Hey there, this will probably the last chapter this week as my parents decided on a short trip to the Netherlands from tomorrow until Sunday.

On another note, do you feel the spacing has been better or worse? I would also really appreciate a rating from you with a bit of text so that I know what to improve on. That will help you too since the future chapters then go up in quality and you dont have to endure my current mistakes much longer. (hopefully)

2728 Words

After just doing nothing for a few hours for the first time in two months Quin busied himself again with designing a new floor and experimenting with a few of his new options.

This was one of the new changes of being in stage two. He could now design a new floor for every percent of progress, or save until he had cultivated the next 10% and needed to create the floors to be able to cultivate further.

He contemplated which design he wanted for the next ten floors and decided on an overgrown temple design. One of his new gimmicks was that he could add light sources that came out of nowhere similar to the infinite water that started and fed his water system. That gave everything a very mystical air and also created the illusion that the surface was almost in reach.

The ceiling was high and the tunnels wide with a paved path of mossy and cracked stones and On the sides was a thick underbrush of about 5 meters. Not enough to live in but perfect for a stealthy approach or ambush. He also added the occasional stone pillar and small room of indeterminate use on the side.

The rooms were spacious with old ritual places or temples and large ponds that were so overgrown that anything could lurk just under the surface without anyone noticing. The design of everything was very airy, meaning not many walls and much open space, save for the regular expansive cellar of the temples that were easily defensible and mostly dark. The only illumination came from the occasional luminescent plant or in specially made brackets.

The stage was also the point at which almost every race evolved completely for the first time. The so called evolutions before were more like variations forced by the harsh environment or an absolutely abysmal aptitude for Mana, barely better then that of a mortal, that made it absolutely impossible for them to reach even the upper regions of the stage before they died of old age.

This surefire evolution also influenced the design heavily as most species would either develop into a bigger and stronger version or a more intelligent and nimble version of themselves, that mostly led to the development of hands and starting to move on only two feet. But those were not distinctions between races but between individuals. Two brothers could develop exactly the same way until the stage and then one would become more intelligent and the other would gain an innate advantage in combat. In the end it was possible that the intelligent brother rode his stronger counterpart into battle one day.

There were of course exceptions to that rule and one being more intelligent then the other by no means meant that the other one was dumb. In the end it also mostly ended up in a situation of mutual benefit as one branch were the ones who devised plans and built shelters and weapons while the other branch functioned as guards and protectors that was the most effective in direct confrontations.

As the beasts gained the knowledge to make tools it was also necessary to supply them with weapons, tools, knowledge on how to use them and crafting knowledge. For that he created special hypnotic arrays that would teach the beasts directly how to use a specific tool or weapon or how to make something like fire or clothing.

Since smithing required metals as well as ways to smelt and then work on them most recipes were making use of ingredients like bones, shells, teeth and much more.

He also placed a trigger array in the that would begin randomly spawning metal weapons or magical talismans near the arrays that explained their use on special altars. This would reward the holding of territory and make the dungeon dwellers more capable of fighting with any outside invaders.

Since the needed something special he made a few very easy cultivation techniques for beasts available there as well as three separate altars with weapons, armors and talismans available on them.

Another new evolutional path that opened itself were plants with basic intelligence. And Quin promptly placed his new pets between the already existing plant life. Most plants used a venom of sorts that they either dispersed into the air or stored in their thorns. Once the prey was poisoned it only took a few minutes until they lost consciousness and were dissolved into fertilizer.

Since the jump from stage 1 Mana to stage 2 Mana was such a big one the beasts were unable to stand the pressure on the new floor until they reached the 10th stage of the first grade. That meant the new floor was currently completely deserted and the plants had to survive completely on Mana. To help with that he placed another new acquisition, the . But instead of the water the normal geysers pushed out this version drew in Mana and then explosively shot it out into the environment.

Any natural was a treasure that was cared for greatly and was a very popular cultivation spot.

When he was done with his new floor he also remodeled the dungeon entrance. With his current cultivation he could affect the outside world that was approximately 2 meters away from his portal. With this new change he could also move his awareness outside for the first time in 2 months and observe his surroundings. Of course there was not much to see as someone had built a wall between the portal and the rest of the world. Just his luck. At least He could tell that is was late afternoon by the angle of the sun rays.

Then he noticed that his portal was floating in the air and decided to put a bit of substance around it and go for a more fitting portal design.

When it got dark Quin was ripped out of his cultivation by very strong energy ripples at the dungeon entrance. When he moved his consciousness there he noticed 3 people and 2 of them were the cause of these ripples. They stood there unmoving and a plate made of pure jade was placed on the floor in front of them.

Ages ago someone had found, that jade had the unique property of being able to hold information. Those information could be inscribed by divine sense and also read with it, making it a very comfortable way to carry whole libraries in a piece of sufficiently high grade.

The piece in front of him was at least grade 3 and it contained a high level magical contract. He read through it and was astonished. The female of the the two strong individuals would willingly offer herself as a and in return he would be allied to the she was from. This alliance would ban him from installing vicious traps into the dungeon that were aimed at the disciples from this sect, have him provide a complete map of the dungeon with every especially dangerous place marked, let disciples use the dungeon for breakthroughs and then have him remove the corruption of their Mana.

In turn they were obligated to in no way try to harm him or his and they would defend him against any hostile forces that wished to harm him, something they would have no doubt have done anyway as he was so valuable. But it was nice to have a binding confirmation of that.

Quin read it again and couldn't find any hidden information or unclear formulations. There were no downsides for him and he would gain massively, so there was nothing to really consider. He imprinted his consent and the jade glowed as it drew in a massive amount of Mana.

