PftA Book 5 - Epilogue

A/N: I made a few changes to the last chapter. The named inheritor could decline, and if they did, the deity would select the next possible inheritor from among her acceptable relatives. Also, Emie did not get to discuss it with Amie first.

“Dame Amie. Welcome home,” the golem greeted with a respectful bow.

Ignoring the title that came with the role of Dungeon Administrator, Amie said, “Hey, Lisa. How is Leslie doing? Did she make it to the eighth floor yet?”

The golem pushed back its hood, revealing a mana construct with dark purple skin and long, shimmering white hair. The construct reminded Amie of her ascended aunt, Emie – the one whose visage had been used as a model for the golem’s image.

It was only logical, given that the Mana Intelligence had once been the ascender’s Interface Assistant.

“Her group is planning to head to the eighth floor this afternoon,” the mana construct informed her. “They seem disinclined to leave right away, unlike the other two groups who reached the milestone.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Amie replied with a proud grin. “She’s always claimed she’d beat me to ascension. She still thinks she can catch up to Emie.”

Amie had been surprised when she’d received the notification offering her the role of Dungeon Administrator for the dungeon that Emie had set up. She’d initially considered declining since she was already under contract with Lady Rhona, but after discussing it with the Lady in question and getting a positive reaction, she decided to accept.

“It’s a nice goal,” said Lisa. “Unfortunately, there’s no way to know whether or not it’s even possible, given the inconsistent time differential.”

Both Dungeon Masters firmly held to the claim that time flowed differently between the realms. A year in this realm might be a month in the next, or a millennium. There was just no way to know.

“Either way, I’m sure Leslie will make the best of whatever circumstances she finds herself in when she eventually reaches that point,” Amie said before pulling up a screen to observe her youngest.

Unlike Corrogo’s Realm Dungeon on Sira, the dungeon on Emie – the name given to the newly elevated Tier Ten world housing the realm’s second Realm Dungeon – did not display challengers within the dungeon for outsiders to view.

Amie could change that, of course, but she didn’t. She firmly believed that her aunt Emie might still be around if her actions hadn’t been so closely monitored by enemy sect members.

She suspected her aunt agreed, which was why she’d set things so that those outside the dungeon couldn’t observe those within.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Amie wouldn’t observe everything going on inside. She gave people privacy whenever it was appropriate, but otherwise, much of Amie’s downtime was spent observing the challengers within the various instances of her dungeon.

And there were a lot of them.

Emie had set it up so that pretty much anyone between Tier One and Tier Four could access the dungeon if they wanted. It had quickly snowballed to the point that Amie had been forced to implement a limit on the number of slots based on how many people left a particular floor each season.

Amie was actually a little surprised at how many freshly awakened youths were willing to test themselves in the dungeon. It probably helped that her dungeon allowed people to leave without dying due to mana poisoning – something the dungeon on Sira did not allow.

At least, they didn’t for now. From what Lisa had informed her, Corrogo was still trying to convince his Dungeon Administrator to change that within their dungeon. So far, the elven Administrator had refused, citing tradition as his primary justification.

Amie wasn’t sure she believed him, though she didn’t say anything. They’d only met once when the dungeon was freshly revealed, and it was only because of the protections she maintained while on the new Tier Ten planet that she survived the encounter.

To say that the elf was angry at the changes – especially over losing the advantages they had with the interface and spells – would be an understatement.

The elf had also seemed bothered by what he viewed as an encroachment on his inheritance, but the realm itself had interceded, forcing the elf to retreat or risk losing his own position.

The encounter had pushed Amie to get stronger, which was something encouraged by Lisa, her Dungeon Master.

It was also somewhat expected by her role, since the position needed someone strong enough to stand up to the aggression and greed of others.

And it wasn’t like they could usurp the role by killing her. Even if they managed to do so by catching her away from the dungeon’s territory, they wouldn’t gain any advantage. The role would automatically transfer to her inheritor.

“Is there anything in particular that needs my attention?” the Dungeon Administrator asked her Dungeon Master.

“No. I have everything well under control.”

It was the same response that she got 99% of the time she asked. Her aunt Emie’s former Interface Assistant was nothing if not competent at managing the newest Realm Wonder.

“Well, then I guess I’ll take a break and go visit with Mom since she’s in town. The rest of my party planned for a week off – Alliance Time – but I’m probably only going to take a few local days before I head back inside.”

One of the biggest perks of being the Dungeon Administrator was Amie’s ability to enter and exit her own private instance for whatever floor was appropriate for her tier. She could also challenge the trials and hidden challenges, provided she hadn’t already peeked into what the challenges were.

Well, she could, even then, but her rewards wouldn’t be very good.

Thankfully, Amie was able to bring up to four party members into the instances with her instead of being forced to do everything alone.

There were a few limitations, like she couldn’t just bring different people each time. She’d learned early that removing a party mark on someone made it so they could not receive another, which effectively barred them from entering the dungeon with her.

She’d also learned that her party members were not protected from the effects of the extreme time dilation within her private dungeon instances like she was.

After only fifty Alliance Standard Years, she’d personally experienced something much closer to 500 years, though her physical body hadn’t aged a day since she accepted the role.

An undisclosed advantage to accepting the role was being granted 1000 Alliance Standard Years of unageing. No matter what kind of time dilation she encountered, Amie would not physically age unless she gave up the role of Dungeon Administrator.

It was a huge advantage, and one she got to take extra advantage of while living on the Tier Ten planet. Someday, she’d ascend and explore the next realm. Of that, she had no doubt.

Maybe she’d even get to see her favorite aunt again.

A/N: I'll be taking the rest of the week to finish editing Book 4 and iron out the worldbuilding for the next series. Expect the first chapter following Emie's new journey around this time next week!