Chapter 4

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[???]

An explosion rattled the air, it burst from the peaceful atmosphere like the crash of a cymbal at a high-class opera – unexpected and most certainly unwanted.

It seemed to linger in the air, humming and reverberating as it slowly died down. As well as hearing the thunderous roar, I could feel it, a vibration running though me like a slap on the back from a mighty drunk dwarf.

From my skin to my bones, it rattled around me, making me thrum with the power and violence it held as near and dear.

Following the explosion, there was a brief moment of complete silence, as if the world itself had stopped, putting everything on hold for just one moment. And yet, Like the eye of a storm, when peace settled in, you knew that in naught but a moment it would be gone again.

And sure enough, a few moments later, the world started again, time resumed, the storm took hold, and I found myself cringing as the roof rattled.

The metal sheeting of the shed began vibrating, as if on this perfect day it had begun raining, heavy rain.

The sound was sharper though, tinnier and dryer than the wet slapping drum of the rain pounding down.

Amongst the hail like storm a few softer hits thumped down, like an elderly inn keeper beating the dust from her carpets or a particularly vicious parent disciplining his naughty child.

The soft thumps that rang out around the place ended this subdued firework show with one final, large thump that smashed down just outside, pelting the windows of the shack with gravel and debris.

When the cacophony of noise stopped, I relaxed my shoulders and jaw, rolling them around to work out the kinks that had developed as I was wincing and hunching up, reflexes I assure you, I’m not scared, no way, no how.

Half expecting the bombardment to continue, I busied myself tidying up the shed, half of the tools had fallen from the walls, they were held up by a few thin nails that had been punched into the wall years earlier.

Over time, the weight of the resting tools had slowly bent them towards the ground until it was a daily battle to rack them up again after use. I just had to find the time to fix them and alleviate my problem, but between the odd jobs for the village and my retirement I hadn’t found the time yet.

It took me a good few minutes to hang up to tools properly, time that only increased the apprehension at what I would find outside.

Would my garden be ruined? Oh, please no! I begged to whatever gods were up there, I had spent ages and ages on the horticulture. “Please don’t be ruined” I chanted to myself like a mantra as I opened the door.

I quickly discovered another problem though, when I tried to push the door open, it wouldn’t budge. Well, that was a lie, it did budge – just a little – but, like a spring it just pushed back at me.

I sighed in frustration, tilting my head back out of instinct, as I stared up at the ceiling I noticed the large buckled crack in the doorframe.

Dented was more accurate and it had effectively locked me in. Great! Just Great!

Calming myself, I looked around the shed. Nothing really useful for this, all the big tools were outside, the shed was for the detail work and so the tools were all fairly dainty little things.

Since I was just eager to get out, I picked up a hammer. The largest one of course, and just started wailing away on the lump until it was out of the way.

Perhaps I took it too far, but it felt good to vent my frustration- I was already in a bad mood before the explosion, having just ruined the piece I was working on - in fact, there was now a few cm’s of gap that wasn’t there before. I sighed, at least the door would open though.

Setting down the hammer, I pushed open the door. It moved with a rattling creak and groan as the metal shifted, then it stopped.

I tried again. It stopped.

It was still stuck. Raising my eyes, I took a step back then in anger just shoulder barged it out the way.

The door slid open.

Stepping out of my shed I looked around in dismay. There was only one way to put it. My lawn was fucked. Not just fucked; absolutely fucking ruined. It looked like a bomb had gone off and considering the explosion, I was betting I could convince someone of that if I had to.

My lawn was covered in dirt and stone. From the layer of dust to the large chunks that lay strewn around the place, it was not quite how I remembered it.

The grass was barely visible beneath a thick uneven layer of mud and rock dust. A large clump of mud had been blocking the door from opening and now it was spread across the last step. Just more work for me to do, Yay! I thought half-heartedly to myself.

With a final huge sigh, I stepped back into my shed, found my gardening tools and got to work.

*** Four days later***

I had finally gotten my garden shipshape. And when I say ‘shipshape’ what I really meant was ‘barely passable’.

