Andrea

I partially ran from the room. As the door closed behind me I stopped breathing heavy. I could not let the others see me in such a panic they would at best know something was wrong and try to take advantage of it. At worst they would see that I’m no longer the little girl they expect me to be. Moving my hands down my body I shivered I was a woman now. Full breasts, wide hips and a full head taller than I was! “What did the dungeon do to me?” I whispered.

With a shake of my head I slowly began to walk down the long cave tunnel toward the other rooms. Since I was done giving my Mana to the dungeon I was free until after the short sleep. That gave me time to think.

I began walking to the cave where the apprentices slept, but as I neared the opening I thought better of it. The sounds of a fight and someone crying made me decide it was best not to intrude right now. Plus I did not want to chance anyone seeing my changes yet. I passed a split in the tunnel where two armored zombies glared at me. Since I did not near the tunnel into the Master’s chambers they just watched though.

Moving on I came to one of the two largest caves. This one was used to store the Skeleton army. A couple weeks ago it had been full of the white boned minions, now though it only had a little over a hundred.

One thousand two hundred skeletons, three hundred Zombies, 24 Spirits, and 6 of the more experienced apprentices were sent out to search for the Other Ascenders’. They were equally divided into 6 groups and sent to likely areas. They were also told to gather more “volunteers” for the cause. As of yet none had returned and I secretly hoped none would.

In the far back of the cave there was a small niche I had found a few weeks passed. It was near the back far away from any of the torches and covered in deep shadows. It was a perfect place for me to hide. It was my safe place in this dark place. Squeezing into the niche I began to cry. This larger body did not fit anymore! Try as I might but I could not fully hide myself. With tears leaking down my face I sat with my legs poking out. I sat there crying with giant silent sobs. Eventually I fell asleep.

Waking stiffly some time later I guess it was still an hour before supper and the start of The Dark, where I would be expected to help prepare the army. Not feeling like moving yet I sat there and thought.

“Plus: I’m free from the evil Necromancer. I’m no longer her slave. Minus: I’m the slave of an evil dungeon. Plus: I was given a much nicer robe and the collar no longer hurts me. Minus: I have no idea what the dungeon wants of me. Plus: The Dungeon ordered me to return, but never said when. Minus” I have nowhere else to go. Plus: If the dungeon kills me it is not likely to raise me as an undead. Minus: I’ll be dead. Plus: Since I am no longer under the necromancer’s control I am no longer bound by her rules. Plus: Maybe the dungeon is stupid and will keep giving me orders I can work around. Plus: It seems to know that we are both in danger and being used. Maybe it can help me get revenge on the necromancer. Plus, I spoke to a goddess and got a class. The longer I can stay alive and practice the longer I have to learn my new skills.”

Feeling better about my situation I got up and went to get some of the gruel we were fed for meals. Then I steeled myself. I had to act like nothing had changed, like I was still the quiet little slave. I had to wait and learn.

Alex

Watching Andrea go I smiled, I now had one more tool in my arsenal. A Human slave could do things my other minions could not. I just had to ensure I treated her fairly and protected my investment. The next apprentice had begun to shove mana at me as I thought. Placing part of my attention on the routine I revised my plans.

As apprentices came and went I considered, eventually the Master Necromancer came collected the day’s skeletons and left. My mind raced as I thought through ideas and then threw them out. One was too risky. The next would take years. This one would hinge on a certain event that I could not count upon.

As apprentices entered my chamber and began to work on the larger binding circle I was no further along than I had been hours before. As they left many hours later I finally came to two conclusions.

First I had to do something to interfere with eh function of the new circle. It was a chance for me to break my bonds. Better yet I had a brand new slave who was smart enough to help me with this.

Second I could not yet face the Master Necromancer. I did not know how strong she was, but even with the small force I was hiding I could not hope to stand against her in an even fight. I had to build up my forces, work on my skills and play the meek dungeon. I had one big advantage there. She was arrogant and assumed I was the normal common young dungeon who would still be driven solely on instinct and unable to think independently.

Knowing this I pulled up my Dungeon statistics sheet to look over it carefully.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Dungeon Statistics Sheet

