Aurora

Returning to the dungeon, I made for the crafters section. It helped that all the dungeon monsters knew it was me without any real indication. The goblin I’d ran into hadn’t seemed to know where I was from, but that might be because he was too stupid. I would need to test it later with someone I knew was a real threat.

“My lady,” Zin said as I entered his workspace. “What can I do for you, tonight?”

“I need some clothes for this body. They don’t have to be too elaborate.”

“I have a few practice pieces that I’ve made to level my skill. They are using some level one materials that I managed to create through some trial and error.” He led me to a rack that had several types of clothes hanging from it. There were a few dresses, some shirts and pants that a commoner of this game might wear, and then a few undergarments. I choose a shirt and pair of pants that I felt said adventurer. They were a dull grey with some hints of red that went well with my hair.

“These will do nicely.” Dressing, I marveled at how even the sensation of the clothes against my skin was the same as if I was in my real body. “I have to say Zin, you are proving yourself quite nicely.”

Zin bowed his head. “Thank you, my lady.” He was a greater demon but looked more like a human than even my vampires. Since I had summoned him as a crafter, he didn’t have any combat skills thus lowering his mana cost. Worth every mana point.

Moving around in the outfit, I got a feel for it. I understood after a bit why materials were important. Compared to level zero materials, I could honestly feel the improved strength and dexterity that this outfit gave me. While it wasn’t a lot, if I was fighting monsters my own level, they would be the edge I would need to win. I blew Zin a kiss, before heading over to my weaponsmiths.

Hez and York were frantically working with signs of exhaustion showing. I rubbed my neck feeling bad. I had been in a bad mood last time I saw them. I knew they were doing their best, but I still took my frustration out on them. I called out to them as I approached.

“My queen!” they both shouted, dropping what they were doing to rush over and bow.

“Ummm…” I knelt and placed a hand on their heads. “I’m sorry. You two can take a break.” Almost instantly, the two of them collapsed and passed out. I scratched my cheek not sure what to do about this but decided they should be fine. Unlike humans, they shouldn’t have to worry about catching a cold or anything like that. Even if that were the case, the heat from the forges would keep them warm enough.

I stood up from the pair and moved about the room, checking the weapons. They had vastly improved. I could almost see the point where something clicked for them. It made sense, it was probably the point when they leveled up their skill. I grabbed a sword from the wall and tested it. I was still an amateur at these things, but it felt natural for me to hold it in my hand. Almost like it was an extension of my arm rather than a tool.

Be that as it may, I had no desire to wield a sword. I returned the weapon to the rack and cast my eyes around the room. It went without saying, but this was a fantasy-based world. Magic, swords, and all that. I was about to give up and just stick to my magic when I saw something I wasn’t expecting. I walked over and picked it up while holding my breath. “It’s real!”

It was a gun. Well, not in the traditional sense. The weapon was shaped like a gun, but the trigger, end, and hammer were made from crystal. It was the Crimson crystal that we were starting to acquire. Other than the fantasy feel, it was amazingly close to one of those old western guns that I saw in historical accounts from time to time. On Earth, those things went for millions of dollars between collectors.

Taking the gun, I rushed over to Hez and York. “I’m sorry again, but,” I mumbled as I slapped York awake. His groggy eyes locked onto me. “Tell me. Which of you made this?”

“That… It was me. I’m sorry if I offended you, my lady.”

“No. I’m not offended.” I want to know if you can make better versions or other weapons like this!”

“Ah. Yes. That is an Iron Magic Pistol. If I level up my skill a bit more, I should be able to craft a Steel one.”

“Tell me how it works,” I demanded, my excitement getting the better of me.

“Quite easily. You just pull the trigger, and it will fire a round of compressed mana. The weapon can be infused with spells. The drawback is that if something has magical resistance then it’s almost completely useless.”

“How often do things have magical resistance?” It wouldn’t be good to use a weapon that would be useless outside the dungeon. That said, I really didn’t want to use a close-range weapon like a sword. The staves that we had weren’t conductive to the magic types. They were mostly for hitting people over the head.

“Hard to say.” York rubbed his head. “I’m not sure.” I realized this was the limit of my monsters. They were extremely capable when it came to the things I summoned them for, but when it came to things outside that area, they were almost useless. I decided to drop it and just stick with the gun.

