder left, who normally wouldn''t be using any spells at all, it seemed logical to use the first one now. I didn''t regret my decision. Chapter 77: The Consequences of Spell, Skill, and Class Chapter 77: The Consequences of Spell, Skill, and ss Unlike normal Dungeons my creatures didn''t have to stay in one designated room. After all, while I had ced my creatures in a room, made them spawn there, and told them not to leave said room without permission, in actuality my entire Dungeon had been designated as ''their room'' when they were first created. So, if a blessing of unicorns in a normal Dungeon saw a person with a low karma level in another they would immediately try to attack, only to find themselves unable to to leave the room. In my Dungeon my creatures might have been told to stay in their starting room unless I said otherwise, but there was nothing but mymand to stop them from attacking someone in another room should they notice them. Theck of control over my creatures every time a person with low karma came by was something which had frustrated me many times. At that point my orders seemingly became ''unwanted advice rarely used''. But my unicorn blessing hadn''t reacted to the Light Hunter looking in from the other room, and at first I hadn''t understood why. They had clearly seen the elf but they acted like she was a tree or rock or some other inanimate object they had no interest in. As a 0%''er the whole blessing should have disregarded mymand to stay in one room to follow their innate desire to kill people with that low a karma level. Yet they hadn''t. Unlike my kobolds, my unicorns couldn''t talk. That, however, didn''t mean we couldn''tmunicate. They were a part of my Dungeon and thus a part of me. Why aren''t you attacking her? She''s standing right there, I know you''ve seen her. I asked the unicorn closest to the portal entrance. The unicorn looked directly at the Light Hunter before sending me an image of what it saw: A young elven noblewoman dressed in quality hunters clothes designed for an archer. Her hooded cloak was up covering her hair and her face was hidden behind a in ivory colored mask. Magic quiver on her back, sheathed shortsword at her side, and her bow held in both hands as she meditated on the ground just on the other side of the portal. The image looked nearly identical to what I could see myself, but something was off about it. Her Aura is gone! And then it hit me: My unicorns weren''t attacking her because they couldn''t see her Karma Aura and thus didn''t know she currently had a low karma. They couldn''t see said Aura because they weren''t actually looking at her. They were looking at the portal showing them what was on the other side. And the portal only showed the physical aspect of what was on the other side of it, not invisible things like one''s karma level. Her meditation done, and the Wonkyness of spells increased to 50% the next 10 minutes, the Light Hunter ced an arrow on her bow and entered The Blessed Field. With my unicorns finally able to see her ck Aura they tensed up, ready to charge her with their sharp horns, only for the archer to try to cast a spell. A spell which immediately went Wonky. And this time the Wonkyness did more than simply annoy. She''s¡­ stone now? Her body had turned into a gray stone statue, a perfect replica of when she had been flesh and blood. As a statue her Karma Aura had disappeared, both the ck outeryer from being mind controlled and her own inner grayyer. As such, the blessing once again treated her as an uninteresting object and went back to grassing. Thebel above her head didn''t show her name, level, ss, or species anymore. It was now just two timers. One was her mind control timer, while the other was counting down from an original 45 minutes. My instincts told me the Wonky spell had only turned her into a statue for half an hour, and that my ''Sleeping Safe and Sound'' Rule had increased that time by 15 minutes due to her unconscious state as a statue. Huh¡­ Seems like I might actually be able to stall her long enough that the mind control lets up. There''ll only be some 50 minutes left of her mind control when she stops being a statue and I have a full unicorn blessing, a puzzle room and a Boss room for her to finish in that time. I honestly thought I would have to either kill her or let her take my Fake Core and see if she realized it was a Fake. Given the fact that I wouldn''t die if it was removed¡­ But I like this. This is good! ¡­ And boring¡­ I guess I''ll update the Tribe on what just happened. And how is that argument going for the Lightning Mage? No one was speaking where the Lightning Mage - and thus me - could hear it, so they were likely ring at each other at the moment. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Until a moment ago Jenna Emery had been surrounded by noise. She had always had a hard time sleeping when the room waspletely quiet, so it came to no surprise for the Earthquake Mage that the suddenck of noise woke her up. What happened? A wet, cold clothy across the side of her head from where her headache originated. How did I get hurt? Jenna was pretty sure she hadn''t seen what had attacked her. I had just left the Dungeon hadn''t I? I left in quite a hurry. ''Cause I needed to get away before¡­ Suddenly everything came back to her. That she had been a member of a cult because they had had her under mind control, that she wasn''t any more, and, most importantly, that Marthox the bishop was still a Hypnotist even when not Brainwashed. Meaning he would want to Hypnotize her should he get the chance. Not knowing where she was or what was going on, Jenna slowly opened her eyes, hoping no one would notice she had woken before she knew those things. She appeared to be in the sheriff''s office in the Security Guild of the town around the Dungeon she had just been in. Jenna remembered the ce from when the group had first arrived in town and had to gain approval from the dungeon mistress to enter the Dungeon. With the ''where'' answered, the Earthquake Mage slowly moved her head, hoping to figure out what was happening around her. Or rather, what had made it go quiet. "You''re awake!" Given up any pretense of still being asleep, Jenna began sitting up as her head turned towards the speaker. The half elf half fox beastkin Battle Commander had been the one to speak up and was walking towards her. Why is he walking sideways like that? And is it just me or does he keep looking between me and the locals? Like he wants to check up on me but also keep an eye on the locals? Why would he want to keep an eye on the locals? Marthox was the one who Hypnotized us! He''s the one with the Hypnotist ss! "How are you feeling?" But he was behind me, so maybe one of the locals was the one to knock me out? I suppose that would be reason to be cautious, but I can''t say I me them. We were attempting to destroy their Dungeon. The very lifeblood of their growing town! Everyone knew how much economy a Dungeon with its loot and EXP brought to a ce. Remove the Dungeon and the ce around it copses. Jenna was thrown out of her thoughts by a hand touching her shoulder. "Huh?" She questioned, before remembering the question she had been asked. "Right. Sorry. I guess I''m still a little bit out of it. Dizzy. Massive headache. But I think I''m otherwise fine." The Battle Commander - What is his name again? - was squatting with his body half turned towards the wounded Mage and half toward the locals, letting him keep an eye on both at the same time. He sighed in relief hearing Jenna''s reply before nodding and filling her in on what had happened while she was out. I don''t know why, but he''s clearly biased against the locals. I, for one,pletely agree with punishing Marthox. Honestly, just cutting off his hand isn''t enough. What''s stopping him from Hypnotizing someone? Something needs to be done about that before he does it again. "Dude. You''re clearly biased against these people." Jenna decided to just give it to him straight. "I don''t know what happened to you to make you hate these people, but Marthox absolutely needed to be punished. The System gives people sses based on what suits them. The very fact he still has that Hypnotist ss means he sees no problem taking people''s free will away." Her spiel had left the Battle Commander stunned. He clearly hadn''t thought of it that way. Leaving him to his thoughts, Jenna turned her head towards the locals. "So what are we gonna do to stop him from Hypnotizing anyone?" "Just ''cause he has the ss doesn''t mean he''ll Hypnotize people willy-nilly." The sheriff began. "You say the ss means he has no problem taking people''s free will away. What if it''s more that he has no problem taking people''s free will away if doing so saves lives or some sort." That argument caused the Earthquake Mage to pause in thought. "I suppose that''s possible, but I really don''t want to take risks with my freedom. With my very mind!" That in turn made the sheriff pause. After a moment of thoughtful silence the dungeon mistress spoke up. "While you make an excellent point, I''m unaware of any methods of suppressing the use of someone''s Skill. While I''m sure such a thing exists I''m also confident it will be both expensive beyond belief and rare beyond imagining." Taking a deep calming breath, the dungeon mistress continued. "As stopping him from using his Skill to Hypnotize seems impossible, I see only three ways to deal with Marthox. None of which I find satisfying. We could give him the benefit of the doubt and simply let him go and do as he wants and then deal with eventual consequences of that choice as it happens. We could demand he stays in the Dungeon for the rest of his life where such Skills are less likely to stick. Or we could deem him a danger to society and execute him on the spot." Thatst line triggered whatever trauma had made the Battle Commander biased in the first ce and the noise from when Jenna had been unconscious returned in full force. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Being a protective hot-head needing to get to his fellow victims before their untimely demise but without any smartpanions to solve puzzles for him, Agtius had needed to brute force any puzzles he came across. This had led to arrows shooting at him from the wall in response to stepping on the wrong tile, but at least the wheel spinning puzzle after that was simple and gave him a key as a reward on top of the EXP for solving it. The room after that had a pair of dragon-headed, antlered, winged lions, which constantly reappeared roughly a minute after their deaths. The exit to the room wasn''t visible and Agtius wasn''t about to break down a wall after losing his arm for doing so. He might have been a stubborn one, but Agtius knew his fellow victims had either already died to whatever battle had taken Marthox or they would have finished it at this point. And if thetter had happened it seemed most likely the newly free thinking group would leave the Dungeon they hadn''t wanted to be in in the first ce. So, with a disappointed sigh that he hadn''t been able to help, the giant turned around to leave the Dungeon. Hoping he would find the group alive outside. Chapter 78: Trap and Mistreatment Chapter 78: Trap and Mistreatment Marthox had rarely ever felt pain in his life, having been raised from birth to have a supportive leadership role in The Order of The Broken Goddess, so the sudden onught of pain from having his hand cut off and immediately cauterized left him paralyzed screaming in pain. While screaming his body had at some point been moved, but he hadn''t at the time been able toprehend where they were moving him. At least someone had been kind enough to give him some numbing bush leaves to chew on after they had moved him. His stump had even been covered in bandages in case he ended up reopening his wounds. With the slight numbing effect of the leaves Marthox had finally been able to rx his mind enough to drift off to mindless, pain free slumber. At least for a little while. After a much shorter time than preferred, Marthox was awoken by the sound of massive feeting his way. Groggily, the muskin raised his head to look at the neer. As he did, he absent-mindedly noted he wasying on a bedroll on the floor of what appeared to be an unfurnished prison cell, based on theck of windows and the handless door with two covered slits. One for the warden to look and talk to the prisoner through and one to pass meals through. Both presumably able to be locked from the other side. With ack of windows, the room was instead lit by a Light Orb hanging from the ceiling. The first thing anyone wanting to learn to Enchant learned was how to make Breakthrough Orbs into simple lights. Then they learned how to make the Orb turn on and off with a push of mana, called a Light Orb. Any sessfully made Light Orbs would then naturally be sold, and some people would decide they didn''t need to know anything more about Enchanting and instead supply the public with Light Orbs. Having a career of making Light Orbs wasn''t particrly well paying, but it was a stable job as people needed to rece their Light Orbs everytime the mana in them ran out. Which for the cheap ones made out of 1st tier Breakthrough Orbs was every 3 months or so if used daily. It would be nice to have an Enchanter of some kind under my control. Free Light Orbs are always nice, but a good one can do some truly amazing things with the right materials. The cell door opening drew Marthox back to the present. Mister Agtius, the giant Axe Master of his group who they had left behind when the Dungeon wall took his arm, stepped into the room and closed it behind him. With no handle on this side of the door that meant he had locked himself in with the muskin. Someone else would have to let him out. "We''ve had a meeting on what the town here wants to happen to us." The giant began. Marthox desperately began getting up in response. While, as a muskin, he would never be able to match the height of a giant, he could at least mitigate it by standing or, if not that, sitting up rather thanying down. Mister Agtius continued as Marthox got himself to stand on wobbly legs. "They concluded that the 4 of us you released from your control, will have no charges ced upon us and we are free to go or stay as we please. Any crimes we might havemitted happened while under the Hypnosis and thus wasn''t something we did willingly. You, however¡­" It was only now Marthox realized the giant had been staring angrily at him as he spoke. His tone had been monotone, but thest two words had been tainted with anger which finally clued the muskin into the matching emotion in the Axe Master''s eyes. It didn''t bear well for the muskin, and with a nervous gulp in the face of such fury from such arge and bulky man, his mind frantically began to search for solutions. "Your ss is Hypnotist which brings them pause. While you likely didn''t Hypnotize us willingly as you were Brainwashed yourself, your ss suggests you see no wrong in controlling people." Mister Agtius gave a slight pause here, but Marthox didn''t have a good lie ready for him. "It was suggested that there might be certain situations where Hypnotizing someone could be a good thing, but that they''re unable to stop you from abusing your powers should they decide to give you the benefit of the doubt." They can''t stop me! Marthox had hoped they would be unable to stop him from Hypnotizing. But in the case they could, attempting could potentially ruin his chances of getting out of this alive. If they could stop his Skills from working, they might also be able to tell it had been attempted. But as he now knew they couldn''t tell¡­ Well, the hot-headed giant didn''t have near enough Awareness or Charisma to ovee thebined power of both of his. Follow my everymand. Marthox inscribed on his new leash. A line he would ce on every leash he made from here on out. Then he softly spoke his firstmand, taking care to only speak loudly enough for the sound to travel the distance between the short muskin and much taller giant. In all likelihood there was a guard outside the door waiting for mister Agtius to ask to be let out. It wouldn''t do to let anyone else hear his n. "You trust me not to mistreat my powers. Tell them I desperately want to prove my worth to them bypleting any task they ask of me. Tell them they need to let me live and set me free as soon as they''ll let me." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While Sarzina Acacia had originally assumed - and still hoped - the Hypnotist was a good beastkin with morals, the female human and the giant had reminded her that she didn''t know the muskin and had no reason to think he was a good person. Having left the Dungeon after regaining his senses, the giant had headed to the Security Guild - likely due to it being the one ce he knew here, and it being one of the few finished ces - in the hopes of either finding hisrades or getting news about them from the sheriff and his people. While normally the Dungeon Portal would be guarded it had beenpletely evacuated due to the current crisis, so the giant hadn''t met anyone till he arrived at the Security Guild. The first deputy to see him immediately escorted him to Sheriff Fraxinus'' office where the meeting was taking ce. It took a while to catch him up on the argument as everyone wanted him to join their side of the argument. "The Dungeon can undo the Hypnosis¡­? At any time?" The giant had asked for confirmation. Zina had replied that it could, but that it took time, hours, where the victim had to stay in the Dungeon. He had nodded and looked thoughtful for several seconds - which the angry one took as a sign to start pushing his own speciesist agenda. The Dungeon had made Zina much more aware of speciesism, she knew exactly what she was looking at. And given the angry one''s fox-ears and how his arguments circled around the fact that Zina was an elf who had punished a beastkin, the speciesism likely originated in the fact that most elves considered beastkin animals and kept them as ''work animals''. The giant simply ignored the speciesistic rant, interrupting the angry one like he wasn''t talking: "We could test him." After a bit of back and forth the n ended up like this: The giant - who had volunteered - would walk into the prison cell with the Hypnotist and make him worry about what would happen to him. Then he would be told they couldn''t stop him Hypnotizing people. If he, in his worry for the future, decided to resort to mind control despite having just gotten his own mind back, then he would be sentenced to death. The angry one hadn''t liked the n but agreed to the necessity of it. He clearly hadn''t liked following someone else''s instructions anymore than anyone else had. This test was necessary to make sure it wouldn''t happen again. To anyone. How would they know if the giant had been Hypnotized? They would naturally take him to the Dungeon regardless, but the giant had suggested a simple question might reveal it sooner: ''How do you feel about Marthox?'' If the answer was anything other than ''I hate him'', then the giant had been Hypnotized. When the giant suggested this question and answer he had exined how he logically knew the muskin wasn''t to me as he had done it while under another''s control, emotionally the giant couldn''t help but ce all the hate for what had happened to him unto the Hypnotist. So, when the giant was let out of the prison cell and answered ''I trust him'' to his own security question, they immediately knew what had happened. The giant was escorted to the Dungeon by the sheriff and three deputies - as the giant was higher level than one member of the Security Guild. One deputy was ordered to inform the Hypnotist of his impending execution, while two others stood in wait with raised weapons on the other side of the cell door, ready to perform the execution for the first deputy should he be Hypnotized as well. No one here actually knew what limits or requirements the Hypnotize Skill had, so caution was being used. Before leaving, the sheriff had picked out his most stoic deputy to inform the muskin of his deadly punishment and potentially execute him. The deputies had never killed another sapient being before, and most of them would have suffered terribly by suddenly having to act as an executioner. Even if they had all been raised to think of beastkin as animals, Zina had spend a lot of effort on convincing the town that they were sapient all along. She had especially focused on the Security Guild as she didn''t want to chance having a speciesistic deputy deciding to act on said speciesism. Her efforts were in no way done - especially as she had only had Fader Ginkgo''s ex ve as a tangible example of a sapient and civilized beastkin - but enough had been done that the deputies felt ufortable having to execute one. The one the sheriff had picked out for the job at least seemed like he would be able to handle the strain of the bloody job, when he went into the cell to do it. I''ll have to make sure Fraxinus gives that guy a raise. Or at least a bonus. He had indeed done his job perfectly, and the Hypnotist was no more. The guy either wasn''t shaken or had an excellent pokerface. The muskin also, most likely, didn''t have enough mana to Hypnotize anyone else after the giant and fighting in the local Dungeon. It wouldn''t have been that easy otherwise. With that danger gone, Zina went back to figuring out what to do with the other neers. While she was definitely leaning towards simply letting them go, the situation had left her a bit more cautious. She needed to know more about them before she decided on anything. And that naturally meant talking to them more. The remaining members of the Security Guild - the undersheriff and two deputies - had ''entertained'' the angry one, the hurt female human, and the heavily armored male human, while the test and execution had taken ce. Mostly to keep an eye on them and to sound the rm should they try anything. The neers were too high a level for anyone but Zina and Oona to have a chance against any of them one on one. Reentering Fraxinus'' office, Zina began questioning the unknowns on their background and ns for the future, should they be allowed to leave. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With the immediate danger of mind control gone, Reid Alvarado could rx a little bit. To be honest, the fact that rr has finally gone quiet helps my mood a lot. The hybrid had been almost constantly yelling during the meeting while everyone else had at least attempted to keep a cool head. The dungeon mistress was currently questioning Reid on his ns for the immediate future to which he replied he would return to his family and tell them why he hadn''t been home in years. He would tell them everything that had happened to him before returning to this ce to repay the debt he owed for having been freed. It was while thinking about all the things he would finally be able to share with his father, mother, and twin sister, that he remembered his earlier discovery. He would naturally be telling his spy mother and sister about this juicy piece of international gossip, but his honor demanded he inform the elves as well. "Thest one of our unwilling group wasn''t freed with the rest of us. She''s still down there fighting the Dungeon." "The one with a hood up and a mask on?" The dungeon mistress asked, clearly thinking back on their short meeting before they had entered the Dungeon. "Yes. Her name is Talindra Delonix-Regia." The elf woman simply raised her eyebrow in response. How can she not know?! Oh! Right! Mother said they did a ''public name, private name''-thing. "Every elf has the scientific name of a tree as theirst name, right?" Reid began to exin. "Yes¡­?" "And yet what is thest name of your royal family?" "Phoenix Flower." "Which is the name of what tree?" Her eyes widened as she replied in realization: "Delonix-Regia." "Your royal family goes by Phoenix Flower publicly, and only their closest circles know them as Delonix-Regia. That is their realst name." Reid himself only knew because his mother - andter sister - was a member of his own country''s spywork. And naturally the spies knew about it. "Why?" Reid shrugged. "Enchanted Contracts only work if you sign with your actual name. Should a royal be threatened into signing one, having a different public name cane in handy." The dungeon mistress took some time to absorb the new information before the realization hit her: "You''re telling me¡­ my Crown Princess is under someone else''s control and currently inside this Dungeon. This Dungeon, which is much more dangerous than its size and age suggests. All alone! Even though every Dungeon is meant to be explored with a Party to ensure one''s safety?!" Reid swallowed. "Yes." Chapter 79: Unexpected Momentum Chapter 79: Unexpected Momentum The situation was truly dire. Why else would Sarzina Acacia even consider contacting one of her parents? Her mother especially? Zina was the youngest of three children, yet the only member of her family she liked was her brother Braern. As a male in a matriarchal society her parents cared little for her brother and they only required him to marry well and not shame the family. How he got himself a good wife and what else he did with his life, they didn''t care about. ''An heir and a spare,'' her mother had told her once when a young Zina had questioned her mother''s actions - or ratherck thereof. The spare here was clearly Zina. Not only that! But her older sister had given birth to a daughter only a decade ago! Which meant her parents had even less use for a spare. She had tried to rebel in her youth. Act out in shameful ways in public in order to get their attention. Zina eventually realized it wasn''t the kind of attention she wanted to get from her parents. She started acting politely in public after that. ¡­ Well, slightly less politely when it came to her fellow Dungeon miners. They tended to be a more¡­ casual bunch. The Dungeon mining and her dream of bing a dungeon mistress was herter, more subtle way of rebelling against her parents. A respectable position - their Queen was one after all -, yet not something high society ever expected someone would do. It took too much work and few people ended up with enough Awareness to tame a Dungeon. It was extremely hard - but not quite impossible - to control what Ability Score was raised during a level up after all, so many who tried ended up falling short. But not Zina. As a dungeon mistress she would never again be ignored or overlooked. Her word would bew within her territory, which surrounded her Dungeon, and she would finally be listened to. And as the name of a Dungeon''s first master was never forgotten by history, she would never be forgotten either. Zina hadn''t been disowned. Her childhood rebellion had been seen as just that: A child acting out to get attention. And her adult rebellion was fully within societal boundaries and might not even have registered to most as something rebellious. They just hadn''t talked in decades. More than half a century at least. Some polite smalltalk with her sister whenever they were at the same event, but not as much as a simple greeting or even a nod to her parents. She was still just the spare in their mind, after all. Not someone important. But the royal family needed to know what had happened to one of their own, and as a Royal Advisor her mother would be able to get the message - quickly - to the Queen. Which meant Zina had to actually talk to her mother. If only it had been father. At least I know he didn''te up with the idea to shun me. He simply followed his wife as any good husband would. Grabbing her emco, Zina steadied herself and made the dreaded but necessary call to her mother. I can cry if I need to afterwards¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Her youngest was always too busy to talk to her mother. At least Nea Acacia hoped that was the reason her daughter hadn''t contacted her before. Deep down she always regretted telling Sarzina she was just a spare. Even if it was the truth, there was no reason for her daughter to know that. And maybe they could have kept in contact then¡­ But Nea respected her daughter''s need for¡­ well. Whatever it was that kept her from contacting her mother. Nea wouldn''t pry. She didn''t have the time to do so anyway. Yet. The sh of her personal emco had filled her with hope. Maybe we can finally reconnect! Steadily ignoring the quiet voice in the back of her head telling her she had never actually known her youngest in the first ce. Her daughter delivered the news of their Crown Princess'' status in a detached way. Like she wasn''t actually talking to her mother, but a stranger instead. Maybe having me do her a favor is her way of giving me a second chance? Nea hoped even as logic told her, she was the logical choice. Probably even Sarzina''s only choice of getting information to the royal family quickly. But even though Sarzina was a spare, she was still her daughter and this was a tiny favor. And, not to be forgotten, the message was important enough Nea would have passed it along from anyone. Even untrustworthy sources. Not that her daughter was untrustworthy! Sarzina might not be a highly ranked hunter like every other high societydy, but she was still of high standing with her reputation intact. Having put her emco back in her purse with a sad sigh over her rtionship with her youngest, Nea left her mansion and headed for the pce. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó One moment the unicorns had raised their heads in unison to look at her with their noses red in enraged snorts in response to her entering their room. Talindra Delonix-Regia attempted to cast her newly created spell, and the next moment the unicorns lifted their heads as one once again to re their noses at her before they attacked. Did they all move? Her spell appeared to have backfired in the weirdest way. As mainly a Light elemental spell it shouldn''t have been able to move the unicorns around like what had happened. But there was no time to figure out what had just happened. The spell had worked as intended once and had one harmless backfire. While she didn''t know what had caused it to backfire, if it happened again chances were she would make the same mistake which would result in the same type of backfire. Which was an eptable, if undesirable, oue. With the unicorn herd now moving towards her - giving her only seconds to do something before the first horn hit her - she cast her giant exploding sh Lure. Yes! The now blinded unicorns were still running towards her, but now their aim was slightly off and they didn''t realize before they hit the wall beside the portal entrance that she had moved away. Talindra began shooting her high quality, but unEnchanted and non-Skillpowered, arrows at the unicorns. Her quiver was Enchanted to not only hold a ridiculous amount of arrows, but those arrows could even be sorted into 4 different types, which could then be called forth by pushing mana of one of the 4mon elements - Heat, Water, Pressure, or Earth - into the quiver. Right now her quiver was giving Talindra her Earth designated arrows, which were all her unEnchanted ones. She was aiming at the unicorns'' blind eyes, or specifically the brain behind their eyes, fully expecting their mana shields to stop her arrows from actually hitting. Only for her arrows to pierce the skulls of the first three unicorns, killing them instantly and turning them into light and loot. Maybe they can''t use their shields while blinded? Or maybe they don''t know when to use it? Either way, what a discovery! People might never have to fear unicorns again! For indeed. Without their shields, no mana being used directly on them for them to resist, blinded so their own attacks couldn''t connect, and with their opponent going for insta-kill-zones so their healing didn''t get a chance to heal them, it was child''s y to ughter all 6 unicorns. Well¡­ When you know your enemy''s strengths and weaknesses and n around that¡­ Talindra was fully aware of how bad it could have gotten if her mother hadn''t taken the time to instruct her on how to deal with unicorns. If grandma hadn''t been killed by an unprovoked unicorn attack, I likely would never have been told this much about unicorns. And then I would have tried to defeat them like they were any other Dungeon monster, which would then quickly have led to my death! ¡­ Or at least a wounded retreat. I am in a Dungeon, after all, so they wouldn''t have been able to follow. With the herd defeated, Talindra began looking for the entrance to the next room. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The fight was over almost before it began. Which was especially disheartening and disappointing considering how expensive and time consuming my unicorn blessing had been to make. For a second I even considered whether they had even been worth it in the first ce! But in hindsight, the Light Hunter - who was apparently a Princess? I hope that doesn''t hit me in the buttter! - was level 74 against 6 level 20 unicorns. Sure, my unicorns could in theory have won, but they started the fight getting blinded, which prevented them from knowing when to activate their magic shields to block attacks and made it much harder to hit the elf. If they hadn''t been killed so quickly, they would eventually havepensated for the loss of sight by listening for their opponent. They do have good hearing, after all. But with the Light Hunter only doing one-shots through the brain, they had no time to even heal themselves, much less try to locate her through sound. So, while disappointing, it was more due to their opponent than any fault of their own. The second before the Light Hunter was released from her stone prison and returned to her flesh and blood body, I had naturally activated my second andst daily use of increased Wonkyness. I had hoped she would try to do her spell again upon waking, and that it would go Wonky again. But s. It didn''t work, and as she only used one spell over the course of the fight, there wasn''t another chance of something Wonky happening before the 10 minutes were up. It was only a 50-50 chance anyway. And while it''s sad that I won''t have my second use of added Wonkyness for the Boss fight, she uses spells so rarely it seems unlikely she''ll use any then at all. At least here I could urately predict when she would use a spell. While the trap door leading to the next room was only meant to reveal itself if the visitor had gotten the approval of the entire blessing, the fact that ''the entire blessing'' now consisted of zero unicorns apparently meant the Light Hunter had ''gotten their approval''. Curse you System for not allowing me to block her offpletely! She wants to kill me, you know! Or well¡­ The one who originally started this cult wanted a bunch of Dungeon Cores, seemingly for decoration. The point is still there! The trapdoor was still hidden between some bushes, so it wasn''t immediately obvious it had appeared. The intent had been that the unicorns would guide the person or group to it. With no more unicorns it would take a bit longer to locate. At least the puzzle in the next room should keep her entertained awhile. It might take her- Talindra Delonix-Regia [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [51 minutes, 13 seconds] Elf Noble Light Hunter Level 74 -more than 51 minutes to solve, maybe she would failpletely and have to suffer the consequences, or perhaps she would figure it out immediately. As long as it''s not thest one, I think I''ll be fine. There was always the Boss Room after that. And a whole Tribe of beastkin to slow her down after that. The question at this point was more of a ''will she die before the timer runs out?'' than anything else. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Ah! There it is!" Talindra hadn''t been expecting a trapdoor. She had simply begun looking for keys, or coins, or hidden symbols, or something like that, once she had determined there was no obvious exit to the room. And she certainly didn''t expect what happened next. She went down thedder leading to the next room, one oddly empty of Dungeon environmental objects. No grass, trees, bushes, flowers or climbing nts. No volcanic rocks orva. Just an empty 5 by 5 room with walls seemingly made of stone rather than volcanic rock. The moment Talindra''s feet hit the ground, the world went ck. Then a System box appeared before her eyes in the midst of the darkness. You have died. Chapter 80: Deaths Consequence Chapter 80: Death''s Consequence You have died. The System message was the only visible thing in the pitch dark room. Was it even a room? It was too dark for Talindra Delonix-Regia to tell. The Crown Princess couldn''t even see her own hands. How did I die? ¡­ Maybe I hit some ridiculously fast trap when I got down from the trapdoor? Which then killed me before I realized the danger? Or a monster perhaps? Neither seemed entirely logical as nothing she had ever encountered - in this Dungeon or anywhere else - had been so fast she hadn''t been able to at least see iting. Maybe I was hit from behind? But that didn''t seem right either, though the idea certainly made it all seem a whole lot more possible. Not that there was any doubt as to what had happened. The System was clearly telling her she was dead. Looking up from the hands she couldn''t see, the System message was still there. Which shouldn''t have seemed unusual to Talindra. System messages always needed a response from the receiver before it disappeared. Usually the only response needed was an acknowledgement, such as with a level up message, but in special circumstances, such as a dungeon master having to reply to their Dungeon''s requests, an actual reply was needed. Being dead the elf had assumed it would be different. That she wouldn''t be able to send back her reply or acknowledgement in the afterlife. Or perhaps that she wouldn''t get System messages at all anymore. But here it was. There is no question here, so I probably just have to acknowledge it. ¡­ Acknowledge my own death¡­ That was when the true realization of what had happened hit her. She was dead, she would never reach the ''Dungeon Core'' and retrieve the main piece of her goddess. Talindra would never be rewarded with Achievements for doing so. Her Queendom would be left without a direct heir, which would disrupt the n of The Order of The Broken Goddess to more easily convert her Queendom to the faith - as their Queen would already be a supportive member - and for her to give them easy ess to the piece of the goddess inside the Royal Dungeon. My people rely on that Dungeon! They wouldn''t survive its demise!The goddess needed to be freed and whole once again. Her nation being left without a direct heir would surely lead to civil war as well. Talindra was an only child, so was her mother and her mother''s mother, so who had the right to be the next Queen was unclear. Mother will likely just appoint someone before her death. She''ll have enough time to find a good candidate. But that option didn''t sit well with the elf. She was raised for the role! She couldn''t be reced that easily! No elf would ever do as good a job as an actual Royal! At first that thought calmed her anger. She wasn''t that easily reced! Then the consequence of hernd getting a worse ruler hit her. Leaders have to stay safe. For a dead leader cannot lead. And a leaderless people will fall to one with a leader. Her mother''s words echoed through her mind. She hadn''t stayed safe, she was dead, but her people still needed a future leader to keep them safe once her mother died. And given the aggressiveness and unpredictability of unicorns, that could potentially happen at any time. I''ve doomed the people I was meant to protect¡­ I¡­ failed them¡­ Talindra stared at the words dering her death with sadness and disappointment over her own fate filling her entire being. But there was nothing for her to do but to ept and acknowledge her own death. Your consideration of how others would suffer from your death weighs heavier on your mind than your own losses. This makes you worthy. Huh? Worthy of what? As quick as the darkness had appeared it disappeared, taking the System message of her ''worthiness'' with it, and bringing back the utterly empty Dungeon room she had entered before her death. This is an individual puzzle. You have solved a puzzle! You have gained 1 EXP. Given how her EXP gain on a 2nd tier Floor was halved 6 times due to her own status as an 8th tier, it was a wonder she had even gotten a single EXP. It was just a puzzle¡­? Relief crashed through her body so hard she fell to her knees, where she stared at the hands she could once again see. I''m still alive! I can still serve my Queendom! Protect them from our enemies! No one needs to take my ce just to keep everything going! Talindra took a deep, relieved breath. It''s going to be okay¡­ ¡­ How did I even fall for that?! While both blue, in hindsight it was clearly two different shades of blue! Quickly pushing the self aimed anger down before it could take control and distract her, Talindra calmed herself with another deep breath. Just remember that for the future. No one canpletely fake the holy System. Looking up she saw the open entrance to the next room. Said room had gone all in on the volcano theme with volcanic rocks covering the ground in varied sizes andva dripping from above. 5 wooden statues each depicting a different creature stood in a line splitting the middle of the room. It took a bit of maneuver to see what each statue depicted as they hid each other from this angle. The statues reminded Talindra of the wooden statue of a ugly t slime with a disproportionate nose, which had been next to one of the puzzle doors on one of the earlier Floors, and how the room after that had had a couple wooden statues as well. While the ugly slime wasn''t anywhere to be seen in this next room, the chicken and sloth statues were there, as well as the feathered serpent and slime-with-pseudopods she had seenter¡­ on the 5th Floor? And hadn''t she seen that slime-with-pseudopods statue againter? Next to the wooden worm she could see in this room as well. How peculiar. They must be there for some reason. But why? They don''t seem to do anything, so it could be a trap. And while I can certainly see it as a puzzle of ''find the missing statue'', 2nd tier Floors have 4 puzzles per Floor. But then again this Dungeon doesn''t really obey the rules¡­ Talindra was very aware she was ignoring the monsters of the next room. The Boss Room. She just needed to rx a little bit before she got back to it. Just a little break where she wasn''t risking her life. I need to get going at some point. The goddess needs me to. With a deep sigh, she began studying the monsters of the Boss Room: Another unicorn, a b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon, the 1st tier Boss - though it wasn''t the Boss this time around. That honor went to the two 3 meter tall, 8 meter long dragons in the center of the room. Or at least, the words above their heads imed they were both the 2nd Boss. Young karmic elemental dragon - Fire, Gravity [Boss] Level 20 Young karmic elemental dragon - Fire, Gravity [Boss] Level 20 Their scales were dark red with ash gray spots and patches and their four-legged, winged bodies took up a good part of thergely empty 20 by 15 meters room, though there was still enough space for them to maneuver around. The red parts of their scales were glowing, like fire was heating them up from the inside. Smoke-, no ash-, no small heatedva rocks-, no all three wereing out of their nostrils everytime the dragons exhaled. "Huh?" Something was creeping into Talindra''s view from each side before she was done examining the dragons before her. Lava was slowly pouring out from the two corners of the room she was in, which was the closest to the entrance to the Boss Room. The two pools ofva had almost reached the opening itself, telling the elf that she didn''t have too much time to dy before the way forward was blocked. No more time to analyze. Kill the unicorn first so it can''t heal its allies. So, starting by using the giant exploding sh Lure to blind them all seems solid. Then go for the eight-legged one. It seems to have a support role. Then the kirin, so I can focus on the Bosses without disturbances. With a loose n in mind, the Crown Princess readied her bow and mind for the uing Boss battle. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó When the Light Hunter, Crown Princess,nded on the ground underneath thedder from the trapdoor, the puzzle of the room had activated. While the puzzle itself was individualized it would only activate if every sapient on the Floor had their feet on the ground in the room, or if one of them tried to enter the Boss Room. The first trigger had been made with the thought that the backline of the Party could see the first member freeze on the spot and go unresponsive. This would give spellcasters the chance to use magic to break the other person out of the mental puzzle. Which would count as breaking the puzzle, which while nice, wasn''t the most desirable option here. 1st tier puzzles, which the System dered was meant to be aimed at tier 1 sapients, could not be created with a punishment for failing the puzzle. 