Chapter 22

“Do you mind if I join you guys?” asked Warley

Jeromy was quick to say, “Not at all, guild master, please have a seat.”

Kiera's team was sitting in the C-Housing inn. Dorn and Warley were now added to the mix.

Dorn, pretending to be ignorant of the matters between Warley and the King, asked, “So, Warley, what are you doing down here? I thought you were in charge of the bustling city upstairs?”

Warley looked angry. “No,” he said, “not anymore. The King has decided that the good Duke Hallowedlash would be much more capable at building a village. All thanks to the advice of his new minion, this Friedrich character.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, guild master, that's tough. I do have to wonder what the King's even doing here on the eve of the invasion by Ilsan,” replied Dorn.

“More advice from that creepy Friedrich. Something fishy must be going on there; why would the King suddenly have a new adviser who's giving such bad advice?” asked Warley.

“Maybe he's a spy from Ilsan?” said Jeromy.

“Wouldn't surprise me,” answered Warley. “If our King is stupid enough to listen to his advice, then maybe this country deserves to be swallowed by Ilsan.”

“Humans and their bizarre politics; this is why we always stay so separated from you,” said Thalia.

“Oh?” said Dorn. “And what about the drow?”

Thalia suddenly looked extremely angry, saying, “The drow are traitors to our entire race. There is only one thing to do with them, and that is to kill them all. We don't play stupid political games like the humans.”

Vossan had to agree with her, saying, “Aye. One of the reasons we dwarves prefer our homes under the mountain is the lack of conflicts with the humans. You guys really know how to screw up a continent.”

Kiera hung her head sadly, saying, “I know I'm from Ilsan, but I don't really have any patriotic feelings for the country. Actually, I don't feel much for Khal either. Would it really make a difference to us adventurers who's in charge of this dungeon?”

“Well, as long as it's Khal or Ilsan, that Duke Hallowedlash and his son, Earl Anatole, will be running things. I suppose it's possible that Ilsan might install a more capable administrator, though,” said Warley.

Jeromy looked angry, “You should be the one in charge, Warley. Look at the construction of D-village. That is all thanks to your hard work.”

“While I appreciate your support, Jeromy, it doesn't seem very likely that I will be back in charge of anything besides the guild, in the future,” said Warley.

“Why is it that the nobles of this country are so adept at screwing things up?” asked Kiera.

Jeromy said, “Maybe we should stage a mutiny. Throw off the shackles of the government and declare self-governance.”

Everyone just rolled their eyes while Warley groaned, rubbing his eyes.

Dorn suddenly said, “It's an idea that's worth exploring.”

Kiera looked at Dorn with a warning glance. Which Dorn of course chose to ignore. Continuing, he said, “This dungeon is clearly a special place. Any entity that controls it, will be able to form a large power. There's no reason why any country that already exists, such as Khan or Ilsan, needs to be the power in charge. If you control this dungeon, especially considering the popularity it will develop with the Colosseum, you could form a brand new power in East Lucenia.”

“See?” said Jeromy. “The six of us could start a new, coalition government. Warley could be the new emperor, with the five of us as nobles under him. We could jointly administer all the races that come to this dungeon.”

Warley shook his head, saying, “It would never work. The reason being we have no support. Who even knows that we exist? Come, it would never make sense to try to start from a place of no power. What we need is a neutral power to come, one that would agree to better terms for this dungeon.”

“What about Kendra?” Kiera asked.

“What about it?” asked Dorn.

“Well, Kendra's nearby. Why don't we invite them to take over this part of Khal, enticing them with the profitable dungeon. They have long been foes of Ilsan. They're only a few dozen miles away. They could even say that they are simply annexing land that isn't really part of Khal.”

Vossan dryly said, “Something tells me your King wouldn't see it that way.”

“Let's be honest,” Warley said. “The King isn't going to remain King for much longer. Whether it's Ilsan or Kendra, one is going to soon control this dungeon. We all know of Ilsan's methods of controlling dungeons, cutting off all access to most people besides the military and charging adventurers an outrageous amount of tax. Perhaps, if we invite Kendra, we might be able to negotiate favorable terms.”

