Edit: This time the numbers went down. I think it just doesn't do that for every chapter since this is the 10th post and I only now see a change.

2563 Words

In the last few days the whole dungeon was in a phase constant movement and chaos. Every stronger group of beasts wanders deeper and they experience an explosive growth. When Cog and the other disciples encountered this phenomenon at first they were unsure what to make of it and just decided to follow the relatively tame on their journey down the dungeon and stopped on the fourth floor like recommended by Seth.

But when they came back on the following days under the lead of Seth the beast population was totally different from the first visit and also visibly smaller and weaker then before. He then theorized that the beasts wandered further down and that our Mana donation should have propelled it to somewhere from the eighth to the tenth floor in depth.

An expedition was proposed to the elders that should go forth until the end of the eighth floor since he was reasonably sure that the dungeon would have at least nine floors by the time they arrived there. We would rush to the fourth floor and then carefully make our way down from there. The way down was estimated between 12 and 14 hours and the way back 8 to 9 hours. Cog would then have to be excluded from the exploration as he wasn't strong enough to make the whole trip with barely any rest.

The stage was after all the stage of body development and only when you completed it would you have the necessary bodily strength for the strain of cultivation or going on long exploration trips.

In the outside world the basic camp had expanded under the hard work of the remaining disciples and elders. The first action was to secure the cliff behind the dungeon and building suitable defenses there as well as an easy way up. Since the dungeon wasn't located on itself and just in the side of an unnamed mountain plateau at its foot the had decided that they would build a stronghold on the plateau later, but now four watchtowers had to suffice that were located with the tower facing the mountains at twelve o'clock and the tower overseeing the dungeon entrance and nearby woods at six o'clock. The other two towers were situated at three o'clock and nine o'clock respectively.

The towers looked more like outposts built on four 15 meter long wooden trunks, a platform at 13 meters and a roof made of wooden planks. Then the used his nature and exceptional control over it and revitalized the wooden trunks into sprouting new roots, making the room at the top waterproof by growing leaves on the roofs and making a railing by growing thick branches to each other just above the wooden platform.

In the end the watchtowers looked decidedly elvish and would continue to stand sturdy for many years, only requiring regular trimming.

On the ground level the elders had already set up quite a few log cabins to accommodate the second group that would arrive in about 2 days time. A basic wall was also set up against wild beasts and any would be aggressors from the nearby small sect or clan.

It was constructed by a simple moat being dug and the earth from the moat was piled up to a wall of dirt. At the peak of the hill palisades were dug deeply into the loose earth that was then compressed by an elder with gravity . They only left a single entrance in the wall and also filled the moat at that point since it would only be a temporary defense anyway until the first big wave of the disciples arrived and the dungeon town had to be expanded.

The portal also got a special wall built so it wasn't immediately visible when the camp was entered, so that anyone who Didn't already know of the portal and entered the camp wouldn't be able to accidentally discover it.

It really was hard to imagine what a group of 40 super-humans could achieve in such a short time frame if they set their mind to it. Normally no elder would lower him- or herself to do construction work or keeping watch at night, but with the head of their division leading by example no voices of discontentment could be heard.

The return of the exploration team two days later coincided with the arrival of the second group and it was decided that the report of their findings would wait until the next morning to allow the team to get their much needed rest.

In one of the bigger huts however, two elders were still not able to rest as they had much to talk about.

"Please Maria. It hasn't to be you. We can find another one to do it."

"I already informed the sect master and we had an assembly of the available elders where I also was confirmed as the best candidate. I had to travel alone and only caught up to the group after a few days, because of that."

"But you are important to the sect. And to me. We joined the sect together. We fought together and adventured together. And in the end we even both became elders. You have nothing that you have to prove to the sect."

"I won't be gone Torian. We will still see each other quite often. And you know I don't do this to prove something to the sect. If I had to prove something I wouldn't have been chosen for this task in the first place and you know that."

Helplessly Torian shook his head. This tactic wouldn't work. They had argued for a whole hour in an endlessly repeating circle, no one able to convince the other yet.

But slowly she gained the upper hand and he was close to giving in. In a last ditch effort to sway her mind he decided to change his tactic.

"Think about your disciples and your kids. They will miss you dearly. I know you somehow blame yourself for Ralph's death, but you were definitely not responsible. There was nothing you could have done to save him from the .

And this is no way to punish yourself for that."

"This has nothing to do with Ralph. It is now 10 years since his death and I had all the time in the world to grieve and come to terms with that. And my kids. My kids are grown adults that can handle themselves. Korg even has his own kids now.

My disciples can also handle themselves. I haven't accepted a new disciple in years and the other ones already know every thing I have to teach them.

I have no loose ends left. This is something completely new and exciting while I can also help the sect and thereby also my kids and disciples if I do this right. You know that I will never reach the realm on my own, but if I become the I can still do something meaningful. The sect needs to not mess this up and since in the end one can only depend on ones self if a job has to be done satisfactory."

Tiredly Torian gave up. At this point there was nothing to be gained and their friendship would suffer if he pushed on at this point. She had always had this stubborn streak, but until today that had never brought him much trouble.

After a while he left dejectedly and made his way to Seth to inform him on the need for another exploration to gauge wether the dungeon was at the second stage yet, so that Maria could bind herself to it.