I had cleaned off the roof and repaired a couple of leaks in the house as a first priority, couldn’t have water leaking through to the beams and struts, a fine way to have an accident that!

Similarly, I repaired the shed, properly this time, instead of assaulting it with a hammer.

Just digging out my lawn from the muck and tipping it away took the majority of the four days of work.

The grass was finally back to a shade of green, though it was more of a faded, tired grass colour, plastered grey by the dust, it would all clear up again when the rains fell.

Though that might be a way away judging by how unexpectedly dry the summer had been so far, on the slopes of the Avalt, summers were usually dry, but not to this extent, the last rains had been more than a couple of months ago and the plants were beginning to wilt.

I’d managed to keep the garden fresh using a water summoning enchantment and the pondwater, though on the matter of the pond, it was the only major problem left to deal with, but I’d leave that for a while.

I’d have to drain it and redo it as it was full of dirt that was now a layer of mud filling it up. The dust and rocks and general rubble had killed everything bar the bugs and the dead life had started to decompose releasing bad smells.

I finished some last bits of clearing, before standing back and looking at all the work I’d done, despite it still being worse than before I felt proud of myself.

Washing my hands, I stepped back into my house, closing the back door with a loud slam. I slipped out of my boots and was just about to sit down with a nice drink when I heard a loud knock at the door. I placed my mug down went to answer it.

“Hey Sig” a jovial loud voice called out to me. ‘Sig’ was a nickname, one I didn’t mind – I was actually quite fond of it.

Sigurd Vasagen was my full name though no-one in the town called me that anymore. I had retired from the life of an adventurer, a life many dreamt of, but few understood, it was a tough life, but the rewards were well worth it if you were careful.

The small quaint town of Littlebrook was my home now, and though relaxing in the peaceful village where time passed so slowly was lovely, I did find myself missing the rush and the experience of the adventure.

At this point though I was committed, and I couldn’t bear to abandon the house anymore. I was happy living off my savings and doing odd jobs in the village, selling off some of my metalworking creations whenever the traders came by.

We rarely received traders here. Littlebrook was as much of an embodiment of a name as anything else. It was literally in every sense of the word, small.

Unlike the big cities, life here was predominantly about helping people. We had no mayor or town leader and no real use for money. We used it, but if someone was struggling to pay taxes anyone and everyone would pitch in. It was more like a family than a community, and I liked it that way.

We were a small town of forty people with four streets with five houses on each side a market place and a few logging cabins and woodland huts for the hunters and gatherers.

The side with the hunters’ woodland was towards the mountain and on the other side was a couple of small fields that the farmers used.

The mountain was called the Avaltjarn or “The Avalt” for short, it sat at the border between all the lands and extended up to the skies beyond even the birds could see. A magnificent sight.

“Hey yourself” I said opening up the door, on the other side was a young lad, twelve years of age, John his name, he was almost hopping up and down with excitement. Absent-mindedly I wondered why.

“Have you heard?” He said, before continuing without giving me time to respond. “The explosion, it was caused by a dungeon we think. Up in the mountains, Rayver said he saw it when hunting. A cave, in the peaks, it just like blew open and it’s a pitch-black opening. He said it had an odd look to it, we thought you might know, being an adventurer and all.” He rattled out not even taking the time for breathing.

“Slow down lad, a former adventurer mind you” I replied with a chuckle placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come in, come in. Let’s discuss it over a drink”

It took almost a quarter hour to get anything from him. He was too giddy about it to explain properly. John was one of those who wished with all their heart to be an adventurer, he played swords all day till his mother shouted at him to do his chores, he was always pestering me for advice and stories.

I hesitated to tell him what it was really like, he was fascinated by it and I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. But now, with a possible dungeon up on the slopes it was quite likely that he would get that chance. We were lucky that he wasn’t so rash and stupid as to delve inside alone.

The story I finally managed to get from him had Rayver climbing up farther than his normal hunting haunts. He had reached a cave that hadn’t been there before.