“I like that idea,” said Dorn. “Who should we send to invite them?”

“I could go,” said Warley, continuing, “I've at least been to their capital city before.”

“Who else could go? You're the one who could most obviously work out terms for the adventurers,” said Jeromy.

After seeing everyone agree, Warley finally said, “Very well. I guess I will commit treason against my country, and go invite Kendra to arrive. I'll sneak out soon, leaving my deputy in charge of the guild.”

With this, Warley got up and left for the D-Housing floor.

Vossan said, “Well, I guess I'm going to go mining,” before he left.

Thalia too left, to go see her people and cultivate near the celestial tree.

With Warley soon to leave the dungeon, Jeromy seemed a bit down, and decided to retire to his room to cultivate.

Finally, Dorn looked at Kiera. He said, “I have some business to go take care of. You should continue working on your mental defenses, especially with the cowled man in the dungeon.”

“Are you going to make another floor?”

“Indeed, why do you ask?” said Dorn.

“Do you mind if I come and watch? I might have some good ideas,” Kiera said.

“Very well, you can become my second assistant, like Emelia. But maybe actually helpful. Go run up and tell Jeromy that we're going out to the dungeon to practice your magical skills.”

***

“So how does this work, if you don't mind answering,” said Kiera.

“It's all about exchanging energy with the gods. Every time we liberate energy, in the form of killing lives or absorbing matter, we are in return given something called Dungeon Points. We can use these Dungeon Points to craft the floors that you see.”

“Ah, I see. So it all comes down to your imagination, then?” asked Kiera.

“Exactly. And I have long had an idea for the first C-level floor. I think people will enjoy the novelty of it,” said Dorn.

“Well, what is it?” asked Kiera.

“An underwater floor,” Dorn said with a grin.

“How the hell would that work, Dorn? Don't we need to breathe?” asked Kiera.

“Ah, that's why it was so helpful purchasing Dungeon Alchemy, this means-”

“Wait, what do you mean purchase?” asked Kiera.

“Oh, we're given a list of goods and services that we can purchase for the dungeon from the gods,” replied Dorn.

“Okay, that's weird. Why are the gods so involved with dungeons, anyway? They never seem to do anything for anyone else,” said Kiera.

“Uh, I know the answer, but it would probably just needlessly frighten you, and it's something you don't have to worry about happening in your life time,” said Dorn.

“Oh you can't leave me with just that. Come on, tell me!” said Kiera.

When this didn't work, she ran up and gave him a big hug and looked at him with puppy eyes. Dorn looked down at her, before quickly glancing away, gulping. He said, “Alright, alright, just move back a little.”

When an excited Kiera stepped back, Dorn said, “Remember, this isn't something that will happen in your lifetime. Or the lifetime of anyone's children, grandchildren, and so on. But, we dungeons will eventually destroy the universe, by absorbing all matter.”

Kiera recoiled. “You're going to destroy the universe?”

“Not for billions of years. Now, can you help me design this floor?” Dorn desperately tried to change the subject.

“No, you just said you'll be responsible for the ending of the universe; we cannot just move past it and talk about your next floor.”

Dorn said, “Once again, you'll be long dead before it even comes close to affecting anything in this world. It's not something you need to worry about. It's like waiting for the sun to go out. We know it'll happen one day, but it's so far in the future, that worrying about it is pointless.”

Looking pensive, Kiera finally acquiesced, saying “Okay, I guess I'll let that one go, while I think about it some more. You said something about Dungeon Alchemy? I assume you're going to give out underwater breathing potions?”

“Yes. Here's where my idea has gone to so far. I create a hemisphere of a cave, then add in some rock formations to make it look irregular. The front half of the cave, the part connected to the entrance glyph is a nice sandy beach. Like this,” said Dorn while carving out stone.