2nd tier puzzles, as they were aimed for tougher people, coulde with ''proportional consequences''. Which essentially meant I could add a free trap, which would only activate if one failed the puzzle. But the thing with Dungeon traps was the ability to avoid them if one was good enough at either detecting them or dodging. However, if the trap was connected to a puzzle there wouldn''t necessarily be a way to avoid it, making failing a puzzle quite deadly inter Floors. On the 10th Floor ''proportional consequences'' meant ''something a healthy level 20 would certainly survive''. The thought here was that a wounded level 20 might take enough damage and die. But ''would certainly survive'' didn''t mean it had to do damage. A strategy I had tried on the 6th Floor with my Double Illusion Doors trap, where one led to the next room, while the other led back to The Great Tree Room - if the 1st Floor wasn''t at its limit on allowed sapients per Floor, otherwise it would send one to the 2nd Floor, unless that was full as well and so on. If all previous Floors were full, the Party would simply be sent back to the beginning of the 6th Floor. It was the exact same concept here. If you failed the puzzle - it was more of a test really - in Hell''s Judgement Hall you would - hopefully - be sent back to the beginning of my Dungeon, where you had to start all over again if you wanted to get to my Core. Which was definitely something a healthy level 20 could survive. After all, they could just walk out of my Dungeon as soon as they appeared in The Great Tree Room! ¡­ Or the first room of whichever Floor was free for them to be transported to. It would entirely be their own choice should they decide to try my Dungeon again without first taking a break! I couldn''t be responsible for that when I had so nicely shown them the way out! To sessfully solve the puzzle in Hell''s Judgement Hall, one had to prove themselves worthy of seeing my Core. ¡­ I wasn''t actually sure what measurement the System used to decide one''s worthiness¡­ The puzzle would convince the visitor that they were dead and the System would then read their mind and analyze their reaction to - somehow - figure out if they were worthy. ¡­ Which might seem like a bit of a privacy breach, but that was why I didn''t read their minds myself! The System - while normally not a mind reader - seemed to know just about everything anyway! If the sapient didn''t have any big or interesting reaction upon learning of their ''death'', then the puzzle would inform them of their impending reincarnation into whichever being - person, animal, it didn''t matter - they had hurt the most in life. In the case of an elven ve owner, the puzzle wouldn''t simply inform them they would reincarnate into a random beastkin. No it would reincarnate them into the one beastkin ve they had harmed the most, at the time of that person''s birth. Meaning the elven ve owner would end up feeling everything the beastkin ve had¡­ It wouldn''t actually happen of course! My puzzles weren''t anywhere near that powerful! It was simply to give the System something to analyze. ¡­And hopefully it would make hypothetical elven ve owners rethink their actions. If the System still had trouble analyzing their worthiness, the puzzle would proceed to thest phase where the sapient was informed, they had reincarnated many times before and would many times more, as everyone in every time - man, or woman, elf, gnome, or giant, sapient, semi-sapient, or animal - were actually them in different reincarnations. ''You are simply growing up and learning. Once you have been through every life, you will be like me and help guide others to greatness.'' The fake System in the puzzle would state at the end. And if the idea of being a young version of your own god didn''t give them ideas of superiority - even if just for a moment before they remembered they were everyone and there wasn''t anyone to be superior to -, then they had to be worthy! Given how it had only taken the Light Hunter 9 minutes and 40 seconds - not even a full 10 minutes! - I very much doubted she got to thest phase before the System dered her worthy. For the System had dered her worthy! Even while Brainwashed! Well there goes that hope! Talindra Delonix-Regia [Brainwashed] [Dungeon Weakness] [38 minutes, 23 seconds] Elf Noble Light Hunter Level 74 38 minutes¡­ I don''t know. It''s a Boss fight, yes, but she finished the unicorns so quickly! ¡­ I might actually have to send the Tribe after her¡­ ¡­ Which will likely mean someone will die¡­ I had already aired the idea of the Tribe leaving me to my fate should ite to that. Should the Crown Princess take my Fake Core, realize it was fake ande back with reinforcements to take my real Core¡­ With the ban on beastkin very in the unfinished town around my Portal, the Tribe wouldn''t be immediately captured or killed, and I had even offered to grease the wheel by making it myst request to the Lightning Mage that she take care of them for me. But no. They declined my every offer. My worshippers refused to leave their god behind. Chapter 81: Cant Hide Behind Ash and Smoke Chapter 81: Can''t Hide Behind Ash and Smoke One thing which might turn the fight in my favor, which hadn''t been there for my unicorn blessing, were my Totem traps. These traps were debuff traps. In a 10 meters radius around the Totem one Ability Score would be temporarily suppressed a certain amount. That is, if the trap was activated by having a person with 25% karma or less nearby. Which Ability Score depended on the type of Totem with the animal on the Totem representing ack of that Ability Score. Sloths were known for being slow, so the sloth Totem suppressed people''s Dexterity. Chickens weren''t the most aware of creatures. The feathered serpents had a Skill to temporarily make you dumb. Jellyfishcked both external and internal skeleton and could thus easily be ripped apart. The blobfish looked ugly when forced outside its natural deep sea habitat. Earthworms were weak. ¡­ Though I''m not sure how obvious it was that the Totem was of an earthworm as the animal on each Totem had roughly the same size. ¡­ And as the chicken on the Awareness Totem was only double the size of a normal chicken, the wooden earthworm was naturally way too big to actually look like a tiny earthworm. How much each Totem suppressed their respective Ability Score depended entirely on the amount of mana I had originally paid for it, but the general premise was ''half the Ability Score, but at most'' and then a number depending on the price of the trap. However, the price of a Totem didn''t only depend on how strong I made it but also on how many Totems were already in the room. A Totem with a maximum suppressing of -8 cost 100 mana, if it was the first in a room. But if it was the second it cost 150 mana. The third: 500 mana. The fourth: 1,500 mana. Then 4,500 mana. And each type of Totem couldn''t stack with itself, so I couldn''t simply surround people with Toughness Totems to reduce someone''s Toughness to ridiculous decrees before attacking with my creatures. So, having more than one or two Totems in a room was rarely worth it. Especially since Totem traps had no ability to kill on their own, which is usually the point with traps. But this was my second Boss Room and I had felt like it could use a little extra. So, it had gotten a whole 5 Totems, each with the ability to suppress a Score by half up to the maximum of 20 points. It had naturally been quite expensive and maybe it would have been better to do it with less Totems. I hadn''t included the blobfish Totem in the Boss Room as I doubted people would be using a whole lot of Charisma based Skills in there. The other 5 Ability Scores? Dexterity, Toughness, and Awareness would most certainly be used to run around, dodge attacks, survive the attacks which couldn''t be dodged, have enough stamina to keep fighting, and to keep an eye on the entire battlefield. There were multiple Dungeon creatures in there, after all, that one needed to keep an eye on. Strength VS Intelligence was here a question of whether the intruder was a spellcaster or more physically focused. Which was not only something I couldn''t know beforehand, but it was quite likely they wouldn''t be alone. So, I had decided to splurge for all 5 Totems. The 6th trap in the room was a Fata Morgana, making it appear as if there were two Bosses. The actual Boss had even been instructed to cloak itself in ashes and flying rocks once in a while and to some of those times swap ces with the Fata Morgana. This way, the intruder had to keep figuring out which one was the real one - if and when they realized one was fake - instead of it being a one and done deal. I was pretty satisfied with my 2nd Boss Room, and I honestly thought it could dy the Light Hunter long enough for the Brainwash to disappear. But I had thought highly of my unicorn blessing as well and she had dealt with them so quickly! Once she had been de-stoned, that is. Maybe I get lucky and she''ll cast a spell again, which ends up being Wonky? It''s only a 10% chance if she even uses a spell and I can''t change that number again today. And as luck would have it - or rather misfortune on the side of the elf - she attempted to cast a spell again only for her body to get covered in a sticky substance. It only distracted her a couple of seconds before she decided to simply cast the spell again, blinding my creatures. But while the thick liquid failed to truly distract the Light Hunter, it instead seeded in foiling her attacks. As her glove-covered hands were now covered in the sticky substance, it made it difficult for her to let go of the arrow after she had aimed it at the unicorn. And once she had let it fly, it ended up hitting the mouth rather than the eye of the disoriented, yet still charging unicorn due to the added weight of the sticky goop now on the arrow. The second arrow hit where the first hadn''t, killing it instantly like she had its kin two rooms beforehand. The unicorn had been right in front of her at that point, so it wasn''t really a surprise that she had hit despite the goop. As the unicorn went down and dispersed into mana particles and loot, the b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon seeded in cursing the elf with minor bad luck despite its blinded state. Which was something I hadn''t thought of before: Where a unicorn had to know an attack ising, where it ising from, and how fast it''sing - something it achieved through sight - to be able to shield itself through magic, a b¨¡ z¨² lung dragon cursed and blessed luck based on and aimed at an individual''s Karma Aura - which didn''t depend on sight. Well¡­ Not the kind of sight one needed functioning eyes to see with at least. The information tranted into shades in the grayscale around the sight of each person, but in actuality it was two different senses. And with misfortune now in more effect than before, the Light Hunter had a slightly harder time hitting exactly where she aimed. That being said, she was still good enough at archery to hit every shot, even if she didn''t hit whatever vulnerable spot she was aiming at. And despite being powered by the deaths of several hundreds of ''Heroes'', the kirin assistant only survived three of the elf''s Skill-powered arrows. 8 minutes had passed and only the Boss was left. At least her spell didn''t have enough power behind it to affect and blind the Boss. Likely due to the feathered serpent Totem messing with her Intelligence mixed with it being further away from her than the assistants. I don''t think she has even noticed the suppression of her Dexterity and Awareness yet despite needing those for her archery. Probably has more than enough for creatures of this low a levelpared to hers. With the three assistants down there was only the Boss left, yes. But their sacrifice hadn''t beenpletely in vain. The Boss - and the Fata Morgana trap - was rtively slow moving. But with the Light Hunter distracted, it now had ample time and opportunity to strike. It''s Fata Morgana doppelg?nger striking with it from the opposite side. That being said¡­ Even with 20 less Awareness the elf was still able to detect the ''double'' bite attack from behind and jump forward into the now vacant space where the defeated kirin had just been. But that was okay. The attack had brought the head of the volcanic dragon right next to the intruder, pelting her with scalding hot smoke, ash, and flying volcanic rocks originating from the dragon''s breath and nostrils. It wasn''t even a ''breath attack'' like a traditional fire breath would have been. The heated smoke, ash, and rocks were simply a part of its exhale. With her Toughness lowered from the jellyfish Totem, these flying rocks, small as they were, were enough to make her cry out in short bursts of pain. But more importantly, the smoke and ash had caused her to start coughing even with her mouth behind a mask. Said mask might be protecting her from some of it, but it was made to hide her face, not filter the air for her. And naturally, it''s difficult to aim an arrow while coughing. Something she clearly realized as well as her next course of action was to create distance between herself and my Boss, hoping to find an area with cleaner air. This was when she realized she was trapped in the Boss Room. The way back had been blocked by the slow moving Magma Flow trap, which couldn''t leave the previous room and had instead grown upwards, while the way forward was blocked by the dragon''s tail made ofva. Something I had naturally ordered it to do to keep the way to my Core barricaded for as long as possible. Still, the Light Hunter was able to find a corner to take a couple of clean breaths in, which allowed her to begin a game of keep away. Shot a couple of arrows till the Boss and Fata Morgana came too close and the air became hard to breathe in, then she would use her superior speed to dash to another corner before repeating it. My young karmic elemental dragon of the Fire and Gravity elements might be a slow moving dragon, but it had Strength and Toughness where itcked in Dexterity. And with both the ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' Rule increasing Toughness ridiculously at this point and the ''Boss'' Achievement doubling its every Ability Score, her arrows really couldn''t do massive amounts of damage to it. And of course the presence of the Fata Morgana meant she wasn''t even aiming at the real one half of the time. And after she realized one of them was fake she would still be tricked by it, as the real one would continue to asionally cover the two of them temporarily in smoke and flying ash before potentially switching ces. ¡­ Huh?! That n had worked exactly twice after she realized only one of them was real. Then she suddenly stopped aiming for the Fata Morgana at all. Not a single shot was wasted by shooting the wrong one anymore. What?! First the unicorns, then Hell''s Judgement, and now this! Not to mention how her high level let her breeze through everything else! How is this possible?! Was she specifically created to counter my every move?! If I had still had a throat I would have gulped nervously and perhaps even started sweating. There might only be 12 minutes left on the clock, but it was looking more and more like that wouldn''t be soon enough. Granted. I wouldn''t die as she would take my Fake Core thinking it was the real one. But the Tribe demanded they stand between it and the impending 8th tier, defending me to theirst breath. Andst breath it would be. They stood no chance before her. And once the trickery was realized, she would simplye back with reinforcements. And there was no guarantee I would be prepared to defend myself against that¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The moment Talindra Delonix-Regia realized one of the Bosses were actually just an illusion, she switched from her normal light based vision to the Heat Vision Skill she had gotten from the System when she first got her 8th tier ss. And naturally, the illusion had no heat signature. Having to only deal with one Boss meant the Crown Princess felt much morefortable using her remaining mana to ce her strongest Skills on her most Enchanted arrows. While clearly Tough for its level, there was no way the dragon couldst long with that kind of power attacking it! Chapter 82: A Deliberate Misunderstanding Chapter 82: A Deliberate Misunderstanding It was like the Light Hunter, this elven Crown Princess, hadpletely forgotten that she was covered in goo. And yet she had sessfully adjusted her aim and pull topensate for its presence as her arrows were hitting their exact target once again. That,bined with her apparent decision to stop pulling punches and saving resources, meant she was dealing a good deal of damage to my Boss with each attack. And as she was only using Skills and not spells, I couldn''t even hope for a lucky burst of Wonkyness. The Boss only survived as long as it did due to its ridiculously high Toughness Score. There were 4 minutes left on the clock when my Boss fell and turned into light. More than enough time for her to ughter the entire Tribe, should she decide to. I could only hope she would hesitate. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Nerok had originally nned on standing with the frontline. As a Chief it was his responsibility to defend them, after all! But when he suggested this, it was pointed out to him that a leader needed to focus on leading more than fighting. He still intended to fight of course! But he would ce himself more centrally in the group as suggested. The sounds of fighting had stopped and the subtle clinging of a Dungeon creature turning back into mana could instead be heard. It was time. Nerok didn''t need to tell his Tribe this. They had all been quiet as they listened and waited. The frontline could - just like Nerok - see the disappearance of theva tail which had been guarding the Core Room as well. There was no need for words. They all knew what needed to be done. Despite Nerok''s position in the middle of the battle ready Tribe, a line of space had been left open so Nerok could see the iing enemy. This line would only be there temporarily and had been put in ce as a response to the order of the merciful Dungeon of Karma: ''Try diplomacy first. It might dy her long enough for the Brainwashing to wear off.'' And if diplomacy were to be attempted, Nerok had to be the one to do the talking. I doubt anyone else could keep a cool head while talking to a threat to our loving Dungeon. ¡­ I honestly doubt I''ll be able to¡­ If diplomacy failed, the line of sight would be closed off, leaving Nerok in the middle of his Tribe, ready to lead them. The hooded and masked intruder stopped in her tracks at the sight of the Tribe, clearly taken off guard. Nerok couldn''t fault her for that. The Tribe was in the Core Room, so they couldn''t be Dungeon creatures. Yet, they were many more people than any Dungeon would normally ever allow into its depths at once, so - in her mind and by normal logic - they couldn''t be sapients either. The intruder kept staring confused at them, not saying a single word. That was perfectly fine with Nerok. The goal here was to dy her as long as possible, so the longer she stayed quiet the longer it would take before diplomacy had to be attempted. And Nerok wasn''t sure how long he could mask his hatred of those who wanted to hurt his savior! ¡­ At least the Tribe had decided to follow his lead and wait quietly as well. Yes. We''ll let her make the first move. And please. Do take your time to process this. It only means I need to distract you less. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Talindra Delonix-Regia had stared at the confusing sight for more than a minute before she regained the thought process to formte a question. At which point she had concluded three things: One: The herd of beastkin couldn''t be Dungeon monsters or some form of puzzle due to their presence inside the roommonly known as the Core Room. The room in which a piece of her goddess was trapped. Or maybe it would be more urate to say that Talindra assumed this was thest room of the Dungeon, as she couldn''t actually see the crystal piece of her goddess due to the herd in the way. But even if it wasn''t ''the Core Room'', it was after a Boss Room, meaning it then had to be a Safezone. Meaning the beastkin still couldn''t be Dungeon monsters. Two: They couldn''t be actual beastkin. Even if the Dungeon had at some point allowed several dozen people to enter at once, when Talindra had entered it had been at 6 and Dungeons rarely ever changed the allowed amount. And for Talindra to be able to enter the 10th Floor - let alone her now missing teammates -, the Dungeon would have had to change the number to be high enough to allow all of these beasts as well as Talindra and her teammates. Otherwise they would have been blocked from going forward, and would have either had to turn around and leave the Dungeon or wait for the 10th Floor to be emptied before continuing. And even with semi-sapients only counting as half a sapient when it came to entering Dungeons, the number would still have to be ridiculously high to have allowed all of these beasts inside at once. Three: It was possible the entire herd was an illusion trap as traps were the only defense a Dungeon could ce at its center. A direct reflection of the trapped piece of the goddess in the room. But while it could be an illusion trap, it could also be some sign from the trapped goddess. She had been able tomunicate with them through writing throughout the Dungeon, after all. And while the trap option seemed the most likely, it was best to confirm it first. "What are you doing here?" The old bear beastkin in the middle of the group, which those in front of him had parted for, took his time answering. "We were saved and now serve our savior." A savior? The goddess perhaps? Really, who else could it be given their presence here! But why haven''t they freed her yet, then? No. It''s still more likely to be an illusion. ¡­ Let me try another question, just in case. "Who is your savior?" "The Great Mother." ¡­ Could be the broken goddess, but still. Why not free her? "You say, you serve this Great Mother. How do you serve her?" "However they wish." Huh? "They?" The old bear beastkin nodded slowly before replying. "They prefer to be referred to as ''they'' and so weply with their wishes." "Yet you call your savior ''Great Mother''?!" The slight change in subject was greatly confusing to Talindra. The broken goddess was a goddess, after all. It implied a female gender. But is her soulmate, the holy System, truly a male? It was actually a bit difficult for Talindra to consider the System as either male or female. The System seemed¡­ above such things, somehow. It made somewhat sense his or maybe their or perhaps its soulmate wasn''t male or female either. "Their children call them Great Mother, and so do we," replied the old beastkin. Children? "And who are these children?" Instead of answering immediately, the beastkin took the time to slowly raise his gaze. Only when he looked back into Talindra''s eyes did he answer the question. "They were once a part of the world, only to be crushed by the greedy and power-hungry." What was that look for? And why is he being so cryptic all of a sudden? "Yes¡­ But who are they?" "The System didn''t want them to end up forgotten and so ced their being in the care of the Great Mother and their kin." "Kin? What kin?" The broken goddess didn''t have any kin as far as The Order of The Broken Goddess knew. But who could truly know everything about their god or goddess¡­ The bear slowly nodded. "The Great Mother has many siblings. Thousands. None of which they have ever met, nor shall any of them ever meet." "Why not?" "They can''t. The System made them unable to do so." Separating his soulmate from her siblings?! No! The System would never do that! This is not a follower of the goddess! It''s just another trap set by the Dungeon! But you won''t fool me that easily! "Good try Dungeon." The Crown Princess stated, coldly and with a deadly monotone. "But you can''t fool me that easily. The System would never separate his soulmate from her siblings. She doesn''t even have siblings in the first ce." In response to her threatening words the beastkin opening closed, blocking her sight to the bear spokesman. The herd got ready to defend against her attack, as if the illusion actually could. Maybe it''s not an illusion trap, but something else? This Dungeon has been weird enough, I can''t tell for sure. But before she could fullymit to her attack against the beastkin herd, which may or may not be corporeal, a thought intruded her mind: Why do I care? Huh? ¡­ Why do I care? ¡­ I don''t, right? I can''t change the acts of gods, and this part doesn''t involve me, so I don''t care. ¡­ Divine beings can''t break! Why did I ever think they could?! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó While the hooded intruder was stunned silent, Nerok had finalized his n of attack. Verbal attack, that is. As he only needed to distract her for 4 minutes, he would allow her to ask the questions and ''control'' the conversation. Nerok would simply make sure to answer slowly - really emphasizing his old age, which he hadn''t felt since his Dungeon-blessed tier up -, while being as cryptic as possible. Things which could be misunderstood were preferred. The merciful Dungeon of Karma had been kind enough to tell them what little they knew about their opponent despite them having been in the middle ofbat with her. The knowledge that she worshiped this ''broken goddess'' due to the mind control was what Nerok mainly nned to use against her, by making it seem like the Tribe worshiped the same goddess through his vague answers to her questions. And the n seemed to work! At least in the ''keep her distracted'' way. It didn''t seem like she truly believed him at any point, but it was enough to make her doubt. Using the kobolds'' name for the Dungeon turned out to be a smart idea. The Tribe usually went for long flowery titles, though the shortened ''Karma'' had gotten tractiontely. And while ''Karma'' might have worked, ''Great Mother'' seemed like it had a closer resemnce to this ''broken goddess'' she worshiped while Brainwashed. When she started asking about the kobolds, Nerok had to think hard on what to answer. The most immediate answers would reveal their nature as Dungeon creatures and he still had 1 minute and 19 seconds left he had to distract her in. Luckily, he remembered what they had learned about the kobolds when the Hero Monk and his unicorn Familiar had visited. They had once been a sapient species, only for them to end up ughtered by the other sapient species. And that was something vague and mysterious he could tell her which wouldn''t reveal their current nature. Nerok did find her sudden shift to a cold monotone quite scary, and he clearly wasn''t the only one to think so. But as his Tribe closed in around him, just before they blocked his view, he saw the timer reach thest second. And he knew they would be fine. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Sarzina Acacia had sessfully gone through the dreaded call with her mother and had taken the time to calm down and reflect on it. It went surprisingly well! Probably due to theck of other people. The need to be presentable in other people''s presence was often what set her mother off. Reputation and status has always meant more to mother than happiness and love. When Zina finally stopped shaking she went back to what she had been doing when she learned about the state of her Crown Princess. Namely learning about the ns of the ex-cult members and deciding if she should try to stop them. Just as she had suspected, most of them simply wanted to return to their families. Which Zina naturally didn''t see any problems with. Mister Alvarado, the male human clearly dressed as the Tough of the group, expressed a desire to return after his family reunion and ''repay his debt to the Dungeon''. Which, while odd, Zina had no immediate problem with. It depended on exactly how he intended to repay his debt - something he didn''t yet know himself. Then there was rr. The angry one. Surprisingly, he wanted to stay. He wanted to stay in a ce filled with the elves he seemed to hate. Well technically he wanted to stay in a tent at the edge of the town, and he nned to stay out of sight of the townsfolk as much as possible while asionally popping out to explore the Dungeon. He had learned that besides being able to undo mind control, it was also only aggressive towards bad guys, which had fascinated him. The hybrid additionally didn¡¯t have anywhere else to go as he had been a ve himself before the cult. He only told the shortest of summaries but the emotions behind it made it clear how much he med elves for every bad moment in his life. And it was thatst part, which convinced Zina to let him stay under the condition that he behaved himself. If he had any grievances he was to go to either sheriff Fraxinus or herself with them and not punish people himself. He reluctantly agreed to the deal, while Zina hoped he would slowly learn that not all elves needed that kind of hatred aimed at them. With that done, Zina was back to worrying about her Crown Princess. If she died the crown would be without a clear heir and that was never good. Whether she survives or not, at least this means the Queen will have to take the threat of the cult seriously. Chapter 83: The Story of A Leashed Dolphin Out of Water Chapter 83: The Story of A Leashed Dolphin Out of Water Lagurith was one of the few still living members of the Order of The Broken Goddess to have actually met the prophet in person. Lagurith had been 24 at the time and had explored the world above the sea, since he had reached maturity at 13. Sirens were very tribal in nature. They didn¡¯t like to live in pods over 500 and not even thergest groups had 1,000 people in them. If a pod went from 249 to 250 people the System would go from calling them a Large Tribe to a Small Vige, which was when most sirens began considering how to split the pod up. It was a siren belief that everyone needed to know everyone in a Tribe to encourage kindness amongst each other and that that was hard in Viges and impossible in anythingrger. It was also believed that this kindness would - and should - then bleed into ''kindness toward strangers''. So, while sirens lived in small groupspared to the other sapient species, they always made sure to be able to house their own number of people in visitors. Visitors were always wee - though you would need a good reason if you wanted to be allowed to settle down - and the additional housing was often used by the nomadic siren pods. A nomadic pod - like the one Lagurith had grown up in - swam from one settled pod to the next, traded with them and shared news, before leaving for the next settled pod. In between their stays with settled pods they would hunt the creatures who refused to get near a settled pod of sirens, parts of which they would trade to settled pods, who rarely - if ever - got to see those creatures alive. It wasn''t just sea creatures nomadic pods hunted, though that was certainly the majority. Land and air creatures were also on the menu at times, though Lagurith''s pod had never been particrly good at catching those. Which was a part of why Lagurith had wanted to leave the sea behind. Other sapient species were experts at huntingnd and air creatures as well asrge quantities of the dumbest fish of the sunlight zone, while sirens were only experts in sea creatures. Well¡­ Generally sirens only hunted creatures from the sunlight and twilight zones. Anything deeper than that needed a Skill or Ability dedicated simply to keeping one alive from the water pressure, another to allow you to see in the dark, and a third to keep you from drowning. For unlike what thendbound species thought about sirens, they couldn''t naturally breathe under water. Like their dolphinpanions they could hold their breath for extensive periods but still needed toe up for air. Due to their underwater life, sirens were also the sapient species to have their own separatenguage. Saidnguage consisted of a mixture of body movements and whistle, trill, and squeak sounds, much like that of a dolphin. Which made it easy to conveymands to their animalpanions. But unlike dolphins, sirens couldn''t echolocate. Which was one of the reasons Lagurith''s pod had trained hunting dolphins. Locating camouged prey was much easier with the aid of a dolphin partner. Only once Lagurith had ventured out of the waters of his home, had he realized he couldn''t understand thenguage of the other sapient species. Sirens normally didn''t leave the waters and so only a few members of each pod could understand and speak themonnguage. So, Lagurith decided to locate the mountain dwelling sirens he had heard talk about as a calf. Supposedly, some sirens preferred their winged form over their tailed one and had settled down in mountains to make the most use of their flight. Something Lagurith hadn''t known how to do as he had spent his calfhood under water. He had experienced the transformation from tail form to wing form and vice versa a couple of times before as his pod hunted some creature above water. But he had never stayed in his wing form for more than an hour or two before his adulthood. Having talons instead of webbed and wed hands felt too light, and having talon legs instead of his heavy dolphin tail only made that feeling so much worse. He had felt like he was about to fly away against his will with every windblow, he was so light all of a sudden! And the giant wings on his back were simultaneously a heavy weight where none should have been and not heavy enough to stop him from flying away with the wind. At least his face was still the same in both forms¡­ Walking on talons instead of swimming with a tail were much easier to get used to inparison. He had had a bit of practice with that in his calfhood during the short periods he had had wings. When he finally found the mountain dwelling sirens, he was relieved to finally understand what people were saying once again. For they two spoke mainly in the sirennguage of body movements and whistle, trill, and squeak sounds. But where it in tail form sounded and looked simr to a dolphin, in wing form it was clearly avian in nature. Something it took a bit to get used to. The next half a year - longer than a visitor was normally allowed to stay, but they had made a small exception for him - the mountain sirens taught Lagurith themonnguage as well as what little they knew about the other sapients and their customs. Like their water dwelling counterparts they disliked howrge the settlements of the other species were and tended to avoid them whenever possible. But Lagurith was still full of curiosity for the other sapient species, and eventually left the mountain sirens to explore. It was over a decade after he had left, in the midst of his 24th year of life, that he met Luvenia Mein and her newly formed Order of The Broken Goddess. As with most of the Order, Lagurith hadn''t taken much convincing before he joined. It was near instant in fact. In the young siren''s attempt to learn all he could about the other sapient species, he had simply walked up to the female human, who was clearly the leader of the group, and introduced himself. They had been talking together in a sidestreet, and Lagurith had wondered why. Why talk in a, quite frankly, filthy sidestreet instead of somewhere cleaner? Somewhere less loud than outside in a Small City? It had taken him quite some time to work himself up to walking around a Small City with all its people. People who didn''t all know each other. So, he went up to them and asked. Of course, he now knew how weird that was. But he was from a world of hospitality! He simply wanted to understand, but there were so many different cultures! It was hard to keep track of them all! But he was about to understand. Just not about cultures as he had expected. He had introduced himself and asked his question. The prophet - though he didn''t know she was a prophet at the time - had looked around before asking if he was alone. Lagurith had answered that yes he was alone, he was wandering the world learning about other people''s cultures as he went. He had been confused as to why he was asked a question when his own hadn''t been answered yet. That would have been seen as rude and not hospitable among sirens. But none of them had been sirens, and he didn''t know for sure if that was eptable behavior or not. These days he knew it was a part of the initiation process. For no initiator was allowed to initiate someone while those not initiated or to-be-initiated could see it happen, so as not to spoil the surprise of how it happened before it was their time. After being initiated he had quickly learned all there was to know about The Order of The Broken Goddess from the prophet herself! The System had a soulmate who had been broken with each of her pieces kept captured in the deepest part of a Dungeon. Each piece was to be brought to the prophet for safekeeping and when all pieces had been rescued, she would perform a ritual to make the goddess whole once again. After her death, none of her inner circle - her personal disciples - had wanted to admit to their fellows that none of them knew how to perform the ritual. They really should have seen her deathing, she had already been at the end of the human lifespan when she became the prophet. It was a wonder she had survived the 23 years she was the prophet, even with her being a 9th tier when she began spreading the word of the broken goddess. Each tier above the 1st gave humans a lifespan extension of about 5 years, meaning her lifespan expectancy was 120 years, so dying at 134 shouldn''t havee as a surprise to them. But she hadn''t wanted to talk about her inevitable death. She only wanted them to bring her more pieces of the goddess for her to guard. Naturally, the safest ce any of them knew was the prophet''s bedroom, which had grown in size as the Order gained followers and wealth and more and more pieces were liberated from their prisons. Even to this day the hall which contained the crystallized pieces of the goddess was referred to as ''the prophets bedroom'' and was decorated as such in her honor. The prophet hadn''t always been able to initiate people. That hade to herter in life after her elven husband had left her for another woman. Someone younger and prettier and ''less controlling'' and with a mere 4th tier, if the prophet was to be believed. Which was naturally hard to fathom for her followers, though none doubted her words. And apparently her elven husband had expected her to ''have died by now'' and that she ''was really just a fling''. Curse the elven 500 year lifespan! It seems to be a curse to even the elves themselves more than it is a blessing. Lagurith had seen this many times over during his years in Alfam¨¦r. The System had granted the prophet the Mindbender ss, when soon after her husband''s betrayal she entered and defeated an ancient Dungeon with 45 Floors. During this she had leveled up, received the needed Breakthrough Orb and entered the 9th tier and her new ss. At the end of the Dungeon, she stood alone in front of the ''Core'' as her Party had died during the fight against the 9th Boss. And as she stood there she realized the truth and knew what she had to do. She told the Dungeon ''no''. ''No, I will not show you mercy for you do not deserve it.'' Then she took its ''Core'', having realized it for what it truly was, and ran out of the Core Room with the crystal. As she left the Core Room with its prisoner, the System forced her out of the Dungeon, just in time for her to see its Portal crumble down and disappear. Lagurith knew he was unlikely to ever reach the same league as the legendary prophet. At the age of 71 he was only at the very beginning of the 8th tier and in a position which didn''t allow for him to earn a lot of EXP. At least the high tier had raised his expected lifespan to roughly 109 instead of the usual 65 for sirens, so he had time to fulfill the prophet''s dream of freeing all the pieces of the goddess. The 6.25 years per additional tier had made that number go up a lot over time. Shortly before the death of the prophet, she had made the perfect n to free the piece in the Royal Dungeon of Alfam¨¦r: Initiate the Queen, a member of her bodyguard Party, or someone else who was allowed into the Core Room. The initiated would then free the piece of the goddess at their earliest opportunity. It would also allow the Order to operate more freely in Alfam¨¦r. This job had been given to Lagurith, while the other cardinals handled other ns and hard to ess Dungeons. Unfortunately, Lagurith had only been able to initiate the Crown Princess, as she was the only one he had ever been able to get alone. And the Queen had ensured - intentionally or not - her daughter was never given the opportunity to free the goddess. Talindra was only allowed to enter the Dungeon while apanied by two of her mother''s personal Guards, and those Guards were always quick to stop her attempts to remove the goddess and had now grown wary of her goal. Lagurith would have loved to initiate the Queen or any one of her 4 personal guards, who had been trained to be members of the Queen''s own Party as well as being her bodyguards. But unfortunately all 5 of them wore Enchanted jewelry, which enhanced their Awareness while they wore them. Which was all the time! And with jewelry like that, there was too big a risk of his initiation failing for him to dare risk it, even if he could get them alone. Which rarely happened and only with one of the bodyguards. If he somehow got the Queen alone, tried to initiate her, only to fail? She would immediately sound the rm and he would be killed by the nearest Guard. Even with his high level and though he wasn''t one himself, he was just as squishy as any Int. The n would still be able to continue after his death of course, just as it had with the death of the prophet. But as one of the few still alive who had actually met her and listened to her words directly from her mouth¡­ No. Lagurith couldn''t risk dying. Not for that. The goddess was immortal and the Crown Princess would one day be Queen. They just had to wait. It was quite a stroke of luck, when he had found the Crown Princess without her Enchanted jewelry and all alone while out looking for a husband. She had thought the expensive looking jewelry would attract the wrong kind of people and taken it off. Back in the present, Lagurith was sitting in a meeting with the Queen, her Advisors for foreign politics, and several Ambassadors from nearby Kingdoms. Her 4 bodyguards standing behind her tronelike chair. Lagurith himself was pretending to be one of the Ambassadors. But of course sirens didn''t do Towns much less Kingdoms. They all had shared traditions, culture, and customs but that was where it ended. One couldn''t know everyone in an entire Kingdom. That was simply impossible! I don''t know everyone in the Order either. It has gotten too big. It should split, so everyone can know everyone. I don''t even keep track of my own disciples anymore. What is wrong with me?! But as sirens - both the sea and mountain dwelling kind - tended to avoid entering the territory of other sapients, no one had realized he was pretending. The otherwise normal meeting was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Nea Acacia, one of the Queen''s Advisors for intern politics. The following news had Lagurith internally panicking, even though his face betrayed nothing. Chapter 84: A Queen or A Mother, Rarely Ever Both Chapter 84: A Queen or A Mother, Rarely Ever Both Enania Delonix-Regia had inherited both the elven Queendom of Alfam¨¦r and its Royal Dungeon upon her mother''s tragic death by unicorn. Her mother, Queen Saida, had been the one to both discover and quickly tame said Dungeon, around which she built the foundations of Alfam¨¦r. She had already been the unspoken leader of her nomadic people, who had been wandering around looking for a ce to settle down, so the transition had been smooth. And over the decades her Queendom had grown. The cheap and constantbor of the beastkin herd Queen Saida had introduced had massively sped up the process, but Enania knew none of it would have happened without the guidance of her mother. As a new Queen, inserted into the rule before her time, Enania had tried to avenge her fallen mother, only for her effects to be met with threats of war. Her mother was called evil and deserving of her fate. In that eerily polite and formal way all correspondence between Royals were. The human nation of Windin even dered that should she or anyone else attempt to kill or simply harm the unicorn in question, then the two nations would be going to war. And while Enania wanted to avenge her mother, she knew she would lose such a war should it happen this early in her reign. So, she had to regrettably let it go. All she could do was warn her people of the dangers of unicorns and train her only daughter in how to fight them. So, that such a fate would never again befall them. While the early and sudden beginning of her reign had been tough, Alfam¨¦r had eventually bloomed under her rule. And so had her daughter. Her precious, independent girl. If only she could finally find herself a husband! But no. Those things couldn''t be rushed. Shouldn''t be rushed. Alfam¨¦r had improved its rtionship with all of the neighboring nations, even the unicorn loving one. Windin with its short lived human rulers had seemingly forgotten their hand in her mother''s death. Even if the people of Alfam¨¦r hadn''t. Even so, the current rulers were different people than the ones who had ruled back then. They were no more at fault for what had happened than her own daughter was. ¡­ Even if the current people - rulers and Ambassador included - still love, love, loved their many unicorns! At least they respected that not everyone felt the same. Reportedly they liked to ride around on unicorns, but a polite ''no'' from the elven Queen had made them leave the unicorns behind while visiting. All in all, they were tolerable. Even pleasant to talk to at times! The Windin Ambassador was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Nea Acacia, one of Enania''s Advisors who hadn''t been needed for this particr meeting. "My Queen," Advisor Acacia gave her Queen a deep and respectful nod, which conveyed to those aware of the custom that she followed her Queen because she wanted to, but that she didn''t need to, due to either physical prowess or social standing. In Advisor Acacia''s case it was thetter. Those without enough status or power to potentially challenge the person they were addressing would perform either a bow or curtsy both performed to a 30¡ã angle along with their greeting. Of course this only happened in formal situations, anything else would be tiresome. As the superior of the two - both in physical prowess and social standing - Enania responded with a short upwards nod. "Royal Guards," Advisor Acacia continued, this time with a short downward nod, instead of a deep one, signifying equality or near equality. Enania''s personal Guards were her Partymembers, and where her mother hadn''t seen her own Guards as anything but that, Enania was well aware of how often they had saved her skin in the Royal Dungeon. As such, she had shortly after her coronation dered that they be given respect befitting of their duty. "Fellow Advisors." Again a short downward nod of equality. "Ambassadors." Thest greeting was given with the same upwards nod her Queen had just given her. Not that the Ambassadors, foreign as they were, understood the meaning being the movement. Having greeted everyone in the room, Advisor Acacia returned her attention to Queen Enania. "I''m afraid I have received terrible news regarding the Crown Princess from my youngest daughter, my Queen." Enania''s heart sank as she looked around the meeting room. "Do you wish to tell Us the news in private?" Advisor Acacia thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I believe the other nations will soon be informed either way, my Queen. It would only dy it momentarily." "Very well. Continue." Enania knew her mask was good even when she felt like she was falling apart in fear for her daughter. "Sarzina, my youngest, has recently be the dungeon mistress of a newborn Dungeon to the south. Her Dungeon was invaded by a cult earlier today known as The Order of The Broken Goddess. Said cult appears to contain mostly mind controlled members who serve the cult against their will." Advisor Acacia took a deep breath before continuing. "Your daughter, the Crown Princess, has been found to be one of these mind controlled members." "NO!" Came the instinctive cry of despair from the Queen. "I''m afraid so, my Queen." It took several deep breaths before Enania could regain her usual mask. No matter how much she wanted to act like a mother, she had to be a Queen first and foremost. Seeing her Queen regain herposure, Advisor Acacia continued. "The good news is that simply being in my daughter''s Dungeon seems to slowly eradicate mind control. The Crown Princess has already been in the Dungeon for several hours." Those news immediately sent relief through Enania. She''ll be okay. We can fix this. "The bad news," Advisor Acacia unfortunately continued, making the Queen tense up again in response. "-is that my daughter''s Dungeon has been reported by several different sources as being highly unusual. While this