Rayver claimed to have felt an ominous, overwhelming feeling crawling up his spine. It sounded similar to what I had experienced during my dives and it only further confirmed that in my mind, we were dealing with a real dungeon. A new one as well.

It was both good and bad news for the town. Dungeons were extremely profitable, and this was sure to be great for the town, but it would be bad as well because the town would lose its lovely quaint feel.

Hopefully we could remain smallish and keep the quiet atmosphere I so cherished. Though I wouldn’t be averse to a few more dungeon dives, you know, liven up the life a little.

Though considering how high up the cave was, it was likely that the adventurers would use the town as a base camp and construct a settlement higher up for resting between dives.

Since we’ve got a potential dungeon on our hands, I guess I’ve got to explore it. The accolade ‘First to conquer a new dungeon’ was something every adventurer yearned for, myself included.

Quite often a new dungeon would offer new rewards and prizes that get moved down to later levels once they develop. It was why guilds paid so much for information on new dungeons, that and the new challenge and place for adventurers to go.

Dungeons were quite rare and with the current rate of shutdowns there was a growing need for big dungeons to entertain all the adventurers.

***2hr later***

I was nearly to the entrance now, two hours after leaving the town I had made it, sweat poured down my brow soaking my eyebrows and beard, the way up was fucking horrible, stupid dungeon making it inaccessible.

I was less fit than I should have been for a solo adventurer, but I wouldn’t be able to contact my team for a while and I had doubts they would even want to get back into the life. Besides, all I had to do was get in, confirm it was a dungeon look around and then get out.

My clothes were getting a bit ripe as well by this point and I was looking forward to changing out of them. Hopefully the dungeon would soon realise how badly it needed steps or a path to its entrance.

I soon realised that my mind was wandering and pulled it back on track. A wandering mind meant a straight path. Straight to the grave for an adventurer.

It was nearing midday, John had caught me in the morning getting in some pre-work gardening and I’d set off shortly after our talk.

Setting my pack down, I lay down on a rock enjoying the feeling of my spine straightening out, hunching over whilst carrying my pack had started to ache and I needed to rid myself of that distraction before I began the delve.

Yawning a bit and took a good long rest. Forty I may be, but I wasn’t that out of shape.

Okay, okay, maybe I’d lost a bit, but I was still good enough to realise this was a hard climb for all but the strongest adventurers, and with no prior knowledge I needed to be fresh.

After my nap I got to work, since poor planning provides piss poor performance then preparation provides perfect performance.

Yawning and stretching, I got up and started a basic stretching regime. Just to limber up a bit you understand, not because I was old.

Next task, equipment. Getting out of my sweat soaked clothes I dug into my pack and pulled out a fresh set of underclothes and some soft leather gear. Warming it between my hands by rolling it made it especially supple and it helped me pull it on.

On comes a belt with lots of pouches. They rest at my hips and I fill the left side with healing supplies and the right with dangerous things. From healing potions, bandages and gels on my left to poisons, bombs, elemental attacks on my right I was alchemically prepared.

I pulled out my great axe and whetstone and began the long process of preparing it for battle. First, I reoiled the wooden handle then I started sharpening the blade.

Pulling the cutting edge into the block towards me then pushing it back away until I had it razor sharp. Then inverting the motion until I had it even sharper. After oiling the blade, I re-filed it again, taking the edge away again.

You don’t want a sharp blade in battle as the edge chips, fractures and begins to seriously degrade. A degraded blade means a badly performing weapon which can mean the difference between life and death.

From my pack I grabbed some metal bracers and clipped them on the forearms, a weaker vambrace, but for my style it was perfect.

Similarly, greaves, pauldrons, rerebraces, cruises and a simple breastplate clipped on beefing up m protection significantly.

Made of fairly thin steel and leather it wouldn’t stop very large powerful mobs but those I wasn’t worried about. They were usually very slow, and I could dodge. My armour was for slasher, or piercer style mobs, not crushers or bruisers. Fast ambushed takedowns that were very hard to dodge was why I had the armour.

