The Dungeon Without a System

Chapter 53

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The Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea

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I began by digging out a large cavern, which I feel takes the most time in this process. Compared to the previous few floors, its position follows a curve centered on the island and keeps a wide swath of rock between them and the magma chamber. I'm getting quite deep by now, and given I'm off the continental shelf of Theona, the seafloor is relatively thin.

I'm worried I'll start getting close to the mantle soon, so I need to find a solution to that quickly. I've gathered quite a few 'bags of holding' over the months, and while I haven't worked out how their spatial enchantments work... I feel like I'm close, but I'm missing something crucial.

Over the next few days, I worked hard to dig out an area slightly larger than the desert. Unlike the desert, which was more oval-shaped to accommodate the canyon, this one was an almost perfect circle. At three points, equidistant from each other and the circumference of the cavern, I left three thick pillars.

I felt artistic and, on a whim, carved an ornate thread into the pillars. Now they looked like giant screws! I seeded some vines and grasses that would spread and grow along the thread, anchoring on the tiny cracks I added and giving it a more worn appearance.

I added the by now standard mana-star. This one I anchored in the very middle of the dome and gave a 'lid' that would close at night. No track to follow or sunsets here, unfortunately. The way I've set up the pillars would make it look weird.

The rest of the floor would be different from the last few. It would be filled with life! However, there was no way I would be able to steal enough dirt from the surface to give this floor a nice layer of the stuff, so I'd have to make my own. Step one! Steal some silt from the ocean floor.

That was easy enough. I just needed to spread some mana beyond my claimed circle of sand and bring in the silty dirt.

Now, that alone won't work as fertile dirt. Well, it would if I made some plants that could grow in it, but I didn't want to do that. The soil would look wrong, be the wrong texture, and it would bother me that it wasn't right.

Step two is to remove all the extra salt. Otherwise, what I have here is effectively useless. I couldn't exactly rip the salt from the silt, so I quickly whipped up a floor-wide enchantment that would pull the salt from the dirt and collect it into a ball in the middle of the floor. I'd figure out what to do with the floating salt ball later.

Next, I needed to add good bacteria and insects that make up the bottom of the food chain, which was easy. A sample of dirt from the jungle was retrieved and carried down by some Kobolds. I made sure there was a wide variety of insects along for the ride. Once It reached the Tenth, I had it placed right in the middle of the floor, under the salt ball.

An infusion of life mana quickly spread the tiny creatures throughout the rest of the soil. Sometimes it frightened me how quick and easy it was to do stuff like this, especially using life mana directly instead of unaligned mana. It's far more effective when you use specific mana types for appropriate jobs.

The next step was to spread some weeds, which was easy enough. Some grasses would easily classify as weeds, and I've got a dozen species I can strip for their seeds. Why weeds? Because I need to add more organic matter. Topsoil is good, fertile dirt because of the millions of years of accumulated organic debris built up within it, used, and recycled thousands of times.

I spread the seeds of my chosen weeds evenly across the floor. I then modified the floor-wide enchantment to disperse life mana with a 'grow faster' intent. Adding the intent was the essential part. If I hadn't, all the weeds would do was gather it. Grass can't think. It can't want. So, the mana would collect and passively reinforce the plants. They'd grow faster, taller, and more robust, but nowhere near fast enough for my purposes.

Over the next day, I watched the weeds grow, compete with the plants around them, die off, and new ones grow in their place.

I watched more than three dozen cycles and fueling that explosive growth heavily depleted my excess mana. Honestly, it was a bit of a relief to use it all. Thanks to my accretion disk method, I hadn't experienced that 'overfull' feeling of having too much mana in my core since that first time, months ago. It significantly slowed the amount of mana flowing into my core at once, but that mana still built up over time. Yes, I was larger now and could contain far more mana than I once did, but that's beside the point.

For now, it was nostalgic to 'only' have a set of Saturn-like rings rather than the increasingly thick and wide disk of mana orbiting me.

I removed the growth enchantment and gazed proudly over my enormous grass field. The 'Weed' I'd been using was quite attractive when allowed to reach its full growth. The emerald stalks produced tiny white flowers by the dozens and grew six feet tall when left alone.

As I introduced my cows, sheep, and rabbits to the floor, I noticed something exciting. Isid's party was escorting Haythem's party and the Clich party down through the Dungeon.

Mentally rubbing my hands together, I watched their progress with eager eyes. Was it time? Were they going to do it?

The answer to my questions was yes. Yes, they were.

They pushed past Mushu quickly, and he looked pretty annoyed at having so many opponents to fight at once. He and his attendants did their best, despite fighting against almost a dozen guilders who had beaten them more than a dozen times.

Isid's party led the raid group through the Ratten Warren, aware of the path to the Boss Arena. I made sure to put a sizeable contingent of every Ratten Clan in their way as a test of their skill. Isid had obviously informed the Clichs and Haythem's party of the various clans and their abilities, given their reactions and appropriate responses. I didn't attempt to overwhelm them there, but I made my 'displeasure' at their attempt well known.

