Chapter 17

Peter had finally reached the capital, Barathan, and was gawking at the magnificent buildings in the noble district. There were grand estates, belonging to the noble houses, the grandest of them being the ducal estates, but dwarfing even those was the royal palace, a testament to what generations of peace and prosperity can do for the ruling dynasty. The wealth on display was jaw dropping, and Peter could only marvel at the sophistication and architecture, dreaming of ways to incorporate what he saw into his own city. He had reached the capital late in the evening, and when he tried to go to the palace for the meeting, Raymond, a manservant sent by the king, laughed and pulled Peter away.

“Come on now, the hour is late, and the king isn’t meeting anybody now. Besides, you can hardly expect to meet the king dressed like that,” the man chided. Peter swallowed nervously and followed the man, who took him to a tailor’s shop to get his attire situated. He was measured, and an outfit was selected for him, requiring only slight modifications. It was a colorful arrangement, a fine dark blue silk shirt, with a slate gray doublet covering it, both framed by excellent gold embroidery. He even had to admit to himself that despite the expense and pomp, he really did look quite good in the noble attire.

After paying for the clothes and a few more outfits he ordered, Peter allowed Raymond to drag him to a high-quality inn, where he promptly paid for a room and turned in for the night, exhausted from his journey. He slept soundly, despite his anxiety over the next day’s meeting.

The next morning he woke early, and after treating his entourage to a wonderful breakfast at the inn, he set off for the palace. Raymond was busy briefing him on more and more protocols, a topic the man had been insistent on drilling into his head over the course of the journey. Peter had heard it all by now, and busied himself by taking in the sights of the ancient capital, tuning out the man’s instructions on how to hold his head in his majesty’s presence, and all sorts of other protocols rooted in tradition he had practiced countless times over the trip.

When they finally got to the palace, Raymond led him through the winding maze of halls and gardens, to an elegant waiting room decorated with beautiful tapestries and fine gold fixtures. Raymond delivered a letter of introduction to the king’s seneschal, a wizened old man, who despite his age, was no less vital than a man with half his years. The man carried the letter through a door behind him, returning to his desk a minute later. He scribbled notes in an old leather-bound tome, and stamped a few missives with his seal, giving them to a messenger to deliver. He was responsible for much of the kingdom's administration, and the king's waiting room. Two tasks he completed with the utmost care and efficiency.

A few minutes later, the door behind the seneschal's desk opened again, and a man whispered into his ear. The seneschal stood, and after beckoning for Peter to stand, Opened the ornate mahogany doors leading to the king's private meeting rooms. As the doors opened the old man called out, in a much stronger voice than Peter expected, “Peter Haroldson, owner of the new Borrander Forest dungeon, here at your request your majesty.”

Peter took three steps into the room, and exactly as instructed, knelt, right fist on the ground, the other on his upraised left knee, forehead resting on the back of his hand.

“Rise Peter,” came the strong voice of the king, a powerfully built man, well into his fifties but still full of life. Peter stood and faced the man, who was seated in a massive gilded leather chair behind a desk, beautifully carved from a rich dark hardwood. Peter knew the desk had been a gift from the elven ambassador decades ago, and had been carved from the center of a destroyed heartwood tree, a massive evergreen sacred to the elves. He swallowed nervously, perspiration running down his neck and back.

“I’m at your service, your majesty,” he recited, relieved his voice hadn’t faltered or cracked. The king smiled at him, and gestured for him to sit in a chair across from him.

“Relax Peter. I was friends with your grandfather, your family is always welcome in my home,” he said as Peter took his seat, “how is the old man by the way? I haven’t heard from him in years.”

“He’s dead your majesty, a necromancer killed him a few months back, in the dungeon I claimed.”

The king's face fell at the news, and he seemed to Peter to be genuinely saddened by the news. “Well,” he started, “my condolences for your loss, Gerald was a great man, and a better friend.” They both paused for a moment in memory, and Peter was shocked when the king poured him a drink, from his own bottle. He slid the tumbler across the table and raised his own glass, “to Gerald, may he forever be remembered.” Peter raised his glass as well, and they emptied the liquor in a single swallow. It was the best whiskey Peter had ever tasted, and it nearly sent him into a coughing fit, only stopped by the presence of the king, who had started to speak again.

