Hey you,

as I have feared I need much time for learning until October. I have multiple exams coming up and not enough free time. But I think it should be possible to get out one chapter per week. When university starts again in early October I have more time to write again as all my exams are always at the end of the term.

2489 Words

The next two weeks were spent in cultivation for Quin to reach 5% and the beasts on the lower floors bred like crazy to populate it at the earliest time possible. All in all they were very peaceful with many disciples entering the dungeon who fought to wrest every last benefit they could out of it, but the beasts on the lower floors proved to be very ferocious and the treasure hunt often turned into a struggle to keep themselves alive while still making a bit of profit. He was really happy with the way the dungeon had developed.

But what brought him the most joy was the memory of his 'negotiation' with the protector. This sect was really too naive. If you wanted to survive in the cultivation world you had to be cunning and take every advantage you could while not turning whoever you took advantage of against you. In this case he had used a very subtle and complicated formation to more readily agree to his demands and always begin negotiating with their bottom line.

It really was no wonder that they had declined so much since the first generations. If you are gullible there will naturally be many people lining up to shake your hand in friendship while having the other hand in your pockets, searching for valuables.

He would really have to make good use of that piece of information while simultaneously teaching them to be less naive. A tight rope to balance but if he did it right he would definitely profit. It also would't do to just let them continue on like this as it could possibly put him in danger too and he wanted to prevent that at any cost.

The sect's protector had no chance to detect the formation as it had been devised by a famous immortal merchant that was very famed for his intricate mind altering formations. This merchant had used his formations to even rip off other immortals and they had also helped him gain the treasures he needed to cultivate until his ascension.

When he was eventually uncovered no one wanted to do business anymore, but he had once again his cunning and trust in his formations with a simple offer. He would double the price that anyone managed to negotiate from him inside his formations when he did business with them.

That year many people thought they had found a quick and simple way to make a huge profit and thousands of people flocked to the merchant to do business with him.

Later on that year was named the as everything that the merchant touched to sell transformed into gold very quickly. He managed to gather unimaginable riches and treasures and once the year was done only a handful people had managed to make a profit from the merchant.

Of course those people were blacklisted instantly afterwards and were never able to even speak to the merchant from then on. The merchant's name would forever remembered as Harold, The Petty.

After one of the unfortunate immortals he had ripped off managed to get his revenge and slay Harold his formations quickly became known on the whole and doing business got very risky for a period of time. That was until there were counter formations developed for each and every formation that Harold had invented. Unfortunately these formations hadn't spread down into the mortal world yet and Quin was sure that he would find much use for them now and in the future.

The sect should really have learned long ago that negotiations had to be conducted in neutral territory so that no one could meddle with the surroundings. Formations were very wide-spread and the sect should have long ago taken precaution against such basic means to manipulate negotiations.

Another thing that had baffled him was their willingness to just loose an elder so thoroughly to an unknown quantity. If he had really wanted the whole camp would have been massacred and the dungeon filled with insidious traps that would have killed most people under the level.

That would of course have been his end as the sect had multiple of those, but the sect shouldn't have trusted on the fact that he was a reasonable fellow. Vigilance had never hurt anyone and giving him a killing machine like Maria who was most likely one of their strongest elders was a huge mistake on their part.

He had already given her a specific training regime for her mind that would let her break through to in the next few years. And that would not be the highest she would reach with his help. That, he was sure of.

He was interrupted from his musings by Maria who messaged him.

"They are here."

He had instructed her to inform him once the caravan had arrived so that he could prepare with an increased growth rate of the plants that they would most likely harvest in masses for the first few days.

The disciples and teachers of the sect were busy preparing the camp for the arrival of the first caravan filled with disciples.

It had been getting progressively warmer and today was the hottest day this young year had seen yet. Under the brilliant rays of the sun they created tents from the massive pile of furs they had gathered from the dungeon and the first stones were also already mined and transported outside.

In addition to that the forest was notably less dark and filled with fresh saplings as the incredible amount of wood that was needed for construction left the forest for good. These ancient trees that had braved the test of time and countless storms had now succumbed to their one true predator.

Right in front of the dungeon was a stone stele that was erected not long ago. On it the names of the fallen were immortalized as they gave their life in battle for the sect. Various types of flowers were placed around the stele and the ground was drenched in alcohol. It was an ancient tradition in to pour the strongest alcohol you could get on a warrior's grave. Since the bodies would be moved back to their families soon the only place to do so was the newly erected memorial.

The caskets with the bodies themselves were stored in a big warehouse that was originally erected to hold the various goods that could be gained in the dungeon. Now it served as a grim reminder for everyone that they were still mortal despite the amazing things they could do with their Mana.

This wake-up call was received very clearly and no disciple had been seen slacking off in cultivation lately and the combat classes were filled to the brim with motivated students.

This busy but subdued atmosphere was instantly broken by a loud shout from one of the watchtowers.

"THE CARAVAN IS HERE IN HALF AN HOUR."

The disciples quickly finished their tasks and gathered at the entrance to the camp where a second wall had been constructed to prevent any similar raids from happening again.