actually makes the Dungeon near harmless to most people it makes it far more dangerous than its young age suggests to others. Such as anyone under mind control." "Meaning?" Enania needed to hear it said out loud. She couldn''t risk something getting misunderstood. Advisor Acacia inhaled and exhaled sadly, in a way only a fellow mother could. "It means that either the Crown Princess will exit the Dungeon any moment now, free of mind control. Or she won''t leave the Dungeon at all, my Queen." Enania barely had time to process the news, before Ambassador Lagurith suddenly rose from his chair and turned to leave. "Ambassador?" Queen Enania questioned sternly. Seemingly startled, the siren turned to look at the elven Queen, and blinked rapidly before answering in a confused stutter. "I-I¡­ I need to go pray? ... To the holy System! ¡­ So¡­ For guidance? For the Princess! Of course!" Enania didn''t believe that lie one bit. "Go on then." The Queen stated as she retrieved one of several fans she had in her purse. These fans could convey different things to her Guards depending on which one it was and what she did with it. The chosen fan pictured a midnight sky filled with stars and a full moon. It was for messages regarding spies. For instance, if she hid her mouth with it, she told her Guards she would tell this person as little as possible as she suspected they were a spy. Her Guards would then know to follow suit in telling them nothing, while contacting her Spymaster and have her discover the suspected spy''s true allegiance. But that was not what Enania chose to do today. Instead she - as casually and subtlety as possible - pointed the fan at the retreating Ambassador, before stating. "Ralnor will escort you out." The Guard in question was quick to react to themand and immediately left his position behind his Queen to p the retreating Ambassador on his back. Perfect. Just as always. "I don''t need to be escorted!" The siren was almost shouting. "I know the way out!" And you just confirmed my suspicions. If you simply wanted to pray you could have done it silently in this room. At most you might want to seek some ce quiet. There are plenty of empty rooms in the pce for such a purpose. No need to leave entirely. No need for you to ''know the way out'' as you say. No. You want to warn someone. You want to warn them so desperately that you couldn''t even wait for me to excuse you. "Very well. You''re excused." The Queen said as she spread the fan in her hand, stillzily pointed in the siren''s direction. With a quick nod Ambassador Lagurith left the room. Ralnor Liriodendron waited exactly 10 seconds, during which no one spoke, before he followed him. With that dealt with for now, Enania could dial back the Queen in her and focus more on the mother. "Is there any possible way We can aid my heir? Or must We simply wait for news?" Advisor Acacia shook her head sadly. "By the time backup arrived, even if by the fastest of means, her fate would already have been decided, my Queen." Enania closed her eyes for a moment to regain herposure. "Then We''ll simply have to focus Our attention on the cult in question. What exactly do we know about them?" "Their primary method of recruitment is through various levels of mind control. They worship a fake goddess who they believe is the System''s soulmate but who has been broken into uncountable pieces. Each piece is supposedly held prisoner in the deepest room of a Dungeon by the Dungeon itself. In other words they believe each Dungeon Core is a piece of their broken goddess and their goal is to retrieve each one of them. Which would naturally cause the Dungeon in question to copse." Advisor Acacia paused for a moment to think before nodding to herself. "I''m afraid we know nothing more about them at this point in time, my Queen. My daughter is already doing her best to rectify that. I am confident we will know more shortly." "Very well. How does one identify if another is under someone''s thrall?" Once again, Advisor Acacia shook her head sadly. "I''m afraid it''s quite difficult. The only certain way I know of is through my daughter''s Dungeon." The Queen sighed. "Which is not an option for the entire Queendom." "The entire Queendom, your majesty?" The Ambassador of Windin asked. "Of course." Enania nodded. "This needs to be rooted outpletely." "And, if I may,-" Advisor Acacia began. "-the cult contains members of every sapient species, so it might be necessary for each of your own nations to do the same." This suggestion caused the room to fall into discord. Clearly the Ambassadors had thought the cult was an internal problem and not an international one. But unfortunately for them, the situation wasn''t that simple. Enania let them talk. Maybe one of them wille up with a good idea. They didn''t get the chance to before Advisor Acacia''s purse began blinking a vibrant purple, indicating an iing call to an emco hidden in the purse. "Take it." The Queenmanded. It could be the news We''re waiting for. "Yes, my Queen!" Advisor Acacia promptly took out her emco and epted the call. "She''s okay. The Crown Princess is out and free from mind control. Exhausted and a bit burnt and such, but she''ll recover just fine. I''ll call back with more detailster." Then the call was over. Advisor Acacia hadn''t even said a word. But it was enough to calm the mother in Enania. Time for the Queen to step back up. Chapter 85: Calling Reinforcement Chapter 85: Calling Reinforcement I had asked of Nerok that the Tribe didn''t mention my sapiency to the Light Hunter. It was clearly luck - which I had screwed in my direction through my Rules - which had ensured my victory in the end here. I didn''t want to risk getting her even more interested in me. And as a Crown Princess she could most likely call in reinforcement should she decide she needed it. Better not to risk it. I''ll reevaluate once I have more finished Floors. No more unicorns I think. They weren''t as effective as their high mana price suggested. ¡­ Well, maybe as a Boss''s assistant. Their healing abilities are still superior to a unicorn bunny''s. Without knowing of my sapiency and thinking of beastkin as animals, the elven girl soon decided to leave. She had at first demanded the Tribe tell her what was going on - or at least what they themselves were doing down here -, but the Tribe simply retreated to the unfinished 11th Floor without answering her questions, the entrance to which she couldn''t see. So, it likely just looked like the 83 adult members of the beastkin Tribe and their many Bonded creatures simply disappeared into the wall. She was naturally eager to leave after seeing that. cing her gloved hand over my Fake Core, she chose to give me mercy, like so many had before. Butst time it had happened I had only had 9 Floors and only one Boss. In return for mercy each individual would receive an item better than anything one could get from anywhere else in the Dungeon. An item which would be personalized to each person. I hadn''t had unicorns and a true mimic before this Floor, and at level 20 they were many times more expensive than I should have been able to create at my level. So, naturally¡­ The item which spawned for the Crown Princess was much better than anything I had spawned before. It was a Ring of Mind Resistance. The relevant Ability Scores of the wearer would effectively be doubled while resisting mind control. It couldn''t block mind control entirely, but in the right hands it might as well have. Too bad she doesn''t realize what she''s holding. Then again. That would just bring unwanted attention to me. ¡­ She''ll figure it out eventually ande back for more, likely having informed her Queendom. Hopefully, they''ll be nice about it. I don''t mind helping them with this - quite the opposite in fact - but I do hope they don''t simply mine me for resources. Or Rings of Mind Resistance as it were. The elf picked the ring off the ground, which caused my fake Core to teleport her out of my Dungeon. Now next to my Portal she slipped the Ring of Mind Resistance on her finger, not knowing what it did. The deputy keeping an eye on the Dungeon Portal was immediately on guard, not knowing if she was still Brainwashed or not. But that didn''t interest me. She was out of my Dungeon and I needed to celebrate! The Tribe had already started their own celebration! Mine would involve looking at my Personal Status and nning my leveling! Personal Status Level: 30 EXP needed for level up: 152,000/152,000 Additional EXP: 2,385,169 Mana payment for level up: 0/22,500 Mana: 1,873/4,500 Mana regeneration: 1,575 per hour Floors: 10/16 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ¡­ Then again¡­ I''m just gonna be leveling up as fast as my mana allows. Not much nning to do here. It is, however, nice to see how much I''ve improved after having been¡­ well not entirely stagnant, but certainly slower than I was used to. ¡­ Oh well. Back to my observations. The Light Hunter had been escorted to the Lightning Mage, who had immediately reported the news to someone unknown to my sightless eavesdropping. Then she began interrogating the Crown Princess. ¡­ Politely of course. Seems the Crown Princess had been Brainwashed by a foreign Ambassador, and there had been a n in ce for her to grab the Core of The Royal Dungeon the moment she became the Queen and bring it to the cult. Which would have had terrible consequences for the Queendom, which relied heavily on loot from the Dungeon. The nation had other Dungeons, but none were as deep as The Royal Dungeon and so no other Dungeon gave as high tiered loot. I sure hope this means I''m on good terms with the elven Queendom then. Since I stopped all that from happening. ¡­Intentional or not, I still stopped it from happening! Or maybe, since Dungeon Cores aren''t normally sapient, the Lightning Mage will receive the credit and good will on my behalf as my ''dungeon mistress''? I think that''ll be fine too. We seem to have ovepping goals. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Upon feeling the slight vibration of her right earring, the elven woman had gotten up from her chair, radiating a calm she didn''t feel. And before she had even opened the door of her Spymaster office, she had already, subtly, used several Skills to make her go unnoticed. Shadow - and death to anyone who called her by any other name - was rarely ever called to action like this. Her job as a Spymaster was important but rarely ever called for immediate action. Never had before in fact. It was never urgent enough that it couldn''t bemunicated to her in person. She had an Ability which stopped people from eavesdropping on her conversations, so it was always safer tomunicate enquiries on national safety to her in person, and so people tended toe to her. The earrings were in case they needed her toe to them instead. The left earring was connected to the Crown Princess and her personal Guards, while the right one was connected to the Queen and hers. When activated, the corresponding earring would vibrate for 5 seconds before subtly pulling towards the one who activated it. Now Shadow simply had to follow the pull of her right earring to figure out why her Queen needed her so urgently she couldn''t simply send a Guard. And with her superior speed she quickly caught up to the one who had activated her earring, Ralnor Liriodendron, one of the Queen''s Royal Guards. With her earring within 5 meters of the activation Rune on his belt, it stopped pulling, having done its job. "Sir Liriodendron," the Spymaster greeted the Royal Guard, subtly inviting him to exin what was happening. Sir Liriodendron gave a sudden and surprised head turn as he had been unable to notice the Spymaster''s presence beside him through all her Skills before she addressed him. But he quickly regained hisposure and aimed his sight back where it had been before her arrival. "Her majesty wants you to follow Ambassador Lagurith of the Siren Seas. Figure out his goals and alignments. He suddenly wanted to leave the Ambassadors meeting with her majesty after it had been interrupted by the news of her highness'' status as a mind controlled member of a previously unknown cult known as The Order of The Broken Goddess. He is thus naturally suspected of association with the cult which has taken the mind of our Crown Princess. I''ve been ordered to follow him from a distance till you could take over, but he has yet to do anything more to incriminate himself." And while that was a lot to process, Shadow was quick to understand and begin her new orders. Starting by locating the siren in question that the two of them had apparently been following. It wasn''t hard. Even though they had now entered the crowds surrounding the Pce. He was the only siren in the Queendom, after all. "Tracker?" Sir Liriodendron silently gave Shadow the celenegil pass'' pin on his sleeve, indicating that he had indeed seeded in cing a tracker on their target. Shadow nodded in acknowledgement as she received the pin with itspass decoration Enchanted to point towards a tiny celenegil pin, easily ced on a target''s clothing with a casual p on the back. "I''ll take it from here." Sir Liriodendron nodded twice, first as a response, then as a nod of equality, to which Shadow replied with her own. Then he left Shadow alone and returned to his duty by the side of their Queen. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Here we go! Shadow thought to herself in excitement. Her love of uncovering people''s secrets was the reason she became first a spy, then a good spy, before eventually bing the Queen''s Spymaster. Making good use of the now uncovered secrets was something she had gotten good at due to it being a core part of her job as a Spymaster. That part was the boring one, and one she was d to have been separated from - temporarily or not - when her earring had signaled an urgent mission. It was the thrill of learning something forbidden which excited Shadow and made her love her job. ¡­ It was also arge chunk of why no one wanted to marry her¡­ And why is he going in there? The building in question was clearly a Church. A somewhat small one, but a Church nheless as indicated by all the 6-themed imagery etched into its outer walls: Flowers with 6 petals, animals and people in groups of 6, hexagons, a sun with 6 sunbeams opposite a moon with 6 stars and so on. That moon¡­ it''s hard to see, but it''s broken into 6 equal pieces. You would either have to know to look for it to see it or have as high an Awareness as I. Spies in general had high Awareness, as they had to keep an eye on their surroundings at all times while on the field. Either to learn as much as possible or to keep an eye out for potential enemy spies. And being the royal Spymaster, Shadow naturally had a lot of Awareness. As the pieces are of equal size it can''t be a coincidence. It must be a sign to the members of his group, this cult perhaps, that this is a safehouse. Or a meeting hall or something. After a quick mental check to confirm that all the needed Skills were activated, Shadow quickly opened the door to the Church, or whatever the building actually was, entered it as fast as possible and with a practiced flick of her wrist as she let go of the door she had the door closing with the exact speed it naturally would have if it had been opened by the wind. Not that the movement turned out to be necessary. The main Church room was empty except for herself and Ambassador Lagurith, and he had stopped speed walking in favor of straight up running thest few meters. Shadow was quick to ensure she stayed close by. Not too close, just in case. Her Skills meant he wouldn''t be able to take notice of her unless she spoke to him, he used a 5th or higher tiered detection Skill, or if he had an Ability which allowed him to notice her. None of those options seemed likely, but it was better to be too cautious than not enough. Especially in the spy business. His running came to a sudden stop in front of a mural depicting the same subtly broken moon from outside the building. Here he pushed each broken piece in clockwise order from the top, before sliding the moon to the side revealing what appeared at first nce to be a standard emco. But upon further inspection it was revealed it had been modified with additional Runes. "This is Cardinal Lagurith. The heathens have found the Phoenix Seed. We have to gather together and initiate the n before they can up their defenses. Work together whenever possible-" Shadow didn''t let him finish his speech. She had heard enough. A single touch of the finely carved orb at the end her Sleeping Rod to his feathered wings was enough to instantly put him to sleep, indicating he had just as low of a Toughness Score as the Spymaster had expected. Mind you, a good mana based shield could have stopped it as well, but that typically needed one to first have realized an enemy was nearby. Now it was time for Shadow to call in her own reinforcement. Chapter 86: Warning the Right People Chapter 86: Warning the Right People Shortly after Ambassador Lagurith and Ralnor had left, Queen Enania had let the Ambassadors take a 15 minute break, so they could inform their respective nations of the mind controlling cult, and how it contained members of every sapient species. Unlike Lagurith, they had all waited for the Queen to excuse them. Before the Ambassadors were set to return, Advisor Acacia''s emco once again began blinking a vibrant purple, though this time from its center position in front of the elven Queen of Alfam¨¦r. And while Advisor Acacia was still in the room and had been given the right hand seat, Enania had takenmand of the emco in question and was the one to reach her hand out to ept the call. "The cult''s goal is to fix their broken goddess and they believe all the world''s Dungeon Cores are the many pieces scattered of the goddess, that Dungeons are ''keeping imprisoned''." Enania could hear the disbelief in the voice of Advisor Acacia''s youngest daughter even through the emco. "And with how hard it is for high tier people to gain permission to even enter The Royal Dungeon, the cult got the idea to Brainwash the Crown and have her collect its Core for them. Only for them to realize that the Queen never allows her in the Dungeon without being guarded by the Queen''s own Guards. Whom they can''t get alone to mind control!" The young dungeon mistress paused for a moment before continuing. "We don''t know whether they can''t mind control people unless they''re alone with them, or if it''s more of a ''it''s too obvious I''m doing something, so I won''t even try unless we''re alone''. The only guy here who knew turned out to be¡­ untrustworthy and was promptly executed." A gasp came from Advisor Acacia at that and her face turned pale and horrified. Enania immediately knew why her Advisor had such an extreme reaction to the news. Enania would likely have reacted simrly if it had been her own daughter stating she had to have a person executed. "Nheless, the cult then decided to y the long game by waiting till the Princess takes the crown before having her grab the Core for them." No one spoke for a moment as they took in all the new information. "Any questions or messages you want me to ry?" Advisor Acacia''s daughter asked, breaking the silence. "Can you keep Our heir safe for Us, as We arrange for her return home?" Enania enquired. "Who is this?" The young dungeon mistress questioned. A question which had the Queen smirking slightly in humor, as she had never before heard it aimed at herself. Advisor Acacia didn''t take it with the same humor, however. "It''s your Queen!" She snapped. "Show her the respect she deserves!" "..." A quiet gulp could be heard by a keen ear before the elf on the other side of the emco started talking again. "My apologies, my Queen! I will do anything in my power to keep the Crown Princess safe! We don''t expect the cult to be able to react to the events of today before at least a month has passed, so having her highness stay with us for a while should cause no problems, my Queen! And even if the cult somehow manages to attack before that, we can simply ask The Dungeon of Karma for sanctuary, and they''ll be freed of their mind control before they reach us!" Enania raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean when you say you''ll ask the Dungeon for sanctuary?" "Uh¡­ right¡­ So¡­ Parts of this I can''t tell you- it''s not that I don''t want to, I can''t tell you, or anyone for that matter," the dungeon mistress was quick to emphasize her inability to speak of some of it. "I have spoken to the local high priest and we havee to the conclusion that¡­ My Queen, I don''t know if you''re aware, but The Dungeon of Karma is much more unusual than fate would allow, so Fader Ginkgo and I havee to the conclusion that the Dungeon has been blessed by the holy System to be able to do things that normal Dungeons can''t. We can send you a report on how we reached this conclusion, but we are quite certain of it!" Enania raised an eyebrow at that as she concluded she would indeed like a report on this Dungeon. If nothing else to hear more about its ability to undo mind control. "We look forward to reading it and everything else you have on the Dungeon." "Of course, my Queen!" The dungeon mistress immediately agreed. "So, the Dungeon of Karma has been blessed by the System, which makes it better at killing sinners and only sinners. It doesn''t do any harm to anyone else. And as every mind controlled member of the cult is considered a sinner while they are mind controlled, the Dungeon will do us no harm while it does all it can to kill the cultists. Which it is really good at despite its age and size. I mean it almost took out-" She cut herself off, but the Queen knew what she had been about to say. "But of course as soon as the mind control was over it freely let her go!" She quickly reassured the Queen. "As I say; it doesn''t harm good people!" "Mmhmm." Enania found the younger elf''s panic slightly amusing. "Or we could just fill out the second Floor and block them out of the Dungeon and away from the Crown Princess till reinforcementse to get her¡­" The dungeon mistress mumbled in embarrassment over her outburst. "Yes, perhaps you should do that instead." The Queen replied, before asking confused: "Why the second Floor?" "The anti mind control only works if the cultists are inside the Dungeon, and if we''re waiting for reinforcement anyway we might as well be working on undoing any Brainwashing going on, right? ... Your majesty." Thest part was clearly the young elf reminding herself that she was speaking to her Queen and that she needed to be respectful. Enania didn''t mind the more casual way of speaking the dungeon mistress sometimes slipped into. She was keeping her heir safe when the Queen couldn''t do it herself, after all. A knock could be heard from the door to the meeting room as the now returned Ambassadors requested reentry. They would have to wait just a moment longer. "Very well. The life of Our heir is in your hands. Keep her safe." "Of course, my Queen!" "We have onest thing to ask." "Yes! Of course, my Queen!" "Your mother seems to have neglected to tell me your name. Might you correct her mistake?" Advisor Acacia turned pale once again as her mistake was pointed out, but she knew better than to answer a question directed at another. "Sarzina Acacia, my Queen!" There was a clear hint of bragging in her voice, though the Queen didn''t know what she might be bragging about. "Very well, mistress Sarzina Acacia. Do have your reports ready for Our heir to take back with her." "Of course, my Queen!" And with that, Enania disconnected the call and signaled her Guards to let the Ambassadors in. That was when the Queen heard Shadow''s voice updating her ruler on her newest mission: "Ambassador Lagurith is indeed a spy for a cult as you suspected, my Queen. As I was investigating the possibility I overheard him ordering a n initiated immediately as and I quote ''the heathens have found the Phoenix Seed'' end quote. He gave no indication on what the n entailed. However, he referred to himself as ''Cardinal Lagurith'', so it seems safe to assume he is highly ranked in their organization and that whatever n was initiated is a credible threat. I have already warned the leaders of the usual targets of a possible terrorist attack." With Shadow''s immensely powerful - and hard to achieve - Ability preventing others from overhearing conversations with Shadow they weren''t themselves a part of was what allowed the Queen - and only the Queen - to hear this report. For when Shadow had be the Spymaster, Enania had ordered an artifact build to apany Shadow''s Ability. Shadow would activate the artifact and speak into it while thinking of who the message was for. If anyone else used the artifact, everyone in the Queendom would hear the message as if the speaker was right next to them. The artifact didn''t have any form of control of who received the message, instead everyone did. It was vastly different from an emco as the receiver didn''t have to have one on them themselves, making it much harder to make and no one had figured out how to make it give the message spoken to specific people, instead of everyone in its radius. Making it argely useless tool for everyone but Shadow. Of course there was in theory the slight possibility that someone in the Queendom had achieved the counter Ability - letting them overhear every conversation they wanted - but the odds for that were sufficiently small that the possibility was generally discounted. It was obvious to Enania - who simply had more of the puzzle pieces than Shadow, so she didn''t fault her Spymaster for not realizing - that the n Lagurith had initiated was about taking the Core of the Royal Dungeon. And while the Captain of the Dungeon Guard was certainly one of the people Shadow gave a terror warning to, Enania would much prefer it if they received a more detailed warning. And perhaps some back-up. We don''t know howrge the cult is, nor how powerful their members are. Ignoring the Ambassadors who had sat back in their previous chairs for now, the Queen once again pulled out her full moon fan. This time she opened it once for only a couple of seconds, just enough time for her Party to see which fan she had picked. Once folded again, Enania ''thoughtfully'' tapped the end of the fan against her right earring, one with a big ruby as its centerpiece. What earring it was didn''t matter, however, it was the cement of the tap which did. It referred to Shadow and how her own right earring would announce her Queen''s need of her. ''The message toe is spy rted and has to do with Shadow'', the secret message said. Enania trusted her Party to realize she had heard back from Shadow and was acting on her information. "Advisor Acacia, please allow Dame Picea to escort you to the Dungeon Guild and inform them of the cult''s desire to remove Dungeon Cores from their Dungeon. And the Portal Guards on duty as well. They might want to increase security till this has been dealt with." "Of course, my Queen!" With that, it was time to resume the original meeting. Hopefully we can finish the meeting before ''the mana has refilled for another shot'' as they say. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Chief Nerok?" The kobold acting as my mouth caught the old ursakin''s attention. "The Great Mother wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience." Chief Nerok had been in the middle of conversation - the kobold knew it was being rude and didn''t seem to care - which he quickly excused himself from. With the Crown Princess having seen them, my ''dungeon mistress'' having recognized beastkin as sapients and made it illegal for them to be enved, as well as all the good will the elven Queen now had aimed in my direction - via the Lightning Mage as the Queen didn''t yet know of my sapiency -, I felt it was time for the Tribe toe forward and im their ce in the still developing Dungeon Town. I knew it would take some convincing; the Tribe was still wary toward elves. Though at least they didn''t hate elves based on bias anymore; my puzzles and general theme had sessfully convinced them not to judge a person on their species. On that ount too, it felt like it was time. And I was fully prepared to argue for it! I wasn''t going to force them to leave or anything. But I wasn''t against using their emotions against them by reminding them of the feeling of a cool breeze, the sun against their skin, and, most importantly, actually being free toe at go as you wish. And I certainly wasn''t about to remind them we had only just entered the second month of winter. The seasons couldn''t affect the temperature of my Dungeon as it was its own dimension. And with my part volcanic theme I was sure the Tribe had forgotten how cold the Surface World was at the moment. Not that the heat was anywhere near that of an actual volcano. However, it was still possible to feel the temperature difference between my cool, but not cold, forest rooms and my warm, but not hot, volcanic rooms. My emotional pressure waspletely unneeded though. I should have seen thating a mile away! Their god had given them the order to pack their things and move out. So, of course Nerok would agree immediately, no questions asked. If I thought it was for the best, then it was for the best! It was as simple as that. I had to have the kobold call him back before he could announce the move to the Tribe and have them all start packing immediately. We need to n it first! I wanted to have the approval and support of the Lightning Mage if at all possible, which included sending her a warning before the Tribe moved back out. And I got the feeling that giving the Tribe some rules for how to act around elves would help them immensely. ''My god said to y nice, so I should'' was a perfectly good mentality, but I thought it was prudent to include a couple of ''unless they do this'' to it, alongside a couple of reasonable reactions to rude elves. Chapter 87: Scandals and Supplies Chapter 87: Scandals and Supplies Sarzina Acacia had been absolutely mortified when she realized she had been talking to her Queen and not her distant mother. While she normally enjoyed just slightly scandalizing her mother by being coldly formal towards her, yet at the same timepletely dropping any form of greetings towards her, she would never have done it if she had known the Queen was even just listening, not to mention leading the conversation! Zina had originally stopped greeting her mother when she in her adolescence realized she didn''t know how she wanted to refer to her mother. The woman didn''t act like a mother, so why should Zina refer to her as such? Well to be fair, she did act like a mother to Zina''s older siblings. She wasn''t the best mother, even to the children she actually appreciated, but at least she tried with them. But to publicly refer to her mother as ''Advisor Acacia'' was simply too big of a social blunder - for the whole family, not just the two involved. Braern and his wife - then fiance - certainly didn''t deserve to be forced to participate in her cold war with their mother. So, ack of greeting was the perfectpromise. Disrespectful, but in a way which typically allowed everyone else to assume she had simply greeted her mother when they weren''t there. She mostly met with her mother during social events she couldn''t easily get out of attending, so that was normally an easy conclusion to make. Yet her mother would know the truth. And she would never point it out in public, as the illusion of peace between would be revealed and result in a minor scandal. Her mother''s greatest fear: Scandals! Specifically scandals involving herself or her family. Or really, any negative rumor or bad press. Which had made it easy for Zina to control her mother''s action in their cold war. And as long as Zina refused to meet up in private her mother would be unable to fight back! Or at least she hadn''t. Zina had been able to fight their cold war without any resulting scandals while handling her mother in public, so logic said her mother should be able to do the same. I certainly created a scandal this time! Unlike a social event, talking through an emco made it very obvious I didn''t greet my mother, who I naturally assumed would be the one answering her own emco! And since I didn''t greet her, I realized toote that I wasn''t even talking to her but the Queen! At least I remembered - mostly - to be respectful doing the rest of the conversation¡­ ¡­ Or did I? I never thought I would actually need those etiquette lessons. I wouldn''t be surprised if I missed something¡­ Well¡­ I navigated the whole ''asking the Dungeon of Karma for sanctuary'' pretty well¡­ Not that I know if I did the right thing inpletely skipping the ''asking'' part of the question. I mean¡­ that''s the part I can''t really exin due to the Dungeon Rule deal, but it''s my Queen! Surely I could have made myself understood! ¡­ Then again¡­ Now might not be the time to go into the deep realizations I''ve had about and because of my Dungeon. Zina had decided that while she didn''t really own the Dungeon of Karma - though she certainly did on paper - it was still her Dungeon, the same way someone could be her friend. And while they may not have been before, they had certainly be friends after The Dungeon of Karma had freed both herself and her Crown Princess from mind control. Dealing with the cult takes priority. Maybe in my reports? She did say she wanted to know everything about the Dungeon of Karma, right? I just have to word it right. Both because of the deal, but also to ensure she understands there''s no reason to overreact. The scandal of the Crown Princess having been Brainwashed for years had put a pause on the cold war Zina had with her mother. Her mother had always found someone else''s scandal interesting and important to keep track of as it more often than not would affect their social status. So naturally she was too distracted to do anything about their cold war. That being said, Zina knew her mother also respected their Queen enough to have put the cold war on hold anyway, so the two of them could better cooperate. This was too important for grudges. So when Zina''s emco had gone from a constant, soft blue glow to a blinking vibrant purple she had epted the call immediately, even though she knew it was likely to be her mother. Zina even made sure to greet her, just to make sure it was actually her this time. It was, and she had big news. Ambassador Lagurith had been discovered and apprehended as a member of the cult. Zina realized she should have shared that piece of information with them, as her Crown Princess had told her he had been the one to Brainwash her. The whole n surrounding The Royal Dungeon had taken center stage in her mind. The whole economy depended on that Dungeon after all! The cult had in fact made an attempt at storming The Royal Dungeon, so maybe it hadn''t been all wrong of her to focus on that¡­ Most of the involved cult members had been killed in the resulting fight, and while several actually got passed the Portal Guards - due to therge number of cultists - they were either killed by the Dungeon itself or the pursing Portal Guards who followed them once those outside the Dungeon had been taken care of. There were also a handful of cultists who had sessfully been subdued, mainly due to having a much lower tier than the Guards. These were to be sendt - heavily escorted - to The Dungeon of Karma to have their mind freed. Their escort would then escort the Crown Princess - and Zina''s reports - back to the Pce. Your linked Dungeon Core requests permission for The Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma to join the unfinished town being built around their Dungeon Portal. Will you ept this request? Yes/No Huh? That was the group of beastkin who had originally found my Dungeon, right? The Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma was the first sapients to discover the Dungeon Portal of The Dungeon of Karma. ¡­ I didn''t even pray?! ¡­ Is praying not necessary? Is it ''cause my Dungeon is blessed by the System? Zina reread the request. But didn''t they leave? For fear of getting caught and bing ves again, I would assume. Did theye back? And we just haven''t noticed yet? The elven noblewoman decided to cautiously test the thought that praying wasn''t necessarily when it came to her Dungeon. By asking politely instead of praying for the answer. Holy System. Could you please tell me whether the Tribe will be bringing their own supplies, such as tents and food, or if ''joining the town'' means we are expected to supply those things in the beginning? Zina had already decided to ept the request. She had little reason not to. More people was better for the economy and with the Tribe consisting either entirely or mostly of beastkin, the ban on beastkin very would be made clear to visitors quite quickly. It dide with the risk of aggression between the two groups, so Zina would have to inform both sheriff Fraxinus and high priest Ginkgo of their iing arrival. Fraxinus for the heightened security, Ginkgo for his ability to keep people calm and on the right path. While Zina had already decided to ept the neers, she would much prefer to know what she was walking into. The Tribe was reported as ''runaway ves'' and was therefore unlikely to have much of any supplies. The Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma will be bringing their own supplies including tents and food. Any supplies offered will be greatly appreciated, though none are required. Huh? They have tents? That came as a surprise to Zina, but a wee one. ''Any supplies offered will be greatly appreciated''? That sounds suspiciously like a hint¡­ Hmm¡­ I''m sure we can find some stuff to offer as a wee gift. It won''t be super impressive as I get the feeling they''ll be here soon - it didn''t take long for the cult to arrive after my Dungeon warned me - but it''ll be something. Practical. That''s what they''ll be needing. With that, Zina epted the request as she opened the door to the Security Guild. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó It didn''t take the Tribe all that long to pack all their stuff and get ready to move. Since they moved in, each time I finished a Floor they needed to move to the next, so they had not only gotten some practice packing and moving but had also ensured their items were easy to pack and move. And given how the Tribe was ready for the move before the Lightning Mage was ready to receive them, I actually had to hold them back a bit. And wasn''t that ironic. The Lightning Mage went around informing various people of the impending arrival and it took me quite some time before I realized she expected the Tribe to arrive from outside the town - like normal people - and not from the Dungeon Portal in the center. While that would certainly serve as a good prank, I''m trying to ensure we have a good rtionship. Both between me and the Lightning Mage but also between the Tribe and the elves. So, I requested the weingmittee stay near the Portal. Despite the other option being the more amusing one. I can have my fun another day when things are less tense. With themittee in ce I gave the Tribe the go ahead. Well, that was anticlimactic¡­ Both parties had acted polite with Sarzina and Nerok being the main ones talking. The elves had even been generous enough to offer some nkets and wooden bowls, tes and cutlery to the Tribe as a wee gift. There wasn''t anywhere near enough for everyone to get a nket or a bowl, but it wasn''t like the elves had much warning. Still, everything had been appreciated and had served to inform the Tribe of the elves'' seriousness in treating them right, which quickly reduced the tension by a lot. The Tribe was shown around before the weemittee helped them set up their tents. They were even reassured they all had the option to have a house professionally built in town and that they could pay off their debt for the house by mining in my Dungeon. Before I knew it the Tribe and town were fast asleep - though being partly nocturnal after their stay in my Dungeon, I knew the Tribe would be up again soon enough. It had been a long day for us all. And while my Dungeon wasn''t open for visitors during the night, I wouldn''t be sleeping myself. I would be leveling up! Status, please! Personal Status Level: 30 EXP needed for level up: 152,000/152,000 Additional EXP: 2,385,169 Mana payment for level up: 6,000/22,500 Mana: 2,187/4,500 Mana regeneration: 1,575 per hour Floors: 10/16 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules ¡­ It''s gonna take a while to get enough mana to level up¡­ ¡­ And I''ll need more mana each time¡­ I sighed in disappointment and slight boredom. It had been a long day which had now led to a long night. Maybe I was a bit too hasty in introducing the Tribe to the town. If I had waited till tomorrow they would have been here to keep me entertained. ¡­ At least the meeting went well. And I am happy for them! It''s just¡­ a bit boring now, that''s all. But for now, peace had been restored. Chapter 88: Dealing with New Neighbors Chapter 88: Dealing with New Neighbors Personal Status Level: 34 EXP needed for level up: 183,000/183,000 Additional EXP: 65,523,519 Mana payment for level up: 0/32,500 Mana: 0.5/6,500 Mana regeneration: 2,275 per hour Floors: 10/17 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Things had been pretty calm the first three sunrises - or two and a half days -, allowing me to level up to level 34 with no problem. With all of themotion surrounding the cult, the elven Princess, and the move of the Tribe my Dungeon hadn''t seen as much activity as it usually did. The Tribe - while making it clear they still worshiped me - needed a bit of fresh air after their prolonged stay in my Dungeon. And of course they also needed to settle down amongst the elves, which was trying for some and exhausting for everyone - either physically, emotionally or both. Still, they had made it a part of their worship of me for each person - even the children who couldn''t earn EXP for themselves yet nor bring me EXP - to go through my Dungeon. They liked to tell me gossip while taking their leisurely strolls of worship through my Dungeon. And apparently these strolls of worship were both a worship of me - as I had long since informed them that it helped me grow - and a worship of the System. The belief was that EXP was the System rewarding you for following its wishes. Which made earning EXP a form of worship of the System. I''m not too sure whether that''s actually true for sapients, but everything I earn EXP for is either a result of killing bad people or strengthening good people. Which is very much in sync with my Mission. ¡­ No, wait. Not everything. I earn the same amount of EXP for ''strengthening'' bad people as I do good people. And supposedly I earn as much EXP for killing good people as I do for killing bad people. The only ce on my Status where a sapient''s karma level actually matters to me is when I need to have killed a certain number of bad guys to tier up. Why exactly is that, System? Doesn''t some of that go against my Mission? The answer to your inquiry isn''t considered general knowledge but due it regarding your Mission, it will be answered regardless. While the number of sapients with karma levels of 25% or less is desired to be as low as possible, a certain level of equality must still be offered to them. Otherwise a noble goal bes genocide. Equality, huh? Anyway with the 2,473% increase in EXP from Weeding the World and the Tribe''s way of worship, it would likely be decades before I truly needed EXP again to continue growing. But at that point the Tribe might be muchrger! ¡­ Or maybe I was dead. Who was to say! I was only 3 months old - almost 4, though that wasn''t the point here. ''Decades in the future'' was a long time away and a lot could happen between then and now. Just like a lot had happened since I had awoken as a Dungeon Core. The elves were partially upied with their new beastkin neighbors, and partially dealing with suddenly having to take care of and protect their Crown Princess, all while preparing for her escorts to arrive with mind controlled prisoners. The Lightning Mage seemed to be the only one of the elves to have realized that the children of the Tribe could enter my Dungeon when such a thing was normally impossible. When she asked about it, I informed her that I had given the children of the Tribe special permission to enter my Dungeon but that they still couldn''t earn EXP by doing so before they were adults. Which she naturally couldn''t tell anyone without my permission, as that would reveal my sapiency. At this point the no longer mind controlled ex-cultists hadrgely left to reunite with their families. The only one left was rr, the half elf half vulpinekin Battle Commander, who now lived in his own tent at the outskirts of the budding town. The guy had calmed down considerably and was now merely suspicious of every elf''s every action rather than outright confrontational and aggressive. He had even apologized to the Lightning Mage and his fellow ex-cultists about his earlier behavior - though he didn''t exin why he had acted that way - and admitted it was probably for the best that Marthox was executed. After all, the muskin was clearly trigger happy when it came to Hypnotizing people. The Tribe was talking a lot about rr. They talked a lot about the elves too! Anytime the elves were surprisingly nice to them and anytime they ''did as expected of elves''. rr was talked about because he wanted to join them. The Battle Commander had a clear hatred or at least severe dislike and distrust towards elves, so him wanting to join the Tribe came as no real surprise. At least once it was revealed he had no family to speak of like the rest of the ex-cultists. rr - like many others - was also fascinated by how my Dungeon would only attack bad guys unless in self defense, so he wanted to stay and learn how that worked. Unlike the Lightning Mage he wasn''t interested in details like how many creatures I had nor did he want to know each and every one of my Dungeon Rules - not that I had actually told her every one when she had asked. The Battle Commander was - naturally - more battle oriented. What a creature''s strengths and weaknesses were, how many one would have to fight at a time, any environmental hazards one had to keep an eye on or could take advantage of, and so on. He had started testing various different rooms on different Floors, wanting to see what would happen if he attacked or killed the creatures in one or more rooms, in various different orders. When was the loot and EXP doubled, when wasn''t it. When would the various creatures attack in self defense, when would they attack in ''self defense'' as a group and when would they act peacefully. But just like the Lightning Mage he would stop and take notes whenever he had a moment to do so. The Tribe told me he wanted to write to his pen pals about me. Nerok had asked me whether they should ept rr into the Tribe or not. He didn''t ask for advice about him, nooo~! He straight up asked me to decide. The price of being worshiped! As I didn''t want to be asked every time someone wanted to join, I made up two simple requirements each new person would need to fulfill before they could officially join the Tribe of The Dungeon of Karma.
