Authors Note: I know that this chapter is a little shorter due to my author’s note. Time just wasn’t on my side. I will be taking off the day tomorrow and probably work on grammar changes and the comment that Daelkyr wrote in Chapter 4.2. If I have any major changes to the Chapter I will post them, so that way it shows that the Author responded to the Daelkyr’s feedback. I do want to thank everyone for their feedback. It’s important to understand what the reader is responding to. If you enjoy one aspect more than another I will try and start increasing that part. As a Storyteller for my kids, I feed off their energy of the story and even change the end if they are enjoying it. Now for a little look behind the curtain.

Why set up dungeons as the Mana Refinery and have souls as part of a dungeon?

Spoiler : The short answer is that… it’s fun metaphysical adventure. The long answer is this: We have all read adventures where the hero goes on a quest and enters a tomb, cave, labyrinth, and so on to obtain a sword or powerful artifact. Some of the more litRPG books on royalroad and on amazon have a character leveling and going into dungeons for the sole reason of looting and getting more power or because it was a VRMMORPG. So I asked myself, why does a dungeon exist? Well it has a lot of power… it can generate mobs, loot, and traps. It can shape itself, adding new levels and creatures. Yet where did this all come from? Did evil mages just go crazy and start making dungeons because they could? Why have treasure at all? And the answer I can up with was that Dungeons were made by the Gods/Goddesses to refine mana for their causes. Once they ascended into their different dimensions, they needed a way to keep mana coming in to effect change. Slowly, other powerful creatures began to take shape and formed alliances with the dungeons to get a piece of the mana pie. At which point a war broke out and dungeons needed guards, so Gods and Goddesses sent privilege souls to the dungeons and created guards. Occasionally, a God/Goddess will send a soul to wreak havoc on the world and that is a Wild Mana Monster.

Is it just me or has the story started to pick up the pace and is including more action?(Answer includes some of the upcoming story arc and direction of the story)

Spoiler : Yes it has. Alistair is slowly redeeming himself, but what he doesn’t realize is that the dungeon Herma wants vengeance on is in an alliance, that has peace treaties with others. Eventually, my story will began to evolve into a metaphysical World War I story, and just like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, Alistair’s attack on the dungeon will spark a war across the metaphysical plane. The Trench warfare will began to look like Dungeon combat, and Allies and Central Powers will began to draw lines. Political upheaval will occur and decaying system that has stood in place will began to fall. How will it all go down… that’s a different question and I hope to write long enough to answer that.

Why choose not to curse or have a harem for Alistair?

Spoiler : Basically it comes down to my girls. If I ever finish a book, I intend to sell it on Amazon and put any money into college fund for my girls. So I am making a moral choice, I want the women in my stories to be real and the hero smart enough not to need to curse. I realize that it takes away from some of the gritty realism or the fantasy of some of the main readers. However, it is a dungeon and there will be blood. Still one of the smaller parts of the story is about the abuse of power. Thorian definitely abused his authority, but does that mean you back away from it completely? Or do you have to find a middle ground that you can live with? Anyway that’s the emotional stuff and I hope everyone can live with it.

Alistair shook his head at Herma, he suppose this was the perfect example of Alistair counting all his chickens before they hatched. Looking at her small wiry smile, he asked, “Well any tips on how to control the Mana Monsters once I possess them?” Callum and Herma began laughing at the comment, shaking their heads.

“You know it’s flattering and frustrating that you think I know everything.” Herma said after calming down from the laugh. “The truth of it is that, there is no way I can understand or even guild you in the use of Mana Monster Possession skill. You will have to go down there and try out the skill yourself. I know you will dissolve and that the monster you take over will feel the urges to do whatever you tell them, even if it means dying. Hardune never said that he felt my fear or the horror of what I did. Sometimes the monster will try and fight your orders.” Herma shrugged, “I can’t tell you how to figure out if the monster has a better idea or they are just going to run away. So you are going to have to use your better combat instincts and hopefully succeed.”