“That's nice; it gives a really cozy feel. I assume the other half of the cave is where the water will come in. Oh, please make it fresh water; I hate getting saltwater in my hair and eyes,” said Kiera.

“When were you ever in sea water?” asked Dorn, a vivid picture suddenly popping into his head. He realized he might like this floor more than he realized.

“I grew up in northern Ilsan, Dorn, we would go to the beaches and play in the ocean all the time. Not like here in land-locked Khal. Anyways, where will people go once they dive under?”

“Ah, let me first finish off this beginning chamber,” said Dorn. He then added some torches on the wall, as well as a large, warm towel-dispensing machine in the cave. Then, he added three fountains. One was an underwater breathing potion fountain, the second was the amphibian conversion potion, and the final was an oil potion that protects equipment from water damage. “Alright, I'll make fresh water, which means I'll have to keep the water circulating and cleaned, as well as kill all the tiny life forms that grow in water,” Dorn grumbled.

Kiera said, “People will love it, so stop grumbling. So how many openings to the floor proper will there be under there? Also, are you planning on adding a lot of underwater lighting? Because it seems like this floor could get really dark, really quickly.”

“Yes, I will be adding a strip of my sun light along the ceiling of the entire floor. As for openings, I was planning one, but are you suggesting I make this sort of a maze floor?”

“Yeah, isn't that what you were planning?” asked Kiera.

“To be honest, I didn't get much further beyond the making an underwater floor idea,” said Dorn.

“Well, you can't possibly have too many monsters to fight underwater, or these wouldn't be C-level difficulty floors,” said Kiera.

“Good point. I might make a high B-level floor have lots of underwater monsters to fight. Okay, so I'll carve four entrances at the bottom of the lake. Can't make it too deep, or people will get the bends when they surface. I think that a simple maze with some tight spots will be good enough for a C3 level floor. Most people don't know how to swim, so just being under water, having to get used to breathing in water, and tight spaces will be enough of a challenge for C3 ranked adventurers.”

“C3? Are you going for ten floors per rank?” asked Kiera.

“Yeah, I wasn't going to, originally, but as I see how popular this dungeon will become, I want there to be a nice clear separation between the ranked housing floors. This way, the B ranked and A ranked housing floors won't be as overcrowded as the C and D ranked housing floors will become.”

“Do you already have the B and A ranked housing floors planned? After seeing the C-ranked housing floor, I'm pretty stoked about seeing the higher ones,” said Kiera.

“No, I don't, and you had best keep cultivating hard if you ever wish to see them,” said Dorn.

“So had you,” Kiera said cheekily.

“Oh right, I had forgotten,” said Dorn, suddenly remembering his massive drop in cultivation.

***

Dorn was satisfied with his first C-ranked floor. It didn't have any monsters or traps, but that was okay for a C3 floor. He now had his first official labyrinth floor, and it was underwater, to boot. This made him feel like he was unique again. He modified the underwater breathing potion to work for twenty four hours. Hopefully, this would give people enough time to get between the entrance chamber and the exit chamber, a cave he made very similar to the other one. The only difference was, the exit chamber cave had a teleportation glyph instead of three fountains, as well as a pillar that would shoot the floor-skipping enchantments at any adventurers that made it there for the first time. Of course, the idiots would drown. But that was something both Dorn and society would be thankful for.

He had finally gotten the Dungeon Path Randomizer and installed it for this floor. This way, each day, a new path through his floor would have to be discovered. Nothing was more boring than a static maze, with a solved path. The final addition to his floor was made after he discovered Kiera bottling some of his potions.

“What are you doing?” asked Dorn.

“I'm going to sell these potions, and make a small fortune,” said Kiera.

Dorn felt a headache, before he added a Space shield to the floor that would allow everything through except for the three types of potions, which would be vaporized upon coming into contact. He was looking forward to Kiera's look of outrage when he suddenly noticed the S-ranked Soul mage suddenly enter his dungeon. Quickly hooking up his first C-ranked floor to the rest of the dungeon and updating his steles, he hurriedly teleported Kiera and himself back to the C-housing inn.