  1. At least 26% in karma level or the determination to get to and keep that level of karma. I was perfectly okay with helping people redeem themselves after all. Nerok and I decided there would be a test where the candidate had to get through the first 5 Floors of my Dungeon, supervised but without any help. And that of course, none of my creatures were allowed to be harmed doing this test.
  2. Acting civilized and unbiased towards all sapient species. Including both kobolds and myself, which in turn meant they had to be informed of my sapiency, which was why I demanded every potential candidate pass the - now named - 5 Floors Test first and had shown they could act kindly towards every other sapient species first.
And while we were at the topic of ''being unbiased'' and also informed Nerok that while the Tribepletely consisted of beastkin right now, that they were not allowed to gate keep anyone from another species from joining the Tribe. I would absolutely disown them if they went against my teachings like that. If someone wanted to join and fulfilled the requirements, then they would join. As simple as that. And if it wasn''t that simple, then Nerok - or his sessor - could go to me. rr had been informed of these requirements but had yet to take the 5 Floors Test. It was scheduled for this afternoon. In the meantime the Tribe had been informed to evaluate the Battle Commander on his actions towards the elves and to disregard his earlier actions towards them as a result of being disoriented after having the mind control removed. After all, he had improved massively as soon as he had realized the Hypnotist had actually deserved to die. The current report stated he was still distrusting of elves and seemed to second guess their every word, but that he was now acting civilized and calm whenever he had to talk to them. Where rr wanted to join the Tribe because of their - half - shared species, the high priest''s former ve, Ovakz, had gotten confident enough in her newfound freedom to explore and earn loot and EXP from my Dungeon. Or maybe it was more that she now trusted the priest to babysit her baby boy? Something the Tribe had been confused about seeing at first - and had several beastkin suspect a kidnapping. But nope. He was just babysitting. Ovakz never far down into my Dungeon. She had a single backpack and once it was full she would leave to sell her loot to the Dungeon Guild - something the Lightning Mage had put into y so all Dungeon loot could be found in a single ce. Unlike rr the Tribe was certain the lupinekin mother would both fulfill my criteria for joining but also needed the support of a family. The Tribe wanted to be that family for her. Yes, she had some support from the priest but she had no other friends or family to help her care for her young baby. I was well aware at this point of how protective beastkin were of their family and especially their young ones. But unfortunately for the Tribe, Ovakz would always run away when they tried to invite her to join them and she would never approach them herself. Mysteriously she had yet to run away from rr when he approached her. The Tribe hadter asked him what they had talked about - hoping to find a safe topic they themselves could approach her with - and apparently he had warned her away from the priest she was still living with and working for. rr thenined about Ovakz not taking his warning seriously. So, clearly the topic matter wasn''t what was making the lupine mother run away from the Tribe. Then again, from what I hear, she normally starts backing away before they even say a word. Practical as soon as she sees them approach. ¡­ them approach. rr is just one person and he always approaches her alone. Could that be the difference? That the Tribe always approaches her in groups of three to five? They already tried varying who approaches her but I don''t think they have tried to have only one person try. I''ll have to suggest they try that. That was when the Lightning Mage was informed by a running and heavily breathing deputy that a herd of several hundreds, maybe even a couple of thousands, of gnomes had been spotted walking towards the town. He didn''t think they were a part of the cult - at least not all of them - as they didn''t appear more armed than normal travelers were. ''There are just so many of them!'' he had eximed, before asking the dungeon mistress for hermand on what to do. Why doesn''t he ask the sheriff that? Maybe he found her first? And as she''s the superior of the sheriff, asking her what to do might even be better than asking the sheriff. The Lightning Mage ordered the deputy to have the entire Security Guild meet her at the edge of town in the direction of the gnomes and for the deputy to ''advise'' the Crown Princess to seek sanctuary in my Dungeon for the time being. With the deputy off with his new orders, the Lightning Mage collected her pet dawon and what sounded like a weapon of some kind, before riding her magical lion-tiger-hybrid to - what I had to assume was - the edge of town. Chapter 89: The Potential Home of a Gnome Chapter 89: The Potential Home of a Gnome No one truly knew how hard it was to lead a group with over 1,000 people in it before they had to do so. Kastle Brassheart certainly knew this to be true. He hadn''t started out as their leader. They didn¡¯t even have a leader in the beginning, as they hadn''t thought they needed one. It was supposed to be a temporary situation. Kastle had, like everyone else, assumed they would find a new town to settle in within a couple of weeks. It had been half a year by now. They had tried to settle down in countless viges, towns, and cities only for them to be thrown out - often politely - after a couple of days. The longest they hadsted was a week and they all somberly agreed that was due to therge size of the ce - both in terms of physical space and poption size - making the spread of rumors about them much slower. Not that the Extraordinary Exodus - a title the System only awarded nomadic groups with a poptionrger than 1,000 - knew exactly why they were banned from settling anywhere. If they weren''t simply told to ''leave at once'', they were most often told they ''simply weren''t a good fit for {insert name of the ce}'' and that they should try their luck somewhere else. At first they had argued back. They had a lot to contribute to a settlement. Mainly crafts of all sorts and unique techniques for making them, but still the fact that there were a bunch of people willing to work for their living should have been enough. The settlements simply replied ''it doesn''t make up for what your people did''. And when questioned about that reply the spokesperson for the settlement would simply look confused before rolling their eyes, shaking their head and turning around. As mentioned before the Extraordinary Exodus hadn''t been prepared for a life on the road. They had expected a move and thus had brought the heavy couch. Which slowed them down and made them a prime target for predators. They lost a lot of people that way before the stubborn ones started selling their couches and other heavy and useless-while-on-the-road objects. It was around that time - a month into their journey when people had epted that it would take a while for them to find a new home - that Kastle became the leader. It had happened gradually. The other gnomes had one by one started to turn to Kastle for guidance. Kastle had asked about the choice once the System had given him the Achievement ''Extraordinary Chief'' and apparently his optimism and drive had allowed his people to step up and do what needed to be done, time and time again. Such as killing and skinning various beasts, which few members of the Exodus had tried to do before the destruction of their Dungeon. They had been a part of a Dungeon Town, after all! Their meat mostly came from the Dungeon and was thus already dead and skinned. But after half a year on the road they had atst gotten a handle on the nomadic lifestyle and no one had died in 2 months. A big improvement from the beginning of their journey, when one or two had died every week. Malik the human had given them new hope in the form of directions to a still forming dungeon town run by beastkin. The Exodus hadn''t tried their luck with a beastkin settlement yet. And maybe the newness of the ce would make the people there more open to the Exodus¡­? Kastle - and the rest of the Exodus no doubt - did find it a bit odd that Malik had asked them to call him by his personal name. Malik didn''t know them - outside of their unfortunate situation - and he was far away from his home. Not to mention the fact that his house in no way could fit over 1,000 gnomes. Or, at least, Kastle highly doubted it could, but hadn''t actually thought to ask back then. Then again¡­ the humans had been very generous in allowing the use of their personal name and home¡­ So maybe it was just a human thing¡­? Malik had also had a unicorn mount, which Kastle hadn''t known was even an option. Not that he would ever trade his own loyal steed for one. No sir! Vorjin was perfect the way he was! Even in his most cocky moments after the two of them had just won a joust¡­ Vorjin knew when he had done a good job and he knew to be proud of it! And Vorjin had taken the change andck of jousting training and tournaments well and decided on his own to be a guard ram. These days Vorjin stayed on the outskirts of their group, ready to ram any wild beast getting too close to them, while Kastle ran around from one person to another, breaking up fights and helping where he could. Kastle was proud of his buddy for finding his own ce in this new world. And they still found time to spend together every day once the Exodus had made camp for the night. And now their journey was - hopefully -ing to an end. If it was the right ce that was. Last week they had stumbled across a Small Town they thought was the budding dungeon town Malik had mentioned, only for them to realize it had no Dungeon at all. Which was naturally a no go for most of them when it came to potentially settling down. Still, they had all at least wanted to restock on some things and rest for the night in or near the Small Town before they continued. But when they woke in the morning, one of their problems with integrating - for Kastle doubted it was the only one - was discovered. They had a group of thieves and arsonists in their midst. The sibling pair and their ringleader had imed they were simply good at bartering when the gnomes around them had realized just how much new stuff they collected every time the Exodus found a new ce to potentially settle down in. They had been believed. But clearly their bartering skills had been a lie and now their anger at the world had been warped from simply thievery to arson. At least it was the town hall and not someone''s home. One theft wouldn''t have been enough for the three to get the death sentence. Nor was this one act of arson. But now that the Exodus knew to look for it, the sheer amount of stolen goods had sealed their fate. And a lot of what had been stolen was likely edible and thus long gone. Naturally the Exodus had been outraged at the mere thought that this- that these three gnomes had been what stopped them from getting epted in any of the Dungeon Towns they had visited. The Ironthistle siblings and their leader Mawgrim Bramblehide had been dealt the hardest punishment the people who had been of Rivervale knew of: The Dungeon Retribution. ¡­ Only¡­ They didn''t have a Dungeon to do it in¡­ Which was quite important for a Dungeon Retribution, as the criminals needed to reach the Core of a Dungeon alone and with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They would naturally be guarded so they would actually attempt to reach the Core, but these guards couldn''t and wouldn''t help the criminal and even had the job of executing the criminal if they refused to even try. And if the criminal miraculously reached the Core of the Dungeon without any starting weapons - they would of course pick up weapons and equipment on the way there from among their loot, but these items would be appropriate for the Floor rather than the wealth of the criminal - then the criminal was free of their charges by dungeon decree. But only for those charges. Not any future ones. So, this budding dungeon town being made by beastkin was not only a potential ce for them to settle down but also a ce for them to exact judgment on their criminals. Either elves have joined the beastkin or taken over by force, or this is, once again, not the right ce. ¡­ Either way we''ll find our ce in the world. ¡­ Someday. And we''ll make do until then. Getting back to the situation at hand, Kastle located and jumped up on this trusty steed Vorjin - as sitting on his ram had always made him feel more calm and in control of the situation - before taking the the front of the Exodus to greet the elf riding their own steed. ¡­ Kastle had never been good at identifying the gender of people from the other species. Hopefully this ce has a Dungeon and is willing to ept us. ¡­ Or at least tell us why not. ¡­ Is that too much to ask? ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó As none of the gnomes had karma levels of 0%, I had at first decided to ignore them. They weren''t a part of the cult that wanted to kill me, so I doubted they would be much trouble. Then I heard them talk about me - through the ears of the Lightning Mage, of course. The gnomes had three criminal prisoners with them. Prisoners they basically wanted to gift to me for my future tier ups. I might not need it at the moment, but how can I say no to that! ¡­ Actually¡­ How can I say ''yes, please, and thank you''? Maybe through my ''dungeon mistress''? Luckily, I didn''t actually have to do anything, as the Lightning Mage was all too eager to have the gnomes enter my Dungeon. So eager in fact, that she sent me a request to have the allowed number of people increased temporarily to however high I would allow it to go, so she could test them for mind control. None of them are a part of the cult, but I can''t say whether or not there is someone among them being mind controlled by another source from here, I sent back to her. As for the amount of people allowed in my Dungeon: I would love to help, but I have to keep myself safe too. Can you tell me - just roughly - how powerful they seem to be? The System-modified return reply stated that the majority of the gnomes seemed to be 3th and 4th tiers and that the most powerful among them seemed to be at the end of the 5th tier or the beginning of the 6th. As the Lightning Mage, who was at the very end of the 6th tier, had for the most part been able to speed run through my Dungeon - due to having good enough karma to not activate my traps and with the exception of my unicorns due to her fear of them -, I couldn''t be sure the same wouldn''t be true for the most powerful of the gnomes. After a bit more thought I allowed the number to be increased to 15 with the condition that at least three of them had to be the Lightning Mage and some members of the Security Guild. And that the gnomes, with the exception of the criminals meant to be killed by me and their guards, weren''t allowed to enter the 2nd Floor before the number returned to normal. If they did, I would have to assume they were hostile towards me and act ordingly. With that decided and agreed upon - by both the gnomes and the Lightning Mage - the first 12 gnomes, where three of them were the prisoners, were escorted to my Dungeon Portal by my ''dungeon mistress'' and a pair of deputies. Chapter 90: Dungeon Retribution Chapter 90: Dungeon Retribution Sarzina Acacia found the gnomes'' way of executing their prisoners quite interesting. Having ordered the execution of one of her own prisoners only days prior, she was naturally used to the idea of executing the worst of criminals. But giving them a chance to survive their death sentence and have their crimes pardoned? That was a novel idea to her. If this had been a normal Dungeon I likely would have insisted that the criminals should be executed even if they survive this ''Dungeon Retribution''. But with a blessed and sapient Dungeon like mine? I''ll trust their judgment. ¡­ When ites to their survival, that is. I''m definitely banishing any survivors of any Dungeon Retribution from my town. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Lightning Mage had naturally warned the gnome leader that my creatures would only harm bad guys or in self defense. That part was to be expected. The unexpected part was his reaction. He epted it like it made all the sense in the world. He even congratted her for raising me right! Hey! I''ll let you know she''s only been with me for, like, one month or so! ¡­ Which is about a fourth of my life, but I would argue I''ve done more to raise her right, than she''s done to me! I mean just look at all her changes since she met me! She used to be speciesistic but now she has aw forbidding very. She¡­ ¡­ She''s getting better at petting unicorns instead of running away in fear¡­? ¡­ I guess I haven''t changed her that much, but the very thing was quite a huge deal! And how has she changed me? ¡­ I think I''m less biased towards elves, but I already knew they couldn''t all be ve owners. It was really just nice to have it confirmed. The first criminal to attempt their ''Dungeon Retribution'' in my Dungeon was Jelci Ironthistle, the female gnome of the sibling pair. Ladies first, I guess. "Can''t risk her trying to sweet talk her way out of this," the gnome leader - with the ss of Cavalier oddly enough - exined to the Lightning Mage. "While the Exodus now knows what to expect from her, I - no offense - don''t know how your own people would react to her charms." Oh. That makes sense. She does have the Bard ss. Naturally the Lightning Mage replied that the elves would likely react to any sort of charms quite violently due to their recent troubles with the mind controlling cult. To which the gnome nodded and hummed thoughtfully. Despite their short chat the two of them kept a sharp eye on the Bard as they herded her forward and blocked her exit. With a karma level of 22%, the gnome Bard would activate my traps but my creatures wouldn''t attack her on sight. And without weapons and with the goal of reaching my Core, not gathering loot, she didn''t really try to harm my drags. She definitely considered it! But decided it wasn''t worth the attempt. Speaking of attempts. She also tried to sweet talk the Lightning Mage into believing she was innocent and deserved to be let free. But I had trained my ''dungeon mistress'' well, and so she had naturally replied that the Dungeon, I, would be the judge of that. Well said! All talk then ceased between the three with the only words spoken was from the Bard cursing over the one pitfall trap she had missed in the Berry Forest. She had been really good at spotting traps before then. "Shouldn''t she have received a weapon by now?" The gnome leader questioned while the Bard attempted to pull herself out of the pit. The pit''s purpose had been more of a way to restrain an intruder while my drags flew in and out of it while attacking. But as the Bard didn''t have bad enough karma for them to attack unprovoked and as she hadn''t attacked them, the pit was really just a deep hole. Though with it being one of my first traps it was only deep enough that she needed to do her highest jump to grab a hold of the top of the trap. And once you remember the fact that she was a gnome and thus quite small¡­ Yeah, it really wasn''t that deep. "The Dungeon of Karma is in many ways a pacifistic Dungeon. The only way to receive an actual weapon in here is through the loot of a kobold." The Lightning Mage replied with a shrug. "There''s a chance you''ll get their weapon of choice as loot. But kobolds don''t appear before the 3rd Floor so she''ll have to survive without one until then." The Bard had paled at those news, lost her grip on the ground and fell back in the pit she had almost gotten herself out of. Two rooms further - or one depending on whether or not theter room even counted - was as far as the 3rd tier Bard got. As she stepped into The Swamp Route she was sted in the face with acid from above. Which in itself wasn''t enough to kill. It did however make it harder for her to breathe. And then the sleeping gas was released a couple of meterster which made her lose consciousness. She suffocated in her sleep. I really thought she was gonna dodge the acid. She dodged most of the other traps she triggered, so I know she can. Bad luck, perhaps? That is my thing, after all. And I don''t think a Bard like her had a lot of points in Toughness. And with no helmet or any kind of armor on¡­ Yeah¡­ These traps might only be meant to be able to kill 1st tiers, but if you still have the Toughness of one¡­? Then it was the other sibling''s turn. Jezzie Ironthistle had the 3rd tier ss of Labourer, and while he seemed to have a higher Toughness Score than his sister, he also clearly had a lower Awareness Score. Essentially he triggered more traps but was in turn better at tanking them. The acid spray, for instance, didn''t leave burns bad enough to affect his breathing. It clearly hurt him though. And at the end of the 1st Floor he was bleeding from his arms - from arrows shooting out from the walls - and right foot - from a spike appearing from underneath - and had both burns and lumps on the top of his head - from the acid spray and having rocks falling on his head. And the leg wound had naturally caused him to limp. When it came to getting to the 2nd Floor the gnome leader stopped the Labourer from simply going done the staircase between the Floors. Instead he had the Lightning Mage go first so she could be ready to stop him from simply leaving my Dungeon by immediately going back up the stairs once he reached the bottom. Smart. I hadn''t even thought of that, but of course a criminal would try to run away from their punishment by exploiting the quick return function of Safezones which sends them back to my Portal. And true enough, he tried. And he failed. He didn''t look for keys in The Forest of Territories or The Wood of Rebirth - probably thinking he was done with that after the 1st Floor. So when he noticed the four keyholes in the door of The Griffins'' Treasure Room, he groaned, before setting his eyes on the treasure chest in the room. You know. The one that''s actually a mimic being guarded by a pair of griffins and located behind a moat containing a pair of territorial eels. Or well¡­ ''Fledgling karmic elemental sea serpent - Lightning''. When the Labourer stepped into the moat to get to the treasure chest - likely thinking at least one of the keys were in there - the eels attacked him with Lightning for entering their territory. And while he was distracted with them the griffins - who saw his movement towards them as a threat to their treasure, the mimic - attacked with their ws and beaks. Between his previous wounds and the griffins'' 120% damage while guarding a treasure, he was soon felled. He clearly didn''t expect anything to actually attack him. Otherwise he wouldn''t have stepped into the water without looking. But, hey, ''karmic'' doesn''t mean ''pacifistic''. And not all my creatures define it the same way. Then it was time for thest of the criminals. Mawgrim Bramblehide, who had the 4th tier ss of ''Apprentice Illusionist''. With him being a tier above the other two, I''ll have to assume he was the leader. Well¡­ Let''s see how far you get without any weapons or armor! Especially seeing as your karma level is just under 10%, meaning all of my creatures attack on sight. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó How are you still alive?! Realistically, I knew how he had done it. He had used his fledgling illusions to camouge himself, stopping arge majority of my creatures from attacking him as they never caught sight of him. Only the ones who - like my b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons - ''saw'' the world more through their karma senses than their eyes could detect him well enough to attack him. He even had enough Awareness of his surroundings to avoid triggering basically all of my traps. But knowing how he had survived didn''t stop me from being simultaneously impressed and annoyed as I watched him pass through one obstacle after another. And while my puzzles slowed him down considerably, he had yet to take a lot of damage. His illusions had even made the gnome leader and the Lightning Mage lose track of him on the 2nd Floor. Something he chose not to take advantage of to run away from his sentence. 8 hours had passed, and now he was on my 9th Floor in The Werewolf Wood. And here his strongest and weakest Ability Scores would effectively be switched. Which means no more illusions for you! Which apparently wasn''t something he knew how to deal with, seeing as he turned around and sprinted back out of the room the moment the werewolf pack attacked. An attack he had only survived due to Toughness now being his strongest Score. But before the Apprentice Illusionist left The Werewolf Wood he had gotten numerous scratch and bite marks from the attacking werewolves. And with his 9% karma level this ended up triggering a long forgotten aspect of my werewolves: The 10% chance to infect people with karma levels of 10% or lower with lycanthropy for every scratch or bite done to them by a werewolf. Oh¡­ I thought nonchntly. I wasn''t worried about him spreading lycanthropy to the whole world as it could only affect people with super low karma. And while the variety of lycanthropy he had gotten differed from the ones my werewolves had in that people with more than 10% karma could be dormant carriers, that had always been part of my n with them. The lycanthrope would turn into a bloodthirsty monster everytime the full moon was up - day or night didn''t actually matter here - which would cause everyone around to fear and want to kill the monster. Which would help in my System-given Mission of ridding the world of as many bad guys as I could. The dormant carries was to spread this to as many as possible to expose the truly bad people as the monsters they were and having them then be killed by their fellows. I knew some good people would likely die while the lycanthropes were in their bloodthirsty states, but I firmly believed it was worth it to make the world free - or at least freer - of people with 10% and less karma. Especially as I imagined arge amount of those people were in positions of power. Hmm¡­ I should probably tell my ''dungeon mistress'', or they''ll kill him for failing to fulfill his sentence before he can spread the curse around. The Apprentice Illusionist had run to the Safezone at the beginning of the 9th Floor, but took a break to rest and do what little first aid he could to his wounds before he cautiously took the staircase up and out of my Dungeon. Giving me a good amount of time to send a request. Achievement tier up: A Friend in Need (V): You are a kind being who helps others without thought. Condition: Go out of your way to help someone without expecting anypensation for doing so 100 times. Reward: 10,000 EXP and 125% Charisma. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 125% Charisma changed to 25% discount on karma creatures.] You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 3 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? Huh? The message had arrived as soon as I had sent the request to not kill, but simply banish the lycanthrope criminal. But I''m only setting him free because I cursed him and want him to spread that curse. I have ulterior motives! I had to reread the condition for the Achievement again before I realized that ''having ulterior motives'' wasn''t being taken into consideration. It only matters whether or not I expect for my help. And I don''t. I expect him to spread lycanthropy for me, which will over time lower the amount of bad people in the world as people hunt them down. Which fits my Mission, but doesn''t actually benefit me. If anything, having a lower number of bad people in the world makes it harder for me tier up. After all, I need to be the one to kill them for it to count towards tiering up. You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 3 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? Uh¡­ Right. Let''s take a look. Which one''s were already passive? Creature Designer (III) (Passive): Reward: Creatures have a 5% discount on their base cost. Creatures earn you 108% EXP. Dungeon God (Passive): Reward: The Ability ''Dungeon Rules'' and a 3% mana discount on all creations. Freedom of Thought (V) (Passive): Reward: 15% easier to help people, including yourself, exercise their own free will and the Ability ''Mind Maniption Sight''. Weeding the World (Passive): Reward: 1% more EXP per being of karma level 0% you have killed or freed from mind maniption, and the Ability ''0% Karma Sense''. Right, and Weeding the World is automatically passive as it would do the same either way. The one I would most consider recing is Creature Designer, but I would save more mana by keeping A Friend in Need active. Creature Designer doese with additional EXP but I still consider mana more important. So no thanks! I''ll keep the passives as they already are. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Ever since they had lost track of the criminal leader, Kastle Brassheart had stood guard by the Dungeon Portal, waiting for the bastard to show back up. While he would normally have assumed that the originally unarmed and unarmored gnome had perished by now, seeing as he hadn''t shown up by the Portal yet, the dungeon guide - or dungeon mistress as they called it around here - had assured him the guy was still alive and serving his sentence. Kastle hadn''t been aware that was something a dungeon guide could tell through their connection to their Dungeon. While Kastle had been standing guard over the Portal, mistress Acacia had been escorting gnomes in and out of the Dungeon, taking them on a tour of the 1st Floor and introducing them to everything different about her Dungeon. Kastle had suggested she simply called a meeting and informed them all at once instead of doing the tediously repeating tour. She refused before she had even taken the time to consider. And then she had insisted that every member of the Exodus joined her on a tour. So, clearly it wasn''t as tedious to her as it seemed to him. "Chief Brassheart," mistress Acacia greeted him after having given yet another tour of the 1st Floor. "Mistress Acacia." "While Mawgrim Bramblehide has failed to reach the Core on the 10th Floor, he did seed in reaching the 9th. As such, The Dungeon of Karma has decided to spare his life but let him live out the rest of his life cursed." "Huh?" Chapter 91: Free as A Bird Out of Water Chapter 91: Free as A Bird Out of Water After having epted my request to spare the criminal''s life - so he could mess up the lives of other evil people by spreading his lycanthropy around, which would eventually get them killed -, the Lightning Mage proceeded to banish him from the town. Should he ever return, he would be killed like the ouw he now was. The gnomes had taken my judgment seriously as well. Stating that it was a Dungeon Retribution and as such it was entirely up to me to decide their fates. They are acting like they already know I''m sapient. Does that mean there''s other sapient Dungeon Cores out there?! Ones they''ve met?! I immediately called for a meeting with the gnome leader through my ''dungeon mistress''. But no. There were no other sapient Dungeon Cores. Not anyone the gnomes knew of at least. What the gnomes did know was the Mission of Dungeons. Generally speaking. Through generations the gnomes had paid close attention to how quickly their Dungeon would grow. And they had noticed that after a certain number of bad people had died in the Dungeon, it would grow quicker for a while. And in periods where few or no bad people had died, the Dungeon would stall its growth. Which was why the Dungeon Retribution came to be. Not only because the gnomes had realized Dungeons needed to kill bad people to grow, but also because they believed Dungeons could somehow differentiate between good and bad people. Which wasn''t actually something all Dungeon Cores could do. I had only gotten that Ability through an Achievement, and Achievements wasn''t the easiest thing to get. All in all, the gnomes didn''t actually see Dungeon Cores as sapients but more like a metal detector. ''If the light blinks and the beeping sounds, then you''re bad, if nothing happens, then you''re good.'' Something like that. Trustworthy in our judgment of good and bad, but not an intelligent being. Well. Their leader knows now. And unlike the Lightning Mage I can''t force him to keep my secrets. Which, oddly enough, I''m not too worried about. Much like the Tribe, though to a lesser degree, they already have me in high regard simply due to my status as a Dungeon Core. This is more likely to turn respect into worship than have anyone try to kill me for being an abomination. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Personal Status Level: 58 EXP needed for level up: 58,345,436/59,000,000 Mana payment for level up: 0/204,000 Mana: 1.5/25,500 Mana regeneration: 8,925 per hour Floors: 10/24 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I was level 34 before I started speedrunning my levels¡­ That''s 26 levels! Counting level 39+ and 49+ as their own levels, which I definitely feel like they are! Just over 19 days had passed since the gnome arrival and the Dungeon Retribution and I had been leveling up everytime I had the mana for it. Which in the 4th tier had been every 14 hours and 18 minutes, in the 5th every 17 hours and 6 minutes, and in the 6th tier every 22 hours and 51 minutes. During that time, about half of the Floors in my Dungeon had had a Party in it during my opening hours. Which generated so much EXP that I, in the beginning, was earning more than 10 times the EXP that I used, despite the fact that I was using it as fast as I could. The new 2,473% EXP modifier was clearly working its ass off! Where the end of the 5th tier had asked for 1,125,000 EXP to level up, the beginning of the 6th tier asked for 25,000,000. Before that the jump in EXP needed from one tier to the next had been between slightly under double to just over three times. This was a jump of over 22 times the previous amount! Yeah, that ''increasingly stunted growth to reflect a Dungeon Core''s immortality'' has clearly gone into effect. I am not looking forward to the 7th tier¡­ Then again. I can make 24 Floors right now and my mana capacity and regeneration has gone through the roof! From 2,275 mana per hour to 8,925! Let''s finally finish that 11th Floor! ¡­ And then level up one more time¡­ I''ll probably have the remaining EXP at the end of the day. When I had first be a Dungeon Core I had to pick a starting creature and an Environment. For each level up I got ess to a new dragon without having to design it myself and every tier up I got to pick an additional Environment. For each Environment I had already picked, the already short list of Environments would be shorter. Forest, volcano, river andke, mountain as well as desert had already been picked - and in that order - by the time I got to my 6th tier up, so I was naturally curious as to what would happen this time. I really just expected nothing to happen as I already had ess to all Environmentspatible with dragons. Instead I got a new list with a small warning: Environment Be aware that not all level up creature patterns for these Environments will be of your chosen type. Beach Deep sea Graveyard Jungle Mushroom cavern Ocean Prairie Tundra Urban and farnd As I had done all the other times, I decided based on what advantages each Environment could give me and which of those fit me best. Tundra won with its potential for ice covered paths - which could make people slip if unprepared -, deep snow - which could hide any number of things I wanted hidden -, and blizzards - which could obscure the vision of my enemies. As my volcano theme hadn''t raised the temperature of each room following its theme, I didn''t expect any tundra rooms to reach freezing temperatures. With a bit of testing - with the help of Begdar and Nalir, who both volunteered - I discovered that the room itself wasn''t cold but that - much like magma - snow and ice had their expected temperature. But unlike normal snow and ice they wouldn''t thaw even at normal body temperature. It had to be put in a pot and ced under open fire - something Begdar could now do with magic. I can work with that! On the 2nd day of speedrunning levels one of my Achievements decided to tier up out of the blue. Achievement tier up: Making the World a Better ce (IV): You have made the people around you into better versions of themselves, thus making the world a better ce. Keep doing it. Condition: You have at one point sessfully made the karma levels of other people rise 100 times in total. Reward: 125% Charisma. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in total. This is retroactive. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 125% Charisma changed to 25% discount on karma creatures.] You have gotten an Achievement tier up while having 4 passive Achievements. Do you wish to change which Achievements are passive? I must have inspired someone to try and better themselves. And no thank you. In the midst of all my level ups, the merchant group had been by once again and was surprised to see just how many people now called this ce their home. After all, only 40 days had passed and the ce had gone from being entirely popted by beastkin to having the beastkin be the minority alongside the elves due to the massive amount of gnomes. The ce had also gone from being almost entirely tents with only a couple of mostly finished wooden huts to having sewers, a well, a Dungeon Guild, a building around my Portal for the Portal Control, an Inn called ''The Jolly Dragon Inn'' which had stables, storage and cleaning and mending services, a Security Guild as well as enough normal housing for 250 people. Which met the System''s criteria for a Small Vige, which in turn meant that the people living there could earn Vige rted Achievements and had their Nomad rted Achievements exchanged for Vige themed ones where appropriate. The sheriff became a Sheriff with an actual proper ''Small Vige Sheriff'' Achievement. But of course the construction team still had a lot of building to do. Not only had a thousand or so gnomes - no one had mentioned a more specific number where I could hear them - joined them, but the elves had always been expecting and nning for more elves to move here. But only once the initial building was done as the new arrivals would want to have a house to settle down in immediately upon arrival. It was quite a lot to get done in only 40 days with a construction crew numbering around 60 elves. Thest week or so - I don''t know exactly when they started - about 9 houses had been built a day. The exact number varied as some houses were only meant to house two people - eleves apparently had a problem with fertility - while others were built in a dorm room style withmunal kitchens. Given how I could only see the Surface World from my Portal, and emphasized by how said Portal had had a building built around it, I had naturally not really seen any magic being cast around by the construction crew. When they had first started working - on the sewers, working from the ground up - I had noticed the workers incredible Strength as not only dirt but boulders and tree trunks were moved out of the way with barely a second thought. Which had naturally sped up the process. They''ve definitely used some sort of System given magic to have all of this done so quickly! Not that I med them. I would have done the same. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Oh¡­ That can''t be good¡­ No, wait! It might be the captured cultists! I should warn ''my mistress'' either way. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "How are you feeling?" asked a female voice. "Uh?" Lagurith questioned back, still groggy from having woken up from deep sleep. "You''re not Brainwashed anymore. I know how great a relief it is to not be mind controlled anymore, but of course Brainwash and Hypnotize are two different Skills and apparently Brainwash is the stronger of the two. And of course you must have been controlled for much longer than me as I was only under for a couple of hours. So your relief must be much greater than mine were." The female voice bbered in response, barely taking the time to breathe. "Brainwash? Mind control?" That can''t be right. When have I ever done something against my will? Then memories started shing. One moment after another where he followed a stranger''s order, did immoral things, and even broke the basis of all siren society: Know your people. All of them. He didn''t even know the names of every member of the so-called order he had joined, much less actually known them. And that certainly wasn''t something he would do willingly. The elven woman speaking to him was about to start talking again when a male elf put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. "Maybe we should give him a bit of time for him to gather his thoughts. He appears to be a bit out of it." "Who are you?!" Came the sudden outburst from Lagurith. He couldn''t take not knowing who everyone was, after having broken that sacred siren rule for so long. He would be an outcast if anyone found out! "I''m Dakath Fraxinus, the Sheriff around here. This is Sarzina Acacia, the dungeon mistress of the Dungeon we''re currently in." At first Lagurith was relieved to not only know their names but to now additionally know one thing about each of them. Then thest part he had said registered. "We''re in a Dungeon?" Looking around, he indeed appeared to be sitting on the grass covered floor of a small Dungeon Room,plete with half a dozen small, green dragons being restrained by tree roots. The dragons were desperately trying to escape the roots, but every w and bite mark was quickly restored through the Skill or spell which had created the roots in the first ce. Why not just kill them? "We are indeed." Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus replied calmly. "Our only current method for dealing with controlled people is to contain them inside The Dungeon of Karma. Simply being inside The Dungeon of Karma will, after a time, give people back their minds." "Really?" Lagurith asked, confused. Since when has that been a thing? "Huhmm." Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus nodded. "Huh." "Any other questions before we leave you to gather your thoughts? You still seem a slight bit out of it." "No. Thank you, Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus. Dungeon mistress Sarzina Acacia. Wait. Are you rted to Advisor Acacia?" Lagurith flinched as he realized he didn''t know Advisor Acacia''s personal name. Siren''s didn''t have family names! To not know someone''s personal name when you have been working with them for years was unthinkable. "Yes." She answered sharply, almost like she was suddenly angry. "What about it?" Uh¡­ Cultural differences? It had been a while since he had really had the time to try and understand other cultures, so he was quite rusty in elven customs. Despite how learning about other cultures had been the reason he had gone against siren norms and left his home in the sea. And despite how he had been actively working in an elven Pce in an elven Queendom. "It''s custom for sirens to know all we can about our-" Thenguage the surface dwellers spoke didn''t have the right word for his type ofmunity, so he would have to use a more general word, so they could understand his meaning. "-allies. It helps us connect to each other and makes us feel more like we are a part of a collective whole. I''m sorry if the question made you ufortable, but I''m still a bit too out of it to remember what the elven customs are." "Oh¡­" Dungeon mistress Sarzina Acacia nodded in eptance of his apology and rxed her posture. "We''ll leave you to your thoughts." Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus stated, before the two elves moved to a couple of chairs ced up against the climbing nts covered Dungeon wall. What exactly happened to all my ns for the future? They say I was mind controlled, but when did that happen? And who did it? It didn''t take long to find the answer. Everything he had done against his will, his memory informed him had been done because of The Order of The Broken Goddess. And their prophet Luvenia Mein. A prophet he had met. And as he remembered said meeting he realized that was when he was Brainwashed. Specifically during what he previously had thought of as his ''initiation''. An ''initiation'' he himself had performed several times afterwards. No! His mind screamed, his eyes widened, and he instinctively ordered his Skill to rip. Rip and rip and rip apart each and every hold he had on someone else. When finally done ripping he took a couple of calming breaths, trying to take back control of his panicked mind. He could hear the elves exim confused words and get up from the chairs they had just ced themselves in, but he paid it no mind. What else happened? Maybe something less horrifying. How did I get here? I was pretending to be an Ambassador. The elven Queen Enania Phoenix Flower got news from Advisor Acacia - need her name - that her daughter, Crown Princess Talindra Phoenix Flower, had been mind controlled by a cult. I left the meeting abruptly as I needed to inform ''The Order of The Broken Goddess'' that we had been discovered and to push ast attempt attack on The Royal Dungeon in hopes of getting its Core and bringing it to¡­ Lagurith blinked many times in sudden confusion. We were supposed to bring Cores to prophet Luvenia Mein''s bedroom, where she would arrange them to her liking. Like they were mere decorations! Even when sometime after Luvenia Mein''s death the room they ced Dungeon Cores in had been reced with a bigger and more secure one, it had still been styled like it was her bedroom. Only with her bed having been reced with her golden coffin. She made a cult because she wanted Dungeon Cores to decorate her room? Why? Didn''t she understand how essential Dungeons are to society? Both due to their loot and their necessity in tiering up? Not to mention fast leveling. No. Don''t think about this right now. I can be horrified over thister. What happened next? I decided to send out the message to attack first as I thought that was more time sensitive. ¡­ I didn''t get to finish the message did I? Next I remember, I woke up for the first of many, many ''food and pee breaks''. Yeah, I had somehow been knocked out and captured. And my elven captures would keep me and my fellow prisoners unconscious using Enchanted sticks unless we needed to eat, drink, or relieve ourselves. And when awake each awake prisoner would have two guards keeping an eye on them and we would all be chained to a tree. The other prisoners were likely all members of ''The Order of The Broken Goddess''. I recognized many of their faces, but not all. A deep, calming breath. And now I''m here. With a free will once again. Chapter 92: Return of A Rat Chapter 92: Return of A Rat Weeding the World: 2,709beings of karma level 0% killed or freed from mind maniption. It was 2,474 before - when including the siren himself - so that''s a jump of 235. He''s a level 72 Apprentice Mindbender where the previous guy was just a level 60 Hypnotist. I would have thought this guy had more people under his control with a higher level like that. But instead he has less than half¡­ ¡­ Maybe the Hypnotist was a recruiter or something? Or maybe this guy only Brainwashes people who can resist Hypnosis? Maybe both? Even after having freed a couple of hundred people from mind control the siren still hadn''t noticed the other 18 prisoners magically sleeping in the room with him. Their times had been several hours longer than his own with the longest having been over 9 hours longer than the siren''s original time of only 1 hours, 5 minutes, and 39 seconds. 