I took a couple of practice swings a few more stretches to settle it in place, and I was ready.

I collected my old clothes and stuffed them in my pack, slinging the pack beside the entrance as I stepped into the black zone.

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[Dungeon]

When I returned from my sulk, I had calmed down significantly. Yes, I had partly wasted a couple of years, but in that time, I had grown up and matured enough that the starting levels weren’t poorly thought out or a waste of mana to maintain.

I had had a plan from the very start and it showed. Furthermore, I had gained a lot of levels and mana, enough to be able to construct things at a decent change and have enough of a safety margin.

Speaking of mana, once I’d blown open the entrance the mana had began to pour into the entrance spilling down into the dungeon, I hadn’t realised it, but I had sucked out all of the mana in the mountain, depleting the whole area. The mana in the air fled into my domain to equalise the densities. I felt alive again and charged with energy.

During my four-day sulk I had regained all my mana, and I was eager to get to work, so I set about building the next floor.

I had planned for a rest area; the first five levels would challenge adventurers at a decent level, but I had no illusions that the top tier ones wouldn’t just breeze through it.

And so that’s what I decided on, I wasn’t going to change my plan just because the stupid God or whatever had forced me to the surface. So, despite my worry I was going ahead and building a lovely rest area for adventurers before they challenged the next five floors.

First, I carved out the room. Much smaller this time, I might as well make minimal work for myself, right?

About 200m wide, it was circular room of 30m in height, the stairs from the fifth floor led into a hall that extended half way into the room.

On either side of the hallway was a two-layer dorm of sorts. There was a number of rooms as a 3*3*3m room with a bed a chest and a locking door.

Every ten rooms a toilet was placed. It was just a small room with a raised box. Like an outhouse; it had a hole that led to a banishment enchantment.

Whilst I didn’t care about how dirty the adventurers were, I did care about my dungeon, it just wouldn’t do for something as high class as myself to have faeces all over the floor. I wasn’t some sort of sleazy lowbrow whorehouse, filled with crass philistines, and uncultured proletarians after all. I was a dungeon! A dignified existence for sure.

Opposite to the entrance to the sixth floor, well the future one, I had yet to build it after all, this was where the stairs would go.

The sixth floor would not carry on the woodland theme. No, I would change it up, five levels and then a break sounds good.

I had never planned on being just a nature dungeon, it was too simple, too easy and not different enough, I wouldn’t be just another dungeon, one mark upon millions, just a star in the sky. No! I would be the sun to their stars, unique and respected.

The woodlands were the easy levels, to ease people in. An organised party would have no trouble passing by the obstacles, they would have to get to know it first though, it still held dangers.

What should the theme for the next five be?

Ice?

Fire?

Water?

Air?

Ground?

Or…or…or…

My ideas were endless, and I could sit here pondering it until the dwarves passed out. But, I digress, I had work to do, and that was what I should be thinking of, rather than cheap idioms about the ever drunk dwarven folk.

The rest of the room had an empty bar and merchant section. The merchants would be able to set up tents or gazebos with a little stall in it to sell their items.

Any life within my territory would grant 5% of its mana regeneration to me at all times, so the longer I could keep them in the dungeon the better.

The amount of mana it took to build this place and maintain it would hopefully be recouped from the overnight rests and merchants.

At the end of the day, even if I was losing monsters and life to the adventurers I wasn’t really losing, I would almost always end up gaining, either from the items they dropped, the experience of fighting or the occasional death. The mana tax was just another thing to help my growth.

If this wasn’t the case, then there would never be Dungeons as they would slowly die. A dungeon that had adventurers and wasn’t killed would grow to be prosperous and big.

I built several stone tables and chairs to cover the empty expanse of floor. They were for people to socialise in and hopefully to prolong the time they spent resting.

There was no need to give them a whole lot of comfort, after all I was trying to kill them.

As a last thought before I moved on, it occurred to me to continue the woodland trend here too. I quickly covered the floor with a layer of dirt and cut in some paths and a nice winding stream.