It would only confuse them to be met with no resistance on their way to fight the Fifth Floor Boss, after all.

Actually, that sounds hilarious. New plan!

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The Fifth Floor, The Dungeon, Medea Island

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Haythem checked over his equipment for the tenth time as they ascended the spiral staircase. When he was satisfied with the condition of his armor and sword, he checked the fullness of his potion bag, then turned his attention to the yellow stone brick of the tower they were climbing. It blew his mind a bit every time he thought about the fact the Guardian was here.

Here! At the top of the tallest tower of the Haunted Castle! It just wasn't done. Dungeons dug downward, put monsters and traps in the path to dissuade attackers, and defended themselves fiercely. This Dungeon had gone up and sideways, had an incredible diversity of monsters, and its traps were well-placed, well thought out, and effective on anyone lower ranked than platinum.

That the Guardian Arena was here made no sense, and after some thought, that was what had made him believe it was true.

When Isid and Jerrad had approached him about his party aiding them in defeating the Fifth Floor Guardian, he had been confused. Why would they have asked to form a raid with them? They hadn't been Platinums for very long and were still mid-way through the Fourth, not even close to pushing through to the Fifth yet. Why not ask Them?

He understood when Isid mentioned that they'd also approached Petaer's party. Isid and Jerrad didn't trust Them, for whatever reason. Haythem had to admit, he'd heard quite a few stories about that group over the years. Some good, some bad. The truth of those same stories? Almost impossible to figure out. One man would swear they were the children of a previous generation of heroes. Another would declare them blessed by the gods themselves as their champions. In whispers, he was told of villages suddenly beset with children nine months after being saved by some of the members of that group. He heard of towns bankrupted to pay for their services.

Whatever the truth, they had gained quite the reputation over their years in the Guild.

Haythem was shaken from his thoughts by Flasa. They'd reached the top of the stairs.

The top of the tower was quite ornate. It was a large, circular room with a large wooden door devoid of carvings or decoration. The room was lit by a single chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There were four windows, with even spacing between each other and the door. Haythem looked out one and his breath caught in wonder. The view was unobstructed by the darkness below, and Haythem observed the majesty of the castle beneath them.

Beyond the castle lay the Mushroom Forest. He had never been there, but the stories Isid had told them did not do the enormous mushrooms justice. The true extent of the forest was humbling.

"Alright. Everybody remembers the plan, yes?" Isid began, catching their attention, and looked at each guilder in turn. Once everyone had nodded, she continued. "Good. None of you have reached this floor on your own yet, so it didn't stand out to you, but we've had a surprisingly calm trip here. There were no ambushes and no traps in our path. I never even caught a glimpse of those shadow monsters watching us."

She took a deep breath. "The Dungeon is planning something, and I'm not sure what. Keep your wits, stay aware of your surroundings, and watch for traps. We're going in blind, with no teleport crystals. If you're injured, call for aid and get to Vertrum. If you can't, chug a potion." She again pointed her blindfolded face at each of them and received quiet nods.

"Alright. Let's go."

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The Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea

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After her little speech, Isid pushed open the doors to the arena, and the raid group walked in, eyes on a swivel. The doorway led to a small staircase that only went up a few yards, emerging into the middle of the arena. I cackled not a little madly and gave the signal when every guilder had entered the arena.

The boss arena was open, with no pillars or obstacles to hide behind. A door in the side led to the Sixth, but it was shut tight right now. At my signal, the stairway began rising. Each stair rose to form a flush surface, trapping the guilders in the arena and removing a hole in the floor.

"Well, that doesn't bode well," Haythem exclaimed into the silence. With a statement like that, how can I not play murphy?

At a second signal, the Boss assembled itself. A coppery liquid metal flowed between the flagstones and runes carved into the wall. It coalesced in front of the exit door, forming a torso, then seven limbs that began to orbit it. With a pulse of power from the Golem's core, the disconnected limbs gained a blue glow at the closest point to the torso. They began to shift into various weapons, mostly variations of blades, maces, and axes. Upon its torso was a crystal, emitting a searchlight-like beam.

I looked upon the Golem with pride. This was the first Metal Sprite I had provided an alloy body. After I had created Potentium, I offered it a new body, and it accepted. I'm pretty sure it's going to transform into a Spirit soon, as well. It took to the new body incredibly well, able to manipulate the metal itself as if it was mercury, then hardening that liquid into an almost monomolecular blade. And then, when it reinforced the edges with metal mana... Well, that boulder had looked nicer split clean in two than whole, anyway.

But as I looked at the guilders, with their brows set and weapons drawn, I knew they would win. The Metal Golem would give a decent fight, but this was it's first. It had no experience beyond whacking rocks with its limbs.

And after a few minutes of attempting to do just that, I was proven right.

With seven limbs rotating at speed, none of the melee-range guilders could get in close enough to damage it. That left it to the mages to whittle it down, which they did. Bolts of lightning made it shudder, and searing eyebeams quickly melted the metal they hit.

