Chapter 183: Arrogance is the root of all evil

Excerpt from the book “Dungeons and Diving” By the veteran diver Duncan

You see, when interacting with traps, you must keep this in mind. Traps inside traps. Thought you disarmed the simple chest trap? Think again. That trap was to let your guard down and root out the dumbasses. Inside, that golden goblet that sparkles? It has a wire at the bottom that triggers another trap. That’s only one example. It’s essential to be aware that surprises can be placed inside traps. And that sometimes other traps turn on only if you disarm others.

A great example of this follows. I was walking through a stone-paved corridor. Prime pickings for floor pressure plates. Taking careful steps, I found one. A normal-looking stone plate with a barely visible seam around it.

Of course, I used my patented method of disarming it. Placing a knife in the seem and prying it up before breaking a cog in the mechanism underneath. Disarmed, or so I thought. You see, it was bait. Upon breaking that cog, the most dangerous of traps activated. A timed trap.

A trap with no clear indicator that springs on pure maths. Having calculated the exact amount of progress you will make, it activates at a particular time and area. No ropes, no pressure plates, no lights, no indicator whatsoever. Boom, the ceiling fell, right in front of me. I am among the slower trap finders, and it saved me. Dumb luck.

When I broke that cog, a quiet click sounded; I should have noticed. That click started the timer that led to the trap. Disarming the trap caused me to be overconfident and miss the subtle sign of a second trap. Don’t make the same mistake. Always assume a trap is two, and two traps are three.

Good old time dilation. It’s in every good cultivation power fantasy and a staple in a lot of high-fantasy stories. I had wondered when It would rear its ugly head in this world.

“Aeternum?” Jengal asks with brows crossed.

“Yes?”

“What do you see?”

“The flow of time,” I say with mystique and a chuckle.

It did exist on earth, to a degree. You couldn’t do it like here, but you could stretch time. The faster you traveled, the slower your time flowed. 24 hours for you could easily be 26 hours for earth.

He rolls his eyes and trods off.

A thought pokes my mind, why does my Grass always stay the same length? I am not mowing it, yet it rarely grows at all. It’s just always perfect. Food for thought, I suppose.

Now, what can I do to assess the damage that Felix has done? It’s likely to take either a significant amount of time for shit to hit the fan or…. None at all. Quickly looks at the blue horizon for a mushroom cloud.

“Eh, whatever, let’s make some lunch.” Walking from the edge to my castle. The kitchen must be the most well-used area of this castle. Stepping inside, I see Jengals mother. Haven’t seen her for a while.

“Hello,” I say with a wave. Sitting on one of the chairs.

“Hello, my dear, what can I do for you?”

“Nothing, I was just popping in to grab some food.”

“Well, I guessed that,” she says with a smile. Gesturing in a broad wave at the kitchen.

“I guess that does give it away now, doesn’t it.”

She nods. “Want me to make you something?”

“Sure.”

“What do you want?” She says while putting an apron on. It has a small white flower pattern on the front.

“Surprise me,” I say with a grin.

Rolling her eyes, “alright,” she says with a sly smile. Pulling down the spice rack with concerning fervor.

I buried my head in my phone in fear of knowing how she planned to kill me. It felt like only a moment before a plate made a bang in front of me.

“Foods up.” She says in a bell-like voice.

Lowing my phone, I see the dark red-colored curry in front of me.

“Tomato?” I ask and pray.

“No.” She replies.

With a gulp, I bite into the curry. Picking up a chunk of some kind of meat.

It tasted strongly of garlic for a few moments before the spice kicked in. From a tingling on the tip of my tongue, it traveled down. Gaining intensity like a tsunami gaining momentum.

Halfway through the dish, my eyes were puffy, my throat dry, and stress rising. I manage to croak out, “what’s this?” Between fits of crying.

“How I keep myself entertained.”

“By poisoning your benefactor?” Pushing away from the embodiment of fire in front of me.

“Yep,” she says with a smile. Leaving the kitchen.

After she left, I contemplated when she got such an evil side to her? She was always polite and motherly when I had seen her before.

Shrugging it off, it was at the very least tasty. I think while pouring a pint of milk and checking the recipe for ice cream.

After the firey sensation passed, I went and worked in my town for a few hours. Gave me some time to think. Popped some music on my phone and continued to work away. I noticed a distinct increase in crafting tables. They seemed to be placed absolutely everywhere. People were using them a lot as well. A constant flurry of activity around them. Some mining tunnels beside them too. A fervor for collecting resources has begun.

It seems some people are mining resources and selling them. Some even have smelteries and are processing them themselves.

The town has flourished in my absence. Familiar stores have popped up. A food market, carpenter, blacksmith, and tailor. All extremely valuable, or I think so. But with this new update, I hope the populous agrees.