“Go ahead and practice making them. I would like another like this, and then make a few for my real body, just give them a few aesthetic changes.”

“I understand. I will get right on it.” York moved to get up, but I pressed him down.

“No. Go back to resting.” He nodded gratefully and laid back on the ground. I stood up and moved out of the room. I had a body that could leave the dungeon, the only problem was range. If I could figure out a way to extend that, then I would be golden. I opened the vault to my mana stones and placed the body in there before disconnecting with it. As I did so, I decided to start calling it Juliet.

Returning to my real body, I sat up and stretched. Varroth growled at the sudden movement. He was wrapped around me just like a large dog might. His fur was course and slightly matted with blood, but I still buried my hands in it as I pet him. “Thank you for watching over me.”

Looking at the magic circle on the ground, I decided that it was best to leave it. I might need it again and there were other spells in the Aberrant Sorcery skill that I picked up. From what I could tell, most used the same circle just with different sacrifices to reach different affects. I waved my hand and created a false floor over the circle.

Walking out with Varroth, I thought about what to do with myself. Zaras and the others would be a while yet. It would be a while before the dungeon’s mana was high enough to summon anything worth the time. I wanted to save for another Paragon Vampire. Returning to the coffin room, I sat in my partially ruined chair.

I decided to work on the dungeon. There were plenty of rooms that still needed either summoning points, absorption points, traps, and other tweaks. Death Sight made that much easier as I could do everything from my chair. Sending my mind out, I smoothed out tunnels that the demons were digging, created actual rooms that had various designs. I mainly stuck to vampire castle since that was what I was.

The spiral design that my dungeon had would be confusing to invaders. Not only did you have to go through the entirety of the dungeon, but there were chances of back tracking and getting confused in parts that were interconnected. I had fixed the path to my core from the tower already and made that even if you entered through the top of the tower, you would find yourself only about a third of the way into the actual dungeon.

Tapping my chin, I looked over the map of the dungeon. It effectively went out in all directions for hundreds of meters. I felt the total space occupied had to be a few kilometers by this point. The only direction that I hadn’t explored yet was down. Mainly, because I had wanted to reach the outside world to contact the outside world, ironically enough.

I moved to the edge of the dungeon, then started cutting my way down then back over. My aura was still a sphere, even with the protrusion being caused by the Aura Forge. That thing was working hard, but the results have been less than satisfactory. I knew if I put more to work, it would accelerate the process, but that would cut into my mana that was already limited. With several enemies around me that wasn’t the right move.

Making my way down, I eventually got to the bottom of my aura. It was a sheer up and down hole, so nothing should be able to climb it easily. At the bottom of my aura, I began to widen the hole to explore. I should be roughly a kilometer underground, perhaps more if my perception was off. If I included the mountain overhead, then it was well over five or six kilometers.

Breaking through the stone, I had the room to about the size to about a dozen meters in diameter. I was about to reach the point where my aura curved back up when I broke into an empty space. That wasn’t uncommon, there were pockets here and there. What was unusual was the light coming from it.

I switched to Clairvoyance and sent my eye through the hole. There was an entire city below me! I wasn’t talking some little town that had a few hundred buildings, no, this place seemed to go on forever. I couldn’t see the edge with my magical sight. Moving my sight down carefully, I didn’t want to trigger any magical spells or alarms, I finally reached the point that I could see what it was I was dealing with.

Spider people! Fascinating. The city had structures, but everything was covered in layers of web. It wasn’t all white either, there were hundreds of colors mixed together just like a normal town might be decorated with flags or paints. Looking it over made my painter spirit cry out in joy.

There were all sorts of them. Some appeared to be nearly completely spider, then there were varying degrees of humidification. One that appeared to be completely human only with mandibles and eight spider legs coming out of their back walked with a full contingent of the other spiders. From the looks of things, though I could be wrong, she looked important. Her clothes were amazing, as if made from the best silks.

After I had gotten my fill, I dismissed the sight. I wanted to make contact with them. I just had to figure out how they would react to me first. If they wanted to destroy me since I was a dungeon that would just ruin my day. Worse, they could make me a slave that produced items for them with my mana. I took a deep breath, that likely wouldn’t happen. Probably. Maybe…