Even the teachers and elders were no exceptions to this and soon the entire camp was deserted leading to confusion from the ones coming back out of the dungeon.

After a few minutes the first tamed beasts could be seen making their way out of the forest with riders atop of them. The new arrivals had happy expressions on their faces as the long journey was finally over.

The journey wasn't arduous, just long and boring. There was nothing to do except chatting, moving and cultivating.

There were many happy reunions, but also grief when the news about the attack spread like wildfire in the new arrivals. Most of the newcomers first visited the memorial to see whether someone they knew had his or her name engraved there, as many disciples were still in the dungeon and they couldn't be sure wether they lived until they confirmed it there.

The newly arrived third realm experts were also informed that a few of them would join a planned attack on the on the next day to prevent them from doing anything that would negatively impact them or the dungeon.

That the protector and would personally go with them also raised the moral as there was assurance that the casualties would be held at a minimum.

It was estimated that the only had 10-20 third realm experts themselves and almost all of them at the initial and middle stages. They on the other hand would raid them with 100 elders and teachers in the middle of the night, just like the had done with them.

The enemies with cultivation would all have to die, but the disciples would have the choice to either swear a to be loyal to the or they had to die too. Unfortunately they had no method to do the same to the enemies at the third realm or they would have unhesitatingly done so.

In the morning the raid force departed at dawn while most of the camp was still asleep. They would arrive at the at around midnight and start the attack immediately. Normally this trip would have taken them around 2 days, but with the protectors impressive control over gravity through his affinity everyone was much lighter and could move around much faster.

Once the camp was mostly awake the construction and scholar departments took over the construction of the town. They had made many plans on the long journey and were eager to finally realize them into the future dungeon town. Since the caravan consisted of a mass of approximately 8.500 people with the camp now containing roughly 9.000 there was an abundant workforce with many people having nothing better to do at the moment.

The smithing department had to first deliver the needed ores to the dungeon and then they had to wait until he grew the needed ore veins. In the meantime they helped ro construct a second wall that would encase the inner and the outer camp or mine the stones needed for the city construction.

The alchemy division on the other hand had plenty of herbs already and quickly put together a list of herbs that would have to be donated first to the dungeon so that they could be harvested at the earliest time possible. In the meantime they divided the department in half with one half constantly harvesting herbs from the dungeon while the other half concocted various pills, potions, salves and many more. The variety of medicines helped the efficiency in the camp greatly as fatigue and injuries were now basically nonexistent and there ware also many medicines that increased the strength or speed of the disciples.

The martial department had immediately took over the combat classes and the guard duty. But those could only occupy so many people and most of the members went as escorts or to train into the dungeon, so that the miners and gatherers could focus on their tasks.

What started out as a simple mission turned soon into an all out war against a tide of rats that swarmed them at the cavern on the sixth floor that was occupied by them.

In the end they had to budge and retreat as the reinforcements of the rats seemed endless and the fighters got more and more exhausted.

The newly arrived hunters were quickly instructed by the ones that already lived in the camp and soon they functioned as guides for the dungeon and scouts so that the fighters were warned of any incoming threats. Another of their tasks was the crafting of weapons, tools, clothes and armors out of the remains of the beasts that were slain in the dungeon. There was a constant need for new supplies as old ones got worn out or broke altogether and their biggest customer in that respect was the martial division.

The farming division had to first clear farmland for their that were used for food or alchemy and so they temporarily put their people under the supervision of the construction department who coordinated the systematic logging of the forest.

It was important to start farming soon since the dungeon couldn't even support the current population's needs forever and they were only a fraction of the disciples that would soon converge on this location.

The formations department was another division who made use of the remains to produce much needed products. The hunters had already used very rudimentary formations to improve the watchtowers and the wall, but now all these had to be remade and many new formations were needed. Some were offensive, some defensive and some were just to make everyday life a bit easier.

The scholar division on the other hand took over the administration of the camp and coordinated the other divisions so that all they all worked together and not against each other. They also began cataloguing every single resource that was found in the dungeon and where one could find them.

The trading division were the ones that made sure that everyone got what they wanted. Even if they were from the same sect there was nothing for free and every division had to buy the needed resources from the ones who produced them. The merchants from the the trading division made it their task to always know who had or needed what and to provide it for them, making a profit from that. The ones that profited the most from that were the hunters as they had been here for weeks and almost every resource was in their hands in the beginning and a percentage of everything that left the dungeon had to first be paid to them for finding the dungeon in the first place.

The construction department began tearing down the huts closest to the and replaced them with proper houses made of stone and wood. The wall surrounding the portal was also replaced and a proper gate was installed to make the dungeon better defensible. The inner wall was also replaced and the space between it and the dungeon was reserved for elders, teachers and important disciples.

As the ones who discovered the dungeon Cog and Grom naturally continued to live there as well as Seth who was the sect's dungeon expert. There were also a few other disciples who had either gathered many merits for the sect or were very close to breaking through to the realm.

The rest of the disciples then had to move to the outer district.

While the camp was busy the elders and teachers had reached the enemy sect ahead of the schedule and prepared themselves for the nightly raid.