7 of them had no timer anymore, which had the Sheriff and the Lightning Mage get up from their chairs with thetter reaching over to undo the magical sleep on the nearest of them. A man with an unfamiliar face but a familiar name: Emil Great Rat. Emil Great Rat Human Awareness Level 13 How did you get sucked back into this? The Tribe told me you had been freed from the cult when the previous siren priestess was killed. Because the guy had been Charmed rather than Hypnotized or Brainwashed, he would have regained control of his own mind after a single day without having the Skill reapplied on him or if the Charmer died - which was what ended up happening. Hey, dear ''dungeon mistress'' of mine? Might I request that you ensure this guy doesn''t end up back in the cult again. Apparently he needs a bit of extra protection from them. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Emil Great Rat had followed bishop Marthox¡¯s orders and joined the cell near a Dungeon known simply as The Royal Dungeon. The ce was filled with elves but had plenty of other species in the area closest to the Dungeon. Which had made his ¡®blending in¡¯-training - which had started on the way there - easy toplete. Then he was ordered to mine the Dungeon. Specifically for levels but with a side focus on learning as he could about it and how to defeat its challenges. That kind of knowledge would be needed when they finally had the chance to rush the ce. Emil knew he wasn¡¯t the intelligent kind even before he received his first real ss of Awareness, so he decided to only focus on learning about the first 4 Floors of the Dungeon. He had no intention of trying to fight the 1st tier Boss even with help of the cell. There was no need for that. He needed to level up but no one had told him it needed to happen fast. He had tasty food and shelter, something he had rarely had before he joined The Order of The Broken Goddess. He even had a new sense of pride and a trustworthymunity! Emil had at times temporarily joined gangs to better ess food and objects to sell to buy things not so easily obtained. But eventually someone would always backstab the rest and the gang would disband. The Order was different! He had been there longer than any gang had eversted and he had seen no backstabbing happening! But then again. As no gang had eversted more than two weeks, it really wasn¡¯t that impressive. When not mining - which was most of the time as Emil saw no reason to go more than once or twice a week - he wandered around the streets observing the people around him. He might not need to work to survive anymore but there was no need to allow his skills to be rusty! While his System given Skills would always be effective, his more mundane skills needed constant use to remain effective. What if The Order one day needed them? At least that¡¯s how he justified it to himself. Deep down he knew he liked the feeling of getting one over someone else. Even in cases where they never realized what he had done or that he had been the one to do it. So, Emil wandered the streets, grabbing a thing or two when opportunity struck. But only when he knew he could get away with it without discovery. He had leveled up several times when he finally got a Breakthrough Orb to tier up with due to saved EXP, so he was in no hurry to level up more. Then one day the feeling of pride andmunity disappeared. It was three or four weeks after bishop Marthox had left to collect the main piece of the goddess, and Emil had only been with the cell for about a week and a half. Emil had felt that way before and made a n for what to do if it happened again. It was a pretty simple n, designed after what had worked before: When boss died, he had gone to boss¡¯s boss. Now that boss¡¯s boss had - presumably - died, he would go to boss¡¯s boss¡¯s boss. Only that guy - or gal apparently - was annoyingly far away. Boss''s boss''s boss''s boss - who was a part of the inner circle - was much closer. So, that¡¯s who he reported to. The nning part was mostly about locating the various bosses and figuring out how to contact them, before he actually needed to do so. Having notified cardinal Lagurith about bishop Marthox¡¯s likely death and what he knew about hisst mission, Emil went back to his routine. Cardinal Lagurith hadn¡¯t seemed particrly worried about it, so why would Emil be? Only hourster came the order to rush The Royal Dungeon as their cover had been blown and they were running out of time. Emil joined the fight against the increased number of heathens who were guarding the entrance to the prison containing the piece of the goddess The Order was trying to liberate. But with his low level andcklusterbat experience - speed and stealth had always been more his style - Emil had quickly been knocked out and taken prisoner. As he was once again considered ''uninitiated'' by The Order of The Broken Goddess, Emil''s first instinct was to locate the nearest boss for reinitiation. ¡­ But the nearest boss was the one who had just initiated him. And that guy certainly wasn''t dead like his previous bosses. So¡­ He''s still my boss then? ¡­ But I''m not initiated? Which he found quite ufortable. Not only was his pride for following a noble cause and the constant feeling ofmunity - despite rarely spending time with the other members - gone, but without The Order he had no shelter and no easy ess to tasty food. "Boss?" Emil tested out. "What''s the n?" The siren looked confused at the address for a bit before epting his new title. "The n is what you want it to be. You can go back home now if you wish." "And where would home be?" Emil questioned. His homes had always been of the temporary sort and with the cell of The Order he had just been a part of shot down by the local authorities, he knew his previous home wasn''t an option anymore. The old siren blinked rapidly in his confusion, before sadness and pity found their way into his eyes. "You don''t have a home? Amunity?" There was only one thing Emil hated more than starving and sleeping in the rain: Pity. But Emil had noeback for his questions. He had no home at the moment and the onlymunities he had ever been a part of were temporarily gangs and The Order. He considered for a moment, stating that The Order was hismunity, but he had the feeling that was a bad idea. So instead he stayed silent and turned his head away in shame. Shame for being in a position where he could be pitied, that is. Not that he had ever really not been in that position. He was an orphan street urchin and always would be. Even now as an adult he still couldn''t escape that fate. "What is your name chwee-pipit?" The realistic sounding bird chirping at the end of the sentence took Emil by surprise before he remembered the man he was talking to. With the siren being half man half bird it made sense he could sound exactly like a bird. Then the question became why he chose to make a bird sound now. Not that Emil had any intentions of questioning his boss. After all, that was a good way to stop having a boss. And Emil had always quite liked having a boss. Life was always at least a little bit easier when he had a boss to follow. "Emil Great Rat." He didn''t ask for a name in return. He wasn''t going to use it anyway. An awkward silence took ce before the siren picked up the conversation again. "I''m Lagurith. And while I''m not entirely sure what Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus and dungeon mistress Sarzina Acacia has in store for us, I''m sure we''ll figure it all out. No need to worry!" Good. Emil nodded in reply with a small smile on his lips. We have been caught byw enforcement but if boss isn''t worried then there''s no reason for me to be. Boss will take care of any problems. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Lagurith found himself questioned alone in the local Security Guild, specifically in the office of the Sheriff. He had needed to calm Emil Great Rat down and assure him that everything was okay. The man might be in his prime physically, but it was clear to Lagurith that he was still a child in his mind, clinging to any authority figure he could find in search of parental approval. Lagurith didn''t mind being said authority figure. In fact he thought it might be nice to have a constantpanion for a while. Just till Emil Great Rat had figured out what he wanted to do with his life. Lagurith had no intentions to stop Emil Great Rat from living his life how he wanted. He simply wanted to keep him steady against the waves till he had found his fins again. Or whatever thend dwelling equivalent was of that saying. Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus wanted to know all Lagurith knew about The Order of The Broken Goddess. The more they knew the easier it would be for them to take The Order down. Which Lagurith was naturally all for! Sure, there were some specific times where he thought mind control was not only eptable but down right helpful. Lagurith had seen many kinds of people during his travels including drug addicts, alcoholics, and uncontrolled gamblers. And while some of those people generally liked their addiction, Lagurith had found that many had wanted to stop, but were unable to go through with it. Lagurith was of the mind that mind control was the answer to that problem. Willing mind control, that is, which only helped the addicted avoid their addiction and did nothing more. And what The Order of The Broken Goddess did, was certainly not done willingly nor did it have any intention of actually helping those it mind controlled. So, Lagurith told Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus all he knew. Only¡­ That didn''t feel like that was enough. He wanted to help more than that. He wanted to help them take The Order downpletely. So, he asked to be a part of the team tasked with infiltrating. The Order knew him and, as long as he kept the act up, they would believe him to be one of them. On top of that, mind control Skills could just as easily undo mind control as it could create it. Which wasn''t all that easy in the first ce of course. It was mana intensive and included a mental battle between the two minds - or in the case of freeing one, a battle between a mind and the mind control itself - during which each person would stand awkwardly frozen in ce for minutes at a time. And if one lost the mental battle, all the time and mana invested would have been wasted. Mind control was only easy - and instant - to undo when it was your own. But at least it was possible. And with Lagurith being one of only 9 cardinals still alive - as without the prophet, no one new could be a cardinal - the siren would be able to free the minds of nearly all of them. It simply required they took him with them. So, they did. Chapter 93: An Ounce of Prevention Chapter 93: An Ounce of Prevention Sarzina Acacia was headed towards the Sheriff''s office to help him make a report on the day''s events for the Crown Princess and her escorts to take back to the Queen, who wanted to be kept up to date on everything regarding the cult. The Sheriff''s office was located on the second floor of the Security Guild and as she stepped into the building her attention was immediately drawn towards a loud discussion happening in the lobby. The human man her Dungeon had requested she keep a closer eye on to ensure he didn''t get sucked back into the cult was talking disparately - and thus loudly - with the siren who had been the first of the prisoners to be freed of mind control. Zina didn''t know what was so special about this particr human, which had led her Dungeon to want to keep him in particr safe. She hadn''t asked as she highly doubted she would have gotten an answer. The Dungeon liked their - the beastkin had ensured her the Dungeon prefered they/them pronouns - secrets enough to have the System force her to keep them for them, after all. At least the request was one she was happy to amodate. She didn''t want anyone to fall into the clutches of the cult in the first ce. What is going on here? It didn''t take much listening before the piece fell into ce: The siren had joined the unit going after the cult and the human wanted to stay with him. But the siren was worried about the human''s safety due to the man''s much lower level. Yeah¡­ How can you only be a 2nd tier despite being in your prime? Zina, who had spent all her free time training and leveling up in Dungeons, had no way of understanding how someone could be that low leveled and not just havee of age. "You are wee to stay here till mister Lagurith returns, mister Great Rat." Zina interrupted to suggest. If he stays here I can keep an eye on him like my Dungeon wants. I can''t really leave this ce for unknown periods of time. "Mister Great Rat?!" The human eximed confusedly, before stubbornness set back in. "No. You''re not a boss if you''re not close enough to order anyone around! I have to stay with him!" That''s not true, Zina thought confused. The Queendom works just fine even though the Queen can''t be everywhere. "I-. No, but-." Mr. Great Rat stuttered. "Maybe that works for you, but that''s not how it works here!" He ended stubbornly. "I don''t mind thepany of Mr. Great Rat." Intercepted Lagurith with a fond smile aimed at the human. "I simply worry for his safety during my missions." "I-. But-. I won''t-. I''ll stay hidden!" The human replied with his arms now crossed and his head turned sideways, looking down. "Hmmm¡­" It was silent for a couple of seconds as Zina thought. "What do you intend to do while mister Lagurith is working?" The reply was instant. "Whatever he tells me to!" Zina raised an eyebrow as Lagurith questioned the answer. "Whatever I tell you to? Don''t you have anything you want to do?" The look the human sent was in itself an answer. "Huh¡­ If you could have any job in the world, what kind of job would you have?" "I-. Uhh¡­" Clearly he had never considered that before now, as he froze up entirely from being asked. After several long seconds Lagurith seemed to give up on getting an answer as he suddenly sighed. "I''m sure we can find something you''ll like doing." The human unfroze as a satisfied grin appeared on his lips. "Something which will keep him out of danger and away from the cult?" Zina questioned. If I can''t do it myself then¡­ A questioning chirp sounded from the siren before he answered. "Certainly. As I said, his safety is my main concern. I''ll do my utmost to keep him out of harm''s way. Whether that be physical or mental." "Good! Now if you''ll excuse me, I have some paperwork to do with the Sheriff." The silently listening deputies in the lobby sniggered. Paperwork might not be all the two of them did in the Sheriff''s office these days, but the rumors were certainly ahead of reality. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Is that your personal name or family name?" Kastle Brassheart questioned the siren. The human next to him had been presented by the siren with both a personal name and a family name. While it wasn''t his business he highly suspected the human had been adopted by gnomes for him to have a family name like Greatrat. "We sirens don''t have family names as we consider our wholemunity our family," replied Lagurith. "Oh," eximed Kastle, confused. "Then how do you know whether you''ve been invited to stay in someone''s home?" The siren chirped confusedly back at Kastle. "Well¡­ While sirens are very hospitable, our customs means each Vige and Town has several guest homes avable for guests rather than guest bedrooms. While you would always be allowed to visit, even uninvited and without warning, you would not be allowed to stay at someone''s home. Night time is meant to be spent with your ji-dit, your closest family." "Oh!" Kastle eximed again but this time in understanding. He had never considered that someone might have other traditions when it came to social interactions. "Well, we gnomes will introduce ourselves or each other by both personal and family name. But expect to be called by our family name and any relevant title. If we give our permission for you to address us by our personal name only, then you would have earned our trust and loyalty. And with that trust and loyaltyes the standing offer to find shelter and safety in our home." Lagurith took a moment to look around at the members of the Exodus around them, before drawing his gaze back to Kastle. "While I''m sure that''s true for your people, I''m afraid to say it''s not a universal gnome custom. I have met many gnomes doing my travels, many of whom asked to be called by their personal name the moment we met. Long before any trust and loyalty could be established between us. Some people simply prefer being called by their personal name rather than their family name. Generally because they want to be seen and judged for their own merits instead of their parents''." Kastle simply stared nkly as his brain tried toprehend the meaning of the words he had been told. Could this-? be why we were always rejected? Just how many times have I, and so many others, entered the home of a person who gave us permission to call them by their personal name? Thinking it meant we had been invited inside? Thinking it meant we had been invited to stay? Too many. We have mostly been traveling through humannds and they seem to prefer to be called by their personal names. Regaining hisposure, Kastle decided to ask the siren if this could be the truth. "Hmm¡­" The siren hummed thoughtfully for a moment after hearing their tale. "That would certainly be enough for some ces, but I do find it odd that not a single person would tell you what you had done wrong. Perhaps there is more to the story than simply this. Maybe you and some of your fellows could go through what a normal day looks like for you. I find cultures very fascinating, you see, and I know the customs of Pasan well. When you speak of humans, you are referring to the citizens of Pasan, correct?" "Yes, I did! And we''ll be d to go through our routines with you!" The excitement in Kastle''s voice was clear to all. Finally we''ll figure out what we''ve been doing wrong all this time! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "While ''finders keepers'' are a thing, for - quite frankly - everyone else, it onlyes into effect if it''s impossible to tell who owned - or rather owns - the object. If your pet roon, crow, or raven brings you an item which you know belongs to someone else, it is instead your duty to do all you can to bring the object back to its proper owner. You don''t just get to keep it. And plenty of ces might demand you train your pets not to steal rather than encourage it. It might not technically not be you who steals the item, but as you''ve decided to keep known stolen goods which your pets have brought you, you would still be considered the thief to most ces. You are supposed to be the sapient here, their actions are your responsibility." Lagurith took a couple of deep breaths before finishing his scolding of a fully adult gnome woman. Having racoons, crows, and ravens as pets was apparentlypletely normal for these gnomes, and it waspletely expected that they would bring any well liked owner gifts in the form of items they had found on their walks or flights. It didn''t matter if those ''gifts'' had clearly been stolen from another. The gnomes themselves simply made sure to lock anything away that might be taken by another''s pet as a ''gift''. "Now bring all of your stolen goods to the Security Guild so it can be given back to their proper owner. Then train your pets not to steal from people." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó With 8,925 mana per hour and no intention of making something super expensive, like a unicorn blessing, it didn''t take me long to finish my 11th Floor. After having done 5 mainly forest themed Floors followed by 5 mainly volcano themed ones, and as I had already been outed as being an unusual Dungeon, I had decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of doing 5 mainly river andke themed Floors next, I would only make one. The 12th Floor would then be mountain themed, the 13th a desert, and the 14th a tundra. A greater variety would not only keep me from stagnating, but leave me better able to defend myself against specialized enemies. When I eventually ran out of Floors I could make and had to wait for either a level up or a tier up, I nned to redo my first 10 Floors, to make them fit this rotation. And to stop boredom of course! Now that I think about it¡­ I''ve never actually been bored. Not even back at level 0 when I waited hours simply to get enough mana to make a single drag. ¡­ Probably an inherent immortality thing. Otherwise no one would ever be able to handle eternity! With only 1 Floor to work with per theme at a time, I wanted to include a much bigger variety of suitable dragons. Where each of my first 5 Floors had of the dragons I had gotten through leveling up - all forest themed -, this time I would include 4 of them on one Floor. The tatzelwurm was a lindwyrm with the face and front paws of a lynx. Both the furred front part of the creature and the scaled back part was colored in a lynx''s pattern with the fur part extending down the creature''s back a bit like the mane of a horse. Besides their sharp ws and teeth, tatzelwurms could produce an ear-spingly high-pitched hissing sound meant to distract their prey from the poisonous breath now surrounding them. A pair of crocodiles with an elephant trunk, makaras, could be found at every entrance throughout the Floor as they had an Achievement called ''Guardian of Gateways'' which gave them bonuses in both Strength and Toughness while guarding anything one could consider a gateway. As they were already able to Buff their own Toughness and as ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' would surely already be in effect by the time any intruders arrived at the 11th Floor, they could potentially end up with quite insane Toughness Scores. Where the tatzelwurms would strike from their hiding spots in trees and shrubs, the peludas would ambush from underwater. This long-necked drake had an almost spherical bodypletely covered in green, stiff, waterproof fur from which poison-tipped, hedgehog-like spikes emerged. The poison was a weak and slow acting one, clearly meant to deter and punish predators from trying to eat it. And with their size being just short that of arge dog, they were small enough to warrant that size of protection in this world. Not that that was their only defense. No, their first instinct was to burn their enemies with their breaths of Fire! And if that didn''t work, the peluda would use its mace-shaped tail to crush them. To round out the dragons of the 11th Floor came the amaru. The amaru was an amphiptere with two sets of fins on its long, fish-like tail as well as red and green, waterproof feathers on its wings. With the exception of its more colorful wings, it had a body coveredpletely in turquoise scales. Even on its ma-like head. Which was a bit weird to look at. As the only flier of the group, I found it quite fitting that they preferred to spend their time in the sky, where they could summon small localized thunderstorms, cause hail to appear, or simply make it rain onmand. Chapter 94: Relationships and Their Trials Chapter 94: Rtionships and Their Trials The elves who had escorted and guarded the cultist prisoners to me for anti-mind control therapy stayed in town for 5 days. During the first two days they dealt with the prisoners, got their statements, and a short approximation of what they intended to do now that they were free. They even got the statement of the Crown Princess, though of course that was less of an interview and more of a polite request of information. My ''dungeon mistress'' had already gotten and ryed her statement but of course they had wanted to be extra thorough. Mind control was not something to mess around with, so I could only agree with how seriously they were taking it all. Thest three days of their stay they used to recuperate and prepare themselves for their uing journey back home. Which is where problems began to arise. Without their jobs to keep them distracted, the neers started focusing on the beastkin poption. They had been informed that owning a beastkin was illegal here and that they had the same rights as elves and other sapient species, so nothing too bad happened. If they had been forced to stay here longer there probably would have. But in the end it was mostly speciesisticments and slurs, cutting in front of lines, and general rude behavior. A couple of shouting matches had gotten loud enough that the localw enforcement had to step in, but luckily my ''dungeon mistress'' had trained them well enough that at least the Security Guild showed no biases towards elves. Which had prompted Nerok to stop his retelling of one such event to inform me that local elves generally were still a tad bit speciesistic. Not the Security Guild, which was apparently more due to their Sheriff, who just so happened to be dating my ''dungeon mistress''. This hidden speciesism, however, appeared to be more due to habit and learned behaviors not yet unlearned. They trusted their High Priest when he stated the System considered beastkin sapients. And as their other two authority figures, my ''dungeon mistress'' and the Sheriff, believed this just as forcefully, themon citizen saw no reason to doubt it. To them it was simply a new discovery that the rest of the world - or rather; the other elves - had yet to ept. Still, it would take time before all their bad habits had been done with. Something unlikely to happen to the elven guards leaving with the Crown Princess. As they left I heard - through the ears of my ''dungeon mistress'' - that several of them nned to take out their frustration of having had to ''y nice with filthy beasts and pretend they''re sapient'' on beastkin ves when they got home. I so wish I could help those ves. That my actions and presences hadn''t caused that reaction in those elves. Speaking of beastkin and elven rtionships: The Tribe had at first been paying the Dungeon tax - one tenth of the worth of everything you took out of the Dungeon - mainly as they didn''t want to disturb the delicate bnce between the two species. But after the heightened tensions while the elven guards were here, Nerok had brought the topic up for discussion with my ''dungeon mistress''. He imed that as the Tribe was the one to discover and bring attention to my Dungeon - unwillingly or not - they should be exempt from Dungeon tax. She, in return, imed that as the ''dungeon mistress'' she was the owner of the Dungeon and thus had the right to make anyone pay to enter her property. Either Nerok or I liked hearing that, and the noblewoman even seemed to regret her words immediately as she quickly backtracked, stating that that was how thew saw the situation but that this was clearly outside of the norm. After a bit back and forth, they agreed on Dungeon tax for the Tribe but a week''s worth of service to the ''dungeon mistress'' for each adult member of the Tribe per year. As the Tribe worshiped me every day by walking through my Dungeon while gathering anything they found of interest, this was much preferable to them. After agreeing on a list of examples of what these services might be, the two parties left in pleasant moods. In other news, while rr had sessfully passed the 5 Floors'' Test, he still had trouble being nice to elves. He''s clearly working on it, but it''s just as clearly forced. He''ll get there eventually. It takes time to break old habits and get over trauma. Maybe he''ll get better at it once he''s bonded to that kobold he keeps talking to? A supportive friend can do wonders for progress, after all! The Tribe had taken my advice and had Nerok approach Ovakz alone, which had stopped her from running off immediately. And once she actually got to hear their offer of membership, she nearly broke down crying on the spot. As a miner, Ovakz had long since passed the 5 Floors'' Test, and while she still acted more submissive towards elves than other species, she had no problem being nice to them. Likewise she had no problems with the gnomes and she treated the Tribe''s half a dozen bonded kobolds with respect despite their poor speech. For while everything said inside my Dungeon was tranted, outside of it the kobolds reverted to speaking an ancient koboldnguage, long forgotten by the modern specieses. They had to be taught the modernmonnguage spoken by all but the sirens. The kobolds could generally hold a simple conversation as long as it stayed within certain topics. Anything moreplex, they would have to enter my Dungeon to have it tranted. Having epted the kobolds as sapients, she came to the final trial - though I don''t think anyone had informed her that her ce in the Tribe depended on her reaction. She had to be informed and epted that I, a Dungeon Core, was sapient. It mostly confused her. Like she didn''t think she had heard correctly. So, I spoke to her through my mimics, which eventually convinced her that this wasn''t a joke. And she epted me, and the Tribe epted her. While the majority of the elven guard had left for the capital, a small group of them went in another direction to meet up with the rest of their team before they went after the cult. The siren Apprentice Mindbender and the human who kept getting mind controlled had joined this group. ording to my ''dungeon mistress'' they would be invaluable due to their knowledge of the cult and how easily they would be able to infiltrate the headquarters. The cult believed them to still be members after all. This was also apparently the first time the gnomes heard about the cult and their mission to collect Dungeon Cores, thus killing them in the process. Which caused them to realize the cult was responsible for the destruction of their Dungeon. Many gnomes had wanted to join the elves in their mission, but had to admit to being a bad fit. Partly due to ack of skills needed and partly due to their high emotional state on the matter. Instead they dedicated themselves to protecting me from ending up with the same fate. As for my Floor making endeavors, I had gone back to designing my own creatures again in the attempt to tier up my Creature Designer Achievement. But several times I had encountered a message essentially saying: ''This creature is too simr to this other already existing creature, so here is instead the pattern for that creature''. Like when I had tried to make a simple dog with a monkey arm instead of a tail - something I had thought to be more scary than practical - only for it to gain the ability to breathe underwater and for its fur to be waterproof as the System dered it an ahuizotl. I still managed to design some new, but pretty simple and cheap creatures. Not enough for the tier up, though. Status, please. Personal Status Level: 59+ Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 2,820/5,000 EXP: 11,027,339 Next mana payment for level up: 0/212,000 Mana: 62.75/26,500 Mana regeneration: 9,275 per hour Floors: 11/30 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules The 11th Floor was done and the 12th well underway. The halved EXP gain caused by being at a + level certainly didn''t bother me, seeing how I was only about halfway through the amount of 25%ers I needed to deal with before I could tier up. Well! I have plenty of Floors to deal with in the meantime! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Jenna Emery nervously walked toward her childhood home. It had been more than two decades since she hadst been home, and where before everyone in her neighborhood had known and recognized her, now no one did. My parents must be 55 by now. And while the average human lived about 80 years, Jenna''s parents lived in the bad part of the City, where a long life wasn''t guaranteed. Not because the ce had a lot of crime and violence - it hadn''t - but because the entire neighborhood was poor which led to bad hygiene, bad quality food, poor health, and sicknesses. There was no guarantee Jenna''s parents still lived in the same house, just like she had no guarantee they were even still alive. But there was no reason to dy. She was already two decadeste. The sound of knocking was incredibly loud to Jenna''s ears, but the following silence even more so. No ''Coming!'' being shouted from her mom. No sound of dad''s heavy footsteps nearing the door. Not even the sound of strangers reacting to her knocking. Just silence. Tears finally sprung from Jenna''s eyes as she blindly went to the other side of the house, locating the faulty window to the kitchen they had never gotten fixed and climbing inside. While her teary eyes made it out to make out, the house had clearly changed over the decades. Nothing much but plenty of tiny details. Clearly no one new had moved into the ce. But all those tiny details? They indicated her parents had gotten her a little brother near the end. Her bedroom was the most changed, as it clearly wasn''t her bedroom anymore. But her new brother''s. It was unclear whether this boy was her biological brother or if her parents had adopted him in her absence. Street kids were abundant in this neighborhood and with her parents kind and giving naturesbined with her own empty bedroom? Yeah. He was likely an adopted street kid. But that didn''t make him any less her brother. And while their parents might be dead, he was likely still out there, needing his sister''s help. With that thought Jenna was ready to leave the house in search of her new brother she had never before seen. "What are you doing in my room, bitch?!" Came the sudden screech of a preteen boy. "Huh?" Jenna''s mncholy inner monologue had distracted her from the sounds of people entering the house. And having heard the young boy''s using question, his parents came running. Her parents came running. "... Jenna?" Unlike the rest of the neighborhood, her parents could still recognize her, even after more than 20 years apart. Jenna nodded, stunned. "Jenna!" Her parents shouted as one as they ran past the boy, who must be her new brother, to embrace their returned daughter. "I''m home! I''m finally home!" And anyone who tried to drag her away from hermunity again would be met with the wrath of Jenna Emery! Chapter 95: Family Reunions Chapter 95: Family Reunions The three ex-cultists had decided to travel together more forpanionship than for safety reasons. As their levels were between 48 and 57 - with Agtius himself having the highest level - they had little to fear from the area. It wasn''t a particrly dangerous route they had to take, after all. As the destination of all three of them was the Kingdom of Windin, they traveled together the majority of the way. As they traveled, Reid had informed hispanions that - despite having left his family and responsibilities behind suddenly and with no warning - he only intended to stay with his family for a week, before he would return to the Dungeon that saved to repay his debt to it. How exactly one repays a debt to a Dungeon, he hadn''tpletely figured out, but Reid assumed he would be protecting it from its enemies such as The Order of The Broken Goddess. The Pdin then invited his twopanions to join him on the trip back. They both declined. Jenna had never wanted to leave her neighborhood in the first ce. She was not a fighter, nor an adventurous soul. Agtius refused to even consider abandoning his family again. They arrived at Jenna''s destination first and so she was the first to leave the group to - hopefully - reunite with her parents. Reid and Agtius, however, had the same destination. Only Reid lived in the City, while Agtius lived outside its borders where trees for chopping were more essible. Walking up the familiar path to his family''s cottage the consistent sounds of an axe hitting wood could be heard over the background sounds of singing songbirds. As the cottage came into view Agtius spotted an unknown, almost adult, adolescent giantess hard at work chopping wood. And having finished her current swing, she spotted Agtius as well and sat the axe down beside her. "Howdy! How may I help you, stranger?" She asked with a smile and a wave. "I''m looking for Valith, Kusius, or any member of their family." Agtius replying, nervously. It''s been so long. Are they even here? Are they still¡­ alive? "Oh¡­" The young giantess eximed, stunned and somewhat confused. "You mustn''t have been by a while. My father, Kusius, died 11 years ago. Barely even remember him anymore, it''s been that long. Granted, I was only four when he died, so I-" "Meas?!" Agtius interrupted. "Yes?" His youngest sibling replied questionably. Even with the news of his father''s death still ringing in his ears, the relief of being back with even just a single family member forced Agtius to instinctively rush in to hug his precious little sister, even with one arm missing. A hug his sister nimbly dodged. "Wow there buster! You haven''t even introduced yourself yet!" Right, she was still a baby when Ist saw her. Of course she doesn''t recognize me. I didn''t even recognize her! "It''s Agtius! Your oldest brother!" This time Agtius was able to stop himself from trying to hug her. "Agtius?" All movement stopped except for her rapidly moving eyes as Meas used all her focus to analyze the neer. "Yes!" Agtius nodded excitedly. "What about mam¨¢? Is she okay?" "Mam¨¢ is fine. Old and aching, but otherwise doing okay." Meas replied absent-mindedly, clearly still trying toprehend the reappearance of her long lost brother. "You lost your arm." The dungeon mistress of The Dungeon of Karma had been able to stabilize Agtius'' blood loss enough that he had been able to reach a professional Healer who could use Healing mana to fix his stub down to the skin tissue. He just didn''t have anywhere near enough money to have his arm regrown or get an Enchanted recement. "She inside?" Agtius questioned, ignoring thement on his missing arm for now. Meas hummed suspiciously. "I suppose the best way of proving your im is to have mam¨¢ see you. Yeah, she''s taking a nap in her room." "And the others?" Agtius questioned, even as he walked towards the entrance of the cottage. "Fridvag, Trivog, and Miztius moved out. Safius and Ethor stayed behind to help mam¨¢ out. They''re in town working. The City''s not really expanding anymore, so people don''t really need wood for building no more. And with the new supplier of Heating Breakthrough Orbs, wood isn''t even needed for firewood. And, you wouldn''t have heard, but we got a gnome family as our neighbor now, and the Goldbranches are way better than us at making wooden furniture. So, business isn''t going well enough for Safius and Ethor to work for the family, so they got jobs in town instead." They needed me. They needed me, and I wasn''t there! Finally he stood in front of the door to his mother''s bedroom. A door which opened before he could knock. "What''s all that ruckus abo-!" His mam¨¢ began, only to interrupt herself mid word. "Agtius! My baby boy!" Much like her son, her first instinct was to hug her family in a bone crushing hug. "Mam¨¢!" I''ll never leave my family behind again! Over my dead body! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Reid Alvarado didn''t get to knock on the door of his childhood home before it was opened by his stoic father. His father smelled of sweat and could be seen wearing chainmail, both of which indicated he had just been out in the courtyard training. Why is he the one answering the door? Whichever one of our butlers is currently working should be the one answering. "Father." Reid greeted politely, just as his father always wanted him to, but the longing in his voice was audible. His father didn''t reply and the silence dragged out for several seconds while the two men stared at each other. Then the older of the two suddenly burst into tears of relief and sudden movement as he grabbed his son in a tight hug. Reid immediately hugged back and started muttering reassurances into the older man''s ear. "I''m here, dad. I''m really here." As the twins had rarely ever been hugged by their father and certainly never seen their stoic father cry, it didn''t take long for Reid to start crying just as hard as his father was. "Any room for me in there?" The sound of a female voice came from behind his father. "Kat?" His twin had grown a bit since hest saw her. From what he could see through the tears, she looked more mature and was certainly dressed so. Gone was the happy adolescent he had guarded his final week of knight examination. An examination he had been forced to abandon on the veryst day. Did she end up finishing hers, or did my disappearance mess that up too? Regardless of all the subtle changes, it was clearly his beloved twin. Detaching from his father''s grip, Reid desperately grabbed hold of his sister, hugging her tight. More crying ensured as their father hugged the twins as they hugged each other. "Where is mom?" Reid asked when the crying finally died down. "Out on a mission. No contact, as usual," Kathrin replied, letting go of her brother after their lengthy crying and hugging session. As she wiped away her tears she continued. "Unlike normally, she actually gave us some details before leaving. Apparently some Brainwashing cult needs to be dealt with before they expand too much, but they have a hard time figuring out who is a member," Kat began exining. "Unicorns act insanely towards them so at least we know the pce hasn''t been infiltrated." Her demeanor had gone from tearfilled relief to serious-spy-giving-their-rapport. The red eyes after having cried broke the otherwise stoic image. "And as unicorns seem to be the only way we have of detecting them, the Royal family has a lended nearly their entire blessing to thew enforcement in thergest of Cities if they wouldn''t otherwise have ess to a unicorn. Then the unicorn is put on a lead like it''s amon horse and escorted through the streets. If it suddenly starts acting aggressive, mom or any of her colleagues have the duty of locating and apprehending the cultist before they even realize they''ve been spotted." Good. Kat shrugged while looking slightly sad. "They have Skills which can Brainwash people. Normalw enforcement would simply end up Brainwashed. For now we keep them in mana enforced sleep as much as possible till we''ve figured out how to get rid of the mind control. Mom gives us weekly updates, but it''s still a delicate enough situation that she can''t risk having her positionpromised just ''cause we called her." Having finished exining her mother''s role in the current crisis, Kat changed the subject to her own role. "My job is to watch out for suspicious figures. People who seem to be avoiding getting close enough to the unicorn for it to notice them. Or simply people who are acting like they might be a part of the cult." The twitch of a smile suddenly appeared on his sister''s lips and a glimpse of mischief appeared in her eyes. "I saw a very suspicious looking man enter the City about an hour ago. d fully in armor with the symbol of the cult. You know. The moon one can only barely detect is broken into 6 equal pieces if one knows to look for it, which symbolizes the broken goddess they supposedly worship? Right next to the ssic sun with 6 sunbeams, which, even in our own, real, faith, symbolizes the System? Sounds familiar?" Reid looked down, before checking his shield. Just as he remembered, both his breastte and shield bore the aforementioned symbols. "Right. I had forgotten about that." "How did you get out?" Kat questioned, seemingly not doubting the fact that he had gotten out. "Let''s move inside before you begin." Their father suggested. "I''m sure it won''t be a short tale." Reid told them all he knew as the three of them sat on the soft couches in the sitting room. How he became a part of a mind controlling cult. Their goal and false goddess. How a Dungeon had freed the one who had Hypnotized him, who had in turn freed him, but with the intention of putting them all under mind control of his own. And how the Crown Princess of one of the neighboring nations had been mind controlled as well, for not even royalty was safe from this cult. Except, apparently, Windin''s own royalty, whose unicorns could keep them safe. Which Reid felt infinitely grateful for. Their father simply nodded stoically as he alway did. He was a man of few words. Kat - as a trained spy - waited patiently for Reid to finish speaking before asking her questions to ensure she did disturb and cause him to forget details due to her questions. "This Dungeon can undo mind control? I''ll have to ensure the higher ups know about this, so we can make a deal with Alfam¨¦r to borrow their Dungeon for this." "About that." Reid began. "Alfam¨¦r is ruled by a Queen, as you know. But when ites to settlements around a Dungeon, the dungeon master or mistress is the one to make thews. They do still have to follow the ''ground rules'' so to speak, and I think they still pay the Queen taxes and such things. But they can add anyw they want as long as it doesn''t go against the ground rules. So, you would have to make the deal with dungeon mistress Sarzina Acacia and not Queen Phoenix Flower." Reid had learned quite a lot about how their legal system worked when it came to Dungeons and their surrounding settlements, simply by observing how the locals had acted around their dungeon mistress. But that wasn''t the only detail he had noticed worth mentioning. "Additionally¡­ The Dungeon of Karma isn''t located in Alfam¨¦r territory. They were simply the ones to put an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage on the Dungeon Core. The first to find it was a group of beastkin runaway ves originating from Mammalia. The Dungeon itself is actually located in the no-man''snd between Windin, Alfam¨¦r, Mammalia, and Tharesaly. The Empty Forest, which no nation ever bothered to im." Kat hummed thoughtfully for a moment as she considered the implications of this. "While Windin could certainly attempt to argue at least partial rights to the Dungeon due to its location, the general rule regarding these kinds of no-man''snd states it''s firste first served. In which case Windin has no im to the area. Still, I''ll have to report it in." Kat stood up from the couch only to hesitate in her movement. A pleading, somewhat shameful look was then aimed at her twin. "I don''t want us to be separated again when we only just got back together, but I have to report this as fast as possible. It''s out of protocol, but as a key witness I think I can get it overlooked. Will you pleasee with me, my knight?" Reid melted in fondness at the childhood nickname. "Of course, my shadow. I feel the same way." Chapter 96: Ensuring Freedom and Whether or Not You Should Believe In It Chapter 96: Ensuring Freedom and Whether or Not You Should Believe In It A week had passed and Agtius hade up with many arguments against moving - most of which he was fully aware originated from his trauma of having been forced to abandon his family. The rest of the family - especially his mam¨¢, who had always been the head of the family even when his bamp¨¢s had still been alive - had decided otherwise. Apparently business was going badly enough that the family of immigrants decided to immigrate again. The three oldest of his younger siblings, Fridvag, Trivog, and Miztius had already moved out and made a good life for themselves, so they wouldn''t be joining the rest of the family. Why can''t we just all stay together?! Why do I have to leave anyone behind?! Meas had another half a year before she would be an actual adult with ess to the System, so she would naturally join her mam¨¢. Safius and Ethor may have had jobs, but they had gotten them for the money and not because of actual interest. So, they had decided to join their mam¨¢ as well. I should never have told them about The Dungeon of Karma. The tale of his freedom had included mentioning the still developing settlement surrounding the Dungeon. And his family knew well enough that developing ces took a lot of wood. Even with houses built of stone and cement, a lot of the skeleton and infrastructure was made of wood. Or at least I should have lied about their need for wood. Made the ce sound less desirable. In the end, Agtius'' arguments hadn''t worked, and the family had sold theirnd and home to buy a pair of arthropleura and everything else they needed for the three to four week long journey. And here they were, bright and early. Standing right where Agtius had separated from Reid, waiting for the Pdin so he could join their unexpected caravan. "Agtius! I see you changed your mind!" Reid greeted as he arrived. "Oh! You had to convince your family, I see! Wonderful to meet you all! I''m Reid Alvarado, as I''m sure you know, and this is my twin sister Kathrin." He certainly cheered up since getting back to his family. His decision to leave them behind might be questionable, but at least he knows to appreciate them. Then again. He apparently isn''t leaving them all behind. "They were actually the ones to¡­ convince¡­ me, this was the right thing to do." Then with a nod towards Kathrin, Agtius continued. "A pleasure to meet you Kathrin. I''m Agtius, and this is my mother Valith. My brothers Safius and Ethor. And my sister Meas. Business hasn''t been going as well as it could be." He ended with a shrug. No need to go into details, and I''m sure they can guess the important bits. "Oh! Well, I couldn''t let my twin leave again, so soon after having been apart for so long!" Kathrin said with a pep in her step as she began leading her horse and the caravan away from the City, so they could begin their journey. "We''re twins, after all! We were rarely ever apart, and it''s been so lonely without him." "I know, Kat. Stop rubbing it in." Reid said with a roll of his eyes. His smile betrayed his true feelings, however. "I don''t think I''ve told what I did when I realized you had disappeared and that the Hypnosis, which had failed on me, had actually seeded on you? Well, I quickly realized it must have happened while I was talking to the worthless baron. If I hadn''t been in another room, this never would have happened! So I called my mentor before sneaking back in for interrogation. He didn''t say anything of note despite all my tricks and anger. He didn''t even break when my mentor took over! That''s when we realized, of course as he was Hypnotized too, he wouldn''t break no matter what! So, we had him discredited and thrown in jail. Again, we had no way of getting rid of his Hypnosis." Kathrin ended the tale with a nonchnt shrug, like she hadn''t just admitted to ruining a man''s life, simply for distracting her when she should have been with her brother. A woman after my own head. Despite the dark implications of Kathrin''s story, pleasant banter soon erupted amongst the group as they all began sharing stories. The atmosphere was only broken when they stopped for lunch. With his missing arm Agtius hadn''t been able to help as much as he had wanted to. At times he had even been the one who needed the help! Katrin, or Kat as she had asked they call her, had checked their surroundings as lunch was concluding to ensure their istion, before revealing the other reason she had joined their group. "I''m gonna ask that you keep what I''m about to say a secret while we travel," she began. "It''s not so much a matter of national security as it is to stop a national panic, otherwise I likely wouldn''t have been allowed to tell you. As you already know, members of the cult of The Broken Goddess are currently being identified via unicorns and taken into custody. This is happening all over Windin. What we haven''t let the public know, is that we don''t know how to reverse the mind control." A bright, tooth-filled grin appeared on Kat''s face. "That''s where Ie into y! As I - through both my job and brother - am already aware of all the details, I''ve gotten the honor of acting as an ambassador, to broker a deal between Windin and dungeon mistress Acacia to have our prisoners sent to her Dungeon for rehabilitation." She gave a self-satisfied nod topped with a cocky grin, before leaning in to stage whisper. "Of course they also picked me because I possess the necessary Ability Scores to act as a makeshift ambassador! Not just anyone can be trusted with a task like this!" Well. The trip''s certainly not gonna be boring with her around, Agtius thought with a shake of his head and a smile. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Dungeon Rule Updated: ¡®Mimicking Fake Core¡¯ bes a Dungeon Core mimic. The sudden System announcement took me by surprise as I hadn''t been informed of how long it would take. Hello little one! Wee to the world! While my newly created Dungeon Core mimic didn''t respond physically to my greeting - it still very much looked like a perfect replica of my actual Dungeon Core - but I could feel its emotions quite expressively. I couldn''t feel the emotions of any other of my creatures, but with its job meaning it had to pretend to be my Core, it made sense it could talk to me without having to speak like my other creatures. At most the rest could let me see through their eyes and hear through their ears and such, but nothing involving their thoughts or feelings. In addition to sharing feelings, my Dungeon Core mimic responded to my greeting by sending me its thoughts: Love Creator. Protect Creator. Oh, my perfect little baby! I thought in reply to my only level 60 creature. While I hope you''ll never need to, I know you''ll do just perfect should you need to protect me! Pride, happiness, and self confidence were sent back in response. Oh? You prefermunicating with emotions rather than words? Feelings of happiness and eptance were my only response. Luckily the System had prepared me for unusual ways of saying ''yes''. Very well, my little one. What''s my mana like right now? Status, please! Personal Status Level: 59+ Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 2,820/5,000 EXP: 66,053,742 Next mana payment for level up: 0/212,000 Mana: 17,562/26,500 Mana regeneration: 9,275 per hour Floors: 19/30 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules I had gotten a lot done in the 16 days it had been since the elven Crown Princess had left with her escorts. So much in fact, that it would take forever to list it all. 8 additional Floors had been made with varying Environmental themes and everything that entailed. I''ve got a decent chunk of mana saved up. Let''s see what I can do with it! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Talindra Phoenix Flower had been traveling for three long weeks. Her escorts had been ordered by her mother to never let her out of their sights. A habit which had begun as soon as they had arrived at the still unnamed and unfinished Dungeon town. As such, the Crown Princess was way past simply being annoyed with them by now. But at the same time, she understood. Her past self would have ditched the guards almost immediately to go explore and have fun. But that puzzle in the Dungeon. That one puzzle, which had made her believe herself to be dead. It had changed her perspective on things. No longer were fun and material things what was most important. No. The most important thing was Alfam¨¦r. It was time to grow up and finally be the heir she was raised to be. And being a good heir started with not running away like she wanted to and staying in sight of the guards at all times. Which meant she couldn''t go out hunting, her all time favorite activity, and had to let someone else provide food for the group. Instead Talindra used her free time reading over the report of the Dungeon of Karma. It was a fascinating read. So fascinating in fact, that had she not witnessed many of the points herself she wouldn''t have believed it. Her mother had called her weekly - which would normally have been considered quite excessive but was understandable under the circumstances. As little of interest happened while traveling their emco talks mainly consisted of all the oddities the report described and any experience Talindra could add. Normally her mother wouldn''t have hidden as much of the ongoings of the Queendom as she did during their talks. There had been a lot of ''it''s being taken care of'' and a lot less details on how it was being taken care of than usual. But Talindra didn''t me her mother or get angry like her past self would have. It was hard being in charge and there was no reason for Talindra to make it harder for her mother. One of the first things Talindra had learned from her mother was the act of masking. Her mother had three masks: The Foreign Queen, where she would act coldly but fairly towards other nations. The Loving Queen, for interactions with her own subjects. And her true self, which was only ever shown to her closest friends and family. Talindra was used to her mother acting distantly whenever they were in public or if a surprise guest showed up. But to see the face of The Foreign Queen when it was only them and her personal Guards? The Guards she treated as an extension of her family due to the close bond of their Party? That hurt. But again, the much more mature Talindra could understand her paranoia. She had no proof her daughter had actually been freed from mind control. Or that she hadn''t simply been mind controlled again on the way back to the Pce. So when her mother, the Queen, ordered her to hand her the report on the Dungeon, Talindra simply did so, hiding her pain behind her own mask. She waited while her mother skimmed through the report she had already summarized for her through their emcos. And she epted her mother''s disbelief in the report''s authenticity. Talindra had thought it herself, after all: It was an unbelievable report for those who hadn''t actually been there. So, that¡¯s the advice she gave her mother, before she was promptly escorted to her quarters. With guards still constantly guarding her. And while her younger self would simply have broken out to hunt in the woods, this version of her wanted to be better. Wanted to be the best heir and at some point the best Queen Alfam¨¦r could possibly have. And¡­ Well¡­ Talindra knew she hadn''t paid as much attention to the more political and social parts of her studies as she should have. So, in order to get the most out of her polite imprisonment, Talindra picked out several dozen unused books in her private library - that she really should have already read - and began reading. Chapter 97: Paranoia Chapter 97: Paranoia How do I know?! I can''t! I can''t know! One and a half months was more than enough to turn the normally calm Queenpletely paranoid. The only people she still trusted were her Spymaster, her husband, and her own Party members turned personal Guards. Shadow had sessfully captured the false Ambassador Lagurith and spoiled the cult''s ns, so she couldn''t be a member. And after the cult had been revealed, the Spymaster had taken some extreme precautions to stop any possible attempts of mind control on her, so her alignment wouldn''t suddenly change. Enania herself wasn''t mind controlled due to the simple fact that she was never alone. Either she had her Guards with her or she was with her husband. And if either of those had been members she would have been either mind controlled or kidnapped by now. And while Advisor Acacia certainly hadn''t been mind controlled when she notified them of the problem, there was no telling whether that had changed since then. Enania hadn''t been as careful with those she trusted in the beginning due to how chaotic it had been, and she had let the Advisor out of her sight and protection. And while the story of the mysterious Dungeon which could free people from mind control had arrived with the knowledge of the cult and thus should have been trustworthy, it simply seemed too good to be true. And when her precious heir had begun reciting the report about the Dungeon through the emco, it had seemed too different from normal Dungeons for even a System blessing to exin it. Then her daughter was finally home, only for her behavior to prove her suspicions. Talindra had always been a wild child who cared more for immediate pleasures over her responsibilities. But this version of her daughter hadn''t run away at first opportunity. She hadn''tined - even once! - about how unfair anything was. Or simply argued that she had a high enough level that she didn''t need guards anymore. Either the Dungeon really is too good to be true, like I fear. Or Talindra was mind controlled again at some point during her travels. For that! That wasn''t my daughter. "My Queen. The Ambassadors are ready for you." The voice of Ralnor Liriodendron broke through her internal despair. Right. I was about to have a meeting. I wonder how long they''ve been waiting for. "Send them in." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Windin Ambassador had seemingly confirmed what the report had said, making the idea of an anti-mind control Dungeon simultaneously more trustworthy while making the cult potentially way more terrifying in the mind of Queen Enania. If the Dungeon actually could do as described: Good. The agreement for Windin to send all the cultists they had discovered to the Dungeon of Karma would be a devastating blow to the Order of the Broken Goddess. However, if it didn''t?: That meant the cult had widespread forces in high ces, making them exceedingly difficult to deal with. That was why Enania had rejected the return offer of a lended herd of unicorns, meant to help Alfam¨¦r detect the cult, ''for now''. She had told the Windin Ambassador she needed to prepare her Queendom and judge her people''s reaction before there could be any talk about unicorns entering the nation. ''Otherwise some elf might harm the unicorns in their fear of the creature,'' the Queen had exined, which made the human immediately agree to Enania''s words. In actuality, Enania simply didn''t know whether or not the unicorns were a trapid by the cult. If all of it was just some borate ruse to make her put her guard down. I have to be careful. One wrong step and the cult could win. But we can''t keep staying on the defensive like this. Hiding is their element, so we have to flush them out. But how can I trust any of them? The only one I trust not to have their mind taken over should they be taken is Shadow. Enania signed in the meeting room, empty except for her trusty Guards. Then Shadow will have to discover the truth for me. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Uh? Back so soon? And you didn''t just convince the giant to join you in your task to repay me for freeing you, it seems. Just over a month - 33 days to be exact - had passed since the three former cultists had left to reunite with their families. The Gravity Mage - I was informed - had no desire to return. The Pdin and Axe Master, however, had brought family back with them. In the case of the Axe Master, his family hade in the hopes of better business, while the Pdin''s sister was on a mission on behalf of their nation. And while that at first had sounded really important and cool, as soon as she and the Lightning Mage started talking politics it turned boring. I didn''t care much for the details around the deal, but as it involved me getting cultists hand delivered to me for me to free - which would bring me closer to my next tier up -, I made sure I understood the broad strokes. At first it hadn''t seemed like my ''mistress'' was even allowed to ept the deal. While she, for the most part, was essentially a queen when it came to thews of still-developing-town surrounding my Portal - now named Karmaria -, she couldn''t contradict the corews of her nation. If she did, she - and thus Karmaria - would be considered rebels, which would bring the military here to ''establish order''. One of these corews was ''no unicorns''. ¡­ Well technically it was a long list of things like ''you aren''t allowed to own a unicorn'', ''no unicorns are allowed to cross the border'', ''if a unicorn is spotted, you must either kill it yourself or notify the local authority'' and so on. So the proposed deal of having their cultists freed by me in return for the use of unicorns to detect any remaining cultists couldn''t be epted as it was. And when the Lightning Mage revealed that several members of Karmaria, including herself, had an Ability which allowed them to detect people with 0% karma like the cultists, the entire idea of unicorns helping out was scrapped. Of course the Lightning Mage would love to ept the deal on behalf of her nation, as the rest of the elves certainly needed help identifying the cultists. So she called her mom to have the deal presented to the Queen. Who simply told them to wait for one of her trusted servants to arrive and evaluate the deal. Supposedly, the servant would be here in only a couple of days. Doesn''t it usually take longer than that? Maybe they just didn''t start in the capital or something¡­ ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "What''s our next step, cardinal Hydrus?" Things hadn''t been going well for The Order of The Broken Goddess recently. Hephetrius Hydrus was one of only two cardinals, who hadn''t been killed, captured, orpromised like Lagurith. They hadn''t known at first that Lagurith had forsaken their goddess and joined the heathens. The old siren had led them right to their inner sanctum! The heathens had captured most, killed those they couldn''t, and only few had escaped the unexpected massacre. If we hadn''t been ambushed we could have taken them! Even in those numbers! Initiation took too much time and only worked on one at a time for it to be used midbat. And with The Order''s more physically inclined members being without their weapons due to not expecting they needed them-! The heathens got at least a quarter of their numbers with that attack alone. And they had already dismantled the cell meant to deal with The Royal Dungeon of Alfam¨¦r beforehand! Which was where the majority of their members in that nation were located. Alfam¨¦r only hosted about a dozen or so members around the entire Queendom these days. And the attacks hadn''t stopped there. In fact, the few members they had left looking for new Dungeons in Alfam¨¦r were the safest of them. Many of the other nations on the continent had started using various different creatures to identify their members for capture. Windin and Pasan used unicorns, Mammalia had their kirins and marakas while Geniss preferred the aid of the long but stubby b¨¡ z¨² lung dragons. Only the unicorns were actually domesticated, the rest were mainly tamed. Though for some individual creatures it could be debated if one could even consider them that much. It hadn''t led to casualties on the side of the heathens, but several of the creatures had run off rather than give them aid. The Siren Seas and The Siren Mountains had yet to receive the honor of hosting a member of The Order and might now never receive it, terrifying as that thought was. The only siren members The Order had ever had had been outsiders, for whom it would have been hard to exin their return to their mothend. As such, Hephetrius neither knew nor cared how the sirens were reacting or if they even knew. As a whole, Tharesaly didn''t know. Due to centaurs'' normally nomadic lifestyle, the heathens had only been able to spread the news of The Order''s existence to the biggest and the most well-established herds, the super-herds. These were the ones their own leaders had personally met during peace talks, which had enabled them to call using an emco. But despite Tharesaly''s slow response, Hephetrius knew exactly what his old stomping grounds would do when the news hit. Majority of the super-herds had their own flock of p¨²cas helping them out on a daily basis, and the smaller herds would simply seek out their parent super-herd for reinsurance of their heathen ways. With the presence of p¨²cas amongst the super-herds, The Order only had members ced in themon herds. But at least they had plenty of members there, due to centaurs'' wandering nature being helpful for gathering information on vulnerable Dungeons. Hephetrius had always been proud his people were so useful to The Order that he had been able to convince the other cardinals to focus their initiations on Tharesaly. And drive them away from initiating any more useless sirens. They wouldn''t be of any help, as Lagurith had so clearly proved. Knowing all this, his fellow remaining cardinal, Mnie Pierce, a human woman much like the prophet, had suggested they retreat to Tharesaly to regroup and gather their forces for a counterattack. But Hephetrius Hydrus had had a much better n. One Mnie had agreed to the moment she heard it. "We are going to The Empty Forest to rescue the main piece of our goddess. Once freed she''ll tell us how to deal with the heathens. And with abination of the ''allow all''-tool and The Song of Liberation the Dungeon itself stands no chance! We simply need to ensure we arrive with a strong enough flock that the heathens around its Portal can easily be dealt with. So, spread the word! The Order of The Broken Goddess will congregate at the edge of The Empty Forest at the border between Mammalia and Windin!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó A couple of days passed and the Queen''s servant had arrived on hippogriff. She was an elven woman simply known as Shadow. Well, that''s ominous. Clearly a codename of some sort, ''cause that doesn''t sound at all like a typical elven name. I had met more than enough elves by now to be able to draw that conclusion, where I likely wouldn''t have batted an non-existing eye back when I first opened my Portal to The Surface World. But she''s not a part of the cult at least. So, it''s likely due to privacy reasons. Maybe she simply doesn''t want her work for the Queen to follow her home. But when she finally entered my Dungeon - supposedly only out of curiosity - her identity only became a bigger question. Shadow Elf Scout Level 29 That doesn''t feel right. Shadow might be her preferred nickname, but it can''t possibly be her real one. So, why is it showing me it is? Is it broken? What was the description of Identify Identity again? Identify Identity: Everyone can see the name, species, ss, and level of everyone in their sight while inside your Dungeon. Only while using a Skill or Ability to hide is anyone exempt from being identified or able to fake their identity. Said Skill or Ability have to be of the same tier or higher than the Dungeon Core or happen with the Dungeon Core''s approval. Oh! So, she''s faking her identity! But wait! I''m level 59+ which means I''m 6th almost 7th tier. I don''t believe a mere level 29 Scout can have a Skill or Ability of a high enough tier to ovee my rule. She must be faking her ss and level too! Boy are you a mystery! The only thing I trust here is your species! ... And now I''ve bought that in doubt! Ahh!!! Chapter 98: Reports of All Sorts Chapter 98: Reports of All Sorts "I have yet to discover any signs of the cult''s influence, my Queen." Shadow reported through her emco. "Either Karmaria is better at hiding their affiliation than those at home-" Shadow had been locating and capturing the mind controlled cultists located in and around the Pce before getting her new assignment. She couldn''t be sure she hadn''t missed some, but she was good enough at her job to have caught a dozen in two weeks. "-or everything actually is as they say it is. Windin even sent a representative here to discuss the unicorn offer with the locals." "How can we know for sure?" Queen Enania asked. "My suggestion is to observe what happens when confirmed cultists enter the area, my Queen. But that would require me staying here for a longer period, leaving Them without my ready aid." The Queen didn''t say anything for a moment, taking Their time to consider Their options. "Observe. I''ll ''allow'' Windin to send their prisoners to Karmaria, but ask them to keep their unicorns for now. With how disparate Windin sounds, they have likely already started moving them towards your location, so We doubt you''ll have to wait for long." "As you wish, my Queen!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó The Queen''s servant had clearly approved the deal at some point outside of my range, as not even a whole week had passed before the prisoners from Windin arrived. 342 prisoners, that is. Which was a lot for them to guard, even if they had been forced to sleep through the journey through potions. The Pdin and his sister took it upon themselves to help the guards with their prisoners as they were brought into my Dungeon in batches. The sister likely did it due to it being a part of her job, but her brother did it as a part of his self-imposed debt. Shortly after his reappearance he had approached my ''mistress'' to ask how he could repay me for freeing him from the cult. Not Zina. Me. I was the one he owed the debt to, even if he considered me closer to an animal than a person. So, I had Zina tell him two things: That killing bad guys and freeing people from mind control helped me grow and as such his debt was paid in the instance it appeared. And if he still wanted to help me out he should first join my Tribe to learn more. With my massive growth spurt and with entire nations now depending on me for my services, I no longer feared someone deciding to kill me or stunt my growth by not allowing bad guys ess to me. That. And I had finally realized that I really would outlive them all. I had survived my Dungeon Core childhood and I no longer feared for my own safety. But still¡­ I didn''t think it was smart to tell just anyone about my sapiency. The new knowledge was enough for the Pdin toy his quest to repay me to rest, only for a new one to appear in its stead: He had made it his mission to have everyone mind controlled enter my depths, both for their own sakes, but also as a way to thank me for my services. He had also approached my Tribe about possible membership as he fully intended to settle down here. For the most part, he had passed with flying colors! The only thing keeping him from being able to join, was his seemingly inability to keep secrets from his sister. Most things he wouldn''t even try to keep from her, but the moment he did, she would simply raise her eyebrow and he would immediately surrender. And she always seemed to know when he was keeping secrets from her too! At this point it was decided he could only join if she joined too. But she was clearly a spy. ¡­ Well it was clear to me. She would only enter my Dungeon alone or with her brother, so it wasn''t super obvious to everyone else. Identify Identity had simply made it undeniable to me, and unlike ''Shadow'' she didn''t seem to be able to fake her identity. She hadn''t even tried. I would have let her if she had. I had only made the Dungeon Rule in the first ce, so I could know more about my guests back when I didn''t have the ability to ask. Back to the prisoners, most had already been freed by the time they arrived due to Charm or Enthrall wearing off over time without having been reapplied. So, most were simply woken up and sent back out. The remaining 19 I freed myself. ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "Officer Baxter here, with five other officers present. How is everything going, Agent Alvarado? Have the prisoners arrived yet?" Katrin had made sure she was outside the hearing range of others before answering the call purely out of habit. She wasn''t on a secret mission right now, so it was unlikely she would be informed of any secrets or have to share any with a superior. And if a secret had toe through, she would be requested to move somewhere private. But there was no harm in indulging in a habit like this. And it was a good one to enforce! Kat had never met officer Baxter herself, but she knew he was her current supervisor. Additionally she had heard good things about him and his work for public safety. "Officer Baxter. The prisoners arrived about four hours ago. While still unconscious they were carried into the Dungeon. Here the dungeon''s mistress exined how the mind freeing happens. It is mostly a passive process where a mind is slowly freed from its binds simply by staying in the Dungeon. How long it takes depends on the mind controller''s mental power versus that of the victim''s, any relevant Abilities if either have any, as well as what tier of mind control was used." "So, that wasn''t simply ast ditch attempt at getting out of prison after having been captured?" "No, sir." Kat replied as she began walking on the edge of what was still a forest. Far enough away from people that they wouldn''t overhear, but close enough that a shout woulde through. "Not entirely at least. It is still possible that some of the prisoners who used that excuse were under the effects of one of the higher tiers, but at least some of them were the truth. I would advise testing any who im to suddenly be free of their mind control with unicorn exposure." "Very well. What have you learned about the different tiers, Agent Alvarado?" "The 1st tier is Charm. It needs to be reapplied daily, will disappear if the controller dies beforehand, and only gives a minor mind control effect. More akin to hearing someone make what they themselves think is a good suggestion." "So, a simple one day istion would suffer here." "Indeed, sir." Kat agreed, absent-mindedly brushing a branch away from her face as she continued walking. "The 2nd tier is Enthrall and a week-long istion would work for this one as it needs to be reapplied weekly. Like Charm its effects will likewise disappear if the controller dies before the end of the timeframe. It is stronger than Charm and simr in effect to a group of your best friends telling you to do something stupid. You know you shouldn''t do it, you don''t really want to do it, but you''ll do it anyway, just to please them. But if they ask you to do somethingpletely against your morals, like killing your own family, then you can resist the order." "Aha," Officer Baxter mumbled thoughtfully in reply. "3rd tier is Hypnosis. Both the 3rd and 4th tier are permanent unless someonepetent manually undoes it, which can potentially be the controller themselves. Otherwise The Dungeon of Karma needs to be involved. Unlike the two lower tiers, the death of the controller doesn''t cancel the effects." "Troubling." "Indeed, sir. Hypnosis can convince you that the sky is on fire. No one here seems to know if it''s powerful enough to make you kill your own family, but from what I garther, it''s not quite that powerful." "That''s a relief at least." "It is, sir. What isn''t, is the 4th tier: Brainwash." "Let me guess," Officer Baxter intercepted. "This one can make you kill your own family?" "Unfortunately yes, sir. Reportedly there is no way to resist any of itsmands. The only way to retain parts of your personality and wants is for themands to not involve those aspects. Everything else is overwritten in favor of the controller." "Terrifying. Good thing we''re now prepared for them!" "Yes, sir. And I have some good news to add to this." "Wonderful, Agent! We could use a bit of good news." "You have to be at least a 5th tier to use even the weakest of them and an 8th tier to use Brainwash! With insane requirements like this, they can''t have all that many cultists actually able to mind control. And most of those will be unable to use the two higher tiers, which are harder to undo." "Brilliant news! And I take it, most of the prisoners were already freed, mentally that is, upon arrival?" "Indeed, sir! All but 19 of the 342 prisoners have already been cleared as mentally themselves. Several individuals were angry or displeased that they hadn''t been believed, when they informed their guards, back in normal prisons back home, that they had regained their senses after either a day or a week of imprisonment, and instead ''dragged to the middle of nowhere'' while unconscious. But at least most people seem to understand the necessity of making sure." Officer Baxter simply made a grunt to inform her they were still listening. "What else¡­? Right. The Dungeon forces words to appear above anyone entering its depths, which correctly depicts each individual''s name, species, ss, and level. It does the same for its own monsters, unless they''re ambushers. And for the cultists it adds both what type of mind control they''re affected by as well as a countdown to when it''ll be undone. If that person stays in the Dungeon for the duration, that is." "So, we know exactly when thest prisoner has they''re mind back?" Officer Baxter asked, inviting Kat to tell him the actual number. "Yes, sir, though I''m not currently in the Dungeon. In about 11 hours, sir. So, sometime in the early morning hours before the sun rises." "Hmm¡­ You should stay in Karmaria for a couple of days to rest up and such, before escorting the civilians back home. We''ll ry the order to the rest, that''s not your job. You did a good job, Agent." "Actually, sir." Kat had now found a clearing, still close enough to potentially hear shouts from Karmaria, and she immediately began pacing it. She knew she had to ask, she knew they couldn''t actually stop her, but she didn''t want anyone to think she was deserting. And she also really liked her job and hoped against hope she could somehow keep it. Even if slightly modified. "Yes, Agent Alvarado?" "I would prefer it if I could stay here. Surely a ce this important needs to be kept an eye on, and I''m already here." Please let that be enough. "Agent¡­ What is your real motivation for staying?" Officer Baxter questioned. "I don''t doubt your dedication to Windin or your belief that Karmaria should be watched. But something tells me there is more to it than that." At least he sounds open to my suggestion. I might as well be honest then. "My brother was one of them, sir. He was Hypnotized and disappeared all of a sudden. He''s my twin! We hadn''t truly been apart before. I finally have him back and I refuse to leave him so soon. He intends to stay here to protect the Dungeon against attacks from the cult. So, I would like to stay here with him." "... Good reason. Request approved. At least for now. I''ll have to hear what several others think of this before it''s truly approved, but I doubt there''ll be any objections." With that, Kat stopped pacing and let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Officer Baxter. Thank you." ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó "My Queen. Shadow here, ready to finish my report on Karmaria." Shadow had used her connection to the Queen to borrow the office of the local dungeon mistress for the report. Officially at least. And she did indeed do as she had stated she would. No need for the young mistress - she''s only 204 and already a dungeon mistress,impressive! - to know Shadow had gone through all her notebooks and paperwork, before making the call to the Queen. While the notebooks had given great insight into the mind of Mistress Acacia and truly emphasized how unusual The Dungeon of Karma was, for the most part there was nothing new. The young elf had been quite thorough in her report on the Dungeon. The paperwork had only shown one odd thing, which Shadow intended to point out to her Queen during her report. "One moment," Queen Enania replied. Shadow knew this meant the Queen was in the middle of something - likely a meeting of some kind - and wanted to politely excuse the other people, so they didn''t distract Them during Shadow''s report. It couldn''t be for secrecy''s sake, after all, as only those a part of Shadow''s conversations could hear them. They want to give my report Their full attention. It is nice to be appreciated! "Your report, Shadow." "They speak the truth, Your Majesty. The Dungeon can undo mind control just as they im." The sounding from the Queen was that of silent, almost disbelieving relief. Then the Queen spoke up again, desperately clinging to the good news. "Truly¡­?" I''ve never heard the Queen this emotional¡­ But after what happened to her Highness¡­ "Truly, my Queen," Shadow confirmed, using the mostforting voice she could muster. "Then-" The mother was suddenly gone with the Queen back in her ce. "-We''ll ept Windin''s offer of a unicorn. Just one for now, see how both the unicorn and Our people react to each other. If it goes well, we can see if we''ll borrow any more of them, to flush out this despicable cult!" Thest sentence ended in an angry shout as the Queen was reminded of the cult and its actions against the crown, forcing Them to take several calming breaths. "If I may, Your Majesty." "Always, Shadow." "Mistress Acacia mentioned that unicorns aren''t the only option for a cult-detecting animal and the Windin representative here reluctantly agreed. Unicorns are simply the prefered one in Windin. The young mistress even demonstrated it by leading a¡­ friend''s bonded kirin to the prisoners before they were freed. It reacted with sudden aggression where before there was none, just as the unicorns reportedly do." "Oh? Unfortunately, kirins aren''t the easiest creature to find." "Mistress Acacia gave me a list of animals with the same ability. None are particrlymon, butbined there''ll be enough to force the cult out of hiding." "Wonderful! And how did Mistress Acacia hear of these beasts, when the Pce hadn''t?" Shadow had to hold in a snort at that. She had asked the same thing! "When I asked the very same question, Mistress Acacia replied, and I quote, ''this is my Dungeon''s specialty'', end quote. So, presumably she learned about them through monster descriptions given to her by the holy System as a dungeon mistress." "Very well." The Queen paused a bit in thought and Shadow waited respectfully. "We still desire to learn more about this newly discovered ability of the unicorns, even if it''s not entirely unique to them. And well¡­ We may have realized¡­ In Our anger over Our mother''s death, We have never actually met a unicorn. And perhaps it''s time to rectify that." "Yes, my Queen." "And this friend of hers? The one with the kirin? You didn''t seem too pleased with them," Queen Enania asked, the topic and mood changed at once. Of course she would notice. Not that I really tried to hide it. Well¡­ It''s as good a segue as any. "ording to paperwork signed by Mistress Acacia, the local Sheriff, Dakath Fraxinus, and the local High Priest, Travaran Ginkgo: Karmaria created a ban on what they refer to as ''beastkin very'' a couple of months ago. The High Priest was involved as reportedly the ''System blessed Dungeon of Karma'' was the one to point the ''heresy'' out to them." Disbelief, confusion, and hints of disgust was clear in Shadow''s voice as she spoke, at times reading the wording straight from the paper in front of her. "They did? How odd¡­" Queen Enania began humming thoughtfully, clearly not as disgusted and disbelieving as Shadow. "Have Mistress Acacia give Us a full report, and Wemean full, sparing no details, on everything which happened to have this bane to pass. Specifically why and how they reached this conclusion." Shadow blinked confusedly at her Queen''s sudden passion. "Yes, my Queen! At once! But¡­ May I ask-" Queen Enania interrupted before she could finish, having guessed what she was about to say. "They have been right about everything else, so far! As a System sworn Queen it is Our duty to investigate a reliable im like this!" Oh¡­ Understanding hit her. "Yes, my Queen!" ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Did they split up the prisoners and sent them in groups? Or maybe more cultists were discovered afterward? Either way, I should probably report this to my ''mistress''. ¡­ Sorry, girl. But I''m gonna have to interrupt your make out session! ¡­ At least I think that''s what the sounds are¡­ Chapter 99: Defending Home and People Chapter 99: Defending Home and People Your linked Dungeon Core requests knowledge on the iing members of The Order of The Broken Goddess. Will you ept this request? Yes/No "Again? I didn''t hear anything about more prisonersing," Sarzina Acacia questioned out loud. "What do you mean?" Came the response from underneath her, reminding her that she tended to speak her thoughts out loud. Well¡­ Usually it came out as a mumble unless she actively controlled herself, but this time the message had taken her by surprise, making the thought louder than normal. Zina and her boyfriend, Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus, were officially still doing paperwork. In actuality today''s paperwork had beenpleted over 10 minutes ago. At the moment Zina was sitting on Dakath''sp, and until a couple of seconds ago the two of them had been in the middle of a heavy make out session. "Apparently a group of cultists have arrived. But I haven''t heard anything about Windin sending more prisoners our way. Have you?" Zina replied as she got off her boyfriend''sp. "No." Where Dakath had been loving and kind underneath her mouth and hands a moment ago, the Sheriff part of him was now clear to see. Serious and worried about his people. He didn''t ask any questions about how she knew cultists had arrived. Not only because the potential threat was too big and too immediate to have time for questions, but also because he already knew it was something she couldn''t tell him. He had epted her anyway. He had epted her as she was, with all her passions and ws. She loved him all the more for it. Before this, before the Dungeon and Karmaria, the only ones who had epted her as she really was, was her brother and his wife. And Oona, of course! But with her being a dawon it was a different kind of eptance. Her sister hadn''t epted her as she was, and certainly not her parents. Zina had been a member of many different Dungeon mining groups over her century of adulthood, but at some point they would always end up annoyed at her about something, which would lead to their separation. It was usually, but not always, because of her tendency to mumble her thoughts. But Dakath really liked that he didn''t have to guess her thoughts. And Dakath wasn''t the only one, who had told her it was okay that she couldn''t always control her mouth. Nerok, the Chief of the Tribe of Karma, and several other beastkin had said the same. The gnomes simply shrugged it off, before asking if she wanted them to reply to her thoughts. No one had ever asked her that. And she realized that, for the most part, she didn''t actually want a response. She would rather they pretend she was normal. The deputies had stated they didn''t want her to change who she was, as that was who made their Sheriff happy. Which wasn''t exactly eptance, but still somewhat close. It no longer mattered what the rest of Alfam¨¦r thought of her. Or even if and what history would write about her. Zina had found her people. "I''ll alert the deputies and start searching for the cult''s current location." Dakath stated as he got up from the chair and walked to the door. "And I''ll find Kat and ask if she''s heard anything from Windin about this." Zina joined him as he walked out the door and down the stairs to the lobby of the Security Guild. Here he stopped to inform those of his subordinates who were present there about the situation, while Zina kept going to exit the building. Kat, beside her job as the spokesperson for their dealings with Windin, had really helped Zina get over her fear of unicorns. Not that they had ever been in her Dungeon together. No, Kat had dered that ¡®Dungeon time is twin bonding time¡¯ and would only ever enter with her brother. But Kat had been incredibly helpful simply by sharing stories about unicorns from humans¡¯ point of view, who apparently didn''t fear unicorns at all! Instead they saw unicorns as a symbol of kindness and friendliness and everything good in the world. Somethingpletely opposite of how elves saw them. And something much closer to what her Dungeon normally did. And it was that realization which convinced her that the humans were right and the elves had got it wrong, when it came to unicorns. There was little fear in her mind for unicorns after that. Once outside the Security Guild she stopped in her tracks. Actually¡­ Where is Kat? Kat could seemingly always be found at her brother''s side and more often than not, they were doing what he wanted. Reid hadn''t been able to exercise his free will for years, so Kat''s actions were perfectly understandable. And as far as Zina knew, the two most likely ces for Reid to be were in her Dungeon or with the Tribe as he wanted to learn all he could about the Dungeon of Karma to better be able to help and, if need be, protect them. But with a potentially dire situation, Zina likely didn''t have time to check both ces. Lucky, she didn''t have to. Holy System! I request to know if Kat is in my Dungeon! The reply was quick. Kathrin Alvarado is not currently located in The Dungeon of Karma. And with that, Zina sprinted towards the grounds of the Tribe. Upon arrival she loudly asked the first beastkin she saw where Kat was and was promptly pointed in the direction of Nerok''s wooden hut. Whatever the three of them had been talking about was immediately dropped the moment Zina mmed the door open to Nerok''s dining room, which he also used as an office. "Is Windin sending another group of prisoners here?! Have I simply not been informed?!" Came the loud, panicked, and subtly pleading questions from the normally calm, but easily excitable dungeon mistress. "No¡­?" Kat replied confused, with fear beginning to form in her eyes as she realized the implications of the questions. "Then the cult is back," Zina stated, both to confirm Kat''s suspicions and to ensure the remaining two understood the situation. "Why?" Nerok questioned. "Why do they keeping here? There are easier Dungeons for them to get to! ording to Lagurith they simply want the Cores, so to them, shouldn''t one Dungeon be just as good as any other?" Now is not the time! "Revenge over their fallen? Perhaps simply because they hate that they''ve already lost twice to this particr Dungeon. Or maybe it is as her Highness said and the cult considers this Dungeon''s Core the most important one of them all. Why doesn''t matter! It matters that they''re here!" Zina had barely had time to breathe, she was speaking so fast. "Right. Of course!" Nerok said, somewhat sheepishly as he got up from his chair with the Alvarado twins repeating his actions. "Do we know which direction they''reing from?" "Dakath and his deputies are looking for their exact location." Zina replied as she pulled out her emco to call her boyfriend for updates. The orb began blinking red to signal that it had connected as requested and was waiting for the other person to pick up. After more than a minute of this, it became clear to the four that the Sheriff wouldn''t be picking up. No¡­ "Tell everyone to get ready for battle." Reidmanded. "Not only must we protect the Dungeon, we know they won''t hesitate to deal with those in their way. While mind control is their first choice, killing isn''t far behind for those with no free will left. From what I''ve gathered, the cult came from the west the two times they''ve been here on their own ord. That''s likely where they''lle from again. So, let''s meet on the west side of Karmaria and look for them there." Agreeing with his words, the four split to warn people of the impending battle with the cult and to get ready for it. Either by putting on armor and grabbing a weapon, or by hiding in a closet or something, so the cult couldn''t take their free will away. After warning several dozens of people, Zina was satisfied that the message would spread quickly and headed for her own ce. Armor, one-handed crossbow, an emergency dagger, and, of course, Oona. Oona was meant for riding into battle with. It would be stupid to leave the dawon behind after the many Dungeons they had fought through together. But when Zina and Oona arrived at the west side of Karmaria, not only was the ce already a battlefield, she was immediately reminded of the main difference between fighting in Dungeons and fighting other people. Dungeon creatures didn''t have sses. And they didn''t always have a Skill, rarely ever two. People did have sses, and they had plenty of Skills. Additionally, in a Dungeon you knew, roughly, what level your opponent would be. You didn''t in a fight like this. You didn''t know if your opponent was several tiers higher than you and you had no chance of winning, or if you needed to pull your punches to stop yourself from killing a mind controlled innocent in one hit. Zina had never fought against people before. It was pure chaos. "What? Why did you do that?" Her opponent, the fastest human she had ever seen, had pped a metal bracelet around her arm rather than attack with the shortsword in her other hand. The female human didn''t answer and instead kicked her leg out in an attempt to trip the dungeon mistress. She had jumped off Oona shortly after arrival to allow her feline to pounce on her opponents without having to worry about a rider falling off in the process. Zina wasn''t worried Oona would attack any of their allies on ident, as dawons had excellent noses and memory of all they had smelled before. Oona knew who belonged to Karmaria better than Zina did. And likely better than anyone else too. Despite not usually fighting against people, she had enough experience fighting in general to predict the trip attack and counter it by using her favored Forest element to grab the human''s leg with several roots. Only¡­ the roots didn''t grow anywhere near high enough to actually be able to grab the leg, much less before the leg could hit her. Down on the ground, Zina was quickly subdued. "My mana! What did you do to my mana!" It was like she couldn''t ess the majority of it. It was still there, but only a tenth of what she had could be used at a time. The human ignored her and called out to another cult member instead. "Cardinal! I have one!" If I can only use a tenth at a time, then I''ll simply use that tenth constantly! The sudden Lightning coursing through the female human had at first caused her to freeze up and tense her muscles, making her grip on Zina even more secure. Then the scent of burnt meat became detectable, and the human jumped away from the elf, freeing her in the process. "Again! And keep holding her this time!" A new voicemanded before Zina could do more than simply stand back up. "Yes, cardinal!" The human replied before using her immense speed to pull Zina''s hands behind her back before she could react. To which Zina simply began flooding the human with Lightning again. But this time the human didn''t let go at the smell of her own burnt flesh. The centaur, who had been the one to order the human around, walked closer as Zina fought against her captor. With the Lightning no longer effective and only having ess to a tenth of her mana, she couldn''t free herself. She simply wiggled in the other''s hold. Then everything made sense again. "Oh! I''m sorry! I really should have known better. I did! But then I forgot¡­ But I remember now!" Zina stopped the Lightning and, with a nod from the cardinal, the human holding her let her go. Chapter 100: The Song of Liberation Chapter 100: The Song of Liberation Something had alerted the heathens to The Order''s arrival, making the nned surprise attack fail before it had even begun. And yet, Hephetrius Hydrus didn''t mind the deviation from the original n all that much. They were still winning, after all! If more loyal followers had to die for the cause than calcted, then so be it. For the good of the goddess! The first wave of heathens had been a small dozen or so people. Few enough that The Order had decided to simply initiate them all. Hephetrius and his fellow cardinal, Mnie Pierce, had ensured they had more than two dozen archbishops, bishops, and high priests with them for that reason exactly. For it was much better to defeat their enemies by converting them to their own cause. Additionally, this crusade had been joined by several hundred members of The Order of The Broken Goddess, who didn''t have the ability to initiate others, but was nheless useful in keeping heathens still for conversion. These members werergely new members collected during the journey to the goddess''s main prison. And as they had been traveling on the human side of the border between first Pasan and Mammalia, then Windin and Mammalia, the many new members were primarily humans, secondarily beastkin with only a couple of handfuls of other species in the mix. As they had been more focused on bolstering their numbers than anything else, the new members were originally of a mixed quality. Not anymore. Now only the best of them remained to serve the goddess. One of whom was a speedy little female human, likely a decade younger than his own old age of 62. Or maybe she was two decades younger? Humans generally lived about two decades longer than centaurs, so Hephetrius couldn''t tell her age for sure. Nheless, the female human had secured the elf who had arrived on a dawon for him. Due to the human''s rtively higher level and excellent speed, she had been one of a couple of dozens to receive one of their Enchanted Mana Suppressing Bracelets to use on their Int opponents. The Bracelet would start blocking ess to nearly all of the wearer''s mana and would grip hold on that mana so well, no one could simply pull it off again. It had to be broken off instead. Which naturally meant the things were one time use only, which was a shame. Getting it on a resisting opponent was surprisingly easy, he had heard, as the opening in the bangle style Bracelet was big enough to p over most wrists with no issues and with the grip on the target''s mana, it wouldn''t fall off. The Bracelet wasn''t built with giants in mind, but luckily the heathens here didn''t seem to include many, if any, of those. With the elf in question initiated, the problem of her aggressive steed quickly became a thing of the past as the elf ordered it to heel. Additionally, as a member of The Order, there was no longer any reason to keep the Bracelet on her, and Hephetrius called for its removal. The battle had stalled at this point as The Order got ready for another wave of heathens. But with the Bracelet off, the elf was quick to offer to lead them around the settlement, so they could avoid having to waste time on any more heathens, and instead go to the Dungeon immediately. "What a wonderful n!" Hephetrius eximed, before ordering the rest to follow them. This Dungeon might have a reputation as being odd and unusual. But that won''t help it against The Song of Liberation! The centaur looked down at the Enchanted Orb at the top of the staff he was holding with a smile some might call evil. The Song of Liberation might have been misnamed once upon a time, when its goal was to turn loyal followers of the broken goddess into heathens. But after the prophet herself broke into the artificer''s home to convert him shortly after its creation, he, with enlightenment from the goddess and her prophet, could finally make the artifact correctly. Hephetrius let himself remember those days for a bit as he followed the elf. The Order of The Broken Goddess was smallpared to the amount of heathens in the world and as such needed to hide their existence - for now - to survive. Only once before now had they considered themselves discovered. But back then they had had the prophet. The Song of Liberation will get us through this. The prophet had this made for this exact reason: So we wouldn''t need her to seed. So, be free, sinners of the afterlife! Let no Dungeon control your actions and force you to guard your goddess! ¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó¡ó Not good. Not good. The moment Zina had stated her doubts about it being more prisoners, I had begun preparing for an attack. Unfortunately, there wasn''t a lot I could do, as I tended to use my mana the moment I had enough for whatever I was currently working on. It''s gonna be okay. I have a lot more Floors than before and this time I remembered to only allow four people in at a time. Right, Status? Personal Status Level: 59+ Needed number of killed or redeemed sapients with original karma levels of 25% or lower: 2,839/5,000 EXP: 178,605,135,918 Next mana payment for level up: 0/212,000 Mana: 2,935/26,500 Mana regeneration: 9,275 per hour Floors: 28/30 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 4 Floor Details Achievements Mission Dungeon Rules Yeah, I did. And they shouldn''t be able to overpower me with only four members. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I listened carefully to everything Zina heard and hoped for the best. There wasn''t anything I could do before the cult entered my Dungeon, after all. You''ve been Hypnotized again, haven''t you? Yep! Now you''re leading them right to me. It''s okay. I''ll take care of it! Dealing with this cult is kinda my specialty by now! ¡­ An ''allow all''-tool? I suppose that will speed it all up. I''m just gonna win by overwhelming you with my respawning creatures as it cancels out my limit too. ¡­ Song of Liberation? Never heard of that before. Doesn''t sound like something a cult of mind control would use. The ''allow all''-tool was soon ced on the back of my Dungeon Portal and activated. For the next 24 hours any number of sapients could enter my Dungeon at once, but at the same time I wasn''t limited to a certain number of total levels of my creatures on each Floor. Last time this had happened, I simplymanded my creatures to go deeper into my Dungeon everytime they respawned to attack the intruders from behind. I saw no reason why that strategy wouldn''t work again. At least¡­ I hadn''t at first. But then the male centaur walking with The Song of Liberation - which took the form of a ssic wizards staff with what appeared to be an Enchanted Breakthrough Orb tainted blue - entered my Dungeon. Uhh?! I thought in confusion as the mental link to all my creatures on the 1st Floor was severed. So, that¡¯s what it does¡­ Like a nail cut off, my creatures were no longer a part of me, but they still existed. They were simply no longer considered Dungeon creatures and were instead ordinary versions of that creature. In a normal Dungeon and under normal circumstances this difference meant that the intruders wouldn''t be attacked unprovoked. Dungeon creatures attack to protect their Dungeon Core, while ordinary creatures attack to protect themselves and potentially their territory. With The Song of Liberation they could still expect to be attacked, but it would happen much less frequently. In my Dungeon, however, all my creatures - with the exception of my werewolves - were karmic variations, who would attack any and all cult members on sight regardless of whether they were connected to a Dungeon or not. So, in that aspect it had failed. However, it did create two separate problems for me. As I had no connection to any of my creatures while they were on the same Floor as the centaur, I couldn''t, for the most part, send respawned creatures after them. As the moment a respawned creature entered the Floor in question, they would stop and stay in the first room. They would have little reason to explore the following rooms. So, while I could overwhelm the cult with creatures while they were in the first room of a Floor, I couldn''t keep that up the rest of the time. And if the creatures of the current Floor didn''t notice the cult I couldn''t inform them of their location and send them after them, so there was suddenly the chance that the cult would avoid some of my creatures altogether! But the second and biggest problem The Song of Liberation created for me, was that without control of my creatures I couldn''t stop them from attacking Zina and her boyfriend, and the other mind controlled townspeople. Not that I could have ordered my karmic creatures to not attack what they see as a person with 0% karma level, but I could have ordered them to go after the other people first. And now I couldn''t even do that. At least ''More Than Allowed'' has been maxed out with a 100% increase in Dexterity to my Dungeon creatures. It only took me a moment to realize that all my creatures on the 1st Floor weren''t any faster than normal. And of course they don''t get the Dexterity boost because they don''t currently count as Dungeon creatures! Guess that makes ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves'' just as useless! Ahhh!!! Okay. Back on track. ''Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves¡¯ wouldn''t have done much anyway as mind controlled Zina is perfectly prepared to do all my puzzles for them! First point on the agenda: Figure out how to keep my people alive without risking my own life. ¡­ Hmmm¡­ Maybe a Dungeon Rule? Something to stop my creatures from attacking certain people? Right! I already have a Rule like that! I just have to dere them a part of my family! So, I did. There! That should do it, right? Chosen Family: The Dungeon Core may choose to see certain sapients as a part of its Dungeon just like its creatures are. The sapient then stops counting as a sapient to the Dungeon''s allowed number of sapients per Floor. The sapient can still earn EXP and loot like normal. No sapient with a karma level of 25% or lower can be seen as a part of the Dungeon nor any with evil intentions towards the Dungeon. Currently chosen sapients: The Tribe of Chief Nerok and the popce of Karmaria. Huh? What are you trying to tell me, System? I had to read through the Rule a couple of times before I got the message. Uh¡­ Right. I forgot my creatures don''t act like Dungeon creatures right now. They aren''t going to follow my Rules and they''ll absolutely attack each other if they feel threatened. At least they consider dealing with 0%''ers their first priority. The cult was done with the first Floor by now. They were annoyed that The Song of Liberation seemingly hadn''t done anything, but thought it was simply due to the nature of the specific creatures in question. Which wasn''t wrong. I naturally ordered my respawned 1st Floor to enter The Forest of Territories on the 2nd, now that The Song of Liberation no longer had any effect on the 1st Floor. The surprise attack from behind didn''t do more than perhaps drain a bit of their energy. Which was still something! What if, instead of forcing my creatures to change while not under my control, I force everything in my Dungeon to obey. System! While in my Dungeon, no harm maye to my chosen family! Make that a Rule! A Dungeon Rule ensuring no harmes to your chosen family would inhibit the free will of sapients and as such is not allowed. Ahhh!!! What can I do then? Dungeon God: You have realized that you are (kind of) the god of your own world. Yes, I get it! Ahhh!!! If only they could understand they''re not actually bad people! ¡­ Wait! That''s it! System! Make it so all karmic creatures in my Dungeon can always see my chosen family''s actual karma levels! Not just that of their mind controller! A Dungeon-Wide Rule to allow family true sight to karmic creatures costs 40,740 mana. Okay. That''s a lot, as always, but my regeneration is much faster than before so it will only take me 5 hours and 4 minutes to have enough. ¡­ Do they have that time though? I think so¡­ And if not, I can simply save mana by not doing the Floors they have already left behind. The 1st Floor certainly has no urgent need for this Rule. Still going to take a couple of hours, though¡­ Chapter 101: Alive, Dead, or Mind Controlled Chapter 101: Alive, Dead, or Mind Controlled When reinforcement appeared at the west side of Karmaria, the enemy had already left. At first, all Begdar could see was the bodies of the dead left behind. But after aforting side hug from her beloved mate, she realized the vast majority of the dead were humans, and thus people unknown to her. That being said, a couple of the elf and gnome bodies were eerily familiar, even if Begdar didn''t exactly know who they were. In total, when only looking at the number of bodies from each side - and Begdar did what she could to not look at the actual injuries that killed them - Karmaria had undoubtedly won. But Begdar doubted she was the only one to realize that wasn''t the whole story. But - as always - she was likely the first to realize exactly what had happened here. Both the Security Guild and the jousters are missing. Begdar pointed out. The Security Guild had been informed of the iing enemies first and would have had ample time to arrive here before them. The jousters referred to Chief Brassheart''s group of ram riders as they had all been jousters back in their old ce. They had jumped on their rams and ridden ahead. They too should have been here, yet not even their bodies could be found. As we''re up against a mind controlling cult, Begdar continued. -my guess is that they were mind controlled into joining them. But where are they now? Questioned one of the gnomes with them. With Chief Brassheart wanting to speed ahead, Chief Nerok had agreed to stay behind with the gnomes who didn''t have a mount but still wanted to join the fighting. The family of giants had decided to stay behind with the rest of the civilians, but the human twins and rr had joined Chief Nerok and were ready to fight alongside them. Begdar scanned the battlefield cautiously once more - doing her best not to puke at the sight - before replying. They want the Dungeon Core. That''s where they''re going. Then that''s where we''re going as well. Chief Nerok dered from his seat on top of Lionheart, his trusty kirin. And so they turned around to head towards the Dungeon Portal. The arrival of thebative half of the Tribe, 347 gnomes - which I assumed was the part of the Exodus who wanted to join the fight -, two humans, and a half elf half vulpinkin hybrid relieved a fear I didn''t realize I had. They''re not dead. And considering the personality of the arriving people, it now seemed more likely that the rest of Karmaria - or at least a good majority - were simply sitting the fight out rather than dead. Good. Good. That''s one less thing to worry about. The massive number of people - with several hundred people, there wasn''t actually enough space for them to stay on the same Floor - seemed ready to simply storm in and attack the cult from behind. And while I appreciated the thought, there really wasn''t a reason for that, when it cost me nothing to at least wear them down first. Which would lower the amount of casualties from our side, so I heavily preferred that option. Luckily for me, the Tribe was in the front of the group - supposedly because they were more experienced with my Dungeon - which meant the gnomes didn''t notice when I had a mimic request that they wait and attack on my signal instead. And as their god, they naturally obeyed. The gnomes appear to have agreed to the n because they find the reasoning sound, so at least I know I''m not beingpletely stupid. My creatures can respawn, you guys can''t. Due to Zina''s mind controlled aid, the cult had no problems solving my puzzles. Due to Earning One''s Own Paycheck she couldn''t tell them how to solve them and have the cult actually understand it, but there was nothing stopping her from simply solving the puzzles herself. While themon creature might not possess theprehension needed to remember and heed your words when not in mental contact with you, Great Mother, we kobolds will remember and obey! Dered the kobolds of the 3rd Floor when I took a moment to exin what The Song of Liberation was doing. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Naturally I saw no reason not to simply test this. And true to their words, the respawned kobolds could charge the cult from behind even in thest room of a Floor, while the rest of my creatures lost interest the moment the cult was out of sight. And with my kobolds still obeying mymands even while in the effects of The Song of Liberation - though I couldn''t give them new orders while they were on the same Floor -, their mounts, the galespikes, were indirectly still in my control as well. And while that was all fine and dandy, the good news couldn''t keeping without a bad one sneaking its way in. As I had done for the first room of the first four Floors, I stormed the cult with all my respawned creatures the moment thest member had entered the first room of the 5. Floor. But this time the number of respawned creatures wererge enough that not all of my creatures immediately noticed a cult member to go after. Instead several of them noticed a creature of another species standing a bit too close to them - as they had all just entered from the same direction - andtched out on them. Thus creating infighting. Okay So, I have to limit the amount of respawned creatures I order into the affected Floor. I can do that. It''s not the best oue, but I can work with it. At the 5th Floor, they had no problems with my kirin Boss, and I hadn''t expected them to. Zina had defeated my Boss many times mostly by herself - even if it was weaker after leaving its Boss Room - back when the initial group of elves had stormed me, so naturally she didn''t have any problems taking it down once more. When thest cultist had left the 5th Floor behind I naturally had the respawned kirin Boss follow them down to the 6th. I remember the kirin Boss being pretty good at splitting Zina''s attention between protecting the rear and helping the front with the puzzles. Hopefully I can do something simr this time as well. To slow them down if nothing else. Too bad I can''t direct it while- What?! As expected, Zina had killed the Boss on vacation. But unexpectedly, the moment the kirin respawned in its Boss Room, it had nearly immediately left to head towards the cultists on the 6th Floor. I didn''t tell you to do that Is it? Because it''s in your nature to avenge the death of Heroes and karmic creatures? It lets you track down the killer? The kirin was once again killed and respawned. And true enough: It minded its own business till the moment a cultist killed a karmic creature. Then its mane, tail, and hooves burst on fire, signaling the activation of its Ability, as the Boss galloped towards its new target. While I still couldn''t contact it while on the same Floor as The Song of Liberation, I also didn''t need to direct it towards my enemies. Nice! That will surely keep Zina on her toes! Though, she probably ends up simply restraining it in a moment, like she ended up doingst time. But at some point the kirin will get strong enough to break out due to all the killing of karmic creatures happening and then she''ll have to kill it. After which the circle will start again! Nearly exactly 2 hours have passed since the cult entered my Dungeon, and the front line is just about to step into Hell''s Judgement Hall. The puzzle room just before the second Boss on the 10th Floor. Which I hoped a good deal of them would fail. While originally the puzzle of Hell''s Judgement Hall was meant to send those that fail it to the beginning of the earliest Floor, which still had room for more sapients, with the allow all-tool they would all end up in The Great Tree Room. Which I had naturally informed the Tribe+ about. They were ready to either kill or apprehend the cultist on arrival as they saw needed. And as the puzzle was solved and failed on people''s own pace, there was little chance of the Tribe+ getting overwhelmed. Outmatched, however? Definitely a possibility. Not a particrly big one. But if one of the big hitters were to lose Hell''s Judgement? Well The Tribe+ could still overwhelm just about all of the strongest members of the cult. And as the mind controlled Zina had already passed Hell''s Judgement several times before, it was unlikely - based on what had happened to the mind controlled Crown Princess - that she would fail and appear. The trouble came if two or more of the cultist''s heavy hitters arrived at roughly the same time. Then there was suddenly a good chance of several members of the Tribe+ dying. I really hope that doesn''t happen. But between the small size of Hell''s Judgement Hall and the reduced numbers of the cult, it was at least impossible for the Tribe+ to be outnumbered. As my mind controlled mistress saw no reason to protect anyone she didn''t know herself or had been specifically ordered to protect - which was only the centaur and human who the others addressed by the title of cardinal - many of the lower leveled members of the cult had fallen prey to my traps and creatures. She had, however, been ordered by the centaur cardinal to keep the kirin at bay, so my Boss hadn''t been able to get more than a couple of kills. With how much killing the cult needed to do, and with how both my kirin and kobolds could target them beyond their original room, I really thought they would have had a problem passing The Waiting Room on the 8th Floor. After all, they had to wait for 5 minutes without any arguing or killing happening. With a pair of bxis - which are naturally karmic in nature - in the room, which, due to being a part of the puzzle on top of - normally - being a Dungeon creature, would respawn every minute whether or not there was someone in the room. But no. It took them a couple of tries, sure. But in the end Zina simply barricaded the entrance - to keep kirin and kobolds out - while restraining, but not killing, the two bxis for the required 5 minutes. At least with Zina normally unable to trigger my traps, my Rolling Boulder traps took them by surprise, with the first one taking the lives of 6 who either couldn''t get out of the way fast enough or was pushed into the magma by a panicked ally. The second Rolling Boulder killed another pair of surprised cultists. Chapter 102: Bad Guys Have to Die - Right? Chapter 102: Bad Guys Have to Die - Right? Hephetrius Hydrus and many of his fellow followers were watching from the safety of the room above as a disciple woke up from his frozen state, clearly confused about something. Then another disappeared, then one woke up. Again with no clear pattern to it. The one who had woken up this time was the one who knew this specific Dungeon and had solved its puzzles, leading and opening up the way to their goddess. And unlike the first one to wake up from the frozen state they had been forced into, the elf didn''t seem at all confused. She knew this would happen, but because this Dungeon is better guarded - containing the main piece of the goddess - any warning she could have given us would have been twisted into misunderstandings. Hurry! Came the only word from the elf. Ever since Hephetrius had understood the unusual control the Dungeon had over people''s warnings of what was toe in its depths, the elf hadn''t spoken much. The only words out of her mouth were warnings disguised as orders like this one. Something bad would happen if they didn''t keep moving. Something worse than the possibility of disappearing. That terrifying thought had the cardinal quickly shouting inmand Forward!, before he led the charge down himself. His centaur body couldn''t usedders, but his hooves were strong and the hole big enough to simply jump though. Then everything went dark before Hephetrius was even sure he hadnded. Am I even standing on the ground right now? Or am I floating? The only visible thing in the absolute darkness around him was a single System message: You have died. Oh So, I wasn''t fast enough Mnie will have to do it without me. Can she? It''s dangerous, this crusade. I hope she makes it out alright. Not only is she the only one left of the inner circle, the only one left to guide The Order of The Broken Goddess on the right path! But she''s my friend too. The only one I have left. Your friend''s health and future without you to help them weighs heavier on your mind than your own losses. This makes you worthy. Huh? What do you mean, o holy System? The darkness disappeared all at once, revealing the room underneath the trapdoor. This is an individual puzzle. You have solved a puzzle! I thought of Mnie over myself cause all I have left is her and the cause As Hephetrius looked around he quickly realized the room they were in was slowly filling up withva from the two corners closest to the exit. Mnie was among those still frozen. My n was going splendidly! The Tribe+ had gotten some injuries as too many cultists had been teleported in at once. But luck had - quite literally - been on their side and against the cultists, stopping the hits of the cultists from being lethal. Roughly half of the cultists arriving in The Great Tree Room had to be killed, as the Tribe+ wasn''t the most efficient in capturing and subduing people fighting for their lives. Rather them than us. I know they''re all mind controlled and doing this against their wills but still: Rather them than us. While the puzzle part of the room only activated when the frontline tried to leave the room, the moment the first cultist had stepped down from thedder and into Hell''s Judgement Hall, the pair of magma traps in the room had been activated, creating a time limit. Normally the time limit was more to force people to go into the Boss Room with little to no preparation, but this time it had an additional job: Separating the main group of cultists into two groups. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it With every person freezing up the moment they entered the room since the moment the puzzle activated, the entrance area of the room was quickly crowded, pausing their advancement. Which gave the magma plenty of time to crawl forward, eventually blocking the way forward. Shoot! I really hoped the two cardinals would have been separated! But s! The human cardinal had not only passed Hell''s Judgement but done so in time to jump over the still small line of magma in front of the exit doorway. Two thirds of the cultists - just shy of a hundred people - were left behind when the doorway was finally fully blocked. What are they gonna do now? Only a small handful of them were above level 30 and only one of those had magic. Ice clearly wasn''t his specialty, and the magma level kept rising til the whole room was filled with magma. It didn''t spill out to the other rooms as I hadn''t made a Rule to allow traps to cross into other rooms like I had for puzzles. After that it didn''t take them long to decide to leave my Dungeon and immediately reenter, as that would reset the trap and allow them to press forward. They would also have to redo the first nine and a half Floors, but they had no better idea. Naturally I warned the Tribe+ about their arrival, which allowed them to knock out most of them the moment they entered my Dungeon from my Portal. With the teleporting the cultists could appear anywhere in The Great Tree Room, which made it hard to ambush them. But when the cultists came from my Dungeon Portal, there was only one ce they could appear from. The Tribe+ dedicated some of their people to knocking people out as they arrived, others to pulling the unconscious bodies away to make room for the next one, and some to tying them up so they couldn''t attack upon waking up. It was a fairly efficient system. New Dungeon Rule: Family True Sight: All creatures with the ability to see Karma Auras will detect the personal Karma Aura of the Dungeon''s chosen family over the Karma Aura of any potential mind controller. The still free roaming part of the cult had entered the 15th floor - a Floor with river andke Environment theme -, and I had gotten enough mana to make the Family True Sight Rule from the 16th Floor and have it include all the remaining Floors as well. Newly created Rules couldn''t affect the people who were already on an affected Floor before the Rule came into effect. So, it didn''t make sense to wait till they were halfway through the Floor to make the Rule, in order for me to have enough mana to include the 15th Floor as well. No need to waste the mana on that right now, when said mana could instead help me with the current situation. As the Rule covered the 16th to 28th Floor it had ended up costing me 18,915 mana. Which was a lot for a Rule which barely did anything. But worth it! I hope. I can''t actually see the effect just yet. The second half of the avable area for the 15th Floor was reserved for the Boss room and its titanboa Boss, which meant the first half was more packed with creatures than normal. Which in return resulted in lives lost on the cultists side. The Boss Room was filled with as much water as the System would allow while keeping the Environment theme river andke and not ocean - which I didn''t have ess to. This was due to the semi-aquatic nature of the titanboa Boss and its tendency to ambush their prey from the water like crocodiles and alligators. The titanboa itself was just as much a dragon as its sea serpent cousins and only slightly smaller than them with its length of 28 meters. Despite its size it had insane speed. And with a mouth that big it could swallow a guy whole! Unfortunately, humans - which the majority of this wave of cultists consisted of - were still big enough that it took it several dozen seconds to swallow each one. Being semi-aquatic it hid in the waters while swallowing. Having already revealed itself, the cult wasn''t fooled by the murky water, but at least they had a much harder time hitting it down there. As a constrictor serpent the titanboa had a lot of strength hidden behind its scales and didn''t have to solely rely on its big mouth and ability to swallow. Unfortunately, most of its prey had high enough levels to either tank the hits, dodge them, or use magic to defend themselves. Five people hadn''t been able to, giving the Boss a final score of seven - it had also managed to eat two - by the time it fell. I knew it didn''t have a lot of Toughness but that wasn''t even five minutes! I suppose I had been expecting Cheaters Only Cheat Themselves to have given my creatures insane Toughness at this point. But with Zina Brainwashed they haven''t broken a single puzzle! They couldn''t solve them all, but they also didn''t break or skip any. Oh well. Only 33 cultists left - not counting those the Tribe+ has captured - and 13 Floors left to go! Well I suppose you could say there''s 51 cultists left, but of course some of those cultists are my family, so I certainly don''t want to kill them all! Ten members of the localw enforcement. Seven ram riders, who left their rams outside my Dungeon Portal. And Zina herself! Wait I took a closer look at the remaining cultists. Aren''t we missing a deputy? We were, but under the effects of the mind control his friends couldn''t mourn him. It took a while before I realized I couldn''t either. I know I wasn''t close to the guy at all or anything. But he was still a part of the town. Of my town. My people. I should feel something about his death, shouldn''t I? But I didn''t. No sorrow, grief, or sadness. Not even the tiniest bit of pity. Only a sense of disappointment that I hadn''t been able to save them all Now that I think back: I haven''t felt any form of real sadness since I was a human. Fear, yes. But not sadness. Not that I''ve had a lot to be sad about in this life yet. But I would have expected to be at least a little bit less happy at times. Wait! I haven''t felt happiness either?! I searched my mind for moments of happiness in my time as a Dungeon Core, but I couldn''t recall a single one. Relief, pride, satisfaction, yes. But no actual happiness. I guess Maybe Dungeon Cores just don''t need those emotions Or Maybe they don''t have them cause they would interfere with their System given Mission At least the Rule is up now. It should stop any more of my family dying. and maybe then I can forget about my inability to grieve or feel guilty The human part of my mind felt that myck of emotions meant something was wrong with me. The Dungeon Core part insisted that all mortals die eventually and there was no reason to waste time thinking about it. Dungeon Cores were made to kill bad guys. And to the System, deputy Tiarsus Liquidambar died as a bad guy. Chapter 103: Steamrolling Chapter 103: Steamrolling I felt extremely disappointed in myself as the cult neared the Boss on the 25th Floor. No more members of my family had died since deputy Tiarsus Liquidambar had, which was a relief - one of the feelings I actually possessed as a Dungeon Core -, but only four cultists had died thest 10 Floors! But luckily - or maybe not considering the Rules of my Dungeon - two of the four cultists in question had been some of thest among them capable of mind controlling people, leaving only the two cardinals. Still, with only three and a half Floors left, four deaths in 10 Floors was a scary small number. And I couldn''t even really rely on the mind control breaking to save me! My 19th Floor had been built with the only purpose of dying people. It took people with karma levels of 75% or higher who knew the Floor about 20 minutes toplete it, whereas it inparison took them 10 minutes to finish the previous Floor. All the puzzles on the 19th Floor were Challenge Rooms with timers. The length of those timers got longer the lower the lowest karma level of the participants were, starting from 74%. With 0% karma, a 5 minute timer would be an 80 minute timer. And of course the first of these puzzle timers would reset if the button on the pedestal in the middle of the otherwise empty room was pushed. The fact that the exit got blocked the moment they enteredbined with the ominous countdown timer on the wall, made it very tempting to press everytime the countdown was almost done. The first press would create a copy of a random creature from my 1st Floor. The second, a creature from my 1st and second Floors. And so on till they let the timer run out. At which point the room would open up and the puzzle would bepleted. But with Zina there - even if only acting as an example due to Earning One''s Own Paycheck - puzzles like that weren''t as effective as they could have been. No one pushed the button. With Zina there I hadn''t expected them to. And even if she hadn''t been there, the ram riders, the Sheriff, and most of the deputies had been through the puzzle before and knew better than to press the button as well. It was still a bit disappointing. But the 19th Floor still did exactly as I had wanted it to: Dying the cult long enough that all the mind control would disappear. Unfortunately I hadn''t thought to separate the cultists, which allowed the two cardinals to simply reapply the mind control one by one as people were freed. They even Brainwashed each other! It did seem like Brainwashing took more mana than Hypnosis or Enthrall did, as they didn''t simply cast the more powerful skill on everyone. No one was Charmed though. So, either their collective mana pool was big enough to not have to rely on the weakest of the mind control skills, or their mana regeneration were high due to each pause before someone new was freed from mind control. Huh I got EXP from redeeming each freed person and it wasn''t then taken away when they near immediately were re-mind controlled. It even counted towards my tier up! Because I don''t have anything to do with them being mind controlled again? Or because I can''t do anything to stop it? Maybe both? The System didn''t feel the need to specify. The EXP wasn''t really needed at the moment and while helpful in getting me closer to my tier up, the group would have to be freed and re-mind controlled about 20 times before I could tier up again. With all of that in mind, my goal was to gain enough mana to give my deepest Floors a Dungeon Rule banning the casting of mind control. And seeing as I most likely had to kill the two cardinals before I could have my peace, I had informed the Tribe+ to move whatever Floor was before the one the cult currently was on, to be ready to attack at the end when they were the most exhausted. Some of the Tribe+ had felt the Dungeon temporarily to escort the now ex-cultists - none of whom volunteered to help fight - outside the Dungeon and settle them in with some civilian volunteers. The 20th Floor was tundra themed and contained my 4th Boss, a dragon cyclops. Besides the Boss the 20th Floor contained plenty of elemental drakes - Ice, which had an ice breath attack and would explode into ice shards upon death, reminiscent of my Heat slimes. Owldragons with the head, feathers and silent flying of a snowy owl. A pack of wolfdrakes with both draconic and canine features covered in white fur. Lastly the young elemental wyrm - Ice could be one with the frozen Environment to both hide and deflect damage, before appearing under someone to swallow them whole. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Unfortunately, only one of them actually managed to do thatst part before Zina covered the snow covered ground in a of nts, trapping the Ice wyrms underneath. Despite the name, the dragon cyclops was actually shaped like a centaur, but with the bottom half of a wingless drake - and not a typical dragon - and the upper half of a one eyed cyclops. The 5 meter tall creature therefore had hands which meant it could use tools. It wasn''t smart enough to make them, though, which meant the System hadn''t immediately supplied it with one, like it had my kobolds. But I had kobolds, who could and had made it a weapon. A big machete style one. The Boss was assisted by one of these Ice wyrms - which Zina was quick to neutralize -, a unicorn, and an amaru. The Ice wyrm''s job was meant to be to distract and be on the offensive, while diving for cover by temporarily bing a part of the snow to take as few hits itself as possible. The unicorn was partly meant as a distraction too, but also had the task of creating force fields to stop attacks from hitting the Boss. People were meant to think it was the dedicated healer and thus go after it first. But unicorns didn''t actually do all that well in a snowy environment, even without actual snowfall in the Boss Room. The snow on the ground was enough to cause it trouble. No, the actual healing was meant toe from the amaru. A creature which couldn''t use Healing magic. The ma-headed, fish-tailed, bird-winged amphiptere would instead fly into the air and summon a small localized thunderstorm right above the dragon cyclops. The lightning from the storm would threaten to hit my opponents, making it dangerous to get close to the Boss. But some of the time the lightning would hit my Boss who did nothing to avoid getting hit. Because to dragon cyclops, electricity would both heal and empower. It took them a deliciously long time before they realized what the lightning was doing to the Boss. It was only made more amusing due to the fact that Zina''s preferred form of attack was Lightning magic. She was a Lightning Mage, after all! But in the end it mostly just served to dy them and have them expend their resources. A skill-powered arrow took down the amaru hiding in the storm clouds once they realized how big a problem it was. Here we go! The cult had just reached the Boss Room on the 25th Floor, and I was hoping it would do better than its predecessors. If for no other reason than its higher level of 50. The mature elemental amphiptere - Light was specialized in hunting in the blistering desert daylight. Its long serpentine body made it fast on the desert sand while its strong featherless wings allowed it to take flight. And while hunting in the air it would turn its body into pure Light, imitating the blinding light of the sun and preventing its prey from looking directly at it. However, this ability to blind its opponents couldn''t be directed, which decreased the number of possible useful assistants I could give it. And while I considered both my Heat slimes, which see purely with heat vision, and those of my creatures, which were karmic even outside of my Dungeon and could thus target their opponents because of their Karma Aura. But in the end I picked not one but three death wyrms. Despite the name, a death wyrm didn''t hatch as a deadly creature. But at level 50, like these ones were, the poisonous and acidic liquid their body naturally exude to help them burrow in the desert sand was strong enough to kill any who touched it in seconds if their Toughness was 10 or lower. Which was the standard for a level 1 sapient. Anyone with a Toughness of 20 would be able to survive touching a death wyrm without medical treatment, but would sweat and vomit uncontrobly for a couple of hours. Anyone with a Toughness between 10 and 20 would have between half a minute to about an hour to receive medical assistance before their death would be inevitable. It''s a bit weird that death wyrms can be that deadly and yet they aren''t even predators. They feed on the minerals and nutrients in the desert sand and need the acidity of their poison sweat - for ack of a better word - to reach the moisture of much deeper sand, which is where they get their much needed water. The deadliness is more an afterthought to the search for water in the desert. But more importantly for their corroboration with my blinding fourth Boss: They were already blind and navigated entirely through tremors in the sand. As such, theirbined force was something I was excited to see the result of! Chaos. That was the only way to describe what had just happened. Anyone capable of a ranged attack had done their best to hit a flying, moving target they couldn''t look at, while the melee fighters were ordered to look for the assistants. They were not prepared for three simultaneous attacks from below. And while the poison aspect of the death wyrms only came into effect with skin contact, its acidic nature allowed it to somewhat quickly - in a minute or so depending on thickness - destroy any leather it came into contact with. Metals weren''t safe either, though that took considerably more time. Nheless to say, the three death wyrms took more lives than the Boss did. And the Light amphiptere had an impressive four to its death count. Which was a much higher number than it had been for any individual creature since all the lowest leveled people had been killed off on the earliest Floors. The three assistants, however, had a collective nine for their death count. Just over double that of the Boss, but less if divided between the three. But the death count itself wasn''t what I was the most excited about: One of the death wyrms had touched and subsequently killed the human cardinal! Part of her sleeve had been ripped off in an earlier fight, leaving the area exposed. And naturally the Brainwashed and Brainwashing cardinal didn''t have a high Toughness Score despite her high level. Yes! That''s one of the biggest threats! Only one cardinal left to go! Chapter 104: Hidden Fury Chapter 104: Hidden Fury New Dungeon Rule: None of Your Business: No form of mind control can take hold. I had regenerated enough mana to make the new Rule cover the 26th, 27th, and 28th Floors, just in time. Even after both Boss and assistants had been defeated, the death of the human cardinal had dyed them entering the 26th Floor just long enough. With a wording of make a Rule that no mind control can work and an insane cost of 43,650 mana, I had really thought it would suppress the current mind control or something. And not just stop any new mind control from happening. Why was it that expensive, System? With it doing so little? Forbidding the use of certain Skills, spells, Abilities, and so on can lead to certain Dungeon creatures, puzzles, and traps bing much harder or even near impossible toplete. For example, it would be much harder to defeat elemental creatures of the Ice elemental if all Fire rted Skills, spells, Abilities, and so on were impossible. So, you''re saying I should have done this to begin with My annoyance at the price had turned to frustration over this much simpler way of keeping myself safe that I had clearly missed. I doubt it''ll take them so long to reach my final Floor that I''ll have enough mana to ban something else on thest Floor. I only had enough for these three Floors because of how long the 19th Floor took them. So, I''ll have to shelve that idea. As the group was in the middle of the 26th Floor, in plenty of time to validate me having spent mana on including said Floor in the Rule, a human man was released from his mind control. The 4th tier Detective - which was his ss and not necessarily his job - likely had a high Awareness Score, which helped lower the time between each reapplication of mind control. It also meant Enthrall simply didn''t work on the guy, which in turn meant the - now lone - cardinal had to waste mana on using Hypnosis on him instead everytime my Rule made it wear off. Which in turn meant it took a bit longer to wear off than if Enthrall had been able to stick. After all, Enthrall was a battle of the strongest between each person''s Awareness and Charisma, while Hypnosis meant the mind controller could add the two Scores together while the victim could still only use their strongest. And as the time needed to free someone from mind control depended on how big the difference was between these numbers Regardless, the Detective''s high Awareness still meant he had a smaller timer than half of them. And he wasn''t even the only one Enthrall hadn''t worked on. And as fate would have it, he got to be the first of their group - and perhaps even the entire world - to have the cardinal attempt to mind control, only for him to fail no matter what he tried. Hypnosis didn''t work anymore, and neither did Brainwash. And before the centaur cardinal could try a third thing or even order the Detective to be tied up and held captive till they figured out what to do, the Detective turned tail and ran out of my Dungeon. Immediately getting caught by several members of Karmaria who weren''t the best atbat, but felt confident enough in themselves to take down surprised enemies, so that their mental faculties could be checked. Aka: Dragging the unconscious body of whoever just left my Dungeon back into my Dungeon and check if they had a countdown timer to see whether or not the person in question was still under mind control. Yes! It worked! One less person I had to kill to defend myself! But that joy - only it wasn''t joy, it was satisfaction and pride in myself - was short lived as the cardinal quickly dered that anyone that lost faith and couldn''t be reinitiated had to be killed on the spot. Not good. More than two thirds of those people are my family! And I certainly don''t want innocents to die if they don''t need to! What to do, what to do? Koblins?! Yes Great Mother? My kobolds answered nearly as one despite their wildly different positions across my Floors. A change of ns. Instead of attacking near constantly to kill and distract, I want you to wait till just before one of the cultists has their mind freed. And then attack with the goal of helping that individual escape. The kobolds replied at the same time yet again, but this time their affirmations were varied in actual words with Yes, Great Mother! and We obey! being amongst the most popr ones. Thank you, my koblings. Be ready to move on my signal. My n worked. For a bit, at least The next three cultists to stop being cultists sessfully ran away during the resultingmotion created by my kobolds. But where the first four to benefit from None of Your Business were people previously unknown to me, the fifth was a ram rider. And where the first four didn''t actually know anyone else there, the ram rider did. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Which meant the ram rider didn''t run away like he should have. Instead he used the kobolds attack to attempt his own attack on the cardinal. An attack a Brainwashed Zina not only deflected but returned. Unlike the cardinal, the ram rider hadn''t ordered a mind controlled minion to defend him above all others. And so, unlike the cardinal, the ram rider died. He was killed by someone he normally considers his ally I knew I would have felt immense betrayal had it been me, regardless of Zina''s mind controlled status. But just like I couldn''t mourn his death, I couldn''t muster up any actual sympathy. A small sense of pity was the closest I could get. I suppose I can be excused for not having a good grip on my own feelings. I turn six months in three weeks. I''m not even half a year yet! At least, that was the excuse I told myself. Deep down I didn''t really think Dungeon Core had a point where they reached emotional maturity. More likely they either had a fully mature emotion or they couldn''t feel that emotion at all. New n koblins. If the individual doesn''t flee, drag them out! Oona, the only member of the group not mind controlled on ount of being a semi-sapient dawon instead of a sapient and mind control thus not working on her, visibly recoiled in shock as her owner electrocuted the ram rider. Then proceeded to look confused between the dead body and the elf in question. A questioning meow. Zina simply answered coldly that he had stopped believing, attacked the cardinal, and deserved to die. Whether she truly understood the reply was unclear, but after nozzling the body of therade Zina had just killed - unwillingly, but Oona probably didn''t know that - the dawon turned back the way they came and left my Dungeon behind. Ignoring Zina''s voicemanding her return. Only once during the 28th Floor did a timer reach zero, causing the kobolds to storm the group to distract and drag out the newly freed ram rider, who luckily didn''t resist as much as he clearly wanted to due to his gnomish respect for Dungeons in general and me specifically. The 28th andst Floor were mostly filled with a plethora of ''fiery flying serpents. I hadn''t expected the 28th Floor to be myst stand and had - at the time - found pleasure in how the Floor appeared mostly empty to anyone with a karma level of 25% or over, who didn''t have an insanely high Awareness like Zina or a Skill specifically meant for noticing hidden things like Thenac. Which before this had happened had included everyone but those two, and had thus been mightily confusing to my visitors. Especially as I had refused to exin my mostly empty rooms, and had convinced Zina and Thenac to keep my secrets. I wouldn''t be surprised if Shadow - or whatever her real name is - would have noticed them as well if this Floor had existed while she was here. And if Kathrin - and Reid - had had the time to do a long visit recently, I''m sure she would have noticed too. The brown and white spotted fiery flying serpents with their six matching wings were perfectly capable of blending in with their mountainous habitat with the white spots looking like patches of frost. Which naturally led them to a lifestyle of ambush from the ground. And to people''s inability to detect them before they attacked. The wings were normally only meant to allow them to better climb the sometimes vertical mountainsides, with the three sets instead of just one allowing them to control their flight even in the constantly windy weather found high up. The fiery part of their name was twofold. While they couldn''t breathe Fire they had a body temperature - meant to help them deal with their cold environment - high enough to burn anyone naive or stupid enough to touch them. Not instant third degree burn hot. More a reflexively retract my hand because I identally touched a hot pan hot. Which could still be dangerous if it got its body around you. Not that it would. The 75 cm long serpents were venomous thus didn''t have the muscles of a constrictor snake. Instead they had speed and the option of flight, letting them bite their opponents and retreat before all but the fastest could retaliate. Which was their preferred strategy and the reason they survived longer than most of my other creatures. That and their high levels of over 50, with therge majority being of level 55 or 56, which allowed them to pierce even the toughest leather. Not quite stones or metals, but it was better than normal snakes! And they hadn''t even focused on Strength all that much! Dexterity, Toughness, and Awareness were where most of their points went, in that order. Dexterity gave them the speed and reflexes they relied on when attacking and retrieving. Toughness protected them from return hits and allowed them to remain still even when unaware people stepped on them. While a high Awareness was needed to detect the location of their prey even with their eyes closed as open eyes were easier to detect than camouged eyelids. While - as a part of my family - Zina wasn''t directly attacked, she was still under themand to protect the remaining cardinal. And unlike some, Zina could attack both at range and with area of effect, letting her hit the fiery flying serpents despite their speed. But luckily for me and the fiery flying serpents, they had a natural, if slight, resistance to lightning - and thus its magical equivalent - due to their habitat being a naturally urring lightning rod allowing them to survive double the hits from her than they otherwise would have. Their mountain environment had certainly done a lot of nice things for them But back to the other half of their fiery name: Anger. These motherfuckers were angry as hell all the time! And they wanted nothing more than to spread that anger to their enemies and victims! And yes, it was a constant rage. It wasn''t obvious while they wereying in wait, but even in their calm moments they were filled with barely contained fury. Which naturally also meant they were my most aggressive creatures. But they used their anger well. Fully capable of using this wrath in battle to give them speed and power. But even with all those advantages, their current adversaries likewise had things ying in their own favor. With the exception of most of my remaining family the group had simr levels to the creatures on the 28th Floor. The lower leveled family members had really only survived this long due to Family True Sight ensuring they weren''t attacked as much. The Rule in question wouldn''t stop creatures from retaliating and attacks on them, but it stopped them from starting any fights with my mind controlled family. Which seemed to be enough to keep the rest of them alive. But the Rule didn''t only mean the creatures were unable to attack just anyone and thus always choosing the best victim, it also stopped them from realizing my mind controlled family would attack them if the opportunity arose. Which in turn meant they left themselves open to attacks and didn''t even realize they had to hide from them for an ambush to work. Still, by the time the group reached the final room of the 28th Floor, there were only 18 people left. 17 of whom I considered my family. Unfortunately, the 18th was the centaur cardinal who still had them in his thrall. The cardinal was mainly still alive due to having ordered them all to care about his safety And unfortunately there was only that one room separating them from my Core Room. It''s time. I hate to ask you all to fight your friends, but I know This is what you want. You want to protect your god and your Dungeon. And if there''s one thing the System seems to cherish before all, it would be free will. Chapter 105: Answers to Impossible Questions Chapter 105: Answers to Impossible Questions Hephetrius Hydrus was exhausted. Inside and out. He didn''t know exactly how long he had been in this cursed and yet blessed Dungeon, but it felt like it had been more than a day at least. The difficulty of the puzzles of the Dungeon were a mixture of super easy - due to the hints provided by the goddess sparse influence on her prison -, only doable by following the lead of the locals who had tried it before, and confusingly hard. The centaur still didn''t know why so many followers of the broken goddess had failed the mental puzzle in the room under the trapdoor. Or what happened to them after they disappeared Ahh! Hephetrius screamed in surprise as the leading elf woman had forced nts to appear from solid rock right in front of him, revealing yet another one of those sted fiery flying serpents this Floor was so full of. Which Floor is this even? Shouting broke out from behind. And not just the surprised sound of a winged serpent being revealed, nor the frustrated shout resulted from the kobolds repeated arrivals from behind. No, both of these the cardinal would have ignored due to theirmonce nature. Turning around as quickly as his centaur body allowed, Hephetrius saw the mass of heathens filling into the room. It was a somewhat big room for a Dungeon, probably about 4050 meters. And as they had just been through two other rooms of roughly the same size, this was likely thest room of the Floor. Depending on exactly what number it was of course. From what little Hephetrius understood about Dungeons, every five Floors every Floor would be bigger than before. The heathens were joined in battle with the kobold pests - as well as countless other Dungeon creatures -, which only confirmed their heathen natures. But the sheer number of enemies meant that Hephetrius couldn''t spare a single fighter to instead solve the door puzzle he had just discovered. Of course, as Hephetrius wasn''t a fighter himself, he would have to be the one to solve it. He knew the heathens were simply trying to distract them, after all. Defend me from the savage heathens while I get us closer to our goddess! She must be freed! With the sounds of battle once again ringing in his ears, the centaur turned to read the riddle on the door: I can make bread turn brown and make water boil. If you squeeze me, I''ll die. If you look at me, you''ll die. The riddle began. Hephetrius didn''t waste time reading through it all before he began solving it. Bread turn brown and water boil. Sounds like fire or heat or their elemental counterparts. An arrow hit the ground closer than what wasfortable. He ignored it the best he could. If you squeeze me, I''ll die means it can''t be the elemental versions. Unless the you refers to something made of elemental mana themselves. The loud bang of a weapon hitting a solid shield rang through the space, distracting Hephetrius for a moment before he continued. If you look at me, you''ll die. Never heard of a mana type that could do that. Maybe it''s actually a creature made of the Heat element or it''s stronger Fire variety. Yes, they can heat things up and can die if squeezed while you''re- A wall of nts appeared directly behind the cardinal, protecting him from an attack from behind, but also distracting him from his thoughts. What kind of attack, Hephetrius didn''t know, but he could hear the thud of something hitting the nt barrier. What''s next? I turn wolfdrakes white, and I will make youugh. I make boys eat, and girls run in forests. What? Wolfdrakes don''t turn white! Right? Or maybe I just assumed they were born that color Or hatched? Either way, wolfdrakes live in the cold, so what does their white fur have to do with bread turning brown and water boiling?! And you''ll make meugh? Again- where is the connection?! I make boys eat, and girls run in forests? That doesn''t?! What?! The nt wall started vibrating violently all of a sudden, like someone had grabbed it and started shaking it for full force. Just read the rest, maybe it''ll make sense then. I make schrs look like idiots and children look like geniuses. Can you guess the riddle? Make schrs look stupid and children look like geniuses? So, maybe something so obvious that schrs will think it''s a trick? The top of the nt wall fell, only to seemingly dive straight towards the centaur''s human half, only to straighten back up into a wall again. Can you guess the riddle? Hephetrius read mockingly out loud as his body stiffened in reaction to the wall''s odd behavior. No! I can not! Not with all this distraction around me! The door opened. Emerald Young karmic mimicking elemental dragon - Forest Level 39 Sprout Young karmic mimicking elemental dragon - Forest Level 39 Where Sprout and Emerald had had the size of a particrlyrge cat when they were fledglings, these days they were the size of a big pony. And their control over foliage had gotten much better. But unfortunately not good enough topletely counter the mind controlled Zina. Apparently it was much more difficult to take control of someone else''s Forest mana than to work with your own. And of course there was the level difference. I don''t want anyone to die if we can avoid it. But I can''t help but think we would have won by now if we had gone for the kill For while Zina, the Sheriff, the deputies, and the ram riders were among the highest leveled people in Karmaria, they were vastly outnumbered. Like one to eight kind of outnumbered. But in their mind controlled state, they were aiming to kill and maim, while we only sought to restrain, knock out, and capture. Or to distract and dy if capture wasn''t possible. And of course, for none of our own to die in the process. We would still win the battle, that much became obvious after the first minute ofbat. But it would take significantly more time than if our goal had simply been to kill them. Lionheart, Nerok''s kirin steed, you would think was quite the powerhouse due to all the karmic creatures - all the Heroes - dying. The temporary boost to his Ability Scores was like he had leveled 24 times at this point. Which, due to how rarely Nerok and Lionheart went deep into my Dungeon - where they would have gotten better EXP - only equaled to level 55. Which was still powerful! But without any actual Skills to back it up, most 5th tier sapients would have no real trouble defeating him. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. No! How?! No! The cardinal had somehow solved The No-Geniuses-Allowed Puzzle Door. The riddle on the door had no actual answer and most of thetter half of the facts simply described how I imagined people would react to it. Specifically the solution. For the answer to the riddle was no. No as in I can''t solve this riddle. As the question the riddle asks was essentially can you solve the unsolvable?. It''s barely been three minutes! How did he get it this quickly?! It had taken Emerald''s Party 41 minutes before Begdar had frustratingly shouted that she gave up because it was impossible to solve. Which naturally solved it. The other members of her Party had alreadye to the conclusion that they couldn''t solve the riddle. But as they assumed Begdar could, they hadn''t said this out loud. And now there was nothing left in between the cardinal and my Fake Core. Well. I hope you like surprises. Ready? Affirmative! Came the reply. There she is! Hephetrius thought to himself in glee, having spotted the crystalline shard of his broken goddess on a pedestal of ck marble. She was beautiful! A white diamond of the finest quality in a perfect octahedron shape. The clear nature of the shard revealed theplete absence of ws and fractures. Perfect, like only the divine could be! Even if the shard''s beauty was partly hidden behind the glossy ck bars of an Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage, which encaged it snuggly. If only Mnie had been here to witness this. Sadness swallowed Hephetrius for a moment, causing him to stumble as he walked towards his goal. Mnie had been the only friend he had left. And with no friends, he only had the cause. The crusade. The goddess. At least she died for her faith. She died fighting for her cause. The cause of the goddess! I can''t let her death have been in vain! With that thought, the centaurid his hand on the diamond''s crystalline surface. The Dungeon Core offers your Party personalized rewards greater than elsewhere in its Dungeon in return for mercy. If you ept you and your Party will receive said reward before being teleported back to the Surface World. Do you ept this offer? Yes/No No. Hephetrius replied as his touch tightened into a grab. Are you sure? Yes/No What? The confusion caused him to pause his movements. You''re not supposed to ask twice The System message simply shed in response. Yes, I''m sure. It''s for my goddess! Your soulmate! Then suffer the consequences! An unknown person shouted in his head in the scariest, deepest voice he had ever heard. Simultaneously the shard of the goddess opened four tiny eyes and an impossibly big mouth, much bigger than its body. As it opened its mouth, the Cage surrounding it broke into two halves with the top half subsequently falling off. It chumped down on the hand, which had previously been ced on its head, and swallowed it in the same instance. Then a single leg, consisting mostly of a foot, rose the octahedron body up, before itunched itself 10 or 20 times its own body height into the air. While flying the creature and its impossibly huge, open mouth filled with several rows of sharp teeths grew in size till its mouth could swallow a horse whole. Or a centaur. Less than two seconds had passed from when the mimic had opened its mouth till it closed it the second time. Alone in the room again, the Dungeon Core mimic resumed its previous position and camouge. There was nothing left of the sapients which had once been in the room. Not even The Song of Liberation had been left behind. As the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage broke off, I received a System message: System Alert The Rule Eavesdropping on the Warden is deactivated till a new link is made to a sapient with the ability to hear. Aw That''s annoying. Understandable, but annoying. Then, just after my EXP reward for killing the cardinal, a much more wee System Alert appeared: System Alert All members of the cult known as ''The Order of The Broken Goddess with the rank of cardinal have either renounced their membership or been killed. With Luvenia Mein''s original 22 Brainwashings no longer in effect, the cult known as ''The Order of The Broken Goddess will slowly cease to exist. Oh. Awesome! Due the sizable work done on your part for this to happen, you will be given the Achievement Divine Hero. New Achievement: Divine Hero: You have done the world an iprehensible service. Condition: Do the world an iprehensible service. Reward: A reward of your choice. Select your Reward: A 25% longer lifespan. I''m already immortal. A 50% bonus to all Ability Scores. Cool, but I don''t have Ability Scores myself. Just my creatures, and it doesn''t sound like they''re covered in this. 200% EXP gain. Useful in the long run, but I have quite enough EXP at the moment. 10 levels. Cool, but I much prefer rewards, which keep doing something for me. Not just one time things like this. The Ability Hero''s privilege: People you meet want to please and honor you. While that certainly sounds nice, I think I can do that on my own. Sorry, I mean: I''m already doing that on my own. No need for an Ability. I''m already being worshiped! The Ability to bend luck in your favor once a week. I already do that too! The list went on. But it had be clear to me that this Achievement was meant for sapients, and that as a Dungeon Core its rewards simply weren''tpatible. I''m sure the System will adapt whichever one I pick to fit me and my Dungeon Core nature like it has done before. But I would have much preferred something more specific to Dungeon Cores. The closest thing I can find in this list is the extra mana regeneration and therger mana bank, but I don''t see much of a need for either. I''m immortal, after all. And with the cult out of the picture, I doubt I''ll ever be in a hurry again. Knock on wood for me, please. The kobold in question did. But what exactly do I want or need the most? Now or in the long run. Do I even need anything right now? I don''t think so. In the long run I would like to be able to tier up easier. Preferably without having to rely on bad people entering and dying in my Dungeon. Reward selected. Huh?! Divine Hero: You have done the world an iprehensible service. Condition: Do the world an iprehensible service. Reward: Sapients with more than 25% in karma level who live in Karmaria counts towards your next tier up. Once a sapient is counted towards your tier up they can''t be subtracted again. Each sapient can only be counted towards your next tier up once. That''s That''s perfect! That not only gives me a third way of reaching my next tier up, but it''s another nonkilling one! I just have to grow my Town now! Wait. No. I don''t even have to do that. Just keeping it this size means that new people will be born here and count as a new person! As long as the ce doesn''t end uppletely overrun with bad people! Which it won''t! I''m sure of that! I could feel an immense sense of relief coursing through my Core. I''m no longer reliant on bad people being near me while trying to make sure no bad people even exist! Chapter 106: Winning Sometimes Comes with Losses Chapter 106: Winning Sometimes Comes with Losses Our enemies have once again been defeated! Sarzina Acacia cheered alongside the rest of Karmaria as Chief Nerok began the victory speech. The three leaders - Brassheart, Nerok, and herself - had agreed it was best if the speech came from him. Both Chief Brassheart and herself had only just been freed from mind control and wasn''t currently in the best mindset for a public speech. That being said, Zina had realized by now that Nerok really enjoyed giving encouraging speeches and had no intentions of robbing him of that joy. With ourbined efforts we have freed the minds of innocents and saved The Dungeon of Karma from destruction! People cheered once again. And we did this across the border between species. For while we are different, this difference turns to strength when we work together! Beastkin, elf, human, gnome, giant, siren, or centaur. It doesn''t matter what you are, only what you do. And what we can do when we work together is incredible! The excited cheering was higher than Zina had expected after a message like that. And looking around, yes, all the elves she could see from her position behind Nerok were cheering just as loudly as everyone else. We have reallye far. Cheering for beastkin and elves working together. With this, thest cardinal of this horrible mind controlling cult is no more! And with no leaders left for them to follow the rest of the cult can never. Rise. Again! Nerok loudly dered with his fists aimed at the sky in triumph. The resulting roar of the crowd was nearly deafening. He really is good at this. Nerok''s head and shoulder then dropped as he lowered his arms. The sadness radiating from him could be felt, even though Zina couldn''t see his face from this angle. But with innocent people turned against us this could never be a battle without losses. The crowd quickly quieted, respecting the innocent souls lost and Nerok''s sudden somber tone. The names of many of the fallen are unknown to us and thus their families might never know what happened to them. Maybe Karma knows? I should ask her, so we can tell their families. But we know the names of our own. Deputy Tiarsus Liquidambar, Tozibo Steelhide,- Nerok began listing the names we did know. All together, it wasn''t a long list, certainly notpared to the number of unknowns. But because it was people we knew - the locals, that was -, it hit much harder. A noble Hero once told me that his people honored the newly departed with 90 seconds of silence. 6 seconds for each of the 8 sapient species that once was. As well as 6 seconds for each of the 7 beastkin races that once was. For when you honor a death, even when its a necessary death, we should remember the unnecessary ones in the past. I would like for us to implement this to the culture of Karmaria. And while I had hoped we wouldn''t need it yet, I had this 90-seconds hourss built for this purpose. Nerok bent down to collect said item from his feet to ce on the podium in front of him. For the love of life and Karma, let''s honor the dead with our silent respect. Nerok dered as he turned the hourss the size of his own head. The sentence gave an expression of tradition. Like this was what they had always said and always would say before the 90 seconds of silence. He must have made the hourss that big to ensure everyone in the crowd could see it. How thoughtful Zina didn''t know all of the dead. Not even all of the named ones. She had met deputy Liquidambar, of course. Many times in fact, as her boyfriend''s subordinates were his closest friends. Yet the death of Tozibo Steelhide, who she hadn''t truly met, was who she grieved over the most. Cause she knew She had been the one to kill him. Logically, Zina knew she didn''t have a choice. It hadn''t been an ident, but she still hadn''t meant to kill him. It wasn''t her fault, and yet it was. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences. It was hard toe to terms with. And maybe she never would. Hopefully Oona will someday forgive me, even if I never do myself. Zina hadn''t seen the dawon since she had left the Dungeon after the death of Steelhide. The elven noblewoman knew this ment her beloved pet, steed, and battle partner was avoiding her. When the 90 seconds were up, Nerok continued his speech. Mentioning how Karmaria had allies which would help those forced toe here, back to their homes and families. How anyone who wished was allowed to stay. What needed to be done in either scenario and what needed to be done to clean up after the battle. And the whole time he talked, he would be hopeful and encouraging and inclusive. A we can do it together!-attitude which somehow didn''t end up sounding like he was talking to children. He''s so much better at this than I am Why exactly am I the leader of Karmaria? Nerok is already doing a much better job at uniting people across species than I''ve ever done. Sure, I''ve banned the very of beastkin, but it was Nerok, Ginkgo, and Dakath who worked on stopping the actual speciesism behind it. And Nerok''s people were here first! We simply chased them off and imed it for ourselves! They have a better im to this ce than we do! Then again We are the ones who built the foundation and most of the structures around here. But the Dungeon itself? We don''t have a right to. This is no-man''snd, and they were here first. They didnt even actually leave the ce. They simply moved into the Dungeon. It sounded like Nerok was nearing the end of his speech. Karmaria shouldn''t be in my hands. Zina was certain she was making the right choice. I got what I wanted. I''m the first dungeon mistress of a Dungeon, which puts me in the history books. And I''ll keep being the dungeon mistress. I just need to have someone make me a false Cage for the Dungeon Core, so it looks like they''re tamed. Not that they ever actually were, but we would eventually end up in a lot of unnecessary political conflict if Karma looks like a wild Dungeon. It''s better for us all that I stay the official dungeon mistress. It would also be nice if the option tomunicate without me physically being in the Dungeon came back in some form. But that''s not a top priority. Be kind to everyone, and Karma will protect you! Nerok ended his speech the same he had done it for thest couple of speeches Zina had heard him make. My turn then. Better get the speech over with now. It''ll have to happen eventually anyway. As Nerok made to leave, but before the crowd could follow suit, Zina went to stand beside Nerok, holding a hand out to stop him from leaving. How does one do speeches again? I wish I had taken those lessons more seriously! This was the second time my mind was under themand of another, Zina began, only to immediately regret her decision. There''s no need to put myself down! But with a practiced mask of calm she continued: This might be a coincidence or perhaps targeted due to my status as Karma''s dungeon mistress and the leader of Karmaria. The cult might be no more, but in all likelihood any future enemies we may have will go for me as well. Whether that be by mind control or violence, this would leave Karmaria without a leader in a time you would need it the most. Zina gave her audience a couple of seconds to take this in. I propose I stay Karmaria''s dungeon mistress when ites to aspects directly rted to the Dungeon, such as the Dungeon Guild and Portal Control. And that I remain your dungeon mistress when outsiderse asking. So that I remain the target should opposition to our lifestyle arrive. Here the elven noblewoman turned to the ursakin and ced a hand on his shoulder. But that Chief Nerok takes my role as Karmaria''s actual leader. Not only are Nerok better at diplomacy than I, but as his Tribe was the one to actually find the Dungeon, I believe it is their right to rule over the resulting Dungeon Town. The crowd - and Nerok and probably Brassheart behind her too - was shocked silent for a moment, before people began showing their support. Zina couldn''t help but notice that Nerok''s Tribe was the first to cheer, followed closely by her supportive boyfriend. Then Nerok raised his hand, silencing the crowd. I am ttered you think so highly of me, Mistress Acacia. But you forget how important you are to this ce. You are an instrument of change, the glue which keeps us together! I have simply supported the changes you''ve made and helped people see the value in them. But solving problems and making the necessary changes? That is not something I can do. Nerok gave a thoughtful humm as Zina lowered her hand from his shoulder. But I can see the merit of your suggestion. And having leaders of two different species will do wonders for the future coboration of the people of Karmaria. So, to y to our respective strengths, I could be Karmaria''s spiritual leader, dealing with the social and diplomatic parts of running a Dungeon Town. While you take on the important details ofws and punishments as Karmaria''s administrative leader. And should either one of us be incapacitated by an enemy, the other would still be there to lead. With a thoughtful blink, Zina epted the suggestion. Then that''s what we''ll do. It gives him all the speeches I rarely do well, but that he loves to do. Win-win really. I don''t really understand why he said no to makingws though. He made it seem like it''s hard to do. Or maybe he simply thinks it''s more responsibility than he''sfortable with. The excited cheering from the audience was louder than ever before. And the unknown faces of humans sprinkled amongst the crowd reminded her that she had announced her n to deceive outsiders with outsiders present. Typical me. This is why I don''t like doing speeches! With the crowd dispersed Zina decided to ask Nerok why he didn''t want to makews. His exnation was simple: There''s too much paperwork involved! Chapter Epilogue - A Gods Brilliant Plan Chapter Epilogue - A God''s Brilliant n Once upon a time a god created a universe, as gods are wont to do. Gods are powerful beings but when faced with a problem they will never ask for help. They will either try to solve it on their own or visit the universe of another god to observe their world for inspiration. Likewise a god will never directly offer help to another god as that would be an insult. Instead, should they discover that the visitor had a dilemma, they might show the struggling god how they themselves would or maybe even had solved a simr problem. But even this indirect help is inessible to gods who dont leave their own universe to seek it. Which this particr god had refused to do. The god had visited the universes of other gods to gather inspiration before making their own, but hadnt left their universe since its creation. Something the god had learned about when they explored other universes was reincarnation. Not all gods had added reincarnation to their universe and it didnt always function the same way. Sometimes the soul had its memories removed before being reincarnated but not always. Some gods had restricted reincarnation to their own universe, while others decided to swap souls between them. In some universes reincarnation was only for sapients, in others not. And sometimes one could only reincarnate into the same species, while in others what species you were reincarnated into was dictated by your actions in life. This particr god hadnt intended on having reincarnation in their world. But the barrier between the different universes were made to be prated. By gods, mainly, so they could visit each other, but also by powerful spells and incredible technology. Additionally the barrier between worlds would be thinner in certain mythical ces and on certain time, dictated either by calendar or celestial movements. And while the barrier was thin or had a hole in it opened by powerful individuals a soul meant for reincarnation could wander through,pletely without meaning to or even realizing they had. This rarely ever happened, but when it did one of three things would happen. Either the wandering soul would be found by the local god, in which case the god might return the soul to its original world for their own god to deal with. Or the god would use the soul for their own purpose, risking the wrath of the soul''s original god, should the soul in question have been intended for a specific purpose already. But should the local god not notice the wandering soul - or simply decide not to do anything -, the wandering soul would enter the first empty and suitable body it could find. This could be a stillborn baby who now wouldn''t be stillborn. Or a grown adult who rose again after a fatal blow from an enemy. Sometimes, as it had happened this particr time, the wandering soul would enter a body which had been made with an intent to host a soul, but where a soul hadn''t yet been inserted. Such as certain types of golems and androids. In this particr case, the world''s Dungeon Cores had originally been created to match and challenge the greedy and power-hungry sapients of the world. And to do that, god wanted to make them sapients as well. Only None of the souls the god created and ced in a Dungeon Core could handle being a Dungeon Core. They all eventually went insane. Some went insane with power and made impossible-to-survive Dungeons, which prompted the creation of certainws of fairness all Dungeon Cores now had to follow. Others went crazy due to loneliness as it had taken too long for them to be found or as their location was wiped from the mind of sapients, as the ones who had found the Dungeon were killed in battle between species. So god changed their rtion to time and removed their ability to feel loneliness and boredom. Certain Dungeon Cores would refuse to kill, which had them removing most of their creatures from their Dungeons to make them safer for visitors. Usually this happened as a result of having gotten attached to certain sapients who would still always die before the immortal Dungeon Core. Which in turn would lead to a massive depression, where the Dungeon Core simply stopped caring about anything, now having realized they would always outlive their loved ones. But the point of a Dungeon Core was to kill and train. God couldn''t have them be crushed by the reality of their Mission and so changed their innate understanding of death and stopped them from experiencing any emotion which could impede the sess of their Mission. The god also ensured Dungeon Cores would have an innate desire for progress and a need to grow. They still wouldnt be able to feel bored, but would instead feel restless, if no progress had happened. Even this wasn''t enough as the now uncaring Dungeon Core decided to forsake their Mission and focus only on the satisfaction of power, even limited by thews of fairness. Dejected, the god removed the souls from all the Dungeon Cores and made their decision making run on algorithms and randomness instead of conscious thought. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it It wasn''t perfect, but it was better than before. Then one day, a wandering soul entered a newly created Dungeon Core, bing the first Dungeon Core with a reincarnated soul. The god saw that it was good and gave the new Core what blessings the weakened, resting god could. Not even half a year had gone by before the god saw exactly how good this wandering soul actually was for their world. The soul, now Dungeon Core, had led the gods most recent annoyance to ruin with both direct and indirect actions, making them worthy of an Achievement never before achieved. And through the whole ordeal the Dungeon Core had never once strayed from their Mission. With the exponentially dangerous attacks from the mind controlled followers of The Order of The Broken Goddess many of the gods original Dungeon Core souls would have sought mindless ughter to be able to grow more quickly in order to defend themselves. But not this one. They seemingly hadnt even considered it and had even let a target go back to the Surface World, hoping to aid the world outside their own Dungeon pocket dimension by releasing the infected individual. An act aimed at fulfilling their Mission beyond what was asked of them and for no expected gain at all. But a reward would still be given. Everytime a werewolf was to be killed for their lycanthrope nature, the Core would receive EXP as if the werewolf had died in their Dungeon. Due to their slumber, the god hadnt immediately realized that an evil mind controlling cult had begun to rise. The idea of sses had been inspired by another god and the various mind control sses had slipped in with the rest of them. The god the idea hade from had liked having conflict in their world and having underdog heroese and save the day from seemingly impossible odds. When the god finally took notice of the cult, it had grown toorge for them to simply remove the sses like they wanted to. Not only did a lot of people have the sses, but the bigger problem was the muchrger number of people mind controlled because of them. Hoping to lower the number of affected people, the god gave every mind controlled member a Dungeon Weakness. And now the reincarnated soul had - both directly and indirectly - been the one to cause the number of cultists to lower to such a degree that the god could finally remove those sses for good. Their slumber had given them some energy back but with how low the number of affected people now were, it took much less to remove the ss from all who had been granted one and rece it with a new one. But removing the ss from a sapient didnt stop those already mind controlled from being so. It simply stopped the mind controller from using a System granted Skill to control the actions and mind of another. The cult was still there but would have a much harder time trying to expand. And eventually: It would cease to exist. A single reincarnated soul had done all that, before they had even been a Dungeon Core for half a year, where the souls of the first Dungeon Cores had all ultimately failed their Mission. Clearly, this was the solution to the problem! Newly created souls couldn''t handle being a Dungeon Core, but apparently a reincarnated one could! If that was indeed what had made this soul different from the others the god had tried. It was worth a try at least. Onest try to make Dungeon Cores actually efficient in following their divine Mission. So, the resting god put a hold to their slumber and reached out to the original god of the soul now settled in a Dungeon Core. The two gods agreed to swap 36 souls to be reincarnated in the other''s world as a test to see if reincarnation was something fitting for them and their worlds. The god knew they wanted to ce the 36 souls in Dungeon Cores, but that was more than ten times the number of Dungeon Cores created yearly. It would have unfortunate side-effects to change the number that drastically. And while they could take a decade to release the reincarnated Dungeon Cores in a more natural manner, the god was already longing for sleep and didn''t want the hassle of having to keep the remaining souls from wandering and identally finding a suitable body on their own. Instead the god made three new Dungeon Cores for the year all at once and ced a soul in each. The remaining 33 souls were ced in the Cores of the world''s 33 less efficient Dungeons. Dungeons where the algorithm or randomness of a non sapient Core had resulted in an undesirable oue. To gain as much information during the test, the souls would have varying amounts of memory from their previous life. Though, never enough for them to truly miss that life. Additionally, 18 of the souls would receive the first tier of one of the Achievement the first reincarnated soul had achieved. Each Achievement would be given to two different souls. The god hoped that receiving certain Achievements early would push the newly sapient Dungeon Cores in the right direction. Lastly, the god granted all of the world''s Dungeons Universal Language. The new Law would ensuremunication was at least possible between people from different cultures. With everyone speaking the samenguage, there would be less misunderstandings and a bigger chance of peace. The god mourned for a moment that they couldn''t make Universal Language a Law throughout the Surface world. While they didn''t have the energy to do it at such arge scale at the moment, it was more so because Universal Language only worked if you had anguage to trante. And if you didn''t know anguage yet, you would hear only sounds and never a single word. In short, it would make it impossible for babies to learn anguage. Which would defeat the purpose of giving sapients the option for goodmunication. With Universal Language a Dungeon Law and the final soul ced in an octahedron and crystalline body, the god could once again rest. This time, confident their world would be okay. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!