But where was sorrow in reunion there was also joy. And so Cog and Grom had a happy reunion that lasted deep into the night as Grom couldn't wait to hear everything about the dungeon and other topics. The usually so quiet boy was now brimming with energy and constantly pelted Cog with various questions.

"So how did you manage to keep up with the inner disciples and the elders?"

"The personally used some of his Mana to refresh me whenever I couldn't continue and the only thing I had to do was run with all my might. That helped my cultivation progress very much and I'm now at 64% already!"

"I'm just at 53%. You have so much luck."

"What luck you idiot? I had to run as if my life depended on it for half a month with barely any rest and all that in the pouring rain. You could just comfortably ride on a sect provided while focusing on cultivating."

"Well whatever. Then tell me about the dungeon. How deep is it? How big are the floors? Which beasts did you see and how many did you kill?"

There really was no end in sight and so Cog had no other choice then to diligently answer them.

The next morning arrived and everyone got up at dawn to prepare breakfast. The second group consisted of around 500 people, divided in 300 outer disciples, 150 inner Disciples and 50 elders and teachers. They had thankfully received ample food and other resources back at the sect that would last them for at least a year.

The caravan that would arrive in approximately one month would undoubtedly have even more so that the unhindered growth of the dungeon was all but guaranteed.

After breakfast everyone gathered and listened to the speech of Seth, who in the beginning reiterated the general information about dungeons for the newcomers and then began a detailed report about this particular dungeon. He described the myriads of beasts that lived there, the variety of grade 1 plants and the strange but fascinating environments from floor five onwards. But he also warned of the dangers of the dungeon. Those were the bodies of water where some of the biggest rank 1 beasts of the dungeon lived, the poisonous plants that could often times be found from floor 3 onwards or the unnecessary provocation of seemingly weak beasts as some populations were estimated to soon cross the thousand member mark.

Some species were known to be either very aggressive or protective of its members and any misstep in their territories could mean death for anyone not in the realm.

When Seth was finally done it was lunch time. After they had their fill there was an announcement that took many everyone but the newly arrived elders and Torian by surprise. It was announced that elder Maria would step down from her position and enslave herself to the dungeon as a in exchange for it allying itself with the sect and granting special benefits to it.

They were furthermore told that a magical contract was worked out by the assembly of elders that would ensure that both sides had to abide by its content. As soon as the dungeon reached stage two it would develop a divine sense and could thus read and agree to it.

They were then warned by elder Maria herself not to trust anything she said until the other elders confirmed that she was still herself as no one knew how much control a dungeon had over its .

Many disciples were sad to see her do something drastic like this for the sect as she was an elder well known for managing the sects library with great care. She was also very helpful for disciples that searched for particular books or wanted to know something specific as she had read most books in the library and knew the place of every one of them.

She could retain all that information thanks to her very rare mind that she used to give herself a photographic memory.

The rest of the afternoon was then free so that everyone could settle down and tents for the newcomers who didn't get a hut could be constructed.

Just before dinner Cog and Grom were ordered to visit the hut of the by an inner disciple, as he had something to discuss with them. Confused the two youngsters made their way to him and carefully knocked on his door.

"Please come in." The inside of the hut was very spartan and only consisted of a simple bed, a desk with a chair and a bench for visitors. When they stood inside and had closed the door, Torian began to speak.

"I will make this very brief. You were promised a reward for your exceptional contribution to the sect and I will now tell you what I have decided to award you.

You will each be exempted from ever having to earn contribution points for the sect and anything that requires contribution points as payment will be free for you from now on.

You will also get a suitable elder to personally teach you as soon as you reach the next realm and I will personally teach you the necessary hunter skills when things have calmed down here. Is that acceptable for you?"

"Yes elder. Thank you very much." Grom furiously nodded to Cogs statement. He was very nervous and couldn't utter a single word.

"Well then enjoy. Your dinner."

With a "Thank you elder." and a bow they dismissed themselves.

When they were outside their composure crumbled and loud shouts of joy could be heard as the two boys ran back to their hut to celebrate.

When they were done celebrating and eating Grom desperately wanted to visit the dungeon again to see wether it had changed much from his memories and he persuaded Cog to take him just to the first floor.

A few minutes later the two were frantically knocking on the door again.

"You two again?" Was his only response.

"The dungeon changed. The entrance entrance is totally different from yesterday." Was the response he got.

Hurriedly he searched for Seth and took him, Cog and Grom to the portal. Before they even saw the changes he had already investigated them with his divine sense. Two meters behind, above and below the portal there was now a wall of smooth stone and stairs were moving to a portal that now resembled a chiseled gate rather then a cave entrance. The original size of the portal had also changed from two by two meters to three by three meters.

When they stood before the new entrance he shot a questioning look in Seth's direction. The young scholar had a wide grin on his face and informed the rest of the small group about the situation.

"The dungeon reached stage 2. We can now establish the contract and finally communicate with it. The further a dungeon grows the bigger is its influence on the immediate surroundings." He explained.

"I recommend that we start the contact as soon as possible so that elder Maria can talk to the dungeon for the whole night and we can begin the negotiations tomorrow morning."

Torian sighed. He wouldn't get much sleep tonight.