A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

I noticed it the last time they got a level, but Prism's stat gains were unfortunate. They got nine points every time they leveled up, which, by the standards of my other monsters, was pretty good, but a high base stat total alone didn't make a monster. What those stats were was equally, if not more, important than their quantity, and as it stood, Prism was the only monster I had seen that didn't get any unassigned stat points when they leveled up.

That meant there was nothing I could do to change the fact that they got exactly one point in every stat except for MIND whenever they leveled. If it wasn't for all of my achievements, the little blob would've still been stuck with only a one in their intelligence and no way to raise it. As it stood, they had a seven in the stat, but I still found the low score and my inability to do anything about it concerning for the long run.

The reason why this was once again brought to my attention was because the slime had just leveled up. My Crystal Puffer farm had been working wonders. I'd also gained another level, and with it, the slime's level cap had risen. After I put my own unassigned points into SOUL, it rose again. Now, I was sitting at level four. Prism was a level under me and could start working on catching up.

Despite all of that, it wasn't the wonders the farm had done for either of those experience pools that had me so thrilled with it. The real benefit could be seen in my Dungeon experience.

[Experience to next level: 76,144 / 169,000]

The rewards from killing the bloated weeds were okay, but the gains from getting them to that point were even better. From the way I understood it, a Dungeon took ten times the amount of experience to level up as a person or a monster did. I only got a fraction of the experience from my own monsters dying to outsiders, but the amount I got from the puffers killing my Bloodthorn Vines was still greater than that disparity. I was raking in roughly fifteen times the amount of Dungeon experience as I was class experience.

In effect, that meant I was generating a little less than ten thousand points a day at my current rate. It wasn't enough to get me another level anytime soon, but at the pace the scouting team from the Adventurers Guild was going, it was more than they were on track to bring in over the course of two weeks per day. I lamented not pursuing this concept earlier.

I guess that isn't really their fault. The monsters I set up to defend the Dungeon were designed to be effective, not profitable. I should probably fix that at some point.

I resolved myself to see what I could do increase the yields that my other monsters' deaths provided once I had the extra DP and mana regeneration the task would surely require. For the time being, I was content to keep pushing my class forward. My plans, however, didn't seem to matter to the universe. Then again, did they ever?

[Your Trenti (Level 1) was slain! 18 experience gained.]

Well, they're early today.

I purposely kept notifications from the monsters in my first room on so that I had time to prepare whenever I got visitors. I casually glanced over to my entrance to check on the group I had become so familiar with. They were not the ones I was met with the sight of. Normally, that would have concerned me, but if they were weak enough to be getting so much experience from my first room monsters, whoever they were, they weren't much of a threat.

Ugh, I groaned internally.

Fabian would be happy to know I had adventurers coming again, but I was more annoyed about the mana I'd have to spend on respawning my monsters than anything else.

At least they don't look homeless.

That was a step up from most of the visitors I'd gotten in the past. I had nothing against homeless people in general, but whenever they came to my Dungeon, it seemed to be for the sole purpose of killing me in hopes of turning their luck around. Since these people appeared to be a bit better prepared but not armed to the teeth, I hoped that meant they weren't here to kill me, but I wasn't going blindly assume anything, so I made sure to keep an eye on them as I went about my own business. The group cleared my first room, poked their heads into my second, and killed the first of the Bloodthorn Vines in there. After that, they gathered some mana crystals and magical plants. Then, they left. It was as simple as that.

I think that might have been the most pleasant delve I've experienced.

With that thought, I respawned the monsters they killed and got back to farming.

[Your Shadow Viper (Level 1) was slain! 72 experience gained.]

Huh?

There was another group of adventurers already. These ones were clearly much weaker, considering the bounty of experience their kill had earned them, but they also looked to be reasonably prepared to be in the kind of place that they were. I watched them as they cleared the first room and left.

Okay. That wasn't too bad.

I restocked my Dungeon, and not even ten minutes later, I got another notification.

[Your Trenti (Level 1) was slain! 18 experience gained.]

This is getting ridiculous. Hey, Fabe …

It seemed we were open for business once more, whether I liked it or not.

* * *

Gyle

“Impressive, you've outdone yourself,” I said as I leaned on my staff and watched the influx of people coming into town.

“We were lucky. That Dungeon's got some good stuff. A few missives to the right places was all it took, but are you sure the town can handle it?”

I harrumphed at his words as I straightened and heard a loud crack come from my back. I winced in pain.

“You don't think I've been lounging about, do you? Yes, the town can handle it. I've gone to great lengths laying the necessary groundwork to assure that.”

“Hmm.”

I had spared no effort in the expansion of the town. I had brought in skilled laborers from many of the surrounding settlements and had a plethora of projects both started and finished over the course of the last month. If I was to succeed, I could afford no half measures here, so I spared no expense.