Alistair was slightly happy at the revelation that Herma in fact didn’t know anything about the skill, and as he said goodbye he briefly wondered about the feeling. He knew that Herma was as close to a real tutor to a dungeon demon as one could get, and without her providing information Alistair realized that it hurt him even more. Still the small voice of arrogance and independence wanted to celebrate. The basic feeling, once he had analyzed it, was that Herma had admitted that she didn’t know an answer, and Alistair wanted to show her that he could do things on his own. Alistair was finally able to put the feeling away when he thought about how Herma made sure when she imparted her advice that she told him why it was important. Once again, he needed to thank Herma for putting his points into wisdom. The self-analysis and ability to understand his feelings didn’t overly help in combat. Yet when planning or talking with Callum and her, he began to feel more in tune with them. Additionally, he was starting to review some of his sins from a previous life and realizing where he went wrong. By putting all his points into combat attributes, Alistair was no more suited to lead then anyone. Additionally, his arrogance had come from the sense that he was un-killable. However, he should have been spending more points on Intelligence and Wisdom to help make tactical decisions, and eventually help lead a kingdom.

Alistair stepped forth into his dungeon. New tunnels were slowly being carved out by salamanders as they sensed Mana Focus and its desire to channel more. It was an odd bond that the Mana Monsters had with the Mana Focus. Yet, as they worked on making pathways in the pocket dimension, the worked here making tunnels. Alistair could see a Tiny Fire Salamander climb the rock face and stop. Its small fire aura pulsing, while it’s tiny claws worked itself into a crack. The salamander’s skin which usually looked bright red and slick began to dull as small pebbles of rock began to cover it. It would probably take years for the Tiny Fire Salamander to carve out the tunnel, even with all his friends. That’s why he needed the Magma Elemental. They were born of Fire and Earth Mana, and could take large chucks out of the walls faster than anything.

Realizing that he was just putting off trying a new skill, Alistair started casting his three spells. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to cast them when he was in control of the group, so besides the practice he saw no harm in being prepared. Once done he went over to the Boss Salamander that appeared to be asleep. Alistair carefully stroked the Salamander’s skin feeling the heat of its fire aura on the back of his hand. Alistair thought about his skill Mana Monster Possession and the feeling of getting lighter slowly came over him. Looking down at his body, blue mana light began to come off him, forming a cloud over the salamander. Softly, his focus changed, at one moment he was staring down at the Boss of his dungeon level and then his vision seemed to float towards the Salamanders eyes. Finally, he knew the spell was done when it felt like his entire body was stuck to the Mana Monster. Carefully, at first Alistair moved limbs and the head. It felt like he was trying to lift his body in mud as he took his first step. It took several more minutes for Alistair to realize how to walk, or in his case belly crawl. Being stuck to the joints of his Boss wasn’t as easy as he thought. Crawling over to the nearest cluster of Salamanders saw little blue dots of energy on their foreheads, and almost as if by instinct Alistair pushed forward his hand and felt tendrils of mana reach out to the blue dots. As the dots were connected, Alistair floated off the Boss Salamander to hover over the group. The dungeon surrounding him seemed to have a black fog that cut off his vision of certain areas. He knew where to go, so with a nudge from his mind the salamanders began to move down the ramp. It was then that Alistair realized that black fog existed where the salamanders couldn’t see. In front of him, was clearly the dungeon and the pathway to the lava tubes, but as Alistair turned to look behind him, only blackness existed.

Alistair began to understand that he would have to use their senses in combat, and that hopefully as the skill increase, the total number of creatures and range of senses would increase as well. Yet that was for another day, instead Alistair nudge them to run, and like a man on a sled being pulled, his pack of creatures took off down the ramp. It was exciting seeing the lava tubes. Alistair looked on the gray black walls with white streaks running down them and thought of the kind of raw power it must have took for the stone to melt and fuse together. As they got further away from the Magma pools, pools of water on the floor started to appear. The fire salamanders moved around them as their fire auras began to make them steam. Alistair noted that his Mana Monsters seemed to be afraid of water.