“That dungeon is why I called you here. You see, I have received many requests from the nobility to strip you of your land, and give it over to them. Now, I am loathed to give any of those greedy bastards any more wealth and power, so I have decided to do something. I gave your grandfather the title of baron, and although he refused any land, you are still a member of the nobility... I can see by your expression that he never mentioned it, which I suppose is just like the man. Now, I have decided to raise your house to that of duke, and you shall be given the newly created Duchy of Borrander, named for the forest it contains. You will be Duke Peter Borrander, and you can decide if you will carve out any counties to give to vassals. I suppose that won’t matter for awhile, since the land is so sparsely populated, but the dungeon should take care of wealth. You will, of course, be required to pay the feudal taxes to the crown, but I will waive the requirement of a levy until there is enough population to support one.”

He looked up from his papers at Peter, the young man’s eyes had grown wider and wider during king’s speech. The king took one look at him and laughed, “sorry for my ramblings, we can sort all the details out later on, for now, just swear your fealty to me, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Peter stood from the chair at the king's behest, and knelt again, this time with his sword drawn and laid across his two outstretched palms, with both knees on the ground. He cleared his throat a few times, afraid his voice would crack, and rehearsed the vow one more time in his head before speaking.

“I, Peter Borrander, formerly Peter Haroldson, of the Borrander forest, do hereby swear my fealty to the King of Rivan. My blade and my house are henceforth sworn to the crown.” The king solemnly accepted his vow, and beckoned Peter to stand. Then he cracked a smile, “Peter I have one command for you.”

Peter swallowed nervously, “What is it my liege?”

“Call me Albert in private.”

Pan had decided it was finally time to get ready for a third floor. That being said, he had to level up one more time just so he could afford the new floor. Pan was currently getting around five thousand mana per day, give or take a few thousand, and he needed twenty-five thousand just to level up once. He was currently within two days of the level up, and he decided to save up as much as he could. However, he still felt that he still needed to add to the first few floors, since they were starting to feel a bit, homogenous, especially the first floor. He wanted to create something other than the ants and plant traps for adventurers, mostly because once an adventurer figured out the enemies, clearing the floor became child's play. He still needed a way to allow them to bypass already cleared floors, but he would incorporate his plans for that when he bought the third floor.

While he waited for the mana to level up, he started tinkering with ideas for revamping the first floor. He didn’t want to make it more difficult since it worked well for rank D adventurers, but he wanted to make it more varied. A sufficiently skilled and equipped rank D adventurer could get through the first and half of the second floor before needing to turn back, and he was considering adding a fourth floor between the first and second later on to accommodate more low-level adventurers. For now, he needed a new monster.

He decided on an ambush predator, but not an overwhelming one. He decided to use a spider as a base, and since he already had experience working with spiders, it should be easier to get what he wanted. The first floor was about facing enemies with strong defense, the ants had a strong carapace, and the stone centipede was only beaten by behemoth in terms of sheer defense. Pan decided to stick with the theme, and developed his spider around that idea.

He made a large, bulky, four-foot diameter spider. Its abdomen was much larger than its massive foot wide cephalothorax, a combined head and thorax, and curled under the hardened shell of the middle segment. The abdomen had an armored topside, but the bottom was undefended. The top of the cephalothorax was a well-armored plate, capable of deflecting sword or arrow strikes with relative ease. Its legs were armored as well, with extra reinforcements in the joints to prevent and hyperextension fro strong blows. He made it powerful, but it wouldn’t be incredibly fast like second-floor monster, just able to run down a jogging human. He removed the deadly parts of its venom, and changed it to a powerful paralytic, able to subdue a human in around ten seconds for up to a few hours. Finally, he changed it’s appearance, breaking up its shape with fur mottled with brown and green patches. If it hid in the underbrush, it would be very hard to see, and should teach novice adventurers to always be on edge.

Their plan of attack would be to wait in ambush, then strike at enemies, paralyzing them before wrapping them up in thread and dragging them back to a prepared lair where it could easily defend its catch. When he spawned the first generation, they took to the crevices and caves around the edges of the rooms, hidden by brush. Pan widened and expanded the hiding spots, adding a few more to help the species get a start in the dungeon. If they managed to snag an adventurer, they would be able to easily defend their prize from any party members looking to rescue their comrade by backing into their home with the armored carapace on the abdomen preventing any successful attacks. The party would have to kill it before it reached its home if they wanted to save their friend, or else they’d have to be prepared for a long siege on the defended hole.

