After having accepted my request to spare the criminal's life - so he could ss up the lives of other evil people by spreading his lycanthropy around, which would eventually get them killed -, the Lightning Mage proceeded to banish him from the town. Should he ever return, he would be killed like the outlaw he now was.
The gnos had taken my judgnt seriously as well. Stating that it was a Dungeon Retribution and as such it was entirely up to to decide their fates.
They are acting like they already know I'm sapient.
Does that an there's other sapient Dungeon Cores out there?! Ones they've t?!
I imdiately called for a eting with the gno leader through my 'dungeon mistress'.
But no. There were no other sapient Dungeon Cores. Not anyone the gnos knew of at least.
What the gnos did know was the Mission of Dungeons. Generally speaking.
Through generations the gnos had paid close attention to how quickly their Dungeon would grow. And they had noticed that after a certain number of bad people had died in the Dungeon, it would grow quicker for a while. And in periods where few or no bad people had died, the Dungeon would stall its growth.
Which was why the Dungeon Retribution ca to be. Not only because the gnos had realized Dungeons needed to kill bad people to grow, but also because they believed Dungeons could sohow differentiate between good and bad people.
Which wasn't actually sothing all Dungeon Cores could do. I had only gotten that Ability through an Achievent, and Achievents wasn't the easiest thing to get.
All in all, the gnos didn't actually see Dungeon Cores as sapients but more like a tal detector. 'If the light blinks and the beeping sounds, then you're bad, if nothing happens, then you're good.' Sothing like that. Trustworthy in our judgnt of good and bad, but not an intelligent being.
Well. Their leader knows now.
And unlike the Lightning Mage I can't force him to keep my secrets. Which, oddly enough, I'm not too worried about. Much like the Tribe, though to a lesser degree, they already have in high regard simply due to my status as a Dungeon Core. This is more likely to turn respect into worship than have anyone try to kill for being an abomination.
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Personal Status Level: 58 EXP needed for level up: 58,345,436/59,000,000 Mana paynt for level up: 0/204,000 Mana: 1.5/25,500 Mana regeneration: 8,925 per hour Floors: 10/24 Allowed number of sapients in each Floor: 6 Floor Details Achievents Mission Dungeon Rules
I was level 34 before I started speedrunning my levels… That's 26 levels! Counting level 39 and 49 as their own levels, which I definitely feel like they are!
Just over 19 days had passed since the gno arrival and the Dungeon Retribution and I had been leveling up everyti I had the mana for it. Which in the 4th tier had been every 14 hours and 18 minutes, in the 5th every 17 hours and 6 minutes, and in the 6th tier every 22 hours and 51 minutes.
During that ti, about half of the Floors in my Dungeon had had a Party in it during my opening hours. Which generated so much EXP that I, in the beginning, was earning more than 10 tis the EXP that I used, despite the fact that I was using it as fast as I could.
The new 2,473% EXP modifier was clearly working its ass off!
Where the end of the 5th tier had asked for 1,125,000 EXP to level up, the beginning of the 6th tier asked for 25,000,000.
Before that the jump in EXP needed from one tier to the next had been between slightly under double to just over three tis.
This was a jump of over 22 tis the previous amount!
Yeah, that 'increasingly stunted growth to reflect a Dungeon Core's immortality' has clearly gone into effect.
I am not looking forward to the 7th tier…
Then again. I can make 24 Floors right now and my mana capacity and regeneration has gone through the roof! From 2,275 mana per hour to 8,925!
Let's finally finish that 11th Floor!
… And then level up one more ti… I'll probably have the remaining EXP at the end of the day.
When I had first beco a Dungeon Core I had to pick a starting creature and an Environnt. For each level up I got access to a new dragon without having to design it myself and every tier up I got to pick an additional Environnt. For each Environnt I had already picked, the already short list of Environnts would beco shorter.
Forest, volcano, river and lake, mountain as well as desert had already been picked - and in that order - by the ti I got to my 6th tier up, so I was naturally curious as to what would happen this ti.
I really just expected nothing to happen as I already had access to all Environnts compatible with dragons.
Instead I got a new list with a small warning:
Environnt
Be aware that not all level up creature patterns for these Environnts will be of your chosen type.
Beach Deep sea Graveyard Jungle Mushroom cavern Ocean Prairie Tundra Urban and farmland
As I had done all the other tis, I decided based on what advantages each Environnt could give and which of those fit best.
Tundra won with its potential for ice covered paths - which could make people slip if unprepared -, deep snow - which could hide any number of things I wanted hidden -, and blizzards - which could obscure the vision of my enemies.