Magical contracts were one of the best inventions ever made. They were almost impossible to break, grew stronger with time making it even harder to break them the longer they existed and if you weren't a complete dimwit it was impossible to be tricked or deceived into signing a contract you didn't want.

Then began the ritual to bind Maria, his new , to him. First was a very long and complicated chant, followed by hand sigils and in the end runic tattoos formed all over her body that she filled with the dungeons Mana. All of this was completely unnecessary as Quin knew a much shorter and easier chant that accomplished all of this hour long procedure in a minute, but he had currently no way to tell them.

Then he felt a connection form in his mind and the first words were transmitted through this connection to him.

"HELLO? DID IT SUCCEED?"

"God damnit woman could you please tone it down. You don't have to shout."

"BETTER?"

"I SAID QUIETER."

"Sorry."

"You better be. If I were made of flesh I would be currently lying on the floor twitching and bleeding out of every fucking orifice I have."

Maria looked down on her feet, her face beet-red.

"Is everything ok?" The second strong person asked.

"Yes. Who could have known that telepathy requires almost no Mana?"

"You blasted it with your thoughts?"

"Shut up."

"Ask them to leave please. We have much to talk about and I don't want to be interrupted every five minutes because you can't control your expression. Also tell him to refer to me as 'him' and not 'it'."

"The dungeon wishes to speak with me without an audience, Torian. I will find you once we are through with talking. Also refer to him as 'him' and not 'it' you insensitive blockhead."

Grumbling Torian and the third person, who I now remember is the easily excitable scholar, make their way back.

"So, I need to get a basic overview about where we are geographically and your motivations for doing this. And don't try to lie to me. It is incredibly hard to lie through telepathy, because every message you send automatically carries a bit of your current emotions with them and with your abysmal control over it at the moment it you would only embarrass yourself by trying."

"Can I ask you a question first?"

"Go for it."

"Why are you so grumpy?"

"Try imagining being caged in with thousands of entities that only think about hunting, fucking and sleeping for two months and then the first person you can talk with screams directly into your mind at the highest volume possible. I think I'm being perfectly reasonable here."

"Sorry. Again. We are currently at the edges of the in the province that is currently managed by the in the country of on the .

There are three reasons I offered to be the one to sacrifice herself. Reason number one is that the sect is in decline for a few thousand years now and we need every help we can get to hold our position as local ruler. The second reason is that I want to secure the future of my children and disciples as best as I can.

The third reason is plain boredom. I won't achieve anything great anymore anyway and will most likely stay at the stage for the rest of my life."

"I don't think you will be for much longer. My magic tells me that you have the mind and I happen to have a suitable cultivation technique for that affinity."

"You are two months old. Why would you know anything about human cultivation, or even more then I do?"

"Then let me ask you a question. What do you know about mature dungeons or whatever you call us?"

"You progress much faster then the other two types, you are more intelligent and sometimes strange artifacts can be found inside your body?"

"Well that is very incomplete knowledge. First off my dungeon isn't my body but my cage and defense system at the same time. My body is only the .

Secondly mature dungeons are entirely different from child dungeons, because we are reincarnated ascended individuals with a certain amount of memories from our past life. And in my special case with all of them. So in reality we are much more knowledgeable in cultivation then you are and me especially, because I previously also ascended by cultivating Mana like you do."

There was a long silence after that.

"That is really a lot to take in. But I guess you have no reason to lie to me and I now would be very interested in your offer with the cultivation technique."

"I'll pass it on to you as soon as I have a grade 3 jade plate available. If I transmit it telepathically it could damage your mind because there is too much information at once. Then let's get back to questions from me. Tell me about the strength of the region we are in. And please just the upper echelons and not the millions of small fries that undoubtedly run around everywhere."

"Well then. In we are the rulers as I have already mentioned. There are about 200 elders that are at the peak of the realm, 10 of which are currently here, and 800-900 teachers at varying stages of the realm. Then we have the Sect master and the 11 protectors who all already reached the realm.

I am unsure about the other sects in and the surrounding kingdoms, but the most of the stronger ones should be about our strength. Then there are the royal academies. They are ruled over by the respective royal clans of the kingdoms and every king is rumored to be at least at the realm in power with many elders as protectors."

"That is truly disappointing and reassuring all at once. In a few years I will be all but invincible here, but this low amount of power also indicates that my progress will be very slow then as the natural Mana in this region has to be very thin.

Are there other dungeons in this region?"

"You are the first in but has seven other dungeons and each of them is what you call a child dungeon type. I heard that the oldest one is two hundred years old as the all the previous dungeons eventually went insane and had to be put down. It is rumored to be at the third stage already and very close to the fourth one, but it is controlled by the and the public isn't allowed inside anymore.

As far as I know you are the only adult dungeon in the though."

"Ok. I think that is all the information I need at the moment. Now then let's talk about the next steps we will take. You will go back into the camp I presume you have behind that wall. You will talk to the people so that they can be sure that you are still yourself. That should be their most prevalent fear right now. You will however not disclose the information that I am reincarnated for now.

Furthermore you will ask them to only send disciples in and that also only in approximately three days so that the can fill the empty space. disciples will be allowed once the first beasts reach that level and begin populating the higher floors. I also ask you to not push my cultivation forward for the moment as I need a solid foundation for my cultivation.

Stage 1 was just the gathering of Mana for the second stage, so it wasn't really of consequence then. For the complete map I have to provide you will need to bring me a grade 1 jade slab for the rough layout or grade 2 for the detailed one, but please don't circulate the detailed map outside of the teachers and elders as it could later be stolen by any rival sects and I am not really too keen of that. I think that all the important informations are exchanged now. Then let's use the rest of the night and tell me about your life, important history or anything else of interest really. It really has been boring in these last two months."