“Do you think the Dungeon can handle it,” I asked my associate in turn.

“That remains to be seen. Your assessment of it wasn't nearly as precise as I would have liked.”

“I did what I could with the information I had access to. Without having all of the variables and their approximate values, estimates are the best I can do.”

“That just means we'll have to wait and see. I have the team keeping an eye on things today. We'll get a gauge on how much activity it can handle and adjust accordingly.”

Silence descended on us for a time. We just waited and observed. It wasn't only adventurers that Sirius had managed to attract; it was people of all sorts. There were merchants hoping to take advantage of the opportunity the Dungeon represented, workers of all professions lured in by the need the town now had for them, and people from all walks of life looking for a fresh start. It wasn't any of those that I was keeping an eye out for.

“The one in the dark cloak whose trying to blend in with the merchants to the back,” I intoned dryly.

“On it,” an armored figure to our side responded before moving to apprehend the individual.

What I was looking out for was the criminal element. I couldn't catch every one of them. Most of them that were truly capable would slip in unseen, but I was doing my best to minimize the amount of trouble I'd have to deal with later by nipping it in the bud here. It was annoying but necessary work.

There were others with the Appraisal ability, but it wasn't common. I had hired who I could to keep an eye out for criminal classes elsewhere, but I was the best equipped for detecting them out of anyone we had access to. That was why I was standing just outside of the main entrance to town. I had also made sure to compile a list of known criminals ahead of time. I memorized the faces of those serious enough to get professional renderings made of them and enough details about others to know what to look out for. It wasn't a foolproof approach to dealing with the issue, but it was the best we could manage with the resources at my disposal.

“Any updates on the situation,” I asked offhandedly as the thief that had tried entering town was being dealt with.

“The Dungeon near Castallia's been attracting more and more attention.”

“I don't suppose that will divert eyes from what's going on here?”

“The opposite. Dungeons everywhere are facing more scrutiny because of it.”

“What about him?”

“He destroyed another one, the one by our border with Drulin. I think that was more a matter of it being a military asset and too risky to leave alone than it acting erratically, though.”

“The nearsighted fools,” I spat out, my blood suddenly boiling, “I bet that empty-skulled snake had something to do with it. The entire government has no respect for the value that Dungeons represent these days. A few new uses for their remains enter the public eye, and suddenly, everyone forgets about their utility on a national scale. This was how our nation nearly fell two hundred odd years ago, but at least the king we had at the time was smart enough to heed my warnings and change his course of action. This new one's just a fool.”

“We're in public,” Sirius chided, “You just had your nobility reinstated. Don't let others hear you talking like that unless you want to attract trouble.”

“Bah!” I waved his concerns off, “I told that child so much to his face! So what if word gets back to him? If he executed or stripped everyone who disliked him of their nobility for just that, the kingdom would be swept into a rebellion before he knew it was coming. With tensions drawing so high, the people pulling his strings know better than to let him undermine his own authority like that.

“The king is a fool and a figurehead. I will speak no lies on that matter out of fear for my own safety. The fact that war is looking so likely is more than enough proof of my claims. He's shown those vultures weakness and looked down on them. His actions will spell the end of our nation before his reign comes to a close at the rate he's going.”

“I can't comment on any of that in public, but I will say you're making a scene. Even if you aren't afraid, you'll make others worry. Save it for behind closed doors.”

“Tch.”

He was right, and I knew it. That was a sore spot of mine, though, and I couldn't tamp it down so easily. Watching the nation I had worked so hard for for so long decline to such a state pained me deeply. The brat's predecessors would be rolling in their graves had the tradition not been to cremate royalty out of fear of necromancers using their bodies against their own nations.

I also knew I was a hypocrite, and that played into my frustrations. I was working toward the same folly I chided the kid for. I could only take comfort in the fact that what was to follow was going to happen regardless of my own actions. It was inevitable anyway, and I had no alternatives, so I would take the path laid out in front of me to its conclusion, no matter what that may be.

* * *

Arina

“What?” I gasped.

“I said this is no Dungeon Core. This is mere powdered light mana crystals. Do not make me repeat myself. Now, explain to me why you have brought me this and tried to pass it off as the item I requested,” our employer said calmly.

Beside me, Daren and Bern remained silent. With our leader gone, it fell to me, our group's second in command, to handle the terrifying noble.

“That's what was left behind when I smashed the core,” I insisted.

“Then, what you smashed was not the Dungeon Core. I am the greatest alchemist in this kingdom. Don't think I wouldn't be able to tell the difference,” he stated plainly.

I could feel anger begin to well up from within me. I tried to quash the emotions like I always had, but it was so much harder than it used to be. It was all because of that damned class! I had taken it because it was rare and powerful, but that had been a mistake. That rage had cost me everything. If only I could have kept my senses back then, he might still be alive.

No, don't get distracted!