As my volcano the hadn't raised the temperature of each room following its the, I didn't expect any tundra rooms to reach freezing temperatures.
With a bit of testing - with the help of Begdar and Nalir, who both volunteered - I discovered that the room itself wasn't cold but that - much like magma - snow and ice had their expected temperature. But unlike normal snow and ice they wouldn't thaw even at normal body temperature. It had to be put in a pot and placed under open fire - sothing Begdar could now do with magic.
I can work with that!
On the 2nd day of speedrunning levels one of my Achievents decided to tier up out of the blue.
Achievent tier up: Making the World a Better Place (IV): You have made the people around you into better versions of themselves, thus making the world a better place. Keep doing it. Condition: You have at one point successfully made the karma levels of other people rise 100 tis in net total. Reward: 125% Charisma. You now earn 50 EXP per karma level you rise in others in net total. This is retroactive. [You do not have a Charisma Score. 125% Charisma changed to 25% discount on karma creatures.]
You have gotten an Achievent tier up while having 4 passive Achievents. Do you wish to change which Achievents are passive?
I must have inspired soone to try and better themselves.
And no thank you.
In the midst of all my level ups, the rchant group had been by once again and was surprised to see just how many people now called this place their ho. After all, only 40 days had passed and the place had gone from being entirely populated by beastkin to having the beastkin be the minority alongside the elves due to the massive amount of gnos. The place had also gone from being almost entirely tents with only a couple of mostly finished wooden huts to having sewers, a well, a Dungeon Guild, a building around my Portal for the Portal Control, an Inn called 'The Jolly Dragon Inn' which had stables, storage and cleaning and nding services, a Security Guild as well as enough normal housing for 250 people.
Which t the System's criteria for a Small Village, which in turn ant that the people living there could earn Village related Achievents and had their Nomad related Achievents exchanged for Village thed ones where appropriate. The sheriff beca a Sheriff with an actual proper 'Small Village Sheriff' Achievent.
But of course the construction team still had a lot of building to do. Not only had a thousand or so gnos - no one had ntioned a more specific number where I could hear them - joined them, but the elves had always been expecting and planning for more elves to move here. But only once the initial building was done as the new arrivals would want to have a house to settle down in imdiately upon arrival.
It was quite a lot to get done in only 40 days with a construction crew numbering around 60 elves. The last week or so - I don't know exactly when they started - about 9 houses had been built a day. The exact number varied as so houses were only ant to house two people - eleves apparently had a problem with fertility - while others were built in a dorm room style with communal kitchens.
Given how I could only see the Surface World from my Portal, and emphasized by how said Portal had had a building built around it, I had naturally not really seen any magic being cast around by the construction crew. When they had first started working - on the sewers, working from the ground up - I had noticed the workers incredible Strength as not only dirt but boulders and tree trunks were moved out of the way with barely a second thought. Which had naturally sped up the process.
They've definitely used so sort of System given magic to have all of this done so quickly!
Not that I blad them. I would have done the sa.
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Oh… That can't be good…
No, wait! It might be the captured cultists!
I should warn 'my mistress' either way.
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"How are you feeling?" asked a female voice.
"Uh?" Lagurith questioned back, still groggy from having woken up from deep sleep.
"You're not Brainwashed anymore. I know how great a relief it is to not be mind controlled anymore, but of course Brainwash and Hypnotize are two different Skills and apparently Brainwash is the stronger of the two. And of course you must have been controlled for much longer than as I was only under for a couple of hours. So your relief must be much greater than mine were." The female voice blabbered in response, barely taking the ti to breathe.
"Brainwash? Mind control?" That can't be right. When have I ever done sothing against my will?
Then mories started flashing. One mont after another where he followed a stranger's order, did immoral things, and even broke the basis of all siren society: Know your people. All of them.
He didn't even know the nas of every mber of the so-called order he had joined, much less actually known them.
And that certainly wasn't sothing he would do willingly.
The elven woman speaking to him was about to start talking again when a male elf put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. "Maybe we should give him a bit of ti for him to gather his thoughts. He appears to be a bit out of it."
"Who are you?!" Ca the sudden outburst from Lagurith.
He couldn't take not knowing who everyone was, after having broken that sacred siren rule for so long. He would be an outcast if anyone found out!
"I'm Dakath Fraxinus, the Sheriff around here. This is Sarzina Acacia, the dungeon mistress of the Dungeon we're currently in."
At first Lagurith was relieved to not only know their nas but to now additionally know one thing about each of them. Then the last part he had said registered. "We're in a Dungeon?"