The natural spring in the corner flooded through the channels, the stream ended up cutting through the middle, separated the housing from the social area and a series of small footbridges were the only dry way over.

Nothing captivates humans like the opportunity to gorge themselves on food and sweets were the epitome of this facet of personality.

To this end I managed to grow a few fruit bushes, it took another couple of hours, and a small investment in mana but I thought it was worth it.

There were a range of currents; red, black, white and a few berries as well.

In a few spots there were some overhanging trees, in small groves that provided a much-needed texture to the room.

Along the waters’ edge were some bamboo shoots and a few reeds; small fish wove in and out using them as cover. Unlike the monsters though these wouldn’t respawn readily.

After one month any that were killed would respawn and I thought I might have to change that. Too small to eat they shouldn’t be killed by the adventurers but you never knew.

I finally looked back on the room and decided it only needed one change.

The stone buildings had to be turned into wooden cabins, it fit the aesthetic more.

I tore down the buildings and instead built a series of small log cabins throughout the resting side of the room.

This would be a safe zone and I decided to mark the boundary of the stairs with a short pulse of golden light to signify such.

When entering the safe-zone it would flash gold and when exiting the second half of the staircase would flash red.

I took a second to add a black mist to the entrance of floor six. It would obscure the adventurer’s vision and it was just there so that no-one would be able to plot and plan from outside.

They would have no idea what the inside state would be, and they wouldn’t be able to gain anything that they hadn’t already found out before entering. I also thought that it gave off an ominous feeling. I liked that.

I had finally finished the safe zone!

It was time to move on to floor six, but what should I do?

I could also do a maze, labyrinth or puzzle. Most adventurers were not known for their high intelligence, but that might be a stereotype consistent with the loudmouth bruiser types, the ones that drew all the attention.

I didn’t feel like a puzzle fit properly so I would save that, they also required a lot more planning and I was wanting a few more levels before the adventurers came. Labyrinths had such versatility too, they could be really cool, but I couldn’t make them extremely dangerous at floor six, that would be a waste.

Hmmm what to do? What to do? Ideas trickled through my mind like leaves in a wind, yet none seemed to stick.

I had visions, but they seemed to just stay out of reach; the fuzziness on the edge of my mind. Concepts not ideas.

As I pondered, time passed quite quickly, too much time in fact, by the time I had grasped the basic concept of what I wanted almost six hours had elapsed.

I once again started the rather tedious process of excavating a chamber to begin.

The next five major floors that I had planned out were going to be a set of similar themed ones, very large ones.

As such it took even longer process to carve out the space for floor six. I packed dirt in to the walls, well I say dirt, but I really meant stone, dirt sure as he'll isn’t dirt any longer, not at this pressure.

Again, about halfway through I had to resort to just absorbing the stone. All in all, it took a good four hours to open up the cavern.

It was about 700m long and 300m wide with a height of almost 100m. However, this time the ceiling was not a picture of uniformity.

It went up to a 100m height only once and in several places the ceiling was only 5m height. On average though, I estimated that it was about 40m in height.

With the base done I started conjuring water until it settled to about 1m above the floor. Freezing it was next and that took a significantly greater proportion of my available mana.

Fortunately, I was only aiming to do this one floor as of right now. I was running out of mana quite quickly and conjuring resources from nothing rather than those that I had collected while excavating took a lot more mana. I didn’t think I would have much left once I finished this and by that time I expected the adventurers would be here.

I had used about 5000 mana just excavating and covering the floor in ice. I felt that I would just have enough mana left to complete the floor, it was touch and go but I reckoned I was going to manage.

My next task was to cover the walls and ceiling in ice, it wouldn’t look right I it was only the floor.

This was made more complicated by the fact that water flows, who would have thought huh?

In the end, I got around this issue by raising some stone walls and filling the intervening space with water. After it had frozen solid I had a nice thick wall of ice and a thin ceiling that slowly dripped water.

Enchanting it to stay permanently frozen took another chunk from my mana, but it wouldn’t do for the first fireball to melt through to the stone. So, enchanting it was a must.