They worked exactly as intended the next day, and while not an insurmountable obstacle for D ranked adventurers, they did manage to nab a few of the less observant ones. They would often wait for a group to pass, then latch on to the last member of the party, going for a paralyzing bite. Then, usually before the others had finished turning towards the commotion, they would attach their web to the unlucky person, and begin dragging them back to their hideout, relying on their armor to defend them while they made the walk back, burdened by the slowly freezing body of their victim. They weren’t always successful, and only got around twenty percent of the prey they went for, but didn’t die if they failed. A few were killed, but the majority of victims were saved when the group made a concerted effort to cut the web, allowing the spider to escape relatively unharmed. Pan found the struggles to be quite humorous, since in their panic many parties lost all common sense, and a few even accidently hit their paralyzed friend.

After a long day watching adventurers contend with the new threat, Pan had saved up the required mana to purchase the next level. He was bored from being forced to refrain from major mana uses, like enchanting or alchemy practice, and knew he’d have a bit more than a week before he could even afford the next floor, if the level even got him enough mana capacity to pay the fifty thousand mana needed to buy it.

Level 11

Need 50,000 mana for level 12

+25 Dungeon Points

Thankfully, he didn’t need another upgrade to reach the mana needed for a third floor. It would take about ten days to reach the mana needed if his income stayed around his recent average, and he had no other option than to wait. Sure, he could kill all the adventurers in the dungeon, and maybe shave a day or two off, but he’d shave off the rest of his life by doing that, although he did catch himself fantasizing about it. The new dungeon instincts had burrowed deep into his psyche, and he didn’t know if he should feel disturbed or not. He only found himself more accepting of the errant thought the instincts inflicted upon him, and he remained aware and rational, so he didn’t fear a fall into depravity too much.

After months of being a dungeon, he had begun to accept his new identity, and felt no shame in killing people. He was more of a harsh teacher than a cold blooded killer, at least that’s what he told himself. Anyone that died in his dungeon would probably have died somewhere else anyway, so he was just helping the strongest rise to the top, and removing the worst of the lot. He didn’t even know why he tried to rationalize his actions because ever since he became a dungeon he had no compunctions with killing. It felt like he was doing it just to humor his old self, who would have had to rationalize killing. He was a dungeon now, it's what dungeons did, how they survived. Why should he feel shame? Besides, it was always indirect killing through monsters, so he didn’t even feel like he was killing them, even if he was ultimately responsible. There was simply no way around killing, so he had no reason to dwell on it any longer. Maybe he lost more than a shred of humanity when he was changed, but he still felt like himself, and as long as he kept that, he didn’t care. A mindset probably brought about by his transformation.

After nine days of watching, he was finally close to having the mana he needed. The evening was approaching, and he could feel that at some point during the night he would reach fifty thousand mana, enough to form the new floor. A few hours later, he had it. Again, the mana seemed to rush out of him as he sent the mental command to buy the floor, and he felt the connection form at the end of the second. He was out of mana, so he wasn’t able to do much, but he did start carving into the rock, and expanding his dungeon’s influence down with the mana he generated. He found that it was easier to push his influence down after he bought the next floor, and he was quickly able to claim hundreds of feet of rock in each direction, and twenty feet down. It seemed that whatever system governed dungeon didn’t want floors more than ten or twelve feet high, and claiming more vertical space grew more difficult. Pan persisted, since he had plans for his dungeon, and being limited was something he wouldn’t allow. He even had an achievement to show that.

It took him days to grab enough volume to begin his plans, and the space was almost as large as his second floor, but circular. It was nearly two miles in diameter, and fifty feet high, perfect for what he wanted to do. The jungle was good, and he enjoyed the aesthetics of the place, but it was time to switch up the environment. He decided on a much more open floor design, even more so than the cavern on the second floor. He started by carving out the area he claimed, spreading the cavern in all directions. It took hours, but eventually, the massive dark space was emptied out and reinforced. His mana strengthened the stone, preventing a possible collapse. He now had to attach it to the second floor, or at least prepare the entrance.

He decided to go big, and after claiming some more space on the second floor, he was ready. He had centered the new floor just past the end of the second, and he carved out another circular room just above the center. He then removed the rock straight down, carving a massive hundred foot diameter hole in the ceiling of the third floor. There was a walkway around the hole, around twenty feet wide, providing a view of the new floor, seventy feet below. The rock was around ten feet thick between the floor of the entrance room, and the ceiling of the new cavern. He extruded a lip around the inner edge to serve as a railing. There were a few gaps, where he would attach paths down to the floor of the cavern, but he wouldn’t be doing that with stone.