I took a deep breath and let the rage pass over me. I needed to think rationally about this. He wasn't the kind of person to balk at paying up large sums. He was scum, but he was reliable and had deep pockets. It was the reason we had consistently taken jobs from him for so long. If he said the shattered crystals in the bag I handed him weren't the core's remains, they weren't.

That left me with the question of where they actually were. My eyes darted to my companions. I had worked with the bear beastkin and the orc for years, and they had never tried to pull anything, but we also had Loid to unite us as a single cohesive unit up until now.

Did one of them swap it out? Are they trying to take the goods and run?

That didn't make sense. If that was their plan, they should have left with them before we ever got to this point. Pissing this man off was akin to suicide, and here I was having to bear the brunt of his anger while they just silently watched. The nerve of them …

Calm down. That anger isn't mine. I alone am in control of my actions.

“Let me save you the trouble of coming up with more excuses,” our patron broke me from my thoughts, “I know exactly where the core is.”

I jolted at that. He knew something? How?

“It's still in the forest near that backwater village. Unless my sources are lying to me, a notion I find preposterous, that Dungeon still exists and is functioning perfectly fine. That would be impossible without its core. Therefor, you failed.”

“That's impossible!” I found myself shouting before I could get a grip on my anger, “We got a notification when I shattered it! It said we were leaving the Dungeon!”

“That's funny because, the last time I checked, that notification didn't appear when someone shattered a core. The notifications you should have received were that you were awarded a very large sum of experience and a title.”

My blood ran cold at that. I had gotten neither of those notifications. I blinked, dazed as I tried to think back. The entire thing was hazy, like a dream I could only half remember. That was what happened when I gave into the anger, but I pushed through that fog regardless.

Then, I could remember it. I tore that monster apart and found the core underneath it. It sat there, perfectly spherical and glowing faintly. I brought my sword down on it, and it shattered into shards. Then, a notification appeared in my vision. Except, was that really what happened?

No, I distinctly remembered a screen appearing in field of vision as I brought my weapon down on it. That was before I shattered it. I had just been so angry, so livid that that worthless monster had killed him that–

Calm down, Arina. Getting angry all over again won't help. It won't bring him back!

I had been too angry to internalize it, but I had gotten the notification before the core was even destroyed. That shouldn't have been possible.

That must mean–

“–it was a decoy,” I finished my thought aloud.

“A decoy?” the kingdom's royal alchemist raised an eyebrow at my words.

“Yes, it had to have been a decoy. Is there any precedent for a Dungeon cutting parts of itself off?”

“Hmm, yes, I do believe there is. I see now. That must have been why you failed, but that doesn't change the fact that you failed.”

I clenched my fists in outrage, but I resisted the urge to scream at him. That would have only gotten me killed.

“Well, whatever the case, it matters not,” he said as he turned around and began to leave, “If Loid and Barnes are dead, I have no interest in continuing to employ you. I have other avenues to get what I want anyway. You are dismissed.”

This time, I couldn't contain myself. I exploded.

“We're dismissed!? Just like that!? Are you telling me Loid died for nothing!?”

He froze at my outburst and slowly spun back around to face me.

Then, he spoke, “I'll be lenient, just this once, since I understand that it is your class speaking, not you, but you'd do well to remember just who I am and what your place is. You wouldn't want me deciding that you and your friends know too much for your own good before I released you from your contract, now would you?”

Something in me snapped at that. Anger flooded me to a point in which I went catatonic. He must have taken that for subservience because, with a disgusting little smirk, he turned back around and made to leave. That was it. I was going to kill him or die trying.

I took a step forward, but then, I was held back. A hand gripped my arm, and another rested itself on my shoulder. It was Daren and Bern. They were stopping me.

How could they? Didn't they hear what that bastard had just said?

I wanted to rip him limb from limb for the way he had just spat in our faces and dismissed his death. I wanted to rip the other members of my group apart for stopping me, and most of all, I wanted to rip that infernal Dungeon to pieces for what it did to the man I loved. That last thought brought me back to my senses. I wouldn't be able to accomplish that if I died a pointless death now.

With that realization, I, too, turned around and made my way for the door. I heard footsteps behind me as the pair raced to join me. Once we were away from the estate, I felt a hand land on my shoulder once more. I didn't know which of the two it was, but it wouldn't have made any difference. I smacked it away.

“Arina–” a voice came from one of them; I wasn't sure who.

“–where are you going?”

That was a simple enough question to answer that I easily managed it, even through my rage, “To kill as many powerful monsters as I need to to get strong enough to shatter that core.”

I ignored their further questions and protests. At some point they stopped, and I found myself separated from the pair. That was fine by me. It was ideal, even. They hadn't shown any reaction to that piece of shit completely dismissing Loid's death, and they had gone so far as to hold me back. They were just as bad as him. I was better off without them.

In that moment, I gave in to my rage in full, and I never let go.