The smooth walls weren’t right and so I had to texture it. I found out quite quickly that throwing rocks at the walls chipped them and it gave me a fairly natural look. I was pleased, it was far easier than going over it like a sculptor. I didn’t even have to be precise, in fact the sloppier I was with my mana the better as the rocks hit almost randomly.

A while later the texturing was done. I had done the floor as well, most of it was done with much smaller rocks so that the divots and cracks were small enough to provide enough grip so that it was feasible to walk across.

There were of course some super smooth sections as well - I wanted to see them dance - but in general it was possible to walk around.

Now it was time to fill the room. I found an effect enchant in the store that would provide perpetual snow, perfect. It was just what I was looking for.

The first time around I infused too much mana and I soon had a snowstorm that was impossible to look through, slightly less told myself.

It took a further three tries before I got it right; a good four to six inches of pristine snow and a light dusting that would settle on the shoulders.

Enough to chill you but not kill you; perfect. I’d save that level of chill for later. Stalactites hung tight from the ceiling, looming like the sword of Damocles whilst the stalagmites protruded like buttresses from the floor respectively.

Unlike the traditional cone shaped ones, these had razor sharp edges and wicked points; triangular in shape they looked every bit as deadly as they were.

My first traps were the stalactites or the ‘stalac-not-so-tites’ as I called them fondly.

Some of them were loose enough to be dislodged either by mana or being knocked during a fight. They would come crashing down with no warning either shattering into deadly flechettes or impaling the floor and anyone – monster or adventurer – that came between. However, there were only a few of these dotted around.

In all of the room here were only thirty-seven that would fall and probably kill anyone unlucky or unskilled.

The room still felt incomplete however and decided that I needed a centrepiece. I spent several hours painstakingly carving it out of the ice with mana, but I was very proud of my accomplishment.

In the very centre of the room, where the ceiling climbed to the monstrous height of 100m, I had built a huge ice arch, it was several metres wide and a few feet thick with decorative runic designs cut into it. The actual ice was frosted whilst the runes were clear allowing one to look through, of course it was only an arch and they could look through from the front and back.

Within this wonderous arch was a beautiful, majestic statue, illustrious. An ice dragon. It had a slender body and large wings that arced up into the arch over it, coming to rest at the centre. The dragon was depicted as if it was landing; mid roar.

Periodically it would spray the entire room with its frost breath, a timed attack and my second trap. The breath was frigid and piercing, much colder and damaging than the room itself. It was a very dangerous attack for those that felt this room was a challenge.

Next, I needed monsters. Huge lumbering Yetis were my choice, they had shaggy white fur and ice blue eyes that glowed when they awoke, curved horns protruded from their foreheads and followed the line of their jaws ending in curved points by the hooked mouth that looked mighty dangerous, filled with large sharp teeth as it was. Their horns and teeth were aided by the sharp claws on their hands and feet. A tough package for the adventurers.

They would be disguised as huge snow drifts and beneath each sleeping form was a treasure chest to reward those that managed to kill them.

I had some ice phantasms that flew around harassing people and if they stepped on a yeti accidently the phantasms would disappear, and the team would be left facing a huge angry yeti.

Ice phantasms were a fast-nippy creature, made of crystalline ice infused with mana. Ice phantasms were often made by mages or summoned from the frozen wasteland to the south where the crystallising mana allowed them to form.

They moved by floating around and lashing out with small bites and frost damage, unlike their more powerful counterparts; the elementals, they were restricted to small serpentine forms that posed little danger to the adventurers on their own.

Since the Yetis were quite tough enemies, I doubted many of the adventurers would be getting the prizes for this level. If there was anything I didn’t need was pissed off adventurers burning everything to the ground in protest.

Some more loot was in order, but I couldn’t make it too easy. A few minutes browsing the store got me to an entry I thought was interesting.