The Metal Golem wasn't an idiot, though. Just... young. It could learn and adapt well enough, but not faster than the guilders.

When it began intercepting the eyebeams and lightning with its limbs, that left gaps in its defenses that the archers were happy to exploit. They assumed, not incorrectly, that its 'eye' was a weakness and attempted to break it with their arrows. A lucky shot cracked it, and a follow-up shattered it. The Golem was blind.

But not unseeing. It was a Sprite, after all. They didn't need eyes.

It caught the melee fighters off guard when the limbs neatly intercepted their strikes and threw them backward from the force it applied. The Guilders gained cuts and heavy bruising for their trouble, quickly taken care of by Cleric and a few potions.

"It doesn't need its eye!" Isid suddenly yelled across the arena, "It can see in all directions; it doesn't have a blind spot! Time for Plan B!"

Plan B, huh?

Well, Plan B turned out to be 'overwhelm it with attacks and disable its limbs.'

Only partly effective, in the end.

While they could damage the limbs, the gashes and melted parts flowed back into smooth metal after about twenty seconds. The Golem was careful to protect its torso, as that's where its core lay. You see, the eye was a real weakness disguised as a false one. Once it was cracked and its effect on the monster's vision proven negligible, the guilders ignored it. It wasn't being healed like the metal, as it was a large piece of hazy quartz I'd fashioned from some sand. The Golem couldn't repair it.

The guilders noticed it protecting its torso and attempted to strike it. Their faces fell when the damage healed over, just like the limbs.

"The eye!" Flasa called to Bertram, "Its eye isn't healing like the rest of it!" The other guilders took note, and this time when an attack got through, it pierced right through the broken quartz and impacted the core directly.

The impact was... destabilizing for the Golem. It shuddered and stuttered, its limbs slowing from their furious orbits.

Another two arrows punched deeper.

Suddenly, it lost cohesion, the metal that composed it turning into a liquid and falling to the floor. In the same movement, the sprite abandoned the core and dipped through the floor, followed by the metal seeping through gaps in the flagstones.

All that remained was a broken quartz lens and a damaged monster core. In that silence, the exit doors swung open, and the stairway back down to the castle revealed itself again.

I sighed. I was honestly disappointed. The Golem didn't perform nearly as well as I had hoped, but better than I'd feared. With its impending transformation, it would get a boost to its intelligence, which should neatly cover that weakness. I'll need to find something tougher for its 'eye' or forgo that weakness altogether. Either way, it'd be getting a new body to inhabit.

After the raid group collected the lens and core, they began walking down the long corridor to the Sixth. About halfway down, they started sweating. By the time they reached the black stone of the gateway into the sixth floor, they were practically drenched in their own sweat.

Their eyes went wide in unbelieving awe and terror.

They had a great view of the pillars of lava falling from the ceiling into the molten lakes in the distance from their vantage point halfway up the wall. The great cracked plain of black stone directly before them was currently hosting the Fire Spirit, Igna, and her entourage. At a prompt from me, Igna 'noticed' the guilders and began moving in their direction, quickly followed by various lumbering magma golems, flickering fire sprites, and fire golems.

It was quite an intimidating sight. The Guilders, who seemed to agree with me, quickly retreated up the hallway.

I informed Igna she'd successfully scared them off, and she crackled in amusement. I followed them back up. With a thought, the doors into the arena closed behind them and audibly locked.

A keyhole melted into existence on the door's metal banding, shining from within with a baleful purple light. On each door, words carved themselves into the metal panels made precisely for this purpose.

Beyond this door,

Lie dangers galore.

A key you must find,

To its secrets, unwind.

A key you must seek,

Among the fungi deep.

If beyond this door,

You wish to explore.

Okay, so I'm not the best rhymer in the universe. You try working out how to make a poem in a language with an entirely different base and vowels! I think I did amazing!

The researcher, Harald, was quick to transcribe the words. His eyes were bright, and he spoke at a mile a minute, muttering about theories and such. Isid had to physically pull him from the doors.

As they walked back down the staircase, I shifted over to the Mushroom Forest. There were about five Brainshrooms spread throughout the forest, and all were buried under the fungal carpet. Above each one, I formed a pedestal. Upon the pedestals were stands that would each support a squishy purple key, likewise made of fungal matter.

It wasn't to be a key in the traditional sense but held a particular 'signature' in its mana the door would recognize. The key would fall apart upon being used, and its mana dispersed. Only when the key had fulfilled its function would the pedestal produce a new key.

This way, the guilders would need to explore and fight against waves of Shamblers to find the key. I see them becoming very valuable among the guilders with only five in circulation at a time, especially later when more guilders make it to the Fifth.

Actually, I just had a thought.

I made sure to add a clause to the enchantment on the pedestal describing that if the key got too far away. That is to say, if someone took one away on a boat, it would trigger the key to disintegrate and produce a new one.

Satisfied, I turned my gaze back to the Tenth floor.

Where was I... Ah! Yes. It's time for the monsters.

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Max Porteous, 2022