Name: Alex

Species: Dungeon Variant: Slave

Level: 10 23%

Common Statistics

Health: 10 / 10 Health Regen: None

Mana: 230 / 1,000 Mana Regeneration: 1 / Day

Core: Diamond / 10cm Heart

Strength: Locked Dexterity: Locked

Constitution: Locked Intelligence: 10

Will: 10 Charisma: 10

Unspent Stat Points: 10 Dungeon Points: 100

Dungeon Statistics

Type: Undecided

Territory: 1m

Rooms: 3 Floors: 1

Dungeon Species: Undead

Population Statistics

Family: None

Slaves: Andrea Bloomquest

Minions: Brownie Skeleton: 99, Human Zombie 5

Inhabitants: None

Pets: None

Titles / Achievements

Title: Touched by Divinity

Achievement: Touched Ellinoria

Expand: Yes / No

Skills

Expand: Yes / No

Skills

Creation (Dungeon): Beginner: 98 3%

Summoning (Dungeon) Beginner: 1 0%

Mana Control Novice: 14 47%

Show Affinities: Yes / No

Earth Affinity: Beginner: 23 67%

Air Affinity: Beginner: 3 31%

Death Affinity: Beginner: 96 10%

Life Affinity: Beginner: 1 0%

Show Languages: Yes / No

Language – English Advanced: 97 85%

Language – Spanish Beginner: 51 3%

Language – Japanese Novice: 3 92%

Language – Sylvan God-Like: 100 100%

Language – Axzeal Beginner: 42 21%

Language – Numark Beginner: 12 91%

“Well I see I’ve improved with my affinities whatever that does. I also have not used any of that free stat points yet, but I really do not know what they do for me. Unlike my minions where they seem to have a direct correlation to Health or Mana mine seem almost frivolous. Then how about these dungeon points? If I recall from stories I got bored and read on Earth dungeons could access some kind of store or something to spend them. Do I have something like that?”

This lead me to another series of guessing at commands to access the system. This one though actually wasn’t too bad. On my third try I thought, “Spend Dungeon Points” and a ding with a new prompt appeared in my mind’s eye.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Message from the Gods:

Welcome Dungeon to our catalogue. Here you can choose to spend your hard won dungeon points on evolutions, monsters, abilities, upgrades, or much more. If you’re here on instinct alone then a patron deity will pick up your message shortly and spend your points as they see fit. If your here on your own then please say “catalogue”

Connecting to next free deity in: 10

9

8

7

6

I was stunned not only did it work but they had some kind of automatic system in place for dungeons who were not able to make choices on their own!

5

4

3

“Catalogue!” I mentally shouted.

“Command not recognized. Did you say Peaches?”

2

“No! Catalogue damn you!”

“Command not recognized. Did you say mushrooms?”

1

“Oh for god’s sake! I fucking hate you.”

“Command recognized. Accessing Catalogue. Please stand by.”

“You have to be kidding me! Why do all automated systems never work right?”

The prompt in front of me expanded.

Divine Dungeon Catalogue

The best and the worst of what the mind’s upstairs could come up with.

Basic / Info / Titles – Achievements

SAS / Population / Structural

Items / Upgrades / Misc.

“Okaaaay,” I thought “let’s start at the beginning as see what we have.”

Basics

Name / Variant / Type

The name section allowed a dungeon to choose a name. Or change it for the cost of 25 dungeon points.

Variant allows the dungeon to forcibly change its current classification. Sadly for me the option was greyed out.

The last tab Type was interesting though. It allowed a dungeon to choose a speciality. There were common types like, Animal, Bug, Slime, Undead, and Goblin. Then there was more exotic ones like, Celestial, Bandit, Demonic, Universal, Draconic, and Giant. Sadly there was information on what choosing one did exactly so I refrained from picking something for now.

Moving on I selected the Information tab. A massive list appeared. A mind numbing of things came up. It appeared that anything I wanted to know about being a dungeon, monsters, creatures, structures, abilities, spells. Pretty much anything I could think of was here and I could learn about it… for a price. Curious I looked up information on Ellinoria and found a Biography, Religious Books, List of most powerful followers, Temple locations, Secret temple locations, even her Stat sheet. To my utter amazement though the cheapest was a whopping 1500 dungeon points with her stat sheet being a cool million.

With a mental shake of my head I moved on and opened up the Titles and Achievements section. Here it appeared that I could buy some titles like, Humanbane, or Elfbane; which allowed my minions to deal more damage to that selected type. I briefly considered picking up Undeadbane but paused thinking I would see what else there was before I bought anything. Achievements allowed me to buy Achievements that I could qualify for. Right now the only thing on the list was Slave and to my embarrassment pervert. Yet again though no information was given on what they actually did. I suppose I could buy the info from the info tab, but seeing as neither was exactly what I could consider good I passed.

Opening up the SAS tab I was again hit by lists upon lists of items.

SAS

Skills / Abilities / Spells

The sheer number of options blew my mind. Just skimming I saw things ranging from Ambidextrous, to Mace Mastery, to Rage and so many more. The prices ranged from a mere 5 DP to a whooping one and half million for something called Summon Primordia.

I was really getting frustrated with the lack of information though. Not a single item listed had more than just the name and price listed. To get an idea I searched for my Create Skeleton spell to give me a basis. Finding it I discovered that the entry was a drop down menu. After focusing on it a drop don of types of variant appeared. Gritting my teeth I began to search the list until I found Human.

Raise Skeleton (Human) 5 DP

On a whim I searched for all my current spells. I was disappointed to see that the spell for my SkeleBros were listed; I had really thought I had made something new.

Create Skeleton (Brownie) 7 DP

Raise Zombie 7 DP

Summon Fox (Sly) 10 DP

Having a little idea what I was looking for in comparison now I revisited the list with a more discerning eye. A couple things stood out on my second pass through.