He then started population the floor, first with the glowing bulbs. They hung from the ceiling of the cavern, thicker than even the second floor. They lit up the previously dark cavern, almost as bright as the sun. Pan then introduced a layer of sturdy small plants, and fueled their growth with mana over the course of a few days, rapidly breaking up the stone floor and producing a layer of dirt. He broke up the rock below under the soil, allowing larger plants to take root and begin their own cycle. Pan needed a lot of soil for his plan to work properly, and it would take another week or two of constant mana fueled overgrowth to achieve the desired amount.

Next, it was time to add water. Lots of water. Pan had collected quite a bit from surface runoff that flowed into his dungeon, and he poured it all into the new floor. A flood of water rushed out across the dirt, uprooting plants and eroding the newly formed soil. None was lost, since there was nowhere to go, and the submerged plant matter was necessary for Pan’s design.

He had devised a modification to the fire enchantment that would cause things to become very hot. Around the edges of his cavern, he placed strips of steel. He gave them the anti-oxidation enchantment, and the new heat enchantment. It cost him most of his soul power, but the upkeep shouldn’t be excessive. Then, he half-submerged the glowing steel bands in the water, backed into hidden crevices around the edges of the cavern. They immediately evaporated the water they touched, creating clouds of steam. The bands cooled, and the original explosion of steam turned into a slow cloud, billowing from vents in the cavern wall. They did serve their intended purpose, and they evaporated large amounts of water, causing the cavern to be blanketed in a vast cloud of fog within a day.

Pan had designed the cavern with a sloped ceiling, falling down towards the center so the water condensing on it would form rivulets that flowed to the middle of the cavern. There, the droplets fell off in a steady rain, dropping from the roof within one hundred feet of the entrance. They formed rivers and streams that flowed through the soil, although not rapidly. Most importantly, they created a massive swamp, with steadily slow currents of water flowing to the edges where the water evaporated and created a perpetual cycle of flowing water, and a heavy mist over the room. Pan had to reseed the cavern, since all the plants had been washed away, and were hardly adapted to life in a swamp.

In the empty ring of soil that didn’t receive rain under the opening to the second floor, Pan planted a tree. He commanded the tree to grow, and with encouragement from his mana, it shot up, growing fast enough that a person would be able to see it move. It reached through the hole in the ceiling, and it’s branches connected to the stone walkway, creating a bridge to the trunk. He sculpted the tree with his mana, and the interior of the ten-foot wide trunk was hollow, and a staircase grew inside of it. The bottom of the tree was very wide, nearly twenty feet across, and a mess of tangled roots. A few exits weaved their way through the massive maze at the base, and opened onto the floor, inside a ring of rain. The top of the tree branched out, and its canopy covered the roof of the entrance room, creating a leafy ceiling that filtered the light from the glowing bulbs above. Pan planted a few bulbs on the branches, providing more than adequate light for the room. A few lined the hollow interior, lighting the staircase down to the room at the bottom that housed the four exits.

From there, he spread a carpet of grass, termination at the start of the light rain one hundred feet away. Once he hit the rain, he started covering the ground with the moss and short grasses that covered a normal bog. Then he moved on to progressively bigger plants. Bushes and ferns sprouted along the banks of the slowly eddying murky waters. Tall spindly trees emerged from the muddy waters, but Pan kept most of the drier land clear of the more obstructive flora. All he had to do now was prepare some monsters, and let the adventurers loose in the cavern.

Dungeon Menu

Level: 11

Type: Sentient Dungeon

Name: N/A

Titles: N/A

Mana: 2,016/50,000 (+1000)

Soul Energy: 7.1/500

Rooms: 126

Floors: 3

Animals: 100,000+

Plants: 100,000+

Monsters: 8,002

Skills: [Dungeon Menu], [Dungeon Manipulation], [Dungeon Absorption], [Dungeon Creation: Level 12], [Dungeon Expansion], [Dungeon Summon], [Targeted Evolution], [Monster Imbuement], [Dungeon Map], [Name Bestowal], [Drop Assignment], [Floor Creation], [Environmental Manipulation], [Dungeon Soul Trap], [Alchemy: Lvl 32], [Enchanting: Lvl 14], [Dungeon Ore Vein]

Dungeon Points: 440

Achievements: Evolver, Legend Slayer, Boundless