“Why'd you suddenly teleport us back?” asked Kiera.

“That Friedrich finally made his move. He's in the dungeon. Through the fourth floor, through the fifth, wow, he's moving fast.”

“You sure you're safe, big guy?” asked Kiera, looking a little worried.

“It's fine; I'll finally be able to figure out why he's here, and whether it means I'll have an enemy coming that I need to prepare for.”

“Do you think he works for the devils and demons?” asked Kiera.

“It's possible, but something tells me he's here for a family. Guess we'll find out.”

Dorn brought out an orb for Kiera to watch with, and they both sat down in Dorn's room in the inn. Dorn took a chair, and Kiera took the bed. Dorn, who wasn't really all that scared, instead watched Kiera look at the orb with a nervous expression on her face. He decided to take this chance to sort out his feelings for her.

“Really, you're doing that now?” asked Emelia. “Don't you think you've got your priorities mixed up?”

“Not you too. Do try to have a little faith in me; I was an SS-class master Soul mage with a minor affinity. Anyways, there's really not much I can do until he shows up on the core floor. Even if I needed to prepare, which I don't. And something strange is going on between me and Kiera,” said Dorn.

“Yes, there is something fucking strange about a 3,000 years old dragon turned dungeon falling for a 26 year old human. Seriously, what's going on?” asked Emelia.

“That's exactly it. I spent two millenia around humans and never felt anything for a single one. Now, I'm suddenly attracted to a random girl who just happens to show up in my dungeon? It doesn't make any sense.”

“Blech, I don't want to hear about what or whom you are attracted to; especially considering she's no different from any other-” said Emelia, before suddenly stopping mid-sentence.

“Why'd you stop talking? That's not like you,” Dorn said to Emelia with a smirk.

“Alright, first, fuck you. Second, do you think it's because you made her dungeon-born?”

Dorn was silent. Then he was silent for five more minutes. “Doesn't that mean I should be attracted to Jerry or Beasty as well?,” said Dorn. “How do we find out? And what do I do if it's the case?”

“It has to be the case. There's no way you spent 2,000 years amongst humans without ever feeling anything for any one of them. Maybe it's different because you made Jerry and Beasty, and Kiera's the only being who has become dungeon-born. There's a difference. To be sure, however, you could try removing her core,” said Emelia.

“No, I don't want to do that to her,” said Dorn.

“Oh, get a grip you big fucking idiot. You could always put it back afterward. Just tell her that you need to modify it a bit, and to come down to your core room later. Anyways, your enemy who wants to enslave your soul is almost here, and it's time to focus up.”

***

Friedrich suddenly appeared on the teleportation glyph entrance to the core room. He looked around at the hemispherical throne room made of smooth, polished stone. Looking at the diamond sitting on its crystal pedestal, he finally felt a sense of anticipation. This core would help his family make a comeback in Central Fantisa, as well as advance their cause by a thousand years. They would finally have the last solution for disgusting sentients.

This world belongs to the humans. The elves, dwarves, and beast-kin are no different from the goblins and the orcs. And with this dungeon, the Hartjenstein family will rise to supremacy. We will dominate the world and institute the final solution, he thought to himself. Whatever he thought of his direct superior in the family's rigid militarized structure, he was a die-hard supporter of their beliefs.

Looking at the core, he could see his family's future. He slowly walked over to the elemental shields, and looked down at them. Out loud, he said, “Congratulations, dungeon. You are now the property of the Hartjenstein family. Whoever built you these shields, dungeon, will not be able to protect you from me. You will become the stepping stone for the Hartjenstein family to rise to power.”

Then, towards the air, he spoke, “I don't know where you are, dungeon pixie, but soon, you will be assisting me in fixing this dungeon.”

Reaching deep into his dantian, he sent out a thick dull gray line of Soul magic and pushed it towards the core. The mana passed easily through the elemental shields and touched the core. The link was formed.