It’s strange watching a medieval-like town appearing right in front of you. I suppose my perspective of time is warped, given how much of it I actually have. It’s worse now with time dilation added to the mix. Am I turning into an immortal god who will become bored of life? Well, I guess apotheosis is impossible under Felix’s thumb.

Speaking of Felix, let’s try and summon this bastard.

Teleporting to a secure room inside my castle, “Felix, you there?”

“Of course,” he says behind me. I refrain from jumping, having predicted it. Turning around calmly just so I could watch his face fall slightly. “When did you become such a downer,” he whines.

Crossing my arms with a sigh, “you do realize that people are going to destroy this world with what you have given them?”

In a matter-of-fact tone, “Oh, of course. It’s about time I start over anyway. I was thinking Skyrim for the next one; how does that sound?”

“I think it sounds horrible to just dispose of millions if not billions of lives.” Voice taking on a grim tone.

“It’s OK; I recycle their souls.” He says lightly.

Narrowing my eyes, “you think that makes it all alright?! It doesn’t; reincarnation is the erasure of life and experience; how could you?”

“And you think it would be OK to let them exist in a new world with their memories intact? It would ruin the story.”

“And that’s all you care about? Don’t have a shred of empathy?”

“Not for creatures I created.”

His face barely shifted from neutral during the whole argument; it unnerved me.

“Is there nothing you can do differently?”

He chuckles, “you seemed to think you have some sway over my choices. I said it, and so it is. Comes with being a God.” Glaring at me, “and you’re here for my amusement, never forget that.”

He dissipates into golden particles, lingering long enough for me to see a serpent-like grin.

Feel like punching that mug sometimes. He’s so very arrogant.

I storm off to my witchery area to chill. Something about nature calms me down. Sitting by the plants and taking it all it. Beginning to think nature energy has a soothing effect. It also helps that I seem favored by nature energy over other powers. More accessible to work with and control. It’s nice being able to see slight differences like affinity for specific elements and skills like that. It really hits home how real this world is. It’s not the critical details that make a world real; it’s all the little ones. The people preparing a town, the families playing in the parks I made. Jengal and Cassie doing their own thing outside of seeing me. You don’t notice it usually, even on earth. But Cassie will go out and buy a new dress and wear it. Jengal will find a new board game and practice it in the main hall. The plants grow irrespective of my presence.

Still, the world has a ting of fake to it. Marring an otherwise beautiful picture. The Grass that never grows past a quarter meter. Or maybe the meter by meter system the world is bound by. Chains that make this world seem artificial.

Yet, I can’t help but be so very attached to it. I’ve shed the thoughts and feelings from the earth. This is my home, and it feels like an afront for Felix to erase it. My family’s ideas still appear in my dreams occasionally, or the odd memory of my brother eating my chocolate. But most of my thoughts and dreams are based in this world now. Dreaming of mining, crafting.

Locations I dream of are based in this world. People from this world. I’m climatized to this world.

Getting up, I begin to record a video for youtube. A message.

“Hello, hope you are all well. As you all more than likely know, there has been an update. And a feeble one at that. All it has done is make your lives harder. It might not seem that way right now, but it only takes one. One person to find an item that should never be made. Tools of destruction. I strongly advise everyone to bunker down and do things with extreme caution. Focus on defense and survival above all else. I hope you won’t need them, but you may very well do.”

A short and sweet message. My due diligence. I’ve made an effort at the very least.

Next, I teleport to the End. Haven’t seen Paul for a bit and could use his sense of humor. I don’t actually know where he lives. He always finds me. Forcing me to drop him a message and sit in a visible position.

It actually takes over an hour before he rears his head.

Casually lumbering over from a close-by ally, “Need me for sumthing?”

“Damn, you took a while.”

“I’ve a life too, ya know.” He says with a grin.

“Doing what? Eating soap and sitting waiting for charges to generate?”

Sitting by my side, “house sitting, I was house sitting.” He says.

“House sitting who?

“Me, niece. Bloody pain in ma arse.”

“You have a niece?”

“What? Ya think we pop up from nowhere? Need da talk about da stalk?”

“No, thank you. I actually came to ask if you guys got access to the recipe book too?”

“Some. Not all. Depends on if ya know how tah use a crafting table.”

“That makes no sense.”

He just shrugs. “How am I ta know?”

“Good point, sorry, buddy.”

Slapping me on the back, “no prob. Let’s grab sum grub.”

“Edible grub?”

“Edible grub.” He says in mimicry of my accent.

He walks us through the alleyways he knows so well once more. If this was earth, I wouldn’t dare follow.

“How has the end been?”

“Messy.”

“Why?”

“Faction war took few of us with em. They greedy for charges cause they need overworld materials.”

“I see; I am sorry for your loss.”

“Nah, tis fine. We don’t live dat long anyhow.” He says in a cheery tone.

How morbid.