Looking around, he indeed appeared to be sitting on the grass covered floor of a small Dungeon Room, complete with half a dozen small, green dragons being restrained by tree roots. The dragons were desperately trying to escape the roots, but every claw and bite mark was quickly restored through the Skill or spell which had created the roots in the first place.
Why not just kill them?
"We are indeed." Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus replied calmly. "Our only current thod for dealing with controlled people is to contain them inside The Dungeon of Karma. Simply being inside The Dungeon of Karma will, after a ti, give people back their minds."
"Really?" Lagurith asked, confused. Since when has that been a thing?
"Huhmm." Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus nodded.
"Huh."
"Any other questions before we leave you to gather your thoughts? You still seem a slight bit out of it."
"No. Thank you, Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus. Dungeon mistress Sarzina Acacia. Wait. Are you related to Advisor Acacia?" Lagurith flinched as he realized he didn't know Advisor Acacia's personal na.
Siren's didn't have family nas! To not know soone's personal na when you have been working with them for years was unthinkable.
"Yes." She answered sharply, almost like she was suddenly angry. "What about it?"
Uh… Cultural differences? It had been a while since he had really had the ti to try and understand other cultures, so he was quite rusty in elven customs.
Despite how learning about other cultures had been the reason he had gone against siren norms and left his ho in the sea.
And despite how he had been actively working in an elven Palace in an elven Queendom.
"It's custom for sirens to know all we can about our-" The language the surface dwellers spoke didn't have the right word for his type of community, so he would have to use a more general word, so they could understand his aning. "-allies. It helps us connect to each other and makes us feel more like we are a part of a collective whole. I'm sorry if the question made you uncomfortable, but I'm still a bit too out of it to rember what the elven customs are."
"Oh…" Dungeon mistress Sarzina Acacia nodded in acceptance of his apology and relaxed her posture.
"We'll leave you to your thoughts." Sheriff Dakath Fraxinus stated, before the two elves moved to a couple of chairs placed up against the climbing plants covered Dungeon wall.
What exactly happened to all my plans for the future? They say I was mind controlled, but when did that happen? And who did it?
It didn't take long to find the answer. Everything he had done against his will, his mory inford him had been done because of The Order of The Broken Goddess.
And their prophet Luvenia in. A prophet he had t.
And as he rembered said eting he realized that was when he was Brainwashed.
Specifically during what he previously had thought of as his 'initiation'.
An 'initiation' he himself had perford several tis afterwards.
No! His mind scread, his eyes widened, and he instinctively ordered his Skill to rip. Rip and rip and rip apart each and every hold he had on soone else.
When finally done ripping he took a couple of calming breaths, trying to take back control of his panicked mind. He could hear the elves exclaim confused words and get up from the chairs they had just placed themselves in, but he paid it no mind.
What else happened? Maybe sothing less horrifying.
How did I get here?
I was pretending to be an Ambassador. The elven Queen Enania Phoenix Flower got news from Advisor Acacia - need her na - that her daughter, Crown Princess Talindra Phoenix Flower, had been mind controlled by a cult. I left the eting abruptly as I needed to inform 'The Order of The Broken Goddess' that we had been discovered and to push a last attempt attack on The Royal Dungeon in hopes of getting its Core and bringing it to…
Lagurith blinked many tis in sudden confusion.
We were supposed to bring Cores to prophet Luvenia in's bedroom, where she would arrange them to her liking.
Like they were re decorations!
Even when soti after Luvenia in's death the room they placed Dungeon Cores in had been replaced with a bigger and more secure one, it had still been styled like it was her bedroom. Only with her bed having been replaced with her golden coffin.
She made a cult because she wanted Dungeon Cores to decorate her room?
Why? Didn't she understand how essential Dungeons are to society? Both due to their loot and their necessity in tiering up? Not to ntion fast leveling.
No. Don't think about this right now. I can be horrified over this later. What happened next?
I decided to send out the ssage to attack first as I thought that was more ti sensitive.
… I didn't get to finish the ssage did I? Next I rember, I woke up for the first of many, many 'food and pee breaks'.
Yeah, I had sohow been knocked out and captured. And my elven captures would keep and my fellow prisoners unconscious using Enchanted sticks unless we needed to eat, drink, or relieve ourselves. And when awake each awake prisoner would have two guards keeping an eye on them and we would all be chained to a tree.
The other prisoners were likely all mbers of 'The Order of The Broken Goddess'. I recognized many of their faces, but not all.
A deep, calming breath.
And now I'm here. With a free will once again.
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