~~Magic Dragonflies (Minor) – Ice – 900 points

These little creatures’ will flit and fly around the place spreading joy to all who see them, whether it is the sheer beauty they posses or the incredible value they hold as crystallised mana makes up their body, your adventurers are sure to love them. A tricky challenge to capture and not too expensive it could be well worth a purchase to spice up your dungeon leaving a cool atmosphere. ~~

Some magic dragonflies were in order then. Crystallised mana was important as it could be used as a battery to boost the power mages had or restore their mana. Only the frozen south naturally produced mana crystals and so any form or so was celebrated. They could also be captured as pets, selling well to the ultrawealthy.

Only twenty existed per iteration of the room and once the occupants left they would respawn, they made their homes up in the peaks of the room, but their natural curiosity meant they would fly down to investigate the room.

By this point I had used up three quarters of my mana and I had finished, it wasn’t enough to start the next room. So, I sat back and pondered where to put the hidden treasure this time.

It was obvious really. On top of the arch!

A small chest with the customary prizes, done. A few small tweaks finished off the level.

The ice was colder, much colder enough to begin freezing the adventurer’s hands if they touched it with exposed skin for any length of time.

Small patches of spikes, only 5mm in length and fairly fragile they would be painful but not even useful to help climb.

The rest of it I made smoother, and more difficult to scale and hid the chest behind well frosted ice. In fact, there was no way to see the prize until you had already climbed the arch.

Mages with flying familiars would be the ones to discover this. Hopefully once this one was discovered it would lead to people trying to find the rest of the hidden secrets, though I expected it would take a few people finding them in multiple levels before people caught on.

I sat back and admire my work, five levels of nature-based floors, a safe room and an icy dragon lair. All I was missing was a final boss to stop any evil hearted challenger.

But what to choose?

I scanned through the store but nothing I found was that great. There were the ice elementals and greater elementals, the Ice astral types and boosted Yetis. But nothing that worked.

What to do? What to do…

Once again, the answer was obvious, it had been sitting in front of me all the time. Literally. The dragon.

I looked at the store hoping to find a way to imbue life.

~~Empower Creation (natural instinct)- Enchantment – Mana – 5,320 points

Using the power of mana imbue life to a creature of your creation by charging the mana heart in its chest with all the mana types and imposing your will upon it.

WARNING! Needs the item to function. ~~

~~Mana Heart (Blue) – Item – 2650 points (1)

This one time use item allows mana to be stored and converted into life energy, it allows the user to impose a series of axioms to which the mana must follow.

This is most often used in conjunction with life giving skills to create Automatons and Golems. ~~

The dragon would take a lot of my points, but I felt it would be worth it.

It drained almost all my mana to do it, but I was really pleased with the outcome.

I had a hidden boss, that could become my boss if I ever needed it to. It was beautiful and in place of a heart was a stunning sapphire that pulsed with blue life energy.

In fact, it could be seen from outside, a faint blue pulsing that resonated with the place. As a final thought I enchanted the dragon to be freezing cold. Literally anyone who touched it would find their skin beginning to freeze, far faster than the arch. Brief touches would barely hurt but I felt for anyone stupid enough to touch it for long.

Anyone that was stupid enough or brave enough to challenge the dragon had but to attack it and it would wake, killing every invader of its domain with ruthless efficiency. The mana heart in its chest was prize enough for any that managed to destroy it.

The last task was of course, to carve out the stairs. Curving around twenty times, these were the longest stairs I had done yet.

Just as I finished carving out the ice banister to go along with it, I felt a small electric shock. It ran straight through my mind and then a huge thump, thump. A monotonous beat that demanded I focus on it. Almost like a heart.

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Just Discovered

Skills ^

13

Rating

3A

Level

45

Health

3,451/3,451

Mana

1,873/22,960 (22,960 mana for Lvl up

Knowledge

20,019

Dungeon Points

400

Status

OK

Attunement

E4 + N2 + I1

Rooms

512

Floors

6 +(1)

Bosses

1 + (1)

Monsters

2,002

Creatures

43,009

Creature types ^

1414

Unique Items

1

Item Types ^

239