Alchemy (Beginner) 10 DP

Chemistry (Beginner) 10 DP

Fireball (Minor) 10 DP

Grease 5 DP

Holy Affinity (Beginner) 10 DP

Lip Reading (Beginner) 5 DP

Magic Mouth 10 DP

Raise Bone Dragon 500 DP

Raise Vampire 100 DP

Read Magic 5 DP

Shield (Minor) 5 DP

Sleep (Minor) 10 DP

Summon Nymph (Wood) 100 DP

Unholy Affinity (Beginner) 10 DP

Some stood out for obvious reasons like Fireball. Who wouldn’t want to be able to throw Fireballs all whilly Nilly like. Others like Magic Mouth were more utilitarian. Perhaps with it I could talk to someone. I was about to buy that one then paused.

As it was now if I was ordered to tell the Master Necromancer something I had limited ways of doing that. If I had this spell then I could be ordered to give up all my secrets. Perhaps I should wait and suffer in silence.

Glumly I moved to the Population tab.

Population

Plants / Insects / Animal

Magical Beasts / Constructs / Guardians

Sapients / Extra Planer / Misc.

Soooo many options I complained. It was Exciting really. All the different options and creatures. It was just a bit overwhelming. It was really striking home that I was completely stuck in a world of high Fantasy. Token would chew off his left arm seeing all the options in front of me.

Again I hesitated before buying anything. This time for a couple reasons. First I had no rooms to populate. Second I did not understand the difference between a creature I Summoned or Created with a spell and one bought in the catalogue. For example I could cast the Summon Fox (Sly) spell and get me a fox or I could buy one in the catalogue for 2 DP.

I really wanted to experiment and see, but I still had the issue of being a slave to contend with. Grinding my nonexistent teeth I moved to the next tab

Structural

Halls / Rooms / Doors

Decoration / Themes / Traps

Barriers / Enchantments / Misc.

To my further frustration and a little relief everything here was greyed out. If I had to guess I simply did not have the territory to buy any of these things. Although I also had another question arise; did I have to buy things from the shop? My status sheet clearly showed I had three rooms, and I know I never bought any of them from the catalogue. So maybe these were extra? Or in addition to what I built on my own. This may also be a way for non-intelligent dungeons to expand. Now that made sense.

The items list was exactly what I predicted. Lists upon lists of stuff. They were divided into nifty categories anyone whom had ever looked at Amazon could easily navigate. Everything from weapons, armors, books, potted plants, to yep even the kitchen sink… well a stone basin at least. Seems indoor plumbing was something I may need to bring to this world.

Shaking my head I growled in frustration. “I am a dungeon! Why do I need indoor plumbing?” The familiar feeling of the themes and the catalogue in general had made me slip into habits and thoughts of my old life. Although having some of these things here did make me consider there may be more options than just an adventurer eating monster for my future.

Opening Upgrades I smiled.

Upgrades

Attributes / Species / Core

Offense / Defense / Misc.

I clicked on each tab in turn

Attributes

Increase Health Points 50 DP

Increase HP Regeneration 50 DP

Increase Mana Points 50 DP

Increase Mana Regeneration 50 DP

Unlock Strength 100 DP

Unlock Constitution 100 DP

Unlock Dexterity 100 DP

Increase Intelligence 20 DP

Increase Wisdom 20DP

Increase Charisma 20DP

Increase Attribute Gain 100 DP

Increase Dungeon Point Gain 100 DP

“Huh, these actually seem straight forward.” I thought to myself, before moving on.

Species

Dungeon Current

Dungeon Master 500 DP

Dungeon Overlord 1,000 DP

Overlord 5,000 DP

Divine Overlord 1,000,000 DP

“Well I wonder what this would do. I mean what is the difference between each one? Especially the Divine Overlord… I mean come on a million points?”

Core

Increase Mass 10 DP

Decrease Mass 15 DP

Change Shape 20 DP

Change Material 100 DP

Create Core 100 DP

Copy Core 100 DP

Create inactive Core 50 DP

Create Pedestal FREE

Create Dungeon Alter FREE

Align Affinity FREE

Beseech Patron FREE

Turn Glow On / Off Off

”All’ll righty then, so this would alter my core…” Before I could hesitate I selected the free “Create Pedestal.”

A rush of light filled the room and suddenly my core that had been floating above the ground was now comfortably nested in a soft looking pillow atop a meter tall blood red marble column. The column was carved in a manner that would fit in with any of ancient Rome. The marble had darker red swirls with some gold and silver veins flowing through it.

“Ugh yeah there is no way this won’t be recognized. I may want to wait on any of the other freebies. No pint in alarming the Necromancers even more…”

Offense

Unlock Core Offense Abilities 250 DP

Defense

Unlock Core Defense Abilities 250 DP

“Well I guess I’ll have to wait to see what I can do with these two.” I muttered frowning.

The last tab was Misc. and it was currently greyed out as was the Misc. tab on the main selection.

With a sigh I metaphorically sat back and considered my new options. One thing was for sure. This expanded the possibilities immensely. Both for freeing myself and for my future afterward.