Looking around Alistair guided them down to the south tunnels. Different types of cave mold and fungus began to grow. Slowly, the pack lost speed as the dampness of the tunnel began to cool them. Alistair pushed them forward finally seeing the Red Creeper Vine. The Vine had wrapped itself around some type of animal, Alistair thought it might have been a boar at one point as their seemed to be tusks and hooves that weren’t covered in a thick red vine when he had seen it through his Dungeon Vision. The skin seemed to crawl, as tendrils controlled by the Vine began to move under the skin. Black Flowers appeared all over the skin of the beast and Alistair knew that their pollen would be poisonous. Alistair checked his spells and realized that the +1 damage had dissipated while they had been running to get here. Defense and healing were still in effect, and as he tried to recast the damage he realized that without a voice and body he wouldn’t be able to cast a spell. So Alistair readied his salamanders and charged the vine, placing dots of energy where he wanted the salamanders to attack. The salamanders leapt onto the carcass of the animal attacking the trunk of the vine. The Boss went for a particularly dense part trying to cut it with his obsidian teeth. Yellow Pollen burst through the air, and Alistair saw that as it touched the salamanders their limbs began to slow down and become useless. Not sure of how fast the plant could perform another pollen attack, Alistair pushed the healing spell down to his pack.

Two of the salamanders fell off the boar carcass landing on the ground frozen. Two more seemed to about ready to fall down as well when the healing spell began to work. The Salamanders began to start moving again. Thankfully, their fire aura was still working as hair began to catch flame on the boar’s hide. Flowers were beginning to wilt on the vine, and Alistair prepared for the tendril attack the he knew was coming, as hundreds of tendrils moved under the skin. However, instead of bursting forth and attacking the salamanders the boar began to stand up and shake the salamanders off of it. That’s when Alistair noticed that the vine wasn’t just on the boar, but three feet away was a large tangle of vines that had taken root in the cave wall. The dead boar rushed Alistair Boss Salamander and the two began fighting. Dead tusks scored the Bosses skin as the Bosses obsidian horn tore through its flesh and cut tendrils.

Alistair had to take his focus away from the Boss Salamander to direct the rest of the pack to attack the large tangle. Quickly they scrambled away from the boar and began jumping into the tangle to cut the vines and roots at its base. The boars shivered and tried to turn away from the Boss, but the Salamander opened its jaws and reached out to bite the boar in the neck. Flame began to wash over the boars face and body as the Boss activated its burning bite. Flowers burned and as the vine controlling the body tried to move it back to its base, but in doing so it ripped off the boars head in the process. No longer worried about the boar as weapon against his salamanders he went ahead and designated thick vines for the Boss to attack. His vision quickly became less and less as the salamanders focused on their tasks. Waiting for the fight to end, Alistair felt one of the tiny salamanders lose it life to tendrils, but that had been a last desperate attempt by the plant to safe itself as the Boss Salamander cut through the last of its main branches and the tiny salamanders destroyed the root system. A blue prompt formed in Alistair vision.

Event!You have captured a Red Creeper Vine!Today you have added to the list of creatures that can be found in your dungeon. Red Creeper Vine is now available for summoning. The Experience Points from a Red Creeper Vine is 30. Advancement of your spell mastery has increased by 7%. In order to evolve your creature you must reach Spell Mastery Level 4.

Congratulations! The Red Creeper Vine was a Wild Mana Monster in your dungeon. By clearing your floor of one of the mana monsters your summoning circle has increased in level. Please view your summoning circle page for more information. Additionally, the Red Creeper Vine is considered a Mana Monster and a Trap due to its limited mobility. As such it does not require a loot table to summon, as the loot is generated from creatures it kills. As a reward you have claimed all the monsters loot for your loot table.Loot earned:Boar Bones (Summoning Ingredient)

Rat Tails (Alchemy Ingredient)

Bat Wings (Alchemy Ingredient)

Complete set of Hide Armor (Poor Quality)

Rusted Rapier (Poor Quality)

Bracer of Defense +1 (Magical Item)Dungeon Bonus: Monsters receive +1 to Defense due to Bracer of Defense +1 being in a loot table. If it is removed the Dungeon Bonus will no longer apply.